Generations: Tales of the Last Stand

Part IV

After they had each swigged at their bottles they headed for the portrait and swung it open. As one, at least a hundred heads swivelled round to see who had come to greet them, and as she was feeling a little mischievous Leshia gave them a very confused frown.

"What are all you lot doing here?" she asked them in confusion. Rachel instantly caught onto the joke and adopted a similarly flummoxed expression.

"What are you talking about, we're here for the party?" a third year girl from Ravenclaw, who had arrived almost as soon as dinner had finished with her friends, exclaimed sounding putout, though a look of doubt did cross her face.

"Party?" Rachel asked in amazement.

"What party?" Leshia added sounding extremely confused.

"Oh wait, I think I know," Rachel countered and she turned to Leshia with a 'don't you remember?' expression. "That's being held up the corridor, next door on your left."

"Oohhh, yeah that party," Leshia agreed and in response dozens of faces turned to look up the corridor in surprise. "Sorry, you've got the wrong door." Several people started to walk up the corridor and the girls had to severely control themselves, to stop from bursting into laughter. At this moment the Cauldron Chicks suddenly burst into a rendition of their song 'Another pinch of Love should do it', and the girls at the front of the queue who had been looking tempted to go inspect this mystery venue suddenly turned on the girls at the portrait hole.

"Oh really, so what's that?" the lead girl asked with a small smile, realising they were being had.

"What's what?" Leshia asked with a frown. "Rach, do you hear anything?"

"Oh give over, let them in," Katie complained fondly causing several of the guests to start laughing, especially when Leshia and Rachel started cracking up, their jubilation was contagious. Finally the girls stepped aside and welcomed people in. The expressions of surprise and joy wafting out from the common to the portrait hole let the girls know that already their party was a huge success.

It wasn't long before the first of the relatives appeared, and it was little Annie Weasley accompanied by her gaggle of friends. She beamed at her cousins, and then even embraced Leshia around the neck firmly.

"Thank you so much Leesh! You've always been the coolest girl I know!" she expressed gleefully, before she followed her friends in to cheer for the band, who already had a large following swaying in tune to the music. Eventually the girls delegated the greeting task to Amy and Sarah so as they could enjoy the party they had brought into existence. Everywhere beaming faces greeted them, and for the moment the girls enjoyed a similar status of celebrity to the real celebrities they had invited.

Inevitably Katie instantly drifted over to the band and pushed her way to the front where Nicola and Ashley were dancing madly to the music. Leshia and Rachel rolled their eyes at one another and decided to get themselves another drink and go and check on what Fred and George Weasley were up to. It would seem their trip was worth it, as in the second year boys dormitories the twins had drawn quite a crowd of eager boys, who at the moment Leshia and Rachel chose to enter, were busy demonstrating their new 'Sparkling Sweets', part of their 'Celebration Selection'. The effect this particular sweet had on a person's body was to make it glow with some invisible light source and emit a wild halo of sparkles around their body. The effect it had on Tom, the tester of this particular sweet, was astounding. The boy looked like a living sparkler.

"Here we are, the ladies of the hour have arrived," Fred cheered when the girls walked in and at this Leshia and Rachel were cajoled to the front of the crowd and presented before the twins, who were smiling at them with charming smiles.

"For you two, we have something special in mind," George told them and he took out two pink marble like sweets. They were entirely clear and resembled the secret stash of Heaven Drops the girls still had hidden under Katie's mattress. Leshia could have sworn she saw a little aura of pink rays around the sweet.

"Love Lozenges," Fred told them and he placed the two sweets into their hands. "Exceedingly hard and expensive to make, but there's no more deserving testers than yourselves, go on, try them."

"What do they do?" Leshia asked cautiously, unsure about the name.

"Try it and we'll tell you," George urged fondly and after casting one another unsure glances the two friends eventually conceded. Instantly all the boys in the room stepped backwards from them, some blushing furiously. Rodeo and Parys were on the edge of Rodeo's bed – their makeshift seat – almost ready to topple off.

"Uncle George," Rachel warned sounding unimpressed, but the twins seemed thrilled with the consequences.

"What do they do?" Leshia demanded.

"Love Potion technically," Fred replied cheekily. "Except the effects target every eligible person in the vicinity."

"And what do you mean by eligible?" Rachel asked feeling concerned by the number of hungry glances she was receiving from their peers.

"Well, the sort that would normally fall for you ladies," George replied. "You know, opposite gender…"

"Round about the same age…"

"Usually available…"

"But not necessary," Fred finished cheerfully. "Don't worry," he added when he saw the look of despair pass between the girls – this was the last thing they wanted. "The effects are only temporary."

"How temporary?" Leshia asked urgently, noting that Rodeo and Parys were on their feet and clambering to get to the front of the crowd.

"Oh only ten minutes or so," George chuckled and the twins burst out laughing when the girls quickly scarpered for the door, seeing as Rodeo and Parys had now freed themselves from the gaggle of boys. By the time the pursuers reached the stairwell however, the girls had escaped into the throng of people and headed straight for the gaggle of girls to escape any more suitors.

"Let's not go back in there, agreed?" Leshia told her friend firmly and she sighed in relief. Rachel nodded fervently.

"God, those are dangerous sweets! I'd hate to think of myself as out of control like that, I mean what if Smelly Henry from Hufflepuff took one of those, ugh, perish the thought!" Leshia started laughing so wildly at the thought of the unfortunate looking (and smelling) boy from Hufflepuff, that the thought of those hungry-looking boys was pushed from her mind.

For an hour the guests kept streaming in and soon all the rooms dedicated to the party were bursting with jubilant partygoers. Neville was signing a record number of books, the Cauldron Chicks kept drawing more fans into their already bursting fan base, and the Weasley twins had shifted more merchandise than they would in a week in London. Joanne Tayler had not left Neville's side all evening and the pair seemed to be getting closer and closer as the evening progressed, which was convenient as most of the children who recognised the England seeker instantly asked for her autograph as well.

Without so much as a grand entrance one moment the headmaster appeared amongst the vibrant student body with glass of Pumpkin juice in hand, chatting cheerfully to Professor McGonagall, who had promised to accompany him to see the state of her House's common room and to make sure everyone was behaving themselves. Seeing the distinctive beard and hair through the crowds Leshia and her friends glanced to one another and nodded, knowing they would have to face the music at one point. So after inhaling firmly and joining hands for support, the girls parted the crowds and headed straight for the teachers.

"Good evening Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall," Leshia said firmly and full of self-confidence. Both sets of aged wizened eyes instantly turned on her, and for the meantime not a trace of anger lay in their kindly faces.

"Good evening Miss Malfoy," they both replied.

"Uh…welcome," Leshia tried hopefully and to her surprise Dumbledore actually smiled at her, though McGonagall still looked slightly stern.

"I trust tomorrow the three of you won't be too busy, what with tidying up after this lot, to come and see us in the headmaster's study?" she asked the girls with a stern look. The girls nodded quickly.

"Of course," they all blurted out.

"Good, well then we'll see you at noon." With this she turned to the headmaster, to see whether he wanted to add anything to the disobedient yet astoundingly resourceful and ingenious girls that stood before them.

"Excellent pumpkin juice, I must say," the old man managed with a smile. The girls breathed out in relief and laughed. "I trust you will ensure none of our precious heirlooms will be destroyed. I would so hate to lose the singing foot cushions," he added with a sigh. Once more the girls laughed.

"We've moved everything valuable to a safe place sir," Leshia explained.

"Excellent. Well then I shall look forward to seeing you all tomorrow as arranged," he told the girls. "Leshia, would you spare me a moment, I should like to discuss something with you?"

"Of course sir," Leshia said quickly and she allowed herself to be led off to the side, leaving her friends watching after her anxiously, and at the same time looking put out to be in the position to have to entertain McGonagall until the headmaster returned.

"I hope you were listening at dinner Leshia," the old man told the girl once they reached a relatively childfree part of the common room. The girl nodded fervently. "Good, I do not mind telling you that this message was particularly pertinent to yourself."

"To me sir?" Leshia asked with a frown, and wondered whether this would be about her situation with Allseyer and his cronies.

"Yes, I would like to implore you to be watchful at all times, I do believe you know what I am speaking of." Leshia wrinkled her brow a little, not entirely sure that she did, but then the memory of those haunting eyes came flooding back. With the excitement of the party and her feud with Allseyer, she hadn't given them much thought of late. "Ah, I see that you do. Just be careful. Your parents were very well hated not so long ago Leshia, I would hate for those who disliked them so to find you."

"I will sir," Leshia replied, still frowning heavily. "Sir? Is there something going on that we don't know about?" she asked worriedly. Dumbledore smiled broadly at her.

"My dear child you are but just twelve years of age, there is a multitude of things going on that you do not know about. Even I, at this advanced stage of my life am oblivious to most of the goings on in the world," he said fondly. Leshia grinned sheepishly.

"I meant…things that are relevant to me, and my family."

"Perhaps," Dumbledore replied. "I trust you know that Voldemort was never truly extinguished and that should he return then you would be in a situation of grave danger?" Leshia nodded slowly. "Like all truly great powers Leshia, Voldemort's followers will always re-emerge, no matter how much we long to believe they have been destroyed. All I can ask of you is that you remain vigilant. You and your friends must remember to watch on another, with friends like yours…" Here Dumbledore paused and looked over to see that Katie and Rachel and shuffled closer to one another, pushing against each other for support in front of McGonagall, who seemed to be lecturing them. "I do not fear for your safety, but you must not go looking for trouble."

"I'll try," Leshia replied, once more, not wanting to lie. She still had Allseyer to sort out, and then there was this mystery concerning her grandfather.

"Is there anything you wish to ask me?" For a moment Leshia paused, thinking how many of her unanswered questions could be answered by this wise old man, but slowly, she shook her head.

"No."

"Very well," Dumbledore said with a smile and he looked over to the stage. "Oh I do rather like this number," he suddenly said with a twinkling smile. "Please, if you will excuse me?"

"Of course," Leshia said with a smile and she breathed a sigh of relief when Dumbledore shuffled off to push through the throng of girls to the front of the crowd. Within moments Katie and Rachel had joined her.

"Are we in trouble?" Rachel asked with a wince. Leshia shook her head vaguely, watching now as Dumbledore climbed over the crowd dividers and started dancing to the song, much to the amusement of all the children and the band, who cheered him on gleefully.

"No," she replied. "Not yet anyway. Let's see what the morning brings eh?" The girls watched Dumbledore in varying states of euphoria, until eventually the old dancing headmaster called it a day and left with the highly amused head of Gryffindor. The party was really getting started now and the girls noted that many of the people who had sauntered off to the ball had returned, evidently in search of a better party. Ryan and his friends were amongst the returnees, and they fell upon the girls when they came across them.

"I don't know how you guys pulled it off, but this is the best party this place has ever seen," Ryan told them while he wrestled Leshia into the crook of his arm, managing to ruffle her hair playfully, before she punched him teasingly in the ribs to stop.

"It's something called imagination, you should try it sometime," the girl joked with a smug smile, which she soon regretted as after a brief glance to one another, all three seventh year heartthrobs pounced at her, tickling her so manically that she nearly wet herself from the laughter.

"Stop please," she wailed and the boys finally let her go to go in search of some refreshments and some girls their own age. Playing with the youngsters was fun, but this seemed to be a smashing party, no doubt the type of party that would make the females more susceptible to their advances.

"They adore you," Katie sighed jealously once they'd departed. Leshia frowned and wiped away at the tears that had formed when she had been laughing uncontrollably.

"What?" she managed sounding entirely unconvinced.

"You heard me."

"You're mad you are," Leshia complained with a grin. "They're just big kids, and they can't play around with people their own age, so they pick on me!" Katie was about to rebuke her when suddenly Rachel went very pale and started flapping her arms wildly.

"Look they came!" Both Leshia and Katie were drawn out of their potential argument to see who Rachel was blabbing about, and soon their eyes fell on the telltale figures of Krum and Lukas. The crowds were parting as the pair of Quidditch heroes walked through the common room evidently seeking out Leshia, who at this point turned rather weak at the knees at the sight of her idol. She didn't have time to hide however, as soon they had spotted the girl and were walking determinedly towards her.

