Chapter 11

Hermione knew the instant the counter curse had been cast. She felt the pain in her foot from when she had dropped the cricket bat on her foot. The tears she had been begging to cry now fell freely and the warmth she received From Elizabeth around her leg was made obvious. She crouched down so that she was at Liz's level and pulled her into a hug. The poor child was hysterical. And Hermione understood completely.

"What on earth do you mean 'improper use of magic'? I haven't cast a spell in 24 hours. And even then the spell was a contraceptive spell. Something I am allowed to cast." She glared at Harry. He at least had the sense to avert his eyes.

"There was more than a contraceptive spell detected here." The other Auror stated raising his wand at her.

"Believe me I wouldn't have cast any spell if I wasn't forced to." She replied.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked moving towards her.

"I was raped Harry. I had to do it to protect myself and my daughter." She explained.

"I see. Well Miss Granger, we still need to take you with us." The Auror said.

"And Elizabeth. I am not leaving here without my child." Hermione picked Elizabeth up, hoping it would reinforce her point.

"Ginny could look after her?" Harry suggested.

"I'm not leaving her with strangers." She shook her head.

"Hermione, Ginny isn't a stranger, you've know her for almost as long as you've know me." Harry argued.

"Like I said, I'm not leaving her with strangers." She tightened her grip on Liz.

"Where's he come into all this?" The Auror asked, pointing at a still frozen Malfoy.

"He was looking after Liz while I was at work. He was the one who cast all those spells." Hermione explained.

"Well, he's gonna have to come too." The Auror said.

"How can you trust him with her, but not me?" Harry asked.

"He was there to protect us when you weren't." She said straight faced.

"Who's the father?" Harry asked.

Hermione paused. This was her dream. She had Harry and Ron asking her about Elizabeth and she was convicted with casting magic in front of Elizabeth. She couldn't tell Harry about her memory. She hadn't even talked to Draco about it. No, it would have to remain a secret for now.

"I can't say." She relied.

"Hermione… who is it?" Harry insisted.

"In my line of work, I can't say." She answered hoping it would shut him up. It did.

"Well regardless of all that, the three of you are still going to have to come with us." The Auror said, taking charge in Harry silence.

"We'll take them back to the ministry." Harry replied.

"Apperation?" He asked Harry.

"Yeah, it'll be easier on the child." Harry glanced at Elizabeth in Hermione's arms.

"Okay, let's all join hands." The Auror joked moving towards Hermione. He put his hand on Elizabeth, while Hermione's hand found Malfoy's hand.

"Ready? Alright, hold tight." The man said, before everything went black.

OoOoOo

Harry didn't understand. That was the simple truth. He hadn't understood why Hermione hadn't been at Ginny and his wedding. He didn't understand why the flat she used to have in Diagon Alley was empty. He didn't understand why every owl he sent out to her always returned with his letter unopened.

And now he didn't understand how Draco Malfoy, Hermione's former enemy, had been in Hermione's flat and more importantly Hermione's bedroom.

He had heard about the argument she had with the Minister of Magic, but surely it wasn't that bad that Hermione had been forced to leave the magical world. But the fact that she hadn't been seen for about six years and there was very little mention of her after the war in any of the newspapers he read, would certainly led to the belief that she wasn't in the wizarding world.

Then there was the whole 'In my line of work' comment. What was she doing? Was Hermione a prostitute? She was so smart, too smart for her to be forced to sell her body in order to gain money. And a daughter? How could she have let that happen?

Harry had seen the panic in her eyes though. He had seen her body tense up when he had asked about the father. She knew who it was. And his guess was that it was Draco. But Draco hadn't been missing for as long as Hermione had been. The child looked to be about four years old and Hermione had disappeared 6 years ago. Perhaps they were married? But neither of them were wearing rings.

It was all a big guessing game.

One thing Harry did know, though was that since Kingsley had become Minister a year ago, Hermione should be able to come back into the Wizarding world. It would give her the chance to continue the life she had before everything fell apart. It would also allow her to reconnect with the Weasleys and his own small family.

