"Draco's missing"

I stared at Harry blankly as he watched me, waiting for a reaction.

"Harry I'm sorry but this really isn't my problem." I said after a few minutes, I wanted to say more, but I just couldn't bring myself to do so. Harry stared at me as though I'd suddenly grown two extra legs and started doing an Irish jig in front of him.

"Hermione I know you're going through a lot but your son is missing too." My breath caught in my throat, it felt so strange hearing someone call him my son and for the first time it really hit me that he actually was my son. I'd cared for him so much and I'd just left him the moment I found out he actually was mine.

"Scorpius is missing too?" I said slowly, reminding myself that I was still annoyed at Harry. Somehow keeping my distance felt like the safest option but I couldn't deny that I cared.

"Is there anything you know that could help us?" My mind was reeling. None of this felt real.

"Uh no. No idea, you can go now." I replied a little too quickly. I needed Harry to go so I could think, I knew there had to be a way to find them I just needed to be alone long enough to think about it.

"Hermione please!" Harry said desperately. Clearly he thought I was just letting my anger get the better of me.

"Goodbye Harry" I said turning on the spot and walking back to my room. I knew full well if I didn't push him away he'd never leave.

"If anything happens to them, and you could've happen helped… it's on you." Harry snapped before he stormed out leaving the common room in silence once more. Taking a deep breath as I went into my room I tried to collect my thoughts. Regardless of how I felt about I had to find them. I hated him but I loved him too and as much as admitting that hurt hating him was far easier than the prospect of losing him completely. I thought about his daily routine while I'd been at the manor and in seconds it hit me that there was only one place that he was easily accessible.

Without a second thought I grabbed my cloak and made my way out of the castle knowing I had to get off the grounds before I could apparate.

Arriving in the little village closest to Malfoy Manor I stood back and surveyed the picturesque street with its ornate houses and colourful bushes. I was driven by my need to find Scorpius and Draco. True I hated Draco right now but I couldn't bear the thought of him being gone forever. Draco brought Scorpius to this little village every day when we were here, it was almost routine, so what better place to attack him. As I strolled through the village I noticed how unusually quiet it was. There wasn't a soul in sight, just the odd flick of a curtain and the constant feel of unknown eyes lingering on the back of my neck. I was in the right place, something had happened here.

As I turned round a corner into a dark little alley my heart caught in my throat as I almost walked straight into the figure in front of me.

"Oh I'm sorry" I muttered out of instinct moving to shift around the man. In an instant his arm was across my throat and my scream was lost into the wind.

"Finally, the set…" I heard him growl as my world went black. At least I knew I'd come to the right place.

Pain shot through my head as I blinked, taking in the dimly lit room. There were no windows and I was shackled to the wall. Who even used shackles these days? Opposite me Draco was also shackled to the wall but unlike me his hands were stretched out and shackled out either side of him and his head was slumped down unconscious. There was a trickle of blood running down his chest and for the first time I noticed how many scars he had, I'd never noticed before but his body had been through a lot. I couldn't help the slight shot of anger that spread through me and the flash of unwanted memories that had tortured me since Christmas. I had barely slept since my memories had come back, maybe that was why I felt so weak now, maybe I should have thought this plan out a little further. I felt a little panicked as I couldn't see Scorpius anywhere, had they done something to him? Who was they? Who would want to do all of this?

Hours passed and I slipped in an out of sleep but never able to fully drift off. I couldn't close my eyes without remembering what he'd done to me, tonight was worse than most, perhaps it was seeing him again but it felt as though his presence alone was enough to torture me. After what seemed like a lifetime Draco began to stir, groaning as he lifted his head. He froze when he saw me and blinked a few times as if checking that I was actually real.

"Hermione?" He said slowly his voice sounding hoarse. His throat was clearly dry and he was weak.

"I came for Scorpius" I said quickly unable to prevent my stubborn streak. I was fairly sure that Draco rolled his eyes for the briefest of moments.

"Well done, now both his parents are trapped." He grumbled somewhat stubbornly. I couldn't help but agree with him, I'd come to help him but in many ways I just ended up making it worse.

"I didn't think. I haven't exactly been sleeping well since Christmas." I snapped back. I wanted Draco to know what he'd done, feel what I felt and hurt like I hurt but I was torn because I knew how much pain he was in and the sorrow in his eyes every time he looked at me.

"Please let me explain Hermione." I felt my heart pang at his words.

"I know all I need to." I replied quietly avoiding his silver gaze. Looking at him would make me cave.

