...Battle and Truth...
I wake feeling chilly and roll over. Draco has night patrol and it's only 10. I sigh and get up and have a late snack and read a book. I feel Draco's arms wrap around me. "Why aren't you asleep Iz?" he whispers kissing my cheek. "I got chilly, then hungry, then I couldn't fall asleep." I confess. He scoops me up and carries me to bed. "You and Green apple need rest." he murmurs. I kiss him softly. "Green apple was kicking too." I mumble as I fall asleep.
Draco is watching me when I wake in the morning. "That was cruel Mrs. Malfoy." he pouts. I roll over wrapping his arms around me. "You have to get up. You've been mumbling about breakfast." Draco whispers. I place his hand on my belly. "Say something Dray. Green apple likes your voice." I smile. "What do you mean? What are you..." his voice falters as little Green apple begins moving around. We lay there for an hour feeling the baby kick. "Are you crying?" I ask looking at Draco. He nods as tears stream down his face. I sit up and try to wipe them away but start crying myself.
We go down for lunch smiling. "Green apple really likes Draco." Chann chuckles. My smile widens. "I know. I think Green apple likes Dray more." I sigh. Draco blushes and nudges me softly. I make myself a breakfast sandwich and listen to the others talk. I freeze on our way up to class. "Grandfather isn't happy. He's livid. Something's happened. The war is coming to Hogwarts." I gasp. My friends turn in shock. The boys hurry to the Headmaster's office while us girls pack.
I pack as quickly as I can and the girls bring everyone's things in. I place a protective spell over everything and we spend the rest of the day out on the grounds. Amber coaxes the animals into fleeing to the mountains. We return to the castle for a subdued dinner. Draco keeps glancing my way. "They're on their way." I murmur as dinner ends and everyone goes to their dorms.
We all go up to me and Draco's room and take turns napping until there's an announcement for all the students to report to the Great Hall. Draco holds my hand and I'm grateful because I really need him. There are a lot of sleepy students. Then Harry pops up out of nowhere and then McGonagall and dad have a mini duel. Grandfather makes an announcement. "Bring me Harry Potter and my grandchildren and I will spare your lives your lives!" he broadcasts the message into everyone's minds.
Some people are confused and the Order members are trying to get the younger kids out. "Izzy, dad just went through a window. Is he ok?" Chann asks. Everyone freezes. "Just help Daphne, Pansy, and Blaise get the younger kids out of here. Don't worry about dad." I nudge him towards the doors where the younger kids are waiting. "Is Snape your father?" Luna asks in shock. I nod and walk over to a wall. I give it a few taps with my wand.
A small drawer floats out of the wall. Bags of Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder lie in it. I begin to hand them out. "Isabella!" I hear gran cry. The room freezes once more but I know why. Gran is a Veela after all who wouldn't stare. "Why are you here? I thought you'd be outside with grandpa?" I smile as she hugs me. "I knew from the moment he started torturing you kids to help 'strengthen' you that I couldn't stand it anymore. Besides, I brought back up!" she smiles and claps her hands. I look towards the doors and see my entire family there.
"Talk about a family revolt!" Theo whispers. Gran, uncle Aiden, uncle Axel, aunt Carwyn, aunt Mia, Alvis, and Marilyn all go over to help the professors and the Order. "Should you even be here?" Senan asks. "She won't leave. I already tried to get her to go. She's stubborn as hell." Draco scoffs. Narcissa runs in next and races right over to us. Chann and the others return and Chann smacks the back of Draco's head.
"What was that for?!" Draco pouts. "Green apple keeps complaining about how you keep trying to get them to leave even though they want to stay!" Chann huffs. Draco kisses me before leaving with the boys. I feel someone watching me and turn to see Hermione, Luna, and Ginny. I smile and wave innocently. The battle begins and the girls never leave my side. If I guessed I would say Draco put them up to it. I know several Death Eaters recognize me but I knock them out as quickly as I can.
I'm racing through the corridors hexing as I go when I see Draco slip into a room after Harry. A hex shoots past me from below and I start firing off hexes into the fray knocking Death Eaters, Acromantulas, and werewolves out. I sense danger and glance towards the room. Harry, Ron, Draco, and Goyle stumble out. I slide to the ground out of the window and crawl towards them. I check them out. When I get to Draco, he's coughing a lot. Chloe runs down the corridor and kicks Goyle in the stomach. Harry, Ron, and Hermione gawk. "She's his wife. Goyle's my cousin-in-law." I mouth silently punching Draco in the chest. "Breath bitch!" I order punching him again.
