Chapter 5
Luna entered the hospital room, hoping to see the person for whom she was looking. Her grey eyes widened in joy and she immediately went to Narcissa’s side, hugging the woman, which startled the Malfoy matriarch quite badly. “Miss Lovegood? May I help you?” she murmured into the blonde teen’s ear as her arms reflexively wound around the lithe figure.
“I’m here to help you,” she whispered quietly. “I’m sure that the headmaster has had this room bugged so all conversations can be heard. If you could put up a privacy ward...” Once the ward was erected, Lovegood stepped away from the woman and transfigured a chair from a feather that was in her hair. She sat and stared at Draco’s mum for a long few moments, making the other woman exceedingly uncomfortable. “I have a surprise for you,” she murmured. “I promised Harry that I would give it to you when the war was over.”
“A gift from Harry?” Narcissa murmured, trying hard not to break her pureblood Slytherin mask.
“Yes,” Luna replied with a small smile. “Right now it’s being kept at Longbottom Manor. Neville and I will be waiting for you there.” Message delivered, Luna departed from the hospital room, breaking the protective ward and leaving a shocked mother-in-law staring at her comatose son-in-law.
“What have you done, Harry?” she murmured quietly, ever mindful of potential eavesdropping spells.
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The Malfoys were led into a small salon where they were bade to sit whilst the house elf fetched the Lord and Lady of the manor. The pair perched on a small loveseat, hands wringing nervously in laps as they waited. “What do you think it is?” Narcissa asked Lucius quietly.
“I am not sure,” the head of House Malfoy replied equally quietly. “Knowing Harry as we do, it is bound to be something astonishing.” Any further conversation was halted when Luna and Neville entered the salon, each holding the hand of a boy about a year old. The child in Luna’s grasp had silvery blond hair and dove grey eyes. His nose and chin looked very much like Draco’s, whilst the shape of the lips and eyes was all Harry. Neville’s charge had coal black hair in riotous curls atop the boy’s head and emerald green orbs. The shape of the eyes and lips resembled Draco, whilst the nose and chin were definitely of Potter origin.
“I would like to introduce you to Caelum Auriga Potter-Malfoy,” Neville said, indicating the child Luna was guiding, “ and Cygnus Ophiuchus Potter-Malfoy,” he continued, gesturing to the child that he had. “They are your grandchildren and were left in our care just after birth. We were told to introduce them to you and hand them over when the war finally ended. With all that had happened since, it wasn’t safe for you to know of them until things had settled with the Weasels and beaver.”
Narcissa leaned forward, arms open wide, and Caelum charged into his grandmum’s arms, sniffling loudly. Cygnus was a bit more sedate as he walked up to his granddad and sat in the man’s lap, cuddling into him and heaving a shuddering sigh. “How…?” Lucius asked, eyes wide with shock.
“Harry and Draco came to us in August of 1997 to tell us that Draco was pregnant,” Luna told them, smiling mistily at the children as they cuddled into their grandparents. "By their calculations, the conception was around the middle of July. They didn’t really want anyone to know about it, so we worked very hard to keep that fact hidden from the rest of the wizarding world. When we returned to school that September, we all realized that keeping such a monumental secret would be more difficult than anyone realized.
“Glamour charms were all well and good, but anyone could fling a spell at your son and dispel the glamour. Harry decided to tie the disguise spell into Draco’s heir ring, which he never took off. It provided a good deal of protection, and Professor Snape fielded any intrusive questions when your son had to skip some classes on occasion because of morning sickness.”
“When he got too far along for the charms to be effective,” Neville picked up the narrative, “we asked my Gran if she would look after him until after the babies were born. We all discovered your sons were going to have twins during one of his wellness checks. It broke Draco’s heart when he had to return to school without his children, and Harry was beside himself with grief at the thought of not being able to tend to his boys. They both understood that the twins would be in great danger should anyone from the school find out about them. Those last few weeks before the summer holiday were some of the hardest we’d ever lived through.”
“Both Harry and Draco made sure that your grandsons would know of you, and be able to recognize you when you finally met. When they knew that you were coming, they were so excited, and sad at the same time because their dads weren't going to be with you. The twins were born on April 6, 1998, little more than a year before Harry slipped into his coma,” Luna told the grandparents sadly. She pulled custody papers from her robe pocket and handed them over. “Both Harry and Draco made sure to make a living will, in case one or both of them perished in the final battle. Their attorney is solicitor Ben Stone, from Dodge E. and Dodge E. R., Attorneys at Law, where solicitor Stone is a partner. If you have any questions, their contact information is on the custody papers.”
“Thank you,” Narcissa whispered, voice thick with unshed tears.
“Yes,” Lucius added, his own voice trembling with suppressed emotion, “thank you. We will never be able to repay you for the kindness you’ve shown us.”
“You both are family,” Neville said with a smile. “Harry loved you desperately, and since he was part of our family, that makes you family as well.”
“If I may ask,” Narcissa finally said after a short time, her eyes on her grandson who had yet to let her go, “where’s Augusta? Usually she would accompany you to meet with visitors.”
“Unfortunately, Gran had a massive heart attack shortly after the final battle,” Luna told them sadly. “Neville had convinced Augusta to take Harry in as Brother of the Line which meant, for all intents and purposes, Harry was part of the family. When my best friend lapsed into that coma, the overwhelming pain and betrayal he felt flooded the links to Lady Longbottom and Neville. My husband had shielded his side of the bond to protect himself, fearing that Harry might not survive the battle. Gran, however, didn’t expect anything but a mild discomfort. It’s obvious that Harry took the bond between the Longbottoms and he very seriously, and the backlash of the coma caused too much stress on Augusta’s heart, and she died of a devastating coronary.”
