Broomsticks and The Wizards Gauntlet

Broomsticks and The Wizards Gauntlet

Chapter 1

(It’s been nearly a year since the end of Broomsticks and The Big Apple. The Malfoy’s are once again living in Britain)

“Did you read the Daily Prophet today?” Harry Potter said holding Hermione’s hand discreetly across the table, at the small coffee shop in muggle London.

“Mmm, I did. Theodore Nott. He was one of Draco’s friends,” Hermione said sipping on her Mocha Latte.

“So you know what we have to do?”

“I know.”

“I’ll meet you at the regular place and then from there we can go to my house?”

“Harry, Draco’s getting suspicious.”

“We just have to stick to the story ‘Mione.”

“I know. It was my idea, remember?”

“I do.”

Harry stood up and kissed Hermione on the cheek and apparrated away. Hermione sipped her coffee and reflected over her clandestine meeting with Harry, that was scheduled for tonight. She could feel the adrenaline pumping through her veins, when she thought about what she and Harry did each time they met under the cloak of secrecy. She looked at her watch and wondered where Drew was. She was late again, damnit. And Luke, where was he? Probably cooped up in that ruddy potions lab with Draco since school was out after Peeves flooded the entire main floor. She hated that her son was living the life of an adult, without any of the adult benefits. And Draco. Draco was asking too many questions lately and she had to get back before he came home for lunch and found her not there. She had left baby Jillian with Narcissa, yet again, for the third time this week.

POP

“Mum,” Luke said bending and kissing Hermione on the cheek. “Drew’s not here yet?”

“Of course not. Molly probably kept her. I can’t stand that woman, she still had the tendency to prattle on about the mundane.” Hermione checked her watch again and cringed. Draco would be home for lunch, she was going to be late.

POP

Molly and the baby popped in. Hermione’s eyes lit up at seeing her grandson. Drew had named the baby on her own, without Luke’s involvement. She named Hermione’s grandson, Arthur Lucius Weasley, or Artie for short.

“Hello little Luke Junior,” Hermione gushed as she reached out for the baby.

“It’s Artie, Hermione, and you know that.” Hermione and Molly did not get along, ever since it came out that Luke had fathered Drew’s baby. The Weasley’s and the Malfoy’s were pretty much embroiled in a bitter feud. After Hermione and Draco’s wedding, Luke confided in his parents. He told them about their special night together on New Year’s Eve and how it was the first and only time that they slept together. Hermione immediately tried to contact Ron, but to no avail. Ron was working in Romania with Charlie, taming Dragon’s and Molly was left in charge of the pregnant Drew Weasley. Things went from bad to worse, when relations broke down. Molly insisted that Luke either marry Drew and quit school or forfeit all rights to the baby. Hermione and Draco became enraged, when she tried to dictate their son’s life and then more outrage when Molly filed court papers, on Drew’s behalf, preventing Luke from claiming any stake to the child. Hermione had to go into court and fight for visitation for Luke and for she and Draco as the grandparents. Meanwhile, Luke and Drew were cast into the middle of this feud. Luke often was pissed off at the adults and told them to butt out and just let he and Drew handle it, but nobody would or could. Luke was only fourteen and Drew only fifteen. They were kids. They had no idea how to handle a custody situation…or so Hermione and Molly thought.

“Where’s Drew?” Luke asked Molly.

“Never you mind where she is, Luke Malfoy. Why don’t you just get over this unhealthy obsession with Drew and go find yourself some rich pureblood girl who will bow to your every command,” Molly shot back at Luke.

“How dare you speak to my son like that! I’ll have you know that Luke is a top honors student at Hogwarts. He’s a prefect and…”

“Mum, shut up! Give me my son. I only have a few minutes to spend with him and I don’t want him having to listen to this cattiness!” Luke took his son and made for the park across the street. He sat down on a swing and rocked his baby in his arms. Hermione nearly cried at seeing the tenderness in Luke’s eyes as he rocked his infant son.

“You’re hurting the kids Molly, by continuing this. I know Ron wouldn’t approve of this either. If I could reach him…”

“Ron respects my judgment where Drew and the baby are concerned. Need I remind you that I raised seven children, long before you and your Death Eater husband had even your first spoiled rotten playboy of a son.”

“You are no better then Voldemort! You know that Molly. You are so jealous that Draco and I have money and that we use our money to do good things, that you can’t stand it!”