"Hallo," Krum said and he bowed his head slightly, seemingly a little daunted by the dozens of youngsters staring at him.

"Hi," the girls said with three big smiles – arguably, Leshia's was of the slightly shakier variety.

"Hello again," Lukas exclaimed in his deep booming voice and he held out his hand, which Katie and Rachel fought to shake. The men chuckled at their exuberance, and soon Lukas was extending his large weather-beaten hand in Leshia's direction. She just about brought herself to lift her hand to his, and to her utmost horror he placed his other hand on top her hers and shook her hand slowly. "Thank you very much for inviting us, you seem to have a lot of guests," he told her kindly, nodding as he spoke. Leshia nodded along with a dumbstruck expression and she was altogether thrilled when suddenly Rodeo and Parys appeared at her side looking slightly hostile – though at the time she didn't notice their reactions to Lukas, suffice to say Katie did and they stirred a torrent of confusing emotions in her.

"Hi," Rodeo said strongly, looking rather bemused.

"Hello," both men greeted he boy and Lukas finally let go of Leshia's hand, allowing her to inch behind her saviours a little.

"Are you hungry, or thirsty?" Rachel asked the men hopefully and they smiled to her genially and nodded. "Come on then." With this the girls led the men, accompanied by their male protective escorts up to the refreshments room where the crowd parted allowing the hungry quidditch players to descend upon the table. They remained in this room talking to the youngsters and answering their questions about the game, and slowly Leshia became calm enough to start to ask her own questions – mainly to Lukas about all the dramatic dives, goals and injuries he'd had during the World Cup Campaign. The young man was very flattered by the girl's keen attention to detail and her vast memory and he couldn't hide the fact that he found her to be adorable either. Like a guard dog Rodeo didn't leave Leshia's side the entire time and he managed to fix his glare on Lukas for the length of their conversation, something the young chaser found to be even more enchanting – ah, young love.

An hour after they had first arrived and still Leshia was no closer to finding out about Krum's history with her parents. He seemed keen to talk though and Leshia decided she would take him to one of the unused dormitories to have their talk. She was all set on suggesting as much when suddenly Rachel came bursting into the dormitory, she had only left to go to the toilet, but now she seemed horrendously scared.

"Your dad's here!" she practically yelled in Leshia's direction. Leshia's jaw veritably dropped and her eyes darted to Krum who was staring at her, waiting for orders.

"Where is he?" she demanded as she started towards the door, the men in close pursuit.

"Coming up the bloody stairs," Rachel replied in a state of frenzy. "And he's heading this way! What are we going to do?" Leshia spun around in complete terror and grabbed the first person her eyes fell on: Rodeo.

"Go outside and head him off," she ordered. He looked very unwilling to risk his wellbeing in trying to tell the dreaded Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher to do anything, but Leshia needed him, so he nodded bravely while inhaling a vast amount of air. With one last nod he opened the door.

"Professor Malfoy," he exclaimed and Leshia darted to the side away from the door, dragging Krum with her by the sleeve. "Leshia's looking for you, she's in our dormitory watching the Weasleys' demonstration," the boy added and for all pretences he sounded entirely sincere.

"Are you sure?" Draco's suspicious tone came. "Professor Flitwick downstairs told me he could have sworn he saw her coming in here." Out in the corridor Rodeo raised his arms in a gesture that said 'who knows?' and behind the door Leshia closed her eyes tightly mouthing, 'please, please, please,' over and over again. "All right then, lead the way." Draco finally sighed heavily, evidently not impressed with the amount of wild antics going on. Leshia gave them a few moments to walk away, until she pushed open the door and led the men out, leading them down the stairwell towards her own dormitory. It would seem she had not given them ample time though, as she rounded the curved stairwell she suddenly saw her father with his back turned, not two yards away, bearing down on a frightened first year.

"Did you just say 'where's Krum'?" he was demanding loudly and angrily.

"No, no, she said 'where's the gum'," Rodeo lied convincingly.

"Are you sure?" Draco demanded. The boy nodded quickly and retrieved a piece of chewing gum from his pocket and handed it to the bewildered girl.

"Here you go, now run along," he told her and she didn't need telling twice. The girl headed straight for Leshia and her stowaways and it was thus that Rodeo finally laid eyes on her. Later he wondered how on earth he'd managed to keep his expression neutral, but somehow he managed to convey to Leshia to get the hell away. She nodded and darted back, just in time, as down below Draco spun around, before glancing back at Rodeo suspiciously.

"Sir?" Rodeo asked uneasily. "It's this way." But Draco wasn't listening he was heading up the stairs again, towards the refreshments room where Leshia had dove back into with the amused, yet slightly concerned, Bulgarians in pursuit.

"Get him out!" Leshia hissed to her friends as she dove straight for one of the beds, dragging the Bulgarian quidditch players onto it and then shutting the curtains tightly.

"Don't think anything, he'll know you're here," she told the men before she held up her fingers to her mouth to silence their queries just as Draco burst through the door with a frantic Rodeo in pursuit.

"See," the boy exclaimed in immense relief. "She's not here, she's with the Weasleys!"

"Are you looking for Leesh Professor Malfoy?" Rachel asked cheerfully, as Draco scanned the room suspiciously, though he managed to nod to his daughter's best friend. "I'm just going to find her myself, do you want to come?" the girl persisted naturally. After a few painful moments of silence, in which Draco scanned the room, he finally lifted his head and nodded vaguely.

"Yeah go on then," he sighed and followed Rachel and Rodeo out.

"Is he gone?" she hissed to a girl near the bed, who nodded with a grin on her face. "Excellent." This time Leshia waited for the all clear from a chain of friends stationed down the stairwell, until she led the men down the stairs and to her door.

"Troll trunks," she told the door and it swung open. Leshia bustled the men in assuring them she'd distract her father, and that they should make themselves comfortable, read a diary or two (safe in the knowledge that she didn't keep one), but that by no means they should come out unless she collected them. The girl then darted back into the stairwell and ran as fast as she could down to the common room.

"I could have sworn she was there a minute ago," she heard Rachel saying loudly, just as she'd managed to dive down into the throng of dancing girls.

"Look I've had enough of this, no more games, where is she?" Draco demanded loudly as he rounded the corner.

"Dad?" she called out, walking back over to the staircase as though she had been in the common room all along. Draco looked vexed (and that was putting it mildly) and as Leshia caught up with him on the stairs he gave her a highly unimpressed and suspicious glare.

"Where have you been?" he asked icily. "I checked down here, you weren't here a moment ago."

"Yeah I've been in the toilets dad, calm down," the girl complained with an incredulous grin. Draco sighed heavily, but nodded.

"Fine," he said. "I was only dropping by to see how things were going, I didn't expect I was going to have to hunt you down."

"Well I'm here now," Leshia said fondly and she led her father to the refreshments room so he could get a drink and simmer down. She'd just sat him down beside Neville Longbottom, who had emerged from his own room to get some food, when she pretended to have forgotten something in the toilets. Draco was too wrapped up in his conversation with the bestselling author to join her – not that he wouldn't have liked to (both due to his somewhat dislike of Neville Longbottom and because he knew she was up to something), but it would have seemed rude. Once down in the common room Leshia headed straight for Ryan Lofting, who at this moment was sunk into one of the armchairs lining the side of the room with two young ladies wedged in beside him (both from Hufflepuff by the looks of it).

"Shorty," Ryan cheered when he saw the girl, and the girls beside him felt a little put off by his exuberance at seeing a second year, he hadn't seemed so pleased to see them.

"Lofting I need a big big favour!" she exclaimed breathily, all this running around was beginning to tire her out.

"Yeah sure, anything," Ryan said quickly seeing the girl was serious.

"Can I borrow your dormitory to have a conversation in?" she asked hopefully. Ryan grinned to his friends at the girl's adorableness; that was hardly a 'big big favour'.

"Of course you can," Luka, one of his friends, laughed.

"Who's doing the talking?" Oskar, the other friend asked, but they never received a reply as the girl had darted through the crowds again to where the band was performing, leaving the young men looking at one another with fond looks.

"That girl," Ryan laughed. "She's too much!" Meanwhile Leshia had reached the front of the crowds and had quickly drawn Pansy Parkinson's attention.

"Seventh floor boys dormitory in like ten seconds, password's 'troll trunks'," she called to her, before snatching one of the freebie signed T-shirts that was lying on the stool at the woman's side. "I need to borrow this!" With this she darted into the crowd snatching the closest person's pumpkin juice and throwing it over the T-shirt she had just stolen. With her new soiled prize she ran back to the refreshments room, which Draco was about to leave in search of her. Finally Leshia allowed herself to breathe and boy was she panting.

"What's that?" Draco asked indicating the T-shirt in her hand.

"Oh, this," Leshia said nonchalantly. "It's mine…" she began, but Draco had taken it from her hand and was inspecting the motif and the signatures with raised eyebrows of consternation, before he looked to his daughter incredulously.

"But you hate this band," he stated simply.

"Yeah, well you didn't let me finish did you?" Leshia laughed. "It's my fault that I spilled pumpkin juice all over Katie's T-shirt. I was trying to wash it off," she explained and she even sounded convincing to Katie, who had never seen the T-shirt before in her life.

"Thanks Leesh," Katie lied and she took the T-shirt from her friend.

"No problem," the girl replied, feeling silently thankful that Katie had managed to lie convincingly for once. In fact her lie was so convincing that Draco managed to relax a little.

"Have you been running a marathon or something, here, have a drink," he told his daughter amusedly and he reached out and grabbed her a bottle of butterbeer from the refreshments table, which she gulped at greedily. Her father chuckled and ruffled her hair a little, finally beginning to calm down, and think maybe he'd jumped to conclusions about her being up to no good. Just because nine times out of ten his suspicions weren't unfounded didn't mean the girl had to be trouble making every times he laid eyes on her…did it?

"Oh dad, there's something I wanted to show you," Leshia said and she put down her now empty bottle, before reaching out and taking her father's hand.

"Oh yeah? This sounds ominous," Draco said fondly, but he allowed himself to be led back across the boys' staircase and up to the very top.

"What on earth do you get up to up here?" her father asked with more than a hint of annoyance. His twelve-year-old daughter had no business up in the seventh year boys' dormitory. Leshia gave him a slight look of trepidation before she turned to the door and uttered the password. It swung open and Leshia walked in ahead of Draco. Pansy must have been hidden in the shadows, as she couldn't see the ghastly woman.

"Leesh? Can I have a word?" It was Rachel out in the corridor as planned. After glancing apologetically at her father Leshia darted out again and shut the door behind her.

"Was she in there?" Rachel asked softly as both girls pressed their ears up against the door to listen in, but it would seem the locking spell had rendered this impossible.

"I don't know, I didn't see her."

Inside Draco was pacing the floor agitatedly, all this was extremely odd. And one thing Draco Malfoy could not stand was oddity. Well…unexplained oddity, he could quite accept that his daughter was an odd character to begin with, but when she started acting out of turn he did wonder.

"Draco?" The young man spun round in surprise and instantly regretted doing so as his eyes fell on the half naked form of Pansy Parkinson.

"God woman, put some clothes on," he complained in surprise, as he threw his hand over his eyes. Pansy was not dissuaded.

"Oh come on Draky, play with me," she flirted outrageously. Draco pulled down his hand only momentarily to shoot her an unimpressed look. "Come on, you know you want to. What with that scrawny Granger woman, you must miss the touch of a real woman." Draco sighed angrily and realised he was going to have to take matters into his own hands, again! So while still averting his gaze he walked past the mostly-naked woman and found her robes.

"Firstly," he said brusquely. "That Granger woman is my wife, so show some respect." As he spoke he draped the robes round his ex-girlfriend's shoulders and forced her to wrap them round herself. "Secondly, you know my type, so you should know it's all Hermione and very little of you." He was being hurtful now, but this damn woman needed to get the hint. It would seem at long last she was, as she pulled the robe around herself a little tighter. "And lastly, did my daughter set you up to this? Because if she did I'll kill her."

