Draco tried to leave Iece with Hermione on the day he visited her. He returned from the O'Hair Plaza and left reassured that Hermione and his sister needed the time to get acquainted. He thought he could do it. He thought he could make it through the night without her, but he called from his hotel room later that night to say that he'd be picking her up.
"She's asleep, Draco. She's doing fine, I don't know why you'd want to disturb her."
He wasn't willing to tell her that he'd never spent one night without her since her birth. Not willingly. He'd had to work long shifts with the Ministry, but he always saw her within a twenty-four hour cycle. He'd been the loudest proponent for round-the-clock daycare facilities at the Ministry, but only used them when he couldn't get away from his projects.
He couldn't sleep, and the feeling was creeping over him that he'd let her go to Hermione's too easily. He'd been too trusting, just because he was coming off of his anger with the hotel staff, and he hadn't wanted it to have an adverse effect on Iece. His uneasiness had grown. She could call him paranoid all she wanted, but he had a sixth sense about these things.
"Honestly, it's after eleven. Ron'll be home soon and Ginny's keeping me company. Your daughter is asleep in my bed as we speak. Your trust in me has got to start somewhere, and frankly it's a little insulting that you'd hand her to me one minute, then snatch her away the next. This isn't going to work if you can't get through one night."
If she'd meant to calm his fears by presenting him with an image of Iece snuggled in her bed, it had the opposite effect. The details were too intimate. Ron slept in that bed. He had to get his little girl out of that house. The Weasley Effect was all over it. There were too many of them and it made him think of Iece sleeping in a single patchwork bed, crammed full of red-headed children, piled on top of each other like cats. He'd forced himself not to correct the word 'daughter'. Damn right she was his daughter.
The sodding cheap hotel was purely muggle, and ten minutes from her house. He'd chosen it because it was close. "Have her ready in ten minutes."
He hung up, knowing he'd regret being rude to her. But she couldn't know what this anxiety was like. She didn't have children and she didn't have family ties to Death Eaters, or their enemies, who would never forget who Iece's relatives were. He wanted to let her run free and play like other children, but that was a luxury they didn't have.
He was already dressed and he decided not to drive, but to floo. The hotel didn't have the proper facilities, so he had to stand in the tub and transfigure curtain and rod to create a physical link to the coded network available to him. A license to hardwire access into the magical infrastructure, came when he'd completed his second term in the Dark Artifacts Department. He could've apparated, but he hadn't thought to warn her he'd do that. Her wards might be up, and he didn't want to give her too much time to prepare for his arrival. She'd detect his entrance, but it would give him a moment to catch her by surprise. He hadn't liked the sound of her and Ginny Weasley socializing downstairs while Iece was left alone in a strange bed. He wanted to catch them off guard. He'd floo back and return with the car if Iece seemed okay. He wasn't sure if it was safe to floo with her yet. He'd risk it, but not if he didn't have to.
Turned out, laughter in Hermione's kitchen drowned out the sound of the floo. Her living room was dim and light entered from the kitchen, where he heard the clink of glasses and a male voice. Ron's voice.
"Serves him right. The nervous twit finally cares about something other than himself. I hear daughters do that to their Dads." His voice was melodic, pausing, cut off by a sip. "You ladies have the right idea. Wine and pizza waiting for me. Draco should bring the baby more often."
"He'll be here any minute. He's impossible. I let dinner go, since Ginny and I will be in the kitchen all morning tomorrow. Now I don't even know if everyone will get to see her."
"Don't stress, Hermione." Ginny's voice was emphatic over Hermione's sigh. "You didn't do anything wrong. Manners were never his strong points."
"Yeah, you know him. He has no idea when he's treating someone like shit. Let's just hope she's nothing like him. Mum and Dad will understand."
Draco's jaw went tight. This was not making him feel better.
"He's never going to trust me." Hermione groaned and drew her voice into a whine that took Draco by surprise. She'd ever been a beacon of maturity. Now, nestled in the bosom of her boyfriend and, apparently, her new best friend Ginny, she totally let her guard down and pouted.
Draco slowly walked out into the dim room and cautiously peered at the three seated at Hermione's table. If there was something he needed to know, if he needed to take his daughter from this place where they weren't welcomed and he'd been a fool to think that Hermione had the confidence to raise her, he needed to know that tonight."
"You have to give him credit for trying." Ginny poured, refilling all their glasses. There was something Draco had always found annoying about her hair, the way it slipped in fine, perfect sheets around an otherwise plain and neutral face. Right then, it spilled from her shoulders with more grace than her tom-boyish body held in its entirety. Harry had loved her hair, and Draco liked to think that it was only because his mother had had the same kind. But it was more than that.
