All characters are property of JK Rowling and I do not make a profit from this story.

Beta: Roman's Sundial

Chapter Fifteen: Malfoy Versus Krum

Draco Malfoy – Present Day

November 21, 1999

"Viktor, wait, it's not what you think!" Hermione made to go after Krum, but Draco grabbed her arm.

"Hermione, leave him, it's better this way," Draco pleaded with her.

"I will not leave him," she yelled, as she ran through the halls, trying to catch up with Viktor. "He is my boyfriend! Viktor!" she continued to yell.

Draco ran with her, trying to convince her otherwise. He caught up with her just inside of Hogwart's main gates. "Stop running," he panted, doubling over to catch his breath.

"He's apparated, he's gone. I need to get to his estate, he needs to understand!" Hermione was frantic.

"Hermione, calm down, it's after midnight, you can clear things up in the morning," he tried to reason with her.

"You would like that, wouldn't you?" she said, turning on him. "This is all your fault! Get back to the common room, I'll deal with you later!"

"You need to take me there, Hermione," Draco sighed.

"You are seriously going to start this right now?"

"I'm doing it to protect you. If anyone sees me without you, we will both go to Azkaban. Let's just go back to the castle, I will help you fix this tomorrow, I promise."

"No," Hermione said sternly. She grabbed his arm and dragged him outside of the gates and apparated them to a small little house.

"Where are we?" he asked, knowing that the property in front of him was far too small to belong to Krum.

"Harry's house. He's been to Viktor's estate to play quidditch before, he will be able to tell me what apparating points to take to get there."

"Potter has a house?"

Hermione ignored him and banged on Harry's door. A frantic Harry opened the door in a pair of boxers. "What's going on?" he said, disoriented.

"Harry, you never open your door in the middle of the night without your wand, have I not taught you anything? Never mind, move over, we are coming in!" Hermione pushed her way past Harry and Draco followed her in.

"What's going on, Hermione?" Harry asked, eyeing Draco.

"Can you tell me how to get to Viktor's estate?" she asked him, as she had never been there herself.

"Sure," Harry shrugged.

She sighed in relief. "Thank you!" She then turned to Draco. "I need you to stay here. Draco, look at me, this is serious. Stay here and listen to Harry, if anyone ever finds out..."

"Your life isn't the only one at stake. Go," he said, defeated. Draco walked around Potter's living room while he escorted Hermione to the nearest apparition point, giving her directions to Krum's Estate. It wasn't long before Potter returned, and the two men stared at each other in silence for awhile.

"Can you put some pants on, Potter?" Draco finally spoke.

"What? Oh," he said, looking down and realizing he was in nothing but his boxers. "Come up with me, I'll give you a change of clothes too, get you out of your dress robes, if you want."

Draco nodded his thanks. They entered Harry's room and Draco was given a change of clothes and directed to the bathroom. He changed fairly quickly and walked back to Potter's room and looked around. He picked up a photograph of a witch and wizard that was sitting on Harry's dresser.

"These your parents?" he asked him.

"Yeah," Harry replied.

Draco stared at the photo for awhile. "You look like your father, but you have-"

"My mother's eyes, yeah," Harry smiled. "Hungry?"

"I could eat."

The pair headed to Harry's kitchen and made a sandwich in silence. They began eating across from one another when Harry finally spoke.

"So, what happened with Hermione and Krum?" Harry asked Draco.

"She bailed on him last minute," he said between bites, "then he found her with me and got angry."

"He found her with you?"

"Not like that, Potter, although, that's probably what Krum thinks," Draco laughed.

"Why was she with you, anyway?" Harry asked.

"Because my only way out of my common room is by her, so she is pretty much always with me."

Harry glared at him. "Krum knows that, so obviously, that's not the full story, Malfoy!"

Draco smirked, "Maybe he heard her say she ditched him for me."

Harry frowned. "Why would she say that?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "She didn't want to go, isn't it obvious?"

"If she didn't want to go, she wouldn't have gone chasing him now! What did you do?"

