Authors Note: This is a WIP. With work and what not, I can't guarantee how
often I'll be able to update the chapters of this one. Please, bear with
me in this.
Also, I do not own any of the characters or places in this story. The belong to J. K. Rowling and Warner Bros. I am making no money off this (would be nice though.*laugh*)
Sins of the Father
Chapter 1
Stepping out of the tree line, the young man headed toward the cottage ahead of him. The building is small but well maintained. Approaching the cottage, the young man felt his heart begin to pound in his chest. He was confused at first and then realized what it was.
Fear.
He was frightened of what he was going to find inside. Steeling his resolve, he took a deep breath and stepped forward. Grasping the brass doorknob, he swung the door open and stepped across the threshold, wand out and ready to defend himself.
Looking around, he saw the inside was richly decorated with all the trappings of wealth and arrogance. Shaking his head, he sighed and thought to himself that some never change. Walking through the rooms, he heard no other movement but his, and assumed the house was empty.
Walking up to the staircase, he took a deep breath to try and calm his nerves and began ascending the stairs. Reaching the top, he found three doors, two closed and one slightly ajar. Going to the open door, he pushed it open and found a bedroom, most of the small space taken up by the large curtained bed in the middle.
Resting on the bed was a man, his long white hair fanned around him on the pillows and the covers pulled up to his chest. He appeared to be sleeping; he was still and made no movement as the young man approached the bed. Entering the room, he smelled the sharp scent of healing herbs and could feel the remnants of charms hanging in the air like a curtain.
Reaching the side of the bed, he gazed down at the still figure and saw that the man's eyes were open but sightless. "So this was how you met your end. Very grand indeed." Turning from the bed, he walked out of the room without another glance back and headed to investigate the two closed doors.
Finding the first one to be a storage room, filled with trunks that were so covered in dust, he could tell they hadn't been touched in at least a couple of years. The second door was locked. Pointing his wand at the lock he whispered, "Alohomora."
The door sprung open at his muttered spell and he stepped into the room. Heading immediately to the large desk that faced the lawn in front of the cottage, he began to open drawers and rifled through their contents. Finding nothing there, he headed over to the shelves and began to pull out scrolls that looked new. Opening the first one, he gasped as he read the contents. Setting it into the bag he carried slung over his shoulder, he began to browse the remaining scrolls, discarding and taking ones as he read.
Then, he stopped and glanced out the window, noticing a group of hooded and cloaked figures step out of the trees and head toward the cottage. Cursing under his breath, he headed out of the room and to the stairs. Stopping at the landing he could hear voices talking quietly. He knew he would never get out that way. Heading over to the trunk-filled room, he closed the door behind him and spotted the window. Walking around the trunks, careful not to disturb anything, he opened the window and stepped out onto the steep roof and jumped to short distance to the soft ground below. Glancing around and seeing no one in sight, he dashed for the safe cover of the trees.
"You! Stop!"
Hearing the voice shout behind him as he crashed into the undergrowth, he glanced back long enough to see a wand being raised and lightning spring forth from its tip. Gasping in shock, he dodged to the left as the tree he had been next to exploded in a shower of wood, smoke and flame.
Jumping to his feet, he dashed further into the trees; trying to find fix his surroundings so he could locate his broom. He could hear the voices closing in on him and the shouted voices calling out to one another.
"He's dead! We found him in his bed!"
"What's going on?"
"Someone is here! I spotted him going into the trees!"
"We have to find him, he has some of the scrolls!"
Taking the chance the shouts gave him; he whispered a phrase and Apparated quickly.
********* Opening his eyes, the young man glanced around, confused momentarily at his surroundings. People were milling about him, glancing at him, he assumed, in shocked amazement at his sudden appearance. Seeing the sign for Olivander's, he knew instantly he had arrived in Diagon Alley.
"The port key."
Dashing down the crowded street, ignoring the protests, he found what he was looking for and stepped inside. Instantly he found himself outside of a building he new all too well.
******* "Good morning, Millicent," Oliver said, stepping up to the desk. "He in?"
"Good morning, Mr. Wood. He certainly is, he's looking over reports. Go on in. I'll make sure you aren't disturbed."
"Thank you," he said. Walking to the door, he stepped inside and locked the door silently behind him and watched the man seated behind the desk across the room.
