Chapter 49: The Children
Lucia Malfoy was, Hermione had to admit, a stunner; the kind of girl that seemed all grown up the instant she hit puberty, and it seemed at twelve years of age she may have already done that. The other Second Years were probably madly jealous – and they probably either hated her or worshiped her.
"It's not fair!" shouted Nellie Weasley, fists on her hips. "You're only a 2nd year, you shouldn't get to go to Hogsmeade."
"It's not my fault your father isn't a Hogwarts Governor," said Lucia haughtily. "But he isn't. It doesn't have to be fair, it's just how it is. So go cry somewhere else."
Technically, it was only 8 hours after Hermione had watched Malfoy make his purchase at the wand shop. But having vowed to stick to him through thick and thin, Hermione had forced herself to live through every moment of his going back in time to plant the wand at St. Mungo's in the middle of the previous night. It had taken multiple attempts, each one more long and gruelling than the last and all in the pouring rain. Each one ended in confusion, with her having to find Malfoy again and witness his next attempt. Ten tries? A dozen? She'd ultimately lost him, and only having lived through the final "version" of events hours before let her know he'd ultimately succeeded.
Once she realized she wasn't going to get to see the rest of the placing of the wand, she'd had to pull out a heroic effort to get all the way to Hogwarts in time to beat him here. Not only was it an incredibly long distance by wizarding transit standards, but she was afraid to use any public or recordable transporation in her human form since that might lead to her picking up another Covert Ops tail – maybe this time someone whose forms she wouldn't recognize.
As a consequence, she arrived at the school filthy and exhausted, her entire body still humming weirdly from spending hours plastered spread-eagle to the fronts of a series of Muggle cars as they roared northward across the countryside. She felt as if she'd lived through about 48 hours in the last 24, but was honestly too sleep-deprived to add it up to be sure. The snatches of sleep she'd gotten at her parents' house the previous evening seemed about a week ago to her now.
It hadn't occurred to Hermione to worry about Nellie, who was only a First Year and not yet allowed by school rules to leave the campus and go to Hogsmeade.
When she'd first arrived at Hogwarts, she'd lost no time in locating Georgia, Freida, Jude and Christopher, who were hanging out playing pick-up Quidditch with friends. It was a beautiful day for it, and they didn't seem at all disappointed about her having forbidden them to go into town. She even heard Jude comment that he had a friend buying cinnamon sticks for him since he wasn't able to go to Hogsmeade. Freida and Georgia replied with similar comments about their own wish lists, reassuring Hermione that her Hogsmeade-aged children were going to stay right where they were.
But then she had gone looking for Lucia Malfoy, figuring that staking her out would be the quickest way to intercept Malfoy himself – and had been astonished to find Nellie there as well. Weren't they enemies? Why didn't Nellie just leave? Lucia Malfoy looked as if she were wondering the same thing.
Nervously Hermione tried to figure out what would happen if Malfoy showed up while Nellie was still there. Surely he wouldn't be able to attack her in the school itself? And what good would a Multigenerational Accursing do against an innocent who'd had nothing to do with the crime against his son anyway?
After flying back and forth several times between the castle-like Hogwarts building and the campus gates, trying to keep track of everything at once, she finally caught Malfoy Apparating in just outside the wards. She darted down and landed on his shoulder as he started the long walk toward the school, trying to think how she could stop him if he tried to harm her girl.
Malfoy had clearly managed to get at least a little more rest than she had, and was as cleaned up and sparkling with vanity charms as his daughter. Of course he had made use of the Time Turner to accomplish everything. Between that and what she'd witnessed this last night she was forcibly reminded that whatever she did to stop him harming her daughter, he could undo again. He could keep trying, and keep trying, until he finally slipped a successful attack through. How could she fight against that?
Her heart sank as they approached the building, and she heard the two girls' voices still raised in argument echoing out of the entryway. Malfoy, too, seemed to notice it, cocking his head and pausing slightly before continuing up the steps and into the shady interior.
Malfoy's attempts to get into St. Mungo's courtyard to deliver the new wand undetected seemed to have something to do with the rain culvert where Nesbitt was busily dunking another Malfoy inside. The water ran through its trough all the way along wall of the courtyard where it exited through an arch-shaped opening in the corner too small for an adult to squeeze through. Even a child would have been blocked because it had an iron grating.
What puzzled Hermione was that though she watched Malfoy attempt it several times, she did not see what he actually did when he got near that opening on each attempt, nor had she seen him inside the courtyard after any of those times.
A small animagus like a rat might have leaped through the openings above the rushing water, but couldn't have withstood the opposing current of water on either side. A similarly sized fish might have been able to oppose the flow, and go through underneath. A fish would be difficult to spot to boot. But a fish wouldn't have been able to bring the wand anywhere but in the trough of water itself, and the spot where Malfoy had picked up the wand had been far from the trough, more near to the edge of the Pillow-wisp's light. A small bird, such as a wren or a sparrow could also have made it through the openings above the water, but could something like that carry a wand at all? Would a small enough bird have any more luck flying in heavy rain than Hermione did? And as she had noted before, if Malfoy had been an Animagus, he would not have had to fear being replaced by Death Eater Animagi for the scouting.
