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"The 'Wizarding Times' printed almost all the information we gave them about lycanthropy as well as the offer you made to help werewolves leave the country. They asked me how to contact you so they could include that too and I told them to tell those in want of assistance to send a notice to your account manager so they printed that too," Neville said, when they met in Hadrian's home a few days later.
"He's received several applications, a few backed off when the goblins demanded an oath that they didn't mean me any harm and wouldn't deliberately cause trouble in their new country but I have more than a dozen lycanthropes heading for Canada and an equal number interested in immigration to America, South America, South Africa, Australia or New Zealand," Hadrian replied.
"So many already, that will decimate the packs in Britain," Neville said. "Will their pack leaders allow them to go?"
"I don't know what most pack leaders are saying but it's rare for a pack member to just up and leave unless there's already conflict. I think that I've managed to reach most of the Weres who were like Remus and still trying to live as a witch or wizard instead of joining a pack. The group headed to Canada is a pack, one of the ones that stayed neutral during the war, apparently they talked it over and every last one of them voted to leave Britain. Canada offers them the best chance of remaining together as a pack. I've found a local pack that will sponsor them while they get settled," Hadrian replied. "What about the other papers? Did they report on the subject?"
'The Daily Prophet claimed you were being coerced by the werewolf packs into supporting them, which might help send werewolves looking for more information but they brought up Teddy's adoption again and that he was the son of a werewolf. They also claimed that we were attacking British Education for some maleficent purpose. There was also a big hoo-hah in the society pages that you've moved back to Britain and will be rejoining the ministry." Neville said. "The other papers reported the attempt to have the werewolf registration laws abolished and the offer to help lycanthropes once it was. A few tried to make an issue of you not trusting the ministry to treat werewolves fairly."
"They're right, I don't, but it's not just the ministry the bigotry in the general population here is too ingrained. Even if I had succeeded in changing the law and getting the new laws enforced the way they should be, I'd still be encouraging those who could leave the country to go, they will be better treated elsewhere," Hadrian said.
Neville just nodded his understanding. He believed it was a much bigger thing than Hadrian realised to leave the country forever and feel you could never return. He was surprised how many people had taken the offer. Still he realised that it might be easier to leave a country where you felt unwelcome. He finally realised that Hadrian had felt like that, how desperate he'd felt when he'd been sent away that he'd seen the need to give up his home country and his name in the hope of finding a place he would be safe to make a life.
"Any discussion on the educational reforms?" Hadrian asked.
"Surprisingly little, unfortunately, it's been rejected by the press as thoroughly as by the Wizengamot," Neville sighed. "I don't expect that to change until people realise that you're not sending your children to Hogwarts."
"I wouldn't have sent them anyway. I couldn't bear for Teddy to be so far away and unable to come home when he wanted. Besides he doesn't need to deal with that level of bigotry every day, to have him stuck at school for months unable to escape it is the stuff of nightmares, and people clearly haven't forgotten he's Remus' son with 'The Prophet' making another fuss about it," Hadrian replied.
"I know, but people will worry if you don't send your children to Hogwarts that you will never move back to Britain," Neville said.
"People would be right," Hadrian said amused. "There was some truth in 'The Daily Prophet's theory that my presence in the Wizengamot the other day was in preparation for moving back to Britain. I can't say we would've moved back to England even if the laws were passed to improve British magical education and the rights of Lycanthropes, we have a good life in DC away from the British newspapers and fans that think they have a right to opinions about my life, the purebloods who would look down on Tim and the bigots who look down on Teddy, but I guarantee we will not be moving back without those changes occurring."
"I think that it would be better if the British public don't realise that," Neville said.
"It would certainly reduce the amount of influence I have in the Wizengamot if they realised that I no longer think of Britain as my home, and that I'd give the whole lot up if they forced me to choose," Hadrian agreed.
"Malfoy approached me the other day, he wants to meet with you," Neville said.
"Why did he contact you about it?" Hadrian asked.
