A/N: Getting so much love, I pushed up my editing this chapter a full day. Gah, this one is rough, but needed to forward the plot. Sorry, not sorry.
Thank you for pointing out those couple errors, I did go back in and fix them, because it's worth it to me to have the best copy of this story out there. Alright, more notes at the end so there won't be any spoilers.
Update on my kids, still sick, but doing a lot better today. Have I mentioned that my 19mo makes me think of baby Draco every time I look at him? Because, I do.
Chapter 10, Godfathers' Surprise
Waking up Tuesday morning searching the Daily Prophet to see what Rita Skeeter or some other sleezy reporter had to say about Astoria and Daphne's over dose the day prior. Somehow, and it was very shocking, that this little bit out of the news and a secret for the time being.
It really shouldn't have been a big of a surprise as it had been. From what Rachel had said, Astoria getting picked up while high on pixie dust regularly for the last few years and none of her arrests had ever made the news. No, everything that had been printed about Astoria had always been shinning a light on her charity work and what she wore to some social event. There had never even been a whisper about either her or Daphne using drugs in any paper or magazine.
On the plus side from yesterday, she had thrown herself into her work and was completely ready for Zacharias Smith's upcoming trial. He'd been clever with how he'd gone about manufacturing these fake masters, but not nearly clever enough. He had carved a complex set of runes into the bar top at a pub in Knockturn Alley that worked as basically an order sheet for his 'masters' programs. It made sense that he never met with his clients in person, but he did have to go inside the Manticore Tavern to retrieve the orders himself.
The runes would appear carved into the bar top on different days every week (Smith had at least been smart and mixed it up a bit) and then would alert him once someone had visited the runes. He then would go into the pub and retrieve whatever requests had been made, along with the payment that was kept by the barkeep (who had been getting to keep a share of the profits). However, Hermione had noticed that Smith hadn't been smart enough to remove any requests. All she needed to do was take herself down to Knockturn Alley and pull all his client's names and chosen master's from the bar top and then everyone who had been involved in the scheme would be able to be charged.
Bloody moron, he always had been so sure of himself, but that arrogance was going to ultimately be his downfall when he decided to be a petty criminal. Though, petty might not be the right word. He had enabled unqualified persons to walk around with the title of masters in some major subject, and they had caused mayhem in their own ways. Hermione couldn't help the smirk that crossed her face when she thought about the absolute joy, she was going to get sitting on the stands testifying against him as a true master of her own subject and prove just how delusional he had been thinking he could get away with this.
She had also managed to make a lot of headway with the Borgin case, and had come down to the conclusion that the Antient Greek were the coded names for the customers that Borgin was buying and selling with. He was the middle man, and it was reasonable to deduct that Borgin was foolish enough to have the coded names linked to the Latin words so that it would reveal more information, but it was connected to wand movements being done over the parchment that Hermione hadn't been able to figure out yet. The runes were the bottom layer of protection and actually held the buy, trades, and sales of the items. She was going to have to connect the customer names to their items, because obviously none of that was just easily together.
None the less, Hermione had enjoyed the challenge and it had been a good distraction after witnessing the horrors of a pixie dust addiction. It had also consumed enough of her thoughts that she hadn't had a chance to freak out over Aurora's upcoming appointment, so just another bonus to being committed to putting a criminal in Azkaban.
Hermione had sent off two memos, one to Rachel and one to Draco to update them both on where she was at with her research. In Rachel's note, she had included that she would be leaving after lunch today to head to the pub in Knockturn Alley to gather Smith's list of clients and she would send a copy to her sometime tomorrow morning. Draco's assistant had responded to Hermione that in thanks, and also an apology that he was out of the office today and they would have to reschedule their meeting for another day.
Obviously, that made sense. His wife was in the hospital and it would only be right that he was there with her. Even if she was in the hospital of her own doing, she could have easily died yesterday. Hermione wasn't upset that she hadn't seen him. Nope, not upset at all. It wasn't as if these old feelings about him were creeping back into her chest, she'd squashed them before and she could do it again. Easy.
