Disclosure Hp belongs to Jkr. The storyline, new character development, new events, and new characters are my intellectual property. Glorioux
A/n more clarification. Does Draco have an inner other, he does, he has said it. As to what it is we need to wait. I stick to old Mythology when referring to creatures of regional lore. Otherwise, my imagination is allowed to roam free. May 2020 be a good year.
New Horizons
Draco waited anxiously, not for long.
Hermione smiled, "Draco, yes, I will; I will marry you."
"When?" His heartbeat accelerated. He was crazy, he wanted it to be soon, like tomorrow.
"As soon as possible." She didn't tell him the other reason, she would need a child to stay; though they didn't have long, less than a year. The brothers who had pursued her since birth, had set a time several years in the future. It was all the same to them. Their cousin could simply move them to that date, across time once there was an agreement. She wanted to stay to have time to find out who was behind the murder. Besides, she needed another daughter; and her brother, son, and Teddy wanted to find wives.
If a year went by without a child, her grandparents would make sure her family would leave, they wanted then back. However, the child would anchor them again. In their world, females might be scarce, but the grandparents never liked this idea. They liked this reality, but not enough to risk the lives of their family. The occasional visits thru the portals in the place called Russia were enough. With the loss of Rose, the idea of more mishaps was unthinkable. Too bad blood-samples were not collected while Rose was alive. But no more of risking their lives; the grandparents had warned them.
Draco held her hand. Again, it filled him with peace.
An urgent knock at the door interrupted them.
"Mr. Malfoy," Drexel came, "A Floo call, Mr. and Mrs. Zabinni."
Draco's mouth soured, he should have told Hermione about his suspicions, now there wasn't time.
Hermione felt him tensing.
Blaise was already at the door, he looked angry. He pointed at Hermione, "Tell her to leave. We must talk alone. "
Pansy looked pale but not upset enough to give Hermione a venomous look.
Draco stood noticed, "You need to leave if you are rude to her…" Hermione shook her head; nobody should know until it was done.
Draco 'heard' Hermione inside, "Please, don't say much, don't trust Pansy."
"She is my trusted friend, whatever you need to say in front of her," Draco told Blaise.
"So be it," Blaise came in, dragging Pansy. They sat on different chairs.
"So, I see, you are already with the Mu…" Pansy started.
"Say that word, and I will never speak to you again," Draco threatened her.
"You are polluted like your son." Pansy spewed.
"Pansy, don't force me," Draco was angry and discharging nasty dark magic. Hermione felt ill, dark magic did that to her. She had become extremely sensitive.
Suva and Val came in along with Drexel.
"Tell them to leave," Blaise ordered.
"They stay," Hermione answered firmly.
She pulled her wand out and called a silencing charm. She smiled secretly, it wouldn't affect either her men nor the Mountain Gargoyles; she had recognized the mythical creatures, once knights for her people. She had an incredible gift for them, she would surprise them. They had lost them and now found them, right under the noses. That they chose to serve the Malfoy gave her hope for Draco; she needed to talk to him.
"Speak," Draco ordered. Pansy noticed that Draco was holding her hand, "It didn't take long," Pansy remarked nastily.
Blaise was looking at Hermione, not sure if he liked Pansy's behavior. Hermione was the MoM, and his mother thought highly of her. She had told him that he had been blind not to go for her. Too late, his mother was right, but Draco was free to choose. Blaise thought of his bad luck. If he were able, he would try for her.
"One more word and my mother will know." Blaise growled, "Mrs. Weasley is your MoM, be careful."
Draco ignored Pansy's jab.
"Your bloody father forced Pansy. I was told they were together, and she said she was forced. She is pregnant, not with my child. "
"She is lying, I read Astoria's book; Pansy and she shagged many wizards, or at least four of them, if not more. Give her Veritable," Draco suggested.
Pansy lied, "Yes, he forced me," she insisted.
Draco stood up, put his hand over Pansy, she squirmed.
"If it were a Malfoy baby, we could see him when I laid my hand over her womb, but nothing."
"Maybe it is too soon for you to see, but if she is pregnant, I won't raise a bastard, and she'll go alone. My children stay with me."
"So be it, but it is interesting. Astoria hinted as to who was Pansy's lover. If you want to know, you are welcome to read the diary."
Blaise was fuming. "Let's go. You are under lock and key, and you cannot be around the children. My mother was right."
Pansy stood up; she was not fighting, "Thank the universe that the Malfoy house won't be poll…"
Draco pointed his wand and sealed her lips until she stopped, then released her.
"Never come back…" he stopped in mid-sentence, his eyes zeroed on Pansy's finger, she wore the Malfoy's promise ring.
"What is that?"
