Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: Hope that wait wasn't too much like "pulling teeth" ;)

Chapter 24

Hermione
Present

"Here!" Hermione said as she reentered Grimmauld place, holding out the log books as Harry looked on worriedly, "What's wrong?"

"Ginny's water broke," he explained, chewing on his thumbnail as Draco appeared behind him.

"Well, go on then," Draco said.

Harry shook his head, "No, no we need to figure this out. Molly is taking her to St. Mungos."

Draco looked at Hermione sharply before he stepped forward, speaking lowly, "Last time, with Jamie it wasn't easy. It's bound to be difficult this time too. Send some of your aurors Potter and be there with Ginny."

Harry glanced to Hermione who nodded and he finally tossed his hands up in defeat and stepped around them to the fireplace.

"I'll send over my best-"

"Of course you will Potter." Draco said roughly, "Now hurry along before Ginny has my hide too."

They watched the man disappear in the flames and Hermione sighed, "Might as well go over these here, I'm sure he'll want them as evidence later."

Draco nodded, "Right. You take Harry's and I'll take Weasley's and-"

The fireplace chimed then and both of their heads turned as George stepped out again, his face sooty and drawn, "I'm here to help."

"Here," Draco said unceremoniously, pushing a thick log book into his hands.

The three worked quietly, trying to find patterns in the company that had called at various times. The task was arduous and more than once Hermione felt her eyes cross from all of the entries in the log book but slowly, she began to see a pattern forming.

"Sadie-" Draco said before she could open her mouth, "She visited Weasley nearly weekly."

"She went to Harry's office too but only, I noticed, when he wasn't there." Hermione said quietly.

"Hermione…" George said, "On the night your head went screwy, there was only one person in the office with you."

"Three guesses who?" Draco growled and George nodded.

"Sadie…" Hermione breathed as she leaned over to look at the log book in George's hands. "But why?"

"I thought she looked familiar-" Draco said suddenly, "When I was there last, it was the first time I had met her. She had always been out of the office before."

"You know her?"

Draco nodded "She was a Slytherin, first year when we were in third."

"You don't think-" George started, his eyes wide and Draco shrugged.

"What?" Hermione asked the both of them.

Draco looked at her and sighed, "I think it's time we tell you about the house elves."

Draco
Past

The silent darkness was overwhelming, almost suffocating and Draco pulled on the collar of his shirt, his eyes flitting about uselessly in his head. It was impossible, through the darkness powder, to make heads or tails of anything. The whole world could be spinning upside and he would have been none the wiser. The idea of it was enough to make his palms sweat. He could still feel Potter's grasp on his sleeve and for a moment, he thought of shaking him off and pushing forward through the darkness.

He thought better of it, however, and kept still with his wand held aloft.

Suddenly, out of the dark wall before him a shape emerged. Draco watched as the shape drew nearer and it became more of a silhouette as the silence around them suddenly began to recede.

He could hear muffled shouts as the person drew nearer, their outline becoming more defined until finally, he stood before him.

"Malfoy-" the boy snarled and Draco braced himself.

"I'm sorry, I've forgotten your name again," he drawled, trying to keep the charade up. As planned.

"Doesn't surprise me," the boy spat and then proceeded to spit on the ground, right on Draco's shoes, "perhaps I will remind you."

"Now, how will you do that?" Draco asked, his wand arm relaxing only just, "As I seem to remember you weren't very good with spells before. I'm sure you've learned a thing or two since then but-"

"I don't need spells," he grit out and his hand raised then, a metal object clutched tightly in his shaking hand, "I've never needed spells. That's one advantage I have over you and your lot. Always trying to best someone. Show you're superiority and you forget that you have weaknesses, just like everyone else. Just like your precious dark lord."

Draco faltered for a second, trying to recover, "He was never my lord."

"Bullshit!" the boy cried, clicking something on the thing grasped tightly in his hand, "You can go meet him now. Tell him Dennis Creevey said hi and your worthless death eater mate while you're at it."

Draco's mouth went dry, "Blaise… that was you."

"Yes, Blaise," the boy snarled, ignoring his question, "never saw it coming either. At first we thought the elves, the elves would surely help to rid the bloodlines that controlled them. When it didn't work we started thinking outside the box. It dawned on me that you would never even think about muggle weaponry. Never know how to defend yourself against it. Like I said, it's a weakness you have. You purebloods. Thinking magic can fix anything. It fixes nothing! It doesn't bring back the dead. It doesn't punish the people who deserve it."