Draco didn't speak again until he was done his sandwich. "Nothing, I simply reminded her of Krum's intentions and she wasn't interested, then she came back to my common room. I can't control where she goes… Can I have another sandwich?"

"You still like her." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

"That sandwich, Potter, I'm making another, alright?"

"She has a boyfriend, Malfoy, you had your chance and you hurt her, I'm not going to let you do it again."

"Relax, Potter, don't go all big brother on me!" he finished his sandwich and joined Harry again at the table. Harry glared at him the entire time he ate, abandoning his own sandwich to interrogate Draco. "What?" Draco said, with a mouth full of food. He sighed and put down his half-eaten sandwich. "I know, Potter, okay? I screwed up. I should have stopped my Mother, but I didn't, I couldn't, and now I've lost my prize. It's just how my family is, I know that it's wrong but…" he scratched his head vigorously. "Not everyone can have perfect parents," he mumbled.

'My parents weren't perfect," Harry told him quietly.

Draco arched his eyebrows. "The couple that was killed by the Dark Lord while trying to protect their baby, not perfect?" he said, disbelievingly.

"When my father was at Hogwarts, he once tormented a student so badly, that he had him upside down and took off his knickers in front of a large crowd."

"You're joking?"

Harry shook his head. "My mum couldn't stand my father until her seventh year. Trust me, I may not know much about them, but my father was far from perfect."

They sat silently for a few moments. "He really pulled his knicker's off? Are you sure that your father wasn't a Slytherin?" The two men laughed.

"So, what about Hermione, then?" Harry asked him.

"What about her?"

"Are you just going to let Krum keep her?"

"No!"

Harry smiled. "So?"

Draco shrugged. "What can I do, Potter? I called her a Mudblood!"

Harry studied Draco for quite sometime. Just as Draco was starting to feel uncomfortable, Harry spoke. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but, I'll help you."

Ron Weasley – Present Day

November 21, 1999

"What do you mean sparks are coming out of her hands?" Jessica asked, panickedly.

"Jessica, Dear," Molly started, hesitantly. "Sometimes when a child accidentally does magic, it could have some side effects."

"Oh, Mum, cut the crap!" Ginny snapped.

"Ginny!" Molly yelled, in complete shock.

"Jessica, I'm just going to say it; Amelia is a witch!"

"What?" Jessica looked confused.

"Either Nigel was a Wizard, or she's a muggle-born, but a muggle cannot make a wand work no matter how hard they try, which makes her a witch."

"Ginny!" Ron hissed.

"No, stop lying to her, it's not right!"

"This can't be," Jessica said to herself, clearly trying (but failing) to comprehend the situation.

"Well it is, that's why Ron was able to apparate her here, and that's why Ron's wand ignited in her hands."

Jessica's expression changed from confusion, to sorrow, to anger. She turned to Ron. "You knew? This whole time you knew?"

"Jessica, Dear," Molly said softly, while shooting daggers with her eyes at her daughter, "it's a delicate situation. The Wizarding world has a process on how they inform muggle parent's if their child shows signs of magic, it wasn't for Ron or any of us to-"

But Jessica wasn't listening. "Get out," she said to Ron quietly.

"What?"

"I said, GET OUT!"

"Ginny, Ron, get going," Molly told them.

"But Mum-"

"Not now, Ronald! I will talk to her. You two leave for now, go home, I shall meet you there."

Ron headed outside in anger, looking for his little sister, who had taken off much quicker than he had anticipated. He waited for over an hour until his mother finally came out.

"Why aren't you at home, Dear? I said we would meet there."

"It doesn't matter, Ginny won't be there. Why did she do it, Mum?"

"Oh, Ron, I don't know but I think it's because she is mad at us. She's found out about George."

Ron nodded, "I'll deal with her later. How's Jess?"

"You will not deal with her, Ronald! And Jessica, well, it's come as a great shock for her. She's agreed, however, to allow me to keep visiting. I'm going to go now and get her some clothes, the poor thing is still in that gown that Ginny had lent to her for the Ball."

"What about me, Mum, can I go see her now?"

