Chapter 9:

"Oh! Merlin! Malfoy are you alright?"

"What do you think? That hurts Scarhead!"

"Good! It should!" Harry snapped as he crossed his arms.

Malfoy's mood instantly shifted from bad to foul. In response, Malfoy threw a punch at Harry instead.

"What is wrong with both of you?" Hermione yelled at her raven-haired friend and pale-skinned fiancé as she continued reprimanding them. "We have children in the house; children who can accidentally see their parents engaging in a childish brawl over some petty name calling. Grow up you two! Do I always need to constantly remind you both that we're no longer in Hogwarts?!"

The two wizards stopped throwing punches at each other while struggling to stand up ahead of each other.

"I can't believe this! Does it not bother you anymore Hermione that he still calls you that word?" Harry directed at Hermione in disapproval.

"Of course, it still aggravates me but…"

"… We have discussed that; in fact, last night in the bedroom if I recall. After, we or was it before…"

"Malfoy, you prat; that's not helping, you know." Hermione countered lightly hitting the blond wizard's arm.

"It's my house. No one tells me how to act in my house." Malfoy then grabbed Hermione by the wrist holding her tightly. "If it suits me to call Hermione, Mudblood I will call her that. No one else has the right to call her that! She's going to be a Malfoy! She's no one else's Mudblood but mine!"

That short litany caught both Harry and Hermione's attention. Not only did Malfoy call her Hermione by name but he called her Mudblood all in the same sentence.

"What?! What are you staring at?" Malfoy still with that scowling look upon his face inquired in distaste.

Harry was still confused. Did Malfoy just display some emotion other than loathing for them; most specifically a little defensive passive aggressive type of possessiveness over Hermione more or less? Could Malfoy actually care for Hermione though most of the times his action tells otherwise? Harry was shaking his head upon this realization.

"Did you just call me by my name?"

"So what's the big deal?"

"You never call me by my name."

"I do call you by your name sometimes."

"Yes, in front of the children or some Ministry authority that's ready to haul your ass off if you utter that dreadful word in my presence."

"Merlin! This is so just you to make a huge issue out of me calling you by your name!" Draco blurted in exasperation.

"You did call her by her name." Harry asserted in support of Hermione.

"I…I had to call her by her name at some point." Draco balked as he turned his back on them. "I'm busy. Mudblood, we need to talk…now. Scarface, you know your way out."

"Fine. I'm leaving just let me know where my son is and we'll be on our way."

"Don't bother. You can leave him here. He's still playing with Scorpius and Rose. I'll have Dobsy escort him back to your home."

Harry did not budge from where he stood.

"You're still here, Potter. He's safe here. I'm not in the habit of torturing my son's playmates or lesser blood relatives for that matter." With that Malfoy stomped away heading out of the drawing room.

When Draco didn't feel his fiancée's footsteps following him, he turned his back and saw Hermione hugging Harry which irritated him even more. "Clock's ticking. Why are you still here Potter?" He yelled at them from a distance.

"Give my regards to Ginny and have her take a look at that bruise, okay?" Hermione sounded off with concern.

"Come on, have you forgotten you're a witch, Hermione? This is nothing. A little episkey will just do the trick and Ginny won't know any better." Harry reassured Hermione to ease her mind.

Puzzled, Hermione inquired her best friend, "You're not angry anymore?"

"A little bit, but I just realized something in the middle of this squabble."

"What?"

"I'll tell you some other time. I'll go now before your prat of a husband hexes me for real this time." With that Harry took a pinch of that glittering floo powder dust, stepped up to the fire then threw the powder into the flames and vanished.

Hermione walked towards Draco and slapped him.

Draco was stunned. He was totally caught unaware; not that he did not know Hermione has it in her to slap him because she did punch him in third year. It's just that he's goaded her quite a number of times these past few days and he didn't see this coming now which is why in some strange way he enjoys their banter. With them it's been like an unspoken game of who gets the last word. Draco continued to stare at her thinking through what just transpired between them. To him, Hermione looked dead serious this time.

"What in Merlin's name is that for?" Draco screamed at her trying to gain the upper hand.

"That is for punching Harry and for insulting me in front of him. I'm telling you I won't stand for any of your petty behavior anymore."

Unknown to them, a shadow lurks in the darkness watching over them.

"What are you doing here?" Narcissa demanded from her blond-haired unwanted female guest.

