It was 5:20 am when Hermione Granger, holding her half-asleep son's hand, arrived at Malfoy Manor. She was furious, having spent all night making plans to counter attack the Malfoys in Court, thus she hadn't slept all night. She had the legal instruments, she had the brains, the law and common sense on her side; but she didn't have all the money and the corruption of the Malfoys.
At 5 am she decided to wake up her child, dress him and take him with her to the Malfoy's. She could not leave him alone and she had no one to leave him with that early in the morning. She was not scared of the Malfoys, and her child would be the key to win any argument with them.
The doors to the manor opened instantly when both arrived, allowing them to enter into a deserted hall. Sebastian was still half asleep and didn't feel like asking any questions, realizing Hermione wasn't in a good mood. He did seem to cheer up a little when he arrived at his former home.
"Malfoy?" Called Hermione, not sure of what to do since no one was coming to meet them.
"It's very early, mom; my grandparents are probably still getting ready to come down." Explained a yawning Sebastian. Then he guided her up to a huge door which opened automatically at the child's closeness.
"Come, let us wait for them here."
Hermione then found herself in an enormous living room, it was big enough for hundreds of people, there were so many chairs, armchairs, sofas, tables, statues, and plants... it looked like a high class club.
"Grandmother has changed the decorations again." Said the child as he entered and sat on a sofa; he was puzzled by the difference between that living room and the one of his memory.
Hermione didn't want to sit down, she didn't want to make herself comfortable in that place: she had only gotten there to argue with the Malfoys -with the three of them if it was possible; but since she didn't want to leave Sebastian alone there, she sat right next to him, crossed her legs and started tapping her fingers against a small table.
"Miss Granger, it's so very pleasing to greet you this early!" Hermione was surprised by the apparently cheery voice of Lucius Malfoy; she got up instantly and turned around to meet his face.
The man, unlike her, appeared fresh as if he had woken up long ago and slept remarkably well, insightful and arrogant, but at the same time pretending to be friendly as usual. "And I am glad to see you too, boy. Have you come to spend the day with your family?" He asked Sebastian, who was looking at his grandfather with great expectation.
"No, he is just here with me." Said Hermione instead, clearly upset as she spoke. Just seeing that man made her mad enough to forget she had not slept at all.
"Of course, it's not like you have someone to take care of him when you are gone, right?" The older Malfoy said with a meaningful voice, a slight triumphant smile on his face.
Before Hermione could say something, Narcissa Malfoy appeared, looking perfect as usual; no one could tell she had just woken up, as with her husband.
"Good day to you, Miss Granger, Sebastian." She said with little interest as she spoke to her, but did attempt a kinder tone when she spoke to her grandchild. Sebastian walked up to her right away, and as Narcissa noticed his expectant look, she leaned down to him and was utterly shocked when the child kissed her on the cheek. Considering Sebastian's attitude, it looked like it was something they did every single morning. Hermione couldn't believe her eyes, and Narcissa was paler than usual. Sebastian, on the other hand, had not noticed the adults' strange reactions. Instead of looking at them, something else called his attention, he walked up to a large window where they could see a huge balcony and the lovely Malfoy gardens.
"We have a pool?" It was clear that he could not believe his eyes.
Again, the Malfoys found themselves in an awkward situation; that pool had been there since the manor was built over a century ago; the child's surprise meant the pool would not be there in the future, and they could not fathom why would they ever get rid of it.
"A new acquisition" Explained Lucius with his usual matter of fact attitude.
"Have you had breakfast?" Narcissa asked right away, hoping to quickly change the subject.
Sebastian turned around to look at his grandmother and shook his head. "No, grandmother, I haven't had breakfast yet… but I don't understand, I thought we couldn't have a pool."
"Why not?" Asked Hermione, not because she wanted to help the Malfoys -although she was doing just that, since it only made sense if she did not know about the pool issue- but because she was simply curious, and each thing the boy claimed was diferent, could be of help in order to figure out why he time-traveled.
