A/N: HAHA! I told you I would get back to my schedule! And here I am, posting on Tuesday! Bawhahaha. You guys, thank you so much for not just giving up on me when I went on an announced hiatus, and thank you so so so much for you're comments! I always appreciate them! You guy just give me so much encouragement to keep going. I'm not going to lie, getting these last few chapters, done to wrap up this beast has been daunting to say in the least, but I swear on everything Dramione I will finish it! Hopefully well too. Lol. There's going to be some twists and turns, in a few chapters, so please keep you're arms, legs in ride at all times and enjoy the roller coaster!
Chapter 27
Hermione knocked gingerly on Harry's office door, and when a gruff voice called her in, she found Harry disheveled staring at the wall which he had plastered in with every bit of information he could get on Rookwood, Dolohov, and Nott Sr. "Harry..." Hermione trailed off.
Harry turned to look at Hermione. "It's like they just disappeared. No one has seen or heard from them since Azkaban, and every fucking lead I chase down is a dead end." He ran his hand through his messy hair.
Hermione bit her lip, the Prophet and the other journalists had been coming down hard on Kingsley and Harry about the loose Death Eaters. The public was in a uproar that it had been several months since their escape and they hadn't been caught, which left Harry in a very desperate situation because Kingsley's falling popularity meant he was putting the pressure on Harry to find them. "You'll find them, Harry," Hermione tried to reassure him.
Harry glared at her. "Hermione, this is what happened last time, they escaped and no one could find them until Voldemort had already risen."
"Harry," Hermione grabbed his shoulders and forced him to look her in the eye, her voice firm, "he's not coming back, he's gone."
Harry sighed, he massaged his forehead. "I know, but what if they find someone else to take his place? What if we are launched in to a third war?"
Hermione pursed her lips, she knew the threat was real, peace was always a precarious balance. "You'll find them, Harry, you've got an entire department and ministry behind you now, imagine what we would have done with that during the war."
Harry chuckled, and then nodded slowly, his hand clasping one hers. "I just feel like I'm being led down a rabbit hole," he sighed heavily, looking up at the paper covered wall again.
Hermione eyes followed Harry's and fell on the picture of Nott Sr. smirking smugly as if he knew something she didn't. "What if you are?" Hermione's brow furrowed as she thought, dropping her hands from his shoulders and stepping closer to the photos. "What if they're throwing you off of them with bad information?"
"It's possible, but I just can't let a lead go, Hermione. I just need something, anything really."
Hermione nodded and turned back to Harry, folding her arms. "Maybe just send one of the Aurors instead, your head is getting too foggy chasing down every trail." Hermione shrugged, she could tell that he knew she was right but was having trouble letting go. "Harry, you're in too deep, take a step back," she implored.
Harry sighed again, but nodded slowly.
Draco looked up at the Burrow, amazed that somehow this place still stood, with its odd floors and overhangs. Clearly magic held the home in place.
"Are you ready?" Hermione's voice sang sweetly beside him as they stood outside the gate.
Draco looked at her, apprehension building in his stomach. "I don't know if I'll ever be ready," Draco grumbled.
Hermione tsked. "Not with that attitude. They know you're coming so they've had time to adjust, just be nice, and I'm sure it will be fine."
Draco rolled his eyes but followed her through the small gate, and to what he assumed to be the front door. Hermione smiled back at him as she stepped up on the stoop and opened the door, and immediately Draco was hit with the smell of fresh muffins and a cacophony of noise burst of the doorway. After a beat, a chorus of "Hermione's" rang through the air as she was ushered in to house. Draco slowly stepped up on to the stoop and before him found a kitchen full of Weaselys greeting Hermione just inside. He cautiously stepped through the doorway and, as if he cast a silencing spell on the room, a deafening quiet fell over the room. Draco slowly closed the door behind him as a room of eyes watched his every moment. He nodded. "Good morning."
The room stood frozen for a beat before a plump red haired woman stepped out from behind some men, obviously the matriarch of the Family. "Good morning, I hope you brought an appetite," she smiled. "Now tea or coffee?"
"Coffee please, and thank you." She nodded slowly. "Draco" He held out his hand to shake hers.
"Molly," she smiled at him. "How do you like it?"
"Black, thank you."
"Excellent." She turned around to find the rest of the room still staring at them. "Oh, for heaven's sake!" She belted. "He's not dangerous."
"Says you." said one of the men that Draco recognized to be one of the twins that he went to Hogwarts, the only twin now, Draco recalled solemnly.
"Watch yourself, George" Molly warned.
The twin's eyes met Draco's. "I will," his voice cold.
Draco braced himself. This was what he had been expecting, the Weasley's lost so much in the war. A war that they held him accountable and rightly so, Draco admitted to himself.
