Welcome back again :D

Sorry for the little wait, Chapter 10 and I didn't agree with each other. But now I was finally able to finish it!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Thanks again to my beta, Dramione84!

Enjoy,
Kia

Part 10: Clover

"What do you mean, you didn't do anything to make him believe otherwise?" Ron asked, face turning slightly red, but Draco knew Ron well enough to know that he wasn't the reason for his anger anymore. He shuddered at the thought of knowing Weasley. What had the world come to?

"Yesterday, I met Hermione at the park and she was different, asking me questions like why I'm working in the Muggle world when my family is rich and how I must find it degrading to serve her kind." Draco explained. "So, basically she asked if I still believe in blood purity."

"Do you?"

Draco looked at Harry annoyed. "What do you think?"

The dark-haired one shrugged innocently. "But why didn't you tell Hermione then?"

"Because." Draco sighed. "The way she asked me. I don't know, it was like she didn't want me to tell her otherwise, which makes me believe that it's not her who wanted to know where my loyalties lie. I think her boyfriend sent her and then he came by the shop after."

"But what would he want from you?" Ron asked. "I mean, he's a Muggle, right? So, he should be the last person to ask about blood status in the Wizarding World?"

"Well, he obviously didn't ask to educate himself further." Draco snapped. "Can't we find out more about him? At the Muggle Ministry or someplace else?"

"I can see about that. But we can't draw anymore attention to ourselves." Harry said. "Or supervisor already dumps so much unnecessary work on us to keep us busy."

Ron nodded. "It's almost as if he wants to keep us inside the Ministry."

Draco rolled his eyes at their complaints. "Anyway, we have to be cautious in general. I think an Auror was following me when I took a walk."

"Who?" Harry instantly perked up but Draco shrugged.

"I couldn't see them properly."

Harry frowned but nodded before he exchanged a look with Ron. "So, we all have to be cautions then."

Draco agreed. "If they show up tomorrow again, then I will let you know. But maybe we have to be more secretive about meeting as well. So don't come to Diagon Alley to talk to me and don't send me any letters or messages."

They all agreed that Draco should only communicate with Rosie from now on, pretending to inform her about her café and then she would give the messages to Ron and Harry. After specifying the details, Draco left to get home, promising the two to keep them updated.

"So, you are saying that he hasn't changed, right?" Alex asked over dinner and Hermione nodded, clutching her fork.

"He called me a mudblood." She told him honestly and Alex smirked.

"Good, good," He said to himself before he got up from the dinner table to disappear in their bedroom for a few seconds. When he came back, he was holding a black box and Hermione paled as he put it down on the table in front of her.

"Looks like everything is working." He leaned down to kiss her cheek before pushing the box closer to her. "Open it and put it on." He demanded as he walked back to his chair, sitting down to reach for his wine glass.

Hermione stared at the box but then was compelled to reach for it. As she opened the tiny box and looked at the diamond ring inside, her heart skipped a beat. "Oh, Alex." She whispered.

Alex leaned forward, smirking. "Do you want to marry me, Hermione?"

The brunette stared at him confused when he groaned and nodded his head. "Yes, say yes, you stupid girl."

Hermione then smiled brightly. "Of course, I want to marry you." She took out the ring and put it on her finger, watching how the stone sparkled in the light of the lamp.

"Good, now call our parents and make up a good story about how I proposed." Alex drawled bored before he got up from the table. "I have to make some arrangements."

Without another word, Alex got up to disappear in his study, leaving Hermione behind. She continued to stare at her hand for a few moments before she automatically got up to fulfil her fiancé's orders.

Hermione was sitting on the bench in the park, completely shocked. She was clutching the lid from her thermos flask, hot tea spilling over her fingers as her hands shook.

It was too late now. Her mother had been thrilled to hear of the news of course. So was her father and Alex's parents. Even Nancy was completely head-over-heels for Hermione when she told her this morning. Everyone was celebrating and Hermione had to smile along, play along while she slowly started to lose her grip.