“Say what you will Hermione. Your son will never be a father to Artie. I’ll make sure of it. As soon as Drew is old enough, I intend on introducing her to a nice boy, who will raise Artie as his own. In fact, she may have already met him,” Molly smiled.

“You make me sick! I’ll fight you every step of the way Molly. You won’t win either. I’m the best counselor there is at the Ministry and I will beat you. I’ve been nice up until now, but you lay threats at my son’s doorstep and I promise you I will take full custody of Lucius JUNIOR!”

“ARTIE!”

“Whatever you say, old woman,” Hermione spat.

Hermione checked her watch again and so did Molly.

“Bring the boy back now,” Molly snapped her fingers and Luke reluctantly brought his son back to the redheaded great grandmother. Molly and the baby apparrated away and Luke let his head drop into his hands as he wept.

“Luke, I’m so sorry. Do you want me to fight for full custody? It will be hard because Drew is the mother and mother’s rights are…but I’ll do it for you. This is ridiculous that you get twenty minutes a week to see your son with that old bat looking on and snapping at you like you’re her house elf. Not that she could afford one because she can’t!” The months of infighting had taken it’s toll on both Luke and Hermione. She was saying and doing things that she knew weren’t right, but just like Molly, Hermione felt like she had protect Luke. The end result was a traumatized Luke and probably a traumatized Drew too. However, they wouldn’t know, because Molly conveniently kept Drew away from Luke at every turn.

“I want you to leave me alone mother! I want all of you to just leave Drew and me alone. I wish I could talk to her. She won’t except my owls, she won’t see me and this is never going to be worked out! And you two…you are just making this worse always bickering!” Luke stood up and apparrated away.

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“Where were you and why didn’t you take Jillian with you?” Draco asked, bouncing the baby on his knee, a bottle in his hand.

“I’m sorry Draco. It was her naptime and I had errands to run. It was Luke’s visitation day today too. I swear that Molly Weasley gets more bitter each passing day. She actually threatened to take Lucius Jr. away from Luke for good! Said she was fixing Drew up with a nice poor boy who could be a father to the baby. I swear, I just want to wring her neck!”

“Maybe I should have a talk with the Weasel. Maybe if we sit down man to man we can work something out.” Hermione shot Draco a disbelieving stare. That would be the day that Ron and Draco could sit down like two civilized wizards and work anything out.

“Give me my little Jillybean.” Hermione said reaching out for her daughter. The baby was adorable, with white blonde hair and eyes that looked like the scales of a Caribbean tropical fish glinting in the sunlight, blue and silver. She would be a knock out when she got older, this much was certain. She cooed and smiled at Hermione and Hermione hugged her daughter. It wasn’t that Hermione disliked being a mother again. She loved little Jilly very, very much. She just had so much on her plate as of late. She had returned to working at the Ministry on a part time basis and then she had the thing with Harry, that took a lot of her time, and then Luke and his custody battle, not to mention that she was acting as Scorpius’s agent and manager, going over his contracts with the pro quidditch team Puddlemere United. Draco had finally succeeded in passing the anti squib laws in America. He didn’t know why the American Ministers had a change of heart, but he wasn’t going to argue over it. He was grateful that his proposed law, banning Squib Shops had passed. Squibs were now free in the Americas. He had returned to Britain in order to drum up European support for the law. It had not been going well though, and this frequently left Draco cranky. Whilst the Malfoy’s were living in America a new contender for the office of Minister of Magic, once Draco’s term was over, was a wizard by the name of Raspodin. Raspodin, stood for everything that Draco didn’t. Draco had become a controversial Minister, with his sweeping reforms and changes. While half embraced his changes and felt that his vision was the correct vision for the wizarding world, the other half feared change and Raspodin fed into their insecurities. He claimed that if we allowed squibs the same freedoms as wizards, then they would take hard working wizards jobs. He released the population numbers of squibs, to The Daily Prophet and people were shocked to find that nearly 1 in 5 witches and wizards born, were born as squibs. Raspodin attributed this sharp rise in squib births to the mixed society they were living in now. Muggle borns marrying Purebloods and ruining the family lines of rich wizard stock. Halfbloods and muggle borns marrying and raising kids. He was deceptively sneaky and his platform was very reminiscent of a certain Dark Wizard who shall not be named but who went by the dreaded name of, “You Know Who.” Draco was livid over it all and Hermione suspected that he was going to run for Minister again, though he hadn’t come right out and said it after his promise to her to be home with the baby more this time around.

