A/n: Alright I have to admit I really like this chapter, especially the end! Dark, dark, dark! I hope you guys like it and please leave a review at the bottom if you have the time :) You guys are awesome! Thanks to my betas JDeppIsMyLovely and Tessa Cresswell!


The Plan

"Blaise," Draco said tensely, leaning to the side as though to block Hermione from view. The marks on her were obviously drawing the attention of the Italian, and he didn't like it. He didn't want questions. "What are you doing here?"

"Well I thought I would come and see you," he began, still eyeing the woman, "But it appears you already have some company. You seem to be here early this morning Granger."

She shrugged. "I was called in."

He didn't seem to believe her lie one bit, but shrugged it off and refocused his attention on his friend. "Can we have a word?" he asked, his tone coming out harshly. The pair exchanged a glance at this, and Draco wondered if she would just take the initiative while he was gone and bind his son.

"Of course," he agreed lightly, ignoring the woman's concerned look. As he brushed past her, he wondered if perhaps he should be more concerned about what she might do.

Hermione watched the pair go before she sighed and walked briskly back into Scorpius' room. The child sat away from her against the far wall, large eyes looking up at her. They were filled with distrust, but he didn't look frightened when she shut the door. Sighing at her predicament, she wondered how difficult it would be to get him to let her bind him back to the mattress.

He shall be resilient sweet princess. But he does not fear you. So don't fear him.

She felt the usual shivers racing down her back. How did this voice know if that was true? A thought occurred to her, and she wasted barely a moment considering it before putting it into action.

"And how would you know?"

The response came instantaneously, and she was surprised that it gave her a response at all.

I know more than you would think. Trust me, Hermione Granger; it is safe for you to help.

The girl wasn't sure if she should really be trusting a voice that spoke to her often and never explained itself, and did little to assist her in dire situations out in the forest, but decided that she would at least have to get Scorpius back the way he was. Adam would be arriving any minute, and she couldn't be caught trying to maneuver the child back onto the bed.

Holding up her hands, she took a step towards the child. "Easy Scorpius," she said, placing a smile on her features, "I won't hurt you, I promise."


"You better have a good fucking explanation to this," Blaise spat, pacing the room.

"Blaise, I didn't choke her," Draco argued, running fingers through his hair. "I didn't touch her!"

"So who did then?" Blaise pressed. "Even if you don't care about her enough to care that someone may have tried to strangle her, the least you can do is convince her to put a concealment spell over the bruises so people don't ask questions." The man shook his head. "And why is she even here this early? I know those bloody Healers have a tendency to arrive early, but this seems a bit ridiculous. And where is that partner of hers?"

The blonde rubbed his temples, forcing himself to stay calm and not murder his friend. "I don't know where her fucking partner is, but I have no complaints if he chooses to not show up today. I can't stand him. She's here this early because I asked her to come by, because I am worried about my son." He made sure he said the last word forcefully. "And you know me better than that Blaise! I would never strangle a girl, let alone a helpful one. I never touched my wife; I'm not going to harm Granger. I might've had my problems with her in the past, but it wouldn't cloud my judgment."

His friend pursed his lips. "Look Draco, I'm just concerned. You haven't quite been in your right mind since… since Scorp got hurt. I'm making sure that you aren't doing anything rash-"

"Well you can stop," he snapped angrily. "I am not a child. I don't need you watching me like one. I am a grown adult now and I will judge whether or not I think I am handling things well."

Blaise sighed, looking away. "If you say so mate. I only meant to help."

"I know you do," his friend agreed, wandering now that Blaise stood still. "But I didn't strangle her. I can honestly say I don't know what did that."

Instantly his friend's eyes narrowed to slits. "What do you mean by 'what'?"

He shrugged. "She never explained them to me. I have no idea what caused them to end up there- what actions. I'm sure she will hide them though before that partner of hers arrives; she doesn't seem to trust him all that much. He won't see them at least, and I will press her later to see if she will tell me." He knew though that she wouldn't tell him anything, not when neither of them knew what was going on.

Slowly, his friend relented. "If you say so Draco. But just be careful. Don't try to take too many problems up on your shoulders right now. I don't quite think you would be able to handle all of it."

The blonde wanted to retort to that, but held his tongue. He did not want to start anymore banter if his friend was finally calming down. "So what are you doing here exactly?"

