Chapter 5
Hermione had been disappointed that the night had ended so abruptly, but after hearing Draco’s explanation of how he ended up torturing the Russian, and feeding him to his dragon (because of course Draco Sodding Malfoy would have a personal dragon) Hermione knew that there had been no time to waste.
There was a missing Russian who would never be found and a very large man who did not suffer fools. She had to figure this out quickly, a fake body would not do for there were spells to determine identification. The big man would trust none but himself to complete the spells, so that idea was out of the window.
Blaise had admitted that Harry had interrupted them during the little torture session, so he was her first stop on her list. She, of course, took Pansy with her. Any chance she had of helping her best friend find his way back she would take, and she knew that the Slytherin queen was key to that plan. Ginny also came along, for she just so loved fucking with Harry every chance she could. She still cared for the wizard, her first fake love was hard to let go of after all. But she was still a Weasley and she therefore showed her devotion through general menacing.
Harry, generally not a fan of the idea of being woken before the sun, admitted the three witches into his home with considerable generosity. And generosity in this case meant that he was able to stop himself from cursing them to the ends of the world.
“What in Merlin’s name is it now Mione? For Merlin’s sake, it’s 3 am. Some of us do work while the sun is up, you know?”
“Oh come off it Potter, do you really think any of us would bother you if it wasn’t absolutely necessary?” Ginny piped up.
Harry stared at his ex-girlfriend for a moment before answering, “What the fuck did you do this time Gin? Where’s the mess? How many favors am I going to create cleaning this one up?”
Ginny was heating up for quite the berating before Hermione stopped her. “There’s no mess Harry, that’s the problem. There’s a missing wizard, one who won’t be found, one that you were witness to the demise of and now his family is searching for him. His Russian family”
The witches watched the boy who could have been the second coming of Jesus sit with this information for a minute before his face changed. Nobody but Hermione would have seen the spark, the minute piece of evidence that her best friend, her brother in everything but blood, was returning to them.
He reached for his wand, called upon his patronus, and with the message of “Grimmauld place. Now,” the stag was off to deliver.
Harry then got up to pace around the kitchen table. Ginny helped herself to his Ogden’s, Pansy and Hermione watched him with curiosity.
It was only moments later that they heard the floo activate and Harry called out “In the kitchen!”
Seconds later the kitchen was filled with Theo, Adrian, Blaise, and Draco. Blaise and Draco still in their actual suits, Theo and Adrian in their beloved Juicy suits.
“What in the fuck are you two wearing?” Ginny couldn’t help but blurt out.
“Orange fucking menace,” squawked the parrot on Theo’s shoulder.
“Potter. How kind of you to demand the attendance of me in my family's ancestral home”
“Fuck off potter,” Hera, again.
“You pompous fuck, you had me witness the torture of a member of a prominent crime family and didn’t even think to give me a heads up?!”
“Pompous fuck,” Hera was learning new words entirely too quickly.
“Shut that bird up or I swear to Merlin I will have Kreacher serve her up for tonight’s dinner.”
A pop of apparition, “master called for Kreacher?”
Harry had met his limit of fuckery for the night. Making up his mind he said, “You know what, yea I did. Kreacher, catch that menace of a bird and serve her for dinner tonight.”
Theo was screaming for Harry’s head on a platter (apparently there was something that could crack his unserious exterior: Threaten his parrot) Adrian was almost as loud with his threats.
Draco and Blaise were trying to keep them from attacking the undead savior of the wizarding world.
Blaise was saying “I fucking told you that he would snap and it would be us first.”
Ginny was lobbing bat bogey hexes as quickly as she could, Harry’s training as a seeker and auror helping him expertly skirt every single one.
“Everyone shut up and calm the fuck down. Please!”
At Hermione's proclamation, Draco gave up on trying to physically restrain his friends and ended up freezing them both with a wandless and wordless immobulus charm. Hermione raised a brow at his obvious show of power, Draco just smirked at her in answer.
“Harry James Potter you will sit the fuck down, take back that command for Kreacher, and fucking listen. Do you understand me?” Pansy looked him dead in his eyes as she said this.
