Chapter 18
Hermione
She was more nervous than she cared to admit.
Two days after the full moon they were finally getting ready to travel to Australia. Lucius had explained to her on their second day in the Manor that he wasn’t comfortable with leaving Narcissa and Cassiopeia alone so soon and she had understood that, of course. Now Cassie was almost a month old and he had, true to his word, acquired an illegal portkey.
Narcissa and Cassiopeia would stay at home, Draco would come along.
Taking a deep breath, Hermione went downstairs where Lucius and Draco were already waiting in front of the fireplace; on the mantlepiece stood the portkey – a broken teacup. Andromeda would keep her sister company, so Teddy was walking around in the foyer, his hair white-blonde like that of his cousin and great-uncle.
“Ready?” Draco looked at her, smiling.
Hermione nodded, too nervous to speak.
Lucius seemed confident in his abilities to restore her parents’ memories and she trusted him. Her younger self would have laughed at the thought, but she did trust him. Besides, she had witnessed him casually performing wandless, non-verbal magic all month, and there was no denying how powerful he was. But still, all healers had said it wasn’t possible, not without risking breaking their minds. Lucius had assured her that there wasn’t any risk for them and she supposed she had to take him by his word. She had spent hours pondering over tombs on blood magic in the library, but to truly understand what he was going to do, she would have to study the subject far, far longer. Blood magic was incredibly complicated, she had learned, but if you truly mastered it, there was very little you couldn’t do, the good and the bad. In the short time she had spent studying it, she had come to understand why it was banned, but she had also come to the conclusion that it wasn’t black or white and it was no small loss that hardly anyone was still able to do it.
All three of them touched the portkey; there was only a minute or so left. Narcissa and Andromeda stood nearby, Narcissa holding Cassiopeia and Andromeda now addressing her grandson.
“Teddy, come here, I don’t want you to accidentally end up in Australia.”
Teddy giggled, one hand grasping Lucius’ trousers and he raised an eyebrow at his sister-in-law. “Impressive how well he listens to you.”
By now, Hermione was used to them bickering all the time and just shared an amused look with Draco.
Andromeda merely rolled her eyes and gathered Teddy in her arms before stepping back.
Narcissa watched with an amused smile on her lips. “Good luck.”
“This has nothing to do with luck.”
“I’m glad I am married to such a modest man.”
Narcissa’s retort was the last thing they heard before the portkey activated.
xxx
Due to the portkey being illegal, they ended up in the back room of a filthy pub.
From there, they went to Muggle Melbourne and took a taxi. Hermione had to supress a grin at how out of place Lucius looked in the plain car, like he was sitting in an Abraxan-drawn carriage. The driver was, after only a short while, too intimidated to try for small talk, despite Lucius not saying a word, and fell silent himself.
It was long dark when their rather expensive drive came to an end in a small town about two hours away from Melbourne and Lucius paid the driver without a word before getting out. Hermione and Draco at least thanked the man.
“The poor guy is probably going to look for a new job once he gets home,” Draco whispered to her and she grinned.
When her eyes fell on a small house with a well-kept garden she stilled. It was a nice place, something her parents would like. The house number 14 indicated that they were at the right place.
“Well, come on then.” Lucius walked towards the house, but looked at Hermione when they stood in front of the door. “You are aware that I cannot just tell your parents what we are planning. Right now, they don’t even know magic exists.”
“Of course.” She wondered where this was going.
“Good. Then you won’t protest, if I use the Imperius on them? It will be less stressful for everyone, including them.”
For a moment she hesitated, but he was right. She nodded.
“Good.” Without further ado, he knocked firmly with the snake head of his wand.
She contemplated telling him about doorbells, but this was not the time.
When her father opened the door, Hermione felt tears in her eyes and quickly blinked them away. It hurt to see him look at her with no recognition whatsoever when she had missed him so much. She felt Draco’s hand on the small of her back.
“How can I help you?” And then he stilled. Lucius had used the curse non-verbally and he was just a puppet now. It felt wrong, but he was right, it was easier. At least he wouldn’t be afraid.
“Let us inside and bring us to your wife.” Lucius’ voice was calm and even and Andrew Granger turned around and walked straight into the living room. All three of them followed.
Hermione’s mother looked up, but stilled, just like her husband had.
“Lie down on the ground next to each other.”
Draco’s hand was still on her back as she tried to distract herself by taking in the cozy living room, much like the one in the house she had grown up in.
Lucius meanwhile took off his coat and the used a non-verbal spell to close the curtains before all windows, making sure no one in this Muggle neighbourhood would be able to see anything suspicious. He drew a small silver dagger from his belt. Hermione flinched when he, without hesitating, drew a deep cut into his own wrist. Blood immediately began to flow. He placed a hand above the wound and approached her parents. “Don’t move, close your eyes,” he ordered and they obeyed. Hermione stole a brief glance at Draco who watched intently before she too looked back at his father, who now stood by her parents’ heads, arm raised, letting a, in Hermione’s eyes, considerable amount of blood drip on both of their heads. Then the wound closed with a flicker of his wand.
