Thirty-Nine
February 4th 2018:
“So what happens now?” Lyra asked her mother. Draco, Hermione, and Lyra were all sitting in her office at the Ministry.
“Harry will be in soon. He will need to ask a few questions and we’ll need to fill out some paperwork.”
“And what about the fact that I used an unforgiveable as an underaged witch?” Hermiome and Draco looked at each other.
“No one will know that it was you who cast the spell. Harry is leaving it out of the report.”
“Isn’t that dishonest?”
“It’s self-perseverance.” Draco said and reached out to take Lyra’s hand. “You casted the spell in self-defense. You did nothing wrong.” Lyra nodded.
“And what happens now for our family?” She asked.
“Well, Draco and I need to have a serious talk about that. And we also need to talk to you about everything. It’ll be a slow process but we won’t be separated again.”
“I don’t want to miss any more of your life.” Before Lyra could respond, a rapid knock was infiltrating the room.
“Come In!” Hermione called out and the door flung open.
“Lyra!” It was Perseus and Abby.
“Percy!” Lyra shot up and jumped into her boyfriend’s arms. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he held her tight. She kissed his lips like a woman starved. “Merlin, I missed you. I thought about you everyday.”
“I’m so sorry, baby. I’m sorry I didn’t protect you.”
“It’s not your fault. Oh, I love you.”
“I love you” The couple mumbled in between kisses.
“I’m here too!” Abby shouted and Lyra pulled herself away from Percy and threw her arms around her best friend. “I am so glad that you’re okay.”
“I’m glad to be home.”
“We were really worried about you.” Percy pulled Lyra back into his arms. “I was terrified that I was going to lose you.”
“I knew my mom would find me.”
“How weird is it that your father is my godfather?”
“It’s really fucking weird.” Draco mumbled from the couch he was sitting on with Hermione. “I know too much information.” The realization crossed Percy’s face.
“I, um, I don’t know what to say. This is awkward. I totally talked to your father about our sex life.”
“Wait. Our whole sex life?” Lyra mumbled to Percy. “Not just when we were first having sex and you went to him?”
“I’ve talked to him about us a few more times since that.”
“That’s messed up.” Abby said laughing. “This is why I’m glad I’m a lesbian.”
“Were there any developments while I was gone?” Lyra asked Abby. Before the term was supposed to start, Abby expressed to Lyra that she’d have a major crush on Lorelai Greengrass-Brown. Abby eyed her uncle before turning back to Lyra.
“We’ll catch up on all that later.” Lyra nodded.
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” Harry was standing in the doorway. “We have to go over a few things.”
“We have to go back to Hogwarts. But write to us as soon as you can.” Abby gave her friend one last hug before walking out the door.
“I love you. Don’t get kidnapped again.”
“I promise that I will try my hardest not to.” Lyra kissed Percy before letting him go.
“We will be having a discussion about your so-called ‘sex-life’.” Hermione told Lyra.
“Well technically, my dad knows all about it, so do we really need to talk about it?”
“Yes.” Hermione and Draco said at the same time.
“I don’t know what I missed and I don’t want to know.” Harry closed the door to the office. “Let’s sit.” Harry set the stack of paperwork down on the table. “The first thing to address is Lyra’s use of the killing curse. The wand she used to cast it, was Garret’s. We pinned the killing of Lucius Malfoy on him. His hearing will be in a few months. Until then he will be staying in the temporary cells in Azkaban.”
“There’s no chance he gets out, right?” Lyra asked.
“None. Even without the accusations of Lucisus’ death, he was an assistant to kidnapping the Minister’s daughter. He’ll never see the outside world again.”
“Should we really be using him as the culprit? Isn’t it suspicious to say he killed Lucius when he was helping him all along?” It was Hermione who questioned Harry.
“The only evidence we have is Garret’s wand. There is no proof that it could have been anyone else and he won’t speak out against it.”
“Why is that?” Draco asked.
“When the Aurors were arresting him, he attempted to kill himself. He failed but he damaged his vocal cords. He’ll never speak again.” Everyone in the office was silent for a moment. “The next thing is, the three of you need to be checked out by a medic. Lyra especially since she was taken from the hospital. The case can’t be closed until we get those reports back. Other than those reports, I need your signatures as the Minister and as the Head Auror of the team that assisted us.” Harry placed the paperwork in front of both of them. Lyra watched as Draco signed his name with his left hand.
“I’m left handed, too.” Lyra told him. “Guess I get that from you.” Draco smiled.
“Did you know that left handed seekers are rare? About ninety-eight percent of seekers are right handed.”
“I didn’t know that.” Lyra turned to her mom, “When do you think I can go back to Hogwarts? I’ve already missed most of the year.”
“Hopefully soon.”
