Chapter 32 – YOU!

17 April 2010 - 2PM

The Leaky Cauldron

Diagon Alley, London, England

Draco Malfoy

"…then there are my brother and sister. They are twins, Sebastian and Scarlett. They are 5 years younger than me. They both graduated from Stanford Magical University. Bas will take over the farm, eventually, but right now he is in Costa Rica with his girlfriend. They have lived there for a year. Scarlett is living in Hollywood and has had some small modeling jobs, at least that is what she says she is doing. She's probably gold digging her way to the top. Scarlett used to always ask me for money, but once she graduated, I cut her off…"

Sasha has been telling Theo about her family for the last half hour of our fucking long lunch. I miss the Sasha from a week ago that didn't talk and only glared at me. What happened to that woman? I was starting to like her. This Sasha doesn't shut the fuck up. She was interrupted by the slamming open of the front door of the Leaky Cauldron. We all turn and watch as Neville runs in frantically searching for someone then yells for Hannah. She walks out from the kitchen and he hugs her and seems to be telling her something. I look back towards the front door and Mia walks in with her head down and a blush on her face. I watch as Hannah runs to her and tackles her to the ground in a hug repeatedly saying, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

I stand up and walk over to Mia and Hannah and offer them a hand up. I look to Neville who has a humungous smile on his face and tears in his eyes. What the fuck?

Oh Fuck! Heals the soul…the chalice. I look at Mia and ask, "Did you cure the whole ward or just Frank and Alice Longbottom?"

She bites her lip, and looks down, "Just Neville's parents for today."

I shake my head and put my arm around her. "I saw your eyes light up when Sasha explained the chalice. I knew your oversized brain was plotting something." I squeeze her to me, "You did good, Mia."

She beams at me. "We should buy into the elf winery, St. Mungo's thinks wine cured them."

I laugh at her, "Where do you think they produce the elderberries, grapes, and other ingredients for that wine Mia?"

She frowns, "Avery Vineyard?"

I kiss her temple, "Got in one."

She laughs. I walk over to Neville and shake his hand. "I take it you had a good lunch."

He smiles, "I never thought I would see the day. They are under observation and will need intense counseling for a month or so, but they are back. I can't believe it. You should have seen Hermione. She asked me if I trusted her and I told her I did. Merlin, I trust her with my life! She pulls out the wine and the most beautiful chalice I've ever seen and had me give them the wine. At first nothing happened, but the she grabbed their hands and sang to my parents the most amazing song I've ever heard. Her voice is outstanding. Then they were back. I hugged my mom and she hugged me back. It was the single most extraordinary moment of my life."

I smile, "Congratulations Neville. I always thought of your parents when developing potions or researching. I couldn't be happier for you."

Neville pulls me in for a man hug. "That means so much to me. You've become a good friend, Draco. I was wrong, you do deserve her. Fight for her."

I smile and nod. I remember 10 years ago Neville had a much different attitude towards me.

29 March 2000

The Leaky Cauldron

Diagon Alley, London, England

Draco

It's been about two weeks since I had broken the contract with Astoria and took over as Head of the House. I hired every Private Investigator magical and muggle to look for Mia. So far nothing. I have no idea where she would go. Potter being the fucking useless twat he always was, said he doesn't know. He really doesn't know, I used Legilimens on him. Thank fuck Ophelia taught me something useful.

I watch Theo walk in with a white cloak with his face completely hidden. He takes a seat and slouches down.

I look at him, "Why do you have that obnoxiously white cloak on?"

He says, "You know we can't wear black cloaks. I'll be called a Death Eater and hexed or killed."

I sigh, "Theo half the people in here are wearing black cloaks."

He looks around, "I can't take my chances. I've published some pretty fucked up shit about their sparkly Phoenix hero. I'm not very popular right now. I get Howlers all the time. Although, Headmistress McGonagall has agreed to do an interview next week. Hopefully we can calm things down some."

I have a clear view of the door when I see Longbottom, Potter, and Zabini come through the door. We are sitting at a table in the corner of the room. I haven't been out much, but Theo said I was neglecting his needs as my friend I need to rectify this by having dinner with him once a week, every Wednesday to be exact. He said if I didn't start satisfying his social needs, he would find a new best friend and owl me pictures daily of them together. I agreed to meet on Wednesdays starting this week so he would shut the fuck up.

Zabini and I haven't talked since everything happened with Astoria. He wasn't angry at me, but he has been avoiding Theo and I since July. He saw me and walked over to the table with Potter and Longbottom following. Zabini took the seat next to me and Potter and Longbottom took the seats next to Theo. Theo brightens up and greets everyone like a day hasn't passed. He and Longbottom became pretty close last year.