"Shhh..be quiet I'm trying to listen here."

"Enough of that, they might see you. Go back to your room right this moment."

"Are you my mother now? As far as I know she's out there gallivanting …"

Narcissa held her wrist and whisked her back to the hidden room.

"What now?"

"If you fail to remember as you said we're trying to keep your presence undetected. I have your best interests in heart. You know that."

"..and what is that exactly? Getting Lucius out of Azkaban? I don't even know if you'll help me after we set him free from that horrid place."

"Of course, I'll help you. Lucius and I will. We're related after all."

"That remains to be seen." The fair-haired beauty muttered in doubt.

"You and I both know that he's key to our plans. Without him, we can't proceed and time is running out…the wedding is near and …"

"Yeah…yeah… I know the whole litany so spare me the details, okay."

"What happened to you dear? You're so … so …"

"Can't find the right words, huh? Same goes with her. Maybe she and you could have some tea and chitchat about me while I'm risking my neck to save dear old Lucius."

"You're not in this alone. Your brother is helping out, too."

"Says you, he's only into this because father told him to look out for me. Now, Rosie is another story. She and I aren't really on speaking terms these days. Now that father is gone to Merlin knows where to come looking for something we don't even know exists, I don't know who I can rely on anymore."

Narcissa pitied the young woman before her, as she's too young to have such heavy burdens on her shoulders. She recalled how distressed her son was when he became a Death Eater and to have what probably was the most trying mission for one so young.

"Enough about me, I'm getting worried. My dear old brother hasn't contacted me yet."

"Don't worry too much about him. He's a Slytherin and cunning by default. He can get out of whatever mess that comes his way and besides he's got that Invisibility Cloak from Potter."

"Yeah. Remind him never to cross Harry's path or else he'll hex him to oblivion for nicking his precious Invisibility Cloak."

The raven-haired interloper retorted right after he appeared in thin air, "…not until he finds out which he won't. I assure you."

"Finally! I thought they've caught you and locked you up in Azkaban together with Lucius." The blue-gray eyed lass responded in relief.

"Fret not. I have a strand of Lucius hair. We can make the Polyjuice then nab some other Death Eater to take Lucius' place in Azkaban…piece of cake, yeah."

"That's too dangerous and why does it have to be a real Death Eater. Why not just take somebody else?" Narcissa questioned in protest.

"… because no one can fake the Dark Mark. No one can falsify that kind of Dark Magic. When they verify if Lucius is still in Azkaban, first thing they'll check is the Dark Mark."

Troubled, Narcissa asked once again, "What of the Polyjuice? Surely, that someone will change back to whoever he was originally."

"Leave that to her." The young man stated pointing at his sister. "She's a genius with spells and potions…must have gotten that talent from them. She's managed to make the Polyjuice stick."

Still not content with the plans orchestrated by the young ones, Narcissa continued to inquire, "Then, what if they do Legilimens or Veritaserum?"

"Don't worry about that. We've got that covered. I've already thought of all the ways they could prove Lucius is still in Azkaban."

"That's so you to say you've thought of everything. You're not the brains in this operation. You're just the muscle." The beauteous figure remarked in contradiction.

"Fine if you say so, my bitchy sister; anyways, my pain in the arse sisters thought of obliviating the Death Eater and planting all of Lucius memories to that person."

"How will you suppose to sneak in that person to Azkaban without alerting the wards?"

"What's with all of the questions, Narcissa?"

"I'm just anxious. I can't wait to be with Lucius once again."

"How you bear to be with that old man through all these years is beyond me." The handsome onlooker scoffed in nonchalance.

Facing his sister, the male towering presence appealed to his sibling with concern in his cerulean eyes, "Are you sure you want us to do this? You and Lucius don't exactly get on well. I don't mind sneaking into Azkaban just to get information from him. I'm still your big brother and whether or not father asked me to look after you, I will because I want to not because he said it."

"Well guess what? I'm not afraid of Lucius. I'm a Gryffindor for crying out loud! We're doing this to speed things up. No matter how you seem to always get on my bad side, you're still my brother and mom will be so mad at me if something untoward happens to you. We can't have you getting caught in Azkaban 'cause not only will it put you in danger; it will put a damper on our plans." ….and she added silently, "…and Rosie will never forgive me if anything bad falls upon you."

