AN: I expect that most of you would want to kill me after you read this. And I say, BE GENTLE! (;

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"Ow, mum, ow."

Walking out from the kitchen of the Burrow, Ginny Potter dragged a blue-haired eighteen year-old by his ear. She tugged even harder as he began to complain and tried pulling himself out of her clutch, even if that meant losing his ear in the process. He knew it was worth losing, it was about to get uglier if he didn't get out of there fast. (Besides, earless blokes like George Weasley were always the center of attention, he would fit right in.)

"Sit your butt down this instant, Teddy Remus Lupin,” the redhead woman snapped, pointing to the empty couch in the living room of her parents home; an older woman watching from a rocking-chair with a grin on her face. "Now,” she hissed as he hesitated.

"Yes, ma'am." Teddy scurried off to the old couch.

Ginny sighed, inhaling deeply as she crossed her arms in anger. "I don't even know what I'm going to do with you, boy,” she began, not noticing that Teddy had given her a secret eye-roll. "You're eighteen—eighteen, Teddy, and you can't begin to act your age."

Teddy glanced at the other woman, watching her knit casually as if she wasn't hearing his mother rant about him again. (Same things over and over again that she’s been arguing about since he was about five.)

"It's like you are tempting me to lock you in an attic and never let you out."

"I don't even know what all the fuss is about, mum," Teddy chimed in, leaning against the couch as he decided he heard enough. "I mean, I was just sitting innocently in the kitchen, waiting for my tea when you barged in all mental and decided to attack me." He raised a finger at the woman, turning his body slightly in an angle so he could see her. "If we were muggles, I'd have Child Services contact you and I'd be removed from your custody by such barbaric act, Ginevra."

"You were having sex on my mother's dining table!" Ginny snarled, smacking the boy across the head. "Rotten luck for you, boy, but we are not muggles!" Smack. Smack. "Next time I find you disgracing the Burrow with that girl—”

Before Ginny could finish her shout, a blonde seventeen year-old was being dragged out in the same way Teddy had been, but by a mob of people. "He’s telling the truth,” Victoire inputted, looking at her aunt with an outraged expression. “We were just waiting for tea!" And as her Uncle Ron shoved her onto an empty armchair, the blonde girl turned to her grandmother. "Grandmum, you know I would never do such a thing. Aunt Ginny’s blowing this way out of proportion."

"Am I?" Mrs. Potter scowled at her niece.

"Well of course you are!" Teddy was the one to speak, his girlfriend shrinking back with fear by the redheaded woman’s deadly gaze. "Vic and I have not even had sex yet—hence we were not doing anything on Molly's table!" He babbled. "And if by any chance I were to get lucky, I would not do it in the Burrow. I'd rent a room in the Leaky Cauldron, or do it in my room when you and dad were out."

Smack.

Teddy frowned at his mother from another hit he received, crossing his arms in an indignant way. (There was just no pleasing that woman.)

"Oh, my, my, my." Molly Weasley stopped her knitting, looking at the two teenagers as all the other adults remained silent by Teddy's statement. "Kids these days,” she sighed, shaking her fading red-hair as she looked down at her almost-done sweater. "What to do with them?"

"That's it?" Ron asked, furrowing his brows at his mother. "That's all you're going to say, mum?"

Mrs. Weasley looked blankly at her son. "Well, what can I possibly say, Ronald?"

"Don't say anything! Whip them into shape! Make them do heavy labor in the yard! Work them like house-elves!" Ron exclaimed. "You would’ve beaten me senseless if I was snogging Pansy in the kitchen."

"I believe she has already," Pansy commented, standing in the back with the other person that helped bring Victoire into the living room. "It was the first year of our marriage, and we needed to get pregnant already. We only had a few months left before we had the Ministry on us for not completing one of the clauses the Marriage Law came with.  But anyway..." She stopped in her story, noticing the man next to her gave her a disgusted look. "Oh, grow up, Potter. How else do you think your niece was made?"

"I know the concept, Pansy, but I rather not get an image of how Rose was made," Harry said, shuddering at the idea and walking towards the open seat next to his adoptive-son. "..I don't tell the world how James was created."

