An: well it has certainly been a little while eh? I am very sorry. I never meant to stop writing. That being said I already have 2 more chapters after this completely written and ready to post. I want to stay ahead so I will post again when get a 3rd chapter written. As it is outlined now this story should be finished at 41 chapters. Please enjoy and as always likes, comments and follows make my day! Let know know what you think
"Are we sure they didn't plan this?" Draco grumbled as he handed Hermione the mushrooms he just finished chopping.
Hermione laughs as she pours them into her sauce, "I could totally see them doing it if they were talking but to my knowledge they haven't spoken."
Earlier that day both Draco and Hermione had unexpected visitors from their respective mother-in-laws.
Molly visited Draco at his office on the pretense of getting his hair so he can be added to the family clock. While that conversation had been sweet it quickly turned south when Molly cornered him about his plans to not attend Audrey and Percy's wedding. The matriarch called him out for shirking his duty to family. By the end he was fully shamed for having suggested Hermione attend the wedding solo and had not only agreed to attend the wedding but also all pre wedding festivities and promised to attend Sunday dinners regularly rather than just for special occasions.
Meanwhile across London Hermione's assistant Stacey was going crazy telling anyone who would listen that reclusive socialite Narcissa Malfoy had made an unscheduled visit to see her boss. Inside Hermione's office Narcissa was asking the stunned witch what her intentions were with regards to Scorpius and the Malfoy name. Initially Hermione was very insulted until she realized Narcissa was just being a protective mother. She wanted to make sure Hermione treated Scorpius the same as she would want Bryony treated were the roles reversed. Once Narcissa was reassured about her grandson she moved onto her son. She wanted to share how much Draco had worked to try and restore the Malfoy name before he gave up and went almost completely to the muggle world. Now marrying a contender for future Minister meant he would have to step back into the Wizarding world and she wanted to know how Hermione was going to handle that. Narcissa shared with Hermione of that day before Christmas when they went to Diagon Alley and the reactions of people on the street and the restaurant they were turned away from. She pointed out that marrying Draco could hurt Hermione's chance at the Minister position. Hermione was stunned to realize Narcissa was saying this to warn and protect them rather than try and scare Hermione away from marrying her son. By the end of the visit both witches had made their intentions to love and protect both father and son clear and walked away understanding the other just a bit more than they had. While they still weren't each other's biggest fan they had a new respect for the other.
As Hermione turned away from the stove top to tell Draco more about the visit Draco saw Tippy sneak behind her and taste the sauce. At the face she made Draco distracted Hermione by pushing her against the island and kissing her. While they were distracted Tippy quietly added seasoning to the sauce and pulled the pasta from the cooktop to keep it from over cooking. She then turned off the boiler to keep the garlic bread from burning.
"Thank you Tippy" Hermione called as she finally pulled away from her very distracting wizard. "But I had it under control." She muttered. Draco tried and failed to not look guilty and finally just shrugged at getting caught.
"Your welcome, Miss Hermione." Tippy replied as she began levitating the food to the table, "Tippy wishes you would just let Tippy cook for you! It's not only Tippy's job but you have worked all day, you deserve to take a break when you get home." The elf admonished as plates and cutlery followed her into the dining room. The same argument was had almost every night and both Hermione and Tippy turned to Draco but he raised his hands in the universal sign of 'I'm not getting involved' as he walked down the hall to call the children to dinner.
Life between the 4 had settled nicely. The children had been overjoyed when told their parents were getting married. Draco and Scorpius stayed at the cottage whenever Bryony was home. Hermione would join the boys at the flat whenever Bryony was with her father. Slowly plans were being made for the wedding and they had begun looking for a home together. Both agreed that while they like their respective homes they needed to get something together with their new family in mind.
In early January Hermione had been roped into a tea with Molly, Katie and Audrey. The matriarch had gathered the girls to begin wedding planning and first off was the selection of dates. Thankfully all had chosen different dates with plenty of time between each wedding for it not to be too crazy. Percy and Audrey will be getting married in March, Ron and Katie decided on a June wedding and Hermione and Draco decided to bond on the fall solstice, September 23. Molly offered her support to each witch and flew into planning mode. Thankfully, thus far she was respecting boundaries. She offered the Burrow up for the ceremonies however only Audrey accepted. Molly, while disappointed, understood why neither Katie nor Hermione wanted their ceremonies where Ron and Hermione had been married.
