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Chapter Seven

"It doesn't matter," Draco said, throwing his wand down dejectedly. "I'm useless at this."

"It's all right, Draco," Ted was saying. "It's just a simple Disillusion spell. For your own good, so you won't need to use that cloak."

Draco glanced at Potter's Invisibility Cloak, lying on the couch. He was sure that it was near his mother at all times so that, in the event of Death Eaters or other foul things coming here, she would at least have time to throw it over herself. He knew that he had to return it one day, but every time Kingsley or Nymphadora stopped by, they always said that Potter was letting him use it longer.

And now Potter, Weasley, and the Granger girl have gone missing.

Since the fall of the Ministry, Kingsley seemed determined to have Draco learn all the defensive spells that he could master. Draco wished that Kingsley could teach him, but he was still intimidated by the man. And Kingsley was always in and out of the house, checking on them to see how they were doing and giving them updates on everyone. So that left Ted as Draco's teacher.

"The cloak's easier," he said, brandishing his wand towards it. "Can't I just carry it wherever I go?"

"What if someone steals it? Or what if Harry Potter wants it back?"

Draco rolled his eyes.

"All right then, let's do something different. You've seen dementors, right?" asked Ted.

Draco nodded, frowning. He remembered them from his third year. And he hated them. He hated the way they made him feel, bringing back bad memories. "Yes," he answered. "They were stationed at Hogwarts during my third year."

"Ah yes, I remember. With Sirius Black on the loose, wasn't it?"

Draco nodded and saw Andromeda shake her head out of the corner of his eye. "Yes. But he was innocent, wasn't he?"

"They won't care about that, Draco. All they'll feel is a human's presence and they'll go in for the kiss. Have you ever heard of the Patronus charm?"

Draco nodded. "Kingsley mentioned it…a way for the Order members to communicate, right?"

"Yes, it is a trustworthy type of communication. But it is also used to keep dementors at bay."

"How?" Draco looked like he didn't believe Ted.

"Dementors bring out all of the bad and sadness in this world, don't they? The way to keep them away is to focus on a happy memory. A happy memory and it'll keep them away. Why don't you think of a memory, Draco."

Draco furrowed his brow, thinking about all of his memories. He had a number of memories from school, but none of them made him particularly happy. They were just memories to him. Nothing stood out.

"I…I…I don't know, I can't think of one."

Ted was about to say something, but stopped. He opened and closed his mouth and stared at Draco with an unidentifiable look. It looked almost like…like pity. He exhaled loudly. "Well then…why don't you think about that and in the mean time, would you like to practice Stunning?"

Draco shook his head. "I guess I'm a bit tired now. I already know how to do a lot of this stuff, though. But I think you'll consider it Dark Magic." From the corner of his eye, he saw Narcissa and Andromeda exchange an angry look.

"Bella," he saw his mother mouth to Andromeda. She shook her head in response.

"Well…let's not practice that on me, then!" Ted smiled at Draco.

"Of course not, Ted. I wouldn't."

Ted smiled at Draco again and put a hand on his shoulder. "You're a smart kid, Draco. Except…you're not much of a kid anymore, are you?"

A loud crash was heard from outside. Ted, Draco, Narcissa, and Andromeda jumped up in alarm. Ted ran to the window and looked outside.

"Death Eaters!" he cried. "Three of them!"

Draco's eyes widened and he felt his heartbeat quicken.

"But-but-the Fidelius Charm!" exclaimed Andromeda. "They can't see us!"

"They're a part of the Ministry now, 'Dromeda. Who knows what kind of power they have."

A loud banging was heard on the door. "Open this door at once or it will be blasted away," came a loud, clear voice.

Draco glanced at his mother who shared an equally terrified look on her face. He grabbed the Invisibility Cloak and threw it over her.

"Draco! Narcissa! Get in the hidden room!"

"What about you?" Draco asked as Andromeda shoved him and his mother from the sitting area.

"Don't worry about us. It's you who should be kept safe."

Narcissa's eyes filled with tears. "No, 'Dromeda, come hide with us!"

Andromeda's eyes softened at the sound of her nickname. It was the first time she had heard it come from her younger sister's mouth since they've seen each other again. "No…Cissy…you and your son need to be kept safe. They already know I'm here."

Another wave of tears shone brightly in Narcissa's eyes. It, too, was the first time Andromeda referred to her by her nickname. And it was actually Andromeda who had given Narcissa the nickname "Cissy" because she couldn't pronounce Narcissa when she was first born.

Narcissa grabbed her sister's hand and squeezed it. "Be careful. And if you have to give us up, please do so. Protect yourself."

