An Unexpected Turn of Events

Two years prior…before Hermione awoke from her coma…

“What do you mean you can’t lock Ron Weasley up?” Harry was furious. He stood in the office of the Chief of the Magical Law Enforcement Office. Harry was disheveled and looked as though he had not slept in days and it was true. After Draco Malfoy had called him talking about how he had found Hermione’s body in his trash incinerator, Harry had spent every night on the phone trying to hunt down a way to send Ron to Azkaban. Even though Ron was his best friend, the day Hermione had come to his house beaten, he had vowed that it was the end of their friendship.

Ron had become a different person. After he and Hermione had gotten married, everything seemed to be fine. She worked in the Wizengamot as a judge and he had joined Harry in the Auror business. The young couple seemed to be doing amazingly well. He had even asked Ron to be his best man at Ginny and his wedding. Hermione and Ron had stood in the chapel and watched them take their vows. They seemed so very in love. What had changed?

As time went on, Ron and Hermione stopped coming to the holiday dinners at the Burrow. When Harry asked Ron about it, he seemed to get very defensive. Soon, he found out that Hermione had quit the Wizengamot and was now staying at home full time. He and Ginny had gone by to visit them one day to hear them arguing about children and wanting children. They had decided it was better that they not interrupt. This was probably a conversation they should be having as a couple and it would be rude to interfere with them.

After a while, Ron quit the Auror department and went to work as an investigator for the Magical Law Enforcement. Harry and Ron had lost all contact and Hermione had stopped replying to their owls. Ginny and Harry started to think that maybe there was something wrong. But one day when they saw Hermione in Diagon Alley, she assured them everything was fine and that she was expecting. Everyone was thrilled. They later found out that she lost the baby. Assuming that was why she was so withdrawn, they lost all contact.

Until now. Harry paced back and forth and glared at the chief. All he could do was sigh.

“Now, explain to me one more time why you can’t investigate Ron? He attempted to kill his wife!! She is lying in a coma at St. Mungo’s. SHE TOLD ME THAT HE HAD BEEN BEATING HER!!! WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED!?”

“Potter, listen. I know you’re frustrated, but there is no proof that it was attempted murder. No one documented the bruises that you claim she had and everything seemed consistent with a possible splinched apparition. Everything the doctors found could be from a number of horrible things. Plus, she has never come into the hospital with anything suspicious and when she lost the baby she said it was because she fell down the stairs. The injuries were consistent with that story. So why should we expect that one of our own would be abusive to his wife?” The chief asked.

“BECAUSE SHE TOLD ME TO MY FACE THAT SHE HAD BEEN BEATED!! SHE WAS KICKED OUT OF HER OWN HOUSE FOR CHRIST’S SAKE. DOESN’T THAT ACCOUNT FOR ANYTHING?” Harry ran his fingers through his hair and collapsed into a chair. The chief rubbed his temples realizing that he wasn’t getting through to the young man.

“Harry. You are a good friend of mine. But I think you’re losing your mind. She hasn’t shown any signs of abuse other than this recent hospitalization, she has never claimed to be abused, and there is nothing about Ron to make us suspect he is abusive to her.” The chief tried to make a point and silenced Harry before he could make a comment on that fact. “Why don’t you think about this? Ron threw her out of the house. Don’t you think she might be making up this abuse story to get him back for that?”

“He threw her out of the house. Shouldn’t he be punished for that?” Harry yelled. The chief shook his head.

“If it were up to me, I would certainly agree with you. But there is no law anywhere that states it is illegal to throw your spouse out of the house. The building is in his name and all the assets that go with it are in his name! There is nothing we can charge him with.”

“What about…” But the chief interrupted Harry again.

“…And it is not illegal to cheat on your wife either!” Harry closed his mouth. The chief was frustrated. “It isn’t illegal. Granted it is a fabulous cause for divorce and a horrible thing to do to another human being, but again, nothing we can charge him with.” Everything was beyond Harry’s control and for the first time Harry felt helpless.

This was his best friend. His best friend and a girl he had considered he might have been attracted to at one point. Sure the children were ok, but she was trapped in a coma and was not coming back. His world was coming down around him and it was driving him insane. Harry gritted his teeth and kicked a thick hole in the wall. They observed the action.

“Feel better?” The chief asked in reference to the masculine unmagical action. Harry turned and faced him.

“Fuck no. I want some justice. She could have died! I want Ron locked up in Azkaban for the rest of his miserable life!” Harry yelled at the top of his lungs and was completely unaware that Ron had walked in behind him.

