Neville and Pansy arrived on time, but they did not come alone. They brought Astoria and Ellie and Matilda Fawley, the shy girl that they had taken under their wing.
They almost ran out of chairs, but Draco mumbled something about looking for spares and vanished into their shed. Hermione was sure he had spoken a gemini spell in the security of the shed. Mrs. Jameson looked over the fence and made a face at the big party, but Draco told her that it was his belated birthday party. Mrs. Jameson retreated albeit with a frown on her face.
Neville started a long discussion about catering with Malcolm and asked about how feeding a school of about 500 students would work, and Narcissa participated in the discussion as well as her parents. Neville and Pansy and even her own parents almost blundered several times, even if they managed to skirt around the fact that they were talking about a magical school. Not Narcissa though. Her mother-in-law managed to talk vividly with Draco's partner and his wife for two hours without ever slipping.
Malcolm promised to help her find a flat near Mayweed Grove.
"I would be ever so grateful" Narcissa told him. "Just something small. I've had enough of handling a grand house. I want a flat I can tidy in the blink of an eye."
She said that with a straight face, as if 'with a whisk of my wand' had not been what she wanted to say.
Hermione was glad that Narcissa wanted to look for a flat. She got along with her mother-in-law surprisingly well and it was heart-warming to see her happiness with her grandchildren, but in the spirit of continuous good relations it was fortunate, that her mother-in-law had decided on putting a little bit of distance between them.
The sun was just about to set in a glorious warm red light, when Malcolm and Saima left and some of the topics they had skirted around came up.
Matilda told Lizzie with shining eyes, that she had been in Muggle London today, and that Pansy had taken her to a children's ballet show.
Astoria imitated her sister's reaction on the morning after she had discovered that a whole room at Nott Villa had caved in with the undoing of the elves' curse and that all her staff had vanished. "I don't understand", she quoted her sister. "We were always so nice to our elves."
That was followed by Pansy's tale about how distraught her mother had been. It had been quite interesting to see which houses had been affected by the undoing of the curse. Ginny suspected that the Blacks had had a different house once, because Grimmauld had been unaffected, as well as the Burrow.
Ellie pumped Rina for information on the historical Malfoys and Blaise and Luna talked with Neville and Pansy about their new projects for muggleborns and squibs. Hermione feared that Neville and Pansy took too much on themselves. Pansy was head auror as long as Harry was on sabbatical and might stay that, if he never returned and together with all their ideas for squibs and muggleborns, it might prove to be too much.
"We were thinking about setting up a holiday course, where muggleborn children can learn about the magical world. But we would need a good place for that… " Neville munched happily on one of the raspberry tarts that Draco had reserved for him.
"You could take the Manor," Rina told him.
"The Manor?" Pansy asked.
"Yes," Rina grinned. "I can't think of a better way to really piss off my ancestors. Regine might love it though."
"You could always let the non-magical wizarding children live there. I'm sure they would fume about that as much as about muggleborn summer schools." Colin suggested.
"The Manor certainly would be big enough!" Pansy was excited.
"Find some Quidditch obsessed rich pureblood to buy the children brooms in exchange for a chance to scout for talents amongst the muggleborn." Draco advised.
"Really, dad," Colin shook his head. "Not everything is about Quidditch."
"Yes, but imagine how muggleborns being good at quidditch would help them."
Hermione stretched out her fingers and searched for Draco's hand.
"I would never have loved quidditch, even if I had sat on a broom every summer."
"But you might have been not quite that helpless."
Hermione scoffed.
"I thought about drawing up a schedule for keeping the castle clean and nice, now that the elves are gone." Neville had moved on to his ideas for Hogwarts.
The children groaned. "You mean, that we would have to do all that?"
"I see, I graduated at the exact right moment," Rina put in.
"It won't do you any harm to learn household spells," Luna said. "I am ever so grateful, that my mother-in-law did not neglect that part of Blaise's education.
"I agree," Draco pressed Hermione's hand. "I never learned any, and with Hermione and mother not doing any spells for a month, I really wished that I had learned some useful housekeeping spells."
"That still leaves the question of what to do about feeding the Hogwarts students. I swear I've gotten grey hairs over that."
"No, you haven't" Pansy shook her head.
Draco laughed. "Neville, you still do not do subtle very well. Just spit it out."
Hermione smiled at Neville's face. He should have known that Draco had noticed his questioning.
"I haven't talked with Flitwick, yet." Neville admitted. "But you guessed it. I got the idea, that 'Fortescue and Miller' could be hired to feed the Hogwarts students."
"We would have to expand considerably," Draco told him. "And we would have to break the statute of secrecy."
