December 20, 1999

Hermione had gotten up late that morning. She had slept like a log the entire night, but still felt so tired. Maybe the cold was catching up to her.

She had just turned onto the hallway leading to the private dining room, when she heard Draco's raised voice. She stopped in her tracks; she had never heard her husband so agitated and angry before, especially in the mornings. Draco always made it a point to start his mornings on a right note. Hermione spelt a soft Muffliato on her steps and made her way to the extravagant green room.

"...now! Doesn't he know I have a family now? He already has our loyalty, Father! Can't he allow us even a quiet and peaceful Christmas?"

Who? Hermione thought. Who was Draco talking about? She heard Lucius's voice then.

"Draco! Lower your voice! Don't forget even the walls have ears. It is our duty to him, don't you understand? It's an order, Draco. A direct order! I am sure I don't have to tell you the consequences of not obliging. Do you want to see your little Mudblood wif-"

"DON'T! Don't even say that word in front of me, Father!" Draco's voice rang through the small room.

Mudblood?

"Well then, listen to me Son! We have to let them in our house on the Christmas night. We have to! If we accept this, we are safe for another year. Your wife and son will be safe. I will ensure that. There will be wards in place and I personally will add more if you want." Lucius's voice seemed feeble and weak, somewhat resigned.

"Prepare the rooms in the West Wing then. I don't want them anywhere near my family." Draco's voice was loud and clear.

Hermione was perplexed. Who was visiting them on Christmas Day? Why did Draco not want them to meet her family? Were they those rotten relatives of his, who had looked down upon her at their wedding? Hermione wouldn't want to meet them as well. But what loyalty was Draco talking about?

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Hermione knocked on the door of the senior Malfoy's sitting room.

"Enter," Narcissa's cold voice rang out.

Hermione entered the blue sitting room. Narcissa was seated at one corner flipping through a book on gardening. The Malfoy matriarch was well-known for her love of the Malfoy gardens.

The elder woman looked at Hermione, "Did you want something?"

"Yes, um...I-I" Hermione had always felt nervous in front of her mother-in-law and found her quite intimidating.

"Don't stammer child! Speak what is necessary."

"I apologise. I-I came to say that, yesterday in a hurry to reach home, I left some presents in one of the shops. I was wondering if I could go and bring those back?" Hermione spoke tentatively.

"Did you not notice them missing before, Hermione? I don't think it is a good time to go out. It is lunch hour after all and besides, does Draco know?" Narcissa's cold black eyes scrutinized her.

"No, he doesn't. He left for work before I could tell him. It will only take me a few minutes, Narcissa. I could take Winky with me, if you want. There were lots of toys for Scorp and I wouldn't be able to carry them by myself I think." Hermione knew Narcissa loved her grandson dearly and she planned to use it to her full advantage.

"Go on, then. But be back within the hour! Or else I am sending an owl to Draco." With that, Narcissa went back to her book.

Hermione heaved a sigh of relief. Mumbling a quick thank you, she made her way to the apparition room and called Winky. Together they apparated to The Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

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Hermione had planned it perfectly. The lunch hour meant that the shop would have the CLOSED sign displayed.

Opening the door quietly, she turned to her elf and kneeled down to his level. Winky's eyes widened, he was starting to get distressed at his Mistress's strange behavior.

"Winky, listen to me carefully. What I speak here, in this shop, is strictly confidential. Do you understand?" Hermione spoke in clear tones, making it quite clear to the elf that what his Mistress was doing was serious business.

The elf nodded his head solemnly. While he was owned by Hermione, Winky had his loyalties to someone else too. His magic would never let him betray them. He hoped that the kind witch would not make him do drastic things.

"From this moment onwards, I forbid you from divulging my conversations to anyone. You are not to speak a word about what happens here to anyone but me. Tell me you understand, Winky!" Hermione knew, as the owner, she had complete control over the elf, but that didn't mean she would intentionally endanger his life.

"Y-Yes Mistress. Winky understand Mistress. I not to says anything to anyones," Winky replied to Hermione in his small voice. The elf looked frightened.

"Very well. Follow me then."

Hermione made her way along the counters, to the back of the shop. She had seen the twins often retreating to the back and bringing back merchandise, so the offices were most likely there.

As she neared the end, she could hear voices. There was a brightly lit room at the end of the hallway, where the voices came from. Mustering all the courage she could, Hermione knocked on the door of the room.

"...on Christmas, Bill would..." A Red haired man spun open the door, while still looking at his back. "Maybe we can..."

The moment he turned his head towards Hermione, he froze.

"Her- Err… I mean Mrs. Malfoy? I am sorry, but it is our lunch hour and..."

Hermione cleared her throat, "George? Or is it Fred? Can I talk to you?"

The man was clearly surprised that she had spoken their name. "I-uh, yeah sure. Why don't you come in?"

Hermione entered the room and saw three other people sitting at a small table, clearly having their lunch. All the three were redheads and looked like brothers.

Hermione had been preparing mentally on what to say to the twins all the way to the shop but the moment all the four sets of eyes fixed on her, words started to come out ceaselessly.

"I apologize for intruding in your lunch hour. But I have a few questions for you all. First of all, do you know me just as Hermione Malfoy or was I someone else before? Please, tell me... I know only you can help me...I-I have been seeing things, seeing people looking like you, and someone named Ron or Ronald, and Harry? I don't know who they are, but your mother had said something about a Ron and I know you all must know something. Please just tell me who I am or was, because I don't know! Not anymore! I don't feel like myself, and for some-some reason, you feel like family. Even though I have never met you before, or maybe I have, I don't know! I don't remember. Please...Please just….Help me!" Hermione was crying by the end of her rant.

