Luna had brought her the bad news. The wizengamot had denied her third attempt to repeal the contact ban.
"I was so sure they would decide in our favour, how did this happen? I am about to drop a baby, for Merlin's sake. And the father of my baby is not allowed to help me."
"It was a stroke of really bad luck," Luna told her. Luna was fidgety and distraught. Luna's father had rallied votes on Hermione's behalf but today when it had counted, somehow three of the members of the wizengamot had been prevented to attend and the votes had been 29 to 28 against her instead of 31 to 29 in her favour. It was maddening. And then they had made an additional vote that prevented her to appeal for at least half a year.
Hermione was about to voice her opinion that foul play was involved and that at the very least the broomstick control that had detained one of the members had been orchestrated by the auror department on purpose. She caught herself at the last moment.
Luna was struggling as it was. The fallout of Hermione with Harry and Ron made Luna very anxious, and she tried her best to stay friends with them all. Hermione didn't need to add stress to the only person in the whole wizarding world who believed her. Well, that was not entirely true. The elves were extremely supportive as well, although their constant fawning over her annoyed her. She repeatedly told them, that there was no need, that the whole point of freeing the elves was that they should not worship the grounds wizards or witches walked on, and in conclusion they should also not worship her. She had complained to Prudy, and Prudy had promised to talk with the elves, but had added smugly, that the elves were free after all and that they probably just wanted to bless her. It had become better after that, though.
There was also Blaise who happened to visit quite often on flimsy excuses. He also believed her and was surprisingly good company. He always told her how Draco was, and Hermione listened attentively. Draco had gotten a driving licence and Blaise and he had borrowed a sports car last weekend. They had only avoided a speeding ticket, because Blaise had confunded the policeman. Hermione and Blaise both pretended that Blaise had no idea that Draco communicated with her via phone and she had duly voiced her astonishment about their outing. If Blaise was questioned, Hermione wanted him to be able to say that he knew nothing. It was bad enough that the auror on duty always searched him, sometimes down to his pants. Blaise always used it to show off his admittedly well-toned body.
Not that anybody but Draco or her could make anything of the texts they exchanged. Hermione was sure about that. She had no intention at all to let any auror near her phone, but even if Harry would get hold of it – Merlin forbid – he would have first to guess that amongst all the random muggle contacts she had in her phone, John Winter was Draco and then he would have to work out all the acronyms they used. And technically they were not even violating the contact ban. It was not as if Draco could dose her with amortentia via his mobile. She had taken most of her custom, which did not involve specific magical items, to muggle shops, not only to inflate the number of her contacts, but also because she was fed up with how she was treated.
Hermione had been tempted to try Polyjuice, but she had not been able to purchase boomslang skin and she would not ask Luna to do that for her, for the same reason she played into Blaise's acting. Apparently the aurors were not that stupid, although Hermione suspected that Harry was to blame for this particular constraint. And she could hardly contest that. Buying potions supplies was not something she needed for her job.
She balled her fists, frustrated. It did not help that Harry and Ron still had that maddening mixture of condescending, pity and false patience on their faces whenever she saw them. They still talked to her as if they fully expected her to 'come to her senses'. When Ron had owled and suggested he would adopt the baby, Hermione had slapped him the next time she chanced upon him. He kept well out of striking distance after that. It might be her pregnancy hormones, but Hermione had still difficulties to rein in her temper when she caught sight of Ron.
She had only tried to meet with Harry once on Luna's insistence. Harry had just given her an envelope. Inside the envelope had been a note he had found in a book on elves at Hogwarts, a note she had written herself, a note he insisted should prove that Prudy had been lying or at the very least bending the truth on Draco's behalf. Hermione had argued that Prudy as a free elf did also have a free will. That should not be that difficult to grasp! The rest of their talk hadn't gone well, either. Hermione had tried to show Harry how she was aware of some of Draco's less nicer traits. Surely that meant that her brain could not be befuddled by amortentia, but Harry had instead seen that as a hopeful sign. Finally, their talk had ended with Hermione coldly showing Harry the door, and a very frustrated Luna in the aftermath.
"I will come with you," Luna told her. "Prudy as well. And your mother. You are still certain about using a Muggle hospital?"
Hermione groaned and pressed her hands to her aching back. "I don't trust St Mungo's."
Luna did not comment on that but her blue eyes scrutinized her.
"Since when do you have a backache, Hermione?"
"Must be my imbalanced body," Hermione answered. "I feel like I am pushing a watermelon in front of me, and my back has to adapt. And that hurts."
Hermione angled at the big rubber ball her parents had bought her and sat on it. She began to rock up and down like her midwife had showed her.
Luna drew her wand. "Might be early labour pains."
She waved her wand and nodded, when a blueish light emanated from Hermione's womb.
Hermione stared at her friend. "You are positively frightening, Luna. How could you know, backpains could point to labour."