Meanwhile, simply being invisible as a wizard wouldn't allow actual access to the courtyard, because of the bars and the smallness of the drain opening, and it had been proven well enough by Nesbitt that Malfoy couldn't Apparate through the wards. If he had been far enough away from the wall to be outside the wards, he might have apparated to the platform normally. But given the amount of test equipment set up in there right now, the apparition would probably be recorded a dozen different ways, not to mention setting off alarms. If the platform was even unlocked for use with the Aurors in there. They might have closed it off and ordered the hospital to use only the front entrance to avoid being interrupted. In fact, the more Hermione thought about it, the more she was sure that had to be the case.
So how was he getting in there?
She remembered Nesbitt taunting Malfoy about ways Hermione could have "Apparated" past St. Mungo's wards. Perhaps Weasley transformed herself into a puff of wind and simply blew away over the wall? It was starting to become clear Malfoy had his own secret way to get past St. Mungo's wards, one as unimaginable and unlikely as her own.
Nellie gasped. "Is that your dad?"
Lucia spun around, and when she saw Malfoy had arrived she immediately dropped her haughty pose and looked desperately grateful for the rescue.
"Father!" she said. "I thought you'd never come!"
"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend, Lucia?" asked Malfoy.
There was a startled pause. Lucia looked as if he'd just suggested she suck on a blast-ended skrewt. A pained expression slowly crossed her face. Then, dutifully, she said "That's Nellie Weasley."
Malfoy took in Nellie's flaming red hair, pigtails, pink flowery robe, and scuffed shoes with a sharp interest.
"Hmm, yes," he drawled. "Hermione and Ron Weasley's youngest, aren't you?"
"Yes sir, Mr. Malfoy sir," said Nellie, staring up at Malfoy in utter fascination.
"What's that you're wearing, your dressing-gown?" he continued. "Really, it's the middle of the day. Shouldn't you be fully clothed?"
Nellie flushed bright red. "It's my regular robe. It just looks like a dressing-gown!"
"She doesn't have any better, father," said Lucia disdainfully. "Can we go now?"
"Not just yet," said Malfoy.
Hermione's heart froze. She's in danger.
"Is this how you wear your hair all the time?" he asked thoughtfully.
"Oh my god," groaned Lucia. "This is so embarrassing."
"Yes, sir," said Nellie, wide-eyed. "Two pigtails, sir."
"Don't do it again," said Malfoy, a touch more sharply. "I can't abide my daughter's friends to look like fools."
"She's not my –" began Lucia, at the same time Nellie's eyes widened even farther and she said, "Oh, we're not –"
"Please," Malfoy interrupted them both. "I bailed your mother out of of jail. A hundred recording devices caught us Apparating together in public, and I spent all night being hexed by Aurors because of her further adventures in transportation. I think it's rather too late to pretend we don't know one another, don't you?"
Lucia stared at him. "I don't know you."
"So now then," said Malfoy, addressing Nellie. "Were you coming to Hogsmeade with us?"
"No," said Lucia firmly. "She was just leaving."
If there was one thing little Nellie Weasley never had any difficulty with, however, it was telling which side of the bread her butter was on. "Oh please take me with you?" she begged. "Please? I won't be a bother at all."
"Very well then," he said, and turned and walked back out the door, leaving the girls behind him. For a moment, they both remained frozen where they were.
"He looks just like you!" whispered Nellie in wonder.
"You look like your father too," Lucia whispered back in annoyance. "So don't bother fantasizing that you're adopted."
Nellie flushed. "No, I meant, he's really pretty!"
Lucia looked at Nellie as if the younger girl had grown a second head. "He's not pretty, he's my father," she hissed. "And stop trying to suck up!"
"I'm not trying to suck up," insisted Nellie. There was a pause. "Do you think he likes me, then?"
"I should think not!" exclaimed Lucia. "He only wants your mother to think we get along."
"She won't," Nellie assured her. "I complain about you all the time in my letters."
"You do?" said Lucia. There was a pause while she seemed to turn that over in her thoughts. "Well," she sulked finally. "I'd complain about you all the time, but you aren't worth the effort." She raised her chin and flounced off, hurrying to catch up to Malfoy.
Nellie skipped cheerfully after, with Hermine frantically trying to figure out what to do next.
What it kept coming back to was, no matter how many times Malfoy tried to get into St. Mungo's courtyard, and no matter how many times Hermione flew after him, rode on his shoulder, or laid in wait on the other side, she couldn't seem to catch a glimpse of what he was actually doing to try to get in.
The first time he'd run towards the wall and vanished, she'd been riding on his left shoulder. The rain was pelting down savagely, but since he'd cast a rain-repellant charm on himself, she had the benefit of it also. He'd dived down toward the opening at the base of the wall, the rushing water, the instant before he disappeared. Reflexivly, Hermione had leaped off his shoulder into the air. Rain hammered down, unable to moisten her but still able to push her aside or knock her down with great force.