She was a sore spot for him. A reminder that Harry had once made plans with her. All of that shattered in the end, but every time he'd chanced to see her looking at Harry in, one of those rare moments over the years, it seemed to him that she was still holding on to the pieces. She kept them. Like maybe, if Draco screwed up badly enough, she could glue her and Harry's world back together again. That's why he didn't like her. He didn't trust her.
It shocked him where he stood, when he heard her say, "I'm sure we don't know what it's like for him. An only child in all those mansions. Seems so cold and lonely. She's probably the first real warm and loving thing he's ever had in his life, outside of Harry. Did you notice the way her little hand squeezes his collar? She obviously adores him. If he needs to cling to her, let's not judge him."
Ron raised his glass. "Here, Sis. Aren't you the voice of reason all of sudden?"
"I just remember what it was like, bringing a girl home to all of you for the first time. The relief of having you accept it, especially Mum and Dad. Everyone has a past they can't help. And everyone deserves a new beginning." She played with the cork as she continued, rolling it between blunt fingers.
"That baby has never looked at Draco and labeled him with an ugly name. We all have. When you're on the wrong side of it, you know how awful it feels. Sometimes I think I lost Harry to him because he needed the love the most. I have a great family, he and Harry didn't. That baby has to mean more to him than any of us will ever know. So he's damaged, so what. Who wouldn't be, with a father like that? He's proven us all wrong. He is capable of love. Let's not hold it against him. He'll take her tonight and let her stay a little longer each time. You shouldn't take his insecurity as anything personal."
Wand at the ready, Draco nearly stabbed his eye out when he covered his face with his hands. He squelched the pain and raked his hands through his hair as if her observation had no effect on him. He told himself that he was going to make a noise, cough or knock against the wall. Give them a second to know that he was present. But instead of moving into the full light of the kitchen, his body slunk back towards the darkest part of the room and found himself flooing back to his hotel. He called later to say that he'd had a change of plan and he'd pick Iece up in the morning. He wanted to try again, to make it through the night without her. He apologized. The attempt to sleep had him hating what it must be like for Harry to respect his wishes to stay away.
"All right," said Hermione. "At least consider staying for lunch tomorrow. Ron's family so wanted to see her again. We're doing it early, just to make it easier for you." She seemed surprised at the change, but resigned to wait for a call that would interrupt her sleep in the AM hours. It never came.
By the time he pulled into her drive the next day, he'd rehearsed why he couldn't stay for the picnic meal that Hermione was hosting in her back garden. Having to be considerate of other people's feelings was so exhausting, but he made an effort. He'd rehearsed a dozen times, and still she wore him down. Apparently, Ginny's observation had renewed her saving-wayward-wizards champion mentality, and he could not win without being outright nasty to her. He wasn't about to do that.
Hermione was in her element. She was stirring mashed potatoes with an apron on and exclaiming that Mrs. Weasley would be there early to help with cooking. "If Iece has to grow up in this environment, you're not helping her by being so uncomfortable around simple family. Show her, by example, that it's okay to relax around all of us."
Draco held his daughter, who smelled of a fresh bath, powder, and pancake syrup from the cake-like pinches that she tried to feed him with her fingers. "Eat-eat," she told him.
He made a distasteful face and replied to Hermione, "I can't even relax around my own family. There's no way she's learning that from me."
"When you can't get your teenage daughter to stay and share a meal with you, you'll regret that attitude. In my house, her first lessons will be about family. She'll learn that I'm not the only one looking after her. We all are. That's what family does. Give us your blessing and eat with us. She's learning more by watching you than a thousand books could teach her. You've got to stay."
He'd been unable to suppress a groan. He knew she was right, but that didn't stop him from banging the back of his head against her wall. In abject refusal and loathing, he stared up at her spackled ceiling while Iece smeared syrup over his cheek. It was either bang his head or stomp, and he couldn't let her see him do that.
Her house filled with more Weasley's as the morning wore on. They all wanted a turn holding "Harry's baby." They all brought children with them that Draco didn't recognize. Draco hardly knew what to do with himself when Mrs. Weasley shooed him out of the kitchen and told him to make conversation with the grownups like a big boy. He found a corner and let the children run past him, stepping on his feet. It turned out that, from across the room, the Weasley clan had enough stories and treasured memories to fill the time with fairly entertaining tales of growing up, taming dragons, and new career ventures, that he was not in as much pain as he'd anticipated. Everyone was civil towards him and for that, he kept his mouth shut.
