Fantasy House

Da da!" the infant shouted, running up to the large screen and touching it.



Andromeda sighed sadly as she walked up to the child and picked him up. She hugged him close as he squirmed and tugged. His chubby little arms desperately reached out for the man in the television.



The woman held her grandson as she bit back tears. She rocked him in her arms and cooed to him, trying to calm him down. But the longer she kept him from the screen, the more Teddy screamed and cried.



Blaise glared at the woman. "Get him out of here!" he hissed.



Andromeda scowled at him, but Narcissa intervened. Taking the child from his grandmother, Narcissa quickly brought him to Draco\'s old nursery. As she did so, she called one of the house-elves.



The loud crack of Apparition the house-elf made caused the child to scream even more.



The blonde woman growled in agitation. "Oh, Teddy, why are you being difficult? Honestly! You\'re worse than Draco was at your age," she scolded and then handed the child to the elf. "Keep him here," she ordered coldly and quit the room.



The house-elf let go of the child the moment its mistress left. Keeping the child inside the nursery was easy-- a quick closing spell on the door did the trick. Not that the door needed to be closed: the moment the elf put the child down, the infant sat on the ground and cried.



A house-elf\'s duty to their wizards and witches was of the utmost importance. This child was very much one of the wizards whom the elf was meant to serve. The child had the same blood as the elf\'s mistress. So, the elf was distressed over the child\'s anguish.



It tried to calm the infant down with toys, but he wanted no part in them. The elf tried feeding the child, but he knocked the bottle away. He didn\'t need to be changed. Maybe he was tired?



Yet when the elf tried to put him in the crib, the child hollered even more. The elf\'s ears drooped and it watched the child sadly. It knew the infant would eventually calm down. He had to. Crying the way he did would eventually tire the infant out. But it broke the elf\'s heart.



(II) (II)



Andromeda quit the room the moment Narcissa had taken Teddy away from her. She had to because she couldn\'t bear to see Remus on that screen.



She understood her own reasons for helping Blaise and Narcissa with their plans. For the past couple of years, she had watched as Remus and Sirius fell deeper and deeper into a hermit\'s way of life. She had noticed that Hermione was becoming less socially active and more isolated. And Severus...



It had nearly torn her heart in two, watching them waste away in solitude. These four people were so intelligent and had so much to offer the world. And they did nothing!



Well, that wasn\'t entirely true. Hermione did everything, but that was a problem, too. The girl rarely ever took time for herself-- she never relaxed, never went out, and never met people. The only time Andromeda could recall the girl dating was that brief moment after the war when she was with Ronald Weasley. The older witch still did not understand what had gone wrong with that relationship.



Andromeda remembered a conversation she had had with Harry one day over tea. The young man had been worried about his friend who was like a sister to him. Ron had recently started dating the Lovegood girl and Hermione still had no one.



"I\'ve tried introducing her to some people I think she would like," he had told the older witch, "but she\'s always too busy. Ginny and I are concerned."



Of course, the older witch thought Hermione would be a perfect companion for her Remus. They were both highly intelligent and loved learning. Sure the girl was a Muggle-born, but that wasn\'t too bad-- Andromeda\'s husband had been a Muggle-born. Besides, Remus was a pureblood, so Andromeda wasn\'t really worried.



Besides, she thought it would be nice for little Teddy to have a brother or sister. The older witch had wanted more children herself after Nymphadora was born. She and Ted had tried, but nothing seemed to work. When the Healer had told her she was infertile, it had broken her heart.



The moment Remus and Nymphadora had married, Andromeda had looked on the werewolf as the son she never had. Sure she had been a bit sceptical about the whole werewolf thing, but she hadn\'t let it bother her overmuch. She had known her daughter and son could take care of themselves.



And now? The witch could not understand it. Ever since the end of the war, she had watched hopelessly as her son withered away. He seldom ever smiled anymore and when he did, it was always in Teddy\'s presence.



Andromeda had tried to console Remus. When that didn\'t work, she mentioned various Healers who specialized in helping trauma victims. He had wanted no part of any of it and he had continued to deteriorate.



Then, one day, Narcissa had come over for tea and made the comment, "Blaise is thinking of a way to help Lucius and Draco get out of that penthouse."



Andromeda had asked her younger sister what she had meant. Narcissa then told her of how Lucius and Draco were still living in fear of the Dark Lord. At first, the older witch had been wary-- it wasn\'t like her sister to take a sudden interest in Lucius, especially after the divorce.



