Chapter Nine

Stopping for a second to catch her breath, a brunette grasped the doorframe of the room she was about to enter. She inhaled deeply, her body filling with a pressure that was starting to become a part of her; an overwhelming weight that started in her chest and that threatened to push her down to the floor as it traveled down to the rest of her body.

"Hermione?" A hand was placed on the brunette's shoulder, adding to the weight she was already trying to make fade.

Giving herself a fraction of a second, Hermione Malfoy's ears perked up at the sound of new footsteps across her wooden floor—footsteps coming towards her. "I had Ginny fix up the extra room for you," turning herself around, that pained expression erasing from her face as she looked at the two women in her hallway like nothing was wrong, "I would've done it myself, but I'm afraid I was a bit too preoccupied at the hospital. It might not be the same as your old room, but you'll find that all of your necessities are there."

Entering the room, following the footsteps of the two dark-haired witches, a pair of intense blue eyes were surrounded by light. The walls of the room were painted a pearly color, matching the marbled floor and the white-sheets on the bed. And behind her dark-oak bed, a grand window gave even more light into the room. It overflowed the place with such illuminating light that those eyes were momentarily distracted by the view outside of the window.

"It's beautiful, Hermione," blinking away from the grand garden that was conjured to be the scene of her new bedroom, Narcissa Malfoy stared into her daughter-in-law's eyes. "Thank you for your hospitality, but I assured you that none of this was necessary."

"Of course it was necessary," Hermione said with a strained voice, her brown eyes burning with every flicker of Narcissa's blue. "I wasn't going to let you stay in any shabby place, Narcissa."

"—Oi," cutting across the soft spoken words of the brunette, Pansy Weasley looked away from the four large picture-frames that decorated the left wall of Mrs. Malfoy's bedroom. "What is that suppose to mean? My house is not shabby, Hermione. I've spent a good amount of my youthful years arranging that house into its impeccable state, alright?"

Trying not to fight with her old classmate, Hermione spoke softly still. "I'm just saying, Pansy, that Narcissa is better off here." But Pansy looked unconvinced still. "She doesn't have to stay with you or Ron. Nor by herself somewhere until the Malfoy Manor gets repaired. She has to stay here, with her family." Looking back towards the elder blonde woman, Hermione inhaled once more to try and ease that pressuring weight. "This is your home, Narcissa. I hope you know that...I-I...It's the least I could do."

"Why?" Narcissa asked, raising her eyebrow at the brunette as Pansy turned back to the picture-frames; walking away from them as she pretended to be oblivious to what was going to come next. "Because you feel guilty?" Mrs. Malfoy took a step towards her, hearing the other woman hum herself a tune as she tried not to pay attention. "You think you owe me something, Hermione? Because of what happened? You think I'm going to demand something from you now that Lucius is gone?"

Hermione shut her eyes, squeezing them tight as she clenched her teeth and that pressure she was trying to hide would explode out. "Don't," she said roughly. "Please, Narcissa."

"Your guilt, Hermione, is going to ruin the relationship we have established all these years," Mrs. Malfoy said honestly, her arms crossing over her emerald coat. "You've been just like a daughter to me since you married my son. You have given me three beautiful grandchildren and given me so much happiness by forming a complete family. Do not take that away from me by distancing yourself now, understood?"

"Mrs. Malfoy—"

"No, listen," the pureblood woman snapped, her eyes hardening as she frowned at the brunette. "Don't you think I know where this is going? You haven't been able to snap away from the trance you've been in for the past two weeks. Not even for the funeral."

"But—"

"Lucius acted on his own will, Hermione," Narcissa interjected again. " And if he chose to put his life on the line for you, then respect that. He wasn't forced to take the spell that took him away from me, nor am I going to hold you responsible for it."

Blinking away tears that showed her strength about to crumble, Hermione placed all her effort to keep staring into the eyes of her mother-in-law. "...If I could have reacted, if I could have helped...you wouldn't have been in this situation. We wouldn't have had the need to bury your husband."

