Chapter Sixty-Three: Betrayal

"You're sleeping so nicely," Lucius told the infant girl. "I'm going to set you down in this drawer, since there's no crib, and if you don't mind not crying for about two hours or until you feel hungry, I'd appreciate it. Getting you born was hard work, you know." Narcissa smiled. Lucius had never been the sort to use baby talk, but the serious way he addressed tiny children as if they were adults seemed somehow even funnier. "What are we going to call her?"

"Well, we can't very well name her –she isn't ours. But a nickname should do until her mummy and daddy think of a proper name."

"I'm not calling that child Beaky."

"Of course not. She's a girl. What position do you suppose she'll play?"

"At Quidditch? But she's a girl…"

"And you remember my record. Severus' daughter will likely be Slytherin's finest…whatever she chooses to play. Lucius, what are you doing?"

"Checking her hands, like I did Draco's. Oh, yes, this baby is a Seeker, and then maybe a Chaser after her full height comes in."

"Don't think she'll be nearsighted?"

"I don't know. But look at those fingers…she's got me!" The tiny Seeker-baby had indeed grabbed Lucius' finger in her sleep. "Strong."

"I wonder how we break this news to Severus."

"Why not just have him hold her and after she's been precious for a few minutes, then we tell him."

"What if she spits up?"

"Well, she is half-Muggle-born. You never know. How about you tell him?"

"Coward." Narcissa tucked a blanket around the little one, who was quite placidly asleep in her open bureau drawer crib. "What a sweet baby."

"Is that brooding I hear?"

"No chance. I'm going to be the crazy aunt who showers this little darling with wildly expensive gifts and questionable advice…aren't I, lovely?" The Seeker-baby snorted in her sleep. "Already as sarcastic as your father. Heredity!"

"She'll inherit quite a legacy," Lucius observed, frowning. "Her father's a powerful wizard from an ancient family, and in spite of the obvious, her mother is reputed to be quite the intelligent. I wonder which house she'll be sorted into."

"Slytherin, of course," a weak-chinned voice remarked happily. "Like the Master. What a splendid heir."

"Get out, Wormtail!" Narcissa cried, waking the newborn girl.

"Going to let your traitorous little strumpet talk to me like this?" Wormtail was answered with Lucius' fist across the jaw. "You…"

"You are not going to touch this child."

"Why…Lucius…the infant…the Filius Replicatus…"

"Like hell! This is my friend's daughter and I'll be damned if you'll try to take her away from him!"

"A daughter?" Wormtail's already gray face began to get red and the silvery artificial hand quivered. "The Dark Lord has already made preparations. I will not disappoint our-"

"I am no servant!"

"You…traitor…" The Animagus stared at the blond man with something that edged on fury. "I should have known. This child won't have a father inside of four hours! Severus' treason is proved and in the coming battle our Master will drain his life!"

"Coming battle? Don't you mean attack?" Narcissa grinned coldly. "Come on, mouseboy! The Light is more than prepared for any assault your pathetic remnants of a force could muster. Your men are either locked up, dead or useless, all from a handful of what you'd call mudbloods and foreigners and traitors."

"Like you."

"Precisely."

"Well, you know, Mrs. Malfoy," Wormtail observed, scratching his head with a seemingly absent gesture. "Traitors have to die."

The curse missed Lucius and sideswiped Narcissa's skull, knocking her to the ground. As Lucius caught his wife and quickly looked to examine the damage, Wormtail swept the infant up with on arm and was out the window on a broom before you could say 'rat poison'. For an instant Lucius was torn between friend's daughter in peril and injured wife.

He never had to decide, because at that moment the cavalry, so to speak, arrived.

"Put her down, Malfoy!"

"Mrs. Tyler, I-"

"Do as she says, Father." Draco's identical blue eyes met Lucius' own, and carefully, he lowered Narcissa to the floor. "Mother, are you-?"

"She's unconscious. Wormtail used some kind of curse…"

"Out of my way. Draco, cuff him." Cass knelt by the wounded witch and began things like checking her pulse. Lucius offered his wrists to his son without complaint.

"My wand is by the bed. Son, you have to know something. Voldemort is planning to use the Filius Replicatus spell and if somebody doesn't stop Wormtail from taking-"

"Draco, let him go."

"What?"

"Draco, undo the cuffs and give your dad his wand." Cass stood and with a word, levitated Narcissa onto an empty sofa. "You go do what you have to do to prevent whatever it is you said, and then you come back, Lucius Malfoy."

"Why are you trusting me?"

"Because." The American gestured to Narcissa. "She's our insurance that you'll be back. Don't think for one minute that Albus Dumbledore can stop a martial court from condemning her to your sentence if you aren't at Hogwarts gates by high noon tomorrow." The 'high noon' comment was only vaguely strange since Cass had abandoned the cowboy hat. "Besides, any Death Eater who can say 'Voldemort' is definitely off somewhere."

