Chapter 26

Draco, Ron, and Lupin returned two days later with four brooms, two carpet bags, two owls and one Irish woman. Heather O'Toole was a woman in her mid to late sixties with graying red hair, wire frame glasses, and steel toed boots Harry noted. A pair of sturdy corduroy pants, pine green scoop neck top and fleece jacket completed her look. She appeared to be a woman who saw herself as the matriarch of the small group of males behind her.

"It looks jus' like I remember it." Heather stated with a nod.

"DADDY! GRAN!" Cassie exclaimed happily darting from Harry's side. They'd been walking the grounds with Hagrid and Dumbledore when they'd spotted the four flyers. Cassie had been jumping up and down waving madly once she realized it was her father coming back.

"Ah, there's my wee Snapdragon," Heather said, dropping the bag and kneeling down to receive her goddaughter's enthusiastic hug. "I'm so glad you're safe."

"Mr. Potter's been watching me. And I met a poultry-guyst." She told her smiling. Heather arched one eyebrow.

"Oh no," Draco groaned. "You met Peeves?" Silently he was praying that it wasn't true, but he knew better.

"Yup! Mr. Peeves."

Heather rose and pushed the child gently to Draco. Snatching up her bag again she felt better. Cassie was safe. Turning her gaze to the welcoming committee, she spotted Harry immediately. So that is the famous Harry Potter. I wonder if he suspects anything? she thought as she walked towards them.

"And then I climbed on top of the statue." Cassie was saying. Heather raised her eyes skyward. Draco gave his daughter a dark look and the smile she'd been wearing suddenly vanished. "I wasn't was I?"

"No," Draco replied. "That's dangerous. You could've been hurt." His tone was even, but held a warning to it. Cassie hung her head.

"I'm sorry. Mr. Peeves said I could see the X on the floor if I climbed up. He said there was treasure under the X."

"I doubt that. I don't want you listening to Peeves anymore. If he tells you to do something, don't." Cassie nodded. "Good." Draco said softening his voice. "Other than scaring people, what else did you do?"

Her smile was back in an instant and she was recounting her Seeker lessons with Harry and playtime with Fang. Ahead of them Heather was shaking hands with Dumbledore and thanking him. Ron and Lupin carried the remaining brooms and bag as they walked behind the small family.

"Welcome Ms. O'Toole." Dumbledore said taking her offered hand.

"Thank you. I appreciate you offerin' Draco a position. Twas very kind o' you," she said. "I hope Cassie didna cause too many problems while she was here."

"Hardly any!" Hagrid announced laughing. "Such a sweet lil girl. Amazed tha' she's a Malfoy. I taught her father in Care of Magical Creatures."

Squashing the snide comment that entered her mind at Draco's defense, Heather reminded herself that the name Malfoy wasn't liked here as it had been in New Zealand. Draco had had to start with nothing and work his way up through the Muggle world in order to survive. It'd bred certain tolerances and attitudes in him, ones that were different from when he'd been in Britain.

"Fatherhood seems to have brought certain things into perspective for Mr. Malfoy." Dumbledore commented noticing Heather's dilemma. She nodded and turned her attention to Harry.

"You must be Mr. Potter," she stated examining him with a critical eye.

"Yes, I am," he replied as she nodded to herself.

"I'm glad ta see you're in one piece, lad. She can be a handful sometimes. Most are at this age." Harry rolled his eyes. "Somethin' tells me it had to do with brooms. Ah donna worry, you can tella me about it later." She patted him on the shoulder before maneuvering over to McGonagall for another introduction. He thought he caught a smile on the head of Gryffindor's face as the women shook hands, but he was distracted by Ron's shout of greeting. Hurrying over, he offered him a hand with the luggage.

With the Malfoy's and Ms. O'Toole busy setting up their new living area, Ron and Lupin had time to talk about their trip. New Zealand was at the beginning of winter, but Aukland itself had been warm. It's temperate bordering on tropical climate kept the area nice and pleasant most of the year.

