It's good to be back! I've gotten a lot of welcome backs and feelings about the new chapter, which is great, and...I'm sorry. :) It'll all be fixed soon. And Happy late New Year, BTW.
Previously:
"Mr. Potter, you gotta come quick. Mrs. Malfoy, she-she suddenly got all her memories back, and we have no idea why. We didn't do it."
"There's a problem, sir. She incapacitated everyone in the room with wandless magic and then disappeared. Two of them are dead." His face grew even more grim. "Then she...she took her daughter and left her husband to die after hexing him."
Two Weeks Later
Draco ran his hands through his hair as he watched a new spell of his run across a map of the world. He wasn't confident though. Hermione had only gotten more clever with age, and with the no humanity on her side, she wouldn't be found without wanting to be found.
The map fizzled and then burst into flames, causing him to groan and extinguish the flames with his wand. He pushed the burnt paper off the table and thumped his head on the table. The action caused him to wince as the spell that Hermione had used on him was bone-deep and still hadn't healed. He rubbed his side absently as he stared off. A knock on the door jolted him out of the trance, and he looked up to see Harry watching him with that look people get. That pitying look they get as they try to treat you normally. He glared at the dark-haired man. "No pity. Any news?" Harry shook his head and came to sit down. He watched as Draco absently touched his wound again.
"Reminds me of Hogwarts. When I hit you with that Sectumsempra spell." Draco scoffed and leaned back.
"Yeah, this was worse. No offense." Harry nodded.
"None taken. Listen...Draco, you've pretty much spent the past two weeks looking for Hermione. Your daughter needs you. Your family misses you. We miss you. You need to take a break or you're gonna collapse."
Draco sighed. "I know. I just...I feel like if I stop, I'm giving up on her. Hermione's still in there, I know, just under some sort of curse brought on by getting her memories back. I just..have to figure out how to break it. It would be easier with Hermione of course," he muttered.
Harry smiled. "You'll figure it out. Now come on. Eat with us at Molly's tonight, see your daughter. Shower maybe," he joked, standing up and waiting for Draco expectantly. Slowly, the blond stood up, gathering his things and the two moved towards the Floo portals.
Arriving at the Weasley's house, Draco was greeted by a blond tornado as his daughter tackled him with a shout and a hundred questions about her mom and where he'd been. Molly pulled him away with a hug, but no prying, and handed him clean clothes. "Shower dear, then hurry back. Supper's almost done."
He took the clothes from her with a mock frown. "Why does everyone think I need to shower?"
"Because you do!" Ron called.
As the family sat down to eat, there was a raucous din as everyone talked over each other, chattering about both everyday things and more serious matters, such as Hermione's disappearance. Slowly the children and younger people left to play, and the adults gathered to talk about what had happened.
"So, as soon as she got her memories back, she became this...whole other person. She hexed everyone around her, then Apparated. Out of the most heavily enchanted places in the Wizarding World," Ron said. "I still don't understand that part, even though it's Hermione." Draco rested his head on his hands.
"Yeah, same here. Apparation is impossible, getting her memories back all of the sudden was impossible, none of this should be happening." He sat up, frustrated. "There has got to be some explanation to what happened."
"But no one alive after the attack knew anything, saw anything," Harry said. Draco nodded. Then a thought struck him.
"Maybe that was their plan. Whoever put that curse on her didn't want any witnesses."
"Well, that would be the most practical thing to do," Ginny said. "But that one Healer that came and found you, he saw what happened. Right?" The adults sat in silence for several minutes and Draco felt his eyes drooping and he put his head down on the table. The next thing he knew, Harry was moving him to a bed in the spare room, and he was sleeping.
The next morning, he dragged himself out of bed. had breakfast with his family, trying to seem like he wasn't in a hurry. Then he left, saying goodbyes, peeling his daughter away from him and Apparating back to his house. There he began work again.
The cycle repeated for the next two weeks after this. Draco worked day and night on spells, investigating and research. Every few days he, went to see his daughter and ate with Harry's family. It took a month before they found something.
Harry burst in the door and yelled for Draco, who Apparated down in a flash, scaring Harry senseless. "Oh, for the love of-"
"Did you find something?" Draco demanded, cutting him off. Harry recovered and nodded.
"They figured out how to undo Frank's memory loss."
