Once more, a splendiferous amount of thanks goes out to Lady Starlight for her work on this fic...and yeah, I still don't own anything...
Chapter 22: Good Morning
**********************London, Buckingham Palace*********************
August 2, 2019
1:00 am
The streets outside the palace were littered with vagrants, trash, and occasionally the bodies of dead animals, and at least one or two humans. A Muggle coming from the turn of the century would have thought he had been transported to some desolate, third world country. He would have been right. Since the fall of Muggle civilization, 2/3rds of the world had regressed into something from the middle ages. Technology either didn't work, or those bits that did work, such as combustion engines, might as well as not have, as any users were put to death on the spot. Electricity was a long gone concept, and any electronics if they had been there, would have been a joke. Of course across the ocean, Muggle technology, along with the new concepts combining Wizarding and Muggle technology were flourishing. There were even three large ships, launched just in case by the Americans, that were currently accelerating hard to get to a speed where they could activate their G-E stardrives, which were in reality, really, really big Portkeys.
But in London, one aspect of life remained that had been around for as long as there was civilization of any sort, whether it was the high tech/high Wizarding one across the ocean, or the tyranny over here. Many girls, and not a few boys, walked the streets in this neighborhood, their intentions and services, amply demonstrated to passers by. A pair of just such girls sauntered up to a pair of darkly cloaked Death Eaters who were on guard at an entrance to the palace, each puffing on a cigarette, jeering out at the working girls. "How much for you two?" the tallest of the pair called to the two approaching girls.
"It depends," the black-haired girl replied, she and her partner were both dressed in rather short, schoolgirl outfits. The brown-eyed, curly-haired redhead just smiled saucily at the pair as a ghost passed behind them, unknown and unseen.
Cho started in on a heated discussion of just what the pair could get for a sickle apiece, as the other girl stood back and listened to the voice in her and Cho's ear. "Mum would have really thought you look like her daughter now, Hermione," Hermione heard Ginny's voice in her ear courtesy of the two-way-wireless extendable ears. "Though I'm not sure that she would approve of the outfit."
Hermione smiled shyly at the smaller of the two Death Eaters, while Cho continued negotiations. She replied under her breath to the tiniest Weasley, "Why not Gin? This actually is one of my school uniforms."
"When you were bloody well twelve," Ginny shot back, and only the dint of long experience and the continuing slight edge of uneasiness between the sisters kept Hermione from laughing in return. "Or when you were shagging Harry in the Library."
"I heard that Furball," a calm baritone interjected, "and for the record, I rather enjoy that outfit." There was a smile heard in the words; then the words grew cool, "Leo's in play; get out of there." Cho having also heard on her channel immediately insulted the guard she had been discussing with, he grabbed for her, and she kneed him in the balls. He crumpled to the cracked pavement, as his partner laughed. Hermione and Cho quickly vanished around a corner, and then vanished entirely.
In a small anteroom just off of the service entrance, Harry looked up as the door eased open and closed without a visible cause. His wand flicked up and down just as fast as he recognized the presence behind it. He smiled tightly as an invisibility cloak was swept off and Hermione appeared. His fingers made an odd gesture near his ear and Hermione's did the same. "I wasn't kidding, I really like that outfit."
"I know," Hermione grinned at him as she quickly shed it. Harry waggled his eyebrows and laughed softly as she caught the black jumpsuit he handed her from his pack and slipped it on. She packed away her other clothes in a small conformal pack built into the suit and started tying her hair back. Her grin fell, "Harry."
"Yeah."
She finished stowing her gear and checked the fit of her wands in their sheaths and the sheath of her sword on her back. With a sharp breath, Hermione crossed the gulf between them, threw her arms around his neck and with the aid of black gloved hands that were lost to sight in his hair; she pulled him into a kiss, hard. A moment later, she pulled back a step, biting off a chuckle at the expression of longing in Harry's eyes. "Later. Careful Harry, I can't take another separation from you."
"That's why we are here together, remember?" he replied as he reached out and squeezed her hand for an instant. She nodded and like a cloud blocking the sun her expression blanked. Reaching back she pulled a tight hood over her head and vanished. The invisibility cloak had been the bellwether for vanishing in plain sight for a hundred years. The older Wizarding tech still had its advantages, for instance it could be stowed and used to conceal over any garment and could as Harry, Ron and Hermione had proven so often in their years at Hogwarts be used to camouflage more than one person. But it also had the disadvantage of getting caught on things and not being the easiest thing to fight in. The shadow suits that Harry and Hermione were modeling tonight, were as were many things, out growths of the twins' possibly, moderately, insane minds. The vanishing hats that they had designed all those years ago had been refined to these seek armored jumpsuits, which due to their Dragonhide and Kevlar inserts could deflect a great deal of damage as well as vanishing the wearer.
