"Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt."~William Shakespeare~
Kingsley Shacklebolt, John Williamson and Alastor Moody apparated in front of Malfoy Manor, immediately drawing their wands. When they were sure there was no threat outside, they walked up to the door of the manor. Moody's magical eye swiveled in every direction and he nodded to the other two, indicating that it was safe to go in. Kingsley turned the doorknob and slowly pushed the door open, careful not to make any noise. Looking from left to right and seeing no danger present he walked the rest of the way into the foyer. Moody and Williamson followed closely behind keeping a close eye out for anything that moved.
Kingsley turned to the two other aurors and said "I think everyone is gone. From what Harry told Dumbledore all the Death Eaters got scared and disappeared. Why don't we check the place out and see what we can find?" When Williamson and Moody both nodded their approval, he said "Moody and I will search upstairs to see what evidence we can find. Maybe we'll get lucky and find some more names of wizards and witches who are in league with you-know-who. Williamson, why don't you go down into the basement and take custody of Mr. Malfoy. Make sure to make a note of everything down there so it can go in the report."
"Can do, boss" said Williamson, smiling and saluting before he turned to make his way down to the dungeons. He heard Kingsley and Moody trudging up the stairs as he found the door that led down to the dank underground and made his way down. At the bottom of the set of stairs there was another door that was closed. Reaching his hand out to open it, he stopped short when he thought he heard voices on the other side. Drawing his wand once more, he held it in his right hand while he turned the knob slowly with his left. He eased open the door and when he looked up, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. There stood Lucius Malfoy with his wand pointed directly at him.
"Well hello, I thought I heard someone in my manor. And who do you have with you poking around my home, hmm?" asked Lucius sadistically. Williamson just stared at him, noticing the cold red glow of his eyes.
'Wait, those are the eyes of...' thought Williamson, but before he could finish the thought Lucius said "never mind, I'll find ou tfor myself. Much more fun that way anyway." Smiling evilly and moving quickly, Malfoy waved his wand and yelled "Avada Kedavra!"
Finishing his final training session with Dumbledore for the term, Harry made his way back to the common room. It had
been a rough couple of hours and his body ached from all the physical strain it had been put through. As he walked
through the corridors of Hogwarts, he kept going over the new information Dumbledore had told him just before he left.
Kingsley, Shacklebolt and Williamson had all gone to Malfoy Manor to arrest Lucius Malfoy and take him to the Ministry
after Dumbledore had reported what happened the day Conlan was born. When they didn't arrive back to the Ministry
six hours later Remus had been sent to check on them. He had found the three aurors dead, mutilated bodies lying at
different places throughout the Manor. When he had found Williamson dead in the dungeons, there was no sign of Lucius
Malfoy anywhere. Harry had no idea how he could have gotten away, he was bound when he left and he had put a silencing
spell on him. On top of that, no one could find Voldemort's wand, the one Harry had forgotten to take with him. He
had no idea what to make of it and was almost afraid of what it could mean.
Finally making it back to the Gryffindor common room he made his way through the portrait hole where the first thing he
saw was Ginny and Lavender playing with Conlan. He smiled as he watched the two fussing over his son. He couldn't
believe it had been a week already since he'd been born. It'd been a hard week too. Hermione seemed to be
slowly drawing into herself more and more each day. He was getting worried about her, but when he had gone to see Madam
Pomfrey before his training and asked about it, she had said it was normal for new moms to suffer from depression. It
didn't quite seem like depression to him; Hermione had quit breast feeding Conlan when he was three days old and he
had been the one to get up in the middle of the night to feed him lately. When he tried to talk to Hermione about it,
she just said she was too tired or busy and didn't want to talk about it.
Harry looked around the common room and spotted Hermione at one of the tables with books open all around her while she wrote something on the parchment in front of her. He walked over to where Ginny was holding Conlan on the couch and reached down to take him from her. "How's my little guy today?" he asked, smiling at Conlan as he grasped Harry's finger in his tiny hand.
"He's such a good baby Harry" said Ginny "he's hardly cried the whole time we've been watching him."
"How long has that been exactly?" he asked, feeling his anger rise. He couldn't understand why Hermione had just handed her son off to Ginny to watch.
"Since you left for training" said Lavender, then noticed the angry look on Harry's face as he looked towards Hermione. "It's ok Harry; we love spending time with him and don't mind taking care of him."
"That's great and I appreciate your help but you shouldn't be the one taking care of him; his mother should be the one doing that." Harry looked at the two girls and felt bad when he saw the looks on their faces. "I'm sorry; I'm just frustrated with Hermione. It seems like every time I go to train, I come back and someone else is taking care of Conlan. She's been acting like she doesn't want anything to do with him."
"I'm sure that's not the case Harry" said Ginny "she's just been really busy trying to catch up on all the work she's missed since having him."
"I hope that's all it is" said Harry worried. "Thanks again you guys for watching him. I better give him a bottle and put him to bed." Ginny and Lavender stood up, walked over to where Harry was holding Conlan and each bent down to give the baby a kiss on his forehead.
"Goodnight Bug" said Ginny, gently running her hand over Conlan's fuzzy black hair.
"Bug?" asked Harry "Why did you call him that?"
"That's what my Dad used to call me when I was little; he still slips up and says it once in a while when I'm home. I always liked when he called me that" explained Ginny. Harry smiled at her and turned, making his way over to the table Hermione was sitting at. He pulled out the chair next to her and sat down, cradling Conlan against him. She didn't look up or acknowledge him in any way so he said "hi Hermione. Catching up on your homework?"