Molly frowned. "She's rather upset that you didn't tell her anything. I know you wanted you, but," she sighed. "Give her time, Ron, she will come around."

Ron watched his mother apparate, probably to the Burrow to borrow some of Ginny's clothes for Jessica. He instead headed towards Grimmauld Place. If he couldn't visit Amelia, he would visit the other person in his life who couldn't wake up.

Viktor Krum – Present Day

November 21, 1999

Viktor opened the main door of his estate to see his beautiful girlfriend Hermione standing there, with pure fear on her face.

"Viktor, please let me explain, I beg of you!" She was indeed begging, and he was too much a gentleman to turn her away. He opened the door wider and moved aside for her to enter. He watched her turn to him and furrow her brow. She was clearly thinking hard about what to say.

"What you heard me say to Draco was not what it sounded like." He studied her face but kept his arms folded across his chest. She sighed several times before speaking again. "As you know, I'm a member of the Order of the Phoenix and I am prohibited to speak about what he do, however, I need information from Draco and I therefore used the opportunity and pretended to stay behind for him so that he would potentially give me the required information."

"Ver you successful?" Viktor finally asked her.

"No," she frowned.

"And you are sick?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No," Hermione almost whined, deciding to sit down on the nearest sofa. "I- I lied about that."

"Clearly."

"Viktor, I-" Hermione was struggling with her response.

"You know vat, Hermione? If you cannot be honest vith me, then vy are you even here? Maybe you should leave."

"Viktor, please! You don't understand!"

"Vy don't you try, you vould be surprised vith vat I can comprehend," he said angrily.

"I was afraid, okay?" she nearly yelled at him.

"Afraid of vat?" he said, still angry.

"I-" she took a large breath and spoke very quietly. "I've never slept with anyone before and I wasn't ready."

The look he gave her showed that he wasn't convinced. "You think I vas bringing you here just for that? You think I vould not respect your answer if I had tried and you said no?"

"No," Hermione said quietly, "I know you would respect me."

"Then that is obviously an excuse! I love you Hermione, but perhaps ve cannot be together, I do not do vell vith secrets!"

"There are no secrets, it's the truth!"

"Then vy didn't you come? You spend too much time vith Malfoy, more than necessary, even vith the rules of your Ministry! Vith my career and everything you do, ve haff to spend plenty of time apart; I need to be able to trust you and I do not!"

"Then what can I do?" she asked, tears rolling down her cheeks. "How can I prove it to you?"

Viktor was quiet at first. He did not want to lose his beautiful witch, but he was not allowing her to be around Malfoy without him watching. "You are almost done school, no?"

"I have two more NEWTs left," she said quietly, a confused look coming across her face.

"Then move in here vith me."

"What?"

"Move in here. I live alone here and the Estate is much too big for just me. You are my girlfriend, ve are adults, ve should be living together."

"I, uh, I'm…" Hermione stammered incoherently.

"I guess that is a problem, too," Viktor said, turning away.

"No!" she said desperately, trying to hold on to the broken relationship. "It's just that I've never given much thought to where I would go after Hogwarts. My parent's home is…"

"Gone. They sold it ven they moved to Australia."

Hermione nodded sadly, remembering the decision that she had had to make in the past. "I have nowhere to go," she said, more to herself.

"Then come here," Viktor said, his voice much softer as he moved towards her. "Ve can be happy here. Ve barely see each other because of our busy lives, it vould be nice to come home to each other and spend more time together."

"But Draco," she said frowning.

"I know the stipulations put upon you, hopefully they vill be gone soon. But until then, I haff an entire ving that he can use. You can put the same enchantments that are on his common room on the ving. Ven you are not vith him, he vill be safe there. The Ministry knows you vill be leaving Hogwarts soon, they vill expect him to live vith you anyway."

Viktor watched Hermione's face, he could almost see her brain working. "He will need food though, and you can't let him out to eat, it's part of the Ministry rules, only I can, and I can't expect you to bring him meals, plus you're away more than I am…"

"Hermione," Viktor interrupted, "he vill get food the same vay he does now."

