Chapter 6
Two days and they were still nowhere. It did not matter what they did or who they brought in; Greyback would not fold.
Narcissa confirmed that the basement she had been trapped in held other girls. It was too dark to see, but she heard them and spoke to a couple; there were three of them.
Hermione and Draco had sat on the other side of the interrogation room, watching each and every failure.
"They won't survive the week, Harry; who knows what condition he left them in."
"Hermione, I know!" Harry snapped, "We tried everything. I don't know what else to do. We aren't going to stop questioning him; maybe he'll slip up."
"You haven't tried everything; let me give it a try."
"No."
"I don't think that's a good idea."
Hermione ignored Draco in favour of Harry. "We have a chance to actually save these girls, Harry."
Harry nodded slightly. "There are rules-"
"Shut it, Potter!" Draco grabbed Hermione roughly and pulled her away from the dark-haired wizard. "I've had just about enough of this."
"Dr-"
"Close your mouth. I get to talk now." Hermione was stunned to silence. "I did not say shit two days ago when, after you threw yourself outside our wards to trade your life for my mothers, you wanted to come here and watch the interrogation. Something I am still raging about and fighting myself to keep from yelling at you about your stupid Gryffindor tendency to get yourself killed every other day. When even after he almost had you in his grasp, you wanted to come sit meters away from him. So I kept quiet, and I listened to every vile taught he threw at you because he knows you can't help yourself; of course, you'd be here."
"I listened as he crafted detailed tales of how you can make this up to him once he gets out of here and what he'll do to you in exchange. I held your hair back the eight times you threw up while listening, and I comforted you when you cried as he explained to you how he killed each and every girl all because they looked like you."
"And I'm telling you right now; I will not stand here and allow you and Potter to entertain the idea of you going in there."
"Three girls, Draco. I figured out how to rationalize and forgive myself for the lives that have already been taken, but these girls. I can't live with myself if I don't try anything and everything I possibly can to get them back."
He sneered at her. "It's that 'anything and everything' that makes me feel very validated in not letting you go in there."
"Why can't you just support me and trust me for once?"
"Because you are exhausted, and I am terrified of what you are thinking of doing in there to make him give up the locations that all the others haven't tried."
"You don't have to watch," Hermione told him. "But I'm getting that location."
Draco turned to barge out of the room; he needed to get the hell out of there before he said something he could not take back. He walked the long hall and made it to the elevators; he would go to the roof and get some air. He had no plans of leaving, but he did need a little distance.
Why was she so studdbron and so goddamn infuriating? Rationally Draco knew Hermione going into that room would not put her in a dangerous position. Greyback was chained down, and his side of the table was warded with ancient spells.
Hermione was the safest she had been since this whole thing started, but Draco was still feeling the dread. He loved Hermione; he meant everything he said to her that day in the kitchen. He loved her, and he could not imagine and would not want to live a life where she was not his. It did not mean some days with her were not hard, though, where he wanted to imperio her to make her agreeable.
Which is why he had to step out; he was a breath away from threatening to take away her choice with an unforgivable. He would not do that; he would not be that guy; if he were, to be honest with himself, he never had been. Not once had he made used an unforgivable when he wasn't forced.
.
After Draco stormed out, Harry took the time to explain the rules of the interrogation room to Hermione.
"Got it." She told him.
If she were honest, being down here in these rooms again made her sick. She had spent so much time in these rooms after the war, dragging information out of people. Watched them grin as she listened to them tell her own they killed muggle-borns and her classmates. She had been face to face with the evilest wizards.
"Oh, we need to leave our wands in here."
"I need to go in alone, Harry."
"I can't let you do that. It's against the rules, and I think I've pissed Malfoy off enough."
"Since when do you care about pissing Draco off?" She rolled her eyes. "He's going to tell me where to find those girls, Harry."
"If you were to convince him of such a thing, me being in the room won't matter."
Stealing herself, Hermione raised her wand, and with a quick movement, Harry's feet were glued to the floor. His jaw dropped, and he stared at her in disbelief.
"I'm getting those girls back, whatever it takes."
"Hermione!" She laid her wand on the table and walked out. "Hermione!"
Greyback, who had been slouched in his chair since he was chained there, perked up when she entered the room. His back was straight, and his legs fell open wide. Hermione did her best to keep her face blank; she was not going to give this ass hole a smidge of emotion.
He licked his lips, eyes trailing her as she moved to the middle of the room. Hermione ignored the spit collecting in her mouth.
