Disclaimer:- I don't own HP or any characters etc
Hermione didn't explain anything at the hospital, she reassured Narcissa that it would be fine and promised that her and Draco would be back later in the evening. Her first priority was to find Blaise. Taking the floo on the 3rd floor, they arrive back in Nott Manor. They found everyone in the sitting room, the three boys were playing in the middle and Johnson was reading with Cassie, the little girl had really taken a shine to the man, and the feelings seem mutual, he cared greatly for the child. Matalia had Clayton on her lap and was talking to Pansy and Astoria while Theo, Blaise and Terry were in deep conversation. Everyone's head turns seeing the couple walk in, Scorpius and Cassie rushed towards their parents bombarding them with questions about their grandmother. Letting them know that Narcissa was well and promising to take them later for a visit they went back to their activities. Hermione didn't waste any time and locked eyes with Blaise, he had walked straight over to her holding out a large brown envelope.
" If there's anything you want to add you can do before we magically lock in the words" He hands the envelope to her, quickly taking the document out her eyes read through it thoroughly twice.
" Never doubted you for a second" Hermione smiled looking at him, then takes her wand out and presses it on the each page, a faint glow appear for a second on each of the parchment. Satisfied with the contact she puts it back in the envelope.
" Right, lets head to the Daily Prophet" She says, Blaise nods
" A little explanation please?" Draco asks, not happy that his wife was leaving him out the loop
" We'll explain on the way, we actually need you and Theo to come with" She says putting the envelope in her bag.
The women that were sat on the couch all looking at them confused.
" We'll explain to everyone when we get back, but we need to get this done now" Blaise says answering their questioning looks
The four apparate to an alleyway nearby the Daily Prophet's office, Hermione stops them before they walk out onto the open street.
" This contact is to stop the Daily Prophet in printing anything to do with Malfoy, Zabini and Nott's, with Skeeter most likely being the beetle earlier, she probably has enough information to print out some ridiculous article." Hermione explains to the two that were lost
" So we're getting her to sign a contact?" Theo asks
" No, we're going straight to Barnabas Cuffe, being the owner and editor, he controls what goes on the paper" Blaise answers
" So whatever Skeeter writes, he has the last word on what is printed" Hermione grins
" So how would we get Barnabas to sign it?" Draco says
" Barnabas is well aware that Skeeter is an unregistered animagus, I have been lenient in the years, and not reported her, I don't know why it didn't cross my mind when she reported that rubbish last time" Hermione frowns
" What she wrote got to us all, I forgot too" Blaise says putting a hand on her shoulder
" Yeah...so why go to the editor instead if she's the unregistered animagus?" Theo raises an eyebrow
" If we report Skeeter, the most she'd get is a couple of years in Azkaban and a fine, and then she'd be back out writing trash" Hermione explains
" But there's the thing with Barnabas, he knows about her animagus, he also is the one that tells her what happens in the ministry since he's the one with the connections, he's the one that sends her to these places and encourages her to use her animagus forms" Blaise continues
" And because of that, the law says that who harbours anyone that is doing something illegal is suggested as part of the crime. So with him knowing and encouraging her to do these things, he would also be in Azkaban for a few years. With it being so many years, his fine would also be huge, leaving the Daily Prophet to crumble, he would not have the company when he comes out, and if he were to be in Azkaban and released after a few years, he would not have the money to build it up." Hermione carries on the explanation
" He'd be too broke and no one would hire him in any newspaper company. No one would trust his word, not to mention a lot of people will be pissed as the stocks in the company would have plummeted" Blaise finishes with a grin that was pretty identical to the one on Hermione's face.
" But that won't stop Skeeter going to other papers" Theo points out
" Ahh, that's the fine print. If Barnabus signs the contract, it also seals her in not letting any information out, whatever she leaks out he will take full responsibility, which means it will break the contract if she did leak it out in other papers" Blaise says
" Evidently, once the contact breaks, she will be jailed anyway, and again, if that happens and she comes back out, with no Daily Prophet, no one will want to hire her as it will be known that it's mainly her words that ruined the company. No other paper would want to risk hiring her again" Hermione finishes.
The two men looked at them stunned for a second before Draco lips cracked into a wide grin.
" You thought of this when we were at the hospital?" He asks his wife
" Not all of it, when I texted Blaise, I only mentioned the animagus thing with Skeeter, and that we should aim Barnabas, Blaise was the one that remembered about the law on harbouring people that was to do with illegal crimes" She says, Draco looks between the two still grinning
" You two are masterminds" He says
" We know" Blaise and Hermione both said back together, the four had a small laugh before Theo spoke
" So, why am I and Draco here?"
