Chapter 27

Hi. I'm back. Sorry I made you wait for a month, I was a bit busy and forgot I was writing this story lol

Enjoy!

Greenfell Manor

The week has passed faster than anyone anticipated, but at the same time, for Draco that single week felt like a month, as he was stuck inside and forced to practice the druid magic.

If a month ago someone told him he would be jailed in a house full of druids, forced to practice their magic by his long-lost uncle who time travelled to the future, hell-bent on defeating the most powerful and evil wizard of the decade, Draco would have laughed.

It was most interesting to see how the Greenfell family went on about their day. At the beginning, Draco was terrified.

Druids had a bit of a reputation after all.

But he found himself indoctrinated and quite comfortable faster than he'd think appropriate. They gave him his own rooms, provided robes, food and everything else he would ever need. He was free to roam around the large house, and while he had to admit he found it hard not being able to go outside after a while, there was always more for him to explore inside. The Greenfell Manor was a very mysterious place, and the family that lived there even more so.

Draco felt trapped in the situation he found himself in.

He wondered what would have happened to him if Regulus didn't get him out that night. Would he be still alive today? Would he be tasked with another mission?

Looking at the rain outside the window he swallowed hard, thinking about his poor mother and father. What would happen to them after the war? If Regulus and the Order succeeded would he be sent to Azkaban? He didn't even want to think what could happen if they failed.

The Dark Lord would never forgive him…

Draco was looking at his dark mark but he moved to cover it quickly when he heard someone come in.

"You don't need to do that." Regulus, his mother's long dead cousin, sat down next to Draco. "It's nothing to be embarrassed about. It's just a scar, like many others that you get for playing with dangerous toys." He leaned forward to pull Draco's sleeves up. Draco didn't resist, he just watched.

"Why did you take it?" Draco felt the confidence to ask.

"Like you, and many others, I had no choice. It was me or my family. Before, I wanted to join him, for a long time. And then I met Hermione." He told him of her time travel and their closer friendship, which Draco chose not to question. He always felt something wasn't quite right with Granger, but all this. Druids? Time Travel? It was too much to get his head around, at least for now.

"She made me realise what was really important, but it was only after I joined that I truly understood what I had gotten myself into. But it was too late. Despite my personal feelings I had to do what I was told, to survive and to protect my family, and there is no shame in that Draco. War is like that. We all made our sacrifices."

"I wish I could turn back the time." He confessed. Draco regretted getting the Dark Mark as soon as he saw it on his skin. The weight of what he had done followed him every day. Perhaps his unwillingness to follow through with the task he was given, made his attempts at completing it, so poor?

"Would you have done differently?" Regulus asked, running his fingers over the Dark Mark on his left arm. He was looking at it with peace and acceptance. As if he was looking at an extension of his own body. Draco looked at his own mark with regret, endurance and perhaps, surrender?

"Probably not." No, there was nothing he could have done differently, short of taking Dumbledore up on his offer, which wasn't the brightest prospect out there.

"Not all is lost yet. You're here and not there. That's our first win."

"What's the next one?" He asked, hoping to get a glimpse into his schemes.

"We'll see, won't we?" Regulus smirked at him, making Draco roll his eyes. He couldn't shake off the dreadful feeling that whatever it was that Regulus was planning, Draco was probably better off not knowing.

For his own sanity if nothing else.

Draco didn't know him for very long at all, but Regulus developed an unhealthy habit of throwing him into a pit of fear, uncertainty and surprise.

Only a few days ago, he recalled eating a meal with the rest of the household. The conversation landed on the wonderful location of the Greenfell Manor, and the beautiful views that surrounded them.

"Where exactly are we? We're in England still, aren't we?" He heard himself ask.

"Of course we're in England." Claudius chuckled.

"But they won't find us, will they? How far are we from my house?" He had no reason to question their defences but he needed assurance that the Death Eaters couldn't get to them.

"They won't be able to find us Draco, you have nothing to worry about?" Lydia smiled at him but Draco didn't miss the look that passed between them.