"The robbery was not your fault, Hermione," replying with a lower tone, the blonde woman tried to keep her own tears under control. "Harry has already explained to us about the attack. The thieves were plotting to steal from us for months before they did break in. How are we supposed to know if….if Lucius was meant to live? What if they had attacked in your absence, hmm? It would have been more probable that both Lucius and I would've been dead."

And just as Hermione cringed at that thought, just as Pansy started humming louder, someone appeared at the doorway of the guest room wit an, "ehem." But as they didn't turn, Draco cleared his throat louder; trying to distract them away from that lie he had Potter feed them.

And when his mother, wife, and friend turned towards him, Draco said as convincingly and soothingly as he could, "my mother's right, Hermione. Whatever happened during the robbery was not your fault. My father's gone now, and there's no going back."

Nodding once at her son's input, Narcissa took a deep inhale. "Be thankful that you've got the rest of your life to see your children grow," she whispered to both of them; a teary smile appearing on her pale face as she locked eyes with her son. "Just as Lucius and I both got to see our son grow."

Keeping on the blank expression that he had to master as an Auror, Draco tried to return the smile to his mother. His head screaming to contradict her, to tell her that perhaps his wife was running out of time; that his father was most likely accidentally murdered because of her. "I'm heading down to the Ministry. I've got a few archives to check, but I'll be back before dinner."

"Archives?" Pansy asked, making herself visible again as the awkward moment between the two Malfoy women ended. "Ron is supposedly doing archive work as well, Draco. Why are two top Aurors filing papers?"

Looking in irritation at his friend, Draco rolled his eyes. "Worried about something, Pansy?"

"Yes," Pansy retorted, crossing her arms over her chest as she walked to the blonde. "Ron is keeping something from me and I want to know what it is. He's been awfully quiet lately, Malfoy, and his appetite decreasing by the time he gets home."

"Right." Draco furrowed his brows, a bit of gratitude for the Weasel appearing as he managed to keep the information of the case hidden from his nosy wife. "Well, Pans, since Potter couldn't find a place to put Teddy in at the office, he's gone back to filing the archives. And like always, they're an entire mess. And as the main Aurors, your little man and I are handling our own paperwork."

"And the lack of hunger?" Pansy asked, partially satisfied with his response. "If Ron is eating rubbish again, Draco, you better tell me. I have been keeping him on a diet and I'll hex him if he is stuffing his face behind my back again."

Not bothering to tell Pansy that her husband was indeed stuffing his face with sweets and packed-lunch old Mrs. Weasley sends him, Draco went to his wife. Walking towards her, a hand out to grab hers into his, but he turned to address his mother. "Mother, make sure Hermione gets some rest, please. She hasn't been sleeping well these past weeks and if she continues it she will be back at the hospital."

The brunette frowned slightly at her husband. "I've got things to do, Draco. And besides, you cannot have your mother look after me. I am a grown—"

"Of course, my son," Narcissa cut in, smirking lightly as Pansy laughed mockingly at Hermione's deeper frown. "Don't worry."

Bringing her knuckles to his mouth, Draco pressed his lips onto the skin of his wife's hand. "I'll be back," he assured her as he sent a profound look to enter her fatigued eyes.

And with a crack, he vanished from his muggle home with a needing hope that his wife remained in the dark as long as possible.

X

"We've got to come clean about this, Malfoy!" Digging the underside of his fist deeper onto the glass table, a redheaded man glared at the blonde sitting across from him. "Don't you get it?! This isn't an easy matter to keep hidden forever. We've got to tell them the truth."

"Ron," sighing to himself, Harry Potter—who was sitting on the chair next to the redhead—rubbed his temples in frustration. "We've gone over this, mate. We can't tell the public of the case Kingsley handed us. It's against Auror codes to reveal details of any case to any civilians. You know that."

Banging his fist once again on the desk, Ron retorted, "I'm trying to protect them, Harry." He glared at his best friend too. "I want to be able to tell them to take precautions, to keep themselves safe. I'm not going to hand them the case files and have them solve the mystery for us."