" Oh, mostly to stand behind us and look intimidating, you know...be...Slytherin" Hermione smirks
" You want to basically bully him into signing the contract?" Draco gapes at her
" No, not bully. Intimidate! You guys don't have to say anything, just stand there and...glare at him or something, but not talk, Mia and I will do the talking" Blaise rolls his eyes
Draco and Theo both nodded and the four headed into the Daily Prophets office, many people were staring at them wondering what they were doing there. They had strode right past the receptionist and took the elevator to the top floor, not even glancing at a single person as the four walk towards the room at the back of the top floor, they ignored anyone who had shouted them to stop or tried to get in front of them, but they moved swiftly and dodged each person that was in their way. It wasn't long till Blaise opens the door with a slam, making the heads in the room turn at them in shock. To their surprise, Barnabus was tangled in between some short raven haired girl on his desk, the look on Draco and Blaise's face was priceless as they crinkled their nose in disgust, Theo kept a straight face staring at the man. The girl looked at them in horror and flushed with embarrassment, pushing the older man off her trying to fix her clothing, she rushes out the door pushing Hermione and Blaise out the way without a word.
" Well...I guess that could be another lawsuit" Blaise says raising an eyebrow at Hermione who still had a shocked expression on her face, 'young girl' was definitely the correct term, Hermione wasn't sure if she was even 16. Sickened by what she saw her face turned into a growl.
" What the fuck are you all doing here?" Barnabas yells at the four that was in the door way, his face still red, hair messed up with a bit of his shirt hanging out of his pants that he hadn't tucked in properly from the rush. Hermione storms into the office and slammed her hand on the table, making Barnabas jump back slightly.
" I should ask you, what the hell were you doing with that girl, how old was she?" She growls at him, Blaise had closed the door behind them and casted silencing spells, as Draco and Theo stand with their hands in their pockets watching them.
" That's none of your business! Again, what are you doing here?" He bellows
" It's none of my business yet!" She yells back
" Mia? Other matters first" Blaise says standing next to her.
Hermione looked over her shoulder and saw Draco and Theo were both standing behind them, making sure Barnabas had a clear view of either of them, both with their hands in their pockets, slightly slouching and with evil smirks on their faces. They both looked handsomely scary, their eyes glaring at Barnabus all the while. If Hermione hadn't turned back round quickly, she would have found herself with wobbly legs, just one look at Draco had made the butterflies in her stomach flutter wildly. The way his hair flopped over his eyes, and his face tilting slightly in a cocky way and his hands shoved in his pants pocket with the sleeves of his shirt rolled up just past his elbows. You could see the faded dark mark that was on both of the men's arms, whenever people caught sight of it they would fear them. Normally both Draco and Theo never liked showing it nor had they liked people fearing them because of it, but after so many years, with Hermione and the rest of the group accepting them and helping them get over their dark past, now it was just a mark to them.
They could hear Rita Skeeter pounding on the door outside. They knew that she had arrived to hand over her article for the evening print, but neither of them had moved and Rita had no idea what was happening inside the office. They were already explaining the contract and what they wanted and now they were just waiting for him to sign the contract.
" BARNABAS, OPEN THE DAMN DOOR, THIS WILL BE THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE EVENING PROHPET!" They hear her yelling
" Well Barnabas?" Blaise says raising an eyebrow at him
" I told you, I will not sign anything you give me" The man says firmly folding his arms
" Well we can do this the easy way, or the hard way" Hermione says, she was sitting opposite him behind the desk leaning back into the chair, purposely inching a bit to the side so that he could see Draco glaring at him
" Are you threatening me?" Barnabas growls at her, his eyes flickering between Draco and Theo
" Threatening is such a harsh word don't you think Mr. Cuffe. We have all day, we can wait" Blaise says smirking at him
" You think that threatening me with some law will make me sign a paper?" He snorts at them
" I don't think you know the extent of this 'law' Mr. Cuffe" Blaise says grinning, making the man more uncomfortable.
" We're not one of the best lawyers for no reason Barnabas. IF you don't sign it, we will go ahead and file the report and put a lawsuit in ourselves, and you know what will happen if we do that" Hermione smiles at him a sickeningly sweet way, ' Damn the woman is more Slytherin than she thinks' Draco thought to himself, he coughs to stop himself from laughing but only made Barnabas jump at the sound.
" So what? I'll get a fine, it's not like I can't afford it" He says back to her
" Oh but you see Mr. Cuffe, Hermione and I don't do things half way..." Blaise says rubbing his chin absent-mindedly, Barnabas looks at him with a look that was urging him to continue but Blaise lets the silence linger for a few more seconds making the man shift uncomfortably in his seat.
