Pilfered Progeny - Stolen Dreams

"Ron!!" Tonks bellowed, rushing to the side of the unconscious men. Harry lay sprawled on the couch; Charlie half-sagged out of the recliner, and Blaise looked as if he had fallen on the floor and possibly hit his head on the side table as he fell. She allowed her features to blend back into their natural form as she checked each for breathing… Harry seemed all right, Charlie was having some problems but Blaise; the drugs were a deadly poison to him.



She wanted so badly to follow Pansy… the trail was fresh; she might be able to follow, if Ron was capable of looking after them and taking charge… "Ronald Weasley, get your bloody arse down here!!" she demanded, rushing to the fireplace to use the floo. She threw the powder in but it just hit the back of the fireplace and did not activate. Pansy had even taken the time to use a spell to block the damned floo! "Merlin, had she left ANYTHING to chance…?" She wondered aloud, stepping back and pointing her wand at the fireplace. It flared green and was reactivated.



As Ron came thundering down the stairs, she used the floo to call headquarters. Kingsley answered; he\'d been awaiting her call. When she\'d sent out the call for assistance with what they needed today, he\'d come in insisting he needed to help. No matter how badly he\'d been hurt in the battle against Voldemort, he was simply unable to keep his hand out of working. The healers always got angry when he aggravated his injuries, but he refused to stay completely retired.



She trusted him and his judgment completely; she had left organization of her personnel in his hands. He was the one who had set up teams of an Auror and an Unmentionable and positioned a team at each of the homes that the children of those who had purchased the stolen sperm were at, with descriptions of the age and gender of each child to be taken, as well as the four young women who were carrying \'stolen\' children yet to be born. Those teams had been told to await her signal to move.



Tonks told him to set \'Operation Stork\' into action, and passed on that Parkinson had escaped; she was considered highly dangerous and that she was to be arrested on sight. He did not prolong the call; he set immediately to work.



She then called St. Mungo\'s and when someone answered she immediately identified herself and stated she had a Male Veela who\'d been poisoned with muggle drugs and she needed a healer as quickly as possible.



Ron gasped in shock and worry, hurrying to where his friends and brother lay sprawled across the living room. "What the bloody hell did she do…?" he asked, feeling panic rise and berating himself fiercely. "I should have stayed in here; I never should have left…!"



"If you\'d stayed you\'d be lying there with them!" Tonks snapped at him. She knew there was no way she could leave now; Ron wasn\'t in any fit shape to look after himself much less the three on the floor at the moment. She had no choice as Pansy had probably planned, the vicious hellion. Pursing her would just have to wait. She glanced over as the fireplace flared to life and an aged wizard in the robes of a healer of St. Mungo\'s stepped through.



He glanced at Ron and quickly judged him to be just fine; he pushed him aside unceremoniously in his hurry to get to those who actually needed his assistance.



He did a quick scan of Harry and Charlie, scowling; but when he did a scan of Blaise he immediately knelt and pulled a potion from his bag. "What in Merlin\'s name happened here…?!" he demanded, shooting a glare at the two standing.

"Drugs… I don\'t know what kinds…" Tonks began as the front door began to vibrate, being pounded upon. Both she and Ron whirled, wands at the ready as the door suddenly burst open, the doorframe shattering. Ron instantly cast a Protego, but it was not necessary.



Severus Snape strode in, taking in the situation in a single glance. "It may help to know, Healer, that I understand they\'ve been given either Ketamine or Rohypnol, or a combination of both." Severus Snape told the medic, moving over to stand near Tonks.



"How did you know that…?" she asked in a whisper.



"Mrs. Weasley seems to have become… motivated… by something or someone…" he answered in a rather smug tone, and then went on to explain. "She found them stored in with the clinic\'s regular medications." He told her quietly. "She did attempt to call, but as you had left the phone at home she was unable to reach you… She could not call here either and the reason for that is quite clear now…" He looked at the side table; and gestured to the phone lying off its hook. He waved his wand at it and the receiver floated back to rest in its cradle.



