Generations: Finding Home

by Charlotte1

Alecia Malfoy, Rachel Weasley and Katie Potter are starting their 1st year at Hogwarts. Leshia stumbles onto a trail that might lead to the whereabouts of her missing mother Hermione. Can she convince Draco before it's too late? Will they save her on time

5. Part Five

Thank you so much for your reviews! They're what keep me writing!

Part V

Later that afternoon Leshia was sat in Draco's study, her chin leaning on the back of the sofa, she was peering into her father's bedroom as a suitcase started packing itself. Excruciatingly, after Draco's announcement she had been sent back into her History of Magic lesson, but had not been able to concentrate one bit. In a feverishly written note she had divulged what her father had told her to her friends and now they were every bit as excited as she was. Luckily for the girls History of Magic was their last lesson for the day and the trio had marched straight over to Draco's study, where he was talking with Dumbledore himself. The kindly old headmaster had risen to his feet upon seeing the girls and twinkled conspiratorially at Draco.

" Of course Leshia may have the time off," he had said, before leaving Draco with three extremely inquisitive girls.

" So it's definite, I'm coming?" Leshia had asked gleefully and she and the girls had pressed Draco for information on where they were going and how they were getting there, but the young man hadn't the time for their twittering and had sent them away grumpily. There was too much for him to organise without having to deal with their nonsense. Leshia had managed to stay away a mere hour and now she was back. This time she hadn't been sent away and finally she knew she was going to get some answers.

" So where is are we going?" she asked curiously, tearing her gaze away from the bag that was being filled with muggle clothes.

" A small place in Holland," Draco explained. Leshia wrinkled her brow.

" Holland? How did they get her to Holland?" she asked. Draco raised his hands to the air in his trademark, 'I don't know, so drop it' way. Leshia could see he was on edge and knew better than to go into 'annoying mode'.

" How are we getting there?" she asked eagerly.

" Well you're probably going to get very excited by this," Draco warned as he sat down behind his desk and leafed through some papers. " But we're going to have to take muggle transport."

" Really?" Leshia squealed, over-the-moon excited now.

" Yes really," Draco chuckled. " You're too young to apparate and I don't want to risk us being detected on the floo network. We have to enter the country in complete secrecy. Holland isn't very big, and there's a deeply ingrained dark wizarding community there, they'll know if we enter by magical means. So we're taking one of those flying things…what are they called?"

" A plane?" Leshia asked eagerly. Draco nodded grimly, evidently not thrilled about this arrangement.

" Well there's more Leshia, now don't overreact," Draco warned. " Severus is coming with us." Leshia lost her smile in an instant.

" What?" she demanded angrily.

" I warned you," Draco admonished, giving her a warning look that read loud and clear to drop it. " He's our best link to that world Leshia, we need him. Albus and Minerva are coming too, so perhaps that might cheer you up." The thought did indeed bring a smile to Leshia's face, but that was only because she was trying to imagine, Snape, McGonagall and Dumbledore in muggle attire sat side by side on a muggle plane.

" Is everyone allowed to just take time off then whenever they feel like it?" Leshia asked grumpily, she was feeling slightly disappointed now, she had hoped she and Draco might be able to spend some time together, but that was clearly not going to happen.

" It's only a week until the Easter holidays anyway, and hopefully, rescuing your mother shouldn't take too long," Draco said softly and he hung his head a little, secretly hoping everything was going to be all right. Leshia could see he was worried and she got to her feet finally, before shuffling over to his desk and sitting down opposite her father. Now did she see the dark shadows under his eyes, he too had apparently been worried this last week and now, he was doubly worried as they were due to set off and find his wife. Part of him feared what they might find.

" If we find her dad and she comes back…" Leshia trailed off, reaching out and fingering one of the many interesting artefacts on her father's desk. " What will happen to you? Will you go back to London?" Draco quickly reached out and released her hand from the artefact she had absent-mindedly been stroking – it had started to glow bright green and was emitting a yellowish smoke.

" I don't know Leshia," he said softly and he squeezed her hand before letting it go. " I think I kind of like it here," he added with a shrug, looking around his dingy study stuffed full to the brim of his possessions.

" Well mum could also come and teach, I bet they could start up a whole new subject for her, Professor Dumbledore adores her!" Leshia gushed excitedly.

" Well don't get your hopes up little one, we don't even know if your mother is going to be the same Hermione we knew all those years ago," her father said softly, voicing for the first time the niggling fear that had been growing since he found out his wife was alive and captured. " Now go on, you'd better go and pack," Draco said getting to his feet and lifting up a duffel bag. " Remember, muggle clothes, try not to bring anything too magical!" Leshia nodded and took the bag from his hand before turning on heel and heading for the door. Once there she stopped and turned around to see Draco's head was hanging.

" We will get her back dad, and everything will go back to normal, just wait!" she said firmly. Draco smiled and looked up at the childish hope in his daughter's face and he hadn't the heart to tell her otherwise.

" I'm sure you're right sweetheart, now go on, we're getting up early tomorrow," Draco said getting back to the papers on his desk. Leshia wanted to try and make him see how sure she was that everything was going to be all right, but she could see he was highly temperamental and could snap, and the last thing she wanted was for him to be grumpy on this exciting journey of theirs. So she took off and raced back to Gryffindor against the stream of people heading down for dinner. Rachel and Katie were waiting for her eagerly in the common room and after Leshia had dispatched the duffel bag they headed down to dinner, while she told them everything she knew.

" So you're going on a muggle plane tomorrow to Holland with your dad, Snape, McGonagall and Dumbledore?" Rachel finally repeated sounding incredulous. Leshia nodded eagerly.

" Rather you than me," Katie chuckled. " But why can't they apparate over there?"

" Because apparently Holland is like a breeding ground for dark wizards," Leshia said drolly rolling her hand as though this were old news. " And they'd detect them…or something like that."

" Well you know what this means," Rachel said cheerfully, looking to Katie with a big smile. Katie furrowed her brow and shook her head. " Well with all those teachers gone, I'll bet they give us and early holiday!"

XXX

That evening Leshia packed her bag with her most muggle-like clothes. This in itself wasn't terribly difficult, as like most youngsters, she tended to dress in their jeans, T-shirts and jumpers anyway. Only the very old wizards and witches donned full robes these days, even Draco and her friends' parents took to wearing muggle clothes, in fact, Draco had even started to teach in Jeans these days, something that had spawned a revolution amongst the younger teachers' dress code.

Staring around at her possessions, Leshia failed to understand how she was to pack anything non-magical. Practically everything she owned was magical. She would have liked to have taken her quidditch book so she could show her mother how she had helped win the quidditch cup, but when she remembered that muggles didn't have moving pictures and books that refreshed themselves she hastily unpacked it. In the end she ended up taking a few of her class textbooks and some parchment. She had several essays to write before the following Friday and assuming she would have some free time – and her father's undivided attention and help – she would easily finish them.

By nightfall the girl was far too excited to sleep. Rachel and Katie, seemingly in a similar state, joined her on her bed and for hours they discussed the finer details of the journey Leshia was about to embark on. They didn't seem to mention Hermione or the state they would find her in, though each and every one of them was thinking about it. It was only when they got on to the topic of this muggle travel once more that Leshia froze.

" The take off is the worst, that's what Rodeo was telling me…" Rachel drifted off and frowned at Leshia's white drawn face. " Leesh? It's probably not that scary, I mean we all know Rodeo's a wuss…"

" No it's not that," Leshia cut her off. " It's my passport!"

" What's a passport?" Katie asked, her brow furrowed.

" It's a muggle thing, they need them if they travel abroad," Leshia explained hurriedly. " My mum always made sure we had them, but over Christmas my dad burned ours. He thought I was going to run away to Mexico," she added seeing the curious looks on her friends' faces.

" So you don't have a passport thing?"

" Well I've got to tell dad, he's probably forgotten!" The girls glanced about themselves, as though expecting Draco to suddenly appear, but of course, he did not. Leshia however, was looking oddly triumphant, in a grim sort of way. " I don't want to have to do this…but I don't feel like going all the way down there at this time of night…" The girls sat shuffled away from their friend, wondering what had her looking so defeated. " Tally?"

With a pop the ugly houself appeared, evidently a little groggy, as though she had just been sleeping moments ago. Katie and Rachel, who had braced themselves for the arrival of the bad-tempered helper shuffled right off the end of the bed leaving Leshia alone with her father's help.

" Tally, I need you to ask my dad something," Leshia said firmly. Tally, evidently not forgetting Leshia's recent treatment of her – both on Valentine's Day and at Christmas – lifted her nose snootily into the air.

" Ask Master something?" she repeated sounding disinclined to help. Leshia nodded wearily.

" It's dreadfully important Tally, honest!" The Elf rose her nose even higher into the air, and looking as though she was about to fall over, she finally nodded. Leshia beamed at elf. " You have to ask him about passports. You have to tell him that none of us have got any. How are we going to go on a muggle plane. You got all that?" Tally gave her a withering expression before disappearing into thin air once more.

