"Brilliant. Anything from Ron, yet?" Harry asked hesitantly.
Hermione sighed. "Not yet. Bill was going to talk to the family tonight and find out what's going on. I should have an update tomorrow."
"I hope so. Dudley sent me a letter, via Mrs Figg, he wants to meet with me." Harry focused on the table.
"Are you going to?"
"I… I… I think I need to. I'm never going to see them again and while I won't miss Vernon, I'm not quite so sure about Petunia and Dudley." Harry rubbed at his knuckles. "Will… If… Will you come with me if I do?"
Harry clutched Hermione's hand, as they stood watching as his cousin entered the café. Dudley walked carefully across the room and stopped a few feet from them.
"Hello…" He said, in the same slow, slightly confused manner that had become normal for him, after the dementor attack.
"Hey, Big D." Harry gave him a half-hearted smile and fell silent.
"Shall we sit down?" Hermione gestured to a table and some chairs.
"Can we sit in a booth?" Dudley asked.
"Sure." Hermione nodded and exchanged a quick glance with a tense Harry. Harry nodded and the three moved to the back of the café, Hermione slid into the booth first and Harry followed, while Dudley sat awkwardly opposite them.
"What's up, D?" Harry asked.
"Can you do those shields, the ones that people can't see or hear through?"
"I can."
"Can you do one now? Please?"
"Why would I do that?" Harry asked, not sure why his cousin wanted him to do it. Dudley took his baseball cap off and Harry's breath caught. He let his wand flick into his hand, and he cast a muffliato. "Who hit you, Dudley?" His voice was low, angry. One side of Dudley's face, from the cheekbone up, was a violent dark purple and green bruise that had been camouflaged by the shadows that his cap had made.
"Dad…" Dudley's voice was even quieter. "Can you put up a shield?"
"I put up a version of a shield, people can still see us, but they'll only hear us mumbling." Harry said.
"Thank you…" Dudley closed his eyes for a moment. "We left with that man and a lady." He started and Harry nodded. "They took us to somewhere up north, we went through London and out the other side, but I don't remember where." He shrugged. "The man was boring, but the lady kept trying to talk to us, only… dad wouldn't let her. He'd get angry and yell at her. I woke up one night, I'd dreamed about the dementy-thingies, again. In the kitchen, she made me some hot chocolate, it was really good, and we talked about you and magic. She told me about the things you could do and how you learn at your school. She gave me some books to read, said it would help me understand. We waited and waited, and finally someone sent us message. A glowing silver tiger that could talk, it told us that the war was over, that you'd won."
"We did." Harry nodded.
"We came home, and things went back to normal." Dudley paused. "Then last week the power went out. I'd been writing a letter, to send to you, when it happened. I wondered what you'd do if you were there. One of the books that Miss Hestia gave me, had a spell for making a light. I thought about it and pointed at my lamp and imagined lighting it."
"Oh, dear…" Hermione whispered.
"The lamp didn't change, but my finger lit up." Dudley opened his jacket and put his hand inside it. "Lumos." He whispered and his finger glowed, just barely, but it glowed.
"Whoa…" Harry exclaimed silently.
"I finished my letter and took it to the cat lady, Miss Hestia said that the cat lady could get a letter to you." Dudley let his head fall forward. "I practised every day, just like Miss Hestia said you had to, I can't make it bright, not yet. But…"
"But…?" Harry asked, he had an idea where this was going.
"But dad found out. I thought it was just you he hated, but it's anybody that can do this. He screamed, mum screamed, he hit me, mum fainted, he dragged me out the back of the house and told me to get out and not come back. That he was not having magic in the house. But he didn't call it magic, he called it freakishness." A tear ran down his face. "I went to the cat lady and she's letting me stay on her couch, but she's only renting, and her landlady won't let me stay for long." He looked up. "Please? Please can you help? I have nowhere to go."
"Oh gods." Harry whispered.
"Let's have a cup of tea and something to eat and we'll talk about what you want." Hermione said.
"I want somewhere to live, and I want to learn more magic." Dudley said.
"We can help you with that." Hermione nodded.
"We can?" Harry asked.
"Yes, Harry we can." She nodded. "Let's have lunch and then you can go and meet with Kingsley and I'll help Dudley. There's a couple of options, there's the house in Chester and a flat in Stockport, that haven't been sold yet. Magic's a little more involved, I'll need to talk to Dudley a bit more, but… yeah, there's a couple of options."
"Okay, then. You work out what needs to happen and let me know what I need to do about it. Okay?" Harry looked his friend.
"I got this, Harry. You worry about what Kingsley's going to put you through this afternoon."
"Oh, gods, I know exactly what going to make me do. He wants to see how I'll on the senior version of the Gauntlet." Harry moaned.