George Weasely made an attempt to engage him by asking how things were going with Harry and the tour. The entire room paused for the soul excuse to let Draco participate in the conversation. His reply, "Smashing," was met with impressed expressions. He surmised that they were more impressed that he was being friendly, than anything else. He decided that was fair enough. Outdoors, lunch was served at a covered picnic table. Draco was given the honor of being seated across from Mr. Weasley, who winked at him but did it with a stern expression on his face. It was only when he chose to play with his grandchildren, that his mask slipped and Draco witnessed his goofy smile burst forth as he showed them silly tricks with coins, that muggles mistook for actual magic.
Draco made it through another hour before he had to hide in the bathroom to keep from saying rude, inappropriate things out of endurance fatigue. He didn't see the point of talking when there was nothing more interesting to say. Give him an objective, and he could speak all day, but pointless conversation was mind numbing when there was nothing to be gained but people liking you, or not, as the case may be. He didn't know how to handle so much family and so much sheer interest in one another. He needed a reprieve.
Instead of being insulted, Hermione's thin arm slipped a drink to him through the bathroom door. "That's the only one you get since you're driving with her." She also offered him the TV in her bedroom. "Thank you for trying. We'll make it as painless as possible. I know this doesn't come easy to you."
He suspected that she's doing it for Ron. He refuses to enter a bedroom that she shares with Ron, and tries not to think about his daughter having slept innocently there. When his drink his gone, he finds another corner downstairs and attracts the attention of a little girl playing with a skinny, long-haired doll. She appears to be be several years older than Iece and her caramel skin hints that she's a playmate to one of the grandchildren, brought along but not necessarily related. He couldn't be sure. Her lavender dress makes him think he saw Charlie Weasley holding her on his lap before, as if she were a prized he'd won at the fair. Either she was his, or he really had a passion for kids. She looks up at him with bright, hazel eyes and points to his head. "You har pitty."
For the life of him, he has no idea what she means. Ginny Weasley swoops her up, reading his confusion before carrying the child off. "Your hair is pretty," she translates, kissing the child's cheek and disappearing into her relatives.
Oh. He supposed it was.
He has never seen so much love in one room. It unsettles the food he's trying to keep on his stomach. It wasn't natural.
He and Ron managed to avoid each other until early evening. They both escaped the noise in preference to the side of the house where steps led to an added, screened-in room filled with plants and wicker furniture. Without even asking, Draco knew the room must've been some kind of reading sanctuary for Hermione. Judging by the way it skewed, by the way the steps were uneven and bare wood still needed painting, he had to wonder if Ron hadn't built the addition himself, in some horrific romantic gesture.
Having spotted each other, it was too late to turn and run. They weren't kids anymore and Ron decided to be the mature one first. "You're looking all right these days. Thanks for coming by. It means a lot to Hermione."
"Yes, well, she was very persuasive."
"Wears you down, doesn't she?"
It was easy to give an honest smile to that. "Bossy, is how I'd put it."
"That's my girl," Ron agreed. When they were silent for too long, he blurted, "Sorry we lost touch with you guys. Harry wasn't speaking to us. We didn't know how to help him..."
Draco was quick. "Stop. Don't bring it up, this is hard enough as it is. Besides, it's okay. Harry didn't know if he was going to survive all of that. He pushed everyone he loved away. You didn't do anything wrong. None of us could make it like it never happened."
"At least he kept you. How'd you manage that when no one else could?"
Draco stopped looking at the shoddy work on the house and looked directly at Ron. Lowering sunlight brought out the copper in Ron's hair and erased most of the dark circles under his eyes. "You know how. You know why. I had to make up for what my father did, or die trying. I had no idea that Harry and I would still be talking to each other."
Ron nodded. Draco could clearly see that his heart wasn't into it. After two years, that's as far as either of them can go on the topic. The good thing is, they don't need to go any further. They don't need words to make them feel better, or to cover up the past. Perhaps there were things they did need to discuss, but that could wait. Just standing there, in the shadow of their friendship with Harry, was more than enough for them to handle at the moment.
He didn't know how he did it, but he'd spent a whole day with the Weasleys and he vowed never to do it again. It was almost dark when he said good-bye to Hermione and strapped Iece in her seat. He planned on catching a late flight, but never made it to the airport. On the A4 to Heathrow, the car lost power inexplicably.