" When we work on a case, we will see it to the end, if we don't get a settlement which in this case for you to sign this contact, then we will take things up to court and we will make sure you and your reporter end up in Azkaban. We will make sure that the Daily Prophet will cease to exist, your precious baby Prophet will no longer be." Hermione continues her brother's sentence
" Just so you are aware...we have..." Blaise grins
" Never" His sister says standing up
" Lost a case" They both finished together, with Blaise standing right beside Hermione
Draco and Theo were amazed at how Hermione and Blaise was, they had been in the room for about an hour and neither of them has spoken, just as Blaise said. They had never witnessed either of them work before, apart from paper work but not a confrontation or doing the Lawyer thing. It was true, they had never heard either of them lose a case, it was why their firm got so popular in Italy, they were high on demand. Draco knew that they had work on big cases together, and he could see why now, the pair of them were like invincible, with Hermione being the front man explaining the facts and details, Blaise in the back pretty much doing the intimidating stance and spewing out information that would make the person squirm in their seat. He wasn't sure why they wanted him and Theo to come, they could clearly handle this themselves, but nevertheless, he was happy doing so.
Barnabas looked like he was deep in thought, and kept mumbling to himself, as he looked at the four individually, the girl looked bored and looking at her fingernails, Zabini looked like he was waiting for a reaction but his face was expressionless, just staring into space, the Malfoy was giving him dagger glares as was Nott. They could be bluffing, they may be bad lawyers but it would be stupid to even think that, the cleverest witch and wizard of their century was standing in his office. He had been backed into a corner and there was no way out, eyeing the contract that was in front of him, Blaise had seen it and pulled out a quill putting it next to the contract. He growls out loud and grabs the quill, signing the contact with such force that he could have torn it if it wasn't for Hermione's spell making it indestructible. As soon as he signs the contract it magically disappeared from under the quill. Blaise smiles picking up his quill and putting it back in his pocket.
" Glad you came to your senses" Hermione says giving him a very Malfoy smirk
" One more thing we should mention, if you break the contact, we will automatically know, the contact is not only magically bound but it's been set with an alarm, so as soon as it's breached we will have our documents all ready and lined up appeared in front of us, ready to take you to court. You will be arrested of breach of contract and that will be more years in Azkaban, on top of the other years for the crimes that we would definitely be putting on you" Blaise says straightening his jacket, the man behind the desk merely grunts a reply not looking at them.
" It as nice doing business with you Mr. Cuffe" Blaise says undoing the silencing spell
As Theo opens the door seeing a very angry reporter he sneers at her and walks pass, Rita's face dropped as soon as she saw each one of them stroll out her bosses office, Draco ignored the woman while Hermione eyes her up and down and smirks, Blaise leaving the door open for her after greeting the woman " Ms Skeeter" with a slight bow but a grin that made her shiver.
Everyone in the office was quiet watching the four leave, not far from the lift they could hear Rita screaming, just before the lift door closes they hear the woman shriek " WHAT? THEY DID WHAT?" The four each had a satisfied grin on their faces as the lift door closed.
Getting back to Nott Manor, Draco decided to be the one to explain what had happened beaming with pride of his wife and friend's work, leaving nothing out. Blaise and Hermione shrugs it off mentioning that it was just how they work, but everyone else was patting them on the back and showing how saying how proud they were off the pair. They decided to have lunch before visiting Narcissa, they had all decided to go hoping that she would be released from 's. Their plans were changed as Harry texted Hermione asking her and Draco to go to the office, instead of seeing the woman out of hospital, the others went while the couple head to the ministry.
Being alone properly for the first time of the day, they sat in the waiting room waiting for Harry to collect them.
" You know, I knew you and Blaise were excellent lawyers, but seriously, you guys were amazing!" Draco smiles at his wife, entwining their hands together.
" We try" Hermione says leaning her head on his shoulder
" I don't even know why you wanted us there, it seemed like you guys had this bad cop good cop thing going on already" He said leaning his head on hers, she chuckles at his reply
" Bad cop, good cop? I don't think neither of us were good or bad really. One thing about Lawyers is the more intimidating you are, the more the opposing client will be likely to fall" She says
" So you're evil lawyers then huh?" Draco jokes
" No! I am not evil, but he is definitely not good, I just wanted to get out of that dingy office as soon as possible" She replies sitting up
" I'm joking love, I know you're not evil and a brilliant lawyer. I remember you turning away many cases because you found them to be bad and only wanted to help the good cases" He smiles pulling her back into him which she instinctively puts her arms around his waist
They sat in silence for a while waiting for Harry, just being together they were forgetting the world outside. Being in each others arms and taking the comfort from one another, they wanted to forget what was happening, the thought of Narcissa being in St Mungos and the thought of Lucius missing was pushed back in their minds. It didn't last long when Harry walked in on the two, a tinge of pink rose on his cheeks as he coughs for their attention then leading them into his office.
