A/N 1: Thanks everyone for the follows and favourites.
*Thanks to Nikki98, Grovek26, surugusasa, AMBERJANUS, MARIEL and DSM for their reviews.
**MARIEL: I READ YOUR REVIEW AND YOUR ANSWER IS IN CHAPTER 49.
***I AM WARNING ALL MY READERS NOW BECAUSE THIS CHAPTER DEALS WITH VERY CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES ONLY SUITABLE FOR VERY MATURE PEOPLE. IT IS THEREFORE ADVISABLE THAT YOU DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT AND PLEASE UNFOLLOW ME WITHOUT BOTHERING TO REVIEW.
****VERY IMPORTANT NOTE:
I know you are already irked by the name of this chapter but please don't avoid the note that follows.
As an author, writing TPA is becoming increasingly challenging for me for I wanted from the very beginning to be true to the diverse human nature and reality. The story covering its 50th chapter is a mark of recognition from my readers that they love this story and it is time to reveal half of my motive for writing it.
Firstly, TPA is a tribute to all the rape survivors out there and a very small effort to show the trauma they go through. It is also a tribute to womanhood and most importantly motherhood overcoming all obstacles. Here I will show you what real angst, darkness and remorse is for you have no idea how dark I can write (no boasting there). I will also show the true meaning of love and redemption that will arise from it.
With that being said, secondly, I have 15 different endings for this very fiction and I assure you each are different from the other. But, I went for the one that I think will be true for the characters that I am dealing with: Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy. I am not Hermione so my decision and judgments will not be reflected here. I am not looking for fame or recognition, I am quite a useless author considering the usual fictions that are you are accustomed to read and this isn't a stunt to gain popularity. This is a writing to provoke your thoughts.
Third and most importantly, this story is a very ugly one. It deals with ugly incidents, thoughts, actions, words and most importantly ugly reality that surrounds us. For the sake of fiction, I have embedded fun, light moments and some subtle romances here but the root of this story is very bitter, almost like Hemlock. Some of my very charming readers have been threatening me to report it. I ask them to go forward and do it, for I am confident that no matter what they do, how hard they try, they can't stifle my voice or silence my thoughts. From the ashes I will rise again and write. Because, I am determined to write and finish this story with the ending that 'I' chose for it, according to the characters and reality that I am dealing with.
Well I guess that's all and now please enjoy and don't forget to leave a review.
The album of OC's has been updated with new pictures of Draco, Hermione, Morpheus and a few glimpses of memories.
My fiction 'The Poisoned Apple' has been nominated for The Hogwarts award in the category Hermione Romance. It is posted on the site and I would like you to cast your vote on the site under 'vote' tab.
The website is hogwartsawards DOT weebly DOT com **replace DOT with a . The link can also be found in my profile.
For adult theme this chapter is rated M. (HIGH MATURITY)
Disclaimer: The copyright to Harry Potter characters belong to J. K. Rowling. Any other characters are purely work of fiction and any resemblance is co-incidental.
Chapter 51: The Death of Draco Malfoy.
Hermione didn't miss the look of resentment that appeared on Draco's face when her son of five and a half years ran, jumped into her outstretched arms and embraced her tightly around her middle.
"Mama! You came!" Adrian exclaimed longingly.
Returning home at around nine o'clock after their meeting with Pasteur at Château d'If, Hermione was heartily welcomed by her son, who had been waiting for his mother impatiently at aunt Audré's parlour.
"I came, little rabbit. Mama came home." Hermione stroked her son's curls fondly, bathing in the pleasant glory of motherhood, "Now tell me that you were a good boy and did your homeworks properly." she enquired from her son, "I will be checking them before we go to bed." She warned him.
"Always asking me about homeworks." Her son complained, looking up at her and fixing his innocent grey orbs at her brown pair, "I did it. Grandma Audré and Aunt Lillian showed me." he informed his mother.
"That's like my good boy." Pleased, Hermione leaned forward and kissed Adrian on forehead, "Mama will read you a new story tonight." She smiled when her son exclaimed with a loud and happy 'yay!'
"The savior of Paris has been working hard this evening, Jean." Audré's amused voice came from the sofa she was sitting on, "Not to mention the brave fight he put on and how he defeated his aunt on sword fight for a grand total of five times." She said, her eyes round like a ball to convey her surprise.
Hermione couldn't help but laugh at the comment for she had seen how her own 'Sir Cadogan' had invited his aunt into a duel.
