It would be unfair to say that Draco Malfoy, bad boy extraordinaire, did not care. He had, in the past few hours, worked himself to the grave and worried himself sick for Granger and Harry. If anyone would have told him he would be fretting over their well-being a few years back, he would have called them mad and pranked them later.

As the Floo in the Malfoy library glowed green, in a burst of emerald flames, appeared the object of his agony. Hermione Granger seemed calm and collected. Her appearance was exactly opposite of how she felt; anxious, embarrassed and excited to share her findings.

"What did you find?" Both spoke at the same time. Neither waiting to greet the other and Draco too relieved to see her back unharmed.

"You are alright? And Potter too I hope? And that guy, Boot?" Draco smiled from his desk. He felt funny seeing her by his fireplace after their interlude last night. If she wanted to pretend like nothing had happened, then two could play the game, he decided. Hermione was a little confused and relieved at his reaction. At least he wasn't bringing up her shameless need of him the previous night. He wasn't as insufferable to work with as she had first anticipated, she concluded.
She moved towards the table and took a chair opposite his.

"We all returned safely, but we never made it to the actual scene of crime. We had to turn back before we got in trouble because we found this." She said as she stacked the newly acquired books on the table.

Malfoy put down the journal, and looked at the covers. "Will o'-wisps? You found Will o'-wisps in the Marshlands, is that it?" He sounded rather alarmed as if he could not believe his eyes.

"Yes! Even I did not know that they were there in these parts. None of the books had any mention of them. Am equally surprised!"

"Actually, Granger one book did have a mention of them. My Great grandfather's journal to be precise." Now Draco seemed nervous more than happy about his findings. This worried Hermione too.

"What did you find Malfoy? You don't seem particularly excited about the findings."

Draco passed on the parchment where he was writing his notes as he started narrating his findings. "Uh..so the Marshlands technically belong to the Sacred Twenty Eight. The lands were popular with the families to go for fishing and picnics and other leisurely activities from the 17th to 19th century. There was some bond that was signed between the Ministry and the Sacred Twenty Eight to provide them with free access in return for some resources. As the activities grew, the animals started to disappear and so did a lot of plants and trees, which were vital for many potions. This vastly affected the flora and fauna in the Forbidden Forest as well. In the mid 18th century, an act was passed to stop the activities as the Ministry no longer needed the resources that the Sacred Twenty Eight were providing and the danger to the forests had reached a new peak."

Hermione was shell-shocked. There was absolutely no Ministry record of this!

"No wonder it the Marshlands are not marked or filed under the 'Public Property of the Ministry! All other public grounds, including the Forbidden Forest are marked in it, but there is no mention of the Marshlands at all! So the claim could be true!" Hermione was leaning over the table, trying to scan their notes.

"That's not all." Draco said taking a sip of water before he continued. "Silvius Malfoy was known to be great at Herbology. He frequented the Marshlands for its rare flora. He did so under the guise of going fishing as his brother usually disapproved of his passion. Once the act was passed, it became more difficult for him to access the Marshlands, even though he was glad for the protection it now had. He would change the wards and sneak in. Once, in the summer months, he found a fair maiden wandering the forests. As soon as he saw her, she vanished. A few days later he saw her again, but she was yet again too fast for him to catch her or call out to her. This happened quite a few times before he finally put a body-binding curse on her. He told her he had no intention of harming her and that he would let her go once she would just answer a few simple questions."

Intrigued, Hermione went over the notes Malfoy had written.

"Her name was Adelia. She was the young Healer in her village. Her village was facing an epidemic and she had to collect herbs everyday to replenish her inventory. She narrated how the people were dying each day and how the Lords of the land had no concern or regard for them. On prodding her further, Silvius figured that the village she belonged to was under the care of the Fawley family. He decided to speak about the matter with the then Minister of Magic, Artemisia Lufkin. She was the first woman to take the position and was then trying to start the Department of International Magical Cooperation within the Ministry. He tried to speak with Artemisia on a daily basis, but with interference from several people, including his elder brother, Septimus, he was unable to do so. Septimus believed that Silvius was up to no good and his ministrations or whatever was bothering him must be irrelevant. He met Adelia each day in the Marshlands and helped her to collect the herbs she needed. Over a few months, they fell in love. Silvius wanted to marry her but she was not only a commoner, but also a muggle born witch. He knew that Septimus would never give him permission for the match, as was required of every Malfoy member. Silvius had grown with the same kind of blood prejudice that I was fed, but unlike me, he had grown up questioning it. I personally never liked or understood it, but I decided to blindly follow whatever Lucius told me. Silvius, on the other hand used to question it day and night. He had occasionally ventured into the village with Adelia to help her heal the village folk. He had seen her potential and refused to believe the she was inferior to him in any way. He knew they bled the same. There was no difference in their blood. So he built up his courage to ask her to marry him. She was appalled because of the difference in their status and blood, to which he told her not to worry. He then went out to seek permission from the Head of the Malfoy Family, his elder brother, Septimus Malfoy."

Malfoy paused to breathe. Hermione sat there cross-legged on the chair, lost in the story that he was telling her. He could imagine being in Silvius' place. He could imagine being scared to fight for someone he loved and to fight against the bigotry he was brought up with.

"Who is the Head of the Malfoy Family now that uh…your father is gone?" Hermione asked in a meek voice.

