Metamorphose Chapter 36

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor do I make any profits from posting this fanfiction.

Summary: Non-Epilogue compliant. After the war groups of disgruntled Wizards and Witches terrorise England's magical nation, sending them to the brink of civil war and a war against the Creatures. Harry is in Gringotts when one terrorist faction attacks causing Harry and other survivors to go into hiding. There is an interested repercussion of the potion they use to hide themselves and now Harry finds himself stuck in a foreign country, with people he doesn't know and living in a style he has never even dreamed to imagine.

Warnings: Gender change. Fem!Harry…after a potions accident. Name changes for characters. Hurricane Sandy (use of artistic licence over the damage it wrought)

Pairings: LM/HP. DM/AG. RW/HG.

(Chapter 36)

January 18th.

"You're back!" A voice screamed as they entered the house. Henri quickly looked to Lucas who sighed and gently put her down so she was standing up. Then he turned and shut the door behind them. He had carried her over the threshold and she had been looking forward to crawling into bed with him. However…that voice was accompanied by the sound of rushing footsteps and within seconds Bibi was running down the hall to greet them.

"Hi Bibi." Henri said and the woman threw herself at Henri and squeezed the breath out of her.

"Oh Henri I am so glad to see you!" Bibi squealed and then pulled back from the hug to grab Lucas in an embrace. Lucas went wide eyed. He gasped in shock and awkwardly let his arms hover inches above Bibi's back clearly unsure what to do in this situation. Henri laughed but Bibi pulled back from Lucas. "Oh Lucas I'm happy to see you too but Henri! I have missed you so much!"

Henri was enveloped in another hug which she hastily returned if only to get Bibi to lessen her grip.

"You alright?"

"Oh yeah I'm great! You've got to come now though! There's so much to tell you and we've all been dying to talk to you about it. Come on. You too Lucas." Bibi instructed and, clasping Henri's hand tightly, Bibi dragged her to the fireplace.

The next few minutes were a dizzying whirl wind of floo travel then greeting everybody in their families! Since it was a Saturday and only morning back in England all the Weasleys' were gathered at Malfoy Manor. Every single one of them had to greet Henri and Lucas and then there was Lulu who demanded hugs and attention, and wanted to know if they had brought her presents. They had of course but the presents were in their New York house. Dante had immediately sent a house elf to fetch all the luggage. Then everybody ushered them into the large family lounge where they had to talk about all the things they did on their honeymoon, naturally omitting certain things. They were very impressed with the skiing and snowboarding, as well as the surfing, whale watching, swimming with dolphins, snorkelling, sea, beaches, the volcano…oh Henri felt as if she had talked for ages.

"…that's enough about what we did. What's happened here?"

"Well, while you were away we…" Hermione cast a quick glance around at everybody gathered. The look she had on her face was one that clearly sought confirmation or agreement that what she was about to say next was alright to say. Henri frowned. What had happened? Hermione turned back to face them and settled both of her hands in her lap. "While you were away we decided it would be a good idea to form a political party to fight for the Minister of Magic position. There are going to be elections next September you see and rather than try to fight and over throw the current government we decided we would try and beat them at their own game."

"You what?!" Henri exclaimed shocked to her core. They had done what?!

"I beg your pardon?" Lucas questioned with the same incredulity Henri was sure was in her own voice.

"You see Father; we decided it would be more beneficial to defeat them at politics than it would to even attempt to over throw them with force. They currently have law on their side and in their hands. They also have all the aurors in their control. The public are weak and unable to fight, many have also fled. However from what we have observed everybody is disgruntled with the government and it's not the type of dissatisfaction any political power usually receives. I truly believe they genuinely dislike them. So we need to get the public on our side and the best way to do that, considering they aren't a very capable public, would be to gain their votes." Dante said with that calm and collected voice of authority he had practised all the way through school and had obviously learned from his father.

Henri glanced to the man. He was looking like he was considering what Dante was saying but there was tightness around his mouth that said he wasn't best pleased. Henri turned to her friends.

"I'm sorry I don't understand. You're saying you want to challenge them politically?"

"Yes." Hermione said. Ron leaned forwards on his chair and rested his elbows on his knees, hands clasped between them.

