Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: Trigger warning: character death ahead.

Chapter 25

Hermione
Present

The house was swarming with aurors. Hermione sat on the couch, her eyes trained on the fire, Leo's blanket clutched against her chest firmly, unwilling to part with it for even a moment.

Draco was speaking with an auror, having taken his mother to St. Mungo's and promptly returning he had been bombarded with questions, wanting to know his whereabouts and asking for answers that Hermione couldn't give; or didn't know.

She sniffed again; blinking against the hot sting of tears and leaning her head down so that her hair covered her face once more as she felt the couch dip down beside her.

His hand was on her knee then and she leaned against him, letting his arm drop around her shoulders, "They'll find them." He said seriously.

She hoped he was right.

The minutes turned to hours and she drifted in and out of a restless sleep right there on the couch, wrapped in his arms. He spoke with those that came round, his voice rumbling against her and it was then that she would drift back off to sleep. The silence, however, would bring dreams. Screams of her children that no one else heard. She would wake with a start then and he would smooth her hair down, his voice rough and gravelly and she didn't dare to look at his deep gray eyes, fearing the pain she would see reflected back at her.

It wasn't until four hours had passed that Harry showed up, his hair a mess and his glasses askew and she sat up straighter, pulling herself out of Draco's grasp.

"Ginny? The baby?" she asked and he nodded.

"They're good, fine. Hermione, I'm so sorry, I just heard and I couldn't-"

She shook her head and shut herself back down, her eyes travelling to the dancing fire again as Draco sat forward, "Harry, it's not your fault-"

"I should have been here. We should have protected the house more when we realized someone had done this to her-"

"Stop," she said suddenly, finding her voice and looking at the man, "it doesn't do any good to blame yourself. Just… just help me find them Harry."

The man nodded once and then looked at the people milling about, "I have an idea but you might not like it."

"Anything-" Hermione said quickly.

"I was talking to him," Harry said pointedly, looking at Draco, "I think we should draw them out."

"And how do you propose we do that?"

"We leave." Harry said simply.

Draco shook his head, "No. Absolutely not."

"Draco-"

"I'm not leaving her here unprotected," he argued.

"She wouldn't be though." Harry said, "For all they know I'm still at the hospital with Gin and the baby. The aurors will leave and then you make a show of going too. Go visit your mom. We'll be here. Waiting."

"No." He said, firmly again.

"Draco-" she started and he rounded on her.

"I thought I had lost you. Do you understand how hard that was on me? You woke up and you didn't know who I was. I thought, finally, I'm getting what I deserve. What I've always deserved. But I couldn't break down because I had Leo and Lyra and I needed to be their father like mine never was for me. But you came back, you somehow found me again and I'm not. I can't lose you and them. I won't."

He was leaning over her then, his forehead pressed tightly against hers and she reached up to cup his cheeks, "I'm sorry Draco. I really am."

Before he could think she nodded at Harry who pointed his wand and stupefied him.

She kissed his frozen lips once and closed her eyes, moving to stand with Harry.

"Ryland. Come here." He called to the lanky man who was scanning the nearest area. The man complied and Harry walked forward, leaning over Draco, "I'm so sorry mate."

Hermione watched as he pulled a pinch of hairs from her husband's head and turned back to the man. "You want a promotion yeah?"

The man nodded, "Well, you're about to get one."

Hermione watched the man who looked like her husband walk out the door, his hands in the borrowed pants pockets and she hoped that if anyone was watching, they wouldn't see through it. He looked like Draco but the walk was all wrong. She shook her head, turning back and closing the door to see Harry nodding at her from behind the door.

The rest of the aurors had filed out, though they had left one at the front gate who was under strict orders not to engage with anyone who might appear. The real Draco Malfoy was magicked into a chair and shoved, quite unceremoniously into the downstairs coat closet and Hermione was sure when this was over she would never hear the end of that one.

"It'll be fine." Harry said suddenly from where he sat on the stairs, his head the only thing visible from beneath the cloak. "We'll find them."

She nodded once and turned to walk back into the living room to sit and wait.

Time seemed to come slowly then, the sound of the grandfather clock somewhere in the hallway reminding her painfully of each moment her children weren't with her.

She started, out of desperation, to count the ticks. She had made it to ten thousand when the door suddenly blew open and she jumped up, her eyes darting to the stairs where Harry was waiting. She stood, frozen in place, as the debris settled and footsteps crunched the remains of the Malfoy front door.

"Sadie-" Hermione started as she saw the young, blonde witch.

Sadie smirked at her; a terrifying glint in her eye as she quickly and effectively disarmed Hermione, "Thought I'd find you here. And you too, Potter. Stupefy." Sadie whirled around, aiming her wand at the place where Harry had previously been sitting and Hermione bit back a cry as a dull thump sounded from the steps. "It helps to be in the know, and Merlin knows Weasley couldn't keep his mouth shut."

"Where are my children you bitch!" Hermione roared, her cheeks burning with rage.

"Oh, shush now," Sadie said boredly and with a flick of her wand, Hermione felt her throat constrict, cutting off her vocal chords, "That's better. I haven't much time before his precious aurors appear and I'd rather not waste it with formalities."

Hermione tried to scream, to tear against the spell that was keeping her silent, only resulting in a series of squeaks as Sadie grinned at her again.

"Look, I don't really care about your filthy half-blood brats. They're safe-ish. For now." She smiled, moving further into the room, her hand caressing the chair moldings as she went, "No, I really just want to know one thing. Where is your darling husband?"