The men looked at her, with large eyes. A man approached her; one side of his face was scarred with long ragged lines, like some animal scratches…animal...were-werewolf…

"Dumbledore is dead!" …Cries...Death eaters in the castle! Bill has been attacked! I love him anyway!

Bill...Bill Weasley...and F-Fleur…

"Bill? Are you Bill?" Hermione asked him tentatively with watery eyes.

The man nodded. "Yes Hermione. I am Bill."

The confirmation broke Hermione down. Big fat tears rolled down her eyes. Wrapping her in his arms, Bill mumbled soothing words to her. "Sssh! It's alright. Hermione, you didn't know. It is going to be alright now...ssh..." Soon, Hermione felt other hands embracing her. It felt so warm…and safe.

They were not strangers, not just shopkeepers of Scorpius's favourite toy shop, not just redheads who looked at her strangely.

They were her brothers. Her family.

Moving back, Bill looked at Hermione. "Calm down Hermione. Since you have started remembering, you need to tell us why you are here. What have you remembered? We need to know. Only then we can help you, OK?"

Hermione sat down on a desk by the window, Winky standing attentively by her side.

Wiping her tears, she began. "It all started a few days ago; I was looking for some boxes in our store room and in that process, stumbled upon an old box with some torn clothes. There was blood on them Bill. Blood! My first thought was that it might have been Draco's old clothes, but when I touched them they felt so familiar and I heard some woman scream "Crucio". And it felt like it was directed towards me! Crucio is an unforgivable isn't it?" Hermione asked in a helpless and bewildered tone.

The brothers nodded and asked her to go on.

"I-I had never heard that before, at least I don't remember hearing that word in the last few years, but then I felt a searing pain through me...I-I heard someone, I saw I think, a boy named Harry, may be? Dark hair, with round rimmed spectacles...Who was he? Do you know him Bill?"

"I do, Hermione. You did too. But tell us more, what else do you remember?"

"The other day, I remembered a Ron, he-he called me 'Mione...and just now, I saw an old man with a huge white beard, a-uh, a Dumbledore! Do you know what I am talking about? Please tell me. I-I can't talk to Draco about this, I don't think he would understand."

Bill heaved a deep sigh, "No, Hermione. You can't ask him. Because he is the one who did this to you."

Hermione gasped and felt unable to breathe. Draco, her loving husband...he did this to her? She did have her suspicions, but having them confirmed broke her tender heart.

"Oh Merlin! Why am I being punished this way?!" Hermione's hands wrapped around her head, unable to cope with this disturbing piece of information. She looked up at the brothers after awhile and cried out, "Please help me! Please!" with a voice so broken that it sounded like a person who had lost all hope.

The one with the long red hair gave her a wicked smile to lighten up the mood. "Anything for our little Mione, love." The other brothers nodded and straightened themselves.

"First of all, Mione, does Malfoy know you are here? Because you can't be seen alone here." Bill asked.

"No, Draco doesn't know. But I talked to Narcissa and she told me to return within an hour with the toys for Scorpius."

Bill seemed pleased at that answer and immediately told George to pack some toys for Hermione's son, so that she could leave with them and not raise any suspicion. "And now about the elf, Winky. How are you little one?" Bill winked at him.

Hermione was shocked. She whirled around to face her elf. "Winky? What? You know the Weasleys? WHY didn't you tell me? What do you know? Winky, answer me at once!"

The elf cowered under Hermione's glare. He seemed to be at a loss for words. "M-Mistress, I-I..."

Thankfully, Bill spoke to calm Hermione down. "It's alright Winky, it isn't your fault. Hermione..." He touched her shoulder to gain her attention, "You know we are your family, right?" Hermione gave a brief nod; she was terribly angry that her elf knew more about her than herself. And the nerve of that cheeky elf to keep things from her!

"Hermione, don't be angry. We are family, and families take care of each other. You didn't think we would let you be in Malfoy Manor unprotected, right? Winky was strategically placed at the Manor to keep an eye on you. He is the brother of one of our most loyal elves, Dobby."

"Dobby." the unknown name softly rolled off her tongue. She couldn't recall any elf with that name, but hoped she would in the future.

"Yes. Dobby. I would tell you more, but I know the one person who would be able to help you without raising any suspicion," Bill pointed at the elf by Hermione's side, "And that is Winky."

Hermione looked back at the elf who was cowering in fear. She felt guilty at having snapped at the little one, who was in fact there to protect her.

"I am so sorry Winky, please forgive me. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. I feel awful." The elf's eyes filled with tears, but he smiled through them saying "It alrights Mistress. You not know."

Fred looked at the clock on the wall and exclaimed, "Blimey Hermione, you need to leave now! You trust us, don't you? Perfect! Listen to Winky, he will tell you everything."

Hermione felt tired but her heart filled with joy, finally feeling like she belonged. She belonged to this family. Her family. Although there was much she couldn't understand or remember, she trusted Winky with her life now. She would get some answers soon.

Hugging all the brothers, she grabbed the toys; and with a last glance at the men with a grateful smile directed at them, she apparated back to the Manor with a loud crack.