A/N: Thanks so for the reviews. They are appreciated and I think they help me a lot. Just to let you know, I do want to develop relationships and begrudging partnerships before I delve into the mystery. So I'm sorry if it might seem drawn out to some.
Chapter 7
Ron took the small envelope and frowned intensely at it, before smashing the seal in with the Gryffindor crest. He wasn't necessarily angry at the harmless piece of parchment, but at the reason behind its request. It took him a few more minutes of staring before he realized he had an audience.
"Here, she'll know what it is, and what it does. Make sure she gets it." He frowned as he handed it to the giant prat standing before him.
Draco looked at the parchment. "What do I look like, a bloody owl? Deliver your own mail. Death Eaters are free, attacks are happening and all you can do is give me a bleeding envelop?"
He tossed the envelop back at Ron, forcing Ron's face to grow red. It took everything in Ron not to hit the smarmy bastard in the face.
"If she's in any danger it's because she's associated with you. Look ferret, give this to her. This is for emergencies. Okay? She'll know what it is."
Draco looked at the envelope and shoved it in his robe pocket as Ron turned back around to mind the counter of Fred and George's shop. But the annoying tapping of long slender fingers made him turned slowly around.
"Did you forget where the exit is? Want me to show you?" Ron hissed.
Draco stopped tapping and acted as if he hadn't heard Ron's threat at all, but had merely been in deep thought. When he finally came home to the manor that night, Ginny had told him of the Minister's visit and Draco went spare. He began to bagger her with questions.
"Did the Minister go upstairs?"
"No."
"Did he-did he touch anything?"
Ginny began to get frustrated and narrowed her eyes before hissing, "No."
"What did he say?!" Draco nearly yelled.
Ginny looked at him as if he were Voldemort and screamed. "I don't know, ok! He just said hello and went on babbling about how you bring your work home!"
"Oh shit…" Draco muttered and made a dash for the study. "He knows."
Ginny chased behind him. "What's going on?"
"Look, he's never allowed in again. Alright? PROMISE!"
"Alright!" she shouted back in tears. "What's got you all nutters like this?"
"Death Eaters are rising again." Draco threw out as he searched frantically through his office.
Ginny's hand flew to her mouth, her already wet face turned red. She stood in the doorway of his study. "What?!"
"Someone poisoned Hermione and attacked a Muggle neighborhood in broad day light. I've been dealing with this shit at work."
Ginny nodded. "So that's where you've been off to."
Draco stopped his search and glanced at her. She looked dazed and scared but she had to understand the severity of the situation. Suddenly he stalked over to her, grabbed her wrists and brought her close to him, forcing her to look in his eyes. He was scared. "You promise you'll never speak a word of it, to anyone. You swear you didn't take that parchment Ginny!."
"I-I swear." She nodded and he released her wrists to run a hand through his head.
"I hid it but it's disappeared. That's why I thought you gave it to Potter."
"I didn't Draco, I swear. What is it?"
"I can't tell you, " he said, not noticing the hurt on her face from him not trusting her. "Something important to me. He can't ever see it. I have to figure out where it is."
"Harry didn't take it. He didn't even make it past the foyer. Why would the Minister want this 'thing'?"
"Because…"Draco spat. "And you don't know if Harry did or not."
"Are we still on about that day?" she spat back. He stared her down before backing up and looking at his messy desk.
"Are you still trying to win his affections?"
"Maybe. Why?"
"Well… it might interest you to know, Hermione's pregnant."
Ginny 's glare was so deadly, Draco had to look away. "What? She-she-that bitch! Always doing everything to hang her claws into Harry. How did she do it?!"
"They are married Ginny. Usually that's what happens. You get married, shag like bunnies, pop out a couple of rugrats and then get fat and unattractive. You aren't to speak a word of it to anyone." Draco had to admit, he liked goading her, but the pain in his chest at the way she looked knowing Harry and Hermione was pregnant was killing him.
"Why did you even tell me?" She muttered.
Draco turned away to avoid the hurt in her eyes and shoved files into his briefcase. "To wake you up out this stupid childish preoccupation you have with Potter."
"Sod off Draco!" Ginny yelled and stormed out the study.
Ron clearing his throat snapped Draco out of his thoughts of that conversation. "Ahem. You'll still here."
Draco rolled his eyes and kept drumming his fingers. "Course I am. I mean, the Minister came to my home. I can't believe he would have the audacity to show up there like that looking for-" Draco stopped and frowned at Ron. He almost slipped up about what he had that Coogle was looking for so badly.
