February 28th

Draco Malfoy's cryptic request that she not hate him when she arrived at the address he gave her in Devon became clear almost immediately when she saw the entire Jordan family, well and completely whole, moments after she arrived. They were all pleased to see her again. Each of them greeted her with warm hugs and laughter she felt like she didn't deserve. Wasn't it her fault that they were almost destroyed? Her husband was the one who violated the treaty the Dark Lord created with the leaders of the Welsh magical community early on in his reign. Their lives were irrevocably changed because of her very existence.

Except, it didn't seem like any of that was true. The previous twenty-four hours had passed by in such a blur of surrealistic activity that she was still reeling. As the time ticked closer to midnight her second night in Devon, she lay in the private bedroom she'd been provided in the Jordan family's new home trying to put all of the pieces together. Making some sort of sense of what happened was not an easy task.

Lee welcomed her into the house once their greetings were complete. Sarah was determined that she would be the perfect hostess again by immediately brewing a pot of tea for their guest. The girls were frustrated that they were ordered to go to bed early to let the grown-ups talk. Posy went without question, but Lizzie dragged her feet and made it clear that she thought they were being unfair. The nervousness that Hermione felt around the older of the two Jordan girls was still present. If anything, it was even more pronounced. What was it about the girl that unnerved her so?

There was much to discuss to her surprise. Once the three adults were seated around the kitchen table with hot cups of tea and fresh biscuits, the questions poured out of Hermione. Part of her was still in shock at finding them waiting for her. What was the purpose of Draco giving her the newspapers, clearly falsified, claiming that they were victims of unnecessary violence?

"Dolohov was able to trace you to the Muggle police station. Apparently, we aren't the only ones with someone on the inside of the department keeping an eye on arrests of strange people."

She wasn't surprised to know that her husband had connections even in Wales. No doubt he was frustrated to arrive only to find out she was no longer there. Though worried what kind of body count he left behind, she asked after the kind Muggles who had arrested her. That, however, was one of the only questions Lee initially refused to answer. He seemed bothered that she would even care about the Muggles. She wasn't without compassion! They could have easily treated her like a hostile criminal instead of being gentle and careful in their treatment of her. Hermione thought about the female police officer with the soft, kind voice. Had her husband ended her life in some sort of cruel manner?

"It doesn't really matter what happened there, Hermione."

"The hell it doesn't!"

Lee sighed when it became apparent that she wasn't going to let the issue drop so easily. After exchanging concerned expressions with his wife, her host described how Antonin had been incensed to find that she had been released. There had definitely been an incident, something that no doubt the Dark Lord himself would have to fix with the leaders of the Welsh magical community. His reluctance to tell her exactly how many people were injured gave her all of the knowledge she needed. He'd killed at least one of them for certain. Likely more than a few.

A compulsion spell, probably the Imperius, cast on one of the poor Muggles revealed that she had been taken out of the station by a man named Lee Jordan. Why Lee had to show his actual identification when asked instead of just using his own spell was beyond Hermione. Had life in the security and safety of Wales stripped him of all of his self-preservation tactics? Once there was a time in her life when she couldn't justify using an Imperius Curse, but that time was long gone. If her very survival was in jeopardy, there was very little she wouldn't do.

With Lee's name it hadn't taken long for Antonin to track down his home. Hermione used to know every single contact and connection her husband had. As time wore on and he became more secretive and power-hungry, she was left more and more out of the loop. She had once been his partner, practically equal in everything they did. A lot had changed. He saw her alternatively as being either something weak and precious he needed to protect or a potential enemy he needed to be suspicious of. If she'd stayed much longer in their home, she wasn't sure what he would eventually do. Probably end up killing her to protect her or some other such rubbish that made no sense.

Lee and Sarah had been preparing themselves for a visit from the notorious Death Eater. When he knocked on their front door, they had remained as calm as it was possible to be. He offered them promises that he wouldn't hurt them if they just surrendered his wife.

"He seemed very worried about you, Hermione," said Sarah as she refilled her empty cup. "Not at all like I expected. When Lee told him how you'd already left, he was more sad than angry."

Hermione resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Between the bizarre lunch she had with Thorfinn earlier in the month and their odd initial interaction with Antonin, she was having trouble believing anything anyone she cared about said. To believe that her homicidal husband was actually concerned about her instead of wishing to track her down to make her pay for hurting and humiliating him was just naive and ridiculous. She had been under the impression for years that she was the one losing grip on her sanity. Was it possible that the problem was with everyone else instead?

The rest of the story that they were willing to tell came out in a few more sentences. Antonin hadn't so much as raised their wand against them. Just simply asked that they inform him the moment his wife attempted to make contact with them again. He assured them over and over again that he wasn't there to hurt her and he only wanted to bring her home where she would be safe again.

"I'm sorry, but I don't believe that. If Antonin was so uncharacteristically generous as to let you both go without so much as a stinging hex, why are you here? Why was Malfoy so dead-set on making me believe that you were dead, Sarah? And why make me think that you were in Azkaban, Lee?"

Before his wife could answer, Lee sighed again and began an explanation that Hermione was certain would never be good enough.

"We are here because even in Wales we could feel the world changing. Something is coming. Something big. As much as we might like to keep our girls protected and safely tucked away out of harm's way, we don't feel right about just sitting back and letting others do the hard work."

Hermione narrowed her eyes. Did he really expect her to believe that he would drag his family out of a safe place to drop them right in the middle of the Resistance where they were all likely to be maimed or murdered? The pieces of the puzzle were not fitting together.

"And as for why Draco wanted you to believe we were victims of horrific violence, I'm afraid that's a question you will have to ask him when he gets here."

The finality with which Lee uttered the words made it apparent that she would get nothing more out of him. He offered her the spare bedroom at the end of the corridor for as long as she wanted to have it. Refusing to leave Devon until she got every single answer she wanted, she accepted.

It felt strange to be back in the same house with the Jordan family. If she didn't pay attention to the decor of the bedroom she was in, she could almost imagine that she was back in Wales and time hadn't passed. Hermione tried to fall asleep, but her mind wouldn't shut itself off. When everyone was in bed and she could take it no longer, she snuck out of the house to go for a walk. Fresh air always helped.

She managed to make it only as far as the back garden before she realized she wasn't alone. Reaching into her pocket for the wand she would use if she had to, the startled witch spun around on her heel. Emerging from behind a large hedge was a massive Saint Bernard. She dropped her arm to her side and laughed.