"Oh get over yourself Draco," Pansy quipped. "I am capable of seducing you without the help of a twelve-year-old thank you very much. God you've turned boring!" The young woman started to pull her clothes back on while Draco continued to stare straight ahead at a particular boy's messy corner of the dormitory – he could not know this was Luka, well known through the school for being the messiest boy on the grounds. "You never would have turned down the chance at a free…"

"Yes well I guess I have changed," Draco snapped, not wanting to think about the times they'd…well, he didn't want to think about it. The very thought of touching the fake over-made up harpy was making his stomach feel unsettled.

"Why did you do it Draco?" The woman suddenly seemed serious and as she was now fully dressed he was able to turn and look at her.

"Do what?" he asked with a frown.

"Switch sides." For the first time in over a decade it seemed that Pansy Parkinson was revealing real emotion to the young man. She seemed almost…sad. This alone earned her the truth.

"I had to," he replied. "Voldemort was evil, for everybody's sake…he had to go."

"But you hated them…you hated her," the woman was continuing, and she lowered her gaze to the ground feeling humbled. She had loved Draco Malfoy. Even after he left school and fell for that Granger woman, she never really stopped loving him.

"I changed. I realised that I thought I knew everything, and that I was wrong."

"You really love her don't you? I heard about you, about how you never wandered after she'd gone, that you remained loyal to her…" Once more the woman trailed off, feeling jealous of Hermione for winning Draco's undivided love, and feeling so unutterably sad that she had lost him.

"Yes Pansy, I do," Draco replied calmly. After inhaling slowly Pansy nodded and headed for the door, there was no point in staying here, not after this. There was a crowd of eager youngsters downstairs, and for now, they gave her all the love she needed. Draco met her at the door and he pulled it open to reveal…

"Hermione?" he exclaimed in surprise, only moments after Leshia had uttered, "Mum," in exactly the same tone. Hermione coming up the stairs at exactly the same time as Draco leaving a dark dormitory with Pansy Parkinson in pursuit doing up the top button of her blouse, was not how Leshia had envisioned this particular plan unfolding.

"Draco Malfoy!" Hermione managed in surprised horror. "What were you doing in there with her? And on top of that with your twelve-year-old daughter right outside?"

"Mum I can explain," Leshia tried, but Hermione didn't heed her.

"Explain yourself Draco," Hermione continued and she seemed more hurt and confused than angry.

"It's not at all what you think," Draco told her sounding a little tetchy. Why on earth did his wife always have to find him at the most inopportune times and then accuse him of God knows what?

"Well what could possibly explain why you've been in a dormitory on your own with that woman, who's still trying to dress herself?" Hermione asked tearfully as she brought her hand up to her head to rub it anxiously. On top of all this a headache was starting to form.

"Mum?" Leshia tried again.

"Leshia sweetheart, please be quiet," Hermione ordered slightly firmly and Leshia chewed her lower lip anxiously, glancing up to see her father was beginning to get rather annoyed – she knew the warning signs well.

"For Goodness sake woman would you listen to yourself?" Draco grumbled. "We were just talking."

"Talking?" Hermione scoffed. "In a dark dormitory, in your underwear?" For a moment Draco felt his patience snap, and later on in the evening he realised this is where everything took a turn for the worse and could have nearly ended in disaster.

"Look, only she was in her underwear!" For a moment silence descended upon the corridor as Hermione stared dumbstruck and her husband, Leshia turned to look at her father in disgust and Pansy raised her eyebrows realising this was her cue to leave.

"I'll see you some other time Draco," she said breezily, before she flounced down the stairs giving Hermione a simmering smile. "Hermione." With this she was gone, with Rachel hot on her heels, eager to get away from the Malfoy family showdown that was about to erupt.

"Uh, I might just go…" Leshia began, but Draco suddenly fixed his glare onto her.

"Not one step young lady," he ordered angrily, before he looked back to his wife reassuringly, who was now fighting back the tears. "That came out wrong, I'm sorry! She made a pass at me, I didn't do anything." Hermione gulped away at her tears angrily and shook her head.

"How can I believe you?" she uttered helplessly.

"Because," Draco said with a charming smile and he started to descend the stairs towards his wife. "You trust me." Hermione still looked no closer to believing him. "And besides, have you looked at yourself lately? How could I give you up for a tart like her huh?" With this he reached his wife and wrapped his arms around her waist; she didn't object.

"Talking?" she asked lightly, her tears drying up.

"All about you," Draco replied with a charming smile, before he morphed his expression into as innocent a look as he could fathom. "Am I forgiven?" Hermione's face finally broke into a smile and she lunged forward kissing her husband firmly. He laughed dashingly and wrapped his arms firmly around her, swinging her round on the precarious steps while kissing her back with all his might. Thinking this was her only chance of escaping this without a whole heap of trouble, Leshia tried to dart around her loved up parents, but it would seem Draco was aware of her cunning plan and he reached out his hand lighting quick and caught her by the scruff of the neck. He continued to kiss his wife for a few more moments before finally he pulled away and looked down at their wayward daughter

"Not so fast you," he said and he sounded dangerous, indeed, that 'you're in trouble' glint in his eye was definitely back. "I want answers, and they had better be good ones." Leshia grimaced and looked far from able to deliver an answer that would satisfy her father, so she opted for the truth.

"She would only come if I could get her ten minutes alone with you," she blurted out very quickly and then promptly looked at her feet, avoiding her father's narrowed eyes and her mother's wounded look.

"Oh, so you wanted you father to cheat on your mother with that famous tart then?" Draco asked brusquely. "How terribly dramatic of you."

"No of course not!" Leshia exclaimed and she looked up with sincerity oozing from her desperate expression. "I didn't think she'd try anything like that and I certainly didn't think you'd do anything." Draco's expression didn't change, but Hermione looked a little comforted.

"You lied to me, and you used me, for what?" Draco was continuing darkly. Leshia looked away ashamedly. "You will look at me when I'm talking to you Alecia." The girl quickly looked up with a heart achingly vulnerable expression that ensured Hermione had to look away. Normally she would attempt to rescue her daughter from the depths of Draco's temper, but this time, just maybe, she had deserved it. "What was so important that you could just abuse me in this way, some poxy band that you don't even like?" Leshia gulped, contorting her expression into an almighty attempt to stave the tears that were building up.

"I didn't think you'd be so upset," she tried, but it barely came out louder than a whisper, as her voice was misbehaving.

"Yes well, you haven't been thinking about many people other than yourself all term, I don't like what's happening to you," Draco continued, still no less cruel and no less angry. The sentiment was real. Though he didn't truly believe his daughter to be so heartless and insensitive, she had been doing a very good impression of the Slytherins she claimed to hate so much and of the Slytherin that Draco once was. He hated seeing those qualities in his usually perfect (at least in his eyes) little girl.

"I'm sorry," the girl whispered through a congested throat and a few tears fell from her open eyes. At this Draco's resolve took a major hit and he even allowed Hermione to rush forward and wrap the girl up in her motherly embrace. After inhaling and exhaling very slowly, Draco felt much calmer.

"Come here," he said brusquely and he reached out an arm, which Leshia instantly dove for, burying her face in his chest. Hermione smiled warmly at her husband and reached out to stroke their daughter's back. "I knew this party was important to you, I just didn't think you'd put it before me that's all." Leshia hugged him tighter and shook her head.

"That's not what I meant to do," her muffled reply came. "Nothing comes before you and mum. I just didn't think you'd mind so much, and I didn't think that Miss Parkinson would take all her clothes off." Hermione suppressed a snort of laughter and even Draco managed a smile. Put so innocently, it didn't sound all that bad, and Draco was too impressed with his daughter's resourcefulness and cunning to feel too angry.

"I'm not all that mad little one," he finally said and Leshia pulled away, her tear stained face morphed into an adorable expression of hope.

"Really?" Draco smiled and wiped her tears away with a weather-beaten thumb.

"Really," he repeated and he kissed her forehead firmly.

"Mum?" Leshia then asked turning on her mother, who smiled adoringly at her and pulled her into another embrace.

"What are we going to do with you eh?" the young woman asked fondly.

"Love me and spoil me and give me lots of presents?" Leshia suggested jokingly, ensuring both her parents laughed fondly.

"Come on, you'd better get back to this party of yours, everyone will be wondering where the prodigal host has gone," Hermione said warmly and after wiping away the last of Leshia's tears the small family made their way back down to the common room, where the girl's parents abandoned her to make their way back to their chambers; they had some making up of their own to do. As soon as they had disappeared through the portrait hole, Leshia ran back up the stairs towards her dormitory, and after uttering the password she burst through.

"I'm so sorry it took so long," she panted breathily, but the men didn't seem to mind. They were sat in one of window boxes set into the curved exterior wall. Lukas seemed to be staring at the girl adoringly, and only later did Leshia realise why. He had evidently spotted the gigantic poster she had of him next to her bed, and he also probably noticed the signed picture she kept on her bedside table alongside the little model of the chaser that was defect. "Do you want to talk now?" she asked Krum hopefully and to her utmost relief he nodded decisively.

"Yes, I think that is very good idea," he said and nodded to Lukas, who took his leave after giving the girl a supportive smile. After he had shut the door behind himself Leshia walked over to the Bulgarian quidditch legend and sat down on her bed, which was positioned nearest the window box. "I do not know where to start," Krum began with a sigh that was laden with sadness. "Many years ago, before you were born, I helped in battle against Voldemort. I helped your mother, and we were very close. I loved her very much, but she love your father, not me. So I wait and I wait, and then, your father and Harry Potter kill Voldemort." Leshia nodded, she had heard this heroic tale many times; though never from her father, he hated to relive that terrible day it would seem.

"But, we all think that they both have died," Krum explained. "And because I love 'Ermione, she comes to me for…uh…how do you say this…"

"Comfort?" Leshia suggested, and Krum nodded firmly.

"Yes, comfort," he said. "It take only short time for her to think she loves me instead, but I did not care if she did not mean it, I loved her too much. So we became a…uh…"

"Couple?" the girl provided tentatively, and once more the Bulgarian nodded.

"Yes, for many months," he explained. "In the beginning, 'Ermione discover she is pregnant, and I was very happy." Leshia hung her head a little feeling a little sheepish and sympathetic for the poor man.

"Did mum not know that dad was the father?" she asked, and Krum shook his head sadly.

"She did no tell me, she knew, but did not tell me," he sighed. "She think that maybe, I never find out, that Draco is gone…but…"

"He came back," Leshia sighed sadly and once more Krum nodded, though this time he was smiling.

"I think you no this story already no?" he chuckled. Leshia grinned.

"Sorry," she said cheerfully. "I'll stop interrupting you now."

"No no, is okay," the man laughed. "Your mother, she is the same, can never let me speak more than a sentence. Well, anyway, Draco came back four months before you be born and 'Ermione was very sad." Leshia fought the urge to interrupt to exclaim her surprise at this. "Very very sad, because she love Draco, but now, she also love me and she did not want hurt me."

"That's awful," Leshia said softly.

"'Ermione tell him she stay with me, that baby is mine, but he no listen and try and try to take her back from me," Krum said and a trace of anger laced into his words, and for the first time in her life Leshia felt a little ashamed of her father. How could he have been so selfish…so cruel? "I fight with him many times, and this make 'Ermione more sad. Draco would not give in, so in end, I say goodbye."

"That's so sad," Leshia sighed.

"For me yes, but no for you I think," Krum said with a small smile, causing the girl to wrinkle her brow in confusion. "Well, you grow up with your father. He take good care of you yes?" Leshia nodded quickly, though at this moment in time she was ashamed of him, he had been an excellent father and she was very close to him. How different things could have been had Krum hung in there. Would she be in Durmstrang now speaking Bulgarian? "Come, we go party? I am hungry now, after spend all night in your bedroom."

Leshia laughed and got to her feet to follow the man out, but at the door she quickly lunged forward and hugged him. He had looked as though he needed a hug and to her surprise he returned it gratefully. It hurt him badly to see how wonderful the girl had turned out, he could have been a father, her father…but it was too late. Viktor Krum had reached the stage of his life where a wife and child seemed unlikely. He was too set in his ways, and too heartbroken to trust anyone. There had been plenty of women, but none seemed to make the cut, none of them were Hermione.