"Would this give you any more confidence?" Lucius pulled back his sleeve and removed the bandage Narcissa had made, starting the bleeding afresh.

"I didn't need any more. Does it help you, Draco?" Lucius realized the blond boy was staring at his arm with horror, bewilderment, and finally pride. He looked desperately at the young female beside his son.

"Does he know…?"

"I haven't told him," the Yank replied laconically. "Neither has your wife."

"Told me what?" Draco asked.

"Tell him if you want, Lucius. Or don't. It wouldn't change anything." In the sly grin of his illegitimate, ill-gotten daughter, Lucius realized instantly what she meant. Knowing who she was wouldn't change Draco's view or treatment of her, since she already was half a sister now.  He gasped slightly, and the werewolf smirked. "Now that that's settled, I suggest you get going, but first, where the hell is Hermione?!"

"In the bedroom next door. She's…she's not well. We –I've kept her unconscious."

"Good god. Draco, go get the cell-phone out of the glove compartment –it's under the CDs- and call five-one-eight, six-one-four, eight-seven-two-six. Tell Mel what's up, and then try to wake Hermione. I'm going to get Sevvy."

"What about my-"

"Taken care of already." Cass emptied a Ziploc containing one United States quarter onto Narcissa and the injured witch vanished. "Portkey to Madam Pomfrey's. They'll know who sent her. Go on, Lucius."

"I'll be back," the wizard promised, raising his wand to Apparate.

"Good luck… Father." Draco got the last word out just before his dad vanished, but judging from the surprised smile, Lucius had heard. "Eight-seven-two-six?" Draco asked, just to be sure, as he headed for the door behind the American.

"Perfect." Just as Cass got into the front seat, Draco looked in horror at the phone. "What?"

"Low battery and nine incoming messages."

"Bloody Muggle technology. See if you can find an owl and take care of Hermione 'til I get back." Cass put the key in the ignition and took out her wand. "I'm taking the Ron Weasley Hogwarts shortcut."

Draco didn't stop to wave as the car flew off.

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"Stop right there!"

"Moody! We found-"

"I do not care! You are AWOL, Colonel, and in possession of a Class II illegal flying vehicle over protected airspace!"

"So fire me! We found Hermione!"

"Colonel Tyler, I'm afraid I will be forced to take you into custody to await your court-martial." Moody flew his broom closer to Dingo's front window and winked the electric blue magical eye. "Of course, you can resist."

"Mad-Eye, old son, I swear, by tomorrow I will be labeled as the toughest resister to arrest you ever dealt with. Find me later and we'll make up the story of how I almost tried to kill you to get away."

"Good girl! Best go and tell Albus." Cass kissed the grizzled old Auror on the cheek and flew onward toward Hogwarts, not even pausing to drop a paint balloon on the protected airspace of the captured Malfoy Manor. Few historians for many years realized that the legendary tale of the rogue Colonel stealing a car, enchanting it on the spot, bludgeoning Alastor Moody with a tire iron, stealing his broom and heading it toward Hogwarts while five months pregnant was complete and utter hippogriff shit. They did get one detail correctly, however. The five months' suspension from duty Colonel Tyler received was assigned by Brigadier General Moody to coincide directly with her prearranged six months' maternity leave that spring. Schedule control could be so convenient.

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"Well?"

"She'll have some minor memory damage from the hex to the head, but it shouldn't be too bad, and the burn will heal easily with the correct potion. Really, once she finds out what she did the past week or so, the worst symptom will be waiting for her hair to grow back over the mark."

"Sounds like Narcissa," Andromeda Tonks observed. "Are you sure she'll only lose a week of memory?"

"It's rarely more than two years anyone loses with a hex like this, but a good month or so is average. Her mind may be fuzzy, but with potions and explanations, she should be right as rain."

"Will she be waking up-?"

"Andie!" Narcissa smiled at her sister cheerfully. "How's Baby 'Dora? …Ohhhhh…my head hurts like the fires…"

"There again, maybe more than a month or so. You may want to have her see a memory potion specialist or a Legilimens after we heal the burn."

"Burn?" Narcissa felt her head. "Oh, crap, right before the ball…"

"I know just the person," Andromeda reassured the Healer. "In the meantime, may we have some time alone?" As soon as the bustling little medic had shuffled out, the wildest of the Black sisters looked at the prettiest with a merry smirk. "Cissie, I'm only going to get one chance to say this and I'm going to enjoy it. Your hair looks like hell!"

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A/N: And in the next chapter: Sevvy's Hangover Is Interrupted