Chapter 14: Over a Line

The meeting at the Ministry was odd, even by the previous standards and I'd been in a lot of weird-ass meetings there before. The representative from the Department of Mysteries was, as usual, some person who had their cowl up and I couldn't see their face and the voice came out in an odd androgynous tone. Kingsley was rather quiet during the whole thing, which surprised me, but both Harry and Ron were rather attentive. Ron asked some really insightful questions, which made me laugh internally; people didn't give him enough credit, although being married to Hermione would make pretty much anyone look a bit dim by comparison, me included. If I didn't know her like I did I could see where she could come off rather intimidating.

The Aurors, with Kingsley's approval, shared all their knowledge about the Potter Adventure Series books, their leads and the WLF. It still pissed me off to think those bastards were still active and pushing their agenda. Eventually, after way too much talk it was decided that the Aurors would include Reena on their investigation, briefing her on things and giving her a clearance level much higher than mine. That didn't surprise me, really, as who are you going to trust with all the sensitive intel, a Muggle Studies professor or an ambassador from the Faeries? Didn't mean I wasn't a bit miffed, though. I got it, really, I was supposed to start teaching again soon and then there was the 1.3 percent bullshit again, rearing its ugly head. Just one more instance of being reminded I'm a crap wizard at best, and that was being charitable.

The part that really surprised me, though, was that Reena informed them that me and my family were under her protection, which I knew about, as she'd said it before, but it was at the meeting that I really found out what that meant. Instead of just hanging about Colony House and stuff like that she was to be with me all the time. That meant Hogwarts. That meant going over to Forthingsgate to see Lane. Hell, anywhere. Neville's comment about red tape bringing in a student that hadn't been sorted rolled around in my head, and I was dreading all the bullshit when I realized that even if the WLF did try to pull something with my family they definitely wouldn't expect a faerie. Not that I knew what kind of magic she could do, or anything, really, but if they way the witches and wizards talked about faeries was any indication I guessed it was pretty damned good.

Mel wasn't excited when we got back and I told her the news, not thrilled to say the least, but she didn't freak out like she had when I'd shown up with Reena. Thankfully during the next week we settled into a nice little routine; I'd wake up, have a bit of breakfast and then go into my office to start preparing for the start of Hogwarts, Mel would sit at the kitchen table and work on Witch Weekly stuff for the morning and then spend the afternoon with Lavinia and the kids. What freaked me out slightly, especially with all the 'holy shit the faeries are here to steal the kids' bullshit, was that Lavinia and Reena spent quite a bit of time with the kids out in the garden, Lavinia with Virginia and Reena with HR. HR simply thought Reena was the coolest thing ever; she could make his little dragon and Auror figures move about realistically, the matchbox cars not so realistically, the plants out in the garden would grow and form jungles, with proportionally sized birds and bugs and stuff, not to mention very tiny weather systems. Quite the sight, seeing my son on his belly moving an Auror figure on the top of a car though a jungle with it's own little localized rainstorm.

Unfortunately that little idyllic week ended when Hermione Weasley popped into the garden one afternoon. I heard the pop of apparition from my office and looked out the window to see her, in her full Ministry get-up, waving her hands about while talking to Lavinia. I knew it couldn't be good, not with her being here in the afternoon; skiving off work was not something you could associate with Hermione. Figuring I'd better go see what was going on I put a bookmark in place, straightened my glasses and went out there.

"...can you imagine what he'll say when he sees this? Lavinia, the last one was bad enough but this..." Hermione looked over her shoulder to see me. "Hank, have you seen this fucking thing?"

That caught me off-guard, not only had Hermione said a curse word but she'd said it in front of our kids. Something was definitely wrong. "Sorry, Hermione, what are you talking about?"

She thrust a book into my hands. "This...bloody thing."

If I thought the cover to Gryffindor's Forbidden Lion was bad, this was, well, this was epically bad. Hermione was on the cover again, also not wearing much, but what she was wearing...well, it was a Slytherin robe that just barely covered her boobs. You couldn't see the other bits, thankfully, as she was pressed up against a man. And then I took a look at the man and had to keep myself from snorting; Draco Malfoy, or some artist's impression of him, stood with an arm around her and his wand arm extended to shoot off a spell at the advancing figures of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and a guy that, no shit, looked like Conan the Barbarian from one of the Frazetta covers. The look on Hermione's face towards Draco, who had a ponytail and a goatee for some unknown reason, Hermione's expression was one of adoration. She was right. Ron would absolutely lose his shit at this one.

