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Chapter 10 – A Place to Conclude:
Hermione looked over at Percy Weasley when he first arrived this evening, and she begged off all unnecessary conversations to ask what she really, truly, wanted to know first and foremost. She asked if he killed Draco. He seemed shocked and told her emphatically that NO he did not kill Draco. Then again, she knew that he didn't because he was with her when Draco died.
She asked if he was the Messenger. She really thought that he was. He told her no to that as well. Then she asked if Ron had sent the notes and letters.
"He's not the Messenger, but I think he might still think that I am, so he may be protecting me. No, I know who the Messenger is, I'm sorry to say, and I should have revealed the truth a long time ago, but I had my reasons why I didn't."
"Really?" she asked, suddenly angry. She was tired of people manipulating her life. "If you knew, you had a duty as Minister to tell! You might have saved Draco's life! You might have saved me from going to prison!"
"I might have, but I didn't, did I?" he asked, contritely. "I'm sorry for what happened, and I can't change anything now, but whether or not you believe me, I did have my reasons. We all did."
"To whom are you referring?" she asked with ire.
He ignored her for a moment. He roamed around the room, and then finally sat down in a chair. She sat on the edge of the sofa and waited. "I didn't want you to marry Malfoy. I thought that it wouldn't appear seemly. He was the son of a Death Eater. You were a war hero. You were engaged to my brother, and then right during the middle of my first election you broke your engagement with Ron and began seeing Malfoy. I almost lost the election, and my investigators said that was the main cause."
Hermione barked at that statement. "Nonsense! You barely won because there was some dirt in your background that was discovered! People didn't like that you were a turncoat to the light side during the beginning of the second war, even though you came back to our side at the end. That's why you almost lost the election!"
"Well, when it was time for my re-election, I wasn't about to chance it again," he seethed back. "So yes, I remembered the problems that Malfoy had with letters and notes while he was in school. I even knew who sent them back then, because once when I was Head boy I caught the chap in question, while in action, though because it was Malfoy who was receiving the letters I didn't reprimand the culprit. During the time that you started to date Malfoy, I went to the person and told them it might be advantageous if the notes started anew."
"NO!" She stood up, shocked. "You were responsible for the notes beginning again!"
He looked pained. "Yes, but when they started threatening violence and such, I told the man to tone it down. When you got your first note, I was appalled. I knew Harry Potter would get involved if you were involved directly. The man told me to leave everything to him, and not to worry.
"I found out that this man was using my own sister to pass some of the notes and letters to you and Malfoy. I told Ginny to stop it, but she was already too involved. She was convinced that Harry left her for you. Her thoughts were jumbled. I told her that you loved Malfoy, not Harry, but I think this other man already mucked up her mind with so many lies and stories that she no longer knew truth from fantasy."
Percy stood back up and paced in front of Hermione. She reached inside her skirt to be sure she had her wand, even though she knew she did. It was merely a precaution.
Percy admitted, "I went to Malfoy on the day of your wedding. I told him that there were real threats to you, and if he loved you, he would let you go. He laughed at me, told me that you were the only happiness he had ever felt, and then wished me to rot in hell. I told him I would see him there. I left the room right as this other man, the real Messenger, was about to go to Malfoy."
"I told him to do whatever he had to do to stop the wedding." Percy closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them he revealed, "Little did I know that he would use my own sister, under the Imperius, to kill Malfoy to stop the wedding. Little did I know that he would try to modify my own brother's mind to recall memories that weren't there. Little did I know that he would spend the last six months blackmailing me to keep quiet. And lastly, little did I know when I finally figured out a way to get you out of prison, it would all unravel merely because you decided that you wanted to sleep with Lucius Malfoy."
"Don't be crude you pompous son of a bitch," Hermione hissed.
"It's the truth," Percy said. "I wonder…how you would feel if you knew the truth behind the real reasons this man first started harassing Malfoy back in school. Would you be so keen on sleeping with the father, if you knew it was his fault that the son was dead?"
"What?" she barked. Percy wasn't making any sense, and she was tired of it.
Percy concluded, "Nevermind. It no longer matters. Harry's bound to find everything out by now. Ron's on the verge of remembering everything. Harry already knows I can provide you with an alibi, since I was with you when Draco was killed, and as we speak, Lucius Malfoy has discovered that Ginny was under the Imperius to kill Draco. There's only one last loose end, and it will be tied up tightly here tonight, by you and I, won't it, Hermione? Where's Theo Nott?"