“Really? Glad to know I can count on my best friend to send me to Hell.” Ron’s sarcastic retort forced Harry to turn his wand on him. Pointing the tip at Ron’s chest he looked at him with a fury he had never shown before.

“This isn’t over Weasley!” Harry hissed at his ex-best friend. Ron smiled an obnoxious snobby smirk.

“Oh but it is Potter.” And with that Harry stormed past Ron and slammed the door behind him. He had never expected his best friend would turn into his worst enemy. Or that his worst enemy would be the one trying to keep Hermione safe. Harry turned the corner and walked past Blaise Zabini. Harry grabbed his arm. Blaise was a well known Unspeakable and was often the one the Aurors sent out on secret spying missions. This time Harry had a special mission for him.

“Zabini. I have a massive favor to ask you. And don’t worry. I will pay you handsomely for it.” Harry leaned in and spoke to Blaise closely. The young man smirked and patted Harry on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry Potter. Drake has already asked me to follow the Weasel and get some dirt about what he did to the Mudblood. And I am not asking for any money.” Blaise started to walk away. Harry was stunned.

“Blaise!” Harry called out and the man turned. “Why did Malfoy ask you to do that?”

All Blaise did was smirk. “You aren’t very observant are you Potter? For the boy who killed the Dark Lord, you really can’t see what’s right in front of your face. No wonder it took you seven years to finish him off.” And with that Blaise turned a corner and vanished into the Department of Mysteries.

Harry was awestruck. Draco Malfoy? Concerned about Hermione? Everything in the world was backwards. Harry grabbed a handful of floo powder and jumped into a fireplace yelling St. Mungo’s.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Resume

Draco watched as Hermione slept in his lap. It had been six hours since they brought Cassie out of the surgery to mend the water damage in her lungs. After Hermione had heard the news that the little girl was going to survive to see another day, she collapsed into Draco’s arms and he had taken her to the resting room in the recovery wing. She had been exhausted with all the excitement of the day. He looked up when the door opened and Harry walked in carrying Scorpius. The little boy scrambled down and walked up to the bed and stood on his toes to look at sleeping Hermione.

“Is see ok?” Scorpius questioned and looked up to his father. Draco nodded. Scorpius smiled and ran back to Harry and crawled back into his arms.

“Is she handling things well?” Harry was nervous in his question. Draco looked down at the woman in his arms and rubbed her hair away. He bent down and kissed her cheek.

“Cassie is going to be fine. I think she is just having a hard time handling one unfortunate event after another. She is too young to be dealing with so many hardships.” Draco didn’t know whether he was talking to Harry or himself. He remembered when he learned of what Lavender and Ron had done to her.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The day Lavender came into the Hospital, but before he went in and discovered Hermione awake.

“COLLINS!!” Draco yelled as he stormed into the office of the chief of medicine. The elderly man jumped almost six feet off the chair and dropped the papers he was shifting in his hands. Several sheets scattered across the ground and he stared up at Draco in worry.

“Malfoy! What do you want?” Draco took a seat in the office chair. Everything was difficult. He didn’t know how to approach this.

“Listen. Am I allowed to call the Magical Law Enforcement if I suspect one of my patients may have been involved in the murder of another person?” The question made the chief of staff stare questioningly.

“What did your patient tell you?” Dr. Collins asked. Draco adverted his gaze and stared at the floor. He was almost afraid to tell him, but curiosity came over him.

“She told me that she had witnessed her boyfriend beat his wife to death and then participated in the disposal of the body.” Draco said, looking up and staring directly at his supervisor. The elderly man stared back and analyzed his young student. This was a tough question. According to the Magical Law, doctors must keep the information their patients tell them a secret unless they suspected rape or abuse on children. Murder had never been addressed.

“Malfoy, I don’t know what to tell you. Do you think she may be paranoid? Schizophrenic? Any other version of crazy?” He asked, but Draco shook his head.

“No, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is what I and the nurses are suspecting.”

“Do you think it may be MPD or maybe she was revealing something that she did to you?” Draco stared back at him.

“She described the abuse of my friend Hermione Granger Weasley in exact detail. Even including the disposal of her body in a trash incinerator. I think that is enough to say she either did it or was a part of it.” Draco was fuming, but he tried to hide it from his boss. He had worked too long to become a doctor to blow up at his superior.

“Draco I don’t think you are allowed to say anything. Honestly. I know that is rough to hear, but the law is clear that anything that is said with the exception of child abuse and rape needs to be kept secret unless the patient wishes to reveal it.” Draco almost kicked the wall as he went to leave, but Dr. Collin’s words stopped him.