Hermione kept her eyes forward, her lips tightly pursed, refusing to acknowledge the question at all and desperately wanting to keep Draco safe.

Sadie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms petulantly before she finally flicked her wand once more, releasing the binds on Hermione. "Ten seconds."

Hermione clenched her jaw.

"Eight."

Hermione breathed.

"Fine," Sadie shrugged, I can see this is going nowhere." Suddenly she lifted her wand up and violently, Hermione found herself thrown backwards, her back colliding with the mantle above the lit fireplace.

She cried out in pain but moved to stand despite the sharp ache in her shoulder and back of her head, her vision blurring and stars dancing across her line of sight. Before she could get all the way to her feet she was pushed backwards once more, pain shooting through her body. She had felt pain like this once before in a different room in this same house under the wand of a different witch. Screams filled her ears and she realized, belatedly, that they were her own.

"Now, as I said before, we can do this the easy way… or the hard way. You're choice."

"W-why?" Hermione sputtered, spittle running down her chin.

Said quirked a brow, "I thought it should be obvious by now oh but- but you haven't gotten your memories back yet have you? Oh this is just too wonderful. I knew this would work but I had never estimated just how well…"

"W-what?" Hermione grasped at straws, trying to delay the witch, if only a little.

"You were never my target. Gryffindor princess, Harry Potter's best friend, practically perfect in every way. What would I have wanted with you? Sodding know-it-all. No, my main target was and always has been your dear husband. Of course I started with Astoria, trying to reel him in. She took a little finagling. The witch was good at fighting the imperius, I'll give her that, never would have thought she could do it. Once we got her though, it should have worked. It would have worked had it not been for you. Messing around, not willing to let things lie."

"You killed people-" Hermione said, as she remembered Draco's story from earlier, "You and Dennis Creevey."

Sadie rolled her eyes, "Dennis was never in as far as I was. He wanted to avenge his poor sweet older brother; he was an easy in and a damned good insider. But then, then you were there. Fucking the whole thing up. I tried, oh how I tried. Leaking your engagement to the papers, delaying your owls to the Malfoy heir. You know, I even turned in to a two bit slag for him once, trying to get his mind away from you. Olive Rumpett was her name, shame no one ever found her after."

Hermione's eyes narrowed at the witch and on shaking hands she pushed herself up, holding on to the fireplace as she fought to regain her strength.

"It wasn't enough though and I watched as Draco Malfoy, sacred twenty-eight, fell for the bushy haired, mudblood bitch. I changed my mind then, decided to go about things a different way. You see, if I couldn't get directly to Draco I'd just have to go through the people he cared most about. Dennis just couldn't wait; he didn't have the patience you see. The discipline. He fucked up the original plan but it helped really. I was able to slide into the shadows then… to wait.

"And I did. I waited until you were comfortable and your guards were down and I applied for the job as your secretary. I don't think you called any of my references even," she laughed at that, the sound alarmingly calm, "I gained your trust, your friendship- did you know you and Draco were trying for another child?"

Hermione clenched her jaw so tightly she felt it pop in her skull.

"Anyway, it was easy then. I thought about just letting it go at that, continuing to put the potion in your candy pot," she smirked, "But you just couldn't leave well enough alone. You couldn't just stay away…"

"You'll never get away with this-" Hermione said finally, squaring her shoulders against the other witch who tilted her head to the side.

"Oh, don't you think I know that? Of course I know that. I know your little boyfriend over there would have hexed me right on the spot too. It's why your precious little half-breeds aren't here. Insurance," she winked and moved then, raising her wand arm again just as a body slammed into the room, knocking the wand out of her grasp and Hermione cried out as Draco flung himself- chair and all- at the witch.

Hermione tried to move toward the fray then but found herself on the floor once more, her whole body weak and shaking as she fought tears, flashes of lights filling the room as she crawled around the furniture towards the sound of the scuffle.

All too suddenly, the duel ended, the sound of silence ringing too loudly in her ears and she reached up to press the back of her hand against her mouth as she frantically searched the too dark room.

A hand pulled her up and for one heart wrenching moment she thought it was Draco, until the hand left her arm to grab roughly onto her hair, yanking her head back and holding her up by the strands as her knees threatened to give once more.

"Let her go." Draco's voice demanded and the room filled with light once more to find Draco standing near the door, his wand held at the ready, Harry at his elbow mirroring his stance.

"Or what?" Sadie laughed, "You'll hex me to death? Do you think you're that good of a marksmen Malfoy? Care to chance it?"

"Why are you doing this?" the blonde man asked, his voice firm though his frazzled eyes gave away his conflicting emotions.

"Because you deserve it. My parents are in Azkaban. My parents who hid from Voldemort so as not to be recruited into his following and he personally hunted them down. They were tortured, cursed, and made to do his bidding and yet you're here. You're free; despite the fact that you chose him. You chose that scar on your arm."

Draco swallowed, his adam's apple bobbing with the movement before he stepped forward.

Harry started to protest, his free hand reaching out, but the blonde man shook him off, stepping closer even still.

"You're parents, they might not have deserved what they got. I'm working on something to make sure that doesn't happen again, to anyone else. And you're right, I don't deserve everything I've got. I will never deserve her. Or them. But I will die trying."

And before anyone could react he lunged forward, yanking Hermione out of the woman's grasp as a burst of green light shot forth, hitting him square in the chest. Hermione screamed as they landed, her arms wrapping around her husband's still form as Harry Potter yelled something in the distance and the world seemed to stop spinning.

A/N: This was the last chapter.

Until I rewrote it. I should have one more up for you soon! The more reviews, the faster I'll write. ;)