Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: I have no excuse for the wait. I'm sorry guys! I hope you're still with me! Let me know if you are!

Chapter 15

DRACO
Past

Hermione insisted on taking a torch and he was only a little intrigued by the idea of a light that didn't come from his wand as she handed him the oddly shaped and slightly heavy thing.

"There may be traces on the property," she explained, "I just don't want to have to explain to a team of aurors what we're doing."

And she didn't need to explain that she didn't want to deal with one specific auror as he stepped forward and grabbed her hand in his, interlacing their fingers as he apparated them directly outside of Blaise's sprawling estate.

She quickly got to work, pulling a pin out of her pocket as she worked on the gate and Draco held the light up as he watched her work until the heavy metal bars clanged open and they both slid inside.

Whomever had worked the case must have forgotten the fact that muggles didn't need magic to enter residences because the door was unlocked when they arrived and Hermione rolled her eyes as she opened it and stepped through, muttering about sloppy work and 'morons' before stopping dead in her tracks.

Draco half expected to see Blaise's body lying on the floor still as he barely caught himself from running into the witch's back and he cautiously peered around the woman for that reason before he realized what had stopped her.

The room they had walked in on was a complete disaster, the entry way table was overturned, a house plant laying there, its vase broken around the roots. And from what he could see of the sitting room, it didn't look much better.

"Draco-" Hermione warned as he moved past her, stepping over the place he knew Blaise's body had been found as he walked up the staircase without hesitation.

The house was quiet around them, the sound of their footsteps echoing around them as they walked, Hermione following behind him in silence. They reached Blaise's office and Draco closed his eyes for a moment, his hand resting on the knob as he willed away the grief that seemed to be rearing, before he swung open the door.

This room too was in much the same state as the rest of the house and they had to step over the papers that littered the floor as Draco walked behind the desk.

"It looks like someone was looking for something," Hermione supplied and Draco nodded as he looked at the destroyed mahogany bureau. "I wonder if they found it…"

Draco was silent as he turned and perused the books on the shelves behind him until he found the one he wanted and slowly pulled it out to reveal the small, hidden door behind it protected by muggle technology. If there was one thing Draco appreciated about Blaise it was his dependability and he smiled to himself as he turned the code until it opened, thankful that it hadn't changed in the years that he had known the man.

He pulled out the small box, meeting Hermione's questioning gaze, "Slytherin's trust people about as far as they can throw them," he explained as he set the box down and he noticed her jaw tighten slightly-although she remained silent- and he made a note to ask her about it later as he set to go through the papers before him.

He smirked as he went through the random rubbish among which included a Quidditch ticket from years before, something called a 'cinema ticket', and a few hastily scribbled witches names. It was the last one that stuck out to him as he leafed through the spare bits of parchment and droobles wrappers that his friend had collected over time but then there was one, written on a napkin from the pub and his finger hovered over the messy wording written there in Blaise's signature scrawl:

Olive Rumpett
Draco

It was nothing. It could have meant anything, but if there was one thing that Draco knew of his friend it was that Blaise rarely did anything by accident. Even in Hogwarts, a man who had no desire or aspiration to become a death eater had befriended the son of one. Blaise had kept to himself, and though he had talked about blood purity just as Draco had, it was never the same with him; never vehement or vengeful. It wasn't until much later that Draco had learned his friend had never really fallen in line with those beliefs. Not really.

He was a slytherin however, and he knew where to align his allegiances. Which was how he and Draco had grown close in school; after Hogwarts, the man had been the only friend of Draco's to stick around. To care.

Draco cleared his throat as he pulled the napkin out and shoved it into his pocket just as they heard something clatter to the floor from somewhere else in the house.

They were alert then and Draco pulled his wand from his pocket, ignoring Hermione's protest and stepping forward to block her.

"Draco, I don't need you to protect me," she hissed as he held out his arm to keep her back, his wand arm held aloft.

He rolled his eyes, "I'm not daft. I can still feel the stinger you gave me in third year," he stopped, practically hearing the grin on her face at that, before he continued, "but I grew up in this house, helped Blaise remodel it even, so if you'll kindly shut up and follow me?"

She hesitated for only a second before she finally nodded and he counted it a small victory as they walked towards where the noise had sounded from, his wand at the ready and he was sure he could feel Hermione's hand grasping his robe in her fist as he walked in front of her, leading her through the dark just as they heard another sound, coming to the room from their left.

He paused, turning to hold a finger up to his lips and Hermione nodded and reached into her own pocket for her wand before she nodded at him when she had it in her hand and at the ready as he quickly opened the door.

HERMIONE
Present

He was already sitting when she arrived to the library and she moved carefully to sit down next to him on the sofa before the fire.

"I made cocoa," he said quietly and she smiled because it was a thoughtful thing to do while she was debating on whether she should come back or not.

"Thank you." She said finally, reaching out to take the cup into her hand and taking a long drink of the warm liquid. It was exactly how she liked it and sighed a little in contentment before she looked up to find Draco staring at her. "Sorry,"

He shook his head, "I've told you before don't-"

"Apologize, I know…"

They were quiet then, the sound of the fire crackling in the room before he finally reached over and pulled the book into his lap.