Pansy glared at her brother-in-law. "Remind me why I'm nice to you again?"

"Well, it was lovely seeing you all but I've got to be on my way now." Victoire interrupted politely, standing up from the armchair her uncle had imprisoned her in. "I've got my exams today, and Healer Thomas won't allow me to make them up."

Ginny uncrossed her arms, eyeing her niece. "You do make us proud, Victoire,” she said with all honesty, but not helping to feel like the relationship between her and Teddy was double-sided. There was no way Ginny could stay furious at Victoire, she was her niece after all, but even then, her maternal instincts kicked in and she wanted Teddy to focus completely on his career instead of his girlfriend. "Good luck, darling. Make sure to remind Dean we’re expecting him and Luna for tea this evening."

"Yes, Aunt Ginny." The blonde girl smiled, feeling less pressure on her shoulders as her aunt looked less upset. "Good luck with training today, Ted. See you later."

"Erm..." Scratching his head at the distant goodbye he was getting from his girlfriend, the blue-haired teen sighed. "Yeah, sure. Later, Vic."

Grinning teasingly, Harry said, "now that was cute."

"Yeah, yeah." Teddy grunted, pushing the arm his father had put around his shoulder. "You've all frighten her. She won't want to kiss me for days."

"It's all bloody disgusting," Ron hissed, dropping himself in the armchair. "All that love rubbish needs to bloody stop."

Molly frowned at her son. "No cursing in my house."

Mumbling another dirty-word, Ron grunted to himself.

"Why in such a rotten mood, Ron? Pansy cut off your sweets again?" Teddy asked, liking that all the attention was off of him. "Oh, wait!" He snapped his fingers at the redheaded man. "Did she find that stash of Pumpkin Pasties you keep in one of the cupboards in your mummy's kitchen?"

"Ron's just upset about a letter he received," Harry said quickly, not wanting to witness another punch to the gut his best friend would get from his wife.

Teddy smiled casually. "Ah, so George was right? He is getting sacked?"

"No, I'm not getting sacked, you prat." Ron snapped at Teddy. "It's something much...You know, I don't even want to talk about it."

"Damien McLaggen wrote to Ron," Ginny informed, smirking.

"Who's Damien McLaggen?" Molly asked.

"McLaggen?" Teddy gawked at Ron. "What does that slimy bastard want?"

"See, Pansy, see! I told you he was a filthy git, didn't I?" Ron cursed again, his cheeks getting red with anger. "I knew we should’ve homeschooled Rose. It was a terrible idea from the start, letting her go to Hogwarts. Ha! Who's crazy now, Pans, who?"

Leaning towards his dad’s side, Teddy muttered, "...he scares me sometimes." Both of them looked at one another, giving each other a nod with their brows raised in concern for the redhead.

"For Slytherin's sake, Ron." Pansy rolled her eyes, her own anger appearing. "The boy just wanted to ask for permission to see Rose in the holidays. You're overreacting."

"I do not overreact!" Ron placed his hands on his waist. "That boy’s clearly interested in my daughter, and if he is anything like Cormac, I'm sure his pesky fingers will try something with my little girl."

Remembering Cormac McLaggen and his vile ways, the Chosen one had to agree with his best friend on that. "It’s true. McLaggen tried giving Hermione a go our Sixth Year.”

Ron's eyes opened wildly. "Exactly, mate, exactly! It's inheritance!"

Grunting at the men, Ginny shook her long hair. "You can't base the kid's personality and defects on how his father was, Ron. You don't know if the boy’s genuinely interested in Rose or if she likes him too, for that matter."

"Exactly." Pansy mimicked the redheaded man.

"So now you're turning against me?" Ron scoffed. "Brilliant, just brilliant."

Teddy chuckled. "Good thing Lily’s twelve, aye, dad?"

"Lily's the less of our concerns right now," Ginny said worriedly, looking over at her mother as she settled on the couch with her husband and oldest son. "Apparently, James is getting rather cozy with Ana."

