Wands and Pardons

Rowle is persuaded to give up Hermione's wand, with a little added to it, of course. Yaxley and Dolohov are no longer wanted men. Hermione makes a discovery and tells Anthony. He astonishes her with news of his own. They continue making plans.

Rowle stared at the letter the owl had just brought. It was from the Ministry. They were demanding Granger's wand back. 'Yeah, good luck with that! It was his only connection with her and he WASN'T giving it up! She wanted it back so bad, let HER come and get it back!' He smiled at that thought. Now that he knew how to get through her defenses, he didn't see her being that brave. Ten to one, she knew if SHE tried to collect the wand, she would wind up right back in his bed!

He counted off the days since he'd seen her. He deliberately hadn't cast a Contraceptive Charm and kept her too distracted to do it, too. If he was right, and Merlin, he hoped he was, she should be feeling it any day now. He was completely serious when he told Mulciber she would carry his children. He could care less about her Muggle background. He wanted her in his life, in his bed! The rest of the sacred twenty eight could go screw themselves for all he cared! His father was the one who had bought into all that business. His mother didn't care, either way. She just wanted him to be happy. He WOULD be happy, just as soon as he had Granger, bonded to him for life!

He'd heard through Yaxley that she'd really gone ahead and married that damn Goldstein! They better be glad they were being so careful to stay hidden! He wanted to rip the fucker from limb to limb! He'd been hanging outside the Leaky Cauldron, Grimmauld Place and fucking Goldstein's place. No dice! It was like his little lady had vanished completely! He knew she was still in Britain, though, because damn Goldstein was still working at the damn Ministry!

There was one way to make sure he could find her. That was to plant a tracker in her wand. Damn, though, he hated to give it up! He made sure the Ministry paid dearly for it! On the off chance they did discover his tracker, he made sure Yaxley got his job back and he got Dolohov his pardon. Now they could go to the pub with him while he drowned his sorrow over Granger. He reluctantly let them take the wand.

Yaxley had heard another rumor. The Goldstein's were planning to move out of the country. Rowle made him swear, if the fucker took Granger out of Britain, he'd find out where they'd gone. Then he'd go kill Goldstein and take his woman back!

Anthony set out to make arrangements for their move to America. He also, through the Office of Magical Law Enforcement, tried to get Hermione's wand back from Rowle. It took a little over a month and a half to get the young man persuaded to give up the wand. It finally came down to giving Yaxley his Auror position back and completely pardoning Dolohov for his crimes in the first and second war before Voldemort swore he was 'able' to 'convince' the youngster to release the wand to the Ministry.

Harry and Ron, training under Alastair Moody, came to deliver the news. They arrived in time for supper. As everyone was sitting down, Harry told Hermione. "I have some good news and some bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"

Hermione sighed. She had some bad news of her own but it was only for Anthony's ears. "Let's have the good news, then you can tell me the bad news."

"Good news is, we finally got your wand back from Rowle." She raised her brows in surprise. She'd already anticipated making another trip to Ollivander's to get another wand. "The bad news is, we're going to have to bring Mr. Ollivander to the Ministry to check it over. Moody thinks Rowle possibly might have attached a few tracking spells on it. He didn't figure you'd want Rowle being able to track you down."

"Definitely not!" Hermione answered firmly. "Do you know how long it might take? To check it over, I mean? We'll be leaving soon. I'd really rather have my wand when we go."

"No. Mr. Ollivander indicated it might take at least two weeks or longer. He says these things can't be rushed." Harry told her apologetically.

She sighed in disappointment. "It's ok, Harry. I'm not sure how close Anthony is to having our arrangements made. His relatives are helping him with finding a house over there."

"So you're still leaving? Even though you'll have your wand back?" Harry sounded almost wistful. He really wasn't looking forward to her and Anthony leaving the country. He cursed the day they had run up against Rowle. He remembered Rowle from school but couldn't recall him ever paying much attention to Hermione. The most he'd ever heard or seen of him was on the Quidditch pitch where he was insanely talented!

"Yes, Harry. We are still moving. Even though I'll have my wand back soon. You know why we can't stay. We can't live the rest of our lives, looking over our shoulders, waiting to see if Rowle is going to try and grab me again. I don't want to live like that. I definitely don't want Anthony to have to live like that! It's best that we go somewhere completely out of his range." Hermione sighed. She knew Harry was going to miss her. She'd miss him as well.