The door to the closet opened and closed silently as twin, silent gusts of air passed through.
***********************Several Hours Later*******************************
5:00 am
Cornelius Fudge stretched and glanced about the sumptuously appointed bedroom. The bed he was lounging on and had just slept the night away on, was gilt, the hangings around the large, antique four-poster were of the finest pre-fall silks as were the sheets and pillows. The environment he slept in and that he had had his entertainment in, before he sent them away last night, was of another world from the squalor that he championed during the day. During his first reign as Minister of Magic, he had been accused of corruption, malfeasance and other things, and he had been guilty, but that was nothing as it was now.
Now under his supervision, Death Eaters roamed the county, raping, killing and pillaging what little there was left, except for their small enclaves of purebloods, where nightly parties and society events showed their "superiority" to the common riffraff. His only concern or check was that Lucius Malfoy, his master, demanded that he kept control of the populace. Usually an easy enough job except for the few rogue wizards and Muggles that would occasionally try to stand up to a Death Eater patrol. Or that had been the case until a few nights ago, when at the same time, Azkaban had fallen, literally into the sea, and here in London ten Death Eater Patrols had almost vanished to a man. Each patrol, containing only one Death Eater when they returned if they were lucky, as a single Death Eater, walking alone in London, was just an invitation to mayhem. Each of the few survivors claimed under torture that they had been walking their patrol, when all at once they were utterly alone.
His master had denied that anything had happened at Azkaban, so Fudge stopped prying. He figured it was a failed experiment in Dark Magic by Malfoy. It certainly wasn't Potter, that poor bastard had been broken, and tossed in a cell to rot. I guess he's dead now. Fudge smiled a small little smile and got up out of the bed. He bent over to pick up a dressing robe, flicking the pink thong of one of last night's 'guests' off of it as he shrugged it on. Habitually, he was a politician after all; he looked across the room into a carved mirror perched on a beautifully carved, antique dresser, and with a look, he felt his stomach vanish. Slowly, very slowly, as if to verify the mirror wasn't lying to his shocked eyes, he turned and looked at the wall over the head of his bed.
Charred into the ancient wood and still smoking slightly, the dual symbols of the Phoenix and the Lion glared down at him. "GUARDS...GUARDS" he screamed, and after a long tremulous moment, he edged towards the door, his wand quavering in his hand. As he entered the antechamber, he found his door guard, dead, the man's head lying at an odd angle. Fudge sprinted out of the room screaming for the guards, and finding none to answer his call, but first one, then another and another, and another dead. He gulped as he recognized the effects of Severing Charms, Asphyxiation Curses, Bone Vanishing Jinxes and other curses he didn't even recognize. It was almost as if some past master of mayhem had not practiced in a while and had been trying things out to see if he remembered them. He trembled a bit more as he knew how light a sleeper he had become, and had never heard a thing, not a bloody thing.
***************************Hogwarts*************************************
August 4, 2019
4:00 pm
Ronald Weasley glanced up at the kids, where they were currently practicing their flying under his watchful eye. Soon after they had returned, most of the adults had decided that the kid's educations, both magical and Muggle must continue, so they were in effect in a mini-Hogwarts curriculum, they got out of Divination, History of Magic and Herbology though, though Neville was already clamoring to start that up as well.
As it was, the six children were getting the attention of some of the world's foremost experts in Transfiguration, Charms, and Potions, and definitely the world's greatest minds on the subject of the Defense Against the Dark Arts, which was exceedingly lucky, as they were up against the world's greatest practitioners of the Dark Arts. The kids even populated Gryffindor Tower, though the fact that each currently had their own rooms, left an empty feeling in his stomach. They had already had Transfiguration for almost two hours, with the undivided attention of Minerva McGonagall, a fate that Ron wasn't sure he was brave enough for, and he had gotten an E on that subject in his NEWT. They then had immediately progressed to another two hours of Potions, which today was actually under Draco who for safety, he claimed, had had the class in the Dungeon. It was their last class of the day before this, their DADA class, which had shocked them; Ron had seen it in their eyes when they came out. The six, especially Emilia and Horatio had gone into the class, expecting, well they hadn't gotten what they had expected as they came out drained and tired, and truth be told, a little fearful.