“We’ll need to set a meeting with Mcgonagall to talk about how you’ll make up this year. That way you don’t fall behind.”
“Oh, I’m not behind. I was going to be taking seventh year classes this year. In my fourth year, I petitioned to take harder classes because the fourth year classes were too easy for me.”
“I should have known.”
“Did you know that in our fourth year, Malfoy got turned into a ferret by a death eater who was pretending to be a professor?” Ron entered the room just in time to make that comment.
“Ronald!”
“Oh, that’s why they call you Ferret.” Lyra laughed. “Wait, is that why Aunt Gin got me a ferret when I was a baby?”
“Yes. The irony of it is there on purpose. She also gave you the dragon because the ‘Draco’ constellation is a dragon. Ginny was trying for about two years to get me to contact Draco.” Hermione turned to Draco; “I’m sorry. I should have told you.”
“I don’t want you feeling bad about it. You did what you thought was best. You had every right to keep her from me. I wasn’t a good partner to you. I kept you a secret and I kept secrets from you. There is a lot that I wish I could change about how our relationship ended. But it also doesn't do good to dwell on the past. I do think there is a lot that the two of us need to talk about.”
“Well, you both are done with the paperwork I needed from you. I can take Lyra back to St. Mungos and get her checked out. You two can stay here and talk.” Harry volunteered.
“Thank you, Harry.”
“I’ll go with you. I think this one needs extra protection.” Ron pulled Lyra into a hug.
“Oh please.” She playfully rolled her eyes in response. “We’ll see you later.” The three of them walked out and closed the door.
“Who starts?” Hermione asked after a moment of silence.
“I will.” Draco shifted to face Hermione better. “I told you that because of Daphne’s relationship with lavender, I was engaged to Astoria. And while that is mostly true. There is more to it. Daphne and I found out that we were arranged to be married during the winter holiday. My mother arranged it with Daphne’s parents because she knew the two of us were friends. She believed we’d be able to make each other happy. Daphne and I did not want to be married to each other but we knew once the contract was signed, there’d be no undoing it. We were going along with it, but Daphne was also researching how to get out of it. If there were some secret way to cancel an engagement between two purebloods. There was none. Pureblood marriages are bonded by magic for ten years. If no child is produced in ten years, then the marriage can dissolve. In September 1999, Daphne told her parents about her relationship with Lavender. She was free from it all. She was happy. But that’s when I told her that I would never be free. I would never be able to marry you, or so I thought. I was dating you, believing that I would never be able to marry you. In October of that year, Daphne came to the flat in distress and she asked me to marry Astoria. Her parents were going to marry Astoria to an older pureblood who still kept the beliefs that my family did. However, the greengrass women have a blood curse placed on them. Between Daphne and Astoria, Astoria is the one it affected. She is not able to have children, and her parents knew that. If she were to marry an older pureblood and he found out she wasn’t able to have children, he would have killed her. Daphne asked me to marry Astoria because it was her life on the line. Daphne is my family, she always has been. I married her sister because she needed me too.” Draco paused.
“When Lavender was pregnant, I asked her how the two of them decided who would carry their baby. Knowing about the blood curse makes sense. Daphne wanted their bloodline to end so that the curse would end.” Hermione said more to herself than to draco. ““Why didn’t you tell me what was going on? Why did you keep it all a secret?”
“I tried. I wanted to tell you but I didn’t want our relationship to end. I waited until the last possible moment because I knew it would hurt you. I really did not want to hurt you.” Draco reached out and took Hermione’s hand. “Everytime Daphne saw me from the moment we found out, she was trying to get me to tell you. I was in denial. Realistically, I knew we’d never end up together but a part of me really wanted a miracle to happen.”
“Did Astoria know?”
“She did eventually. After we broke up, I went to Daphne. Astoria was with her and I told them both everything. Before that, Astoria had no idea. She thought it was my mother that arranged our marriage. She didn’t know what Daphne asked of me.”
“Did you ever regret it?”
“Everyday of my life. Everyday, I thought about you. My heart still only beats for you. Astoria had wanted to stay in England. I wanted to move to France because I needed to be as far away from you as I could. I didn’t want to know how happy you were or how successful you were. I didn’t get the news when I lived there so I wouldn’t see anything about you.”
“You said you and Astoria divorced after ten years.” Draco nodded. “Did you ever think about contacting me?”
“Yes. I was in England once for my mother’s birthday. I was going to come find you. But the one article I had seen about you mentioned you dating a muggle. I figured you had moved on and you wouldn’t want to hear from me.”
“That article, it was a cover. I told the world that Lyra’s father was a muggle.”
“But this was in 2010. It wouldn’t have been about your pregnancy.”