" You should be more easy going with her," Katie said softly and looked away sheepishly when both Rachel and Leshia turned on her with exasperated expressions. Before they had a chance to reply Tally was back, this time catching the girls by surprise.

" Master is asleep," Tally announced. Leshia furrowed her brow.

" Well wake him up, didn't I say this was important?"

" Tally cannot wake master, Tally is forbidden…"

" Tally!" Leshia complained angrily. " If you don't wake him up then I'm going to give you clothes," the girl threatened. Tally's eyes went wide – she was smitten with the Malfoy household and loved working for Draco, even though it meant she had to take that little madam under her wing too. The thought of clothes and freedom was a little too much for her and so with a pop she disappeared once more. Leshia rolled her eyes.

" Can't wake him up," she grumbled. " This is a matter of life or death and she's going on about…" Once more the pop and flash startled the three girls into silence and Tally appeared looking triumphant.

" Master says he has everything under control," Tally gushed, her black eyes swelling with pride. " Master also says that Miss Leshia is to go to sleep right this instant and that Tally is allowed to make sure she does." Leshia looked to her friends with wide eyes and uttered a quick 'goodnight' before she snuggled down under her blankets and pushed Tally away.

" I'm sleeping now okay? You can go back to whatever it is you do…" The grey hazy smoke filled Leshia's bed as Tally's disgruntled face disappeared causing the girl to dive for cover under her blankets. " Damn houself," she grumbled furiously.

XXX

Had Leshia believed herself to be free from the pesky houself then she was very much mistaken. Followed by a soft prodding in her side Leshia prized her eyes open, only to have her line of vision filled with the exaggerated features of the houself she'd loathed many a year.

" Tally," Leshia gasped, shuffling back in bed to get away from the green pest.

" Miss Leshia is to get dressed and join Master in the great hall, hurry," Tally relayed before she disappeared into the dawn light that was filtering through Leshia's curtains. It was still early yet and after quickly changing into a suitably muggle-like outfit Leshia picked up her bag and hurried over to her friends' beds. One by one she peered in and after gently waking them up she gave them beaming smiles and uttered her quiet goodbyes. She felt oddly tearful leaving them behind, but this was soon overcome by excitement that soon she was to be reunited with her mother. She positively flew down the stairs until she rushed into the great hall and found her father eating breakfast with the other members of their rescue 'team'. Feeling extremely self-conscious Leshia eyed her usual position at the now-empty Gryffindor table and wondered where she was going to sit.

" Come over here you silly girl," Draco grumbled – his aversion to mornings showing through. Leshia grinned and rushed up to the table and took the seat beside her father.

" Good morning," she said brightly to the assembled teachers. McGonagall and Dumbledore smiled pleasantly back at her, but Snape avoided her eyes and Draco glared at her, his mouth full of toast.

" You made that dratted houself wake me up last night," he grumbled once he'd swallowed his food. " I couldn't get back to sleep afterwards."

" Yeah," Leshia said with a shrug as she helped herself to some food. " Well it was important, I thought you might have forgotten." Draco continued to glare at her as he lifted a manila envelope and poured out the contents – several maroon passport-looking things – onto the table.

" Crayik sorted these out for us last night," her father explained and then stifled a yawn.

" Oh, well good right?" Leshia said happily, for the first time looking around at the assembled teachers. She instantly had to stifle her laughter as she took in their muggle attire. Dumbledore looked the most bizarre, in a brown suit and his long flowing hair and beard. McGonagall was possibly equally as humorous in her own trouser suit, her hair still held tightly back in a bun. They looked like a very serious and bizarre couple. Snape donned a black ensemble: black trousers, black shirt and black jumper. He looked menacing enough and Leshia was sure the muggles would be terrified at the sight of him. Her father looked no different to the way he had appeared in her last lesson – jeans, a long sleeved ribbed T-shirt…he merely looked like himself, but sat amongst these newly muggle-dressed teachers he looked oddly out of place, though Leshia couldn't figure out why.

" Where are we taking this plane thing from?" she asked curiously, realising she had been staring at everyone a little too long.

" A city called Glasgow," Draco replied tiredly.

" And how are we getting there?"

" Portkey." Leshia had many more questions, but she could see that she was treading a fine line. Draco was evidently displeased with her, and there was a hint of something else – he was afraid. Afraid of what state they were going to find Hermione in, afraid, that she wouldn't recognise him. Throughout the remainder of this bizarre breakfast Dumbledore regaled the group with stories of his few visits to Holland. Leshia was excited to hear that most of the 'good' wizards and witches of Holland resided together in a community known as the Waddendaal – where the only wizarding school in the country existed, the Dutch magical ministry called home and where most of the magical community lived – whose location was a firmly kept secret. She also managed to ascertain that this is where they would be staying while they searched for Hermione.

After breakfast Leshia followed the small group of teachers through to the teachers' chambers behind the great hall and through to a small room that didn't look particularly special. Everyone was collecting together their baggage and bearing down on the only table in the room, which peculiarly only held an old inkpot.

" Leshia come on," Draco ordered, and Leshia quickly rushed over, pushing in between Draco and McGonagall. One by one the teachers reached out and touched the inkpot and after an urgent look from her father Leshia did the same. For a moment nothing happened, but then, as though a fishhook had reached into her belly button, Leshia felt herself dragged forward. After several moments of unpleasant jostling between her father and her House leader, Leshia was relieved to find they had arrived at their destination – a sterile looking room that was very much out of place with anything Leshia had ever seen. She quickly jumped back from the inkpot and straightened her clothes, while the teachers all made for the only door in the room.

" Are we in Glasgow?" Leshia asked Draco softly. He could see her unease and finally eased up a little; it was cowardly after all, to take out his nerves on his young daughter.

" Yes we're at the airport," he replied and placed his hand on her head, ruffling her hair slightly. Feeling comforted Leshia peered out of the door Dumbledore had now opened into a hive of muggle activity. " Just stay close to me, I know this is all terribly fascinating to you," he continued, looking out at the muggles with unease.

" I will," Leshia said and she grinned up at him before stepping out into the check-in hall at the busy airport. She was true to her word and followed her father as though she were attached to him on a small tether. Even when the small group had no clue which direction in which to go, and all they managed to do was march up and down the check-in aisles, she kept her eyes fixed firmly on her father's back. Finally it would seem they had found the right desk and they joined a queue of fascinating looking muggles. Leshia couldn't tear her eyes off them as they played with their gadgets – strange things they talked into, little plugs attached to what looked like string stuffed into their ears, strange silver books with keys, that flashed different things on a screen…fascinating! Finally they reached the front of the queue and Draco ushered Leshia forward to a desk where an impatient looking woman suddenly glowed red and batted her eyelashes up at Draco. He frowned cautiously at her, as though she was contagious and quickly held out their shiny new passports along with the plane tickets Crayik had procured for them.

" Amsterdam is your final destination?" the muggle woman asked, blatantly ogling the poor man with no shame. Draco nodded quickly. " I'm afraid that the plane is overbooked, so I won't be able to seat you together…"

" Oh," Draco uttered and he looked down at his daughter to see she was absent-mindedly staring at something that was undoubtedly fascinating to her in the distance. She would probably be too distracted to notice where she was sitting. In fact she probably wouldn't notice if they strapped her to the wing. " Fine."

" Do you have any luggage you wish to check in?" the muggle asked, leaning forward suggestively and for an excuse to get away Draco quickly turned his attention to putting their bags onto the luggage belt. After what seemed like a barrage of questions – did you pack this yourself, could anyone have tampered with it… - in which Draco clutched onto his daughter's shoulders as though the world were coming to an end, they were finally given their 'boarding cards' and were told which way to go. Uttering his thanks and ignoring the adoring look the muggle was casting him, Draco dragged Leshia away to where the others were waiting.

" Muggles are peculiar things," Draco grumbled once they had reached them.

" Oh dad come on," Leshia laughed. " That one just fancied you that's all!" Ignoring this revelation the small party of stunned magical folk made their way through the excruciatingly long cues until they reached passport control. Dumbledore was the only one halted and for one frightening moment it looked as though they weren't going to let him through, but finally they did and on to the next hurdle them ambled: the mechanical nightmare that was the metal detector. Try as they might, the little party couldn't get the hang of it and every time they went through they set off the dratted things. Spare coins, odd little magical titbits that had lain long forgotten in barely used clothes and even a large set of jangling keys (Dumbledore could have sworn he had left those behind) all set the machines off and finally, after annoying the muggle security team into a state of frenzy, they managed to get through into the departure lounge.

" I need a drink," Draco announced heading for what he hoped was a muggle pub. Leshia followed haplessly, her attention being drawn this was and that, until finally as Draco collapsed on a barstool, she caught her first glimpse of a plane.

" Wow!" she gasped. " Dad look! It's huge!" Draco tore his eyes from his well-earned beer and soon wished he hadn't.

" Oh God," he managed and quickly focused his attention back on his drink.