"Monsieur Delacour, please make yourself at home." Hermione heard Audré invited Alexis while she ignored Malfoy completely and walked over to join Audré and Lillian, "I will be delighted if you could join us for dinner." She said pleasantly.
"Thanks for your gracious offer, Madame Malfoy, but I must respectfully decline for my mother is waiting for me at home." Alexis seated himself just opposite Lillian while Adrian landed on his lap, "I hope I find you well Mademoiselle Lillian." he asked her courteously.
Lillian nodded, "Thank you very much, Monsieur Delacour." she replied elegantly and Hermione, now taking off her traveling cloak, gave the pair a curious look before Audré's voice brought her to senses.
"I know all of you are very tired and I don't wish to keep you for long but I am pretty curious to know what happened at Château d'If." She told them.
"Pasteur asked Granger for a quid pro quo deal and she agreed."
Malfoy's abrupt and sharp answer to his aunt's query couldn't annoy Hermione more. She glared at him while the infuriating Slytherin simply glared back.
"I did aunt." Keeping her eyes directly fixed at Malfoy's pairs, Hermione admitted challengingly.
"Well, Jean is an intelligent woman and I have complete faith on her, Draco." She heard Audré's confident voice from beside her, "There is no need to be so hyper about it because if you haven't already noticed it, Pasteur is at Château d'If not at Château de la Grange-Bléneau."
Audré's words cleared Hermione of whatever fear and doubt she had been harbouring in her mind since the deal with Pasteur, "He told me how to undo Metzner's claim that Rochés wasn't the one who tried to poison the Minister." She informed her, "And in return I had to tell him about the word written on my left forearm."
"What is written in your forearm, Mama?" Adrian, who had been playing with Alexis's pen and neck-tie, asked Hermione curiously.
The darkened look that appeared on Malfoy's face immediately didn't miss Hermione's sharp observation.
"Do you like my tie, Adrian?" Alexis asked him before Hermione could answer her son, "Do you want to wear it?" he asked while loosening the knot, "It is for adult men."
"I think we should keep this conversation for later." Audré commented casting cautious glance at Adrian, who was now happily accepting Alexis's neck-tie, "Delacour, my mother will be turning in her grave if she sees her daughter's guest leaving this Château with an empty-stomach at dinner time and will surely haunt me tonight. You are, therefore, not allowed to leave until the dinner is over." She said dismissively before standing up.
Following the small group, where a happy Adrian was sporting an overlarge scarlet neck-tie that made him strangely resemble Dobby, Hermione entered the dining room.
The dinner that followed was delicious as usual but for Hermione, the most intriguing part was Lillian and Alexis interaction.
"Maman scolded Gabrielle this morning for not inviting Mademoiselle Lillian to our home while she had spent almost a week at your care when Jean and Adrian fractured their arms." He told Audré, "We would be delighted if she returned a visit at a time of her convenience."
"That's very kind of Apolline." Audré commented, "My daughter is also fond of Gabrielle for they are almost same age and can be good company for each other."
Lillian almost choked on her soup at this comment and coughed which caused everyone to look at her.
"Where is Julian and aunt Narcissa?" Lillian asked her mother and Hermione strongly suspected she was trying to hide her true feelings regarding the Veelas, "Will they not join us for dinner?"
Audré was frowning at her daughter when she replied, "Julian is tired and sleeping in his room; he has asked me not to call him for dinner. Narcissa has also made similar request for reasons that are unknown."
"Why unknown?" Malfoy asked his aunt, frowning deeper than her, "Didn't you ask her?"
"I assure you I did, Draco, but she has full rights not to answer them." Audré replied with a cautious glance at Alexis's direction.
"Monsiuer's Mama is unhappy." Adrian intoned from his soup and Hermione bit her tongue in embarrassment for it was evident from Audré's looks that something serious has happened that she didn't want to share before Alexis, "I heard her telling grandma Audré." He confessed.
"Adrian, a true gentleman never listens when ladies talk." Hermione tried her best to control the damage that her son had done unintentionally.
"But Mama, I was not listening." Her son protested, looking up from his soup, "I heard them." he corrected his mother.
Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed, "Whatever Adrian, from this moment on Mama forbids you to listen, hear, eavesdrop other people's conversation." She mentioned all the terms she could remember, "This isn't befitting a gentleman and surely not someone who is the savior of Paris." she said firmly.
"Okay I will close my ears and close Peter's too." Adrian responded, pouting his lips, "And I will finish my soup before you scold me again." He took his small spoon somberly before dipping it in his small bowl.