"Holy shit, Hermione...this is...Jesus." I took off my glasses and stuck them in the pocket of my shorts. "Has he seen this?"

"I have no idea." She huffed and crossed her arms. "Someone must have thought it screamingly funny to send it to me. It came in my office mail."

"Hmmm." I flipped it open and, just as I thought, there was no publishing information. Closing it I saw the cover and shook my head. "Did you have Harry check it out, you know, test the packaging and stuff? You did, right?" I saw her face immediately change, eyes wide, eyebrows up, and realized that it must have really affected her because the Hermione I knew would have never forgotten that kind of shit. "Ok, it's fine, how about I stop in and see him, ok? Need to talk to him anyway, this just gives me an excuse." I put my glasses back on and flipped the book over, this time looking at the title. "Jesus, 'The Serpent Lion-Tamer,' that's a shitty title. And look, this cover's hilarious. Draco wishes he has that much hair. And you?"

She looked at me with narrowed eyes. "Yes? What about me?"

I chuckled. "I think they were going for making you look you were totally in love with Draco but to me you just look, well, constipated."

That made her giggle. "I suppose..."

"Listen, Hermione, we've been friends for ages. You know why they're doing this, don't you? They can't outsmart you, they can't...it's the only way they can get at you and Ron. Every other thing they've tried has failed. I mean..." I realized then that she wasn't looking at me, she was looking off to my side. "What...oh, hello, Reena." I saw her smiling and then looked over to Hermione who was, in a word, gobsmacked. "Hermione, this is Reena."

Hermione composed herself and then, surprisingly, held out her hand. "Very nice to meet you, Reena."

I didn't know what to say to that, as Ron had given her a little bow and nobody else, Harry or the thing from the Deparment of Mysteries or Kingsley, had offered to shake her hand. I wondered if it was some sort of faux pas or whatever but Reena shook her hand.

"Forgive me for being forward, Reena, but how did you come to be in Hank's garden?"

"Hermione?" Mel came into the garden with her glasses on the top of her head. "I thought I heard your voice. Something wrong?"

"New book." I held it up. "Like the cover?"

When she came close enough Mel took the book and rolled her eyes. "Horrid. What a horrid cover."

"What do you make of Hermione's expression?" I quickly followed, for clarification. "On the cover."

"Mmmm." Mel thought for a moment. "Either you've been imperiused or you've just eaten some dodgy food from a street vendor. Your boobs look amazing, though."

"Uuuughhh." Hermione rolled her eyes and looked to the heavens. "What is it about...Ron was bad enough on the last one but this one may do him in."

"So..." I couldn't contain my curiosity. "What did you think about the last one, the forbidden lion one?"

"Oh. Well, that was hilarious." She smirked. "The things they think happen...honestly it was like watching one of those bad movies you love so much, Hank. The mystery thing with the robots."

"Mystery Science Theater, yeah, pretty much." I had a thought, then, and took the book from Mel. "Reena, this is one of those books that's being made from the folks that have your...um..." I looked over to Hermione. "I don't know what you know."

Mel elbowed me. "That's the understatement of the century."

"Piss off." I turned back to Hermione. "It's part of an Auror case, and I don't know how much Ron's told you. I don't want to..."

She held up her hand. "I understand, Hank." She paused and looked to Reena. "I take it that's why you're here?"

"Yep." Reena nodded. "I'm an ambassador to the big folk, helping out to find our Gazer." She paused. "I shouldn't have said that!"

That made Hermione laugh. "I'm sorry, usually when I heard that phrase it was from Hagrid, and Reena if you knew Hagrid you'd understand why..."

"He's part giant. I think." I saw Reena's face darken. "But he's a nice guy, really. Good heart, loves animals."

"Oh. Ok." Reena twisted her mouth back and forth, thinking, eventually coming to a conclusion. "Some bad big folk have kidnapped a faerie and I'm helping to get him back."