Harry stared back for a moment before he told Kreacher to ignore what he just said, took a seat, and used a ‘fucking continue with the bullshit I guess’ hand movement.
Draco looked at his two frozen friends and told them “I’m going to unfreeze you, one move out of bounds and this is over” he didn’t wait for an answer, they were frozen after all, and then he finite’d the charm. The two wizards were still fuming but agreed to sit.
Hera however, had to get one last verbal shot in “Fuck you, potter”
Harry lunged. Pansy stood in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. “I said sit.” Her eyes were aflame, Harry’s flashed to match hers for just a moment before he submitted and sat again.
The room was tense, Draco sat next to Hermione, put one hand on the back of her neck, and began massaging. It took every ounce of self-control Hermione held to not moan at the motion.
“I suggest someone starts explaining now,” Harry said. Hermione noted that he had looped an arm around the back of Pansy’s chair, she was absolutely sure that even Harry hadn’t noticed the movement. Pansy looked like the cat who got the cream at the subtle move.
Hermione started, “ We had a visit from the Russians tonight, that big one, you know which one I’m talking about,” at Harry’s nod she continued, “he showed up with his little entourage and told us about the missing nephew of Aleksandr, how he was here in London, not on business though, and went missing. After he left we learned that Draco had already killed and disposed of the boy and that you were there for part of it.”
“The one you were torturing when I came to tell you about the meeting?” Harry asked Draco who only responded with a nod.
“How did you dispose of him? Can we get the body back? Have something to show the Russians, make it look like an accident?”
The room grew very quiet. “What is it?” Harry asked.
Nobody wanted to answer. Pansy had known about Artemis’s existence since her birth, Ginny and Hermione just found out about the dragon tonight.
“This has something to do with the Artemis you mentioned to me doesn’t it?”
Again, nobody wanted to answer.
“Who is she?”
Finally, Hermione had had enough of the silence, “She’s Draco’s dragon, Harry”
Harry turned, giving his full attention to his best friend. “He has a dragon. You fucking knew about it and didn’t tell me?” Harry’s voice had raised until he was full-on yelling at Hermione by the end.
“You lower your fucking voice when you talk to her” Draco was standing now. Hermione put a hand on his arm to stop him. She and Harry had many rounds of screaming at each other, she was used to this. More than that, she was delighted at his actions. They hadn’t had a good row in so long that she wanted to see how far she could push him.
She also shook her head at Pansy who was moving to get Harry to sit again. She wanted this. She wouldn’t admit that she had just found out about Artemis’s existence.
“Yes, Harry, I kept it secret from you because you couldn’t be trusted.”
Harry exploded “WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN I COULDN’T BE TRUSTED? AFTER EVERYTHING, MIONE. I FUCKING DIED TO PROTECT YOU AND YOU TELL ME I CAN’T FUCKING BE TRUSTED?!”
“Not this ‘I died for you’ bullshit again Harry. That has nothing to do with not trusting you and you fucking know it. You changed. You signed up to be an Auror fresh out of fucking war. You swallowed the ministries propaganda as if it was Ron’s dick-”
“That was one time and you promised-“
“You turned into the greatest company man anyone had seen since fucking Fudge-“
“I was going to change the ministry just like you!”
“YOU FUCKING IGNORED ME WHEN I WAS SCREAMING FOR HELP. WHEN I WAS BEING PUSHED DOWN AND SILENCED AT EVERY TURN, YOU STAYED SILENT. YOU WEREN’T THERE WHEN I NEEDED YOU.”
You could hear a pin drop in the room. Even Hera knew better than to interrupt this silence.
“You kept regurgitating their words Harry, you made me feel less than when I needed you the most. When I needed you to help me make the change we spent days talking about in our tent in the woods. I needed you, and you were so far up their fucking asses you couldn’t see the desperation that was so clear on my fucking face. So no, no I did not trust you. You were no longer my best friend at that point. He died the night you did in the Forbidden Forest.”
Hermione was breathing heavily, tears in her eyes. Years of built-up rage, hurt, and disappointment pouring out of her. She had never told Harry any of this, always putting his feelings first. The savior of the wizarding world, the boy who grew up abused and unloved, the boy who held her as she cried for endless nights while they were on the run, the boy she would have quite literally died for. She had always put him and his feelings first.