The healer grunted to let Snape know he understood. "Drugs… bloody muggle fools giving medication to wizards and Veela…" he drew another vial of potion from his bag and tore the cap off. "Damn it I\'m not going to lose a Veela…!" he growled as he slowly fed it to Blaise. "Come on boy." he growled, stroking Blaise\'s throat to assist the unconscious man to swallow. "A little more…"



Three more medi-wizards came in through the floo, rushing forward to assist. Ron found himself shoved off to the side beside one of the chairs as they worked on the three unconscious wizards. Severus moved forward to offer assistance and Tonks did as well.



The one taking control of Blaise snapped rapid-fire orders, which were followed immediately by the two helping him. One looked up at the graying healer, shaking her head. "We can\'t do enough for him here… if we don\'t get him to St. Mungo\'s he\'s lost… what was he given?"



"Either Ketamine or Rohypnol…" Snape repeated. "Most likely both; the one who dosed them wasn\'t concerned with ethics." He added with a sneer.



The aged healer nodded and eased Blaise up off the floor, pulling him into a seated position and sitting behind him, wrapping his arms securely about him. He put a portkey into Blaise\'s limp hand and sealed his own over it and barked "Emergency ward!" and they both were gone. Three more healers came in out of the floo to assist.



Ron found he was shunted further and further out of the way which he did not resist at all, watching the events unfold in shock. Had… had this all been his fault…? He ended up standing between the wall and the chairs, watching in mounting horror as the healers decided the other two had too large of a dose to treat here as well.



"These two need to go too… this one\'s having trouble breathing…" another healer said, looking up from Charlie\'s side.



"Go." The female healer who had remained seemed to be in charge, and she nodded sharply. Snape helped two healers to get Charlie supported and into the floo and they left; two healers supporting Harry got him lifted to their shoulders and Tonks helped to get him shifted as well.



Ron found himself alone in the house, totally in shock.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.



Hermione pulled up in her car, hurrying up to the door. She hesitated; fear growing when she saw the door had been broken in. She moved up to the door cautiously, pausing to pull her shoes off. She might be without her wand, but she would sure as hell shy a shoe off at someone if they tried to attack her.



She nudged the door with the toe of her shoe cautiously. "Hello…?" she said softly, peering into the door as it drifted open. No sound… whatever had happened must be over.



She slipped inside quickly; they might need her help… she moved in and stepped into the living room, seeing everything thrown aside and left all helter-skelter… and then she saw Ron, slumped and silent in front of the dark fireplace, staring into it. "Ron…! Ron, what happened…?" she asked, hurrying to him. He didn\'t respond so she touched him and he flinched, startled. But he did not look at her.



"They\'re all gone… and it\'s my fault… all my fault…" he whispered, staring into the black fireplace. "Blaise… Charlie and Harry… my fault…"



"Gone?! Gone where?" She gave him a little shake and he seemed to return to himself somewhat.



"I… dunno… St. Mungo\'s I think…" he murmured, blinking as his mind was forced past the shock a moment. "If they die it\'s my fault…"



"Oh Ron…! Don\'t be such a naive nitwit…!" Hermione said impatiently. "Where\'s Rosie…?"



"Mum\'s…"



She seized him by the arm and hauled him to his feet. "We\'re going to St. Mungo\'s then!" she snapped. "You have things to do and places to go that I can\'t…! Pull yourself together!" she ordered. "Get your wand and hurry…! We have to go immediately!" She had no idea if Snape had gotten her message here, and she knew it would be impossible to treat them in time if they did not know what drugs had been administered to her old schoolmates.



Ron was galvanized into movement by her orders, drawing out his wand from where he had stowed it in an inner pocket of his trousers. She took his hand and pulled him along outside, taking a firm hold of him. Then she took the wand from his hand and flawlessly apparated them away. They arrived within feet of one of the entrances to St. Mungo\'s. Ron did not object, knowing he was in no fit state of mind to do it properly on his own.