February passed quickly and by Percy's wedding in March Katie and Ron had been spotted in public multiple times. They announced their own engagement with the entire family surrounding them. Draco was not pictured in the family photo but Hermione was, showing her support for the couple. Rita Skeeter had a field day when the announcement was placed in the Prophet.
The next week Katie went shopping with her bridesmaids for dresses. While not wanting to cause an uproar by having Hermione be an official member of the wedding party Katie still wanted her involved and invited her out with the party. So it was that Hermione was with Katie, Angelina, Ginny and Alicia Spinet walking down Diagon Alley after a dress fitting one day in early April. The girls were headed for a late lunch when they ran into Draco and Scorpius outside of Flourish and Blotts. Draco had been trying to go out more into the Wizarding world, hoping that being seen more would dull people's reactions to him. This day he had to get some supplies from the apothecary and rather than owl order as he usually would he decided to take Scorpius and make a day of it. The bridal party had just finished greeting the father and son when the air shimmered with magic and a blast sounded around them. Looking around the group was quickly surrounded by eight men in long black robes with their wands pointed at the group.
Around them people began screaming. It quickly became a scene reminiscent of the second Wizarding war. Everyone began panicking when they tried to apparate away and realized that anti apparition wards had been set. Those who could ran towards the end of the Alley and the exit to the Leaky. However Draco, Scorpius and the others were surrounded. Katie was hit with falling debris and fell to the ground unconscious. Alicia fell to her side to check her over. Levitating the unconscious witch Alicia ran towards a small side Alley. Draco pushed Scorpius between himself and Hermione as they both pulled their wands to begin defending themselves. Angelina and Ginny quickly covered their sides while Alicia, who is a trained medi witch, ran to help another fallen wizard.
Of the eight Draco only recognized two. However they were the last two wizards he wanted to see in such a situation.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't the world's most famous mudblood and our favorite blood traitor." Dolohov taunted as he began throwing hexs.
Rowle growled, "it must be our lucky day. We get them and the whelp all in one go." As he tried to aim between the adults towards Scorpius.
The other five figures seemed to just want to cause mayhem. They quickly broke away from the circle and began throwing random hexes at anyone they saw. The Alley was filled with the screams of the innocent and the sounds of flying hexes. Dolohov and Rowle made it very obvious who they were after as they continued to circle the four, throwing curses trying to get them to separate.
Hermione, realizing that they were the target, whispered to the others, "Gin, Ange, if you see a chance, grab Scorpius and get him away. They want us. He will be safer away from us." Draco quickly agreed, "take him and as soon as you're outside the wards send a patronus to the Auror office for help."
Dolohov sent his personal favorite purple curse at Hermione while taunting her, "remember this mudblood? This time I'll make sure it kills you!" He yelled as she blocks and he casts again. Behind her Rowle was bearing down on Draco. Realizing both are distracted, Angelina grabs Scorpius and begins running towards the doorway of Flourish and Blotts. Ginny begins to follow but is stopped by one of the others. Rowle, realizing they were getting away, yelled for the others to stop the two witches. Curses are flying and Angelina ducks into the doorway blocking Scorpius with her body as she defends them from the others who begin to converge on their spot.
"Gin!" Angelina yells for her sister-in-law. Ginny, seeing them cornered, sends a well aimed blasting curse at the figures feet and the blown up cobblestone walkway sends two flying, giving Angelina a better chance to get in a defensive position. As she is holding off the two trying to get past her shields Draco and Hermione are holding their own against Dolohov and Rowle.
Even without trying to protect Scorpius Hermione and Draco stayed back to back. This way they protected each other. As they dueled their opponents they whispered back and forth trying to figure out a strategy. Currently they were evenly matched and taking Dolohov and Rowle down without doing anything drastic was going to be difficult. Add to it they were worried about Scorpius and their friends. Diagon Alley being as narrow as it is curses were deflecting off the walls and cobblestones. A curse that didn't hit its target was just as likely to continue on and hit someone else. The innocent shoppers caught in the middle of it all were getting hit by stray hexes and falling stones from curses hitting the buildings. Meanwhile Alicia was running from person to person trying to administer basic aid to those she could without potions available.