"How far from Wiltshire are we?" He tried again after a minute or two.

"Draco this is a very old house, with very old and powerful Druid magic protecting it and us. There is no safer place in this country, trust me. If we don't want them to find us, they won't be able to. And to answer your question, we are in Wiltshire. About an hour away from the Malfoy Manor." Regulus answered calmly.

"An hour away?! We're right under the Dark Lord's nose!" He exclaimed loudly.

"There is no need to panic child. This house has not been discovered in many hundreds of years." Said Amelia. "Your Dark Lord will never think to look so close, that is if he had anyone to look for at all. As far as he's aware, you're pushing up the daisies in the Malfoy Manor cemetery. Nicklaus dear, would you pass the salt?"

Right, he was dead. Draco forgot.

There was no need for Voldemort to look for him. He was safer than anyone else in England right now.

Draco never said it out loud to anyone, but he was grateful to the Greenfells and Regulus. They provided safety for him and made him feel welcome, despite his initial semi-prejudiced behaviour:

"Draco darling, would you be so kind to go to the garden and fetch some vervain, mugwort and yarrow for Claudius please? Regulus keeps all our elves busy and I have to leave now if I don't want to be late for my appointment. Is there anything you need me to get for you from town?" Lydia smiled at him so warmly it sent shivers down Draco's spine.

The sickly-sweet manner in which she treated him was driving him crazy. Draco was not used to such coddling. And what angered him was the absurd request she made of him. A task usually performed by house elves. And Draco couldn't stand up for himself and say no, not to her anyway, not after she's been so ridiculously nice to him.

His pureblood manners would never let him.

She was too nice, they all were. But Draco would not be fooled. He would comply but he would always be ready for the real monsters to come out.

They were Druids, after all.

"Yes, of course ." He replied with a half-forced smile on his face. "A chocolate cake, if you come across one?" If he had to put up with manual labour so far beneath his station, he might as well get something out of it. Chocolate cake was his favourite, because he wasn't allowed to eat it very often.

Lydia did buy him the chocolate cake, and it was delicious. But it didn't stop him from thinking the worst of the Greenfells until he realised what a food he had been.

He winced at the memory.

He had to admit, he was quite ashamed of himself. The stuff the wizarding community let him to believe about Druids was quite far-fetched. He also felt angry for the Greenfells, at the fate that has befallen them. Amelia told him of the origins of druids and the fight between Morgana and Merlin. The curse that was placed upon the Greenfells felt unjust and cruel to Draco, after all there weren't many worse kinds of punishments for a magic user than taking their magic away.

Claudius explained to him the circumstances that pushed Merlin to do this, and quite frankly Draco was mortified at the idea of Hermione Granger being the descendant of Morgana, but he still thought Merlin's punishment was unfair. Morgana's cause was just, it was her radical methods that were at fault, yet they weren't too far off the ones Death Eaters were instructed to use by Voldemort.

Did that mean that Druids were the Death Eaters of their time? Would that mean Morgana played the role of the Dark Lord back then? Was history repeating itself to some extent?

Those were dangerous comparisons to make…

Suddenly Draco found himself asking if it wouldn't make more sense for them to join Voldemort? Wouldn't they want to revenge their kind?

Claudius told him if there is one thing they learned from the history, it is that hatred blinds and vengeance leads to more hate and more pain. And Druids, as a community have lost too much.

Claudius showed him the Druid family trees records which confirmed Malfoys as well as Blacks had Druid ties. But they also showed many blood lines that have been lost and forgotten, and many more that have ended. There was only a handful of Druids left, in essence they were nearly extinct. Many families that had the Druid blood were of the Sacred 28, many of who were Death Eaters.

The irony couldn't have been greater.

The history was indeed repeating itself.

But there was just as many families that were on the 'light' side, who had Druid blood. It was unbelievable how misinformed the Wizarding community was. So many families had Druid descendants down the line and were unaware of the fact.