"James Sirius, stop running this instant!" A small child came bolting into the stiff room followed by a woman Draco recognized as Ginny. The boy stopped dead in front of Draco and looked up at him.
The small boy held out a hand, Draco hesitated for a moment but took the small hand in his. The small boy smiled and pulled Draco through the crowd and in to another room that had train tracks and trains sprawled across the floor. The boy started handing Draco small trains and rambling, about what Draco hadn't a clue, but the boy seemed proud of his toys as he kept handing them Draco with a look of pride in his eye.
"James, I don't think Mr. Malfoy knows how to play with your trains." Draco looked up and Harry was sitting opposite him smirking at Draco's clear discomfort with the situation.
James seemed to care not at all about his father's advice and continued picking things up and handing them to Draco. "Potter," Draco nodded.
"Malfoy," Harry replied. "I see you made it, should be an interesting meal." He smiled mischievously.
Draco scoffed. "Yeah, going over well so far."
"I figured it was you that managed to silence the house, that's not something that happens often here," Harry chided.
Draco nodded solemnly. "Well, it happens often to me so I'm not unfamiliar with it." Draco heard shuffling behind him and noticed the Weasleys were filtering in to the room.
Hermione slipped next to Draco, taking his hand firmly, holding it in hers. She smiled up at him and whatever courage Draco had lost was built back up. He kissed her softly on top of the head and gave her hand a tight squeeze. "Well then, let me introduce you, I guess," Hermione said slowly as he went around the room and introduced the many Weasleys, their spouses, and offspring. Draco had known there were plenty of Weasleys but, as Hermione explained who was who and which children belonged where, Draco realized that he had missed out on such a large family. Draco's parents always told him that he came from a proud long line, but at the end of the day, they were the only living Malfoys, Lucius had been an only son like him and his mother only spoke of her sister Andromeda once when she was very young. Hermione finally ended on Ron. "And of course you know Ron, and this is his fiancè, Sara." She turned to him and smiled again, as if this was just a normal meet and greet the boyfriend. Draco grimaced, he was highly outnumbered.
Another thick tension filled the room as Draco looked up the long line of various redheaded Weasleys, sure that at any giving chance one of them was curse him back to last century but, as if on cue, Molly shuffled into the room. "Okay, everyone, food is ready, let's all sit down to eat." Molly flashed another smile at Draco, but it was clearly forced, for Hermione's sake.
Draco watched as everyone started to moved back out of the room and into the kitchen that Molly had just finished extending temporarily to accomodate all her guests. Draco sat down next to Hermione and watched the Weasley dynamic unfold around him. He had never had a meal that was so loud and ruckus. They fought and laughed and talked over each other and Hermione looked as if she were at home, almost more so then with her own parents. Was this what it was like in a normal family? Was this what regular families without pedigrees acted? Was this the kind of life that Hermione wanted? Was this a life Draco wanted? He pondered these things as he watched the chaos of brunch in front of him, being sure to keep under the cloak. Once everyone was finished, they helped clean up and then headed outside for what seemed to be a regular Quidditch scrimmage that they all liked to play.
Hermione turned to Draco. "Do you want to play?" she smiled sweetly.
Draco pursed his lips. "Maybe some other time," he murmured. "I have a feeling too many bludgers might go astray."
Hermione frowned a bit, but seemed to reason with him. "Okay, well, it's my job to keep score, apparently I'm the only one everyone trusts to not be biased," she chuckled.
"Well, see, now I know I shouldn't play, hate to give an unfair advantage, sleeping with the ref and all," Draco scoffed.
Hermione's eyebrow quirked up. "I would consider that a severe disadvantage," she smiled back. From the pitch however, everyone began to obnoxiously call her name. "Okay, okay!" she yelled back. Hermione gave Draco a quick peck and darted across the garden, leaving Draco to himself.
This whole thing was strange to Draco. He wondered if this was what it was like to have siblings, that maybe if he had a sibling that they would play Quidditch together. "You did well for your first brunch,"
a female voice came from behind him.
Draco looked over his shoulder to find Ginny standing just behind him. "Why aren't you playing?" he wondered. "Don't you play professionally?"
"I do," she smiled, "points for knowing, but I'm pregnant again, so flying is not necessarily a great idea."
"Oh. Well, congratulations," Draco nodded.
"Thanks," she smiled. "I'm just a couple of months along, but I'd still rather not risk falling off." She stepped up to Draco's side. "Why aren't you playing?"
Draco grimaced. "I'm not sure I'd be a good addition yet."
Ginny smiled. "Yeah, probably not yet, but you'll get there. If I remember correctly you're a decent seeker."
Draco smirked. "I had my moments, not like wonder boy though."
Ginny laughed. "Right, well, he's slowed down since fatherhood, so you might stand a chance now."