"Because of father." He said, shrugging as if it was so obvious. "He could fall." Then he turned to look at Lucius, and, with a look of uncertainty, he asked: "You don't care any longer that he could drown?"
"Your father has improved greatly, Sebastian, we are certain he will not fall. Besides, he knows how to swim, I highly doubt he could drown." Replied Narcissa, unable to hide the worry in her voice. The future that Sebastian spoke about, was not what she wanted for her son.
The child didn't seem convinced, but he was left with no choice other than to accept the explanation he was given, even though it made little to no sense to him.
"Would you care to have breakfast with me while your mother and your grandfather speak?" Narcissa offered. He went straight up to her and grabbed her hand to let her guide him.
Before Hermione could say anything, Lucius stopped her. "How would a judge react to seeing an underfed child, Miss Granger?"
Hermione was even more angered by that, but at the same time she remembered her son was not in any real danger, since the Malfoys had demanded for custody and anything they'd do would be monitored by the Ministery of Magic. If anything happened to either Sebastian or Hermione, the Malfoys would be the primary suspects, and they could not risk something like that.
Once Sebastian and Narcissa left the room, Hermione let go the breath she was holding and tried to calm down before replying. She couldn't prevent her look of disgust as she spoke to the elder Malfoy though.
"You won't take him away from me. It's not possible."
"Would you care to risk it, Miss Granger? You know as well as us how far our connections go."
"Yes."-This time, it was Hermione, whom smiled mischievously as she spoke. -"I know how far you can reach and how far I can… and I also know you do not wish this matter to be of public knowledge."
"Of course not."-Replied Lucious, just as calm as ever; he wasn't surprised in the least, as Hermione had expected. He smartly sat on an armchair in front of her, inviting Hermione to do the same. -"That is the reason we can negotiate, do you not think so? We will withdraw the lawsuit if we can reach an agreement."
Hermione didn't sit; instead she stood there in front of him, biting her lower lip as she listened and watched him acting so serene, as if everything going on was no more than a simple business meeting.
"You grant us visitation rights, no need to make matters public -just having the case in a minority court will be enough- we withdraw the lawsuit and everyone involved will be happy, including the child."
"And what will you do to make him speak that won't make him suspicious and ask questions? I will not have him subjected to your methods."
Lucius ignored her insinuation and, instead, he answered her question directly: "That would be the right place for you to participate, Miss Granger. Of course you will want to be present as we spend time with the child, so we will welcome you into our home along with him. You will be the one asking the questions we need to know, this will prevent him from getting suspicious."
Lucius's words confirmed what she had suspected from the very beginning: the custody lawsuit was nothing but a threat, a warning, a trap she could not get out of. It was a rather simple plan really, she had been summoned to them with a lawsuit the Malfoys had no real intention of pursuing, and she was forced to accept a deal in order to prevent a court process, something they would be eager to do just to spite her if she didn't agree to their terms. Hermione really did not want to agree, she really didn't, but she was left without a choice. Ironically enough, it would also be convenient for her, because even though she didn't want Sebastian to get out of her life, she knew that if something happened... it was necessary, and the Malfoys were key to find out what she needed… although she might not really want to find out how to return him to his time or dimension.
It was then that Hermione, in a solemn act of surrender, decided to sit on the couch she had been before.
"Shall I assume by your demeanor that you agree to our terms?" Asked Lucius, with that annoying triumphant smirk of his.
"Fine. We start now."-She replied after a deep sigh. -"We will leave in 2 hours time; and when I am out of work I will sign a visitation agreement. The Ministery of Magic will see to our deal."