But if so many had Druid ties, did it mean they all could learn the Old Magic? Claudius didn't know. For many of them if would have been very hard to connect with their core again, it could even take generations of practice and seasonal rituals. But for others, if they were young enough and their connection was stronger, it could take only months.

Draco wondered how long it would take for him to learn. Regulus was very successful very quickly, but he was very passionate about the Dark Magic and curious about Druids.

Draco wasn't sure if he wanted to learn the Old Magic. Sure, the power would be great but Draco was a Slytherin and snakes always thought about survival first.

What if after the war was over, the public would turn on them? What if they turned on him given his Death Eater status? And if they found out about his Druid heritage and that he was in fact able to use the Old Magic, would they execute him? Would he have to run for the rest of his life? Live in hiding, away from the Wizarding world like the Greenfells have been for many hundreds of years?

It was true that fighting with the Greenfells and the Order would put him in a much better position, if they won, and if they were willing to testify for him. He wasn't so sure about Potter but surely Hermione had a lot to say about their, somewhat unusual friendship?

Ultimately, Draco decided that Regulus' mission to defeat the Dark Lord, wasn't so unrealistic after all and concluding he had no choice but to join the cause, so one day, naturally, he opened the beginners spell book on his own.

Quite coincidentally, he came across a very familiar spell.

It was a curse Hermione Granger placed on Lavender Brown.

Granger… that sneaky, crafty, lying brat.

He knew something wasn't right with her. He had a feeling. He told her about druids, and how scary they were. No wonder she didn't care. She was one of them!

She had a lot of explaining to do!

"Focus!" Regulus scolded him. It turned out that when it came to teaching, Regulus Arcturus Black was just as big of an ass, as Draco initially thought.

"It's not working." Draco drawled. That man had no patience…

"Because you're not focused."

"I'm trying!"

"Try harder." Regulus folded his arms. He was condescending and bossy, but Draco had to admit he was a good teacher. "I know it's difficult, and it takes time, but you can do it, Draco. The Blacks have always been incredibly talented, and you're half a Black."

"What a complement." Klaus mocked, turning the pages in the ancient book he was holding. He was looking for ways to strengthen his own power, so that he could be of more use to Regulus. It was thanks to him that all of Klaus' problems were gone.

"I'm leaving. Keep practicing while I'm gone." Regulus picked up his dark cloak and turned to leave the room. It was time for him to go to The Three Broomsticks.

"Sure, send my love to Potter." Draco snarled as pushed the tower-sized pile of books with his foot, making them all fall.

Kings Cross Station

Hermione got off the train with Harry and Ron, her eyes searched through the crowd for two dark figures Regulus warned her of. It wasn't difficult spotting them, they hanged around at the back and seemed to be searching for someone too.

Namely, Harry Potter.

"That's my parents, over there!" Ron exclaimed and moved through the thick crowd, trying to reach his parents. Hermione followed with Harry behind her, until someone bumped into the dark-haired boy, making him drop the jacket he was holding. He bent down to get it, and as Hermione stopped and turned to wait for him, one of the Death Eaters turned towards her and their eyes met.

She saw he noticed Harry, and he began walking towards them.

Hermione froze.

Regulus said they wouldn't attack, just observe…

Harry got up and she automatically grabbed his hand and pulled him in the opposite direction.

"Hermione! Where are you going? Ron went the other way." Harry protested as he was being pulled through the crowd.

"We have to go, Harry. The death eaters are here!" She said to him, and not giving him any time to reply she pulled him behind the pillar and appeared them away.

Three Broomsticks

Hermione and Harry landed in the long corridor of rooms, in the Three Broomsticks. She got up off the floor and pulled Harry up. She took his hand and started to walk down the long corridor searching for the Room 13.

"Hermione wait! Why were the Death Eaters at the station? Where are we going? Why did you bring us here?" Questions kept rolling off of Harry's tongue as they walked, but before Hermione had a chance to reply to any of them, a door to one of the rooms they passed by opened and a pair of hands pulled them inside.

Harry landed on a carpet while Hermione was caught by the same pair of strong arms that pulled them both inside.