I give the golden trio the password to the Headmaster's office. "Hurry, there's not a lot of time left." I shove them down the corridor. Draco frowns at me. "I do not appreciate that one bit." he scoffs rubbing his chest. "Green apple wanted say hi." I whisper hugging him. He takes my hand leading me through the corridors as we make our way down to the courtyard. I smile when I sense a dog. I tug Draco in the proper direction. Behind a wall lies a three headed dog. I let it out melting the wall with my wand.
The dog lifts its heads in my direction. I can hear Draco muttering behind me. I motion for the dog to follow humming softly because it feels like the thing to do. I release the pretty dog onto the Death Eaters in the courtyard. "My wife is so scary..." Draco whispers. Grandfather calls for a temporary break in the battle and orders his Death Eaters back but most of them had been knocked out, subdued, or tied up. Draco wraps an arm around me and leads me down to the Great Hall.
I try to follow him but he sits me down with Amber and Chloe then goes to help Madam Pomfrey with the wounded. Gran walks around handing out medicinal tea while Kreacher follows her. When she gets to me, she hands me a large mug and I frown. She begins counting and I drink until she's satisfied. I rest my head on Amber's shoulder and smile. "Pansy's pregnant." I giggle. Chann and gran who were passing out sandwiches freeze. "I can hear her baby. It's faint but I can hear it." I smile. Chann turns to Pansy who is trying to convince the Weasley's that Ginny should stay and how good of a fighter she is.
Chann walks over with tear filled eyes and hugs her. "What?!" I hear Luna ask. I play with my necklace. I watch as gran makes Pansy drink two large mugs of medicinal tea. I sigh and tilt my head back. I find Hermione watching me. "Isabella, are you..." I put my hand over her mouth to stop her. "No touching your exes." uncle Aiden teases. I quickly withdraw my hand. He winks at Hermione and keeps walking. Blushing Hermione looks down. "Does your entire family know?" she asks. I nod. "They know about all of my exes and flings." I sigh. Her blush darkens.
"Don't worry. I'm a married woman now." I raise my hand with my ring on it so she can see. "Since when?!" Ginny gasps. "At the end of fifth year.", I smile and point to my new family members, "We all did." Hermione's mouth drops open in shock. "Fucking hell!" Ginny whispers sitting down. "No, wait go back. Pansy's pregnant?!" Luna hisses. I nod. "Izzy's pregnant too." Chloe mumbles. I look away as they stare at me in amazement. Draco comes over with food for everyone and I slide onto his lap.
"Where's Harry?" he asks when everyone's done eating. I freeze. "He went to grandfather. He's sacrificing himself." I murmur. Ginny hops up and goes to run out but luckily her brothers stop her in time. I go to get up but Draco stops me. "What's wrong? You're shaking." he whispers. "I can't sense grandfather anymore." Amber mutters. The hall falls silent. "He's gone but he's not at the same time. It's like three years ago all over again. He's dead but he's not at the same time." Senan and Conroy mutter.
We sit in silence for a while. "They're coming." uncle Aiden groans getting to his feet. I get up and wrap my arms around Draco. "It'll be ok. We'll make it through this." he whispers kissing the top of my head. I frown and turn to the doors. "They're bringing Harry." I whisper. Ginny tries to bolt again. I nudge a passing Neville with my foot. "Gryffindor courage." I smile. Neville and Draco look at me in confusion. "When the time comes have Gryffindor courage so we can be one step closer to ending this war. Do it for your parents." I pat his shoulder and cross over to gran.
I keep painfully still during grandfather's speech. I bite back a gasp when Neville cuts off Nagini's head. Harry jumps up and enters the fight. I try to stay as out of the way as I can but the remaining Death Eaters are pushing us back into the Great Hall. Someone grabs my hair and yanks me to the side. "Where are you going girlie?!" Bellatrix giggles. "Let her go." Narcissa growls. "Cissy?! You have a lot of explaining to do." Bellatrix spits.
"Let her go. Now!" Narcissa shouts. "The Dark Lord would like his granddaughter home now. She should be resting. Not here where something terrible could happen to the precious baby." Bellatrix cackles holding her wand to my stomach. "Let her go Bella." Andromeda snaps. "You! Why are you here?!" Bellatrix hisses pulling me farther away. "I saw you. You killed my daughter and son in law. How could you?!" Andromeda growls. "How could I? How could you marry a filthy Mudblood?! How could I? Why my dear sister, I even killed our cousin. Little Sirius died at my hands! Oh, I'm sorry. You were rather fond of him, weren't you? And his little godson, oh how he cried and tried to kill me. Meanwhile, the Dark Lord helped me escape and Cissy's husband was finally locked up!" Bellatrix laughs.