"I bought it, let's go," she hurried but the door locked. Draco pointed the wand, and the ring fell on his hand.
It was engraved, 'Malfoy.' "It is my family's promise ring." Draco ascertained.
Blaise made an awful face. Pansy was avoiding him. "So, you were forced, likely story."
Draco was uneasy; he remembered that Rose had the ring, or did she?
Hermione saw his face after they left.
"What is wrong?" She asked.
"I don't know, I have a strange feeling. Pansy is lying, she is dangerous."
"What do you know?" Hermione asked.
"It is complicated," he told her about the contraceptives. He also went over Pansy and Astoria being lovers with any male that had ever liked Hermione. But not the Weasley men, although they tried."
It upset Hermione. "Poor Ginny, saddled with Harry. He has complex problems. Otherwise, he is straight, not corrupt. I don't know what happened to him." It was better not to talk about Harry.
"I need to go, please come and meet my family, you should ask my fathers." The owls were stuck to her and wouldn't look in his direction, refusing to meet his eyes.
"Why do you keep saying fathers, do you have more than one?" Draco looked at her grinning.
"Uh uh, come and meet my family."
"Vera, Hera, stay come." He called the owls again.
They refused to budge, he remember what his father had told him, "One day they might choose someone else, your wife, your child; read about them." Thus far the Fey owls had never liked Astoria and were cool to Scorpio.
"You can take them, and I will pick them up tonight?" Draco gave up.
The owls hooted, the dogs were more loyal, Lucius' dogs and his Kneazle stayed. Although, Magnolia meowed the entire day, mournfully. Not even hot milk or fresh tuna would make her feel well. Finally, he decided to bring her to 'visit' Hermione, knowing the drill; Magnolia was probably gone. L'Roy told him, "I will stay until my contract is over. Then, I am history."
After Hermione left, Draco stayed standing for a while, still in awe. He called Mipzy, and the other elves. He also called Drexel, Braxtar, and Axiom, "I know that it is too soon, but we will be having a wedding in a couple of days. We need to it properly, let's get the Manor ready."
"Are you marrying Miss Grangy?" Axel asked, the elves wanted to know.
"It looks that way." Draco grinned.
He had, once again, never seen this, the elves danced holding hands singing strange songs. The house felt lighter. They were celebrating, he could hear his name and Miss Grangy's mentioned.
His heart was feeling a little lighter, maybe Scorpio had survived, wouldn't that be something. His father must have been with Pansy, he was disgusted, worse, perhaps they planned the entire thing, but something was off. His father never had lovers, he still pinned for whoever. He slept apart from his mother since he could remember. There was no love between them. He was going to find who was the one. It made him angry that they all had to be unhappy. But, who had decided that they should be miserable, and why did they have the right?
"Drexel, we need to hire more guards."
"No, we will do it, no guards are needed. Our life for hers."
Draco nodded.
Draco went to the vault and started looking. Several of the family jewels were gone. Perhaps there was a robbery. Perhaps they were looking at this all wrong. What was gone was worth millions, hundreds when you thought about it. He also found his father's secret, when he did, he cried for his father. The tear-stained pictures tore his heart. The anger at his and his father's misery returned.
Later he was told he had a visitor.
"Mr. Potter," Draco addressed Harry curtly.
"I a few questions for you."
"Not today, I am busy."
Harry ignored him. "Did you know that your father was seeing Pansy Zabinni, were you jealous? Mr. Zabinni informed us."
"Listen, I was upset when I found out that Astoria's child wasn't mine, my mother was quite upset. My father wanted to see the baby's sex, and we couldn't see it. Not possible since she was over 18 weeks pregnant. My mother using Black magic, determined that the baby wasn't mine. I think my father planned to kill Rose, maybe my mother, and the Weasley, but something went wrong. Surely, he must have had an accomplice, and who knows, maybe he was betrayed. Or maybe he didn't do it."
No, his father had made sure he had to wait to meet with Percy. No, he remembered, his father said he would stay and finally, Draco insisted… his father's rough notes, he should read them.
"We need a vial to extract my memories," he asked Drexel. He was now thinking of a robbery.
That evening, he got ready to go to Hermione. Magnolia was in her basket, he had flowers for her mother, and pralines for the family. He dressed with much care.
He arrived at Hermione's house, a bit nervous. He had to wonder, his father should have come by here, he would have wanted the union, or maybe not. Hermione's obviously had powers they lacked, but his father would have looked down on them, he was blind.
Or maybe not, He found out his father had done research on the parents. His father had written a note, who was the fool, traded fool's gold for Draco. What have I done? I was the fool thrice, should have fought …What did it mean? Some argument, his parents fought before the tragedy, he needed a vial. His mind was foggy.
