Author's Notes:
Here's Chapter 25 for you all.
This is a reupload as the was and issue with the first time I uploaded it. Hopefully, it's all been fixed.
As always, I dedicate this fanfiction to all my readers.
P.S. Enjoy Xx
After checking the clock on the wall for the fifth time in an hour, Draco decides that he's not getting to sleep anytime soon and gets out of bed, making his way downstairs into the kitchen for a warm glass of milk. Mitty used to make him a glass whenever he woke with a nightmare as a child and couldn't get back to sleep.
He takes the glass into the living room where he lounges on the couch. Athena chirp at him for attention. With a flick of his wrist, the cage door burst open and Athena flutters around the room for a few minutes to stretch her wings before landing on Draco's shoulder.
"Hello, Athena." He greets her, stroking the top of her head, glad that she's forgiven him.
Athena chirps at him again as she leans against his touch.
"What are you doing awake at…" He checks the clock. "Half one in the morning?" He sighs, leaning further back into the couch. "Can't sleep either?" He yawns.
Athena chirps in reply.
Draco sips at his glass of milk as he thinks. Will the Minister take their 'bribe'? What if he doesn't? Bribery is an imprisonable offence that could end them both in Azkaban. When he testified against his father, he promised himself that he would never end up there with him. Would he risk it for Hermione though?
"She's confident it will work out in our favour." He tells Athena who cocks her head sideways at him. "I'm not so sure a simple speech at a dinner will be enough to persuade the Minister to give us both access to the Ministerial Wizarding Register Department." He admits. "We need to give him something he won't be able to turn down." He mutters as something hits him.
He needs to go to the Manor.
Draco runs as quickly and quietly as he's capable of up the stairs and sneaks into their bedroom over to their wardrobe. He grabs a black pair of robes, a black cloak and his black boots, taking them into the bathroom to get changed. He's about to creep back downstairs when he remembers that he left his wand on his bedside table. He opens the door wide enough to fit his hand through and whispers, "Accio wand."
His wand flies silently into his hand, which he pockets then heads back down the stairs. He finds Athena already in her cage, asleep on her perch when he enters the living room and downs the rest of his milk before leaving it in the sink to wash later. He finds a scrap piece of parchment and a quill which he uses to writes Hermione a note.
Hermione,
Don't go to the Ministry. I should be back before lunch.
Draco
He leaves it on the coffee table, where he hopes she'll find it when she wakes up. He rushes out of the front door, locking it behind him, then almost runs down the street towards the gate where he disapparates straight to the gates of the Manor. He doesn't waste a moment in unlocking the gate and running across the grounds towards the door.
After a minute of banging on the door, Gharther finally answers then bows when he sees it's him.
"Master's Mother is sleeping, sir." He announces, nose almost touching the floor.
"I need to use the library." Draco pushes past Gharther and rushes towards the library doors. "Mitty!" He calls out and a second later, his house-elf is stood in front of him, looking sleepy. "Sorry to wake you Mitty but I need your help."
"Mitty is grateful to help Master." She tells him with a curtsy.
"I need every issue of the Daily Prophet since Sunday 3rd May 1998." He tells her as he starts fingering through the piles of newspapers on the shelf. "In chronological order please." He adds.
Mitty finds the start of the newspapers a few shelves above him and starts using her magic to fly them all over to the desk in the centre of the room. Draco removes his cloak as he walks over to the desk, folding it over the chair. He picks up the issue from the day after the war and skims through the first couple of pages, finding nothing of importance he hands it to Mitty who send it flying back into its place on the bookshelf.
He picks the next issue up from Monday 4th May 1998. The front cover was entirely taken up by the picture of Lucius being taken from the Manor with the words 'MALFOY ARRESTED' written above. He flicks through the next couple of pages which detail a few other high profile Death Eaters that were also arrested that day.