"All I can say is that it wasn't what I expected," Ron said as they recounted their stay at Draco's home. "It was a Muggle house with no magical expansions anywhere. I thought Malfoy would've at least done that, but he didn't."

"It was simply decorated. A few framed prints of Muggle photographs and some hand stamped tappa cloth on the walls. It was a far departure from the extravagance that normally goes with being a Malfoy." Lupin elaborated folding his coat and laying it on his lap.

"That's not even the amazing bit," Ron pointed out leaning forward. "He's been surviving as a Muggle. His boss, who incidentally is a wizard too, told us he was one of the best landscape designers his firm had. Malfoy's been working with Muggles, I mean in the dirt, tearing up lawns with his bare hands along side them. I never thought he'd do anything like that!" He was shaking his head as he spoke as if it was still hard too believe.

"That would make sense," Dumbledore reasoned, setting his teacup down. "He's been hiding from Lucius."

"Living amongst Muggles would be the last thing he'd expect from his son." Harry muttered finally having his suspicions confirmed.

They spoke more of their experiences in New Zealand. How different it was from Britain. The rules concerning Muggles and magic folk were more lax for example. The Kiwi's, as Heather had affectionately referred to New Zealanders, had figured out all sorts of tricks. Besides putting Quidditch on television, they had other magical shows. There was one dedicated to cooking the magical way, which was thinly disguised as a comedy show. They'd had to do it once the chef had accidentally turned a tart into an ostrich.

"New Zealand certainly sounds like an interesting place," Harry admitted, leaning back in his chair. It appeared to be a nice hodgepodge of Muggle and magic folk, where the lines between the two blurred from time to time.

"It's a place my father would love to visit," Ron told him. "He'd fit right in with the rest of the lot!" He shook his head recalling affectionately all the various Muggle items Arthur Weasley had enchanted over the years.

"I notice Sirius isn't here." Lupin commented, his voice taking on a sterner note. Dumbledore folded his arms across his desk and nodded. He explained that Black was spying on Malfoy Manor and wouldn't be back until nightfall.

Lupin felt uneasy. If Black were caught then they'd lose an important ally. Lupin had already lost him to Azkaban Prison once; he didn't want to go through that again. Black had been a fugitive for almost eleven years and someday Lupin hoped they'd clear his name. That wouldn't happen unless Pettigrew confessed and the Death Eater wasn't likely too.

The meeting broke up a few minutes later when Ron pointed out that he needed to go home to his wife. Natalie was likely growing anxious for news. The last thing she'd heard was that he was on a top-secret assignment for Dumbledore and that he'd be back in a week. She was a patient and understanding woman, but even she got worried. They all agreed he needed to see her before she stormed Hogwarts.

This left Harry as the only Auror once again. Lucius hopefully had not regained enough strength for another kidnapping attempt. If he did, Snape would likely catch wind of it and warn them. The elder Malfoy knew it was too risky this soon, so an attack wouldn't be coming for a while Harry prayed.

He was halfway down the staircase when Ron called out to him.

"Lupin just reminded me of something," he said catching up to Harry.

"What?"

"Well, when we first got there and met Ms. O'Toole and the Fa'avah family there were two men there. Mr. Fa'avah introduced them as his fathers. I know it sounds weird, but he looked liked them both. They acted like they were part of the family. It was just odd. Anyway, there was a bit of whispering, we couldn't hear much except Malfoy saying 'no, he's not here'. Followed by an affirmative nod from Heather. We didn't catch the conversation, so I don't know what context that was said in. Then later on Ms. O'Toole made a comment that the two men were part of a support group that Draco was a member of."

Harry mulled over the information for a moment. "Maybe you misheard and Malfoy said 'she's not here' in reference to Cassie." Ron shook his head.

"Possibly, but I'm sure I heard 'he'. Those two guys were strange though. I got the distinct impression that there was something we weren't told." Ron shook his head. "Maybe you can get Malfoy to tell you or Cassie might without his consent."

He doubted he could. They walked together for a bit until they ran into Percy and Ron left with him. Harry sighed wondering how many secrets Draco had and if it was possible to figure any of them out.