“I’m sorry for your loss, Lord Longbottom,” Lucius said as he stood, gently displacing his grandson from his lap. The blond bowed deeply and intoned, “If there is ever anything the Malfoy family can do for you, ask and it will be granted if it is within my power. I invoke the godfather/godmother bond between my grandsons Caelum Auriga Potter-Malfoy and Cygnus Ophiuchus Potter-Malfoy, and Neville Franklin Longbottom and Luna Lorelei Longbottom. On my magic I so wish it.” A flare of bright emerald fire linked the two adults and two children together, solidifying the Longbottoms’ honored place in the lives of the Potter-Malfoy children.
“Thank you, Lord Malfoy,” Neville said as he also stood and bowed deeply. “We accept the honor you have bestowed upon us and pledge to protect your grandchildren with our lives, if necessary. So mote it be.” Ruby flames erupted from the vow and encompassed the Malfoys and their grandchildren, sealing the godparent bond permanently.
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“We need to somehow get control over Harry’s vaults and properties,” Hermione said. They were meeting in the Burrow to try and keep others from finding out that they were never on the Boy Who Lived’s side. With the bushy haired know-it-all were Molly, Ron and Ginny. Conspicuously absent were Bill, Charlie and the twins, who had found out what their siblings and the beaver had done and were doing, and had disowned themselves from the family. The twins were offered sanctuary and a family name by Neville, who discovered them hiding in one of his greenhouses. After they had filled him in on what the Weasleys were really about, he instantly brought them into his family as brothers. Charlie had approached the surviving Mulciber family located in Italy and was instantly welcomed into the fold, since Athena Mulciber had married into the Weasley clan several generations ago. He became Charles Wilmont Mulciber; Bill Weasley was sitting in a holding cell at the Ministry, awaiting judgment for his attempts to defraud Harry James Potter-Malfoy. Arthur was in a cell beside him on the same charges.
“How?” Molly barked. “Minerva McGonagall is the executrix of Potter’s will, and she’s no pushover. We’ll need to figure out...” her words were interrupted when a large Eurasian eagle owl flew into the hovel through an open window. It landed in front of Ron and his eyes widened as he noted the Ministry seal on the scroll gripped in one claw. Taking it gently from the creature, the bird took flight and soared back outside and into the sky. “What is it, Ronald?” his mother asked nervously. He cracked the seal and scanned the contents, brow furrowed.
“It’s a summons from the Ministry,” he said distractedly as he continued to read. “It’s requesting our presence at the will reading of Harry James Potter-Malfoy.” He looked at the rest of the people around the table in confusion. “Would Harry actually leave us anything?”
“It’s possible,” Hermione said cautiously. “After all, your mother and father were as good as parents for him during his years at Hogwarts. Perhaps he remembered all of you for that.” Just then, another eagle owl flew into the Burrow, rudely dropping its scroll on the top of Hermione’s head and leaving a bit of bird poo as an extra added bonus before sailing out the window and into the great wide open. Scowling angrily, she pulled the rolled up parchment from her head, fingers brushing across the wet, slimy goop that the bird had deposited, which caused her to shriek in rage. Ginny quickly banished the mess whilst Ron attempted to calm his girlfriend down.
Huffing angrily, she popped the wax seal so hard that she tore the parchment, unrolling it with quick, forceful moves that only made the hole in the paper widen before her cinnamon eyes scanned the words on the page. “Huh,” she murmured, ire forgotten in the words that she’d read. “I’m to appear at the will reading, too. Maybe we didn’t mess up as badly as we thought.”
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“We are here to read the last will and testament of Harry James Potter-Malfoy,” Ben Stone intoned solemnly. As well as the Weasleys and Granger, Neville and Luna Longbottom were there, along with the Malfoys, Fred and George Longbottom and Charlie Mulciber. Even Albus Dumbledore was there, which caused a bit of confusion amongst the non-Weasley members. The Weasleys scowled at the children who had abandoned their family, betrayal written all over their faces. A throat clearing had everyone turning their attentions to the law wizard in front of the room. “Mr. Potter-Malfoy has requested that I play a memory, as it contains all of the estate consignments.” He emptied a vial of memory into the pensieve and tapped it, the spell creating the image of Harry as he sat before a mirror to record his will.
“I, Harry James Potter-Malfoy, being of very sound mind and body, do hereby state that this is my last will and testament. I have a great many things to say, and I’m quite sure that a lot of you won’t want to hear it. Too bad. First off, I’d like to say that I slipped your leash in my fourth year, old man. When you made me participate in the Triwizard Tournament, you, the Ministry and all of wizarding Great Britain acknowledged me as an of-age wizard. The acknowledgment by foreign dignitaries only solidified the claim. From the moment I was forced to compete, you emancipated me and made me an adult wizard in the eyes of magical law. With that adulthood came a clarity of mind that, up until then I hadn’t had. I spoke with Severus during one of my down times, and he did some blood work on me which showed that a variety of loyalty and obedience potions had been in my system. The emancipation magic cleared them most of the way; I had to work the residual magic out on my own. Fasten your seat belts, ladies and gentlemen. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.”