"Everything okay?" asked Draco as he crossed paths with Cora.
"All according to plan," replied Cora.
He would have to wait for a detailed report from Cora when they spoke in private later, but he had confirmation that their plan to deliver Ginny to the Order had gone off without a hitch.
Draco reached into his pocket and fondled the concealed communication mirror expectantly. It was only a matter of time before he would have news on Hermione.
Nearly eighteen hours had passed since Cora's return and Draco had yet to hear from someone in the Order of the Phoenix. He restlessly paced about the room leaving everyone around him feeling nervous.
"You're sure the handover went smoothly?" he asked Cora for the fifth time in the past hour.
"Yes," said Cora, beginning to repeat once more her narration of what had taken place. "I checked the surroundings for spies when we got there then gave her a wand. She sent a patronus and we waited for them to send someone. One of her brothers arrived, he asked her many security questions; he did not seem to believe that it was her, that she was alive. Once they both confirmed that they were whom they claimed to be, she introduced him as Bill. I gave her the satchel with the items you packed for the Order. They left first, he disapparated with her. I rechecked the surroundings for spies—there were no other scents—and then, I left."
Cora did her best to leave the irritation out of her voice even though her patience with Draco had worn thin around twenty minutes ago. Knowing his current state, she knew it would be foolish to anger the young alpha right now.
"Why haven't they contacted us as yet?" asked Draco. He stared at the mirror in his hand, willing for someone from the Order to appear but was only greeted by his own reflection.
Draco did not know what to do with himself. He had not heard from the Order, Theo or Gunnolf. He had flooed Pansy hoping for news of Theo or his mother, but that call had taken an unexpected turn.
"Contraceptive potion?"
"Yes."
"I know you were bad at Potions but surely even you could manage something as simple as a—"
"Don't be daft. Of course, I can brew the contraceptive potion. If only such a thing were still legal."
"What do you mean?"
"By Salazar, Draco! It's a good thing I adore you as much as I do or I'd hex you right now. They passed a Procreation Law expecting us to reproduce like bunnies. How're we supposed to do that if we're using contraceptives?"
"So contraceptives are illegal now?"
"Um, they have been for a while, yeah—and you don't even want to know what they do to witches who have performed an abortion. Don't give me that look. Unlike you werewolves, the rest of us aren't as eager to have babies with whoever we've been shackled to. Gods, that's such a terrible expression to use now because it's literally what's happening with some witches," she said, shuddering. "Theo usually gets me the potion when I need it—can't have the stuff lying around, I don't trust the house elves not to report me. Not that he's very eager to have children with me, but my dear husband would welcome any opportunity to punish me, I'm sure."
"Pans, do you think it's safe for you to be talking—"
"Oh that," she waved her hand dismissively. "The Ministry witch in charge of monitoring the Nott floos is related to the Parkinsons. Her situation is barely better than mine. I share my stock of the potion with her and in exchange she erases records of my more sensitive floo calls, provided I'm not trying to overthrow the government," she said with a wink.
"I believe we have the necessary ingredients. I'll have it brewed for you, but how do I give it to you?"
"Just send it with your elf."
"What are you talking about, Pans? You know we have no elves here."
"Honestly, Drakie Poo! How do you expect me to believe Purebloods aren't superior when you act like this? I don't remember you being this stupid before! I'm talking about your personal elf. What was its name... Winky... Dobby...? Whatever—Even if Lucius struck you off the family tree, your personal elf is still bound to you. I don't have mine anymore. That bastard, Theosophus, had poor Millie's head chopped off the first time he caught her doing something for me that wasn't in line with his orders—he said it should serve as a lesson in obedience for me.
"Anyway, have your elf bring me the potion when it's ready—it should be familiar enough with Nott Mansion to come and go undetected. Be sure to order it not to mention the potion or who it's been to see to anyone else."
Draco felt pretty foolish for having forgotten about his elf. Truth be told, Mipsy had been just another possession that came with his name. He realised there was a lot he could have done using his elf—for example, he could have easily passed messages to his mother using the elf. As a Malfoy elf, Mipsy would undoubtedly be loyal to Lucius, the patriarch of the family; but as his personal elf, Draco's orders would always supersede all others.
He would wait until a late hour to call upon his elf, so no one noticed his absence.
"Draco, I believe someone's trying to contact you right now," said Oskar, drawing attention to the mirror faintly glowing in Draco's hand.
Upon drawing the small mirror close to his face, Draco was startled by the nearly unrecognisable face peering back at him.