That statement felt like a blow to her stomach. "He's not here," she lied, "and what does he have to do with anything?" she quizzed.
The Minister of Magic stood up and said, "Do you want to know who sent the letters to Malfoy while in school, Hermione? Do you want to know who manipulated my sister, and forced her to comply with his dirty deeds, the last of which was to kill Draco? Do you want to know who tried to modify my brother's memory when it was apparent that he heard this man and Draco arguing, AFTER Ron also heard me and Draco arguing?" He waited.
Hermione swallowed hard and nodded her head. His statement was something she had suspected for a long time. "Who was it Percy? Who's responsible for killing Draco? Who ruined my life, and why?"
Theo decided to reveal himself at that moment. He strolled leisurely from the other room and said, "Perhaps I can explain everything, but first, let's get rid of some unnecessary clutter." He pointed his wand at Percy, said a spell, and the man collapsed to the floor.
Hermione turned to look at the man as she screamed.
Lucius, Adrian, Ron and Harry stood outside Hermione's house. It was in a Muggle neighborhood, so they had to take care not to draw unwanted attention. After they Apparated to the back garden, they hid behind a cluster of evergreens. The hour was late, and there was hardly any light from an almost invisible moon. They could only hope that the people inside the house would not know they were outside.
Lucius said, "The memories were locked so deeply in Miss Weasley's brain that I thought I would never sift through the muck to arrive at the truth. It was truly like looking through a sieve. At first I could only see little holes of truth amidst empty thoughts, blackness, and fallacy. Then, once the truth started to sift through, it was as if I couldn't stop it and I saw everything clearly."
He looked at Harry first and said, "She was manipulated because she had an unfounded jealousy of Hermione. She thought that you were slipping away from her, and she blamed Hermione for that. She didn't understand why everyone was so taken and fascinated, even infatuated, with a Muggle-born witch. She became obsessed with ruining Hermione's life.
"She knew that Hermione and Draco were being sent notes of a harassing nature. She revealed that she wanted to send Hermione notes as well. It seemed that one day the actual Messenger caught her as she was staging that one nasty little ploy with the 'fake' Hermione dangling from the tree, and the note to Draco saying that Hermione had been killed."
A sudden scream from the house stopped Lucius cold. He stopped talking and bent low at the waist, looking toward the house. The other men stared at the house as well. Harry made a silent motion with his hand and they all stepped closer. They were now right outside the back patio door.
In a loud whisper, Harry said, "Continue your story."
"No, we have to get in there to save her!" Lucius barked. "I'll tell you the rest later. She's not safe in there with only the Minister of Magic and Theo Nott!"
Adrian, who had yet to hear the story, placed a hand on Lucius' arm and said, "I'm sure Granger can protect herself, and Theo won't let her come to harm."
Lucius was about to say something when he was interrupted by Ron. Ron pushed the other three men aside to stand on a chair so that he might look in the kitchen window. Then he said, "I can't see a thing. She doesn't have to worry about Percy. He might be a bit of a nutter, and a fanatic, but he's not the Messenger, or the killer. He wanted me to think that he sent the messages, for some odd reason, but he's not responsible. He's also not the one that killed Malfoy."
"How do you know, Ron?" Harry asked.
Ron looked at Harry and then to Lucius. Lucius looked back toward Harry and answered, "I believe your friend has finally remembered. Ginny revealed to me that Ron saw the real killer in the room with my son right before his sister was cursed to kill him. This man and Draco were arguing. This man admitted everything to Draco, and Ron overheard the whole thing. When the man left, he Oblivated Mr. Weasley, who then went back into the room with my son, right before Ginny walked in the room posing as Hermione."
Harry's worst fears were realized with that one statement. He had continued to hope that somehow Ginny wasn't responsible, either by Imperio or otherwise, of killing Draco. It was a false hope, squashed by that one statement from Lucius Malfoy.
Ron jumped down from the chair and repeated, "Damn, I can't see a thing." He took a deep breath and said, "Yes, Percy had just walked out of Malfoy's room and passed by me. He told me to try to stop the wedding. He said he was going to go do the same with Hermione. I went in and argued with Malfoy for a bit, but then walked out of the room to calm down. Mainly I walked out because I thought Percy was eavesdropping on our conversation.