Apparently that was enough for things to click into place for Hermione, as she nodded. "Ron's said a few things, but I could tell he was holding something back. Usually I don't prod, if he can't tell me something then I shouldn't ask, but lately he's been smiling for some reason and I just can't figure it out, like when he buys me a present and can't wait to give it to me for my birthday."

"Ron!" Reena smiled. "I know him, we ate waffles!"

Hermione's eyebrow went up again. "Waffles? Hank?"

I shrugged. "He came over and had breakfast the other day. Lunch, too. Don't you feed him?"

"Between him and the children our grocers' bill is quite large. I don't know how Molly and Arthur did it all those years."

Reena smiled. "He ate a ton of waffles when I told him about the Fallen."

I saw Hermione's quizzical look and figured that Ron's 'get out of Hermione jail free' card was about to expire. "Tell you what, Hermione, unless you need to go back to the office why don't you stay and have tea, Reena can tell you stuff and I can read this new book. Can't wait to find out how you and Draco get together."

-ooo-

Leaving Hermione and Reena out in the garden Mel and I came back in to put the kids down for a nap. As she settled Virginia in she shook her head. "It's not like her, Hank, popping into the garden during work hours, and going off on things like that with Lavinia. Thank Merlin Lavinia knows better to say anything. What if it was..."

"It wasn't, it's just Lavinia, don't worry about it. I know she acts like the books don't bother her, and she thinks the last one was funny, but it's got to be bugging her. Hell, it bugs the crap out of Ron, and that has to make things fun. You know what Ron's like when he's got a burr under his saddle."

She cocked her head and gave me an odd look. "We've been married how long now and you still say things that make no sense. Muggle saying?"

"Yeah, cowboy thing kinda. I think. Don't worry. Bee in his bonnet work better?"

She closed her lips tightly to keep from laughing, as Virginia was almost asleep. "I can just imagine Ron in a bonnet."

"Yeah, a regular Holly Hobbie Auror." I waved her off. "Muggle thing back when we were kids, Jennifer was nuts about it. I'll show you sometime."

She shushed me and I looked down to see that Virginia, thankfully, had fallen asleep. We then moved into HR's room and, unsurprisingly, the little man was not in the mood for a nap. We tried everything until I gave up, picked him and went into my office. Thankfully Minerva was awake so, pulling a chair up to the portrait, he listened as always to Minerva tell him a story.

As the former headmistress of Hogwarts told my son a nap-time story I tuned her out and looked at the walls, at the pictures. There was one of the first ones of me and Mel, at the Potters' New Year's party, one of us, Ron and Hermione and all the kids at the beach, one of Neville and Hannah with Hieronymus when he was born...and then it hit me. All the Potter Adventure Series books, so far, had focused on the 'good guys.' Draco had a very checkered past, and that was being charitable; why bring him into it? If they wanted to tweak Ron it was perfect, obviously, but there had to be more than that. Did they just run out of ideas with my friends? That couldn't be it, because, let's face it, there was no sense of continuity with the books. In one of them Harry and Hermione are true loves, Neville's a badass and if we go by one of the first books in the series Harry has a freaking harem. Each book seemed to exist in its own little world, with it's own players; why bring Draco into it now? Him and Hermione? In what freaking world would that ever be possible? I know that opposites attract, but Jesus, that's insane. Even with all their faults, and how they occasionally bicker, Ron and Hermione were...shit, Ron and Hermione. They just worked together, kind of like how Mel and me and Harry and Ginny worked. Wasn't always easy, of course, but...the same with Draco and Astoria. She made Draco seem more, I don't know, normal. Not that growing up how he did, with what he did, could ever be called normal by any stretch of the imagination. He absolutely adored his wife, and now, with her in the hospital, paralyzed, it…

"Shit." I sat up sort of quickly, jostling HR slightly which made him snort and jerk his legs. "Crap." I said it quietly and looked over to Minerva, who gave me a very stern expression. If that was what she did to her students I would have been scared shitless of her as a first year. "Sorry."

We were quiet for a moment and then she shook her head at me. "You are lucky he had been sleeping for some time. What is the problem?"

"I think I figured something out. Maybe. Let me put him down and I'll be back."

I put HR down in his bed, covered him with a thin blanket and made my way back into the office, catching Melody's eye on the way. I nodded towards the office and she followed, and soon we stood in front of Minerva's portrait.

"I think I know what they're doing with Draco."