"You don't. Maybe if you let me explain then we could actually find a way out of this situation and then you can go right back to hating me. Do you really think I'd fight so hard for you if I knew you had the full story?" He questioned groaning as pain flashed across his face once more. I knew he was right. I didn't want to stop being mad because being mad was a lot easier that accepting the hurt I felt at the memories that tortured me. Draco groaned again as another shot of pain flashed through him. It didn't seem right that he was in pain so badly with no one attacking him.

"Why are you in so much pain?" I asked studying him carefully. His body looked paler than normal and his face seemed to be in a battle with his brain. Finally Draco's silver orbs caught mine and for the longest moment we couldn't look anywhere else.

"They've enjoyed torturing me for a couple of days but there's also certain repercussions of removing the dark magic from you." He said pulling his eyes away from mine. It made sense, dark magic always had to have a balance so juggling my memories between the both of us was bound to have consequences. Why would he put himself at so much risk just to take these memories from me and then give them back knowing it would have consequences?

"Fine you can explain, but I can't promise it's going to change how I feel about you." Draco's eyes went wide as for the first time I could see a glimmer of hope. Through all his pain and the weakness he felt he was capable of holding on to hope of me.

"Just knowing you know is enough for me." He said quickly and for once I could see the true earnest in his eyes, it was strange sitting here looking at someone I used to despise so much and trying to hate him when I could see he had goodness inside of him. I nodded slowly as he watched me signalling for him to tell his story.

"You were always the target. After Dumbledore's death, Voldemort was furious, it should've been me that killed him and as far as he could tell I failed. He wanted to hurt Harry in a way that he'd never recover from and punish me at the same time. When you left Hogwarts to go back to your house you were followed and someone bumped into you. They asked you if you needed help with your stuff and you said no and pointed towards your house." I gasped at Draco's words, I had been the one to break my own enchantments by pointing at my house, I had accidentally told them where I lived.

"So they ambushed you, they went for you because you were the closest muggleborn to Harry and knowing they only went after you because of him would've hurt him a lot more than someone like Dumbledore dying because of Voldemort's fear of him. So they attacked you and made you watch as your parents were tortured and killed."

"And what about you? You were there that day?" I asked quickly making sure that Draco didn't forget his own part in all of this.

"Boy I wish I wasn't but as I said, it was part of my punishment, just as we followed you, I was put under the Imperius curse by Rodolphus, my own uncle. I tried so hard to fight it off but he was strong. I just stood there watching the chaos unfold and the next thing I know my mind is telling me to bring you with us. I fought the curse just enough to knock you out in the hope that would save you from the pain but that too got me punished. They were torturing us both when we got back to the manor and by the time they were done I was too weak to even bother trying to throw off the second imperius curse." Draco took a deep breath and his eyes had shifted to another focus as if he was looking at something in the distance.

"They made me, well, I'm fairly sure what they made me do to you. They made sure I'd remember every single second of it to, trust me I tried to forget. Anyway they'd cursed you, if you got pregnant, which you did, then it would be a highly accelerated pregnancy. Nine days from start to finish." Draco paused again and I could tell how hard it was for him to discuss this. The images flashed through my mind of how strange he'd looked how unfamiliar he seemed and maybe this was why.

"Nine days? That's not possible." I said quickly confused, there was no way anyone could have a child in nine days.

"It's not supposed to be possible. They saw it as a win win, the strain it would put on your body would undoubtedly kill you and the Malfoy bloodline would be tainted forever more. For the record, Scorpius is the best thing that ever happened to the Malfoy bloodline but either way that's how they thought of it. The speed of the pregnancy was killing you so quickly each hour was equivalent to over a day of pregnancy and each day was the equivalent of a month. I looked after you and thankfully by that point they'd taken the curse off so it was really me. I was still tortured by the memories of it all so rather than sleeping quite often at night I'd sit with you. I tried to take as much of your physical pain as possible but you were kind of, well you were broken. They broke your soul by killing your parents and they broke your spirit by forcing me to do what I did. I understand if you can never forgive that, I still haven't forgiven myself. Through it all though, it amazed me how strong you were. I could see the pain radiating through every inch of your body as you grew skinny and weak. As another tiny being was sucking the life out of you simply by growing. But you never begged for help or life, you put his life first and never gave them satisfaction in their taunting. At first you were so apprehensive to be around me but pretty soon you trusted me. I tried to tell you that you'd be fine, that I'd find a way to save you but you made me promise that I'd help Harry if you couldn't that I wouldn't let the beautiful world be destroyed by someone as cruel as Voldemort and for the first time I started to see the world through your eyes. The beauty in the world that I had always taken for granted. All my life I thought I was destined to be a death eater but just a few long nights with you changed me, showed me another side of myself who wanted to live in a world that he'd be proud to raise his son in and that my child could grow up in a world where it didn't matter who you were or where you came from but just that your heart beats and your lungs breathe, that's the moment I fell in love with you. That's also the moment I knew I had to save you no matter the cost. Finally I found a piece of dark magic that would allow me to take all of the pain and stress off your body and save you in the final moments of your life." Taking another deep breath Draco fiddled with his hands once more. Clearly he was ready to get this off his chest with me.

