Down Under
Harry couldn't believe he couldn't find either of them. He had gone to Malfoy's house, thinking that he could talk with Draco but Draco's mother only shook her head saying that she hadn't seen him. Talking with Mrs. Malfoy had been odd, since the last time she had really spoken to him (well, really the only time) she had been laying over him, her hand on his chest and lying to Lord Voldemort. Harry thanked her and moved on to Hermione's house, thinking that perhaps he was there. Harry had felt a little relieved that Draco wasn't there, but concerned that Hermione wasn't there either. After all, if she was the type to go off killing people, he wasn't sure he really knew neither her anymore nor what kind of trouble she was getting herself into on a day to day basis.
Harry resounded that he wasn't going to find them until they wanted to be found. That was, after all, Hermione's style. He could walk right by her and if she didn't want to be found, he would never know. Freshly showered, shaved, and dressed, Harry headed to the ministry for another day of work. He wasn't surprised by the amount of sound in the ministry, as it was normally rather bustling on the morning influx of witches and wizards, but he kept catching whispered snippets of information. Harry shook his head, clearing it and headed up to his office. He was surprisingly the first on to arrive, beating Hermione into the office.
Harry began penning a letter to the maintenance department about a flickering fluorescent bulb he had noticed in the far corner of his office when Ron walked in, all in a rush. Harry glanced up at him; surprised that Ron had not only beaten Hermione into the office, but that Ron was just too upset to talk. Harry went to say something to Ron when Hermione and Draco rushed into the office, slamming the door behind them. Harry frowned, thinking that this was highly unusual behavior.
"Look, Harry, we have to talk," Hermione said quickly.
"I have nothing to say to you, Hermione," Harry said coldly as he turned back to parchment, quill in hand. Hermione made a face that was a mix between shame and rage.
"Harry, we have to talk, now," Hermione said. Harry continued to write with the greatest effort not to look up at her. He saw her out of the corner of his eye look to Draco, who was standing with his back against the door. Hermione crossed to the door, tapping it with her wand.
"Perhaps if you tell Ron, Harry might hear you," Draco suggested as he stepped away from the door.
"Nah, I am not about to get into the middle of this with any of you," Ron said quickly. He was shaking his head adamantly. "This time, this has nothing to do with me."
"Harry look at me!" Hermione demanded as she took his quill and snapped it into two pieces. Harry glared up at her.
"I needed that to write my letter," Harry growled rather childishly. His eyes fell on hers and try as he may, he couldn't make the anger stay in his gaze.
"Harry, I need you," Hermione said. She flicked her wand at the windows, metal blinds falling into place and covering the windows. She barely glanced at Draco before she took Harry's face in her hands and kissed him, long and slow. Heat rose from the core of his being until his flesh was too hot to touch. Harry broke the kiss, pulling back and putting distance between them.
"What do you want from me? You can't kiss me and sleep with Draco," Harry shouted at her. He was angry and felt a little foolish.
"I am not sleeping with her," Draco said calmly as he passed his wand playfully between his fingers. "I mean, we have, but you know, it didn't work out. Apparently you can't always obliviate everything from someone's mind."
"What?" Harry asked a little dumb-founded.
"Harry, it is time for you to know the whole truth, and since I don't know it all, or at least I don't anymore, Draco is here to tell you exactly what happened," Hermione said as she sat down at their conference table. Draco sat to her one side, and reluctantly Harry took her other side. Ron remained at his desk, not really certain he needed to get any closer. He had heard about the brawl last night, and both Draco and Harry had opted not to heal their wounds.
"And he is going to give it to us straight?" Harry asked incredulously.
"Why wouldn't I?" Draco demanded as he lost a little of his calm demeanor.
"Because you are Draco Malfoy," Harry said as if that explained everything. Draco shook his head.
"Just because you haven't changed much since school doesn't mean that no one else did. Look, Harry, you saved my life, and I am forever indebt to you because of that, though I loath the thought. I do like you and I love Hermione. I am going to tell you everything straight forward and some of it may seem… unlikely… but you have to know, we did everything we did to protect us all," Draco said as he glanced over to Hermione, who was nodding in encouragement.
"So I am supposed to just believe what you tell me?" Harry said angrily. "I know what I read."
