Broomsticks and Bedfellows

Broomsticks and Bedfellows

Chapter Four

“It was really nice that Harry stopped by to see me. He invited us to dinner on Thursday. I accepted the invitation on our behalf. Is that alright?” Hermione said bouncing Scorpius in her arms. Scorpius would toss his dragon toy across the room then crawl, or cruise, which he had started doing recently, over to the toy. Hermione would play peek-a-boo and then Scorpius, would laugh and crawl up into her arms, where she would tickle the small boy and then the process would repeat itself.

“If that’s what you want, then it’s fine.” Draco intended to keep Potter’s visits to a minimum. He hadn’t liked the way she bounded into his arms, brushing him away as such. Hermione hadn’t any further intrusions into her mind by Nathaniel. Still he needed to get her into Occulmency lessons with Lucius, immediately. They couldn’t risk another intrusion or episode. Hermione had pulled it together thus far after each attack, but Draco could see evidence that he was wearing her down, slowly, making her more vulnerable to his suggestions with every hour that passed.

“Father, it needs to be today. I’ll be sitting in on the first session, so don’t try any funny stuff.”

“Whatever do you mean my son?” Lucius sneered at Draco.

“You know just what the fuck I mean. Delving into places you have no right to be. You tried it with me, but I blocked you.”

“Not as well as you think. I found out you were dating Pansy Parkinson , didn’t I?”

“Yes, but you didn’t find out why I was dating her.” Draco smiled at watching Narcissa gently brushing Hermione’s hair out, as Hermione sat on the floor reading Scorpius a book now. He liked seeing his mother get along with his wife.

“Do tell Draco? I so love these past childhood defiance stories that you seem so fond of telling.”

“How’s about I make you a deal Father? You tell me everything you know about Nathaniel, and I’ll tell you what it is I procured from the Parkinson family collection, during the summer of my fourth year at Hogwarts.

“You got into Pierre Parkinson’s artifacts collection? I’m impressed Draco…why I had tried myself to…Never mind. I just didn’t think you had it in you.”

“Yes, well I suppose even I suffer bouts of lunacy, after all, your blood does course through my veins. So what do you say? Is an exchange of information warranted?”

Draco knew his father better then he knew himself. He wasn’t going to get Lucius to spill the beans about Nathaniel without offering him something in return. Since Lucius was and would always be a collector of dark artifacts (an obsession of his really more than a hobby) Draco knew he could dangle the carrot of Pansy’s fathers highly illegal potions collection over his head. Draco had the whole thing, claiming back then that it was his payment for dating and fucking the pug nosed virgin. In some ways Draco feels like he turned Pansy into what she was, a whore. After Draco had had his way with her, she grew to like the feel of soft sheets against her back and her legs in the air, and had slept with every Slytherin male capable of getting an erection. He had created a monster of whorish proportions.

“His potion cabinet was said to contain certain, deathly qualities? Can you not tell me of a few of them, to sweeten the pot, Draco?”

“I can Father. Blasting powders, unicorn hairs and the dark crystal, just to name a few.” Draco watched his father’s reaction when he mentioned the dark crystal. It was similar to a divination crystal ball in that it could predict the future, but this dark crystal could seek out your enemies, even enemies that you did not know existed, and track their movements. It could even track their magical use, and offer solutions to deflect a potential attack. Draco had used the Dark Crystal during his sixth year, when he was certain the Dark Lord was plotting his death. He was also sure Harry Potter was onto him, so he had directed it towards Harry as well as Voldemort. The more Draco thought about it, the more certain he was that perhaps he needed to pay a visit to the Malfoy family crypt, where he had stored the potions in the tomb of Abraxas Malfoy, his grandfather. He knew that that place was the one place Lucius would never look. Obsessed with his own mortality and graceful aging, Lucius feared death, so he never visited the family crypt.

“I’d like a chance to look into the Dark Crytsal, Draco.”

“I thought you would. Will only cost you a few of your memories Father.”

“What do you mean, Draco? I will tell you the information you seek.”

“No, Father. This is my wife we are talking about. I want all of your memories pertaining to Nathaniel. Pensive, Father.”

“Do you have a pensive too Draco? Quite the arsenal you have at your disposal. I am quite proud of the power you have accumulated in such a short time.”