The two of them appeared at the Ministry in a burst of green smoke and Draco lept out of the fireplace, hurrying down the hall. Several wizards had Frank restrained to a table in a observational room. He was being fed a potion through a tube down his throat and after swallowing it, he convulsed, then fell unconscious. Draco was tense as he watched them revive him and begin to question him. After a minute, they Stupefied him and then looked up and nodded to the two Aurors.
Later, a still bound Frank was brought before the two men. Draco smiled, an old Draco smirk from Hogwarts time. "Hi Frank." The American growled at him.
"I'll never tell you anything, Malfoy."
"Sure you will. You wanna know why? In restoring your memories, we didn't replace the block you had in your mind. And now-" he held up a small vial. "You will tell us all you know." Harry helped him administer the Veritaserum to the criminal, and they sat back down, watching his face become more dreamy as the potion affected him. Harry smiled.
"So, Frank, what sort of memory charm did you put on Hermione?"
"I modified a Oblivious spell. Added some other components so that when she regained her memories, she would escape wherever she was at the time, and go to the designated place in her mind."
Draco clenched his jaw. "And where is this place?"
"I don't know," Frank said. He looked at Draco. "I was never told." Draco stood up.
"You have a partner. Who are they?" he demanded. Frank laughed.
"He is-"
The room exploded and dust and mortar flew around them, knocking the three to the ground. Draco slowly pulled himself up, the ringing in his ears subsiding to bring in the sounds of people screaming around him, and Harry pulling him to his feet. He looked around wildly, then moved across to retrieve Frank, who was groggy and still restrained. Pulling up the man, he dragged him out, followed by Harry. Both men drew their wands and looked around. Draco shook Frank. "Is this part of the plan? Are these your friends?" Frank laughed again and shook his head.
"This...is your friend."
Draco felt dread creep into his bones. He looked up, and he saw her. Hermione moving towards them through the dust and smoke. He grabbed at Harry. "Potter..." Harry's expression was equally horrified. He moved towards his friend.
" 'Mione, it's me, Harry."
Hermione looked blankly at him. "I know your name." She brushed past him and stopped at seeing Draco. "You're alive."
Draco scoffed. "Yeah, sorry about that." He grabbed her arm as she tried to move past him. "Hermione, what are you doing? If you know who we are, you have to know this is wrong." His wife pulled away from him.
"I. Don't. Care." She reached out for Frank, and then jerked forward and collapsed. Harry stood behind her, wand outstretched and a remorseful look on his face.
"Sorry, Hermione, but...this isn't you," he said. Draco knelt down next to her, brushing the hair out of her face.
"We'll figure out what happened to you, love." He suddenly remembered how that would happen, and he lept up, looking around for Frank. He was gone.
Then he saw him. Scurrying away amid the commotion. He yelled after him, but it was too loud for anyone to hear him. He started after him, wand drawn, jumping over rubble and brushing past people. Frank was almost to the Floo portals when a figure came in through the green fireplaces and grabbed Frank. Before Draco could react, he cut the American's throat and dropped him. Then he stepped back into the portal and disappeared.
Draco was aware he screamed. Now all he felt was crushing rage at the last chance to fix his wife being dead. He reached Frank's body and turned him over, trying to resuscitate him, to no avail. A hand came down on his shoulder and Harry crouched down next to him, his face worried. "Hermione's with some healers, you should probably see one too. There's nothing you can do about this, Draco." Draco didn't move.
"I should be able to," he said, still crouched. "Why can't I figure this out?" He rubbed his head and looked up at Harry. "She's my wife, and...this whole time, I haven't been able to do anything." Harry dropped back down to sit besides Draco.
"Draco Malfoy. You are not giving up on anything here. You are one of the smartest people I have ever met. After Hermione, of course," he added. "If anyone can figure it out, it's you." Draco smiled.
"Yeah." Then he stood up. "I'll figure out what it is. Somehow." He helped Harry to his feet and the two stood side by side for a second. Then the blond turned to his friend. "I want to see her."
Draco sat by his wife's bedside, studying her face, waiting for her to wake up. She had been restrained, and a magical damper put around her, weakening her abilities. Personally, he despised the method, but for now, it was a necessary evil. He leaned back and closed his eyes with a groan. Then he heard her stir. He sat up quickly and motioned to a Healer outside the door. The tow watched the witch apprehensively and she opened her eyes and tried to sit up, being jerked back by her restraints. She tugged at them and looked up at them angrily. "Release me. Now." Draco's shoulders sagged. Foolishly, he'd hoped she'd awaken back to her old self, memories back and all. No such luck.