" Do you really think these things can fly?" Leshia asked curiously, swivelling round on her barstool.

" I'd really rather not think about it sweet…"

" Those little wheels barely look like they can hold it…hey, do you think those wings flap, then it might be able to…"

" Leshia," Draco exclaimed sounding agonised, and he looked about the small departure lounge wearily. There were no evident signs of danger: excepting the foolish muggles that were swarming around in hoards. " Why don't you go and explore huh?" A large smile filled Leshia's face and she jumped from her stool. " Not too far!" Draco called after her, before he dropped his head again, trying his very best not to look out the window at the muggle-monstrosity, which looked too big to be allowed, let alone to fly. Fear of flying had never been something Draco had had to deal with before.

Leshia, taking advantage of her newfound freedom, roamed the airport with a large grin on her face. So this was the world her mother had known once. It was extremely loud she deducted almost straight away. Muggles were an unusually loud folk, and here, in the comfort of the squishy airport seats the gadgets she had found so interesting were coming out in force. Everywhere she looked muggles clutched at conveniently sized electronic things. For a moment Leshia pondered at a life without magic and realised her wand was probably capable of all those things.

'Poor muggles,' she thought as she saw a girl her own age struggle past with a large bag and several gadgets – one pushed up to her right ear, a strange plug and string thing in her other, a black shiny screen thing in her hand blearing tinny music and one of those silver book things under her arm. 'They must get sore backs carrying all that around.' After glimpsing McGonagall and Dumbledore sitting rigidly by the window in hushed discussion, and fearing they might include her, Leshia did an about turn only to find Snape bearing down on her, the muggles before him darting out of his way. The only escape route she could see was a small muggle shop and so Leshia darted towards it. Inside young muggles swarmed around looking in the glass displays at more of these gadget things and Leshia blindly followed. She noted that most of these things were very expensive, some equally as expensive as her near-flight to Mexico – which at the time she had thought to be extortionate, it had wiped out her life savings. Thinking longingly back to the pile of money Draco had made her leave behind, she wished she had it now, so she could purchase several of these things to play with on their journey.

" Miss Malfoy," Snape's unpleasant drawl came in her ear. " What are you doing?"

" Dad said I could explore," Leshia countered defiantly, spinning around and seeing the potions master was looking highly uncomfortable to be surrounded by so many muggles.

" He should know better," Snape hissed. " You're drawing attention to us." Leshia furrowed her brow and looked about herself. The young muggles were staring in awe at the black clad thundercloud that was stalking around, rather than at herself.

" No sir I think…" she began, but Snape already had her under the arm and was guiding her out, back to the pub where Draco was recovering slightly from his initial shock of being confronted with the metallic nightmare he was going to have to go on.

" Perhaps," Snape said loudly as he pushed Leshia onto the stool beside her father. " It would be prudent for us all to remain together." Draco nodded distantly.

" Good idea," he uttered and he downed his drink. " let's go find the others."

" I know where they are," Leshia chirruped and she leapt from her stool pushing through the crowds, ignoring Snape calling after her to slow down. Slowing down was the last thing on Leshia's mind and soon she dropped down beside her head master, who turned to smile warmly at her.

" Your mother will be pleased to see how much you enjoy this world she still loves," Dumbledore said kindly. Leshia grinned sheepishly and looked out the window at the metal birds that stood vigilantly in the bleak weather.

" I don't think I could manage as a muggle," she said instead. " Too expensive and then there's all that carting around."

" Miss Malfoy!" Snape was back, but whatever lecture he had in mind could wait as Dumbledore turned to smile at him, a hidden message in his serious eyes. Now, with the floor to ceiling windows exposing the fleet of metallic monstrosities, Draco veritably collapsed in a seat as far from the window as possible.

" I think my dad's afraid of flying," Leshia whispered to the headmaster who chuckled warmly.

" Only once have I had to fly on one of these planes before," he said looking nostalgic. " As I recall, it was a very bumpy experience, it was quite enjoyable actually." A strange sound escaped from Draco's direction and he soon excused himself to rush off to the bathrooms. Leshia watched him go worriedly, before lowering her head.

" It's not like him to be afraid sir," she said softly. Dumbledore smiled genially.

" With the pressure he is under Leshia, it is not surprising for him to be acting a little out of sorts," he explained soothingly. The girl nodded to herself.

" Do you think professor, when we find mum…well do you think she'll…" the girl trailed off.

" Be as she was before?" Dumbledore finished and his smile was so kind that Leshia pushed away any fears she had. " We cannot know this Leshia, we can only hope." This had evidently not been the answer the girl had been hoping for, as her face fell quite notably. " One thing I do know however, is that your mother was one of the most able witches I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I know this as much as I know that she cared so much for you, her precious little girl, that she would have moved mountains to be with you." A small smile spread across the girl's face and she nodded.

" I hope so professor," she said and looked up as Draco struggled back to the group. " Because I think it would kill him if we lost her again."

XXX

An hour later, the now very subdued rescue party made their way down the gangplank and onto the muggle plane. Trying her very best to ignore Draco's deathly white face and his terrified expression Leshia struggled through the dawdling passengers until she reached her seat: 12A.

" Um, excuse me, but that's my seat," Leshia said to the young woman sat in 12C. She was trying her very best to be polite and it paid off as the woman smiled warmly at her and got up to allow her through. " I'm Leshia," she then said happily once she'd taken her place. Unaware of normal plane etiquette, she didn't seem to notice the surprised smile on the young woman's face: she too, you see, was a talker.

" Jenny," she said with a twinkling smile and she reached out her hand. " Nice to meet you Leshia." Down the aisle Draco and the other Hogwarts crew were still stuck behind an obstacle course of dawdling passengers, but from her position Leshia could make out the suspicious look that had temporarily sneaked onto Draco's drawn face as he watched the woman sitting beside his daughter. It was a point in favour of Jenny's favourable disposition that she didn't turn and ogle Draco as he walked over to his seat in 11D, as most other young (and old) women were turning to give him surreptitious glances. Jenny couldn't help but notice though when Draco turned around in his chair and sat watching them both with narrowed eyes.

" That's my dad," Leshia quickly explained. " We've never been on a plane before, he's a little frightened." Jenny smiled kindly at Draco, something that put him off and forced him to turn around again, but Jenny wasn't done.

" Excuse me mister," she said reaching out and tugging on his shirt. " Would you like to swap seats so you can sit with your daughter?" Surprised by this muggle kindness, Draco was very much inclined to agree, but looking at Leshia he could see she was enjoying this chance to interact with muggles, and after all, he wouldn't be very good company so he shook his head.

" No," he said brusquely. " Thank you though." Jenny frowned thoughtfully and sat back in her seat.

" Fair enough," she finally chirruped with a shrug, but then her attention was drawn by McGonagall and Dumbledore sidling past, both giving Leshia twinkling smiles. " Let me guess, grandparents?" Jenny asked once they'd moved to the rear of the plane. Leshia opened her mouth to object, but it never came.

" Yeah," she managed instead. " Something like that."

" And this guy?" Jenny asked suddenly, her eyes focused down the aisle on Snape, who was staring at Leshia and Jenny the same way Draco had.

" Evil uncle," the young girl whispered back. Jenny laughed raucously, but stifled it when Snape took the seat in front of Leshia.

" So what are you going to Holland for?" Jenny asked conversationally as she did her seatbelt up. Leshia quickly struggled to copy her.

" We're going to uh, collect my mum and bring her home," Leshia said, trying to put it as carefully as she could. In front of her Snape made a strangled sounding cough, as though urging her not to speak with the loud and obnoxious muggle. The girl flat out ignored his hint, and continued on, " She's been on a long trip."

" Oh, anywhere far away?" Jenny asked sounding intrigued, noting the sad look on her young companion's face and making a mental note to change the topic of conversation as quickly as possible.

" Very far away," Leshia sighed as the plane dipped at the front and they started rolling away. As the rehearsed message from the flight bursar relayed over the speakers, Leshia and the rest of her group listened carefully. They paid even closer attention as the flight attendants demonstrated the proper use of the evacuation procedures and by the time the plane had trundled over to the end of the runway and the flight crew had taken their seats, Draco was positively shaking with nerves.

The speed of the thing! The only muggle transport Leshia had ever taken was a car and that definitely didn't race across the tarmac as fast as this thing did. She was well accustomed to such speeds on a broom, but not strapped to a seat and moving on wheels. Just when she didn't think she could take the pressure anymore the plane dipped once more and finally they were lifting off into the air. Across the aisle, Draco gripped the armrests frantically, his knuckles turning white, his eyes pressed shut, and right ahead Leshia could have sworn she heard Snape utter a groaning sound. What was wrong with them? This was fantastic!

" Having fun?" Jenny asked with a wide smile. Leshia grinned and nodded.