"Whatever do you mean?" Minerva looked at me intently while she stroked the tabby cat on her lap.

"Some stuff happened when we were in New Orleans before, and I said something to him about not turning to the dark side." I glanced over to Mel. "Not turning into Darth Vader." As the light came on for Mel I focused on Minerva. "It's from a Muggle movie, about a character who lets anger and hate turn him, well, to the dark side. Difference with Draco is that he started out on the dark side, has moved past it, but it's always there in the background. I think that's why the WLF or whoever did that to Astoria, poisioning her. She's paralyzed now, maybe they'll fix it but I don't really think they will. They're trying to put him in a position so he can't win and if he thinks there's something he can do to fix Astoria, no matter how illegal it is, I know him. He loves her more than anything except his son. He'll do it, fuck the consequences. If that happens, then not only will they have Voldemort as a martyr figure they'll also have a Malfoy."

"That poor child." Minerva shook her head. "I could tell from his first day at Hogwarts he'd been brainwashed with that nonsense. If you told him something was white he would say it was black. His father..." She shuddered with a seething anger. "Lucius Malfoy was one of the worst sort. A true believer."

"He was awful at school." Mel shook her head. "An absolutely horrible little shit, and that's being nice. What he did to Harry back then, not to mention how he treated Hermione...I'm glad she punched him."

"Wait, what?" I looked over to my wife. "Hermione punched Draco? How have I never heard this story?" I took off my glasses and saw a look shared between Mel and Minerva. "Ok, fine, that's a story for another time. I haven't heard from Draco for a while, he's still over in New Orleans with Astoria. Do you think he'll see the book?"

Minerva looked at me over her glasses. "If what you think about the motives for the book are correct, I am certain he will."

"Shit." I ran a hand over my goatee. "So now what?"

I heard the back door shut and footsteps, followed by Hermione calling out to me and Mel. Melody went out to see her and I turned back to Minerva. "So now what?"

"I may not have many resources at my disposal in my current state, but I do have a portrait at Hogwarts. Perhaps, if you don't mind, I'll speak to Albus and some of the other portraits."

"I don't know. I mean, I feel like I should talk to Draco first. Just doesn't seem right."

"As you wish. Keep it as an option for later, then."

-ooo-

As expected when I joined Mel and Hermione it was slightly mental; Hermione was talking a mile a minute about house elves and faeries and the ramifications of what she'd heard affecting house elf legislation, how it wasn't fair that generations of house elves had to suffer for the crimes of their ancestors, stuff like that. She finally calmed down enough to sit for a cup of tea with Melody and I took the opportunity to retreat into the library with the new book. I did notice that Minerva wasn't in her frame, but hopefully she'd listened when I asked her not to say anything about Draco.

I put on the WUMP, sat back in my chair and opened the book to the first page of The Serpent Lion-Tamer.

She stood in the doorway, heart aflame. It was supposed to be her happily ever-after, marriage, a career, children. She gazed at her husband and the children but knew in her soul that it was not enough, it would never be enough. Making the excuse of going into the office to finish paperwork she left hurriedly.

The night was dark and stormy, rain lashing down like retribution from the gods, the tendrils of her hair wet on her face. She walked slowly, uncertain of her destination, but there was only ever one destination for her. Her destiny. She turned on the spot and disapparated, arriving in front of a large, intricately wrought gate. For a moment she hesitated, knowing that if she did this, if she gave in, her life would be changed forever. Ron, the children, they would be her past. She stared at the gate as the rain continued to fall, mingling with her tears. She wanted him. She needed him, so much so that her body began to ache. Her magic called out to him. He was her future. Her future, her present and her always.

And then he was there, standing on the other side of the gate. She saw the rain lash against him, flattening his white-blonde hair, normally pulled into an aristocratic ponytail but now wild like the wind, flowing about his shoulders. The half-unbuttoned white shirt stark against the dark robe that billowed behind him. With the crunch of gravel against his high leather boots he walked forward, grey eyes flashing like thunder. "Hermione. Why are you here? You know what will happen if I open the gate."

"I know, Draco." She walked forward, put her hands against the iron bars and peered through, entranced with his eyes. "I've made my decision."

He stroked his goatee. "My marriage is one of convenience, arranged by my father. There is no love in my marriage, no hope for another heir now as she is incapacitated. You married for love, did you not?"