“Hermione there is something we need to discuss. It’s about my term as Minister of Magic. I know its ending and I know I promised you that I would not run again and would spend more time in the Potions lab.” (Draco had started a Pharmaceutical company called Malfoy’s Potions Plus)

“Yeah, I remember Dragon. Something change?” Hermione said sweetly to her husband.

“I want to run again. Raspodin is dangerous. I know what I said, but I have to Sweetpea.”

“I think you should. I’m glad you came to this decision and I agree that he’s dangerous. This is wonderful Draco,” Hermione threw her arms around his neck and kissed his pink perfect lips.

“I thought you would be mad. I told you before you got pregnant with Jillian, that I would help you more with the baby.”

Hermione set the baby down in the bassinet and took Draco in her arms.

“This is something that you have to do. I understand that. Sometimes, there are things I have to do to.” That was as close as she would come to admitting that something was indeed going on in Hermione’s life. Something that she couldn’t tell Draco. Something she was involved in, with Harry Potter.

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“So I’m going over to the library to do some research on child custody cases in the wizarding world. I want to be clear on Luke’s rights. Don’t wait up Dragon.” Hermione said putting her arms in her overcoat. It was February and it was a cold and blustery night. The weather was so terrible, that Draco found it hard to believe that his doting wife was actually going to the library. He had been suspicious over the last month, all these nighttime visits to the library, so this time he was going to follow Hermione and find out what his wife was really up to. Hermione left Draco with a cooing Jillian and Draco stood up and threw his trench coat on.

“Daddy is going to drop you off at Grandma Malfoy’s house. She will fawn over you and spoil you rotten and then when Daddy gets back he will give you a bath and tuck you in my sweet little princess,” Draco said kissing his infant daughters forehead. She blinked and smiled at her father and Draco hugged the little bundle of joy before apparrating them to the Malfoy’s.

He knew that Hermione always went to the library. He had followed her there the last time, but then he had lost her. This time he would follow her more closely and hopefully find out where it was she going two, sometimes three nights a week, since the baby was born.

He apparrated to the library and stood behind a bush. Hermione was pacing in the cold February wind. Draco watched eagerly and then someone landed on a broomstick in front of her. She hugged the man and then mounted his boom.

“Shit!” Draco whispered to himself as he called his own broomstick to him. It felt like it took minutes for his own Firebolt to arrive and he mounted it in rapid fashion and took off into the skies in the direction they had flown. He could see them in the distance.

“Goddamn it! Why the fuck is my wife riding on the back of some blokes broom? She hates mother fucking flying!” Draco cursed. He was beginning to seethe with jealousy. They finally landed and Draco too landed on the street and hid behind a dumpster. They were in a familiar area of London. He recognized this place, though he couldn’t place it, but he thought he had been here before. He moved closer, stalking his wife through the night. He was close enough to see that she and this man were standing on a doorstep at Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

“Potter!” Draco said to himself. Now he knew why this place was familiar. He listened.

“Are you ready?” Harry Potter said pressing his forehead to Hermione’s. Hermione nodded as Draco watched. Then Harry leaned down and pushed Hermione’s curls behind her ears, before laying a kiss on her cheek. “Let’s do this then!” The couple entered the house. Draco fluffed his collar up as the freezing rain began to fall. He lit a cigarette and puffed on it, rage coursing through his veins. A black cat jumped out of one of the dumpsters and without thinking, Draco hit the mangy animal with a spell, launching the cat into the air. It landed in a nearby tree with a hiss, but Draco paid it no regard. Was his wife having an affair with Harry Potter? She had been so loving to him only this afternoon. She had even supported his desire to run for Minister yet again. Maybe she just wanted him out of her hair, so she could carry on like a common slut, with Potter. Draco lit a trashcan on fire with his wand. He was pissed off, to put it mildly.

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“Where’s the portkey, Harry?”

“I hid it well, just in case of Auror’s you know. Three more people in the auror’s office know about the underground Hermione. We will have to start taking more precautions, maybe set up some security wards and start asking questions of those that show up.”

“I know Harry, but we need the support.”

“Still, we don’t need the wrong sort of people catching wind of this. So, the vase over there on the mantle is the portkey. Shall we?” Hermione nodded and both Gryffindor’s touched the vase and found themselves spinning through the air. Finally, they landed at the Scottish Loch.