After taking their seats Harry decided to tell them the news that he had found.
" The hand that the forensics examined is definitely Lucius Malfoy's left hand. Unfortunately the person or people that had left the hand there had left no magical traces or fingerprints. We did find that Lucius ring had some tissue samples, he must have gotten into a fight with them physically before...anything happened. How they got into Malfoy Manor, as you know your wards only allow Malfoy blood and those that you change the wards for, the hand was...still fresh, they calculated that it being about 15mins before leaving it in the scene, they had used Mr. Malfoy's hand to get into the house, with the blood still fresh enough they managed to pass the wards. The tissue sample was also examined and this is the document for who it belongs to" Harry explains sliding the folder in front of the two.
Hermione's face was pale, she felt her stomach wanted to throw everything she ate back out, she looks at her husband who was staring at the folder in front of the, their hands still entwined holding tightly. She made no move to opening the file, and stares at her husband. His expression was blank, she watched as he held his breath and used his free hand to flip over the folder. They both bent over slightly to see who it was, the eyes on them nearly bulging out. A picture was clipped to the corner of the pages. They didn't have to read who it was, they both knew well.
Bellatrix LeStrange
Draco had opened his mouth a few times and shutting it as no words came out, Hermione felt dizzy and leaned back onto the chair for support. Harry had been watching the two of them the whole time and he knew that they would be shocked, he was just as surprised when he saw the file. As far as the wizarding world knew, Bellatrix LeStrange was dead, she had died many years ago during the war by the hands of Molly Weasley.
" Are...are you...absolutely certain?" Draco says in a very low tone, the shock on his face was gone, ad was now replaced with pure anger
" Yes, I had them test it twice because I wasn't certain myself, that's why the report took so long" Harry nods at them
" How...how...?" Hermione couldn't finish her sentence, just looking at the picture floods back all the memories, she rubs her sleeve where the scar was on her arm, Harry winces remembering back and tries not to let the memories get to him. Draco quickly closes the file and puts an arm around his wife
" We don't know...she must have survived during the war" Harry says
" This is not possible! She's dead, she died!" Draco growls, with his arms still around his wife
" We know, but she must have survived! That's the only explanation!" Harry raises his voice, but seeing the two Malfoy's in front of them, both with sadness and anger, he immediately felt guilt.
" I'm really sorry, but we are looking into it, her husband Rodolphus LeStrange is still in Azkaban and we're questioning him later today, hopefully we can get some location information that he may know about or some old manors,homes, etcetera" Harry says
" I know off some" Draco says quickly, Harry looks up at him and mentally kicks himself in not thinking of it before, Draco was Bellatrix's nephew, of course he would know some locations. Pulling out a parchment and quill he nods at the blonde to continue
" There's the manor in France in Cherbourg by the coast of the sea, a mansion in Cotswold, and a manor in the states, Texas I believe." Draco counts with his hand, Harry nods while writing everything down.
" Do you know the addresses?" He asks not looking up from the parchment
" No, I only ever got there by side-along apparation, I can ask my mother though" He replies back, Harry nods again at his response.
" They had or may still have wards up, I wouldn't know I'm afraid" Draco adds to his statement.
" That's okay for now, we need to find their addresses first, I'm personally going to be there questioning Rodolphus so I'll see what I can get out of them" Harry sighs
" If there's nothing else Potter, I'm going to take my wife home" Draco says, Hermione was still leaning into him hiding her head in the crook of his neck. Harry nods in reply not saying anything and stands up, Draco takes Hermione gently, letting her use him as a support walking to the door, Just before they step out of the office Hermione looks at Harry with tears in her eyes " Catch the bitch Harry, I don't care how you get her, just catch her!"
" I will Hermione" He replies looking at her straight in the eye.
" And Harry..." Her face softens
" Even though none of us our friends any more, I'm grateful that you are doing this...so thank you..and your team, for all your hard work" She says with a small smile, and turns back round leaning onto her husband giving him the cue to take their leave.
Arriving back at Nott Manor, the others had already came back from St. Mungo's including Narcissa. They didn't tell the others anything that happened at the ministry as the children were still awake. They could see that Draco and Hermione were both looking distraught and on edge, they hadn't spoken much. Draco wanted his wife to get some rest after the news but she insisted that she was fine and she wanted to spend time around the children as Scorpius was leaving for Hogwarts the next day. As much as Scorpius protested in the matter, they believed that it was best that he went off to school with the other two as it is still known to be as the safest place. They didn't want their son to endure any more drama than he already had. Draco had went back to the manor and packed some of their things and Scorpius's trunk, they had decided to stay with the Nott's for a while, seeing as neither of the Malfoy's wanted to go back yet.
