"Are you sure that you're ready to come home?" Draco asked for the fifth time that hour. The house elves already packed all her things and brought her bags to the manor. Draco was hovering, his shoulders stiff with tension as he carried an impassive looked on his face.
"Draco, I am your wife, right?" Maia stopped her scan of the library to look up at her husband. She watched with an arched brow as his whole body tensed up and a scowl marred his face.
"What else would you be?" Draco asked tightly, his grey eyes watching her critically as she smirked.
"So, I'm not a mistress to be locked away? Do you have a wife at the manor you don't want me to meet?" Maia asked loftily as she rested her hand on his chest. Her husband growled deep in his throat as he reached out to grab her by the hips and pulled her closer. The smile on her face grew wider as he buried his face in her curls, wrapping his arms around her possessively.
"There is no other for me." Draco whispered huskily into ear before lightly nipping at the sensitive skin on her neck.
"Than there is no place for me but your side." Maia said cheekily as she pulled back to look at his face.
"Manipulative witch." Draco's lips tilted up in a fond smile before he claimed her lips. "It's still dangerous in Britain, I worry."
-0-
"They lied to you, you know?" Tonk's soft voice carried over to her from the doorway. Maia scowled at the pink haired woman from her place on the bed. After they force fed her a sleeping draught, they tethered her leg to the bed, the magical shackle allowed her to use the washroom but she was unable to exit the bed chambers.
"Really? My husband lied to me? All our friends, associates, family, old schoolmates? They all lied to me?" Maia asked with an arched brown, she folded her arms protectively over her stomach, a sneer on her face as she looked the woman from head to toe. "And I should believe you? The ones who have me shackled to a bed and have not had a medi witch come to examine me?"
"We really just wanted to speak to you..." Tonks said softly as she ambled into the room, her face pinched with embarrassment.
"Then come have a conversation with me, I know you've deluded yourselves into thinking you're the light and wondrous heroes but really?" Maia scoffed as she leaned back on the headboard and looked at the petite woman critically.
"Well, we got reports that your were so nice and warm and we couldn't believe you would voluntarily marry into the Malfoy family. We just wanted to give you a choice, let you see that there was a way to fight back!" Tonks said passionately as she sat in the large armchair beside her bed.
"Wow, you're delusional." Maia scoffed, rubbing her stomach fondly as she turned to look out the window, memorizing the empty street carefully. "Draco loves me and I love him, he does what he must."
"He has to kill people, whole families? No he enjoys it, he's sick!" Tonks spat furiously, Maia chuckled making the former auror frown.
"Yes, he must. Did you really think that freedom would be won without bloodshed?" Maia asked curiously, a small smile on her face as she tilted her head to the side.
"You don't need to murder people for your freedom! What freedom could they possibly be fighting for?" Tonks demanded hotly, her hair fading into a violent blood red. Maia only looked amused as she watched the woman's reactions.
"The freedom to use whatever magic I choose, it's my magic and it should be my choice. If I want to use a little blood to make sure my wards keep you out of my home its no ones business, lest of all the ministry." Maia said dismissively as she rolled her eyes at the seething woman.
"You want to use dark magic? That's what you're fighting for?" Tonks cried angrily as she sat up in her seat.
"I'm not fighting, you silly bint. I was supposed to have a dueling instructor but I think Draco was hoping I would never need it." Maia sighed sadly as she continued rubbing the small bump on her stomach. "My husband fights for the Dark Lord for a reason, he doesn't want to lose the culture rich world he was raised in. While I don't agree with what they are doing to the mudbloods-" Tonks raised a brow as the woman said the slur so easily and with no malice in her voice. "-especially the little ones. I also understand the fear, muggles out number us greatly and I think we are greatly behind on how advanced they actually are. If that bookshop was any indication, the muggles are a bit farther advanced than fire and the scary gallows."
"Why?" Tonks gaped in confusion, she blinked slowly, trying to absorb what the woman just said.
"You need more reasons? Well, Draco is my family. Family always comes first, I will always be by his side. He will come for me, you know? I know his reputation...he's not like that at home. He warm and protective, Draco laughs and debates creature rights with me. The man I married teases me over my love of books, in fact that's how he usually gets his way. One day I think we will have an entire wing devoted to our library." Maia gave a throaty chuckle as Tonks continued to stare at her with wide eyes.
"Draco Malfoy?" Tonks said slowly, as if unsure if she heard correctly. Maia rolled her eyes and turned to look out the window, bored of this captivity.
"You really think that Draco Malfoy is the good guy?" Harry demanded, the earpiece of the extendable ear still hanging over his shoulder. Maia stiffened as soon as he came in the room, she looked around frantically for something to defend herself with.
"Harry, I thought we agreed you wouldn't come in here." Tonks said through gritted teeth with a pointed stare.
