The Wonders of Family

o.O.o

The Wonders of Family

o.O.o

"Grab my hand!" The girl with the wild curly hair shouted to a second girl with long blonde hair.

"Give us the child and we will let you live!" The one man yelled, but the manical laughter of another said otherwise.

The second girl put in a burst of speed and caught the first girl's hand. 'Somewhere safe,' the first girl thought while holding onto her wand, a delicate bundle, and the second girl's hand. With a loud Pop they were gone.

"Stupid Mudblood!" The woman shouted to the empty air the two girl's left behind, then left with her own angry Pop.

"Stupid woman," the first man muttered. "I've picked up a trace!" And with his own Pop, he was gone, followed closely by a second man with long white-blond hair tied back with a black leather string.

o.O.o

Pop!

"What was that?" A young man with dark brown hair raised his voice before racing to the foyer of their home with his older brother and mother.

"Hermione where are we?" The girl with blonde hair yelled.

"I don't know Luna! I just thought 'somewhere safe', and the next thing I know we are here!" Hermione shouted and started rocking the crying bundle in her arms.

"Who are you?" The young man demanded.

"You brought us to a muggle's home!" Luna grabbed Hermione's shoulder and shouted at her, upsetting the crying bundle even more.

"Muggle?" The woman asked, her hands held up in a defensive stance while she determined if these two young women were threats or not.

Pop!

"Filthy mudblood!" The new intruder shouted. "Thought you can escape from me! Give me the baby! My master has plans for him!" His twisted smile turned the girls' insides the wrong way.

"Never Dolohov!" Hermione's voice rose as brandished her wand in the the wizard's face. "Expelliarmus!" She shouted, but Dolohov blocked the spell.

"Stupid mudblood! Avada Kedavra!" A green light shot out of Dolohov's wand. Hermione cradled the bundle while throwing herself to the floor just before the green light shot past where she previously stood and hit a vase, shattering it.

"That was my favourite vase!" The woman yelled, then froze the man. "Who are you?!" The woman demanded of the two girls that were currently trespassing in her family home. Clearly they were in trouble but they could still turn out to be threats to her family.

"We are terribly sor-" Pop! Hermione was interrupted by the man with long white-blond hair apparating into the room.

"Hermione give me Mister Potter," the man said quietly, pointing to the crying bundle and ignoring the frozen man next to him.

"I did not give you permission to address me so informally Mister Malfoy," Hermione sneered at the smirking blond. Mister Malfoy's smile was feral.

"Oh, but I do have a right to address you as such...Hermione," he purred, putting emphasis on her name. Hermione bristled with his words but kept her wand trained on him. Malfoy held his wand out to his side, muttered a spell, and a parchment unrolled from the tip. "I have every right to address my wife by her given name." Hermione paled considerably and stumbled, but caught herself before she could faint from shock.

"You are a liar Lucius Malfoy," she whispered. "Expelliarmus!" Malfoy's wand left his hand and shot into her own. She pointed her wand at the frozen Dolohov. "Reducto!" The frozen man shattered into a thousand pieces.

"Great," the woman of the house muttered, weary of the intruders. "More mess to clean."

"Scourgify!" Hermione said, taking a little pity on the owner's home in which they were currently intruding. Dolohov's remains were vanished into the unknown. Hermione composed herself. "I have never, nor will I ever sign a marriage contract and commit myself to the likes of you!" Hermione sneered. "I would rather suffer the Cruciatus curse a thousand times over before I become a Death Eater's wife!" She hissed, raising her voice with every word. Mister Malfoy chuckled.

"I did not need your signature silly girl," he gave her a sickly sweet smile. "Just your blood," his sick smile grew bigger, "...your virgin blood." Hermione let out a sob and dropped to her knees holding the baby to her chest.

"You sick bastard!" Luna exclaimed, her wand now trained on the Death Eater before her. "Stupify!" Lucius Malfoy's arms shot to his sides and he fell to the floor with a sickening thud. "Hermione!" Luna ran to her side and held her in her arms.

"Piper I'm-" the man stopped short, taking in the scene before him. "What's going on here?"

"That's what we'd all like to know," the woman, Piper, said agitatedly.

"I am very sorry ma'am," Hermione spoke up as she wiped her tears with the back of her hand. "It is probably highly unusual and very uncomfortable for strangers to be popping into your home unexpected. We will repair your damaged vase and leave." Hermione pointed her wand at the broken vase, "Repairo!" The vase mended and replaced itself on the side table.

"You are not leaving without an explanation first," Piper said in a stern voice and wondered what in the world was happening. What kind of magic were these people using?

