THE COVER UP
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any part of the Harry Potter universe and I am grateful to be able to borrow them for a short time.
Mina & Draco stepped out of ear shot for a heated whispered conversation, "Malfoy, I am so angry with you right now! I could kill you!"
"Mina, you need to do this. You need to take the charm off. If they can't take what you did for them, we can put the charm back on."
"What about ME?! How can I get them back and then lose them again?! You bastard! What about me?" She was shaking and barely holding herself together.
Draco pulled her into a hug as it was all he could give her but she was stiff in his arms. He started to question what he had done.
Wilkins was thrilled and turned to his young new friends, "Michelle would love…what happened?" He walked over to the hugging pair.
Draco answered for her, "she recently lost her parents & little sister. I think seeing you reminded her of them. I'm afraid we won't be able to join you tonight."
Wilkins laid his hand on Mina's back, "I'm so sorry Miss Granger. I had no idea. Michelle will understand. Though I dare say she was looking forward to seeing you again. She made a roast and you both are invited for dinner."
"I'm sorry sir, but I don't think…" he was cut off.
"No, Draco. I think you might be right. I think maybe being around a family will help me. If you don't mind, Mr. Wilkins, we would like to come for dinner." Mina said. She pulled out of the hug as she was blinking her tears away.
Draco smiled at her, impressed with her Gryffindor courage. "You sure? I know you're strong but I don't want you to be hurt again." He asked turning her to look into her eyes.
"Yes. It's for the best to try." She turned to her father, "Mr. Wilkins I appreciate your invitation and I'd be honored to join you and your family for dinner. Thank you." She smiled a weak but honest smile.
Wilkins smiled at them not understanding why he suddenly felt a burst of pride in the young woman, "Shall we then?" He led the way.
They arrived at a modest 2 story home on the edge of a large wooded area that they later learned was Marangaroo Conversation Area. Robert pointed them into the lounge area where Michelle and baby Hermione were waiting for them.
"It's such a pleasure to see you again Jean. I understand this is your last night in Perth. I'm so please you could spend it with us." She was just as warm and welcoming and wonderful as Mina remembered her being.
"Thank you Ms. Wilkins. We appreciate it. Oh, I'm sorry, this is my friend Draco Malfoy." Suddenly Mina felt a tug on her pants and looked down, directly into the eyes of the most adorable little sister in the history of little sisters. Tears sprang to her eyes and she reached down and picked up the girl staring at her. "So beautiful." Mina whispered, a tear slid down her cheek.
The little baby just stared right back at Mina for several seconds before laying her head down on her sister's shoulder.
"Oh my. Robert? Come look at this." Michelle said.
Robert and Draco were still in the entryway taking about nothing in particular when they heard Michelle call them. They entered the lounge to see Hermione Michelle laying her head on Mina's shoulder and playing with her hair. It brought a smile to Robert's face and a questioning look to Draco's face.
Mina turned to look at Draco and he nodded at her. With that one gesture he told her how he felt about the situation. He thought she should remove the charm.
Mina finally agreed. She shifted Hermione Michelle to her other shoulder and pulled her wand out, "I'm sorry about this." She said before she uttered the counter curse. Within moments Mina's own personal hell on earth erupted around and at her.
Her mother was the first to recover, "Hermione, what the hell have you done?!" Michelle was reaching for Hermione Michelle like she was pulling her baby away from a kidnapper.
"Mum, I can explain everything. Please."
"I think you had better, young lady." Robert added.
Mina knew her father well enough to know that he was beyond angry. He was so far beyond angry that he was frighteningly calm. She had never seen her father so angry before. If it were possible to actually see anger coming from someone she imagined it would be coming from him right now. The ice in his voice and eyes were obvious.
"Mr. & Mrs. Granger, please let Hermione explain. May we sit while she does?" Draco was oozing charm again except this time it was to keep the peace.
"Malfoy, is it? Isn't that name of the evil git from your school?" Robert asked.
Draco blushed and Mina answered, "Yes, that's him, but he's changed since the war."
"WAR! What war? I'm sure I would have heard about a war had there been one. Besides you're both just children! What could you have done in a war? Armies fight wars, not children." He mother exclaimed while sitting down and indicating that everyone should sit as well.