All of a sudden Ginny screams as she ducks behind a planter lining the cobblestone street. In a moment of sheer brilliance Ginny remembers a conversation from the Fall and calls out, "Tippy?"
Instantly the small house elf appears by her side. Upon seeing blood running down Ginny's face she tries to heal the cut but Ginny stops her, "don't worry about me Tippy, I'm fine. Can you get a human past the wards that are up?" Ginny asks as she darts up to shoot a hex at one of the attackers who was running towards Alicia and the witch she was currently treating.
Tippy nods nervously as she quickly takes in her surroundings.
"Good," Gin points to the doorway where Angelina is still protecting Scorpius, "can you get to Scorpius? Grab him and take him either to Grimmauld or the Burrow? Then get a message to the Auror office and tell them what's going on. Wards are up so they will have to come in through the Leaky entrance."
Tippy nods in understanding and pops away only to reappear behind Angelina. After a moment Tippy and Scorpius disappear. Gin calls to the others, "Scorpius is safe, hopefully help is on the way."
Hearing the red heads shout Dolohov and Rowle doubled down, before they were throwing curses to incapacitate but now they started towards killing. Draco blocked a Sectumsempra thrown by Rowle only to have one of the other attackers come at him from the side and hit him with a cutting curse to the side. Draco hit Rowle with a fireball to the stomach that drops him and turns to the man that cut him. Behind him he hears Hermione thrown up a shield around them both that mercifully blocks the Bombarda that someone aimed at their feet.
"This is insane, people are getting hurt." Hermione called as she saw one of the curses she had deflected hit a bystander who was running away instead. Thankfully it appeared to just be a stunner. She uses a powerful Aguamenti to blast water at the attackers that were trying to move in on them.
"I have a crazy idea." Draco replies glancing at the water flowing over the street.
"I have no ideas so I'll take your crazy one." Hermione replies as she tries to stun one of the ones her spell had knocked back.
Draco casts a quick sticking charm to their feet then a freezing charm to the water surrounding them. A thick coat of ice now covered the ground. One of the attackers who was facing Hermione went to step forward and went down, and hit his head on the curb as he went. Others began sliding. It was as Hermione and Draco started stunning all the attackers as their attention was focused on still standing that the Weasley brothers from Wheezes came running from down the Alley followed soon after by Harry and all available Aurors.
"Here comes the calvary!" Hermione calls once she sees them. At this Dolohov who had been struggling to stay standing and blocking the stunners reached in his pocket and with a pop disappeared. They had portkeys for escape. An attacker near Rowle saw Dolohov disappear and he reached down with a hand on Rowle and they both disappeared as well. Thankfully seeing what was happening the Aurors stunned the rest of those trying to get away. Draco and Hermione later found out that Katie had woken up in her little alley but had no wand. Rather than try and rejoin the fight wandless, she ran up the Alley to WWW. There she told Ron and George what was happening and they tried the floo. It was open so with a patronus to Harry at the Ministry letting him know to use the floo they took off to help the fighters.
"Denis does pretty amazing work. And it looks like Skeeter has been muzzled." Harry says as he stops by Hermione's office in the DMLE the following Monday. He drops the Sunday Prophet on her desk before he sits in one of her guest chairs. The front cover is filled with pictures Denis Creevey had taken the day before during the attack in Diagon Alley. After losing his brother in the Battle of Hogwarts Denis was devastated. He took that devastation and decided to follow in his brother's footsteps. He picked up the camera and has since become a very talented photojournalist. Saturday he happened to be in his office at the Prophet during the attack. Apparently from his office at the Daily Prophet Denis saw the attack start. He ran to his window with his wand and camera and went back and forth between snapping pictures and casting shield charms over the trapped bystanders.
Hermione had already read the article and seen the photos the day before but she was interested in the facts, "so how much did she sensationalize? I know Draco made the Editor pull the parts questioning whether he was originally part of the plot but switched sides mid battle." She growled as she thought of the original piece where Skeeter made it like this was some plot to make Draco look more respectable. That he had planned it so that he was there during the attack and had stepped in to look like a hero.