The front door opened with a blast and Andromeda barely had enough time to shut the door. Fortunately, the raucous noise in the sitting area covered the sound of the door to the hidden room slamming shut.

"Get away from him!" she yelled angrily, seeing two of the Death Eaters standing over her husband. "Stop it!"

One of them pointed their wands at Ted and continued with the Cruciatus Curse.

"Show your face, coward!" she yelled. "Let go of him! What do you want!"

"I was hoping you'd ask." The remaining Death Eater walked toward Andromeda with his wand outstretched. He pointed it to her throat. "The whereabouts of Harry Potter. Do you know where he is?"

"No! And if I did, why would I tell you?"

"Oh, touchy, touchy, I was just merely asking a question. Now, I'll ask you once more. If you cooperate, we might just walk away and let you both live."

"And if not?" Andromeda's defiant voice was stronger with each passing moment. It seemed the torture her husband was under ignited a fire under her.

"Really? You'd like to try it?" At once the Death Eater pointed his wand at Andromeda. "Crucio!"

Her screams grew more and more loud and more and more terrible with every passing moment. Draco drew blood from his fingers from biting down on it so hard. His mother was silently crying into his shoulder. They dared not say a word to one another, even if it was just a whisper.

"Now, I'll ask again. Where is Harry Potter?"

Andromeda's and Ted's screams filled the air, but neither said a word about Harry Potter.

"We know he was here. We know the Order moved him here. Now, where is he? Are you hiding him? We do love a good chase."

The Death Eater levitated Andromeda in the air and knocked her against the ceiling. He repeated this three or four times and every time, she screamed louder, feeling knives puncture her body.

After about an hour, the Death Eaters trashed the house and finally left. They searched high and low in the house for any sign of Harry Potter and every time Draco and Narcissa heard footsteps outside the hidden door, they held their breath and prayed that the Death Eaters wouldn't find them. After another ten minutes, Narcissa slowly and carefully emerged from the hidden room, carefully covering herself and her son with the Invisibility Cloak.

"'Dromeda?" she called quietly.

"I don't think they're near, Mother," Draco said, fear evident in his voice.

"'Dromeda!" Narcissa cried, running into the sitting room. She dropped to her sister's side and tried to calm her twitching body. Andromeda's body was stretched out in odd angles and her body shook every so often. Her mouth was open and saliva poured from it onto the carpet below. She looked up for her son. "Draco! Get something – quick!"

But Draco wasn't paying attention to his mother. He had dropped to the ground, beside his mother, but it was just now that he saw Ted in the corner, bloodied and beaten to a pulp. His breath was caught in his throat and he slowly crawled over to where Ted lay.

"Um…" Draco tried to find something to say. He picked up a small handkerchief that he knew Ted usually kept in his pocket and used it to wipe blood from Ted's face. He looked to be in so much pain that he could not make a sound.

Draco put two fingers on Ted's neck and felt around for a pulse. He breath a sigh of relief when he could feel the strong pulse of Ted's blood pumping through his body.

"Ted...are you all right?" Immediately, Draco silently chastised himself. Of course he wasn't all right. He had just listened to Ted be brutally tortured. He could hear his mother crying over her sister, but when he glanced over at them, Andromeda was standing with the help of her sister. Figuring that she would be heartbroken if she saw her husband like this, he tried to cover his big body with his thin one.

He heard shallow breathing coming from Ted and picked up his wand. He held it to Ted's face and saw that his nose was broken.

"Let's just hope this works," Draco said in a low voice. He pointed his wand at Ted's nose and said, "Episkey!"

At once, Ted's nose stopped bleeding and straightened at once. Draco used Ted's handkerchief to mop up the rest of the blood on Ted's face. He saw a number of cuts, but didn't know what to do. He glanced back at his mother and Andromeda and wanted to ask for help, but didn't want to bother them.

There was a disturbance in the yard and Draco looked up in alarm. He shakily held his wand up, in the direction of the door and gestured for his mother and Andromeda to leave the room.

"Who's there?" he called in a voice that portrayed a confidence that wasn't there.

Draco felt a hand pull on his shirt. He looked down and saw Ted reaching up to him.

"Dr-Dr…Draco….n..no…"

"If it's Death Eaters, then they're here to finish you off." Draco faced the door and protectively stood in front of Ted. His wand arm was shaking badly.

"Draco, come here right now!" his mother said frantically. She supported her sister as they tried to leave the room.

The door slammed open and Draco was soon faced with three wands. He looked scared, but kept his wand arm up, though it was still shaking. He recognized the three wands that belonged to the people pointing them at him and he lowered his wand instantly.