He stands up and with a quick flick of his wand, the chair is transfigured into a large chalkboard. He swishes his wand again and a list appears on the board of the arrested Death Eaters. He duplicates the pages of the Daily Prophet he needs then hands the original copy to Mitty to send back to the shelf.
He carries on with this for the next five hours until he's gone through all four hundred and one issues and there are one hundred and thirty-two names of Death Eaters written on the board. He'd managed to cross out eighty-four names that had already been sentenced and thirteen who had died in awaiting trial. He was left with thirty-five Death Eaters still waiting to be sentenced, of which he personally knew twenty-one of them well enough to testify against them, including Rabastan Lestrange.
With a wave of his wand, the chalkboard disappeared in a white cloud of chalk, leaving the chair in its place. Draco stretches before slumping tiredly down in the chair.
"Master want coffee," Mitty asks him as he yawns deeply.
"Yeah, please." He mumbles. "I need to be as awake as possible this morning." He yawns again as he picks up the pile of articles relating to the list of twenty-three Death Eaters and his cloak, then follows Mitty into the kitchen.
He transfigures a teaspoon into a mirror and a fork into a comb then uses them to comb all his hair back then charms it to stay still. He removes the makeup charm from his scar and glares at his reflection in the mirror. He looks like a younger, shorter haired Lucius. He really needs a haircut before it gets any longer.
He fastens his cloak as Mitty pours him a mug of steaming coffee, which he proceeds to sip until it's cool enough to down. He shrinks the articles down so they fit in his cloak pocket then thanks Mitty for the coffee and the help before sneaking out the back door to avoid his mother.
Once out of the Manor's gates, he disapparates straight to the Ministry, ready to take the risk for Hermione.
Hermione awakes to Athena chirping in her face at around half seven in the morning. She rolls over to try and ignore her but Athena just flutters onto her shoulder and starts nipping her ear. She tries brushing her off but the damn owl won't stop so she sits up, scaring Athena a little, which is when she notices Draco's empty side of the bed.
"Did Draco let you out?" She asks Athena, who chirps happily. "Let's go find him and tell him off." She tells her, climbing out of bed but she doesn't find him anywhere in the house.
Wondering whether he's gone over to the market, she heads out into the garden to look for him when she remembers she'd placed Geoffrey next to the gate. She walks over to him, checking that no one's around since she's still in her pyjamas. When she's close enough, he jumps into an Irish jig.
"What's the difference between an Irish wedding and an Irish funeral?" Geoffrey asks as he continues to dance.
"Geoffrey, have you seen Draco walk past here this morning?" She asks him urgently, glancing around and quickly dropping to the grass when she sees Dean and Seamus walking hand in hand across the green.
"What's the difference between an Irish wedding and an Irish funeral?" He repeats.
"I don't have time for this, Geoffrey." She tells him. "Have you see-"
"WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN IRISH WEDDING AND AN IRISH FUNERAL?" Geoffrey shouts, interrupting her.
She really hopes Seamus didn't hear but when she peers over the top of the fence, she sees them both looking around confused.
"Fine," She whispers to Geoffrey. "What's the difference?" She asks.
"ONE LESS DRUNK." He laughs loudly.
"Oh, Godric." She curses as Dean and Seamus both look over in her direction. She quickly ducks behind the fence, hoping beyond hope that they're not on their way over. "Geoffrey, have you seen Draco come this way?" She asks him quickly, planning on running back into the house away from her friends.
"Nope." Geoffrey pops. "Haven't seen no one since ya left me out here with Pinky." He gestures to the flamingo across the path.
"Okay, thank you, Geoffrey. I'll make sure we come talk to you more." She promises as she peeks over the top of the fence again to see where Dean and Seamus have gone, only to find them stood right in front of her, making her scream.
"Hermione!" Dean frowns down at her. "What are you doing lying on the grass?" He asks her curiously.
"Oh, erm… I was talking to Geoffrey." She admits, avoiding eye contact.