The lobby of St. Mungo\'s seemed more packed and even wilder than usual and highly confusing; Ron found he couldn\'t really focus on anything except ermione\'s hand in his, leading him along through the crowd. She ignored the chaos around them, heading straight for the desk of the Information Witch, bypassing the line entirely. The woman at the head of the line, a witch with a crying young boy of nine or so that had what looked like a cup engulfing his hand, began to object but Hermione rounded on her. "Shut your gob!" She snapped, and the woman fell silent, offended.



Ron blinked, staring at the cup, and he could almost swear the thing was staring back at him. It looked to him like it was trying to swallow the boy\'s hand…



"I need to get to the Emergency ward…! There\'s a male Veela there who\'s been poisoned with muggle drugs, and I can tell them what they are! Please, there\'s no time to waste…!" Hermione said urgently.



The Information Witch\'s scowl was replaced by a grim expression, and she nodded, pointing directly to the leftmost hallway. "The Emergency Ward is down the leftmost hallway, up the lift… but you need to get there faster." She took Hermione\'s hand and placed an item in it. Hermione redoubled her grip on Ron as she felt a familiar tug behind her navel and she was yanked rapidly through the corridors to the Emergency Ward. Ron said nothing, still in a state of shock over all that had happened.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.



Severus Snape stood with his female love just inside the room where they were working on Harry and Charlie. When they\'d arrived, the general level of activity in the room was very high; several mediwizards were bustled about the beds of the two, and more went in and out of the room that housed Blaise at the moment.



"Are they gonna be all right?" Tonks asked as she watched; the activity about them seemed to be settling down, though a young blonde medi-wizard remained, still monitoring Charlie with scans every two minutes or so.



"Yes, Madam Auror." One of the medics who had left the two finally lay to rest sighed. "These two will be fine; it will just be several hours before they wake up. Knowing what they had been dosed with helped to neutralize what was left in their systems. That fellow there…" he gestured to Charlie. "He had been given a nearly fatal dose. If we hadn\'t known what it was we would have lost him for sure."



Dora nodded gravely. "I understand… what about Blaise…?" she asked as the door opened, Hermione leading a white-faced Ronald Weasley into the room.



"It\'s much too soon to tell. Let us have a chance to work with him. If you have family to notify, I would recommend you do so…" he glanced at the newcomers.



"And keep the guests in this room to no more than three until they wake… we still need to be very vigilant over their health…



"I… I\'ll go wait… outside…" Ron said softly; it was much more important that they be here. and Draco should be with Harry.



"Absolute rubbish." Snape grumbled, rolling his eyes. "I will go and notify Draco of his husband\'s condition." He said, turning and pushing Ron away from the door and into the room as he moved to exit.



"Thanks, Sev… we need to let Molly know too, at least…" Dora said softly, glancing at Ron. "Keep him here, Hermione…" she said, nodding her head Ron\'s direction. "And see if one of the healers thinks he needs to be looked at too, eh…?" she suggested as she moved into the next room to check on Blaise and his progress.



Hermione moved over to the doctors, pulling Ron along. "This is Charlie Weasley and Harry Potter; we\'re family. Please, we just want to stay in here…"



"Then take a seat and stay out of the way." One of them nodded and moved into the next room. Ron caught a glimpse of Blaise and nearly broke down on the spot, almost collapsing into a chair.



"Are you all right, sir…?" a medi-wizard moved over to Ron, concerned.



"Fine." He mumbled. "Leave me alone… them… please, help them…" he insisted.



The medic frowned and drew his wand to scan Ron, but he glared at the medic darkly. "I\'m FINE…!" he snapped.



"They have all the help we can give them. They won\'t thank you for letting yourself go into shock, and if you insist on being an idiot about this I can easily arrange for you to be rendered unconscious to allow me to tend you!" The medic snapped back at him, refusing to back down.



"Ron, let him check you…"



"You stay out of this!" he snapped at her as well; she had brought this on all of them! Ron heard the medi-wizard growl something and he felt himself freeze in place; he decided it was a damned good thing that he had been sitting down at the time.