Pushing Draco Malfoy as far from her mind as possible, Hermione went on to spend the rest of her morning diving into the plethora of reports that had built up yesterday and that morning. This is what happened when one particular case took up so much time and energy. So, while Hermione didn't like to do that, the results had been worth it.
Hermione had been so busy with a warrant request that had just floated in, that she hadn't even heard Harry knocking at her door. She hadn't even heard him when he cleared his throat to get her attention or when he basically stomped across the floor. It was only once he was fully in her space and waving his hand between her face and the parchment she was bent over, did she finally notice his presence in the room.
Lifting her head from what she had been writing, Hermione blinked a few times before it fully registered who was standing next to her. "You!" She cried out in outrage, "I swear to Merlin, you picked the worst day to skive off work to shag your husband, you know that right?" Sitting back in her chair with her arms crossed over her chest, in an attempt to show just how displeased he truly was with him.
"I know, I know. I heard what happened, sorry, we had the floo locked to make sure no one came through and no one thought to call my cell or send a patronus to let me know what was going on with the Greengrass sisters. Blimey, I really don't know how Malfoy deals with Astoria as a wife. I called Theo after I got to work to let him know what had happened and he's going to check in with Malfoy to make sure he's alright today. Right nightmare that mess is, but the most they'll get off with is like a month of house arrest and rehab, again. Lucius always pays off the Tiberius McLaggen and gets the whole thing swept under the rug. I know Malfoy has tried to get a harsher punishment for her, but Lucius always comes in and puts a stop to it."
Hermione should have known that Lucius had Tiberius McLaggen, head of the Wizengamot, in his pocket, but it still sent a shiver up her spine. His threats to destroy her life held weight, she'd always known that, but to know that he could make something as serious as Astoria's offenses disappear was still unsettling. And what about that comment about Draco wanting Astoria is have a harsher punishment? That made sense why he didn't want Lucius to know what was going on with them, because the sooner Lucius finds out, the sooner he can start meddling and putting on a face for the public.
"Jasmine told me you swung by my office before all that went down though, so what's up? How was the thing at The Burrow? Fuck, did you see Lavender?" Hermione made a face at Harry telling him that she most certainly did see Lavender Brown at The Burrow. "Blimey, sorry Mione, I didn't even think to warn you about that fucking mess. I bloody warned Ron when he told me he was shagging her that he better use the charm every time because I knew she would try to trap him."
With the mention of the party and being at The Burrow, Hermione's irritation that Harry had missed the disaster that was work yesterday for her very real need to talk to Harry about Aurora being a veela. Tears pricking in her eyes, Hermione shook her head at her friend. Motioning at the seat across from her, Hermione confirmed that Harry had time for the long version before she dove into the full events from Sunday.
Harry sat and listened to the entire story and had the right reactions to whatever event she was telling him about. He made a few snide comments about not being there for Aurora's first time on a broom, gasped over Mrs. Weasley and Ginny's fight in front of her and Fleur, clicked his tongue at Lavender and her petty comments. He truly was the perfect audience to tell a story to.
When Hermione told him about Aurora and Louie's interaction it had actually made him bark out a laugh, because it seemed no one was immune to her charms. That made the perfect transition into what Hermione had been seeking him out for the previous morning, so Hermione decided it was best to just rip the plaster off so to speak.
"Fleur told me that she can sense that Aurora is a veela." And just like that, it was out there. Hermione hadn't even thought to bring it up with her parents the day before after she'd gotten home from work. As much as they loved and adored Aurora, she knew that they wouldn't understand the magnitude of this information. She had at least hoped that Harry would have some sort of reaction beyond giving her a blank look.
"Harry, did you hear me? I said that Fleur believes that Aurora is a veela. I've made an appointment for tomorrow afternoon at St. Mungo's to meet with a specialist to discuss what this means for her." Still giving her a blank look, Hermione stood up from her seat and leaned across her desk to snap her fingers in his face in an attempt to get his attention.