"I thought I loved him, but that was before Swindon."

Draco laughed. They had run across each other one day in Swindon, her at a meeting for the Ministry, him for one of his nefarious plans. To the outside world he was reformed, but that was simply a cover. She had seen him in the restaurant, a few tables away, and they had locked eyes. In that moment he felt his desire build to an almost unquenchable thirst, the desire to run his hands through her hair, to see her pretty skin bound by silk scarves, to watch as she strained futilely against the restraints as he brought her to the brink again and again. He could tell by her eyes that it was reciprocal. He excused himself from the table and made his way to the restroom, but did not enter. A few moments later she was there, in front of him, chest heaving. Without a word she was on him, lips and mouth everywhere, hands moving about as if they had a mind of their own. They left the restaurant by the back door, rented a hotel room and spent the next day testing the limits of pain and pleasure.

"Open the gate, Draco." She stepped closer, unbuttoning her blouse.

"If I open the gate you will obey my every word as it is law."

"I understand...Master."

The gate swung open and she went to him. He grabbed her hair, pulling her head back, and kissed her forcefully. When their lips parted he smiled and licked his lips. "Now I will show you how to tame a lion."

"Holy fucking shit!" I sat back and shook my head. "That is...goddamn it, really? Jesus, that's..." I got up and went to the liquor cabinet, rummaged around for a bit until I found a particularly strong firewhiskey that George Weasley had given me, loosened the top and took a swig straight from the bottle. After a bit, and after the stinging feeling in my chest subsided, I thought again about the damn book and took another drink.

"Hank? What's...why are you drinking in the middle of the day?" Melody looked at me oddly.

I just pointed to the book on the desk and took another swig. Wiping my mouth with my hand I shook my head. "That's the worst of them all. What's the craziest thing you can imagine, with the cover like that?" As she didn't say anything right away I couldn't help myself. "Hermione is into kinky S&M shit with Draco."

"Stop it." She shook her head and then looked at me when I didn't say anything else. "Seriously? Hermione? Doing...that with Draco?"

"And that's just the first fucking chapter. I didn't even finish it. Hold on." I went back to the desk and picked up the book, flipping thorugh to the middle, scanned a few pages, flipped some more and went to the end. Mel asked me something but I held up a hand to indicate that I'd be a few minutes more and then, when I finished the last couple of pages I threw the book on the desk. "I feel dirty now. I mean, shit. It gets bad. I mean, from what I read it gets kinky as shit. It has Hermione doing stuff that...the middle part has her with Draco, two other witches and a centaur, for fuck's sake. It ends with her sacrificing her children to make her and Draco immortal so they can keep kinky fucking each other for eternity."

At that point Melody reached over and took a swig of firewhiskey. "That's…, Merlin's pants, that's worse than anything before, right?"

"Oh yeah, we've definitely stepped over a line with this one." I paused. "Is she still here?"

"No, she went back to the office."

"Thank God. I don't think I could look at her right now after reading that. If they wanted to drive Draco to do something, not to mention Hermione, this will do it." I paused. "Holy fucking hell, if Ron reads this..."

"Maybe you should go into the Auror office. Harry's office, don't show that to Ron."

"Good idea." I slipped on my flip-flops and rummaged around in my desk to find my Auror badge. Even after all this time it felt odd to have one, but it did have a blue band on the bottom indicating that I wasn't a field Auror, thank God. I jammed a my Braves hat on my head, grabbed my wand and kissed Melody, telling her to wish me luck. I had a feeling I was going to need it.

I was just about to head to the Floo when I saw Reena pop up beside me. "Where are we going?"

"Shit, I forgot. So everywhere I go, you go?"

"Yep." She seemed to bounce on her feet slightly. "Are we going to Hogwarts? I can't wait."

"Uh, no. The Auror office."

"Oh." Her enthusiasm dimmed. "I don't know..."

"Why?"

She fiddled with the edge of her clothing. "You saw how Melody and her mum reacted when they saw me."

"Yeah, but I just showed up out of the blue with you. Hermione didn't act that way, did she?"