He raised said wand and began to mutter incantations. Hermione didn’t believe they were latin-based like most incantations they used were, but she couldn’t make out the language. The room grew cold, very cold, and red, glowing smoke gathered around her parents. She felt the power in the air, felt it deep in her bones, and then, as quickly as it had begun, it was over. The smoke vanished and the temperature went back to normal.
With a quick “Finite Incantatem” Lucius lifted the Imperius Curse and Hermione noticed that he had also removed the blood from both the carpet and her parents.
He stepped back as her parents blinked and when they noticed they were lying on the ground and weren’t alone they got up quickly and looked around. “Hermione, what’s going on?” Her mother asked as her gaze fell on her daughter and Hermione let out a sob before hugging them both fiercely.
“Honey, what happened? Where are we?” This time it was her father, who held his crying daughter in confusion, looking around the strange environment.
“You should be able to remember the last roughly two years in a few hours,” Lucius drawled and they both looked at him in confusion and shock. “But for now: We are in Australia. My name is Lucius Malfoy and this is my son Draco.”
Draco greeted them politely and Hermione finally managed to pull herself together and let go of them, wiping her tears away. “There’s a lot I have to tell you.”
Lucius Malfoy
He had to leave it to the two Muggles – all things considered, they were reasonably calm. Yes, there was some anger at having their memories tampered with, but mostly worry when they heard that their daughter had gone through a war. That was a reasonable reaction.
But they listened to Hermione telling them the whole story, Lucius and Draco sometimes cutting in to make things clearer when she started to ramble in her nervousness.
It was a lot to take in and Lucius wasn’t sure he would have been that composed had he found out that Draco had done something similar.
In the end, sometime in the middle of the night, they sat in heavy silence when all was told.
Breaking that silence, Lucius spoke up. “If you wish to return to Britain, my wife and I can support you financially. Hermione is basically family by now, so I suppose so are you.”
Hermione gave him a teary-eyed smile which he chose to not react to.
One of the things Andrew and Emily had learned was that their daughter was engaged to Draco and at first, they had, understandably Lucius had to admit, been shocked due to the stories they had heard about his son’s former treatment of their daughter, but Draco seemed to have won them over by now.
“That’s very generous of you,” Andrew said. “But I think we can pay for it.” He gave his wife an uncertain look and she nodded, not looking certain at all. The memories of the last two years seemed to come back to them, but slowly. It was better this way, less overwhelming.
He got up. “Very well, let me know, if you change your mind. Draco and I will have to go back now. Our portkey activates in less than five minutes.” He drew a playing card from his pocket that was the portkey that would return them to Malfoy Manor.
“Draco and you?”
He turned to Hermione with a small smile, handing her a small three-legged figurine of a horse he had kept in his pocket as well. “That portkey will take you back on Monday, three o’clock local time, so you can spend the weekend with your parents.”
She took it and he barely had the time to take his coat from the armchair he had left it on before he was hugged firmly, brown curls tickling his nose. “Thank you. For everything.”
He hesitated for a moment before hugging her back briefly. “You’re welcome. Enjoy your weekend.”
“I will.” She smiled brightly as she let go of him.
While she said goodbye to Draco, Andrew and Emily thanked him, thankfully without a hug, for restoring their memories and then he turned to his son, who was currently kissing his fiancée.
“Draco.”
With a sigh he let go of her and turned to say quick goodbyes to his future in-laws - it was still a wild concept for Lucius that his son’s future in-laws were Muggles, but he would have to get used to it. At least they seemed to be reasonably intelligent and well-mannered.
A minute later, he and his son were back in the foyer of the Manor.
Draco turned to him. “That was impressive. I’d like to learn blood magic. And I’m pretty sure Hermione does too.”
Lucius considered this. There was a risk in blood magic. He wasn’t worried about the legal side, he was rarely worried about that, and both of them were reasonable enough to keep it secret. But with blood magic there was a fine line between helpful and dangerous to the caster. Still, they were both magically talented, willing to study and smart enough not to be reckless. It would be shame not to teach them what he had learned in a much more dangerous environment with his own father. He would draw a line at black magic, it had brought them nothing but grief and theoretical knowledge would be enough for them, if they decided to study it. Draco already knew too much about the practical side. Blood magic, however, he was willing to teach them. And he preferred them coming to him instead of trying by themselves.
So he nodded curtly. “We’ll talk about it when she’s back. But if I teach you, I do expect you to be responsible about it.”
“Of course.”
They went upstairs where they found Narcissa and Andromeda in the sun room. Cassiopeia was nowhere to be seen; she was probably taking a nap, but Teddy was sitting on the ground, drawing a picture. When he looked up and saw him and Draco, the boy smiled brightly and his hair changed from Narcissa’s blond to their white-blond.
Narcissa and Andromeda hadn’t noticed them yet and Lucius smiled a little about the animated way his wife was chatting with her sister. She had never complained, but she had missed her.
“Ah, they have returned. Where you successful or did you screw it up?” At Andromeda’s question, Narcissa, too, looked up, smiled and crossed the room to greet Lucius with a quick kiss.
