The Dursleys left me alone a lot that summer. Day one, Uncle Vernon picked me up from Kings Cross and the first thing I did was tell him that the murderer who killed my parents was back and that my boyfriend was pregnant. I overheard him and my aunt talking about it that night; wondering whether it was true or if I'd finally gone completely bonkers. It didn't matter what they believed, as long as they left me alone and let me receive my owls.
I didn't get so many owls from my friends. Every time I sent Hedwig off with a scroll for one of them and told her not to come back without a response, what came back was a short note from Ron or Hermione without any real information. But Draco was a different matter.
While still at Hogwarts, I passed notes to Draco through Professor Snape, because there was less risk of interception that way. I wrote him one letting him know that I couldn't go into hiding with him, because Dumbledore said I had to stay at the school and that it wasn't safe for me to join him during the summer either, because Voldemort still wanted me dead and would come after me, wherever I was. I didn't want to put Draco and the baby in danger with my presence.
Draco sent me a note back that I was an utter tosser, an arse, and a wanker for not coming with him when he needed me. He also said that we needed to establish code names for owling purposes and that in the future all messages needed to be encrypted with a complicated magical cypher. His code name was Unicorn and mine was Phoenix, after our wand cores. The code to decrypt our cypher was a random string of letters that I was told to memorize and then watch as Snape completely incinerated the parchment they'd been written on. Since the code was entirely random, it would be almost impossible for someone to guess. With no written trace of it, no one would ever be able to find it, as long as I didn't let anyone inside my mind or break under torture and give it away. I'd rather die than give up Draco and the baby, so the code was safe with me.
I spent my first weeks of summer vacation reading and rereading the book on the cypher charm, learning how to use it and the principles behind it, that would keep our messages safe.
Unicorn was the first to send a message, because he already knew how to do it. Unfortunately, it took me a week to decode his message.
Dear Phoenix,
I've gotten very sick this past week. I blame you for making me miserable. Mother is no help. She says that illness is a good sign and should be allowed to progress unhindered by anything that might make me feel the slightest bit better. I've been banned from brewing for the duration of my illness and my mother doesn't brew, so I can't even make Pepper Up, which is in short supply here. If you would join me like I asked, then you could brew it for me.
-Sincerely, Unicorn
It took me an additional week to encode my message back to him.
Dear Unicorn,
I'm sorry that you are ill. I explained to you before why I can't be with you. I miss you so much.
I've been reading the Prophet every day for news, but there is nothing. Why aren't they talking about Voldemort's return? Why aren't they warning people? Why isn't anyone doing anything?
-Love, Phoenix
The next letter from Unicorn came a few days later, so soon that I gathered he wrote it before he received mine.
Dear Phoenix,
You are an insufferable prat and a git. The least you could do is write me back, after all you have done to me. If this is how it's going to be, I see no choice but to go along with my parents and their wishes to enforce the contract to the strictest degree. Come the end of the war, you can expect to see a lawsuit from my family. If both you and my father survive, he will be asking for jail time for you on the grounds of statutory rape, because I was only fifteen and the law says you have to be sixteen.
-Sincerely Unicorn
I wrote back right away this time, now that I had semi-mastered the cypher.
Dear Unicorn,
I do hope you have received my first message by now. Sorry for the delay, but I am not that smart and it took me a while to figure this out. Please don't listen to your parents. You know I love you. I love everything about you and I want to marry you as soon as the war is over.
-Love, Phoenix
This time, his response was slow in coming. Half of the summer passed before I received the third letter.
Dear Phoenix,
I am miserable, even more so than before and it's all your fault. You are the biggest arse in the history of arses. I hope the Dark Lord does kill you, because I hate you so much in this moment. It bears repeating, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you and I hope you die. Painfully. Definitely painfully.
-Sincerely and with all due malice, Unicorn
I wasn't sure what that one was about, other than the pregnancy symptoms getting worse. I wrote back right away.
Dear Unicorn,
Why are you so upset? What have I done? I'm sorry you feel that way. Maybe that wasn't the right way to ask you to marry me. I'll do it properly next time I see you, I promise. I still love you with all my heart.
-Love, Phoenix
Later the very same day that my letter went out, another letter arrived from him. It was too soon, so I figured he sent this one without having a chance to receive mine.
Dear Phoenix,
I'm sorry. I didn't mean half of what I wrote in the last letter. My hormones are a bit out of wack at the moment and I was just really mad at you for not writing me. I still hate you and this is still all your fault, but I do not wish you dead. If you do die, I hope it is painless.
-Sincerely, Unicorn
There was not another letter back, responding to my letter to him. I waited three days and then sent another letter.
-Dear Unicorn
Are you getting my letters? I keep writing to you and you don't write back to me. I hope you are feeling better.
Love, Phoenix
Again, there wasn't a response. I got distracted from my concern on my birthday, when the Order of the Phoenix came to rescue me from the Dursleys and took me to Grimmauld Place. I finally got an explanation for why Ron and Hermione weren't writing me: they were worried my mail was being watched. There was so much to do and so many things to get caught up on, that a week passed with only the occasional thought for Draco and our unborn baby.