No more.
“Mione I-“
Hermione snapped, she could feel it as if it were a literal thread inside of her, rage overtaking her, “No Harry. I refuse to hear your excuses now. You promised me years ago that you would help. That we would do this together. Change the ministry from the inside. Yes. The war fucked you up. There is not a single person in the room who it didn’t affect. We moved on. You allowed the war to define you. You became the boy who lived, twice, and stayed there. You peaked and refused to grow anymore. You are fully in bed with both groups, cleaning up our messes and running interference with the rest of the ministry, while turning around and admonishing all of us for doing what is needed to bring about the change that is so fucking desperately needed in our world. You're skirting the fence, waiting to see who will come out victorious, who will keep your savior image squeaky fucking clean. But guess what? Change isn’t clean, it’s messy, bloody, and violent. History has proved time and fucking time again that change can not be brought peacefully. We fucking proved as children that change could not be brought about peacefully or quietly. You and me. We fucking did that. When Ron walked away we were still there. With the whole fucking world against us. Fighting a war two old men refused to fight themselves. We fucking did that. Now tell me, where did that boy go? Where did my best friend, my brother, the boy who was willing to do whatever it took to come out on top go? Tell me Harry, right now. What the fuck happened to you?”
Harry had fallen back into his seat halfway through the absolute verbal evisceration Hermione had just given him.
“You’re bloody fucking gorgeous when you’re all worked up like that, Hermione. You are one lucky bastard Dray,” came from Adrian.
“Here here,” came from Theo, Ginny, Blaise, and Pansy.
Draco gave a distracted nod in assent as he stared at the witch who owned his soul. She truly was a glorious creature, her power surrounding her, her eyes alight with a rage so delicious he had to stop himself from fucking her right on this table in front of everyone. The taste of her lust had been his awakening, he knew the taste of her rage would be his downfall.
Hermione continued to stare down Harry, begging and willing him with her eyes to see her truth. Understand her words. She needed him to see her. This was his last chance and he didn’t know it. If he gave the wrong answer she would walk away from him forever.
They continued the staring contest. She could feel her magic crackling, her hair reacting to it, the tears still flowing from her eyes now matching the ones filling Harry’s.
Harry stood, walked around the table, and threw his arms around Hermione. “I’m so fucking sorry Mione, you’re right. About all of it. I let you down. So many times. I saw the hurt in you, the pain in your eyes. The rage on your face and I ignored it. I ignored it because you're Hermione fucking Granger and you didn’t need anybody. You never did-“
It was at this point that Pansy and Draco nodded at each other and led the others out of the room. This conversation was years in the making and needed to be done privately.
Neither Theo nor Adrian were happy to be led away from the glorious drama in front of them.
“You are the strongest person I know and I thought you had it handled, the way you just always seem to handle everything. It’s not an excuse. I will never be able to excuse the past years, I am so, so, so sorry. Mione, please forgive me. I’ll fix it, I’ll do anything to fix it.”
Harry was sobbing now, and so was Hermione. They had collapsed to the floor. Neither of them had spoken of the war after it ended. They just continued on with their lives.
Their sobs began mending something broken between them, and in them.
While Harry and Hermione sobbed, talked, and hugged through years worth of trauma, mending a gap between them as wide as the Mariana Trench, the other occupants of Number 12 Grimmauld Place gathered in the sitting room to discuss the most important secret discovered during tonight’s feud: Harry James Potter, the savior of the wizarding world, the boy who lived, had sucked Ronald Weasley's dick.
Theo had rounded on the Weaslette with a wide and wicked grin on his face immediately upon entering this room “You, my darling, deranged, fiery little redhead need to start talking now.” He led her to the settee and he and Adrian both surrounded her, patting the seat he said “Come sit here with us and tell us all about how you and your brother have both had a taste of Potter.”
“There is not a force in the world that could convince me to sit sandwiched between the two of you while you’re dressed like that,” scoffs of overt offense came from the two in question, “besides, I’m not the only one in the room that knows that story so be good little boys and listen.”