" This is amazing!" she exclaimed as they climbed higher and the airport started to give way to the clouds. The young girl didn't quite find it amazing when they hit turbulence; Draco certainly didn't and Leshia regretted him not taking up Jenny's offer, he looked so miserable. Snape it would seem reacted the worst to the whole turbulence ordeal, as the moment the seatbelt sign was switched off he darted to his feet, his face entirely green and rushed to the back of the plane. Leshia sat up slightly in her seat and watched him go with an expression of glee, catching sight as she did so, professor McGonagall giving her neighbour – a portly grumpy looking man – a glare, and professor Dumbledore, his head reclined backwards, and loud snores erupting from his open mouth. Stifling a giggle, Leshia sank back into her chair, and after one more look at her white father she shook her head.

'Wizards and the muggle world just don't mix,' she thought to herself fondly.

XXX

The two-hour journey couldn't have gone by quicker for Leshia as she enjoyed a wonderfully deep and humorous conversation with Jenny and relished in her first experience of plane food. The others, suffice to say, couldn't be happier when the plane touched down in the wet and windy landscape that was Schiphol airport. The second they touched down the colour returned to Draco's cheeks a little and he finally let go of the armrests he'd been clinging to for two hours. The girl was sad to say goodbye to her newfound muggle friend, but as she stood up in the aisle she was clasped into the arms of her father and hurried away.

" Never," Draco muttered sounding more sincere than Leshia had ever heard him. " Ever, am I going on one of those death boxes again!" Leshia giggled.

" Didn't you think the turbulence was fun dad?" The dark look he cast her caused Leshia to giggle even more and she didn't stop until they came to the arduous task of waiting for their luggage.

" How are we getting to the commune?" Leshia asked curiously, but she was suddenly silenced by four urgent looks.

" Don't speak of it here you silly girl," Snape snapped, and he in turn was silenced by three unimpressed looks and one cocky look.

" You'll see," Draco said softly, and no more was spoken between the five of them until they had collected their bags and walked out into the arrivals area of the massive airport. As though following some plan Leshia wasn't aware of she followed the adults through the maze like airport until they reached some moving ramps – which Leshia thought were absolutely out-of-this-world – and they found themselves in a long corridor with lots of windows. Ahead of them muggles were waiting in line to put money and tickets into these odd yellow machines and beyond them stood a small party of people so obviously wizarding in nature it wasn't funny. Leshia instantly recognised all three faces: Minister Crayik, dressed in a white linen suit despite the rain that was bearing down on the windswept landscape, Ron Weasley, dressed in too-tight jeans and a reindeer jumper, and Harry Potter, the only reasonably dressed one of the lot. Leshia couldn't contain her excitement at seeing the latter two, they had always been like favoured uncles to the young girl, and upon seeing them now she careened forward and into their awaiting arms.

" What are you doing here?" she beamed as she pulled back.

" Same as you of course," Ron said fondly as the rest of Leshia's party caught up with them and everyone got reacquainted before they were hurried off by an impatient Crayik to mundane looking estate car.

" Right everyone in," Crayik announced and he opened the back door. Pretty sure that they weren't all going to fit, Leshia watched in amazement as one by one all the adults climbed into the back.

" Leshia come on," Draco ordered and as Leshia peered in she was amazed to find the backseat of the car was unusually stretched and spacious. She quickly climbed in and the door was shut behind her.

" How…" she began, but she could see Ron was beaming at her.

" My dad taught me a thing or two," he said cheerfully. Seemingly, it was unsafe to talk – or everyone was unwilling to – as no one said a word the entire half an hour journey along the non-distinct Dutch motorways. Leshia couldn't imagine a duller country, as she stared out at the endless flat fields, intermittently divided by smelly looking bogs. She was slightly more enthused when they turned off the motorway onto a small lane that led into a wooded area and slowly, the muggles started phasing out.

" Where are we?" she finally dared to ask.

" The Hague wood," Crayik replied from the front. " Don't know how to pronounce it the way they do, they'll no doubt correct you, they always do." Leshia frowned at the anger in his tone and looked up at her dad, but he was staring determinedly ahead where a series of structured were emerging behind a massive stonewall. " Welcome," Crayik said grimly. " To the Waddendaal." It was very demure-looking for the stronghold for the good wizards of Holland. One large old stone house surrounded by newer uglier stone abominations that sprawled out like a maze of concrete, it looked extremely depressing. " That there," Crayik explained pointing to the main house central to the compound. " Is the only wizarding school in the country, I couldn't possibly remember the name, but it's not terribly important anyway, only about a hundred children go to it."

" I'm sure they find it important," Leshia said softly, but not soft enough as everyone heard. Crayik chose to ignore her, Snape positively glowered at her, Draco gave her a look as though to say 'don't start', but the other four positively beamed at her. They passed the school of nondescript name – though Leshia could have sworn she saw it right above the old stone entrance, 'Laakstang' it had read, didn't seem to complicated to her – and into a small car park where several old vehicles were pitifully withstanding the battering rains.

" That's where you'll be staying," Crayik said gruffly, pointing across the soggy ground to a concrete box. The small group braved the chilling weather and finally found themselves in a cosy kitchen.

" Ginny," Leshia cried out happily when she saw the reason for the cosiness: Ginny cooking a hot pot of soup over the stove. " You're here too!" The girl threw her arms around Harry's wife and hugged her firmly, trying to ignore the grimness she was surrounded with.

" Leshia," Ginny replied happily. " It's so good to see you, look how you've grown!" It was a barefaced lie, the poor wretch hadn't grown an inch all year, but Ginny felt she looked like she needed mothering. When Leshia pulled away from the cosy familiarity of her mother's dear friend she saw the other occupants of the kitchen, Remus Lupin was sat amongst a collection of Aurors Leshia knew from her childhood, but had never got attached to. They were all smiling kindly at her…or was that sympathetically? Suddenly she felt incredibly overwhelmed by it all and Leshia looked for her father. He instantly saw it in her face.

" Are you going to show us where we're going to stay or shall we blunder about the place trying to find somewhere ?" he asked his old friends with a smile.

" Impatient as always Draco, come on, I'll show you," Ginny chuckled and she left her husband in charge of the soup before leading father and daughter through a maze of cold and sterile corridors until they reached a small room with twin beds in it. " Here you go, it's not much but…"

" It's perfect," Draco said charmingly and he leaned forward and hugged Ginny. " It's good to see you here, when we find Hermione, she'll really appreciate it." Ginny sighed and tears welled up in her eyes – she'd missed her friend so much over the years. " Is Michael here?" Ginny smiled as she thought of her son's indignant expression when he found out he was having to stay behind and miss out on the muggle plane journey.

" No," she said and saw Leshia's face fell. " He's spending some time with my parents, Fred, George, the ladies and their unruly children have descended on them and they thought Michael would love it."

" And Lavender and the girls?" Draco asked hopefully, wishing for some company for his daughter. Ginny made a grim expression and shook her head.

" Lavender is too busy at work to come away, so she's staying with the girls," she explained and though she was expecting to see Leshia's face fall further she was surprised to see it did not; Leshia's dislike of Rachel's annoying little sisters may have had something to do with this. " Look I'll leave you to unwind, lunch will be ready in an hour," Ginny said kindly and Draco nodded to her with a smile.

" Thanks Ginny," he said as she shuffled out. Leshia gave an almighty sigh and felt the awful sinking feeling of an anticlimax.

" What do we do now dad? When do we start to find mum?" she asked tiredly. Draco sighed and sat down on his own lumpy bed.

" That's going to be slightly tricky," he said and watched as Leshia's face crumpled in anger and frustration.

" Of course it is," she chirruped in an overly happy tone.

" Leshia please, we're here now, give it a rest," Draco sighed and he opened his suitcase beside him on the bed and started to lift out his carefully folded clothes. " We don't know exactly where she's being held, we're going to have to do a little more digging."

" So why are we here?"

" Because we know she's being held in The Hague, we just don't know exactly where," Draco said softly. Leshia rolled onto her side facing away from her father; her nose was stinging, a sure sign that tears were on their way. Her father watched her and his heart grew heavy.

" I'm going to get some air," he said gruffly and he climbed to his feet, briefly stooping to place a hand on her side, to offer her some semblance of comfort. She flinched at his touch and the young father felt aggrieved. Leaving her to her misery he went out in search of the kitchen they'd found themselves in, he needed only to follow the subdued conversations.

" Malfoy," Harry cheered when Draco reappeared and after ascertaining that Leshia was not at her father's side, his expression darkened and Draco knew why, they were further from finding his wife than they had first believed.

" Have we got any leads?" he asked as he took a seat at the small table.

" Some, we've got people checking them out," Lupin replied.

" What people? The best are sitting right here," Draco countered seriously.

" Oh Draco, how sweet," Ron said with a grin and he quickly avoided the used teabag Draco flung at him.

" You know what I mean, it's important that we don't trip any security wires, they can't know that we're here!" Draco said stressing the importance of this fact in his tone and strained face.