Staggering through the air, she beat her wings and struggled up over the wall, fully expecting to find him on the other side. Instead, the only Malfoy present was the one being bullied by Nesbitt and watched by all the other Aurors.
As the rain drove down, she managed to circle drunkenly over the area just this side of the pool of the light under the Pill-O-Wisp, but could not spot the wand lying where he had found it. After a few seconds, she made her way back to the wall and landed atop it just in time to see him outside, charging toward the wall again and vanishing before her eyes a second time.
Flattened to the stone and getting flatter by the moment, she clung to the top of the wall and watched intently as he tried several more times. Still she did not see what he was doing besides moving towards the grating and then vanishing. Neither could she see anything changing on the other side. She started to wonder if he was operating the Time Turner backwards in order to step forward a few seconds right before he acted, thus making it possible for his next attempt to cover up whatever would have happened next. But using a Time Turner backward, when it was possible at all, was incredibly reckless. Hermione was pretty sure Malfoy valued his own life too much to take that kind of risk outside of a life or death situation.
Even so, she'd already seen that this particular Time Turner was good for very fine turns of only a second or a fraction of a second of time. She'd even seen him use it to go back such a short time just before his hand-to-hand fight with the Muggle in the pyjamas during the raid.
Just to be thorough, she watched two more times, sitting on the outside of St. Mungo's wall and watching, paying especial attention to his right hand. In both cases, she saw the Time Turner was clenched in his fist, ready for instant use - but not actually in use at the time.
By now, it had occurred to Hermione that since she was no longer in synch with Malfoy time-wise, she had no way of knowing exactly what order these attempts were happening in. She could have just watched attempts 15, 16, and 17 – or 32, 2 and 4. The only reason she knew the successful attempt had not happened yet was because the wand had not yet appeared where Malfoy would find it in the yard. It had to be soon though; the events unfolding in the cluster of Aurors under the Pillow-wisp was getting perilously close to when the wand had been discovered in the version of events Hermione had lived through hours before.
The next time Malfoy reappeared, coming around a corner at the far and of the street and heading towards St. Mungo's with grim determination, she set off through the pounding rain and beat a path for his shoulder. She would have to steel herself to not fly up when he started toward the water, even though it looked like they were about to plunge in. Whatever happened, she had to stick with him for every single attempt or she'd never know.
All the way to Hogsmeade, Nellie chattered enthusiastically about everything she'd heard about the town and what she'd like to do there. In fact Nellie had been to Hogsmeade plenty of times during the summer, since the senior Weasleys had a condo there now, but the little town in its sleepy off-season version was nothing like as exciting as when Hogwarts was open.
Lucia remained frozen in silence beside her, while Malfoy seemed preoccupied with his own thoughts up ahead.
Their first stop was at a cafe where they grabbed a booth for pumpkin juice and tea. Nellie kept talking right up until they were served, then fell into a deep, uncharacteristic silence which neither Malfoy appeared to have any desire to break. She seemed to be turning over something in her thoughts.
Just as both Malfoy and Lucia sampling their drinks, Nellie suddenly asked, "Are you going to marry my mum?"
Malfoy choked. Lucia sprayed pumpkin juice and lost her grip on her glass as well, causing it to spill all over the table.
"Aargh!" shrieked Lucia. "Look what you made me do!" She snatched up a napkin and tried to mop up the juice before it dribbled into her lap.
Malfoy pulled out his wand to try to help, but he was too busy coughing and wheezing to actually verbalize a spell.
"Well?" demanded Nellie. "Is he, or isn't he?"
"She's a big fat Mudblood, you moron!" said Lucia disparagingly. "Our family's pure blood goes back for dozens of generations. Why should he mess that up?"
Nellie crossed her arms and stuck out her lower lip. "They both already have kids so that shouldn't matter."
Malfoy's coughing fit renewed itself with vigor at that statement. He was turning bright pink with effort by the time he finally managed to slow down enough to take another sip of tea.
"Have you and my mum kissed?" Nellie asked brightly.
It was Malfoy's turn to spew his drink and Lucia's turn to start coughing uncontrollably. Malfoy set his tea down carefully and used a napkin to blot his lips. He looked perfectly scandalized.
"That will be enough of that," he said firmly. "It's Muggle-born in public Lucia, as you know perfectly well."
"Sorry," said Lucia insincerely. As soon as Malfoy had turned away from her, she narrowed her eyes at Nellie and mouthed the word fat.
"And as for you," Malfoy addressed Nellie, "You really ought not to try to marry off your mother, particularly while she is still married to your father. I think there is already rather more infidelity in your family than it knows what to do with."
"What's infidelity?" asked Nellie.
"It's the same thing as unfaithfulness," said Lucia, giving Nellie a kick under the table.
Nellie's eyes widened. "My family isn't unfaithful!" she exclaimed, but her expression made it clear she either didn't know what it meant, or had never considered the possibility before. She kicked Lucia back, hard.
"Yes it is, because your dad's cheating on your mum," said Lucia, kicking Nellie right back again. "That makes him a cheating unfaithful cheat."