"We will try to explain but we may not be able to answer every question you may have," Hermione said. Luna helped her up and Hermione continued rocking the upset baby. "Tie him up before the spell wears off," Hermione lightly ordered Luna. Luna flicked her wrist and ropes shot out of her wand bounding Mister Malfoy.

"My name is Hermione Granger," Hermione started as the woman and three men loosened their defensive stances but still held the tension in their muscles. "This is Luna Lovegood. We were...are running from a group of people who call themselves Death Eaters. They want this baby," Hermione motioned to the delicate bundle she was cradling with her free arm, "Harry Potter."

"Why do they want the child?" The older man spoke up looking concerned.

"To kill him," Hermione spoke quietly, looking straight into his eyes.

Piper's breath caught, "Why?" She demanded. "Why take an innocent child's life?!"

"I cannot answer you without telling half-truths," Hermione said. "As it is we have already broken too many laws during this past hour that will surely catch the attention of the Ministry, and the Ministry, as of yesterday, has become corrupted. I am sorry that this is all we can say. All I can say next is we needed some place safe to escape to and we somehow ended up here in your home."

"Can you at least tell us what those sticks are?" Asked the young man with dark blond hair.

"Wands," was Hermione's cryptic answer. All of a sudden the wands shot out of Hermione's hand and into the hand of one Lucius Malfoy.

"Tut tut tut, Hermione," the wizard drawled. "Do keep talking. I think the Ministry will be interested in hearing about how The Hermione Granger spilled all our secrets to muggles," he spat, looking disdainfully at the four 'muggles'. "I cannot have my wife on the wrong side of the law." A silent spell left Hermione wandlessly but was blocked by Malfoy. "That is no way to treat your child's father!" He said coldly.

"What child?" Hermione asked just as coldly, her eyes as steely as his ice grey eyes. "I would rather use the Killing curse on myself than bear your children!"

Lucius Malfoy gave her a cold smile, "Than by all means Mrs. Malfoy."

"What are you on about?" Hermione demanded and shot another silent spell at Malfoy which he, again, blocked. "I am not your wife! Luna I thought you bound him!"

Mister Malfoy chuckled, "You think those silly ropes can hold a wizard as powerful as I am? I thought you were the brightest witch of your age Mrs. Malfoy."

"I am not your wife! I will never have your children! Even Draco loathes to call you father," Hermione gave him a cold smile of her own. The blond wizard's cheeks turned a pale pink in anger, his face cold as his iced eyes. A purple jet of light shot out of his wand but Hermione dodged it.

"Never. Speak. Of. Him. Again." He said coldly. Then he smiled his sickly sweet smile. "I do so enjoy being the bearer of good news love," he smiled knowingly but mockingly, "you will and are going to be the mother of the next Malfoy heir." His smile turned feral and cold. "Tell me love, have you been missing something lately? Perhaps a certain womanly gift?"

Hermione paled and stumbled backward, "Liar!" She whispered as her world spun before her, turning black.

"Mione!" Luna called and caught the baby just before Hermione crumpled to the floor.

"Give me Mister Potter," Malfoy demanded of Luna as she carefully cradled the infant.

"You really should take care of that nargle infestation Mister Malfoy," Luna answered him in her airy tone.

"I have not the time for your eccentricities Miss Lovegood, now give me the baby!" He demanded as he advanced on her but then froze mid-step.

"That is odd," Luna's brows scrunched. "He froze like Dolohov did," she said to herself and to everyone. "I thought Hermione invented a new spell to freeze people but she couldn't have frozen Mister Malfoy because she is unconscious," Luna contemplated in her dreamy tone. "That means one of you has a wand...or you all do," she said to the three men and Piper. "Do you mind if I borrow your sofa for Hermione?" Luna asked the young, dark-haired man who was cradling Hermione's head in his lap on the floor.

"Uh, no. Not at all?" he asked more than stated.

"Mobilicorpus!" Luna said and floated the unconscious Hermione onto a sofa and laid the whimpering baby next to her. Everyone followed in amazement at this new brand of magic different from their own.

"So you are witches," Piper stated.

"Yes," Luna smiled, "and so are you. Hermione is just not as...observant as I am. You all are curious about our wands."

"Yes," Piper said hesitantly. Everyone watched as Luna walked up to the frozen man.

"Will he become unfrozen if I take his wand away?" Luna inquired softly.

"No," Piper answered slowly and Luna plucked Lucius and Hermione's wands from his frozen hands.