Hermione was about to admonish her son for arguing back when Audré's voice interrupted her.
"Hallowe'en is coming in ten days, Jean. What have you planned to make for Adrian's costume?" she asked Hermione lightly and turning at her, Hermione found Audré giving her a deliberate look.
"I….I haven't…" she stammered from sudden change of subject, "I haven't planned anything." She confessed, "I didn't get time to think about it."
"Mama always forgets." Adrian interjected, "She forgets her birthday, her purse, kissing me in the morning before I go to school, giving Peter a bath and a loooooooottttttttttttttt…" he stretched his arms sideways "…of other things. Last year Mama forgot about Hallowe'en and grandma Apolline made me an orange costume." He told the table.
"Orange?" Malfoy he repeated after Adrian, "An actual orange?" he asked incredulously, "I wonder how he looked like." He said irritably.
"I assure you, Malfoy, that Adrian looked very cute in his actual orange costume." Alexis informed him in an even voice before Hermione could snap, "It suited him very well."
"But I think his father's Slytherin green colour will suit him way better than Chudley Cannons' colour." Malfoy remarked coolly, "This year he will wear green." He said in a tone of finality.
If anything infuriated Hermione more than Draco Malfoy's constant attempts to intrude in her somehow peaceful life, it was the infuriating way that he commanded Hermione and her son. She was half a mind hexing him into oblivion when Adrian spoke up.
"I don't like green." He said straightly on Malfoy's face, "I like orange very much and Peter likes it too, don't you Peter?" he asked his rabbit who was devouring his allotted hay on a separate chair and when it wasn't clear whether the mute animal nodded or shook its head, "He said he likes it." he replied on Peter's stead.
Hermione gave Malfoy a look of pure loathe before kissing her son's forehead with a challenging arch of her eyebrow and took off her ring from her thumb to place it on her left little finger before his very eyes.
To her immense pleasure, her little ploy wasn't lost for Malfoy gripped his fork so hard that his knuckles turned white.
Rest of the dinner was uneventful apart from Alexis's small attempts to exchange a civil conversation with Lillian which the young woman returned with forced politeness.
"I must admit that your mode of chess playing is very interesting." He commented on his poached fish, "Who taught you to play chess?" he asked Lillian.
"Maman." Lillian replied curtly, "You may not know it but she is the best chess player in whole Paris, even France I guess." She said proudly.
"Really?" Alexis asked Audré, curious, "Then Jean can learn chess from you." He cast an approving glance at Hermione, "She is awful at chess." He teased Hermione.
"Mama isn't awful, uncle." Adrian defended his mother, cutting his poached fish with more force than necessary, "My Mama is the best." He declared dismissively.
Everyone but Malfoy joined the laugh that followed this little Magna Carta and Hermione felt her confidence and pride on her son reach the sky.
The dinner finally over after a delicious dessert of lemon soufflés, Alexis took his leave, leaving behind his neck tie, hanging around Adrian's neck.
"Jean, can I have a word with you?" Hermione heard Audré asked her as she waved Alexis good night, "My dear little man, can you go to the kitchen with Aunt Lillian and bring your poor, old grandma a cup of coffee?" She directed her next question at Adrian who jumped down from his chair enthusiastically and with a curt 'Ok' dragged out Lillian with him hurriedly, "And Draco, it's personal." She added to Malfoy's questioning frown.
Hermione was expecting Audré to ask her about her deal with Pasteur when she asked her a completely different question.
"Jean, what are your plans regarding Narcissa?" she asked her once Malfoy exited the dining room, "Have you given my words a thought?"
Hermione had to be honest with Audré, "I didn't aunt." she replied solemnly, "I am sorry but I just couldn't spare a moment after our last conversation on Saturday. Today was my first workday of the week and the workload is usually more on Mondays. After I returned home from Gringotts, I took care of Adrian and then I left for Château d'If." She explained.
"It's alright." Audré held out a hand, "Remember this, that had it not been important, Jean, I wouldn't have asked you to do what I am about to ask you." She said solemnly, "Narcissa is extremely depressed from this morning. She hasn't even eaten anything. Normally, I am at home and I look after my guests but I was at Wizengamot this morning and everyone else was at their appointed places – school or office. Narcissa was completely alone for the entire day until I returned home from the court hearing and Zilek, my personal Elf, informed me that she has locked herself in her room and wouldn't talk to anyone. I am the Lady of this Château and no door can remain closed for me; so, I kind of forcefully entered into her room and found her crying her eyes out on her bed. I gave her some Calming Draught and went to talk to you about her when Delacour came and you had to leave for Château d'If."
