Thirty-One
February 1st 2018:
After leaving Garret, Draco went to find Hermione.
He found her in her office sitting with Harry and Ron.
Hermione was the first to see him.
“Before you say anything, No, I did not injure him physically.”
“Did you learn anything?”
“I did. I have a potential location.”
“What did he want in return?” Harry asked. “No one would give up something like that without wanting something in return.”
“He wants a deal.”
“What type of deal?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care. We are not giving him a deal.”
“Draco,”
“He is the reason that we’ve lost Lyra twice.” It was at this moment that Hermione came to a realization.
“My eleven o’clock meeting on September First was with Garret. He wanted to ask me a few questions.”
“So he’s been in on this since the very beginning.” Harry took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes.
“There’s something else too.” Draco sat down. “He’s my half brother.” Hermione’s jaw dropped, Harry dropped his glasses, and Ron’s face went blank.
“What?”
“Lucius seems to have knocked up one of his ‘special friends’. That’s how he would introduce them to me.”
“So knocking up witches and leaving them is a Malfoy trait?” Ron attempted to make a joke.
“Not the time, Ronald” Hermione smacked him on the head.
“Sorry.”
“I am going to go speak to him.”
“No.”
“No?”
“No.”
“I am the Bloody Minister! You do not tell me no.” Draco sighed in defeat and motioned for Hermione to lead the way.
“I’m at least coming in with you.”
“If you insist.”
“I expected more arguing.”
“I just know you’re going to be a prat about it no matter what.” Draco agreed with her.
The two entered the room. Hermione sat in the chair across from Garret and Draco stood by the door, wand at the ready.
“Hello.” Hermione greeted him. Garret ignored her and looked straight to Draco.
“It’s funny that you call my mother a whore when she is in the same position my mother was. If my mother is a whore, then so is she.” Garret finally looked at Hermione. “Whore.”
“I’d choose your words carefully if I were you.” Draco threatened.
“For someone whose fate lays in my hands, I thought you’d be nicer to me.” Hermione sarcastically smiled at him, Garret sneered back. “I only have one question for you. Why?”
“Why what, Minister?”
“Why are you working for Lucius? And don’t say just because he is your father.”
“I didn’t grow up with him in my life. Yes, he visited a few times but the last time I had seen him before recently, I was six. You would have been eleven. After I turned eleven, my mother sent me to Durmstrang. I was thirteen when the war happened. My mother killed herself after the fall of the Dark Lord. She did not want to live in a world where Mudbloods could be considered equal to Purebloods.”
“I’m sorry for your loss. It must’ve been hard losing your mother.”
“Don’t act like you care.” Garret sneered at Hermione. “After my mother died, I went searching for my father. I didn’t know his name. I only knew what he looked like. I saw his picture in the news.”
“So you went looking for Lucius, knowing he was in prison?”
“I did. And after finding him, I transferred myself to Hogwarts. I had wanted to meet my brother.”
“And did you ever meet him? Did we ever interact?”
“No, we didn’t. I had tried but your friend, Theo, would never let me get close enough to him. He didn’t like me for some reason.”
“Theo is a great judge of character.” Hermione smirked.
“I kept trying to talk to him, Draco. I tried up until the day you kissed him in the great hall. That’s when I decided my blood-traitor brother wasn’t worth knowing.”
“Blood-traitor.” Hermione laughed. “Oh, I’m sorry. I just haven’t heard anyone call Draco a blood-traitor before.” Hermione looked at Draco who seemed slightly amused by her outburst of laughter. “You don’t look like a Malfoy.”
“Neither does your daughter.”
“That’s because I didn’t want her too. She was born with the Malfoy blonde hair and grayish-blue eyes. Were you?”
“No.” Garret seemed angry about it.
“I mean obviously not. The only other family in wizarding London that has that blonde hair is the Lovegoods. If you had the hair, someone would have suggested you were related to either family.”
“I was born with black hair.”
“And your famous Malfoy birthmark?” Hermione asked him and he was silent. “Let me guess, you don’t have one.”
“No. I do not. But I do have Malfoy blood.”
“I don’t care too much about Blood.” Draco laughed.
“Why is he here?” Harrest asked.
“Because I said he could be.” Garret stared at his half-brother.
“How does it feel knowing you are a Mudblood Whore’s pet?” Draco charged at him but Hermione stood and stopped him. “Yes, boy, heel. Be a good boy.”
“Granger,”
“Draco." Hermione took his face in her hands. “What bothers you more; him calling me a Mudblood or him calling you my pet?”
“Granger, you know I’d do anything for you. I’d get down on my knees and beg you to look at me. I could care less about the public seeing me as your pet.” Hermione couldn’t help the smirk on her face or the arousal between her legs.
“Good. Then sit down. Mudblood is not an insult to me anymore. It does not affect me the way it used to.” He sat down and she smirked at him.
“So what kind of deal do you want?”
“I’m not stupid enough to ask for my freedom. I want House arrest. I will not spend a second in Azkaban.”
“That’s all you want? House arrest?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. I can give that to you.”
“Just like that you’re going to give me what I want?”
“I want my daughter back. If you can provide me with accurate information that helps me find her, then I’ll give you your house arrest.”
“Then we have a deal.”