That seemed to work, because Harry was finally able to pull himself together and cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, but Aurora Jean, the princess, my little Rory, you said might be a veela? Hermione, what does that even mean? How could she be a veela? You're a muggleborn with no veela ancestry and her father is some muggle that you just had a random fling with."
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. Harry wasn't supposed to be this bloody perceptive.
"Yes, well." Hermione held her hand up to her mouth and cleared her throat. FUCK.
"Okay, worse case, Aurora grows up and runs away to some Bulgarian veela village and never comes home to visit any of us because we aren't like her." Harry, sensing Hermione's panic jumped right in.
"Aurora is mated to a total prat, no, no, Aurora never meets her mate and never finds her true love and resents me for it."
"Aurora transforms and is never able to turn back into her human form."
"Aurora is kidnapped and sold to the highest bidder because I can't keep her safe, where she grows up without any of her family. She never sees any of us again, we are left wondering whatever happened to her and never get any answers because obviously no one sends a ransom note since they already got the best prize. Hermione dropped her head into her hands with a sigh, not looking up at Harry.
"Well, that's bleak. Oh, Aurora blasts us with a fireball and I lose all my hair and Theo divorces me because I'm ugly."
"That's just vain, Theo would never divorce you because you lost all your hair." Rolling her eyes at him.
"You know, he really likes to pull my hair when we –"
"Finish that sentence, I dare you."
Holding his hands up, Harry smirked at Hermione knowing that now that she'd gotten her worries out, they should be able to move on. Only, there was one more worse case that she needed to lay out there. And this was going to be a sobering one.
"Worse case scenario, I can't do this alone and need to tell Aurora's father about her and he's going to eternally hate me for lying to him for five years. And my best friends are going to hate me for not telling them who he is. And Aurora is going to hate me for keeping her and her dad apart and not having a proper bond."
The silence was deafening. Harry's jaw had gone slack and it kept twitching. It was as if he were trying to come up with something to say, but the words couldn't form in his mouth in that moment. Not that Hermione could blame him, she hadn't exactly eased this into the conversation.
Holding up her hand to stop Harry from saying anything, Hermione said, "it might be best if I come over later this evening and discuss the rest of this with both you and Theo. You know do it all at once so I don't have to repeat myself. I feel like, that it's a very real possibility, that Theodore will have a bit more to say on the matter than you do. If he gets this conversation from your mind, well, it'll just have him storming over to my parents' town house demanding his own answers."
Harry's green eyes flashed with worry. She'd never kept a secret from him, especially one of this magnitude. Fuck it all, she hadn't even ever really considered just how mad Harry and Theo were going to be at her. Yes, she knew on some level that they would be upset, but Hermione had always focused on how angry Draco would be. The concern reflecting back at her made her gut twist, she'd just told her best friend that his goddaughter is a veela and that she might actually know the identity of Aurora's father. Fuck.
"Shit, Harry. I honestly really hate to leave like this, but I've got to go out this afternoon and won't be back in the office. I'll swing by your flat after I'm done, right? We can talk, with Theo, and I'll tell you both every, I swear it." Hermione pleaded with her friend who still had concern etched into his face.
With a sigh and a nod, Harry finally broke the eye contact with Hermione that neither had really registered they had been holding. "Come by at eight, we can have drinks, I get a feeling we are going to need them. I'm assuming Aurora won't be in attendance?" Harry asked standing up from his chair.
"Er, no. Best that she not be around for this."