"But what did you want to talk about?" Hermione asked, half-curious and half-apprehensive.
"I just wanted to ask you take this food tray to Narcissa." Audré replied imploringly showing Hermione a tray laden with dinner, "I don't know why but I had a feeling that she might like to see you and Adrian." she explained, "I know you don't want to have anything to do with her even if it concerns punishing Draco because being a Gryffindor you are righteous about decisions you take; that no matter how much you hate Draco and his mother, you will never cross lines in hatred for you won't be able to look at yourself in the mirror afterwards. And I, also, will not ask you do anything that you don't feel like." She shook her head, "But Narcissa is ill and she has lost everything – her family, husband and son. After that night when Draco made the deal with you, she also willingly let go of her homeland. She is completely alone now and devastated. I know asking a lot but I request you, Jean," Audré took Hermione's hands and squeezed them gently, "help her, not as a rapist's mother but as a fellow human being."
Hermione didn't know what to respond in the face of such heartfelt plea from Audré, the woman who had always stood by her side. She stood there for a while trying to make up her mind about the matter at hand.
"You don't have to plead to me, aunt Audré. You know that I trust you." She said at last, squeezing back Audré's hands, "After that night when I overheard Mrs. Malfoy's conversation with her son, I was planning to work on her to see if she truly is what she says. I even asked her to help me with Unbreakable Curses and she was planning to give me the Malfoy Book of Curses when…" she paused remembering how Audré had eaten the entire book full of poison, "…since then I couldn't find an excuse to ask her to help me. I am not close to her and I am not willing to be so until I am completely sure about her. What if it is a ploy to get closer to Adrian?" she asked Audré, "My logic says that Mrs. Malfoy isn't as bad as she appears but my mind is still suspicious about her true motives. I am stuck in a limbo here, aunt; try as I might I can't forget that she is indirectly responsible for what happened to me." Hermione sighed, "But if I can make a deal with a convicted criminal like Pasteur, I can surely try to assess Narcissa Malfoy too. I am not a teenager anymore and am quite capable of handling this matter on my own." She said firmly.
"Pasteur and Narcissa aren't same." Audré commented, "And I will never ask you take a food tray to Pasteur." She assured Hermione, as she handed her the tray, "That much you can be sure of, Jean."
Hermione was about to leave for Narcissa's room when Lillian returned with Adrian, who was carrying a rather large tray with a lone cup of coffee on it with Alexis's overlarge tie still around his neck.
"The savior of Paris wouldn't let me carry the Cup of Glory." Lillian supplied in a mocked serious tone to Hermione's questioning look, "He said he would give it himself to his 'Grandma Audré'." She quoted Adrian.
Amused, Hermione watched as Adrian carefully balanced the tray on his small hands and walked over to a waiting Audré before offering it to her.
"Here is your coffee, grandma." The little boy told his second favourite grandmother, "I made it." he informed her showing the lone cup full of steaming hot liquid.
"It looks so delicious! I wonder if any grandma in this world is blessed with such a nice little gentleman as her grandson." Audré commented affectionately as she took the tray from Adrian's hands and placed it on the table, "This poor old woman is extremely lucky." She kissed him on his cheeks.
"Overkill aunt." Hermione interjected as Adrian jumped in evident joy and swelled his small chest in pride for being praised by his 'poor, old grandma', "If you are poor and old then Pasteur is the nicest man in the world." She teased her.
"He might be, Jean, who knows?" Audré teased back playfully, "Now take you son for the next great mission." She nudged Adrian to Hermione.
"Mission?" Adrian fixed his wide and excited grey orbs at Hermione and enquired, "The savior is ready." He said proudly.
"Follow me, savoir." Hermione bid her son and he obliged her happily.
Hermione's happy mood dissipated the moment Adrian asked her, "Where are we going, Mama?"
Having never lied to her son, Hermione decided to tell the safest truth possible.
"We are taking dinner for Monsiuer's Mama. She is ill." She replied solemnly.
"She is unhappy too….oopss…" Adrian clapped his mouth shut remembering his mother admonishing him at the table, "I am sorry." He said somberly.
"It is okay, my little rabbit." Hermione balanced the tray on one hand and embraced her little son with the other as they walked through the spacious corridor of first floor to reach Narcissa's room, "Where did you hear it, by the way?" she asked him curiously.