Hermione watched as the mediwizard scanned Ron, scowling, and then glare at Hermione. "This man hasn\'t been eating." He said in a disapproving tone. "He will take a restorative and a sleeping draught, and he will be left to sleep until the potion itself wears off. He MUST be made to eat regularly!" he ordered.



"Yes sir…" she said softly. "I will make sure he is taken care of…"



"Good." He growled, moving to get the prescribed potions. He pushed the unresisting Ron back and force-fed him both potions before releasing him from his body bind spell.



"You can\'t… don\'t want…" he began to protest before the spell swept him off into unconsciousness.



Hermione pulled a blanket over him as the healer bustled off to assist with Blaise in the next room. She then turned to Tonks. "Please tell me you got her… that this is all over…"



"I can\'t." She sighed, scowling.



"She didn\'t get away…?"



"She knew it was a trap."



"How? I swear I didn\'t do anything to alert her… I didn\'t even know that anything was going on…"



"It was a bit spur-of-the-moment, actually. I didn\'t know we were doing it for sure or not until Harry called me… everything had come together at the last moment." Tonks sighed. "I got her with part of an incarcerous, but she had a portkey and blipped out on me…"



"She was always so paranoid, and loved to be in control of everyone and everything…"



"I don\'t think she suspected anything more than she usually did. She came prepared for everything and anything. She didn\'t take long to get what she wanted, either. She was sure that I would be tied up with Ron or put him right to sleep. She knew damned well I wouldn\'t pursue her and leave Blaise to die, either. Charlie probably would have died as well; he was having a lot of trouble breathing."



"Ron seemed to be in shock; he was pale and almost incoherent… that must be why he was so upset…"



"He has plenty of reasons to be upset if you ask me. He wasn\'t there to do something about them being drugged, and neither was I because he had me out of the room for a bit. I think he holds himself to blame…"



"At least she didn\'t harvest…"



"She did." Tonks countered. "I had a bottle for Ron as well and she got it from me just a moment before she left…"



"Merlin…" Hermione murmured. "Tonks – the children, the clinic…"



"I\'m not THAT disorganized, Hermione." Tonks returned. "The clinic lab is sealed off; the wizarding infants that are not involved are being moved to the nursery at St. Mungo\'s and the muggle infants are going to Mercy General. The children that were conceived by \'purchase\' have been listed and are being pulled from their homes even as we speak…"



"They\'re mad, Tonks…" Hermione whispered. "Absolutely barking…" she took a deep breath to plow on and tell Tonks about what she had found when the door opened and Draco hurried in with a very worried expression on his face.



Hermione, remembering Harry\'s determination that she should never be in the same place as his husband, she moved back against the wall. She should leave…Draco moved to Harry\'s bedside, stroking his hair back from his forehead with a worried frown. "Harry…? Baby…?"



"He\'ll be all right, sir; he just needs to sleep now." The healer still attending Charlie said to him reassuringly.



Draco held Harry\'s hand, sitting on the edge of the bed. "What about the others…? Charlie, Blaise and Ron…?"



"Ron\'s not in any danger." Tonks assured.



"Not anything a few good meals and sleep won\'t cure. Healer Treven put him to sleep." The healer half-smiled, but his smile was short lived as he returned his attention to Charlie. "This fellow, I think, will pull out of this without any permanent problems. The drugs played merry hob with his respiration, but he is past the worst of it all…" his eyes drifted to the separating door. "The dark wizard, though; he… well, we\'ve four healers working with him, but his family has been sent for…"



"Blaise…" Draco whispered, tears in his eyes. He looked to Tonks. "How did this happen…?"



"Pansy Parkinson happened, the venomous guttersnipe…" she said quietly. "I got help for them as quick as I could…"

Hermione decided that she should leave; she turned for the door and opened it and found herself face to face with Damitri Zabini.