"He doesn't cheat!" insisted Nellie hotly, kicking Lucia back so hard she shoved up against the booth-back with the force of it. "He wins because he's good."
"I'm not talking about Quidditch, you git," exclaimed Lucia.
"The next person who kicks me," said Malfoy, "is going to spend the rest of her life as a flobberworm." The kicking and squirming stopped instantly and each girl looked properly horrified. He reached down and massaged his leg under the table. "Honestly, if I'd known the two of you would behave like savages I would have stayed at home."
Their drinks done, they left the cafe and continued down the street, looking at the shops and the items for sale in stalls along the sides of the streets. As they passed Ruggerat's, Malfoy turned to Nellie.
"Do you like fancy clothes, girl?"
"Oh yes!" exclaimed Nellie, her eyes lighting up greedily. Hermione was sure Nellie was envisioning looking just like Lucia.
"Well then," he said, pressing a Sickle into her little hand and steering her in the direction of the thrift shop. "Go in there and amuse yourself with this. We'll wait out here."
"I can't believe you bought her clothes," exclaimed a scandalized Lucia, gazing after Nellie who had run off at once, probably unable to believe her luck.
"Really, Lucia, she's not a house-elf," said Malfoy.
"I can't believe you even invited her along! She's a Weasley!"
"Now Lucia, you know I've been forced to work with her mother on this Batwing project, and you know how important it is to make that succeed. Our entire future depends on it. So be nice to the Weasley children for the time being. It can't hurt to pretend."
"But she's an obnoxious little bogey and she's only a First Year! And that Jude prat is always picking on me."
"He won't be able to pick on you if his sister informs to their mother for you," Malfoy pointed out.
"Her sisters threw that Glue on Salazar!" exclaimed Lucia. "Don't you even care?"
There was a sudden, horrified pause, and Lucia's hand flew to her mouth. "Father… I –"
Malfoy had gone deathly pale. "I care, Lucia," he said, stiffly. "We simply don't have any other choice at this time. Do try to cooperate. It's bad enough as it is without your making things more difficult."
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to – I just - Daddy, why did you have to get fired? It's so embarrassing. Everybody at school has been laughing at me!" Lucia's words were accusing, but she looked as if she might cry.
"I wasn't pleased about it either, but all I can do is file a protest and wait to see what happens," said Malfoy.
"But why did it happen?" whined Lucia.
"Well, there were some rumors, and Mr. Patterson got upset about them. Sometimes when people get upset they do things they didn't mean, and then their pride gets in the way when they really wish they could take it back."
"Dumb old Mr. Patterson," pouted Lucia. "I hate him."
Malfoy smirked. "Now, who was laughing at you?"
"Everybody! Well except my friends. Now that Sal is gone people think they can say anything they want to me. His friends aren't around to beat them up for it."
"I'll speak to their parents," Malfoy promised her. "His friends ought to be watching out for you."
"Thank you, Father," she said.
A silence stretched between them for a bit, as they stood in the road. Eventually their eyes were both back on Ruggerat's, waiting for Nellie to come back out. Lucia looked positively sick with unhappiness, as if she hoped the world might accidentally explode before Nellie returned. Malfoy glanced at her, then away, shifting uncomfortably.
"You know," he said finally, "when I was your age I had exactly the same problem with a boy in my year. A Gryffindor named Harry."
"What a boring name," said Lucia dismissively. "There must be a million Gryffindors named Harry."
Malfoy's mouth twisted into a grimace. "Yes, well, this was the first Harry, the one all those others are named after."
That got Lucia's full attention. "The one who defeated You-know-who eight times? Harry Potter?"
"Yes, that one."
"You never told me you went to school with him!"
Malfoy scowled unpleasantly. "At any rate, my father encouraged me to be friends with Harry Potter, or at least to pretend to like him somewhat, just for appearances sake. But Potter had taken an instant dislike to me and insulted me soon after we first met, and for all the years we went to Hogwarts, we did nothing but hate one another."
"So you understand what it's like," said Lucia. "How can you ask me to like that horrible Weasley girl?"
"For two reasons. First of all, it will help me in dealing with her mother. And secondly, because I now realize that most of the detentions I served at Hogwarts were because of Harry Potter. If I'd simply ignored him, I probably wouldn't have served any detentions at all."
"Some reasons," sulked Lucia. "I refuse to be her friend unless there's something in it for me. After all, you're the one who wants me to do it, and it's not as if she can give me anything, she's all poor and everything. And what about my reputation? I shouldn't let it get shattered into a million pieces for free."
Malfoy's breath huffed out and he ran a hand through his hair. This was the point at which Hermione would have put her foot down with her own children, but apparently Malfoy's parenting style ran more to capitulation.
"Very well then," he said. "What do you want?"
Battered and frustrated, Hermione clung to Malfoy's shoulder as he approached the wall for what could have been the third time or the thirtieth, depending on how he was using the Time Turner. This time, as he drew the wand and broke into a jog, she clamped down hard on the instinct to take off and fly. She had to stay with him or she would never figure out how he'd done it.