Choking from the air he was breathing, Ron coughed hysterically at his sister; a part of him wanting to roar with laughter and the other to show how shocked he was with the news. "Ana? As in Ariana Malfoy?"

His sister narrowed her eyes at him. "What other Ana do we know, you dunce. Obviously Ariana Malfoy."

And choosing to laugh, Ron stomped his feet with every mocking chuckle. "Oh, Merlin, that's bloody brilliant." He roared more, a mental image of his nephew and Ariana holding hands crossed his head. "Can I tell Hermione?"

"No." Ginny frowned. "I'm not even supposed to know. Lily wrote to me a few days back, saying how things are a little topsy-turvy over there and that she doesn’t want James and Ana playing couple during the holidays."

"But...they aren't an item, are they?" Mrs. Weasley asked her daughter. "I mean, not that there’s anything wrong with that, Ana is such a lovely girl, but..."

"But James is not a lovely boy," Harry completed his mother-in-law's thought. "Yeah, we know."

Letting the information sink in, Teddy knitted his eyebrows in thought. "I don't think Ariana goes well with James. But either way, I doubt it's serious. Mind you, the bloke can't settle on what scented soap to use when he's at home. I doubt he'll settle for Ariana for too long. I give it about a week."

"I thought Ana was smart," Pansy said, sitting on the armrest of her husband's chair; playing with his red-hair as he sported a gigantic grin. "Why go for James? And—oh, oh!" Her expression changed, looking like she realized something very important. "Draco's going to murder him if he ditches the girl after a week!"

"Malfoy's going to kill him regardless," Ginny corrected. "Even when he’s not home that boy brings us problems."

"And just when we thought—" Before Harry could voice the hopes they had for James, he stood up from his seat; something inside of him sparking up with a sense that he hadn't felt in years. His skin filled with goosebumps, that sense that something was coming started invading his brain. Almost like the past memories of fear and battle started replaying perfectly accurate, he felt the same feelings race inside of him.

Teddy raised an eyebrow. "Dad?"

"Do you hear that, Ron?" The Boy-Who-Lived asked his best friend, ignoring his son as he pulled out his wand.

And just in time, feeling that same shiver, Ron stood from his chair. He whipped out his wand too, taking a protective step in front of his wife as he could hear the grass outside his mother's home rattle; like a silent earthquake in mid shake.

Then, a gust of wind snapped the windows open of the Burrow; the air burning like the hottest day of summer.

Ginny stood from her place in a swift movement, things happening all around her like if time had sped up; she shoved her son down as a wave of fire swirled inside through the window. Things beginning to crack and burn, shades of vibrant orange and inflaming red were seen living with fury outside, like the outside of the Burrow was made of fire.

"Aguamenti!" Both Aurors shouted, jets of water shooting off towards the body of fire threatening to crawl inside the house.

"Molly!" And just in time before an overpowering feather of fire could fly towards her mother-in-law's direction, Pansy launched herself away from her husband's protection; knocking the older woman onto the ground.

"Pansy, no!" Almost in hysterics, Mrs. Weasley shouted after her daughter-in-law once she rushed towards the kitchen, wand out with a determination living on her face.

"I've got to get the door!" Pansy yelled behind her, her eyes open wide as she could see fire outside of the kitchen window. "—Cave Inimicum!" A jet of light came out of her wand-tip, causing the door to stop shaking and hold with super-strength. "Aguamenti!" She hissed, water flowing out the kitchen windows.

And seeing as the flames were not disappearing, Harry took a look at his family. Seeing the terror and determination on Ron's face, his eyes glancing every millisecond towards the kitchen; hoping for his wife to return from the unknown she went into. Molly with her concerned face—that expression that always broke his heart with guilt. And then, his wife and son...

"Don't even think about it!" Ginny hissed at Harry, still keeping Teddy on the ground as he fought against her hold; trying to join the action his parents were participating in. "Harry Potter, if you—"

Crack.

"Is he mental?!" Ron exclaimed, still shooting water towards the open gaps as his best friend disappeared. "He doesn't know what's out there!"