"And it is all true," Draco said quietly. "I took the memories of Ava from you. I took the memories of Hermione and you together."
"But why?" Harry implored. "What benefit could it have been?"
"Let me just start from the beginning," Draco told him.
"That probably would be for the best," Hermione agreed nodding as she patted Draco's arm. Harry made a face, unwilling to dole out tenderness to someone who had nearly brought him to his end.
"Just get on with it," Harry said crossly as he crossed his arms rather childishly. Hermione crossed her arms as well but couldn't help the urge to smile at him.
"Fine," Draco snapped. He took a deep breath and began, "The raid on the Tember Warehouse, as you remember, was a very big deal, right? You really impressed on the higher-ups your complete willingness to do the job and your ability to get it done."
"Yes, yes… I remember that entire event just fine," Harry growled. "We all went out for drinks afterwards, celebrating our victory over yet another dark group trying to cause a stir in our world. Get on with it!"
"Be patient, Harry," Hermione chastised. Harry glared at her a moment but didn't retort.
"Well, there was more, actually," Draco continued. "We know that was the night that you and Hermione… uh… became closer."
"No it wasn't," Harry defended. "I remember that night. We kissed a bunch, a little high on Fire Whiskey and Adrenaline. We didn't do anything else."
"Well, actually, you guys went home together," Ron interjected from his desk. He wasn't trying to look interested.
"We did?" Harry asked him. "But that doesn't mean that we… you know…"
"Had sex, Harry? Come on, we are adults now, we can say the word," Hermione laughed. "Well, we did, Harry, and that I do remember."
"You do? Why can you remember and I can't?" Harry asked. Hermione looked at him guiltily.
"I didn't want for it to come between our friendship," Hermione said slowly. She looked away from him and down at her hands that were now folded in her lap. "You and I had a lot to drink and I didn't want that to be the only reason that we slept together."
"You could have just talked to me instead of making me think we just kissed," Harry said. He rubbed his forehead, the beginning of a headache coming on.
"Well, I panicked, ok? We all make mistakes, and we can't change that," Hermione snapped. She took a deep breath, regaining her composure. "Sorry, look, if I could, I would change things. I would go back and not remove that memory from that night."
"Was I any good?" Harry asked curiously. Ron and Draco laughed, the tension seemingly crackling around them up until that point.
"I am not going to answer that right now," Hermione said as she refused to meet his eyes. "Do you remember when we were in Belsgrade?"
"Was that when we took down Ortman?" Harry asked slowly, vaguely remembering. Hermione nodded.
"That is when I got pregnant with Ava," Hermione said quietly. She blushed. "I… we weren't drinking that night, but you were dating Ginny then and I wasn't going to break you two up. I thought that you were in love, and she was my best friend."
"Is that why you and she are so un-friendly now?" Ron asked from his desk. Hermione nodded.
"Can we just keep this moving? It seems like this has been going on forever," Draco said as he impatiently cracked his knuckles.
"It was hell, living with the intimate knowledge I had, so I asked Draco to obliviate the memories from me. Only Draco didn't do it right," Hermione said as she looked at Draco pointedly.
"Thus the reason I never applied to the Obliviator's office, Mione," Draco laughed as she rolled her eyes at him. "I told you I didn't think I could do it."
"So, what? The memories didn't stay erased? You are starting to remember them?" Harry asked hopefully. Hermione sighed and smiled softly at him.
"Yes," Hermione replied. Harry beamed, thinking then soon, his memories would start to come back as well. Hermione, as if sensing his thoughts and hopes, shook her head. "Draco did mine, Harry, but I couldn't bear to let him touch your mind. I obliviated you, but had Draco to record them in the book. I couldn't be the one to admit to the ministry that I had been illegally tampering with your mind. It wouldn't look so weird to have Draco, a Hall employee, recording information in the books."
"But Shacklebolt found out," Draco continued when it became apparent that Hermione wouldn't. She was buried in a handkerchief that looked rather familiar to Harry.
"Why would Shacklebolt care if Hermione were sleeping together?" Harry asked. Draco made a face, not one of pain but one of uncomfortable irritation.
"You were working against the ministry, Harry," Draco said sympathetically. Harry shook his head in disbelief. "I know it seems unlikely, but you were mounting an opposition to overthrow the government. There were rumors that you were close. Hermione and I were called in to take care of the problem, since she was the closest to you and could gain access to you like no other person on our side could."