“Oh, you’re talking David. He is an old friend from my muggle primary school. His daughter got a letter from Hogwarts. He saw that I was the Minister of Magic and he contacted me. We had lunch together a few times and I showed him around the wizarding world. But that was it.”
“Has there been anyone else?” Draco mumbled.
“There’s been no one else. I’ve never stopped loving you.” Hermione leaned over and kissed Draco gently. “I guess this means it’s my turn?”
“Whenever you’re ready.” Draco leaned back against his chair.
“When you broke up with me, I spiraled. I cried on Harry and Ginny’s bathroom floor for about 4 days straight, anytime anyone said your name I’d start crying. I was a mess. And then in December, when I saw that you had married Astoria, it was even worse. I thought I was going to die. I wasn’t eating, I wasn’t sleeping, I wasn’t working or reading. I laid in bed all day, just breathing. And then I found out I was pregnant. It brought me back to life. I started taking care of myself again. Ginny, Harry, and Ron all encouraged me to reach out to you. They said that I should tell you about your daughter. I didn’t want to. At that point, I had never wanted to see your face again.”
“Rightfully so.” Hermione rolled her eyes at him.
“When Lyra was born, Merlin, she looked just like you. The brightest blue/silver eyes, the platinum hair, and a little tiny birthmark right on her hip. I was originally going to name her after my mother but Ginny convinced me to go with the Malfoy tradition and I picked Lyra.”
“Did you know that the Lyra constellation is near the Draco one?”
“No, I actually didn't. Ginny gave me a book on constellations and I picked Lyra because I thought it was beautiful.”
“I know we briefly talked about this, but when were you planning to tell her about me? And what were you going to do then? Because of our daughter, we would have been destined to meet again.”
“I always planned to tell her when she was seventeen. She’d be legal and she could choose to find you if she wanted to. I think part of me hoped that she wouldn’t want to find you. I know how that sounds and I’m sorry. I was selfishly thinking.”
“I can understand where you are coming from. It’s not like I was very nice to you when we broke up.” Draco dropped his head into his hands. “I need to apologize for the things I said. I wanted to make you hate me. I needed you to see me the way you did when we first met.”
“I knew you didn’t mean the words you were saying. I could tell your heart wasn’t in it. I honestly believed that your mother found out about us and forced you to end it.”
“I hate this. I hate everything about this.” Draco mumbled.
“Think about it this way, we always find our way to each other. You were raised to hate me because of my blood. You outgrew that and fell in love with me. Our relationship ended, I was given a daughter who was bound to bring you back to me. Everything that has happened, has happened for a reason.”
“I love you, Hermione Granger.”
“I love you, Draco Malfoy.” Draco leaned in to kiss Hermione but was interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Come in!” Hermione yelled as she sat up straight.
“It’s just me. Harry and Ron went to the Auror’s office to file the paperwork from my doctor.”
“Did they clear you? Are you all good?”
“Healthy as a hippogriff. My doctor said that since I’ve gone a few hours without a spasm, I most likely won’t experience any side effects from the cruciatus curse.”
“Oh that’s amazing.” Hermoine stood and walked to her daughter. “And how are you? How are you feeling mentally?”
“I feel fine. I feel like I shouldn’t feel as fine as I do, but I think I still have a lot of adrenaline pumping and a lot on my mind. I haven’t really processed everything that has happened.”
“Are you up for a little discussion?” Draco asked his daughter.
“Yeah, I’m up for it.” Hermione and Lyra walked over and sat down next to Draco.
“How are you feeling about finding out about me?” Draco jumped right in. “Abby told us that you were figuring it out before all this happened.”
“I was really shocked at first. I had only heard small bits about you from all the Aunts and Uncles. Mom would change the subject whenever someone brought you up. That was always suspicious. After I became friends with Abby, Damion, Lori, and of course Percy, I started to learn more about you. But whenever Pansy or Blaise or Daphne, even Millicent, they all changed the subject or they didn’t mention you by name. Perseus was telling me about how you were head boy and I got curious. I was at Percy’s house maybe like two weeks before I got captured and Theo and Blaise were really drunk and they were talking about you and they told me that you dated my mom. It was more of an assumption that you were my father instead of me knowing you were.”
“Why didn’t you ask me about it?” Hermione was nervous to ask. She would not have even known what to say.
“I figured that when you were ready to tell me about him, you would. You always got uncomfortable when I asked about my father and I figured there was a good reason for that. I didn’t want to push you to talk about something you weren’t ready to talk about.” Hermione reached out and took her daughter’s hand.
“I got so lucky with you. I love you.”
“I love you too, mom.” Hermione leaned in to hug Lyra but a knock at the door interrupted them.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but someone is here for you.” Katie opened the door. Hermione and Draco stood as a familiar blonde walked through the door.
“Hello.” She spoke.
“Astoria?”