"I am." Draco answered. He suddenly sounded like there was a lot of burden weighing him down. "And call him Lucius. I prefer it that way." He added in a matter-of-fact way.

"What happened next? He obviously never got the permission am sure?"

"Way worse. The moment Septimus got to know, he trapped Silvius in the Manor and asked the Fawley family to get rid of the 'muggle girl pretending to be a witch'. The Fawley's were finally under pressure to save the village they had ignored for so long, so they could not kill off the only healer. So, instead, they decided to trap her within the Marshlands as the land still rightfully belonged to the Sacred Twenty Eight. They set up a cottage where she was to brew all the potions needed for the treatment of the villagers. A maiden, who visited her daily, was instructed how to administer the potions and keep a check on her. A few years passed and in the early 19th century, Silvius was again free to go. The first thing he did was run off to the Marshlands. He somehow got past the additional wards and met the love of his life, Adelia. As the young maiden arrived for the day, they asked her to be a witness to their wedding. The young maiden had heard of their story and sympathized with the two, so she became the witness of them getting married with an Unbreakable Vow to protect and love each other until death did them apart. The moment they got married, her name appeared in the Malfoy Family tree. We still have it preserved in one of the storerooms. It is enchanted to add names to it magically, a fact that had slipped Silvius' mind in his excitement to meet Adelia again. They seemed to have spent the night with each other, as the journal said. But, the next day Septimus was waiting for Silvius on the outskirts of the cottage's boundaries. He knew he could not let the news escape and neither could he inform the Fawleys, so, he enchanted Silvius and the cottage such that he would never be able to find his way to the cottage or to his beloved Adelia. The family tree was then taken off the mantel on the drawing room and hidden somewhere."

"Why didn't he simply kill her?" Hermione's voice brought him out of his daze. He had started reimagining all the things in his head as he narrated.

"Silvius had taken an Unbreakable Vow to protect his new wife. If Septimus tried to kill her and Silvius did nothing to protect her, he would die. And it was natural that he would try to stop Septimus to the best of his capabilities, which meant he wouldn't stop fighting until Silvius himself was dead. So, if Septimus killed her, it meant his brother would also die automatically. But their love knew no boundaries and they were a clever duo. He yet again managed to reach the Marshlands but could not find his way to the cottage. He did not give up and kept coming back for days. Adelia on the other hand was badly missing her husband and used her wit to master the Patronus spell and tweak it such that it could guide him to her. If she had cast a full Patronus, it would mean that it would be a embodiment of her very soul, which he would not be able to see. So she crafted wisps, much like Will o'-wisps. She remembered tales about them from a traveller. He had told her of Aleya, a name for Will o'-wisps in the marshlands of the Sunderbans in Bengal, India. The folklore was that these lights entranced fishermen and often guided them to their deaths by leading them into the water and drowning them. Even in Britain, they were know to be associated with notorious creatures that often led travellers to meet their doom or make them lost in the forests, especially in Wales.
After a month of trying to find the cottage, Silvius found a wisp; he followed it and found an entire trail. He followed it and reached the cottage where his waiting wife met him. As per the accounts in the journal, this was the night she conceived."

The Gryffindor Princess was starting to feel rather upset on behalf of the two lovers. They had to suffer only on account of blood prejudice! How pathetic could they be, really? "So they had a child?" She asked.

"Yes and No. The Fawley's needed a healer to attend to the eldest family member, a woman of about sixty years of age. They knew that Adelia was the best. So they summoned her. She was in her second month of pregnancy at that time and was not showing. They had no idea about the marriage or the child. Silvius was over the Moon with the news, but with her being summoned away he needed a way to elope with her and save her in time before she started showing obvious signs of her pregnancy. The only record of Silvius ever abusing the power of the Malfoy name was when he got a man to make him a device that would take him back to the night of their reconciliation."

"Why would he do that?"

"So that he could go back in time and stop the child from being conceived. He loved the child with all his heart, but there was no way for him to save the child and keep his wife safe." Draco grey orbs looked dreadfully sad. Hermione could see the pain he was feeling for his ancestor. He could not even imagine what Adelia would have felt. "Why not simply do an abortion or a spell instead? She was a healer after all?" Hermione asked.

"Abortions were not approved of, plus he had vowed to protect her, so by making her lose the child, he would be breaking the vow and putting himself in danger's way. Also, the moment the child would be killed; the family tree might have acted strange. No child is added to it until it's born, but if any member or rather future member is in mortal danger, the family tree informs all the members of the family. In this case, Septimus would have been informed."

"So they really had no other way." Hermione murmured looking down at the plush carpet. She felt horrible and felt an inane need to cry for the two lovers.

(A/N)

Hello!

More of Silvius and Adelia's story in the next chapter!

There are a few things I would like to let you all know.

1. The Fawley's are a member of the Sacred Twenty Eight. Hector Fawley was the Minister of Magic from 1925 to 1939. His term in office coincided with the beginning of Gellert Grindelwald's "For the Greater Good" revolution.

2. Artimisia Lufkin later became an accomplished Minister for Magic from to , the first female ever to hold the office. She established the Department of International Magical Cooperation and lobbied hard and successfully to have a Quidditch World Cup tournament held in Britain during her term.

3. Septimus Malfoy is Draco's Great Grandfather as per Pottermore. Silvius is my original character. So is Adelia.

Hope you like the plot! And do let me know if you would want them to be able to save the baby or not, and if yes, then what gender. I would take the inputs into account for my next chapter!

Mili