"He knows that I'm your proxy most of the time, between that and Hannah's gossiping it's no secret that we're in contact, I'm not sure he trusted that the goblins would pass his message on to you," Neville replied.
"They probably would've. I haven't told them not to. Did he say what he wanted to discuss?" Hadrian asked.
"No but he did offer to meet at a time and place of your choosing, he knows you're not likely to be willing to be alone with him," Neville replied. "I honestly don't think that he means you any harm."
Hadrian sighed. "Ask him if either it can wait for a month or so or if he's prepared to talk via phone, Kingsley or Sir Geoffrey would be willing to loan him theirs if he's not prepared to buy one of his own."
"I could loan him mine more easily, but it is muggle technology, I don't know if he will agree to use it," Neville reminded him.
"That's a point, he might feel more comfortable using skype where he can see me face to face and he doesn't have to touch the computer himself, but if he won't meet me via skype or talk to me on the phone, then it will have to wait until the twins are old enough for me to be comfortable leaving them for the day and I can't promise how long that will take," Hadrian suggested.
"I can sell that to him. All I'd have to do was hint that he might be afraid of the technology and he'll be determined to prove me wrong but I don't want him in Longbottom Hall near my family," Neville said.
"He should have been a Gryffindor, he's so easy to manipulate by questioning his bravery," Hadrian said amused. "I'm sure Sir Geoffrey would be happy to loan him a conference room with a computer that is Skype enabled, for the chance to listen in on the conversation."
Neville laughed. "Should I warn him that the conversation might not be as private as he thinks it is?"
"No, I expect he will assume that anyway and if he's stupid enough to give something away then it's better that Kingsley and Sir Geoffrey find out from him directly than have to believe my side of the story given the widespread knowledge of our animosity at school." Hadrian said.
-o0o-
Neville met Draco and offered a portkey, they weren't going far, he could easily have apparated or even caught a muggle taxi to MI7 but the portkey would hide their destination more thoroughly if Malfoy proved untrustworthy. As soon as they landed in a room without windows, Malfoy was asked to hand over his wand or to swear an oath not to harm the person he knew as Harry Potter in any way. Draco decided that he'd rather hand over his wand than make the vow and he was quickly petrified and all magical items removed from him. "You'll get them all back when you leave," the guard replied unconcernedly at Draco's protests.
Draco looked around a little nervously as he entered the alien looking room. They'd taken his wand, he expected that but it did still make him nervous to be defenceless and without the emergency portkey out of there. He reminded himself firmly that he was the one who had set up this meeting with Potter and that considering their history Potter had a right to defend himself and that the man was too much of a Gryffindor to have set a trap for him, at least not before he heard what he had to say. There was a young man sitting at some muggle contraption that waved him into a seat facing a big blank picture frame.
Draco looked up astonished as the blank picture was replaced by Potter's face.
"Hello Malfoy, what did you want to see me about?" Hadrian asked.
"What is this, where are you?" Draco asked.
"You're looking at an LED screen, it's connected to the computer that the tech over in the corner is operating. It can show all sorts of things but at the moment he's connected you through the internet to my personal computer in my office at home. I would have met you in person but I'm not in Britain at the moment and it isn't convenient for me to travel for at least six weeks. If you would prefer to wait and speak to me in person, that's quite all right but I got the impression from Neville that you wouldn't want to wait," Hadrian explained.
"You're right," Draco said, still unnerved by the fact that muggles had found or invented a way to floo talk from one country to another, and to do so in a way that was far more comfortable than sticking your head into a fireplace. Since when were they able to do things that not only matched what magic could do but exceeded it. Still Draco consoled himself, you couldn't pass items through this screen thing or travel through it like you could the floo.
"What did you need to talk to me about Malfoy?" Hadrian asked after a few minutes passed in silence.
"My mother," Draco began.