Harry had not taught their first year DADA class as he had his first first-year class all those years ago, when he had been Head Boy. Ron, Hermione and Luna had all stood at the rear of the room, each under a Disillusionment Charm, as Harry laid it out. Ron still could hear the words.
****************************DADA #2***********************************
Three hours previous.
Emilia, Horatio and Harriet were chatting back and forth, tossing a miniature quaffle they had found earlier in their tower dorm to each other as they spoke. Abigail was sitting next to Harriet, she was watching them as she jotted down something from their Potions class this morning; or rather she was doodling a picture of Draco on a spare scrap of parchment. Xander, as usual had his head in a book, his lips moving as he read some passage. With Elliot, as was often the case, just taking every thing in with a thoughtful expression coloring his face. With a slight gust of wind, a dark cloaked figure swept in and stopped, leaning against the teacher's desk at the head of the room, his arms crossed, a wand held in his right hand. The kids glanced up at him, and Emilia even gave him a wave, he just glared. She bit her lip nervously at that, and to Ron and Hermione, hidden at the rear of the class, they could see the spike of pain that caused in Harry, but he said nothing. After a minute of silence, "EXPELLO" a silver bolt snapped out and blew Abigail's parchment across the room, the banishing spell, missing her by a mere hair.
His eyes hooded, he regarded the students, not a peep came from them as he began to speak slowly and distinctly, no emotion in his voice, "Normally, this class begins with, hi I'm Professor Potter, how are you? Today we will learn a spell, class. However, there is no time for that foolishness, not anymore. You are here because there are people out there who will kill you, they will hurt you; they will hurt and kill your friends and family. And I am sorry to say because of an accident of birth, you have been forced into the midst of another cycle of this war that has been raging with various Dark Lords in charge for the last hundred years." Harry looked at the six and nodded, turning away as if to get something off the desk. Damn it Mione, I can't do this...I'm not Snape, he wailed in his thoughts, as many years of practice barely sufficed to keep the emotions off his face.
You have to Harry, she murmured back, but Harry could tell she didn't really mean that either or rather she did, but couldn't hardly stand it either.
Screw this love; I have to cut a middle ground. He could feel her frown, but in the end she silently agreed. Harry's stern expression fell a bit, and he leaned backwards and perched on the edge of the desk. Emilia looked up hopefully, and was rewarded with a microsecond smile. "Sorry guys, but I'm not kidding, at all. In a way, I think this puts it forth better than the last, sorry about your parchment Abigail." Harry flicked a wand over at the board and on it a screen dropped down. With another wand flick, a picture of 2005 London appeared. The photo was full of Muggles, their cars and motorbikes. A familiar witch was waving from the photo, that day with bright pink hair, and undoubtedly many additional wizards going unknown about their business in the background.
"This was London, as it appeared as I was about to enter my seventh year here. Yes, Abigail, Xander, that is your mother and yes Emilia and Horatio, your mother was taking the picture. They were out doing some shopping." From the rear of the room, Harry felt the shadow of an old pain, sorry, he apologized, and he felt her shrug it off.
"That was then, this is now," Harry flicked his wand again, and another picture appeared, this one dark and cold. There were cars in this picture, though most were ruined hulks, and you could tell several people were living in the immovable vehicles. There were people too, but most of them were vagrants, half-dead prostitutes on their rounds, and in the center, caught in the act of pushing around a girl not much older then the kids in the room, a squad of Death Eaters. "That was two days ago."
The kids looked shocked, they had not seen any of this post fall London. They had not left Hogwarts since arriving via clandestine portkey from the States, and had stayed here with Dumbledore and McGonagall while the rest went to London for Harry's little visit. "Kind of different from what Hermione and Ron have told me life is like in the States, isn't it?" he asked rhetorically, and getting no response and expecting none, he flicked his wand again, and a darkly cloaked figure appeared, the man had his hood thrown back to reveal a haughty expression, pale, almost white-blond hair, a long straight nose and pointed chin, and a dark look in his gray eyes.
"That is Lucius Malfoy. Or as he would like to be known now, Lord Malfoy the restorer, though I really don't know why he would want that moniker, or exactly what he thinks he is restoring. Arsehole, scumbag, I give him those." As one the kids giggled, and Harry cracked his first real smile. "Ok come up here," Harry waved at the rear of the class, and as one, three figures faded into view, Hermione came and propped up next to her husband on the desk, while Ron and Luna leaned against the wall.