While the children were asleep, Draco told the rest of them what they found out at the ministry, Hermione hadn't said anything the whole time, he had caught her rubbing her arm a few times as he mentioned his aunt. Narcissa nearly fainted again but kept herself from doing so, hearing that her sister was still alive had brought more of a shock to her, she remembered what Hermione went through and she had regretted not doing anything about it it before, now the woman had her husband, She didn't know what to think but to hold onto Hermione, while the two women held onto each other the others remained silent. Unfortunately, Narcissa was unable to tell them the locations of the places as she had never really been close with Bellatrix. Narcissa took it upon herself to tell everyone to get to bed, deciding that it was best to get some sleep for the night since they were all going to see the boys off to Hogwarts,
Lying next to each other, both were still awake, Hermione snuggled to her husband while he had his arms around her, holding her tightly. Neither of them could sleep, with the memories off the day flooding through their head, both feared on what Bellatrix was doing or have done to Lucius.
Harry had arrived home late once again, the children were asleep already. He knew that Ginny was still awake, the kitchen light was still on. As he walks in, he finds that she was not alone, sitting opposite her on the table her and Ron were talking in hushed tones. The two red heads look up at the door way as he walks in and slumps in one of the chairs.
" You're late...again" Ginny snaps
" Yes I know that Gin, I had a lot of work to do" He sighs taking off his glasses to rub his eyes
" Why were you questioning Rodolphus today?" Ron asks
" How did you know about that?" Harry snaps his head up looking at him
" I went the office today to find you but you weren't there, and over heard one of the Auror's talking" He says
" It's just a general questioning" Harry replies not showing any expression on his face
" Does this has anything to do with Hermione's case?" Ron growls at him, he wasn't use to Harry not telling him anything
" If it was, it's nothing to do with you Ron" Harry sighs again
" Harry, you will be taking the kids to the train station tomorrow right? Because I won't be there to drop them off" He heard his wife said
" What do you mean you won't be there? Why don't you want to be there?" Harry questions her
" I'm going out-of-town for a week with Lacey" She replies back
" What for? Why leave tomorrow? You know how important it is for the kids for us to be there?" Harry was annoyed at his wife
" I don't think they'd mind, I already told them and I've been there every year, one year is not a big deal, besides you haven't been home much lately to spend time with the kids so don't go yelling at me for missing one their journeys" Ginny snaps back at him
" You still haven't told me where you're going" Harry clenches his teeth
" If you must know, we're going to a spa in Wales" She bites back
" A spa? How did you get the money for that?" Harry says staring straight into his wife's eyes
" Stop interrogating my sister! She's just going to relax, she has the kids all the time, you're never around!" Ron shouts at him angrily
" Has the kids? The kids are always at Molly's, the only time they're here is after 7pm, when it's dinner, and even then sometimes they just stay at Molly's!" Harry retorts
" How would you even know, you're hardly around Harry" Ginny yells
" You know what, I don't care what you do. I'll be taking the kids to the station." Harry says and heads up to bed.
He really didn't have the energy to deal with both of them at the same time, it was a losing battle since Ron was clearly taking his sister's side. He did feel guilty that he hadn't been spending time with the children, but even when they were there at the evening when he gets home, Ginny never really spent time with the kids, she would normally be sitting there reading another fashion magazine, he at least took the time to talk to his children. With Bellatrix on the scene he had worked none stop and it looked like he would not be having much time for a while, he was glad that his children were heading to Hogwarts the next day, at least they will be safe. Mentally cursing himself once again for not remembering to check his bank at gringotts, no doubt that the spa Ginny was going to was an expensive one. She had taken trips to spa's in the past, but normally when the children had already left to Hogwarts. He still can't stop thinking that if Hermione never came back, none of this would have happened, but none the less, he had a job to do. Hermione is no longer part of his life and he has accepted that now, all this is to him is a case and she just happens to be part of it.
The day for the children to go to Hogwarts has arrived, the three families make their way onto platform 9¾, the adults had all been trying to make the day as normal as possible for the kids, but none of the children were happy. Neither of them wanted to leave, with everything that's going on they felt helpless. Hermione saw Harry with his children on the far end of the platform, she wondered why Ginny was nowhere to be seen. She brushes it off and turns her attention back to Scorpius.