Longbottom looks at me and simply says, "Malfoy."

I nod, and say, "Longbottom."

He scoffs, "I see you're still a ferrety prick."

Potter snickers, and Zabini sighs and looks at me. "I know you broke the contract with Astoria. Thank you. I'm sorry I haven't been around lately. It was too much."

I look at Blaise, "I would have done it regardless. I just needed to find a way to protect my mother."

Blaise nods, "I know, mate. It's been a rough time for all of us. Tori owled me last week. I told her I needed time. She's on Easter Break the 20th of April, I might meet her then."

I smile, "She'd like that. She owled me last week about the situation. I tried to be encouraging to her, but with Granger missing, I can't really sympathize with her."

Longbottom scoffs, "As if you really gave a damn about Hermione."

What the fuck did he just say to me? I look at Longbottom, "You have something to say, Neville?"

He smirks, "I hope she stays gone after what you did to her. She was reduced to a gold-digging whore by the press because of you. Hermione, the one girl who did everything for everyone and never asked for anything in return. The moment I met her she spent hours helping me look for Trevor, and cried when she couldn't find him. She took on everybody's shite and never once asked a bloody thing in return. She loves people with her entire being and you used her up and threw her away. Fuck you for pretending to care now that she's left everything behind. I hope she stays gone, because she deserves better than a Death Eater Momma's boy."

He's right, she does deserve better. I get up and tell Theo to owl me tomorrow and went home.

17 April 2010

The Leaky Cauldron

Diagon Alley, London, England

Draco

I stayed away from The Leaky on Wednesdays for a couple of years. I met Theo on Thursday nights. Neville and I have had a tentative friendship for a the last seven years, but for him to call me a good friend after all this time, really means a lot.

I smile at him, "Thank you, mate. I'll do my best to deserve her. She's not interested right now, but I'll fight for her. I'll do anything."

He nods, "I know you will, come on. Hannah is going to smother her."

We walk over to where Hannah is hugging Mia and talking about a hundred words a second. Sasha and Theo have joined them and Sasha looks like she's ready to fight Hannah. That makes me smile. Hannah is about the sweetest, non-confrontational person alive.

"I can't tell you how much it means to Neville. He visits them every week and it just tears him up inside. He cried for a week when they were able to feed themselves. He thought it was a true miracle, but this! Fuck Mi, that's beyond our wildest dreams."

Mia smiles, "It was nothing really. It was a last minute decision and I wasn't sure it would work, but I had to try. When I moved to America, I suddenly had all these friends from Ilvermory and read up on the school. I thought maybe I could least try."

At that moment, we here the floo, and a woman yelling, "Where is she?"

We all look to see Augusta Longbottom standing there with another middle aged woman. The middle aged woman looks a lot like an older female version of Neville. Augusta Longbottom looks at Hermione and says, "YOU!"

She storms over to Mia and grabs her into a hug and starts crying in her hair. She says, "I always thought your grandmother was the most meddlesome woman who ever lived, but you Hermione Granger surpassed her beyond my wildest expectations. I could live another 100 years and never be able to thank you enough for what you have done for my family."

Hermione looks at the other woman, "I simply gave them some wine."

Augusta scoffs, "Keep your secrets my dear. I am just so happy Neville found a friend in you."

She smile and says, "I'm the lucky one, he was always a good friend to me."

Mia looks at the other woman, and tears up and says, "Claire?"

The woman nods and pulls Hermione into a hug. Hermione pulls back and asks, "How does my mother's best friend know the Longbottoms?"

Claire says, "Oh sweet girl, isn't it obvious, I was a squib too. Frank was my twin. When mum told me you had something to do with his recovery, I knew I needed to come with her to find you. I know godparents aren't as important to muggles as the magical community, but I am your godmother and I have missed you so much."

Mia looks around at everyone staring at her and she looks to Neville and asks, "Can we take this up to your flat?"

We all go up to Neville's flat and Mia sits with Claire. Claire is holding Mia while she cries. Mia says, "I didn't know if I should contact you after the war. It was such a terrible time. I'm so sorry I didn't reach out to you."

Claire smiles, "Shhh. It's ok little Minnie. Mum and Neville kept me informed of you. Neville didn't know about our connection, but he always wrote me about his friends. You have nothing to apologize for, especially after what you have done for my brother and sister."

Mia nods, "How is little Frankie?"