"By take care of the problem, you mean me. What exactly were you supposed to do?" Harry said in disbelief as he looked to Hermione. She refused to look up at him, just kept her eyes lowered and focused on her hands.
"We…we were told we needed to get rid of you," Draco said simply. He didn't look apologetic, just uneasy.
"Assassinate Harry?" Ron shouted jumping up. He looked to Hermione angrily. "He is our best friend! How could you?"
"Obviously I didn't, Ron. He is still alive," Hermione snapped at him. She turned to Harry. "I never wanted to kill you. I never wanted to kill anyone. I was locked into the vow when I begged for your life."
"What does this have to do with Ava?" Harry asked Draco, ignoring Hermione's teary explanation. He wouldn't look at her.
"Well, I erased Hermione's memory and I had to replace it with something," Draco said. He looked at Harry a second, contemplating what he was about to tell the man that had now on two occasions, beaten the hell out of him. He figured Hermione was worth at least a few more. "I modified her memory to think she and I had been together. I didn't know she was pregnant."
"So…" Harry murmured as his eyes fell on Hermione. "You thought you were pregnant with Draco's baby?"
"Yes, but… see, I didn't understand. The memory seemed foggy and when I replayed it in my head, it didn't make sense," Hermione said quietly. "Then, when I was with Draco, it seemed off."
"Gee, Mione, way a stick it to a man when he is down," Draco mumbled. Hermione ignored Draco.
"Harry, I would never do anything to hurt you, but when we were in Sydney…" Hermione began.
"So, I was there at Ava's birth!" Harry exclaimed as he jumped up. He paced back and forth for a moment.
"We were all there, Harry," Draco said quietly as he watched Harry pacing the floor of the office. "You, me, Hermione was over due, Ron, Ginny… we were all there. Hermione and I were there on a tip, and things were a mess, but you came with Ron and Ginny to be supportive of Hermione, thinking we were there to have the baby."
"Did you stay in the room?" Harry asked. Draco made a face, like not understanding. Harry elaborated, "Did you stay in the room when Ava was born?"
"Everyone believed that I was the father," Draco said simply. Harry made a face, a mixture of jealousy and disgust, but didn't say anything. "Anyway, Hermione was supposed to fake going into labor, not actually go into labor. We were supposed to be there to see if the rumor was true, that another dark soul was being born."
"This is crazy!" Ron exclaimed.
"Shh," Harry hushed him. Granted, it sounded like a load of bull shit but Harry wanted to see how it played out and how he ended up without his daughter. Harry took his seat in the chair next to Hermione, but was leaning away from her, as if subconsciously trying to distance himself from her.
"Well, D'Agostino was there, and she gave birth to a baby boy," Draco said. "By that time, you all were there and Hermione really had gone into labor. I kept trying to go check the baby the D'Agostinos had, but the nurses kept dragging me back to Hermione's side," Draco said. He paused. "I didn't mind, you know, the blood and stuff, but it really bothered me to see her in so much pain. It was like torture the way that she begged for it to end, for the pain to cease. Then Ava came and Hermione only cried happy tears. It was one of the most amazing things to witness, the birth of a child. I cut the cord and I held the baby."
"That was my daughter!" Harry yelled at him. Draco flinched.
"I know, and I knew that this day may come," Draco said as he fished a picture out of his pocket and pushed it towards Harry. It was of Harry holding the baby. It was a wizarding picture, the slight movement of the baby as Harry peered into her oddly familiar eyes.
"I held her?" Harry asked frustrated as he raked his hand through his hair. Draco nodded.
"Hermione was suspicious when Ava was born. God, she looked like you, just like you. I almost expected her to have a scar on her forehead," Draco said quietly. He stood a moment. "Everything I ever did was because I love Hermione, and everything she has done to you was for your best interest. She loves you more than she could ever love me."
"Enough, Draco, move on," Harry said coldly.
"Fine," Draco said. "We were there to check on the D'Agostino baby, so we walked our baby down to the nursery and we saw him while we were there. There was no way that the baby could have been anyone other than we expected."
"What? Lord Voldemort's baby?" Harry sneered sarcastically as he leaned further away from the table.
