A/N: I am so sorry that this chapter took so long to come up. I've had it done for a couple of days, but my internet wasn't working, and then I got really involved in Matthew Reilly's Five Greatest Warriors. An amazing, fast-paced book, I recommend you ll read it, it's absolutely brilliant. And then my love life went down the tube, and now I'm trying to fix it, so I've spent some time moping too.
So, once again, I am sorry that it took so long! But please enjoy it now!
Disclaimer: I do not own anything that you may recognise from the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling, and I also do not own Matthew Reilly or his works.
Chapter 3 - Success
Wednesday, June 5th
Two days after meeting with Lavender and Parviti in the park, Hermione and Draco woke up to find Hedwig tapping on the window with her beak, a letter tied to her leg. Draco got up and opened the window, letting Hedwig fly in and land on the bed softly beside Hermione.
He took the letter from her leg and climbed back into bed, reading the letter out to her.
"Dear Hermione and Draco,
"I was able to speak with the Ministry the day I got your letter, and I have spent that day and yesterday arguing well into the night with them. I'm glad your letter was oddly formal, because I had to bring it in as evidence. Although, knowing you Hermione, you knew this would happen.
"I won't bore you any longer with what happened, I'll just tell you that I won the case and that you can now practice freely within the confines of your home, and with Kaz in the vicinity, watching, while taking care of Scorpius. A thank you would be nice for all of my efforts, too, you know. Just kidding, I was glad to help.
"I'll see you guys soon,
"Harry."
Hermione squealed and hugged Draco around the neck.
"Yes! That's brilliant!" She cried. Draco hugged her back and gave her a huge kiss, which was about to amount to something more when Scorpius woke up and started crying. Hermione sighed and got up, and went to get her son out of his crib.
"Hush baby. Why are you crying at this time of the morning? It's not very good, is it?" Hermione cooed. Draco smiled lightly as he watched Hermione feeding their son.
Soon after the got up and had breakfast, Hermione called Kat and told her the brilliant news. Kat squealed and was at Hermione's house in minutes.
"Kat, can you help us clean out the attic? We're going to use that space to practice in." Hermione explained.
"Sure. Are we going up now?" Kat asked. Hermione nodded and the trio + baby walked up the stairs to a dead end hallway. Hermione reached up and pulled down a piece of string that Draco hadn't even known was hanging there. Once the string was pulled, out of the ceiling fell a step ladder, leading up into a huge attic space.
Hermione climbed up the ladder first, after passing her son off to his father, with Kaz following after. Once Hermione had taken Scorpius back, Draco himself climbed up the stairs and into the massive area that was Hermione's attic. Draco gawped at the room around him, seeing things covered in cloths, and others that were piled in boxes, and some that were just lying around on the floor, but all were covered in a thick layer of dust.
"What is all this stuff?" He asked. Hermione smiled lightly around at the room before her.
"It's all the stuff that we don't use anymore, or don't have space for in the house. We're going to have to clean up a major part of it. There isn't much room up here to even walk around." She commented. Draco frowned.
"How are we going to move all of this stuff?" He asked. Hermione shot him a look.
"We can use our wands now, remember?" She reminded him.
"I knew that." He defended. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Sure you did." She answered, pulling her wand out of her back pocket and waved it around in a way that showed her thinking, a pout on her lips and her eyebrows furrowed.
She started swishing her wand, whispering spell after spell under her breath and moving things out of her way, removing the dust from them after doing so. Draco joined in soon after she started, and, together with Kaz moving what she could, a clean area was created in the middle of the room, with Scorpius being asleep the entire time.
Hermione smiled at their handiwork before turning the grin on her son, who was squirming in his sleep. She passed the small boy over to Kaz and sent a spell down the stairs. Draco looked at her quizzically.
"What did you do?" He asked, just as both his and Hermione's robes flew into the attic. He nodded with an understanding look on his face. "Oh." Hermione smiled and nodded.
"Okay, Kaz, can you stand over there by the rest of the stuff. I think there's a chair over there that you can sit on." Hermione suggested. Kaz nodded and walked back to the pile of stuff that was towered against the wall. In front of her son and Kaz, Hermione and Draco started putting up wards that would stop the two of them from getting hurt.
After they finished, Hermione stepped back and looked at thoughtful at the area around Kaz and Scorpius.
"How are we going to test it?" Draco asked. Hermione frowned.