“This way Hermione.” Harry Potter led them through the trees and into the cave. Hermione hated traversing these caves, but it was the perfect place to hold their secret meetings. Once inside she dressed in her ceremonial gowns and both she and Harry donned masks. Hermione wore a white cloak and mardi gras mask, hiding her identity from the participants. She stepped into the large chamber and Harry took her hand.

“Welcome to the Wizards Gauntlet. I must impress upon you all, to remember to keep the secret. Good news was received today. I will let the Mistress of Ceremonies tell you about it though.” Harry waved his hand to Hermione and Hermione stepped forward. She recognized many of her fellow Gryffindor’s below, as she stood on the rock platform, overlooking the treacherous contraption that was the gauntlet. Oliver Wood was doing exercise’s to loosen up, while Cormac McLaggen stretched and flexed his muscles. There were many wizards she didn’t recognize as well and some former Slytherins, like Blaise Zabini, that she never expected to see here tonight. She worried about seeing Blaise, and she hopped that he hadn’t told Draco about the Gauntlet. She had no idea how she would explain that she was part of an underground secret society, where wizards competed against one another. The cause was so important though. The winner of the weekly Wizards Gauntlet, was to escort a squib family, on the run from the Ministry’s round up, to America. It was dangerous and heroic and it gave the participants a purpose in life. Hermione had come up with idea and Harry had helped her implement it. After a teenage squib tried to escape on his own and was captured and turned over to the Squib Shops, where he was forced to work as an indentured servant for a pureblood family, Hermione knew that things had to change. They needed powerful witches and wizards to volunteer to escort the squibs to a safe harbor. But with the risk of capture so high, since the Aurors were now tracking the squibs and their movements, nobody was hard pressed to volunteer, even those who supported the cause of freeing the squibs. That is, until Hermione and Harry started holding the Wizards Gauntlet. Draco’s hands were tied at the Ministry. Until he was either reelected, or this Raspodin became Minister, no new bills or laws could be passed. Essentially for the next three months, Draco was powerless as Minister, until the election was held and a winner declared. It was a safeguard put in place by the Wizengamot, so that failing Minister’s couldn’t pass all kinds of crazy laws on their way out the door. Therefore, Hermione and Harry came up with the Wizard’s Gantlet--a show of strength and cunning and agility and bravery and the prize was the coveted job of seeing the squib and their families to safety. It was genius really, and it was the beginning of what was now known as the Underground Squib Network. Hermione and Draco had made many contacts in America, that supported the cause and played host to the squibs when they arrived across the great ocean. They allowed them to live in their homes, until which time that they could find employment and a home. The squibs finally had the support of their magical counterparts and to the squibs and their families, America was the land of the free. Now with Draco running for Minister again, Hermione had great hopes that he would win reelection and would be able to stop all the propaganda that Raspodin was spewing. His support was growing too and with that, the Aurors had intensified their search for the missing registered squibs. Before, the Aurors would turn a blind eye to a runaway squib, but as the political season heated up, so did the pressure on the Auror’s office to find these squibs and bring them to justice.

“Good news, yes. I received word a few days ago that our last Gauntlet winner arrived safely in America with the poor boy whom we helped to start a new life. He was a rat collector on Diagon Alley, but he wanted so much more out of life. Now, because of wizards like you, that boy will have the life he’s always wanted. This week, we have a family that desperately needs our help. Some of you may have seen the story in The Daily Prophet today. The Notts home was raided, when they refused to surrender their squib daughter to the Auror’s Office. We have hidden the family and the winner of tonight’s Gauntlet, will escort them to a safe haven in the sunny state of Florida. Do we have any contenders tonight?” Hermione gazed around and Wood and McLaggen and a few others stepped forward. Harry cleared his throat.

“Let the games begin!”