"Who's Geoffrey?" Seamus asks, leaning over the fence then smiling when he spots the garden gnome. "Is that a muggle garden gnome?" He asks.
"Nothing muggle about me," Geoffrey tells him, puffing his chest out, making Seamus jump back slightly.
"You charmed it." He states.
"No." She sighs, folding her arms across her chest, remembering again that she'd only in her pyjamas. "Blaise charmed it and gave it to Draco as a birthday present." She explains. "He likes telling really bad jokes." She adds as an afterthought.
"My jokes are hilarious." He stamps his foot. "What's the difference between an Irish wed-"
"Shut up, Geoffrey." She interrupts, covering his mouth with her hand.
"Once less drunk?" Seamus raises a questioning eyebrow.
Hermione laughs awkwardly. "You heard that then."
"I wouldn't be surprised if the whole estate heard him." Dean laughs. "I thought it was quite funny." He adds.
"It's not the worse one I've heard." Seamus shrugs then looks down at her. "What are you doing?" He asks her.
"I'm looking for Draco." She tells them.
"Oh, lost him already have you?" Dean chuckles.
"I haven't lost him. I've… temporarily misplaced him." She admits with a smile.
"He's not a quill, Hermione." Dean points out.
"Are you sure he hasn't… erm, left?" Seamus asks.
"No. He hasn't just left." She frowns at them, annoyed.
"Sorry," He apologises. "How have you been since the ceremony?" He asks, changing the topic.
"It's been hectic, to be honest. Trying to figure a way to introduce Draco to my family, since they know nothing of the wizarding world, a few parties and Draco had a Quidditch accident." She tells them.
"Oh yeah, Harry told us about that. Said there was blood everywhere." Dean says but then apologises under Hermione's stare.
"How are you two anyway?" She asks. "I can't say that I expected you two to be partnered together." She raises a questioning eyebrow, making Seamus blush.
"Our families already knew about us so it wasn't much of a shock to them," Dean admits.
"How long have you been together?" She asks curiously.
"Since the yule ball." Seamus smiles softly.
"The yule ball." She gasps. "Fourth year. How in Godric's name did you keep it a secret for four years?" She asks, then gasps. "Oh my-. Seventh year." She glances between them, noticing their hands clench tighter together.
"Seventh year was obviously a tough time for the both of us but we spent that entire summer together with our families," Seamus explains.
"It's when we told them about us," Dean adds.
"Then when we got the letter from the Ministry, we went straight to Kingsley and told him." Seamus scoffs. "The dickhead told us that 'I don't pair people together, the goblet will make the decision'." He imitates the Minister badly.
"Like hell, he didn't have a say in it." Dean laughs. "He ordered us into the Ministry the day after and told us that when we're ready to have children, we are to make an appointment for a meeting and he'll make some arrangements but we have the same time frame as everyone else." He laughs.
"What kind of arrangements?" Hermione asks.
"We're not sure." Dean shrugs.
"We were still kind of in shock that we'd even got partnered together at the time," Seamus admits, smiling down at his husband.
"Well, congratulations to you both." She smiles at them. "I should probably get inside though and find my husband." She adds.
"Of course." Seamus nods at her.
"We'll see you around." Dean smiles at her before they set back off across the green, chatting.
Hermione rushes back into the house, before anyone else can see her, and locks the door behind her.
"Alright, Athena, where's Draco gone?" She asks rhetorically as she stands in the kitchen thinking.
Athena chirps excitedly around her head trying to grab her attention. Hermione follows her around the room curiously.
"Do you know where Draco's gone?" She asks Athena.
She chirps once more before flying off into the living room. She follows the owl quickly through the room and up the stairs into their bedroom.
"I don't think Draco's hiding under the bed." Hermione sighs when Athena disappears under the bed but then a few seconds later, she returns with a small piece of parchment in her beak. "What have you go there?" She asks, taking the parchment.
Hermione,
Don't go to the Ministry. I should be back before lunch.