"Due to the subject matter of the class, in this topic you will have the greatest supply of teachers, depending on whether or not we are busy with something else, you may have myself, Hermione, Ron, Dumbledore, Lupin, Tonks, heck we might even con Sirius into teaching a class. But I feel that I must impress this on you, now matter what you hear about my exploits when I was young, I was lucky; then it came back to bite me in the arse. You are here to learn, more or less, how to defend yourself, that's it. If the Death Eaters come in that door tomorrow, you run...you don't fight," Harry looked over at them, and knew in his heart that he was probably wasting his breath. He had already heard from Hermione, and explored enough of her memories of the past seven years, that his kids at least, probably had the best and worst qualities of their parents, including a penchant for trouble, and an almost suicidal allotment of courage.
Hermione glanced over at him then back at the kids, "Harry is not kidding. If you have any doubts corner Cho, Sirius or Lupin or maybe Fred or George, they have been fighting these...people for the last few years non-stop, they will let you know how it is. It is my fervent hope that none of you ever have to deal with the dark, but just in case, remember, what you learn here, indeed in any of your classes may save your bum on some dark street."
She paused and looked out the window for a moment before looking back at them, "Honestly you have an advantage, especially if you get time to really learn, from what I've heard and seen, magical training since the fall is pitiful. Almost none of the Death Eaters patrolling the streets would have held a candle to the average DA member in my fifth year here and they have all theoretically been fully trained." Harry couldn't tell if she was more peeved about the abysmal state of the average Death Eater's education and skills or the fact that they held 2/3rds of the world in thrall. "All that means is that you better learn, and since there is only six of you for now and about twenty or so people to teach you..."
*******************************Hogwarts*******************************
Current
Yep Ron thought as he looked up at Horatio weaving between the towers of the castle, being followed closely by Elliot, they had the law laid down, and I've never seen a DADA class where the stunner was introduced the first day, but the devil drives the details. As he was looking up, Emilia landed softly next to him, swiftly followed by the rest of the class. From almost twenty years of knowing her mother, Ron knew that Emilia, and probably by default, the rest of the kids had a question that they wanted answered.
Emilia looked at him, the hazel flecks in her green eyes flaring in time. Ron recognized the look as he had spent a year training the kids in what he could, as they were coming into their powers. Harry had been able to go directly to the stunner as Ron had already taught them the disarming charm, and many other spells and skills. "Uncle Ron" She said, and five pair of eyes looked up at him. "Tell me the truth, just what did mum and dad do, before that is, I bloody well know that they weren't simple professors, like mum said when I asked her a few years ago.
Ron sighed as he saw his own daughter dieing to ask the same question, though of him. "Well Emilia we were...but that wasn't everything we were. After your dad defeated Voldemort, out over there," Ron waved in the general direction of the lake and the ruins of the chamber under it. "Dumbledore did indeed hire us on as Professors, however that was our day jobs. Basically what happened was we failed," the bitterness was ample in his voice with those last words. All six kids looked up at him quizzically, "It was our jobs, to make sure another Dark Lord didn't arise. Turns out Malfoy had been planning this since the first time Harry defeated Voldemort." As one the kids turned to each other, each thinking maybe we do need History of Magic. "He had been putting his tendrils into everything, from Fudge, to Wizengamot members...to who knows. We might have been able to handle that, except, very soon after Voldemort...was defeated..."
"You mean Dad killed him" Horatio put in impatiently, instantly reminding Ron of Hermione. "Honestly, Uncle Ron, we are eleven."
Ron nodded and touched his head as if signaling a point in a duel. "Ok yes, Horatio, after your father cut Riddle's head off, yeah." To his slight dismay, none of the kids really turned green at that, Harry must have really made them realize what they were in now. "After Voldemort was killed, there was a lull, for about three months after there was very little Dark Activity. Your parents and I were working undercover and they had taken in a Death Eater to the Ministry when out of the blue, a new group of blokes attacked. We found out later that they were the progenitors of the Dementors, remember them?"
Ron received a sextet of slow nods in return; "They showed up and attacked a party I was at with some friends, those friends I showed you on that plague in the hall on the second floor. Parvati's sister and a very dear friend of mine died that night, along with several other good friends that Harry and I had lived with for seven years. After that, the war went underground, we got some of them; they got us, until they hit us all at once. I guess Malfoy had been waiting for years for his chance. He set up events so as to lead us to doing exactly what he wanted. Mum, never has really forgiven herself for what happened."