It would be over soon, she thought in the end.

"Granger?"

The voice made Hermione flinch and she nearly dropped the tea. When she looked up Draco was standing next to her, just like he had done during their previous meeting.

"Are you alright?" He asked carefully. She looked shaken and a bit crazy, sitting there alone in the rather gloomy park. Her hair was a mess and it looked like she had dressed herself rather hurriedly. She wasn't even wearing a coat, only a thick scarf which she had wrapped around her shoulders. Draco didn't know if she was shaking because of the cold or because she was upset. "Granger?" He asked again when she didn't answer. His glance fell to her gloveless hands that clutched the thermos cup with the steaming tea, and Draco was able to spot the new engagement ring clearly. He frowned.

"I said yes." The young women then said, more to herself than to Draco. "Why did I say yes?"

"Said yes to what?" Draco asked and she finally looked up to meet his eyes, tears streaming down her face.

"Alex proposed and I said yes." She told him, then hiccuped before taking a big gulp of her tea.

Draco stared at her for a moment, then he sighed and stepped closer, pulling off his coat, draping it carefully over her. She looked up at him surprised.

"What's he doing to you?" Draco whispered and she looked up with wide eyes, shaking her head. "No no no," she chanted, starting to shake her head widely. "Don't ask, don't talk…"

"Granger, stop it." Draco rubbed a hand over his face frustrated before he started to reach out for her but stopped mid air. She eyed his hand suspiciously. "I know you can't, but I wish… what the hell?" Draco stared at the brunette, who had been shaking so much that she dropped the thermos cup directly into Draco's lap. The hot tea had spilled all over his outstretched hand.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Hermione jumped up from the bench while shrugging off Draco's coat. "I have to go." She stuttered and then reached down to pick the empty cup from the ground where it had fallen to. She threw it in her bag, grabbing it before she slowly backed off. "Sorry." She repeated, then disappeared in the darkening evening.

Draco stared after her speechless.

He shook his scalded hand cursing. His upbringing forbade him to wipe it on his trousers, which were drenched as well, even though the cup couldn't even have been more than half full. Out of habit he was about to conjure a handkerchief, but remembering that he was in the middle of a park in Muggle London he cursed again, reached into his trousers to pull out the handkerchief manually, dabbing at his trousers. Then he brought it up to wipe at his cheek, where a few splatters had also landed.

The smell of the tea made him pause and he brought his hand up to lick his still wet index finger. "Elder," he mumbled but then his grey eyes widened in realisation. He wiped his hand down but then brought the handkerchief up to smell it again, frowning.

"No," he corrected himself.

"Clover."

Then as fast as he could, he got up, grabbed his coat without bothering to put it back on, rushing from the park to find a dark alley from which he could apparate away.

"Mother!" Draco apparated into the drawing room of Malfoy Manor but it was empty. "Trippy!" He shouted and the tiny elf appeared, hands clutching the bed sheet he was wearing. "Where's my mother, Trippy?"

"The lab, Master Draco," Trippy answered and Draco nodded, apparating on the spot.

"Mother!" He repeated after appearing seconds later in the doorway of his mother's lab. Narcissa looked up startled at her son. She frowned at his manners. "Draco," the blond woman started but Draco interrupted her. He waved his handkerchief in front of her. "Mother, smell this."

Narcissa was scandalised. "Excuse me?"

"What do you smell? Please, it's important." Draco said and trusted the handkerchief in his mother's hand. She looked at him for a moment with calculating eyes but then brought it up to sniff at it. She furrowed her brows. "It's black tea." She said emotionless.

"I know that." Draco growled. "What do you smell though? Besides the tea."

His mother sighed but sniffed again. "Elder, I guess. It's too strong to be only elderflower." She looked at Draco and he nodded towards her hand once more. She brought the handkerchief up to her nose again, closing her eyes.

It took her a few moments but she opened her eyes then, her whole face drained of colour. One word. "Clover."