"You have a house-elf?" she said, surprised.

He chuckled. "Rango!" he called out. At once, a little house-elf appeared next to him.

"You called, Master?"

"Prepare the vest ving, Rango, ve vill be having a guest living there for avhile."

"At once, Master."

"His name is Draco, but you are not to do anything he requests, especially allow him out of the ving, do you understand?"

"Of course, Master," said the little house-elf.

"This, however, is Hermione, and you vill do as she requests."

"Absolutely, Master," he bowed to Viktor, "and Mistress," he bowed to Hermione.

"Um," Hermione started, clearly unused to being addressed as such. "I do need you to bring Draco his meals, however," she told the elf.

"Yes, I suppose ve cannot let him starve," Viktor nodded. Rango bowed out of the room and disappeared, probably off to prepare the west wing.

"So, are we okay?" Hermione asked him.

"Ve are okay, but no more lies, you can tell me anything."

"No more lies," she promised, as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

Harry Potter – The Past

June 20, 1998

"Harry, this is silly!" said Hermione, annoyed, "she is going to twist everything we say!"

"I know that, but she's going to write the story with or without our help, at least this way we can ensure the truth is also put in there."

"Why can't we just have someone else write the story?" asked Ron.

"Oh, we will, there's no doubt about that," Harry answered. "I can't allow Rita Skeeter's version of what happened with us and Voldemort be the only one out there. People need to know the truth so that something like this never happens again."

"So why are we going to Rita, then?" Ron groaned.

"Because like it or not, she has a large fan base, and I would like the truth to be at least be mixed in her crazy tales. I'm not going to let her do to us what she did to Dumbledore."

"Harry, like it or not, her story is going to be awful." Harry didn't answer Hermione as they entered Rita's office.

"There they are! The heroes of Hogwarts!" Rita beamed at them.

"The heroes of Hogwarts? Seriously?" said Ron, incredulously.

"You do realize what we did at Hogwarts was miniscule to what happened everywhere else, right?" Hermione questioned.

"Well, of course, my dear! That's why you three are here! Now, help me tell the world how you took down and killed the darkest wizard of our time!" Rita took out her quick-notes quill and smiled at them all eagerly.

Harry took a deep breath, and began their story. "Voldemort returned when I was in my fourth year…" And so, the three heroes told their story of how it all came about. They agreed that they would only tell the world what they needed to know, and only gave Rita what information was truly required.

Towards the end of their recantation, Rita interrupted with some questions. "What happened to his snake?"

"Neville killed it," said Hermione, not explaining again who Neville was as he had already been mentioned before.

"Why?" she questioned.

"Because it was a big, dirty, snake!" said Ron.

"Rumors have reached me that stated that Harry couldn't kill You-Know-Who until the snake died first, why is that, exactly?" The trio looked at one another with a mixture of shock and fear. "Oooh, the answer is a juicy one! Well go on, tell me!" said Rita, almost out of her seat with excitement.

"Voldemort had placed a spell on the snake," Hermione started slowly, choosing her words very carefully. They had to make sure nobody found out about the Horcruxes. It was a piece of magic that was not known to many, and the world would be a much better place if it remained quiet.

"What kind of spell, my dear?"

"A spell that…" Hermione looked at Harry for help.

"A spell that made the snake's bite venomous. I needed the snake killed before Voldemort in case Voldemort killed me. I had to ensure that people knew about the snake's danger," Harry lied poorly.

"I see… Well, I think I have all that I need here. Thank you so much, you three!" Rita walked them to the door. Just as she was about to close it, she looked at them and said, "I shall have it published very soon, be sure to pick up a copy! I am almost positive that you will enjoy chapter twenty-three, entitled Horcruxes. Have a lovely day!" and she slammed the door shut before any of them could say a word.

Author's Notes: For those who celebrate it, Happy Easter! Here's my Easter present for you! Not much to say about this one, except that "the past" portion is an important one! The next chapter we find out why Ginny has not broken up with Harry.. We are getting closer and closer to Harry's redemption!