Hermione turned to face him. "I need you to tell me where the missing girls are. If you do, I will give you something in return."
Greyback licked his lips and pressed his hips upward, "What, girls?"
"Narcissa Malfoy said there were girls in the basement she had been kept in. I just need a location."
"What will you give me if I tell you?"
Hermione blanched; this is the furthest anyone has gotten since they got here. "What do you want?"
He laughed at her, his voice rumbling in his chest. "I want your word first on payment for information."
"If you give me the correct location and we find those girls alive, I'll give you whatever you want."
His smile was vile and disgusting and held so many untoward promises. Hermione shivered at the look; she would say whatever she had to.
"Make an unbreakable vow."
Hermione faltered; no, she could not do that. She knew what he wanted; as much as she wanted those girls back, she would not do this. This was asking too much, and she could not sign her life away to be tortured and then killed. That is what he wanted of her, he may keep her alive longer than the others, but she knew how this ended. Before the wizarding war, the couple of days she had gone home, she lost her virginity.
She knew the war would be rough, and she knew what death eaters would do with a 'filthy' creature like her. So she seduced a local boy, one she had kept in touch and been friends with for all these years, and asked him to bed her. If she were going to have sex for the first time, it would be on her terms, and she would give it away, not have it forcefully taken.
"We would need other wizards to make that happen, and none of them would agree to it, no matter the lives that could be lost." Hermione crossed her arms, studying him. "Tell me where they are."
Hermione reached into the seam of her pants. While I wand was a wizard fighting instrument, she was brought up by muggles, and she had kept this dagger on her person since the war started. She looked at the blade thoughtfully. Putting the blade down on the table that separated them, Hermione pulled off her jumped, leaving her in a silk camisole; she watched Greyback strain against his binds.
Dropping the sweater to the table, she smirked when his nostrils flared, the movement having wafted her smell around the room. Reclaiming the dagger, Hermione twisted her left arm outward, her 'mudblood' scar on display now. She ran the dagger up and down her arm, careful not to draw blood.
"Where are they." She muttered to him like a mother reading a child to sleep, her voice soft and patient.
Greyback's eyes tracked her movements, his pupil's blown wide neck muscles straining as he tried to get his body closer to hers. Hermione pressed her hips into her side of the table; being as close to him as she could, she held her palm out. The tip of the blade sliced into her skin and spilled red; she let the blood drop down her fingers and watched as it splatted onto the table.
Greyback was full-on squirming now, snarling and growling at her. "Where are they?"
Hermione felt the magic give as she reached her hand into the prisoner's space, her blood dripping onto his cheek. Hermione watched as the creature tried to catch the dropped in his mouth; she took great care in denying him.
"Tell me-"
An address slipped from his lips, and Hermione felt her heart flutter with hope. The door to the interrogation burst open, and a furious Draco Malfoy stormed in; Hermione startled, turning to look at him.
Her injured hand lowered, and she felt the heat of Greyback's lips and tongue on her palm. Her ears heard the obscene noise he made at her taste; she jerked away in disgust.
Draco grabbed her and pulled her from the room, "I need to get Harry and release-"
"I already freed Potter; he's gone to spearhead the rescue." He said very matter of fact. "What were you thinking?"
He used a quick spell to steal the slice across her palm and another to clear away all the blood.
"I've done a lot less for a much bigger enemy. The girls will be taken to the hospital; I want to meet them there, be there for them."
Draco cringed, "Do you think that's the best idea? Seeing you might not be what they need right now."
Hermione swallowed the lump in her throat; he was right. Seeing her might do a lot more damage to them; surely, Greyback tortured them enough they would hate her for life. Nodding, Hermione shivered against the cold; she had left her sweater behind in the interrogation room. For a moment, she thought about going in there to get it, but she knew the blood would have socked into it by now; there was no saving it.
"We should probably go home then."
.
Once they were both clean and showered, they met up again in their living room.
"What do you plan to do now that Greyback's caught?" He asked her. "Are you going to ask Kingsley for a new job?"
Hermione licked her lips, "I don't want to be an aura Draco. I just wanted those girls to stop dying. Now that he's caught, things can go back to normal."
Draco exhaled, nodding, "No more heroics, no more running off half-cocked without a wand."
Hermione moved to kneel between his legs, taking his large hands in hers. "I'm sorry for what I put you through these last weeks. I know I haven't been easy to deal with, and my actions weren't fair to our relationship."