"Yes" she said, finally stopping her quill long enough to look at him. "I thought I had worked ahead enough that I wouldn't get behind if I had Conlan early, but obviously I miscalculated." Harry noticed that while she talked she looked directly at him and never looked down at their son. Conlan chose that moment to start crying and Hermione just ignored him and went back to her work. "Are you coming to our quarters soon?" asked Harry, becoming even angrier at Hermione's actions.
"I'll join you as soon as I finish this paper" she said, writing once again and not bothering to look at him. Harry was so mad at her that he didn't trust himself to speak at that moment, so he just turned and headed to the door of their room. Muttering the password, he walked in the door and tried to soothe Conlan by bouncing him a little until he could get his bottle. Madam Pomfrey had taught them how to charm the bottles to keep the formula warm without it going bad and he made sure to make enough of them to last throughout the day. While they had gone to classes that day Dobby had cared for Conlan. The elf had been so happy when Harry had asked him if he wanted the job. Of course he had gotten Dumbledore's permission first and he had made sure Dobby understood that he would be paid for his work. It had taken some coaxing on his part because Dobby felt that the honor of watching Harry Potter's son was payment enough, but he finally agreed with a little persistence on Harry's part.
Harry grabbed the bottle out of the small cabinet they kept them in and sat in the rocking chair Dumbledore had conjured for them. Rocking back and forth, he gently placed the nipple in Conlan's mouth and watched as he greedily drank the formula. Smiling at his son's fervor, he looked around their quarters and couldn't believe all the changes that had taken place in just one week. The day Madam Pomfrey said Hermione and the baby could leave the ward Dumbledore had come back with them to do some adjustments to their quarters. He had expanded the room and added the rocker along with a playpen and swing for Conlan. Harry was so grateful for everything Dumbledore had done for them this past year.
Hermione's parents had also been a great help this last week. They had watched Conlan during the day while him and Hermione were in their classes. They had helped as much as possible, including Jane teaching Harry how to change nappies and how to burp Conlan after he ate. They had left the castle this morning before classes started and Harry was sad to see them go. He knew Mrs. Granger also realized something wasn't right with Hermione, but she never said anything about it to him. They had spent every moment they could with Conlan before they left and had asked Harry if he and Hermione would bring the baby to come stay at their house after term was over. He had told them he would speak to Hermione about it and let them know. He had wanted to go to Grimmauld Place and start fixing it up, but with Hermione acting the way she was he thought it might be better for her to spend time with her parents.
Harry looked down at his son and noticed that he had fallen asleep while he had been lost in his thoughts. He gently stood up, cradling Conlan in his arms and made his way over to the bassinet. Trying not to wake him up, he lay him down just as gently and covered him with a blanket. Harry leaned down and placed a soft kiss on his son's forehead then changed into his sleep pants. Going over to his desk he took out the books he needed for his class work and started doing the assignment he had due in transfiguration the next day. About half an hour after he had started working the door opened and Hermione walked in looking very sullen. She started to walk over to the bed and Harry seeing this said "Hermione..."
"Not now Harry" said Hermione, waving him off and walking over to the side of their bed. She took a nightgown out of one of her drawers and made her way into the bathroom to change. That was another thing that had changed; Hermione refused to change her clothes in front of him anymore. He didn't understand why, he'd seen her naked plenty of times before. But the first night after she'd gotten out of hospital and they were getting ready for bed she had started to take her shirt off and stopped. Looking shy and embarrassed, she looked at Harry then took her nightgown and fled into the bathroom. It had been that way ever since; she would go in there in the morning to dress for classes and then again at night to get ready for bed. Sighing and running his hand through his hair in frustration he got up from his chair and went over to the bathroom door to wait for her to come out. After about five minutes the door opened and when Hermione came out Harry grabbed her arm and pulled her into a hug. She stood there stiffly for a few moments and then pulled away quickly.
"What are you doing Harry?" she asked, sounding mad.
"I'm trying to hug my wife but for some reason she can't stand for me to touch her anymore" said Harry, becoming even more angry and frustrated with her.
"Maybe I don't want to be touched, did you ever think of that?" she asked, turning to walk away.
Harry grabbed her wrist and stopped her from walking away from him again. She tried to pull out of his grasp and he said "I think it's time you and I had a talk about what's going on with you."
She stopped struggling and asked "what do you mean, 'what's going on with me'? Nothing is going on with me. What, just because I'm not fawning all over you there's automatically something wrong?"
"It's not just about how you're treating me, Hermione, it's also how you're not taking care of Conlan" he saw an unfamiliar expression pass over her face as he said this and she wouldn't look at him anymore.
"I don't know what you're talking about" she said testily.
"What is wrong? Would you please talk to me? Conlan and I need you, can't you see that?" asked Harry quietly, hoping to get through to her and get her to talk to him finally.
"You two seem just fine by yourselves; I'm going to bed" she said, yanking her wrist free of his grasp.
"Hermione..." said Harry but stopped when she whipped around, glaring at him.
"You know what; I'm going to go sleep in the girl's dorm since you obviously won't leave me alone. I have classes tomorrow and I need to get some sleep!" She walked over and grabbed her robe off of the side of the bed. She hastily put it on and almost ran out the door, slamming it shut behind her. Conlan started crying immediately and Harry hurried over to comfort him. He picked his son up and put his head on his shoulder, rubbing his back and swaying back and forth. As Conlan snuggled into the crook of Harry's neck, finally settling down Harry made his way back to the rocker. He sat there thinking over everything that had just happened, unable to process exactly what he had done wrong. Conlan gave a soft sigh ofcontentment and Harry looked down at the now sleeping baby. "I don't think she wants us anymore Conlan" whispered Harry sadly, wondering what he had done to make the woman he loved not love him anymore. "It looks like it's just you and me little guy."