"I've already told you, Weasley," Draco finally spoke, his expression cool and undefined, "if you want to tell Pansy to take precaution, then do so. No one is stopping you from that, but you know you are not allowed to tell my wife about this. She is my responsibility, and I will take care of her."

"Take care of her?" Ron snorted, his face turning to a red that matched his hair. "What exactly does that even mean to you, Malfoy? 'Mione is losing her mind with grief and guilt at the moment. Your child is an a comatose state without a chance of ever waking up and your father is dead! If you just bloody-well tell her what's going on she'll be able to understand what happened!"

And in less than a second, Harry Potter pulled out his wand and directed it at his best friend. "Protego!" Causing a clear bubble to appear in front of Ron, not realizing for a moment that the blonde had a lethal glare on his face and his own wand had been already pointed onto his face before he finished his last sentence.

Startled by the scene, the redhead lifted himself off of his chair. Backing away from the two men as he continued to frown, looking furiously at the blonde. "This is a matter of life and death, Malfoy. People are constantly dying! And I don't want to go home one day and find out that my wife has been killed because I never gave her a chance to protect herself!"

"Ron!" Harry hissed, tightening the shield charm at his best friend.

"Whoever is behind these attacks are killing D.A. members and I am one of them! I don't want Pansy to be involved with this because of me," Auror Weasley continued, his expression falling as his own fear became dominant on his face as the blonde man lowered his wand. "...Pansy was on the Death Eaters side in those times. You would think she's safe from whoever is causing all of this mess, but she isn't. That Marriage Law fifteen years ago put her in danger because she's my wife now. And if they are coming for me, they won't hesitate to go over her to do so." He no longer glared at Malfoy, but gave him an almost pleading look; searching for some kind of understanding of his fear. "Your father died due to that reason, Malfoy. He died because they were after Hermione, not him."

The tension in Auror Malfoy's office became thick. A deep pull that was preventing the three men to breathe easily, to focus their brains and study the files that had brought them into that office in the first place. All of them were aware of the situation, had gone over every possible detail and explanation on their own, knew there was danger, and the limited amount of time they had to get rid of it.

The list of the dead had been given to them by the attacker of Malfoy Manor who'd survived. A list of the most recent, of the ones he only participated in; not giving them any further insight to the names that will appear on the list as he remained silent on his way to Azkaban.

Avery—Death Eater; escaped imprisonment after the war and fled to the states.

Sean James and family—Wizard family found murdered in the States.

Anthony Goldstein—Former D.A. member.

Rosemary Goldstein—Muggle wife of Anthony Goldstein

Kevin Goldstein—Ten year-old son to Anthony Goldstein

Jugson—Death Eater; murdered in Bulgaria three months after his release from Azkaban.

Rodolphus Lestrange—Death Eater; escaped imprisonment after the war.

Michelle Jones—Pureblood; Murdered after leaving a graveyard in Russia.

Zacharias Smith—Former D.A. member.

Julia Smith—Wife of Zacharias Smith; Halfblood. (Found dead hours after her husband.)

Zoë Smith—Fifteen Year-old daughter of Zacharias Smith. (Tortured and died in muggle hospital.)

Dedalus Diggle—Former Order of the Phoenix member; father of Julia Smith.

Lucius Malfoy—Death Eater.

"Excuse me, Mister Malfoy." Opening the door of the office, Tanya Rowle smiled brightly at the men that turned to face her. "Sorry for the interruption," she added, clearly seeing that she'd stumbled in at a bad moment.

"It's alright, Tanya," Harry was the one who answered, clearing his throat as he removed the charm from Ron and stuffed his wand back into his pocket. "Auror Weasley and I were just heading back to our offices. Merlin knows we've got our own archives to sort out. Teddy's not quite the one for filing."

Still keeping her smile stretched on her pink lips, Tanya flipped open the folder she had in her hands, the white-feather of her quill rising in the air on its own. "I couldn't help overhearing your conversation with your son about his duties the other day, Mister Potter—"

"Because Teddy shouted like a kid throwing a tantrum that the entire Ministry heard," Harry muttered in, chuckling awkwardly as he thought back to three days ago when he had Teddy play his assistant for an hour. (Oh, the mess he had to clean up. His owl was never going to be the same after Teddy's feedings.)