"I'm sorry but there's nothing I can do for her. I have nothing to do with your mother's incarceration, other than being the victim of her plotting. Robbards informs me that she's certifiably insane and not likely to be able to stand trial any time soon so she will remain in the ward for the criminally insane unless she recovers and then be transferred to MI7 to stand trial for the conspiracy to commit line theft. There is nothing I can do about it, Malfoy. Even if I refused to press charges, it's totally out of my control," Hadrian said sounding slightly apologetic.
"She saved your life," Draco said pleadingly.
"For which I repaid her by speaking on your behalf as well as hers at the trials at the end of the war, and by making sure she is currently receiving the best mental healing and care available in Britain. It did not give her a free pass to conspire to attack me again in the future," Hadrian said uncompromisingly.
"I understand that but they won't let me visit her at all," Draco complained.
"That is her healer's decision, not mine. It isn't intended to be a punishment but rather in her best interests. From the reports they've sent me, she is nowhere near sane enough at the moment to recognise you as an adult. She thinks her son Draco is still a child, and is more likely to believe that you are Lucius and be traumatised by your presence, the two of you look quite a lot alike. You aren't being denied to be cruel, or to punish either of you. I will ask them if there is a way for you to observe your mother without her seeing you, so you can see she is being adequately cared for," Hadrian replied sympathetically. He was sympathetic it wasn't easy to lose a parent to death, disownment or insanity.
Draco sighed, he knew he couldn't persuade the healers to change their minds. Potter had been his last hope. "How come you received reports of her condition, it's nothing to do with you?" he asked angrily.
"The reports were a result of the mandatory psych review, to detail why Narcissa should kept in the secure ward and not be brought to trial. As the Auror who was victim of her crimes I was considered an interested party, and the only one able to waive the automatic transfer to Azkaban," Hadrian replied.
"Can you at least tell me what she did that she was arrested for?" he asked.
"She paid to have me attacked to make sure I wouldn't be able to produce an heir so you would inherit the House of Black," Hadrian said bluntly. Her motives for doing it may have arisen from her delusions but the crime itself proved that she wasn't totally incompetent at the time of hiring Davis.
"Merlin's pants! For what it's worth, I'm glad that she didn't succeed, Potter," Draco exclaimed. "I don't know what she hoped to achieve."
"Thank you," Hadrian replied. "Thank you for your support in the Wizengamot the other day too. It was a refreshing surprise."
"I didn't do it for you, you know, Potter! I couldn't imagine putting my wife through what my mother went through. Nobody deserves that," Draco said.
"No, nor did your siblings deserve what happened to them, did you know any of them?" Hadrian asked.
"I was more than five years younger than all of them. I have vague memories of an older boy and girl who used to play with me and encourage me to use magic, and of missing them when they were gone, but I was too young to remember them well, I do remember my mother suddenly choosing to keep me at her side constantly at the same time they disappeared from my life so I wasn't lonely and in the self-absorption of childhood I didn't question it at the time. When I was younger, I thought it might have been a reaction to their deaths but it's just as likely to have been when I first performed magic and she separated me from them to protect me from becoming too attached when she knew Father would kill them," Draco replied. "I would have liked to know them, there's nothing left at the manor that was theirs, no photographs or diaries and even before I couldn't ask mother or father about them. Father used to get enraged and mother cried when I asked. It's not that I don't care about what happened to them but I didn't know them well enough to truly grieve for them and I spent my whole life watching my mother suffer and wishing that I could help her."
"Believe me Draco you did help her just by existing and being magical so you could grow up and she didn't lose you too," Hadrian said.
"It wasn't enough," Draco said sadly.
"It was to her, it was everything, but her sanity was already beyond help, possibly even before you were born. It wasn't your fault. There was nothing more you could have done. She loved you. Remember she looked Voldemort in the eyes and lied to him for you," Hadrian empathised. "I could ask them if they'd let you see her through the viewing room or a pensieve memory just so you'd know she was being cared for if it would set your mind at ease."
"Are your children magical? Draco asked.
"Yes they all are, of course I can't tell how strong their magic will be yet but Teddy has just started at the magical school in the country we live in, and Rosie and Daisy have both done accidental magic. The healer assures me that the twins both have a magical core too but they're too young yet," Hadrian replied.