For a moment he drew her closer, deepening the kiss, before looking at Andromeda. “I have not screwed it up, thank you very much. They remember everything. Hermione is still in Australia. I bought a second portkey back for Monday.”
“My goodness, every time you do something considerate, I almost have a heart attack.”
Narcissa chuckled and let go of him. “He’s more considerate than he’d ever admit.”
“I wasn’t aware I was married to a liar,” he said dryly.
Draco snorted and walked over to where his cousin was still focused on his picture. “Hey Teddy, what are you drawing?” Lucius caught a glimpse at what looked like … nothing really.
Teddy, however, pointed at a vague form. “Draco!”
“That’s me?”
The little boy nodded firmly and his son sat down next to him and pulled him close. Although Draco had very little experience with small children, Lucius was impressed at how good he was with both Teddy and Cassiopeia. They both adored him. ‘Draco’ had been one of Teddy’s first words.
“Now I see it. It looks great! And is that one of the peacocks?” Draco pointed at another vague form and Lucius was sure he was making it up. There was no way he had recognised a peacock in the light grey splotch. But Teddy nodded again and squealed in delight. Draco grinned.
Unwillingly, Lucius thought of the Dark Lords spiteful, mocking words. ‘What say, Draco? Will you babysit the cubs?’
Well, he is, you bloody bastard, Lucius thought, and he loves it. When he had first joined the Death Eaters, he had never thought he would ever be so glad that Voldemort was gone and that his former values would one day matter so little to him. But what really mattered was his family’s happiness. Draco loved his little cousin and his fiancée even more, both wouldn’t be in his life, if Voldemort had won the War. Narcissa was happy to have Andromeda back. If Voldemort was still there, Cassiopeia wouldn’t even be here and the world would be very different from the way it was now. The thought was sickening. No, it was good the way it was.
He joined his wife on the sofa while his sister-in-law was sitting on an armchair opposite them. “Cassiopeia is asleep?”
Narcissa nodded. “Yes. Teddy can’t wait for her to be old enough to play with him.” She smiled fondly at the boy who had pushed a crayon into Draco’s hand so he would help him draw.
“Where’s Crooks?” Draco asked after a while. He was right, usually the cat was wherever people gathered. Even if it was just to get on Lucius’ nerves. He was pretty sure that was by now his main goal in life and wondered what the cat had done all day before he had met him.
“Outside,” Narcissa answered with a small smile. “I think he was tired of Teddy trying to play with him.”
“Well, his new play partner is more patient, it seems.” Andromeda smiled at her grandson and nephew.
Draco, who was still sitting on the ground with one arm around the toddler, ignored his aunt and drew what was slightly more recognisable as a Crup. Well, it was a good thing his son didn’t aspire to be an artist.
Hermione
Hermione had a good feeling when she hugged her parents goodbye before taking the portkey Lucius had given her. They had talked a lot and she felt like it would be alright. They weren’t happy about what she had done but they understood why and that the choice hadn’t been an easy one.
They would close their dentist clinic in Australia and return to England once the house was sold and everything was settled. She hoped that would be soon, especially since she now lived in a home without a phone. She had promised to look for a new house back home, preferably with a fireplace so they could easily contact each other. Her parents were pretty baffled that she lived in a manor now and she knew they would be speechless once they saw how big it really was.
When the portkey activated and she arrived in the foyer, Draco waited for her, although it was in the middle of the night, and it felt so good to be back in his arms. Coming back here felt so much like coming home already, after only a month of living here, that Hermione was shocked for a moment.
They parted and Draco smiled at her. “How was your weekend?”
“Great! We talked about everything again and I think they forgave me for meddling with their memories.”
“Good.” He kissed her cheek and his smile turned into a grin. “The NEWT results came this morning.”
“Oh! How were yours?” She looked at him with a mix of excitement and a hint of anxiety. It had taken them long enough to send the results.
“Great. Well, an E in History, but otherwise all Os.” He laughed. “I know you told me to study more for History. But considering the awful marks I had at the beginning of the year, I’m quite happy with the results.”
“You should be!” She kissed him. Yes, she had told him to study more for History of Magic, but an E was still good and strictly speaking, it wasn’t the most important subject. She was proud of him, especially since he hadn’t had the easiest start that year. “Did you open mine?”
“I wouldn’t dare! The letter is in our sitting room.”
She smiled at him as he called it their sitting room. “Let’s go then!”
The halls of the Manor were only dimly lit at this hour and Lucius and Narcissa were naturally asleep and so were the house elves. They didn’t meet anyone on the way upstairs, even the portraits were snoring.
The chandelier in Draco’s – their – sitting room, was alight, though, and she sat down on the sofa and took the letter from the small table in front of her.
Draco saw her hesitation, sat down next to her and put an arm around her. “Come on, open it. I’m sure you have nothing to worry about.”
She bit her lip, but nodded and opened the letter. She beamed at Draco when she saw that she had achieved all Os.
He chuckled and kissed her. “I knew it.”
~ tbc ~