"I was fighting with Aunt Lillian when a Floo call came for grandma. We went to tell her about it but grandma was at Monsieur's Mama's room. So we went there. She was saying to grandma that she is unhappy. I heard it." Adrian replied, "Grandpa Gustave told me not to listen to ladies. You know I won't." he looked up sideways at Hermione.
"I know you won't." Hermione affirmed, "I know that my little rabbit and the savoir of Paris is a true gentleman in the making." She said truthfully.
Mother and son chatting animatedly, they reached Narcissa's suite of rooms and knocking twice Hermione turned the door knob.
The door opened noiselessly and she entered the darkened suite with Adrian behind her.
"Why is it so dark, Mama?" her son 'the savior' asked her while moving closer to his mother while Hermione withdrew her wand and with a non-verbal 'Lumos Maxima' cast a bright light to see the room more clearly.
She had been here once before; the day she came to return the brooch and Sleeping Mixture that Narcissa had concocted for her. The sitting room that opened to the main entrance door had changed much; it was deserted while a few shawls lay on sofas carelessly.
"Where is Monsiuer's Mama?" Adrian timidly asked Hermione, who was thinking on the same lines, when the answer came from the next room.
"Who is it?" Narcissa's cold voice came from what appeared to be her bedroom, "Audré, please leave me alone." She said dismissively.
"Mrs. Malfoy?" Hermione called back not knowing what term to use to describe their relationship, "I came with my son Adrian." she chose the safest one.
The door that was half open previously, fully opened now and a pale looking Narcissa staggered in the sitting room.
If it Hermione thought she had seen a sad a tired Narcissa the day they went to shop with the entire family at Lá Mode, then it was nothing compared to how she looked now. She seemed to have gained ten years overnight with her bloodshot and sunken eyes, blonde hair into a mess of tangle that hung around her face and her dress in complete disarray.
"Gra…Jean…Adrian…" she stammered, her wide blue eyes darting between Hermione and her son as if she has seen Lord Voldemort himself, "You came? Why?"
It wasn't a question but a statement; as if Narcissa was unable to take up with the bitter reality of their presence in her suite.
Hermione laid down the tray on the adjacent table and straightened up, "We brought you your dinner." She replied solemnly encircling a hand around Adrian.
"Dinner?" Narcissa repeated after Hermione, her voice coming from a distant, "Why?" she asked her.
Again it was a statement, not a question.
"We heard that you are ill." Adrian replied on his mother's stead, "Are you ill?" he asked curiously.
"Ill?" Narcissa's lost look wasn't missed by Hermione when she echoed Adrian's question, "I…little boy…am a sinner…please leave me alone in this." she said before turning away.
Hermione was feeling helpless and was wondering how to go back when the chandelier overhead suddenly lit up, bathing the entire room in light.
"Mother!" Draco Malfoy's soft exclaim came from behind before he walked past them to reach Narcissa, "Why are you looking like this? What happened?" he asked noticing her disorganized look.
Narcissa held out a hand and stopped her son's advancing figure at an arm's length, "You happened to me, Draco. You happened." She said, her blue eyes blazing, "Now, just get out of my sight." She spat at him, "I don't want to see you ever again."
"But mother…" Malfoy started again when Adrian cut him in.
"Monsieur's Mama!" he called Narcissa timidly, "Why are you scolding Monsieur? Did he hurt you?"
The silence that followed his simple question was so deafening that Hermione was at a loss of words and thoughts.
"Adrian." Narcissa fixed her eyes on the little boy, "Can you please do me a favour, little angel?" she asked him, her eyes tearful.
"Anything for you." Adrian replied honestly, "Should I bring you some coffee? Like I made for grandma Audré?" he enquired.
"I will be grateful for that." Narcissa gave Hermione's son a forced smile, "I am very hungry and thirsty too." she supplicated.
"I am coming in a minute with Aunt Lillian." Saying that, Adrian almost ran out of Narcissa's suite before Hermione could stop him.
Hermione was about to follow her son out when the Narcissa's cold voice pierced her eardrums.
"Did you see that boy, Draco? How sensitive and caring he is for a woman whom he hardly knows and calls 'Monsieur's Mama'?" Narcissa asked her son, "Were you like him when you were six? Or when you were five and a half?"
Malfoy hung his head in response and stood before his mother silently.