"Mrs. Weasley." He greeted, looking past her with some concern on his face. "If you will pardon me…?"



"Oh… yes, of course…" she stepped out of his way. No wonder Harry had known so much… and Ron had… but… how did he know Harry…? Shaken, she slipped out of the room and closed the door behind her.



"How is Harry, Draco…?" Damitri asked, pausing by his bed, reaching to touch the younger man with a soft reassuring grip on the shoulder.



Draco gave him a grateful smile. "They say he\'ll be fine, just needs to sleep… but… they\'re not sure about Blaise…"

"We don\'t know yet." Tonks said softly.



The second door opened and a healer looked over each of them, and then moved to Damitri. "You should come in, sir. Only immediate family right now…" she said as Draco began to rise to follow. Draco sat down again as Damitri followed the healer into the next room.



Severus moved to Draco, pulling his godson into his arms, giving him something to hold on to. "You must be strong, my dragon…" he whispered.



He hugged him. "I\'m trying, Uncle Sev… poor Blaise…"



The room fell silent as they waited for news of how Blaise was doing. Time seemed to stand still.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.



"…oh… bloody hell…" Harry moaned as he brought his hand to his head.



"Harry…?" Draco whispered.



He opened his eyes and immediately regretted it; the lights seemed to lance into his head with the force of daggers.

"Fuck…! What the hell\'s with the lights…? It\'s so damned bright…?" he mumbled, shielding his eyes by draping his arm across his face.



The mediwizard quickly lowered the lights.



"Is that better…?" Draco kissed Harry\'s hand softly. "The lights are lowered, love…"



"What… happened…?" Harry asked groggily.



"That bitch drugged you." Tonks said quietly.



"No, I… I checked… she… no potion, not a spell…"



"Correct, Potter; she used date-rape drugs." Snape corrected him. "Drugs that desperate muggle males use to get females to pass out so they can do what they wish with them…" he said distastefully.



"Fuck…" he moaned. "You got her… right…?"



"Could have… but Blaise would have been long dead if I went after her and she knew it."



Harry forced himself up to his elbows; it was more of an effort than he would have believed. "Blaise…? Where\'s Blaise…?"



"Harry, no love…" Draco tried to keep him in bed. "We don\'t know anything yet, and you\'re too weak…"



Reluctantly he sank back onto the bed, feeling drained and exhausted. "Charlie…? And Ron…?"



"Ron\'s fine…" Draco began.



Charlie moaned softly as if in response to his name being spoken. Molly cried out with relief but did not get in the way of the healer, clutching a hanky to her mouth. The healer did a scan to check him once more, then uncorked a bottle and ensured that Charlie drank the entire thing. When it was done, Charlie pushed the bottle away, looking around. "Blaise… Where\'s my husband…?!"



"He\'s in the next room; come on, I\'ll help you…" the healer said, moving to help Charlie to his feet. "Easy, now… you\'re going to feel horribly weak…"



He was shaking as he rose but clearly determined to make it; Molly hurried up to help and support her son. "Thanks mum…"



"It\'s all right, my boy…" she assured, smiling at him as she helped him make his way into the next room. Charlie made his way to his husband\'s side and they lowered him into the chair next to the bed. Charlie kissed him softly.



"Blaise…?" He asked softly. "Baby I\'m here…"



The healer patted Charlie\'s shoulder. "Don\'t you worry, young man. He\'s over the worst…." He said reassuringly.



"Thank you." He gave him a smile, only glancing away for a moment."I\'ll tell the others…" Molly said, moving to give her son a kiss before she bustled out.



"How\'s Blaise…?" Harry asked when she came out.



She smiled finally; quite pleased everything was turning out all right. "He\'ll be here a day or two, but he\'ll be just fine…"



The healer moved over to check Harry as well with infinite care. "Hm… well, you are free to go; take it easy for a day or two." He advised in a stern tone.



"I\'ll try." Harry assured with a faint smile, pushing himself into a seated position. Ron began to wake now as well, disoriented and confused for a few moments.