Luna opened her mouth and said something, but what felt like a real stab in her back, left Hermione gasping for breath and the name of whatever little beings were responsible for detecting labour pains was lost to her.
"Ouch", she said.
"Breathe, Hermione." Luna cast a charm around her protruding belly that spread comfortable warmth. "Breathe deeply and calmly, don't hold your breath."
Hermione gritted her teeth and Luna shook her head.
"No teeth gritting, if your jaw is tense, your womb is also tense."
"The baby's not due before the 5th," Hermione objected.
"Four days early is nothing, Hermione."
Hermione felt tears springing to her eyes. "It must be the stress with the damn wizengamot."
Luna made an unintelligible sound. "St Ninian it is, then? Shall I alert Prudy and your parents?"
Hermione felt another stab and tried to follow Luna's advice and concentrated on breathing. She nodded.
Luna sent her patronus and gave Hermione her phone.
Before she called her parents, she sent a quick text to Draco. 'LO is impatient. Probably curious ah. Off with L to St. N. 3 cursed W denied me. WUWH. MU.'
Luna tapped Hermione's hand with her wand. "Tell your cousin to come as well. There is a small park close to St Ninian. I might be inclined to take a walk there, once my godchild is safely on this world."
Hermione stared at her friend. Luna had never openly admitted that she knew Draco and Hermione were in contact over the phone.
"It depends on who is on duty to watch you, obviously."
Hermione wrote another text. 'L sends her regards. (!). Tells you to meet her in park at St N.'
Then she called her parents.
By the time they reached the Muggle hospital, it was clear that the labour pains were for real. Luna's hands were already red from how hard Hermione pressed them, but her friend was calm as the lake at Hogwarts on a windless day.
The aurors would not leave her alone even now, but Hermione's father told Smith in no uncertain terms that he would stay out of the hospital. He even forced him to sit down with him on a bench. In the muggle environment, Smith could not draw his wand and glowered at Wendell.
"Look," her father told the insufferable git. "We're just sitting beneath the birthing room. Nobody in there right now." Hermione almost wished she had it still in her to vomit at the slightest cue like in the early pregnancy. Oh, to 'accidentally' spew on Smith's suit again!
The midwife at the hospital was very helpful as well, although Hermione barely registered her suggestions. During the first hours of her labour she tried to divert herself with potion recipes and reciting law paragraphs, but her concentration wavered about four hours in. The midwife told her that she did great progress for a first birth, but Hermione had no idea if she just wanted to encourage her. She lost all feelings for time. She barely registered that Prudy had popped in, invisible to the midwife and wove some spells, that made her feel better instantly.
"Switch off your brain, Hermione," her mother told her finally. "Give yourself over to what your body does. You can't solve this like a riddle. Go along with it, don't fight it."
"And for God's sake, don't grit your teeth," the midwife said. "Groan, scream, let it out."
By the time the labour changed into bearing-down pains, Hermione's brain was switched off indeed. She cowered, held by the midwife and her mother. She thought she had never done anything that was so exhausting. The midwife spurred her on and a part of her brain was reminded of a coach.
"Almost done, Hermione," someone told her. "One more push. PUSH! Work with the pains!"
The moment, her child's head came through was a blinding pain, but it was as if her efforts had built up to this moment.
The shoulders came through with a second far less painful push and there the baby was. Hermione sagged down into the arms of the helpful women in relief.
"Hello, little one," Luna told the wailing bundle.
Hermione barely registered that someone helped her lay down on the bed. The midwife picked up the baby, put a cloth around her and handed her to Hermione.
"It's a girl."
Hermione looked at her daughter through a veil of tears.
"I'll call a doctor," the midwife said. "You had a perineal rupture. They'll have to stitch you up after the afterbirth. Nothing serious, though."
Hermione barely registered that. She looked at her daughter in awe. She wiped her face of tears and her vision cleared. She laughed softly when she saw her, even though it hurt.
"Hello, Rina." Hermione touched her daughter's white blond fine hair, soft wisps that made a halo around her head. Her unfocused gaze met Hermione's. She was perfect, absolutely perfect.
Prudy came to her side and put her tiny elf hand on the baby's head and the other on Hermione's in a gesture that looked like a blessing. A wave of joy and pleasure ran through her and Rina closed her eyes for a short moment as if she had felt that as well.
Luna came to her side, and Hermione told her baby that this was her godmother, a witch whose kindness knew no bounds. Luna cooed at Rina, a smile on her face.
Hermione felt tears creeping into her eyes again. Her mother had brought her instant camera and shot a photo. The photo that came out was not the sharpest, but Monica waved it in triumph.
"I'll just bring this to Wendell," she said and left the room.
The afterbirth was a waltz, and when the doctor came to stitch her up, the midwife was surprised that her rupture was much smaller when she had thought. Prudy winked at Hermione and she almost laughed again. She should not laugh. It felt like her bowels would leave her body.