"No, you weren't." Narcissa replied coldly on her son's stead, "You know why?" she asked again, "Because, I never taught you to; because Lucius never taught you to. Because we, your cursed parents, never taught you to be sensitive and caring. Never." She shook her head, tears flowing down cheek now, "We taught you to be a cruel, arrogant, proud, insensitive and bigot boy like us and we paid our price when you finally grew up to be a rapist. It is all my fault." She pointed an accusing finger on her chest, "I am to be blamed for it and my dead husband is to be blamed for it, Draco. You are innocent and we are sinners, so please leave me in this hell and clear off." She spat at her son before turning at Hermione, "Jean, I am grateful that you showed this much humanity for a woman who caused you this pain and I really have no words to express my gratitude for bringing this dinner to my suite" she said solemnly "But I don't deserve this care." She shook her head firmly, "I don't."
Hermione was having mixed feelings now; a part of her wasn't willing to listen to this painful conversation again while another part wanted to know Narcissa's view.
"Mother, please, don't blame yourself for the crime that I committed." Malfoy mustered some courage and pleaded to his mother, "You never taught me to do this, never told me to do this. I was young and I was angry, I made a mistake at the heat of moment for I thought she really wanted to kill you. I love you, mother, I love you. I love you." He collapsed at his mother's feet.
"Mistake? Mistake, Draco?" Narcissa flared up at once, "Rape is not a mistake, it is a crime. Do you have any idea what you did to this innocent girl that day?" she demanded from the man at her feet, "You smothered her. You killed her. A woman's honour is priceless for her. I can't imagine anyone even looking at me like that let alone touch me. Had it been me, I would have committed suicide in self-loath for being touched like that." She moved away from her son, "The women of House of Black's were always honoured for their chastity." She said proudly, "My mother would have died in shame had she known that her grandson is the one who destroyed another woman's honour."
"But mother, Granger is still innocent and honourable. I couldn't destroy it and nor can I do it ever." Malfoy's words rendered Hermione speechless, "I am the one who is dishonoured here. Not her. She is pure like she was before I violated her." He stood up and proclaimed solemnly.
"Then why did you rip yourself of your honour, Draco? Why?" Narcissa burst into tears, "Did I not teach you not to touch a woman without her consent?" she asked him, "No matter how much I loved Lucius, I never allowed him near me unless I was willing for it." she shook her head, "We, the Black women, would rather die than being treated like an object for sexual pleasure. Do you know the trauma she went through afterwards?"She pointed a finger at stunned Hermione, "It is so easy to say that you are dishonoured and she is pure but can your words bring back what she has lost from her life? Can it erase the memories of that incident? No. It. Can. Not." She said firmly, "It breaks my heart when I try to imagine what she must have gone through at the tender age of seventeen. Rape itself is a trauma deadly enough to make the victim want to commit suicide. This girl was also impregnated! She bore that stigma in her body for nine monthes…away from home and family…away from everybody…do you even have any idea what it is, Draco?" she asked her son, "She should slap you every day for the rest of your life and you shouldn't even dare to complain about it." she said dismissively before turning away and slamming the door on her son's face.
Hermione was rooted to the spot, her thoughts in complete jumble when Adrian returned with Lillian.
"Where is Monsiuer's Mama?" he enquired from Hermione, looking around the room, "She said she is hungry." He looked at the untouched tray of foods.
"Your grandma is inside her room." Hermione didn't know how she used the word for Narcissa, "Let's go, little rabbit." She took up the tray and passing an ashen-faced Malfoy, who held open the door for them, she entered Narcissa's bedroom.
The woman in question was wailing on her bed, her face buried in her pillow.
"Mrs. Malfoy? Mrs. Malfoy!" Hermione placed the tray on the night-stand while Lillian and Adrian stood behind her, "Your grandson has brought coffee for you." She tried hard not to sound overly emotional.
"Go away, Jean. I am not fit to be his grandmother, I am not fit for anything. I am a sinner and I will destroy him like I destroyed Draco." Narcissa's voice was muffled as she spoke against the pillow, "Take him away."
"But you promised you won't cry." Adrian interjected innocently and came forward to place a hand on Narcissa.
What happened next was some of most heartbreaking scenes Hermione had ever seen and she had seen many.
Narcissa looked up from her pillow and her bloodshot eyes rested on the small hand Adrian had placed on her shoulder.