Tonks sighed in relief. "Thank goodness…" she said gratefully, and then stood. "Now that I know you boys are going to be all and are in good hands, I need to get over to the office to wrap a few things up…"



"I will join you." Snape said, following Tonks out of the room.



Ron pushed the blanket off, sitting up, looking at Harry with great relief. "You\'re all right… thank Merlin… is everyone all right…? Blaise and Charlie…?"



"We haven\'t seen Blaise yet, but Charlie is with him." Harry nodded.



"But is Blaise okay…?" Ron asked stubbornly. He really did want to be in there with them, but it really wasn\'t his place…



"He\'ll be just fine, Ronny." Molly soothed.



The healer moved up to check Ron as well, then frowned in irritation. "All of the cases I see, and you come in here with lack of nutrition and dehydration." The healer fixed Ron with a very stern glare. "You, sir, will EAT regularly!" he ordered.



Ron sighed and nodded, looking down. "I\'ll try…"



"We\'ll see to it." Harry assured him. "Thank you for your time, healer…" The healer bowed formally to him, smiling, then moved out.



Ron pushed to his feet. "I… uh… sorry about that…"



"No worries. I told you; we\'ll get through this, buddy…"



"Yeah…" he agreed. Molly put her arm about her youngest son\'s shoulders reassuringly and he gave her a wan smile.

"What… what do we do now…?"



"You just take care of Blaise and Charlie. Leave the rest of it up to us." Harry said, getting out of bed. "I need to talk to Damitri…"



"I can do that…" Ron agreed.



"Come along, Dear…" Molly said, following Harry into Blaise\'s room, pulling Ron right along with her and blithely ignoring his murmurs that he shouldn\'t go in and did not belong.



Damitri was seated in a second chair, talking quietly to Blaise when they entered though the younger man was clearly asleep.



"Hey…how\'s he doing…?" Harry asked.



"He woke up for a short while, but he\'s gone right back out again. The healers say its normal; that he won\'t be fully awake again until sometime tomorrow…" Charlie answered.



"I should never have walked out of that room." Ron said, very worried.



"I\'m glad you did little brother." Charlie said. "At least she didn\'t get you."



"But she damned near killed Blaise…"



"You\'re all three going to be just fine!" Molly interrupted him. "Really, now, Ronald! Stop focusing on the negative and look at the bright side once in a while…!" she scolded. "You go and sit down now… no arguments!" she said, transfiguring a little table into a third chair with a footrest. "Sit down and stay there! I\'m going to go fetch you a meal and you too Charlie dear…"



"But I\'m not hungry mum…" Ron started.



Charlie laughed. "That\'s not going to stop her, bro…"



"Bloody well right it\'s not!" She said, glaring at her youngest boy now. "And you will eat, Ronald. You\'re not too big for me to force-feed you, you know…!" she said, waggling her wand at him.



He moved to the chair and sat, sighing. "All right mum… I\'ll try…" he agreed.



Charlie put his arm about his younger brother\'s shoulders. "We\'re fine, Ronny. Just fine…! Stop worrying…"



"But… he\'s so pale…" Ron said, gazing down at Blaise as Molly bustled out again.



"I think I will leave him in your capable hands…" Damitri said, rising. "Tell him when he wakes that I will visit again tomorrow, Charlie…"



"I\'ll walk you out." Harry said, arm about Draco. "We\'ll see you guys tomorrow…"



"Bye…" both Ron and Charlie answered as the three moved out.



Damitri sighed as he moved out, allowing the other two to exit then closing the door behind them. "I do have some information for you, Harry; I\'ve done background checks on all the employees there at the clinic… and come up with a couple of rather colorful characters…"



Harry took the files, flipping through them. "I need to take these to Tonks…" he frowned thoughtfully.



"Tomorrow, Harry. It\'s late, and you\'ve been through enough today. You\'re going home with me."