"The only way I can think of is to fire a couple of spells off around them." She muttered back.
"I can hear you, you know, and that doesn't exactly sound too safe." Kaz answered. Hermione smiled at her and shook her head.
"We aren't firing them at you, and even if you get hit, it will only be a tickling charm." She reassured. Kaz frowned, but nodded, and Hermione fired off some carefully aimed spells, each one, more dangerous, bounced off the shield in front of them.
"Good, that works." Hermione announced proudly. Draco smiled at her, and pulled on his robes. Hermione noticed and mimicked the action.
"Alright, so, what are the conditions?" Hermione asked as she put her hair up in a ponytail. Draco thought for a second, before coming to a conclusion.
"Anything goes, except Unforgivables and Dark magic." He answered. Hermione nods.
"Well, that's a given. Does that include Animagi too?" She asked. Draco raised an imperious eyebrow at her.
"You're an animagus?" He asked. Hermione smirked.
"Looks like you have a lot to learn, Mr. Malfoy." She replied.
"What are Unforgivables?" Kaz asked suddenly, making both Hermione and Draco jump. Hermione was the one who replied.
"They are spells that are banned in Wizarding society. They either don't let you think for yourself, torture you, or kill you. Only Death Eaters use them." She answered.
Kaz looked a bit shocked.
"What? But that's horrible." She whispered back to them. Draco nodded grimly.
"Unfortunately, they enjoy using them." He replied. Kaz grimaced and looked away.
"That's so horrible." She muttered. Hermione nodded sadly.
"I know, but that's life for us. We just have to try and keep away from them until the Final Battle." She commented. Kaz nodded.
"Do you have to learn that type of thing too? Killing people?" She asked. Draco laughed mirthlessly.
"If we did that we would only be stooping to their level. We will fight them without the use of Unforgivables." He answered. Kaz looked a bit relieved.
"Now Kaz, you won't hear us saying the spells aloud, and that's because we will be using non-verbal spells. It means that we say the spells in our heads, and they still work." Hermione explained. Kaz nodded and waved her hand.
"Go on then, I want to see this." She answered. Hermione smiled and nodded, before her and Draco turned towards each other, bowing slightly, before taking up their duelling positions. Draco smirked at her.
"You ready for this, Granger?" He asked. Hermione grinned back.
"Only if you are, Malfoy." She answered, and then Draco shot the first curse, which Hermione quickly blocked. The rest of the two hours was spent in a similar way, each blocking their opponents' curses and throwing their own in too. The pair used every means available to them to be able to know what the other was up to, or to block what was thrown at them.
Sometimes, one would yell a spell to confuse the other, who was expecting a non-verbal one, or turn into their animagi in an instant to be able to dodge what was thrown their way. They would transfigure objects into barricades, and even hide behind chairs or couches to hide from oncoming attacks.
With baby Scorpius sound asleep in her arms, Kaz watched the duo fight it out in utter amazement. She had never seen anything like this.
After the two hours was up, Hermione bought herself some time by sending a particularly nasty stinging hex at Draco before sending up red sparks into the air and shouting, "Time out!" Draco stopped and lowered his wand, putting his hands on his knees and doubling over, panting. Hermione joined him, before they lowered the wards surrounding Kaz and Scorpius.
Once the wards were lowered, Kaz applauded the pair as well as she could with Scorp in her arms, and, smiling, the pair bowed to each other, and then to Kaz in mock appreciation. Hermione went over to Kaz and took her son from the other woman's arms.
"That was absolutely amazing. I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing that." Kaz admitted. Hermione and Draco smiled.
"You'll get used to it, don't worry." Draco answered. "Now, how about some lunch? I'm starving." Hermione and Kaz laughed, but couldn't help but agree with him.
When the trio + baby got downstairs and into the kitchen, they made themselves some sandwiches for lunch, and were happily chomping on them when the doorbell rang. They ignored it for the moment, because Hermione had heard Casey and Haylee running for it, thinking it was one of their friends.
Draco heard a distinctive groan as they opened the door, though, and his suspicions were confirmed when he heard Casey call out for Hermione. Hermione herself groaned and rolled her eyes.
"I wonder who that is." She muttered, getting up and passing Scorpius to Draco, who promptly passed him off to Kaz and followed Hermione out into the hall.
"Who is it?" Hermione called back to her sisters.