Simultaneously Andromeda and Narcissa attack. I drop down and roll away. Mrs. Weasley helps me to my feet. "Are you ok?" she asks. "I'm fine." I gasp. "You need to stay back." she orders. I nod. Aunt Carwyn comes over and helps guard me. Together we render the Death Eater incapable of fighting. There's a sudden scream from grandfather and the fighting comes to a halt.
I drop to the ground as the war comes to an end and grandfather falls to the ground. Tears stream down my cheeks blurring my vision. "Isabella?" Draco whispers wrapping his arms around me. "It's over?" I sniffle. "Yes, it's over." he whispers kissing the top of my head. "Don't worry. We helped clean up the Ministry before we came here." I hear uncle Aiden tell professor McGonagall. "What happened to dad?" I murmur slowly looking up at him.
"He's in the Hospital Wing." Ron sighs sitting down nearby. I nod. "You need to get some rest love." Draco frowns. "Ok." I nod. He helps me to my feet. By the time I get up the marble stairs Pansy's joined. "Rest banished?" I ask. She nods. Together we make our way to the Head Boy's room and I tuck her in. I pull everyone's things out and put them by the door and then crawl in next to Pansy.
When I wake late in the afternoon, I feel hot and stuffy. I sit up to find the other girls passed out in the bed too. I grab a change of clothes and bathe. Afterwards I walk down to find Draco watching Narcissa and Andromeda talking to gran. I wrap my arms around him. "Your grandfather will be buried near Dumbledore. My aunt is being taken to France to be put to rest in the Lestrange Mausoleum. I've been watching mother. She hasn't cried yet but for those two to have to kill their own sister to protect us, it must hurt." he murmurs.
"How are you doing? The other girls are still passed out." I sigh. "I saw Crabbe die. I mean... we told him not to do it but he released the Fiendfyre and he wound up falling into it and..." Draco groans and closes his eyes. Uncle Aiden spies us first. He waves us in. I know some people are watching us still in shock. "Harry would like a word with you two." he nods to a corner where Harry is talking to some house elves.
When he's done, he nods to the doors. We follow him up to the Headmaster's office. He sits on the desk eyeing the sword and hat which have been replaced back on their pedestals. "I have some questions and I know you have questions too. McGonagall and Kingsley will be in here in a bit." he sighs. Kreacher appears with sandwiches and butterbeer though he hands me water and medicinal tea. We sit in silence as we eat.
McGonagall and Kingsley arrive once we're done as if they've been watching. "Why do you all look so down? I'm not going to scold you. Well maybe not you two but Mrs. Malfoy your grandmother is waiting to scold you." she frowns. I try not to smile. "You have questions?" Draco asks hesitantly. "At the Malfoy Manor. You two purposely lied. Didn't you?" Harry asks. "Of course. We wanted to get back to planning." Draco sighs.
"Planning?" Harry asks. "Iz is pregnant and we're turning my old room into a room for little Green apple." Draco puts a hand on my knee. "My mother-in-law was so excited until Fenrir, Bellatrix, and my father-in-law began causing trouble." I sigh. "What did you mean? Back at the manor. You said your mother died because of Worm... Pettigrew. What did you mean?" Harry asks.
"Ah, that..." I sigh and Draco puts a hand on my shoulder. I smile to show him I'm fine. "When Pettigrew first became a double agent, he did so because he thought grandfather's powers were stronger. When he became more 'comfortable' he confunded a Ministry employee into making some files that my mother thought would be helpful and that grandfather thought could help him win the war. Mum stole the files and some rogue Aurors went after her. Dad went to help on grandfather's orders but..." I begin to tear up.
Draco hands me my cup of water. I take a few sips to calm down. "Mum had given birth to twins. She had reason to believe that before she tried to flee that Chann was dead so she left him at our home in France. She went back to set a self-destruction charm on the house for when we returned to find the files and found Chann alive. She set up extra protection spells to keep him safe until she could return but she was too late. As she was leaving, they caught up to her and even though dad was there she was still unable to make it out unharmed. She was just able to pass us off to gran before she passed away. Grandfather was just preparing Pettigrew's punishment for his act of betrayal when he went to the Potter's house. That hand he gave Pettigrew was the punishment. My mother didn't have to die but Pettigrew did drunkenly confess to another Death Eater that any of grandfather's children would've done the trick." I look away wiping my tears away.
The room is so quiet it scares me. "When grandfather came back, he questioned why Draco and I weren't as close as we should be. I was forced to read my mother's last words in the same room as the one who instigated her murder. My father was finally revealed as mother didn't want to tell her father while she was alive. It made her sick. She was in love with him but he was still in love with Harry's mother. Dad didn't even know. He always 'visited' her when he was drunk. We were sent to find the files and also found Chann. Like clockwork the enchantments fell on the place where I was born and it blew up. We brought Chann home and..." I'm cut off by uncle Aiden entering.