" You'll have a great time in Hogwarts Scorpy, just don't get into too much trouble" She smiles at him opening her arms for a hug
" I don't want to go mum" He frowns, stubbornly folding his arms showing no sign of accepting the hug
" Listen champ, I know you want to help, but the thing is, we're just as helpless. It's better if you went and its a lot safer" Draco crouches down to speak to his son
" I know...I'm going to miss you both" He sighs and hugs them both
" We're going to miss you too Scorpy" Hermione says tearing up
" I want to go to Hogwarts too!" Cassie pouts, Johnson and Terry right beside her
" I know sweetie, but you'll get to go next year" Her mum says putting a hand on her shoulder
" I'll write to you everyday Cass" Scorpius says to his pouting sister
" You better" She huffs at him, but lets her brother pull her into a hug
" We'll walk you three to the door" Draco says
The group all head to the door and gave more hugs and kisses to the three boys. All saying their goodbyes, Scorpius being the last to get on, as one of his foot step onto the train they all hear someone yelling from across the platform.
" HERMIONE!...HERMIONE!" Turning their heads round they see Ron barging through everyone, pushing people aside.
Everything went in slow motion, Ron had pushed the Auror's aside, but didn't see the little girl, from a split second, Johnson jumped to try and get to the girl but he was too late. Screams were heard but not as loud as the little girl who cried loudly into the air.
" CASSIEE!" Hermione screams throwing herself onto the floor
Cassie had fallen between the train and the platform, everyone rushed to look over and saw the little blonde girl mangled on the train tracks, Squashed between the train and the platform she was unconscious. Johnson and Terry had sprung into action, Terry holding onto Ron who was pale and had fear was in his eyes. Johnson was lying down on the floor trying to reach the girl. The other adults were in hysterics, people on the platform all gasped and didn't know what to do, standing there staring at the situation. Harry had rushed over trying to figure out a solution.
" Someone tell the train driver to NOT start the engine!" Harry yells, there was no need telling them twice, Trenton had already started running to find the driver.
" CASSIE, CASSIE, PLEASE SPEAK TO ME!" Hermione cries,
Draco was in tears and turns to see Ron, Terry didn't make any move to stop him as Draco throws a punch towards him.
" WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE YOU FUCKING BASTARD!?" Draco yells, his face was scrunched in anger with tears streaming down his face
" LEVITATE! SOMEONE LEVITATE HER!" Hermione yells, she knew she couldn't do it herself as she was shaking too much
Johnson quickly pulled out his wand and concentrated hard, levitating the bloodied girl up, he eyes were filling with tears as they all watch the girl float up, trying not to let the tears blur his vision he levitates her limp body over to the platform, no one could tell if she was still alive or not.
As he laid her down gently onto the platform, Hermione and Draco rushed to her side, Harry had already called several Auror's and healers, the Auror's had gotten there first, they were crowd controlling everyone else.
" Oh god...oh god..." Hermione still crying slumped next to her daughter's body
" MOVE OUT MY WAY!" They hear Astoria pushing an Auror away
" Lady!" An Auror yells
" SHE'S A FUCKING HEALER, LET HER THROUGH!" Draco yells at them.
Astoria rushes to the body and started immediately casting spells, the Auror's was holding back Blaise and Theo who were trying to lunge towards Ron who was still held tightly in place by Terry. Scorpius was being held back by Trenton and Parker, Narcissa and Matalia was crying in each other's arms as Pansy was holding Clayton close to her who were both in tears. Hermione sprung up pointing her wand at Ron who was still being held by Terry.
" You...you...you did this to her! YOU DID THIS TO MY LITTLE GIRL!" She yells at him, her hand still shaking.
" Hermione, please put your wand down" Harry says trying to lower her wand with his hand
" If she dies, I will kill you Weasley! I will kill you myself!" She sobs, her hand still pointing her wand to him
" I...I..." Ron stutters, not knowing what to say
" Hermione please...put your wand down" Harry pleads, slowly, Hermione lowers her arm but in a second her fist collided into his face and another one across. Harry pulls her back gently, she struggles hard against his grasp but stopped as soon as she hears a familiar voice.
" She needs to get to St Mungo's!" Astoria yells, her hand was also shaking, unable to perform a lot of the spells, Hermione rushes back to Draco's side, both looking at their daughter with fear of losing her.
" The healers are on their way" Harry calls out who was standing by Ron, looking frantic
" THERE'S NO TIME, SHE'S IN CRITICAL CONDITION, SHE NEEDS TO GO NOW OR SHE'LL DIE" Astoria cries
" I'll take her" Draco says picking his daughter up
" GO!" Hermione and Harry both yell out, he didn't hear them as he was out in a crack
Johnson pulled Hermione to him and apparated to St Mungo's straight after. Astoria decided to immediately leave as soon as Hermione went in hope to be able to help the other healers. None of them saw a red-headed woman behind a pillar watching the whole scene.
" Shit..." She mutters and apparates away.