"Honestly, mum, I've been fighting in a war since I was 11. Every year I went to Hogwarts something with this lunatic always happened. Let's see, first year I was attacked by a 3-headed dog followed by a series of traps. Second year I was petrified by a great dirty snake. Third year I was almost eaten by a werewolf. Forth year that lunatic, Riddle, came back and killed a classmate of ours. Fifth year we did actually form an army and fought a duel against a load of death eaters at the Ministry of Magic and by the sixth year our headmaster was killed by order of this lunatic, Riddle. And the final year, I spent on the run with Harry and Ron trying to find the last pieces to an ugly puzzle to finally defeat Riddle." She stopped to take a breath but her mother cut her off again.
"None of this makes any sense!"
"Please, let me explain from the beginning." Mina went on to explain about the war and the charm she had put on them to protect them and how after she found out about Hermione Michelle she wasn't going to restore their memories because they had such a good life now.
They sat there the entire time just listening; both of the older people too stunned to say much. When she was finished, "Mum? Dad? I'm sorry."
"SORRY! Sorry she says. You raped our minds, Hermione Jean. You forced thoughts and ideas on us that we didn't want in the first place. How could you! How dare you!" Her mother shrieked.
"Mrs. Granger I don't think you understand the sacrifice Mina made for your safety." Draco started.
"Mr. Malfoy, you don't know how we feel right now, so please stay out of this." Mrs. Granger said
"No, ma'am. I'm sorry but you need to understand." Draco forced her to focus on him, "You are muggles, she is muggle born and she is the smartest person most of us have ever met. Some even say the smartest witch since Rowena Ravenclaw, one of the founders of Hogwarts. Mina is one of the three people most credited with defeating Lord Voldemort. He was trying to take over the world and he would have killed you to stop her." Draco's eyes took on a faraway look, "He killed people after torturing them for days. It was fun to him. Muggles, muggle-borns & blood traitors were all fair game to him or the people who followed him. Even some of his own followers if they disappointed him."
"Who is Lord Voldermart?" Michelle Granger asked.
Draco came back to the present, "He's the lunatic Mina was fighting. She calls him by his muggle name, Riddle. I call him Lord Voldemort because that's the way my family always referred to him." Draco took a deep breath and continued. "I can honestly say that if I had to make a similar decision I hope I would have the courage to remove the memories of the people who I loved the most and who loved me. She sacrificed her only family in order to save all of England, muggle & wizard alike. She could not have done what she had to do, endure what she endured if she also had to worry someone would find you and kill you.
"Please understand, you think of what happened to you as a violation of your minds. But it wasn't. It was an act of love that very few people would have been willing to make. If it weren't for your daughter, the four of us would NOT be alive right now. In the final battle, she helped to save my life directly and thousands indirectly." Draco tried to get them to understand.
Robert added his thoughts, "Young man, you do not need to tell me how extraordinary my daughter is. I've known her far longer than you have. I know what she would be willing to do to save someone she loved. I'm not surprised that she did what she felt she had to do. But that doesn't mean that I'm happy about it." Mina & Draco faced the older man while he spoke and Mina could tell he was still extremely angry.
"Hermione?" Michelle started to ask a question when both of her girls looked at her and she had a realization, "Oh Lord! What do we do about Hermione Michelle's name? We have two girls named Hermione." No one had an answer for that question so she continued with her original question, "You said the war ended over a year ago. Why are you just coming to us now?"
"It took me a while to find you. I only implanted the idea of moving to Australia, not where. That was to keep you safe in case I was captured and they read my mind and tried to use you against me." She was absently rubbing the hidden scar on her left arm. Draco noticed her actions but didn't comment; he simply took her hand in his. "And when I did find you, I was still worried. There are still Death Eaters out there who are really angry and willing to seek revenge." She was cut off.
"What's a death eater?" Robert asked.
"Followers of Voldemort. Even knowing he would kill them or their families for the slightest failure, people, like my father, still followed him. They believed in the claptrap he was spewing." Draco answered him.