Draco
"Well done, Athena!" She says as the owl lands on her shoulder, chirping proudly. "But where's he gone?" She wonders aloud.
If he's telling her not to go to the Ministry then he must have found some new information out that changes something. Although she doesn't know when he had time to find something out. She decides to get dressed, make some breakfast and read a book whilst she waits for Draco to return.
Draco apparates in front of the main doors to the Ministry. He pauses for a moment to take a deep breath and compose his face. Then, with a perfect Malfoy smirk, he waves his hand in front of the door, making them burst open. He stalks into the Ministry's foyer, the wind making his cloak billow behind him. He glares down his nose at the few wizards and witches that don't get out of his way quick enough as he makes his way toward the lifts at the other end of the foyer. He stands behind a small group of people also waiting for the lift, impatiently tapping his foot. A few of them turn around, annoyed, but quickly face the lift again once they realise who it is. When the lift finally arrives, he waits for the occupants to exit before he enters with the small group, standing at the front of the lift.
He lets everyone else press the number for their floor first before making a show of pressing the button for the top floor where he knows the Minister's office is. He hears a few mutters behind him but ignores it. When they stop at the other floors, a few people look like they want to get on but think better of it and wait for the next one meaning that when he reaches the top floor, he's the last one in the lift.
He waves his hand again when he reaches the doors to the receptionist of the Minister, who jumps looking terrified upon his presence in her office.
"M-Mr Malfoy, how ca-" The receptionist stutters.
"I wish to see the Minister." He interrupts her.
"I'm a-afraid the Minister has meetings all morning. Would you like to make an appointment?" She gushes as she flips through the Minister's diary. "His next availability is Friday 17th June at 16:35." She looks up at him hopefully.
"Maybe you misunderstood me, Miss-" He pauses for her.
"Ivory, Sir." She tells him.
"Miss Ivory, I wish to see the Minister today." He reiterates. "I'm sure he can spare five minutes for such an urgent matter." He adds.
Miss Ivory stares at him for a few seconds before she flicks through the diary again to the correct date. "I'll try and squeeze you in Sir b-but, I don't think it will be anytime soon." She tells him.
"I'll wait." He spins around, making a show of taking his cloak off before sitting down on one of the chairs. He watches the girl intently as she fiddle around with something on her desk before she suddenly stands up and rushes into the Minister's office.
He wouldn't be surprised if she was just going in there to get away from him. She returns nearly two hours later, giving him a quick smile.
"The Minister has a spare few minutes to speak with you now." She tells him.
Draco stands up, stretching his limbs out before fastening his cloak on again and making his way over to the Minister's door. He knocks gently on the door and awaits an answer.
"Enter." He hears the Minister call through the door.
He opens the door slowly, offering the Minister a smirk before turning around and locking the door behind him.
"A locked door!" The Minister raises his eyebrow as he makes his way over to his desk. "It must be an urgent matter." He smirks back at him.
Draco removes his cloak, laying it across the back of the chair before glaring down his nose at the Minister.
"I received an owl yesterday afternoon." He starts, smirking. "Dear Mr Malfoy, the Ministry is writing to inform you that the Death Eater Rabastan Lestrange has been arrested in Peru. We ask that you testify against him during his trial on Thursday 15th July 1999. We await your owl in confirmation. Approved and Signed, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister for Magic." He repeats, word for word. He had received the same letter, with a few changed details, since the end war.
"Oh, I apologise Mr Malfoy. I was unaware that you were still receiving them. I'll send a message to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement straight away to inform them." The Minister reaches across his desk for a quill and a piece of paper.
Before he can reach them though, Draco flicks his wrist and Rabastan Lestrange's article fly out of his cloak pocket, slamming down on the desk, making the Minister jump. He picks the article up, giving it a quick read until he recognises it.
"I don't understand." He states, glancing up at him in confusion.
