A/N: My apologies for the late update. Life has been crazy, but things are looking up! Thanks again for all of the follows and favorites ️
Hermione woke with a start. She looked around the unfamiliar room she was in. Someone snored in the chair in the corner, but the room was too dark to see who it was.
The last thing she remembered was a very frail-looking Lucius Malfoy slamming her head into the wall of the dressing room at the bridal boutique. "Mr. Malfoy? Mr. Malfoy, is that you?" She watched as the figure roused awake. "Why did you take me? Are you - are you going to kill me? Please. I beg you. Let me go." Her voice broke and she began to cry.
The figure stayed quite and in the shadows, but the person spoke. "You will not be harmed, Miss Granger. At least, not by me." A woman's voice that Hermione had never heard before spoke.
"Do I know you? Where's Lucius Malfoy? How did he get out of Azkaban?" Hermione spoke clearer this time. The woman only scoffed at her and sat back in the chair within the shadows. "Talk to me, damn you! My love, he will come for me. He will find me and you will pay!" She sat up in the bed she was in and tried to focus on envisioning Draco's face. Draco, my love, please find me!
Harry paced around the room while Draco repeated the memory that his father left him with before succumbing to death. "Okay, so we get a team together and to St. Mungo's. We question Ron Weasley and his nurse. Bring the Veritaserum." Harry barked out orders to his team of Aurors.
"Jensen, Howe, Brookes! You three get to Minister Shacklebolt's house and keep watch over Mrs. Shacklebolt and their son. We don't know what other plans may be on the mind of this crazy asshole." He looked around the room, "Malfoy, myself, Morris, and Fredericks will go to St. Mungo's and apprehend the two suspects. Go!"
Draco was numb; he'd never before felt so empty. If he didn't find her, he'd either away to nothing and die. He felt it in his soul. "Without her, there is no me." He said as Harry stood next to him on the lifts. Harry nodded to him, "We'll find her. We'll get her back for you, for us."
"Pansy, c'mere doll." Seamus wanted nothing more than to calm his fiancé over their missing friend. Pansy curled up in his lap as she continued to fret over Hermione. "Harry and Malfoy will find her. She'll be fine. Now, let me draw us a bath. I'll play that music from last time. You said it relaxed you." Pansy nodded and got up from his lap.
Before he headed off to the bathroom, Seamus took her hand. "I love you, Pans." he said as he kissed her hand, "Don't know what I would've done if you were harmed or missing. Fuck, Malfoy must be going crazy." He pulled her into a tight hug and nuzzled against her neck, breathing in deeply causing her to shiver.
"Seamus, I love you, too. So much." Pansy tilted her head up to meet his lips. "Can't wait," she breathed out between kisses, "To marry you." He slanted his mouth over hers to deepen their kiss. "To make a life with you," he picked her up bridal style, "To give you children. Fill our home with love and laughter." Seamus kicked the door open and with a flick of his wand, the music started and the tub filled.
"As soon as possible, I am marrying you and everything you just said, damn Pansy, if I can, I'll give you all of that and more." And as he settled in beging her in the tub, Seamus Finnegan smiled. He smiled and he hoped.
The sound of a door closing, woke Hermione from her sleep. She could hear whispering, the woman and a man's voice. "Yes, she woke earlier and was asking questions about the old man. Says her love will find her and I'll be sorry. Threatening me, baby." she heard the woman say. "Don't you worry my sweet. She cannot harm you. She's nothing without her wand. Now, be a good girl and get baby some food and drinks. I need to question her." The man's voice said and Hermione felt sick. She knew the voice. Fucking Ronald? Again? Really?The door opened and the woman left, locking the door behind her. The light from the lone window in the room let her see the room and it's occupant clearer. "Really, Ronald? Kidnapping me again? You've really got to be kidding me. What part of 'Never going to love you!' don't you understand?" She sounded naturally exasperated.
"Oh, I know you don't love me, 'Mione. I'm only keeping you from making the biggest mistake of your life by marrying a fucking Death Eater. I'm being a good friend is all, and Sarah is helped me realize that. I was never in love with you, you see? I love you, don't get me wrong, but not as a lover, as a friend...a best friend. Sarah is going to help me hide you from him. We are saving you." Ron smiled, he actually grinned, which scared Hermione more than anything.
"Ron? Are we in St. Mungo's?" Hermione finally realized why the green walls and metal door looked familiar. Ron smiled and shook his head. He walked over and conjured a stool next to her bed and sat.
"You see? I told her you'd figure that out, Brightest Witch of Our Age. Too smart for your own good sometimes. Yes, we are in an unused part of the hospital on the top floor. Don't worry though. We'll be moving you soon. Sarah is making arrangements. Sarah loves me. She takes care of me." His eyes looked glazed over. He was on a potion or two, she could tell by his dilated pupils.