Draco's eyes shined brightly. "I know. It's not tea, it's a potion! And we thought she was cursed but it's a potion. She probably thinks she's drinking tea but she's not. It's been bloody potion all along, mother!" Draco was delighted but he became silent when he saw his mother's pale face.

"Everything alright?"

"Draco," Narcissa said quietly. "Where the hell did you get this?" She asked slowly.

"Oh, I forgot, I can't really tell you but this means that we finall...,"

"DRACO!"

Draco shut his mouth, staring wide-eyed at his mother who had a haunted look in her eyes. She stormed over where he was standing and even though she stood one head smaller, she grabbed him by the collar, grey eyes met grey. "Draco, where the bloody hell did you get this from?" She asked with a tight voice.

"Granger." Draco choked. "Hermione Granger."

His mother let go of him, mumbling incoherent things while she went to dug around in her potions cabinet. "They can't be gone. No nonono... Trippy!"

Draco stared after his mother, the women who had been strict and collected all his life, the perfect pureblood wife. Right now, he was witnessing her become a complete mess within seconds.

"Mother, what is wrong?"

"Clover, Draco; nobody knew that the main ingredient was clover!" She shouted at him and he took a step back. Finally, the elf appeared and Narcissa barked at him to get her husband.

Right. Now.

Lucius appeared moments later, apparated from the other end of the manor like Draco had done moments before. It was much fast to get around. "Cissa, what's wrong."

"The recipe, Lucius. I can't find it. Please, tell me that you locked it away?" His wife asked, desperation shining in her eyes.

"What recipe... I thought you destroyed it. Narcissa?" Lucius said, looking at Draco with wary eyes. "Cissa, please calm down."

"I can't!" She shouted. "What if someone found it. What if someone brewed it, Lucius. That's on me and Severus."

"Did you destroy the recipe or not?"

"I can't remember. When we finished it, I locked the original instructions away and then I rewrote it but then the Ministry showed up and then the trials happened and you were arrested and Draco...," She trailed off, tears in her eyes while she stared at Draco. "He has it, Lucius. Draco found the original potion. It was the clover. Someone made it."

Draco watched his mother break down but his father reacted and caught her before she could hit the floor. "Wait here." He sneered at Draco before he apparated his wife away.

Draco stared at the spot where his parents had just stood, confused about what just had happened.

"Follow me." Lucius apparated in the hallway behind Draco and the younger Malfoy flinched in surprise. His father scoffed at him and then walked away.

Draco followed him quickly. "Father." Lucius raised his hand and Draco stopped talking.

They walked towards Lucius's study and his father opened the door, stepping inside with Draco following. The door closed, locked magically and the room was silenced within a heartbeat.

"Sit." Lucius commanded and Draco complied, sinking down in a leather armchair while Lucius sat down across from him in another one.

"What happened. Is mother alright?" Draco leant forward and Lucius nodded. "She's laying down, one of the elves watches over her."

"I just wanted her to confirm that it was clover that I smelt. I didn't expect her to have a mental breakdown." Draco frowned in confusion.

"What are you talking about, Draco?"

The blond sighed, running his hand through his hair while he leant back in the armchair, staring at his father. "A few weeks ago, Potter and Weasley asked me for help to find something out. Granger had been missing since the war and they suspected that someone was wrong but they never were allowed to officially investigate. She reappeared in Muggle London about 3 months ago. Rosie, Weasley's wife, has her shop across the street from the apartment building Granger and her boyfriend moved into. They asked me to help in the shop to keep an eye out for Granger; see if she was under the Imperius or otherwise cursed. She's not imperiused but is controlled in some way. We thought it was a spell but when she spilt her tea on me, I could smell the clover and I realised that she's not under a spell but a potion. I just wanted Mother to confirm it and maybe help figure out which potion, so I can brew the antidote." Draco explained quickly and his father looked at him.

"Draco," He began but Draco waved him off.

