The Founders Awaken

Chapter 8: Found Daughter

TW: mentions of a murder/suicide.

Harry pulled Draco into his arms and held him against his and Severus' chests, running his hand up and down Draco's back as Severus ran long fingers through blonde hair.

"Helena's a ghost, Harry. A young one, too," Draco said, his voice shaking.

"I know," Harry breathed painfully, "But… Draco, you can speak to her. You can speak to your daughter again. Even if she is a ghost, a young one, you can talk to her. You can find out what happened after, you can spend time with her, you can love her. She's here, at our home. And yes, you may not be able to hold her in your arms and keep her safe. But sometimes words are just as powerful, if not more so, than actions. And she's safe now. No one can hurt her now. She can just be, and you can speak to her,"

Harry's heart clenched in pain as part of him longed for any of his children to be here in some way so that he had… something. Yes, them being a ghost would hurt, but at least they would be there, right? His children are dead and there is nothing he can do about it

"How am I supposed to talk to her? What am I supposed to say? Will she even know I'm me?" Draco said, and Harry's heart clenched.

"If the House Elves know who we are then I am sure the ghosts and portraits do also," Harry muttered, "And how can she not know who you are, you are her mother,"

"I… can we all talk to her together? All four of us. Maybe she can tell us if anyone else is able to talk to us. Via portrait or something?" Draco said hopefully.

Harry smiled at Draco sadly, though a little hope seeped into him also, "Of course. Hopefully she will be able to say yes to that. I want to speak to them," he needed to speak to them, but he thought that might be fairly obvious at that point.

"Uncle Sev, do you want to talk to her, too?" Draco said, looking at Severus with wide eyes.

"I… If you would like me there then I will be there, Draco. But, if you want your first meeting with her to be more of a family moment then I shall pass on this occasion," Severus said softly.

"You are family," Draco said earnestly, "You can come, if you want to come,"

"If you are sure, then I would love to be there," Severus said, concern in his eyes as he looked between Harry and Draco.

The two teens nodded gratefully and Draco moved so that he was sitting on the sofa with them, and yet they were all still hugging, at least two of them needing the comfort at that moment.

"How do I even approach her? I mean, she isn't seen all that often, is she?" Draco said after a few moments of comfortable silence.

"We could ask a house elf of portrait to ask her to come to us? In our home?" Harry said softly.

"Yeah," Draco breathed nervously, "Okay," he nodded.

"It will be alright, Draco," Severus said.

Draco hummed in response.

After half an hour of silently soaking up each other's comfort, with Harry trying not to show how much pain he was in; though he was sure they could feel him tense up whenever a pain ran through him as they comforted him more during those moments; they decided to floo back to their apartments, with Severus following them.

Harry stepped out of the floo to find Draco staring at the ghost of his youngest daughter with pain, love and longing in his pale eyes. Helena was looking back at him with sadness in her own face. Harry's heart clenched as a tear ran down Draco's face.

Neville and Luna were sitting on one of the sofas, clearly both upset as they had been speaking to her. But they both jumped up and ran over to their partners with concern in their eyes as they noticed them. And Severus stepped out of the floo, his expression changing to concern as he noticed the ghost and how everyone was doing, though he said nothing, wanting to leave the family to handle this on their own and just be there should they need him. Or, well, anything really.

"I'm sorry, mum," Helena said softly, looking imploringly at Draco.

"What for, baby?" Draco said, his voice cracking.

"I promised, before you all did the ritual, that I would be okay. That I would grow up and have the life you wanted for me. For all of us. And I failed. I was stupid. I… I died, before I was able to do any of the things I would talk to you about. I failed you," she said.

"No, baby, you could never fail me," Draco said, stepping closer to the ghost until he was right in front of her, "How… How did you die?"

"Do you really want to know that, mum?" Helena asked quietly as she floated down so that they were at eye level with each other.

"I just want to know if it was painful. Were you in pain?" Draco said, just as quietly.

"I was stabbed, a few times," she whispered, and Harry's heart clenched again as Draco let out a soft sob.

"Who?" Draco cried, anger and pain in his voice.

"I believe you know him now as The Bloody Baron. He killed himself after he killed me. Then we both ended up here as ghosts," she said.

And Draco's magic flared around him, shaking anything nearby as he tried, and failed, to restrain himself.

"Baron? That boy who was always following you around? Why?" Draco said, practically snarling.

"I wanted to better protect dad's diadem. So I took it to Albania, to hide it in our fortress there. But he followed me, because he wanted to try and get me to marry him. I didn't want to marry him. He found me. I hid the diadem as quickly as I could first. But we argued about the whole marriage thing. Then he stabbed me a few times, and then, whilst I was dying, because he realised he couldn't save me, he killed himself," she said, "I'm sorry. If I had just said yes then he wouldn't have killed me. I would have found a way to be happy with him. But I just… I couldn't. I'm so sorry,"

"No, it's not your fault. We taught you to marry for love. And you didn't love him. We wouldn't have wanted you to put yourself through that. Of course we would have wanted you to live, but you didn't know he was going to kill you. It is his fault. Not yours, love," Draco said gently, even though his magic was still whirling and there was a hint of anger in his eyes.