Mina continued with her story, "I came back here over Christmas and saw you. You had a baby!" She smiled at her sister. "I had to meet her so I purposely ran into you at that café. I wanted to meet my baby sister and talk to my parents again. I missed you so much when we were on the run..." Mina was lost in memory for a moment but quickly came back to herself and smiled at her sister who for the most part sat quietly while everyone talked around her.
"That doesn't answer why now." Michelle stated.
Draco answered because Mina was having trouble speaking. "She was so sad after Christmas. She wasn't going to know her sister or see you again. It bothered me to see her like that."
"But why would you not want to see us?"
"It was the danger to you. As long as nobody knew about you, you were safe. She decided she wasn't going to take the spell off because it was safer and she didn't want to complicate your lives. I hated seeing her so sad. She was helping me so much. Helping me move on from what happened before and during the war that I had to help her. I knew when you were leaving your office, sir. It wasn't an accident that we met tonight."
Mina pulled herself together. "Draco was just trying to help me. He was trying to convince me to remove the spell. I wasn't going to but when I picked up Hermione Michelle tonight, I just couldn't leave it. I wanted my parents back. I want to know my sister and I want her to know me. I want my family." Mina lost it again and was crying. "If you want me too I'll put the spell back on, you won't remember me or this conversation. But please please don't hate me." She begged.
"NO! Do NOT put that spell back on us. We will face these death eaters if they come." Robert was adamant.
Michelle added, "Hermione baby, we don't hate you. We aren't disappointed in you or I guess I'm not really angry with you either. I'm hurt, I think. You went through so much and we weren't there to help or support you. You took that option away from us. You didn't trust us to make that decision for ourselves. That's what hurts."
"I didn't think you would have allowed me to do the spell. Even to save your lives. I couldn't take that risk. I had to know you were safe." She hoped that if she stressed how important their safety was to her, they would start to understand why she did it. Mina was slowly calming down from her crying fit. She had already gone through half the box of tissues that had been sitting on the table in front of her.
"Mr. & Mrs. Granger, I understand you don't want the spell returned, but I want you to understand what might happen if anybody discovers who you are or if they find any connection between you and Mina. They will kill you and Hermione Michelle. They won't stop because she's a baby. They will probably take great pleasure in torturing you both by making you watch her die. I'm sorry to say that, but I've seen them do it. Most of my family followed Voldemort. The things he would expect people to do…They took great pleasure in inflicting pain. My Aunt…"
"Draco, no." Mina tried to stop him.
"Mina, no more. They need to hear it all. I need..I need to say it."
She saw the pain and sadness in his eyes and nodded her head.
"My Aunt was the most ardent of his followers. She would do anything he asked and she enjoyed it. Mostly she did things just for the fun. Honestly, she was the 2nd most evil person I've ever met." He still had Mina's hand in his and he reached over and started to push the left sleeve of her jumper up. He showed her parents the raised scar of the word MUDBLOOD carved into her arm. "My Aunt did this to her after torturing her for information. It was done with an enchanted dagger and it will never go away. But Mina never gave in, no matter what Bellatrix did to her. She was so strong…I'm sorry Mina. I'm sorry I wasn't able to do anything to help you. Sometimes I can still hear your screams." He dropped his eyes to the floor and hung his head.
Michelle was transfixed on the scar her oldest daughter bore, "What does that mean? What is mudblood?"
"It means 'dirty blood'. It's a derogatory, racist, foul word. It means someone who is born from muggles. Voldemort believed that anybody who wasn't a pureblood wizard was useless and not worth the air they breathed. Unfortunately there are still quite of few people out there who still believe it. I used to call her that. I'm sorry Mina. I really didn't know any better."
Mina extracted her arm from his grasp and wrapped him in a hug. "I know you couldn't have helped me then. You helped us by not confirming it was Harry when we were brought to the manor. You are a better person than you think you are and I forgive you Draco Malfoy, for everything." She smiled at him but he didn't raise his head to see it. She took his hand and returned to her seat next to Draco on the couch.
"We'll go to the police. Isn't there a Ministry of Magic? I remember reading about it in that weird newspaper." Robert was all bluster. Before anyone could blink, Draco removed his hand from Mina's and apparated away from them. "Where did he go?!" Robert asked.