"Malfoy," the other man greeted.
"Potter," said Draco in return. He was shocked by the haggard appearance of his former nemesis. With his gaunt face and its careworn expression, dark circles and deep lines around his eyes, his scraggly beard and wild hair, the man in the mirror resembled an inmate serving a life sentence in Azkaban more than the Harry Potter he remembered from Hogwarts. It was hard to believe this man was the same age as him.
"I see your grooming habits still leave a lot to be desired."
Potter's face took on a wry smile that made him look even more pitiful somehow.
"And here Ginny's been telling us how much you've changed."
Draco shrugged it off. Some things would never change, like his rivalry with Potter.
"I've been expecting to hear from you for a while now," said Draco accusingly.
"Sorry for taking as long as we did. We thought Ginny had been executed when she was captured. It was quite a shock to have her return, to say nothing of all the things she had to tell us. We were—"
"Yes, Potter. You can fill me in on the specifics of your reunion later," he snapped at Potter impatiently. "What of Hermione?"
Potter did not need to say the words; the wretched look on his face said it all.
"Malfoy, we've spent the last twelve hours getting in touch with every Order member and contact. No one's heard from Hermione; we didn't even know she was alive till Ginny said so."
All this time Draco had hoped Hermione was somewhere safely tucked away with the Order. Despite all signs pointing to some kind of foul play involving Fenrir, he had hoped his mate was safe.
"Where could she be?"
"I don't know," Potter replied with a shake of his head. "You have no idea what an emotional rollercoaster the last twenty-four hours have been for me. First, I receive a patronus telling me that Ginny's alive. Then Ginny gets here and tells us this fantastical tale of how Hermione's not only been alive this whole time, but that you helped her escape nearly a month ago and she was supposed to be back with the Order. I cannot express how Ron and I felt every time we saw a patronus arrive today only to deliver the disappointing news that they had no info on Hermione... It's like we lost her all over again."
"She has to be with someone in the Order. Where else could she be? The Death Eaters don't have her, I've checked. She left us because she believed she was meant to fight beside you in this twice-damned war. So, where is she, Potter?" he demanded, slamming his fist against the wall.
"Ginny told us about you—I mean, about Hermione and you, and about the twins. It's all incredible. I've barely been able to digest the fact that Hermione has babies, let alone that it's with you!" Potter straightened his glasses. "I hear she was actually happy about the babies... I can't imagine Hermione abandoning anyone, let alone her own children. If she hasn't reached out to either one of us, I have to assume the worst, Malfoy. It's most likely that she's—"
"Don't you dare finish that sentence, Potter, or I swear I'll hunt you down and rip your throat out. She's not—" He could not say it, refused to even think that way. "Hermione's out there, somewhere, and for some reason she's unable to contact either one of us, but she is alive."
He tried to sound confident, but he sounded like a man desperately trying to convince himself of such a possibility.
"She's alive. She has to be," he insisted. "I would feel it if she wasn't," he said, too upset to care that Potter had once again caught him in a moment of vulnerability.
Both men went silent, each appearing deep in thought. Cora clearing her throat in the background finally broke the silence.
"Why did they believe Ginny was dead?"
Draco shook off his morbid thoughts and considered Cora's question.
"That's right, Potter. I can understand why you may have believed Hermione to be dead, knowing what we know about what happens to Muggleborns, but why did you think Ginny was dead?" He hesitated a moment, uncomfortable about what he was about to say but seeing no way around it. "Surely you heard about the revel at Godric's Hollow."
Potter's eyes, dull until now, looked ablaze with a level of rage, which combined with his bedraggled appearance made him appear completely unhinged.
"We were informed that Riddle had already killed Ginny and the witch at the revel was just someone polyjuiced to look like her in a last ditch attempt to flush out Order members. There's no way we wouldn't have attempted a rescue if we had even the slightest inkling that Ginny was alive. I cannot even begin to imagine what she must have gone through that day—not only did she suffer at the hands of the Death Eaters, she believed we had abandoned her..."
"So that's twice Ginny has ended up being the victim as a result of the Order receiving bad intel," pointed out Draco.
"That's right. It was Ginny specifically that ended up—" Potter looked like he had not considered this before. "Do you think this could be something more personal? Like someone was after Ginny in particular?"
"Hermione suspected it may be the case and I think it's a fair assumption. The night they were captured, Hermione said she noticed the wards were only triggered after Ginny cast a spell."