"Exactly," the secretary laughed lightly and sweetly. "So I've taken the liberty of finding a few candidates to assist you, Mister Potter." Tanya finished, pulling out a sheet of parchment and handing it to the Chosen One. "The first two are fairly new at this, but I do believe they are more qualified than most."

Harry asked, "like?"

"There is Alicia Jordan and Alyssa Wood."

"Wood?" Harry raised his eyebrow as he stared down at the list. "Isn't this Katie Bell and Oliver Wood's daughter?" He looked up at Ron, who was already back to being pale-faced and somewhat calm.

Peering at the list, Ron nodded once. "Yeah, mate. And the other is Lee's daughter." He huffed a little himself. "But that's weird, though. George said Lee was in Canada for the past year and was not planning on returning. I wonder what they're doing back, then. He wouldn't have let his daughter come alone to London."

Nodding once at the statement, Harry looked back at Malfoy's secretary. "Thank you, Tanya. You've done me the greatest favor, I assure you."

"I've also found a spot for Trainee Lupin, Mister Potter. While he's not occupied with his training, of course," the dark-haired witch continued, a triumphant glaze taking over her eyes. "There's records of the former and present prisoners in Azkaban that need to be updated. There is no need for filing, just simply checking them through and making sure all the papers are there. Besides, I am sure he'd be interested with that. I've heard he's been trying to peek into those archives for a few months now."

Ron gaped, slightly scowling as the Boy-Who-lived pocketed the list with a grander smile on his face that pushed up his glasses. "That's not fair. I have a bloody awful secretary! How come you and Malfoy get qualified ones?"

"Lavender is not that bad, Ron," Harry commented, smirking at the redhead. "She's always bringing you coffee when you ask for it and hasn't screwed up your cases in these past five months."

"She's my ex-girlfriend! The coffee is not that great and her attitude still scares me," the redhead hissed, giving one last look at Malfoy as he headed towards the door. "I only keep her around because Seamus asked."

"And because you owe him a thousand galleons."

Ron snorted. "Well, obviously. Does it look like I give a damn about her sudden damn passion of becoming a working woman after years of being a homemaker?" (Ah, for the memory of when he tried sacking her once. He was sure she had been ready to kill him with her quill and note-pad.)

Giving the blonde wizard a short goodbye, Harry followed his brother-in-law towards the door. "Well, at least she doesn't tell Pansy about your lunches with your mother and the pasties you have delivered from Honeydukes."

"Why do I get to be on a diet?" The redhead was heard huffing. "I look bloody good, don't I?"

And just as the glass door of his office closed, Draco said, "you'll get used to the bickering," as he settled himself comfortably on his chair. "Although, I warn you, it's a lot more annoying when Potter's wife visits the Ministry. Apparently he's married with both of them and has to please them or else he suffers the consequences."

"Charming," Tanya whispered, looking down at her folder filled with papers. "Mister Potter is so family oriented, isn't he? The other workers are in love with his kids. Such the perfect family, they say."

Draco narrowed his eyes at the witch, carefully watching her as she lowered herself on one of the chairs in front of him.

"And yours, Mister Malfoy, they swoon at yours." Illuminating green eyes blinked up towards Draco's, overpowering his silver in a sudden move. "….I do hope your daughter gets better. Mrs. Finnegan has a picture of her on her desk. Demetria is so enchanting."

Knowing exactly what picture on Lavender's desk she was referring to, Draco cleared his throat as he tried to make his head clear out the image of his daughter in tubes and unresponsive to the Healers treatment. (That image was more of an impact than the one of his daughter dressed as a bunny for her first muggle Halloween experience on Lavender's desk.) "Did you send Mrs. Tonks the information of the Gringotts vault I've opened for her?"

"I owled it to her yesterday morning, Mister Malfoy," the secretary said, pulling out a squared parchment from her folder. "This is her response to it. She was quite reluctant to take it, but she has sent word that she will be using it for Trainee Lupin's inheritance."