"You said to start small…" he explained, running his finger over the dark leather of the book in his hand and he handed it to her then, her hand meeting his as she took it from him gently and pried open the book.

"These are the children's?" She breathed, looking at her writing and the pictures carefully placed into the pages of the book. "Why is this a muggle picture?"

Draco smirked then and leaned over to look at the photo in her hand, of her in a bed with Leo on her chest and Draco smiling down at the pair of them in pure adoration.

"Because we were out in Muggle London. You were past due and you demanded that we take you to the theater. Harry and I were against it but Ginny convinced us. Halfway through the play you started having a back ache but you didn't say anything. It wasn't until the show was almost over and you were cursing my name that we figured it out. We were worried you wouldn't make it to St. Mungos and… we were right. He was born a few minutes after we arrived at St. Thomas'. You demanded a pain killing spell and Harry performed one, had to obliviate the nurses…"

He looked away then and before she could think about it she reached out, grabbing his hand and turning back to the book.

It was filled with pictures of Leo and her and Draco and all three of them together and each one had a story. A story Draco tried his best to tell her, without giving too much away. She realized, as they started in on Lyra's baby book that he only spoke of the children and never of them. No, never of them.

There were a few times that he stopped, words dying on his tongue and she pressed forward, desperate for the knowledge despite her curiosity because she knew that one day, they would get there. They had to.

Because she wasn't sure she would ever come back but she was sure that Draco wasn't going anywhere. Not yet.

She only hoped she was worth waiting for.

DRACO
Past

"Pip?" he asked as they opened the door to come face to face with the shaky little house elf holding a chair leg in one hand.

"Oh, Master Draco!" she squeaked as she dropped the chair leg and flung herself at the man, hugging round his legs tightly, "Pip is sorry."

"What are you doing here? I thought they cleared the place…" the last he directed at Hermione who stood looking perplexed by the door and he sighed as he sank down to his knees. "Pip, this is my friend Hermione Granger."

The young elf nodded, sniffling loudly, "Pip knows of Miss Granger sir, she talks of sending pip and mum away-"

"Oh no," he said, realization hitting him. Because he had known the elf that had died along with Blaise.

"Draco?" Hermione asked and it was only then that he realized the small elf had backed up and sat down, crying obnoxiously into her hands.

"The elf today… that was pip's mum." Draco explained lowly and he saw Hermione's face fall as he focused his attention back on the elf. "Pip, I'm sorry to hear of your mum, she was... a good elf."

The house elf seemed to calm slightly at that and pulled her hands away from her face to look up at him, "Thank you sir, Master Draco is most kind."

Draco shifted uncomfortably at that, trying not to feel Hermione's eyes on him as he coaxed the little elf along.

"What are you doing here still Pip?" he asked quietly, trying not to frighten her any more, if only to keep her talking.

"Pip was frightened. Pip thought she would have to leave with him if he saw her so Pip ran to hide…"

"Ron wouldn't have made you leave-" Hermione started but Draco narrowed his eyes, holding up a hand to stop her.

"Who would have made you leave Pip?" Draco asked, ignoring the witch's stern scowl from behind him.

The little elf squeaked, taking her tea towel into her hands and wringing it between her long fingers, her shoulders slumping and her eyes misting. "The one who took the others sir."

Draco heard the sharp intake of breath from behind him but he chose to ignore it as he pressed on.

"Who was it Pip? Who did this?"

Pip shook her head, her ears moving fiercely with the movement, "Pip doesn't know sir! Pip only knows he comes at night. Demanding things that elves cannot give him. Terrible things-"

"What did he demand Pip?"

The elf was hysterical then, her shoulders shaking and her knees quaking with the effort of staying upright as she bellowed, "He wanted us to take our masters lives. For vengeance."

Draco grimaced, ignoring the heavy beating of his heart, "What did he look like Pip? Did Blaise know him?"

The elf shook her head again, hiccupping, "No sir. Pip only knows that he hid his face with a- cloak. Pip hid like she was told. Pip was a good elf. Mum was-was a good elf, she refused to disobey. Refused to-to harm Master and then-"

"Then what?" he pressed, knowing it was a long shot as the elf dissolved into hysterics once more and he turned a sour expression on Hermione who looked pale as she leaned against the wall behind her. He stood up, moving to stand beside her, bending his knees slightly to look into her eyes, asking silently if she was alright. At her nod, he finally asked, "What do we do Granger?"

"I- I don't know," she stammered, and he could practically see the wheels turning in her mind. The pieces lining up as she tried to figure out the answers. He knew because he was doing it too.

Something didn't add up however, one crucial piece of the puzzle missing.

He ran his hand through his hair once before he turned back to the elf, going once more to kneel down beside her. "Pip, no one is going to hurt you. I'll make sure of that but we- we need your help. Do you think you can do that?"

The elf sniffled but nodded, looking up to him with watery eyes and he smiled as he took his wand out of his pocket and conjured a flask. With a nod he looked to Hermione who stepped forward to continue as he stood back, watching the witch work her magic- both literally and figuratively.

A/N: I really am sorry for the wait. More answers for you? I hope.