! The first half of this chapter will be written from Draco's perspective, while the second half will be written from Hermione's perspective. I will add a small notice of this before each part by writing either DRACO or HERMIONE !
DRACO
- Gringotts, 1st of August 1994 -
Sirius had been less than pleased to have to take his godson to Gringotts on the day of his wedding anniversary because a Horcrux had managed to worm its way into Harry's forehead.
The day didn't get any better when the Director of Gringotts told him and his wife that they had already found and destroyed three other Horcruxes.
Amelia grasped her husband's hand tightly. "Three?" she whispered. "If Harry is the fourth, then how many has he made?"
Hermione seemed to be thinking, a frown etched on her tired face. She hadn't gotten a wink of sleep since Harry woke up last night and had followed Sirius to the Black Library, reading up on Horcruxes as much as she could. She'd even summoned Dobby to ask if the Malfoy library held any books on the topic. There were few, even if the Blacks and Malfoys had always strayed more to the dark, than the light.
Draco had found her retching in the bathroom after learning about the dark magic and the ritual required for making a Horcrux. He'd sat next to her on the bathroom floor, rubbing her back as she'd wailed and cried out for her brother in all but blood. How had none of them noticed before that such foul magic was tainting the boy?
"If he has at least four, then he has seven in total." The brunette deducted. "Three and seven are the most powerful magical numbers. Voldemort would never leave anything to chance. You may say what you will, but he too was an academic. Before he turned mad, he must've studied up on all of this."
Everyone looked dumbfounded after Hermione's exclamation. How mad had the Dark Lord become to make seven Horcruxes? To split a soul in two was already mind-bogglingly dangerous. To split it into seven pieces, one had to be insane . Draco supposed that he was, considering everything he'd seen the dark wizard do.
Amelia was close to going back to work earlier than planned, wanting to hunt down whatever was left of Voldemort. Sirius calmed her down and told her to stay with the twins until they were at least one year old. They had no clue what the other three Horcruxes were either way, or where they could be hidden.
When Ragnok explained to them that one of the Horcruxes was found at Grimmauld Place back when the goblins came to remove dark objects from the house, Lord Black had immediately summoned Kreacher. The old house elf had then explained what had happened to Master Regulus, and that Sirius' little brother had replaced the Horcrux once he realised what it truly was.
Sirius broke down over his lost brother who had died while trying to thwart the Dark Lord's plans.
Amelia and Harry hugged him closer as he mourned Regulus, both of them whispering words of encouragement.
What Draco had not expected when they were talking to the Director, was for Harry to refuse to have the Horcrux removed.
"Harry!" Hermione had almost hissed at him. "Have you gone completely mad?"
The raven-haired boy shrugged and adjusted his glasses. "If I understand correctly, Director, a piece of Voldemort's soul is stuck in this scar? Meaning, apart from my own soul, there is a piece of his as well?"
Ragnok nodded, also dumbfounded that the boy did not want the Horcrux to be removed.
"So if, hypothetically, Voldemort would hit me with a killing curse, would he be ripping my soul from my body, or his own?" The boy wondered out loud.
Draco blinked. Could that work? It was completely insane to think about such a thing. But if it would work , Harry would have an added layer of protection against Voldemort. Granted, the soul piece could probably make Harry go mad as well. He remembered Potter being particularly unhinged during their fifth-year last time around. Perhaps, that had been the work of snake face? Had that Horcrux been what had lured them to the Department of Mysteries that fateful night at the end of fifth year in the first time-line?
The director started rummaging through his papers. All the research the goblins and curse breakers had done the past few years was bound together in a thick report. He grumbled angrily and spoke a spell in Gobbledegook, making the papers sort themselves so the document he was looking for would show itself to him.
"Even if Voldemort would be killing his own Horcrux instead of you, Mr. Potter." The goblin began, "the connection between you and the Dark Lord might drive you mad. You say you've seen him kill someone. If he becomes aware of you being able to read his thoughts, he might send you misinformation. He could potentially control your actions."
"So?" Harry said, his arms crossed as he was being stubborn. "If the Horcrux is a free out-of-jail card so I can take an Avada to the face, isn't that a good thing? Besides, perhaps I can even send him misinformation. It must work both ways, right?"
Hermione rolled her eyes at Draco. " What. An. Idiot !" She said to him mentally.