Four sets of eyes snapped to Pansy, who sat on the loveseat while inspecting her nails, her facade of pure innocence once again fooling no one.
“Ginger fuck is off his rocker.” Hera truly had impeccable timing it seemed.
Ginny began cackling, “I fucking love that bird, where did she learn that?”
Draco spoke up “Your brother is, understandably, not well liked. Hera is a very smart girl and picks up on words quite quickly.”
Hera preened and puffed her feathers, “smart girl”
Ginny began making a pspsps sound, trying to call the bird to her.
“You can’t pspsps a parrot, that’s for cats,” Adrian said with an eye roll.
Blaise laughed the loudest when Hera left Theo’s shoulder and flew to Ginny’s held out arm.
Theo appeared highly affronted at this traitorous act and was gearing up for a tantrum before Draco intervened, “This thing with Potter and the most disappointing Weasley to ever exist, what happened?” He was desperate for the knowledge of this little foray, but he had a meeting to attend and needed this to end with quickness.
“Well, the Gryffindor common room was not nearly as innocent as all of you believed. It was 6th year after Harry hit you with that curse Draco. He was beside himself with guilt, someone brought out a bottle of firewhiskey, Harry and Ron shared it. One thing led to another and Ron ended up daring Harry to suck his dick. And one thing Harry can’t turn down is a direct dare.”
Draco was amused, truly, but he looked at his watch and stood.
“Where are you going?” Pansy asked.
“To talk to a Russian about a dragon”
“By yourself?”
“No, I’ll have Artemis with me.”
Draco was walking to the floo, Pansy hot on his heels.
“Draco you can’t, just wait for Hermione to come back and we’ll-“
Draco rounded on his friend “We’ll what Pans? Wait for Granger to use that big brain and tell everyone what to do? Did you not hear her in that kitchen? She is exhausted, drained, burnt out from being the only one in control all the time. This wasn’t her mess to begin with, I’m not going to allow her to clean it up.”
“She needs that control to keep going.”
Draco moved closer into her, towering over her.
“She needs someone on her side. She needs someone to tell her it’s fucking ok to let go once in a while. She needs a partner, not fucking foot soldiers.”
The smack to his face was so unexpected it actually managed to move his face to the side.
“You call me or Ginny a fucking foot soldier one more time and I will Avada you on the spot. She’s gone on this long without you, she’ll survive the rest of her life the same way.”
He sneered “Narcissa would-“
“You’re the leader of a crime ring, your mother knows the danger that brings. Accidents happen all the time” she straightened up further, somehow managed to look down on him even though he towered over here and continued “try me Draco Lucius Malfoy, I fucking dare you.”
Draco seethed for a moment before relaxing slightly “I’m going to be late Pans. I know what I’m doing, I promise. I’ll be back soon. Just take care of her until I do.”
“See that you do. I want to witness the fury you send her into when you admit you went against her wishes and did this on your own.”
Draco shrugged before replying “I like her angry”
And then he was gone. Home to collect Artemis, who was not so patiently waiting for him. He had missed their nightly flight and she was agitated due to it. She actually huffed at him, letting a bit of fire loose in the process.
Draco stopped in his tracks, raised his hands and softened his voice “I’m sorry beautiful, I really am. I lost track of time and that is my fault. But I promise I’m here to make it up to you. Would you like to come with me and help scare some men? If we’re lucky you can eat while we’re there, and if not, I promise I’ll take you hunting after. How does that sound?”
Artemis took a few moments to consider this, allowing a few more flames to escape her nostrils before she finally stood. She walked over to Draco and shoved her head into his abdomen, her nose and mouth still warm from the flames.
Draco gave her some scratches on her cheeks before he took his spot atop her.
Being early to this meeting was key to his plans. He made the flight hoping that he hadn’t wasted too much time. He needed to hide Artemis before the others showed up, showing his ace card too early would not do him any favors.
He arrived at the meeting site to find it blessedly empty.
“I’m going to leave the disillusionment on you, I need you to stay silent and still until I’m ready, can you do that for me?”
Artemis gave a rumble of acknowledgement, bumping her head into him one final time before she stepped back.