Mclaggen was first. The course was a difficult course. Contestants first had to step inside a catapult that launched them over a charmed firepit of hot coals. When they landed they were thrust onto a platform where steely spikes shot through the floors, while swinging pendulums would knock them for a loop, if they didn’t time their steps just right. After that, they had to walk through a nest of growing devil’s snare, that threatened to strangle the contestant. If they made it past the devil’s snare, then they dropped down into a maze where various bogarts threatened to scare the living shit out of them, their worst fears being seen. Once through the maze, they had to climb a rope that was dripping with slime. At the top of the rope was a series of swinging bars, sort of like a trapeze, that they had to traverse. Slithering snakes littered the ground below. Finally, they had to break through a series of security enchantments to find their way out of the Gauntlet. If they chose the wrong one, they would receive a powerful electrical shock and the competition would be over for them. This was the most important part of the course, in that Aurors used traps to trap a fleeing squib and it was the wizard’s job to recognize the trap, when it was thrust upon them. Harry had used his Aurors training in order to set up this particular part of the Wizards Gauntlet. Knowing all the Aurors tricks, this course was a good prepared course, for being able to successfully free a squib from Britain without ebing captured by Auror’s in the process. Every single winner of the Gauntlet had made it to America and back, safely and undetected, so it was working.

The Wizards Gauntlet was in full swing and McLaggen was putting up the best time they had seen, until he came to the security wards…where he failed miserably.

“You suck. Let somebody younger have a go.” Hermione turned to Harry when she thought she recognized the voice of the next contestant. The person was wearing a mask, as this was optional. Some wizards who attended, preferred their anonymity and Harry and Hermione supported that, seeing as they both wore masks too. The cave, that was on a piece of property in Scotland, that Harry Potter had purchased after his divorce, was not set up to keep certain underage wizards out, something that occurred to Harry when he saw the teen step up to Gauntlet.

The young wizard stepped up and Hermione narrowed her eyes when she saw the blond hair behind his mask. He launched himself from the catapult and then made his way through the pendulums with ease. He was doing great on the course, until he reached the devil’s snare. He couldn’t remember the spell to release himself from the snare. Hermione was whispering under her breath that the snare hated sunlight, something she remembered from her first year. The snare tangled itself around the wizard’s leg and then his body was being twisted until the snare had weaved itself around his torso and legs and the boy was screaming out in pain. Hermione shot the snare with light from her wand and the boy fell to the pit below. People were clamoring over the young wizard and when his mask was accidentally knocked from of his face, Hermione gasped.

“Scorpius?” She said, seeing her unconscious son. She raced to his side and apparrated them both out of there before anyone had the chance to suspect who they were. She flicked her wand and her robes and mask disappeared and later she found herself sitting in the waiting room of St. Mungo’s. The hospital had owled Draco and he came bounding through the doors in his woolen trench coat.

“What the hell happened? Why is Scorpius here? Did he have a quidditch injury?” Hermione hugged Draco tightly but Draco was not hugging her back. She wondered why, but with no time to worry about that, she rushed Draco down the hall to their son’s room.

“They wouldn’t talk to me until both of us were here. I’m sure he’s going to be alright.”

“Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy. I have some good news and some bad news, in regards to your son.” Persephone bounded through the door at that. Hermione wrapped a comforting arm around her daughter-in-law as the healer continued.

“This is his wife, please go on.” The healer looked stunned that Scorpius was married and that he had such a young wife.

“Yes, well, as I was saying. The good news is that he is going to make a full recovery. The bad news is that it’s going to take time. I see he plays for Puddlemere United. I am writing a letter to the coach explaining that Scorpius is not to play quidditch for a period of no less then one year. He needs time for his leg to heal. I am prescribing a potion that will kill the pain and he is to take it for the next couple of weeks until the pain ceases. It’s quite addicting, so please watch him on this potion.”

“One year? What’s Scorpius going to do for a year? He lives and breathes quidditch? Can you just knock him out for a year, because he isn’t going to go for that diagnosis at all,” Persephone said and the healer looked down her nose at the girl.

“She’s right. To him, a year is going to be like the end of his career. Isn’t there some fast acting potion that you can give him to heal the tendons in his leg?” Hermione asked.

“There isn’t,” Draco said firmly. “He needs his leg to kick off in qudditch. I don’t want some ruddy healer messing with potions they don’t know a thing about anyways. He has a year off, period.” Draco said angrily. He dragged Hermione outside the room at that and left Persephone to be with her husband. He cornered her against the wall and Hermione suddenly knew she wasn’t going to like this conversation. She hadn’t seen that look in Draco’s eyes before.

“Are you fucking around on me with Harry bloody fucking Potter?” Draco accused. Hermione’s eyes went wide.

Review!?

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So, I wanted to get this chapter up while it was fresh in my head. Tomorrow I will finish Merlin’s Coven. What ya think?