Nevertheless, as Narcissa had told the older witch of her idea, it started to make sense. No, Narcissa wasn\'t worried about Lucius, she was worried about Draco. Because of Lucius, Draco couldn\'t get out and have a life. He had already severed his betrothal to the young Greengrass girl.



In the end, Andromeda had found her sister\'s idea sound enough. To put the men and Hermione Granger in a house where they would have to deal with one another on a daily basis. They would all have limited access to the outside world and, as such, would hopefully be able to heal the wounds their respective pasts had created. With any luck, one of the men would get together with Hermione.



Somewhere down the line the plans had become twisted. Andromeda wasn\'t sure when it happened or if they\'d always been that way. She had helped Narcissa and Blaise kidnap the six people and bring them into the house. While she was setting up wards and making sure the six people couldn\'t leave the premises, Blaise had stripped them of their clothing.



The older witch had been shocked when she saw what he had done. "What is this?" she had demanded.



He had merely shrugged and vanished the pile of clothing. Once they left the house and finished securing it, Andromeda had learned that Narcissa and Blaise\'s plans were far more nefarious than she had originally thought. Thankfully, they agreed with her insistence that Hermione not become pregnant.



"Do you know any spells to prevent that from happening?" Blaise had asked her.



She hadn\'t, but Narcissa had and they cast the spell.



Andromeda did not know what her sister and Blaise planned with the six people. She knew what she wanted, though. She wanted Remus to move on and start his life again, preferably with the young lady with whom he was currently housed. She wanted Sirius and Severus to stop being so reclusive and realize there was an entire world out there for them, waiting for the taking. She wanted Lucius and Draco to get back into the society they so loved and take back what was once theirs.



Teddy\'s cries haunted Andromeda\'s dreams, but it was too late. She just hoped Blaise would let up soon. She didn\'t know how much more of this she could take.



(III) (III)



Harry and Ron had combed through Sirius\' room and found nothing. Any indications of his kidnapping were either gone or somewhere else.



"What about Snape?" Ron asked, playing with an obsidian orb that had been on Sirius\' bookcase.



Harry glanced at his best friend. "We need a search warrant before..."



"No, we don\'t," Ron said, putting the orb back where he got it from. "Snape is gone and his house is unwarded. If we go now, no one will ever know we were there. It\'s not like we\'re going to take anything or touch anything. We\'re just looking."



Harry nodded slowly. It wouldn\'t hurt just to look. And even if they did take something, no one would ever know, unless by some miracle Snape was...



The bespectacled man shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts. He refused to believe anyone was...



"No?" Ron asked, confused by the shake of Harry\'s head.



The raven-haired man glanced at his friend. "No, I mean, yes. We\'re going to Snape\'s," he confirmed, pacing the length of the room.



Another thought occured to him and he stopped mid-stride and looked at Ron. "We\'re going about this all wrong," he told his friend.



The redhead gave his friend an odd look. "Wrong?"



Harry nodded. "We\'re looking at this like a couple of wizards," he said, leaving the room and going to his bedroom.



Ron followed at his friend\'s heels. "Harry, we are a couple of wizards. How else would we look at this?" he inquired.



Harry stopped and glanced at his friend. “Think about it. The people who kidnapped Hermione would have to be wizards,” he said. “They are the only ones strong enough to take down six highly powerful people. Why would they…”



“Harry,” called Ginny from another room.



The two friends took one last glance at one another before trotting downstairs into the basement.



It was lucky that Sirius had allowed the small changes in Grimmauld Place. The Potions lab had been an asset to Harry’s Auror training. Now, it was serving a bigger purpose as a forensics lab.



Each man stepped besides Ginny as they gathered around her. Harry glanced down at the bottle she was holding and asked, “What did you find?”



Ginny’s eyebrows furrowed. “You’re not going to believe this,” she stated. “There was just a tiny bit of saliva on the lip of this bottle. I ran a DNA test and found it was a perfect match for Draco.”



“What?!” Harry shouted. “That’s not possible.”



Ginny placed a tender hand on his arm and glanced up at him. “I know it doesn’t seem possible, but…”



“Maybe it’s just a coincidence,” Ron suggested. “I mean, hadn’t Hermione been talking to Draco for a few months or so now? Maybe he just came over for a couple of innocent drinks…”



“Ron, the mead tested positive for Draught of Living Death,” she told him.



Ron’s eyes widened while Harry’s eyes narrowed. The redhead’s voice rose an octave as he said, “Draught of Living Death? He knocked her out?”



Then Ron’s voice deepened as he grew angry. His face turned red. “He knocked her out! That slimy, no good, two-faced…”



“Ron!” Harry snapped, causing his friend to fall silent. “He didn’t do it.”