"Oily, mucky and feels like I am walking in a dark corridor feeling helpless," Luna said, observing and feeling the wizard's magic contained in his wand. "There is little help for you Mister Malfoy," she said to the frozen blond. "But I said little. Everyone has a weakness. Someday you will see the light." The conscious occupants of the room looked at Luna with an interested eye.

"Since you all already know magic everything will be easier to explain," Luna smiled. "Hermione was always better at telling a story than me." She walked over to Hermione, "Rennervate!" Hermione opened her eyes, and sobbed.

"Luna!" She grabbed onto the blonde girl crying into her shoulder.

"Hermione," Luna said as if in greeting, but held her as she rubbed small circles into her back in comfort. "These wizards and witch would like a full explanation Mione. Also, I have a feeling we are not in England any more. Have you noticed they have an American accent?" Hermione quickly dried her eyes.

"Sorry about that," she apologised for her small breakdown. Luna handed the distraught witch the wands.

"Sweetie, after all we gathered from what's going on you have every right to break down right now," Piper reassured the girl. "We didn't introduce ourselves. This is Leo, my husband, Wyatt and Chris Halliwell, my sons, and I am Piper Halliwell."

"I did not expect you to introduce yourselves," Hermione blushed from embarrassment. "We were, after all, the ones to barge into your home and turn it upside down. I really am very sorry about that," Hermione apologised again. "I believe we owe you a story, and seeing as you are all wizards and a witch I can tell the full truth."

"Witches," Piper corrected.

"Pardon?" Hermione asked.

"My family. We are all witches," Piper tried to explain. Hermione looked confused for a moment.

"We aren't in England are we? Apparating across continents is nigh impossible," she contemplated the occurance. Chris and Wyatt chuckled.

"Welcome to The United States," Chris smiled. Hermione paled again.

"How can this be?" She asked herself aloud.

"Is magic not mysterious and wonderful?" Luna asked in her dreamy tone. Everyone silently agreed. "I believe we owe them a story Mione."

"Ah, yes, but first...do you fancy this throw pillow?" Hermione asked Piper.

"Uh, not really?" Piper asked more than stated her answer. Hermione used her wand to transfigure it into rope, then pulled out her purple beaded bag and accio-ed a small wooden doll's chair. She walked over to Lucius Malfoy and enlarged the chair.

"If we move him he will unfreeze?" She asked the older witch.

"Yes," Piper said. "He will most likely unfreeze any moment now."

"I need to tie him with his palms bound face down in the wooden hand rests of the chair so he cannot use wandless magic," Hermione said as she looked thoughtfully up at the cold look frozen on the wizard's face.

"We'll take care of that," Wyatt offered, taking the rope from Hermione. Leo and Chris helped Wyatt tie Malfoy's legs to the chair first, then they pushed him down into the seat and struggled with the man as they bound him with his palms face down in the wooden hand rests. Everyone made themselves comfortable in the Halliwell's living area. Hermione silenced a struggling Mister Malfoy with an evil smirk.

"Well," Hermione said clearing her throat. "Shall I start from the very beginning or the beginning of our little adventure?"

"The beginning is always the best place to start," Luna answered in her dreamy tone. "For now it might be best to start with Harry's accident." Hermione gave a slight nod her head in agreement.

"It was a potions accident," Hermione began. "Harry was brewing a healing potion in our tent and accidentally knocked over a shelf of ingredients. Baby Harry was laying in the middle of big Harry's clothes. Now from the beginning...There is a dark wizard who calls himself Lord Vol-"

"Do not say his name!" The now unsilenced blond wizard hissed.

"I will s-"

"How do you think you were found Hermione?" Malfoy questioned. Hermione bristled at him addressing her informally. "Unknown to your precious Phoenix Order, the Dark Lord has put a trace on his name. Do use your head Mrs. Malfoy," he smirked as he taunted her and the Order.

"Silencio!" Hermione hissed, then walked over to his chair and grabbed his ear. "Do not address me as Mrs. Malfoy!" She hissed in his pained face as she tugged on his ear. "As I was saying...well now I cannot speak his name," she said, pacing thoughtfully in front of the silent wizard as he glared.

"This dark wizard is known as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named or You-Know-Who. Witches and wizards are too scared to speak his actual name. Now they have a reason to fear it. The Death Eaters, the dark wizard's followers, call him the Dark Lord and grovel before him," she said as she gave Mister Malfoy a disapproving look.

"I will call this dark wizard old Voldy henceforth," Hermione smirked and Luna chuckled. "The reason his name strikes fear in the hearts of people everywhere is because of his ruthless nature in killing anyone. His favourite kill is muggles."