Draco didn't have to know how the muggle contraption worked, to know that something was wrong. He felt the engine decelerate and had time to exit out of traffic before it stopped altogether. Nothing on the dash hinted of a malfunction. He looked at Iece sleeping in her seat, grabbed his wand and opened the car door to see what he could spell into working under the hood. He knew basics, unwilling to get behind the wheel of a car without information on the mysterious parts under the bonnet. He knew he could fix an issue with the battery. He could also call for assistance, but none of it was worth his time if outright magic could solve the problem.
The door pushed itself closed before he had the chance to step out. All the doors locked and the car's engine started to hum even though the ignition was turned off. The vehicle vibrated into motion. When it started forward, continuing down the ramp, away from the main road, Draco knew this wasn't a malfunction. It was a hijacking. A magical one.
He undid his seat belt, stretched back and wrestled Iece out of her car seat. Pulling her into his arms, he wondered if it would've been safer to keep her strapped in. As the car rolled freely into traffic, without his stirring or consent, he tried using every spell he knew to get it to stop. Muscles tensed by panic, he squeezed her too hard against him and she began to cry. He watched helplessly as the car drove itself too close to the others, switching lanes and swerving to do the will of someone controlling it from the outside. They had to have a visual on the car, Draco told himself. If they'd wanted to crash him, they could've done it already. His magic wouldn't work, so he was dealing with someone very powerful. Someone who had, perhaps, shielded the car to be unresponsive to his magic. He couldn't so much as use his phone, let alone his wand. All he could do was hold on to Iece and try to comfort her. No doubt her hysteria was in reaction to protests that he did not voice, in the grip of alarm himself.
There had to be a limit to this magic. It was sabotage. He glanced at the muggle watch he shared with Harry and willed it to light red. It remained black. His magic wouldn't work in this possessed car. Looking out onto the the road ahead, he noted that the car maintained a legal speed. He wondered if he could get the attention of another driver. The windows were tinted, and even if he could, he risked causing a major catastrophe if he freaked one of them out while moving like this. Who could possibly have this much control, or interest in kidnapping him? No, not him, Harry's daughter.
Suddenly, he pushed his brain into high gear. What was it for if it couldn't get them out of this! His training had prepared him to use magic to defend himself. If his magic was rendered ineffective, he had no power against others who did have magic. His stomach lurched with every swerve of the car and he gripped Iece tighter. He squeezed his eyes closed, fighting for an idea, for Harry, for Jipsy, for anyone with the magical ability to hear him. If he couldn't use magic at all, that probably meant that his couldn't be detected through whatever barrier controlled access to the car.
But a split-second later, a squeaky elf voice sounded from the back seat. "You summoned Jipsy, Sir?"
Draco still wasn't used to having Jipsy around. In his relief, it occurred to him that she was severely under utilized. But when he had to be around muggles, she'd only complicate things. Now he needed her and he didn't dare hide the fact that he was grateful she'd come. "Thank Merlin! Jipsy, your magic works in this car. Can you stop it?"
"My magic works. I can try."
"Get it safely to the side. Mind the muggles behind us," he quickly amended. Her child-sized head bobbed with trinkets and painted things as she focused. When it took longer than five seconds, and the car was still moving, he knew she was struggling. Elf magic rarely struggled, that's why they were so indispensable.
"My magic works," she assure him. "But they are fighting me. They are wizards with elves, Sir, like me."
Again, Draco tried to imagine who would be doing this. "Can you break their hold? Shield us? Just for a second. If you can, I can apparate her out of here."
But Jipsy would have to stay and hold their attackers off, or they'd just follow him. Anyone who could control the car from such a distance, would have to be able to trace his apparation trail. He might not be able to use magic inside the car, but if he escaped it, surely he'd escape whatever influence this was. The car was hexed, not him. Iece might get sick, but that was preferable to getting her stolen right out of his arms.
She strained. He saw little veins pop to the surface of her bald scalp and felt a wave of anger that he was being forced to ask her to fight on his behalf. This was mistreatment of a house elf. He had no idea how many she was up against. "Wait. Stop." If she couldn't stop their magic, she couldn't stop them from preventing his apparation with Iece. He couldn't chance it while they were in control. The thought of splinching her, wouldn't even let his mind consider it.
Jipsy's eyes opened and she looked up at him. He couldn't read her expression. She simply looked like she was awaiting his next instructions. The car was off the main road now and turning into a gravel lot. He noted how it slowed, maneuvering past rows of other cars, even stopping to let another pull out. Whomever had control of the car, was being awfully careful. They intended to bring the child to them as unharmed as possibly. Maybe they'd kill him, but they weren't risking any harm to her.