"Then, right before I was to go back into Malfoy's room, I walked toward the connecting hallway and I saw someone else walk in the room before I could. I stood right outside while they talked. I heard bits and pieces, but not much. I heard enough to know that this man wasn't right in the head. I knew that he hated Malfoy. He was twisted with envy and jealousy. He was obsessed with Hermione.
"He said that he found solace and comfort from Ginny, who he discovered felt the same hatred, but hers was toward Hermione where his was toward Malfoy. He admitted to being the Messenger to Malfoy, and he also said that Ginny had begun sending messages, too.
"Malfoy told him to leave. He said he would never tell anyone that he was the one sending the notes, but he had to leave. There were some other harsh words, punctuated with curse words, but I didn't really hear much more. The man walked out of Draco's room and looked at me. He knew I had overheard. He pointed his wand at me and shouted, 'Oblivate' before I had a chance even to draw my wand. I remember feeling lost and confused. I didn't even know why I was in the corridor. He bade me to go to Malfoy and to try to convince him not to go through with the wedding, or someone would pay. He said I didn't have much time, because otherwise Malfoy would die very soon."
"Of course, we all know what happened next. I went back in to talk to Malfoy. He was still clenching the man's note in his hand. I tried to convince him to leave Hermione alone. He laughed at me. He asked me why everyone was trying to ruin his wedding day. He said that first Percy tried to ruin it, then the other man, and now me. Then, while Draco was talking, Ginny walked in and lifted her wand and killed him. The thing that haunts me to this day is that Malfoy smiled when she first walked in, because he thought it was Hermione. She looked just like her. I swear, I thought it was Hermione, too, but now I know it was the Polyjuice Potion.
"Still, there was something in her eyes that told me right away who she really was, but I was compelled not to tell anyone. She reached down, grabbed the Messenger's last note from Draco's hand, and walked out of the small room.
"Right after, the real Hermione ran in and she cradled Draco in her arms, and started to scream and cry." Ron shook his head and said, "And to think - I only just recalled that tonight. I could have saved Hermione a whole year in jail! I could have saved her from whatever might happen to her tonight!"
"It's not your fault, mate," Harry reassured. "If something happens to her in there, it's my fault, not yours. I should have figured this out a long time ago."
"No, that honour falls to me, Mr. Potter," Lucius said sternly. He drew his wand out of his pocket. "For I was the one that insisted she have that man in there with her tonight, and there's even one last dark reason why it's my fault, and no one else's."
Adrian and Harry were still confused. Ron stood back up on the chair, peered back into the window and said, "Don't be so hard on yourself, Malfoy. If anyone is to blame, it's Theo Nott."
Percy awoke. He rubbed his sore head slowly. He had overheard most of Theo Nott's rambling admission of guilt to Hermione, but it made no difference. He doubted very much if he or Hermione would leave this house alive tonight.
He looked over at Hermione. She was sitting on the couch, and she seemed numb. As if sensing the very same thing that Percy was sensing, Theo shouted to her: "LISTEN TO ME!" He continued to tell Hermione how he was responsible for everything and Percy could do very little but remain on the floor in pain and listen. When the man threatened to kill him, he could scarcely believe that Hermione would still care enough about him to plead with the man, but she did.
She said, "Oh, please, no. Percy, no."
Theo Nott stood over him and with his foot on Percy's chest and he pointed his wand at him. However, he looked right at Hermione and said, "Shall I kill him, Hermione? Get this all over and done? We can tell everyone that HE admitted to being the Messenger. We'll tell everyone that he was obsessed with you. They would believe it. He had access to places at Hogwarts that other people didn't, being a prefect and then Head boy. He could have easily planted all those earlier letters. After all, he knew about them since the beginning."
Theo cocked his head to the side and glanced down at Percy. Hermione stood and tried to dart into the other room. Theo quickly pointed his wand at her, and to duck the spell she crashed into a curio cabinet. Everything on the shelves fell down on top of her.
"Bad form, Granger, trying to run away," Theo said as Hermione crawled from the broken glass and wood to hide behind a chair. She drew her wand out of her pocket and waited.
She said, "Fine, leave him to live, and we'll tell everyone whatever you want. I'll do whatever you want if you let Percy live."