"For what?"
"Huh? Nothing. He doesn't just trust me or something."
Ron grunted. "I wouldn't either. You being a smarmy lying arsehole and all."
"That's not the point. I have been good at my job, I have been excellent at my assignements. He has no reason to suspect me of anything. Merlin, I might get sacked." Malfoy groaned and slapped his head. "All for helping Potter."
"Is that what you are doing? Helping Harry?"
Draco turned back and glared at Ron. "Don't be ridiculous. I could care less about Potter's plight. But I don't like the Minister raiding my home. Ginny was frightened when she saw the way I reacted. Merlin, I thought you would help me keep your sister safe Weasley. Not give me a letter!"
Ron slammed his hand on the counter. "You want to keep her safe?! Send her home to the Burrow! Away from a Death Eater traitor like you are! You know they will come after you Draco and you'll be a stain on those expensive Italian tiles-"
"-Greek." Draco corrected causing Ron to glare at him.
The red head frowned and continued ranting. "You're a target too Draco. Could be that's why the Minister probably suspects you."
"I paid for my crime! I paid and paid and paid! With the life of my mother and the loss of my childhood forever."
"I weep for you. Really…" Ron mocked.
Draco frowned. "You know what this means? For whatever reason, I will have the Ministry on my ass as well as the potential for being tortured by two Death Eaters. I'm risking my safety and Ginny's all for what? Because Potter thinks my boss is shady? Don't you even care about your sister? My job?!"
"You I could give two flying shytes about. If you ask me, your boss is more that what meets the eye! As for my sister, send her home. But you won't, because you're too selfish to let her be safe at home with her family!"
"Maybe she doesn't want to go 'home'," snarled Draco. "You under the delusion I have her chained to a wall or something. Ginny can leave whenever she wants."
"Right…well, you're so concerned about her safety right?" Ron pointed to where Draco stuffed the envelop in his robes. "That right there will keep her safe. When she opens it, she'll know what it is and she's to keep it with her at all times. Ok, fucker?"
Draco nodded quickly. Stupid oaf. "Well what about me?"
The sadistic smile on Weasley's face made Draco want to punch him. "What about you? If you happen to be in danger and you're near my sister, you better stay close."
"Okay Mum…yes...tell Daddy everything is fine… Yes…well no, Harry and I want to keep this close for awhile so no reason to call Aunt Sally and tell her…no Dad, Harry is very excited…yes, well…" Hermione chatted into the phone nestled between her shoulder and her ear, as she eyed the blank parchment sitting on her desk. She had been working on it all morning until her mother called and Hermione had let it slip she was expecting. "Well yes, Mum… it's very busy here, hopefully we can make it to dinner one night next…oh bugger Mum, I already got Harry being overprotective…I am not coming to live with you…I have to go. Love you too Daddy…Bye!"
The telephone slammed into its cradle as Hermione looked back at the blank parchment that taunted her. Brightest witch of your age my ass, it seemed to say. She flicked her wand one more time and when nothing happened, she groaned in frustration, stuffed it in her pocket, and headed to the front of the store to see if Harry had come back. Every since the news they were expecting, Harry had become an overprotective idiot. While it endeared Hermione that her husband wanted to protect her and the baby, at the same time, Harry was over doing it. He kept a constant eye on her and when he wasn't able to, he sent Ron. Hermione had protested against them treating her this way but it fell on deaf ears. She didn't think she could take it much longer.
Amy was putting away books when the phone at the front began to ring. Hermione answered in hesitantly, hoping it wasn't Harry or her parents calling back. The sound of Luna's voice was a relief but that was soon tainted by Luna requesting Hermione come to her office for some tests.
"Is it serious?"
"Well…" Luna's voice phased out. "I don't like talking over these things on a Muggle phone Hermione. I hate Muggle phones in general."
"Christ Sakes Luna!" Hermione felt her emotions swell but she managed them back in.
"Look, nothing's wrong. But I need to do some extra tests. Maybe Harry can come with-"
Hermione's breathe caught and Amy eyed her suspiciously from across the room. She turned her back and mutter to Luna in the phone. "No. He's not here, and he's already losing his mind with worry."
"I really think he should-"
"I'm on my way." Hermione interrupted roughly, choking down fear and despair. She slammed down the receiver and walked to get her jacket. "I have to run some errands Amy."