"This needs to get done…" Harry began



Damitri simply took the files back from him. "Nonsense; it\'s nothing that can\'t wait until sunrise or beyond. Everyone is in custody that needs to be. You need to eat, and to rest. Come along…"



Harry sighed. "All right." He agreed reluctantly.



"Besides, Terry would love to make a fuss over your Draco for the evening…" Damitri smiled.



"So how is Terry…?"



"Just fine…" Damitri chuckled. "He has a new pet. Severus gave him a kneazle kit."



"Angel has one too; Lucius bought it for her." Harry smiled.



"Very clever gift, truthfully… They\'re not only protective and intelligent; they make wonderful guardians if the bond between kneazle and wizard Is true, and they don’t care if the wizard is a squib or not…”"



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.



When Tonks and Severus arrived in her office at the ministry, Hermione was already there, quietly waiting for them with a stack of papers on her lap. Tonks looked at her in surprise; had she sat here for the entire five hours they waited for the boys to wake up…? From the looks of it, that was exactly what she had done.



Tonks moved around the cramped little office and took a seat behind her desk. "So, Hermione… you dug up something else…? What do you have for me?" Tonks asked.



"Her father was involved in all of this; deeply involved." Hermione said, wanting to be sure to emphasize that fact.



"In what way? Funding the clinic…?"



"That and more… I\'m not even sure that the original plan to use the leftover samples didn\'t come from him and not Pansy… he used more of Harry\'s sperm than anyone, working through August Bebel, making special children…"



"Special children…?" She frowned at her.



"They\'re working with Harry\'s DNA, trying to isolate a specific gene… I don\'t think it can be done but… but I think they\'re trying to isolate Voldemort\'s essence out of Harry\'s DNA…"



"The Dark Lord lives no more!" Severus snapped, irritated at her insinuation and unable to be silent any longer.



"Voldemort is dead, but the Dark Prince lives!" Hermione retorted, refusing to back down, offering the papers to Tonks. "And they think they have the result they want!"



"No one can create a copy of another… not even in the magical world…!" Dora scowled at the papers, flipping through them. They might as well have been written in ancient Aztec or some other lost language; the chemical formulas and notations meant absolutely nothing to her. She\'d let Snape see if he could make heads or tails of them later.



"Yes it is possible….!" Hermione countered. "They\'ve succeeded in doing just that in the muggle world. They\'ve done it with sheep and cats… I\'m telling you, there are five children that were not on your lists!"



Severus sighed. "Five children that we cannot save because we have no lead to and no way to locate…"



"I\'ve studied the formulas. I\'ve read through all the notes… I\'m telling you, this was her \'special project\'; you both saw that file…" Hermione insisted.



"If they are out there, we will hunt for them." Dora answered. "But without knowing who has them…" she shrugged to indicate the futility of the situation.



Hermione sighed, irritated at their lack of comprehension of the urgency of it all. "Her father has kept those records, I\'m sure of it…! August Bebel\'s files constantly mention him in the lab, bringing women to carry the babies. Bebel even describes each of the women brought in; the younger women were barely teenagers but none of those to give birth was older than twenty… The women were obliviated of the act of implantation, and all memory of the child was removed once the birth occurred…"



"One can get through an obliviation charm." Severus answered. "It can be damaging if done carelessly. Only if the memories have been removed do they become out of reach…"



"The knowledge was removed once the babies were born… and those poor babies…" Hermione\'s voice trembled with restrained outrage. "The babies were tested and tortured and more… and if they did not survive the tests or meet up to their standards, the infants were killed…"



Tonks eyed the paperwork, and then looked at Hermione. Maybe Snape was right and she had begun to fabricate things to implicate other people and \'muddy the trail\'… "Where was this done…? It all sounds extremely far fetched…"



"The embryos were created right in our lab… the babies were birthed in the homes of those who wanted to have the glory and the honor of being the father of the new Dark Lord…! McNair, Blackman, it\'s a who\'s-who of the inner circle of the Death Eaters…!"



"Just because a baby carries Potter\'s genes would not turn that child into a Dark Lord no matter how he was raised…!" Snape countered.