As soon as Leshia made it down into the common room she was instantly jabbered at from all different directions by her excitable friends. The girl just about managed to extract that Neville Longbottom had been found kissing Joanne Tayler at the top of the stairs. The evening continued with many people disappearing to the darkest corners of Gryffindor tower to get to know each other more intimately, and after noticing this Leshia was more thrilled than ever that they had passworded the dormitories. The party was so incredibly hectic now, as most of the ball-goers had returned and were joining in with the festivities.

XXX

The scenes of jubilation taking place in Gryffindor tower were such a stark contrast from the entirely intimate and loving scenes taking place in Draco and Hermione's chambers. Dressed only in the swathes of sheets that clung to them, Hermione leant on her husband's chest, lying at a right angle to his tall lean body. Her fingers were absent-mindedly stroking the faded mark on his forearm tentatively, remembering the days he hadn't even allowed her to see it, let alone stroke it. His shame had been so great back then, and even now she saw the pain and anger that laced his face whenever his eyes fell on the ghastly Dark Mark.

"Was it painful, when they did this to you?" she asked softly.

"Excruciatingly," Draco replied with a dark lopsided smile. "He loved to torture his followers did Voldemort. Makes you wonder why people fell for his lies…makes you wonder why he had anyone at all." He sighed heavily and glanced briefly to the mark on his arm, before he winced slightly and looked away.

"But you still don't regret any of it?" his wife asked and she left his arm alone, shuffling up the bed a little to look him in the eye. Her husband was shaking his head slowly.

"Without me, you lot would have failed miserably," he said with a conceited smile; he was only half-joking.

"True," Hermione replied simply, before she shot him a conceited grin of her own. "But without me, you wouldn't still be standing with the amount of times I put you back together again." Draco chuckled warmly and the sound reverberated through his chest and made Hermione's skin tingle. The simple pleasures her husband offered her brought her more pleasure than she had known before her ordeal. She had never taken him for granted, but now every smile he cast in her direction, or every time their skin brushed against one another in passing, she cherished the moment. This man was everything to her, as was the child he had given her.

"Ah, I would have managed," Draco countered cheerfully, causing Hermione to snort derisively.

"Well you wouldn't have been the handsome devil you are now," she complained with an adoring smile. "Probably looked more like old Moody."

"Oh come on, I'm not capable of not being handsome, I mean, look at me," the young man joked and he held out his arms to show off his Adonis like physique, opening himself up for an attack, which his wife instantly lunged into, tickling every inch of his skin she could reach. The young man roared with laughter and instantly overpowered his smaller wife and returned the favour. Knowing exactly where Hermione absolutely hated to be tickled he soon got his revenge.

"Malfoy stop it!" Hermione cried out through wild laughter and she tried desperately to escape.

"Do you promise to stop being such a know-it-all?"

"Yes! I promise!" With a broad smile he let the young woman go and she skittered over to the other side of the bed, dragging the sheets with her and draping them around herself to protect her vulnerable sides. "God, you're such a bully," she complained lovingly.

"That's why you married me," Draco said cheerfully, before he climbed to his feet to locate his clothes once more.

"Where are you going?"

"Back to the party, make sure that daughter of yours is behaving herself." By now the young man had located his loose jeans and he pulled them on once more, tightening the belt on this slim hips.

"Firstly," Hermione laughed. "She's more your daughter than mine…"

"Don't say that," Draco complained and he looked a little wounded. "You know it's not true." Hermione let it slide this once, as she didn't want to get into another one of those discussions; they were too painful.

"Well regardless, you can't just go and bother the poor girl again, leave her be."

"I'm sorry?" Draco asked and he seemed pleasantly surprised. "Could you just repeat that? I could have sworn you referred to that girl, who I swear is becoming more like the devil incarnate as every day passes, as a poor girl?" Hermione could see the affection in her husband's face as he spoke these words, though she did wish he'd stop referring to their little girl as the spawn of Satan, it was rather off-putting for a mother.

"You have to let her lead her own life Draco, I know it's hard for you," she explained gently. Draco grinned and shook his head.

"And why's that?"

"Oh, I thought you knew," she said with a serious frown. "You know, because of you being a control freak and everything. Goodness me Draco, I'm surprised you hadn't noticed, the rest of…" She was winding him up, and it was working, as after having a struggle with his long-sleeved T-shirt, the young man gave up and lunged at his wife once more, tickling her until the tears came streaming from her eyes.

"I told you to stop being a know-it-all," Draco countered fondly and he sat down on the edge of the bed, while Hermione sidled up behind him and draped her arms around his shoulders.

"She'll be okay," she whispered in his ear.

"What makes you so sure?" And for a moment a hint of fear entered her husband's voice.

"Because, she takes after her father," Hermione replied, before she kissed the nape of his neck delicately, sending a ripple of shivers down his spine.

"You know," Draco said thoughtfully. "She's possibly the best thing I've ever done with my life."

"I know, I feel the same," Hermione said softly, thinking for the umpteenth time how proud of her daughter she felt, and how amazed she was that she had made something so perfect and pure…well, when she wasn't troublemaking.

"Every time I see it," her husband continued sounding slightly forced, as though he didn't want to part with his feelings on this matter very easily. Hermione knew he was talking of the mark on his poor branded arm. "I think of her…and…that's how I live with myself."

XXX

Meanwhile, back in Gryffindor tower Leshia was once more enveloped in an eager conversation with Lukas, well, rather she was firing question after question at him and he was trying his very best to answer them to the best of his abilities. As midnight approached however, Krum was at his side telling him it was time to go. They were apparating out at twelve along with another one of their team members who had been less inclined to go to a children's party with them. Leshia and her friends seemed mortified that the men were leaving and accompanied them to the portrait hole.

"Thank you so much for coming," Rachel gushed and both men nodded their heads to the youngsters. Then, without so much as a warning, Lukas leaned down and kissed her cheek. Her face instantly glowed bright red, and for several minutes she lost the ability to speak, by which time the men had already departed on their hopefully uninterrupted trek to the main gates.

"Are you okay?" Rachel giggled after five minutes, in which Leshia still hadn't reclaimed the power of her vocal chords. The girl nodded numbly and was so wrapped up in her own horror and jubilation that she didn't notice Rodeo watching her darkly, a jealous glint in his eyes. She couldn't know how much he had wanted to tear the young chaser's hair out when he saw what the man had done. She couldn't know how much the young boy was hurting at this moment.

"Rodeo, are you alright?" Katie's concerned tone came, and in an instant the boy had snapped his gaze onto the pretty dark-haired girl. Such a polar opposite of Leshia, she was an adequate distraction.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he lied with a charming smile. "You wanna grab a drink?" Katie blushed slightly, but nodded all the same.

"Of course," she replied and the pair disappeared up the staircase, with Rachel watching after them darkly. What were they up to? After five minutes Leshia finally snapped out of her funk, only to be lifted up from behind by her three excitable seventh years, who had not managed to find women susceptible to their charms (it would seem most of the females at the party were too fascinated by the band to care for their chat up lines and dashing smiles) and were now bored. Seeing perfect entertainment in the adorable youngster they decided to pick on her. Leaving her to it, Rachel rushed off just in time to jump between Katie and Rodeo, who had looked very cosy in the corner of the room, partially hidden from view by one of the big beds.

"Brilliant party isn't it?" Rachel exclaimed cheerfully, and from this moment on, did not leave their sides until the very last guest had ambled out at three in the morning, with the strictest instructions not to mention that Krum and Lukas had been at the party. When they asked why, Leshia had told them that if they wanted to have a nasty run-in with Professor Malfoy, then they should by all means go blabbing. It was a sign of Draco's reputation that everyone agreed instantly. Leshia was still draped over one of the armchairs in the common room saying goodbye to the guests of honour when Rachel led an extremely frosty Katie downstairs to see what they were going to do about the tidying up.

"Well apparently," Leshia said after Rachel had asked her what they were going to do. "Julia and her friends in seventh year know some spell that will clean everything for us, so…ah, here they are. Hey Julia!" The head girl beamed at Leshia, knowing her uncanny skills were about to be called upon again.

"Watch and learn you lot," she told the assorted Gryffindors before she aimed her wand at the room.

"Scorgify," she said loudly and slowly the stained looking carpets, settees, armchairs and even the banners suddenly appeared much cleaner, as all the soaked in beverages and dirt from people's feet was siphoned away. Once this was done, the very able head girl raised her wand to the litter that lined the room. "Abeo purgamentum," she said forcefully and as though being sucked into the end of the young woman's wand like a hover, all the rubbish in the room suddenly disappeared at the tip of the long well loved wand. Julia's final trick came when she flicked her wand and repeated, "Restituo cella." As though the furniture had suddenly come to life, everything suddenly started to jump back into its original place, whether or not it had an occupant on it or not. Leshia for one was most disgruntled with her armchair ride, but she didn't mention anything of it as the room had returned to normal once more.

"Excellent," she exclaimed sounding more than impressed. "You're not head girl for nothing are you?" Julia beamed at the girl.

"We've already done the other rooms, everything's back to normal." She reported.

"Well then," Leshia said with a big smile. "I'd say this party was a huge success." Everyone cheered in agreement, before heading for the stairwell, quite ready to return to their beds for a well-deserved rest. It would seem though, that they hadn't quite earned it yet, as a scream suddenly sounded in the tower. Everyone rushed up (and down, depending on where they had been standing) the stairs to find that Nicola and Ashley were stood in the open doorway of their dormitory, looking over the tattered remnants of their room in horror.

"Oh my God," Rachel whispered in shock, while the five occupants of the room squeezed in to the ravaged dormitory.

"Who would do this?" Katie uttered sounding hurt. Leshia shook her head in shock and turned to Julia with a pleading expression, wondering if she had some spell that could fix this mess. The seventh year inhaled slowly, before she stepped into the room.

"Everybody get out," she told the people crowding in the door and on her command, the girls darted out, pushing back some of the inquisitive people who had pushed in after Julia. After several moments of controlled breathing, Julia raised her wand and circled the entire room with it.

"Pondus reparo," she finally spoke in an eerily calm tone. To everyone's utmost surprise – and relief – the tattered contents of the room started to repair themselves. With so much to be repaired and such a large amount of concentration required, it took the young woman five attempts to set the room to rights, and as the last book magically rebound itself after being cruelly ripped apart a massive roar of approval went up in the corridor beyond. The applause was so deafening that one might have been mistaken for believing that Gryffindor had just won the quidditch cup. In the centre of it all Julia stood smiling tiredly at them all.

"Right now, if no one else has any emergencies, I need to get my beauty sleep," she said tiredly and walked towards the door where she was instantly swept up into Ryan's arms – the young man she had fancied silently from a distance for the last seven years.

"You're amazing, you know that?" he said sounding extremely proud, before he lunged forward and kissed her firmly. Another roar went up in the corridor that left Ryan grinning dashingly at his friends and Julia blushing furiously. This marked the end of a fabulous night and as every Gryffindor went to bed that night, they were grateful for their house's companionship and were extremely thankful that they hadn't been placed in one of the other houses.

XXX

The following morning, or rather, the following noon Leshia opened her eyes to the frantic noise of Katie trying to wake Rachel from a deep slumber she evidently had no intention of being woken from.

"What?" the redhead finally demanded groggily.

"It's midday you idiot! We're supposed to be meeting Professor Dumbledore now!" As though someone had lit a firecracker beneath Leshia's bed, she shot up and fell through her curtains. Katie looked grateful that she at least seemed to think this was a big deal. "Rachel, come on!"

"Get out of bed you lazy sod!" Leshia called to the girl somewhat amusedly, before she started to pull on her clothes. Under five minutes later the dishevelled girls were making their way through the corridors trying to avoid everybody's beaming smiles at them. They couldn't stop for small talk; they were already in enough trouble as it was. Finally they reached the Phoenix statue that marked the entrance to the headmaster's statue and found McGonagall waiting for them, evidently unimpressed with their tardiness.