He laughed. "I don't believe you, pet. You won't do whatever I want. You love Malfoy senior now. He's ten times worse than Draco. You wouldn't leave the younger one, even when I threatened you both with death. Why should I believe that you 'd leave the older one now? It's laughable, that's what it is. Especially as this all started because of Lucius Malfoy."
"What does Lucius have to do with this?" Hermione asked from her hiding place.
"All good things come to those who wait, Granger," Theo said happily. "Now, come out and play."
"No. I rather like it behind the chair right now, thank you. Tell me, Theo, how did you get Ginny to kill Draco?" she asked, peeking out from behind the chair.
"Her mind was so weak. She was so easy to manipulate. Her hatred of you and her lack of self-esteem made her a willing puppet," he admitted. "And it was perfect. She thought she was going to send notes all on her own, so I used her. It punished both Draco and you."
"Imperius Curse, right?" Hermione asked. She slowly stood up to face the man who had ruined her life, who had cost her a year of freedom, had orchestrated the death of her fiancé, and was pointing a wand at her.
"Yes, and easily done. I also Oblivated her memory, which left her a bit permanently rattled, I'm afraid. I had to do some mind altering to the younger brother as well." He looked down at Percy, who was still and motionless. His eyes were opened, but his breathing was labored. "I think the older brother is going to have to die, though."
Hermione assessed the situation and pleaded, "Let's get help for Percy, please. We don't even have to wait for them to arrive. We'll send for help, and then I'll go anywhere you want."
"Why do you care what happens to him?" Theo snarled. He kicked Percy in the ribs. The other man winced and moaned from his place on the floor. "He knew you couldn't have killed Malfoy! He wouldn't give you an alibi, even though he was with you! Why do you care what happens to him, when he didn't care what happened to you? He sent his own brother in to talk to Malfoy, to do his dirty work, if you may, at my suggestion! True, he didn't know that I had just moments before left his sister, having already seen to her transformation and having already cursed her with the Imperius, and that I wanted Ron there to be the star witness.
"He cares more for his career than for his family! He could have helped you a long time ago! He could have called in experts to help unravel the fragile tissue paper mind of his only sister a year ago! He could have called in his own brother, Bill, to cut through the dark curse that I set upon his younger brother Ron. He could have even told Potter that I was the Messenger, but no, he cared only about appearances, and his career, and being re-elected, not you, not her, not him, so let me kill him Hermione and WE WILL ALL BE BETTER OFF!" He shouted the last part, deranged and frazzled.
Hermione walked without urgency toward Theo. "Enough people have died. You didn't have to ruin so many lives, Theo. You ruined Ginny's life, Ron's life, Harry's life, Lucius' life and mine. More than that, you took a life. You are responsible for the death of the person who meant the most to me in this world."
She raised her wand and pointed in at him. "For that reason alone," she began, "I just decided that I can't let you ruin another life. You will pay for your sins, Theo. You will. You don't get to decide the outcome of this one. I do. Others have already paid, and now it's your turn. Making you pay will help to soothe the ravishing rage that's deep inside my soul." She stepped even closer. "You have to pay."
Theo stepped over Percy and pointed his wand at her. They stood, facing each other, arms extended; their wands stretched out and pointed at the other. "I loved you," Theo finally said.
"I didn't know that, nor do I care," Hermione said dispassionately. "And if it's any consolation, I could never have loved you in return."
"WHY?" he shouted. "You loved Malfoy! He was a Death Eater's son! He was no better than me!"
"Wrong! He was better than you!" she argued, the anger in her voice apparent. "He wasn't a killer. He wasn't a manipulator!"
"NO!" Theo mocked. "He was the bloody love of your live, wasn't he? Are you going to cry now?"
"I'm not going to cry," she responded without passion. "And sorry to disagree with you again, but he was my best friend, not the love of my life. That title belongs to someone else. What he was, was a troubled man, who repented his past sins and transgressions, and who sorely needed the love that I could give him. He found love and peace with me, and I with him, we would have been happy together, and you had no right to take that away. You ruined it all. And I will make you pay."
"You make me laugh," he said with a smile, his wand still pointed at her chest. He walked ever closer. That was what she wanted. She wanted him to walk closer to her. "Tell me, Hermione, if he wasn't the love of your life, who was, or should I say, who is? Is it Malfoy senior, because I have a little bit of news for you that will flatten that notion right out of you like a bug on a rug."