"Oh, good luck." Hermione grinned and turned back to Dudley. "Let's eat, then Harry can go back to his training and you and I can have a talk."
"Okay." Dudley tried to smile but he wasn't very successful.
Six hours later, Hermione entered Harry's interview room. "Hi." She said as she slumped into a chair.
"Hey." He replied looking as tired as she felt. "How'd you go with Dud, no trouble?"
"Not really. Not that he caused, anyway..."
"Oh?"
"He's a wizard and could have been a pretty strong one, but someone bound his core." Hermione explained. "There's good and bad to that. Good. If he'd been as magical as you, your Uncle would probably have snapped and may have killed you both."
"I could see that happening. And bad?"
"He's seventeen, eighteen in a month, technically he should already have gone through his magical maturation, already. But there's good news there, too. The binding of his core has stunted his maturing."
"Can you help him or is it too late?" Harry grimaced.
"There's one possibility, it's a bit extreme... but Madam Pomfrey, Professors McGonagall and Flitwick think it should work." Hermione gave him a look that caused a feeling of dread.
"What is it?"
"It's a combination of things. Hear me out, please?" She asked and Harry closed his eyes but nodded his head. "Some time ago, Professor Snape developed a potion, the intention was to alleviate the severity of the cruciatus. It's a variant that combines a de-aging potion and a stabilising potion. By itself, it's not enough to stabilise Dudley's core, but… if he were to de-age to just under Hogwarts' age and you were to blood adopt him into your family as either your son or your brother, that would boost the Evans' blood enough to stabilise him and the little bit of Potter blood would make him that much more powerful."
"…uh… In English, Hermione?" Harry gave her a blank, not understanding, look.
"De-age him, back to eight to ten years of age, his magical maturation will be far enough away that his core can recover, naturally." She answered.
"Okay, that makes sense… and the other bit?"
"You blood adopt him into your family, that will boost the Evans blood that you share and make his recovery easier. It will also give him a little bit of Potter blood, making him a stronger, magically." She said.
"Oh…"
"I took him to Hogwarts to see Madam Pomfrey, she tested him and… well… We've got three days to act or he'll be stuck as only slightly better than a squib for the rest of his life."
"But… can I do that? I'm sentenced to the veil. Is it legal for me to adopt him? And what will happen to him when I go? I won't do this, just to let him be forced back to Vernon and Petunia." Harry growled.
"He won't go back to the muggle world. And even in the very unlikely case that he did, he wouldn't be Dudley Dursley anymore, he'd be Dudley Evans-Potter, the adoption would have boosted the Evans blood and the Potter would have overwritten the Dursley blood, due to magical blood being more powerful in a blood adoption, than muggle blood is."
"In English, it will work, and he won't be Dudley Dursley, muggle, anymore. He'll be Dudley Evans-Potter, wizard." Harry shrunk it down to one sentence.
"Yes." Hermione rolled her eyes.
"You said three days? How soon can this happen and where will he go?"
"Either Bill and Fleur will take him in or there's another middle-aged witch, she's recently split from her husband and she's happy to take him in. Dudley has asked to meet them all before he decides." Hermione answered.
"And you're the Potter Estate Manager, you handle that, right?"
"Right. You don't have to do anything, other than the actual adoption."
"Okay, do it. Set it up. No-one should have to have their core bound and no-one should have to put up with someone like Vernon Dursley. Ask Dud if he wants to choose a new first name to go with his new family names."
"Got it." Hermione was writing as Harry spoke.
"Anything on Ron?"
"I haven't had a chance to speak to Bill, but I'm having dinner with him, Fleur and Charlie, so…?"
"Tomorrow, then?"
"Yeah…"
"Right, go on, get out of here, I need a shower and a nap." Harry dragged himself to his feet.
"How did you go? On the senior Gauntlet?" Hermione asked as she stood and headed for the door.
"I passed, but only just. I only had twelve seconds left. I did the trainee's Gauntlet with almost five minutes for spare, but the senior is a whole lot harder." Harry muttered, pulling his shirt off.
"But you still did it." Hermione said as she exited the room. "Kristen? Who's in charge of the Gauntlet?"
"That would be Senior Auror Robards, Miss Granger."
"How do I go about setting up a meeting with him?"
"I have to report to him just before my break, that's in about half an hour, I can pass him a message or request a meeting on your behalf." Trainee Timberley offered.
"Yes, please. If I could meet with him sometime over the next few days, that would be helpful. Not tomorrow morning though." Hermione said.
"No, ma'am, he's meeting with the Acting-Minister in the morning."
"Ugh, better him than me." Hermione screwed up her nose. Scrimgeour might be better than Fudge but Hermione didn't trust anyone that wanted that amount of power.