"Some people from your wacked out school." They called back. Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes. She walked up to the front door with Draco in tow and looked on with shock to see Parviti and Lavender standing at the door, glaring at her older sisters. All of a sudden, as if coming back from her senses, she began to narrow her eyes at them in suspicion. Draco, sensing her suspicion, put his hand on her back.
"What are you doing here?" She asked. Lavender and Parviti exchanged nervous glances with each other.
"We need to find out a couple of things from you. Like, what's going to happen to your family when the battle begins?" Lavender answered bravely. Anyone else would have run in the opposite direction at Hermione's glare.
The girl in question sighed.
"Follow me." She instructed, turning on the spot and stalked back into the kitchen, with Draco hot on her heels, leading the two guests behind them.
As they entered, Kaz nodded to them, and they nodded back.
"Sit down. Make yourselves comfortable." Hermione instructed again, before taking a seat herself on the other side of Draco.
"Now, what exactly did you want to know?" She asked. This time it was Parviti who answered.
"What's going to happen to your family when the ballet begins?" Hermione sighed, closing her eyes.
"I have decided to send my family members and Kaz to another country by portkey when the time comes. I'm going to ask Dumbledore to make the portkey, because a) I don't know how, and b) they at the least risk if I don't know where they are." Hermione answered their question. The two girls nod, thinking this plan over when Hermione hears two throats simultaneously clearing themselves.
"Excuse me? Who said we would let you send us away to God knows where, in something called a 'portkey'?" Haylee asked.
"You have to go. You aren't being given a choice." Hermione stated calmly. The twins scowled furiously.
"We don't have to do anything you tell us to, you stupid little girl!" Casey screamed. Hermione stood up.
"I'm doing this for your protection!" She fought back. Haylee laughed like a hyena.
"Ha! Like you would want to protect us! You're probably doing away with us without our knowledge so you won't have to put up with us!" She argued. Now Hermione was fuming.
"If I wanted to do away with you, I would have done it long ago! But if you stay here, then I won't be the one to do it!" She yelled back. Draco now took the opportunity to intervene.
"Look, stop the stupid fighting," He yelled over the top of the screaming voices of protest. "I'm going to put this to you cold, and hard. You are a target to Death Eaters because you are Hermione's sisters, her family. If they get to you, they will torture you, and kill you to get information on anything to do with her. You saw the scar on Hermione's stomach," He pointed out and the girls went pale. "Well, for you it would probably be ten times worse. You put too much faith in being Muggle. You will have to help look after Scorp for us." Draco ended.
The two girls remained pale after Draco had finished his little speech and were silent for a couple of minutes also. The five people in the room with them waited for their answer.
"Okay. We'll go. And we'll take care of Scorpius for you." Haylee answered, and the two walked out of the room, leaving the group to their previous discussion.
"Scorpius? I thought you didn't have him anymore?" Lavender asked. The whole way through the discussion, Kaz had kept the youngest Malfoy under the table, resting on her knees.
"Like we were going to tell you out in public that we still had him. And if you so much as whisper his name outside of your houses, then I will personally come and rip you limb from limb, do you understand?" Draco threatened, stalking slowly towards them menacingly. The girls nodded, both with fear in their eyes, and backed into the table.
Hermione put her hand on her fiancée's arm.
"Calm down Draco. They wouldn't be that stupid." She cut in. Draco nodded and Parviti and Lavender left.
"Come on; let's go back up to the attic. We should work on perfecting our spells." She soothed. Draco nodded once again, and all three plus Scorpius went back upstairs to the attic, and set up the wards again.
The duo started with some of the simpler spells, and perfected them, before working their way up the difficulty ladder. Hermione had set up a dummy, and they were firing their spells at it.
Hermione and Draco stopped their practice after Kaz called out the time, and realised that they had to have a shower before dinner. So, they put everything away, and took down the wards again. Draco took Scorpius into his arms this time around, and they yet again made their way down the pull-down step ladder.
The group shared a brilliant dinner of hand-made hamburgers, and chatted away almost happily, with only a few minor incidents (Scorpius had woken up and demanded food, and then Kaz spat her drink all over Casey when she was listening to Mr. Granger telling a joke. Let's just say that didn't go down well.). During dinner, though, Hermione and Draco had decided to tell her parents about the "War plan", as it had been dubbed.
So, dinner finished and Hermione and asked her parents to stay behind. Haylee and Casey had complained, of course, but had left at Hermione's urging.