Claire laughs, "Little Frankie is about 6'2", and in his Seventh Year at Hogwarts."

Mia nods and laughs, "I knew he didn't climb to get that toy truck off the refrigerator."

Claire smiled, "No he didn't, and I knew you knew why."

Augusta smiles, "How did you become acquainted with Hermione's parents, Claire?"

Claire looks at Mia, "When I was in college I had a part time job as a receptionist at a dental practice. Madame Dagworth-Granger walked in one day when Helen and I were talking at the reception desk and Madame Dagworth-Granger greeted me. Helen knew at that moment, I must be a squib, and took me under her wing so to speak. I simply went by Claire Long. We became close friends despite our seventeen year age difference. When little Minnie was born, she asked me to be her godmother."

Augusta smiled, "I remember her. She was a very kind woman, and made your wedding beautiful. Hermione Granger, I owe you so much for helping my Frank. I cannot tell you enough the miracle you are to us."

Mia looks down and blushes, "I wasn't sure it would work." She reaches on her bag and pulls out the chalice. "This is the Pukwudgie chalice. The legend of the chalice begins with the Greek Goddess, Manea. Manea was a goddess associated with the dead, crazed, and mentally ill. There are several different versions of the legend, but the one that really stuck with me the most was, Manea was part of a group called The Furies. They were the daughters of Themis the goddess of wisdom and good counsel. The Furies brought justice to criminals. It was told Manea was jilted by a lover and became enraged. She could cause madness with a simple touch to any man who crossed her. She went on a rampage and caused madness to a great many men who were not guilty of crimes because they reminded her of her lover. The chalice was created to cure the madness of innocent men. When one drank from the chalice, and their soul was wrongly condemned, it would heal your soul and bring you out of madness. It is shaped like a butterfly because the butterfly represents the soul and new beginnings. However, if you were not innocent of the crimes that brought you to madness, your soul would remain in darkness or madness forever. Manea was furious her punishments were being reversed and went on a rampage of touching men causing madness until she became mad herself. The present word mania comes from this goddess. The word means crazed or to act in a frenzy. I took a chance when I used the cup on Frank and Alice, but I wanted Neville to have the one thing he told me he wanted the most; his parents."

Claire looked at Mia, "Mina had you read all those mythology books when you were around eight years old. I remember you hardly spoke of anything else for months."

Mia nodded, "She had me study all the god and goddesses around the world. She gave me three books a week to read. Oh, and Ophelia was Mina."

Claire smiles, "I had my suspicions. I remember asking your mom once where Ophelia had been because I hadn't seen her in months and she said Richard's mother died in 1975. I assumed she wiped their memories due to the war."

Augusta huffs, "I imagine there are a great many legends in those vaults. It's a well known fact, the Dagworths were notorious with memory charms and duplication magic. Notorious thieves is what they were. It was assumed it was muggle treasures, but I bet there are a great deal of wizarding items as well. We will keep your secret Hermione. The Dagworths have never hidden their wealth. I do not envy the work you will have going through your vaults."

Sasha clears her throat and gets everyone's attention, "Mia, if legends are true, that means the gods were wizards, right?"

Theo puts his arm around Sasha, and says, "It's true, they were wizards. All the gods were wizards. I've seen thousands of scrolls that prove this."

Sasha asks, "Where?"

Theo smirks and gestures to Mia, "Gringott's Vault 1109."

Mia laughs, "Of course."

We spend the next hour talking and Mia catches up with her godmother. At 4PM Mia asks if Sasha and Theo were going to dinner with her. She invited me, as well, to Bill Weasley's for dinner. She sends Neville's owl with a note and the four of us depart.

We are standing outside The Leaky Cauldron. Mia looks at Sasha and asks, "Did you tell Theo what we will be doing today?"

Sasha shakes her head. Mia looks at Theo, "We have a bug infestation we need to take care of. We need to go to a remote location to fix this issue."

Theo looks at me, "Bug infestation? What the fuck did you do in Gringott's today?"

Mia scoffs, "Maybe we could meet you in an hour, Theo."

He laughs and shakes his head, "No way, Miss Granger, I know the perfect place to go. I'll take Drake first and come back for the both of you."

Theo grabs my arm and disapparates. When we get to our location it's an empty field surrounded by more empty fields. He looks at me and asks, "Will this get us arrested?"

I smirk, "If we get caught."

He smirks back, "I'll be right back."

Two minutes later he is back with Sasha and Mia. Theo steps away from us and spreads his arms wide and twirls around, and announces, "Welcome to Twatt, Scotland! If we are up to shenanigans this is the best place to do it."