"I'm so glad to see you," he said. "Uncle Ted and Aunt 'Dromeda were…"

"Don't let your guard down so easily," Kingsley scolded. "Are you sure it's really me? Remus? Tonks?"

"Well…I'm sure by now, you would've killed me or Uncle Ted."

Remus stepped forward and furrowed his brow. "Uncle Ted, Draco?"

"Well…Ted, then." He gestured down and uneasily looked up at Nymphadora, whose face was already filled with tears. She immediately ran to her father's side and cradled his head in her lap.

"Draco, where's my mother?"

"She went to hide with my mother."

"Dora…Dora…" Andromeda's voice cut into the air as she staggered into the room. She was still hanging onto Narcissa for support, but she seemed desperate to reach her family.

"What happened here?" asked Kingsley. His deep voice began to soothe Draco.

"Death Eaters," Narcissa answered. "Death Eaters attacked, asking about Harry Potter. What is their reasoning? Why have they come here?" She looked angry and pulled Draco into her grasp.

Kingsley handed her a copy of the Daily Prophet. "It seems Harry is wanted for questioning in Dumbledore's death." He shook his head in disgust. "And they're using any means possible to retrieve him. I'm going to reset the protective wards around the house." He went back outside and patted Andromeda's shoulder comfortingly before he walked out the door.

"'Dromeda?" Narcissa said, releasing Draco from her grasp. She knelt down to the floor, between Nymphadora and Andromeda and rubbed Andromeda's back comfortingly. She looked up at Remus and frowned. "Are we still safe here?"

Remus frowned in return. He muttered a few words and pointed his wand to his father-in-law, whose face became less bloodied and seemed to be less bruised. He sat up, holding onto his daughter for support.

"Well, since the Death Eaters have come and gone, I don't think they would return. But who knows. They know that Ted's here and he's a Muggle-born, so they might return and try to…" Remus trailed off. "But I do think we need a new plan."

"I'm not leaving my family," Narcissa said protectively. She placed an arm around her sister and Nymphadora.

"I have an idea…" Remus said, "but it's going to take a lot of…well, let's just say that I don't think anybody's going to like it. I'm going to speak to Kingsley first." He headed outside and didn't notice that Draco followed him. "Draco, return to the house or your mother will eat me alive."

"Are you all right, Remus? Why do you…why do you look so…"

"It's nothing for you to worry about, Draco. Your family – our family – has just been attacked."

Draco winced when Remus pointed out that they were a part of the same family. "Are you sure?" He didn't know why he cared, but it seemed as if something else was troubling Remus.

Remus looked at him and seemed to change something in his mind. "Dora is pregnant."

"What! Are you sure?"

Remus nodded wearily. He put a hand to his head and rubbed his temple. "Yes, she's pregnant."

Draco smirked and leaned in to him. "Are you sure it's yours?"

Remus looked angrily at him and stalked toward Kingsley.

"I was just kidding, Remus! What's the matter with that? My parents had me during the first war."

Remus gestured back to the house. "Did you already forget what's happened here? How close the Death Eaters were to killing your aunt and uncle? How close they were to you and your mother? And you're here, making jokes?"

Draco took a step back, defensively. "I didn't mean…I just…it scares me, Remus. All of it. If I could pretend that it's not happening around me, then I try to. If I pretend that everything is fine, then it is."

"No, it's not, Draco. It's not fine, none of it is! That child-that child…" he pointed to the house and his eyes looked strangely yellow. "I gave it a curse."

"You mean, being a werewolf? I thought you just had to get bitten, does that pass down?"

Remus threw his hands up in exasperation and headed for Kingsley. They shared a whispered conversation that didn't seem to be going well. Draco could tell that Remus was a little more than irritated with him, so he headed back to the house. He felt more safer now that Kingsley, Remus, and Nymphadora were near.

"Mother?" Draco said tentatively, taking a step into the sitting room. He knelt on the floor, on the other side of Ted. "Are you all right, Aunt 'Dromeda?"

She looked at him with a bit of surprise in her eyes. It was the first time he called Aunt in the whole time he had been staying there. She nodded, tears filling her eyes. "I'm fine, Draco. I'm just…I'm glad that you and…Cissy, here were not harmed."

"And you…Uncle Ted? Guess I should've been practicing the Disillusionment Charm more. I promise I will."

Ted smiled up at his nephew. He was still lying on the ground, with his head in his daughter's lap. He nodded and coughed a bit.

"Nymphadora, I suppose congratulations are in order," Draco said, giving her a small smile.

She shot him a warning look and widened her eyes. "What for?"

