Chapter 15

Draco and Theo reluctantly went to breakfast on the morning that the announcement of Calliope's return appeared in the Daily Prophet. It had only been one full day and two nights since she had awoken from her injury. It seemed far too soon to be away from her. And in addition, Draco knew that she was still nursing the emotional injury of her friends' reactions to her news, which made him all the more reluctant to leave her.

He could tell that Theo felt the same way. But Calla had insisted, and neither of them had been able to deny her as little kids, and he was beginning to admit that they probably would never be able to do so. In fact, it might actually get worse now that they were older. Because how could they ever take her for granted after what they'd been through?

Not to mention that, as reluctant as he felt to admit it, she was the strongest of them all. She would be fine without them for an hour or two.

Like good Slytherins they arrived early, before the Daily Prophet. They were poised to watch the reaction to the news, both to know if they needed to be on their guard, but also because they knew Calla would be insatiable in her curiosity. However, Draco had a churning feeling in his gut that he did not like at all.

As they walked into the Great Hall they received a few questioning glances, especially when they arrived at the table and sat beside each other. They were not known to spend time together and their absence in the Slytherin common room had surely been noticed in the past day. Given their fathers' roles at the Ministry they would have been a topic of gossip regardless. So, their housemates were obviously curious in the face of their sudden solidarity.

But they both knew better and ignored it all, focused on loading their plates and bracing themselves for what was to come.

To give Calla's Gryffindor friends credit, they at least hadn't spread rumors all over the school about her new circumstances. Draco would have suspected that those rumors might simply not have reached Slytherin, but the whole hall was strangely quiet, too quiet for such explosive news to have already broken. He wasn't sure if he was grateful or irritated not to have found another reason to dislike them - if Longbottom and Lovegood kept showing up to check on her he was in danger of actually liking them, all the gods help him.

However, he now realized that it was in all of their best interests if he and Theo were here to witness the reaction of the school. Calla was a smart witch. The better to keep them all safe. He just wasn't looking forward to it.

Or, rather, he wasn't looking forward to telling Calla about it. He really didn't care what anybody thought. Because, despite the brave face she put on, and despite the fact that she'd been the one to send them here this morning, he knew that she did.

Draco braced himself as the post arrived; there was the typical sound of the flapping of wings, students cooing to their owls, and the ripping of parchment. It was mostly silent, but it slowly built to a crescendo, and then there was an explosion of noise.

Draco could practically sense several hundred pairs of eyes boring into the back of his head. He willed himself not to react. At his right he felt Theo take a deep breath and then purposefully begin eating again.

"Is it true?" A voice rang out. "This must be rubbish! Draco?!"

Pansy, of course it was Pansy.

Theo snorted and subtly nudged Draco, as if to say: 'clean up your own mess.'

Draco couldn't begrudge him the sentiment, much less argue with him about it in the Great Hall. He took a deep breath and focused his eyes deliberately on the witch, and when he caught her gaze, rolled them. "No Pansy," Draco drawled, "our families just took out an official joint statement in the Daily bloody Prophet because it's not true."

She gaped at him. "Why are you so angry?"

"Are you kidding me? We just got Calliope back after all these years and that's all you can say? To ask if it's true? What's wrong with you?"

She seemed to actually stutter over own tongue in the face of his ire. "Well it's just...it's Granger," she attempted to explain.

Theo slapped his cutlery down on the table in a rare display of temper. "Yes, Granger is her adopted name. Do you have a problem with that?"

So much for letting Draco handle things.

And then Pansy went on to prove just how stupid she was...and why Calla was so insulted that Draco had ever even given her the time of day.

"She's just so...bossy and plain and…" Pansy continued, apparently oblivious to the growing fury of her housemates.

"Oh do shut up before you embarrass yourself anymore," Theo hissed.

The dark headed witched reared back in surprise, like she really didn't understand his anger.

"She's bossy because she's brilliant and almost always right," Theo continued. "She is neither plain, nor is she gawky, as I've heard you call her on more than one occasion, and you know it. You're just jealous of her."

"I am not!"

"Really? You're not at all bothered by the fact that most of this school thought her superior to you in so many ways even before they knew she was a pureblood?"

"They did not," she scoffed.

"Or how about the fact that Draco belongs with her. That he wants her and ran to her the moment that he was able? That couldn't possibly be what's upsetting you, could it Pansy?" Theo finished snidely.

The witch coloured spectacularly and Draco almost felt sorry for her. Almost. But then she opened her mouth again.

Pansy shifted her attention to Draco. "Do you think she's prepared for the duties she'll be expected to fulfill as your wife? She was raised by muggles."