“The Ministry has one that I am permitted to use. You will accompany me there then? After Hermione’s lessons of course,” Draco raised an eyebrow and waited for his Father to either agree or disagree.

“I want the blasting powders too and ample time to use the Dark Crystal,” Lucius finally said clicking his cane across the floor towards Scorpius.

“Look Draco, he did it! He walked to me!” Hermione was clapping her hands wildly as she reached out and caught the baby before he fell. Draco kissed Hermione on the cheek then patted his son’s head. It was so good to see Hermione happy again.

An owl pecked at the window and Draco let it in. Boring Ministry business was all. He sat down at the roll top desk in the downstairs library and began to answer the many correspondences he had neglected in the last couple of days. It felt good to work again. It gave him a sense of normalcy. He remembered all the lunches and afternoon sex, where he and Hermione would meet, shag and then return to the Ministry together, kissing each other goodbye and telling one another, they couldn’t wait until dinner. Their lives were normal and good and Draco longed for things to return to the status quo.

“Draco, come quickly!” Narcissa was calling him frantically. He rounded the corner to see Narcissa gazing out the window with her hand over mouth. “Hurry, Draco, the baby!”

“What is it mother?” Draco followed her gaze to see Hermione and Scorpius at the edge of the pond, located in the center of the botanical gardens that were synonymous to Malfoy Manor.

“She wanted to take the baby outside, so of course I encouraged her. I thought the fresh air…Draco hurry the baby is going to follow her in! Nobody is watching him! I can’t look.”

Draco ran as fast as his legs would carry him. Hermione was waist deep in the pond already and Scorpius, who wore only his nappy was cooing and crawling his way to the waters edge. Draco hurried, but he knew he wasn’t going to make it. He couldn’t close the distance that fast. Hermione continued to wade deeper and deeper until the water was up to her neck. She had a vacant expression as her head finally bobbed under the water.

“Wingardium Leviosa!” Draco heard as he approached the lake and suddenly his son was floating in the air. He looked to his side to see Lucius grinning and Scorpius floated to Lucius’s arms.

“Thank you father!” Lucius nodded and smiled.

“Can’t have the Malfoy heir drowning, now can we.” Lucius looked at Scorpius with such pride and love, a look Draco remembered once upon a time, when he was slated to be a Death Eater. After he turned on Voldemort, Lucius had been ashamed of Draco, but he did always love his son. Reports of his abuse and disdain for Draco were mostly fabrications. Lucius would have never harmed Draco, and he would have laid down his life for Draco had Voldemort made a serious attempt at killing Draco.

“Hermione!” Draco called now seeing his wife’s limp body floating face down in the water. Realizing he didn’t have his wand with him, he dove into the lake and swam to Hermione. He flipped her over and her eyes were now closed, her face pale and a residue around her hairline from the pond scum. He carried her to the banks of the pond, his own clothes drenched and dirty as they clung to his masculine form. He’d only seen this done once before and that was in a muggle movie about lawyers and stockbrokers, a movie Draco had actually enjoyed. He tilted her head back, plugged her nose and then proceeded to do his best in giving her CPR. It worked and she was coughing and sputtering water. Draco had enough. This wasn’t going to happen, not one more time. He helped her up and then Narcissa was running through the grass towards Lucius and Draco.

“The alarm is going off! One of the security charms is sounding off. Someone’s in the garden. Narcissa handed Draco his wand and Lucius and Draco took off towards the house.

“Mother, watch Hermione and the baby. If anyone comes close to you, hit them with an Unforgivable Curse.”

“But Draco, as the Minister you can’t allow…”

“Do it mother! Fuck the Ministry!” Draco took off towards the house when he thought he saw a figure duck between the hedges. Lucius was right behind Draco as they stalked the grounds of Malfoy Manor.

“Should you not alert the Aurors, Draco?” Lucius whispered to his son as they crept past the fountain and sun patio.

“Too old to fight Father?” Draco glanced at his Father then motioned to the hedge maze on the grounds.

“Now,now Draco, no need to be rude. I simply don’t want the Ministry breathing down my back. After all, we are civilized men, are we not?”