"I'm here sir." His voice came from behind Robert in the entryway startling Robert and causing him to turn around and glare at the young man. Draco walked towards them, "My point is they don't have to come at you, they can kill you from a distance. You may never see them coming." Draco stressed.
"Isn't there anything we can do?" Michelle was terribly frightened at this point clutching Hermione Michelle to her chest as she looked at the windows almost expecting evil to attack them at any second.
"Mina, what about putting wards up, like those around the Manor? It would prevent anyone with magic or anyone influenced by magic from entering the house without their permission. We can do it around their office as well, but we can't protect them when they are on the streets."
"Do it, Drac. Let's at least protect them as best we can. Mum, Dad, you will be able to come and go as you normally would but if someone magical other than Draco or me were to try and enter here, they couldn't. Apart from removing your memories again, it's really the only protection we can offer you."
"If they can get to us without us seeing them, what good are these wards?" Robert asked.
"Sir, the ones we're going to put in place can't be broken. That means spells, curses, hexes or anything else can't get through them. It will prevent all magic from reaching you. I'm going to add an alarm ward as well. It will signal me and Mina if anyone tries to get to you. There is a friend close by who is a wizard. I can make the alarm signal him as well but I don't want to do that until we've talked with him."
Robert nodded his head in agreement and Draco spoke, "We'll need to do this at your office as well. Tomorrow? About 3:00? That should give us the time we need to put the wards in place and get back to school. Mina, you're going to have to do the wards with me so we can set the alarms."
They went to work and had the wards up in under an hour. Everyone was sitting around the lounge not really knowing what to say but fortunately, the entire family was calming down. Michelle decided it was time for dinner. Without thought she handed Hermione Michelle to the child's older sister, "I'm going to finish getting dinner ready. Why don't you all get washed up?"
It was such a mother thing to say that Mina couldn't stop smiling.
The rest of the night was spent talking; explaining and attempting to understand what Mina did during the war and Draco's part in the war. Draco told some edited versions of some of the things he had been forced to see, hear and do while at the same time fearing for his life and the life of his parents if he should fail.
Mina and Draco also talked about being offered the opportunity to complete their education and the subsequent teaching jobs they both got.
They also discussed whether or not Robert & Michelle should return to England or stay where they were. They also tried to figure out what to do about having two Hermiones in the family. By the end of the night it was decided that they would remain Robert & Michelle Wilkins and stay in Australia. Hermione Michelle would keep her name and they would start to call Hermione Jean, Mina as Draco called her.
Many hours later the young friends left Mina's family and headed back to Liam's. Mina was relieved and exhausted and happy. She grabbed Draco's arm and squeezed it as hard as she could out of sheer joy. "This has been the most amazing day of my life." She gushed. "I'm so glad you made this happen. Thank you!" She pulled him into a hug.
"This has been the most amazing day for both of us." He smiled at her as she broke the hug. Not really thinking about it because it was just a natural thing to do, Draco leaned down and kissed her on her lips. It wasn't romantic but a kiss between very good friends.
When they arrived at Liam's they noticed all the lights were out except the small one over the cook top. Quietly they returned to their room, changed and climbed into bed. Fifteen minutes had passed and Mina still hadn't fallen asleep. "Draco are you asleep?" She asked.
"Well, if I was, I'm not now."
"I can't sleep." She told him as she rolled on to her side to face him while propping her head on to her hand.
"Really? I wouldn't have been able to figure that one out if you didn't tell me. So thank you for telling me." Draco's eyes were still closed.
"Draco Malfoy, sarcasm is not attractive." She took a deep breath. "So much has happened today, I can't get my brain to turn off."
"Well, I can truthfully say that your brain is keeping me awake as well. Close your eyes and think of the calmness of Hogwarts' library. That should bore you enough to sleep. Or read a book or do something, anything, just do it quietly, please. I'm tired." He rolled over and was asleep within moments.
Mina didn't lie. She replayed her conversation with her parent over and over again. She finally gave up and tried reading a book for a short time, but discovered that she couldn't concentrate on the words in front of her. She finally decided to put the book down, close her eyes and just lay there. She let her mind wander for a time and the next thing she knew she was being shaken awake by Draco.
"Wakey wakey, Princess." She was barely conscious. Draco shook her again while taking a sip of his coffee when he had an idea. He placed the coffee close to her nose and waved it back and forth.