“That’s my good girl. What would I do without you?”
As soon as she had stepped back and Draco turned around to face forward he heard the pops of apparition. Checking his watch again he noted they were right on time.
“What do you know boy?” The big man barked at him in Russian. Straight to the point as always.
“He won’t be found”
His eyes narrowed before “How do you know this?”
“I’m the reason he’s dead.”
5 wands immediately pointed at his chest. Draco didn’t even flinch, by the feel of the heat growing around him he knew that Artemis had snaked her head closer to his body.
“He came into my club, unannounced, and began trying to drug my patrons. I don’t suffer rapists in my spaces. I disposed of him,” Draco stopped himself from shrugging but only barely. He was pushing his luck and he knew it.
The big man stood staring him down and Draco stared right back. He had heard of this man, this Andrei before. He was labeled the ambassador but he was more so the top hit man. Draco had had Blaise run his background and found almost nothing on him, his people had properly scrubbed his past. Draco had guessed he was mid to late 30’s, a military man by his stature and his general aura of ‘I can kill you with a straw’. He was a handsome man, Draco was confident enough in his sexuality to admit that. Around 6’5 and broad shouldered, close to Draco’s size. Bald head with a full beard. His suit hid what had to be a body full of ink but it couldn’t hide the ink on his hands. The big man nodded, finally coming to a decision, it appeared.
“How did you do it?” He had switched to English for this, interesting.
“Do you want the full details? Truly?”
“No, I did not care for the fool. Where’s the body?”
“Not something I’m willing to share at the moment”
“I spent a portion of my life with the beasts, I can feel the familiar heat from here. You are safe, these ones know no English”
Draco raised one eyebrow “You knew she was here the whole time and said nothing to your entourage?”
“Da, they don’t need to know, what is she?”
Draco was now highly confused, a feeling he was wholly uncomfortable with and did not like.
“What do you want with my dragon?”
Andrei shrugged “a natural fascination, and an offer. You help me, I go back and make this all go away”
“What offer?”
“One of my men, a rat. Keeps running to the Italians. I get rid of him, your dragon eats, you suffer no fallback from the death of one of ours.”
Draco only needed a second to agree “which one?”
“The second one to my right.”
Draco looked at the man, a pudgy thing. Good snack for Artemis. He turned to her, asking if she understood. A burst of heat confirmed she did. He released the disillusionment.
The screams rang out, Andrei stood with a look of wonder on his face while his men scattered.
“Fools, all of them. Weak. Running in the face of such greatness,” Andrei had switched back to Russian. No need to hide from his men anymore.
“I don’t know. Seems more smart than weak to me.”
Andrei laughed, “she’s essentially a kitten. Look at how she chases him.”
Draco chuckled, “she’s playing with her food. She likes when they run for a bit before she eats”
“She is truly stunning. How long have you had her?”
“Since she was still an egg. She hatched right in my personal rooms. Been by my side ever since.”
Andrei patted Draco on the back, Draco would never admit to anyone how the force had pushed him forward a bit. “You are a good man Draco Malfoy. This thing with you and the Lioness?”
“Is new but secure. Is that the name you’ve chosen for her then?”
“Yes. She is a strong woman, powerful. She needs a strong man at her side.”
“I can only hope to be that for her.”
Andrei watched Artemis finally dig into her snack for a bit before he spoke again, “You will do great things together. I see it. Now, will your dragon let me approach her? I haven’t been close to one in so long”
“You’ll have to ask her, once she’s done eating though. She’s testy when her meal is interrupted”
Andrei laughed again, then turned to his men who had realized they weren’t the prey and returned to his back. “See what happens to those who cross us. A rat he was. A weak man. We suffer no weakness, remember this.”
The men all swallowed deeply. At the same time.
Andrei turned back to Draco while laughing. “Let’s go see if your dragon will allow me the honor of closeness.”
To Draco’s great surprise, Artemis immediately took to Andrei. Quicker than she had anyone else, besides himself and his mother of course. Andrei stood stroking her scales with adoration in his eyes. And Draco decided this was a good man to have around. If his dragon thought so, he was hard pressed to argue.