It\'s All Done With Mirrors

A/N - Thanks for the reviews!!! They really mean a lot to me (now I\'ve worked out how to actually read them hahaha)
Merry Christmas Everyone!!!! love, Kait


Chapter Nine
Memories


The Burrow, July 2000

After the ceremony was all over, Hermione decided it had been quite strange, being wooed without actually realising it. It was almost like she had missed a section of her life, from the day she had returned to The Burrow after her long walk, up until this day, two months later, when she had become Mrs. Ronald Weasley.

No wonder she had been the subject of odd smiles. No wonder her parents had suddenly become frequent visitors to The Burrow. They had also been wierdly restrained with her - she had expected sulks and tantrums from her father, since she\'d to all intents and purposes disappeared without a trace, not to mention an explanation.

Instead, they\'d hugged her tightly, knowing smiles on their faces. And then offered the whole Weasley family free dental treatment. She really ought to have taken the cue from that, she thought disgustedly. So many clues she had missed!

How could it have been possible, she wondered, to have been engaged for two whole months, and not to have...well...noticed?

Still, it couldn\'t be all that bad, could it? What with Ron\'s new job at the Ministry of Magic, she would be looked after while she looked into furthering her education.

Not that Ron had sounded all that pleased when she had told him she wanted to go to University.

Oh well...there are bound to be a few creases to iron out, same as in any marriage. And the flowers had been rather beautiful, she pondered, rather inanely.

Hermione\'s thoughts brushed briefly across the memory of the scattered rose petals. Then she was brought back to the present as Arthur took her by the elbow and led her towards the grinning man who was her new husband.


+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
Headmistress\'s Office, Hogwarts, August 2010

I felt the need to stand, and offered Harry my seat, although all I really wanted was to be at a higher level than anyone else was. I felt like I was losing cohesion, and needed to grab hold of as much authority as possible.

Malfoy cleared his throat. I looked down at him, and felt a pang as I noticed one thing about him that had changed was his smile. It was no longer assured and sardonic...it was a lot gentler, and...sadder.

\"Granger, before I start, let me first tell you how sorry I am that Ron was killed.\"

That was genuine, I breathed. Completely genuine. I never thought I would live to see the day.

\"My wife...\" he grimaced, and I felt another wave of sympathy for him. Well, anyone would, considering.

\"My wife and I have been separated for a long time now. But I was, I admit, privy to what she was attempting to do, regarding her \"live testing\" with...the non-magic.\"

\"We married about a year after we allduatduated from Hogwarts. Father was keen on the match, definitely, and Mother sort of played along, and gods knew, I didn\'t...at the time...\" He looked at Lavender and swallowed nervously. She nodded, smiling, and placed her hand over his. \"I didn\'t want all the fuss of a wedding...or all the responsibility of producing an heir.
\"That\'s why it ended up being Pansy. She told me she was pregnant with my child, and that I had better marry her or she was going to the Ministry to make me wed her.
\"Of course, I was too arrogant to question her. I married her a month later, in August.\"

He swallowed again, flushing slightly. I really could not find it in my heart to abuse him, and instead muttered a terse \"G\". \".

\"By Christmas that year it was plain she\'d deceived me. There was no pregnancy, and there was to be no baby. Ever. Pansy had no intention of providing the Malfoy family with an heir, and by June of the following year, we moved into separate wings of the House of Malfoy.
\"I was too bitter about it all to do anything but mope for a while...but then I got a summons to Hogwarts, to see my godfather...well, you know who that is,\" he mumbled, rather lamely.

I do indeed. Who could forget dear Draco\'s Uncle Severus? I motioned for him to continue, not wishing to dwell on the thought of Severus Snape any longer.

\"I was staying in Hogsmeade that weekend, and, in my usual toadying Slytherin fashion, decided to buy my godfather a gift. I wandered into a new shop, which sold hats and pins and things, and who should be sitting on a stool sewing away, but Lavender Brown?\"

I smiled cautiously, wondering why this should be relevant to any of this.

\"Lavender and I began an affair, and I am afraid that we weren\'t entirely discreet. Why should we be, I thought, when Pansy was out shagging everything that moved...and quite a few things that didn\'t?\"

That odd bit of Slytherin wit made me laugh. He raised one eyebrow in a self-deprecating manner, and continued.