The Italian pursed his lips before replying. "Astoria has been lingering at our house since last night Draco. Pansy doesn't want to throw her out; she thinks she looks very desperate and confused, and I believe she is. You know that the Greengrass family is all but gone aside from the sisters and your son, so she doesn't really have anyone to turn to. Daphne and Marcus decided to go on a trip apparently, and they did not invite your wife along. She is lingering there Draco, speaking to my daughter just so she can try to get you to come see her. She might have money at the moment, but I think she is getting concerned that you're actually going through with the divorce since you have yet to come and bring her home." He wrinkled his nose. "You are still going through with the divorce, aren't you?"

Draco scoffed. "I sent the paperwork in a few days ago. Astoria signed it ages ago during one of our fights, and I found the document while getting things in order one day when the Healers were here. Looks like her spouts of anger are going to finally backfire on her. It should all be through in about a week. Now did you come here to tell me this so that I would go and remove her from your home?"

"You only have to do that if you want," the Italian muttered. "Pansy thinks it's just awful what the two of you are going through, and she's trying to help your ridiculous wife cope with things. Even if you tell her to leave us alone Pansy is going to continue attempting to help her until she thinks that she's alright to go back into the real world. Do you even realize how much money you're going to lose because of this?"

He chuckled. "I won't lose that much Blaise, not even half. When Scorpius was born we agreeably signed a paper so that the majority of the money I have now goes to my heir. And since in divorce you are only required to relinquish so much, I'll give her enough to live on for a little while until she finds some other poor sap to take her on as a wife. But I'm not giving her enough to live on for the rest of her life."

"Good," he agreed. "She doesn't deserve it, not after how awful she has always been."

"No, she doesn't. But good luck with her though; I'm sure she will cling to Pansy for help as long as possible until she finds another man to cling to." His tone didn't come out angry, just tired. It was easy to tell that he didn't have any fight left in him for this. "I'm just finished with her. I'm done with all the hassle. The faster she is out of my life the better."

Blaise nodded before clasping his hands together. "There is another reason I came by today as well."

"I assumed as much. I doubted you came by to tell me so useless gossip that could've been shortly explained in a letter."

"Indeed. See, it's about my daughter Lizzy. She's very antsy to see Scorpius again Draco, and frankly, so am I. Is he doing alright?"

The blonde smiled, fondly remembering the memory of finally holding his son in his arms again. "It's slowly getting better Blaise. But I don't think it's safe yet to have Lizzy coming by. It's still not all understood, but we're beginning to figure things out." By now though, he was sure that Granger would have the poor child tied back down to the bed. He never had a chance to finish arguing that with her actually, and he would need to be speaking to her about it.

"We?" he asked, arching an eyebrow. "You're actually involving yourself somewhere in this process?"

"I am. I've just been helping them find some books in my library, but it's helping Blaise. Whatever I can do to help my son get better, I'll take it."

"I suppose I would too-"

He cut off as they heard a loud thud in the distance, and glancing at the clock Draco realized they had been speaking for a half hour. The pair exchanged a glance before a scream followed the sound, and then they were quickly marching out the door to investigate. It sounded like a girl's scream, and since the blonde already had a bad opinion on dear Adam he wasn't sure he was going to like this. The man had to be there by now.

As they got closer, they could hear someone speaking. "… careless disregard for safety! You're probably hurting him more than you're helping him! What kind of sabotage is this? You're twisted Adam! He's just a little kid, he has no defenses."

Draco quickened his pace at that, turning a corner ahead of Blaise to find Adam slumped against the hallway wall outside of the door to Scorpius' bedroom, and Hermione standing in the doorway with her wand drawn. Distinctly he could see the thin trail of blood falling from her hairline, and drew his own as he stepped closer.

"It's a blatant disregard for anyone's safety! No wonder nothing is improving; you haven't been letting it get better!"

"What's going on?" Draco interrupted before she could shout again. He glanced between the pair, feeling the presence of Blaise behind him. This didn't look good.

She barely glanced his way. "Oh, why don't you ask Adam? He's the genius behind all of this!"

Leaning forward, Draco jabbed the git in the head, who in return only flipped his head around and glared. "What did you do Lincoln? Don't play games with me if this involves my son's health!"

He spat in the blonde's direction, but gave no reply. Draco ignored it, but Hermione huffed, finally glancing up now that someone else had a wand jammed into his head. "He's been messing with the machine; I saw him toying with the manual valves a moment ago. We aren't supposed to change them unless something dire calls for it, but he's been fucking everything up! He been messing with my spells too, altering them when I'm not looking. I went looking for you a few minutes ago out in that sitting room, and when I returned he was messing with things. He's jeopardizing your son's health more than he's helping."

Anyone could clearly see the fire smoldering in Draco's eyes. "You've been making things worse?!"