“How can you say that, Harry?” the redhead inquired, looking at his friend with a mixture of pain and anger. He waved his hand at the table. “How can you doubt Ginny’s research?”



“I don’t doubt her research,” Harry stated. “I just think it’s wrong. I mean…”



He ran a hand through his hair, messing it up even further. “How can we be sure Draco’s saliva wasn’t purposely placed on that bottle? I think it’s a set up.”



“Harry…”



“No, Ginny!” he growled. “I want you to do more tests on that bottle. Check everything you can about it. There’s something else there, I know it. Draco Malfoy is not a kidnapper!”



As the Man-Who-Killed-Voldemort stormed out the room, brother and sister looked at one another hopelessly. They both knew that look in Harry’s eyes well. If the kidnapper wasn’t Draco Malfoy, then whoever it turned out to be was in a world full of trouble.



(IV) (IV)



Harry rummaged through his dresser drawer before pulling out his Muggle wallet. Neither Ginny nor Sirius understood why he kept Muggle money and he didn’t expect them to. He kept it because one never knew when they would need it.



He strolled out of his room after pocketing the wallet and grabbed his coat from the closet by the entrance. Before he could leave the house, he was stopped by Ron’s hand on his shoulder.



“Where are you going?” the redhead asked.



“To the shops.”



Ron turned his friend around. “Which shop?”



“Tesco’s,” came the short answer.



The redhead was confused. He had never heard of the place before. Then he noticed his friend was sporting a coat rather than a cloak. “A Muggle shop?” he asked, wanting to confirm his suspicions.



Harry gave a single nod and turned to walk out the door. As he started walking down the street, he pulled his collar up. It wasn’t particularly cold, but he really did not have time for anyone to notice him.



“Why are you going to a Muggle shop?” Ron asked, walking beside him.



“You don’t have to come.”



Ron rolled his eyes. “If it’s something for the case, then yes, I do. I want to know. What are we getting?”



Harry sighed, “I need to get a few things to help us with our investigations when we go to Snape’s house.”



Ron nodded, though he still did not fully understand. His best friend was on a mission now and there was no stopping him. The redhead decided to just come along for the ride.



He didn’t want to believe Malfoy was guilty, but the evidence was compelling. Playrooms, sex gear, and that bottle of oak-matured mead… It seemed pretty clear and something told Ron that if they found Malfoy, they’d find Hermione.



If only he knew…



(V) (V)



“So, who’s doing what today?” Hermione asked at the breakfast table.



Draco and Sirius groaned in unison as Remus sighed into his coffee. “Perhaps we should take a break,” the werewolf suggested. “We’ve all been working so hard.”



Hermione rolled her eyes. “We don’t need breaks. I don’t know about you, but I want out of this place,” she stated. “And the faster we work, the quicker we’ll find a way out.”



Lucius placed both of his hands on her shoulders and rubbed them. “Hermione, love, you’re wearing us all out,” he said softly in her ear.



She gave him a quick glare. “Really? I haven’t seen you outside in a few days and…”



“Miss Granger,” Severus snarked, annoyed, “do try to speak a bit more plainly. I do not think our captors heard you clearly.”



“But…”



“Is it really that bad being here with us?” Draco asked before taking a sip of milk.



“Well, no, but…”



Draco interrupted her, “Then why the sudden rush? Honestly, Hermione, we’re not in school anymore. You’re not going to lose House points if you don’t find a solution in time. Lighten up a bit.”



Hermione’s jaw clenched as she glowered at him. Then, her face turned blank as she started picking up her plate. “Fine,” she said, standing up and bringing her plate to the sink. “Fine.”



“Hermione,” Remus said, warningly.



Thankfully, she did not break the plate as she practically threw it into the sink. She turned on the werewolf. “No. I’m finished,” she snapped, throwing her hands in the air.



Without further comment, she stormed out of the kitchen.



“Five, four, three, two…” Draco counted. A door down the hallway slammed shut. “How much do you want to bet she’s in the library?”



Remus sighed and took another swig of his coffee. Lucius gave his son a clip around the ear. “Don’t be so callous,” he reprimanded as Draco gave a grunt of pain.



The blond man took a seat at the table and glanced at the werewolf. “Was she always like that?”



He received four responses of “Yes”. His eyebrows furrowed as a frown appeared on his lips.



“She was even worse in school, though,” Draco admitted. “She was forever in the library, pouring over text after text. She handed in ten foot essays when the professors had only asked for three.”



“Hermione is just a very thorough girl,” Remus explained. “When her mind is set on something, she wants to get it done. It’s part of what makes her who she is.”