"Oh. I don't believe Ginny's realised that as yet."
"Potter, Ginny was—" Draco paused, unsure how much he ought to tell Potter about his fiancée's mental state during her time at Bleidd. "Let's just say Ginny wasn't herself. I don't know how much she's disclosed about what she's been through"—Potter's expression suggested it wasn't much—"but, she's ... ah ... survived a lot. More than you'd think possible."
"When you say survived, you mean to imply that Godric's Hollow wasn't all of it?"
"Draco," Cora interrupted, "perhaps we ought to let Ginny decide what she wishes to share?"
Draco looked from Cora back to Potter.
"Cora's right, but I think you should know that there was more, a whole lot more. When she came here, it wasn't just her body that was broken. She's shown tremendous improvement recently, but she's still—Look, it's probably best you speak with our mediwitch, Cora. That was her in the background, just now. Cora's been taking care of Ginny since she arrived at Bleidd so she's the right person to talk to. She's not a mind healer but she's familiar with Ginny's medical history for the duration of her captivity. She'll be able to provide you with some dos and don'ts so you're better prepared to meet Ginny's current needs. My only advice is that you don't expect to get any reliable information from her unless you have access to an exceptionally good legilimens."
Potter nodded. "I'm going to call Molly and Poppy so they can hear whatever your mediwitch has to say." He hugged himself and let out a long sigh. "We're going to do everything we can for Ginny."
Draco nodded in understanding.
"Keep asking people on your side about Hermione, Potter. If she isn't being held by the Death Eaters or hiding with the Order there's only one other person with any motive for taking Hermione prisoner and that's Fenrir Greyback. But going after him for answers right now will have some grave consequences for my pack so I need to be certain first."
"This has been such a crazy day." Potter scratched his beard. "I find out that Ginny's alive and someone in the Order wants, or at least wanted, her captured. Hermione's a mother, and she's missing. But you, Draco Malfoy, somehow you have ended up being the biggest surprise of all. The boy-who-started-the-war now wants to help the Order." He took off his glasses and appeared to set them aside. "It's all a bit too much for me to process."
Draco was a little surprised Potter was taking him at face value; he had expected to spend time trying to convince Potter that this wasn't some elaborate trap. He was almost disappointed by Potter's easy acceptance.
"I am not being a gullible fool, Malfoy," said Potter, making Draco wonder if the wizard was a better legilimens than anyone had ever given him credit for.
"I've heard a few stories recently that make me think you may no longer be as committed to the Death Eater cause as you were back in our school days. We've heard about what your aunt did to you. It caused quite the sensation... had people talking about it for days. I guess, till now, most thought they'd be spared if their blood was pure enough or their vaults had enough galleons. And then they heard about what was done to you... it made them pause to think about how your impeccable lineage, overflowing coffers, and dedication to the cause was still not enough to save you. Believe it or not, the past couple of weeks you've served as a better poster child for the resistance than I've ever been. For the first time in all these years that we've been in hiding I feel like the people are finally waking up to the reality of what it means to give free rein to the likes of Riddle and his followers."
Considering the recent revelations concerning Ginny, Draco did not have faith in Potter's sources and would have questioned everything he was saying if Theo had not already informed him of the same.
"In all those stories you heard about me, I'm not sure if you also heard that I haven't been a Malfoy in years, Potter. Not since I turned into a werewolf."
Draco stared at Potter challengingly. In certain circles, being a werewolf would be considered worse than being a Death Eater such was the rampant prejudice against his kind in their society.
"It's your—the other side that cares about blood purity. I don't care about you being a werewolf, but I'm not sure how to react to your intentions to claim Hermione as your mate. Everyone knows how smart Hermione is, but I don't believe they realise how remarkably resilient she can be. I think what I need is to hear from her mouth that this thing between the two of you wasn't just her way of coping with a horrible situation. From what Ginny tells me you, at least, appear to genuinely care about Hermione, enough that you let her go. That counts for something with me.
"I'm often scolded for acting impulsively. Hermione especially hated my inability to stop long enough to think things through. But as much as she likes to plan things, I like to follow my gut, and right now it's telling me to trust you. So that's just what I'm going to do."
"Fair enough," said Draco with a curt nod. "But, just to be clear, I don't want to help the Order. I want to do whatever it takes to get Hermione back and ensure the destruction of the Dark Lord and his empire. If helping the Order accomplishes this, so be it."
Potter eyes sparkled when he smiled. "You know, Draco, I think I'm going to enjoy us working on the same side."