Monica returned without the photo. She smiled. "Father approves."
Hermione's eyes filled with fresh tears. Monica had managed to circumvent the auror.
"Who is on duty?" Luna asked.
"No one I've ever seen before." Monica answered. "A tall dark-haired handsome man. He seems to be very interested in his book. He barely looked up, when I handed over the photo."
Luna smiled. "Neville. I knew I could count on him."
Hermione's mind was a bit slow and it took her a moment to process the information. Neville had never before volunteered to be on duty to ensure the contact ban. And considering how good of an auror he was it would be a waste of his time anyway.
"Hermione, if you want me to, I'll take Rina and show her around, just for a bit, it's cold after all, and you can take your time and slowly make your way to the car."
Hermione nodded in a daze. She wondered how Luna had arranged that Neville had taken over duty. She could have done it any time in the last hours of course. She had not been in a state to notice subtle preparations of clandestine meetings.
Luna took Rina from Hermione and carefully put her in a thick blanket. She made her way to the door and talked nonsense to her all the time. Hermione wondered if the early introduction to limpiepinkies would affect her daughter.
The midwife gave her advice on how to manage the first days.
"You've done a wonderful job, Ms. Granger-Malfoy. You can be so proud. Your mother and friend will help you, I know, but here is a number, if you need help."
Hermione was grateful that the midwife did not mention the absence of the child's father. She would not have known what to say.
Monica carried her stuff and Prudy held her hand on the way outside. Prudy did some magic, Hermione was sure, because she felt stronger and not so tired, although it had been morning when they had been admitted to the hospital and now it was late evening.
"In the name of all elves, I thank you, Hermione." Prudy's face was serious. She had stopped and Hermione had stopped beside her.
"Thank you for enduring this for our sake."
Hermione smiled. "One could almost believe, you believe what they write in the Prophet, Prudy. But contrary to popular belief, I just want to be with my husband. You elves are not to blame."
She had hoped to see Draco, if only from afar. But when she left the hospital, it was just her parents, Luna and Neville she saw.
"Congratulations, Hermione," Neville said. "Your daughter is a wonder. No doubt about the paternity though. One could think you gave her that hair on purpose." He winked.
"The cutest baby ever," Luna agreed. "Even random strangers admired her, can you believe that?"
"Random strangers." Hermione arched an eyebrow. She took Rina into her arms again.
"I couldn't tell," Neville shrugged. "I was absolutely absorbed in my book. I didn't even hear anything that was said."
"I didn't know you are such an avid reader." Hermione told him.
"Only when it is necessary. I'm on duty until tomorrow morning. Should I portkey you all to your flat?"
Hermione could have kissed him. Her eyes were filling with tears again. "Thank you, Neville. I'll never forget what you and Luna did today."
Neville looked at her sideways. "I just did some reading, and now I'll produce a portkey, a small favour for my oldest friend."
Notes:
Nothing to say really. Rina is awesome obviously.
I probably should give an explanation for the acronyms:
LO is impatient. Probably curious ah. Off with L to St. N. 3 cursed W denied me. WUWH. MU.
Little one is impatient. Probably curious as hell. Off with Luna to St Ninian. Thrice cursed wizenagamaot denied me. Wish you were here. Miss you.
Chapter 77: Written into their bones
Summary:
Colin uses the invisibility cloak and finds out truths he did not expect.
Notes:
The next chapters make huge progress to unravel some of the mysteries. We will have different PoVs and I was unsure of how to best sort the chapters. I finally decided that having Colin first made the most sense.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Colin's head was bent over his copy of dad's notes. He had illusioned them to look like arithmancy to the eyes of others. Several of his housemates had looked at what had taken his interest, and James Potter had joked about the swot in residence who was already preparing for the next school year, but it had been delivered in an almost teasing tone. David had come to his defence, nevertheless, stating loudly how many house points Colin had already accumulated. Colin thought he overdid it and rolled his eyes, when David did not look. Richard Weasley had caught him at it, and the smallest of smiles had tugged at the corners of his mouth.
Colin switched on his phone and checked in the family group chat, if dad had answered his question.
"I can't believe you referred to Prudy just as P. and it, dad. That's just two letters and I thought Prudy is your friend."
"She told you that she resented the experiments and that she did not like me at that time. I guess, I had no friends."
"Malfoy, you had minions, not friends."
"Thanks, Granger, supportive as always."
"I tried for the word scutum. It helps at least with the pages where you experimented with the spell."
"Dad, is it possible that you switched the code several times? After page 4 the code Colin worked out, results only in gibberish."
"I might have used a rune-based code later on."
"Honestly, dad, this is so paranoid. "
"We had the most powerful legilimens of the time in our house. Of course, I was paranoid."
"Did you change the code in a regular rhythm?"
"Honestly, I have no idea. Nothing about these pages triggers my memory. I was too thorough in removing them. I made a scan of the text though. Maybe some muggle IT freak can decode the notes. Might only take them minutes, who knows?"