“I suggest you talk with the patient and try and get her to talk with the Law Enforcement. Maybe they will cut her a deal if it really is her boyfriend that did it. After all, what worse could happen?”

He had a point.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Resume

POP!

Draco and Harry jumped at the sound of another person apparating into the recovery wing. They looked up in time to see Blaise Zabini hurry across the room towards them.

“You have to go to your home Malfoy.” Blaise said very matter-of-factly pulling a small travel pensive from his pocket. Draco and Harry looked into and caught sign of a very angry looking woman ransacking their home.

“SARAI!” Draco exclaimed and jumped up. The force of his movement awoke Hermione and she drew her wand and almost blasted the three of them in her panic. Draco caught her arm and tried to relax her.

“It’s ok Mione.” She looked back and forth from face to face.

“Is it Cassie? Did something happen? Is everything ok?” Hermione was panicked, but Draco assured her everything was ok with the baby.

“Don’t worry Mione. Everything is ok with Cassie.”

“Then what’s wrong?” Hermione asked alarmed.

“Some woman is going through you house looking for your children.” Blaise’s words caused both Hermione and Draco to become worried. Hermione, however, flew across the room and disapparated.

“LAVENDER!!” And with that Hermione was gone. The men followed suit and appeared back at the little beach home.

Hermione raced through the house searching frantically. She found Narcissa unconscious on the floor, but did not stop moving. She ran to the nursery full force. She was shocked at what she discovered. The woman was not Lavender Brown. It was a skinny woman with extremely dark black hair. She was taller than Hermione and was kind of evil looking. The first person she reminded Hermione of was Bellatrix Lestrange. Hermione looked at the woman and then at the crib. The crib was empty. Perseus was gone!

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE?!” Hermione screeched pointing her wand at the dark haired woman. Sarai turned around and glared at Hermione and then back at the men standing behind her.

“I CAME TO GET MY SON AND I AM NOT LEAVING WITHOUT HIM!!!” Sarai resumed digging under the bed yelling something about coming out and come here. Hermione was shocked, and that’s when she heard it.

“NO BITCH!!!!” Scorpius screamed loudly and ran out from behind the bed clutching Perseus like he was a baby doll and headed towards Hermione. Sarai was too quick. She seized Scorpius by the waist and attempted to situate him where she could disapparate.

“SARAI! PUT SCORPIUS DOWN!!” Draco yelled staring at the woman.

“THIS IS MY SON! MINE!! AND I AM TAKING HIM HOME WITH ME NOW!!” She tried to situate Scorpius, but was bitten furiously by the “baby doll” in her son’s arms. She dropped the children and Scorpius took off running toward Hermione again.

“MOMMY! MOMMY!!” Scorpius was crying and he clutched Hermione’s leg with one hand while he held Perseus with the other. Perseus was suddenly crying. Hermione didn’t break her stare at the woman.

“Get out of my house.” Hermione said softly, pointing her wand at the woman with an anger Draco and Harry had never seen before.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Three days after Hermione awoke from the coma

“Dr. Draco Malfoy?” The man standing on the porch of the Manor was the head of the Magical Investigative Unit, a man by the name of Alexyn Zucconi. Draco was confused.

“Yes. Can I help you with something?” Draco stood a full head taller than the man. He opened the door wider and looked at the Chief.

“I am here because a recent call from your house tipped us off about the attempted murder of a Mrs. Weasley?”

“Um…I don’t…someone from this house? I haven’t called…I don’t know anything about…” Draco stuttered for a moment until a soft voice interrupted his rambling.

“Son. I called the MIU.” Narcissa Malfoy came up from behind Draco and touched his shoulder softly. Draco looked down at his mother and stepped aside to allow Chief Zucconi to enter their home. Draco was temporarily stunned as he led the man to the drawing room.

“I’m sorry to be coming to your home about this, but I feel like you should know everything we found out. I don’t know if you wanted to remain anonymous, but with these circumstances…” But Narcissa interrupted him.

“No, no, no sir. We have never been a family to keep to ourselves. Now we are just hoping to work for the good. I felt it was necessary to bring up this issue. After all, my son is adopting Hermione Weasley’s children.”

“Mom. What did you say? I mean, I had my assumptions, but never any proof.”