"You see Henri it's really quite logical. We haven't got the man power to fight them head on and defeat them. Even if we did take them out Wizarding England would still be down the shitter."

"RON!" Hermione gasped.

"RONALD!" Molly shouted that and glared at her son who just looked nonplussed and refused to break eye contact with Henri.

"We can't do that so, in order to make it all work, we need to get the support of the masses and fight them in a political arena. At least if we do it like that the general public can see that we have people ready and able to stand into the high powered roles at the Ministry so if everything goes arse about face then we can attempt to over throw them with force and still use our 'political party' to fill in the gaps. It's logically sound…"

"Except we haven't got nearly enough people and every political party needs a figure head." Lucas interjected. Hermione perked up then.

"Ah but we've thought of that. We thought, with your help Lucas, that Dante would be our figure head. He'd be the person we'd put in power. He is politically minded, though not to the extent that you are, and he has a way with words. Despite being a right prat at school he did demonstrate how charming he could be. He is also in a favourable position socially. He is a widower with a wealthy family and a large number of friends to help him and support him in raising a child and having a career. The public will identify with that."

"What about if they discover who he really is?" Henri said. "I mean I know the war was a long time ago but there's a prejudice against purebloods now and if it gets out that he used to be Dante Mercury…no you know what I mean. If it gets out then the whole plan will be ruined."

"Remove the spell for a minute please Lucas? The wards are secure." Hermione asked and the next few minutes were taken up by Lucas lowering the secrecy spell.

"Now, where were we?"

"People discovering I used to be Draco Malfoy." Dante offered and Hermione straightened her back and went into education mode.

"Ah yes. Even if people randomly come up with a link between Draco Malfoy and Dante Mercury, the fact that the looks are completely different will help assuage them. There is also the real, back dated identities and records that you, Lucas, cleverly created. Further to that there is Lulu. The public knew that at the time of Draco's disappearance he was newly married. Well Lulu is too old to have been a product of Draco's marriage however she is biologically Dante's child. That is a huge shield! Because of the timeline discrepancies the links and similarities would be pushed aside. It also shields Lucas because he has a back story and a granddaughter. It all works out."

"Okay. So you think that will work then?" Henri asked sceptically. She didn't know anything about politics really. She wasn't built to think of complex plans like that.

"Oh yes, I'm almost certain of it." Hermione confirmed.

"I see. Barring the idea to put my son at the forefront of this political movement, what design is there for the rest of the party?" Lucas enquired and stood from his chair to cross over to the desk. He slid into the chair and pulled out some parchment and a quill. He then returned to his seat and, with his quill poised above the parchment, he looked at Hermione and patiently waited for her to continue. So he was really going to consider this? Or he was at least going to hear them all out. Henri had to admit it was clever but she usually considered anything Hermione came up with to be clever, because Hermione never did anything that wasn't clever.

"Well, because Ron and I support this, and actually some hero worship still exists for us in Wizarding England, we are going to help draw the masses. We were planning to play on our involvement with Harry and how we risked our lives for the Wizarding World. The fact that we, after the current government have claimed we supported them, are now openly declaring we do not agree with them it will automatically weaken their stance. Because everybody knows what we did during the war we thought we would be in good stead to take the Head positions in the Department for Law Enforcement. Ron would lead the aurors and I would take head position of the entire department I've already started reading up on the current laws and making notes about what needs to be changed and how the department could play more of a leading role in protecting the populace."

"Clever." Lucas agreed making more notes. "However Ronald did not complete his training to become an auror."

"No he didn't. But he and Harry were top of all their classes before everything collapsed around them and Ron has been taking classes in Australia. The training there is similar to England because their government was formed to mirror ours." Lucas nodded again to Hermione's words.

"I see. Very well."

"We thought we'd have Arthur as…well look, I made a list. It might be easier to read it rather than me explain it." Hermione said and pulled out a piece of paper from her bag. She handed it over to Lucas and Henri leaned in close so she could read it too.

It seems they had thought of a job for everybody. Arthur was going to work in the Department for Magical Accidents and Catastrophe's along with Crispin Fawley who apparently already worked for the Salem equivalent. Bill and Charlie were going to work for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, Bill was specifically going to tackle the Goblin Liaisons. George, with his keen business sense, was going to work for the Department of Trading Standards which was part of the Department of International Magical Cooperation which was the department Fleur was designed to head. Bibi was also going to work there apparently although her name was bracketed which Henri took to mean it wasn't likely. She couldn't imagine Bibi doing that for a job. Xavier was written down to take care of the Department of Magical Transportation, though how they roped him into it Henri didn't know because Xavier was still in Salem. They had also written that Bennett was going to help and he had a steady job already.