"You can't possibly have an eleven year old!" Draco exclaimed in shock.
Hadrian laughed. "Teddy was my godson, we magically adopted him a couple of years ago at his request. He's actually your cousin Nymphadora's and Professor Lupin's son, he was born during the war and his parents were killed in the battle of Hogwarts when he was three weeks old so he's eight, the magical schools start earlier outside Britain and Europe."
"Yes Longbottom said that in his proposal. Is Hogwarts honestly so behind the leading schools of magic that you're not going to send your son to Hogwarts?" Draco asked.
"If he wants to go when he's eleven he can give it a try but he would be ahead of his year in most of his subjects," Hadrian replied.
"He won't want to go, doesn't that upset you?" Draco asked.
"No, not really. I didn't have the safest time at Hogwarts, and Teddy is the biological son of a known Werewolf in England. He's better off away from the prejudices in Britain. It saddens me a little that it's so easy to decide that Hogwarts wouldn't be good for him but that's their fault not mine or Teddy's, and as a parent I need my children to be as safe as I can make them," Hadrian reminded him.
"I liked Professor Lupin, he didn't seem anything like Greyback and his pack," Draco said.
"He wasn't, he didn't grow up or live in a werewolf pack, he hated having lycanthropy and tried to control himself and act like a normal wizard. He was terrified of getting loose and biting anyone. He was the best DADA professor we ever had, the best Hogwarts had had for years, even the seventh years said so, but it wasn't enough to let him stay once people knew he was also a werewolf. There are a lot of werewolves nothing like Greyback. That's the same as a muggle being afraid of all witches and wizards because the only one's they've met were Death Eaters," Hadrian said.
"You might be right about the prejudice but not the danger at Hogwarts. It's not like that now," Draco said.
"It wasn't like that for most of you even then, but I'm afraid that it would be for Teddy, the other children have mostly been brought up to hate or to fear his kind and fear makes people cruel," Hadrian retorted.
"I blame Dumbledore, he should have done more to keep the war out of the school," Draco said.
"By expelling all marked Death Eaters and not employing them to teach children?" Hadrian asked mildly.
Draco spluttered.
"But actually, I agree with you, he was neglecting the safety of the school. Hogwarts needs a headmaster who's 100% committed to keeping the students safe and providing the best education they can in an unbiased and welcoming learning environment. Dumbledore should never have been allowed to remain the headmaster when he chose to become supreme Mugwump of the international Confederation of Wizards or the Surpreme Warlock of the Wizengamot, let alone both, and trying to run a war. The Headmaster shouldn't have divided priorities like that. Nobody can do hold three important positions and do them all well. The problem was then compounded because McGonagall was trying to teach transfiguration, be the head of Gryffindor, and complete the deputy's duties while also trying to fill in for Dumbledore when he was too busy for the school," Hadrian agreed. "A school that size should have had a full time headmaster or headmistress and a full time deputy or an administration manager and a deputy with a part time teaching load, in fact you could make an argument for the heads of house not having a full teaching load as well to have time to look after the house properly."
"I didn't think that you'd criticise him like that," Draco commented.
"He was a good man and a great wizard. He thought he was doing what was best but he wasn't perfect and because he had a lot of power and influence when he made mistakes it affected a lot of lives. He had trouble truly trusting other people so he took too much on himself, his ego wouldn't let him delegate the responsibility to others and it wasn't just Hogwarts that suffered, the whole of Britain was worse off because he didn't have enough time to devote to either of his other positions as well," Hadrian said before changing the subject. "You have a son don't you?"
"Yes, Scorpius is three, he hasn't done any accidental magic yet but not many children do so I'm not worried," Draco said.
Hadrian could read the lie in his eyes, yes there were a lot of children who didn't have their first noticeable bout of accidental magic until they were five or older and it really wasn't an indication of his son's future magical strength that nobody had seen him perform accidental magic yet but Draco was definitely worried about whether his son would be a squib, and with his family history Hadrian couldn't blame him, his parents had only produced one child with magic out of six children.