“Oh, we’re civilized all right. I want this guy Father., You catch him, he’s mine.” Lucius nodded and smiled wickedly, then father and son entered through a secret entrance in the Malfoy family maze. Draco had played here as a boy. He would frequently hide here from his parents, after being scolded for bad behavior. He knew every inch of this maze. If Nathaniel had hidden here, then he was dumber then Draco gave him credit for.

“Accio Firebolt!” Draco mounted his broom. He wouldn’t take a chance of this monster, turning himself into a bird and flying away. Lucius went one way and Draco the other as he flew slowly down the rows of manicured hedges. He heard a popping sound and from the sky above he could see Aurors popping in. Either Hermione or his mother must have called them.

“Shit!” Draco cursed. He hadn’t wanted the Ministry to be there. He intended to not only apprehend Nathaniel, but to kill him. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that he was going to kill Nathaniel. He couldn’t risk him getting an Azkaban sentence. It wasn’t enough. As long as this Warlock breathed, then Hermione and his family were in danger. No, Nathaniel had to die. His magic was too refined and too scary. He rounded the last hedge, the center of the maze now visible, and there, panting on a white marble bench next to a paddling pool for Scorpius was Nathaniel. Caught off guard he was startled to see Draco.

“Don’t move. I have my wand on you. I’m not afraid of you Nathaniel. These attacks on my wife are going to stop right now.”

“But you are afraid. You are afraid each and every time I abuse your precious mudblood wife. You are afraid that she likes me more, likes my fingers deep in her dirty pussy.”

“Crucio!” Draco hit him with the first Unforgivable curse. Nathaniel slumped to the ground his body writhing, but surprisingly resilient considering that Draco held his wand on him, green torturous light bursting from the tip.

“I don’t think I like the way you are speaking about my wife. Shall we try this again?” Draco said, releasing him from his hell.

“That wasn’t very nice to do to me Draco. Not much of a homecoming. I expected better from you Draco. Surely you don’t mind sharing your common muggle wife with me. After all, isn’t that what brothers do? Share their toys?” Draco felt the blood drain from his face. His knees went weak, nearly buckling under his weight. He saw a broom above him and the face of Harry Potter looking down at him.

“So you’ve added liar to your list of attributes? That in addition to murderer and rapist?”

“I only took what she willing gave to me. Your wife is a willing participant in our games. Did you enjoy the pond? I told her it was a nice day and a swim would be refreshing.” Nathaniel laughed now in that oh so familiar cackle that Draco loathed. It was shrill and grating and he wanted to end it all right now. He held his wand on him again and shouted the killing curse.

“Avada Kedavra!” Nathaniel’s eyes rolled back into head and then he slumped down on the ground.

“Draco what have you done! You’re the Minister, you can’t cast Unforgivable curses. The aurors will send you to Azkaban! Harry Potter shouted.

“I don’t fucking care! He raped my wife, he tried to drown Hermione this morning and Scorpius was almost hurt. I had to,” Draco felt a wall of tears behind his eyes and his knees finally gave out. Harry caught him as he fell to the ground, holding him in his arms.

“Draco…Nathaniel…he…where did he go?” Draco’s eyes were heavy, the events of the day proving too much for him. The revelation that this sick, twisted, psychopath was possibly his brother, only adding to the stress of the day. Was it true? He was tall and lean like Draco. He had the same pale skin and the same hands as Draco. Draco regained his composure and staggered to the place where Nathaniel had fallen. A bird twittered nearby and Draco turned his head in its direction. The blackbird’s eyes were familiar, dark slits of hate and fear. He pointed his wand at the bird and then it took flight, swooping on Draco and pecking ferociously at his face. Draco could feel the blood beginning to ooze, just below his eye. He could hear Harry telling him to be still so he could take a clean shot at the large raven, and then he heard its cackle and then a voice.

“As long as she lives you cannot kill me. I’ve embedded myself so deeply into her mind, that you will never get me out!” It took flight, flapping its ratty wings, flying high over the grounds of the Manor and away.

“Hermione!” Draco stumbled and fell on the ground, his shirt now covered in his own blood from the gash below his eye.

“The Aurors have them Draco. It’s okay. They took them inside. They are going to ask you about the curse. I have your back, alright? I’ve got your back, man.” Harry helped him to his feet and braced Draco against himself as they walked together towards the Manor.

“I have to find my Father,” Draco said, his voice tired and huskier then usual. “He has a lot to answer for.”

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