“Mrs. Malfoy called us to say that she overheard a Ms. Lavender Brown talking about an instance where her boyfriend and she attacked a woman who fit Mrs. Weasley’s description. We looked into Ms. Brown and we have found some extremely horrible evidence against Mr. Ronald Weasley of the MLE.” Draco stared at him and smirked.

“Please. Tell us everything you know Mr. Zucconi.” And thus the story began.

“You see. After Mrs. Malfoy tipped us off about Lavender Brown, we caught her running from the hospital looking very nervous. We traced her apparition link and followed her back to the house of Mrs. Weasley. That’s when we discovered that Ms. Brown and Mr. Weasley were having a romantic affair. We knew immediately that there must be something suspicious. We went to Minister Shaklebolt and got a warrant to search Mr. Weasley’s house. We discovered the house abandoned and Ms. Brown murdered inside. Mr. Weasley was nowhere to be found and we have tried to trace his whereabouts but it seems he has left the country.

We found trace evidence of Mrs. Weasley’s blood and a letter written by Ms. Brown within her diary stating the actions that took place leading to the attack. We are assuming that Mr. Weasley discovered Ms. Brown’s visit to St. Mungo’s and murdered her out of some form of rage. That is our theory thus far.”

Draco and Narcissa were thoroughly horrified. After everything that had happened, Ron had managed to escape and get away from his punishment.

“What do we do?” Narcissa’s weak question was the blend of everything that was going on in their minds. Now that it was obvious they had been the ones to rat out Ron, they were obviously in danger.

“We suggest you take the children away as soon as possible somewhere no one will expect. Do you have a summer home or a grandparent’s house?”

“The beach home…” Draco said.

And that is how Draco, Hermione, Perseus, Cassiopeia and Narcissa ended up on the beach home in Ireland.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Resume

“Listen. Who the fuck do you think you are? That is my son and I have every right to see him and have him with me. I don’t want any trouble, so just get out of my way.” But Sarai was stopped by an invisible wall Hermione conjured.

“I don’t think you heard me properly. I said. Get the FUCK out of my house!!” Hermione hissed violently and held the young children against her leg with one arm and waved the wand with the other.

“I’m not leaving without my son.”

“You are not taking him away from me. According to records…he’s my son now. So I suggest you leave.” The statement sent Sarai into a rage.

“YOUR SON!! HE’S MY SON!! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?! THIS IS DRACO’S HOME!!! NOT YOURS!! I’M HIS WIFE!!!” Sarai beat against the invisible barrier ferociously. She tried to use her wand to conjure something to go through it, but Hermione held her magical shield firm and nothing Sarai did made it budge.

“NOT ANYMORE YOU’RE NOT.I AM!!!!”

Draco gasped. Sarai froze. Everything seemed to be at a standstill. Hermione smirked and held her gaze. She had even practiced the Malfoy smirk. She even looked like she could be Scorpius’s mother.

“You’re…his wife?” Sarai was stunned. So was Draco.

“Yes. And these are MY sons. I suggest you leave. NOW.” Hermione’s words were firm. Sarai looked at Draco with tears in her eyes.

“Draco…is this true?” All Draco could do was nod. She turned away from them for a moment. When she turned back, there was a look of pure hatred on her face. She pointed at Hermione and shouted.

“THIS ISN”T OVER MUDBLOOD!!!” The words rang inside the house. Draco smirked. Hermione smirked.

“Oh but it is Sarai.” Hermione’s words stuck in Sarai’s head as she exited the stairs, followed at wand point by Harry. Hermione smiled and looked down at the children still clutched at her side. Scorpius met her eyes and hugged her.

“Mommy.”

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

A/N: This is not just a random chapter I threw in to justify any actions. This chapter had been in the plan since page 1. I have had several people wondering why no one has been trying to protect Hermione, and this chapter is meant to clarify those worries. I’m sure some of you were wondering about Harry’s reactions and Draco’s reactions and why everyone suddenly moved from London to Ireland…this is meant to clear up those questions.

To sum things up. Harry and Ginny did not report the original incident of Hermione because it was only being thrown out of the house and since Lilly was on the way there really wasn’t too much of a worry. They felt she was safe with them.

Narcissa followed Draco to the patient room and overheard Lavender admit to witnessing Hermione’s murder. So she went and reported it because she is not bound to the law of patient confidence.

Ron murdered Lavender because she admitted to him that she went and talked with a doctor at St. Mungo’s. Ron knew that Draco worked in Neurology and suspected that he might be found out so he fled.

If anyone has any questions, leave a review and mention them and I will happily answer them unless they will be answered in future chapters. I read every review.

Thank you for your continued support.