"I spoke to Blaise, he was someone I could trust and who wasn't involved with the deatheaters. His mother agreed to hide Scorpius and raise him until after the war, and Blaise agreed to collect him from the manor and keep the secret. I mixed a section of our blood to make the bond stronger when I did the spell and then late on the eighth night, just hours before you were due to give birth, you were barely conscious by this point, I put you into labour. The moment Scorpius was born I gave him to Blaise and told him to get away. You were dying right in front of me and what I never banked on was that someone would come and check on us. I told them the baby had died and that shortly you would too. Thankfully they left. Then I used the dark magic I research and felt as your pain surged through me. The difference was it was all new to me and I was strong enough to handle a lot of it and I only got the latter end of it. I had to pray that it would work. I knew it would take your memories and so I worked on distorting your memories, I took the pain of your parents death and made it more of a farewell than a goodbye. Your body was still so weak so I flooed over to Hogwarts to McGonagall, it was the early hours but she was available. I explained everything and told her that you'd be out of it for a while. I gave her all the information I knew, I promised to be a spy as proof that I wasn't tricking her. She woke Potter at the Dursley's house and he came over, he looked ready to kill me. I told him to hex me a bit so I'd looked bruised as we hatched our plan. You'd be taken to a safe house and when you woke up you should only remember that you'd sent your parents away and obliviated them. Harry would go back to the Dursley's and I would keep feeding information to them both when I could. I went back to the manor and got my mother to knock me out for a bit. They were absolutely furious when I woke up. Luckily the pain from taking on your curse and memories mixed with Harry's curse was enough to make it look like I'd been attacked and you'd escaped. I was punished to within an inch of my life but my mother was able to heal me fairly quickly. From that point on I just kept my head down and tried to avoid suspicion, I met with potter once more and McGonagall a few times to give up information. When you guys were captured I did my best to stall and luckily my aunt was too worried about her stupid vault to worry about the previous failed attempt to kill you. On the day of the final battle I tried to save Blaise and Crabbe but Crabbe was too far gone and I found myself pretending once more, that's why Harry was so determined to save us both. After that, I fought with your side but when my mother called me and everyone thought that Harry was dead I knew I had to go, for her sake more than anything else." I sighed deeply taking in the wealth of information Draco had just thrown at me, it all made sense but was it even possible? And why wouldn't they just tell me after the war.

"And then what? Why didn't anyone tell me after the war?" I asked quickly needing to know more.

"Well no one knew how to tell you. McGonagall knew that we'd be head boy and girl because we had the best grades of our year, even if you did beat me out on every subject, so she asked me to bring Scorpius to Hogwarts. I was worried, I never wanted you to suffer the memories that had tortured me throughout the war and I was scared that being close to me would bring them back and in many ways it did. I tried to keep my distance but I couldn't help that I cared so much for you. We had regular meetings in which I expressed my fears of you remembering and we all knew that the time would come for the truth to come out. Weasley couldn't handle seeing us so close, he still thought of me as a monster. I wanted to show you I'd changed and Blaise kept telling me to relax around you and let things happen naturally and before I knew it you were saying you loved me at Christmas and I just thought I couldn't go any further without telling you the truth. Turns out though that breaking the dark magic has caused somewhat of a weakness in me, its almost as though its leaking energy into me, sucking the power out of me. Somehow, being closer to you is making it worse. I'm sorry for what I did to you Hermione, but just know you'll never hate me as much as I hate myself." Draco said weakly seeming relieved to have it all off his chest.

Studying him for a few moments I couldn't help but feel for him, he'd put his whole life on the line when he was just as much a victim as I was. I hated the fact he'd lied to me for so long but I knew there was no other choice. Somehow hearing the truth made it hard for me to hate him. I hated that I felt like a pawn in my own life but he was just a chess piece too.

"We need to find a way out of here to our son." I said at last. Draco gave the softest of smiles.

"We'll get out, there has to be a way." He replied trying to pull himself up slightly and wincing along the way.

"There's always a way."

Thanks for reading! Sensitive topic hope you enjoyed, it was time for the truth to come out now let's hope Draco and Hermione can get back to Scorpius and save themselves!

R+R xoxo