"I know, I know, if they catch me only as much as thinking about an Unforgivable, I could go to Azkaban but Father, something is seriously wrong with Granger's boyfriend."

Lucius observed his son quietly. "I'm afraid that this just became something bigger," Lucius said then.

"What?" Draco asked. "It's just some muggle, who managed to smuggle something into Granger's tea."

"Really, Draco?" His father raised an eyebrow. "The Wizarding World's Golden Girl goes missing and no one cares? I'm sure Potter and Weasley have already filed for an investigation."

Draco nodded. "Yes, many times but it never got granted."

"And nobody questioned that?" Lucius asked.

Draco shrugged and Lucius scoffed. "Get them both here!" He gestured to the floo and Draco scrambled up and walked over to the floo to call Harry and then Ron. Both were surprised to hear him telling them to come to the Manor right away.

Draco looked too panicked for them to question it and after directing them to his father's study, he ended the floo call and they waited. He turned around to his father, who was still watching him closely. He rubbed his face and then walked over to the cabinet where his father kept the firewhiskey.

Preparing four glasses right away, Draco levitated them over to the sitting area, putting them on the mahogany desk in the middle before he sat down on the armchair again.

He took his glass and emptied in in one go, then put it down again. After a moment of consideration, he took out his wand and levitated the bottle over to the table as well. His father chuckled.

They didn't have to wait long until one after another Harry and Ron stepped out of the fireplace, surprised to see Lucius Malfoy waiting for them.

Harry looked over at Draco questioning but the blond just sighed and pointed to the couch. Harry and Ron both took a seat, staring at the glasses of firewhiskey that Draco pushed in their direction.

"Draco, how about you tell them what you found out," Lucius spoke up first.

Draco sighed again. "I met Gra... Hermione in the park, we got talking again but she started to get more nervous. I guess the better she and I get along, the stronger her urge to push me away gets. Anyway, she had this thermos of tea and she couldn't stop drinking it and somehow I startled her and she poured the tea over my hand and leg. I tried to wipe it up when I realised that I smelt clover and elder," Draco explained and both Harry and Ron looked at him confused. The blond rolled his eyes. "They are ingredients for dark potions, did none of you pay attention in school?"

Harry cracked a smile at that and Ron chuckled. But they both froze at Draco's dark look.

"I then realised that Hermione might not be cursed at all but that she's under the influence of a potion. Thinking about it, she always carried that thermos flask around with her. Similar to someone who..."

"... drinks polyjuice potion." Harry finished for him.

"Yes," Draco nodded. "So, it is likely a potion that she needs to drink daily or even hourly. Considering that she is controlled, it would be easy to order her to drink the potion every day and she wouldn't even have a choice to do otherwise."

"So, that's the big secret? She's just under a potion?" Ron laughed. "Then all we need to do is get her not to drink it."

Lucius cleared his throat at that. "I'm afraid it is a little bit more complicated than that, Mr. Weasley."

"What do you mean?" Ron scowled.

"The potion that Draco mentioned, I know what kind it is." Lucius announced. Draco raised his eyebrows at that declaration flabbergasted. "You do?" He exclaimed angrily. "Why didn't you say so?"

"Because," Lucius silenced him with a pointed stare. "Because no one besides Narcissa and Severus knew about that potion."

Harry sat up straight, going into Auror mode. "What do you mean? What kind of potion is this?"

Lucius sighed. "It's called the Imperius Potion, a liquid equivalent of the curse. Just much, much worse."

Draco looked at his father shocked. "You are joking, right? Mother did not develop such a potion," he said and Lucius actually looked remorseful.

"It's much more complicated than that," Lucius admitted and Draco waved his hand angrily.

"Go on, Father. We can't wait to hear the story," Draco spat and Lucius regarded him with a sharp look but Draco was too angry too care.

"How in the world can you make an Imperius potion?" Harry asked suddenly and Lucius sighed again.

"Alright, let me explain."