Hermione frowned at Severus. "You\'re the one not thinking now, Severus Snape!" She accused. "The proof is right there! Why in the world would I make any of this up…?!"



Tonks intervened, holding up one hand to stop the argument. "Until we have proof of what has been done, what is there to say? Did you have a hand in creating these children? No. This Bebel did. So until we have a lead, we are at an impasse…"



"There are embryos in the lab! That should be proof enough of the facts of my statements and what is going on!" Hermione snapped, rising to her feet. "For the last six months, he worked for no one but Pansy or her father!"



"Then my next step is to bring him in for questioning. We have the lab on lockdown…" she said thoughtfully.



"Your next step should be to do genetic testing of the embryos in the lab…!" Hermione insisted. "I\'m telling you, the ones he has in his personal cryo chamber are ones they were trying to re-create the dark lord with… if the child who lives now fails any of their measures and dies, they have six more they can implant…!"



"We will test them." Snape said. "Does that make you happy…?" he asked snidely.



"No!" she snapped back at him, refusing to be cowed or treated like a child anymore. "Only Pansy and her father in jail along with that twisted lab rat Bebel will make me happy! And those five poor little kids…"



Kingsley moved into the office, pausing for only a moment when he saw Hermione. Knowing she was involved and she knew every detail of what they had discovered as she was their insider, he plowed on with what he had to say. "We have the children safe, in the warded room, but…" he paused a moment, eyeing Severus. "You need to come with me. I think that you will be the best to judge…" he said cryptically.



Snape raised an eyebrow and followed him. Shacklebolt limped heavily as he led him to the secured and warded courtroom that had been modified and prepared for the seized children. The room was very large and three of the four walls had been turned to a soft pink for the children\'s sake. There were two doors out of the room that Snape could see, but he knew they only led to small antechamber offices. The fourth room had been magically altered to be transparent on their side only to allow for monitoring by more than the eight or so nurses currently in the room attending to the few children that were awake.



There were over thirty children of all ages, hair types and skin types; from tiny infant to four year olds. There were also three young teenage girls with swollen stomachs clearly due to give birth soon. The children had hair of brown and gold and white-gold blonde as well as red; most were sleeping here and there on mats on the floor. A few were awake and playing quietly in a small group in the carefree manner of innocent children.



Snape allowed his eyes to take in the scene, finding nothing in particular that he needed to be the one to \'looked at\' or judge… just a bunch of children who bore resemblance in some way to the owners of the samples used to create them…



And then; his eyes landed on one particular child.



He blinked, frowning as he gazed at the little blonde boy. He seemed to be around four years old, his platinum blonde hair carefully combed back like a little adult, standing separated from the rest of the children. Everything about this boy screamed Malfoy; his thin angular face, high cheekbones, his fine white-blonde hair, even his eyes of stormy gray. It was like looking into the past; of looking into his personal memories of a four-year old Draco Malfoy.



Kingsley watched his reaction, and then grinned in satisfaction. "That\'s what I thought when I saw him as well." He said as he watched the boy as well. "I was correct in collecting him as well…?" he asked.



"Of course you were; he must have been on the list…" Severus answered.



"He wasn\'t." He said firmly. "I double-checked each list. The child that we were to take from McNair house was a redhead; that little girl over there in nappies chewing on the stuffed pig. It was a stroke of luck we found him at all; we certainly would have missed him entirely if he had not come out of his rooms at the moment the dueling ended. He is quite angry about being removed from his home…"



"I\'d better send for Lucius…" Snape said softly, pulling his wand and sending a Patronus message to Lucius, requesting his presence at the ministry.



The young blonde, Snape couldn\'t help but notice, had the same expression Draco did when pouting, he even held himself the same and folded his arms, refusing to speak to or interact with anyone. Attempts by the nurses to get him to lie down on a pallet to rest were met with simple silence and glares until they gave up and let him be. Severus stood watching the child a long while; Kingsley moved off to return to other business.