Secrets Unveiled

Clark held his breath for a moment as he saw his surroundings change before his eyes. The action filled warehouse gave way to an almost eerily quiet entranceway of what looked like an old British castle. Hogwarts was what Mr. Malfoy had called it.

He looked down at the woman in his arms. He watched her take shallow breaths as her complexion started to get paler and paler by the moment as she continued to lose blood. ‘Please don’t die on me, Lois,’ he thought as he looked upwards toward the eleventh floor.

He immediately noticed the everchanging staircases. “What the fuck,” he muttered to himself. He looked down at Lois again as her head lolled.

“Shit,” he said aloud as he pulled Lois closer into his chest. He didn’t care who caught him defying gravity as he flew up ten floors, taking care not to get hit by the changing staircases. He ran up the last flight of stairs to the landing of the hospital wing.

A hoard of people in robes hurried their way. He immediately recognized the Potions Master as the young boy that used to hang around football practice waiting for his older sister. Clark took a noticeable breath as he looked down at Lois.

“Clark,” a voice said from behind. He turned slightly. It was the only other familiar face in the wing. The woman gasped as she saw the young woman in the man’s arms.

There was considerable motion all around him. A tall brown haired man wheeled a gurney towards them. An orange haired woman, who looked like she was in charge, started to check for vital signs as Clark placed Lois on it.

“Hunter,” Clark said aloud. The young man recognized his sister’s friend. Clark took another breath. He handed the lead ball to the professor. “The gun and ammunition are in there. Everbleeders.”

“Aunt Ginny, I need some time,” the blonde haired professor said as he removed the lead covering, not noticing Clark had taken a few steps backward.

“New potion kills in half the time,” Clark said. “Mr. Malfoy said that a major new ingredient was meteor rock.”

The youngest Malfoy nodded before hurrying to his lab. The bottom of his black robes billowed behind him. The room quickly emptied as Lois was wheeled into an adjoining room, ‘probably an O.R.,’ Clark thought.

“Hermione,” the orange haired witch said comforting the worried mother. “We’ll take care of her.”

“Please, Ginny,” Mrs. Malfoy choked. The doctor nodded as she went to help the muggle news reporter.

Clark caught Mrs. Malfoy as her knees seemed to buckle. He led her to one of the benches in the waiting area. She was trembling and Clark knew the floodgates would open at any time. He pulled her into his arms allowing her to cry into his shoulder for a few minutes.

Mrs. Malfoy finally regained her composure. She pulled away from Clark and wiped her face with her palms. She looked at her daughter’s friend and asked softly, “What happened Clark?”

It took Clark a minute to gather his thoughts. He was asking himself the same question.

“Are you hurt, Clark?” Mrs. Malfoy asked concerned as she saw the blood stained t-shirt.

Clark looked down at his shirt front. He took in a breath. He looked up at the older woman next to him. “No, I’m not injured,” he said softly. “It’s Lois’s blood.”

Mrs. Malfoy lower lip trembled. “Is Lex all right. Mr. Malfoy had said that she was abducted from his home.”

She looked into Clark’s face. Clark gulped. He took in a breath before he spoke. “Mr. Malfoy, I think, would be able to explain better,” he said as he saw the blonde father reach the top of the steps.

Mrs. Malfoy jumped to her feet and walked quickly to her husband. Clark watched them embrace. Mr. Malfoy held his wife in his arms for a long moment as she cried into his chest. Clark held his head in his hands, still groggy from the kryptonite exposure. He blocked everything out and reflected on the last four hours.

* * *

Draco could feel her trembling against his chest. “Hey,” he said as she looked up into his face. “Let’s go take a walk.”

He looked back at Clark who seemed like he needed some quiet time to himself as well. He led Hermione down the staircases.

“Did you get a chance to eat?” Draco asked concerned.

“I had to help some students during lunch,” she said as they reached the main foyer. “I was going to eat after school but your message was quite alarming.”

Draco nodded as they walked into the kitchens. Dobby, the Malfoy’s former house elf nodded to his old master. He brought over some hot chocolate and a plate full of food.

“Thanks, Dobby,” Draco said as he held the large cup of chocolate to give to his wife. Draco nodded at her to take a sip. He did the same.

“Clark wouldn’t say anything about Lex,” Lois said as she took a bite of her peanut butter sandwich.

Draco took in a breath. “Lex Carter is an alias,” he began. Hermione looked at him questioningly.

“Growing up, he was Carter Lexington of the Lexingtons in Wales, a wizarding family.”

Hermione gasped. “He was a wizard,” she said softly.

“He was adopted,” Draco said as he took a sip from his cup. “He was a Profesi.”

Hermione whimpered. “Were you . . . I mean,” she stammered, fearing the worst.

Draco laughed sincerely. He rubbed her back. “That would have made for a classic Greek tragedy,” he said as he looked into her eyes. “Corey Reimers.”

“Corey,” she gulped.

“Sometime before the Muggle Marriage Laws came into play, I guess Celeste and Corey were secretly seeing each other. She was hiding her pregnancy with a Glamour. She gave birth to a Courtney Profesi in December, a few months before you and I got married. Mr. Profesi had her give him up for adoption.

“He actually went to Hogwarts. Junior even mentioned seeing him around,” he said as he rubbed his neck.

“Why didn’t Lois see it?” Hermione asked.

Draco hesitated for a moment. “Junior also noted that he remembered Lex as being an ace with Occlumency.”

“Mr. Profesi passed away two years ago, Draco,” Hermione said. “Are you sure about the connection?”

Draco nodded his head. “Mr. Profesi helped to finance the young man’s shipping business. He and the young man put the plan into play and Lex, Courtney, whatever his name is, continued on after his grandfather passed.”

Hermione looked down for a moment. Draco watched her. She finally looked up, “She’s going to haunt us forever, isn’t she?”

Draco brought her into his arms, letting her cry into his shoulder. “Everything’s going to be all right, Hermione. Celeste won’t get the better of us. Besides, Lois is a fighter,” he said as he turned up her chin so that he could look into his eyes. He smiled at her, “She’s got your genes.”

Hermione hugged him tighter. She worried silently about their only daughter as Draco rocked her.