Mum had added one last unrelated message: "Cross your fingers for Luna and me. We'll go occamy hunting today."
Colin checked his chat with Ellie next.
"Oral traditions are tricky. It would be best to just listen in, because people tend to change oral traditions, maybe even unintentionally, if they know a researcher is in their midst and interested."
"Elves know just about everything that is to know about wizards, but wizards know nothing about elves."
"This is a common occurrence, Colin. The disadvantaged need to know every detail about their superiors or their oppressors. It might mean life or death after all. "
"That is so depressing."
"Marie Antoinette knew nothing about the life of the peasants, but you can bet that her servants and her maids knew everything about her."
"Why did wizards just accept the house elves situation for centuries? Why did no one really ask? "
"That is a very good question. Could there be a magical reason?"
Colin closed the lid on his phone case. Nothing new then, they only made slow progress with the decoding, and spells were of no use. Ellie had encouraged him to look at the oral traditions of the elves. He was not so sure, how her advice would be regarding his plans for the afternoon.
Prefect David came over again and encouraged him to cheer for Gryffindor in the game against Ravenclaw that was to start in about an hour.
"I'll come and support the team, of course," Colin said with a smile, although he had absolutely no intention of doing so. He had figured that the quidditch game would be the ideal time to put the invisibility cloak to good use.
Colin collected his notes, went to his dorm, and put them away in his trunk, securing the illusion spell. He took the surprisingly light bundle of the invisibility cloak and stuffed it in his bag. The game would begin soon, and he needed to be well hidden down in the kitchens by then. He had deduced from something Prudy had remarked some time ago, that the elves gathered during quidditch matches, when the whole school was on the quidditch grounds and they had some quiet.
Half an hour later, Colin had managed to steal into the kitchen and had made himself comfortable behind shelves that held an incredible amount of food. He hoped that his hunch of where the elves would meet was correct.
He felt bad about sneaking into a gathering that was not meant for him, but he would never learn anything from just asking questions to the elves. Not when he would have to find the right questions to ask all on his own.
Colin's guess that the storeroom was the place of the gathering proved to be correct and he heard several cracks when elves apparated, much shuffling of little elf feet and low conversations. There were several elves unfamiliar to Colin, some even wore livery, and he realised that it was a gathering beyond the Hogwarts elves.
The elves began to hum, only very lowly, at first, but it gained more force when more elves joined. The volume and the pitch changed in a pattern that did not make sense to Colin but that nevertheless was very alluring and fascinating. It was not harmonious all the time, occasionally it was dissonant, and occasionally the humming dissolved into perfect harmony. It was almost as if a story was told, but without words. The threads of the story woven into each other and sometimes opposed to each other like the protagonists of a well-known story.
After a while, some elf or other would speak up and voice one clear word often accompanied by a gesture. It was the strangest experience Colin had ever had. He felt soothed, exhilarated, sad and exited, weary and yearning, all at the same time, until he thought he would burst. He was so overwhelmed with this mixture of feelings, that it took him a while to realise that the words the elves spoke gave hints at stories, just like pictures that were reduced to bold strokes on a white paper, where you could see what you wanted to see or what someone else wanted you to see. The dense words gave stories as old as storytelling and many variants of the same story. They were threaded into the web of the underlying humming, sometimes barely visible, sometimes standing out in a high or low pitch. Colin was mesmerized.
"Seven brothers"
"Cursed"
"Ravens"
"Sister"
"Searching"
"Sun"
"Moon"
"Silence"
"Seven years"
"Weaving Cloaks"
"Blessed"
"Reunited"
Colin thought that this could be a fairy tale he had once read in Grimm's tales. Seven brothers who were cursed to become ravens and their sister who endured seven years of silence, weaving cloaks for her brothers, so the curse could become undone. The pictures the humming invoked in his mind certainly reminded him of the story.
"Poet"
"Singer"
"One look"
"Yearning"
"Long life"
"Death"
"Grave"
"Willow"
That must be a sad story. The humming was so low it resonated in Colin's guts, and the word death had been a short wail. Colin pictured a couple who had only seen each other once, letting the yearning for each other flow into poetry and music, until they died after a long life, united only in their grave, marked by a weeping willow.
On and on it went, story after story, often about the undoing of curses. Colin could not have said how many. Some seemed familiar, some he could only guess at and some escaped his understanding. Why would a hero weep over an enemy finally dead? Why would a puppeteer cry over a lost limb of one of his creations? Why would someone search for his punishment?
"Wizard"
"Witch"
"Elves"
"Friends"
"Oath"
He barely registered that the humming had taken on a new hue. The harmony of the tones was almost too much to bear. It drove tears to Colin's eyes. He thought he saw a circle of maybe nine people before his inner eye, their hands entwined, their faces raised to the stars that shone above. The stars seemed to settle onto their skin, that seemed close to blue in the moonlight.