Harry had taken Ron back to the office, Terry had went to St Mungo's as the rest of the Auror dealt with the over math on platform 9 ¾.
" WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING RON?" He grabs Ron's collar pulling him to his face, he had a black eye, swollen cheek and a cut lip from the hits that Draco and Hermione had given him
"..I...I...was...I...was trying to get to Hermione" He stutters a reply, Harry wanted to punch him himself but held himself back.
" YOU SHOVED A CHILD OVER YOU IMBECILE" Harry yells, throwing Ron into a chair
" It was an accident, I didn't see her!" Ron cries
" YOU FUCKING MORON! YOU KNOCKED OVER SOMEONE ONTO THE TRAIN TRACKS!" Harry looks at him angrily, just then the door slams open and Kingsley stomps in.
" WHAT WERE YOU DOING THERE WEASLEY?" He yells at him angrily
" I...was trying to find Hermione" Ron whimpers at his presence
" YOU'VE INJURED A LITTLE GIRL, HOW DO YOU THINK THIS LOOKS?" Kinglsey was yelling so loud that the whole department could hear, Harry glares at his friend waiting for an answer.
" I...I didn't mean to...it was an accident...Please sir, I really didn't mean to" Ron begs
" YOU ARE HERE BY FIRED! AND YOU WILL BE DETAINED FOR FUTHER QUESTIONING" Kingsley shouts at the man
" But...but...it was an accident, I really didn't mean to! Please..." Ron starts to cry
" ACCIDENT? YOU ARE AN ADULT! YOU SHOULD KNOW BETTER TO RUN AND SHOVE PEOPLE ON A FUCKING TRAIN PLATFORM" Kinsley screams at him making Ron cower
" I...didn't push that hard...it was really an accident, I didn't mean to...she was too close to the edge...it wasn't my fault" Ron pleads on his knees
"ARE YOU EVEN FUCKING LISTENING TO YOURSELF? YOU'LL BE GETTING A LAW SUIT! THE MALFOY AND ZABINI'S WILL NOT LET THIS GO. YOU'VE ONE HANDEDLY RUINED THE AUROR'S DEPARTMENT'S IMAGE." Kingsley yells
" I swear...I didn't see her...she's so small..." Ron cries
" FUCKING GET HIM OUT OF MY SIGHT!" Kingsley yelled, as two Aurors was outside came in and cuffed Ron, dragging him out the room.
At St Mungo's, the three families were all sat in the waiting room, Hermione holding onto Scorpius crying with Draco wrapped around them both, Matalia and Narcissa sat next to each other sniffling, Blaise and Pansy holding their hands with Clayton on her lap and Trention by his dad, Theo sitting next to his son, Astoria was assisting in surgery. Johnson was sitting down far from the others with his head in his hands while Terry was standing by the door, staring out the pane glass at the red glow above the surgery door. Only the sounds of sobs could be heard.
After hours of waiting Astoria and the surgeon comes out, Terry first to notice bolts out the room as the others follow. The group all stare at the two healers in front of them, waiting for someone to speak.
" Mr and Mrs Malfoy?" The surgeon says
" Yes!" They both replied quickly taking a step forward
" Your daughter's alive..." A huge sigh of relieve was heard from the group altogether
" She's alive but she's in a coma, she's no longer critical. There had been several broken bones, but with the impact of the fall, I'm afraid she had hit her head on the metal of the train track, she lost a lot of blood. We can't say when she will wake up, and we don't know how well her brain will function until she awakens" The man says
" What...what do you mean? You mean she may not wake up? What do you mean by her brain not functioning?" Hermione cries grabbing onto the man's arm
" I'm sorry , there is no way to find out if she'll wake from the coma, and with the impact of the hit, if she wakes, she may have some mental injury, there's a possibility of memory loss." He explains
" Oh god..." Hermione cries, feeling weak, she falls as Draco catches her in his arms
" There's NOTHING we can do? NOTHING? All the magic in the world, and NOTHING?" Draco yells at the man
" I'm so sorry Mr. Malfoy, there's nothing else we can do unless she wakes up" He said sympathetically
" Can..we see her?" Hermione sniffs holding onto her husband
" She'll be taken to her own room in the children wards, Astoria will be able to take you" He nods at his assistant, who had tears streaming down her face.
When they first laid their eyes on the little girl, each and every one of them started crying again, including Johnson and Terry with silent tears in the background. She had bruises and scrapes everywhere, covered in bandages in many places. Laying still and only seeing her chest rise and fall gently. Hermione and Draco stayed, with Johnson and Terry standing outside the door, the rest of family had been told to go home, Scorpius was staying with Blaise and Pansy. Hermione was holding onto Cassie's hand while Draco had his arm around his wife, sitting in silence, both staring at their daughter in hope that she'll open her eyes. The door opens gently and they watch Johnson walking in with his head down, he walks up to them both and looks up slowly, his face distraught and in pain.