But the facts remained the same. He might not have made any overt moves lately. But she knew Rowle was still out there, just waiting to pounce. It was why she never set foot outside the wards around the Burrow. It was why Anthony kept his home tightly warded. He would Floo home, then come on to the Burrow from there. No matter how desperately she wanted to go shopping with Ginny, Fleur and Mrs. Weasley, she refused to take the chance.

Rowle had already taken her innocence away from Anthony. Even though he said it didn't bother him, it did bother HER. It had been her present to bestow and she'd wanted Anthony to have it! It also still bothered her how easily he'd been able to manipulate and sweet-talk her into his bed. She wasn't going to give him another chance to prove to her just how weak her will was against his charm!

She'd never say it out loud but Anthony himself had voiced the very question she hadn't wanted to answer. "Did you want to stay with him?" 'No, at that time, she HADN'T wanted to stay with Rowle. But if he'd had her in his grasp much longer, that might have been a very different answer! It made her feel so ashamed to think that he had that much power over her. A little sweet-talking, a little playing on her weak spots and she'd have been his for the taking!' THAT was one of the main reasons she was glad Anthony was moving them to America. It took her away from his influence.

Now, of course, there was another reason to leave. It hadn't occurred to her in the days immediately following her rescue. Nor had it dawned on her after she and Anthony were married. It wasn't until Molly saw her symptoms and asked that she realized. Not once while she was there, in his bed, had he cast the Contraceptive Charm!

She needed to talk to Anthony as soon as he got home. She finished eating what little she could force herself to eat. Then she went to the living room to wait for him. Soon the Floo turned green and he walked out behind Arthur. She told him to go eat, then they needed to talk. She sat with a book until he was done but kept reading the same paragraph over and over.

Anthony came to the couch where she sat. "Ok. I can tell something is bothering you. Let's hear it." He had a feeling he knew what she was going to say. It was what he'd been thinking ever since they'd gotten her back. He'd thought long and hard about it before realizing it didn't matter. It helped him and he could reassure her, put her mind at ease over the whole thing!

She tried to think of an easy way to say it. But there was no point in hiding it. Not when he'd know why she was upset again as soon as she told him. "I'm pregnant. I've been having morning sickness for the past two weeks. It's why my breasts have been so tender. Molly figured it out before I did." She closed her eyes, not wanting to the moment his desire for her turned to dust. Not only had another man taken the innocence of his future wife, he'd also left a little present of his own. She was pregnant with Rowle's child!

Anthony watched her face. It was impossible for her to lie. Her beautiful face was just too expressive! "Let me guess. Right about now is when I'm SUPPOSED to start stomping around, angry at you, angry at Rowle and generally being as miserable as possible. I am still furiously angry at Rowle for kidnapping you but he just saved my family line."

Hermione looked at him in openmouthed surprise. "Yes, he did, Hermione, and let me tell you how. When I was sixteen, I had the mumps. It might be a Muggle disease but it still hit me. It rendered me sterile. Broke my parents' hearts. They had so counted on me to give them grandchildren. They died believing the Goldstein line would die out with me. Now, I have a chance to be a father, thanks to Rowle. I'd like to petition for the right to put MY name on the birth certificate. The baby will automatically show up on record as being a Rowle but legally it can also take my last name and inherit my line as well."

Hermione had tears streaming down her face. "How is it that I'm so blessed? I have the best husband in the world! I love you so very much! Have I told you that today? How are you NOT furious with ME?"

"Because you haven't done anything to make me furious. It wasn't you who kidnapped you. I already told you he was a smooth talking player. And, yes, you told me about, what was it, four, five times, this morning?" he teased her. "I just want to make you as happy as possible. This might not be my flesh and blood child but he or she will be the child of my heart. Besides, it will only be half Rowle. The other half will be Granger, the woman I love with all my heart!"

"It's going to take a while for them to determine if my wand is safe. They think he might have put a tracking spell on it. Harry said it could take possibly two weeks. What if we need to leave sooner than that?" she worried.

"No worries, Hermione, no worries. If we have to leave before they finish with the wand, they can simply ship it to our new house. It'll probably beat us there!" he smoothed away the slight frown on her forehead. "You don't worry about a thing. You concentrate on taking care of yourself and our baby. Do you want to tell everyone else or wait until we leave? The longer you wait, the longer Rowle is in the dark. We both know he'll kick up his campaign if he finds out about the baby. As soon as you have your first official exam, it'll show up in the Ministry Registry. It'll also show up on the Rowle family tapestry."

"We wait." Hermione said instantly. She felt better having THAT decision taken off her shoulders! He'd received a bunch of pictures of various houses around the area they wanted to move to. They picked out houses they liked and vetoed the rest.