"Adrian! My little angel!" she sat up suddenly and engulfed a stunned boy into her tight embrace, "Oh how I have been waiting to be called grandma! My first grandson didn't live long enough to call me that and I was dying to hear that from your lips." She burst into tears again, "Call me grandma just for once! Just for once, Adrian! So that if I die this very moment, I will die with this knowledge that I was called grandma by my own grandson in my lifetime. Call me grandma, Adrian, just once! I beg you, please, my little angel!" she released Adrian and gave him a pleading look.
Hermione knew if she stopped Adrian now, she will never be able to look up at herself in the mirror. True that her feelings for Narcissa were not of love and respect, but she had at least earned her faith by her words and recent actions.
She felt Adrian looking up at her for silent approval and trusting her instincts, she nodded.
"Grandma!" Adrian piped simply, "Grandma Narcissa."
"Adrian!" Narcissa howled and buried the little boy in her deep embrace, "My life's dream has been fulfilled. Now, I can die happily." She declared in a constricted voice.
Hermione didn't know why she was crying now, why Lillian standing beside her was crying and why Adrian too was crying.
Maybe these were the tears that only true emotions could bring out.
•••••
Audré sighed in relief and wiped away her tears that the sight before her had brought forth.
'It wouldn't do well to Audré's reputation to cry like that.' she thought and looked at the man who was watching at the union on Narcissa's bed longingly.
Draco was crying, unrestrained tears were running down his pale cheek as his son called Narcissa his grandma for the very first time.
She let him watch it, unhindered.
At last when Narcissa, choking and panting from prolonged crying, accepted a slice of plain sandwich with coffee that Adrian had brought for her, she placed a hand on Draco's shoulder.
"Time to go, Draco." She whispered into his ears and her nephew nodded woodenly before following her out of his mother's suite.
Draco's feet must have been in auto-pilot mode for the way he was walking without looking at anything would have caused him at least three collisions with the walls and stairs on his way to his suite.
Once there he didn't even bother to take off his shoes and slumped on a sofa before hiding his face behind his hands.
Audré settled before her nephew and braced herself for the hardest part of the mission she had planned to execute: spear-fishing.
"Cool down, Draco, cool down." She said calmly to the man she was sure still crying, "Malfoys never cry."
"I hate being a Malfoy." Draco countered from behind his hands, "What has this blasted name given me? All my life, I followed the rules that were taught to me. My father asked me to uphold the family name; I tried as much as I could. Tried to do be good at my studies, in Quidditch, never mixed with anyone other than purebloods. My mother told me not to touch girls without their consent and I never did. Never, aunt, never." He looked up from his hands and shook his head firmly, "But one wrong move…I violated Hermione and it destroyed my entire life. Now I am left with nothing…nothing aunt…nothing…my home, country, money, my mother, son, wife everything that I cared had been taken away from me. I am empty and hollow with nothing but this sea of guilt to bear."
The fish has surfaced at last and Audré's spear was ready, so she struck it hard and deep.
"What made you think that if you will not burn in the same fire that you used for others, Draco?" she asked him solemnly, "You are complaining about having forced to leave behind your home? That you were robbed off your money, your freedom? Imagine, what that girl went through just because you committed the crime? Why was she punished Draco, why? What was her crime? That she couldn't protect herself from your sinful advantages? Or that her father wasn't a wealthy pureblood like Lucius? Or she was a Muggleborn witch who had the brains and guts to challenge a pureblood bigot like you?"
The spear hit the fish hard for Draco stared at her helplessly, but Audré wouldn't let go of it until it was over.
"You call this feeling remorse, Draco?" she challenged her nephew, "This feeling that didn't last longer than a week is remorse?" she arched an eyebrow, "That you feel sorry only until Jean strikes you back for all those year's sufferings? And when she did it, you started justifying yourself again? Nagging again that you never did anything wrong and followed your parents' footsteps? You are Draco, not Lucius, Draco." She reminded him, "You had your father's example but you were not forced to follow them. Had there never been any rebels in Malfoy household? What was Morpheus then? Didn't he spit on his parents face and left his home when water ran over his head?" she paused to breathe, "But you? You justified then and you are justifying now. You are trying to delude yourself in this notion of self-pity that you have nothing whereas look at Jean; she hates pity from others as well as from herself. Being a woman, she built everything from the very beginning in a foreign country after a brutal rape and with a child and you say you have nothing; that you are Knut-less because in your words, 'you made a wrong move'." She grimaced in distaste.
"But I am!" Draco cried out in desperation, "How am I supposed to buy Adrian a house with this money that I earn now? That too in Ile de la Cité? Couldn't Hermione keep Adrian out of this? I am her enemy, she could've hurt me. Why involve my son?"