Gripping her hands, Draco smirked, "How can I fault you for being a compassionate, loving and brave witch. You care for strangers like you do your closest friends; it's incredibly foolish."
A laugh burst from her lips, "I love you."
Draco hummed, "Come 'ere."
He leaned down while pulling her body closer to his. Hermione sucked in a breath before their lips pressed together.
They were pulled apart by a sharp crack, Harry and Blaise landing in their living room. Hermione waited silently with bated breath; she just needed to hear some good news.
"All three girls are ok," Harry told her, tears welled in her eyes. "They were untouched. They are being treated in the hospital for dehydration, but other than that, they will make a full recovery. The muggle police will investigate, but in the end, they'll have to label the case unsolved."
Hermione whipped her tears and nodded, They were ok, and they would get to go home to their families.
"OK."
Both auras look at each other. "Zanbini and I just wanted to come by and give you the news. Looks like the slumber party is over."
Hermione smiled. "I'm sure somewhere down the line, something will happen to get us back together again."
"Sunday dinner, Ginny insists. I think she's feeling guilty for silently cursing your name for keeping me from home for so long."
"I'll be there."
In less than a minute, the couple was alone again.
"The silence feels weird."
"What do you mean?"
Hermione shook her head. "After the war, it was so loud. We were thrown onto stages and in front of interviewers when all we wanted to do was hide away and sleep for a month. After all the messiness and adrenaline of the last months, it's now quiet, and I can hear my own thoughts. It's weird but nice to know that all I have to do now is crawl into bed with you."
Draco pulled her in for another kiss. "How about some dinner first?"
Hermione's stomach growled loudly. "Sounds lovely. Can we order from that muggle place uptown? A walk by the river might be nice."
"Go get dressed."
Hermione smiled, scurrying away. "We're getting extra cake!"
Draco laughed; his heart felt so full of love for her that he thought his ribs might just crack open.
The river supplied them with a lovely breeze as they walked to an apparition point, their food in hand. Hermione held onto Draco's arm, letting him lead while her mind wondered.
"Lilly!"
"I can't wait to see how my werewolf proposal is coming along. The guys kept up the work for me while I was gone; I hope they filed it all away properly."
Draco smirked; of course, she was worried about work. "I am sure they did, darling. A disappointing glare from you is not something a bloke aims to receive."
"Lilly!"
"Oh ha ha. I do not give my collegues-"
"Lilly!" A young man in his 30s stepped in front of them, sweat dripping down his temple.
Draco pulled Hermione closer to him, "Can we help you?"
"Lilly." The man smiled happily, his eyes roaming Hermione's face. "I've found you."
"I'm sorry, sir. I believe you've got the wrong person; I'm not Lilly."
He gasped for breath and stumbled back to lean against one of the riverside benches. Hermione stepped up to him, reaching her hands out, looking for a way to help him.
"Lillianna Peters, born September 19, 1979."
Hermione looked over her shoulder at Draco, "Well, yes, that is my birthdate, but my name is not Lillianna Peters. You must have me mistaken for someone else, is there someone we could call for you?"
The man seemed of sound mind; he did not look overly confused. Indeed he looked like he knew exactly what he was talking about and like she was the one to have gone loonie. He was dressed in a well-tailored suit so he had not somehow stumbled away from the nearby hospital. The night was cool on the skin; the weather was not the reason for his persperation.
Maybe he was running a slight fever and was seeing things a little unclear at the moment. Hermione wished the walkway was less busy so she could pull out her wand and run a couple of tests on him.
The man took his eyes off her for the first time in minutes and zeroed in no Draco. He took in the closeness of the two like they were lovers.
"What is your name?" Hermione tried.
"Levi Sterling. You don't remember me?"
"I'm sorry." She shook her head. "Did we go to elementary together as children?"
The name was not familiar to her, but it did not mean she did not somehow know the man. He must feel like he knows her intimately if he was willing to chase her down.
"Where the hell am I?"
Draco placed their take-out bags on top of the bench. "London."
"What year?"
Draco pulled Hermione back from the guy, wanting distance between them.
"It's 1984."
Levi looked wide-eyed at Draco and then over to Hermione. "That's not possible."
Hermione had thought this man was a muggle, but if he had travelled through time, maybe he was a wizard.
"Why isn't that possible?"
"Did Harry Potter succeed in killing the dark lord?"
Draco shuttered at the title, and Hermione grew more curious. "Yes, he did, four years ago."