"Ron, you are going to break your mum's heart again. She will never forgive you for doing this to me again. Is it really worth losing your family? Ron, please, you must know that Malfoy loves me and I him. We are just trying to forget the past and look towards the future. We're going to have a family. Sarah is wrong. You're not saving me. You're slowly killing me by keeping me from my one, true love. Can't you see that? Ron," she took his hands in hers and looking him in the eyes imploring, "bring me back to him. Be my best friend again, and want my every happiness come true."
Ron looked solemnly at his friend. He wanted to help her. Something was holding him back though. A nagging feeling in the back of his mind. "I don't know, 'Mione. Sarah says we cannot let you be with Malfoy. She says we are really saving both of you from ruining each other's lives."
Hermione threw herself back against the pillow behind her and yelled out in frustration. Ron got up and looked out the window pensively. He made a decision. He didn't know why he went along with Sarah's plan in the first place. He'd resigned himself to the fact the Hermione Granger would never love him like he thought he loved her.
"She'll be back soon, Hermione. Sarah will be back, and when she returns, I will sit here in this chair, and you will need to overpower her and run. Turn left out of here and a right to the stairs at the end of the corridor. Two floors down, go through the doors and the security officer should be there. I'm sorry. I'm not myself. I don't know who I am anymore." Ron undid the spell keeping Hermione imprisoned and hugged her. "Be careful."
Footsteps could be heard coming, so he rushed over to the chair and faked sleeping. Hermione got ready to pounce. Sarah opened the door and rushed to Ron, "Ron, I need to get you back to your room. The Aurors are on their way. Come now, you need more potion. Wake up, baby." she said in a sickeningly sweet voice.
"What did you do to him? Why isn't he waking?" Sarah screamed at Hermione and stalked over toward her bed brandishing her wand, leaving the door open. Hermione knew it was now or never, so she jumped at the witch and threw her to the floor, making a mad dash threw the door and hearing a spell miss her as she ran down the corridor.
"I apologise sirs. I am just waiting for clearance to allow you through. High security and all, you see?" The elderly woman at the front desk was being especially stubborn.
"With all due respect ma'am, we do not have time for this. We need to interview Ronald Weasley and his nurse, Sarah Flomay." Harry announced loudly and authoritatively causing the witch to jump.
"Yes, Mr. Potter, so sorry, sir." She got up and unlocked the security door. Draco followed him and Aurors Morris and Fredericks through the doors. As soon as it closed behind them, the floor went on lockdown. Alarms were blaring:
"ALERT! ALERT! PATIENT MISSING! ALERT! ALERT! CURSES BEING DETECTED!"
Hermione made it through to the security officer. "Sir, help me! She's after me! Help!" She'd only just gotten the words out when the next hex hit the wall next to the guard station.
"Get behind me, miss! Stupefy!" Sarah was quicker and missed the guards stunner. She threw a curse and the guard blocked it. "Miss! Press the red button on that wall!" Hermione looked then, seeing the red button, sprinted toward it. Hex after hex hitting the Protego the guard had cast around Hermione.
The alarm blared, "ALERT! ALERT! PATIENT MISSING! ALERT! ALERT! CURSES BEING DETECTED!" It was the guards voice screaming the information into his wand which must've had the ability to do so without a Muggle walkie talkie.
Sarah disappeared from view. "Where'd she go? I don't see her! Where is she?" Hermione desperately asked. The guard placed her inside his office and cast a protective enchantment against the door.
He walked carefully around the room, searching for the diluted nurse. "Sarah, come out. The Aurors are on their way, you have nowhere to go. Nurse Flomay?" A green flash and a thud, and the guard was gone. Along with it, his protection of Hermione Granger. Just as she reached the door, Ron arrived, out of breath.
"Sarah, don't! Just leave her alone. Walk out of here and disappear. Save yourself, baby. Sarah, please." He pleaded with her, and she started to laugh.
"Save myself? Save myself? Did you think you were coming with us, you silly boy! No! No! I am going to take her from him. He had my life that I should have had! Our father chose him and his mother over me and my mum! Him! All because he was born with a dick! My mum killed herself because of his birth and our father's denial of my existence! So I am going to take the only person keeping him happy. I am going to kill that fucking bitch and you will be blamed because Sarah Flomay doesn't even exist."
Sarah wove her wand around her, and she changed before his eyes. No longer was she a slender, auburn haired beauty. Her eyes became a stormy gray, her hair platinum blonde and pin straight, her nose a bit pointier. She was a Malfoy alright. No doubt about it. Ron's mouth dropped open. "Sarah? I-I don't understand. You're a Malfoy? You're Draco's sister?"