Her lips melted into a deep kiss, making her relax. She pulled away gently to look at his smirking expression.

"Your lips have got to be the sweetest thing I've ever tasted." He drawled, clearly pleased to see her. Hermione giggled.

"Hermione why is he here?" Harry asked confused after noticing who the third person in the room was. He gathered his mixed feelings about the man and got up with a semi-displeased look on his face.

Harry knew what Sirius's brother was before, but after hearing what Slughorn and Seamus said, Harry felt this uncomfortable feeling tugging on his gut, seeing the two so close together.

"All will be revealed soon, Potter." Regulus said, surprisingly without any contempt when pronouncing Harry's father's surname.

Regulus let go of Hermione and gestured for them both to sit on the sofa, as Kiwi appeared with tea and snacks. He himself sat on the other sofa, facing them.

"Make yourself comfortable, both of you. We have a lot to talk about." Regulus took a sip of his tea.

"And you know all this from the Death Eater meeting at the Malfoy Manor you went to posing as Snape?" Harry furrowed his brows.

"Yes, but you can't tell the Order. At least not yet. They don't seem to trust me very much, and while I somewhat, understand their need for constant surveillance over me, they are slowing me down."

"I'm not sure if I can promise to keep this from the Order. You went to them, and you're a death eater too…" Harry looked conflicted.

"Then surely you understand how risky that was for me? If anyone recognised me, I would not be sitting here, talking to you. I know your loyalty to the Order will make your conscience flare up every now and then, but withholding some information from them now, will save their lives in the long run. You have to trust me on this." Regulus insisted.

"I don't know if I can trust you. You're not exactly the good guy, are you?" A man so evil, the hell spat him back out…

"I never pretended to be a good guy, good is not a word anyone could ever use to describe me, Potter. Don't trust my character, I'm not asking you to, but if there is one thing you can certainly trust, it is my love for Hermione and my loyalty to the idea of the better future we will build after this is all over."

Harry still wasn't sure if this was the right thing to do, but he had to appreciate the fact that Regulus didn't have to tell him anything. He could just obliviate him and continue to do as he wished. Hermione obviously trusted him, and Harry trusted Hermione. He only hoped she wasn't blinded by love.

"Fine. I won't tell them." He agreed, and watched Regulus' eyes lit up.

"Good, because there's more you need to know." He smirked, and turned to Hermione.

"Have you got it?" He asked, and Harry watched as Hermione pulled out the Snitch from her bag. The Snitch Dumbledore left Harry. Harry gave it to Hermione to keep when they returned to Hogwarts after Easter. Hermione passed it to Regulus, who took it and examined it.

"Have you ever wondered what's inside it?" He asked, looking at Harry with a look so excited, it made Harry gulp.

"I was hoping a clue, to where the next Horcrux could be. But it can't be opened, we tried everything." Harry dismissed.

"If my suspicions are correct, and I think they are, what's inside is much better than a clue. I understand you have some connection to this snitch?"

"It was the first snitch Harry caught in a tournament in our first year." Hermione provided, and Regulus simply nodded.

"Quite memorable, was it? Tell me Harry, how did you catch this snitch the first time you came into contact with it?" Regulus passed the snitch to him. Harry took it and looked at it laying gently in his hand. The first encounter with it wasn't as gentle.

"There was a bit of a disruption in the air that day. My broom swung wildly as if someone was pulling it and as I was trying to get it under control the Snitch flew at me and I caught it with my mouth."

"I see." Regulus smirked to himself.

"What? What is it?" Hermione furrowed her brows.

"The snitch has a contact-memory. Harry has to put it in his mouth for it to open." He revealed. Harry went to put the snitch in his mouth but it didn't work.

The snitch remained closed.

"Let's not forget Dumbledore enchanted it. Nothing is ever this simple with that old crone…" Regulus folded his hands and leaned forward in deep thought.

"Perhaps it must be opened at the right moment?" Hermione asked after few minutes.