There were quite a few gasps of disbelief at Pansy's questioning of his betrothal, which was such an egregious faux pas that it was almost difficult to comprehend. But Draco could sense that there were nearly as many people who were as anxious to hear his response to the question as those who were outraged, they were just better at hiding it. It was time to make his position clear.

"She is everything I've ever wanted since I drew breath in this world- according to our parents. Certainly from any moment I can remember for myself. You understand the idea of a blood betrothal, don't you Pansy? Do you think our parents would have done that casually?"

Pansy looked taken aback but she also crossed her arms over her chest and huffed, as if in disbelief, which infuriated Draco to such a degree he was afraid he might do something foolish.

He glanced at Theo. "I think we may need to contact House Parkinson and alert them that they are clearly not educating their children properly."

Theo smirked and nodded.

Draco turned back to Pansy. "Not that this is any of your business, and I do mean that literally. But Calliope is brilliant. Our mothers taught her about her role in our world since she was old enough to begin to understand. And my mother has welcomed her back like she was already her daughter. She is her goddaughter, after all. Calliope will be all that I could ever wish for in a wife, as the Lady of my Houses and the mother of my children. Watch your mouth, Parkinson, or you'll find yourself unwelcome in our company. More than that, I will make war with anybody who so much as looks at her sideways."

He made a production of fixing a plate for himself and Calla even though he knew it was unnecessary. The Hogwarts elves were nearly falling all over themselves to take care of Calla now that they understood she had only been trying to take care of them, misguided as it may have been. Family elves were one matter, but Hogwarts elves were rarely considered in such a thoughtful manner. The students rarely even realized they existed and they were grateful for her consideration.

"And you should be ashamed of yourself, Pansy, throwing yourself at a betrothed wizard in such a manner," Theo hissed.

Draco met his eyes and Theo nodded, taking an intentional bite of eggs. Draco stood and turned to stride out of the hall, leaving his future brother-in-law to monitor the situation.

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The three of them had been laying around chatting late that evening; Draco cradling Calla on the larger bed in her hospital room while Theo reclined on the other. They hadn't lied to her about what had happened at breakfast but they'd otherwise attempted to provide her with some relaxation. Madam Pomfrey had quietly explained to them that the stress of the incident the previous day had severely impacted her healing, and while she would still make a full recovery that it wasn't something that the mediwitch could allow to happen again.

"I don't feel like I can keep my eyes open for another minute," Calla said suddenly, her eyes beginning to fall shut. "I'm either beginning to fall off of my potions high or my adrenalin high. I feel so silly."

"Okay, don't feel silly, it's understandable. Night, Calla," Draco kissed her temple and went to crawl out of bed.

She clamped her hands on his forearms with more strength than he would have thought she possessed. "Dragon. Please stay with me."

"Whatever you like," he answered automatically.

"I'm sorry, Teddy," her eyes fluttered open lazily. "No offense." She turned in Draco's arms and then guided one of them until it was settled between her breasts, firmly against her sternum, right over her wound.

"Are you okay? In pain?" Draco asked urgently. Madam Pomfrey had reduced her potions that afternoon which was part of the reason for the lecture he and Theo had been given.

"No, it's not pain exactly. I just feel exposed and cold and it makes me feel more secure to have you hold me like this. Please?"

Draco nodded. The mediwitch had also warned them about the side effects of the dark magic lingering in her injury. And there was probably nothing he would deny her when she said 'please' so sweetly.

She wriggled back so that she was pressed as close to him as she could get and then twisted her neck to kiss him soundly, but relatively chastely. "Good night, Draco, I love you," she sighed as she pulled Draco's arms even more securely around her." Night Teddy, I love you too."

And then it was almost like somebody had stunned her, she dropped off to sleep so suddenly.

Theo eyed Draco as he lay on Calla's hospital bed with her tucked into his side, whilst he lounged on the smaller bed that had been shoved into the corner. It was the one where Draco had spent the past two nights. Theo was eyeing them both warily. But Draco didn't care what her brother thought about it, he wasn't giving up his place with Calla tonight, not when she'd made her need for him so clear.

"Aren't you moving kind of fast?" Theo asked when Calliope's breathing became deep and even.

"Excuse me?"

"You and Calla? Don't you think your relationship is progressing kind of quickly?"

Draco hugged the girl in question to him a little tighter. "We've been betrothed for thirteen years, Theo."

"Yeah, and you haven't seen each other, not really, for more than ten."

Draco bit his tongue. Mostly because he'd made a promise to Calla that he would stay and hold her, he couldn't afford to get into a fight with her brother which would disturb her or draw him away from her, and quickly tried to gather his thoughts.

"I won't try to compare my relationship with Calla to yours. I don't know what it's like to have a twin, or even a sibling. But it's like no time has passed for me, I love her like I did the day she disappeared, more even. So I don't see anything wrong with being close to her. Especially when she specifically asks me to be here."