Sirius sighed. "Pup, this is exactly why you shouldn't have been sorted in Slytherin. Your Gryffindor bravery together with the snakes' cunning is already making you say crazy things. If you-"
The director raised his hand, begging Sirius to stay quiet as he kept reading the piece of research in front of him.
Hermione leaned over the desk, trying to read upside down to see what the Director was on about, scowling when she realised it was all written in Gobbledegook.
The old goblin lowered his glasses at the five wizards and witches before him. "I will check with my curse breakers to be one hundred percent sure. But to me, it seems as if Mr. Potter is correct. If the Dark Lord tries to kill him, he will not succeed. Not the first time at least."
"Harry, are you sure?" Draco asked, leaning over to his friend. What he was talking about was madness, even if it would work. Who would want to willingly jump in front of the killing curse? Only Harry freaking Potter had that sort of saviour complex it seemed.
"Perhaps this is the power he knows not." Harry whispered, only loud enough for his friends and family to hear.
"I swear, if you are hellbent on throwing yourself in front of another killing curse, just because of a prophecy, then I will- ugh." Sirius sighed, letting his head fall into his hands in despair.
The director dropped the pen he was holding since he'd been making some notes on a new piece of parchment.
Draco was surprised to see that the goblins had adapted to using pens instead of quills sooner than wizards did.
"A prophecy? About Mr. Potter and the Dark Lord, I assume? Well, why didn't you say so sooner!"
Harry sheepishly nodded at the director, not wanting to reveal its exact contents to the goblin.
Director Ragnok barked out some orders in Gobbledegook, none of the others but Draco were any the wiser about what he was talking about. The goblin then looked at Draco and asked him if Deandra would be willing to assist them in doing some research on the specifics of the Horcrux and leaving it in place. Draco looked at the others present, noticing they were looking confused that the Director had addressed him in the goblin language.
[She would be pleased to help you, Director. She will stay behind once we leave since most of my friends don't know about her existence.] The blond answered back in Gobbledegook.
Hermione shook her head, the other three just gaping at him. "I'm sorry. But did you just speak Gobbledegook ?"
The blond shrugged, making it look like it was not important. "I had a lot of time to read."
Hermione frowned at that, clearly not believing him. "And I didn't?" She challenged him.
" Deandra taught me ." He tried to pacify her, not wanting the others to know about the Spirit residing within Malfoy Manor. " Maybe one day, she can teach you. " He wiggled his eyebrows at her, and he could feel Hermione's excitement. Merlin, it felt good to be back to normal after all those months apart. Basking in her emotions was something he'd sorely missed.
"Merlin, Draco. I swear if I hear you say one more time that "you had a lot of time to read", I'm going to assume there is a whole library stuck in your brain. You can't be serious." Harry stated.
"True. I'm not Sirus. He is." The blond said, pointing at Lord Black who smirked at him. "What can I tell you, Harry? It's Malfoy family magic. If you would spend more time going through Potter Manor and your vaults, perhaps you would learn some hidden skills as well."
This seemed to intrigue Harry, and Draco wondered if this would be the step the boy needed to finally face his demons. It had been nearly a year since Potter Manor had come out of stasis, but the raven-haired Slytherin had barely visited. He claimed there was nothing for him to do as he was living with the Blacks, but both Draco and Hermione knew differently. Harry did not want to be confronted with the life he could've had. With the place he would've grown up in if only his parents hadn't died.
The adults kept talking with Director Ragnok, carefully considering the advantages and disadvantages of keeping the Horcrux in Harry. As head of the D.M.L.E. Amelia agreed that being able to survive a killing curse cast by Voldemort would be invaluable. She was just worried how the connection might influence the boy mentally now that the Dark Lord was clearly gaining more power.
"I just don't understand, Director." Harry suddenly said. "How have his Horcruxes gone unnoticed for so long, if you've already found three? Someone must have found another one, no? Or had some suspicions?"
Ragnok eyed Draco before answering, the blond subtly tilting his head in a nod. "Well, the Headmaster has known for a very long time. Came to check personally after he discovered we had destroyed three of them. As he is the leader of the Light, I assumed he would have shared this information with his closest followers, your godfather being one of them."
Amelia twitched, and Draco smirked inwardly. Seemed like the Headmaster was in for another shouting match now that the Light was realising how all the secrets their leader kept could be leading to their downfall.
HERMIONE
- Grimmauld Place, 2nd of August 1994 –
"You did what ?" Amelia yelled at her husband, right after she came from a meeting with Dumbledore. The witch crossed her arms and scowled at him. "Sirius Black. Could you please explain to me why you went to Knockturn Alley and got the trace removed from the children's wands? I swear. I leave you alone with them for two hours and this is what I come home to?"