"Excuse me, but what are muggles?" Chris asked.

"Non-magical humans," Hermione answered. "Old Voldy's next favourite kill are muggle-borns, magical humans born from the non-magical. His followers are misguided half-bloods and most purebloods." Hermione stopped pacing and stood over Lucius Malfoy and smirked.

"Did you know Lucius," she emphasized his name, "that your precious Dark Lord," she spat, "is a half-blood himself? All his talk about purifying magic and he is a mere half-blood." She smiled at the wizard's stunned face which he quickly covered with an impassive mask. "I take it you did not."

"Pathetic don't you think?" Hermione started pacing again. "When Harry was just a little over a year old there was a prophecy made which basically states that 'neither can live while the other survives, the child that would defeat the Dark Lord would be born as the seventh month dies'," Hermione quoted. "There were two children born at that time...a pureblood and Harry, a half-blood. According to the purebloods they are the most powerful magical humans, mudbloods are next to squibs, not powerful at all...yet that night when Voldy marked one of the babes as his equal he did not go after the pureblood child, he went after Harry, a half-blood like himself.

"That night Harry lost his parents to Volde- excuse me, old Voldy, and would have died himself but the curse, somehow, rebounded and killed Voldy, leaving Harry with his scar. He is the only known person to survive the Killing curse."

"What is this killing curse?" Chris asked.

"It is an Unforgivable," Hermione answered gravely. "There are three Unforgivable curses: the Imperius curse, the Cruciatus curse, and the Killing curse."

"What do they do? We obviously get what the killing curse does, but what do the other two do? How do the curses work?" Piper asked.

"You have a rat in your home," Hermione said as she sensed a different presence.

"Yes, that bugger keeps evading our traps. I'm beginning to think it's a demon spy," Piper said in a distasteful tone. Hermione took a tissue out of her pocket and transfigured it into a cage.

"Allow me?" She asked.

"Gladly," Piper said, wondering how her magic would work against a demon.

"Accio rat!" Hermione said, nothing happened. "Accio demon rat!" The rat flew into her hand and Hermione quickly shoved it into the cage and stunned it. "Well now you know it is a demon spy."

"Why hasn't he shimmered out?" Chris asked.

"I stunned him," Hermione answered simply. "I take it demons are the bad guys around here?" She asked. The Halliwell family nodded. "Well, then I will not feel guilty about doing this...Imperio!" The rat awakened.

Hermione made it run in circles and do impossible flips in the cage, then it started twitching, she stunned it again. "The Imperius curse has a person do anything against their will that the caster wishes. Even using the Killing curse. But to use an Unforgivable the caster has to have enough hate in them be able to use the curses properly."

"I was able to use the Imperius curse only for those few seconds because I do not have enough hate in me to use it as long as the Death Eaters use it, which is why the rat started twitching. He was beginning to gain enough of his free will back to break my curse. When the Death Eaters use it, it can last for days or weeks on a person before they start to gain their free will back and fight the Imperius."

"So the Imperius curse takes away free will," Wyatt stated.

"Yes," Hermione said. "Unforgivable," she said quietly. "Now the Cruciatus curse makes one feel like thousands of white-hot knives are slicing your veins, like your blood is on fire," she looked at the family with a pained look. "I cannot cast this curse, I have learned that the painful way."

"Allow me," Mister Malfoy, now unsilenced, said.

"Why would I do that?" Hermione asked sardonically. Malfoy rolled his eyes.

"If I wanted to harm anyone in this room I would have done so before you tied me to this chair," he answered.

"You threw a dark curse at me!" Hermione almost yelled.

"It was only a spell that would make you pass out," Lucius said stiffly. "I would not harm you or my child."

"Like hell!" Hermione yelled, grasping tighter to her wand.

"I trust him to do this," Luna stated airily. Hermione looked over at the blonde girl incredulously. "They should know how these curses work Hermione."

Hermione unwillingly and hesitantly placed Lucius's wand in his bound hand, and floated the cage before him. "Everyone stand to a side I do not want the curse to miss," she ordered.

"If I did not have a restricted aim I would not miss," he said bitterly.

"Live with it," Hermione snapped.

"Crucio!" Lucius said cruelly in answer to her tone and the stunned rat squealed in pain. Everyone stared in horror as the rat squealed in what sounded like excruciating pain.

"If I didn't know that was a demon I would freeze the blond," Piper whispered in shock at what they were witnessing.

"This is the Cruciatus curse," Hermione said in a quiet voice.