"So, dear, what did you want to talk about?" Mrs. Granger asked. Hermione and Draco looked at each other, before she swallowed.
"Please don't tell us you are pregnant again." Mr. Granger pleaded. Draco started choking and Hermione glared at her father. Kaz was trying to hold in hysterical laughter and Mrs. Granger had just raised an eyebrow at the couple. Hermione hit Draco on the back a couple of times, and waited until he was breathing properly again, before announcing what she wanted to say.
"Draco and I have realised that it wouldn't be safe for any of my family members to be in the country when the Final Battle begins. So we've asked Kaz to take you two, Haylee, Casey and Scorpius somewhere else; a place we won't know about, because we're going to ask Dumbledore to make a portkey, because we don't know another person that can, and he's the most trustworthy." Hermione stated, and all in a single breath. Luckily for Hermione's parents, they both heard exactly what their daughter was saying, and frowned.
"Hermione, you should know that we can take care of ourselves." Mr. Granger retaliated. Hermione closed her eyes and tried to figure out how to say what she wanted to nicely, but Draco bet her to it.
"Mr. Granger, that's just the thing. You won't be able to protect yourselves against these people. Not even our people can do that successfully, and we have magic. They are ruthless, kill without a second thought and have fun with their prey alone the way. You've seen the scar on Hermione's stomach, they can do so much worse than that, and they will. You are related to Hermione, and though they don't know about Scorpius yet, they will still come to you for information, and they will get it out of you any way that they can. You have to believe me, you're better off out of the country." Draco explained. Mr. and Mrs. Granger took all of this in, looking conflicted.
"We don't want to leave you to face this by yourselves, Hermione. And what if Scorpius needs you?" Her mother asked. Hermione smiled slightly.
"You'll just have to take over for me mum. We will miss you all, but this is for the best, you know that, right? We wouldn't just send you away without reason." Hermione answered.
"But, what if. . ." Mrs. Granger started to say, but Hermione cut her off, tears in her eyes.
"We've already sorted that out too, mum. Kaz is going to look after Scorp if anything happens to us. As much as I trust Harry and Pansy, I don't want Scorp growing up in the Wizarding World until all of this has passed. And by then he'll probably be of age to go to Hogwarts." Hermione answered. Mrs. Granger started all out weeping then. Hermione gave Scorpius to Draco as she saw her mother get out of seat to give her a massive hug.
"Oh my girl, why was this put on your shoulders?" She cried. Hermione laughed a little as tears slid silently down her face.
"I chose this mum, nobody forced me into it. I told Harry I'd be in it until the end, and so I will." She answered.
"We'll go; if that is what you think is best." Mr. Granger agreed with a sigh. Hermione let go of her mother and stood to hug her father.
"It really is daddy, at least now I'll be able to fight knowing that you are safe." She answered. Mr. Granger nodded and hugged her back tightly.
"Did you agree to this already Kaz?" Hermione's mum asked. Kaz nodded.
"Yeah, we talked about it a couple of days ago. I said I would help in any way I could." She replied. Mrs. Granger nodded and hugged her as well; before Draco gave Scorpius to Kaz and Mrs. Granger took Draco into her arms last.
"You take good care of my baby girl, you hear?" She forced. Draco smiled lightly at her and nodded.
"Of course I will. I'd lay down my own life for Hermione." He answered. Mrs. Granger gave him a watery smile and hugged him tightly to her, making him slightly awkward.
"My gosh, look at the time. We better get to bed, we have training tomorrow morning. Good night mum, dad." Hermione announced, kissing both of her parents on the cheek. "Are you staying the night Kaz?"
The black haired girl nodded.
"Of course I am. I wanna be there to watch you train." She said with a smile. Hermione smiled back and took Scorpius back from her.
"We better get going. Thanks for being so understanding." Hermione said to her parents. They just smiled back.
"If you think it best when it comes to your world, well, then, who are we to say no." Mrs. Granger answered. Hermione smiled at them again, and the trio + baby walked up the stairs to have a fitful nights rest.
A/N: Hey guys! How are you doing? lol. Sorry. Anyway, here are my wonderful reviewers, alerters and favouriters.
edwardxxxbella (for favouriting 'A Malfoys Curse' and 'Their Final Battle')
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Thanks guys! You all make my miserable days shine! I love you all so much! Thanks heaps.
Sarah xo.