"Because Draco, no matter what you say and do Adrian was, is and will be Jean's son." Audré retorted back, "Because it is she, who overcame all obstacles to bring that child that was conceived during a rape to this world." She spat, "Do you even have any idea that rape is, Draco? You were not raped, how would you even understand it? I have worked with numerous rape survivors, I know how they feel. I have seen extreme consequences where a father, a brother, a husband, an uncle have violated the woman who trusted in them most. Rape is a break of trust on entire humanity. It is the extreme kind of torture there is. A person's body is his or her own and forcefully violating it like equal to killing them. That's why your mother said that you smothered Jean and she would have committed suicide in self-loath had she been touched that way even by her husband. You killed a woman's entire being and now you are complaining that she took your money and freedom away. You should be thankful that she didn't ask you to be raped and carry a child instead." She paused, panting heavily, "In Wizarding world, there are three legal reasons when Healers strictly perform abortion: one, when pregnancy endangers mother's life…" she counted on her finger, "two, when the child will be suffering from disability; three and most importantly, in case of rape." She informed her silent nephew, "Imagine the love that Jean had for this child that she could have aborted easily and legally too; the love that made her leave behind everything so that she could bear the child in her body. It isn't the debate about whether she should have aborted Adrian or not, Draco, for it was her unconditional love for Adrian that made her take this decision. And love is above all debates, above all emotions. That's why a mother's love is the purest of its kind in the whole world. They can die selflessly for their children. Can anyone, be it best of lovers, husbands and wives, even friends, do that? Tell me, Draco, can they?" Audré closed her eyes and looked away. "Even as a raped woman, Jean was a mother and Adrian was her child. Do you remember what she said when you took The Unbreakable Vow?" she asked Draco, "She said that she would kill Adrian and take him with her in the afterlife should she die. You saw the death in her words, Draco, you didn't see the salvation behind that statement. You didn't see that Jean loves her son so much that she would fight the death to bring him to life and if time comes, will accept it like a friend to be free from you. Such deep runs that love and hatred, Draco, and all you saw was the superficial meaning of life and death. Delve into the depths of her mind and only then can you understand the motivation that keeps her going, explore the goodness in her heart that made her go to your mother with dinner, for there lies your true salvation Draco."
"How?" her nephew, who hadn't uttered a single word, asked Audré.
'The fish is caught.' Audré sighed and turned her face at Draco, "Set her free." She said simply.
"How?" Draco, now almost hypnotized, whispered.
"Let her go, Draco and let her flow. She is a like a stream and Adrian is a like a fish on it." Audré leaned forward and whispered back, "Stand on the bank and watch them. Don't disturb the water. Watch them play, laugh, grow up but stay away."
"But it will be like my death." Draco said, now crying like a child, "How is it possible that I will see my son and wife and won't be able to reach out and touch them? How is it possible that now that I care for Hermione I won't be able to tell her how I feel?"
"Because there is no other way." Audré fisted her hands and tried hard to fight off the pain and guilt she was feeling for subjecting Draco into this angst, "Jean is suffering and I know she won't report you for she fears Adrian will come to know the truth about his birth. Leave behind your punishment, your loss of claim on your son, the degradation of Malfoy name and all other possibilities, Draco, should she report her rape. Just imagine what will happen to this innocent boy when he will grow up and understand the truth behind his very existence; that why his father is in prison- because he raped his mother. Will it not destroy him? Will he not hate himself for causing his Mama this pain no matter how unintended it was? Why should Adrian suffer for your crimes, Draco? How many more lives will you destroy before you stop on your selfish hunt for your son?" she asked her nephew.
Draco only shed silent tears.
"Just because Jean endures everything for her son, doesn't mean you have to make her do so. If distancing yourself from them is death, then die Draco, die and let them live happily because no love can be based on rape no matter how much you care for her." Audré offered solemnly, "Didn't Jean tell you that she doesn't want to have anything to do with you. Let her have a free life with Adrian while you…"
"…me?" Draco repeated after Audré.
"Watch them silently and seek your true path to flow beside them." Audré withdrew the spear with the fish finally in it.
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A/N2:
With Draco overcoming his phase of 'mild remorse' and distancing himself from Hermione and Adrian, don't think that the story is over.
Now the final phase starts and if you wait patiently, you will see the amazing spinning of webs that I have prepared for you all. Let me show you how to write a Dramione with the most realistic ending.