"Three's a great age, they're so curious about everything but you're still the centre of their world. They don't yet have friends with competing opinions and experiences," Hadrian said smiling.
"Yes, he's a very bright and curious little boy. Unfortunately, not many of our friends have children the same age. They either married young and had a child straight away and have six or seven year olds or they haven't had children at all yet," Draco said.
"My godson Ellison Longbottom is four, you could ask Neville if he knows any other parents with three or four year olds, his wife would definitely know everyone who does," Hadrian suggested, not mentioning that Daisy would be three in a couple of months since he'd already told him she was already doing accidental magic.
"Is he magical? Ellison and they have an older child too don't they?" Draco asked.
"Yes Franklin is six and they both are magical," Hadrian said. Neville had flooed a couple of weeks ago to tell him that Ellison had begun summoning things he wanted.
"Would Neville let him play with Scorpius?" Draco asked.
"You'd have to ask him, but if he does say no, it will because of the way you treated Neville at school and not because Scopius hasn't done accidental magic yet, Ellison was four before his first accidental magic, or at least the first time anyone noticed him doing it. Neville will be more agreeable to meeting somewhere neutral, perhaps in the muggle world if you wish to avoid attention, they have some great places for children to play," Hadrian replied. "I will warn you though that Neville married the biggest gossip in Hufflepuff, she's nearly as bad as Lavender Brown was at school, nothing Scorpius says to her or their children will remain a secret for long."
Draco groaned. "Three year olds aren't capable of learning to be discrete."
Hadrian laughed. "No but they usually don't actually know many real family secrets either, unless you've been arguing in front of him or your wife is expecting again. Daisy happily told everyone she met for months that she was going to be a big sister, and then a twin big sister when she found that out. Recently she has told everyone that her Papa's getting fat but that it's a secret, which was hard to explain since we live mostly in the muggle world where men don't get pregnant and glamour charms don't exist to hide a pregnancy belly," Hadrian said laughing.
Draco laughed, "So it's true you married a man?" he asked.
"Yes, I thought that was pretty much common knowledge. I told Hannah Longbottom years ago. But if people don't believe it that explains why I haven't had more complaints, well that and the howler ward we have on the house," Hadrian replied.
"I have heard the rumour several times from various different people but it wasn't from anybody I trusted that you would actually still be close enough to confide in, no-one could tell me anything about who he was, and I knew your children had been born in wedlock to qualify to be heirs, and they're all magical so he has to be a wizard," Draco replied.
"Tim and I were married in a magical ritual so of course the children are legitimate. The spells to enable a man to have a baby are fairly well known in the magical world here, and pretty much everywhere else outside of Britain and the overly traditional parts of Europe. The children won't be the only children in their classes here with two fathers or two mothers. He's not British which surprisingly I have received more complaints about, than I have about him being a wizard instead of a witch," Hadrian replied. "I will warn you that the goblins have accepted the children as legitimate heirs and named me a friend of the goblin nation. They will not take kindly to any challenge to them. Particularly since the spell to make me incapable of impregnating a woman was cast on me by someone your mother paid to attack me for that purpose."
"Is that the reason you married a man?" Draco asked horrified.
"No, but the treatment in St Mungo's when I was cursed before they managed to identify what he'd done to me was the reason I found out Ginny Weasley was potioning me and broke off our engagement, so I guess in a round about way it made it possible to meet and marry Tim," Hadrian said cheerfully. "I don't want any misunderstanding about this, I married Tim for one reason only, he is the love of my life, I probably would have married him even without the possibility of us having children of our own and magically adopted. You should also know that I wouldn't hesitate to remove anyone who is a genuine threat to him."
A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.
I wish everyone the best in this time. Please stay safe and keep your distance, stay at home if you can and keep in contact with family and friends on line, take care of your mental and emotional well being and seek help if you need it.