The humming was interrupted by short wails, that cut through the melody like a blade. The next words were spoken by a voice Colin knew. Prudy's. But it was not the voice of his friend, it sounded like a whiplash enforcing everyone's attention.
"Betrayal"
"Curse"
"Set into stone"
"Shielded"
"Thrice cursed"
"Chains"
"Engraved into the mind"
"Forgetting"
"Laced with lies"
"Surrender"
"Written into our bones"
Before his inner eyes, the image of the circle changed. He saw some spin out of the circle, wands were raised, white-green spells hit some, spells that looked like hot burning iron only that their hue was green and not red. The image blurred and he saw elves, small elves, pointed ears and all, the spells were sinking into their skins, flashing up shortly, before they vanished. The despair that accompanied the image made Colin feel as if someone tried to tear his heart out of his breast.
The humming changed, again, the sound deeply laced with a yearning for what Colin could not have said. Prudy's voice was not more than a whisper now, threading sentences into the humming that faded out.
"Remember."
"Every curse carries its counter"
"So does the curse that chained us"
"The blood of the families is dwindling."
"The chains have been loosened."
"Conditions are met."
"One elf free, master unwilling, one elf free, master willing."
"The cornerstones cracked."
"Witch and wizard breaking the rules.
"A witch betrayed."
"Yearning endured for our sake, dawn to dusk, thirty times thirty."
"Wait for the chisel."
The humming had become almost inaudible now, but it was almost cheerful now, as if some burden were lifted from a person who had carried it for a long time.
"Hope."
"Freedom."
"Become again what we were."
When the humming finally stopped, the elves scattered, and Colin felt as if he had not drawn breath for the entire time. His lungs ached, his eyes burned, and his heart beat slowly and heavily as if it had had to thud against a huge stone that had been placed side by side to it.
He stumbled out of the kitchen, his feet took up speed of their own accord, and before he knew what he was doing he was running, running out of the castle. He wanted to be anywhere but here, in this castle, where wizards and witches learned to do magic. Magic that could do terrible, terrible cruelties.
His vision was blurred. He only came to a halt when his foot hit a large stone, that set him tumbling to the ground, and let the invisibility cloak fly over his head. He landed on his knees and his hands. He felt like someone had tried to hammer him into the ground, and for a moment his breath stopped. When he could breathe again, he heard a strange sound, that reminded him of the elves' wailing and it was only when he wiped his nose that he realised that it was him who was making the noise. His sobs rang in his own ears, a keen that made him sound unhinged. As if he were a madman. But he could not stop himself.
He cowered on the ground, stuffing his fist into his mouth, his teeth almost drawing blood on his knuckles, while the tears streamed down his face. This was how Uncle Neville found him.
Notes:
I really, really would be interested how many of you guessed that there was something on with the elves...
Chapter 78: Conditions of Dark Magic
Summary:
Draco is called by Neville to pick up a very distraught Colin. The cursing of the house elves is discussed.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Draco studied the instruction leaflet again and weighed the pills in his hand. He could feel a migraine coming and was pondering his options. Hermione was out of house, occamy hunting, and Monica and Wendell had gone to Scotland for a long weekend. He had promised to look after Penny Zabini, so Blaise could join the hunt as well. Penny and Meg probably could manage on their own, but to watch Robert while lying motionless on the bed would be trickier. He sighed and pressed two pills into his hand. He would grit his teeth and take the headache over the migraine. He was very glad, that today's wedding was covered by Malcolm. The bride Marianne was nice enough, but her maid of honour Ms. 'I cannot take a hint' E. Jensen – -'you can call me Ricky' – was a pain in the ass. At least chances were high she would not hit on Malcolm.
By teatime, a dull headache had settled in and he was grumpy and not in the best mood. Meg and Penny had thrown Robert out and Draco could hardly blame them. He wished he knew why Robert was obsessed with balloons all of a sudden. He couldn't count the times Robert had said 'balloon' since yesterday. He had persuaded Robert to play with marbles and they prepared a marble run. Robert was shouting with glee and Draco felt marginally better, when his phone chimed. It was Neville.
Neville was talking too fast and too loud and it did not take long before Draco was thoroughly alarmed. Apparently, Neville was at the Longbottom's house and had Colin with him, who according to the sobs Draco heard in the background was a weeping bundle. Draco asked what the hell had happened, but Colin was not coherent.
"Did the Pott-Weasel disaster twins do anything?" Draco asked. One of these days, he would forget himself around these boys. He should have demanded of Potter to get his children in hand. The irony of the situation did not escape him.
"We had a truce since Christmas. They did nothing. I…." and then Colin stopped again.
Neville told Draco that he had sent his patronus to alert Hermione at the earliest convenience, but that it had returned.
"Hermione is sleuthing with Luna and probably has put a Do-not-disturb charm on herself. I have Penny here, with Meg and Robert."