" We know," Harry said sincerely. " But it's not going to be easy Draco. They took her here for a reason, this place is the only safe hideout for miles around, the rest…" He rolled his hand with a grim expression on his face. While he had been at school, Harry had been unaware that Holland had become a magnet for witches and wizards of a darker inclination to flock to from around the world. Much of the Dutch magical community fled to neighbouring Belgium to escape, though a grim number of muggle born witches and wizards in the small country were scooped up by the dark wizards before the community at Waddendaal had a chance to locate them.

" Well," Draco said seriously. " What information do we have?"

XXX

The information turned out to be meagre at best, and for days the team slaved over their scraps of stolen information for hints as to where Hermione could be being held. Leshia wasn't allowed to listen in and was very happy she had brought her work with her, by her first Monday at the Waddendaal she'd completed all her essays and was wondering what on earth she was going to do. It would seem that Draco had a solution to this.

" You're going to go to school," he said at breakfast when Leshia had told him of her predicament. For a moment she thought he was joking a small smile snaked onto her tired-looking face, but when Draco's expression failed to change, hers turned stony.

" You're kidding right?"

" No, you have to do something, you can't just wallow around here all day," he said sounding slightly sympathetic.

" Are you insane?" Leshia demanded pushing her chair back and getting up. " I don't even speak Dutch, how the hell am I going to understand a blimming word they're saying?" Around the table everyone averted their eyes, frantically trying to find something else to pay attention to, as they could see the colour rising in Draco's cheeks, his embarrassment clear as day.

" Complain all you like, you're going," he said and it would seem she was. Try as she might, through tears and tantrums and angry ranting, the girl wasn't able to get out of it and an hour later she found herself being marched across the leafy courtyard to the large dreary looking school house. Draco was unimpressed with her behaviour and didn't even offer her good luck when he deposited her with the school's Headmaster Appeldoorn on the front steps. Leshia scowled at his retreating back, before she looked to the exceedingly dull headmaster with a grim look.

" Come along Leshia, I shall show you your class for the day," the dull man said in a monotone and with a heavy heart Leshia followed him through the dark corridors. Finding herself wishing she had stayed at home at Hogwarts she didn't even notice when they stopped outside a classroom containing only a handful of children. Dressed in their own clothes, they were all working on what looked like transfiguration, trying to turn a match into a pin.

'Easy,' Leshia scoffed to herself and she allowed herself to be led by the class' jolly looking teacher to an empty desk beside an extremely rude looking girl.

" Hi," Leshia tried once the teacher had explained in stunted English what they were doing. Her new neighbour however, flat-out ignored her.

'Maybe she's hard of hearing,' Leshia wondered.

" I'm Leshia," she said in loud slow English. This time, out of annoyance, the girl turned to glare at her.

" Ik heb je gehoord," she said in an equally slow and loud tone. Unsure of a single word she had just heard – and convinced it wasn't very nice – Leshia furrowed her brow in her most putout expression and returned to her box of matches.

'Cow!'

XXX

The rest of the day didn't improve, neither for the rescue team nor for Leshia. The leads the team had so blindly hoped would lead them somewhere had in fact only led to dead ends and every child Leshia encountered either couldn't – or refused – to communicate with her in any other language than angry sounding Dutch. She was assured by the Transfiguration teacher that the children were in fact charming, they were just very suspicious of strangers.

'A likely story,' Leshia had grumbled to herself. By half past three when the day's lessons finally came to an end the girl stalked back across the quad to the temporary base the rescue team had set up. The moods of the members were not any brighter than her own, and that evening dinner was a very grim affair. For two days this rather depressing routine continued, until finally a little ray of hope struck both Leshia and the rescue team. In the kitchen of the concrete box everyone was crowding over a piece of ripped parchment. It was from an unidentifiable source and had been procured by the shiftiest of the aurors, but it had the promise of a very trustworthy lead to Hermione's whereabouts.

" And you're certain of this?" Draco asked the shifty auror, who nodded with a teeth-bearing grin.

" Positive!"

" Right, Harry, Ron, will you come with me to check this out?" The pair seemed honoured to be chosen and agreed instantly, finally glad that things were looking up.

Leshia's stroke of luck was of a different nature, it came in the form of a sociable English-speaking pair of twins: Joske and Sander (" No it's pronounced y, as in year, yos, and then c as in cat, and then uh as in uuhhhh," the girl had tried while reeling in laughter at Leshia's pronunciation of her name. " So it's yos-c-uhhhh?"). The pair had heard of a visitor from England and being terminally curious and having grown up there for the majority of their lives they had swooped down on Leshia over break on Thursday. She had been easy to spot, sitting on her own, glaring furiously at the happy children around her.

" They're all impressed with your magic skills," was the first thing Sander had assured her as he dropped down beside her. Staring with a compliment had been a most fortuitous move on his part as Leshia instantly warmed to the pair and ended up telling them the whole story of her mother's disappearance and the clues leading to her vague location being unearthed. The bell for afternoon classes had gone, but the twins didn't move.

" We think we can help," Joske assured her after the courtyard had emptied. Leshia frowned.

" Really?" she asked wearily, afraid of being disappointed.

" Well our father, he's high up in the Dutch ministry of magic and he says that your rescue team, or rescue disaster as he calls it, isn't getting anywhere," Sander explained. " But there might be someone we know, who can help you."

" Someone you know?" Leshia asked worriedly. The twins flashed two charming smiles at her.

" In London, you have…what is it called…" Joske began, her face crumpling into a thinking expression.

" Diagon Alley?" Leshia supplied with a frown.

" Yes that's it, well we have something similar in Den Haag, we call it Linksaf Laan," Joske carried on. Not even bothering trying to pronounce these alien sounding words Leshia merely urged her to carry on. " Well, it's dangerous there and we have many enemies, but one of them, a particularly nasty man who will undoubtedly know where your mother is, well he owes us a favour."

" How do we get to this Den Hague place?" Leshia asked, her eyes widening, her heart racing with the thought that she could actually do something to help instead of being relegated to playing exchange student for the week. Two conspiratorial smiles slid onto her new friends' faces and grabbing Leshia by a hand each, they dragged her at fighting high speed – Leshia was after all a titch, and these two gigantic Dutch children had much longer legs than she – towards the tree line. Once they breeched it they didn't stop running, and only when Leshia began suspecting that she was in fact being abducted by two dark wizards in disguise did they stop at the mouth of a dark dripping tunnel.

" After you," Leshia said urgently, realising they wanted her to go first.

" Trust us Leshia," Sander said with a grin and he led the way, raising his lit wand up in front of him. It seemed to take them an age to navigate through the dark and dreary tunnels, and when Leshia couldn't bare it any longer she was surprised to find they had reached their destination, a grill into a quiet street above. Moments later they emerged blinking into the sun again and without pausing for questions the twins led her once more towards a busy street where a strange platform like thing had been erected in the centre of it.

" This is a tram stop," Joske explained as they crossed the busy street – Leshia, feeling as though her heart was in her mouth.

" And what's a tram when its at home?" Leshia asked with a frown. The twins glanced to one and other with similar expressions.

" I don't understand, is this a joke?" Sander finally asked. Leshia was about to object to their peculiar behaviour when she realised they had probably not heard that saying before, and that yes, it did rather sound like the beginning of a joke.

" No it's a saying, it means, what the hell is a tram?"

" Oh," the twins exclaimed in unison.

" That's a tram," Joske said and Leshia just about had time to turn around before a thin train like thing rushed past her coming to a screeching halt.

" It's a muggle thing," Sander replied and they bustled Leshia on with the hurrying muggles and onto a slippery leather bench.

" Don't we have to pay?" Leshia asked as she watched the muggles take long strips of paper and push them into an odd clinking machine. The twins grinned.

" They never check, don't worry," Sander assured her and the trip lulled into silence as the rickety tram got moving once more. The Hague turned out to be just as rainy and dreary as the rest of the landscape Leshia had observed on their way from the airport. She wasn't terribly impressed, but glancing at the eager and happy faces of her companions, she hadn't the heart to tell them. After a rocky twenty-minute journey they reached their destination – a mundane deserted looking street – and the twins jostled Leshia off. They led her round the back of a rundown looking house where a garden shed stood rotting in the back garden. Feeling once more that she was being had Leshia stood back while the twins tapped the door three times with their wands and uttered something in Dutch. When the door started to flash white and it creaked open to reveal a dark and dreary looking street straight out of a scary book Leshia felt the urge to run, but to her horror she was being force forward once more.

" Welcome," Sander said with a big grin. " To Linksaf Laan."

XXX

Leshia's sojourn into Linksaf Laan wasn't a terribly long one, as after passing only a few grim looking shops the twins ushered her into a seedy looking pub where most of the occupants sat on rickety barstools with hoods covering their most-likely grim or wanted faces.

" You guys thirsty or something?" Leshia asked wearily, feeling extremely overwhelmed by the whole thing. The only response she got was two flashing smiles before once more she was guided through the pub to a heavy looking door. Sander knocked on it five times.

" Petrus," he called sounding more commanding than Leshia would have believed to be possible. " Petrus we know you're here, don't make things worse for yourself."