Or at least she thought that the Ministery of Magic having a file of her case gave her the protection she needed against the Malfoys. And she would most certainly need protection if they withdrew the lawsuit. Lucius did not seem troubled by the idea and invited her to the breakfast room -as he called it-to join his wife and grandson. Both of them were already eating there, Sebastian was telling his grandmother about his Muggle adventures-this was Hermione's guess when she saw Narcissa's dreadful facial expression, which was a curious mix of interest, horror and disdain. It wasn't very surprising for the child to see that expression on his grandmother's face though.
"And then mother took me to the London Museum and we saw real dead dinosaurs."-He was explaining with such a delightful excitement. He did not seem tired at all. -"We had been there before and we saw Egyptian mummies as the ones we saw in Egypt, do you remember grandmother?"
Narcissa slowly nodded her head and then turned around to look at Hermione, who sat next to Sebastian in the huge dining room. Apparently Malfoy sat on the edge, his wife by his right and Sebastian by his left. It would seem that's how it would work in the future, since Sebastian and Narcissa were in front of one another rather than next to each other in such a big dining table, considering the latter would be more fitting with Sebastian's affectionate demeanor with his grandmother. That made her consider Draco didn't usually share the table with them.
"So you did not reconsider your idea of taking him to a Muggle school." Said Narcissa, making an honest effort to cover the fury in her voice.
Lucius's face wasn't a pleasant one when he heard that, and Sebastian didn't seem comfortable in a situation where he was right in between what his grandparents and his mother believed.
"But it is fun, grandmother; even though arithmetic and French classes bore me because I already know it all… mother says it's my training for Hogwarts." He tried to explain, with a little hope in his voice but also fear of the response he could get.
The Malfoys stared at Hermione with disdain for a moment. She just smiled mockingly and spoke to her son, plainly ignoring the adults. "Did your grandmother teach you French?"
"Yes, French and German." Sebastian nodded his head. All of the sudden Narcissa looked particularly proud, showing a lovely smile to the child. In the last few days Hermione had seen expressions in that woman's face, she had never in her life considered possible.
"Why don't you tell her more of what we have taught you Sebastian? Tell her how is your life here."
Hermione suppressed a sigh, overthrown, and made an effort to put on a good face to encourage Sebastian. She had already asked him that not long ago and she had not gotten any useful information out of him.
And, as she had figured, Sebastian just shrugged his shoulders after a long moment of trying to come up with something to say. "I don't know what you want me to say exactly, grandfather."
It was logical for him to answer that way, since for him his life was nothing out of the ordinary. The only interesting things about his life to him, was what was happening now he was living with his mother.
"Tell her about your everyday life here, what you did each day since you woke up until you went back to bed."
Sebastian did not understand the importance of what he was being told to do, but obedient as he was, he complied.
"Everyday we wake up at 6 o'clock, we take a shower and then we have breakfast." He spoke referring probably to the three of them, his grandparents and him, as if they were a team, a unit. "At breakfast we read the newspaper, especially the economics section." -As he said that, he looked all over the table with discomfort as he did not find what he was searching for. -"We won't read today's newspaper, grandfather?"
Lucius Malfoy had been taken aback by the question. It was actually a routine for him to read the newspaper every morning, but he did not think his grandson would know about it and realize that particular day they did not have it.
"No, we have a very special guest today. Have we not taught you manners, boy? It would be most impolite."
"Yes, I am sorry."-Sebastian blushed for his mistake and went on speaking: -"After reading the newspaper grandfather goes to his study and grandmother goes through her schedule for the day. Depending on the day I will accompany grandmother or grandfather. During afternoons grandmother teaches me history of magic, grammar, and we practice languages and we read books. And when grandfather comes back from work we practice arithmetic and finances and we go over the family business."
"And your father never joins us." Concluded Narcissa, as she clearly wanted to ask about her own son, but being entirely unable to. She was giving Hermione a sign to intervene even though it was clearly pointless, for the answer was predictable. She figured Narcissa didn't want to believe her son would become an everyday drunk and a womanizer.
"Never? He doesn't even spend time just with his parents?" Asked Hermione, feigning some interest.