"And Chann was questioned endlessly by his grandmother and grandfather. Despite the fact that my father promised the kids wouldn't be married until after they graduated, he made them get married after second term ended. Then because he loved the power, he held over these important families he sent orders to the girls that they should quickly find themselves with child. When only one got pregnant and then Harry slipped through his fingers again, they were all tortured, relentlessly. Every time something went wrong and every time Harry got away, they were tortured for hours." he frowns.
"During the battle Snape was tortured for his behavior with Voldemort's, Tom Riddle's, or as I like to calm him father attacked him with Nagini. Luckily Ron told me and I was able to save him in time. He should be awake in an hour and then you kids should get home.", he gives us a serious look then turns to Harry, "Did you have to kill the Basilisk?" I can tell uncle is highly upset. "He was only twelve at the time uncle." I scoff. "Still, it was a rare creature that had lived in the school for hundreds of years. The only creature that knew every secret. We could've used its memory as evidence." uncle pouts. "Just because someone's pet attacks you does it mean you should kill it? No, you turn to the owner and question them. The Basilisk was probably carrying out father's memory's orders, am I right?" uncle asks.
Harry nods. "What happened to Dobby?" Draco asks suddenly. "Dobby died. Bellatrix threw a knife at the last moment. We buried him near the sea. I can take you later if you want." Harry offers. I nod since Draco has his head in his hands. "Dobby was Draco's first friend. They actually got along quite well even though his dad would sometimes issue Dobby harsh punishments." I rub Draco's back. Harry nods and I get to my feet. "Apologize." I order. Harry looks confused but I'm watching Draco. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything. I hurt Izzy when we were kids and at the time, she wasn't talking to me. I was extremely upset and looking to take it out on someone. Then I met you in the robe shop. You dismissed my offer of friendship which hurt even more. Every time I'd fight with her, I took it out on you and I shouldn't have. I'm sorry Harry." Draco gets to his feet and apologizes.
Draco hugs me from behind as we walk up to the Hospital Wing. I stop short of the door. I take a deep breath and enter. Dad looks horrible and that's putting it lightly. I freeze as tears fill my eyes. Draco leads me over and sits me next to dad. I grab his hand and watch for any sign he'll wake. It's a half hour before he stirs. "Isabella? Why are you crying? The war is over. You can live happily, without fear of harm, and just live happily with Draco free of worry." he groans trying to sit up. I wrap my arms around him and cry freely.
"You made Green apple sad too." I hear Chann scold us both. Dad strokes my hair. "Did you come to tell him Pansy's pregnant?" I ask sniffling. Dad pauses and smiles. "If you two start bickering Madam Pomfrey will throw you out. Now stop crying Isabella. Chann sit down and behave." I out my head back down and dad strokes my hair as he listens to Chann talk.
Draco leads me to our room and tucks me into bed. "Get some rest darling." he kisses my cheek. "Good night Mr. Ferret." I murmur. Draco laughs and I hear him walk out. I curl up and fall asleep. I wake early in the morning to the smell of food cooking. I throw on my robe and pad out to the kitchen. I wrap my arms around Draco's waist and hide in his shirt. "Breakfast smells yummy." I mumble. He chuckles and sway us gently back and forth. "Hungry?" he smiles. "Very." I pout. I sit on the counter as I eat my vegetable rolled omelet.
When I'm done and eating the crumbs from the pan, Draco picks me up. "Time to explore the new additions to our home Mrs. Malfoy." he whispers. I frown and reach for the fridge. He stops and pulls out two cups of green apple sorbet. I kiss him and bite my lip. I follow Draco as he leads me through the add-ons of our home. There's a pool now, an exercise room, a sunroom, several guest rooms, a garage, a garden, a nursery and a few kids' rooms for later on. I walk through the nursery looking around. It's a bit like the one my mother had for me, Amber, and Chann.
"Dray..." I whisper turning around. "Yes, I know love. I told my mother about the nursery you had and she worked with your grandmother to try and recreate it. And over here is my baby photo next to your baby photo and we'll just add our kids." he points to a wall with our baby photos. Draco wraps his arms around me. "Maybe get them a pet or two. Really liven up the house. What do you think?" he murmurs. "I love it." I laugh. He kisses me softly and we spend the day going through the baby clothes his mother made.
I wake to giggling. I groan and roll over. The giggling continues. "You're going to wake your mother. Aww, you're so cute!" Draco laughs. I smile and open my eyes and find Draco playing with our baby, Drayce. Drayce lets out a squeal of delight when he sees I'm awake. I hold out my hand and he grabs it and plays with my hand. "Are you hungry?" Draco asks watching us with a smile. "A little bit. I just want to stay in this bed with my two favorite boys on this winter day." I smile.