"Don't kill him," Blaise cautioned from behind the blonde. "That would only multiply how bad things are."

"Yes," Hermione quickly agreed when the blonde's lip twitched. "I'm angry too Malfoy. This is going to mess with everything, but don't hurt him. I'm going to have to go to St. Mungo's and report this, get him terminated." She shoved his wand away from the other Healer's head when he didn't budge. "It's going to take some time. Let me go for now, and don't hex him."

"And what about my son?" he snarled. "Is anything on that fucking machine fixed?!"

"If you'll keep him in place for a bit I'll adjust it all back and make it fine," she said, attempting to soothe him. It was easy to see that he was livid, but she didn't want him killing Adam before she got him out. "Look, come in the room with me. I'll show you that everything will be just fine." Glancing past his head, she silently urged Blaise to say something.

"I'll stay out here and watch him," the Italian offered, already using a spell to bind the man's arms. "Go check on your son Draco. I won't let him go anywhere."

He didn't visibly relax at any of this, and Hermione actually had to grab his sleeve and pull him in the direction of the room to get him moving towards his son. The stony expression on his face never changed though. As she hauled him into the room, she glanced back at Zabini and mouthed a thank you to him before shutting the door. She barely saw him nod.

"What did he do?" the blonde hissed, shoving past her to his son's side. She trailed behind, gingerly touching the wounded spot on her hairline. "What did he do!?"

"I'm not completely sure," she began, waving her wand over the little boys struggling body. It was apparent that he wanted to get free. "I'll figure it out though-"

"Well work faster!" he spat, watching his sons eyes. They were full of fear, and loathing. He immediately felt like an arse for letting something happen to his little boy once again.

"I can only work as fast as the magic does," she said tiredly, letting the spells do their thing as she returned to the machine. Before Adam arrived she had gotten the little boy all hooked up again. It took her only seconds to change everything back to the way it was, but the child still struggled to get away. She couldn't exactly blame him for it. Waving her wand over his head, she checked to make sure his vitals still functioned properly. They appeared to.

Across from her, Draco had gone silent watching his son, hardly registering what she was doing. His foot tapped impatiently, worry creasing his brow.

"Take him off the machine," he hissed after a few minutes, reaching to do so himself but she stopped his hand. His eyes shot up to meet hers. "If the fucking machine is what is messed up he doesn't need to be monitored! Detach him from it and problem solved!"

"It's not that easy," she sighed, still studying the glowing colors before her. "I have to make sure he isn't infected first, and then if he isn't we can remove the cords and never use this thing again. But Malfoy if something is seriously wrong and we start pulling him from the machine it could cause more damage than good. Please, let me do my job. I'll prevent that if you'll just let me work!"

He relented, throwing his hands up. Glancing down, he noticed that the thrashing had stopped. His son lay still on the bed now, large tears streaming down his cheeks. It was very apparent that he was scared, and since the binds kept Draco from embracing him he settled to rub the boy's cheek; anything to keep him from behind scared.

Minutes passed in a time spans that seemed to take hours. Occasionally she would touch her head where the wound was, but he never paid her any mind. At length she tapped her wand on the boy's chest, and all the spells seemed to evaporate away from him. She didn't have anything floating above him now. Clearly tired from working so fast, she removed the cords in the correct order, took the binds off the boy and collapsed onto the floor.

Scorpius jumped off the bed, scurrying up into his father's embrace. The blonde man held his son close, ignoring the slight sting on his back where the talons were digging into his flesh.

"I'm sorry," he whispered quietly to his son. "If I knew, he wouldn't have stayed. I'm sorry Scorpius."

The boy never replied, just nuzzled tighter into the older man. He liked the warmth of his father's hugs, and the fact that his father still loved him despite everything. He didn't say a work because he was still scared of what he witnessed the two Healer's saying and doing to each other when she found out that the man was lying. Scorpius simply didn't want to think about any of that.

Now that Draco knew his son was fine, he was mindful that the girl who stressed to make sure nothing serious had happened was now someplace on the other side of the bed on the floor. Walking around it, he found her leaning against the wall, breathing slowly. Adjusting his son, he moved and sat down beside her, the boy sitting in his lap. He reached out, brushing the wound on her forehead, which caused her to hiss. Retracting his hand, he reached for his wand.

"You're getting pretty beaten up lately Granger," he noted, tapping his wand against the cut. It closed easily, and he was glad to see it wasn't a deep wound.

She shook her head slowly, keeping her eyes closed. "It's not as though I'm trying to get myself hurt."