"Oh, Merlin, I'm going to hell for this." Through the tiny fragment of hysteria going on, Teddy knocked his mother backward, her wand falling from her hand and the stream of water she was producing disappeared. He shoved his way out with his left elbow, and his right hand pulling out his wand. "Sorry, mum." Crack.

Ginny screamed out for him, every maternal fiber in her body creating a fear that raced up her spine, something that screeched with a shrill voice that she did not want to lose him. Not her child. Not like the Malfoys and their daughter, she thought selfishly. Her thoughts spun out of control like the fire consummating the outsides of her childhood home.

But before she could even join Harry and Teddy outside, the waves of fire stopped; the cold wind of winter entered in gusts through the burned window-frames.

"...H-Harry?" Ginny called, swallowing a knot of panic as she picked herself off the ground. Her wand tight between her fingers as she waited, her brother reaching to grab her arm so she could stay in place.

"—It's cool." Peering in through the cracked window, Ginny gave a jump as Teddy smiled at her from the outside of the Burrow. "No harm done, mum."

Footsteps echoed from the kitchen. "The fire stopped, there's nothing outside."

"You look like a damn fool, Teddy," Ginny retorted, ignoring Pansy's return to the living room as she noticed the missing eyebrow on her son's face. "You're grounded."

"Grounded?" Teddy gaped. "For what? I was doing my Trainee duties, woman! You can't ground me, I'm an adult!"

The redhead took a calmer breath as her husband appeared behind their adoptive-son, giving her that solemn look that explained all: they were safe, for now. "You pushed me, Teddy, and unless you want me to tell Andromeda that you hit a woman, you better get inside this house now."

"Clear, Harry?" Ron asked, his eyes flicking towards his wife and his mother.

Harry nodded. "We need to report back to the Ministry, though. It seems like we’ve another attack to write down in our special case."

"Everyone's safe, that's what matters. There's nothing a few spells can't fix," Molly spoke, her eyes flashing all across her family. Not bothering to look at the few things that were destroyed by the freak-fire. "Everything's fine, go to the Ministry without care."

"Actually..." Pansy peered at Ron, a guilty expression on her white face. "I couldn't control the fire to the fullest, so...your secret stash of sweets are nothing but ashes of aluminum trays, Ron."

With his jaw dropped, Ron cursed. "Oh, come on!"

                                                                                           X

Sitting in an uncomfortable leather-chair, Hermione Malfoy stared with exhausted eyes at the records and archives scattered all around her newly appointed desk. (It seriously had been a while since she worked; she had forgotten how maddening the codes of the Ministry could be.) But even though her eyelids grew heavy, she did not dream about giving up on her work. It was not in her nature, and the determination to solve the case was bigger than the almost forty-three hours of sleep she had missed out on.

"Are you practicing to set them on fire with your eyes?"

Blinking from an old Azkaban Prison record, Hermione's tired gaze was met with a very energetic blue.

"There are still wizards from the Merlin Era alive, you know? They can create magic with their eyes, the way they casted their spells before they created the wand."

Hermione blinked again, forbidding herself to roll her eyes instead. (Oh, all the corrections she could make to that statement would drain the energy she had left.) "Luna, it's great to see you." She smiled dimly. "What brings you to the Ministry?"

"Just visiting." Luna Thomas smiled dreamily at the brunette. "Dean and I are actually going to have tea with Harry and Ginny later on, I just wanted to stop by and speak to him about a few things before."

"Did you find him?" Hermione asked with a bit of eagerness. "I've been trying to look for him all morning, but he hasn't showed. He hasn't reported in with his secretary.”

Luna just smiled. "Is something the matter, Hermione?"

"...Nothing I can discuss,” the brunette sighed, cursing Harry Potter inside her head.(Figures that when she needed him he was probably off skipping over a rainbow with his wife.) "I'm sorry, Luna, how rude of me, how are you? How's Dean?"