She nodded, looking down in sorrow and Harry thought that perhaps she wanted to cry.

"Is anyone else here? Are we able to talk to anyone else?" Draco asked softly.

Helena nodded, and Harry's heart filled with hope at the smile on her face, "Shortly after I arrived at Hogwarts as a ghost everyone decided to have a portrait made so that one day, when you all came back, we could talk to each other again. They are in the library room in the Chamber of Secrets," she said happily.

"Everyone?" Harry couldn't stop himself from asking.

"Everyone," she nodded, smiling at Harry, "My brothers, sisters, and your children, Uncle Sal,"

He breathed shakily, his heart pounding at the thought of being able to speak with his children again. Tears filled his eyes and he felt a gentle hand on his back, rubbing the small of it gently.

"Harry, you okay?" Neville said, worried.

"We can talk to them," Harry whispered, looking at Neville with hope blooming in him, and happiness, although there was a lot of sadness also for the ones that wouldn't be there.

"Yeah," Neville breathed, smiling slightly, "How's your stomach?"

"Sore, but…" he shrugged, not really knowing how to answer.

"I'll go and tell everyone to be expecting a visit from you all soon," Helena said.

"Okay," Draco said wistfully, "Do come by and talk with us whenever you want to,"

"I will," she said, "I love you,"

"I love you, too, baby," Draco said, his voice cracking again.

"I love you, Helena," Luna said.

"Love you, too, dad," Helena said with a smile, "I shall see you soon,"

Then she was drifting away, and Draco's magic practically burst out of him, angry, and hurt, and there was a lot of love and sadness in there also.

"Do you think exorcisms are painful? If not, is there a way to make it painful?" Draco said fiercely.

"Draco, surely you can't just exorcise the Slytherin House ghost," Severus said carefully.

"We can have another ghost. One that didn't kill my baby. I know how to perform exorcisms, it's fine," Draco shrugged, "Luna, love, come with me, please. I don't want to accidentally blow up part of the castle whilst I pummel him into the deepest pits of the afterlife,"

Luna nodded, looking almost as fierce as Draco was, although she had a better hold of her magic.

The two stormed out of the room with the three remaining people watching them go in shock, and understanding.

"I mean, I would love to go with them, but I don't think I can handle that right now," Harry said tiredly.

"What do you need?" Neville asked gently, leading Harry over to the sofa.

"Erm, sleep, for everyone that wants to fuck things up for us to disappear, for this curse to be over, for us to be finished with school, and a bunch of other things. But I'm sure I will survive without for now," Harry said, sighing as he settled into the sofa.

"Do any of you need anything tonight? Or would you like me to return to my quarters?" Severus said softly.

"Erm, I think we're okay. Thank you, for today, and everything really. I, er, I…"

"It's okay, Harry," Severus' lips twitched up at the sides slightly, "I am here for you, no matter when or where,"

"I know. Thank you," Harry said sincerely.

Severus nodded and floo'd back to his place.

"How long do you think the other two are going to be?" Neville asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Well, based on every other time that Helga has gotten like this, I would say… a good few hours, at least," Harry said with a smirk.

Neville hummed with a nod, and then he placed a gentle kiss on Harry's lips, "Have you eaten?" Neville asked.

"Not much. You?" Harry said.

"No. I can call a house elf for some food if you are feeling up to it?"

"Okay, not much though. I don't think my stomach could handle anything too heavy," Harry said.

"I know," Neville said, smiling sadly at him before he called for some food.

"I know you know," Harry said, kissing Neville's cheek and leaning into him as they waited, "I love you,"

"I love you, too," Neville said.

…

The ghost of The Bloody Baron slammed through the floor of the dungeons, screaming, and Draco grinned as the ghost left. Before turning around and grabbing Luna into a searing kiss.

"I love you," he said, resting his forehead against hers as they tried to catch their breaths.

"I love you, too,"

Hiya, how are you all today?

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I would like to make a little disclaimer that in my fics, whoever bears a child is the mother and whoever sires a child is the father, no matter what gender they are. Hence why Luna is being called 'dad'. There are ways that women can sire children in my stories but I will go into those more at another point.

What's going to happen next, or at any other point in this story, I wonder?

Also, I have Tumblr now. My username is marauderingpaige if you want to go and give me a follow over there. I also have one more focussed on personal life and writing, username is paigemakepeacewrites. And I have a Discord server, too, a new one! If you would like the link then feel free to drop me an email (my address can be found on my profile) or message me on social media, or join my Facebook group, and I will happily share it with you.

I have also now started writing a fanfiction for House M.D. It is an omega verse pic with House as the omega and Wilson as the alpha. If you love the show as much as I do then feel free to go and check it out. It is called Lights Will Guide You Home.

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