"I am not usually around him, so I don't see him often. But grandmother spends most of her time with him when I am not with her."
No doubt it was easy to go unnoticed in such a huge manor, with so many dozens of rooms and such large spaces one could easily get lost. Those people could easily spend entire days without seeing oneanother if they didn't need to.
"And then, after having dinner, we read a book in our private living room, and when I go to bed grandmother sometimes tells me a story and when I wake up the following morning, everything starts over again." He concluded with no interest at all, and continued eating as he assumed nothing else was expected of him.
Hermione had no idea if that information was of any use to the Malfoys. For her it meant Sebastian grandparents were completely devoted to him -or would be-and she was very thankful for that, as the child did not seem unhappy with his life, which seemed strange if one thought about it, since he didn't appear to be missing it. Or perhaps he did miss it, but he hid it well in order to be with his mother.
Despite the strange circumstances, they spent quite a quiet breakfast, though Hermione was having a hard time not falling asleep after listening for an entire hour to her son's stories about all the days he had spent with her, the Muggle school adventures and the great discovery of his other set of grandparents -he made sure to tell the Malfoys that he loved them more and that they would always be his favorites, when speaking about his other grandparents. Hermione suppressed a snort as she listened to that, but it was normal for the kid to feel that way.
The most relevant event that morning occurred just a few minutes before Hermione and Sebastian had to leave, when the child wanted to go to the bathroom. Of course, since he knew the mansion well he could just go quietly, and he did.
"What we need now, Miss Granger..." Lucius Malfoy began speaking after Sebastian had exited from the dining room. -"It is to devise a way for the boy to say what he knows about the relationship you may have had with our son. Have you asked him if his parents were married? "The man asked that with a certain tone of disgust, and trying to conceal the displeasure on his face.
"It would be strange for him to be asked such a question, he might even ask me and I would not know what to reply."
"And we need to know how he got here."
"Maybe you have some sort of portal, or some black magic object Sebastian could find in the house and, unbeknownst to him, he used it to get here."
The Malfoys warily looked at each other for a moment, silently figuring out what to answer.
"We do not have anything like that, Miss Granger, I do not know why you would think such a thing." Narcissa replied, pretending to be insulted by the insinuation.
"Of course," Hermione said sarcastically, but too tired to argue. - "But if you discover anything, I will thank you with my discretion."
It was seven o'clock in the morning when Hermione decided to stand up and pick up her son, who had already taken too much time to go to the bathroom. Besides, she could not stand the Malfoys any longer, so she excused herself by saying that they had to get ready for work and school. Her saying that reminded the Malfoys of the Muggle school issue, but Hermione was blunt and said that was not open for discussion.
The boy, meanwhile, was heading back to the breakfast room, but on the way he came upon a surprise. The last woman he had seen with his father.
"Good morning, dear, who are you?" She asked in a sweet, curious voice.
"Sebastian." The child replied, with clear shyness and insecurity as he spoke.
"And what are you doing here?"
The child, instead of answering the question, prepared to say what was going through his head: "I'm not allowed to talk to my father's friends."
"You mean I am a friend of your father's?" Astoria was rather skeptical to hear something like that. -"Who is your father?"
"Draco Malfoy." He answered, still unsure whether it was right for him to answer the woman's questions, for on one hand, he had been taught that it was rude to not reply when someone spoke to him, and on the other hand he had been told not to speak to his father's friends.
Astoria Greengrass was particularly astonished. She was looking at a child who was identical to his fiancé and who also claimed to be his son. The entire situation made little to no sense, but no one could deny the resemblance between Sebastian and Draco. There was no doubt that the child was a Malfoy; moreover, Astoria knew knew that Draco had neither cousins nor siblings, and therefore no nephews. But how could it be possible that he had a child and she would never have known? Something like that does not scape public scrutiny in the high-class-society network.
But it was what happened immediately after that left her speechless.
"Sebastian, where are you? We're leaving."