Sasha laughs and runs over to Theo and kisses him. I look over at Mia and she pulled out her wand and started setting up wards around the perimeter. After a few minutes, "Mia walks over to Theo and says remember the story I told you once of a beetle?"

Theo looks surprised, "Fuck! No way! The fucking old hag said Rita Skeeter gave her resignation."

Mia smiles and pulls the jar out, "She did."

Theo looks astonished, "Merlin's saggy bollocks! Are we killing her?"

Mia shakes her head, "No we thought we would wipe her memories and set her free."

Theo visibly relaxes, "Alright. That's fine then. I don't condone murder, but I can hang with fucking with a person's head."

Sasha laughs, "Oh we're going have fun!"

Mia puts the jar down and releases the beetle and turns her back to Human form. Rita Skeeter looks extremely thin, her hair is long and tattered, and her clothes filthy, she turns to Hermione and shouts, "YOU!"

Mia waves her hand and Rita freezes. Sasha steps up and takes her wand out and says " Obiviate".

It takes a few minutes and then Sasha says, "That should do it."

Mia looks at me and asks, "Draco will you cast Legilimens to see if we missed anything?"

I nod, "Sure."

I walk up to Rita and look in her blank eyes, "Legilimens." I search for a few minutes and there is absolutely no memories of being in the dark. No memories of Mia. Sasha did an amazing job. If I didn't know she was obliviated, I wouldn't be able to tell at all. I try to enter her subconscious, and there's no signs of her being tampered with. I pull out.

I shrug, "She did ok, it will work."

Sasha scoffs, "Fuck you, Douchebag, I'm amazing!"

I smirk, and look at Mia she shakes her head. Mia then places Rita under a sleep spell and Obliviates the last few minutes and we disapparate back to The Leaky Cauldron.

Sasha takes Theo's hand and says, "We'll meet you at 6 to go to dinner." She leads Theo upstairs.

I look at Mia and ask, "Do you want to go for a walk?"

She smiles and says, "I'd like that."

"Can we side along? I'd like to go to a park."

I hold out my hand and she nods, "I'm ready."

We disapparate to Hyde Park. It's close to my townhouse, but she doesn't know that. We walk in silence for a moment and she finds a secluded area by a tree and pulls a blanket from her bag. "Can we have a talk?"

I sit down across from her. She's biting her lip, then blurts out, "Why am I listed on your vaults?"

Here we go…I knew this would be coming. "I did it when I became Head of the House. I never wanted the money to be used against me again. I placed my mother on a tight allowance and added you."

She sighs, "I didn't ask when, I asked why."

I smirk, "I believe I answered that when I said I didn't want money to be used against me again."

She looks at me and thinks for a moment, "You had that when you became Head of House. It doesn't explain the thought process of adding me to your vaults. I was out of your life, Draco. I don't understand why you would do something like that. It's a supreme invasion of social norms to leave someone you turned your back on a large amount of money, especially someone so wholly unconnected to you."

She's so fucking stubborn! She's going to interrogate me all fucking night if I don't tell her everything. I take a deep breath, and gently say, "Mia, I was searching for you. I wanted to prove to you I was totally devoted to you, and everything I have, everything I am belongs to you too."

She tears up, and says a bit too loud, "No! You don't get to say that shit to me! You chose to leave me! Fuck, Draco everything we had, you threw away. I saw the pictures of you and Astoria holding each other and smiling like she was the fucking love of your life!"

I laugh, "Mia we were sozzled on two bottles of firewhiskey. I held her close because she would have fallen down. We were laughing because we were so fucking out of our trees we could barely stand up! What you ddidn't see in those fucking pictures is Astoria's father slapping her face when she threatened to end the contract herself. What you didn't see in those fucking pictures is how I threatened my mother to cut her to a nothing allowance should she continue to let this happen, which I fucking did. When I became Head of House, I cut her to a 3000 a month allowance, and when she persisted on being a cunt, I cut her to 1000 a month. That is practically destitute in comparison to what she is used to. However, I couldn't strip my mother of everything she knew. Had I broken that contract it is exactly what I would have done. I gave up too much to protect her to leave her with nothing."

She scoffs, "I understand the choices you had Draco, but leaving me that kind of money negates you choosing a life without me. It's a huge overstepping of boundaries. I don't know why you would invade my life like that when I didn't mean anything to you."

She's pissing me off, "I didn't chose a life without you! I asked for time to figure things out! Mia, YOU mean everything to me. YOU!"