"Why is Penny with you?"
"Blaise wanted to escort Luna on the occamy chase."
"What?" Neville sounded worried. "Does he think it is dangerous?"
"He said something about a hunch."
Neville did not seem to like it one bit and if he was honest, Draco did not like it either. Blaise might just want to make amends for Potter's unusual reluctance to help Luna, but still….
"Can you apparate to ours?" Draco asked.
"I'd rather have you come over. This house is under auror protection and as long as we don't know what exactly happened," Neville was almost inaudible.
"Half an hour." He told Neville. "I'll bring all the children along."
When he arrived at the Longbottom's house, Colin flung himself into his arms and sudden and intense alarm flooded Draco's mind again. Meg and Penny stood silent and worried. Robert caught some of the tension and ran at Colin hugging his leg. Colin's voice was muffled as he talked into Draco's blazer and he only caught a few words, something about a meeting of elves during the Quidditch match, story-telling and oral tradition. He thought he caught the words oath, betrayal and enslavement between deep and keening sobs of Colin. Meg and Penny stood at the side, their faces puzzled and worried.
After a while Colin became calmer again and Draco held him by the shoulders and disentangled himself from his son.
Colin sniffled.
"I fear I only got about half of what you said, Colin." His heart wrenched at his son's distress. Colin's face scrunched again.
"I'll tell you what I got and you just nod, o.k.?"
Colin nodded.
Draco tried to piece together what he had heard. "You took Potter's invisibility cloak and went to a meeting of elves, and there you listened in to their stories and learned, how the elves were enslaved." He stopped. "And it was done by horrible dark magic."
"We betrayed them, dad. There was an oath of friendship and we betrayed them. Did you know that, dad? Did you know that, do any wizards or witches know that? Or are they just oblivious of this crime we committed against the elves?"
Draco's mind reeled. It seemed impossible and yet the sudden dread that flooded him told him that it was true.
"They know, the elves know, they talk about it, but when wizards and witches enslaved them, they were thorough. They set silence and acceptance into their bones. That is why none of the elves could answer me, even the ones born after yours and mum's marriage. We took their real forms, enslaved them to serve us, when we didn't even need any servants, because we can bloody do magic, and we don't even remember!"
Colin took shuddering breaths. Robert had begun to cry in sympathy with his brother and Draco picked him up, holding him in one arm and slowly stroking Colin's arm with his other hand. Meg and Penny huddled closer to Neville. Heavy silence settled onto the kitchen.
"That is terrible, truly terrible." Meg's eyes had filled with tears, and Penny had started to sob as well.
"Did you know, dad?" Colin asked again.
Draco shook his head.
"But you are not surprised." Colin whispered.
Draco lifted his hand to his face and rubbed both his cheeks with thumb and fingers. "I grew up in a house that held objects of dark magic. Objects I was warned about. I know a bit about how Dark Magic works."
He drew a deep breath. "It makes sense, that the breaking of an oath could be twisted to ensure a perpetual slave-bond. Trust becomes oppression. Friendship becomes inequality. Dark magic does that. To perform it, you need to betray virtues, you must be prepared to commit a sin, for lack of a better word, and that empowers the wizard to do his dark deed, but it also has a high price. If you have done something like that, you won't be the same person again, never. A curse like that, enslaving a whole people, would make you lose the ability to do light magic for all time. I wonder who they were and if they even survived such a powerful dark enchantment."
"Kill someone to create a horcrux that will ensure immortality." Neville put in.
Draco nodded.
"There must be a catch," Neville mused. "Dark magic has always a catch, conditions that can undo the curse."
"The crack in the cornerstones." Colin's face lightened up. "The elves at Nott villa showed me the crack in the cornerstone. And they talked about it as well at their meeting. 'Every course carries its counter.' And they said something about conditions that were met already, the old families dying out. And there were others as well."
Colin frowned. "One elf free, master unwilling, one elf free, master willing…. A witch betrayed …. " he stopped, deep in thought.
"Something about thirty times thirty, from dawn till dusk, yearning endured for the elves?"
Draco flinched. "What is this? A prophecy?"
Colin shook his head. "No, no, the conditions that have already been met, if I understood correctly."
Draco felt the blood rush in his veins. Thirty times thirty. From dawn till dusk. Nine hundred days. The contact ban.
But the prospect that something might be done about the elves and their curse considerably brightened Colin's mood.
"Maybe… Do we just need to destroy all the cornerstones?"
Draco doubted that. A deep-set curse like that would not disintegrate without a huge amount of magic.
"It is not that easy. We have been trying to do that ever since the rebellion." said a new voice, a voice behind them.
The elf Prudy sat on the windowsill, her long ears pointing downwards.
"Prudy!", they exclaimed. "How did you get here?"
Prudy wordlessly raised the invisibility cloak. "I followed you from Hogwarts. I sensed Colin's distress."