Harry and Hermione put together the details for the evening before Harry departed for the lunch meeting that he had to take. Hermione checked her watch and saw that the Manticore Tavern was now open, and she was ready for the distraction. Hermione stopped by Kenneth's desk to let him know where she would be if anyone came looking for her and that she'd be back in the office tomorrow morning. And after double checking that all her afternoon appointments for tomorrow were re-scheduled, Hermione slung her tote over her shoulder and made her way out of the ministry, knowing that spending the afternoon in a Knockturn Alley pub decoding complex runes was going to be the easiest part of her day.
ooo
"Well, I wouldn't know what exactly she was wanting to talk to us about, now would I Theo. I told you, she told me Aurora might be a veela and then she asked to speak with us together. So, we're just going to have to hear her out, aren't we?" Hermione stood outside the door with the shiny "503" glaring back at her, listening to Harry's voice carry out into the hallway. Theo's response was muffled and she couldn't tell what he was saying, but she could guess from Harry's side, that Theo knew what was coming. He must have already seen the scene in Harry's mind, Harry always was shit at occlumency.
With a sigh, Hermione realized that she would need to put up a silencing charm. It was going to be needed, if Harry's voice that was just loud with concern was carrying out into the hall. There was no way that once she dropped the 'Draco is Aurora's father' bomb on them that it would it stay in the flat without the charm in place.
Taking a deep breath and lifting her hand to the door, Hermione rapped out her usual rhythm and waited. Waving her wand, the silencing charm was put in place and then she counted to five before the door was flung open and Harry was standing before her, glass of wine already in hand for her. Walking through the threshold, Hermione's eyes drifted to where could see Theo. He was already seated at the dining table, his own glass of wine already in front of him. "He's just on edge, just keep calm and whatever you have to tell us, everything will be fine." Harry whispered reassuringly into her ear as they approached his husband.
Clearing her throat, Hermione lifted her chin to attempt to give herself the air of confidence that she was so sorely lacking in this moment. "Is it safe to assume you've already heard the retell of Sunday's events?" Hermione motioned towards Harry, who had already rounded the table to take his usual seat next to Theo.
He nodded, letting her know that there was no point in her repeating what she'd told Harry in her office earlier that day. "I do have a few theories about what you have to say after this morning's conversation with Harry. However, I'm prepared to wait and see if I'm correct in my assumptions before I say anything that might prove to be problematic." Motioning with his hand, Theo used wandless magic to pull Hermione's normal seat at the table out. "Why don't you sit, I picked up a few bottles of rose to go along with this conversation, so let's get started."
Hermione nodded, lifting her wine glass to her lips and taking another long pull, not even attempting to savor the taste, and let out a sigh. It was now or never. Digging deep inside herself, Hermione summoned every ounce of Gryffindor bravery that she could gather before diving in. "I think Fleur is right that Aurora is a veela. I will obviously have it confirmed tomorrow by the specialist, but I've been thinking about the sheer power of her, and it just makes sense. I've seen the fireballs she can produce when she's in a right state, and no four-year-old should be able to do that, but she can."
Harry was nodding as if this all made perfect sense, but Theo had his eyes narrowed at Hermione. "She wouldn't be a veela without a parent with veela genes, Hermione. You would have known if she was a veela if that gene was being passed to her from you. I do agree with you that she's much more powerful than an average witch her age, so that begs the question, Hermione. Who is Aurora's father?"
"Theo, stop" Harry hissed at his husband. "Aurora's birth certificate was blank where her father would have been listed, showing that he was a muggle. Let Hermione explain."
"No, Harry." Theo snapped at his husband. "You don't understand, a regular muggle wouldn't just have a veela gene. Anyone who had a veela gene would have shown up with the trace on Aurora's birth certificate. Even if the other parent had no magical abilities of their own, veelas are still able to be magically traced, so she'd lied about that." Theo turned his head towards Hermione with a glare as he laid down the truth that everyone knew. "Who is her father, Hermione? Or, would you rather me guess?"
Hermione's blood ran cold at the look in Theo's eyes. He was more furious than she'd ever imagine he'd be. Of course, on some level, she'd always known that eventually she would tell her friends the truth. Of course, she hadn't gotten any further than she'd eventually tell them and hadn't really thought about how they would react. Fuck, fuck, fuck, this was going south, fast.
