Unofficial Portkey Archive

Chapter 10 - The Menace

On the next day, the Daily Prophet sold out extremely fast, and they had to print more newspapers. All the wizarding community was talking about the Malfoy's sad story, and what a terrible person Fudge was.

The couple's main target was accomplished. They had the public on their side, against Fudge.

On that same afternoon, Draco, Ginny and Cassie were having fun in their house's garden, when Julie, Mark and Alex arrived.

"That article was like a bomb! Everybody is talking about it…" Julie smiled, watching Cassie and Alex play with her new broom.

"That's great! The public opinion will be a great help!" Ginny sighed. "Cassie, don't let Alex mount the broom… He's too young for that!"

"Yes, Mommy!" Cassie replied, obeying the order.

"Alex is a beautiful baby!" Draco smiled, watching the little boy.

"Yes, he is…" Mark agreed, proudly. "And we have good news…"

"I'm 3 months pregnant!" Julie smiled happily.

"Really? That's great, Julie! You've always wanted a big family!" Ginny laughed, hugging her friend.

"I've loved to be pregnant of Alex, and now I'm sure I'll have a baby girl!" Julie laughed as well, caressing her belly.

Draco watched Ginny's face become sad, as she watched Julie caress her belly, and pulled her to his lap.

"Hey, I don't want to see you sad! I love the happy Virginia!" he whispered in her ear. "We'll have our own kids really soon!"

Ginny smiled and kissed him, lovingly. Julie and Mark ended up staying for dinner and light talk, leaving before midnight.

It was the middle of the night, when Draco woke up to some soft noises. Looking at the red head on his chest he smiled, and put his wife's head on her pillow, and got up from the bed, pulling on his boxers.

The noise stopped and Draco held his wand, walking to Cassie's bedroom. As soon as he opened the door, he found her bed empty and the sheets were thrown all over the floor. Trying hard not to panic, Draco researched the entire house, and when he walked in the living room, the sight he found made his heart stop.

Cassie was sitting on the floor, against the entrance door, with her arms and legs tied with strong ropes, and her mouth was covered with a black scarf. Her little eyes looked extremely scared, making Draco's heart shrink with worry.

Draco ran the entire house again, searching for the person who had done that, and came back to Cassie when he found no one. As he was freeing Cassie, Ginny walked in the room and went hysterical with what she saw.

Each rope that Draco took away from Cassie made a few words in black paint appear on the living room's white wall.

"This time was just a warning… Give up while you can!"

Ginny ran to Draco and held Cassie in her arms, afraid of what could have happened to her baby and what still could happen.

"Draco, what's going on?" she whispered, as he hugged both his girls, worried to death.

"This message is from Fudge… I'm sure of it! But the carrier of the message is an Auror. Only an Auror would be able to get through the wards!" Draco answered, watching the black paint on the wall slowly disappear on its own will. "For now, we must tell this to Padma and find somewhere to stay hidden…"

"But, according to the law we have to get a Secret Keeper of our location… Whom do you want to choose?" she asked, smiling to the little girl sleeping in her arms.

"Who's better than Dumbledore?" he smiled, standing up and helping her up, as well. "Let's pack the things we need and we'll leave in the morning, alright?"

While Ginny packed their clothes and personal items, with Cassie sleeping on their bed, Draco searched the house for any kind of threat. As soon as they were ready, they've put the miniatures of their bags on their pockets and Apparated to Hogsmead, as the first rays of sun crossed the sky.

Silently they walked to the castle, both very alert to any kind of movement around them. They walked inside the Great Hall as the teachers were eating their breakfast.

"What's going on here?" Snape asked, standing up.

"If you'd keep your voice down, my daughter would be able to sleep properly!" Ginny said, releasing her fury on Snape.

He shut up immediately, and stared at his two former students and Cassandra.

"Ginny, calm down…" Draco whispered in her ear, kissing her cheek softly. "Professor Dumbledore, we need your help… Can we talk?"

"Of course… Why don't you leave Cassandra in the Infirmary with Poppy? She'll come back to you as soon as she wakes up!" Dumbledore said, walking to their side.

"NO! I want her close to us, Draco!" Ginny sighed, caressing her baby's face.

"Ginny, Dumbledore's right… We need to talk and Madame Pomfrey will take good care of Cassie!" Draco insisted. "You both go ahead to the Headmaster's office and I'll be there in a few moments!"

True to his words, ten minutes later Draco walked in Dumbledore's office, and the couple started to explain everything to Dumbledore. The fake death, the menace and the court case against Fudge.

"We want to go into hiding… We must protect ourselves and Cassie!" Draco explained. "Can you be our secret keeper?"

"Yes, I can, Draco!" Dumbledore smiled, looking at the couple. "But you'll both stay here until you can find a safe place to stay… Fudge will know that Hogwarts is the first place you would go to!"

"Thank you, Professor… But, I don't know where else we could hide!" Ginny sighed, a little calmer. "It'll be great to come back to Hogwarts fro a few days!"

"Grimmauld Place will be ready to receive both of you in a couple of days… What do you think about that?" Dumbledore asked with a smile.

"Oh, I never thought about that! Does it still exist?" she asked, excitedly.

"What are you both talking about?" Draco asked, confused.

"Yes, that house still exists… It has been a little abandoned since the war ended, but I'll have someone to clean in up!" Dumbledore said. "Now, where do you want to stay? Gryffindor Tower or Slytherin Dungeons?"

"Gryffindor!"

"Slytherin!"

The couple said at the same time.

"Draco, the Dungeons are too cold and humid to Cassie!" Ginny explained, holding his hand in hers.

"But, the Gryffindor Tower is too … too… " Draco tried to find something bad to say about the Gryffindor tower and the result was, "too Gryffindor!"

"Yeah, nice reason!" Ginny laughed and Dumbledore chuckled.

"Gryffindor Tower it is! I'll send the house elves to take care of everything! While they do that, why don't you show the castle to Cassandra? I believe she knows it well already, but the real visit would be much more fun!" Dumbledore said, as if he knew something they didn't.

"What do you mean, she already knows the school?" Ginny asked, suspicious.

"Well, little Cassandra Malfoy likes to visit me, once in a while, and we take long walks around the school…" the Headmaster smiled.

"Visit?"

"Yes, she comes to me in Dreams… She has always said, during this two years, that she visited you once in a while! Apparently you didn't sleep the enough for her to visit you, Draco!" Dumbledore explained.

"Do you mean that she's a Seer?" Ginny asked, surprised.

"Not a Seer… A Dream Walker!" he corrected. "And a powerful one, at that!"

"Oh bloody hell!" Draco whispered to himself.

"Draco, don't swear! You're in front of the Headmaster!" Ginny joked. "Well, we'll accept her powers and try to help her the best we can…"

"I'm sure you will… Now, go have your walk with Cassandra! Oh, and don't forget to go to the kitchen, I'm sure you're all hungry!" Dumbledore waved, as the couple left the office and sighed. "Fudge won't win this time! Draco and Virginia will get justice in the name of the entire wizarding community…"

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