Harry stood awkwardly to the side, rubbing the back of his head. "Aunt Amelia, really-"
"I'm sorry, love. But I would like your godfather to explain this to me." She told him sternly, making the raven-haired boy back off.
"Madam Black, I can explain." Tonks began, raising her hands in defence as she saw the Director's scowl directed at her now.
"Enough! Let the dog explain himself!" She scolded them. "And it's Amelia, dear. We're not at the Ministry. We're all family here."
"So? What do you have to say for yourself?" She raised one of her eyebrows at her husband, her hands clenched into fists resting on her hips as she stared her husband down.
Said husband was slowly but surely moving over to Remus. Luckily for him, that was also where the doorway to the kitchen was situated. Lord Black was ready to make his escape.
"You remember how we said that we want the children to be prepared for the war, dear?" Sirius reminded her. "So, me and the children thought that it would be best to start early. But Hermione can't cast any spells at her home to practise during the summer, so-"
"So you thought it was alright to break the law?" Amelia hissed at her husband. "You can't be serious! You're an auror. I'm the director of the D.M.L.E. How bad do you think it will look when the public discovers that our godson and his best friend do not need to abide by the same laws they do?"
"Actually," Hermione piped up, coming to Sirius' rescue. "It was my idea, Amelia. I've been thinking about it a lot for the past few months. I'd already written multiple letters to Tonks during the school year. I asked her for some pointers on more advanced Defence spells as I wanted to learn as much as I could. The Patronus charm that Remus taught us was necessary and useful, but we still lack so many other defensive spells in our repertoire. The school curriculum simply isn't enough. After we figured there was a Horcrux hiding inside of Harry, the two of us decided that we should start preparing for the worst as soon as possible. We should begin with more defensive spells, so we can protect ourselves and our friends. We can't just sit back and wait. We all know about the prophecy. I thought you of all people would agree that we should be prepared for what is inevitably coming."
Hermione was clenching the chair in front of her so hard that her fingers turned white.
Harry walked over to her, and put his hand on one of hers, making her relax. "Mione is right, Aunt Amelia. After we discussed the prophecy with Remus and Tonks, they too believe that it is important for us to learn as many defensive spells as possible. Perhaps even some of the dark arts after a while, just so we know what we're up against. Neither one of us wants to be sitting ducks any longer."
Amelia's scowl softened as she looked at the two teenagers in front of her. "I understand that, Harry. And I don't want either one of you to get hurt. It would be wonderful if the four of us could teach you how to defend yourselves properly. But if we start breaking the law, then-"
"Voldemort doesn't care about the law." Hermione answered fiercely. "As long as we don't get caught, then no one will ever know."
Sirius gave the Slytherin a thumbs up as Amelia sighed in defeat, lowering her head.
"You're right." She said. "I just wish you would have come to me . There are legal ways to lift the trace. It would've taken longer, but it would've worked. Which is why you and I are going to have a little talk." She told Sirius, who rushed out the door, hiding from his wife.
"I want both of you to come up with a list of spells you would like to learn," She stated, all business now. "And I want Tonks and Remus to come up with a plan on how you will learn said spells both during Summer and during the school year. Remember that these extra classes should not be influencing your grades in the regular curriculum. In addition, you will do some stamina and agility training with Tonks and Sirius. Neither one of you will use your wands for anything other than learning how to defend yourselves. Have I made myself clear?"
Both teenagers nodded eagerly at the Director before she lovingly touched their shoulders and walked out of the kitchen, planning on finding her idiot husband.
"That went rather well." Remus joked, shaking his head at the two teenagers. "Of course, you would go to Sirius with this. Only he would be stupid enough to break the law with a wife like his."
Harry grinned. "It was your girlfriend who suggested it. Perhaps some of her mother's Slytherin cunning seeped into her after all."
Remus blinked. "Dora? Have you been behind all of this?"
"Ever since Hermione sent me an owl asking to help her during summer with defence." She answered proudly. "I've even set up the basement already to be the perfect practice area. I had to use my metamorphmagus skills to look like Kreacher, just so Amelia wouldn't get suspicious of me moving around the house so much the past few weeks. You want to join us?"
The four of them went to the basement which had been set up as a small training area. The walls were padded with protective layering against protective spells, and several old training dummies the auror academy had been planning to throw away were lined up against the wall.