"It was!" Hermione cried out. "Even as an infant, he had an evil glint in his eyes and with a few revealing charms, it was apparent that his parents had a baby with a bit of his soul in him."
"Yeah, ok," Harry snorted as he shook his head.
"You weren't there in the nursery, you didn't see that baby, and you didn't know what we have been forced to do," Draco said as his voice strained against an unleashed emotion. "If it wasn't for you, we probably could have gotten out of the department before we got so far in we couldn't get out. She had to swear allegiance to the ministry's secret department for life because she didn't want you to die. She traded her freedom for you!"
Draco was on his feet now, shaking with rage. His face was red, the color pinking all of the way into his scalp. Harry watched him curiously as Draco stood there, his palms on the table. The room was silent.
"So?" Ron finally asked when it was apparent that no one else intended to speak.
"I had a job to do, just like the Transylvanian…"
"You guys killed him?" Harry implored.
"Yes," Hermione said simply. Her eyes were closed, as if fighting from seeing the image. Harry looked at her curiously.
"You killed him? He was only a baby!" Harry exploded, jumping up from the table.
"We had to," Hermione moaned. Her eyes were still closed, obviously tortured by this memory.
"No! He was just a baby!" Harry exclaimed angrily.
"He was just a few hours older than Ava," Draco admitted. He looked over to Hermione with concern in his eyes. "Hermione was a mess after she did what she did."
"You mean when she killed an innocent baby?" Harry taunted. Draco made a face, as if he had to swallow something quite unpleasant.
"Hermione couldn't stand to look at Ava; guilt consumed her and Hermione knew she couldn't leave those parents with a dead baby. She was confused that I was the dad and she looked just like you," Draco continued on ignoring Harry's looks of disgust and rage.
"So what happened next?" Ron asked almost breathlessly. Sure, it was captivating when it wasn't you involved.
"Ginny took the baby and disposed of it, and Hermione did what she thought was best. She modified the D'Agostino's minds and passed Ava off as their child," Draco said. Hermione sobbed.
"And you remember?" Harry asked.
"Some of it, yes, the parts that I have never been allowed to forget, and the parts that Draco's memory charm has worn off. It isn't sharp, though, as memories fade over time," Hermione whispered.
"What happened after that?" Harry asked out of sheer morbid curiosity.
"Your memory was modified," Hermione said quietly. She finally looked up at him, her eyes swimming. "Draco and Ginny went back to the ministry first and recorded the birth so that no one else would know about it. I mean, the ministry knew but we had to follow protocol."
"On whose orders?" Harry demanded. He felt a bit numb, finally sitting down in the chair next to Hermione. It seemed so unlikely, but Hermione had always looked out for his best interest. He couldn't imagine she would have done anything else aside from that.
"Kingsley Shacklebolt," Hermione said stuffily as she wiped her nose.
"No. He told me that he didn't know anything about it," Harry said weakly. "He said that he didn't send me to find Ava. Draco, you sent me to find her. Why? And aren't you guys bound by an unbreakable vow? You can't be telling me this."
"Harry, Shacklebolt is dead," Hermione said as fresh tears spilled from her eyes. Harry frowned. "Draco had you find Ava to fight something evil. He knew you would go looking for answers and you would have figured out this by now."
"But I just saw him. When did this happen? I mean, who would kill him, aside from me right now," Harry asked as he looked to Hermione than Draco for answers.
"It happened early this morning," Draco said quietly. "Ginny did it. That is why we are here."
"No!" Harry exclaimed.
"We think that the bit of soul that was in the baby possessed her when she disposed of the baby," Hermione choked as she cried harder.
"We don't know how to help her," Draco said as he went to wrap his arm around Hermione. Hermione shoved his arm off her.
"We think… we think we have to destroy her. He knew her soul as a first year and gained entrance to her easily," Hermione moaned.
"If he got in, he can get out," Harry said feeling rather righteous.
"There isn't much time, Harry. Ginny has Ava," Draco said
"We have to choose my sister or his daughter?" Ron asked incredulously.
"Surely, there is another choice," Harry demanded. Hermione nodded slowly, almost hesitantly.
"Yes, only I can't do it. To kill him but not her, you have to rip him from her soul. It can only be done by someone who loved her," Hermione said. Harry nodded. He knew what he had to do.
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