Her eyes didn't open, "I smell coffee. Coffee good. Need coffee."
Draco was laughing at her, "Get up and you can have some."
"No, waking bad, coffee good."
"Well, until you can figure out a way to drink coffee and still sleep, you will have to get up to get coffee." He turned around a left.
"Evil prat."
"I heard that." Draco sing songed as he walked to the kitchen.
"She getting up?" Liam asked.
"I'm not sure but I think 'coffee good' means we have a better than fair chance of seeing her soon."
"You guys must've slept well last night. I didn't hear a peep out of either of you after you got back."
"You can hear us?"
"My daughters stay in that room, I made sure I can hear everything." Liam smirked. His smirk disappeared, "I usually hear Mina crying in her sleep or sometimes it's something about a vault at Gringotts. Even you, Friday night, made some noises." Liam didn't want to embarrass his friend by telling him he yelled out in his sleep. "But last night not a sound."
Draco was surprised. He knew he had nightmares but didn't know he ever vocalized them. He thought for a second before realizing that last night he didn't have a nightmare. It wasn't a pleasant dream but it wasn't horrible. "Yea, I guess I did sleep pretty well. Mina didn't though. She was so excited she couldn't sleep. I don't know when she finally calmed down enough to sleep." Draco proceeded to tell Liam about what they did after they left the shop and their encounter with her parents.
Liam was so happy for her, "So they understand everything? They're ok with what she did?"
"They were really angry and hurt. I think they still are but given some time, I think they'll come around. I'm going to go bang on the door again." He turned to go back to the room when Mina showed up.
She didn't say anything just went up to Draco and took his coffee from his hand and drank a large gulp. Keeping his cup, she went to the coffee maker and poured herself a warmer. "Coffee good. Evil prat that woke me up, bad."
Both men smiled at her. "Come on Mina, you need to teach me those spells." Liam encouraged.
"And we have to get the wards up on your parent's office today. And alert the local Aurors about what we are doing and why and still make it back in time to prepare some of tomorrow's lessons." Draco reminded her. "And I want to tell McGonagall about the Mark."
She smiled at Draco but her voice remained steely, "Too many 'And's." They watched her until, "Fine. Did you ask him about the alarm?"
"Nope."
Sigh, "Ok, would you please because I'm going to take a shower." She didn't wait for an answer as she turned on her heel and left; Draco's coffee cup still in her hands.
Draco looked at his empty hand then at Liam, "She stole my coffee."
"Mate, be happy it wasn't chocolate she stole; you might've lost a finger if you'd tried to get it back. What alarm is she talking about?"
"We put wards up around her parent's home. We're going to put them up around their office too. I added an alarm ward. It's spelled to alert both me and Mina if magic in any way, shape or form is used to try to get to her parents. We were wondering if you would let us spell the ward to alert you as well."
"Oh wow. Um, let me think about it. I may have been in the military but that was before my girls were born. I've got to think of them too."
"Fair enough."
They killed time waiting for Mina's return talking about tattoos and the fact that Draco really wanted a Koi fish on the outside of his right forearm and a portrait of his mother on his right bicep or shoulder.
Mina returned about half an hour later. "What's the verdict?" Both men looked at her, "The wards?" She prompted them.
"Oh, he's going to think about it."
"Yea, I've got to consider the girls. I'm not sure I could just go flying in there if the alarm went off."
"You don't have to. Just alert the local aurors and make sure we know about it. That way it keeps you safe and keeps the girls safe. It also gives us a back-up in case we need it. I don't want anyone knowing about you unless absolutely necessary."
"Damn, it HAS GOT to be the coffee! 'Coffee good' just translated into 'Make genius obvious' didn't it?" Liam was impressed. He agreed to be a part of the alarm ward then he and Mina headed off to work on those two spells.
Several hours of practice using Draco as a guinea pig had Liam proficient in both spells. They left to set up the wards around the office and to add Liam to the alarm around the house. With everything accomplished that they came to Australia to do, Mina and Draco bid everyone good-bye and apparated back to Hogsmead.
They arrived at the castle and went to see the Headmistress before even going back to their quarters to unpack.