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A/N: I have some amazing fic prompt and ideas that came in! You all are amazing!

Chapter 23

Hermione
Present

"He'll be here any moment," Draco said as he returned to the sitting room where Hermione was waiting and she gave a stiff nod as he sat down beside her on the sofa.

"I just can't believe…" Hermione started, shaking her head and turning it to watch the flames flicker in the room.

Draco gave a scoff and sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he gazed ahead tiredly.

"I- I'm sorry," Hermione started and Draco looked at her in surprise.

"What the bloody hell would you have to feel sorry for?" the man grunted.

"For… this," she gestured around her, "For all of it. If you had married someone else. Someone like Astoria…"

Draco did laugh then, the sound startling in the quiet room, "Astoria is a daft twit. Honestly, Leo is probably better company than she but she is very good at commanding a board room and she's very hard to say no to. She tried to blackmail me once," he laughed again then, remembering some distant memory, "wanted to be married so she could take over her father's company. Pursued me for a while actually but… well she's never been a match for you."

"Me? What did-"

The door opened then, cutting off Hermione's questioning as Harry led a puzzled looking Ron into the room.

"Take his wand," he said, tossing it to Draco as he urged Ron to sit down.

"What's all this about then?" the befuddled man asked, his eyes darting between the bodies around him in the room though he still had a small smile on his face.

Hermione stared at the man she had once loved, long ago before she could do it no longer and she turned, instead to look at the fire once more, feeling Draco's hand on her hip as she did so; the action comforted her, if only just.

"Ronald, I need you to think very carefully, did you take something from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?" Harry asked sternly, "Something you weren't supposed to?"

Hermione looked over her shoulder to see the man looking up in confusion at Harry before he shook his head, "No, why, is something missing?"

"I've got it." George appeared in the doorway, a vial in his hand that was smoking from the top; the liquid inside was blue and gold and seemed to be moving of its own accord in the entrapment.

"What's that?" Hermione asked lowly, her eyes following the man as he walked closer to his younger brother.

Draco swallowed, turning to look her in the eye, "it's an experiment," he explained, "something George and I have been working on."

"What does it do?" she asked and she watched as George handed the vial to Harry, a slight shake to his hands slopping a bit of the frothy blue drink down the side.

"Let's hope what it's supposed to." Draco muttered as George returned to stand beside them both and Harry instructed Ron to open his mouth, pouring in the contents, and commanding the man to swallow.

Almost instantly it seemed that something was wrong. Ronald writhed and twitched in the chair, his hands gripping the armrests where Harry and Draco had magically secured him, his head tipping back as a low mewling sound left his lips and Hermione's gut wrenched.

"Stop it! Stop! Don't you see you're hurting him!" she cried out and she felt Draco's arm wrap round her middle, holding her in place.

As suddenly as the torture had seemed to begin, it ended and Ron was silent. His chin was tucked to his chest, his red head bobbing slightly as it came to a rest. The moment stretched on and Hermione felt Draco's hand tightening on her hip and she could taste the salt from the tears that strolled lazily down her cheeks until…

"Bloody hell!" Ron shouted, his eyes wide and his chest heaving as he sat up.

"We don't have much time Harry," George said, looking to the bespectacled man.

Harry nodded and stepped forward, "Ronald, you've been given a test serum developed by your brother. We believe you may have been imperiused, this serum is designed to counteract the effects of the spell but seeing as it hasn't been thoroughly tested, it won't hold for long. Can you tell me anything about the last few months-"

Ron stopped fighting against the restraints then, looking at the people in the room around him, his eyes landing on Hermione and softening.

"No, I- I can't- just bits and pieces. Like… like I'm missing something. Like there's holes-"

"What's the last thing you clearly remember?" Harry asked quickly.

Ron shook his head, turning to his best mate then, his face screwing up in concentration- "James was ill… you were on assignment and-"

Draco muttered a low oath and Hermione turned to look at him, her nose brushing against his, "That's was months ago."