"After Draco edited her claims of his scheming she was pretty spot on. Although she played down Denis' part. Upon testing his wand we found he successfully cast over 25 shield charms and a few charms to stop the debris from falling on the people in the street. All while still getting these shots." Hermione looked at the photos again. Top front and center was a picture of Draco and Hermione fighting back to back. The shot showed both their faces as they took turns shielding and cursing their opponents. Her hair was wild and shifted at one point so the viewer could see the cut along her scalp where debris had hit her. It was after Draco had been hit with the cutting curse so the blood could be seen gushing from the cut on his side. Except for the devastation it depicted, it was a great picture of them.
Underneath were two more pictures, one of Angelina in the doorway of Flourish and Blotts. Scorpius' face can just barely be seen hiding in her back. The look on her face is of pure anger and protection is terrifying. "If that isn't the perfect human version of a momma bear defending her cub I don't know what is." Harry said pointing to Angelina.
The second showed Ginny popping up from behind her planter and shooting a shield charm over Alicia as she healed a witch who had been hit by a deflected cutting curse. The fiery redhead head looked fierce in her defense of her friend.
"So what have you found out so far?"
"We have been able to confirm that you and Malfoy were the intended targets." Harry started as he ran his hand through his perpetually messy hair. "We used Veritaserum on those we captured. None of them know why you were the targets, I mean other than the obvious. As far as we can gather, runes were cast over that area of the street. As soon as you both passed over them at the same time an alarm was sent to Dolohov and Rowle who are the leaders. They brought along the others as a distraction. They were just blood thirsty bastards who were happy to get a chance to cause some chaos."
"So again kept in the dark?" Hermione sighed, "Do you think that Dolohov and Rowle were behind the surveillance and attack on Malfoy Manor?"
"They couldn't confirm but at this point I would definitely say yes. From what those captured said and what Malfoy had already given witness to, Rowle has always had it out for the Malfoy's, even before the war ended. As for Dolohov he has always been after you. He's still pissed about that oblivate after Bill's wedding. And it always pissed him off you silenced him in the DOM and in turn survived his curse."
"What are you trying not to say Harry?" Hermione sighed. After over 10 years of friendship and fighting a war together Hermione knew when her brother was dancing around something unpleasant.
"I know you've already restricted your movements since they showed up at the pub but you need to be more careful." Hermione stood up and had that look that said she wasn't going to stand for this but Harry cut her off, "I know you've done a lot to protect yourself but just look at Saturday, Scorpius could have been seriously hurt. You guys should never have been in Diagon."
"Low blow bringing up Scorpius Potter," Hermione grumbled as she sat back down,
"True but it's what finally worked with Malfoy." Harry retorted
"What do you mean, worked with Draco? When did you speak to him?"
"This morning. Until these guys are caught he has agreed that he and Scorpius will only use a secure floo connection to go from safe house to safe house and that he will work from home."
Hermione scoffed at that, "no way he agreed to that."
"And both of your places, the Burrow and Grimmauld will go into a lock down of sorts. Only the residents and a select few will be allowed into there boundaries." Harry continued as if she hadn't interrupted, "it is for your families protection." Harry stood so he was looking down on her and put on his toughest Auror voice, "You are being hunted. Just be thankful he talked me down. I walked into his office hell bent on putting the Fidelius charm on your place and never letting anyone in or out. This was our compromise."
"Being dramatic aren't you?"
"Dammit Hermione, I will not let my family be put in danger!" Harry pounded his fist on her desk, "take this seriously. These bastards would love nothing more than to kill you. They would kidnap your children and not think twice about hurting them. If you don't care about yourself that's fine." Harry shook his head, "But you better care about protecting them!"
Speechless Hermione just nodded her head and waited for Harry to continue, "anyone else and the DMLE would already have relocated you and put you under ministry protection. Just please Hermione," Harry begged now, "please take these precautions and protect your family."
And so it was that Hermione and Draco went into hiding. They both made arrangements to work from home. Running one of the largest departments in the Ministry from home was a challenge but they made it work.