"Yes? What can I do for you," Percy Weasely, Minister of Magic asked, not bothering to look up from the parchment he was intent on.
"Well, I have this little problem and was told that you could help, so here I am," Oliver said, grinning as Percy's head shot up and a grin appeared.
"Oliver! I wasn't expecting you back till the end of the week." Percy rose and came around the desk, walking into Oliver's open arms and hugging the taller man, resting his head on his chest.
"Well, Will's mother-in-law sent an owl telling him that his wife had just gone into labor. He Apparated so quickly, we didn't even get a chance to reschedule the meeting. So, here I am." Kissing Percy lightly on the head, he sighed contentedly. "It's good to see you."
"I'm glad you're home," Percy said quietly.
"So am I. And, Happy Birthday by the way." Grinning down at his partner, Oliver leaned in and kissed him softly, quickly deepening the kiss.
After a few moments, both men pulled apart. Percy drew a shaky breath and laughed. "You still manage to take my breath away when you do that. I love you, Oliver Wood."
"I love you, Percival Weasley."
******* Hermione was frowning slightly at the scroll in front of her. She had read it four times and was still having trouble believing what she was reading. There wasn't any way for a dragon to have been spotted outside of Glastonbury. There weren't any more dragons in England.
Reaching for her teacup, she heard the shouted voices outside her office.
"Malfoy! What's the rush?"
"Malfoy?" Hermione wasn't sure she had heard correctly as her husband, looking ragged and dirty burst into her office, closing the door behind her and locking it with a quick flick of his wand. "Draco! What's wrong? What's happened to you?"
Pulling a bag off of his shoulder, Draco flung it down on his wife's desk and began pacing. "This! I don't believe this! All these years and the bastard was trying to rebuild everything they had lost!" Hermione rose and came around the desk toward him.
"Draco, sit." Hermione pushed in into a chair and planted her hand firmly against his chest. Looking him in the eye, she spoke again, letting him know she wasn't in the mood to hear him fuming. "Sit. Now, tell me what is going on?"
"I found him!" Draco shouted, trying to stand up again only to have his wife push him back down into the chair. "Stop that!"
"No. You found who? Draco, you've lost me." Crossing her arms, she flipped her hair over her shoulder and glanced over at her desk.
"My father," Draco told her, watching the shock come across her face.
"What?! Ok, wait a moment.are you sure? Draco, that's impossible, he died in the battle." Kneeling on the floor in front of him, Hermione reached for his hands only to have Draco stand up and walk around her. Sighing in exasperation, she turned as saw him searching through the bag he had thrown on her desk.
"He is now. He wasn't though! I found where he's been hiding for the past eight years! Eight years, and we never knew he was there! Here, read this!" Draco pulled a scroll from the bag and thrust it toward her.
Looking at him with a puzzled expression, she unrolled the fine parchment and scanned the contents, noticing quite a few familiar names. "Draco, what is.. oh Merlin." Looking up, her face was a mixture of shock and.was that fear showing in her eyes?
"Yes, it's exactly what you think it is.a list of new Deatheaters." Draco said. His mouth twisted in a grimace. "So much for trying to clean up the Malfoy name. As soon as this gets out, it'll be 'Oh look, there's Draco Malfoy, wonder how long before he follows his father.'"
"Draco, stop that," Hermione said distractedly. She was scanning the scroll over and over again. "We have to go see Percy. Come with me."
Without waiting for Draco to answer her, she grabbed up the bag, and her wand, and headed for the door. Stopping long enough to unlock the door, she headed out into the hall toward Percy's office.
****** Millicent looked up as Hermione and Draco approached. Standing up, she glanced toward the door and then back at Hermione. She could tell by the determined look on the young woman's face that it wasn't going to do her any good, but she was at least going to try. "Ms. Granger, he's in a meeting, you'll need to come back.later." The last of her sentence fell on deaf ears as Hermione pulled out her wand and opened the door with a bang.
"Percy, we need to.. oh.um.sorry." Stopping in her tracks, she heard Draco come to a stop behind her. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Percy and Oliver were quickly pulling away from one another and rearranging their robes. "What is it Hermione?"