"Oh no, she was just inquisitive. Asked a lot of questions. But others won't be as nice. They ususally aren't." She paused. "Hank, they try and catch us. They think if they can catch a faerie we'll show them where we keep our treasures." She laughed, but it wasn't a mirthful laugh, this one was full of disdain. "They don't realise that our treasures are growing in their gardens and parks and forests."

That surprised me. "Huh. No wonder our garden looks better than it ever has. Ok, how about if I contact Harry and we see if we can Floo directly to his office. I know he has a Floo in his office, never used it as far as I know, but that would keep you away from everybody. Also keeps us from having to go through the visitor's entrance. That'd be a minefield. Would that work?"

She shrugged and I took it as a sign, probably the best response I was going to get. I found Mel and asked her to do the Floo call thing, since I could talk to someone in the Floo but couldn't actually initiate the call. Damned annoying. She did the Floo call and soon Scarlet, Harry's assistant, was there in the flames.

"Hello, Hank. What can I do for you?"

"Hey Scarlet, need a favor. It's possible to Floo directly into Harry's office, right?"

"Yes...but why? You have your badge, there shouldn't be any bother coming in the usual way."

"Um..." How to put this… "You know about my guest, right? Harry's briefed you?"

At this point she gave me a put-out look. "Of course. I am up to speed on all of the important cases." Then a light clicked. "Ah, I see. He's down with the trainees right now doing a guest lecture, should be finished..." She looked away, probably to a clock. "He'll be out in about twenty minutes. That'll give me enough time to reset the Floo password."

"Password? Floos can have passwords?"

"Hank, really? You don't think the Head Auror would have some sort of..."

I waved her off. "I get it, I get it. Ok. So how long?"

"A few moments. I'll leave the connection up and be right back."

As the flames continued to dance in the Floo I looked over to Reena. She was still nervous, but a bit better. I told her to holler if Scarlet came back and rushed into the office, picked up the book and headed back to the Floo. I'd just knelt down when Scarlet's head appeared back in the flames.

"Ok, here's the process. You throw down the Floo powder like usual, but have to wait until the flames turn white. When that happens say 'hippogriff' very distinctly. You only get one chance because once the flames turn white if you don't say it right the connection is severed. See you shortly."

With that the connection ceased. I stood up, my knees creaking slightly, and started to reach for the Floo powder when Mel came in with something in her hands.

"Here." She held out my robe, the one George had given me ages ago.

"Why do I need that?"

"Really?" She gave me an odd look and adjusted her glasses. "Look at what you're wearing."

I took a look down and saw my flip-flops, khaki shorts and my t-shirt. It was one from Christmas a few years ago that my brother Nate had given me that said 'Warning: Objects Under Kilt May Be Larger Than They Appear.' "Shit. Good point. Hold on." I went back to our bedroom and grabbed the first t-shirt I could find, thankfully it was my Ramones shirt. I put it on, slammed my hat back on my head and went to the Floo. "Reena, do you want to hold my hand or..."

Obviously that wasn't what she had in mind because her wings came out and she flitted up and threw her arms around my neck, instinctively making me catch her. I gave Mel a look and saw that, thankfully, she was grinning. Apparently I had a very surprised look on my face. Stepping into the Floo I said 'Head Auror's Office' very plainly and saw the flames swirl green for a moment and then, just as Scarlet had said, they transitioned to white. "Hippogriff."

We tumbled out of the Floo into Harry's office, and I should have remembered what I was getting myself into, because I tripped on a box and landed in a pile of paperwork, knocking a half-filled teacup over. Reena wasn't in my arms anymore, instead I could only see one of her legs and an arm behind a box with hopefully empty Chinese takeaway containers on top. The sound of our arrival, and struggle to extricate ourselves from Harry's usual mess, brought Scarlet to the door.

"Oh bloody hell, I've been on that man for years..." She waded through the debris and helped pull me up. After I got to my feet I watched as she very gently helped Reena upright. "Forgive the mess, Ambassador, I would like to say it usually isn't like this but unfortunately it is. There's a reason we don't use this Floo, and now you know why."

Reena looked around the office and pulled a face, one that I took to mean that she was disgusted. "Do we have to stay in here?"

"Merlin, no." Scarlet shook her head. "If you'll follow me we'll head to one of the conference rooms." She started to walk away but paused. "I'm not sure how we can hide you, Ambassador."