"Well, the Weasley's are coming straight from St. Mungos. I wanted to make sure Ron didn't come storming in here." Harry said sheepishly as he quickly stashed the earpiece in his pocket.
"Stay away from me." Maia hissed from her bed, glaring daggers at the raven haired man.
"You are in my house, I can go where I please!" Harry snapped but it did nothing to help the tension between them.
"Then let me go home! What?! Are going to take some more memories? Just can't let me alone, can you Potter?" Maia said waspishly, her eyes like ice as she regarded the man, knowing she was trapped there.
"What are you talking about?!" Harry demanded, truly confused.
"Oh, must be tough. Don't remember me? You took me on my wedding day after murdering the only parents I've ever known! Draco found me hours later with no mem-" Maia's voice got caught in her throat and her eyes filled with tears. "Just let me go!"
"I've never met you before!" Harry exclaimed, his green eyes wide as he regarded the witch closely. It was the first time he could really look at her this closely as she turned away from him. She seemed so familiar to him, the way she spoke, the way she moved and something about her face. While he knew she was beautiful, there was something about her smile in the papers that made him ache.
"Mrs. Malfoy...Maia..." Tonks started but the woman turned and sneered at her. "Mrs. Malfoy, I don't believe Harry would do something like that. He's actually a very kind and noble wizard, I don't know what you've been told about him but I can assure you it's not true, Harry is wonderful."
"Lovely. Excuse me, I have to go vomit." Maia sneered as she tumbled from the bed and rushed to the washroom to get away from the ridiculous pair. At first, she thought maybe she could talk to them civilly and they may let her go but they were obviously too enamored with their leader.
"She's..." Harry mumbled, a pained expression on his face as he stared at the closed door.
"Not quite what we thought, is she?" Tonks nodded her head looking between the door and Harry.
"I swear I've never met the woman in my life but she seems familiar and she's a bit batty, right? Thinking I would kill her parents?" Harry said slowly and turned to his friend.
"Well, we did technically kidnap her. Now, the whole scheme seems a bit far fetched...Wolfie is scary optimistic at times." Tonks sighed unhappily.
"Where's Teddy?" Harry asked after a moment of silence.
"He's down for a kip, mum hasn't been feeling well...so she can't keep him and Remus is off on the..." Tonks trailed off in a whisper with a pointed look at the closed door.
"So, the burrow." Harry changed the subject quickly, a deep frown on his face thinking of the only other place he was able to visit now gone to him.
"Did they say anything? Were Molly and Bill there?" Tonks asked apprehensively.
"Yes, they found the remains of one magic user. Unfortunately they managed to cast fiendfyre and it decimated the entire property so they don't know who it was." Harry ran a hand through his hair and his eyes welled with tears. "She's always been like a mother to me, I don't know how I will ever look any of the Weasleys in the face again if either of them are gone."
"You can't blame yourself, Harry. It's how the death eaters ruin things, we all knew the risks of fighting." Tonks whispered, although she never like Molly Weasley, she would never wish the overbearing woman harm.
"Maybe-" Harry started but was cut off by a loud thump that came from the washroom. Tonks was the first one up, scrambling to open the door, Maia was on the floor surrounded by runes drawn in blood. The woman was apparently unconscious, Harry moved forward to check on her but the runes glowed and a gust of wind knocked Harry and Tonks out of the doorway.
"What the bloody hell?" Tonks demanded as she rubbed the back of her head.
"Mistress Malfoy is a smart Black witch." Kreature wheezed from the doorway, his frown deepened as he watched Harry scramble forward to approach her again. The raven haired man was blasted back by a white shield that sealed the room holding the unconscious woman.
"Kreature, what did she do?" Harry demanded as he sat up, staring at the woman curiously.
"Mistress Malfoy sealed the room with blood runes." Kreature smiled, actually smiled and it made Harry shiver in disgust. He couldn't remember the haggard old elf ever looking so happy.
"Anything else?" Harry persisted watching the elderly elf practically vibrate with excitement. Tonks was slowly dragging herself towards the unconscious woman on her hands and knees with a glazed look in her eyes.
"Mistress Malfoy sends a distress call." Kreature cackled gleefully as Harry scrambled to pull Tonks back from the doorway.
"Let me go, Harry!" Tonks screamed hysterically, scratching at his face furiously. Harry was distressed more by the animalistic look in her now grey eyes, her hair was shifting through the colors of the rainbow so fast she resembled a neon sign.
"Tonks! Tonks!" Harry tried to shake her but it was no use, the woman only fought harder. "Nymphadora!" Tonks froze in her attacks and her hair turned a fiery red as she turned to glare at the raven haired man angrily, the glazed look to her eyes faded and she shook her head in confusion.
"They're coming." Tonks said in a pained whisper as she quickly dashed from the room tripping over her own feet, rushing down the stairs to grab her son and she was gone in a flash of emerald flames.