"I know," he agreed, frowning when the boys head turned and buried itself into his chest. "I didn't say you were. But if you plan to go to work, you shouldn't look like you've been beaten. Those bruises on your neck won't look good either."

"I'll cover them," she said, opening her eyes to look at him. "I don't want that many questions from people." He nodded, and she adverted her eyes to look at the little boy next to her. "Feeling better?" Scorpius nodded quickly against his dad's chest, but didn't say anything to her; she sighed at this, looking up at the elder Malfoy again. "He won't say a thing to me. I don't blame him though; I did tie him back down to the mattress."

"I know," Draco clipped out, his tone dismissive. Obviously he wasn't in the mood to talk about that.

"Yeah," she agreed, breathing deeply once more before she struggled to her feet. Draco set his son down and stood beside her, the little boy on his other side, clinging to his leg. "I should get going. Like I said earlier, it's going to be a process to get him terminated. They will want to look through my memories and all, so it's going to be a messy ordeal. The sooner I can get this over with the better. But they won't take it lightly. They have to investigate these things the moment they are reported, in case the Healer has done anything similar to another patient."

The blonde nodded, watching as she moved to the long mirror on the adjacent wall, pausing to conceal the bruises on her neck and ensure that no other marks shone through her skin. His hand moved to his neck, where the bites were still very livid and obvious. At least his son's were well hidden.

"Take Blaise along," he said as she began walking to the door, and paused at the doorknob. "He's another witness, and then people might take you more seriously. From what you've told me of your boss, he doesn't seem to like you very much. He might take this more seriously if you are accompanied by another."

She nodded. "I suppose that makes sense." Glancing at Scorpius, she sighed. "I'll come back tonight and see if there's any more that I can do for you. Technically we are cutting things short today by having the both of us leave. I'll-"

"Come back tomorrow," he said, picking his son up again. "You look exhausted Granger, and having you fall asleep on the job won't help anyone. Come back when you've gotten some rest. If there are too many fucking complications at the hospital, owl me and I'll come and help you."

"Oh, you don't have to-"

"I want to," he argued. "You're done a lot even just today with helping my son. I at least owe you to help you get him fired."

Relenting, she nodded. They said their goodbyes quickly, and then she disappeared into the hall. She shut the door after her, and he could hear her speaking to the two men in the hall. Part of him wanted to go along and make sure the bastard never got a good job again, but a more dominate side of him knew he needed to stay and help his son feel better. After everything that just happened, he knew the boy had to be frightened. Turning from the door, he made the binds disappear completely, and then cloaked that damned machine with a sheet before he sat his son down on the bed again. Cupping his face, he forced the little boy to look up at him.

"Are you alright Scorp?"


True to his word, Blaise followed her all the way to her office to talk to her boss, and remained in the room right up until he was asked to leave. He at first thought that the woman was simply exaggerating when she said it took a long time to get things done, but was proved wrong when he was still sitting there hours later waiting for her to come out. And when she did, he raised an eyebrow at her weary face.

"That took quite a long time," he said, stretching as he finally got up from his four hour wait. She looked startled that the Italian had hung around so long, but nonetheless nodded.

"I told Malfoy it was a long process, and I believe I mentioned it to you as well as some point."

"You did," he replied. "But that didn't mean I wasn't going to wait around for you."

She twisted her head to the side, narrowing her eyes. "What do you want, Zabini?"

"Oh please, don't use my last name," he said with a huff. "That's a tradition you and Draco can uphold. I personally don't have a past with you Hermione, and I have no reason to neglect your first name. Please give me the courtesy of doing the same for me."

The girl blinked, again surprised. "Well, if you insist. But what are you still doing here… Blaise?"

"Well I'm waiting for you," he said, following her as she began to walk. "I thought that much was obvious."

"But why did you?" she pressed, glancing at him.

"Well Hermione, it's come to my attention on numerous occasions that you and Draco have a connection of some sort." She looked at him, seeming alarmed at the very idea. "And Draco lately hasn't been in his right mind. Drinking, cursing, and watching his son far too much. Things are getting to him."

"Well they should be getting better," she replied, brushing back her hair. "You heard the dispute earlier, and I can fill you in about the details if you so desire. But the fact of the matter is that the child has been suppressed by my co-worker's subtle changes, and we don't know now if the violent behavior exhibited and the silent treatment given to each and every person was a trait that would've always occurred or one that developed because of the harsh atmosphere he was forced into."

"I see. And what will happen to that man?"

She paused, turning to look at him. "Like I predicted, he was terminated. That's why we had two Aurors down here; they were giving him Veritaserum and checking my memories from today. It was easy enough to prove that he had been messing with things, and he won't return to any sort of medical work in the future now that he is known to have interfered with a very unstable patient."