"I hope you have a good reason for keeping the headmaster waiting girls," the sour looking teacher told them as she turned to the statue, which instantly started to move into a winding stairwell.

"We were…" Leshia began, but it would seem that the head of their house didn't want to hear their excuse, at least not yet. The trio remained silent as they followed Professor McGonagall up to Dumbledore's luxurious study. He seemed in high sorts, not at all perturbed by their lateness.

"Ah yes, come in, sit down," he told the girls and they filed in humbly, taking the three seats in front of the desk, trying to avoid looking the headmaster in the eye. "I have heard nothing but praise for you three all morning," the aged man told them slowly and he seemed somewhat amused. "It would seem your highly prohibited party last night was an astounding success."

"Yes sir," the girls said humbly.

"And Professor McGonagall tells me that Gryffindor Tower has been returned to its former glory. The signing foot cushions, have they managed to survive the night?" The old man seemed genuinely concerned and Leshia nodded quickly.

"Yes sir, every last one of them," she replied.

"Wonderful," Dumbledore exclaimed heartily. "I would like you all to note, that I am tremendously impressed by the level of ingenuity and resourcefulness that you displayed in arranging last night's events. You showed organisation, persuasive and ambitious qualities well beyond your years. However…" The girls sighed a little, they had known they would not get away with all the rules they had broken, though the headmaster's praise had lulled them into a false sense of security, if only for a few moments. "You have broken more school rules than I care to recall, and in doing so have given me no choice but to give detention every weekend until the end of term." Katie and Rachel nodded glumly, feeling entirely dejected, but Leshia was squirming in her seat seemingly fighting some internal battle. "Do you wish to say anything Miss Malfoy?" Dumbledore asked with a fond twinkle in his wise eyes. Leshia nodded vigorously.

"I don't think that they should be punished, I mean, this was all my idea, I take full responsibility!" she said fervently. At her side her friends turned to stare at her in surprise. Dumbledore furrowed his brow and leaned forward, resting his fingertips together over his desk.

"How terribly noble of you," he said eventually, sounding incredibly proud and impressed. "I do not believe a word of it of course," the old man added fondly. "But for such a noble deed, it is only right that I award you with what you desire. Yes, your friends may escape this punishment if you so wish it." Rachel was shaking her head passionately, not wanting Leshia to take the blame for something they had all partaken in, but Leshia was still staring straight ahead and she nodded firmly.

"Yes sir, I do," she said and she felt a lot better when Dumbledore granted her a winning smile.

"Tomorrow you may start your punishment, I do believe that Professor Ramble has been unable to catch any students doing things they shouldn't this week and as such is without an assistant," the headmaster told Leshia and she nodded once more, seemingly unfazed by the gravity of her punishment. "Right then, if you have nothing you wish to discuss with me, then I really ought to get back to my letter." For a moment the headmaster trailed off and in this inopportune moment all three girls stomachs started to grumble loudly. "Ah yes, and I do believe that they have started serving lunch."

XXX

"I can't believe you just did that Leesh!" Rachel complained the moment they set foot outside the phoenix statue.

"Rach stop being so ungrateful," Katie complained and then she smiled warmly at Leshia. "That was so kind of you Leesh. Really, you didn't have to do that." Leshia smiled back to her kindly and shrugged.

"I know," she said. "I just wanted to that's all. I mean come on; I'm going for a detention all time best aren't I? Can't have you guys catching up!" she added with a grin and Katie started laughing wildly. Rachel remained inconsolable throughout lunch. The thought of the rest of the weekends of the term without her best friend was far too upsetting, so she remained quiet while a steady flock of well wishers came to thank the Gryffindors for the amazing party from the night before. Leshia was particularly enjoying the attention, not because she enjoyed hearing people praising her name, but because across the hall Allseyer was watching her furiously. His face was contorted into such an expression of jealousy and hatred that it warmed the girl's heart.

"Hey Leesh, look at Ryan Lofting," Katie suddenly whispered in Leshia's ear. The girl snapped out of her glaring contest with Allseyer and glanced up the table to see that Ryan Lofting – the Casanova of Hogwarts – was engaged in an intimate looking conversation with none other than Julia Walling. They seemed to be loving every moment of their talk, realising that they had more in common than they had first thought.

"Awww," Leshia chuckled and she beamed at her friends, before she looked over to where Tom and Luke were rubbing their sore heads – some of their uncle's concoctions from the night before had not been altogether side effect free. "Hey you two look," she called to them and they followed the direction her finger was pointing. "Looks like Little Lofting's got himself a girlfriend," she teased playfully. At her beck and call a teasing chant went up around the table and in retaliation, to which Ryan responded in true Lofting fashion by leaning in and kissing Julia tenderly to a chorus of catcalls and 'Alright Lofting's. Julia was glowing red, but she was loving every moment of it. The night before she and Ryan had stayed up all night juts talking and they had discovered that they had more in common than either could have imagined. It would seem that love was definitely in the air.

XXX

Much later on, after an exuberant exploding chess tournament, and a mass energetic retelling of last night's gossip and events in the common room, the girls sloped up to their dormitory to work on their Potions essays. As Katie and Rachel got underway, Leshia was staring into her bag with a frown. She was missing something, but what that something was, she couldn't quite figure out.

"Forgotten something?" Katie asked, while Rachel shot the blonde girl a putout look; she still hadn't forgiven her for abandoning her yet.

"No," Leshia replied and she started to pull everything out of her bag to examine the contents in more detail.

"Then what, little spring cleaning?" Katie suggested cheerfully. Leshia grinned and shook her head once more.

"No," she chuckled and examined the books and parchments lying on her quilt with a look of deep thought. "Oh no!" she suddenly gasped and then frantically started leafing through her books. "No!" she repeated sounding pained.

"What?" Her friends were at her side now, looking over the messy contents of their friend's bag.

"The note!" Leshia exclaimed as she dropped down to her knees and looked under her bed. "It's gone!"

"What the Lucius note?" Katie asked sounding surprised. "When did you last have it?"

"Two days ago in History Of Magic," Leshia's muffled reply came – she had by now pulled herself under the bed to search every corner. "I was bored so I was trying to figure out what it meant. It was in my bag, I know it was!" Her friends had fallen silent and were looking to one another darkly.

"Leesh you don't think whoever trashed our room last night was after it do you?" Rachel finally asked, breaking her vow of silence. For a moment the frantic sound of Leshia scrabbling around ceased and the girl pulled herself out from under the bed with a matching look on her face.

"You know what, I'd completely forgotten about that," she said softly. "I bet that's why they did it…but who on earth did it?" The girls sank onto Leshia's bed, shoving her stuff out of the way and closing the curtains in around themselves for some privacy while they discussed who on earth would let her find the note in the first place and then would risk sneaking in to a crowded party only to take it back again.

"Could it have been Krum?" Rachel asked darkly. "I mean he was in here alone!"

"Of course it wasn't Krum," Leshia complained, though she couldn't be sure of course. "The place was fine when we talked, and besides, he didn't leave our sight afterwards remember?"

"He still could have taken it though, and then later someone else could have come after it and found it gone, that would probably tick them off no end," Katie suggested, but once more Leshia shook her head.

"It wasn't Krum," she told them protectively.

"All right, keep your hair on," Katie said with a grin.

"Look the doors were passworded, someone must have found it out," Rachel said logically. "We just need to try and think who was here last night."

"Everyone was here last night!" Leshia complained pointedly. "And at least a dozen out-housers and guests must have heard the password, I mean I practically had to yell it to that Parkinson idiot because the music was so loud."

"So basically," Katie said slowly and she looked very humbled. "There's no way of knowing who took it, or why."

XXX

Over the following weeks the girls watched their backs carefully, trying to spot any suspicious behaviour, but as far as they were aware everyone was acting normally. Their social standing had shot up several notches, but other than that nothing had changed. It would seem love was definitely in the air as soon Julia and Ryan took to wandering the corridors hand in hand. The once suave ladies man had finally been tamed, and his friends had taken to prowling Hogsmeade's streets at the weekend alone feeling decidedly sorry for themselves without their ringleader to guide them.

Leshia's detentions were rarely very taxing. In fact on one occasion she had merely had to attend a family dinner in her parents' chambers, which had turned into a very fun and enjoyable evening. The girl had also grown decidedly closer to Ramble, realising the woman had more exciting stories than she had imagined. Ramble always ensured that Leshia enjoyed their detentions together.

The girl's thirteenth birthday came and went and Leshia was inundated with gifts from her family, friends, and fans (indeed, a following had started to creep up in the shadows and Leshia was decidedly uncomfortable with the idea). Dumbledore had granted the girl the Sunday of her birthday off and had also granted Draco and Hermione permission to take Leshia, Katie and Rachel into Hogsmeade to celebrate the occasion. This time there was no fire whisky explosion to mark the occasion and Leshia had a thoroughly good time.

The first quidditch game of the season seemed to be upon them before they knew it, and Leshia had started to feel exceedingly nervous once more. She needn't had worried however, as in the game against Slytherin she caught the snitch within the first five minutes of the game, resulting in a jubilant Gryffindor and everyone else in grumpy sorts, they had been looking forward to a good game, and Leshia's brilliance had curbed their plans.

The term was beginning to fly by and before anyone realised what was going on the last Monday of term arrived, and with it a flurry of fluffy white snow. That morning the girls dressed in extra thick tights and even wrapped woolly scarves around their necks to keep out the chill that was spreading through the castle's corridors. That morning over breakfast they watched the snow falling down in the enchanted ceiling with a sense of trepidation; first thing after break they had Care of Magical Creatures.

"Is there time to go back and get my duvet?" she asked finally sounding miserable. It was a sign of how miserable the gathered youngsters were that they barely managed a smile at her proclamation.

"Come on, we're going to be late for Charms at this rate," Katie said after she had downed the dregs of her orange juice.

"Katie," Rachel exclaimed in surprise. "I've never heard you sound so gloomy about going to a lesson, are you feeling okay?"

"Oh sod off," Katie chuckled and she flounced ahead, leaving her friends to gobble down the remainder of their breakfasts, before careening after her. Charms it turned out was an extremely amusing occasion, as Professor Flitwick felt the children deserved a treat now it was the last week of turn. They played Hangman on the large blackboard, some children played chess in the corner and Leshia and her friends sat around chatting gleefully. This relaxed lesson couldn't have contrasted more from their next, which they soon found out as they lined up outside the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, a very loud and slightly angry exasperated sound came from behind them. It was Draco and he was staring from one untucked shirt to the next in disbelief. Not one of the children was suitably presentable, though even before he could open his mouth to order them to straighten themselves up, they realised what was wrong and quickly moved to rectify the situation.

"That's better," Draco sighed sounding incredulous still, as though he still couldn't quite believe his class had fronted him like that. "Anyone care to explain why?" he added as he headed down the queue of waiting children slowly towards the door. He fixed each one with a firm and unwavering glare and each and every one shrunk away until her reached a slightly perplexed face that was turned up at him, "You," he ordered.

"We just had Charms and Professor Flitwick didn't mind, so we all forgot," his daughter told him simply.

"That's not a good reason, what if we suddenly forgot to teach you, what would you do then?" Draco grumbled and he headed for the door. It was a sign of the reverence the youngsters held for the man, that none of them turned to one another to whisper "celebrate" in silent response. Had any other teacher walked right into an open joke like that then that would have been the first thing uttered by half the class, but Draco was different. Even Leshia, who had been thinking of the witty comeback held her tongue obediently. Her father seemed in a very peculiar mood and the girl wanted desperately to know why.

"In," the young man barked as the kicked the door open with his foot, before storming into the classroom as though in a mad rage, there was definitely something wrong, his daughter concluded. All throughout the lesson Draco remained out of sorts and as the bell for break rang, he merely waved the classroom out with a flick of his wrist. Leshia remained behind and once the others, including her friends, had made their way out of the classroom she walked over to her father, who was leaning against the edge of his desk with his face in his hands. As soon as the girl was within arm's reach she was pulled into a firm embrace.

"Dad what's wrong?" Leshia asked worriedly. "Has something happened?"