"For what?" Abigail asked puzzled. She played with a lock of long hair and watched absently as it changed color from jet-black to fiery red. Next her, her older brother rolled his eyes at her before he turned back attentively to Ron.
"Because, in a way that event was what brought the downfall, at least here anyway," Ron shrugged at their questioning looks. "Lucius Malfoy was not Tom Riddle. Even assuming that he did get his powers from somewhere as you heard the other night if you were paying attention, he had not had time to develop them. So he bought himself some time. You understand, we had been after Malfoy for years, quite apart from the obvious of him trying to be the next dark lord, your mother and father, Emilia, Horatio, have issues with him, even more intense than most here. I will have to have you ask about that from them. OK?" The twins nodded and Ron nodded with a half-arsed smile. "But to gain himself time, he raided the Burrow at its weakest, back then at times there would be fourteen, fifteen of us, plus whatever security detail dad would have had. But as it was, Malfoy somehow found out that Mum was there for a couple of hours, with just her, you six and four Aurors outside. Lucius left her alive so we would know that he had you. Lucius demanded that Harry surrender himself to him, and he did, of course. We got you back, but as a way to keep Harry and Hermione, and maybe Dumbledore out of the fight, he had dosed each of you with a Potion that had no cure, or at least he thought. But you all know about that don't you?" At that Ron received another six identical, slow nods.
"So you all were Wizard policemen, umm Aurors?" Emilia said.
"Not quite. At least not totally. I mean we had Auror badges." Ron glanced down at his watch, "Actually its better if I just show you. Come on, you can leave the brooms." Ron swept off towards the castle, the kids in trail. Ron climbed the marble stairs, climbing and climbing until he reached the seventh floor hallway opposite an old tapestry.
With a finger to his lips, Ron opened the door that was already manifested in the wall, and stepped through. In a comfortable chair near the door, Albus Dumbledore sat, a mug of tea in his hand. Next to him, leaning against a wall, Remus Lupin stood next to his wife, all of them watching though what appeared to be a clear wall of some sort. Beyond the wall a matched pair stood, a pair of matched swords held in their hands. Remus looked over at the kids, then after a moment nodded, accepting the enviable. "It's ok, you can talk, they know you are here of course, they can probably sense your magic across the castle. The Potter kids shared a look at that, they knew from reading their mother's books what that meant, and they knew quite well that their parents were wizards...but that was almost unheard of, why that was...as one they turned to Dumbledore, and with that realization and Lupin's next words, they finally realized what they were up against, "Yeah, that is what you are up against, at the top."
In the main part of the Room of Requirement, the pair had indeed sensed that their progeny come into the part of the room portioned off as an observation gallery. Well Harry, I guess Ron wanted to give them a show.
Let's give them one then. Harry replied, and with a breath the clock stopped ticking, for them anyway. The Ravenclaw sword snapped in at his left, he blocked it one handed and sprung away, using the power of her strike as propulsion, he snapped a return stroke at her head, then another at her side. Both of which she blocked as if she knew they were coming. She spun and ran full tilt at a wall, Harry in pursuit, their forms blurs to all but Dumbledore in the gallery. She ran up the wall, flipping back over Harry just as he swung, the blade passing under her feet. Hermione landed behind him and snapped a downward cut, Harry blocked the attack, and spinning, swung hard at her but once again he missed as she flipped backwards and SHIFTED, the eagle flew away at a rate entirely too fast for any normal eagle, SHIFTING back, she snapped a quick stunner at his back, only to have it whine off into the ceiling via a hasty shielding charm.
Harry looked up at her, smiled coldly and SHIFTED. The great black lion bounded, once twice, thrice, and was knocked sprawling though the air, with a wave of Hermione's hand. Harry should, by all rights have hit the wall, but an instant before impact, the lion vanished, only to reappear in human form, next to Hermione, his sword already coming around to her throat, his wand already pointed between her eyes. At the same instant hers followed a reciprocal course. In less than a heartbeat, two thousand year old blades quivered at two throats, and two wands, one phoenix feather, one dragon-heartstring; were poised, tips glowing.
Back in the observation room, Lupin chuckled as Ron just shrugged at him. The kids, especially the Potters stood gap-jawed at what they had just seen. They had grown up around wizards all of their life, but...finally Horatio looked up, "they're Animagi?" He asked, a little stupidly, especially as he already knew they were.
Lupin laughed, "Aye they are, in addition to being faster and stronger, able to perform a great deal of magic wandlessly, if necessary..."
"Well actually Harry is still kind of weak on wandless transfiguration," Ron put in a mock-thoughtful voice. "And I don't think either of them can fly without a broom, as humans that is..."