"Hm, I know." Regulus huffed. His lips twitched and within a second he was pinning Harry down, with his wand pointing down at his face.

"Regulus!" Harry heard Hermione shout in shock, but he couldn't see her. He was struggling to get free.

"Avada Kada-" Harry heard him say and he closed his eyes in anticipation for the hit, but it never came. Instead he felt someone grab his wrist and bring the snitch up to his mouth.

"Good job, Potter." Harry opened his eyes as the weight lifted off of him. He saw Regulus standing before him, with a very pleased look on his face, and Hermione standing next to him, shaking her head; she was clearly caught off guard. Harry looked down to where Regulus was still holding him by the wrist.

The snitch was opened.

"What's this?" Harry picked up the small stone from inside the snitch.

"It is a Resurrection Stone. One of the three Hallows." Regulus said sounding very pleased with himself.

"You knew this was inside?" Hermione asked Regulus when Harry passed the stone to her, so she could take a look.

"I suspected. When the snitch didn't open, I started to think; when would Dumbledore want Harry to open it? The Resurrection Stone is used for only one thing, so I took my chances."

"I truly thought for a moment there you were really going to kill me. I thought I was going to die." Harry confessed.

"And it worked. Don't take it personally, Potter. I don't have anything to gain from killing you." Regulus smirked.

"How reassuring." Harry sniggered, putting the stone back in the snitch.

Regulus left Hermione with Harry at the Room 13, in the Three Broomsticks as Kiwi arrived with dinner for them. Harry would have to stay there for the night while Hermione would have been taken to the Greenfell Manor by Kiwi once Regulus returned in a couple of hours.

He had an appointment to attend. Bella wanted to meet in the Knockturn Alley but Regulus thought there was more chance they'd be recognised there so he suggested a place where no death eater would go.

A Kitty Café in the muggle London.

He wore his ring, so she could recognise him despite his altered appearance. He ordered food and drinks and waited. He helped himself to the cheesecake, as one of the cats came to him. He let it sit on his lap.

Then, Bella walked in.

Her hair was blonde and straight, she wore muggle clothes and covered her unmistakable eyes with a pair of sunglasses. She looked nothing like her own self but her presence was enough to tell it was her. She came over and sat down opposite to him. She took her sunglasses off, to show her displeasure at his obnoxious request to meet at such odd place.

"I have to admit; it really is impossible for anyone to detect us. Nobody who knows me would ever come here." She said with a straight face, which turned into a frown once she spotted the ball of fluff on her cousin's lap.

"I chose this place thinking of you." Regulus smiled daringly.

"Is that so?" Bella raised one eyebrow as she brought her drink to her mouth.

"Oh yes. One of my fondest memories of you from our childhood involved a cat." Regulus made a show of stroking the small creature that was sleeping on his lap. "You rescued it from the stream, dried it, fed it and cared for it."

"I don't seem to recall."

"You gave it to me once, to hide from your parents. What ever happened to it?" Bella once found and rescued a small kitten. As a young girl, she used to be kind and compassionate. Regulus chose not to think about everything that happened to her since then, all the things that made her so twisted and cruel.

"You know what happened. We couldn't keep it. We gave it away to the muggles." Bella's parents would never have allowed her to have a pet kitten, and once Regulus' parents found out what the two have been doing with the cat, smuggling it from one house to the other, they made them dispose of it, threatening to inform Bella's parents. And if they found out, all three sisters would long suffer for it, no matter if Narcissa and Andromeda were involved or not. That very night, Bella took it to the muggle neighbourhood and made sure it would be well looked after. She told Walburga and Orion she had killed it.

"Ah yes, that muggle girl. I wonder how she's doing." Regulus alluded to the fact that Bella used to check on the cat and its new owner every couple of months.

"How is my nephew?" The witch asked, tired of her younger cousin's antics.

"Obedient enough, he's too much like Lucius in some ways but I'm pleased to say that he is much more like his mother, a Black through and through."

"I wasn't referring to your assessment of his character but rather his wellbeing." She said annoyed.