Draco didn't catch the hint and gestured toward the door. "You and Remus. Your child. Congratulations."

Andromeda's eyes widened and she clutched Narcissa tighter. Ted started coughing more.

"You're having a child!" Narcissa said.

Nymphadora glanced at Draco and rolled her eyes. "Yes. I'm having a child. Remus and I. Isn't that wonderful?"

Narcissa and Andromeda glanced at each other. "Of course that's wonderful, darling!" exclaimed Andromeda. She grinned at her daughter and grasped her hand and squeezed it.

"That's sort of why we came over today, good thing we did, too. Remus and I were going to tell you and Kingsley wanted to check on Narcissa and Draco. He…Remus wants me to stay with you, Mother. Doesn't seem to want me fighting while I have a child."

Draco glanced at Nymphadora. He picked up something more from Remus, but felt as though he shouldn't bring it up.

"Well, you should very well not!" said Andromeda. "You will stay here, with me."

"Good thing, too," Nymphadora said with hint of a smile. She gestured down to her father. "Looks like there's more action at home then there is out there." She winked at Draco. "And nothing like a live-in Auror, right Draco?"

Draco nodded. "But…Nymphadora, should you be…if Remus didn't want you to…"

"First of all, Draco, if you are going to be my cousin, you must stop calling me 'Nymphadora.' Call me Tonks, like everyone else."

"You mean, you hate being called Nymphadora?" Draco smirked.

"Yes, I hate being called Nymphadora!" She glared at him. "And don't look at me like that, I know what you're planning!"

Draco laughed. Narcissa looked at him in surprise. It had been such a long time since she last heard him laugh. It was such a pleasant sound to her ears and she hoped it would go on for a long time. Nymphadora began laughing too. Then Andromeda. Then Ted, with bouts of coughing in between. Narcissa looked at all of them in confusion, then joined in the laughter. It had been such a long time since she last laughed, too.

"I suppose we missed the joke," Remus said, shutting the door behind him and Kingsley.

Andromeda stood up with the help of Narcissa and limped over to her son-in-law. "I'm going to be a grandmother!" She enveloped him in a tight hug.

Remus looked at Nymphadora accusingly. "You told them."

"I didn't. Dear little cousin here did."

Remus turned his glare to Draco, who shrugged. "I thought they knew."

Kingsley grinned and shook Remus' hand. "Congratulations, you two. It is for your child that we are now fighting for. As well as all of us. A brighter future, right?"

Remus waved it off. "We have to do something about Narcissa and Draco. It was a close call with the Death Eaters. So…Kingsley and I have discussed a plan. You're not going to like it, but we think it is prudent to not tell you exactly what will happen in case of another attack."

"What is this plan?" asked Andromeda.

Remus hesitated. "Dora will stay here with you, for the remainder of her pregnancy. It is not safe for her or the child out there."

"And Ted," who was now sitting up, against the couch. "As soon as you feel up to it, I advise you to go into hiding. Rumours at the Ministry are that there will be a Muggle-born Registry and they'll break the wands of all Muggle-borns," said Kingsley. "Let me know and I will help hide you."

"And…Narcissa…Draco must come with me."

"What!" Narcissa looked angry and alarmed. "No!"

"He must. Kingsley believes that this house will now be closely watched. The Dark Lord wants to kill Draco for his failure to fulfill his task of killing Dumbledore. He may want to kill you, too, but not for failing in his service. You will be more protected here than Draco will be."

Kingsley half-nodded.

"Where will you go! Where will Draco go!" Narcissa was beginning to get hysterical again. She threw her arms around her son.

"I'm sorry, Narcissa. I can't tell you, that," answered Remus.

"You can't – what do you mean, you can't tell me?"

"It's too dangerous."

"No," said Narcissa shortly. "I won't allow it. What will happen during the full moon?"

"I take a potion to be a wolf during every full moon. Draco will be protected. I swear on my life that I will protect him."

"Why? You hate him, you hate me."

This time, Remus looked a bit irritated. "No, I don't. I don't hate you and I certainly do not hate Draco. You've both…have become family to me and…I would lay down my life for both of you."

Narcissa fell silent. Her features returned to a cold, hard stare.

"I'm sorry, Narcissa, but I'm not asking for your permission. Draco will come with me."

"Draco?" said Nymphadora. "Why don't we ask Draco what he wants to do? He's of age. After all, it's his life, right?"

Draco looked worriedly at his mother. He knew what she wanted him to say. He knew what his aunt wanted him to say. But he hated being locked up. And since the Death Eaters were now watching the house, he was even more terrified about being there. "I'm…I'm sorry, Mother, but…I want to go with Remus."

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