I smiled. I knew exactly how we could do that, and as Reena did her 'turn into a third year student' bit I saw Scarlet's eyes widen. "I don't think that's a problem."

Scarlet shook her head. "I should say not. Very well, follow me, please."

The conference room looked like pretty much every conference room ever, hell, it could have been in a Holiday Inn it was so plain and boring. Well, plain and boring outside of the painting of Aurors arresting someone for Muggle baiting, anyway. The table was large enough for about twenty or so, and I took a seat at the side, next to the chair at the top. Reena took a seat opposite of me, leaving the top chair available for Harry. I took out the book and put it on the table, unwilling to even glance at another page of that bullshit. Reena was quiet, taking everything in, and it looked odd seeing her sitting there, barely able to see over the table.

Finally the door opened and Harry came in, somewhat hurriedly, and sat down. "Sorry, had to have a word with John. He was being a bit difficult about the trainees." He smirked at me. "You remember Dinkins, don't you, Hank?"

Oh yeah, I definitely remembered Auror Instructor John Dinkins. Ran my ass ragged when I had to go through Auror training a while back. Not my biggest fan. "Yeah, I remember Dinkins. What'd he want, trainees to run twenty miles and then...nevermind." I pushed the book over to Harry. "Seen this yet?"

Harry scowled at the cover. "No. Where'd you get this?"

"Hermione, believe it or not. Showed up in my garden ready to rip the head off a dragon. We got her calmed down. I think. Thankfully she didn't read any of it yet. Harry, this is the worst one yet. Bad. I mean, like, really bad. Like Hermione would ever enter a sadistic S&M relationship with Draco and sacrifice her children bad."

"Bloody fucking hell!" Harry sat back and took off his glasses. "That's...that's...that's beyond absurd!"

"Exactly." I took a deep breath. "But this time I don't think it's trying to get under Hermione's skin, like the other one, I think this time they're after Draco."

"Malfoy?" He put on his glasses and studied me. "Why do you think that, Hank?"

I laid out my theories to Harry, how basically they wanted to turn Malfoy to the dark side, using him. I told him how it must be a recent writing because they mentioned Astoria's paralyzation, and as soon as those words were out of my mouth Harry leaned forward.

"Not too many know about that. Yes, it isn't a secret, exactly, but it's not common knowledge." He turned to Reena. "Ambassador, I know I don't need to say this because of the understanding we reached in our meeting, but please keep what we discuss here today in confidence." As she nodded her assent he turned to me and continued. "We've been keeping in close contact with the Healers over there, as well as keeping tabs on Malfoy, just in case. Draco's done nothing that worries us, but after the final..." He paused. "Hank, it's permanent. She'll never walk again."

"Fuck." I sat back in my chair. "How's he..."

"As best as can be expected, from what we've heard. It also means that she'll never have children again."

"Holy shit." I stood up and began pacing. "If they want to drive him over the edge, this is a good fucking start. If anyone did this to Mel, or if anyone did this to Ginny..."

"I'd be beyond furious." Harry nodded, his face grim. "He's never been my favourite person by any stretch, but he didn't deserve this. She definitely didn't deserve this. He's barely holding it together from what we've heard, and now, to throw this on top of it?" He picked up the book and shook his head. "Not to mention if Ron sees this...Merlin. At first it was just annoying, I get it, I'm used to people saying all sorts of crap about me, but it's getting worse. We need to find these bastards." He picked up the book and stopped. "Reena, if I may, would you indulge me?"

"Sure. What?" The little faerie looked up at him, confused. "What can I do?"

"Could you...examine this book? See if you can tell anything about it?"

She took the book from him and studied it closely. Then, opening the book, she sniffed it. That was odd, but then she licked one of the pages. Rolling around her tongue in her mouth, like someone tasting a new food, she swallowed and then made a disgusting face. She closed the book quickly and slid it across the table.

"It isn't from a British tree. The pages."

I glanced over to Harry and he nodded; they were still printing the books in America, then. He watched her for a moment and then nodded.

"Thank you. Anything else?"

She thought for a moment and then shuddered. "It feels...dry. Like there isn't a lot of water there. I don't know how to explain it. Sorry, that's all I get."

"Thank you, that's something we'll take into account." He turned to me. "You read some of it, Hank. What's your opinion?"