" Why is he afraid of you?" Leshia whispered to Joske, who grinned at her darkly.

" He's a squib, he's useless," she replied as the door slowly creaked open revealing the dirty face of a greying man. For a moment Leshia actually felt sorry for him, but then she remembered where she was and why they had come to this man's doorstep and her anger was rekindled.

" Time to repay your favour Petrus," Sander said once more in that surprisingly powerful voice, while Joske ushered Leshia into the dingy room and after furtively looking around the pub, she shut the door.

" I…I…don't know…what…what you mean," the squib stuttered in what sounded like a thick northern European accent.

" Don't play games with us Petrus," Joske sighed exasperatedly. " Don't worry, all we want is information."

" About what?" The stuttering was gone, and after finding out he wasn't going to have to put his neck on the line the squib was looking remarkably better.

" Hermione," Sander said. " Does the name ring any bells?" Judging by the frantic look that briefly flashed across the squib's face, Leshia could have guessed that he did know and she felt renewed anger.

" I don't know what you mean," Petrus uttered.

" Yes you do!" Leshia hissed and she stepped forward.

" Who are you?" Petrus demanded snootily.

" Tell me Petrus," Sander tried. " How many guards have they got on Mevrouw Malfoy huh? How many people must constantly watch her because they fear her power?" The squib squirmed under the tall boy's gaze. " I see. Well Petrus, this young lady is her daughter, so you had better get it together, because she will see to it that you tell us the truth." The squib looked on Leshia with newfound fear before looking away desperately.

" I can't tell you Sander, you know I can't!"

" No?" For a moment the pair were locked in a steady gaze. It would seem that the boy had information about the squib that was of such consequence that finally the squib cracked.

" They'll kill me for this! You had better protect me Sander!" the squib hissed. Sander stepped back.

" Our father always offers you protection you filthy animal," he grumbled. " Now where is she?" Sander stepped forward his wand raised, a furious look on his face, the squib crumbled beneath such a gaze.

" Hobaho hallen!" Sander stepped back triumphantly and grinned at his sister and new friend, though his triumph was short-lived. The children had not noticed the door eking open, nor the three men enter behind them, who had listened in to most of the conversation, but they certainly noticed them now as they lunged forward and lifted Leshia screaming from her feet. What followed was pandemonium as the other two men tried to grab the twins, but agile on their feet and with a perfect knowledge of the escape routes of this bar, they weren't caught and disappeared within moments.

Not to worry, the men thought, they had their prize.

XXX

" Here, this is where she is being held," Harry said pointing down to the map of The Hague to an industrial complex. " In this warehouse. It's heavily guarded, and it's going to be difficult to get in, but we've devised a plan." The entire team was assembled, fifteen of them in total, Draco hoped to God that their number was enough to overthrow the faction taking hiding in the warehouse. It was going to be exceedingly difficult to free his wife, but now they were so close, a renewed fervour had taken over his senses and he wouldn't rest until they had broken down her miserable dungeon and dispelled of her captors, of this much he was certain.

Harry was just about coming to the end of his plan when hurried footsteps sounded outside and after rapturous knocking at the door Ginny opened it causing two tall youths to come tumbling into the kitchen.

" We've lost Leshia!" Was the general consensus of their hurried ramblings. For a moment there was a stunned silence, one in which everyone turned to stare at Draco with wide eyes. Expecting an explosion of emotion they were quite surprised to find he merely hung his head back, squeezed his eyes shut and made an exasperated sound.

" Of course you have," he groaned.

" What do you mean, what happened?" Harry asked with a furrowed brow. The twins glanced to one and other worriedly – knowing they were in such trouble for this – before launching into a detailed description of what had transpired. Only once were they interrupted when they explained where they had taken her, when Draco had burst out, " You took my daughter there of all places?" But for the most part the team listened in patient silence.

" Do you know who these men were?" Dumbledore asked seriously.

" Almost certainly the same men responsible for holding your wife," Sander replied softly.

" Then they know we're here," Harry said dejectedly.

" Maybe not, we didn't mention you," Joske tried and silence filled the room.

" Well we have to act tonight, they might be in the process of moving them as we speak," Draco said determinedly.

" Agreed," a few firm utterances came and so it was agreed, the rescue of Hermione and now Leshia, was going ahead full steam now with added urgency.

XXX

For months now the only company Hermione had enjoyed was the intermittent conversation her burly guards offered her. Often jeering, rarely interesting and always unpleasant, she had hated every second of it, so it came as rather a pleasant surprise when the door to the makeshift jail area of this miserable warehouse creaked open and a small person covered by a black plastic bin bag was herded into Hermione's neighbouring cell. For a very small person she was making an awful lot of noise and Hermione couldn't help wondering why on earth these monsters had taken a child.

" You're not going to get away with this!" the girl was shouting.

" Shut up!" one of the guards shouted exasperatedly, evidently this girl had been going on for a while now.

" No you shut up imbecile!" the girl angrily exclaimed. " And get this bag off me it smells!" Her wish was evidently granted in the hope that she would stop making a noise if she was un-bagged. Miraculously, it did help and the girl stopped making a racket and merely seethed. The guard glared back at the girl before turning on heel and stomping out complaining about loud-mouthed brats.

" Hi," Hermione tried tentatively when she was sure the girl had calmed down. Next to her she heard shuffling as the girl had evidently jumped in fright, not knowing she had company in this dreary prison.

" Hi," she replied softly. " What are you in for?" she asked humorously. Hermione chuckled.

" I wish I knew, it's been so long I don't remember. You?"

" Being an idiot and following two obviously deranged Dutch people into a trap," the girl grumbled.

" Any idea why they were after you?"

" Dunno, talking rudely to a squib? Is that an offence here?" Once more Hermione chuckled, this girl was enchanting.

" Not sure where here is, though I wouldn't imagine that's why they've taken you," she said sadly.

" Here is Holland," the girl said firmly. " And no I think you're right, it's probably because we didn't pay on that muggle tram, unless…" She paused and Hermione heard a loud sigh.

" Want to talk about it?" the woman offered kindly, but the girl shook her head in the gloom.

" Not really, it's kind of a long story," she muttered. " And I'm beginning to think that…well, that there's not going to be a happy ending."

" Well I'm not going anywhere, and I can't remember the time I had a decent conversation, except maybe with myself," Hermione tried. Next to her the girl chuckled and it was such an uplifting sound that Hermione smiled, the warmth of a lifetime of memories she had just become reacquainted with flooding back to her. This girl reminded her of someone she had known.

" Well I guess it all started when I was born…or rather, nine months before I was born when my parents helped defeat the dark lord," the girl explained and in a gasp Hermione suddenly knew why this girl sounded familiar. With aching malnourished limbs she forced herself onto her knees and shuffled over to the wall that divided her from her daughter and she pushed herself up against the damp metal feeling tears stinging her eyes. " You alright?"

" Go on," she exclaimed breathily.

" Okay then, well anyway, they weren't terribly popular after that as you can imagine, and well my family sort of became hunted, for six years that wasn't a problem until one day they took my mum…" The girl…no, Leshia, her Leshia, paused and sounded as though she were gulping back an indescribable pain. " Everyone thought she'd been killed, but I knew, I knew she was still alive and nobody believed me until this year when she started writing to us again. That's why we're here, to save her! I think that's why they've captured me…we were getting too close." On the other side of the rusting metal wall the mother she had sought for so long sank down the wall, only inches from the daughter she'd been thinking of since she had reclaimed her memories. It would be so easy to reach round the bars and touch her, to reveal who she was and still the pain that was in her little girl's heart, and yet…it wouldn't come. Fighting away tears Hermione pushed herself from the wall and turned her back on it. How could she just barge into their lives again? What if her untrustworthy memory decided to disappear again? What if she hurt her daughter all over again?

" That's terribly sad," she said softly.

" Yeah it sucks," Leshia sighed. " More so, because now I've gone and got myself captured. I bet my dad's going mad." Hermione shut her eyes tight: Draco. He was here, he was looking for her. The thought made her heart want to explode out of her chest, how she had missed his smile and his rugged strength.

" I'm sure he'll find you," Hermione managed through a constricted throat. In the cell next-door Leshia was now on her knees staring ahead at the metal wall.

" What did you say your name was?" she asked sounding suspicious.

" I didn't," Hermione uttered softly. " It's Luna, Luna Lovegood." It had been the only name that had sprang to mind, and as it turned out, had not been a very prudent choice.

" Really?" Her daughter was sounding extremely cocky and extremely incredulous. " What a coincidence, you don't sound like Luna Lovegood and I don't recall her going missing, in fact just before I left Hogwarts I read her article about the Vampire Conspiracy in the ministry of Magic." Hermione snorted despite herself, Luna was still as kooky as ever it would seem. The pair lulled into silence, until finally it was broken by the most pathetic heart-wrenching thing Hermione had ever heard,

" Mum?" Never in her life had Hermione heard such heartbreak nor such hope in one word. It took her all the strength she could muster to force away the tears that were threatening to spill down her face.