"Percy, we have a problem. A bad one." Saying nothing more, she walked over and held out the scroll to him.
"Hello Draco, ever hear of a comb?" Percy asked as he unrolled the scroll.
"What?" It was obvious that Draco had no idea what Percy was talking about. Before he could say anything else, he saw the Minister's face darken.
"Where did you get this? Hermione? Draco?" Looking at both of them, Percy walked over and began to pull out other scrolls.
"I found them at a cottage where I found my father's body."
"What? Wait a minute, your father's been dead for eight years," Oliver said. "He escaped the battle field?"
"We often wondered if any of Voldemort's followers managed to get out but we could never be sure, since there wasn't much left of them," Percy said distractedly. His attention was on the parchments he and Hermione were poring over.
"Percy! Look at this one!" Hermione handed him a parchment, horror etched across her face. Draco, seeing the distress on her face walked over and put his hands on her shoulders.
"These are names on children! Draco, your children's names are on here. So are Ron's and Harry's and quite a few others who attended Hogwart's with us."
"What?" Oliver came around Percy's desk to look over his shoulder. "Oh my God. What is this?"
"I'm not sure. We need to go see Harry." Without another word, Percy gathered up the scrolls and headed for a door. "Come on."
"Um.Perce? Why are we heading for the closet?" Oliver asked, confused as Hermione and Draco followed Percy to the door.
"It's also a port key, to Harry's office at Hogwarts. Come on Oliver." Percy pulled open the door and motioned for Hermione and Draco to go ahead of him. Putting his arm around Oliver's shoulders, he pulled him into the small, tight space. "I never thought it would be used by this many at once but we don't have the time."
****** Harry was sitting at his desk talking with Minerva McGonagol as his closet door flew open to eject four people onto his office floor. Minerva spun with a gasp as Harry rose quickly, reaching for his wand resting on the desktop.
"Percy? Hermione? Oliver? Draco!?" Harry was more that a little surprised to see all four of them rising from the floor. "What is going on?"
"Good heavens Mr. Malfoy! Look at yourself," Minerva said, walking over and brushing her hands across Draco's and Hermione's clothes. "What has happened to you?"
"Harry," Percy said, his tone serious. "We have a problem. A big one."
TBC
Also, I do not own any of the characters or places in this story. The belong to J. K. Rowling and Warner Bros. I am making no money off this (would be nice though.*laugh*)
Sins of the Father
Chapter 1
Stepping out of the tree line, the young man headed toward the cottage ahead of him. The building is small but well maintained. Approaching the cottage, the young man felt his heart begin to pound in his chest. He was confused at first and then realized what it was.
Fear.
He was frightened of what he was going to find inside. Steeling his resolve, he took a deep breath and stepped forward. Grasping the brass doorknob, he swung the door open and stepped across the threshold, wand out and ready to defend himself.
Looking around, he saw the inside was richly decorated with all the trappings of wealth and arrogance. Shaking his head, he sighed and thought to himself that some never change. Walking through the rooms, he heard no other movement but his, and assumed the house was empty.
Walking up to the staircase, he took a deep breath to try and calm his nerves and began ascending the stairs. Reaching the top, he found three doors, two closed and one slightly ajar. Going to the open door, he pushed it open and found a bedroom, most of the small space taken up by the large curtained bed in the middle.
Resting on the bed was a man, his long white hair fanned around him on the pillows and the covers pulled up to his chest. He appeared to be sleeping; he was still and made no movement as the young man approached the bed. Entering the room, he smelled the sharp scent of healing herbs and could feel the remnants of charms hanging in the air like a curtain.
Reaching the side of the bed, he gazed down at the still figure and saw that the man's eyes were open but sightless. "So this was how you met your end. Very grand indeed." Turning from the bed, he walked out of the room without another glance back and headed to investigate the two closed doors.
Finding the first one to be a storage room, filled with trunks that were so covered in dust, he could tell they hadn't been touched in at least a couple of years. The second door was locked. Pointing his wand at the lock he whispered, "Alohomora."
The door sprung open at his muttered spell and he stepped into the room. Heading immediately to the large desk that faced the lawn in front of the cottage, he began to open drawers and rifled through their contents. Finding nothing there, he headed over to the shelves and began to pull out scrolls that looked new. Opening the first one, he gasped as he read the contents. Setting it into the bag he carried slung over his shoulder, he began to browse the remaining scrolls, discarding and taking ones as he read.