Hermione had spoken with her parents. Pansy was worth looking into. Something about her was off.
"We can leave. But I want to be here for a while, and you know what happened. With Rose gone, we have less than a year for me to have another child. It can take longer. The child has to be from a female." She told her parents. They told her to do what she thought right.
Hermione wore men's trousers, the same as her mother. They both wore short tunics. The owls stood on her shoulders, but Hera flew to Draco, caressed his neck, and flew back to her.
Everyone laughed, Draco said, "They are only visiting." Still, he suspected that it wasn't right, the laughter confirmed it. Magnolia started purring and jumped on Hermione's lap. More laughter, he assumed that Magnolia was staying as well.
"I guess that you have a Kneazle, she likes dogs." Draco rolled his eyes.
Affirmations all around agreed with him. Snide comments about the pet thief, made him smile, he had lost his pets in a couple of hours.
He looked around. They were in a different room. Modern, but elegant. Odd sculptures, paintings, and family photographs, the pictures were surreal. Though he knew this must be from wherever they came thick forests, unusual color skies with many moons, the landscapes changing, somewhere else.
Several males brought in a spread. They were followed by Hermione's brother, the Hermione look alike but with straighter hair and two curly hair tall men. Every male was over two meters, it seemed. One was from earlier, the one who had caught him touching Hermione.
"My fathers, Elija and Jong Granger, they are twin brothers; my mother Eudosi, my brother Eloy and Hugo and Teddy."
Draco cringed, her father was the one who had caught him fondling his daughter.
"Hello, cousin." Teddy was reserved. Today his hair was blue, he was at home, and everyone seemed open and friendly. He saw a younger woman in her 30s, pregnant, pink hair, with a little girl with pink hair, she looked familiar.
Draco wanted to ask why two fathers.
Jong must have guessed, "Eudosi couldn't make up her mind, she was a bit of a flirt. But females are scarce, and we often have poly-families. So, we decided to do as she wished. We'll explain further; we discovered that our females will usually have at least one or two females when they have human partners. In our daughter's case, She will share her blood with other of our females, so will her daughter, and the other females' chances to have a daughter, increase." He stopped for a second.
"She told you that we couldn't find traces of either your son or Rose. It makes us hopeful. But whatever happened, might not be what you expect. Was Rose dead? Are you certain? By the way, your father seems to be gone."
"They were, or they appeared to be dead; the explosion killed them their bodies were mangled."
"Ah, I see."
Draco had made a copy of the vial with his memory, to give to them. "I made this, a memory of that day."
"Thanks, we will watch it. Maybe we can see something."
They went out for a walk, a small pack of dogs and the owls went with them, "Your dogs? There are at least ten."
"No, only the Mucky and Mossy are mine. The others belong to Eloy, my brother, Teddy, Hugo, and two of the guards. They get upset, but animals like me, most living creatures do. They call me the Fairy Queen and the pet thief. The dogs love their fathers but love to walk, okay," she grinned, "and to follow me, the truth be told."
"I see, I noticed. You look beautiful," Draco held her hand and kissed it, "You smell like hope," he said, holding her palm against his mouth. They walked into a forest path.
He stopped and pulled her to him, "I have never kissed my bride to be."
He bent, and she raised her arms. His lips barely touched hers. It wasn't enough, She awakened a hidden need, a hunger for something. His cock went up, he wanted her warmth around it. Nonetheless, he tried to pull away, it was too soon. Maybe not, her lips opened slowly, but before he could deepen his kiss, she said.
"Did you know we are not alone," Hermione stayed holding him.
"We aren't?"
"No, we have guards all around us whenever we are outdoors, too many unknowns. Now that I am the MoM, it is worse."
"Ah," he kissed her ear, "sorry, this is a little strange, but I feel at peace. I have a feeling of being home. I was happy with Tory, but she left me long ago, in her diary she said she was disgusted when I was with her." His hand caressed her back.
"With you?" Hermione was surprised, Draco was, well, he was a beautiful wizard. Her mother and other females agreed with her assessment.
"Yes, I was a way to riches for her, my mother did the same to my father."
"People do things that hurt others, but they can neither see the pain they cause nor do they care."
"They do, but you won't hurt me, and I will not hurt you either." Draco held her closer, feeling better, feeling hope, feeling desire. He thanked whoever had brought her into his arms. She relaxed and pressed her head against his chest.
She was also at peace and felt better than she had in days. The faces of the hidden guards, all around them, relaxed, the gloom from the last weeks, gone. This was the perk of guarding Hermione and her mother; their happiness, joy, peace, and other good feelings were shared by all those around them. Only the best were selected to guard them, it was a coveted job. Too bad no guards had gone with Rose, they could gave prevented the murder, the tragedy. But for now, there was hope.