Amy just nodded and watched as Hermione walked into the busy crowd outside the store. When she reached a good apparition point, Hermione apparated to the front of Luna's Healer office. She had to take a deep cleansing breath to keep from crying. What if? What if something was wrong with the baby? What if she lost it? What if- Oh stop it!
She walked to the door and Luna opened it, and stepped aside for Hermione to come in.
"I'm sorry to scare you. It's just that I re-tested your samples and I found something extremely odd." Luna stated as she motioned for Hermione to sit.
Hermione nodded. "What did you find?"
Oh Merlin please…not our baby.
"Well the baby is developing very well. It looks very healthy and you are doing well also, though you could use some weight around those skinny hips…" Luna replied non-chalantly.
Hermione frowned annoyed at Luna now. "Why did you have me panic over here Luna?"
"I found that the baby has…well it has a magical signature Hermione."
She felt confused and relieved at the same time. The baby was fine, but what does that mean? "Is that possible and it's not even born yet?"
"I have no record of that ever happening. I could be wrong though, and I want to perform some more spells to see if I have this correct."
She began to play with the hem of her shirt and she furrowed her brow in deep concentration. "A magical signature?"
Luna flicked her wand and an image rose in the air. "Like a Muggle ultrasound. Except with out the gooey stuff and the embarrassment of putting your legs up in those awful contraptions known as stirrups. It's pervy really when you think about it."
Hermione just mumbled in response, entranced by the image of her small baby inside her womb. She watched the small heart beat and was marveled by it. Around the baby she saw it, a small blue glow.
"I'm not sure what effect this could have on you. Everytime you use magic, it could possibly hurt you. Drain you.You should tell Harry you know." Luna interrupted, flicking the image away. Hermione felt like her heart was breaking but composed herself.
"But the baby's okay?"
"As far as I can see."
"Then if the baby's okay Luna, why should I?"
"Because he's your husband. Because he'd want to know. Because if you don't tell him, Ron will…because I'm going to tell Ron because he knows how to get secrets out of me by using his to-"
"Ok! I'll tell Harry. Jesus Luna." Hermione snapped. She sighed and sat back as Luna watched her take in all this information.
"As odd as it is, it isn't odd to know your baby is a miracle. You're Hermione Potter and he's Harry Potter. Brightest witch and most powerful wizard. Your kid is bound to be something special."
Hermione nodded, staring out the window. "Yeah but what's the 'something'?"
Harry paid a vendor and started to walk into the busy crowd, anxious to get back to Hermione. He knew he was overzealous in protecting her, especially now with the baby and all. He smiled to himself, despite everything. The baby. A little bit of him and her. Harry admitted that he never thought much about having a family during the war, he never thought much about anything but surviving. And when he did survive, he embraced all of life's little gifts, the smile his wife beamed at him, the smell of her hair, the way she furrowed her brow when she was in deep concentration. Peace, the peace he was able to have, even just for a little while.
Now that peace was gone, he was certain of it. He had no idea what was happening anymore. The escaped death eaters had yet to be caught and two more unprovoked attacks had occurred. Harry was sure something was going on, he had been so wrapped up in Coogle, and he hated being blindsided by crazed death eaters. It was Ron's idea to make portkeys to Grimmauld place in case any thing nasty popped off. Harry was wary about giving one to Malfoy and Ron flat out refused, though he did want to give on to Ginny. Ron had sufficed that as long as she was connected to Draco she was in danger for sleeping with a Death eater traitor. Harry had to agree. He did meet Neville in Diagon Alley and gave him one, because he knew the Death Eaters had a thing against Neville as well.
Hermione of course huffed at his over protectiveness. It took everything for him to leave her this morning but he had to take care of some things. She kept assuring him Amy was there, and everything was ok. But he couldn't shake the feeling, something might happen. He had dropped the emergency Portkeys off to Ron for Luna and Ginny. When he handed Hermione hers, she stuffed it unceremoniously in her pocket and grumbled. Harry just preferred to attribute it to hormones. She would kill him if he ever said that out loud. He hated smothering her but he loved her so much, too much that if anything ever happened to her…
Harry stopped cold and watched the black smoke bellow above his head. People who whispering and pointing in the sky.
"Look, smoke!"
"It's bad. They can't put it out!" said an old woman.
"There's a fire." One man commented to another bloke. "Around the corner. Bookstore."