Closer and closer he came. He was tired. His breath steamed out like a horse's, and came with little grunts of what could have been either pain or a frustration matching her own. He seemed to be aiming right for the culvert, its bars, and the water gushing torrentially from between them. Right before he reached the wall, he surged ahead with sudden speed. Hermione clutched his robe with all her might, willing herself to stay stuck fast. He hurled himself forward and down and –
- and Hermione was plunged suddenly and shockingly into the rushing water of the gully. She was tumbled over and over, legs paddling desperately as she was swept quickly downstream. She managed to surface just long enough to see she was being swept out into the street, and then she was sucked under again, banging against the stone kerbs and sliding off Muggle car tires. She was being taken farther and farther away – and what if she was sucked down the drain?
Something brushed against her and something else slithered past and she realized there was garbage and debris in the gutter with her. A loud roaring sound was approaching. Was it a drain? A car? She redoubled her efforts to try to catch onto the rough concrete or anything else she could climb out on, but it was too late.
Darkness swallowed the world, and she was falling and falling in what felt like a titanic cascade of muddy water.
Hermione was truly appalled that Malfoy would stoop to bribing his own child to obtain obedience, but she had to admit that the technique seemed to work on Lucia. By the time the negotiations were concluded, Lucia had secured the promise of a flying horse of her very own by summertime. Possibly even by Christmas if it could be arranged. In return, she had agreed to be "NellieSmellie's best friend ever."
Once this was established, Lucia declared that a true friend would never let anybody shop at Ruggerrat's, and went inside to drag the younger girl out. With Lucia leading them like a queen, the little troupe marched around the corner to Witches in Stitches, where little Nellie was fitted for her first ever non-hand-me-down robe – in Hogwarts regulation black.
Hermione was awash with a confusion of emotions. It was becoming increasingly obvious, the longer she watched, that Malfoy had no intention of harming the youngest Weasley, at least not right away or physically.
Afterwards, at Lucia's suggestion, they celebrated by moving on to the candy shop. It was crowded and as the girls became bored waiting in line, Malfoy discovered a way to entertain them.
"Petrificus Minimus!"
The curse leaped from the end of the wand and smacked into the window. Flies buzzed in all directions, scattering. After a moment, several of them returned and and commenced trying to get through the glass again. But not the one that had fallen, petrified, to the windowsill and thence to the floor of the candy shop. It joined several others there that had already been felled.
The girls squealed in delight. "Do it again! Do it again!"
Malfoy smirked, clearly enjoying how easy they were to impress. Hermione realized with annoyance that neither of them knew that the spell he was using had a very large cone of influence, and at this range he was probably hitting the entire window and part of the floor. It only looked like he was sharpshooting the flies because one of the spell's limitations was it could only affect one victim at a time.
He pretended to "aim" again, sighting carefully along Wanmaker's logo and the length of the black wood, and fired off another.
The gullible girls cheered as another fly fell. The other students in the candy shop, many of whom had also begun to watch, cheered as well. Not one of these kids knows what Petrificus Minimus does? Hermione thought in disbelief. What are they teaching them in school these days?
Then Nellie ran forward enthusiastically and stamped on one of the flies, squashing it flat. Malfoy reached out and put a hand on her upper arm, pulling her back.
"Don't do that."
"Why not?" she asked in surprise.
His lips pursed disapprovingly. "You shouldn't kill for no reason, because it can't be undone."
"It's just a bug," said Nellie.
"Even so," said Malfoy. "It has nothing to do with how important the victim is, it's the principle of the thing."
Instantly Hermione's irritation vanished, to be replaced by a cold dread. A Muggle-slaughtering Death Eater is teaching morals to my child while I'm spying on her as an insect for God's sake.
"Father, honestly," pouted Lucia. "Since when do you care anyway?" She pushed forward between the two and Hermione realized the Second Year was jealous of the attention Nellie was getting. The two girls were probably a good deal more alike than anybody would care to admit… leastwise themselves.
"Now, bring me those others and I'll show you something," said Malfoy. "Be careful you don't harm them."
One by one he showed them a cranefly, a horse fly, and a house fly, telling them what potions their eyes were good for or something about their habits.
"Look at this," he said. The fourth one was a greenbottle fly, bright and metallic in coloration. He made the tip of his wand glow, illuminating the tiny creature like a jewel.
"It's… beautiful," said Nellie shyly.
"For a fly," said Lucia. She sounded scornful, but Hermione could see her eyes dart toward Malfoy, worried that he would like Nellie's answer better.
A grin crept across Malfoy's face, making him look for a moment like the mischievous boy Hermione had seen laughing with his friends at Hogwarts so many years ago. Hermione tried to remember if she'd seen him genuinely smile before in all the time she'd been spying on him. She couldn't recall.
"It is, isn't it? Finite Incanatatum."
The greenbottle fly climbed to its feet, then buzzed up from his hand, beating a rapid retreat.
"How come you know so much about bugs, Mr. Malfoy?" asked Nellie.
"Well, you two will probably find this difficult to believe, but when I was at Hogwarts potions was my favorite class."
"Ewwww!" the two girls chorused.