Rolling his eyes as he caught sight of 'Draco, how dare you take pity upon me?' in his Aunt Andromeda's writing on the parchment. "Well, it is her money. She is allowed to do with it as she wishes. It's the account for the Black family, it goes back centuries and rightfully it's hers."

"If you keep reading on, sir, Mrs. Tonks gives you her answer for the first owl you had me sent her a week ago."

'There is nothing safer than Grimmauld Place.' Draco snorted at his aunt's words, thinking back to the story his wife told him about the Death Eater that managed to find his way in while they were on the run decades ago.

Covering a giggle at his reaction, Tanya stretched herself forward and pointed a quill to the next paragraph. "She answers your request after explaining about her ancestors home."

"How do you know about that?" Draco asked, skimming over the 'I will oblige you upon your request, nephew. But I shall choose the first option instead of the second.'

The woman looked a little perplexed. "I'm sorry, sir. Knew about what?"

"Grimmauld Place, our ancestors home?"

"Mister Potter isn't the only famous wizard in our history, Mister Malfoy," Tanya looked deeper in the eyes of her boss. "How can one not know about the Blacks? Or the Malfoys for that matter? You all go down in history. Some for greater accomplishments than others."

Sensing the woman too close, to where the faint aroma of vanilla invaded his smell, Draco kept the gaze the woman had on him. He felt his stare narrow, almost grow frozen as he locked eyes with her. He could feel his body grow rigid, almost as if he was losing the ability to move at his freewill.

But as quick as that overwhelming feeling came, it left. Letting Malfoy clear his throat, blink his eyes, and push his back against his grand chair; leaving him feeling slightly dazed. "Those history books tend to exaggerate, Miss Rowle," he spoke, folding the letter of his aunt and tucking it into one of the drawers of his desk. "I assure you I haven't done anything extraordinary to earn those accomplishments they swear I have. Other than marrying my wife, of course. The rest is useless," he told her as he rolled up his sleeves to his elbows.

Tanya smiled again, lowering herself back to her chair. "I've organized the archives you gave me to file, Mister Malfoy. They are in the vault now and I'll be more than happy to finish arranging the ones you have now. I know that—" She stopped, her almost-transparent eyes widening a bit.

Following the gaze of the woman at her sudden pause, Draco pushed his sleeves back down in an instant. "I thought those history books said it all?" Was his response, his expression growing blank.

"I...erm…" The secretary cleared her throat, opening her folder once more and trying to erase her surprise. "I am sorry, Mister Malfoy. I just never seen...The Dark Mark is more intimidating in the flesh than how it looks in books and old Prophet clippings." She inhaled, her rosy cheeks becoming even more pink as her boss patted the arm that held the mark of his mistakes. "You received an owl from a Mister Gregory Goyle today."

"Goyle?" Malfoy knitted his eyebrows, reaching for the next piece of parchment the witch handed him. "What does he say?"

"That came as personal mail, Mister Malfoy. I'm not allowed or authorized to open that," Tanya explained, looking intrigued at the letter as the blonde looked away from her. "I take it you haven't heard of Mister Goyle for a while, then?"

Bang.

"—Draco!"

Before Malfoy could answer his secretary, Teddy Lupin came racing into his office as his door crashed against its hinges after his spell busted it open. "Teddy?"

"Hurry! Hurry!" The blue-haired trainee called. "There's been an attack in London!" Teddy shouted, his face looked stricken with horror as the blonde Auror bolted from his seat, slapping on his robes as his secretary followed after him. "Outskirts of Diagon Alley. Dad and Ron apparated a minute ago!"

"Wand at the ready, Ted!" Draco hissed, pulling out his wand. "The moment you touch the floor, cast a shielding spell. You don't know what we are up against!"

Crack. Crack.

And as the Auror and trainee disapparated away, Tanya Rowle sighed deeply as she closed her work-folder. "Well, I wonder what Mrs. Finnegan is doing right about now," she muttered to herself, a glint burning in her eyes as she walked out of the office; her wand waving behind her back as the door began to close slowly at her exit.