"It can make a person loose their mind the longer they are under the curse. If the caster is particularly cruel they will use it countless times only letting go of the curse just before the person goes insane, but eventually the person will go insane from the curse being used countless times on them," Lucius said as he released the curse from the squealing rat, who laid still, but was panting.

"Avada Kedavra!" He said cruelly and the green jet of light shot straight into the still panting rat. It let out a half squeal before its life left its body. The Halliwells stared in disbelief and shock at the dead lifeless body of the rat.

"That is what strikes fear into the hearts of those who are enemies of Voldy," Hermione's whisper carried around the silent room.

"Hermione," Lucius called her attention. "I promise to protect you and our child with my life. I swear to you on my magic." He and Hermione glowed a golden colour binding him to his oath. He gave her a sad look and with a Pop he was gone, leaving behind an empty chair and ropes.

"Crap! I knew it!" Hermione yelled. "I should have listened to my instincts," she muttered as she ran her fingers through her already wild curly hair. A habit she picked up from Harry.

"He made an oath to you Hermione, you can trust him," Luna said. "If he breaks his oath he loses his magic, and his life." Hermione was stunned with Luna's words.

"B-but he hates me...I'm nothing but filth to him. A mudblood," she said incredulously.

"Even a pureblood like Lucius can appreciate a powerful witch such as yourself Mione," Luna said. "I don't want to hear you call yourself a mudblood again," she said in a stern tone. "Now continue the story."

"We have to get to a safe house Luna," Hermione said hurriedly, getting her bearings back. "He can be back any minute with reinforcements!" The Halliwells stiffened at her words.

"He will not Mione," Luna said definitely. "He swore on his magic to protect you now finish the story."

"Lun-"

"Finish!"

"Fine!" Hermione snapped at the calm blonde. "The Dark Lord stole Harry's blood. His bloody servant raised him from the grave and his Death Eaters started attacking innocent people again. Harry, Ron, and me had to go on the run to find his horcruxes. Ron left us and joined the Death Eaters, now there is only one horcrux left before Harry can defeat stupid Voldy but the dumb git de-aged himself. The snatchers found us in the tent right when it happened and took us to Malfoy Manor where I had this," she shoved her wrist with 'MUDBLOOD' carved into her pale skin, into their faces, "carved into my skin by Bellatrix Lestrange," she spat the woman's name.

"Dobby helped us escape but also unwittingly released the knowledge that Harry is now an infant. The Death Eaters tracked Luna, Harry, and me two months later and now we are here." Hermione collapsed into an arm chair as she caught her breath, crushing the parchment of her marriage contract. Crying, she started tearing it up but found it kept repairing itself.

"If you can tear the contract up into a thousand pieces with one tear, without the use of magic or muggle means, the contract will be void," Luna said conversationally.

"That's impossible!" Hermione cried.

"No it's not. Narcissa Malfoy did it," Luna said in a felicitous tone.

"She killed herself," Hermione said sadly.

"Draco helped her," Luna smiled.

"He helped her kill herself?!" Hermione almost yelled.

"Don't be daft Hermione," Luna answered in her dreamy tone. "He helped her void the contract." The Halliwells hid their smiles. The cry of a baby filled the room and Hermione left her seat to soothe him.

"I have to hide Harry's scar," Hermione said thoughtfully, "and brew an ageing potion. It's time to end this war. We have already lost too many people," she finished sadly. "Thank you for..." she paused, "allowing us to intrude in your home, but we should be leaving now."

"Where will you go?" Piper asked, feeling her mothering instincts kick in for these young people.

"My family has a summer home here in the States," Hermione answered. Leo, Piper, Wyatt, and Chris shared a look then nodded to each other in understanding.

"We can't let you go," Chris said in a definite tone.

"Pardon?" Hermione asked, her hand tightening around her wand, just in case.

"You appeared in our home, out of nowhere, in a way we thought at first was demonic. You are obviously not demonic, but magical, plus you're both bleeding, demons don't bleed. Tell me what you were thinking just before you came here," Piper said.

"I-I was thinking we need to be somewhere safe, and then we just apparated before I could think of a destination. It’s never happened before, at least to me," Hermione said thoughtfully.

"Well you needed a safe place to appear and here you are. We can keep you safe," Wyatt smiled.

"Thank you very much for the offer but we cannot put your family in any more danger. Have you not seen the news? Our faces are plastered all over it, even here in the States," Hermione pointed out. "I am wanted in England, supposedly armed and highly dangerous."

"Just slap the Dark Mark on her and make her a Death Eater," A new voice chuckled. The Halliwells took up fighting positions.

o.O.o