"Rabastan Lestrange. My Aunt, Bellatrix Lestrange's brother-in-law. He would do anything to impress his older brother, Rodolphus Lestrange. Including murdering a family of six muggles in their own home, making the mother watch as he killed her husband then her children, youngest to eldest." Draco states.
"W-what-" He starts but he doesn't let him finish.
With another flick of his wrist, another article slams down on the desk on top of Lestrange's.
"Erik Jugson, the snatcher who murdered Edward Tonks after weeks of torture by the cruciatus curse when he wouldn't tell him where Potter, Weasley and Hermione were hiding." Another flick of his wrist and another article. "Maximus Gibbon, the snatcher who tortured Dirk Cresswell with the cruciatus curse for a week. In the end, Cresswell was so sleep deprived he suffered a heart attack and died." Another flick, another article. "Walden Macnair lost count himself of how many muggles he murdered but will always remember Halloween of 1998 when he killed seventeen muggles in one night and was rewarded by the Dark Lord himself in my library."
He goes to flick his wrist by the Minister holds his hands up, stopping him.
"What are you doing?" He asks angrily, standing up from his chair, leaning towards him across his desk.
Draco simply sneers at him, flicking his wrist once more as all the rest of the articles fly out of his cloak pocket and fan out across his desk.
"I know enough about each one of these Death Eaters for you to sentence each of them to Azkaban for at least the next twenty years." He states.
"And you're willing to testify against them all?" He questions doubtfully, standing taller.
Draco nods once. "Of course, my services don't come for free." He smiles him.
The Minister sighs as he sits back down in his desk chair.
"Of course not." He mutters to himself. "When I was elected into office, I promised myself I wouldn't be one of those ministers who do whatever the highest bidders ask for." He stares him straight in the eye.
Draco scoffs. "I don't need your money." He almost laughs.
"What do you want then?" He asks confused.
"I want unsupervised, unlimited access to the Department of Registration's archives with my wife." He states seriously, staring the Minister straight in the eye.
"What do you want with the archives?" He asks becoming increasingly more confused.
"It's best if you don't ask too many questions," Draco smirks at him.
"If you want this deal then you'll tell me what you want with the Department of Registration." He says sternly.
"If you must know, my mother mentioned something about the legality of one of my ancestors. I simply wish to investigate." He lies easily.
"Is that all?" The Minister questions. "You want to look in the Malfoy files?"
"Not just the Malfoy's. Also, the Black's and any other family name my blood may be linked too." He explains.
The Minister stares at him for a while before standing up again and holding his hand out. "We have a deal." He announces.
"I'm glad we could come to an agreement," Draco says as he shakes the Minister's hand.
The Minister sits back down in his chair and quickly writes a letter to the Ministerial Wizarding Register Department which he signs then duplicates.
"Simply show this letter to the Head of the Ministerial Wizarding Register Department and they'll show you to the archives." He explains as Draco reads through the letter. "I'll send him a copy so he knows to expect you both and I'll let the Department of Magical Law Enforcement know that you'll be testifying in the upcoming Lestrange case." He smiles at him. "May I keep these?" He adds, pointing down at the article fanned out on his desk.
"Of course." He smiles politely at the Minister. "I assume you'll let me know when the trials for the twenty others are."
"Yes, I'll assure you receive a letter with the details of each case." The Minister nods standing up and holding his hands out once more. "Thank you, Mr Malfoy."
"No need to thank me, Minister," Draco told him as he shook his hand. "We both got what we want out of this." He smirks before grabbing his cloak, turning on his heel and walking out of his office.
"Thank you for your help, Miss Ivory." He nods at her as he leaves, fastening his cloak as he heads towards the lift.
There's no one occupying it when it finally reaches the top floor so he stands in the middle and rides it down a few floors before it stops for someone. He moves over to the side to allow them in, earning himself a shocked stare which follows him down to the ground floor. He stalks back through the foyer and out of the main doors where he disapparates to the estate's gate.