"And do they plan to send yet another Healer to help you on the case?"

"No," she said, crossing her arms. "I made it very clear while they were searching through my mind that I have done most of the work and the research since we were assigned, and my boss surprisingly agreed to let me work alone. But I think he is still wary about whether or not I will continue with my earlier thoughts."

"What are those?"

"Nothing," she said quickly, turning away to walk again. "They are just little proposals for what might be happening."

"And what are they Hermione?"

She glanced at him. "I won't be telling you my ideas until I can be sure that there is something worthwhile in them. Malfoy knows them, but that's because we started working together on something."

"Which is?"

"You certainly have a lot of questions," she said, stopping at the floo. "I better get back to my place though-"

"I think it might help Draco if you returned to the Manor," he shot out quickly. "He might like that a Healer is around to observe his son while he is actually moving. Besides, it might be good for you as well to see how Scorpius acts."

She frowned. He seemed to really want her to go back. "You have a point I suppose."

"Exactly," he said, grabbing some powder before her. "However, I will not join you on that little adventure. I have a family of my own to go home and watch, and one rather cranky bitch who just won't leave my wife alone." Her frown deepened, wondering just what he meant by that. "I'll see you around Hermione." And then he was off.

"Yes, you will," she said quietly, thinking his words over in her head. Why he cared some much that she returned tonight she didn't know, but she couldn't argue that it might be a good idea. And since she now worked on this case alone she could handle coming in a bit late the following day if she stayed late there. Yes, she supposed she could go back for a bit.

But one thing continued to echo in her mind even as she stepped into Malfoy Manor. Blaise brought up his family, and she knew he had at least a daughter and a wife. Malfoy had a son, and was almost a bachelor again. They both had a family to love.

She did not. And what remained of the two family members she did have after the war were just bodies that didn't speak. It brought down her spirits a bit to be reminded again that although so many people out there had families, she was basically alone in this world.


"How could you be so careless?" he growled, slapping the man in the head. They were alone now, as he had asked to speak to his employee briefly alone.

"I was doing what I was told," he snapped in return, glaring at the older man. "You should've known though that I would be found out at some point; it was your stupid idea to pair me up with the smartest fucking witch in the world! I could only lie to her for so long before she caught on."

Frank scoffed, standing from his chair. "Well, now our connections are severely severed. We still don't know what to do with the boy, and since by law I have to fire you there is nothing I can do to keep monitoring him."

"I could always go out in the woods," Adam offered, shrugging.

"No!" The elder man turned away, staring out the tall window. "You're only half Adam, and it's a secret we shall keep. I don't even know how you can think of something like that, when we don't know how they would react to you. They might tear you limb from limb for all we know."

"Then perhaps Hermione's fucking research will do some good," he said, crossing his arms. "You might've laughed at her while she was here, but the entire comity was uneasy when they heard that she was digging close to the truth. She's smart, and that's what makes her dangerous."

"Yes, indeed," the man replied, tapping his lips thoughtfully. "Her deductive reasoning is superb, and since you were so carelessly adjusting the child's machine and spells the entire time I'm surprised she didn't catch on faster."

"She was too busy being with Draco Malfoy," Adam replied in return. "She spent more time with him than in the room with me some days."

Looking over his shoulder, Frank's eyebrows drew together. "Interesting. If she can be easily pulled away from the room of a patient by someone she doesn't like all that much, perhaps we can find a form of leverage to keep her away for a greater spans of time. Obviously you are well aware of what's going to happen next in this situation, so we can be prepared for it. They will be oblivious to what the child will go through next, and if we can find a way to force her to leave for a bit we might be able to get somewhere."

"But how will that help? The child will just continue to develop, and turn into something new. Even if we pull her away for a while, she will come back. You know that she is loyal to all of her patients."

"Yes," Frank replied, turning back to finger a drawer. "But I know a secret about her."

Adam smirked. "What kind of secret."

He chuckled. "The deadly kind. You've said that she is sometimes late for work?" He reached up, tapping his forehead twice with his index finger. "I happen to know what the cause of that is."

Adam smirked wider. "And how long would interfering with that cause keep her away."

Frank chuckled, opening the drawer to pull out a knife. "Long enough to see if the child would survive stage two. We still have a cover to keep Adam."

He nodded. "Then I'm supposing you want me to figure out a way to get this done?"

"Well, of course."

Adam grinned again. "Wonderful, I can't stand that woman. Just tell me what to do boss. I'll make her life very hard indeed."