"Yes there is that." Lupin quickly agreed, then with a final laugh, then his expression turned more or less serious as he turned from the window, where Harry had summoned a towel and chivalrously offered it to Hermione, to the twins. "Actually your parents are the two surviving Heirs of Hogwarts, with all the powers that entails. And in addition to that, they each have their own peculiar abilities. The Animagi thing isn't really all that uncommon around here, lets see, there's me...technically," at their confused look, "I'm a Werewolf, more or less, but I have control over my changes, thanks once again to your parents."
He looked over at Harriet, "and of course both of your parents and your aunt Ginny and your uncles Fred and George, and Minerva, and Dumbledore? Are you?" Dumbledore smirked, but did not answer. "And Sirius too of course. Tonks is an Metamorphmagus, as you obviously know son, daughter." As he addressed his own, Abigail smiled and changed the color of her hair again. "And what else?" Lupin mused, a half grin on his face, "Oh yeah, Luna is a Clairvoyant, but like most, she has to keep her talent under a relatively tight reign most of the time, and Ron has a touch of Seer, but its pretty well limited to foreseeing strategies. There were more of us, once. It was amazing the amount of talent that was squeezed in a twenty year slice of time here at this old place."
*************************DADA Professor's Quarters************************
8:00 pm
Harry was sitting on an old, slightly decrepit couch that looked as if could be and probably was the old couch from the Gryffindor common room, staring into the fire that was burning for purely sentimental reasons. The DADA professor's quarters were as they had been before the fall. The room was decorated in Gryffindor colors, portraits of Harry and Hermione's parents on the wall above the fireplace. The room defiantly showed the character of its inhabitants, bookshelves covered almost every wall, stocked with everything from old Sci-Fi paperbacks by Heinlein to many, many reference works on DADA, Charms, Potions; Quidditch...to at least five different editions of Hogwarts a History. On a small table to one side, a two-tiered rack held the paired blades of Ravenclaw and Gryffindor and in the corner a pair of well kept but well used Firebolts were propped.
Hermione was sitting at a small writing desk, looking over reports from various resistance cells in and about Great Britain. She made notes with a quill made from one of Hedwig's tail feathers as she perused Fred's scrawled writings. Over in the corner, the aforementioned owl slept on a stand. The half-kneazle lay on the edge of Hermione's desk, enjoying an occasional rub, as Hermione would turn a page. A soft knock rang at the door and Hermione looked up, an eyebrow crooked. Harry just shrugged. "Who is it?" Hermione shouted at the door.
"Us mum." A familiar voice came from behind the door. With a small shrug Harry got up and opened the door. Emilia and Horatio followed him back into the room, each dropping into a chair across from the couch. Hermione got up and walking around the couch, dropped next to Harry, "What's wrong dear?" Hermione asked, a touch nervous for some odd, undefined reason.
"Mum, Dad" Horatio piped up, glancing at his twin as he did so, "Uncle Ron, mentioned some thing about Malfoy...said you had other issues with him, before." The twins sat quietly, totally unlike themselves as they looked at each other.
Well, Hermione...we really don't have to tell them.
Of course we do.
I meant you don't, I can handle this. Harry's thoughts were colored with concern. But Hermione shook her head with only the slightest twinge of regret.
Hermione's hand fell to his, and without an actual command from either of their brains, her fingers interweaved with his. She smiled rather bleakly, "Yes, your father and I had...issues with Draco when we where in school."
"We meant Lucius, mum" Emilia responded, with a slight roll of her eyes. "Though, now that I think of it..." she shook her head, "why does Lucius hate us so much?"
"A whole bunch of reasons honey," Harry replied tiredly, "but mostly because our family is the biggest impediment to his rise to power. He hates the Weasleys and they hate him, he hates Draco because Draco came over to our side during the war while we were all still here in school. He hates your mother and I because we put him into Azkaban and unmasked him as a Death Eater...and for other reasons."
"But dad," Horatio chimed in, "that's why he hates you or rather us, I guess, but why, besides he's evil, which I guess is enough, do you..."
Harry sighed, "Em, Horry, Lucius Malfoy killed your mum's parents, Vernon Dursley, and probably Mad-Eye himself, along with his forces killing many of our friends. The twins exchanged a look, but the revelation wasn't really a surprise. "Its time that we told you what really happened in the wars..."
A/N Duh, Duh, Duh.....Next chapter a small...party? And That kooky Dumbledore, what will he think of next...