Hermione let their discussion wash over her and let the last rays of the sunshine on her closed eyelids. As long as their children went to Hogwarts, their holidays would have to be at the same time as the school holidays anyway. She did a quick count in her head. After Meg's seventh year they would have one year without a child at Hogwarts, 7 more years for Robert then and an additional 3 more for the twins. By the time their last children had left school, and they would finally be independent of school holidays, the business would probably run by itself. She wondered if her equanimity about school years stretching in front of her for the foreseeable future was due to lingering effects of the elves' blessing.
She realised that the conversation had suddenly stopped and opened her eyes, alarmed.
Four people were standing in their garden. A portly man who looked like he enjoyed food, a stern looking man of unidentifiable age who had only one hand, an ethereal slender beauty with golden-brown skin and pointed ears and a tall figure who looked as if a part of the night sky had descended. She was dark blue, and it looked as if stars were shining through her skin or maybe falling stars.
Colin jumped up. "Prudy?"
The tall figure came closer. She smiled. "Hello Colin."
They all gaped.
"Are these your true forms?" Luna asked.
"Yes and no," Prudy answered. "Our true forms were lost. So, we chose new forms. Whatever took our fancy."
She smiled and the stars danced under her semi-translucent skin. "I let myself be inspired by Colin's sketch of Elbereth, the lady of the stars."
Colin came closer, almost shyly. "Can I touch you?"
Prudy took his hand.
"You all remember Tatki of course?" She pointed at the slender small figure with the gold brown skin.
Blaise waved. "Well, hello Tatki, you look marvellous."
"And Kreacher." She pointed at the portly man, who bowed to Colin.
"I was also inspired by one of your sketches." His voice was so deep it rumbled.
"And this one has decided to be called Maedhros. His true name was lost in his long suffering."
"Did I cut off your hand?" Neville asked.
The stern man nodded.
"So, the dementors were freed." Colin beamed. "I am so relieved. I feared they had been destroyed."
Maedhros weighed his head. "In a way we were, some of my fellows haven't found their way back yet, but they have a chance now."
"Do you all have different forms now?" Rachel asked. "Tatki, you look like a slender fairy. Are you a girl now?"
"I'm undecided." Tatki unfurled golden, delicate wings on their back. "I've decided to have wings though."
Robert pointed in delight at the shimmering wings.
"You all look stunning." Luna complimented them.
"Where have you been, all this time?" Colin wanted to know.
"First we had a party." Kreacher said. "The food was marvellous."
"Then we discussed revenge," Maedhros' voice was sharp as a knife and made Hermione's skin crawl.
"Revenge?" Hermione shuddered. It was as if she was touched very shortly by the ice-cold presence of a dementor. "What kind of revenge?"
Prudy raised her hand in a conciliatory gesture. "We voted against that."
"It was a rather narrow vote," Tatki's wings fluttered as if in a breeze.
"The wizards and witches who cursed us into slavery are long dead. Prudy convinced us that revenge would be futile." Maedhros' voice fuelled Hermione's imagination. She did not like the images that sprung into her head. "And Ekrizdis has already suffered for his even darker curse."
"I appreciate that very much, Prudy." Draco inclined his head.
"We didn't forego revenge for your sake, Draco. I didn't want us to start our new life with that."
"I guessed that, nevertheless we can be grateful, that you would not punish us for our ancestors' sin. Even if sparing us was not your main motive."
Prudy laughed.
"How long did you discuss?" Hermione asked them.
"Until yesterday." Tatki said.
Hermione rubbed her arms. To think that they had been relieved that all their problems were gone and yet the world of wizards and witches had hung by a thread.
"How much did you elves orchestrate?" Draco wanted to know.
"What do you mean?"
"It all had to come together. George Weasley making portkeys for the Gryffindors, for years, James Potter trying to become a hero like his dad. Colin and Lizzie caught up in that, on the very day that Potter destroyed the anchor at Azkaban. Rina revoking the cut out hours before I needed to break through my scutum, so that my pent-up magic could be used. The rogue elves at the Manor reshaping as elves just in time that Colin could free them. Nine wizards manipulated to be there at the right time. The scutum on the van that conveniently helped to save the children. I know that Kreacher took care of things at the side of the Potters, but where else did you dabble?"
"Everywhere and nowhere." Prudy's smile was enigmatic. "We tried to guide some of you to the place where you were needed. And yet accidents happened we did not foresee."
"I told you, dad, the tide had turned against the curse." Colin chimed in.
Prudy nodded. "Exactly. We nudged, we prodded, we took advantage of some of your virtues and vices. And yet, everything you did was your own decisions."