Astoria turned around, following the direction of that voice, and her eyes widened as she saw Hermione Granger with Narcissa Malfoy. The first showed an attitude of weariness, the second, her future mother-in-law, showed for the first time in her life -according to what Astoria had seen- a perplexed and nervous demeanor. She was also surprised to hear what the child said next.
"Yes, mom."
Astoria gaped as the child ran in the direction of whom apparently was his mother. Slowly, Astoria looked up to see Hermione Granger's face once the boy had reached her side, and, no matter how much she tried, no words came out of her mouth.
"Good morning, you must be Astoria." Hermione greeted her, as courteously as possible, wondering what Sebastian would have told her in order for her to look like that. Should she should worry about it?
Astoria nodded slightly and, after an unsuccessful attempt to speak, she managed to say, "Draco and you...?" She stammered as she asked that simple sentence, unable to finish it.
Narcissa quickly hurried to her side and took her gently by the arm, something that Sebastian watched in amazement. "Astoria, dear... You are here so early today!"
Hermione sighed as she stroked her child's hair, he was now glued to the side of her leg. Should she answer Astoria's question? Draco did not want his fiancee to know anything, but she obviously already knew something. However, if Astoria had obtained information from the boy, she would know nothing truly relevant that could harm her relationship with Draco... Assuming that she was not already seriously disturbed to find out that they had had a child 7 years ago.
"It was a long time ago. Do not worry about that." She replied with a shrug, trying to look indifferent -which came very easily to her considering she was unable to sleep last night, and the fact that she had to endure a long breakfast with the Malfoys. Narcissa, for her part, decided that Hermione's words were a good solution and assured Astoria that there was nothing between Draco and Hermione.
Hermione then bade a dull farewell and allowed her son to guide her to the nearest exit. They had half an hour to prepare to go to school and to work. Sebastian said goodbye, simply waving his hand, unable to comprehend the situation.
"See you later, Grandmother." He said just before going through the door.
"See you later, little one." Narcissa replied after a moment of hesitation, still holding the amazed Astoria's arm. Perhaps, deep down, she did not dislike the idea of being his grandmother.
Arriving at Hermione's apartment again, what she most wanted was to miss work and dive into her bed; but responsibility always came first, and she had to get Sebastian ready for school.
"My grandparents have been acting very strange since I left, Mom. I'm worried."
"Tell me, strange how?"
"First about the pool. I always wanted to have one, but they said no because it was very dangerous for my father, and now that I left they built one."
What could she say to that? It was a complicated situation, and she realized it had to be very hard for her son to believe his grandparents when they gave him an explanation. Even for a child it was hard to believe that his father was cured overnight of a problem he had since Sebastian could remember. But what other explanation was there?
"Do not you believe them?"
"Yes, I believe them." - Sebastian assured her firmly, he would allow no doubt that he trusted his grandparents with his life. - "But I do not understand how it is that a father could recover like this from scratch, we spent so many years trying to help him..."
And there it was again, the boy talked about his grandparents and he as if they were a team. He considered himself involved in matters in which he could not be involved in any way. Perhaps, in all his innocence, he thought he could help him some way.
"I think it's because I left that father recovered." Sebastian concluded after hesitating for a moment, his voice displaying insecurity and melancholy. Hermione felt sick of seeing the sadness on the child's face.
"Sebastian... I do not think it was for you, sometimes people..."
"No," he interrupted her, determined, displaying an attitude she had seen several times on Draco Malfoy. "They fired Mary!"
"Mary?" Hermione asked, she was so tired she give way to Sebastian's aggressive attitude. It was perplexing to see and hear him like that, so angry.
"Mary was my friend, she took care of me when my grandparents could not, and she was in charge of cleaning the whole mansion and everything. She was my nanny and our maid." He explained with a mix of sadness and anger as he remembered that. - "My grandmother told me that since I was no longer living with them, they did not need her and so they dismissed her... Grandmother does not know me where she lives or anything else about her so I cannot visit her..."