"You bore me," Hermione said steadily. "Let's stop this dance. It's time to pay for your sins. It's time to assuage my rage."
"Really," he laughed. "What are you really going to do? As soon as a curse comes out of your lips, one will come out of mine as well. You may take me down, but be assured pet, I'll take you down with me. While I bet you don't have it in you to kill someone face-to-face, looking them in the eyes, that won't be a problem for me."
"Is that why you had someone else kill Draco, because you're so brave?" she asked. She knew that questioned stung him. His face hardened.
"I repeat, my sweet," he snapped, "you won't be able to utter a death curse at me. For one thing, you'll be dead before the words come out of your mouth, for another thing…"
She interrupted him. "For another thing, you talk entirely too much," she said evenly. "And you're right; I won't be able to kill you face-to-face. I won't be able to utter the death curse at you before you utter it at me. I won't have to because that honor will fall to the man who is pointing a wand at your back as we speak, right Lucius?"
Her eyes darted to someone who stood behind the other man.
Theo quickly averted his gaze behind his back. He stared in the eyes of Lucius Malfoy, who held up his wand, pointed it at Theo, and then to answer her question he said a very simple incantation: "Avada Kedarva."
Theo Nott fell to the ground dead.
Harry ran to Hermione. Ron ran to Percy, who was on the floor beside the dead man. Adrian turned Theo over to his back, and then closed the man's eyes.
Hermione lifted her head from Harry's shoulder and looked over at Lucius. She held out her hand for him. His gaze drifted from the dead man on the floor, then to Hermione. He said, "Who's the love of your life, Hermione? You never answered his question."
She pushed away from Harry and said, "You are." She looked bewildered. She started toward him, but he held up his hand and backed away.
He looked back down at Percy and said, "Are you going to tell her the rest of the story, so that all of this will end?"
Percy sat up, aided by Adrian and Ron. Hermione asked, "Tell me what?"
Percy clenched his side, in pain, and struggling to stand with the help of the others. He said, "Back in school, when I found the notes, I went to Draco's head of house first, to tell him what I found. He said he would look into it. Later, he told me, in confidence, that it would stop, and that Theo was only sending them because…" Percy stopped and looked from Hermione to Lucius. "It doesn't matter, Malfoy. None of this will change anything. It was so long ago, and it means nothing. It has nothing to do with why Nott did what he did, why I did what I did. It has nothing to do with why my sister is sitting in Azkaban. It will serve no purpose."
Hermione felt as if she might falter, faint, or some other such nonsense. Sensing this, Harry rushed to her side. He was the one that said, "Finish, Percy. What do you know."
Percy merely shook his head and said, "No, because it doesn't matter."
Lucius turned to Hermione and said, "Back when you were in school, Theo told his father that my son was infatuated with you. Nott senior told me. I devised the plan of sending him notes, to remind him that he was a pureblood, you were a Mudblood, and that he had to remember his family's honour. It was only to be for a short duration. I never knew it continued."
Hermione's face crumbled and she started to cry. She turned to Harry and fell into his arms. Lucius added, "Snape talked to me about it, when the Weasley boy discovered the notes. I told him that I would make sure Theo Nott knew to stop. I was assured that he had. I swear I had no knowledge that he was the person sending the recent notes. I'm so sorry. I also had no idea that the notes and threats continued all through school. When I found out that they continued while you were dating my son, I was guaranteed by Theo that he was not behind it. He said that Ginny Weasley was. He caught her in the act even, so I believed him. I'm sorry."
Hermione looked up from Harry's shoulder, raised a hand to Lucius and merely said, "Enough. Everyone, kindly leave my house."
"Does that include me?" Lucius asked sarcastically, "The love of your life?"
"I said everyone," she said with a heavy sigh as she walked out of the room. Harry ran to her, told her he would see that everything was cleaned up and that the house was secured. She walked up the stairs, uncovered the furniture in one of the guestrooms, and sat in a chair by the window into the wee hours of the morning.
She was finally free. She was free of suspicion, she was free of persecution, she was free of the threat of the Messenger, and the threat of having to go back to jail. Most of all, she was free of the rage that had eaten most of her heart and soul for so very long. She was also free of Lucius Malfoy. That last one hurt her to her very core. She started to cry and couldn't stop.
She was crying so hard that she didn't hear him come in the door.
(Coming up, possibly tomorrow or the next day, a short epilogue)