The only people without written in jobs was Henri and Molly. Even Mia had a Department to work in. She was in the Department of Magical Games and Sports with Ginny.

"What am I going to do then?" Henri asked and Hermione looked over to Ron.

"Well mate, we figured you'd probably come into the Auror's office with me. But we also thought that since Lucas was going to be the Advisor to the Minister, that it would be an idea for you to support him."

"You mean do nothing?" Henri said completely affronted. Lucas placed a hand on hers.

"Actually Ronald, I do believe it would send the wrong message if Henri were to merely remain at my side. It would be better if she worked and, as you know, she does not do well remaining idle. If Hogwarts has openings then that would be a good place for her, or indeed the Auror office. I would feel safer knowing she was taking care of our safety, although I believe my stress levels would be at a constant high knowing her to be in constant danger."

"Hogwarts isn't really something we need to worry about. Professor McGonagall is in charge there and Neville has taken up the post left by Professor Sprout when she died earlier this year." Hermione explained and Henri nodded her head.

"Then I'll go into the aurors. I'll have to quit my current job though." Henri sighed. She'd not long started that job.

"What, if I might ask, prompted the creation of this course of action?" Lucas queried and indicated with a sweep of his hand to the parchment and paper he currently held.

"Ah well…Ron and I sort of got mobbed when we went to Diagon Alley. People wanted to know why we had disappeared and why we had given our blessing for all the horrible acts the government had brought in. When we were there they raided a house and arrested a squatting family purely because they were purebloods. And…And there was a statue of Harry there with an engraving stating that Harry gave his life to help give way to the new government."

"I couldn't help myself there mate. I blasted the bloody engraving right off." Ron confessed and Hermione gave him an empathetic look. Henri nodded and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Good!"

"So anyway, after we had seen all of that we came back here. I couldn't in any conscience leave all those people to suffer under something the government claimed they were doing in our name. So…so I came up with a plan." Hermione finished narrating and Henri nodded her head. It made sense and actually, assuming they could do it, it would work too. Or at least she thought it would work.

"So what do you think Father?" Dante asked and Henri saw the show down between their blue eyes clash in the middle of the room. A few long seconds of staring commenced until finally, finally, Lucas nodded his head.

"I think, if we all put in an obscene amount of work, it will be very possible. However we have a very small timeframe in which to complete the preliminary work, do our research and raise awareness for our campaign. It is going to take some intense political manoeuvring to accomplish this and we shall have to hope that seeing you taking a stand will incite the public to do the same. I believe that is our selling point. That is the point we should make quite obvious. That you and Harry fought for the public, but that you did not fight for this government."

"Would it be an idea to reveal who I was?" Henri asked but got a clear, vehement 'NO' from everybody in the room.

"NO!"

"No way!"

"No, my dear." Lucas said and gripped her hand firmly. She saw the sincerity and the conviction in Lucas' eyes. "It would be truly disastrous for you to do that. Your current identity has links to Harry Potter, it would be best to claim he was a family member and that he confided in you. We can afford that to be leaked to the public. Informing them that Harry Potter used a dangerous potion to change his identity so he could abandon them…that would drive people away. We will have to hope that the public forgive Hermione and Ron and chose to stand with them. It would not be wise to reveal that you abandoned them but now seek forgiveness too. Perhaps later we can reveal it but for now it is best left a secret I believe."

Planning went on for hours and hours. They all talked over campaign ideas and strategies to get seen, noticed and believed. Henri's head swam with all the information and after a while of sitting by Lucas' side right in the thick of the discussions she got up and went over to play with Lulu. She was not very good at politics and that was what they were talking. Lucas, however, seemed to be in his element. Henri smiled fondly at him as he nodded, made notes and argued points.

"Well mate, it will be a different kind of war this time." Henri grinned at Ron and nodded even as she flicked her wand to help Lulu erect her dolls house after it had fallen through when the girl had made her figurine storm up the stairs in anger. Oddly that doll looked a lot like Aster.