When I did find myself desperate to see Draco, I went to Sirius and begged him to arrange a meeting. Sirius refused, convinced Lucius Malfoy wasn't loyal to our side and would turn me over to Voldemort if given the chance. He went on a ridiculous rant about how if I were to visit Draco, Lucius would tear me from Draco's arms and completely ignore Draco's pleas, in order to use me to get back in with Voldemort. I didn't care about Lucius possibly betraying me. If it meant seeing Draco, I'd risk it. Unfortunately, Sirius was my guardian and he forbade it. As a result, I had a falling out with Sirius and treated him like shite, until Dumbledore came and reminded me that I couldn't see Draco or the baby anyway, for their safety. I had to defeat Voldemort first.
With Lucius Malfoy on our side, the Order made progress they never would have made without him. For example, he had provided information that there were more dark objects like the Diary from Second year. He didn't know how many or exactly what they all were, but he knew there were more and that one of them was Hufflepuff's cup located in the Lestrange family vault in Gringotts. The adults didn't seem to know exactly what Voldemort had done to these objects any more than us kids did, but they seemed to think Dumbledore knew and word was that Dumbledore said they had to be destroyed. Rumor around Headquarters was that the items gave Voldemort more power.
We couldn't get to the cup, but knowing what it was provided a clue as to what the other items could be. The first one had been the key to Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets. The second had belonged to Helga Hufflepuff, who was also a Hogwarts founder. The theme seemed to be Hogwarts founders, so we figured we needed to keep an eye out for missing relics of the founders. Word from Dumbledore was that Slytherin's locket had belonged to Voldemort's mother and was thus likely one of Voldemort's dark objects of power. There was a sketch of the thing tacked up on the wall at Headquarters, right next to a sketch of the cup.
Us kids never thought we had a chance of getting either dark object, confined to Grimmauld Place as we were. But then one day we were cleaning and Ron found a locket that was a perfect match for Slytherin's. It was given to Dumbledore, who confirmed it was the missing locket and that it was one of the dark objects we were looking for. He destroyed it, although no one ever found out how Voldemort's locket could have ended up at the Ancient House of Black, other than Sirius' suggestion that his late Death Eater brother, Regulus, must have left it there. Apparently Regulus was a more important Death Eater than anyone knew.
So now Voldemort was down one diary and one locket, with the cup still to go. We didn't know what else had survived from the founders or from Voldemort's ancestors, but finding out was Hermione's summer research project. Soon after we found the locket, she discovered the mystery of Ravenclaw's lost Diadem and added a sketch of a tiara to the line of sketches in the hall, but no one had seen the thing in hundreds, if not thousands, of years. It seemed unlikely. And there was no telling how many other items were out there that he could've gotten hold of instead.
The dark objects became my new focus, until I received another letter from Draco.
Dear Phoenix,
I can't believe you, you horrible awful git! I've gotten word that you are now hanging out at Headquarters with your friends. Off having a jolly time of it, are you, leaving me to deal with the consequences of your actions? You should be ashamed of yourself. Next, you'll be going back to school, like nothing has changed. I hope you choke on the Welcoming Feast, you bloody arsehole.
-With all due hatred, Unicorn
After that, I pulled out all the letters I'd gotten from him since leaving Hogwarts and reread them. There was not one indication in the lot of them that he'd gotten anything from me, after the last letter I'd passed through Snape. He did seem to have gotten the letters that went through Snape, because he knew why it was I couldn't go to him. At least I thought he did.
I went back and read the letters again; all of them this time, starting with the ones that had gone through Snape. It was clear that he'd been informed of my inability to join him in hiding and there was mention of my letter to him in the first letter he'd sent calling me a tosser. There was even a response to the second letter I'd sent through Snape and my apology. So, he'd gotten the letters when they went through Snape, but maybe the owls I'd sent had been intercepted.
-Dear Unicorn,
Have you gotten any of the owls I've sent you? I fear you haven't and that you've no idea how much I love you and miss you. I wish with all my heart that it were possible for me to be there with you. Please reply back, if you get this. Even if it's just to tell me that you still hate me, please just let me know you are getting my owls.
-Love, Phoenix
No response ever came, so the next time I saw Snape at one of the Order meetings I wasn't allowed to attend, I passed him a copy of the same letter and asked, "Will you give this to Draco? I don't think he's been getting my owls."
"His father has forbidden communication between the two of you on grounds that you violated the courting contract. Lucius informed me that he plans on invoking his and Narcissa's right to raise the child as an illegitimate Malfoy with no father," Snape replied with a sneer. Then he handed back my letter, turned on his heel, billowing his robes dramatically, and left.
I was left standing there in shock. I thought Lucius was on our side. It was Lucius who had told us about the cup and that knowledge had led us to the locket, but at the same time, Lucius was keeping my letters from Draco. He may have turned spy, but he hadn't turned into one of the good guys. He was still out for himself. He probably only switched sides because of my relationship with Draco and would be happy to switch back, if he could get Draco and the baby away from me.
Author's Note: A lot happened in this chapter, but I want to get through the summer and the coming school year without getting bogged down on the material that was covered in the books. I hope I managed to get it all in there and still make sense.
Up next will be a talk between Harry and Sirius. Please Review!