Hermione entered the Hogwarts' hospital wing and greeted the medi-witch. "Good evening, Madam Pomfrey. How's Dudley doing?"
"As well as can be expected, Miss Granger. Curse-breaker Weasley has scanned his bindings and feels that it will be a minor matter to lift them once Mr Dursley is ready for treatment to begin. I placed him under a stasis to secure you a little more time. It has increased my initial estimate from three days to six. Still not very long but it's the best I can do."
"Thank you, ma'am, any extra is helpful." Hermione sighed.
"Oh, and young Mr Malfoy, was through a few minutes ago, he left something for you. That box over there." Poppy Pomfrey indicated a small wooden box with an envelope leaning against it. "He said you were expecting it."
"Oh, excellent." Hermione opened the envelope and read the short message.
Granger Hermione
You wanted enough of this potion to de-age someone by eight years.
I give you enough for just a few weeks short of eleven years.
And no, that doesn't significantly impact on what father still has,
but now I know how to get to it, I should have no issues acquiring
the remains of his stash. From what I can estimate, there is still
approximately a gallon, minus this phial, remaining. That does not
include the twenty-ounce phial that he's using to treat my mother and I.
I managed to get this without alerting father or his elf.
You wanted the Malfoy libraries. They will have to wait until I see you in person.
I removed both the main Malfoy library and the Malfoy Heir's library and mother
has assisted me in placing an illusion in its place, keyed in using Rodolphus and Rabastan's wands.
Oh, and thank you for them, we used them both to muddy the timeframe.
Father won't know, for certain, when the libraries were removed or by whom.
As I said,
Your wish is my command.
Draco.
"…oh, my…" Hermione whispered.
"Something wrong, Miss Granger?" Madam Pomfrey inquired.
"No, not wrong, just… unexpected…"
"Is it not what you wanted?"
"Oh, yes, most definitely. I'll be fetching Harry here tomorrow morning for Dudley's treatment. I'm hoping we can be in and ready to go by nine o'clock." She smiled at the medi-witch. "But right now, I'm due for dinner at Bill and Fleur's place."
"Then you'd best get a wriggle on." The older witch directed.
Apparating to shell cottage, Hermione made sure to face away from the beach, she wanted no reminders of that trip. Fleur waved from a window as she approached the cottage.
"Hermione. Welcome back." The blonde veela's French accent was very light and barely noticeable.
"Hello, Fleur. Hey Bill." She replied, calling out the second greeting to the redhead she could see in the kitchen.
"Hi, Mione." He called back. "Good timing, foods ready, but it can wait if you want to hear the news first. Charlie's running late, said he won't be in until late."
"Is it going to ruin my appetite?" Hermione asked, only half joking.
"No, not this time. Turns out to not be as bad as I thought. Nowhere near it." Bill sighed in relief.
"Oh, well… um… Oh, let's get it out of the way, then I can relax." Hermione huffed in self-annoyance.
"You got it. Where do you want me to start? Mum and dad and work my way down? Or Ron and Ginny and work my way up?" Bill waggled his brows at her.
"Caster's choice, Bill, you're doing the telling."
"Alright, mum and dad. Mum's been admitted to St. Mungo's. Apparently, she should have been taking potions since our uncles died, but the problem was that we didn't have the money, so they got forgotten. Taking out Bellatrix, got mum a nice little reward from the DMLE. So, she's getting her potions. The healers said that mum's mind kept substituting Fred and George with Fabian and Gideon and she kept thinking that they were already dead, that was why she kept her distance from them. You can't hug ghosts and in a part of her mind, that's what the twins were. Dad was completely oblivious to all this and is beating himself up about it, now. He's got a nice selection of potions to take, too, and Uncle Gareth was forced to step in, dad's going to be living with him for the foreseeable future and mum will join them, when St. Mungo's release her."
"Wow…" Hermione gasped.
"Not what you were expecting, huh?"
"No…"
"Well, there's more…" Bill took a sip of his drink. "Percy's had a short sharp lesson in life, and it hit hard. He always had the room next to the twins and he was their favourite victim because of it. He's never realised that they've grown up, and I'm not sure that he has yet. Oh, he says it, but I'm not sure he believes it."
Fleur snorted elegantly.
"You don't believe that either, huh?" Hermione quirked an eyebrow at the blonde witch.
"Non, I do not. He knows it, but I do not think he truly believes it. But I understand, I am ze same way with Gabrielle, she will always be my little sister, even though I will never see her again. Her mate eez from Brazil, she will be returning with him, later this year." She told Hermione.
"And you're okay with…?" She trailed off.
"Bill eez my mate and his family eez my family, now. You and Harry are my family, my sister and my brother. Oui, I am 'okay' with this. We will be going with you." Fleur replied and gave her a hug.
"Thank you." Hermione whispered, her voice full of tears.