"Everything's fine," Draco replied, before he squeezed her tightly once more and then released her, straightening her hair tentatively, which his embrace had caused to stand on end. He was lying, but whatever was bothering him was evidently not for her ears, so Leshia let the matter drop, resorting to secretly worrying about him instead. For some reason his expression reminded her of the time he had pretended that her mother's disappearance was nothing out of the ordinary, as though she had just popped out to the shops and would be back any moment, but after the days turned to weeks, and the weeks slowly turned into years, his expression had slowly started to crumple into despair every time Leshia mentioned her mother, so she had soon stopped.

Draco was well aware that he behaviour was upsetting his daughter, and he wished nothing more than to protect her from all upsets, great and small, so he briskly made his way round his desk to busy himself with some essays in need of marking.

"Shouldn't you be off for break?" he said, and finally he had mastered his natural tone of voice once more. The girl nodded slowly, still watching him with narrowed eyes, as though she were trying her hand at self-taught Legilimensy. "Leshia," he said sternly, wanting her to run along and have fun and be safe and not be plagued with the thoughts that hadn't left him all weekend, not since…

"I'm going," Leshia finally sighed heavily and after giving her father one last look of concern, she made her way to the door.

"Wrap up warmly!" Draco called after her when he remembered which lesson she had next. After the girl had gently closed the door behind herself Draco jumped to his feet and went through to his study, where he had left it…that letter…the letter that had made his heart beat thunderously in his chest, and caused the air to part from his lungs in a rush of fear and panic. In a finely written scrawl (which in itself had caused Draco to start choking on his toast the morning before when he'd laid eyes on it), the letter had merely stated: He has been sited.

XXX

Care of Magical Creatures was indeed a frosty affair to begin with, but Hagrid really came through with a fun and informative lesson about salamanders. The fires the children had to kindle so as they might observe the fire loving amphibians were toasty warm and all in all the girls were very sorry to finish the lesson. Their feelings were only exacerbated when they remembered that they had potions next, and as such, were a very gloomy bunch as they walked into the dungeon classroom.

Over the past few months the fear of Leshia telling her father about the identities of her attackers, had ensured that Allseyer had maintained a low profile around the girl. As the weeks had progressed and she showed little sign of telling on him, Damian Allseyer had grown a little more confident. Now, as they entered their final week of the term, and his chances to get the little blood-traitor before the Christmas Holidays, the boy was feeling back to his usual ghastly self.

"Trouble in paradise is there Malfoy?" the boy drawled as he sat down in the row in front of Leshia and her friends. Feeling quite surprised that her nemesis was finally speaking to her again; Leshia didn't have time to think of a witty response.

"What are you talking about?" she demanded instead.

"That blood-traitor of a father of yours," Allseyer was continuing with a snide smile. "He wasn't terribly happy today was he?"

"Probably because you were in his presence," Leshia spat back feeling furious that this wretch was trying to turn her family issues into a weapon against her.

"If I were you, I'd start making two Christmas lists."

"What are you on about?" Leshia was starting to get angry now.

"Well it's just, mummy and daddy don't seem to be getting on very well do they, doesn't seem too long before she turfs him out…"

"Shut up Allseyer!" Rachel hissed furiously and her friend's were rather amazed to see their red-haired friend's eyes well up.

"My parents are fine if you must know," Leshia retorted.

"Really, then how come we caught them arguing this morning…and oh, two weeks ago, and two weeks before that?" The unpleasant boy was recounting these events on his long bony fingers. Leshia frowned incredulously.

"Oh yes, real grounds for divorce, three arguments in six weeks," she quipped icily, but then regretted being so flippant, as at her side Rachel's shoulders were shaking a little with the effort of trying to hold her tears back. For her friend's wellbeing Leshia ignored Allseyer's further attempts to rile her up and she focused on distracting Rachel with stories about their Christmas plans – the whole gang would be meeting up at the Burrow for Christmas Lunch, and Leshia was definitely looking forward to it. The girl was altogether thrilled when Snape stalked in and Allseyer had to abandon his attempt at winding her up, as she was about to snap. There was one thing she could not abide, and that was people insulting her family.

"Face the front Allseyer," Snape merely barked as he walked to the front of the classroom. Leshia gave the boy a smug smile, which he returned tenfold, before turning around to see that Snape was watching them with a dark expression, already aware of the fact that the pair of them would be trouble.

He was not mistaken. Fifteen minutes into the lesson, after the potions master had set the children to task brewing a Temper Teaser potion – guaranteed to tease a person's temper back to normal if taken in small quantities, and overly excessive dose would however render the drinker incapable of coherent thought for at least three days – a clattering sound echoed off the cold stone walls of the dungeon classroom. The wizened potions teacher was on the scene within moments to find that Leshia Malfoy was standing over a spilt cauldron, glaring furiously at Allseyer.

"Well don't just stand there Miss Malfoy, go and get a sponge to mop up this mess," Snape told her with a tone of obvious displeasure. "There were only enough ingredients to go around, you will have to join one of the others."

"But it's his fault," Rachel complained, her finger pointing to the ghastly Slytherin boy. "He pushed her!"

"It was an accident," Allseyer said slyly, his tone and expression indicating that it was anything but.

"That is enough Miss Weasley, five points from Gryffindor, now get back to work while Miss Malfoy cleans up this mess," Snape ordered sharply, causing Rachel to offer Leshia a small glance of support, before she returned to their bench with her own cauldron, muttering about hook-nosed teachers. None of the other children made an effort to move, still waiting for Leshia to make some sort of acknowledgement of Allseyer's challenge. Snape however, didn't have time for their dawdling. "Well get a move on," he ordered loudly, and the children quickly complied, leaving Leshia looking at the green mess on the floor dejectedly, plotting how she would get Allseyer back. It would seem that Snape was aware of this.

"Any trouble out of you Miss Malfoy and you will be spending your last evening in this castle scrubbing down this classroom from top to bottom, do I make myself clear?" he told her slowly and concisely, evidently trying to make himself absolutely clear. Leshia instantly donned an innocent expression and nodded.

"Yes sir," she said quickly, before she rushed off to get the mop from the stock cupboard. Ten minutes later Leshia sat down next to Rachel with a small-satisfied smile on her face.

"What have you done?" the redhead whispered over her bubbling concoction. Her friend gave her an innocent expression.

"My dear Rachel, what on earth gives you the impression that I've done something?" she asked genially, but at this moment the sound of a small wet explosion filled the dungeon, which was soon to be accompanied by a chorus of disgruntled and furious wails from the Slytherin, whose cauldron had just spread its contents all over them. Leshia fought the urge to snigger as Snape rushed forward to see what had happened. After glancing at the damage and sending the whinging Slytherins off to the hospital wing to counteract the vast dose of Temper Teaser potion, the sour-faced man peered into the cauldron. After bristling angrily he reached inside and pulled out a small knobbled object, which was very dark in appearance and emitting a strange hissing sound.

"Can anyone tell me," Snape began sounding tremendously calm, and yet appearing so terrifyingly furious. "What this is?" At Leshia's side Katie's hand flew into the air. "Potter?"

"It's a Fire Stone," the girl replied quickly. "They're used when making really big batches of potion, and emit vast amounts of heat when they come into contact with liquids."

"Quite right," Snape continued and he placed the Fire Stone down on the workbench. "So can anyone tell me, why it is incredibly foolish to place one of these in a standard size cauldron?" Once more, Katie was the only one who flung her hand into the air. After an exasperated sigh Snape nodded to her. "Go on then."

"When used in anything smaller than an industrial sized cauldron, the stone heats up the contents far too quickly and…well this happens," Katie explained, beaming with pride at her own knowledge. Snape nodded once more and slowly he turned to look at Leshia, who was still wearing a preciously innocent expression.

"You Miss Malfoy, may join me Friday afternoon after class," he said dangerously, to which Leshia responded with a highly disgruntled expression.

"What?" she managed sounding putout. "But I didn't even go near his cauldron! It's not fair!"

"Neither is coating my classroom in congealed Temper Teaser," Snape shot back. "Now get back to work all of you." The class didn't need telling twice and for the remainder of the lesson Leshia bristled angrily. Of course she had done it, but she had made sure she had done it in such a sneaky way that Snape would not have been able to prove her hand in it. After nosing around the stock cupboard trying to find the mop, she had come across a bag of these stones. Realising the potential of the stones she had taken one and surreptitiously dropped it into the powdered asphodel Allseyer was about to collect for his potion. No one had seen her do it, and she hadn't gone anywhere near the boy's cauldron, so by rights, the teacher had no right to punish her. Her friends agreed with her whole heartedly and by the end of the day they were considering petitioning to the headmaster for her release. Leshia questioned her father about it, but he had barely responded, evidently concerned about something else. Hermione had reacted in a similar fashion and by dinner, Allseyer's words over her parents' marital health were beginning to niggle at the back of her mind.

"Do you think he's right?" she asked her friends as they ambled back to Gryffindor tower, their stomachs bursting with the wonderful food. "About my parents I mean…" Katie wrinkled her brow and shook her head firmly, but Rachel continued to stare forward unwaveringly. "Dad has slept back in his old room a few times. I know, I've seen it all messed up like he'd slept in it a couple of times."

"I'm sure it's nothing, you said your parents always argue a lot," Katie said reassuringly, and this was true. Draco and Hermione were passionate people who always believed they were right, which often meant they got into fierce debates that could go on for days at a time. The subject matter was usually mundane and they always made up. It had been this way as long as Leshia could remember, but this term…Ramble had changed her parents' dynamic somehow. The girl couldn't understand why her mother didn't like the Muggle Studies Professor, she seemed completely enchanting.

"Yeah, but then afterwards they always get all mushy and start kissing and just, yuck," Leshia explained and she scrunched up her face at the thought of her parents' embarrassing public displays of intimacy. "My dad doesn't normally sleep in another room.

"Sometimes parents just do that," Rachel said shrill and forced. The other two turned to stare at her in surprise, reaching the same conclusion: Ron and Lavender were sleeping in separate rooms.

"Rach…" Leshia began sounding terribly sympathetic and concerned, but Rachel shook her head brusquely.

"What I mean is, you know, you hear about parents that do that," she lied, rubbing at her cheek agitatedly.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Katie asked comfortingly, which earned her a look of reprove from Leshia; wasn't it quite obvious that Rachel really didn't want to talk about it?

"Talk about what?" Rachel tried light-heartedly, though there was a warning sign of impending anger in her tone. Not accustomed to being the tactful one of the trio, Leshia tried unsuccessfully to head Katie off, to put an end to this conversation before one of them ended up in tears.

"So, on Friday, let's raid the kitchens…" she began, but neither cousin heeded her.

"Rach don't shut me out," Katie was saying with a wounded look on her concerned face. With a sigh of 'here we go again', Leshia darted out from between her friends, not wanting to be in the crossfire when all hell broke loose.

"I'm not shutting you out, I just don't know what you mean," Rachel complained sharply.

"Yes you do, why didn't you tell me your parents are having problems…"

"My parents are not having problems!" Rachel exclaimed furiously. "Stop being such a busybody Katie and leave me alone!" With this the redhead fled from her friends the way they had come, wiping furiously at her eyes to stop the tears from falling, leaving Katie stood with a bewildered expression and Leshia glaring at her pointedly.

"For someone who considers themselves the queen of tact," the smaller girl began, while shaking her head disappointedly. "You royally botched that one up didn't you?"

XXX

Rachel remained in a glum mood all evening, and her feelings only exacerbated Leshia's unease over her own parents' state of relations. Long after curfew had fallen and the girls were tucked up in their beds, Leshia made an exasperated noise, before she flung open her curtains and slipped into her fluffy slippers. She knew she would never be able to sleep unless she found out what was going on. Well aware that she was already treading on this ice with the teachers of the school, she crept from corridor to corridor as silently as a mouse, eager to avoid being caught as she was running out of time in which to fit all her detentions.