"Yeah. Not one I'm very equipped to handle."

"I know. Give me duels and hunting any day." Ron lamented with a chuckle.

Hours and hours later, after an exhausting non-stop talk filled day Henri finally rolled into bed feeling utterly shattered. After not sleeping well the night before, then getting only a few hours' sleep, then having a long plane journey, then travelling to a country where the time zone meant they were only just starting the day…Henri had been up close to 20 hours and she was beyond tired. She didn't even bother putting on her night clothes; she just stripped down and slid beneath the covers snuggling into her pillow.

"Tired my love?" Lucas asked as he removed his clothes and climbed into bed besides her.

"Very. It's three o clock and we've been awake since six thirty Hawaiian time." She complained sleepily. Lucas rolled onto his side and reached an arm around her waist. She sighed and moved closer to him, pressing her face into his chest. He caressed her back as he held her close. "I hate to tell you this but I'm way too tired right now."

"Shh, I know. As am I. I merely wished to hold you."

"Good. Then hold me." Henri breathed and wrapped her arm around Lucas' back. She knew in a while they would have to separate to fall asleep but for now the closeness was lovely.

January 19th.

Henri woke up to an empty bed. It took her a few long minutes to realise she was back in England and that the room she was in was the master suite in the manor. She groaned and slid out of bed, snatching up her dressing gown which was, conveniently, placed on the chair besides her bed. After a good look around the gigantic bedroom Henri eventually found the door to the bathroom and made her way inside. Considering it was the Malfoy Manor the bathroom could have been nothing more than ostentatious but even knowing that Henri was shocked. The bathroom alone was large enough to match the size of their family room back at their Hampton's home.

After showering in the most wonderful shower Henri had ever been in, she cleaned her teeth and made her way back out into the main room. Another few minutes were spent finding the wardrobe which, as it turned out, was a room about the same size as the bathroom. She had once wondered how the pureblood elite had kept fit and trim considering they were never seen doing exercise and only ate the richest foods. Now Henri knew. It was because of the sheer amount of travelling they had to do to complete a simple task like getting dressed. Henri must have walked to and fro across that room at least five times to find everything she needed to get dressed.

Finally dressed in smart trousers and a shirt Henri slipped on her shoes and made to exit the room.

"Excusing me Mistress!" A tiny voice squeaked and Henri jumped a mile before realising it was a house elf.

"Um…yes?" The house elf dropped its head then peeped up at her.

"Master is waiting for Mistress in the breakfast room. Hoppy be showing Mistress." The house elf, Hoppy, offered and Henri sighed and nodded. She went to retrieve her wand from her bedside table and slid it into her holster, wrapping that around her forearm then pulling her sleeve back down. When she turned around again the house elf was waiting by the door. She followed Hoppy all the way out of the large Master suite, or should she say Lord's Wing of the manor, and down the large staircases. Finally, after at least five minutes of walking, Henri came to the breakfast room where Lucas was waiting.

"Good morning my dear." Lucas greeted and rose from his seat at the table to greet her. She smiled and went over to him. Since they were the only ones in the room besides the house elf Henri leaned up and gave him a kiss.

"Morning…or what's left of it." She said glancing at the clock which read eleven forty five. "Sorry for sleeping so long."

"Nonsense. I have only been awake for an hour myself. I believe we will have to do some adjusting to this time zone. Come, the elves have made you some brunch."

"Brunch huh?" She said with a laugh. Brunch. The posh word for the meal you eat when you sleep in until lunch time. Still, it was a lovely looking meal. Pancakes with bananas inside and a very generous drizzling of chocolate sauce. "I have to say I wasn't expecting this!"

"I expect today shall most likely match yesterday with regards to planning and organising. Thus I ordered a substantial breakfast for us and our guests. Those are coconut pancakes with banana's and chocolate sauce. Originally it was just going to be the pancakes and banana's however young Miss Ginny asked for chocolate sauce on hers and I imagined you would also enjoy that."

"Thank you." Henri said and took a bite of her food. She smiled and hummed around the fork as flavours slid over her tongue. "This is delicious."

"Excellent. I shall instruct the house elves that this meal should be repeated sometime in the future."