Bill took her from his wife's arms and enclosed her in his own, squeezing lightly before guiding her to a seat.
"Percy and mum blundered in, in typical Weasley fashion, when it came to the twins' shop. They're not trying to get George to sign it over, what they were trying to do was to get George to add Percy to the shop's paperwork."
"Well, they didn't make that very clear." Hermione huffed.
"No, they didn't and bluntly until they do, I think it's best if we leave it the way it is. Particularly, as George is going with us." Bill began to mix things in a bowl, salad leaves, tomatoes and pieces of chicken. "Ron wants to meet with you, but he's asking for it to not be until the night before Harry… goes. He's done a lot of growing up, the shock of losing Fred has hit him hard. He's been doing a lot of work around the house and talking to a mind healer from St. Mungo's." Bill laughed at the dumbfounded look on Hermione's face. "Yeah, that was my reaction, too. I've fairly sure he suspects something, though, but he's made no attempt to ask about it, other than to ask to meet with you. He was quite clear that it was to be the night before Harry… leaves."
"Well… I... I suppose Ron is quite smart when he wants to be… and he know me so well… I can't say I'm surprised that he's suspicious. But making sure the meeting isn't until the night before the veiling? I wonder why?" Hermione asked.
"Charlie thinks it might be so that he can honestly say, that while he had a suspicion, he hadn't been told anything and didn't know anything for certain."
"You know, that's very Ron." Hermione huffed.
"Oh, yeah, he's very good at burying his head in the cauldron, but this time, I think he's doing it deliberately." Bill said.
"Certainly, sounds like it." Fleur agreed.
"It does." Hermione nodded.
"And Ginny? She's always had crush on the Boy-Who- Lived. Meeting Harry hasn't changed that and him saving her from the basilisk, just reinforced it. And of course, she never got any treatment after that, so it sort-of slipped through the cracks. She's with mum at St. Mungo's, they're giving her the treatment she should have got, but didn't. Whatever you said to her after the battle, she didn't like it, she was whinging about leaving you and Harry. Ron cut her off and asked why wouldn't we leave you with your brother? That pulled Gin to a stop, for a bit, but later she said something about her and Harry. Ron reached over and smacked her upside the head and told that there was no chance that she and Harry were going to get together." Bill took a few sips of his drink before continuing. "Both she and mum demanded to know why he'd say that, so he told them. He said that there were two main reasons why, one was that Ginny still looked at Harry like he was the Boy-Who-Lived, she knew next to nothing about Harry. And two, Ginny looks like his mother."
"Molly and Ginevra wanted to know why that was a problem and Ron just asked them what boy wants to kiss a girl that looks like his mum?" Fleur added.
"Then Ron went on and explained that Ginny hung around with them, but she rarely ever spoke to Harry and that she'd told him at Dumbledore's funeral that he'd never be happy until he'd killed Voldemort. That confused them all. He had to explain that Harry didn't want Voldemort to die, he hadn't ever wanted to kill anyone, all he wanted was a family to love but to get that he has to stop Voldemort. Stop, not kill. Harry didn't want to kill him and in the end he didn't, Voldemort's own curse rebounded and that was what killed him, not Harry."
"That shut them all up." Fleur smiled.
"It did. It also made Ginny think, she was the one to ask about treatment, when mum went to St. Mungo's. The healers were horrified that she hadn't been treated and were adamant that she should have been." Bill began to cut up a loaf of bread.
"But you're still coming with Harry and I? Even after learning all this?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, we're still coming. Hermione, you have to understand that the mother I know, is not one who'd agree to getting the sort of medical help that Molly Weasley is getting. Charlie and I left home as soon as we could, to avoid the kind of issues that Percy, Ron and Ginny have, because of Molly's need to control and smother. This last year in England has been hell and not because of the war. I don't recognise… the Molly Weasley that I saw last night is not my mother and bluntly, my mother wasn't a nice woman and I can't reconcile the two. Neither Charlie nor I will ever be able to look at her and not see the woman that dominated our lives. Going with you and Harry…? That's easy… and a bit of a relief. Otherwise, we'd probably end up moving to the other side of the world just to get away from her." Bill hung his head forward, his hair falling over his face. "I love them, but… I… I can't trust that she'll stick with it, so many times she started something and just stopped. I think it's great that they're getting help, but I don't want to be here to see it."
"Fair enough. But what do I tell Harry? And can you subtly let Ron know that Harry has no idea what I'm putting in his trunk, that he won't find out until he gets wherever he's going?" Hermione asked.
"I can do that." Fleur said. "I'm going to the Burrow for lunch tomorrow, with Molly and Ginevra still in St. Mungo's, I'll be doing the groceries for the house, as heaven knows, none of them seem to know how."