"I'll keep that in mind." They watched them play for a long time, Harry managed to crash into a Weasley and fall off his broom and, in a heartbeat, Hermione was beside him, Draco bit back some frustration.
"You'll get used to it," Ginny elbowed him, apparently she caught his glare.
Draco eyed her for a moment. "You got used to it?" He watched her carefully, trying to gauge how much she knew of Harry and Hermione's relationship and how much it actually bothered her.
"It used to drive me bonkers," she admitted. "I felt like I was constantly the third wheel on their relationship. Like I had to fight her for Harry's attention, and I lost it when he told me the truth."
"So he did tell you." Draco shifted slightly to see Ginny better.
"And she told you apparently." Ginny's eyes narrowed. "Yes, Harry couldn't keep it from me."
Draco looked at her hard. "And you're really okay with how close they are?"
Ginny sighed. "For the most part. There are sometimes when they're just too much, but I realized a long time ago that she can be there in a way for him that I just can't." She sighed softly. "They rely on each other in a strange way, and in a way only they understand, and you just have to accept that."
Draco looked up at the game again, Harry was back on his broom and Hermione was back to calling out points and fouls. He still wasn't sure, he had already felt like he was battling Potter for recognition at Hogwarts, he didn't know how well he could cope with competing for Hermione's attention. "What if I can't?"
Ginny looked up at him. "Then you'll lose her," her voice frank.
Draco gritted his teeth, he didn't want to ask for advice, he didn't like to admit he needed help ever, but this was not something he was sure he could do without her insight. "How then? How did you accept it?"
Ginny smirked. "I just realized that if he loved Hermione the way he loves me, he would have chosen her. It's not like they never got the chance, they did, they just chose other people." She kicked at the grass. "And I chose to trust him," she stated simply.
Draco let go of a breath that he hadn't realized he was holding, trust had not been his fortè. "Was it that simple?"
Ginny laughed. "No, it's not that simple," she chuckled, "but that's love. Giving someone your heart and hoping they don't crush it. It's scary but wonderful."
Draco looked at Ginny. She had a wistful look in her eye and a meek smile on her lips. Draco hadn't noticed how much of a beautiful woman she had become, her wild red hair had darkened with age and her freckles faded into her skin tone but she had a wiser look to her since their school years. Draco had never truly known Ginny and yet somehow he felt as if they were connected in some way. "I'm sorry."
Ginny's brows knitted together. "For what?"
Draco ran his hand through his hair. "About the Diary, I didn't know it would almost kill you."
A look of shock washed over her face. "You knew?"
Draco ground his teeth and took a deep breath. "Yes, and I'm sorry I didn't stop Lucius."
Ginny looked as if she was about to say something, but instead she paused. "He abused you."
Draco's eyes narrowed, he was sure he hadn't told her that, which meant Hermione must have told her. He took a deep breath, suppressing his frustration. "It's no excuse. I'm sorry I let that happen."
Ginny stared at Draco for a long time, clearly considering his apology. "thank you" she finally said. "You've done a lot of growing up." She turned back to the game watching as everyone started to head back to the house.
"Yeah, well, shit happens." Draco shrugged and looked back at the field where everyone else had been playing, except everyone was now walking back to the burrow, laughing and teasing each other as they went. Ginny, without another word, left him standing in the garden as she went to meet Potter who happily slung an arm around her and kissed her on top of the head. Was that what a real marriage looked like? He wondered to himself. His parents had never been affectionate towards each other and none of the adults in his life seemed to like each other that much either, let alone be in love. He was fucked, he decided, he had no idea how to be in a loving marriage, Hell, he barely knew how to be in a relationship. His mother encouraged him to follow his heart as a child, she always wanted more for him than a loveless marriage, but she was never able to show him what that sort of relationship looked like. While he had dated while at Hogwarts it had always been with girls he knew he was supposed to like, girls Lucius would approve of, not because he actually liked them. No, he thought, the girl he always liked was unacceptable. Oh how Lucius must be turning in his grave. Draco smiled at the image of his father having an ethereal conniption.
"What are you smiling about?" Hermione giggled as she approached Draco.
Draco shook his head, and pulled her into his, chest wrapping his arms around her tightly. "Nothing," he muttered as he lifted her chin to place a sweet kiss on her lips.
"Oi! None of that now!" Ron bellowed from behind Hermione.
"Shut it, Ron!" Ginny snapped back at him, "You're such a bloody hypocrite, you snog Sara all the time!"
"No one actually likes him!" Ron barked. "Everyone likes Sara!"
"Yeah, but no one likes you!" Ginny retorted, Ron turned a shade of red as everyone in the garden exploded with laughter.
"Ginny would have been an excellent Slytherin," Draco mumbled softly as he and Hermione proceeded back to the Burrow with everyone else.
Hermione burst into laughter again. "Don't you utter such things around here. You're liable to be banished for life."