Theo sighed and gestured to their positioning. "You never used to be like this."

That startled a laugh out of him. "Of course not, we were little kids. But it was always going to be like this eventually, surely you know that? And we've been building up to it in our own way for years."

"But not really, don't you think you should take your time?"

"First of all, we've been alone together for about twenty minutes, what do you think we've gotten up to?" Draco let out a bark of laughter, but then sobered." That being said, however this progresses will be between the two of us and none of your business."

Theo turned over onto his back and rubbed his face. "Fuck, I was not prepared for this."

"You realize she'd probably kick your arse right now if she was awake and not...severely injured."

"Yeah."

Draco looked at the other wizard and made a supposition: "You're mad about the time you missed with her."

"Of course I am."

"And you don't think I am?"

"You at least found a way to get something with her since we got to Hogwarts."

"I won't apologize for that."

There was a long period of silence. "Did you know what she was talking about?" Theo finally asked quietly, "when she said she was coming down off of an adrenaline high?"

"No idea."

"Me either." Theo admitted.

"It's a muggle thing, right?"

"I think it must be."

"I don't understand half of what she says. Do you think she's doing that on purpose?"

Draco gazed at the witch in his arms, she looked so harmless. It was as much a relief as it was terrifying. "Yeah," he admitted on a half laugh. "I think she's trying to make a point."

"What does she expect from us? We've never been in the muggle world, Draco."

Draco shrugged, he almost didn't believe the words that were about to leave his own mouth. "And as far as she remembered until two days ago, she'd never spent time in the magical world until she came to Hogwarts. And she was just expected to adapt, and she did."

"It's not the same," Theo huffed, but Draco wasn't sure if he was truly trying to deny his point or was just still put out that he'd been relegated to the extra bed.

It took a few minutes before Draco gathered the courage to ask the question, but he knew that Theo would never betray Calliope, so he ultimately found it. "Did you feel uncomfortable today, about the way everybody was talking about her?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like she suddenly has value because she's a pureblood now."

"Yeah," Theo gasped.

The fact was that more than once, over the course of the day, he'd opened his mouth to tell somebody that he'd always known that Hermione Granger was more than she appeared to be. He was grateful that he'd had the presence of mind to shut it every time, because he knew that if it ever got back to Calla she'd skin him alive. She'd made her opinion on blood-purity very clear.

"She told me she wouldn't marry a Death Eater. She made me promise I'd never take the mark," he confessed, voice suddenly hoarse.

Theo went still so suddenly that Draco was certain he actually heard his body go rigid.

"What did you say?"

"I tried to tell her that it was complicated."

"It is."

"She said it wasn't, that it was a simple choice between her and him. She pointed out what he

and his ideals have done to our fathers. And Theo," he lowered his voice, even though they'd warded the room, "look what he's done to our world."

Theo remained silent so Draco pressed his luck, he knew that Calla would never really be whole without her twin.

"When she told me it was him or her, it wasn't even difficult. I was honest with her, I told her we might have to run and she agreed without hesitation."

"And our fathers, your mother?"

"Have made their choices. It's time to make ours. It's a last resort, I know it's not what either of us want, but just so you know, you'll always have a place with us."

What Draco wasn't saying, what he didn't think he could express without completely losing his composure, was how much seeing Calla's injury had rocked him to his core. To the point where he felt like the world, as he'd once believed it to be, was falling down around him.

Callipe had just been lying there, unconscious and bleeding more than he thought a person should be able to bleed. He had tried to concentrate on her face to keep from worrying about what the pinched look on Madam Pomfrey's face meant, but she had been far too pale, her breathing too shallow, and when his gaze drifted to her chest he nearly threw up. The wound was horrific.

Draco thought that he knew himself relatively well. If she hadn't recovered, if she had died there in front of them he would have put all of his considerable wealth and magical power into avenging her. He accepted that he wasn't a particularly good person.

But if he ever had any questions about it, he now knew that he also did not relish in the suffering of others, not really. He liked to pick at Potter and Weasley and any other easy mark, he liked to get under people's skin. But he was not a sadist.

He was not his Aunt Bellatrix and he could not imagine using the kind of curse that had been used on Calla on anybody, not even the animals he'd been taught muggles were. Not even an actual animal.

And then there was Calla, sweet, brave, Calla who after everything was still so accepting of them. Calla who wanted to teach him about muggles and swore he'd gotten the wrong end of the broomstick.

He held her a little tighter, because if the world was crashing down around him then he needed a touchstone, and she had always- even in her absence- been it for him.

Author's Note: Thanks to Weestarmeegie for the beta read and for her never ending love and encouragement! To the rest of you, thank you for reading and for your patience, I really want to do this fic justice. :)