" I don't know what you mean," she countered, managing to sound confused. " I don't have a daughter…"

" I think you do." Even more pathetic this time, her daughter was sounding crushed, and the pain it was causing her was so intense that Hermione keeled over onto her side, hugging her skinny body for comfort. " Why won't you talk to me? Have I done something wrong?"

" I don't know what you mean Leshia," Hermione countered, gathering strength from the fact that the sooner she left her daughter's life, the sooner this pain would too. In the cell next-door Leshia hung her head, her doleful expression drilling through the metal wall, willing to see the mother she had sorely missed.

" I never told you my name," she whispered and a tear fell onto her cheek.

" Yes you did," Hermione tried desperately.

" No," Leshia said forcefully. " I didn't." Hermione was never given a chance to respond as the door to the cellblock swung open and the most ghastly of their oppressor's stepped in. He was grinning manically at the young girl his cronies had brought in, and something about his look let Leshia know that whatever was about to happen was going to hurt.

" No!" Hermione cried out as the guards stepped towards her daughter's cell and wrenched the door open.

" We need to ask you a few questions my pet," the evil monster trilled, clasping his hands together in front of his chest.

" I haven't got anything to say," Leshia countered sounding much braver than she felt.

" No you can't take her!" Hermione was on her feet now, her face pressed against the bars, desperately trying to stop this nightmare from unfolding. As much as Leshia tried, she couldn't see past the guard who had her in his iron grip, so she could lay eyes on her mother.

" Why do you care?" the villain asked scathingly, his attention now focused on the desperate mother. In turn the guard holding Leshia spun around, bringing his charge around with him and mother and daughter laid eyes on each other for the first time in nearly six years. Hermione couldn't ignore her maternal emotions now as they threatened to tear her heart to shreds.

" Because," she almost wailed. " She's my daughter!"

Booooooooooooom

The noise was so unbelievably loud that everyone reached to cover their ears, this gave Leshia time to escape her captor and she ran straight into the awaiting arms of her mother, who sank down on the other side of her cruel cell and hugged her young child to her chest with such strength, she hadn't know her tired body had been capable of it.

" Mum! You do remember," Leshia whispered into her mother's sodden age-old clothes.

" Of course I remember," Hermione exclaimed powerfully, but no sooner had she reclaimed her daughter was she ripped cruelly from her grasp by the guard. Most of the men had disappeared in a panic from the cellblock to defend their safe hold from the attacks that were sounding all around the warehouse. Feeling perhaps a moment of sympathy, or perhaps from sheer laziness the guard opened Hermione's cell door and forced the girl in. Mother and daughter embraced once more.

" Look at you," Hermione whispered, reaching out and stroking her daughter's hair away from a face that hadn't changed since she was six years old.

" Look at you," Leshia countered sounding pained, taking in her mother's shrunken appearance. " I'll kill them," the girl hissed angrily. Hermione laughed and pulled the girl into another embrace as the explosions sounded around them.

XXX

" Ron," Draco hissed loudly once the ringing in his ears had ceased. " I said not yet!" Ron looked wide-eyed from the pandemonium he had just caused to the angry and surprised faces of his friends.

" I'm sorry," he uttered hurriedly.

" Look never mind, let's just go!" Harry ordered and everyone leapt from their positions into the fray of fighting wizards – the rest of their party had got over the surprise start moments before and had set the plan into action. The three young men crouched low, trying to stay out of sight while the scouted out the warehouse.

" That's where they're being held," Draco hissed to the other two, having to duck down as a wayward curse flew past his shorn hair. " Easy!" he yelled angrily from their hidden position and he rubbed furiously at his singed hair. His complaint went unnoticed and the trio carefully crossed the warehouse floor until they finally reached the grim looking cellblock.

" On my count," Draco whispered, looking severely at Ron, who hung his head meekly. " One…two…three!" The three men charged in, their wands at the ready, but they never had to use the curses they had ready on the tips of their tongues as the cellblock was very much abandoned.

" Damn it!" Harry grumbled and he rushed across to the other side of the cellblock where an open door stood.

" We must have got it wrong," Ron exclaimed sounding defeated.

" No," Draco said firmly, his eyes lingering on a tuft of blonde hair that lay tumbling in the breeze flittering in from an open window. " They were here."

" You're right, and if we don't move fast they'll get away!" Harry called out to the other two. In a flash the three of them were gone, chasing after the guards who had Hermione and Leshia – clutching at the side of her head furiously, silently cursing the guard who had pulled out a handful of her hair in their struggle – and were dragging them away towards an open exit. The men just weren't quick enough.

" No!" Draco yelled out sounding agonised, when it looked as though they were going to get away, but at this moment two hulking figures stepped into the path of the frantic guards and their prey: Snape and Dumbledore. The chaos of curses and hexes that ensued gave the men a chance to catch up, but they were dragged instantly into the fray, not giving Draco a chance to embrace his wife and child, who had dived for protection behind some crates. Guards and dark wizards were appearing as though from nowhere and even though the team fought gallantly, they were fast becoming outnumbered.

" Mum can you fight?" Leshia whispered as she crawled on all fours towards the unconscious body of a guard. Hermione instantly realised her daughter's plan.

" More than you can imagine," she said angrily, thinking of all the torture she had endured at their hands, and she quickly followed her daughter to another guard's limp body. With two wands in their hands they jumped to their feet catching several guards by surprise and even though Leshia's curse knowledge was limited, she still managed to paralyse several of the guards. Her mother ensured she came to no harm by blocking the spells. After several minutes of furious battling it seemed their oppressors were no longer.

" Hermione," Draco's pained voice came and turning round Hermione saw her husband had fallen to his knees, reaching out to his missed wife with an agonised expression.

" No," Hermione cried and she ran forward along with several of the others.

" Dad!" Leshia cried out struggling with Harry who was holding her back.

" Albus," Hermione urged helplessly, but Dumbledore was shaking his head slowly.

" You are far more capable in this field than I my dear girl," he said and he crouched down beside his sorely missed friend. Hermione looked on her battered husband's body and she took out her wand, wordlessly moving it across his body trying to heal whatever internal damage was sucking the life from him. Leshia silently cried in the background as everyone in the rescue team limped their way back to the group. Try as she might Draco's eyes remained closed and Hermione started to lose hope.

" Mum what are you doing?" Leshia demanded, seeing her mother faltering. " You can save him I know you can!" Looking up into the desperate look on her daughter's face Hermione saw the heartbreak that was threatening to break loose. Without Draco, her daughter would fall, and without her daughter Hermione would soon follow. Turning back on the face of her beloved husband, Hermione narrowed her eyes, tightening her concentration.

Slowly, very slowly, she started to feel the progress her healing was making on her husband's health and even more painfully slowly, he started to open his eyes.

" I thought I was the damsel in distress," Hermione said softly, her eyes smiling lovingly, tears welling in them.

" You know me," Draco croaked and he struggled to push himself up onto his forearms. " Love to be the centre of attention." As the long separated lovers gazed into each others' eyes their daughter was released and she instantly dropped down beside her father, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. Draco barely noticed, his eyes still on his wife.

" Hi," he said softly and he reached out to touch a tuft of hair that had fallen down from behind Hermione's hair.

" Hi," she replied equally as softly, and she laughed as the tears fell from her eyes.

" I hate to break up this touching reunion," Snape interrupted. " But there are sure to be more wizards on their way. We should make our way out to the portkey straight away."

" Agreed," Draco said, though he winced as he heaved himself up onto his feet with the help of his wife and daughter. " I'm fine," he laughed and shook them off, though looking at his daughter's trembling lower lip he quickly pulled her into a one-armed hug. " Really, I'm fine," he repeated for her benefit, and after squeezing her shoulders tightly he allowed himself to be helped towards the portkey Crayik had managed to set up just outside the warehouse. Snape had been right in his suspicions and as they reached for the portkey – an old tire – several wand-bearing wizards rounded the corner, but they shimmered away only to be replaced by the somewhat transparent figure of a large cloaked man.

" Beware!" it called to them in a scathing, booming voice. " Beware of the dark reign. For twelve years it has remained untouched, it will return. Those you thought were once lost will return. The horrors you thought you once beat will return. You will not live out this fight." The message fell on the darkness of nothing as the group disappeared into the night.

XXX

That evening there was a gathering reminiscent of years long gone by. In a private chamber off the main hall a long beautifully decorated table was erected and at it's decadent places sat; Leshia sandwiched by her fully recovered – Madam Pomfry had seen to that – parents, Katie equally sandwiched by her own parents, Rachel at her father's side (enjoying his undivided attention for once – her sisters usually claimed that whenever they dined together), Dumbledore, McGonagall, and even Snape. Laughter was extremely prominent that evening as the group of friends caught up. Hermione was horrified by the number of children Ron and Lavender had spawned, when last she checked they had had but three daughters. Towards the end of the meal when the children started to look incredibly sleepy Dumbledore rose to his feet, a glass of wine in his hand.