She scoffed, "Half-sister. Our father, Lucius, never claimed me though. He had an affair during the first Wizarding War and impregnated my mum Sarah Rothschild. She named me, Luciana, after my father. Thought he'd be honored I guess. Instead, he gave her 250,000 galleons and made her disappear." She walked closer to Ron and saw him gulp. He was wandless and afraid.
Draco and Harry ran up to the third floor when the alarms were set off with Fredericks and Morris close behind. Draco put his arm out when he saw Ron run through the door. "Wait, it's Weasley. He may have Hermione hostage. Slow." he whispered to the three following him. They came to the top of the stairwell and could here two voices, Ron and a woman, possibly the nurse helping him.
Sarah? I-I don't understand. You're a Malfoy? You're Draco's sister?"
The woman scoffed, "Half-sister. Our father, Lucius, never claimed me though. He had an affair during the first Wizarding War and impregnated my mum Sarah Rothschild. She named me, Luciana, after my father. Thought he'd be honored I guess. Instead, he gave her 250,000 galleons and made her disappear."
Draco paled and looked to Harry who just grimaced and shrugged. Then they heard Ron speak again, "But Sarah, um, I mean, Luciana...I thought you loved me. I never wanted this. How? What did you give me? What was in the potions?" He sounded confused to Harry.
The witch gave a tittering laugh, "Oh just a confunded form of Amortencia of my own making. Quite brilliant if you ask me. I just trick your senses into loving me and doing anything and everything I want. I call it Veelalixir. Clever, right." She sounded proud of herself, full of herself, pure Malfoy.
"And now, what to do with you my dear Ronald Weasley. You were quite fun, I must admit. If I weren't so dead set on ruining my baby brother's life, I would've enjoyed you some more." It was quite, so Draco and Harry snuck a peak. The woman definitely had the look of a Malfoy. She was distracted as she kissed Ron which gave Harry a perfect shot. The two fell over as a silent Petrificus Totalis hit them.
Harry ran and took her wand. Aurors Morris and Fredericks bound the duo and stunned them once more to be safe. Draco yelled out Hermione's name and they heard banging on the locked security room door. "Step back, love!" he called out then blew the hinges off the door and found Hermione waiting. "Oh my Love! I thought I'd lost you!" Draco took her in his arms, lavishing her with kisses.
Hermione crumpled in his arms. She was safe again. "Can we please just go home? I just want to be alone with you." She snuggled up against him. He picked her up and cradle her close.
"Potter, I am taking her home. I'll leave the Floo open to you. Any questions you have can wait a bit, yeah?" Harry nodded and Draco took of to the Apparation Point outside. They landed in their backyard and he carried her to the couch in the living room. "I'm going to make some tea, Love. I'll be just over here." Draco kissed her forehead and tucked the flannel throw blanket around her.
An hour later, Harry arrived via Floo. "How is she?" he whispered to the exasperated blonde. Draco sat with Hermione's head in his lap while he combed his fingers through her curls.
"She's tired. Worn out. We both are. Anything else from Weasley and that woman?" Draco asked with a yawn.
Harry sat down in the chair across from the sofa. "The woman claims to be the oldest child of your father, Lucius Malfoy. She says her mother was Sarah Rothschild. They had a brief affair during the first Wizarding War. She was the result. Your father refused to acknowledge her or her mother. He sent them away. Her mother committed suicide a year later, leaving Luciana to be raised by her maternal grandmother."
Harry adjusted his position in the chair to lean closer. "She only found out who her true birth father was about a year ago when her grandmother passed away. It was her deathbed confession apparently. When she found out her father was Lord Malfoy of Malfoy Manor, she tried reaching out to him. Of course, he was in Azkaban and could not be reached other than Owls. She wrote him and he sent it back along with a quick note denying her and calling her mother a silly girl with flights of fancy. He says he never touched her mother."
Draco huffed, "So what? Since she couldn't get to him, she decided to attack my life instead?" Draco leaned his head back and growled, stirring Hermione. He quickly placated her by humming softly and slowly coming through her hair again. Harry smiled at the sweet, uncharacteristic gesture from the Slytherin Prince.
"Basically. Then she used this potion on Ron when she confunded the Head Nurse in the Psych Ward at St. Mungo's to make her his nurse. Poor Ron thinks she loves him though. He says he helped Hermione escape when the potion began to wear off. We used Veritaserum, so we know he wasn't lying." He stood up to leave.
"They took a blood sample from her, Luciana. They'll want one from you to compare since, well, your father's deceased. If you cannot do it tonight, please come to the DMLE in the morning, Malfoy. And Malfoy?" Draco looked up from Hermione's relaxed face, "Thank you for always loving her and protecting her. She's the only sister I'll ever have." And with a nod, he left through the Floo.
Draco nudged Hermione awake. She stretched out and sighed. "Bedtime?" Draco smiled at her innocent question. "Yes, my love, bedtime."
*