"Gin asked me to go get something for her. She wasn't feeling well either- Oh God. Harry, Gin?"

"She's fine." Harry assured him with a small smile, "Upstairs now, look Ron, what do you remember? About that day?"

"I had gone to get her some pepper up potion for Jamie and there was this girl there. Asked me for my help, said her brother was in trouble. I- I went around back and-"

His words trailed off then, his eyes rolling up in his head before he slumped forward once more and Hermione let out a soft gasp.

Harry cursed, rather loudly, as George walked forward to lay a hand on his shoulder as something trickled into Hermione's memory. Slow at first and then faster as she turned to her husband, "Where would I keep my things from work?"

"What?" he asked quietly, though her words had already attracted the notice of the other men in the room.
"Harry-" she said, turning to address the man, "I helped set the wards on your office because you…well honestly you were always shite at setting wards. No offense-"

"None taken," the man said with a wry grin.

Hermione continued with barely a pause, "And I did it for Ron too, though I never really told him, but I also set up an alarm system of sorts. The one I was working on before…"

Harry's face slowly morphed from one of confusion to one of understanding as a smile stretched across his lips, "You're absolutely brilliant Hermione and I love you, have I told you that enough?"

George cleared his throat, "Mind filling us in too mate?"

"Right," Harry said, "Hermione developed a spell. It's on…well just about everywhere. It's genius really. It monitors the areas around which the spell has been cast, shows who has been in and out and where they go-"

"The map-" George started with a raised brow.

"I was inspired by it, yes," Hermione said quickly, "but I added a little more and-"

"And it keeps a log of everyone who has entered the premises," Harry finished with a grin.

"So that means, whoever was in my office would be on my log, but seeing as Ron seems to be under a strong imperius spell whoever it was would have had to have been checking up on him so perhaps-"

"They went to his office as well! Brilliant Hermione!" Harry beamed.

"Yes well, let's get on with it then," Draco said moodily and Hermione cast him a look before Harry interrupted.

"I'll take Ron in; we need to keep him away from the general public until we figure this out."

"I'll spread the word that he's come down with something-"George supplied, picking up the empty vial, "And I'll pass this along to Lee, he'll want to know how long it held so we can tweak it. I'll have the report in by Monday, Malfoy."

"Let's go," Draco said, letting go of her to grasp her hand in his, tugging her along gently behind him. He entered the fireplace first, disappearing before her and she tumbled in after him, appearing on their own hearth suddenly. She slid out, her hand finding his in the dark of the room as they began to move.

They walked towards the study as Hermione found the nerve to speak, "Why is George reporting to you?"

Draco slowed his pace, moving to stand beside her as they walked, "When my dad was imprisoned he tried to claim he was imperiused again. Everyone knew it was a lie, I mean the man had practically been responsible for- well he was guilty. When he claimed it, however, so did countless others. They were… they were all tried. Imprisoned. There was just no way to know. I couldn't- I couldn't let it continue Hermione. Some of those people… they don't deserve to be in there. When Potter testified for my mother, for me, I didn't think I deserved it. You helped change that but I still… I felt like I should have gotten harder punishment-"

"You were a child Draco-"

He smiled, "So you remind me every time we have a conversation about it-" she blushed and looked down to her feet then as he continued, "But I decided, after a while that perhaps I could still do something. I helped George out of my own aspirations, honestly. I mean, we are friends but when I approached him about his shop it wasn't just because I wanted to help him it was because I wanted him to help me. And besides, a Weasley coming up with potions was looked on far better than a Malfoy doing it."

Hermione smiled and reached out, grabbing his hand in her own and giving it a squeeze just as they reached the door to the study, "You're a wonderful man Draco Malfoy. It's no wonder I fell in love with you."

He smiled then and she leaned up on her tiptoes, placing a kiss on the edge of his lips before pulling away to open the door and heading inside.

DRACO
Past

Draco was quiet as he left the room, casting once last glance at the sleeping witch in his bed before he gently shut the door behind him.