But for now he had to determine what had happened at Hermione's flat for the overuse of magic alarms to go off. And to do that he was going to need a lot of Veritaserum.

He unlocked the door to the room that Malfoy was in. Malfoy looked up before glancing back at his hands.

"So, Hermione…" Harry began sitting down opposite him.

"Just give me the potion." Draco said.

"Alright, keep your hair on." Harry slid the potion over to him. Draco uncapped it and drank the whole thing.

"Right, now then, why were you at Hermione's flat?" Harry asked, setting up a quill to take notes.

"I was looking after Hermione's Daughter, Elizabeth." He answered.

"Okay, how did you meet up with Granger?" Harry quickly wrote his questions down.

"Blaise and I found out that she worked at a strip club just a small walk from where he lives. We went one night to antagonize her and ask her questions about her disappearance act. I followed her outside and proceeded to ask her a few questions, when she suddenly froze and demanded I take her away from where we were. Wondering why she had reacted like this, I looked around to find a group of men walking towards us. Later Hermione told me that they had raped her the previous night. I then…" Harry interrupted him.

"She was raped? Poor Hermione. Was she alright afterwards?"

"She was mainly angry that she couldn't defend herself properly. Anyway, I took her and her daughter back to my place. Unfortunately, Elizabeth had a bad reaction to the approaching men and then the sudden change of location, so they were forced to spend the night at my house. The next morning I made breakfast and after an initial fight between Hermione and myself, I look them both to their flat. From there Hermione got changed for work and I looked after Elizabeth." Draco concluded.

"So where does all the magic come into it?" Harry asked.

"You have to understand that Hermione cares so much for that child. I watched her feed Liz before herself. Hermione's house was a shambles. The oven didn't work and so many other muggle appliances, because she couldn't afford to use them. Their cupboards were almost completely bare and Liz had very few toys. I decided to help them, by improving the house and stocking the fridge up with food. That's where most of the magic was used." He explained.

"So your only connection with Elizabeth, is that you met yesterday?"

"Yes and no. I feel something for her. It's a protective nature. I don't want anything bad to happen to her. I, something is telling me, and I think it's the potion, that I know her from something else. Like I've always known her, but I don't know how." Draco answered.

Harry looked at him. He looked conflicted. And he knew exactly what he was talking about in regards to the protective nature. Harry felt that for his own son. So maybe it was a possibility, that Elizabeth was the daughter of Draco. Wouldn't Lucius love that? Harry thought, hiding his laughter.

"Okay, we're going to have to keep you here until we get Hermione's story." Harry stood up and collected his parchment and quill.

"Potter." Draco called to him, just as he reached the door.

"Malfoy?" Harry turned back to him.

"Don't separate them. If Hermione loses Elizabeth, she losing everything."

Harry nodded at his words before closing the door.

OoOoOo

Elizabeth wasn't faring well in the small room Hermione had been placed in. Thankfully they hadn't split the two of them up, possibly due to the fact that she refused to let her go. Anyway, Elizabeth sat in the plastic chair, curled up into a small ball. Hermione had tried to talk to her, but very little was achieved. Liz simply shook her head. No matter what Hermione asked, nothing would work.

Hermione wasn't much better. She continued to pace back and forth until the door opened and Harry walked in holding a roll of parchment, an ink pot and a small potion.

"Hermione, to you want to take a seat?" He asked, indicating the chair that was free. Hermione sat down with a sigh.

"So, do you want the potion?" He asked.

Hermione placed her arm on the table palm side up. Harry place the small vile of potion into her hand and watched as she drank it.

"Right now than, tell me about your relationship with Draco Malfoy?" Harry asked.

"Draco is the father of Liz." Hermione said before putting her hands over her mouth. What had she done?

A/N: Hello everyone, it's been a while. So, Hermione revealed a big secret, any guesses how Draco will handle this news. My guess is badly, but that's just me. Reviews are appreciated…