She pointed at them, one after the other. "Meg is always curious, Colin is always angry at injustice, because he has suffered from it. Rina has always been independent and resilient. James always wanted to be a hero. Pansy would die for her godson. Neville has been ready to jump into the breach since his first year. I counted on Hermione to come up with a solution that would prevent the nine wizards and witches involved to lose their magic. I guessed that you would find a way to unleash your pent-up magic when you just were desperate enough. As it turned out your whole family in danger was enough of an incentive."
Hermione could hear Draco trying to calm his breath. She pressed his hand.
"Humans make their own decisions. It's never entirely predictable," Prudy added.
She smiled at Draco. "It was a surprise, that you set me free, and I have known you since you were a babe. It was then, that I knew that the tides had turned."
"It seems such a risky plan." Hermione whispered.
"We tried to ensure that there would be ways to escape."
"The van. The magic proof van." Draco shook his head. "I guess the flat tire at least wasn't part of your plan."
Prudy shook her head. "We had many discussions, if we should even try to free the dementors as well or, if we should accept their loss. And we were extremely lucky that the transition of the Malfoy elves had not been complete yet. Otherwise they might have voted differently."
"Congratulations are in order, I think", Hermione said. "Your long troubles have come to an end."
Everyone murmured their agreement.
"I have something for you, Draco," Prudy told him. She produced a vial and held it out to him.
"My memories", Draco stared. "These are my memories."
He took the vial and held it gingerly. Thin whisps of grey meandered deep within the vial.
Draco took his wand and made the movement that undid a tied off scutum. Everyone gasped when he undid the stopper and extracted the memories with his wand.
His eyes widened, when the silver-grey mist entered his head.
"Wow", he said. His eyes found hers.
"What will you do now, Prudy?" Colin wanted to know.
"We will reconnect with our friends, the centaurs, but we probably won't have any close contact with wizards or witches for the time being."
Maedhros' voice sounded like a judgement. "Nor will we have any agreements, treaties or friendships."
"With one exception," Prudy came closer and bent down to kiss Colin's forehead.
"I name you elf-friend, Colin Granger-Malfoy."
Colin looked at her in wonder.
He bowed. "I am honoured."
"Does that mean that you won't come and visit us, Prudy?" Lizzie asked.
"I'll gladly come, if you will have me."
Draco harrumphed. "If you deign to announce your visit the next time, I could even ensure that there is food. I might be persuaded to leave out the lemon, at least in part."
"That sounds like an excellent idea."
Hermione and Draco sat in their garden after everyone had left and the children were in bed. Rina had gone out with John and Narcissa had retired in her usual unobtrusive way.
Draco had conjured a cover and they laid side by side and gazed at the stars. Not many were visible, the lights of the city were too close, but there were enough to entwine their hands and let the wonder of the universe wash over them.
"We were lucky, the elves voted against revenge." Draco pressed her hand.
Hermione shuddered. "I don't even want to think about what that might have meant."
"And you can't even say that wizard and witches would not have deserved it."
"I disagree. None of the current generation enslaved the elves."
"But they also did not think about it, only our teenage son really questioned it."
Hermione nodded. "And we were content with what we had achieved."
"It's complicated," they said in unison.
Draco propped himself up on his elbow and suddenly his face came into her vision.
"At least, we are not complicated."
Hermione smiled. "Once in a while."
"I wondered about something," His eyes were glued to her face. The moon shone on his hair. It reminded her of their first kiss.
"I'm all ears."
"I love you Hermione, will you marry me?"
"What kind of joke is this? Do you feel the urge to make an honest woman of your mistress? At my sixth pregnancy?"
She didn't know if she should chide him for being a classicist prat or if she should laugh.
"Don't misunderstand me. I thought about doing an official ceremony but that would invalidate our years together. And I know you would hate the implication that a muggle marriage is not worth the same."
That piqued her interest. "How well you know me."
"But I thought maybe just the two of us could do it. Without the obedience nonsense obviously. A promise on our magic. Nobody would ever need to know."
"… need to know what, Draco? That you're a sappy romantic at heart?" She teased him, but her eyes had grown moist and Draco could probably see it.
Draco let his fingers trail over her face.
"I just want to show you that I love you. And that I intend to love you for as long as I live. What do you say?"
She smiled. "I'd say yes to that."
"A magical kiss in the moonlight." She reached up and let her fingers run through his hair. "You do remember now, don't you? It was a wonderful kiss."
His wandering hand had reached her neck. "Yet, it is just a memory. Although I agree. It was a nice kiss."
He lowered his head and his lips hovered over hers.
"Let's make new memories."
Their lips touched and their memories whirled and for a fleeting short moment past and present became one.