He closed his eyes, letting all of the breath out of him before he walked calmly down the steps and out of the front door. He walked down the drive and past the fountain and right through the front gates without looking back. It wasn't until he steeled himself, his wand clenched tightly in his fist, and apparated on the spot that he finally allowed himself that one fleeting glance at the home he had grown up in before it too, was gone.

He appeared with a small pop in the inside of an alley, the light from the early morning sun just barely reaching the mouth of it and he stepped back, hiding in the shadows.

Before too long he heard a pop to his left and he stopped, his heart thrumming painfully loud in his ears as he waited for the signal.

Two knocks sounded close by, followed by one quieter knock and he nodded, stepping out of the shadows so that Harry, hidden under his cloak, could see him.

He straightened the lapel on his cloak as well as his shoulders and walked out of the alley and into the leaky cauldron, ignoring the stares as he so often did.

Harry was behind him, hidden out of sight, so he walked slower than he usually did through the pub, noticing the eyes that seemed to swivel in his direction as he passed and hoping that one of them would report back to the bastard behind the attacks.

He gripped his wand tighter, his nails digging half moons painfully into his palm as he walked out of the back and tapped the brick wall, stepping back and watching as the entrance to Diagon alley appeared before him.

"You've got this Malfoy." Harry's voice was low and quiet, "Don't do anything stupid."

He sneered slightly before he walked forward, "Don't worry, I'm not you."

Draco could almost see Potter rolling his eyes under that stupid cloak of his and Draco smirked, his head held high as he passed the people on the street that seemed to go out of their way to get out of his.

He paused when he reached the entrance to Knockturn Alley, turning his head from side to side. To anyone else it would look like he was checking to make sure he wasn't followed. No one but him would know that he was steeling himself for the onslaught of memories that this trip would undoubtedly dredge up. As he took that first step into the dingy passage it felt as though his past had come back to bite him and with his second he realized that was exactly what had happened.

Continuing on his strides became surer, his spine straighter as every hair on the back of his neck stood up and his teeth cracked from the strain of his jaw clenching. He followed the plan seamlessly, playing the part that was given to him as though his life depended on it. The irony did not escape him.

By the time he reached the pub, he was sure that something was going to happen. He could feel it in his bones. He walked in, swinging the door widely so that Harry could step in unnoticed behind him and he returned the barkeeps scolding glare with a withering look of his own as he strode in like he owned the place. A few eyes turned his way as he passed on his way to the bar but no one made a move and he felt his invisible wingman close in as they approached the bar.

"Ya should'n be here Malfoy," the barkeep grunted and Malfoy rolled his eyes.

"I came to settle debts owed to the Malfoy line on behalf of my father-" Malfoy started with the line boredly.

The barkeep straightened up then to his full height, setting down the dirty rag he held in his hand as he glared across the bar.

Before the man could say anything, however a sudden hush fell over them, as though the world had suddenly ceased to exist. A flash of light resonated from over his shoulder and he ducked out of instinct as the light hit the barkeep square in the chest and the man fell over with a dull thud on top of his dusty counter.

Draco swore and ducked down further, feigning to the right as another light shot out and he tried to see where it had originated from.

"Stay close," Harry whispered in his ear.

"Easy for you to say-" Draco muttered, trying to figure out where the man had gone, "You can see me."

As soon as the words had passed his lips, the darkness descended. The light drawn from the room like a siphon.

"Peruvian instant darkness powder," he murmured.

"You're sure?"

Draco nodded, forgetting for a moment that he couldn't be seen, "Yes."

"I'm grabbing hold of your cloak," Harry whispered, "Wand ready."

He felt Harry's hand tug on the sleeve of his cloak, only enough to keep hold of him, as Draco tightened his hold on the wand with his other as the silence seemed to stretch on and they waited.

A/N: This story is all the way written! Now just to post! I didn't want to post it all at once and overwhelm you but let me know if you're ready for the next chapter!