A/N: Only the plot, Adrien and the Parrs are mine! The rest belongs to lovely JKR! Just a quick warning, this chapter is a shorty! Parts of it have a lot of information you need to know but parts don't! I've been going through a couple of dry spells lately so don't judge it too harshly! or do, i don't really care i guess.
Draco walked swiftly up the front path to Hogwarts with Dumbledore at his side and Adrien sleeping in his arms. After he and Burns had made the trade, Draco went tearing off back to the funeral home where he found Hermione's aunt and uncle and got them away from the crowd, and before they could even ask where Hermione was Dumbledore appeared at their side and apparated them all to an unplottable location where Draco was able to explain everything.
"Well why the hell would you do that!?" Carl screamed at him, forgetting that Adrien was in the next room being calmed by a nervous Madame Pomfrey.
"Because I made a promise to her! I promised that no matter what happened Adrien came first! If Burns found us, I was to go after Adrien no matter what!" he yelled with tears in his eyes, how do you break a promise to the person you love?" he asked quietly, hoping they would understand.
"Love? You're too young for love, too young to understand it," Carl said bitterly.
"And Hermione's too young to have a child isn't she!? But she does and she's a great mum and Adrien loves her and she loves him more than life itself!" he argued angrily.
"Draco does have a point you know," Dumbledore remarked.
"Very well," Carl resigned.
"Now," said Dumbledore standing up, "the only matters to be decided are what we going to do to get Miss Granger back and where Adrien is going to stay until this whole mess is over." he announced.
"Well he's going to stay here of course, with his family," Aunt Meredith interjected.
"Well, in other circumstances I would agree with you. But in this, the person we're facing is a very powerful wizard and has already proven himself to get past some of my best charms and spells, I can put numerous spells on this house and on Adrien and yourselves, but you have nothing to offer him in the area of protecting him against a deranged wizard." he explained.
"So…?"
"So I believe Adrien should come to Hogwarts," Dumbledore explained.
"Now wait just a minute!" Carl stood on his feet, ready to fight.
"Mr. Parr," Dumbledore interjected sternly, "I understand your concern for Adrien but I assure you that he will be taken care of. He will be kept in a secret room, password protected, spell protected, he will be in the care of several aurors who happen to be close friends of mine every hour of the day, not to mention the protection and care of some of Miss Granger's best friends."
"Oh I'm not concerned I'm offended! Adrien should be with his family!"
"But that's exactly what he's expecting isn't it?" Draco piped up. "That you would keep him with his family, since that's what you did with Potter?"
"Exactly Mister Malfoy! I taught Burns much of what he knows today and I know him! He may be very smart but he never thinks outside the box! He knows I'm protecting Adrien just like I protected Mister Potter all those years ago, but he doesn't know how so he will have to assume won't he?"
They all nodded, although the Parrs begrudgingly so.
"So, we remove you two to another location under the protection of not only spells but you will have aurors with you this time," he assured the anxious Parrs. "And I know you will be unhappy to hear this but the place you will be at will be a decoy for Burns. That's mainly why the aurors are there, I'm going to try and draw Burns in and try to attack your place of residence to get Adrien and probably you two, but the aurors will more than likely capture or kill him."
"Alright," they consented, "but what about Hermione?"
"He will likely bring her with him or leave her somewhere nearby, I would prefer the latter because than she would be out of his clutches."
Dumbledore and Draco entered the Great Hall. All or most of the students were in bed by this time so there was little chance of them all being seen. Dumbledore had told Draco on there way to Hogwarts that he would be moving all of Draco's things up from his Head Boy room to a near exact replica in a secret room off to the side of his office and right underneath his bed chamber. Adrien, Lupin and Tonks would also be in there with him.
"Mister Malfoy," Lupin greeted cordially, looking more ragged and tired than usual.
"Malfoy," Tonks sneered.
"Professor Lupin," he nodded and turned to Tonks, "I'm sorry I don't know your name,"
'Ignorance' Tonks mouthed sourly, "The name is Tonks," she said before changing her appearance shockingly for affect.
"Tonks stop trying to scare the boy," Lupin ordered, "Now Draco, Dumbledore told us part of the story but he didn't tell us the most important part, how can we trust you?"
"Dumbledore does doesn't he?" he questioned as he set the sleeping Adrien down in the child sized bed. "Hermione trusted me enough to tell me her secrets and meet her son." he defended himself coldly, knowing no matter what he did he would probably never change these people's minds.
"Fine," Lupin stated. "The bathroom is down that hall and there's also a kitchen. So you know, during your alternating breaks, Harry, Ron and Ginny will also be in here to help take care of Adrien,"
"Som'un say my name?" Adrien woke up.
So they explained- with many interjections from Tonks acting immaturely- to Adrien what had gone on in the last few hours. He was ecstatic that he would be staying at Hogwarts, a place his mum had told him about many times. But became sad when he learned he still was missing his mum.
The next few days passed in a blur, he had had to explain to Potty the Weasel and his little sister what he had already explained to Lupin. They were all reluctant but with a nod of approval from Lupin and learning that he was in love with Hermione and she with him, they eased up a bit. Although it seemed like Ron and Tonks had teamed up on being determined to hate him no matter what he did. And worst of all, they hogged Adrien from him. He felt that Adrien was something like his son, and they were taking him away.
"Hey Adrien," Draco greeted him as he came into the room during his free period.
"Hi!" he said ecstatically running to him.
"Why don't you stay over here?" Ron said with a fake sickly sweetness in his voice it reminded everyone in the room except Adrien of Umbridge and held onto Adrien's arm to keep him from going.
"No!" he said forcefully. "I want my daddy!" he whined and broke away from a shocked Ron and ran to Draco, throwing his arms around his leg.
Every eye in the room went wide.
"Adrien, I'm not your daddy, you know that"
"But you're the closest thing! And he keeps trying to keep me from you!" he buried his head in Draco's calve and started crying.
"Hey," he picked Adrien up in his arms. "Hey it's ok, Weasley is going to apologize," he looked pointedly at Ron, "aren't you?" he stared daggers at him.
"Yeah," he gulped, noticing that Harry and Ginny were giving him the same look as Draco was. "I'm sorry Adrien, I didn't mean to make you upset,"
But whether Adrien would accept his apology or not they would never find out for Lupin and Tonks burst into the room, "Quick, all of you in Dumbledore's office now!" he shouted, out of breath.
They all ran upstairs into the office to find Dumbledore pacing. "Good you're all here. I received this letter by owl post from Kingsley just a few minutes ago.
Dumbledore,
We have Burns in custody, he broke into the house and stunned Miss Granger's Aunt and Uncle but other than that they're okay. Burns didn't bring Hermione, and if he did we still have no clue where she is, we've tried different spells that would seek her out but none have them have worked so she must be somewhere else other than here. We're taking Burns into one of the ministry holding cells; we'll update you soon as possible if we find out anything else.
Sincerely,
Shacklebolt
P.S. Something I forgot to mention, Burns has the Dark Mark. We don't know if he's still active or if he left. But it's black, you know what that means, Voldemort is up to something.
A/N: Review! You know I love it when you do!