Sirius wrinkled his nose. “It can be a bit annoying sometimes, though,” he stated, looking into his empty mug.



“And tiring,” Draco complained, sitting back in his chair. “I haven’t been this sore since my days on the Quidditch pitch.”



“What should we do? One more day of this and I’m not going to be able to move for a month,” Lucius pronounced.



Sirius agreed, “We need to get her to lighten up.”



“Yeah,” Draco barked. “Good luck with that.”



(VI) (VI)



Severus opened the library door and walked in. To his surprise and relief, the door did not lock. He found Hermione sitting at one of the tables, her head resting on her arms.



The Potions master took a seat across from her. For a while, he just sat there, listening to her hard breathing. He knew she was silently crying by the way her shoulders shook.



Finally, he said, “Talk to me, Hermione.”



She sniffed and lifted her head. Her eyes were red and splotchy, and her cheeks had tear trails down the sides. She wiped one of her cheeks with the palm of her hand. “I miss my friends,” she told him honestly.



Severus sighed. Oh joy-- he got to deal with a girl missing her friends. He should have sent Lupin in here, something he\'d have to remember that next time.



He did not respond to her complaint, for there were no words to be said. He knew what it was to miss a close friend and the girl had two of them. Despite his empathy, he also really, really disliked her choice of friends.



“Harry and I were supposed to go see that new movie coming out this weekend,” she told him. “You know, the one with Brendan Fraser? Dudley Do-Right. It’s a comedy.”



Severus shook his head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said honestly. “I don’t keep up with pop culture.”



She gave him a soft, sad smile. “You don’t really keep up with much of anything, do you, Severus?”



His lips pinched together.



She sighed and glanced at one of the book shelves. He could tell her mind was wandering, and he didn’t do anything to stop it.



“You know, Harry and Ginny are going to be getting married soon. I hate that I’m going to miss it,” she told him.



“I highly doubt Mr. Potter or Miss Weasley would let you miss it. In fact, if I know Mr. Potter, he’s probably looking for you and has put his wedding on hold until he finds you.”



Hermione let out a small giggle. “Yeah. Harry was always like that, wasn’t he? Never let the mystery go until he solved it. That’s what makes him such a great Auror.”



Severus rolled his eyes. He wasn’t really in the mood to hear praises about Potter. He still loathed the boy, after all.



“I wonder if Ron has proposed to Luna yet,” she said, still looking at the bookcase.



He wrinkled his nose. “Weasley’s dating the Lovegood girl?” he found himself asking, though he really did not care.



Hermione’s eyes lit up as she looked at him. Her smile wasn’t quite wide enough, though. “Oh, yes! They’ve been dating for a while now. Ron told me he was planning on asking for her hand.”



Severus frowned in distaste. It wasn’t that he had a problem with Lovegood-- the girl was clever enough to pass his classes, even if she was a bit strange. Just, contemplating Weasley or Potter’s romances had never really been the top of his list of things to do.



“What about you?” he asked. “I’m sure there’s a young man out there waiting for you?”



Hermione actually barked in laughter. “Me?” she snorted. Then she grew solemn again. “I haven’t time for dating.”



He raised an eyebrow and waited for her to continue.



“There’s too much to do,” she said. “And, anyway, even if I wanted to date, there’s really no one available.”



She was too absorbed in her own troubles to notice Severus’ face darkening. The words that fell out of his mouth were harsh and tinged with cruelty. “Of course, you’d want someone your own age. Maybe someone who wasn’t as smart or clever as you. That way, you could always be the little know-it-all in the house.”



His biting remarks snapped her out of her daydream and she glanced at him in shock. He didn’t give her a chance to respond as he swept from the room.



Realization flooded through her as she watched him stalk away from her: he was right, there were five men in this very house who were not only available, but quite suitable for her. Five powerful, clever men who could give her the sort of security she desired and intelligence she could match wits with.



Her thoughts turned to Severus. What did he mean by that last part, though? Why would he say that? He couldn’t possibly fancy her, could he?



Then, like a light bulb turning on, she knew; she had known since she\'d come into this house: Severus wasn’t the only one who fancied her. She had seen the looks all the men had given her. She\'d always shrugged it off as the result of being the only female in the house. But what if…



She sighed, wishing she had someone she could talk this out with that could offer her a fresh perspective. She missed her friends now more than ever.

---

Author\'s Note: Hope y\'all enjoyed it! I really appreciate all the reviews and votes I get. I love knowing what you think.



Thanks, as always, to my wonderful betas. Y\'all are awesome!