"I don't-"

"You deserve it," the boy snapped, "You should be rotting away in Azkaban for what you've done but instead you're here. Worming your way into Hermione's life, trying to push away those who deserve her. You will never her you worthless piece of shite and I'm going to prove it-"

He raised up his hand then, pointing the thing in his hand directly at Draco and Harry whipped the invisibility cloak off, pushing Draco out of the way as the thing in Dennis Creevey's hand exploded. Draco's ears rang, his shoulder hit the bar, sending a shockwave of pain through him as Harry jumped to his feet and quickly disarmed the boy before him, knocking him to the ground as the darkness around them was seemingly drawn away, revealing a scene of destruction around them.

Draco pushed himself up, watching the scene before him as aurors rushed in, followed by medics, and the youngest and remaining Creevey was placed under arrest while the medics attended to those who were injured in the pub.

"Draco?-" he looked back to Harry as the ringing in his ears started to dull and he could make out the sound of the man's voice once more, "Are you alright?"

Draco nodded, numbly, and Harry reached out, helping him to his feet, clapping him firmly on the shoulder before he turned to assist with those around him.

Draco hesistated, for only a moment, before he too jumped in to the mess around him. He helped a witch up and onto her seat, calling for a medic while he grabbed a nearby cloak and held it onto the witches bleeding forehead. He moved through the crowd, finding those who were injured and those who were in a state of shock until the seedy pub was cleared save for the barman who lay lifeless on his bar top.

"Hey," Harry said suddenly from beside him and Draco turned to see him pushing his glasses further up his nose, "We should get back to your place. Hermione is probably having a fit right now."

Draco smiled ruefully to himself and nodded once, following Potter to the fireplace in the corner and watching as he disappeared before he too quickly stepped in and said the only place he really wanted to be. He just hoped his life wouldn't be endangered twice tonight.

Hermione
Present

"Afterwards, it was decided that house elves were too at risk when they were tied to a family considering the vast majority of those families had been tied to or were in line with Voldemort-" Draco explained, "It took all of six months before they were all freed. After that you had no problem getting families to agree to it."

"But they're all…alive still right?" Hermione asked tensely.

"Of course," George nodded, "most of them found work at Hogwarts, but a lot of families took them on as hired help. Mum even got one."

Draco snorted, "That didn't last long."

"Well, it was worth a shot mate." George shot back and the two men chuckled dryly.

"And your family?" Hermione asked Draco.

"Mum still pays them but they don't work in the house anymore. Last I heard the remaining elves were at Hogwarts. It's safe there. They still haven't… they still remember."

Hermione nodded and swiped at her eyes. "So Sadie Baldock… what does she have to do with this?"

"Perhaps nothing, but it seems too much of a coincidence." Draco said tersely, moving to look at the log once more, "Her family was one of the last to let go of their elves. Both of her parents were in Azkaban following the war and her older brother had died in battle. Her aunt had been made the heir until Sadie came of age. She was also in the same class as Dennis."

"So you think she's… what? Angry that the house elves were freed? I didn't do that."

"No," Malfoy said, his voice tight, "but you were a big proponent of their freedom."

"It could be nothing." George offered, "but it's still worth checking out."

Hermione nodded, "You're right. We should let Harry know. Or…someone."

Draco looked up at the clock at the same time that she did, realizing that over an hour had passed since the man had left. "What's taking him so long?"

"I'll go check on him," George offered, "Let him know what we found and have him look in to it. Why don't you go home and get some rest?"

Draco nodded and stood up, holding his hand out for her as he did, "Sounds good to me."

George left first and Hermione closed the log books and followed Draco to the fireplace.

"I'm glad you weren't injured you know," Hermione said softly, reaching out to twine her fingers through his, "back then."

He smiled softly at her, "Who says I wasn't injured? I had bruises from your hands for weeks."

She rolled her eyes and stepped into the fireplace, speaking the name of her home firmly as she tossed the floo powder and ended up in her living room.

She frowned as she saw the lights still on, the soft music still playing in the background and she wondered if Narcissa had waited up for them. Draco appeared behind her, a scowl forming on his face as well as he stepped into the room.

"Mother?" he called, pushing gently past Hermione as he strode towards the kitchen as she continued to stand there, trying to put her finger on just what was wrong. "Hermione! Come quick!"

She took off then, sliding down the hallway and to a stop in the doorway of the kitchen as she found Draco sitting on the floor, Narcissa's head on his lap, blood trickling down her brow, and her hands reached up to cover her mouth as she gasped in horror.

"Check the children." He said quickly, urgently and she turned, flying up the steps two at a time and down the hall, crying out as she saw first Lyra and then Leo's beds both empty. Leo's beloved blanket left carelessly on the floor. She didn't even know she was screaming until draco was there, his face white as a patronus burst from the tip of his wand and his hands pulled her toward him, hugging her too tightly to his chest as the tears continued to flow.

A/N: I had a long written out A/N and I forgot to save it. Ugh. Anyway, Sadie Baldock is a character from the books, mentioned in passing. So I took some creative liberties as I often do. :)