Her eyes were sad. "I wish it had not been you, Colin, who found that out. But I cannot say, I am sad, that somebody knows. And that it is somebody who cares."
The silence that followed was heavy with the knowledge of what they had learned. Even little Robert felt that something was still amiss, although Colin had stopped crying, and the toddler was uncharacteristically silent.
"Sammael Malfoy knew, didn't he?" Draco asked. "And he thought he would strengthen the pact for blood purity by tying it to the strongest curse he knew. The elves' curse. But he produced a loophole. A loophole that allowed the elves to regain some of their freedom."
"Yes he did that and he swung the scales. By trying to fasten the curse, he tipped the balance. The backlash set the undoing of the curse in motion. Served him right." Prudy confirmed, a smug smile on her face. "The elves' bane had been tied to the lines of the families before that, though."
"The sacred 28", Neville breathed. "Not so sacred then, but rather unholy."
"Used to be 30, and some of the 28 are nearly extinct as well." Prudy gazed intently at him, and Neville nodded, shortly.
Draco gave a short laugh, that held no mirth. "So, the one freed against the master's will, that was Dobby, and the next one was you. Did these need to happen in the same family?"
Prudy rocked her head. "Not necessarily, but after the second condition happened in the same family… it was more likely…."
"And thirty times thirty, from dawn till dusk?"
"That as well."
Draco swallowed. "This is why all the elves took pains to encourage Hermione when we were under the contact ban."
Prudy tilted her head. "You know Draco, trying to ensure that a magical condition is met and having compassion is not mutually exclusive."
Draco flushed. "We always joked that we had to do it for the elves."
"And enough people believed that anyway and continue to believe it." There was the faintest shadow of a smile tugging at Prudy's lips. "It was enough to further losen the curse."
Draco groaned. "Three, no four of the conditions have been met in the same family."
He closed his eyes. Then his eyes snapped open again. "It would be awfully inconvenient if this family would die out, wouldn't it, Prudy?"
Prudy looked in his eyes. "Yes, Draco?"
"So, they would have to get many children? Was this some kind of twisted logic that of all the 28 families, the conditions were met within the one family that notoriously only produced one heir?"
Prudy pursed her lips. "Well, for us elves Dobby was a real disappointment, not for himself, but we had the feeling, that our chances had deteriorated."
"You elves, you flooded Hermione in house elf magic. She always was puzzled about all the elves fawning over her. I assume you cannot affect me."
"It is a wonder, Hermione and you don't have your own Quidditch team." Draco was not sure, he appreciated Neville's try at lewd humour. "Just five," he added.
"Six," Draco mumbled under his breath, before he caught himself. If he had counted right, Hermione's period was overdue, and he would bet that she had 'forgotten' to buy the 'after-potion'. He had not asked her if she had taken it, because he did not want to be paranoid and Hermione tended to go off at questions after her cycle. And the last weeks after the resurface of his notes had been, well, just happy, even though Potter had ruined one Sunday. Draco no longer wondered that Dr Church had not been available.
He looked at Neville whose eyes had widened. "Don't ask. Don't bloody ask."
"Hermione got pregnant the first time, the very first time we had sex. Was that your doing, Prudy?"
Prudy looked at him her head bent to the side. "Can you blame me? For all I knew, it could have been the only chance. You do remember there was a chance you would end up in Azkaban, and I doubt you would have survived that, at that time."
"I might not have," he conceded.
"Yours is not the first family." Prudy told him.
Draco sat down. He placed his face into his palm. "How many conditions did the Weasleys meet? And when?"
"The Malfoys are the third family to meet some of the conditions, and we've never reached a point that far. About seven hundred years ago, there were two elves freed by the Parkinsons. Three hundred years ago, just before Sammael Malfoy finalised his pact. Alfred Weasley was tricked into freeing an elf, and then the Weasley heir set free one of his elfs. His bride was a halfblood whose plans for marriage were betrayed by her best friend. They still married, but Sophie Weasley refused to endure 900 days for our sake. She laughed."
Prudy sighed. "For a while we had great hopes in Fred and George Weasley. They were very friendly to the elves at Hogwarts and we were debating if we might approach them and ask them if they would endure separation for our sake …. Separated twins would have been very powerful. But then Dobby was freed against your father's wishes, and the house elves got involved in the undoing of the horcruxes. We had to start anew."
"So, Dobby freed, you freed, we married, Hermione was betrayed by her friends. That was the next time, conditions fit, and you…." Draco's voice trailed off. He shuddered, goosebumps covered his body. He remembered how fiercely Hermione had contested the contact ban. And how it had been repealed every single time.
"We didn't orchestrate the contact ban, Draco." Prudy's eyes were still glued to his face. "We just ensured that it would work in our favour. I swear we did not temper magically with the refusals to lift the ban. None of us elves would do that to Hermione. That does not mean that magic did not come into play."
Neville put his hand on Draco's arm. Draco felt like he would snap any moment.