Hermione's lounging on the couch reading a book when she hears the key in the front door. She places her book on the coffee table as she jumps to her feet and runs to the door.
"Where have you been?" She asks before Draco can even enter the house. "And what are you wearing?" She asks, looking him up and down. He looks scarily like his father.
Instead of answering her, he genuinely smiles at her and hands her a piece of parchment, which she reads as he removes his shoes.
Kingsley Shacklebolt
Ministry of Magic
London
England
Thursday 9th June 1999
Alexander Vyner,
I hereby give Mr Draco Malfoy and Ms Hermione Granger unsupervised and unlimited access to the Ministerial Wizarding Register Department's archives. They will present you with a duplication of this letter. You will escort them to the archives then duly leave them.
Approved and signed by
Kingsley Shacklebolt
Minister for Magic
Hermione rereads the letter a few times before looking up at Draco confused.
"You went to the Ministry?" She asks. "By yourself?" She adds. "I don't understand." She admits, rereading the letter again.
He leads her into the kitchen where he puts the kettle on with a yawn.
"Draco, what have you done?" She demands him to tell her.
"Exactly what you were going to do." He tells her, turning around to face her.
"Okay, why did you go alone?" She asks next.
"Bribery is an imprisonable offence, Hermione. If we'd gone together and it hadn't worked, we both could have been sentenced to Azkaban for a minimum of five years." He explains.
She'd known it was an imprisonable offence but she hadn't known how long the sentence would have been. She'd thought twelve months at the most. Why would he risk being sent to Azkaban with his father?
"Why did you risk it?" She asks.
"We need access to those archives and if it's between both of us going to Azkaban or just me then I'd rather risk just myself." He admits, turning around to make himself a cup of tea. "Do you want one?" He asks her.
"No thank you." She mutters. "So you're going to testify against Rabastan Lestrange?" She asks him but he scoffs.
"Lestrange wouldn't have been enough." He shakes his head. "I'm testifying in twenty-one upcoming trials." He admits. "Including the father of one of my best friends." He sighs, turning back around. "Theo's." He adds when he notices her confusion. "He's been on the run since the end of the war. He was arrested last month."
"Twenty-one." She repeats. "Are you sure you want to do this, Draco?"
"Of course I don't but we need to get into those archives and this was our best chance." He tells her as he sips at his tea.
"Well thank you." She smiles at him. "For taking the risk for us." She adds as she steps towards him and pulls him into a hug. "I appreciate it."
"You're welcome." He tells her as he hugs her back with one arm.
"I guess we don't need to visit Audrey today then." She mentions. "I think this is the first time since the ceremony that we've got nothing planned." She adds.
"I didn't get any sleep last night so I'm going to take a nap," Draco tells her with another yawn.
"Come one then, I'll read my book in bed for a few hours." She pulls him by the hand into the living room, where she grabs her book then guides him up the stairs into their bedroom.
She climbs on their bed, sitting atop the quilt cover as she watches Draco unbutton his robes.
"You look too much like your father in that." She admits.
"That's what I was hoping for since I needed to look intimidating." He tells her.
"Well, it works." She mutters.
She politely averts her eyes as he pulls on his pyjamas then climbs into bed. Hermione props her pillows up against the headboard for her to lean against as she reads. It only takes Draco a few minutes to fall asleep. She manages to read a just over one hundred pages before he wakes up three hours later.
"How are you feeling?" She asks him, laying her book on her bedside table.
"Not much better." He yawns. "But if I sleep any longer I won't sleep again tonight." He mumbles as he sits up and stretches.
"I was thinking we could go visit Harry and Ginny this afternoon." She suggests earning her a glare. "Come on Draco, they were more than friendly on Monday." She turns to face him, pouting.
"They were but it doesn't mean we're friends and I want to visit them outside of family occasions." He tells her, looking away.
"I'm making an effort with Blaise." She tries to convince him.
"You like Blaise." He points out.