"Crap, that must be why I'm feeling so weak." He noticed the frown on both their brows. "When you land in a lifeline that is not your own, one that a shadow of yourself does not exist in, you have no life to draw from. If my father is dead, then that means I was never born."
"You're Voldemort's son?" Hermione was in shock; she had never seen Voldemort as a man, only a monster.
"Sterling is my middle name, Lilly Peters is my mother. You said you wanted to name me after your family, even if I would never get to meet them."
Hermione felt her eyes mist over, "Sterling is a family name. This doesn't make sense. I don't understand."
"In my time, Hermione Granger was killed during a duel in the department of misistys and emerged Lillianna Peters. You knew that your side was weak too many of you had died, so you wanted to ensure your friends would have a life, so you went undercover solo and infiltrated father's ranks." Hermione was sick at the thought that pale, dry hands had been near her body. "When only one Horcrux remained, he wanted to make sure he could live on, so he infused his lifeforce inside you so that if he died, you would become pregnant with me."
"The war was only won because you were feeding information to Harry and the Order. When father was killed, I was created, but you died in childbirth. I only ever saw you in pictures." Levi looked moved to tears. "God, you are so beautiful."
Hermione looked him over; he did resemble her in his big brown eyes and in the way his curls seem to spring from his head. Though it seemed her son may have found a spell to temper them.
"You can't expect us to believe this fairy tale."
Hermione looked to Draco, seeing the mistrust on his face and the way his hand hovered over his wand.
"You know nothing; my life certainly was not a fairytale. I grew up with the notion that my father was the most hated wizard and that my mother died while giving me life."
"Answer me this." Draco took a menacing step toward him. "You called her Lilly; if Hermione is dead in your lifeline, how could you know her true name?"
"You told me all about her, carried quite the flame for her. Went a bit mad when she died and vowed to raise me. I called her Lilly at first because I did not want to blow her cover if your line was anything like mine. You were my father's most trusted follower, he made you my mothers guard, and you two got close. You told me you found out her true identity early on and swore an oath to keep her secret. When I saw you two walking together, I wanted to play it safe."
Hermione took a seat beside Levi. "In this life, I never faked my death, and I never had you."
Levi nodded, "That would make sense; my war ended in 1986. I think everyone was pretty desperate and was willing to do just about anything to end it; it looks like you guys got lucky. "
"What are you doing here?"
"Draco." Hermione chided.
"I wanted to see you just once; the way he talks about you, it's like you hung the sun. I also need your help."
"There it is." Draco sneered. "There is always something."
"Hush. What do you need?"
"I'm sick, and I wanted to know if would you let me get to know you before that happens."
Hermione's eyes burned; what did he just say. "You're dying?"
"Tom's soul was destroyed, so I was born with magic but without a magical core when I was created. The magic is burning me up from the inside out, and I just needed to see you before I go."
Draco's fists were clenched as he saw the wave of emotions wash over his girlfriend. How she was so willing to believe this dude without any real proof or recourse. Not to mention the god damn heartbreak if he did turn out to be telling the truth, and she got close to him just to watch him die.
"Yes, we can get to know each other, but don't you have people back home who will miss you?"
Levi held her hand. "Oh, we're not staying here."
Hermione gasped as she felt his magic shoot through her and the telltale pull deep in her gut. She heard Draco yell for her, but it was already too late. They were gone.
When they landed, Hermione tried to fight the wizard off, but he held to her tight. They were standing on a stone platform, and there were symbols drawn all around it.
"Almost there." His breath hit her cheek, and once again, magic flooded her system.
When they landed this time, Hermione felt terror shoot threw her; she did not need to be told that she was standing in Malfoy's manor.
As she gained her facilities, she looked up into the eyes of Draco Malfoy. Though he looked older and a lot more tortured than the man she has just been torn away from.
"Hermione." He whispered, looking like he was presented with a ghost from his past.
Which she technically was; in this world, she had died.
Hermione shoved Levi away from her, "Who the hell are you."
He held his hands up at her in a non threatening way. "I am your son, and I am dying; I would not lie about that."
"No." Hermione scoffed. "Kidnapping, however, is not above your moral high ground."
A hand slid around her waist, another caressing her cheek, pulling her around to face Draco. She flinched at the pain in his eyes and saw the tears brewing on his bottom lids.
"Gods, I missed you." He nuzzled his nose against hers before burying his face into her neck.
Hermione shivered, feeling his hot breath on her skin. What in the hell was happening?