Neville opened his mouth and his deep voice was calm and collected, soothing even. "I can well believe that. Once conditions are set against a dark curse, at some point it is like a cascade. The first horcrux took years, the last horcruxes were destroyed within hours."
Draco heard his own heavy breathing. "The balance swings against the dark curse. The disenchantment gets a dynamic of its own. Almost unstoppable. Like the one time, when Hermione had been so sure, that the wizengamot would vote in our favour. And then they didn't because three wizards were hindered by the most ridiculous circumstances. And Potter and the Weasel had a role to play, the role of the traitors. Did we just follow a script?"
Prudy snorted. "You know that this is not how it works. The feelings involved had to be genuine. If Harry Potter had not won your wand when you duelled, if you had given him your wand, he would not have been able to defeat him. Shortcuts and cheating do not work against dark curses."
Draco shook his head. "For the fight against the horcruxes, Potter had to duel me, and for the undoing of the elves curse, he and Weasley had to hate me enough to betray Hermione."
Prudy nodded. "As I said, Dobby being freed was a side effect of the diary horcrux destroyed, and the undoing of our curse got irrevocably entwined with the conditions of Voldemort's defeat."
Draco tried to wrap his head around that.
"I think, you could hardly be blamed, even if you orchestrated everything." Colin frowned. "How long have you been enslaved, Prudy? How long?"
Prudy stroked her ears. "We don't remember, more than a millennium is my estimation."
Little Robert picked up the sombre mood, his face was confused and worried. In an imitation of Colin earlier, he flung himself into his father's arms and put his chubby arms around his father's neck and buried himself into his father's neck.
It was a balm to Draco's heart.
"Why did you never talk about this before, how can you talk about this now?" Colin asked Prudy.
"You ask, Colin, and I can answer." Prudy raised her hands to her ears but stopped herself short of stroking them.
"Why did no one ever ask before?" Meg's voice was just whisper. "Why did no one ask about elves?"
"Because we wizards are often too fixed in our opinions." Neville's face was as solemn as at a funeral. "It is often the muggleborns who question traditions. Your mum did and does."
"So, the elves were cursed to silence and the wizarding folk forgot and was not interested enough to ask, because it has always been this way. And nobody tried to educate themselves on elves." Draco's voice sounded raspy in his ears. "Who can even answer?"
"Only free elves can do that, the ones born after your marriage. I can only answer because of another loophole." Prudy looked at Colin expectantly.
"Another loophole?"
She rolled her eyes. "That is not how questioning around the curse's silence works, Colin."
Colin frowned. "You told me that there were special conditions when dad freed you."
Prudy's ears raised, their tips pointing at the ceiling.
"What was my last order?" Draco asked. There was a shadow of a memory. "I told you to survive."
"That gives me considerable liberties and work arounds. Not enough though. The cornerstones still stand, and we still need the chisel to reshape our destiny."
"What does that even mean?" Draco asked. "Is the chisel a person? …. Descending from Hermione and me."
Prudy raised her hands. "I wish I knew. It might also be a magical artefact."
"Do you know how your form was before?" Colin carefully touched Prudy's shoulder. "Was it like Tolkien's elves?"
Prudy shook her head. "I know that we spread the truth around muggles, who believe in magic and who we could talk to occasionally. But which of the many stories holds the truth, I cannot say."
"It must have been stunning." Colin said. "If the way you tell stories is anything to go bye, elves must have been wonderful to behold."
Prudy inclined her head in acceptance of the compliment.
Colin drew a deep breath. "I will find a way to undo this, whatever it takes, however long I will have to search, and if it's the last thing I do. I promise."
The air became heavy and pressed on their lungs. Magic crackled. The promise of a wizard – meant to undo the broken promise of the wizards and witches of old. Prudy's ears rose even higher. Her eyes became wide.
Draco's felt as if all the blood had left his head. His head was pounding with renewed vigour. There was a moment of grave silence.
"I wish you had worded this differently." The promise was as good as an unbreakable vow. Another pebble that could become the cascade that might sweep away the curse of the elves. Or it might fetter Colin to a daunting task.
Neville shuddered, the hackles on his arms were visibly raised. The weight of the promise had stolen Draco's breath away. Neville without a scutum must have felt it even stronger. Meg and Penny stood rigid as if they were witnesses. Even Robert was affected. He cuddled closer to Draco as if afraid.
Neville laid his hand on Colin's shoulder. "You won't be alone in this."
Draco could almost feel the magic humming at the promise of another wizard. Tears pricked at his eyes. He did not know what to say. 'Bloody Gryffindors,' was the only thing that came to his mind and it would not express his gratitude to Neville nor his despair for Colin's sake that mingled with pride and it would certainly not fit the graveness of the situation. He settled on hugging Colin.
"That was such a brave thing to say." Prudy's ears had dropped and her face was sad. "I hope you won't come to regret it."