Then, he stopped and glanced out the window, noticing a group of hooded and cloaked figures step out of the trees and head toward the cottage. Cursing under his breath, he headed out of the room and to the stairs. Stopping at the landing he could hear voices talking quietly. He knew he would never get out that way. Heading over to the trunk-filled room, he closed the door behind him and spotted the window. Walking around the trunks, careful not to disturb anything, he opened the window and stepped out onto the steep roof and jumped to short distance to the soft ground below. Glancing around and seeing no one in sight, he dashed for the safe cover of the trees.
"You! Stop!"
Hearing the voice shout behind him as he crashed into the undergrowth, he glanced back long enough to see a wand being raised and lightning spring forth from its tip. Gasping in shock, he dodged to the left as the tree he had been next to exploded in a shower of wood, smoke and flame.
Jumping to his feet, he dashed further into the trees; trying to find fix his surroundings so he could locate his broom. He could hear the voices closing in on him and the shouted voices calling out to one another.
"He's dead! We found him in his bed!"
"What's going on?"
"Someone is here! I spotted him going into the trees!"
"We have to find him, he has some of the scrolls!"
Taking the chance the shouts gave him; he whispered a phrase and Apparated quickly.
********* Opening his eyes, the young man glanced around, confused momentarily at his surroundings. People were milling about him, glancing at him, he assumed, in shocked amazement at his sudden appearance. Seeing the sign for Olivander's, he knew instantly he had arrived in Diagon Alley.
"The port key."
Dashing down the crowded street, ignoring the protests, he found what he was looking for and stepped inside. Instantly he found himself outside of a building he new all too well.
******* "Good morning, Millicent," Oliver said, stepping up to the desk. "He in?"
"Good morning, Mr. Wood. He certainly is, he's looking over reports. Go on in. I'll make sure you aren't disturbed."
"Thank you," he said. Walking to the door, he stepped inside and locked the door silently behind him and watched the man seated behind the desk across the room.
"Yes? What can I do for you," Percy Weasely, Minister of Magic asked, not bothering to look up from the parchment he was intent on.
"Well, I have this little problem and was told that you could help, so here I am," Oliver said, grinning as Percy's head shot up and a grin appeared.
"Oliver! I wasn't expecting you back till the end of the week." Percy rose and came around the desk, walking into Oliver's open arms and hugging the taller man, resting his head on his chest.
"Well, Will's mother-in-law sent an owl telling him that his wife had just gone into labor. He Apparated so quickly, we didn't even get a chance to reschedule the meeting. So, here I am." Kissing Percy lightly on the head, he sighed contentedly. "It's good to see you."
"I'm glad you're home," Percy said quietly.
"So am I. And, Happy Birthday by the way." Grinning down at his partner, Oliver leaned in and kissed him softly, quickly deepening the kiss.
After a few moments, both men pulled apart. Percy drew a shaky breath and laughed. "You still manage to take my breath away when you do that. I love you, Oliver Wood."
"I love you, Percival Weasley."
******* Hermione was frowning slightly at the scroll in front of her. She had read it four times and was still having trouble believing what she was reading. There wasn't any way for a dragon to have been spotted outside of Glastonbury. There weren't any more dragons in England.
Reaching for her teacup, she heard the shouted voices outside her office.
"Malfoy! What's the rush?"
"Malfoy?" Hermione wasn't sure she had heard correctly as her husband, looking ragged and dirty burst into her office, closing the door behind her and locking it with a quick flick of his wand. "Draco! What's wrong? What's happened to you?"
Pulling a bag off of his shoulder, Draco flung it down on his wife's desk and began pacing. "This! I don't believe this! All these years and the bastard was trying to rebuild everything they had lost!" Hermione rose and came around the desk toward him.
"Draco, sit." Hermione pushed in into a chair and planted her hand firmly against his chest. Looking him in the eye, she spoke again, letting him know she wasn't in the mood to hear him fuming. "Sit. Now, tell me what is going on?"
"I found him!" Draco shouted, trying to stand up again only to have his wife push him back down into the chair. "Stop that!"