As such, it took her twice as long to reach her parents' chambers, which lay adjoined to Hermione's study. A painting of two loved up newlyweds concealed the entrance to their luxurious chambers, which consisted of a master suite, a small second bedroom (which Leshia slept in many a time, whenever their regular family meals dragged on into the night and she couldn't bear the thought of walking back to Gryffindor Tower), a lounge and a small private kitchen cum dining room. The chambers had once been home to Professor Claridge, Hogwarts' finest ever Potions Master, who during his forty-year post had married one of his fellow professors and they had raised their son at the school. In the six months that Hermione and Draco had been living there, they had turned it into their own little home away from home.

In order to reveal the entrance Leshia knew to scratch the groom's foot and after smiling appreciatively the painting swung forward revealing a heavy oak door, which Leshia pushed into, finding herself in her parents' lounge.

"Hello?" she called out, as the room was deserted. Well aware that it was late and that her parents were most likely asleep, Leshia felt she would be reassured if she could merely see them sleeping in the same bed. Their bedroom lay at the far end of the lounge, and so Leshia edged closer to the door, noting that as she did she could hear muffled sounds coming from their room. So they evidently weren't asleep, so what were they doing? Reaching out to grab the door handle, Leshia was suddenly aware that the sound was getting closer and before she could jump out of the way the door swung open and the girl was bowled off her feet by her father storming out.

"Leshia," he exclaimed in surprise, as he bent down and lifted the girl to her feet from under her arm. "What are you doing creeping around?" he demanded sounding a little angry.

"I wasn't creeping," Leshia complained as Hermione appeared looking flustered.

"Leshia darling," she called out with forced jollity. "What's wrong darling can't you sleep?" Her parents were avoiding one another's gaze and Leshia could easily see that they had been arguing…again!

"No," the girl replied truthfully. "Why, what's wrong?" her mother asked her as she led the girl over to the soft settee. Meanwhile Draco had disappeared in the direction of the kitchen to help himself to a well-earned glass of whiskey.

"Are you and dad going to get divorced?" the girl asked meekly, her face contorted into a heartbreakingly vulnerable look.

"Oh sweetheart," Hermione said with a smile, before she pulled the girl into the crook of her arm, squeezing her tightly to her side. "No, you don't have to worry about that."

"So why are you arguing the whole time?" Leshia asked worriedly.

"Well…" Hermione began uneasily as the kitchen door swung open and Draco reappeared looking much calmer, before he dropped down into his favoured armchair and swung his feet onto the coffee table.

"What's wrong with Trouble?"

"She thinks we're going to get a divorce," Hermione said pointedly, fixing her husband an accusing look, which implied all too well that she found him to be to blame.

"Oh Leshia don't be stupid," he exclaimed sounding amused.

"I'm not being stupid, you two keep arguing! What am I supposed to think?" Her parents exchanged a meaningful look, in which Hermione leaned forward a little, trying to urge her husband to tell their daughter what was troubling them. She didn't like leaving the littlest member of their family out of loop, but this was Draco's call and he wasn't budging.

"Look just because…" Draco trailed off, unsure of how to explain the cause of the problem without revealing too much, which would undoubtedly trigger the girl's curiosity, which in turn would inevitably lead to her finding out what her father was trying keep hidden from her. "Just take it from me alright? Your mother and I are fine," he finally finished, when he came to the conclusion that Leshia was too clever for him to put it simply and she would figure it out, so he didn't even try. Leshia looked putout and hurt to be excluded in this manner.

"Your father's had a word with Severus," Hermione suddenly exclaimed, trying to bring a smile back to her daughter's face.

"Really?" The girl's face had split into a gigantic grin as she looked at her father for confirmation.

"From what he told me, I don't doubt that you are to blame," Draco said amusedly. "But by the sounds of it that Allseyer boy had it coming, so I managed to talk Severus out of your punishment."

"Oh thank you!" Leshia exclaimed gleefully and she lunged at her father, clambering awkwardly onto his lap – she may have been small, but she was no longer a child – and giving him a firm hug.

"Oh get off me you great big lump," Draco complained fondly, before pushing his daughter off his sore legs and into the crook of his arm.

"I'm not fat," Leshia countered happily, feeling exhilarated by the fact that her parents were in fact not on the verge of separation and that her father had wheedled her out of her punishment.

"Oh yeah, what's this then?" her father teased reaching out and taking hold of the rolls her thick jumper had created round her waist. Leshia giggled gleefully and pushed his hand away.

"You're such an idiot," she laughed fondly.

"Me?" Draco managed, pretending to be highly insulted and he poked her in the ribs.

"Yes you!" Leshia teased before she jumped at her father, poking her long thin fingers into his side at the exact spot that made her father squirm. Over their years of rough housing and play wrestling, Leshia had grown to know the one spot her usually non-ticklish father hated to be tickled. At her touch, the young man instantly regressed into a laughing, manic, writhing youngster once more, and after several minutes of being unable to retaliate, he finally managed to control his discomfort and take hold of his daughter, returning her attack tenfold. As Leshia squealed with laughter to the extent that tears were running down her cheek, the pair of them were momentarily startled out of their game by a flash.

"What was that?" Leshia managed as she wiped the tears from her cheeks. Draco though was grinning over at Hermione, who was holding a camera in her hands.

"Uh oh," he said ominously, before he placed his daughter on her feet and ambled over to his wife, taking the camera from her hands and placing it on the bureau in the corner. "Your mother's feeling broody again," he told their daughter, who had flopped back down onto the settee, before he wrapped his arms around her waist and leant his forehead against hers. "Are you feeling left out?" he asked with a charming smile, before he teasingly squeezed her sides.

"No," Hermione laughed, happy that the tension was gone.

"Are you two going to be all lovey dovey now?" the girl on the settee asked them, her face contorted into a perfectly disgruntled look. It was quite adorable, and as such her parents turned to look at her with matching doting smiles.

"Are you going to stay here tonight?" Hermione asked the young girl, who was looking rather comfortable lounged out on the settee. After a moment's thought Leshia shrugged her shoulders.

"Sure," she said simply, causing a big smile to spread across Hermione's face.

"Great," the young mother beamed. "I'll ask Tally to fetch your uniform."

"Tell Hermione, you tell the elf what to do." Hermione shot her husband a reproachful look, but Draco was grinning at her adoringly.

"Just for that, you may tell your dratted houself what to do," Hermione told him, before dropping next to Leshia on the settee. The young man rolled his eyes fondly, but did as he was told, summoning the houself collect his daughter's uniform for the morning, while Hermione listened to Leshia regaling her with her most recent adventures.

"Satisfied?" Draco asked as he walked over carrying a small pile of folded clothes. Hermione beamed at him.

"Thank you."

"Your most certainly not welcome," Draco replied cheerfully, before he dropped down on Leshia's other side, wrestling the girl under his arm. "So you, we had something to ask you."

"Really?" Leshia asked interestedly.

"What do you want for Christmas?"

XXX

The week passed by quickly, and within no time it seemed the train was pulling into Kings Cross station where a hoard of excitable parents were waiting to see their offspring off the train. Waiting amongst the crowds Ron, Harry and Ginny stood being jostled this way and that. They had been invited to the Malfoys' for dinner and had decided to make a day out of it, going into London to do some Christmas shopping. For weeks Harry and Ginny had been trying to distract Ron from the crisis his marriage was facing. The young man would more often than not end up staying in their guest bedroom, than going home to face his shamble of a marriage. The impending grief Christmas would bring to his broken home was bringing Ron down. How on Earth was he going to pretend to his children than everything was perfectly normal when he and Lavender couldn't even managed a civil conversation with one another?

"There's Michael!" Ginny suddenly yelped excitedly and sure enough after a brief goodbye to his friends, Ginny and Harry's son pushed through the crowds and was instantly enveloped in his mother's arms. "Oh I've missed you so much," the young mother told her son, and she kissed his mop of thick black hair firmly.

"Mum," the boy grumbled fondly. "Everybody's watching!"

"Well let them watch," Ginny chuckled. "Then they can see how well loved you are."

"Yeah, but that's not cool," Michael explained as he finally pulled free and fixed his mother a charming smile.

"Oh give over," Ginny laughed and she ruffled her son's thick hair, before the boy was pulled into another hug by his father.

"Mum! Dad!" Moments later Ginny and Harry's other child had forced her way through the bustling happy families and had lunged at her mother, hugging her firmly.

"Oh my darling," Ginny whispered with a joyous smile on her face.

"God, you've grown again!" Harry remarked at his wife's side, waiting in line to receive his hug. Meanwhile a rather subdued Rachel had made her way over to the group, with a supportive Leshia at her side.

"Hi dad," the girl said feeling the tears stinging her eyes. Ron quickly pulled the girl into a hug, eager to stave her tears, well aware that this would no doubt mortify her in front of her friends.

"I'm so happy your back," he told her softly, and he meant it so very much. Rachel was the only one of the brood that Ron felt he could confide him; they understood one another so very well. Ria, Rachel's eight-year-old sister was an almost carbon copy of the girl in looks and personality, and she had been a great support to the young man during the term, but he couldn't properly talk to her, she was far too young to understand him.

With the arrival of Hermione and Draco, reigning in the last of the brood, Hermia, the small party set off down the snow-covered road towards the Malfoys' townhouse. Tally had apparated ahead to light the fire in the kitchen – Hermione's preferred entertaining room – and to air the house before the family got home. It felt good to be back and after abandoning most of the trunks in the hall, all the children helped lift Leshia's up to her room while their parents opened a bottle of champagne in the kitchen, to celebrate the beginning of the holidays.

The sound of the children's laughter wafted down the stairs brought smiles to the five friends, while they remembered their own childhoods of fun and adventure. As usual, their conversation soon digressed into comparing and remembering stories from their own Hogwarts days. A popular recurring topic was the Yule Ball, which always resulted in Ron glowing furiously over his behaviour towards Hermione.

"I didn't fancy you," he complained sounding intensely humiliated, prompting his friends to roll about with laughter, clearly enjoying his discomfort.

"Sure Ron," Ginny teased. "Whatever you say." In truth, Ron's feelings for Hermione had come to a complete and abrupt standstill the moment he first saw her and Draco engaged in an intimate conversation down the Leaky Cauldron one evening. His outrage that she could feel anything more than animosity towards Malfoy, permanently called an end to his silent adoration of the young woman. Harry and Ron had never made it easy for the couple during their campaign against Voldemort, but after the war everybody was too worn out and traumatised to hold childhood grudges.

"Hey, at least I didn't show up with that ghastly Pansy Parkinson in tow," Ron suddenly blurted out, to direct the attention away from himself and onto a more worthy subject: the animosity may have gradually dissipated, but the competitiveness still remained.

"Yeah what did you ever see in her Malfoy?" Harry piped up with a wicked grin. Draco rolled his eyes in fond exasperation, tired that they had got back onto this subject, especially considering the events on Halloween.

"Oh my God I can't believe I forgot to tell you," Hermione suddenly exclaimed with a mischievous expression on her face.

"Oh no don't," Draco groaned.

"What? Tell us?" Ginny laughed, causing Draco to get to his feet and busy himself by the liquor cabinet. Hermione proceeded to tell the others all about Pansy's embarrassing pass at Draco, much to their amusement. By the end of the story Draco had reappeared with a slight colour in his cheeks.

"Here," he said firmly, placing a tumbler each in front of Harry and Ron, before he sat down with his own glass and a bottle of whisky.

"Oh no, you're not going to start on that already are you?" Hermione chuckled fondly, realising that Draco would probably handle the drink well, but that it always seemed to turn Harry and Ron into singing, mischievous, drunkards.

"I've earned it after that story," Draco complained with a smile, before he filled up the three glasses. "Bottoms up!"

XXX

The afternoon gradually became evening and while leaving their husbands to the bottle of whiskey, Ginny and Hermione soon got dinner on. An hour later and the delicious smells of the roast brought the children down to find out when dinner was ready, just in time for them to set the table.

"Um dad? You're going to have to move," Leshia told her father, her brow furrowed in slight disapproval, why were they all giggling so much? She had never known her father to giggle.