"Yes, and I was the professor's favorite student. He used to give me books so I could learn all about the different ingredients on my own. It's important to know the details if you want to be good at potions. Just because the potion calls for fly wings doesn't mean wings from every kind of fly will produce exactly the same effect."
"They all produce the effect of grossing me out," said Lucia, but she said it under her breath, as if she'd had second thoughts about uttering the words after they were already out.
The final one was a fat black and white striped flesh-fly, the same sort of fly that was Hermione's Animagus form.
"Now this one…." Malfoy took a closer look at the fly, and his smile vanished to be replaced by the most peculiar expression.
Damn, thought Hermione. The last thing she needed right now was for paranoid, animal-noticing Malfoy to be reminded of his previous sightings of her fly form. He'd seen it extremely close-up once in his office at Batwing, and again in his tea at Segal's Roost. Not to mention the time in St. Mungo's, though he probably couldn't remember that one. Either way, though, had had to be at least wondering if a fly was following him by now. She wouldn't be surprised if this reminder made him more paranoid than ever. He'd probably be actively looking for such a fly. And if he did decide a particular fly was tailing him, how long would it take him, with all of his Ministry connections, to discover that the fly wasn't Covert Ops? After that, it seemed it would be inevitable that he'd decide there was a connection between the fly and Hermione's "disappearance" from St. Mungo's. Damn, damn damn!
"Father, this is boring. Can we go get ice cream instead?" demanded Lucia.
"Oh, let's!" exclaimed Nellie.
Malfoy's fingers tightened on the flesh-fly and Hermione thought intended to squash it then and there. Instead, he performed the Finite Incantatum and let it fall. It wasted no time in soaring up and away.
Lucky, thought Hermione.
"Very well," said Malfoy. As the two girls started eagerly for the door, he placed the wand back in his wrist sheath and took his time fiddling with the layers of his sleeves, tugging them into place just so. He looked disturbed and thoughtful.
"Come on," said Nellie, coming back to take his hand and try to pull him toward the door. Lucia was more attuned to her father's moods and cast him an uncertain look, but seemed reassured when he pasted a thin smile on his face and turned to go with them. She took his other hand, the injured one, and held it carefully without pulling.
They exited the candy shop and began to make their way down the street through the afternoon crowd.
"Father's favorite flavor is the cardamom ants, isn't it Father?" said Lucia as they walked.
"Ew, I don't like any ice cream with bugs in it," exclaimed Nellie.
"Even the Dragonfly Sundae?" Lucia inquired, craning her neck around her father to look at Nellie.
Malfoy's cold gray eyes scanned the air over the crowds' heads. He seemed unnerved and distracted, his mind only half on the conversation at hand. He looked, to Hermione's feverish imagination, as if he were trying to spot a particular fly.
He has too many pieces of the puzzle, she thought with a shiver of fear. He's got to figure it out eventually. He knows about Rita Skeeter so he knows there are insect Animagi. He's got to be desperate for a solution to the mystery Apparition. He must have ways of finding out what insect forms the Cov Ops transfigurators can take.
Once he figured it out, he wouldn't likely turn her in to the authorities right off because he needed her. But the knowledge of her secret would give him a hold over her she hadn't wanted to allow him. And there was little doubt but that Malfoy would press every advantage available to him. Batwing was that important. Even if Hermione hadn't already known, the fact that Malfoy was encouraging his own flesh and blood to befriend a Weasley cinched it. If Malfoy discovered her secret, she was absolutely at his mercy. Not only that, but she'd have to hurry to figure out how to use him to destroy the Death Eaters before he got done with whatever he was trying to do with the company. Not that she knew what that was, even now!
"That's not a real dragonfly on top," Nellie was saying. "It's chocolate with foil over it."
"It's a chocolate covered real dragonfly," said Lucia.
"Ew!" exclaimed Nellie. "That's revolting!"
"It's not as if you could afford it anyway," said Lucia. "After all it's real gold foil too. So what is your favorite flavour then?"
Nellie looked mutinous at the slight to the Weasley family finances, but apparently decided complaining wasn't to her advantage. "My favorite is the banana strawberry."
As they arrived at the door to Exclusive Scoops, a Fifth Year Ravenclaw student Hermione recognized as Mee Chang came out and nearly ran into the little group.
Mee gaped at Malfoy, Lucia, and Nellie. She was a good friend of Christopher's and there was no doubt but that she understood the significance of what she was seeing.
"Gleep!" she squeaked, as she sidestepped the three.
"Miss Chang," said Malfoy formally, a hint of disapproval in his tone.
Chang uttered something that sounded like "scuse me, late," and took off running like the hounds of hell were behind her.
For one sudden, adrenaline-filled lurch, Hermione started to dash after her, fearing Mee would cause the rest of the kids to come here and do something rash. But -
I can't leave Nellie, she knew with absolute certainty. She stopped, watching Mee pelt away in the direction of Hogwarts.
"Uh oh," said Nellie. "I think she went to tell my brother on me. I'm not supposed to be at Hogsmeade at all, and it's twice as bad I'm here with you. My mother told everybody else to stay at school specifically so they wouldn't run into you. She's petrified you'll want to get revenge for that Everlasting Glue."