Terrible images flashed in his mind as Harry's brain came to the realization, it was their store. Images of Hermione trapped, smoke everywhere…
"What?!" Harry yelped, dropping his purchases and running as fast as he could towards the shop. People looked at him as he dashed through the spectators, his mind whirling with emotions. OH GOD…oh god no…
Harry pushed past a large crowd to see the sight he dreaded, their bookstore up in flames. His mind seemed to fill with dread and before Harry knew it a huge gust of wind whipped around him, his magic obviously out of control but he didn't care. People began to scamper away from the scene afraid. His legs turned to jelly but he pushed on. Hermione.
"Hermione!" he screamed.
The flames were high and the heat hit his face even though he wasn't directly near the building. He had to get her, she could be trapped, hurt, dying. He was going in. Harry ran towards the building frantically, only to be grabbed by a strong pair of hands. He fought the hands, he had to go save his wife, his baby, but they were stronger than he was at the moment, and they slammed him up against a wall as the building exploded from the intense heat.
It took all of his breath out of him, and he stared wide-eyed at the building that was theirs, their life together, gone. Glass and fragments fell everywhere, raining down on Harry and he gasped audibly before struggling again. People scattered and screamed and Harry yelled out until his throat was sore, "HERMIONE!"
"She's not in there." A voice replied softly.
He knew this voice and he wasn't happy to hear it. Harry's eyes finally settled on the face to which the hand's belonged. Coogle.
"My wife is in there! Get off me before I kill you!"
Coogle released him slowly, stepped back, and frowned. "She's not in there, Mr. Potter. I assure you. The young lady Amy, she was pulled out and in a bad way. The first Auror on scene asked her about your wife, she said your misses had left on an errand. It was just Amy. Just her."
Harry looked angrily at the man and turned his head to see the fruitless efforts of the fire department to keep it from burning.
"Can you be sure?" He wheezed out, his heart still pounding.
Coogle nodded. "As the Minister of Magic I hurried here, concerned for your safety as well as your wife's. We tracked your wife's magical signature to one Ms. Lovegood's Healer's office. I can send some Aurors to her, if you like."
Harry gave a deadly stare. "Wait, go back. What do you mean you were tracking my wife?
"For precaution. You won't listen to me Mr. Potter. Look at what good it's done you." Coogle continued, staring back at the building. "Apparently those Death eaters are responsible for this attack as well. I have their sons in custody under suspicion. The young lady said they stood in front of the store and hexed it. She couldn't put out the fires."
"I've got to find my wife." Harry replied but the hands grabbed his jacket again. "Let go!"
"Mr. Potter, we need to talk, desperately."
"Get your hands off of me before I break them! I don't have time-!"
Coogle's hands tightened again. "Mr. Potter…sir. The young lady was burned badly. I fear she might not make it."
"Amy?" Harry breathed out. She had no way to protect herself, being a squib. His heart ached for her. She was hurt because of him. His eyes dropped to Coogles wrinkled fist gripping his lapels. "You can let go now."
"You sure you aren't going to hex me?"
"If you don't get your hands off of me, hexing will be the least of your worries." Harry stated as Coogle let go of him slowly.
The old man stepped back. "Do you understand the danger now, Mr. Potter? We must get you under protection."
"I don't need your protection. I need to find Hermione; I need to figure out how the hell this happened! What I don't need is your bullshit now!" Harry hissed out.
"The Ministry is prepared to offer you much security-"
"Screw you. How do I know you didn't do this?"
"Mr. Potter, what are you suggesting?!" Coogle said incredulously.
Harry moved menacingly close to Coogle. "Where's Malfoy? Where are the other Aurors? Why are you here? None of it adds up."
Coogle frowned and Harry's glare left his to focus on a red haired man glaring back at him. "Who's that?"
"He's an Auror. Dweedle."
"Dweedle, eh?" Harry would ask Draco about this Dweedle character later. "Mind telling him to stop following Hermione? Before I kill him?"
"Mr. Potter, I know you just lost something important, but right now, you need to consider what I'm telling you. I assure you there are Aurors here. The attack had been done and they were gone by time we were alerted. All my men are on it, even Malfoy. Times will only get worse. For you and your family. I'm trying to protect you."
Harry stared at him before turning to walk away and find Hermione. "What I want from you is to stay away from me and mine. I have to go be with my wife now."
Coogle watched the young man turn and walk briskly away, only glancing back to look at the ruins of his shop. With that, Coogle looked over at the Dweedle, who was standing in the crowd and nodded his head. With that, Dweedle nodded back and disappeared in an instant.