"No. You found who? Draco, you've lost me." Crossing her arms, she flipped her hair over her shoulder and glanced over at her desk.
"My father," Draco told her, watching the shock come across her face.
"What?! Ok, wait a moment.are you sure? Draco, that's impossible, he died in the battle." Kneeling on the floor in front of him, Hermione reached for his hands only to have Draco stand up and walk around her. Sighing in exasperation, she turned as saw him searching through the bag he had thrown on her desk.
"He is now. He wasn't though! I found where he's been hiding for the past eight years! Eight years, and we never knew he was there! Here, read this!" Draco pulled a scroll from the bag and thrust it toward her.
Looking at him with a puzzled expression, she unrolled the fine parchment and scanned the contents, noticing quite a few familiar names. "Draco, what is.. oh Merlin." Looking up, her face was a mixture of shock and.was that fear showing in her eyes?
"Yes, it's exactly what you think it is.a list of new Deatheaters." Draco said. His mouth twisted in a grimace. "So much for trying to clean up the Malfoy name. As soon as this gets out, it'll be 'Oh look, there's Draco Malfoy, wonder how long before he follows his father.'"
"Draco, stop that," Hermione said distractedly. She was scanning the scroll over and over again. "We have to go see Percy. Come with me."
Without waiting for Draco to answer her, she grabbed up the bag, and her wand, and headed for the door. Stopping long enough to unlock the door, she headed out into the hall toward Percy's office.
****** Millicent looked up as Hermione and Draco approached. Standing up, she glanced toward the door and then back at Hermione. She could tell by the determined look on the young woman's face that it wasn't going to do her any good, but she was at least going to try. "Ms. Granger, he's in a meeting, you'll need to come back.later." The last of her sentence fell on deaf ears as Hermione pulled out her wand and opened the door with a bang.
"Percy, we need to.. oh.um.sorry." Stopping in her tracks, she heard Draco come to a stop behind her. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Percy and Oliver were quickly pulling away from one another and rearranging their robes. "What is it Hermione?"
"Percy, we have a problem. A bad one." Saying nothing more, she walked over and held out the scroll to him.
"Hello Draco, ever hear of a comb?" Percy asked as he unrolled the scroll.
"What?" It was obvious that Draco had no idea what Percy was talking about. Before he could say anything else, he saw the Minister's face darken.
"Where did you get this? Hermione? Draco?" Looking at both of them, Percy walked over and began to pull out other scrolls.
"I found them at a cottage where I found my father's body."
"What? Wait a minute, your father's been dead for eight years," Oliver said. "He escaped the battle field?"
"We often wondered if any of Voldemort's followers managed to get out but we could never be sure, since there wasn't much left of them," Percy said distractedly. His attention was on the parchments he and Hermione were poring over.
"Percy! Look at this one!" Hermione handed him a parchment, horror etched across her face. Draco, seeing the distress on her face walked over and put his hands on her shoulders.
"These are names on children! Draco, your children's names are on here. So are Ron's and Harry's and quite a few others who attended Hogwart's with us."
"What?" Oliver came around Percy's desk to look over his shoulder. "Oh my God. What is this?"
"I'm not sure. We need to go see Harry." Without another word, Percy gathered up the scrolls and headed for a door. "Come on."
"Um.Perce? Why are we heading for the closet?" Oliver asked, confused as Hermione and Draco followed Percy to the door.
"It's also a port key, to Harry's office at Hogwarts. Come on Oliver." Percy pulled open the door and motioned for Hermione and Draco to go ahead of him. Putting his arm around Oliver's shoulders, he pulled him into the small, tight space. "I never thought it would be used by this many at once but we don't have the time."
****** Harry was sitting at his desk talking with Minerva McGonagol as his closet door flew open to eject four people onto his office floor. Minerva spun with a gasp as Harry rose quickly, reaching for his wand resting on the desktop.
"Percy? Hermione? Oliver? Draco!?" Harry was more that a little surprised to see all four of them rising from the floor. "What is going on?"
"Good heavens Mr. Malfoy! Look at yourself," Minerva said, walking over and brushing her hands across Draco's and Hermione's clothes. "What has happened to you?"
"Harry," Percy said, his tone serious. "We have a problem. A big one."
TBC