"Okay, I get it brave Gryffindor. Narcissa, could you gather the ingredients she needs to make the potion? It's no ordinary Polyjuice so it will take some time brewing it. Meanwhile, I need to hunt us one Death Eater. Adieu ladies." The interloper lightheartedly curtsied before them then disapparated in a flash.

"Mistress! Mistress!" Dobsy hollered as the house elf burst into the room which caught the women in surprise.

"Harry? … Wait, where's Albus?" With narrowed eyes, Ginny called out at her husband.

"Nothing to worry about, he's still at Malfoy Manor. He's playing with Rose and Scorpius."

"Did you just say you left our son at Malfoy Manor; the very same place where you got imprisoned in the dungeons?"

"Hey, you're over-reacting. Mione's there, so no harm will come to Albus and Malfoy's not that bad."

Ginny touched the forehead of her husband. "You're not running a fever."

"Of course, I'm not. Malfoy's different sort of. He's still Malfoy, the guy's still the conceited Malfoy we know and love to hate but he seems to care for her."

"Care for whom exactly?"

"Hermione."

"I've seen them together longer than you have and I have to say the guy has shown some concern towards our Hermione. He may deny it all he wants but behind all those snarky comments; I believe he's a changed man. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. I think I owe it to him. He did extend his friendship towards me when we were still young; it was only I who didn't welcome it. Sometimes, I think things may have changed if we had become friends. After all, we're at some point related no matter how distant it seems to be."

"So you mean to say, he doesn't call her that awful word anymore?"

"Well, he still does. We had as slight altercation earlier because of that but I realized later that he doesn't really mean it when he says that. I don't know why but I have this nagging feeling that he just says them so that we'll still hate him. I'm guessing due to his upbringing he's not so big with the affectionate stuff, so when he's being harsh to Hermione it means she matters to him in some way, right?"

"I guess, so. Though we both belong to Pureblood families, as you can see my family more or less acts Muggle-like that's why we're called blood traitors."

"I know Ron's in St. Mungo's and he may or may not gain consciousness again but Hermione's life needs to move on and if that means marrying Malfoy for whatever reason. I'm all for it. At least, her days won't be focused on thinking about Ron or visiting Ron because I doubt Malfoy will allow her to be in Ron's presence everyday."

"Although, Ron's my brother; no matter how much I love him, I'm with you on this. We can't all wait for something that is near impossible to happen. I'm only glad he's not dead so that's something to be grateful for." Ginny let on with a sigh.

"I said let go of me!" Hermione shouted at the top of her lungs.

"You think they'll hear you? The corridors in the manor have a permanent silencing charm." Draco lashed at her while dragging her on the way to his room.

"You seem to be hard of hearing. Let me go or…"

"Or what? Should I take a risk to call you on your dare?" Draco challenged Hermione as he picked her up bridal-style then threw her in the middle of his enormous bed and slowly climbed into it.

Hermione panicked. She backed away further until she touched the headboard and caught a pillow and toss it one by one towards her leering soon-to-be husband.

"Are you afraid of me now? I'm going to tell you this once and only once. I won't tolerate you hitting me again. Better heed my warning…"

The door suddenly opened and Narcissa came rushing in, "What in Merlin's name is the meaning of this, Draco!"

"Why are you here, Mother?"

"The question is what is she doing here? You're not married yet."

"Oh, please, Mother; can you damn well leave us alone? I'm teaching the Mudblood a lesson."

"So, you're forcing yourself on her? I raised you better than that!" Narcissa glared at Draco then casually approached Hermione extending her hand to take hers, then inquired, "Are you alright, dear? My son can be quite rude at times but he doesn't really mean it. Must have been all the wedding preparations; you know, stress and all that." Narcissa stared icily at Draco prodding her in not so many ways to apologize to Hermione.

"Fine, sorry if that makes you sleep better at night." Draco muttered grudgingly as he treaded heavily outside the room.

At the ForbiddenForest, a raven-haired emerald-eyed figure re-appeared behind the willowing trees. "What took you so long?"

"I almost don't even have time to meet you. I'm working on a tight schedule here, mate. Why are you even here?"

"Backup, what else?"

"Who sent you?"

"Your sister."

"My sister?"

"No, the other sister."

Yeah, it's not 5000 words but I haven't recovered my draft for chapter 9 from my corrupted HD so I just managed to recall what I wrote there and so far this is it. Let me know what you think. Btw, thanks a lot for all those who stuck by this story despite the long updates in between. Really appreciate you guys! Mwah!