\"It was for thiasonason that Pansy began to plot to get back at me. She started sending nasty little notes to Lavender...and attempted to seduce a number of people connected with me. Over the following year Pansy seduced Crabbe, Goyle, all my uncles and cousins, then made a play for Percy Weasley...ending in his sentence to Azkaban. Hells, she even tried it on with Father\'s bloody ghost!
\"Then she stopped...for what must have been ten years. I continued seeing Lavender, but was much more discreeout out it, and Pansy contented herself with ignoring me and hatching her own private little plots.\"

The clock struck once. Swallowing, Malfoy continued.

\"I blame myself. I should have realised she was waiting until I suggested an annulment of our marriage, which is exactly what I did, in May this year.
\"Pansy went completely ballistic. I think about a third of the Malfoy Mansion had to be structurally replaced. She knew what she wanted, and she had it already.\"

He laughed sardonically.

\"Of course, I don\'t mean it was me that she wanted. She wanted my name, my prestige...my signature, as it were. It was about that time that she started setting her sights on Weasley...Ron, that is.\"

The bitch. The utter, utter bitch!

Dumbledore cut in here: \"Mrs. Malfoy met up with your late husband at a Quidditch match. Yes, I know it sounds unlikely, but she knew where to look. Miss Parkinson was always astute in this way. You could call it a second sight.\"

Lavender snorted. Dumbledore threw her a mild look, and continued.

\"Mrs. Malfoy had been working on her plan for some time. She had detected knowledge of a secret in Draco, and in Lavender, but we had the foresight to protect against this happening. With Ronald, we were not quite so blessed with prior knowledge.
\"Miss Granger, Ronald carried a secret with him, from twelve years ago. it involved several people, yourself included, indirectly, and was the reason he was sentenced to a wandless life in the Wizarding world. Sentenced to become nothing more than a Squib...stigma aside, it cost your husband his job, and the pleasure of playing Quidditch. It caused a strain on his relationship with his family and his friends, Harry and yourself included.\"

I nodded, glumly. Ron was never the same after the Trial. I shuddered, remembering the moods, the violence, the affairs and the rape, which I somehow always found within me to...if not forgive...to put up with.

\"Ron was bound not to reveal the identity of the plaintiff, but Pansy was determined to find out. She went to a great many extraordinary means to obtain this information...even though she knew that the losulosure would bring about Ronald\'s death
I
I let out a sob.

\"Hermione,\" and for the first time he used my first name, and I felt a great relief for some reason. \"Ron resisted her until she grew bored. And then she decided to get rid of him.\" His usually twinkling eyes were solemn as they gazed into mine. \"Draco, please continue.\"

\"I went home to the Malfoy mansion to pick up some items to pass along to Lavender,\" and here he blushed. Why? \"and in the drawing room, I found Pansy asleep, with a book open before her. She had a quill in her hand, and had been doodling on the pages, and as it was quite a valuable book, I stormed over to her, about to tick her off for it, but what I heard stopped me.
\"She was talking in her sleep, Granger. She\'s always done it, and usually it\'s complete babble, but she kept mentioning your name.\"

My name?

+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
Malfoy Mansion, Wiltshire, May 2010

\"Granger\'s number\'s up...silly ugly cow with her hand in the air...Granger\'s going to catch it...get that dumb Weasley mudblood lover...he\'ll die either way! Hmm...last piece of the puzzle...see what she had when she was gone...Weasley will tell...and die...\"

Draco went as pale as it was possible to turn before actually becoming transparent. He must get to Dumbledore!


+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
Headmistress\'s Office, Hogwarts, August 2010


\"But Ron never knew!\" I gasped.

All four faces turned to me as I realised my number was up.

\"Well done, Granger,\" Malfoy drawled, sarcastically. \"I can see you\'d stand up to Deatheater interrogation every time.\"

Harry\'s voice cut softly through Malfoy\'s. \"\'Mione, don\'t you think it\'s about time you talked to us about it?\"

Dumbledore chimed in with \"Hermione, don\'t be alarmed. There is so much more to this than meets the eye.\"

I wandered over to the fireplace, and leaned against the mantelpiece, the throbbing under my breast seeming so loud I swear the whole room must have been able to hear it.

I can\'t...

But it was Lavender Brown who finally undid me.

\"Hermione, it\'s time for you to talk about your son.\"