"Different writer, again. Style's different than the one about..." I paused. I really didn't want to bring up the whole Forbidden Lion thing with Harry if I didn't have to. "And it's much different than the other ones. Sorry. That's all I could tell from the little bit I read. Please don't tell me I have to read the whole thing, I don't think there's enough firewhiskey for that." He nodded his assent, thankfully. But something was still bothering me. "Harry, what are you going to do about Draco? Somebody needs to tell him about this."

He sighed, shoulders slumping slightly. "I guess I'll need to go see him. Probably wouldn't hurt, just to see how he's doing with everything that's happened. Maybe he'll have some information for us, though since he's been practically living at hospital I doubt it." He stood up. "Thank you for bringing this in. I take it you don't want it back?"

I snorted. "Merlin's socks, pants and underwear, hell no. Only if I needed to start a fire. It's not mine, though, it's Hermione's."

"I'm sure she won't mind. Ok, then. We'll keep you informed of any updates, those that I can tell you. You've got to get ready for Hogwarts, don't you?"

Shit. He was right. I had to be back to the castle next week. "Yeah. Oh, and you know that Reena's coming with me, right?"

She nodded. "Wherever he goes, I go."

"Crap." He ran a hand through his hair. "Add a visit to Headmaster Titus to my list, then. How is that going to work?"

I laughed. "She's got Teddy Lupin beat by a mile. Reena?"

As she turned herself once more into a third year student Harry shook his head. "Ted would be so jealous. Right then. Scarlet can see you out." Halfway out the door he paused. "How did the two of you get up here?"

"Your Floo, Harry." I saw his confusion. "The one in your office."

"Really? Damn." He looked a bit pale. "Ambassador, please forgive my mess. I know I should clean it, really, but...right. What's done is done. Have Scarlet show you one of the witness Floos. Use them to let people out so they don't have to go through security again. One way Floos, unfortunately, so it wouldn't have worked for you to get here. Oh, and as a matter of security, please don't tell anyone about the Floo in my office. I'll be in touch."

When he left Reena looked over to me. "Why shouldn't we say anything about his Floo?"

"Because his wife will give him an earful about how messy it is, that's why."

She giggled as she hopped off the chair and headed over to me. We made our way to Scarlet's desk, were shown the witness Floo and ended up back at Colony House thereafter. Reena turned back into her normal, faerie appearance and went directly out into the garden, leaving me alone in the living room.

"Hank?"

I followed Melody's voice into my office, finding her sitting at my desk with her Witch Weekly parchment covering every conceivable surface. "Hey, love."

"How'd it go?"

"Ok, I guess. Harry's looking into it." I sat down in one of the chairs in front of my desk and kicked off my flip-flops. "What?"

"You're worried."

"I am. For Draco." I rubbed my forehead for a bit and then turned to her. "Astoria will never walk again. No more kids, either. I know he was awful at school, and did a lot of shit, but I wouldn't wish that on anybody." I saw her look, the one that came over her face when I talked about Draco. She knew more than I did, obviously, as she'd been at Hogwarts then, and she couldn't think of him without thinking of all the awful things he'd done as a child. I had met him as an adult, and even though I knew he'd changed I also knew that some people would never be able to see past that. "Mel?"

"Poor Astoria. He'll never be one of my favourite people, not by a long shot, but that's...what's going to happen?"

"I don't know, love. I don't know."

A/N: I know, I know, about a year without a chapter and then two really quickly. I think it took me a while to get back into this story, to get back into writing Hank after all of the other pieces, but now it's starting to come much more easily than I thought. I tend to do what I call a lot of 'head writing', thinking of things in my head during the day and then eventually writing stuff out, and to be honest it's been Time and the Moon and other stuff that's been in there lately. Now I'm back thinking about Hank and this story so hopefully that means more chapters fairly soon.

I haven't given up on Lady Black, Lord Potter, it's just that I've hit the part that all Lord Potter stories reach, the 'what the hell do we do after Voldemort snuffs it' part. I have ideas, but that'll have to wait.

So there you have it. Hopefully nobody died of shock seeing another chapter so soon. Part of me wonders if anyone really reads the Professor Muggle stories as they're definitely not as popular as the Harry-centered stories, but thanks to some gentle prodding from readers I've decided this story needs more attnetion. As always, thanks for reading and review if you wish.