Lucia snatched Nellie's arm and jerked her away from Malfoy, into the shop and toward the counter.
"Don't talk about that!" she hissed. "D'you want him to freak out on us?"
"I only meant," began Nellie.
"He gave that Vampire's Breath to Salazar to bring to school. Don't you think he feels awful? You shouldn't bring it up at all."
"Sorry," whispered Nellie miserably.
Suddenly it all became a bit clearer. The ingredient Hermione's daughters shouldn't have been able to get their hands on had come straight from Batwing. Malfoy had probably given it to his son to show around and brag. Everything she'd heard about Salazar indicated he was as prone to showing off and trying to make himself look important as his father had been at that age. Between Salazar's boastfulness, Malfoy's indulgence, and Georgia and Freida's terribly vindictive prankishness, disaster was inevitable. And if Malfoy felt he was partially responsible for what had happened, that would go a long way toward explaining his reluctance to attempt a Multi-Generational Accursing. Those only worked in cases where the guilty party was egregiously and unequivocably at fault.
"What'll it be then?" asked the clerk behind the counter.
"Cardamom Ants for my father, and Chocolate Apricot for me," said Lucia imperiously. "And Weasley here will have the Banana Strawberry."
"Says who!" exclaimed Nellie.
"Said you," said Lucia. "Wasn't it your favourite?"
"I changed it," said Nellie. "My favourite is the Dragonfly Sundae now."
"I thought you don't eat bugs," said Lucia.
"It's all right if they have chocolate and gold on them," said Nellie, and Hermione knew the barb about the family finances had bitten deeper than Nellie had allowed to show.
Lucia rolled her eyes but turned back to the clerk. "Make that Dragonfly Sundae instead of Banana Strawberry."
After they were served, they found a booth in the side room and sat down to enjoy their ice cream.
Nellie carefully tugged the dragonfly off the top of hers and licked ice cream from the foil. Then she placed it in the pocket of her new black robes.
Malfoy and his daughter exchanged an unreadable look. They knew, as Hermione did, that the chocolate-covered insect would be ruined by the heat of the pocket. Her heart ached for poor Nellie and all the disappointments in the girl's short life.
"What are those in your ice cream?" Nellie asked Malfoy.
"They're honeypot ants," said Malfoy. "Would you like to try one?"
"No thank you," said Nellie, missing her mouth with her own spoon while she stared uneasily at the little round blob on his.
Malfoy shrugged. "More for me," he said, and rolled the large round ant off onto his tongue. "Mmm," he said. "Delicious!"
"Don't be such a ninny," Lucia told Nellie. "They're like pralines."
"With a head and legs!" exclaimed Nellie. "Ugh!"
"Your dragonfly has a big head and legs too," said Lucia, "and even wings."
"I'm not going to eat that," said Nellie, "I'm going to keep it."
"You're pathetic," said Lucia scornfully. "It's just going to melt."
"Give it here," said Malfoy. "You can't keep it in your pocket."
"It won't melt," said Nellie mutinously, but there was a hint of uncertainty in her manner. After a moment, she tried to reach into her pocket and check without them noticing, but the look of shock and chagrin on her face when she found the dragonfly revealed that they had been right.
She pulled it out, curled up and drooping, smeared with brown, and looked like she might cry.
A sneer crossed Lucia's face. She looked like she was about to exclaim "told you!" but she caught herself just in time. "Um," she coughed awkwardly, actually managing to look a bit guilty. "Is there maybe a Reparo for food?"
"I'm sure I'd have no idea," sniffed Malfoy. "Weasley, run along to the counter and ask them for another. I'll put a freezing charm on it for you."
"I'll put it on there," said Lucia. "She's my friend."
Nellie grinned, her face transformed, and jumped up to run back to the counter.
During the moments Nellie was gone, Lucia shot her father a grim, meaningful look and made waving wings with her hands for him to see. Draco nodded curtly. Their deal was still on. A flying horse would be hers.
In that moment, in that long, cold meeting of identical grey eyes, Hermione hated them for their cruel pretense at friendship. Nellie wouldn't know the difference, until it ended in a bewildering betrayal.
But when the replacement dragonfly had been procured, and the freezing charm inexpertly applied, Nellie beamed as if she were the happiest girl in the world.
"Let me see your wand for a moment, Lucia," said Malfoy, setting down his spoon.
His daughter removed the wand from her pocket again. "I've been taking good care of it," she said, offering it over.
"Yes, I see that, very good," he said once he had it in hand. He waved it a couple of times, then wordlessly set to work installing it in his own chest holster. He was a lot more skilled at the procedure than the tan-robe Aurors had been, but it still took a bit of doing to get it safely entwined in the magical quick-release mechanism.
"Er… father?" asked Lucia, who clearly hadn't expected him to keep the wand.
"In case there's trouble," said Malfoy shortly. "If there is, you're to use your home base ring immediately."
Lucia turned pale. She turned the ring in question nervously on her finger. These days most younger children wore them; each was a one-shot that when pressed, would instantly Portkey the child back to a pre-determined safe area. For children attending Hogwarts that was usually a spot near the path to Hogsmeade, just outside Hogwarts' wards.