"That's not going to happen, Hermione. Not until we've undid whatever Frank and his...cohorts did to you."
She sighed. "Not going to happen. What they did you'll never figure out."
"Hermione." Draco leaned forward. "If you know they did something to you, how can you be on their side, brainwashing or no? They took away your memories in the first place, they made you hurt and kill people!"
Hermione was unimpressed. "I just don't care, Draco. All I know is I'm their ally and I'm fine with that." She tugged at her restraints again. "Just let me go."
Draco closed his eyes. "No. So, you have all your memories back?" She groaned and thumped down.
"Yes. All the missing 12 years, all the years before that, blah blah blah. How much longer are we gonna keep doing this?"
"Until you're better," Ginny said from the doorway, causing the tow to look at her. The redhead came around and placed a hand on Draco's shoulder. "Harry filled me in. It's good to have you back, Hermione. Well, good you're back, not good you're evil."
The other witch raised a brow. "Really? I'm shocked you think that," she said dryly. She looked back to Draco. "You gonna parade all my friends in front of me in hopes of a big breakthrough?"
Draco sighed. "No." He stood up. "C'mon, Ginny. Let's go." He looked back to his wife. "We'll leave the healing to the Healers."
Outside the room, he sagged against the wall and shut his eyes. Ginny came up next to him. "You okay?" He nodded.
"Sort of. It's agonizing to see her like this, even worse than when she didn't recognize me."
Ginny sighed. "Yeah, I know. But they'll fix her. And you can help. You're a very smart wizard, Draco, and you can't give up now."
"Why does everyone keep telling me that?" Draco wondered. "I'm not giving up on her. She's my wife. I'll never stop trying, but...I just feel like the universe is laughing at me. Draco Malfoy, ex-Death Eater, trying to be a good guy." He stood up. "I just have too much bad karma in the way." Ginny sighed.
"I know it feels that way, Draco. Listen, go home. Get some sleep and see your daughter, tell you found her mum, and that she's sick right now. Go be a dad and take a load off, Draco. In the morning, you can start again."
The next morning, Draco found something. He was at his house, going through old spell books on memory loss and mind control. Besides the Unforgivables, which hadn't been used, there weren't many. So he was pursuing a tome, Controlling and Shaping the Mind, a very small, old book from his family house, he came across a passage.
"...The person affected by this spell shall be rendered to the caster's will for a destined amount of time or until the spell is broken. Under this spell, the person will become like their controller in mannerisms, speech and actions as they are completely stripped of free will and personality."
Draco stood frozen for minute, everything connecting in his mind. Then he ran out of the study, holding the book and to the fireplace, Flooing as fast as he cold to the Ministry.
Arriving, he ran down the halls to Harry's office, where he burst in and waved the book, talking too loud and too fast to be understood. Harry came over and hushed him, looking hopeful, and Draco showed him the passage and the spell. Harry's face brightened and he hugged Draco. "This is great! Now what's the counterspell?" Draco flipped through the book, growing more and more worried.
"I-I don't understand. They mention a counterspell in the verse." Harry took the book from him and looked also.
"Nothing. Maybe there's a second volume? Or a companion?" he asked hopefully. Draco shook his head dejectedly.
"No. This is the only one. I remember Father telling me it was so rare because it was the only book the author ever wrote and there were only two copies produced." He looked up excitedly. "Harry...if we find out who had the other book, we know who the other man working with Frank is! Dangerous books like these have to be registered through the Ministry." Harry nodded.
"Alright, I'll look it up! Who's the...author," his voice trailed off as a look came over his face. Draco frowned.
"Harry?"
The dark-haired man grabbed him again. "Draco. If we find the author as well, they can tell us the countercurse! We can cure Hermione!" He went back to the first few pages of the book. "Who is the author? S.L. Guiseppee." He beamed. "Alright, you find the author, I'll find the other book's owner. Draco, this is it! You found it!" He ran out, leaving Draco, standing there, joy and a feeling of overwhelming shock pouring over him. He was gonna get his wife back and catch the monster who had done this all in the first place.
Well, here you go. This chapter was a little rushed. A little strange. I hope it solved your frustrations, though. And hey, no BAD cliffhangers this time, right? :) It's getting better, see?
This is my last chapter before I return to school though, so they are gonna be a little slower with the updates, but I will not be returning to hiatus until it is finished. Yay!