She shakes her head and closes her eyes. "Can we please remove me from your vaults? It's beyond what is proper. I agreed we can be friends, but I'm only capable of trying to be friends with you. My life is in New York. Yours and your precious mother are here."

My precious mother?! REALLY? She crossed that line. I move closer and take her hand, and say, "No."

She glares at me, "That doesn't make any fucking sense! You are being unreasonable. I don't need your fucking money Draco, I never have. I now have a personal net worth of over 60 billion galleons. I don't need or want your fucking money!"

I scoff, "Well that's too fucking bad! Even if I took you off the vaults I still have a will that's leaves you fucking everything! YOU! I love you! YOU! I don't want anyone else! I only want you! YOU! Fuck Mia, I'll give it all up for YOU! Tell me what I need to do to get a fucking chance. I won't live another decade without you. Please!"

She's crying at this point, and I feel like a complete tosser. I love her so fucking much. She looks at me with so much hurt and I know I did that to her. She says, "Draco we were just a fling in school. People usually date many people while they are teens. It was just a short relationship. I've had shoes longer than we actually dated."

I laugh, "You told me yourself what we are to each other. You're my soulmate, my other half. You were then, you are now, and you will be to the day I die. You can't tell me from the moment we stepped back into each other's lives the hole in your heart is still there. I know because the moment I touched you in your office the pain in my heart was gone. Don't minimalized what we were then. Don't you dare! It was the most significant part of my life. All I want is to have you back with me. I love you, Mia. I'll be anything you need or want me to be, but fuck, please let me love you!"

She stands up and says, "I need to be away from you right now." She looks at her watch. "It's just after 5 o'clock, let's meet at The Leaky in an hour if you still want to go to dinner at Bill's with us. I can't think and look at you right now. OK?"

I stand up and nod. She vanishes the blanket and disapparates. FUUUCK!!!

I can't fucking believe her right now. How dare she just fucking run away when I poured my fucking heart out to her! I look around and apparate home. This day isn't even fucking over.

I go upstairs to my en suite and take a shower. I close my eyes and all I fucking see is her! She's so fucking infuriating!

17 April 2010 – 5:58 PM

The Leaky Cauldron

Diagon Alley, London, England

Draco

I spent the last hour reflecting on my conversation with Mia and I'm not proud of my outburst! Fuck! She makes me lose my ever loving fucking mind. Why won't she accept we are inevitable? She wants a friend? Well, fuck her, I'll be the best fucking friend she's ever fucking had. She really pisses me off. I take a minute to calm down, and walk in The Leaky.

I look around and see Sasha and Theo. Sasha is glaring at me. Fuck! Theo is smirking at me. Wanker. I walk up to them and greet them.

Sasha scoffs, "Hiya Chump. I heard you blew your load too soon. What kind of fucking idiot are you? I thought British men were supposed to be supreme douchebags to chics and play it cool for months before blurting out all their fucking feelings. What you did, douchebag, was not fucking cool!"

Theo turns next to me and places his arm around my shoulder, and says, "Babe, Drake has never been cool."

Sasha looks behind me, and steps up to me and says, "Stop fucking pushing her, jackass! She has too much else going on, and the last thing she needs to do is worry about your fucking feelings!"

Then she backed up and stepped over to Theo and kisses him.

At that moment, Mia joins us and she steps up to me and smiles and takes my hand, "We need to apparate there. Sasha can't handle the Floo network."

Sasha shrugs, "That's why you and Colton invented the teleportkey system."

Mia sighs, "One of the reasons, plus it make us a shitload of money."

Sasha laughs, "See you soon."

Mia disapparates us to our location. I look around and, realize we are at Ophelia's beach cottage. She use to take me here as a child. "Mia why are we at Phea's beach cottage?"

She looks at me and says, "This house was a wedding gift to Bill and Fleur." Then she left to get Sasha and Theo.

That's astonishing to me. Phea loved this beach house. Hector built it for her. She told me the story of their first trip to Dagworth Castle. They walked the property and ended up on the beach. She told Hector she thought a cottage here would be perfect. He spent the next year building it, and gifted it to her for their first anniversary. For her to give this cottage to Bill Weasley, she must have really cared about him.

We walk to the cottage and Bill opens the door and stands in the doorway. He quietly says, "Hermione I apologize, we have a situation."

Then we hear her. "Bill why are you standing outside, all the family is inside. Come in, now."

Molly Weasley shoves her way through the door past Bill and looks at Mia and says, "YOU!"