After breakfast they went back up to one of the family rooms where a house elf had instructed them was where nearly everybody was located. The fire was roaring in the hearth and to one side of the room was a large blanket on which Scorpius was laying on his back. He was holding his fists above his eyes, seemingly looking at them with absolute fascination and dismissing the black and white toys that hovered and danced above him occasionally flashing as a third colour added to the black and white designs. What had they bought all those toys?

Lulu was playing on the carpet too, having set up a very large village spanning across the rest of that quarter of the room. She had numerous houses, figurines and other items all strewn across the floor but was very involved in making her girl figure have an adventure at the park.

Everybody else was sat in chairs. Dante was lounging however he held a piece of paper in his hands and was reading it intently. Hermione was avidly scribbling away notes on an A4 pad of muggle paper, while reading a book. Ron was scanning through a book too, oddly, and he was also making notes. Arthur was just reading. Bill and Fleur were also reading and practising speaking Gobbledegook. George was laughing and joking with Mia but he did have a book in his hands. Ginny was sat with them and was also reading. It was a strange sight to see everybody hard at work…especially to see them all engrossed in reading things.

Only Molly wasn't reading and that was because she was busy sewing.

"I see you finally decided to wake up Henri." Hermione said stiffly, the spell already back on and not allowing her to call Henri Harry.

"Sorry Hermione but I had a long day yesterday." Henri apologised and left Lucas' side to approach Hermione.

"I suppose so and the time difference doesn't help. But you should try to get up at a set time to help adjust to this time frame faster. Keep a routine and go to bed early even if you don't go to sleep."

"'Mione, none of us went to bed until three in the morning."

"That's true." Hermione reasoned then reached down and grabbed a book from the floor by her feet. She held it up to Henri. "There. That's the book you should read if you want a place on the Aurors here. It's the auror manual, the newest edition. I also dug out Ron's old copy of the manual he had before the Ministry fell. You can compare the two and learn it. Lucas, I have a book on…"

Henri sighed and went to sit with Ron. It seemed their day had begun. Learning. Joy. It was worse than being in school.

January 19th.

Henri had made the excuse of going to the bathroom to escape Hermione's clutches. They had been in that family room for well over six hours and after dinner Henri had nearly been dragged back there to do more work. Instead she had made her excuses and was now off in search of Lucas who had declared he worked better in his study.

Fifteen minutes later Henri was feeling a little lost so she called for a house elf that showed her the way. The house elf lead her all the way through the manor and Henri saw how much damage still remained from the museum.

"Master is in there Mistress."

"Thank you." The house elf popped out and Henri contemplated knocking or just entering the room. She settled for doing both at the same time. She knocked the door and slowly turned the handle.

"Come in." She turned the handle immediately, no more making the pretence of doing it slowly. Pushing the door open she stepped inside the long wide room.

There were wooden book cases all along three sides of the room, in fact the door she walked through had a book case attached to the back of it and as it opened the side of the book case brushed against a plant. There were some very large windows at the end of the room, wall to ceiling windows with heavy lush curtains pulled away from them with a long green rope. Lucas sat at the desk to the left. It was the only object in the room that wasn't square onto the rest of the room. It was, instead, set on a diagonal facing towards the door. Even the chairs in front of the desk were set square onto the rest of the room, but not the desk.

"Hello my dear."

"Hi. This is your office?"

"Indeed it is." Lucas agreed and Henri made her way slowly towards the desk still looking around the room. In between book cases were potted plants above which was a portrait of a family member. Henri knew he had taken those pictures from the 'gallery room' but also knew that he hadn't finished putting the rest of the manor together again.

"It's nice. I can see why you designed the one at the Hamptons the way you did now. You have a certain fondness for dark woods don't you."

"I find the dark woods are the most ageless and they speak volumes of wealth and good taste."

"How humble of you to say so." Henri laughed and finally came to a stop in front of the desk. She leaned over it to try to read what Lucas was doing upside down. She saw notes on how to start to raise awareness for a newly created political party and also a document labelled Law on the Management of Purebloods. She stood up straight and looked at Lucas who was watching her impassively. "You think this will work then?"

"I do. However I believe it is a bit ambitious for us to expect to win the September elections. It would be a more realistic goal to aim for next September and to demand an election be held then. However your friend Hermione would not hear of it."