"He's fine. He's safe. He eats well, sleeps better than I do. He is as well as he can be, considering the circumstances. The family he's staying with is taking good care of him." Regulus assured.

"Is he staying with the Order?"

"Not exactly." He mumbled out, hoping she would drop the subject.

"Where have you been all these years?" She finally asked. "I thought you were dead."

"I was dead. In the moment of my death I was pulled from 1979 and thrown forward in time, arriving in the exact same place this Easter." He explained watching his cousin look at him in semi-masked disbelief.

"Time travel?"

"Of a sort."

"That explains why you look as young as you do." Bella leaned forward to take a closer look at Regulus. It felt bizarre, seeing him again after all these years, looking just as he looked the last time she saw him.

"I just turned 19, I look as old as I am."

"Fascinating." Bella leaned back and took a sip of her drink.

"It has been years since the last time I drank anything with sugar in it." Bella commented on the tea Regulus purchased for her. "Once you no longer have to steal it, it stops being fun." Regulus smirked at the memory of his older cousins stealing sugar from the kitchens.

Bella, Andromeda and Narcissa were never allowed to put sugar in their drinks, or any sweets. Their pureblood parents were as strict with their diets as they were with their manners, but that never stopped Bella. Once their parents passed away, and Bella got married, there was no one left to stop her from reaching for the forbidden.

"So, what is it exactly that you want from me, cousin?" Bella asked, reaching for the two cats that came to cuddle next to her at some point during their conversation. She brought them closer to her. Regulus felt happy inside that the Bella he once knew, was still there. Buried underneath many thick layers of defence against the world she built up over the years. He wasn't foolish enough to hope for that Bella to ever come back, but a rare glimpse of her such as this, was just as precious for Regulus.

"I've been gone for a long time, I'm out of touch with the general opinion in our circles. I don't know how many are prepared to stand up against him, if an opportunity arises."

"What makes you so confident you are prepared to fight against him? You're still a child."

"Just a child, yet I bare the dark mark, I killed and tortured countless times, I time travelled and have greater power at my disposal than most, old wizards." He drawled. "I didn't go to my death for nothing, Bella. I attempted to retrieve and destroy a piece of his soul. It turns out, while I was gone, he made a few more. I'm looking for them." Regulus watched Bella's eyes grow wider. "If you know where they are located or what they could be, by all means feel free to share your knowledge. The sooner he's gone, the better."

"And why should I help you? What do I have to gain with him gone?"

"Freedom. And a real one. You can't tell me you're truly enjoying being pushed around by an orphaned half-blood, whose original goal of establishing Wizarding community as superior to the muggles, changed its course to target any witch or wizard, who as much as disagreed with his ideas. We only agreed to join his cause because he promised us greatness. What I see is no greatness, Bella. He is a powerful wizard but he doesn't care for us."

"And what then? Azkaban? You would have me abandon everything I've known for most of my life only to be cast away once it's all over?" She hissed.

"I would have you choose your family Bella. And most importantly save yourself and the remaining pureblood numbers of our community, who will soon become nothing but his slaves. I will make sure everyone who changes their alliance will receive a fair sentence, I will not let any of you go back to that cursed place. I'm not saying this lightly, cousin."

"And how will you defeat him? Destroying pieces of his soul is good for nothing is he's alive to make more of them."

"Do you really think I would risk everything if I was unprepared?" Regulus folded his arms offended, which made Bellatrix chuckle.

"Fine. I will see what I can do." Bella said and got up. "Don't get killed." She put her sunglasses back on.

"I'm flattered by your concern, but I can look after myself. Til next time, cousin." Regulus smiled. Bella's corner of her lips twitched upwards and she turned to leave first.

The End!

Of this chapter ha ha

Sorry for the major waffling at the beginning. You're all probably super sick of all the Druid talk by now, but I guess Draco's views needed to be honoured in so many words.

Anyways, what do you think about my Bellatrix? Have I gone a bit too soft with her?

I will do my best to return to posting regularly now. Pinky promise

Lots of love!