He had an idea. "Just concentrate on putting a barrier around the three of us, not the car. Let it be our own space. Maybe we can isolate ourselves from their magic. If you can hold it around us, I might be able to use my magic."
The car turned, edging around a tight corner, into the narrow entrance of a parking garage. Evening light was lost to creepy garage darkness. Sensors in the car brought its headlights on, providing some relief as Draco kept track of each level it climbed inside the confines. The higher it went, the fewer cars appeared. There were no people to speak of and at the very top of the garage, it came to a stop. The whole time, Draco kept his wand low to the seat, waiting to see if he could make a faint light at the tip. If he could, that meant Jipsy's barrier was working. It gave him back the use of his magic.
Two figures stepped out of the dark. Their control shut his headlights down. They remained silhouettes, shadows, but he saw them walking towards the car. There was something familiar about one of them. Against the seat, his wand tip glowed. He turned to Jipsy. She had to stay behind to keep them from following. Iece squirmed but he clutched her against himself. "Hold them off for as long as you can. I'm coming back for you."
With that, he was gone, taking his child with him.
Harry's lecture was about to start. The Minister was introducing him and he'd already started making his way towards the stage when Draco arrived. He'd been asked to meet a few people, sign a few autographs, and hadn't found anything resembling a dressing room in the wings of the stage. Just more guest speakers, refreshments, and someone snapping his picture every time he turned around. The lights were still up in the tent, so everyone saw Draco's appearance. They saw his stricken expression as he thrust the child into Harry's arms, nearly causing them both to trip over chairs in the isle. Those closest, heard is words very clearly. "You have to take her, we're in trouble." Those who were further away, locked onto the shape of his lips and read them. "I can't tell you anything. Take her, I'll be back!"
"Draco, what the hell?" The child whimpered on Harry's chest and clung to him. The audience around him gasped at her one weak word, "Da-dee." They had never heard her voice before.
"I'm sorry, I know this sucks. Something's happening. Keep her safe, I'll be right back, I promise."
He disapparated without giving Harry anymore of an answer than that. Harry's mouth gaped, at first in concern, then in exasperation. Then in anger. The fancily dressed people around him were getting an unexpected show. He moved, stunned, with his daughter, as cameras began flashing around him. People seemed to leap out in front of him to get the shot they wanted. It slowed his progress to the stage and he had no idea what he was going to do when he got there. They all saw what had just happened.
Canceling the lecture due to this strange emergency, was on the tip of his tongue. He couldn't be expected to hold her while he attempted to engage the audience. He wouldn't go through with it. Seems Banks was getting the photo he'd wanted after all, and Harry was royally pissed by the time he got to the stage. He was so thrown by Draco's behavior, he wasn't thinking of the talisman he'd made with Thella. He wasn't anywhere in the vicinity of love and if anyone got in his face right now, there'd be no way for him to hide it.
"Ladies and gentle wizards, I must ask that you refraim from taking pictures. This is an unexpected event and a show of respect for Harry's family is appreciated."
This made Harry stop and take in Banks on the stage. That was actually a pretty decent thing to do, whether it worked or not. Flashes diminished, wands casting photogenic charms, as well as cell phones, dropped out of sight. The announcement didn't suppress all the activity, just most of it. The Minister drove his point home. "We don't want a repeat of the cowardly invasion of privacy that has already attempted to tarnish this tour and Mr. Potter's reputation. Family happens, we can all relate to that."
Harry made a cutting-off gesture in front of his throat. It was his way of saying he couldn't go on stage. He shifted his daughter and felt another person gently pulling her beside him. He heard soft words, "May I?" and looked to see Thella, shawl covering her head, as she requested to hold Iece for him.
There was no one else in the room Harry felt comfortable giving his child to. In that moment, she was like an angel to him. From the way she coaxed his unhappy daughter out of his arms, to the way she removed her shawl and threw it over Iece's entire body. It billowed, and Iece's head was on her shoulder before it settled around her. Harry knew that it was a sleeping spell and he was too grateful to be upset about it. Thella seemed to know exactly what to do. She took his baby and went back to her seat in the third row. Now no one could take pictures. Now he'd be able to keep his eye on her the whole time. It didn't make up for Draco's behavior, but it gave him a leg to stand on. He took reassurance from her nod and turned towards the stage. As he made his way to the podium, the audience applauded his decision to stay.
A/N: If you're enjoying this story, I would love to hear from you. :-)