Ah yes. That had been a conversation, or should she say argument, that took place yesterday.

"Well you know Hermione." Henri said and Lucas gave a dark chuckle and collected his papers up.

"Indeed I do. Anyway, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit my dear?"

"Well…" Henri hedged then shrugged and rounded the desk to stand next to him. "I haven't seen you all day and it's strange suddenly being back and being apart after three weeks of constantly being with you."

"Ah. I quite agree. This was not exactly the home coming I had anticipated." Henri slid an arm around his shoulders and looked around the room again. His arm slid around her waist and pulled her against his side.

"You think we could skive off early this evening and take a walk, just the two of us?" She asked and felt Lucas nod.

"Yes I think that sounds like a good idea. The snow has cleared but it is still cold and I always found the Manor most beautiful during winter."

"Good. We will do that then. What time? Around nine?"

"Nine then, my dear."

Henri nodded and leaned down to kiss Lucas who raised his chin to allow the kiss. She pulled back with a sigh when the cough of a throat being cleared interrupted her enjoyment. Looking around the room to see who had come in and was clearing their throat she saw nobody until Lucas started talking.

"I understand you are not a fan of public displays of affection Father but since this is the comfort of my own home and my study I shall reserve the right to kiss my wife whenever I chose. If you object so much to it then do not feel obliged to stay in your frame." Lucas addressed the silver haired grey eyed man on the wall with derision. The man sniffed contemptuously and raised his chin up.

"It is most improper."

"On the contrary, she is my wife."

"Yes but such intimacies should be reserved for the bedroom." The man stated and Henri remembered his name at last. Abraxas Malfoy.

"Not if you desire a happy marriage, Father. Now if you would excuse me?" Lucas said and the man in the portrait harrumphed and pointedly turned his nose up high into the air not looking at them but clearly refusing to move. Henri couldn't help it; she laughed and shook her head. Lucas didn't seem to share her amusement but he did smile a little.

"So that's why we always go into the bedroom." Henri laughed and Lucas rolled his eyes a little but pulled her down into another kiss.

"Well it is the appropriate place for such activities." Henri laughed and pressed in for another kiss, taking her time with this one and enjoying it.

"Not if you talk with models." Henri whispered and pulled back. Lucas raised his eyebrow at her and stood up so he could approach her now that she had put some distance between them.

"Oh?"

"Yes. According to them any flat surface would work." She said with a smirk as she recalled the numerous conversations shared in the dressing rooms. Lucas' eyebrow rose further, if possible, and Henri saw the portrait straining forwards in his frame trying to hear them.

"My, my, how very promiscuous of them." Lucas drawled and raised his hand to cup her cheek. "I do not share their proclivities however."

"I know." Henri shrugged and turned her head to kiss his wrist. "But now that I think about it, I quite like the idea that perhaps we were both so driven by our feelings that we couldn't wait to get into the bedroom."

"Patience is a virtue and is its own reward." Lucas stated and Henri rolled her eyes and pressed up for a kiss before moving away from him and towards the exit of the room.

"Patience is over rated. And might I remind you who did not want to wait any more than two months for his wedding?" She called over her shoulder as she reached the door. Lucas, she saw was standing exactly where she left him.

"That, I grant you, is true however I still maintain my original point."

"Have it your way then. Where shall I meet you for our walk at nine?" She asked as she pulled the door open and made to step through it.

"Ah yes, our walk." Lucas mulled it over for a few brief seconds then the most wicked smile Henri had seen from him crossed his lips. Her stomach clenched. "Our bedroom."

Henri laughed and walked out of the door. As she pulled the door closed behind her, still unable to stop the smile on her face, she heard Abraxes speak again.

"She has less propriety than a fish!"

"I would search the oceans for a fish with even a tenth of her integrity."

"Then the oceans are not as rich as they were in my day."

"And yet you still married a carp, while I have married a lionfish." Lucas argued and Henri sighed really not understanding the fish references. Lucas didn't even like fishing, why were they talking fish?

"Do not insult your mother!"

"Then kindly refrain from insulting my wife. She is worth more than this entire family put together and yet she has deigned to join us."

Henri stopped listening after that. She walked off down the hall to join her friends and family. She could hardly wait for nine o'clock to come!