"You were right, it is him." Hermione whispered so low that Harry couldn't hear her, but Theo with his Legilimency knew exactly what she'd said.
This is what set Theo off completely. Throwing his hands up, Theo stood from the table knocking his chair over in the process. He wasn't speaking, but Hermione could feel Theo pushing against the barriers in her mind, searching for the truth and what had happened. Instead of fighting him this time, she let him in to see, with the silent hope that he would understand.
She showed him everything that she'd kept hidden for so long. Her, Draco, and Pansy slipping into Draco's hotel room the night of his and Harry's wedding and how when she'd woken up, she'd ran from the room before the woke. He saw and felt the day she found out she was pregnant and her resolve that she was going to go to London and tell Draco she was pregnant during her off week. She thrust forward the memory of when she'd saw Draco at the ministry with Lucius, and the confrontation with Lucius in the alley after and how her resolve had crumbled instantly to protect the babe in her womb. Finally, she showed him the fear she'd felt when she'd first laid eyes on Aurora and saw that she looked exactly like Draco and how she knew she could never let him see their daughter without him figuring out that he was her father.
With tear filled eyes, Hermione look up at Theo who was working to put his aristocratic mask back in place. The cold indifference she saw cut her so much deeper than she ever thought Theo could. No, they weren't the best of friends, but somewhere along the line she had grown to depend on him. Seeing how much she'd hurt him, caused her so much more pain than she'd ever thought possible.
"I'm sorry, I'm not a Legilimens, someone's going to have to fill me in a bit more." Harry was saying, but Hermione had her face buried in her hands shaking her head, because she couldn't find her voice in that moment.
"Draco is Aurora's father, Lucius threatened Hermione when she came to tell him she was pregnant. Merlin, Hermione, why didn't you tell us?" Theo had stopped his pacing and was knelt in front of Hermione laying his hands over hers.
Hermione could hear Harry taking a quick breath, then let out a laugh as if this was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard. "Draco can't be Aurora's father; she would be on the Black family tapestry and she's not. We would have noticed our goddaughter on the damn thing, Theo. It takes up that entire bloody wall in the library and Merlin knows we spent enough time standing in front of it trying to take it down during the renovations." Harry's comment pulled Hermione from her hands and looking down at Theo who looked most annoyed with his husband.
"Honestly, Harry." Theo sighed with a huff. "Do you not pay attention at all when I've talked about pureblood traditions? Illegitimate children don't appear on the tapestries. If they, did it would be a bloody mess and too many scandals to count in these old families. Only children born from a marriage or are legitimized by the family will show up. I know I've told you all this when we were discussing how I'm fairly sure I'm not an only child, but can't prove it." Theo rolled his eyes, clearly exacerbated.
"Oh, right, of course, yes I remember you saying that. But, wait, Draco can't seriously be Aurora's father. Hermione moved to America first of July and Aurora was born damn near mid-May." Harry was holding up fingers in front of him counting out the months "That timeline doesn't fit. There's no way, that's like, what, eleven months or so?"
"Harry James Potter, I honestly question how you made it through Auror training sometimes. She was here for our wedding. You know, August seventh ringing any bells?" Theo had stood up and walked away from a still shell-shocked Hermione who couldn't make a thought, much less a sentence to contribute to the conversation.
"Our wedding? Theo, we walked in on Draco and Pansy the morning after our wedding. He wasn't with Hermione that night." Harry said with confidence, as if this took away Theo's argument.
"Seriously, Potter. I know we've had threesomes before, we aren't the only ones who enjoy the occasional third." This at least got a response from Hermione that wasn't despair. Groaning and mock gaging behind Theo's back, Hermione didn't want to think about her brother having a threesome. She was going to need that mental picture obliterated from her mind.
Before Harry or Theo could scar her for life Hermione held up her hands to stop the further discussion of their sex life. Hearing about their sex life or having them discuss hers would be enough of a reason for Hermione to try to Avada herself. If she had to continue to picture Harry doing whatever freaky things he and Theo were into, the next thing she wanted to see was a flash of green light.