"Sorry," Draco slurred out dramatically and he climbed to his feet, lifting the girl up and swinging her round, before placing her on her feet again. The men cleared out to allow the children to set the table, while Ginny briefly apparated home to collect some Soberupper potion to sort out the wayward men. By the time the potion started to kick (in good time, as the men had started an exuberant fencing competition in the lounge with Draco's priceless antique swords – much to the amusement of their children who jumped around cheering on their respective father) Hermione was serving up.

"Come on you lot," she called through in much amusement, triggering a stampede as the men and children rushed through to fill their empty stomachs. Leshia and her friends dropped down on the far end of the large old wooden table, placing Hermia and Michael between themselves and their parents. The food was delicious and for at least ten minutes nobody could manage more than a sentence of conversation, as they were too preoccupied with gorging themselves. However, slowly, when the plates started to empty, a banter built up.

"So you invited Fred and George, but you couldn't invite me? Girls, I'm hurt," Ron exclaimed, bringing his hand to his chest in feigned-heartbreak.

"They invited themselves," Rachel laughed.

"Yeah, but still, it sounds brilliant," Harry complained with a smile, and he wasn't lying. "I can't believe Joanne Tayler showed up."

"I can't believe that she showed up and kissed Mr Longbottom," Leshia countered, shuddering at the thought. This was news to the adults, who were quite surprised that Neville could do such a thing to his wife Sofia. Uncomfortable with the way this conversation was going, Ron quickly asked,

"So who else was there?" The children proceeded to list the esteemed guests who had graced their party with their celebrity presences, but this is where things suddenly turned decidedly frosty.

"Oh Viktor Krum was there too," Michael suddenly piped up.

"Really?" Harry asked sounding extremely surprised, but his answer never came as up at the top of the table Draco had started choking. Hermione turned to help him while Ginny rushed to get a glass of water; all in all the adults' general preoccupation allowed the children to target the young boy with fierce looks. Sat at his side, Katie delivered the boy a crippling blow to the foot.

"It was a Viktor Krum impersonator," Leshia said loudly over her father's subsiding coughs.

"Yeah," Rachel added uncertainly. "I mean, why would Viktor Krum want to come to a kids party?" No more was said on the matter, but Leshia knew this was not the last she would hear about this. Draco's manners were the only thing that stood in the way of his interrogation of his daughter; he could wait. Dinner seemed to go on for hours, and gradually moved through to the lounge (while the children escaped up to Leshia's room). It was when Hermione noticed Ron snoozing softly in his armchair that she called an end to the evening.

"Kids! Lets go!" the call came from the hall down below, and up in Leshia's room she exchanged a worried look with her friends; this was the moment they had been dreading.

"I still say you should run away mate," Rachel said with a comforting, yet decidedly grim smile.

"Don't be silly Rachel," Katie admonished.

"Yeah," Rachel sighed. "He'd probably find you."

"Oh shut up," Leshia laughed and she hugged her friends goodbye – having decided she would not leave the protection her room offered her. Michael apologised profusely for the hundredth time and headed downstairs feeling decidedly sorry for himself. After collecting their trunks the parents helped the children lift them into the fireplace, before they flooed back to their respective homes.

"Thank you for the wonderful evening," Ginny told Hermione genially, Draco had already started towards the stairs. "Good luck with those two," the redhead added softly with a mischievous smile, before she stepped dropped her floo powder crying out, "Potter Manor." Hermione sighed contentedly, before she walked out to the hall to see Draco was hotfooting it up the stairs.

"Don't blow up," she warned him fondly. She didn't get a response and after rolling her eyes she returned to the kitchen to set the dishes to task washing themselves. Once he reached the landing Draco burst straight into his daughter's room without knocking to find she was sat on her bed, tucked into her mountain of cushions, pretending very much to be reading a magazine.

"Krum?" he demanded with raised eyebrows.

"It wasn't really him, he was just an impersonator," Leshia lied and she flung her magazine aside. Draco shook his head wildly and started to pace the room a little.

"Oh no, you're going to have to do much better than that my girl, I want the truth!" he said firmly, before coming to a halt at Leshia's desk and sitting down on it, fixing the girl with a forceful glare, daring her to try and lie once more. The girl sighed heavily, realising that there was no way out of this.

"Yes it was Krum, I invited him," she said softly. Draco shut his eyes tightly; hearing it from his daughter's own mouth was ten times worse, and for a moment he was too angry to speak.

"Why?" he managed eventually, in a shaky tone, indicative that he was on the verge of exploding.

"Because, I wanted to ask him what you wouldn't tell me." For a few moments Draco opened and closed his mouth, his body trembling slightly, but it would seem he couldn't find the words to do his anger justice, so after making an incredibly frustrated sound he stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind himself as he went.

Leshia spent the entire night worrying over what her father was going to do in the morning. She barely slept and on several occasions she had been rigid with fear as the sound of pacing outside her door indicated that Draco was back, but he didn't come in. Only once did her door open and after pretending to be asleep Leshia found out her fear was unfounded, as it was her mother, coming to check on her. After stroking her daughter's hair from her face, Hermione left her to get back to sleep, before trying to pacify her furious husband.

He didn't listen to reason, nor would he accept that Leshia was curious and that they ought to have told her in the first place as it was clear she was going to find out by her own means in the end. As the sun rose to reveal a fresh dusting of snow, Leshia changed and headed downstairs to find her mother eating a slice of toast and examining the Daily Prophet at the large kitchen table.

"Morning," Leshia said softly, her eyes darting about, anxious that Draco was going to jump out from behind one of the cabinets and interrogate her. Hermione looked up quickly with a reassuring smile.

"Good morning darling," she replied warmly.

"Where's dad?"

"He's in his study, waiting for you," Hermione told her daughter. Leshia's face fell and she sighed heavily. "He's very upset with you," her mother was continuing, though she was looking sympathetic as she did so. "But I…well, I would have done this same thing." Leshia's eyes went wide and it came as some comfort to know her mother was on her side, but that wouldn't help her face her father. "Go on, you'd better go see him." Leshia nodded and retraced her steps back into the hall. Draco's study lay through an archway that passed under the stairs, which led into a dark corridor. The archway lay in darkness now, and Leshia felt loathe to walk down it, but she had to take responsibility for her actions. Her father's study door was ajar, so after inhaling slowly to reassure herself, she pushed the door open.

"Dad?" she uttered to her father, who was stood with his back turned, looking for a book in his vast floor to ceiling bookcase.

"Sit down," he told her without turning round. Leshia quickly complied and sunk down into one of the large chairs sat before her father's desk. Everything about this room frightened her, from the dark wood to the large ominous furniture. She had never enjoyed being in this room, and it had little to do with the fact that she always seemed to be in trouble every time she stepped foot in the dark stuffy study. "I can't believe how stupid you've been," Draco complained and he sounded petulant. "I didn't want you to find out…"

"But I don't see why," Leshia complained. "It's nothing terrible, what's so bad about mum and Krum having a thing while you were missing?"

"Because…" Draco began angrily and he finally turned around and took his seat. "Look that's not the point, the point is you did something after I flat-out forbade you to!"

"No," Leshia corrected. "You told me not to talk to you about it, you didn't tell me I couldn't ask him!" Draco stared her in the eye darkly for a moment.

"I thought it was obvious," he finally said softly, though no less dangerously.

"Did you not want me to find out because you're ashamed of how you acted?" Leshia asked, realising that she was already in trouble, so she may as well get some answers. From the look of guilt and anger that crossed her father's face, it was clear she had hit the nail on the head.

"It was a long time ago," Draco complained, feeling he had to explain. "And I was in love…and you were on the way…I don't expect you to understand..."

"But I do understand," Leshia interrupted. "I'm happy you did what you did, you're my dad! I wouldn't want Krum to raise me, I can't understand half of what he says!" Despite himself Draco let out a snort of laughter. "I'm sorry I went behind your back, but this is me we're talking about. The best way to get me to do something is to tell me I can't do it."

"That's nothing to be proud of," Draco managed with an amused smile.

"You're the same," Leshia complained.

"Yes I know," her father sighed and finally the crease in his brow disappeared as he relaxed a little. "I still can' believe how devious you are."

"Just a little," his daughter countered with a meek smile.

"Alright then, you're forgiven," Draco sighed and he climbed to his feet. "Now come on, your mother is insisting that I take you to buy a Christmas tree from one of those awful muggle stands down the road." The change within Leshia was instantaneous and she jumped around her father in excitement. Her excitement didn't diminish as they dressed in their warmest clothes and walked down the road to a small park, which had temporarily turned into a Christmas tree market. For what seemed like hours the girl rushed from one to the next until finally Draco took her by the hood on her coat to stop her from running off and told her to pick one within the next ten seconds or they were going home. After an adequate tree had been chosen Draco paid and then they were faced with the task of getting the damn thing home.

"Can't I just levitate it?" Draco asked his daughter sounding thoroughly fed up. Leshia giggled and shook her head claiming the muggles would probably suspect something if a Christmas tree started floating down the road by its own accord. So after a lot of grumbling Draco took hold of the base, leaving the lighter top end for his daughter, and together they carried it home.

The Christmas tree was only the start of the decorating, and together Leshia and Hermione went a little overboard in decorating the town house. Most of it was tasteful, but Draco had to vehemently argue with his wife over the model Father Christmas she wanted to place in the hall.

Hermione wanted her first Christmas back with her family to be perfect and as such went to great lengths to make sure the house looked perfect. After the family's first shopping trip into Diagon Alley she had purchased most of her presents, and then the next day after a trip into the muggle highstreets, she had finished her shopping. The following day an array of beautifully wrapped gifts lay glistening temptingly under the tree, and Leshia couldn't pass them by without shaking one or two of them to see what was inside. Draco and Leshia were much more delayed in their Christmas shopping, so much so, that as Christmas Eve finally arrived, they were making their way down to Diagon Alley to fit in some last minute shopping.

"We've only got two hours," Draco told his daughter as he tapped the wall revealing the bustling street beyond. "Your mother's meeting us here for lunch." With this they went their separate ways. After purchasing several incredibly boring books for her mother, which she would no doubt find terribly fascinating, and a funny book for her father entitled 'So You Married a Muggle…what to expect' as a play on her mother's muggle descent and Draco's dislike for them, the girl headed for the sweet shop to buy herself a treat. It would seem however; that a treat was the last thing she was about to receive.

"Oy, blood traitor!" a horrid voice called out behind her and moments later Leshia was clapped about the back of her head.

"Hey!" she complained angrily as Damian Allseyer and a smaller boy, no doubt his younger brother Deacon (who Leshia had heard was even worse than his older brother), appeared in her line of vision. Both wore incredibly nasty expressions on their pointed features.

"What's this?" the older of the two demanded mockingly as he took out the book Leshia had bought for her father.

"Give that back!" Leshia complained angrily and she tried to snatch it back, but Allseyer was in the mood for games, and he jumped back, taking the book out of her reach.

"Spreading your blood-traitor ideas are you?" the boy cackled nastily. "It'll never catch on, most wizards wouldn't dream of sullying their blood lines with filth like you."

"I mean it Allseyer, give that back or you'll regret it," Leshia hissed angrily.

"Oh will I?" It would seem, that he did in fact regret it, as in response to his taunt Leshia lashed out with her foot, catching the young man squarely between his legs. He doubled over in pain, enabling Leshia to take back to the book.

"Get her!" the crippled boy ordered his younger brother, who turned on Leshia with a cruel grin. Fearing he was just as able as his older brother in delivering pain, Leshia turned and ran down the first escape route she came across: Knockturn Alley. By now Damian Allseyer had scrambled back to his feet and both boys were in pursuit. Leshia had never been down Knockturn Alley, and though she was fascinated by the dingy little shops that lined the street, she didn't have time to stop and inspect them. Not knowing her way soon turned out to be problematic, as she reached a dead end and turned around to find that the Allseyer brothers were closing in on her. Things couldn't have seemed worse when suddenly a cold hand snaked onto her shoulder, causing Leshia to spin around and find herself looking up at a very tall man, with greying long silver hair and a sullen face. She instantly recognised him. The pair stared one another in the eye for several moments until finally the hooded man spoke,

"You don't belong here."

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End of Part IV

Thank you so much for the reviews!

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