"Yes, and if you got to know Harry and Ginny, you'd like them too." She pulls on his arm for him to look at her. "They're two of my best friends." She adds.
"Fine, but I'm not staying for long." He gives in. "I need to visit Theo afterwards." He tells her.
"Perfect, then we can come home for dinner." She tells him.
Hermione heads downstairs to feed Athena, grab her bag and pull her shoes on whilst Draco gets dressed again. It's not until they've stepped out of the house and locked the door behind them that Hermione realises that she doesn't actually know where Harry and Ginny live. She suggests they ask George since she knows where he lives and they set off for Epsilon Street.
She knocks on George's front door then wait patiently for someone to answer. Angelina answers a minutes or so later, wearing an apron covered in flour.
"Oh, hi Hermione and Draco." She greets them.
"Hi, Angelina." She greets her in return whereas Draco simply nods. "Is George in?" She asks.
"No, he's at work." She replies. "Anything I can help you with?"
"You don't happen to know Harry and Ginny's address, do you?" She asks her hopefully.
"Yeah, they live at 5D." She answers. "How's your head Draco?" She smiles at him.
"I've been left with a scar but I'm fine." He tells her.
"It's was nice seeing you but I've got a cake in the oven that I really need to check." She excuses herself.
"Of course, we'll probably see you at the Burrow again sometime soon," Hermione says before they set off down Epsilon Street towards Delta Street.
When they reach 5D, Hermione knocks on the door and not long after Harry answers wearing his pyjamas and a long dressing gown wrapped around him. He pushes his glasses up his nose as he takes them in.
"Oh, hi guys, what are you doing here?" He yawns.
"Are you alright, Harry?" Hermione asks concernedly as she notices his pale face and red, blotchy eyes.
"Hmm, oh, yeah. Ginny's… not feeling very well. She was up all night being sick. She's gone to visit Molly for some of her sickness potions. Apparently, it works wonders." He explains with a small smile. "Do you wanna come in?" He asks opening the door.
"Thanks, do you want me to make you a cup of tea?" She asks as they follow him through into the living room.
"Hey, this is my house, I should be offering to make you a drink. Sit down, I'll make a pot of tea." He rushes into the kitchen.
Hermione looks at Draco in confusion as he sits on the couch.
"What's wrong with him?" He asks as he glances around the room.
"I don't know, I'll be back in a minute." She mutters as she goes into the kitchen.
"Harry?" She says and he turns around with an uneven smile. "Are you sure you're alright?" She asks.
"Yeah, I'm just really tired." He proves his point with a yawn.
"What's wrong with Ginny?" She questions curiously.
Harry smiles as he turns around to pour the boiling water into the teapot. "I- I'm not sure. Probably just the flu or a fever." He shrugs. "She's sure that Molly's sickness potion will help." He adds.
"Harry," She says seriously. "Is Ginny… pregnant?" She asks trying to hide her excitement.
"What, no. Of course not Hermione." He scoffs with his back to her.
She places a hand on his shoulder and he turns around with a massive smile on his face. Hermione can't help smiling with him.
"You can't tell anyone, Hermione. Promise me." He whispers. "She'll kill me if she finds out I told you." He frowns suddenly.
"You still haven't actually told me." She can't stop smiling. "Just tell me how long because I know it's more than a week." She raises an eyebrow.
Harry sighs deeply before whispering, "Nearly three months."
Hermione gasps, shocked. "Three Months?" She whispers back as she does the maths. "February half term." She gasps again as she hits Harry's arm. "At school." She adds.
"No, in the shrieking shack." He smirks, looking almost proud.
"What would the marauders say?" She shakes her head.
"To be honest, I think they'll be proud or at least find it funny." He admits.
Hermione sighs. "You're probably right." She shakes her head again.
"Please don't tell anyone." He begs her to which she nods in agreement.
Harry smiles as he turns back around, placing the teapot, cups and sugar bowl on a tray.
Thank you so much for reading.
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