"Have you a home base ring as well, or is that beyond your parents' paltry resources?" Malfoy asked Nellie.
"Of course I have," said Nellie indignantly. She stuck out her hand, displaying the ring that had belonged to Christopher before her, and Freida before him. Malfoy gave the jewelry a cursory examination. His expression was half disdainful, half grudgingly impressed.
"Home-made, I see," he drawled. "I imagine your mother must have done it? I can't quite see your father pulling off anything that advanced. Do be sure to use it if there's any trouble. I wouldn't want you to be caught in the crossfire, and if your instincts are anything like your mother's, you probably will be."
"D'you want to see my wand too?" asked Nellie, whipping it out.
"Don't point that at me, you daft girl," Malfoy said sharply. "Put it away."
"Mine's as good as hers is," Nellie insisted, her lower lip coming out in a pretty little pout.
"Well – say then," said Lucia. "If it is, let me borrow it." She snatched it out of Nellie's hand.
"It's not," said Malfoy.
"I don't care," avowed Lucia. "I'll give it back to you after supper," she added to Nellie.
Hermione watched all of this with a kind of stunned, slow-motion feeling. She knew exactly what this was, this non sequitur, this sudden procurement of a second wand. It had happened the same way in the courtyard of St. Mungo's, when what had been an interrogation had turned incongrously and not-quite-believeably into a sudden firefight.
This was a time shift. Somehow, Malfoy had used the time turner to do this next part over again. Something had happened where having only one wand hadn't worked out, and so he'd gone back and somehow communicated to himself that he had to get that other wand, and get it soon regardless of how he did it. Hermione had not seen that first version of events, only this one, because she had been sitting over here instead of riding on his person.
The kids, Hermione knew then, with an awful sinking feeling. If Mee had indeed tattled on Nellie, and if the others had thrown all of Hermione's orders and their own promises out the window, spent less than an instant debating and simply taken off on their brooms at top speed, the could indeed be here at any moment –
-and just as those thoughts went through her mind, she heard the unmistakeable thud of something heavy landing on the sidewalk outside. Then another, and two more, and the clatter of brooms being tossed onto cobbles. Hermione leaped off the wall and zoomed around the corner to see through the main room's windows, just as the front door burst open with bells jangling and Freida and Georgia charged in with Christopher and Jude hot on their heels. Hermione executed a wild zigzag to avoid ending up in Freida's wide open mouth. As the kids charged towards the Malfoys and Nellie, she whipped into a U-turn and hurled herself back past them going the other way.
I wouldn't want you to be caught in the crossfire, and if your instincts are anything like your mother's, you probably will be.
Lucia vanished instantly and Malfoy erupted from the booth, Wanmaker's black wand bared and his eyes filled with the same terrifying ferocity they'd held during the raid on the Muggle home not twelve hours before. Hermione took one look at that expression and hurled herself down between them, all thoughts of her own safety flown from her head.
She changed to human form abruptly and silently in Malfoy's path, braced for impact and hands outstretched to grab because there was no time to find her wand to cast the fake-Apparition firecracker charm or even to threaten him with.
She saw a panicked look shoot across his face just as he slammed full-on into her. Next they collided with the floor so forcefully that Hermione saw stars. The kids converged on them, dragging Malfoy bodily off her. Someone's hand closed on his wand and yanked it out of his grasp; he immediately went for the quick release on his chest holster instead, the spare wand leaping instantly into his hand.
"Whaa," gasped Hermione, intending Watch out, he's got –
The loud, crisp electrical zap of a defensive spell sounded and the kids were flung away from Malfoy to land sprawling on the floor all around.
"Expelliarmus!" he yelled, pointing his daughter's wand at Jude, and the Wanmaker wand leaped back towards him. Jude was knocked backward so forcefully he flipped end over end, disappearing behind a table with a crash. Other patrons of the ice cream shop screamed and scrambled behind their own tables. Hermione finally managed to find her own wand and scrambled for her feet, but by the time she was vertical Malfoy had swapped wands and silently vanished.
In his case, of course, it was a genuine Soft Apparition.
"Mum!" yelled Georgia and Freida simultanously.
"Mum!" gasped Nellie. Now her hand dove toward her Home Base Ring.
"Eleanor Belinda Weasley!" barked Hermione, freezing her youngest daughter mere instants from an escape. In her peripheral vision, she saw Jude make a similar gesture, only to be stopped by Christopher.
"All of you, back here. Up against the wall," she ordered them. There was no way Malfoy could catch them by surprise if they could see him coming. No way he could curse them from behind if their backs were already against the wall.
"Mum what happened to you?" asked Jude, looking horrified at her appearance.
"What are you doing here?" demanded Georgia, baffled.
"Never mind that," snapped Hermione. "Pay attention now, don't move."
But though she made them wait long seconds, and even longer minutes, their hearts pounding and their backs pressed against the ice cream shop's sticky walls, Malfoy never reappeared. He and Lucia were really gone.