" I would like to say, on behalf of everyone at this table I am sure, how glad we are to have you back in our midst dear Hermione," he said with sparkling eyes. A round of 'hear hear' went up around the table as everyone clamoured to agree with the headmaster. " Furthermore, I am delighted to have the opportunity to offer you a position here at the school."

" A position?" Hermione repeated with a small smile while Leshia at her side sat up curiously.

" I have just this week been informed that Professor Larkin, our runes teacher, has decided to take a career change and will be leaving us after Easter," Dumbledore explained.

" Yes," Leshia whispered loudly sounding triumphant. Everyone at the table turned to grin at her, and she quickly hung her head feeling sheepish, had she said that out loud?

" That leaves us with an Ancient Runes vacancy that I cannot imagine being filled by any other than the best," Dumbledore was continuing looking over his half-moon glasses at his once star pupil, who now had tears welling up in her eyes.

" Professor…I would be honoured."

XXX

Once the children had eventually been excused to bed they changed in a sleepy silence and then gathered on Leshia's bed once more, it had been only a week since she had left and so much had happened it seemed as though an age had gone by. Leshia gleefully told them an exaggerated version of the story they'd already heard over dinner and by the end of it her friends were staring at her wide-eyed.

" You always get to have all the fun Leesh, I can't believe it," Rachel said grimly. Leshia laughed.

" Weren't you listening, most of that trip was horrendous!" she managed through her laughter.

" Yeah well we were stuck here and you wouldn't believe who they got to cover our lessons," Rachel grumbled. Leshia raised her eyebrows. " The ghosts!"

" What?" Leshia cackled, rolling around on the bed in laughter.

" Yes that's right, all they did was tell us really boring stories about their lives and deaths, I don't know how we managed," Katie added in an equally petulant tone. " I can't wait to get our teachers back now, I tell you!" They lulled into a pleasant silence that was only broken by a semi fed-up sigh from Leshia.

" I can't believe that both my parents are going to be teachers next year," she grumbled. Katie and Rachel looked to one and other with big smiles and then they rolled their eyes in unison.

" Oh shut it Malfoy, you're delighted!" Rachel laughed and she reached behind herself for a pillow to bash her friend with. A mad sporadic pillow fight of old developed and by the end of it the girls were lying in a fit of giggles, gleeful that everything had turned alright in the end.

XXX

Easter was a joyous occasion as all the families descended on the burrow for a much-needed reunion. Molly mothered everyone and filled everyone up with good food, so much so, that by the end of the two-week holiday Hermione no longer looked as though she could break at the slightest touch. Once back at school the mood of the students turned sombre as they started preparing for their end of year exams and the weeks that separated them from their dreaded fate seemed to race past. Before they knew it their week of examinations was upon them and the children took to the sunny grounds like a moth to a flame to escape the madness in the castle.

Luckily the nightmarish week of exams soon passed and Leshia was secretly confidant that she had aced most of her exams, except potions perhaps as Snape had terrified her every time she moved by writing something on his mark-sheet. Nothing though could dampen her spirits every time she saw her parents pass each other in the corridor. Their love had definitely reignited and they were almost like shy teenagers around one and other once more, trying to rediscover one and other and fall in love all over again. At first they had resided in their separate quarters, but once, when Leshia had been summoned to her father's office for detention – having defied him three times on the 'no speaking rule' – she had noticed his bedroom was devoid of any personal artefacts and she realised he and her mother were 'back together' officially.

As the end of term loomed and the children received their marks they were all pleasantly surprised to see they had all performed outstandingly. Leshia didn't know how proud her mother felt when she found out from McGonagall that her daughter had received a full sheet of Os. The end of year banquet came a little too quickly and the Gryffindors, though gleeful they won the quidditch cup, were angry to be picked to the post on the house cup, losing out to Ravenclaw by only ten points. The evening seemed to go by in a blur and the girls were sad when they realised that this was their last night together. They felt like sisters and each was grim to go back to their homes – Rachel to a house full of annoying little sisters, Katie to the world's most competitive brother and Leshia to a happy home, but alas, to no siblings whatsoever. They would all miss each other dreadfully.

The following morning came all too soon, and as the girls had spent the night chatting and giggling they were all exhausted little wrecks. Within the first hour of the journey back to London they'd all fallen asleep. While Rachel dreamt of chocolate frogs jumping in and out of a fountain of Berty Botts All Flavour Beans, and Katie dreamt about living a day in Leshia's shoes. What was on Leshia's mind however, was more peculiar than any other dream she had ever had…

" Miss Leshia run!" Tally's voice cried out before a blinding flash and a man's voice filled the kitchen of the old townhouse. Backing into the staircase Leshia looked on the hall of her house with new eyes. She was much closer to the ground than she ought to have been and hanging by the door was a jacket she could remember having when she was but seven years old. Frantic breathing filled the hall and Leshia was surprised to find it coming from her own mouth.

" Where are you?" the man's horrible cry came and soon a lumbering tall figure skidded into the hall. Leshia darted back stumbling on the steps. This man, this wild haired scarred man looked familiar to her somehow, she saw her father and herself reflected in his features. " There you are," the horrible man hissed and he raised his wand.

" No!" Leshia's child-like cry came. " I didn't do anything! No!" Bracing herself for the blow that never came Leshia dared to look up and saw the man had gone, though the sound of struggling from the next room revealed he was fighting with yet another houself that Leshia could not remember. Taking no chance she darted up the stairs as fast as her seven-year-old legs could take her. Once she reached the landing she pushed every door open before darting into her father's gloomy room. As she dropped to her knees and dragged herself under his bed she heard the hurried heavy footsteps of that horrid man in her wake.

" Where are you?" his mangled cry came. Leshia pushed herself further into the darkness, her tears spattering down onto the hardwood floor. " Where are you my precious? Why are you afraid of your own grandpa?" Leshia gasped, that is why she recognised his face. " Come here!" her grandfather hissed into the dark. He was approaching her position slowly, as though he knew where it was she was hiding. He would have found her had the sound of the door opening and closing below not caught his attention.

" Hello?"

'Daddy!' Leshia thought desperately and she feared so terribly for what her grandfather would do to him. Too afraid of what he might do to her if she called out she watched as the feet stalked away. Once she heard him descending the steps and an angry muffled conversation ensuing she dragged herself out from under the bed and darted across the landing into the upstairs parlour where a dumbwaiter stood in the corner. She jumped into it and lowered it to the ground floor – a game she had played when she was little turning to necessity. On the ground floor she could hear the shocked argument her father was having with his father in turn and she hurried round the back corridors of the house into the kitchen.

" Tally," he young voice whispered in surprise when she found the elf paralysed on the ground. Her young eyes darted about the kitchen until she found a jar full of stones – the ones she had collected on their recent holiday to the beach. She took it from the counter amazed at how high it seemed to her younger self, and then set off to the door leading off from the hall. First her eyes took in her father with longer hair, and having just walked in from work, dressed still in his long coat. He was staring in shock at his father, who had his wand aimed at his son, a furious expression on his face. Without stopping to think Leshia took aim and threw the jar at her grandfather. She missed her target and the jar clattered to the ground cracking the slate tile it landed on.

" No!" Draco yelled out frantically as Lucius took aim at young Leshia. The spell Lucius cast never hit Leshia however, as Draco uttered a counter curse that caused Lucius' to miss and hit the wall causing a large crack to form. As Draco disarmed his father Leshia rushed to his side, clambering inside his coat and clasping onto his leg like a limpet, watching her grandfather from her now protected position.

" Now you listen…Leesh"

" Leesh!"

" Huh?" Leshia woke with a start and stared at Rachel with wide eyes.

" We've been asleep the whole time, we're in London," Katie's sad sounding voice came. Leshia spun around and frowned at her too. " You okay?"

" Yeah, you looked like you've seen a ghost!" Rachel added. Leshia frowned and rubbed the side of her head.

" Something like that," she whispered and looked up to see they were pulling into King's Cross. Slowly the girls disembarked with their luggage and reunited with the families. It was time to say goodbye and with teary faces the girls hugged one and other in a group hug.

" I'll write the second I get home," Katie assured them with large teary eyes. The others giggled.

" We'll be seeing each other in a week you idiots," Rachel tried, but she too had tears welling in her eyes.

" Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Leshia called after them as her parents led her away. Hermione and Draco chatted about the plans they had for their summer – Hermione wanting to do research in the north for her Runes lessons and Draco wanting to go to the quidditch world cup and bring Leshia along – but Leshia stayed quiet her thoughts on that strange dream. As Draco opened the door Hermione turned on their daughter.

" Are you all right?" she asked with a concerned frown as Leshia walked into the hall and looked around. Why was it that she had never noticed that cracked tile before? And how could she have missed the large crack in the wall above the kitchen door?

" Your mother asked you a question," Draco said cheerfully clapping her behind the head. Leshia grinned at him and turned to Hermione with a distant smile.

" I will be…"

THE END

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Finite! Sequels? You want them? Let me know.