Hermione pulled out a piece of parchment from her bag. She blushed as she gave Tonks the paper. "I already made a list of spells I thought would be useful," she said. "Harry also threw in a few he's heard about. I suppose you and Remus could decide which ones would be good to start with, or what could be added to it."
Tonks and Remus studied the list of spells, Harry and Hermione looking at them in anticipation.
"There's some N.E.W.T. level spells on here." Tonks whistled. "Are you sure you two feel up to this? It will take a lot of magic out of the two of you. But, as we've always learned, magic is a muscle. That too can be trained. So don't worry too much about that. Even getting the theory and the wand movements memorised is important. If you're ever in a stressful situation, the adrenaline will give you the power you need."
"Harry has magic for days." Hermione stated the obvious. "And I'll do my best to keep up."
Harry elbowed her in the ribs. "Don't sell yourself short, 'Mione. I've seen you do incredible things. Besides, what you lack in raw magical power, you make up in brain power." He lovingly joked.
"You could always share your magic with her, if you find yourself outnumbered, Harry. Draco taught you how to feel your own and others' magic, right? It should be easy for you two to learn how to share magic for a short amount of time at least, considering you're both still only fourth-years." Tonks mused, already working out a training schedule in her mind.
"Speaking of Mr. Malfoy. May I ask, why is Draco not joining the two of you?" Remus wondered out loud. "I would think that he too would want to join our sessions?"
Harry snorted out loud. "If I have magic for days, and Hermione has the brain power, then Draco has both. He's been casting O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. spells since our first year. Whenever we're in a pickle, and one of us is in danger, he just throws it out there as if it's nothing."
"He holds back his knowledge all the time." Hermione agreed, not wanting to let any of the others know exactly why that was. Now that she thought about it, he could've easily aced all of their exams and become top of the class with his future knowledge. Yet, he never had. It was almost as if he was giving the others a chance to shine… Is this what her other self had meant with him being selfless for once?
"He's either a genius, or he's been secretly using a time-turner to get extra practice in." Harry joked, nearly making Hermione flinch.
"That's impossible, Harry," she answered quickly. "With the knowledge he has, it would mean he's time-travelled for years . That's impossible. And even if it was, he still looks the same, doesn't he? He hasn't become older than us."
"I was just kidding." The Boy Who Lived rolled his eyes. "Of course, he isn't a time traveller. He's just had too much time on his hands, growing up as an only child. Besides, the power running in the Malfoy and Black lines is strong. He's mentioned Malfoy family magic quite a few times. It wouldn't surprise me if that has something to do with it."
"You're right." Remus agreed. "Draco has done some incredible things during the past year. He could even cast a corporeal Patronus before the beginning of the year. But don't you two worry. Once you grow, and your magical cores do too, you will be just as strong as him. He's just got a fortunate upbringing. A head start if you will."
"But why would he ever want to hide his skills?" Tonks asked in disbelief. "He's a Malfoy . Aren't they notorious for wanting to be the best at everything they do?"
"He doesn't want his father to know." Hermione barely whispered. "As long as his father doesn't know what he's capable of, he will always have an advantage over him." She didn't even dare mention Deandra. If any of them knew that the boy could tap into the Wiltshire wards even before he was Lord of the Manor, they would start asking questions. And no matter the lies Draco had told to protect them, or how much she hated that he had, she didn't want him to be found out. He was doing this to create a better future. For all of them.
"I might be Lord Slytherin, but Draco is the Prince of Slytherin." Harry supplied. "His cunning, scheming, and determination knows no bounds. I'm sure he has his reasons for keeping his magical skills hidden. Even from us. But I trust him."
"So do I." Hermione agreed, smiling at her best friend.
"Never thought you Slytherins could be as loyal as us Hufflepuffs." Tonks wiped away a fake tear with her finger. "But enough with all this talking. Let's get into the fun stuff. What is it you would like to learn first?"
Harry and Hermione looked at each other knowingly. "We want to do what you do," Harry said. "The best defence is to blend in. So being able to disillusion ourselves, as well as transfigure our appearance and clothes, would be a good start. We're not a metamorphmagus, but we should at least be able to transform into one other person if we want to be able to hide."
Remus grinned at Tonks. "Seems like these two don't know what they signed up for." He told his girlfriend.
"This will be fun." The auror agreed, her smile devious, cracking her knuckles. She was ready to have the teenagers work themselves to the bone to make them achieve the near impossible.