"Enough, no more sex talk. I'd rather you crucio me, it would be less painful. Yes, it was after your wedding. Yes, Pansy was there too. Also, Aurora was over a week past her due date, so that slightly throws off the timeline." Hermione cut in to stopping the men and causing Theo to remember that she was still sitting in the room with them.
Theo stood up and walked out of the dining room down the hall and out of sight without another word. Looking over at Harry, he just shrugged as if to say he didn't know what his husband was up to. They didn't have to wait too long, though because before they knew it Theo was back in the dining room with their owl, parchment, and a quill. Thrusting the parchment and the quill at Hermione, Theo looked down at the things and back at her as if she knew what he was wanting her to do with them.
"Well, we're sending Draco a missive, tonight." Theo looked back down and back up at her to empathize his point.
"Theodore, are you mental? I am not telling Draco that he has a bloody daughter in a fucking missive! Don't you think that's a conversation that should be had, oh I don't know, in bloody person!" Hermione snapped at the man.
"At this point, I don't think it matters how you tell him as long as you fucking do! Fuck, Hermione! Almost five bloody years, I think you've dragged your feet enough on this, don't you!
"He's my best mate and you named me his daughter's godfather without telling him about her. You can't seriously think that I'm going keep your dirty little secret too, do you?" Hermione could tell that Theo was on the verge of shouting, but this was not his place to tell her how to tell Draco about Aurora.
"What the fuck would you have me do, Theodore!? He's married, and said wife is currently laying in a coma in the fucking hospital after a drug overdose! What, you think he's just going to be able to come skipping over to see Aurora?! She's my daughter, not yours, and I'll figure out how to tell him myself in my own way, on my own terms.
"Fucking hell, I knew you'd be pissed, but I didn't think you'd be acting bloody mental after I told you! If I had, then I would have waited until after I'd had my meeting with Draco next week." Hermione was working hard to keep the volume of her voice level and not turn this into a shouting match, but she could feel her temper rising with every word exchanged between herself and Theo.
"Oh, you set an appointment to tell him. That's sweet of you. How many 'appointments' have you set with him, huh? I'm not going to lie to him for you, Hermione. I'm not going to keep a secret that you gave birth to his fucking kid and then hid her away on fucking Staten Island for the first four years of her life! Either you tell him or I will." Theo threatened, waving his hand to bring his chair off the floor, before he forcefully sat down across from her.
"This is not your story to tell, Theodore, don't you dare involve yourself in this. I never asked you to lie to him, all I'm asking is that you let me tell him my own way!" Hermione was fuming, but she knew on some level that Theo had a point. She was, however, past the point of just sitting back and letting Theo making his own terms on her private life.
"Don't involve myself? What the fuck did you think you were doing making me Aurora's godfather and not telling her actual father about her?! You, you involved me in this, Hermione. Not the other way around. I didn't show up in New York and demand to be Aurora's godfather, you gave me and Harry those titles. And then, I fucking asked you if Draco was her father and you lied to me, you lied straight to my face and told me no. Now, let's not forget this, now you're here, in my flat, making time to tell me, not Draco, that he's Aurora's father. Really, I'm not involved? You have your priorities royally screwed up, Hermione and you had better tell him about her, otherwise I will."
Standing up from her own chair, Hermione lifted her wine glass and drained it in one go before she stormed out of Harry and Theo's flat without another word. Well, that went about as poorly as possible.
A/N: So, Theo is big mad. Hm, who would have seen that coming? But now Harry, Theo, and Hermione's dad all know Draco is Aurora's father. AND the question about the tapestry has been answered, shocker that Harry never pays attention to Theo's pureblood rants.
Who likes drama? I do, I do!
Chapter 11 is written, and is just waiting to be edited. After two chapters of no Aurora we will be getting her back AND part of the chapter is told from her POV, so something to look forward to…
