The First Great Fan- An Epilogue

Chapter Fifteen: Some Questions Get Answers And Some Just Cause More Questions

Harry stood outside of the door, waiting until he heard the steps from the other side. He watched as the black, scorched door slid open and an elderly man peeked around it. He knew what a sight he must be, nervously shifting from foot to foot in front of a stranger's house. He smiled awkwardly as the man opened the door and stood in the portal. "Can I help you? Aren't you Harry Potter?" he asked.
Harry's smile was nervous, but he nodded to cover this. "Yes, I am. I need to talk to you about a baby. A baby that was born about a year and a half ago. A boy baby."
The man nodded gravely and stepped back, letting Harry enter the cottage and closing the door behind him.

Draco sat in the parlor staring at the tapesty as Harry paced behind him. He was silent, not the way that Harry expected him to react and that was what was bothering him. He wanted to shake his lover, get a response out of him, and clear this tension from the air. Draco turned to him, a mocking smile twitching the corners of his lips. "That's so ironic that it would have to be true. Don't you agree?" he said.
"Draco? Irony or not, think of what this could do. What chaos it could cause. What are we going to do?" Harry asked.
"Do? Keep it to ourselves, for one. This tapestry has got to come down. Move it somewhere safe and don't show it to anyone." Draco said, more like himself, and Harry smiled in relief. "I think we need to arrange for a surrogate, too. What do you think about Granger?" Now he was the Slytherin that Harry loved and admired.
"I think that's a great idea. Let's go have a talk with her and Ron, shall we?" Harry waved toward the floo and Draco gave the tapestry one last look.
"I'll dig out the permastick unsticker when we get home. I'll hang it in Regulus' old room so we can keep an eye on that other little entry." Harry added and Draco grinned.
"Spying on others, quite a Slytherin trait there, Harry." he said as they stepped up to the fireplace.

"I still don't understand what you're asking, Harry. What baby?" Hermoine asked from the love seat near Ron. "Has the culprit been caught. The one that kidnapped Ron and Ginny?"
"No, Granger. Sorry, Mrs. Weasley." Draco said, with a mischevous grin.
"Just Hermione, Draco. We are nearly family, apparantly. So, explain." she said.
"The tapestry. I finished cleaning it after you two left. There is another anomally. When I cleaned off the part about Andromeda, to get to Remus and Tonks and Teddy on the thing, another name came up." Harry explained.
"It seems that another of my aunts was blessed. My aunt Bellatrix had a child, just before the Battle of Hogwarts. A son, no name given. The child of the Dark Lord." Draco finished for him. "Tom Riddle, the third, we're thinking of calling him."
"Tom Riddle? What does this have to do with Mione, and me?" Ron asked.
"The baby is in the care of Mr. Lestrange. Rodolphus' uncle. It is a Black descendent, so I went and asked about it. I wanted to make sure it was raised in a loving family, taught young about the importance of inclusion for Muggleborns and Half-bloods. I want you to raise this baby. As your own." Harry explained.
"I agree with Harry. As the last of the Black family, I could take it, but I don't have what it takes to raise the next heir of Slytherin without botching the job. We want to avoid another wizarding war, Hermione. You could do this, and we won't trust anyone else with it." Draco was leaning forward, his hands tightly laced to keep from showing that they were shaking uncontrollably. "What do you say?" he asked.
Hermione looked from one to the other, then turned to Ron who just stared back. "Ron, we can do this. I want to." she said and he smiled weakly, taking her in his arms and hugging her tightly.
"Then, we will. Bring on the little snake, Harry. We'll have him spouting Gryffindor by the time he gets his letter." Ron said, smirking at the grimace that overcame Draco's face.


It's so easy to do evil things to Bellatrix, especially when she is no longer around. This comes from those little glimpses in the movie, where that belly just couldn't be hidden. I always wanted to explain it this way :)