Hermione, seeing him so distressed, knelt in order to be face to face with him and hugged him gently. Sebastian let himself be hugged and seemed to try and suppress tears. He continued speaking before she could say anything, trying to hide a brittle voice. "And they bought house-elves, mother, that's the weirdest thing of all."
Her eyes widened at that. That, no doubt, was very strange. Sebastian, unbeknownst to him, was telling her that, in the future, the Malfoys had no house-elves. Instead, they had a single human servant, a witch who took care of everything, an employee, not a slave. Could that mean that the child, as Harry believed, came from another dimension? Of a dimension where the Malfoys were not slavers with a deep hatred for muggles and mudbloods?
"Why is that weird?" She asked carefully, stroking the back of his head. "Have not they ever had one before?"
"I think so, but father hated them so they had to replace them with Mary."
The two continued to hold each other for a long time, during which Hermione wondered if this last piece of information was evidence that she had been able influence Draco Malfoy more than she would ever have imagined. Or that, perhaps, would she?
"And Grandmother did not despise father's friend, Mom... She hates father's friends, all of them!"
It was another very complicated issue, should she tell him that his father was engaged to that girl? That he would marry? How would he react to something like that? And how much did the child understand about relationships? It would certainly help Hermione to know whether Draco had already been married or not in Sebastian's past. Finding out something as huge as that would hardly diminish the astonishment she already had. The best solution would be to prevent him from asking further questions.
"You said that this girl looked very different... Very different from the others you've seen. Maybe..." She spoke slowly, choosing her words very carefully. - "... Maybe she is a very special friend of your father's, and maybe because she is so different from the others your grandparents accept her."
Sebastian then moved a little to release her embrace and looked at her face with his slightly-wet eyes. He seemed to feel better.
"Like Mary?"
"Of course," she replied, trying to hide her insecurity with a nervous smile. "Just that she's not a maid."
The child seemed to consider it for a moment, showing a thoughtful and calculating attitude as he watched his mother. "So it's like you?"
"Like me?" Hermione's eyes widened and she asked in bewilderment. -"What do you mean?"
"Well, you were a very special friend of my father's, right?" He explained, shrugging. "My grandmother told me that."
The woman's mouth fell open as she heard this. It was one of the many things she wanted to know, and the child had told her: She had had a relationship with Malfoy, seemingly romantic; unless the term "special friend" was given another meaning, a meaning that did not really agree with her... She could hardly imagine that the child came from this same dimension. In fact, in both cases the same could be doubted. But considering the child did not know what a friend with benefits is, and since they were talking about someone on good terms... Maybe Hermione really had a history with Malfoy... Good history.
"Ehm..." - Hermione hesitated to answer, as she was too stunned by her new discovery. "Of course... Of course." She nodded, then, as if to reaffirm what he was saying.
"But why did you disappear, mom? Father was happy with you..."
She was about to ask "Was he?" as she seriously doubted it; but she reacted just in time to say: "I never wanted to disappear. I do not know how or why it happened... But if I could have avoided it, Sebastian, I would never have disappeared... Specially from your life."
Sebastian was clearly not happy, as he did not get the answer he had always wanted to know, but at the same time he was glad to hear that his mother never wanted to leave him. Although he had never doubted it, it was good to hear it from his mother's lips.
"Yes, Grandmother told me that it was not your fault." He said, nodding and putting an ending to the discussion. Leaving a perplexed Hermione behind, Sebastian went to the bedroom to finish getting ready for school.
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A/N: Hello there. How did you find this chapter? Any spelling or grammar mistakes? Or phrases that do not sound right in English? If so and this bothered you, I gently invite you to beta-read this and the following chapters, which I am translating again. I am hoping to update the next chapter later this week. Thank you for reading (is there anyone from the begining still around?). Happy new year and see you later.