" I'm so sorry Mr and Mrs Malfoy. I really tried to catch her...I...I wasn't fast enough, I'm so sorry I failed you." He said, his voice cracking and holding back tears
" Andrew, it's not your fault. We don't blame you. We know how close you and Cassie had gotten, she has taken a shine to you. We're very grateful that you were there" Hermione looks at the man who was openly crying in front of them.
" Yes, you did the best you could, and you were brilliant, you were the one that managed to levitate her up. Don't beat yourself up Johnson. We couldn't have asked for a better bodyguard for her" Draco says, he stood up and pat the man on the shoulder, seeing the Auror cry had started him crying again. The Auror looked at the two and nodded before walking out the room.
Draco looks at Hermione who launched herself into his arms, sobbing hard into his chest, he wraps his arms around her holding her tight.
" Shh...she'll be okay..." More sobs come from his wife " Shh...our angel is strong, she'll get through this" He says softly, as the tears stroll down his cheek
" I..don't...know...if...I...can...handle..any...more" Hermione says between the sobs
" She'll be okay, she'll be okay" Draco repeats
" First Lucius...now...Cas...Cassie.." She cried into his chest, he didn't know what to say and continued to stroke his wife's hair
" We...shouldn't have come back.." He hears her cry, he silently agreed, trying to comfort his wife.
No one slept that night, Draco and Hermione had stayed all night by their daughter's side.
The red-haired woman growls, she was furious, this was not supposed to happen. Pacing back and forth in the little room, she had rented a room in the Leaky cauldron for the few days. Glancing at the bottle that was on the table she frowns and goes back to pacing. The idiot had to do something drastic, all he had to do was get her away and he screwed that up! She needed to come up with another plan, and fast. Feeling angry and frustrated she throws herself onto the bed and lay thinking of another solution to her problem.
No changes happened for the next couple days, Cassie was stable but still unconscious, Hermione and Draco had taken turns in staying the night. The three families had decided that the boys were still better to go to Hogwarts, there were many objections and complaints from the three but finally gave in, promising that they will be contacted every day to let them know how Cassie was doing and anything about Lucius. Harry hadn't gotten further with the case on finding Bellatrix, Rodolphus wouldn't give up any information. Ron had been let go off the 24 hour arrest, after the press splashing out that he had knocked a little girl onto the train tracks (without naming who the girl was or the family members) he had avoided his parents, Lacey had broken up with him but it wasn't known to public yet, with his popularity dropping because of the incident, she no longer was interested, much to Harry's knowledge that Lacey wasn't in the country anyway, Ron was staying at Grimmauld place in hiding. That morning an owl had came for Ron, he recognised the writing straight away, not telling Harry where he was going he headed to the Leaky cauldron.
" I told you to get her away from the platform not knock over a child you moron!" Ginny says angrily
" It was an ACCIDENT Gin!" He yells, he was getting really pissed off with the amount of people yelling at him, he didn't mean for it to happen, he really didn't see the girl.
" You ruined my original plan!" She yells back
" What was your original plan?" He asks raising an eyebrow
" I was there, I was hiding behind a pillar waiting for you to grab her away, I have a polyjuice potion that I was going to take and take her place" She explains " Now it's all ruined!"
" Where did you get the polyjuice potion from?" He questions her
" I bought it from knockturn alley" She snaps
" You went to that area? Are you nuts?" He yells
" It doesn't matter, I don't know what else to do, I didn't want a child to be hurt" Ginny says slumping in a chair
" It's only a Malfoy brat, she's not important" He sniffs
" She's still a child!" Ginny snaps at him
" Yeah well, one less Malfoy to worry about" He mumbles
" I know I hate them but still, she was in a real bad state Ron" Ginny retorts
" Look, I don't care! I've lost my job, Lacey's left me, I haven't seen anyone these few days because I know they all hate me now, I just want to get Hermione back! She's the only thing I have left" He shoots up from the bed yelling at her, Ginny stares at his brother, face all red and fists clenched. She looks away and closes her eyes, taking a few deep breaths, trying to clear her mind, then snapping her eyes open at her brother,
" Okay! Maybe we can still do this. If I know anything about Hermione, she's probably with her daughter at St Mungo's pretty much 24-7, here's what you'll do..."
Don't worry I promised two chapters at a time, I'm posting the other one later today.
Thank you for all the reviews, it's wonderful to read them all :)
I personally want to thank these people as they have reviewed since the beginning and has stuck reviewing pretty much every chapter:- Modges Much love and your words are appreciated x
shaymars
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