"I'm lovely, thank you." The blonde kept that smile, subconsciously knowing that she was irritating Hermione with it. "Dean's still has a few post-traumatic symptoms from the electrical shocks his body received, but he's adjusting." And then her smile slowly faded, the image of her husband's dark, blank face coming to her mind. Almost as if she was looking at it in the flesh; how she did every night when she found him awake and looking outside their bedroom window. Withering faith escaping from his dark eyes. "...Well, trying his hardest to adjust to a life without his best friend."

Hermione waited a second, swallowing roughly at the emotions circling the air of her temporary office. "Must be hard,” her voice squeaked and she coughed to disguise it.

"Some nights are tougher than others." Luna nodded. "Especially when he apparates to Seamus' house, expecting to find him and he realizes Seamus won't ever be there again." Luna cleared her throat, shaking her blonde hair and letting a smile reappear on her pale face. "But the children help loads. Dawn writes to Dean every day, and she encourages him to heal the wound of loss he has in his heart."

The brunette looked away from Luna, glancing at the paperwork on top of her desk. Stacking them in an orderly fashion as the silence became loud.

"It's a good thing that Dean isn't aware of the real reason of his friend's death." But that silence didn't last too long.

Hermione furrowed her dark brows. "What do you mean, Luna?"

The blonde took a seat, placing her palms calmly on her lap. "I don't criticize people for the choices they make, Hermione, but sometimes I believe those people need to hear how things look on the outside of their crowded heads,” the graduated Ravenclaw began. "It wasn't a wise choice for you to join this operation, Hermione. And it definitely was not right to have you informed about the situation shaking up the Auror department at the moment."

"You know about this?" Hermione asked incredulously.

Luna adjusted her hands on her lap, looking at the brunette as she still remained outraged. "There's a difference between vengeance and justice,” she said after a few seconds. "There's a reason why they kept certain people hidden from the truth...Like you and Dean. There must be a twinge of fury in your blood, Hermione, they did murder your father-in-law and put your daughter in a comatose state. Just how they killed Dean's best friend. Neither of you know the difference of what is right and what will make you feel better by knowing the truth."

Hermione scowled.

"I know the situation is tough, and there's nothing more that I want than to see justice for all those people and the protection among us, but my head is set on right." The brunette scoffed and Luna smiled bigger, not bothered. "I'm keeping my family together because that's all that I can do. We chose to keep Dean in the dark for protection, so our kids wouldn't have both parents attempting to fight a battle of vengeance. Malfoy tried doing the same for you, but here you are."

"Draco didn't have any right to hide things for me, Luna," Hermione snapped. "He knew that I would react—"

"React this way? How you are now?" Luna interjected as politely as she could, her blue eyes scanning the folders before her. "When is the last time you slept?"

The brunette fell into an angry silence, not knowing how to control that twinge inside of her. That twinge that Luna had spotted the moment she came into her office, something that others couldn't see.

"Focus on your children, Hermione, not in all of this. You’ve countless protection behind you, don't waste the time you can have being a mother by overworking your brain and not having faith." Luna rose up from her seat, eyes connected to her friend. "I always find the answers to come faster when my head is relaxed and I've drank a few Butterbeers."

"...Thanks, Luna," Hermione said in a whisper before the blonde walked out.

Looking down at the file of an ex Death Eater, Jugson, she stared at the information before her. Codes and symbols from Azkaban peering up at her, almost like if the marks were flashing with information; letting her know that the answer was among them, but her sleepy-eyes couldn't see them anymore. Luna had been right, she wouldn't be able to figure this out if her head was in the wrong place.

She did want revenge; her entire brilliant mind was screaming that if she found the culprits she'd get her own retribution. She'd help bring them down, put their lives on the line to avenge Mister Malfoy's murder, Seamus', and to get a sort of repayment for having to see her baby girl trapped and tangled in wires at St. Mungos, with no chance of ever waking up.

Hermione stood up from her desk and headed out, her breath hitching as everything became clearer.

What makes an Auror is someone who could leave everything behind, all the personal pain to help and save others, to protect innocent lives. And she wasn't doing that. As a mother, she should’ve been focusing on helping to protect the children of the people that were possible targets; so names of more kids wouldn't show up in those lists.

Still breathing heavily, Hermione passed Tanya Rowle's desk, finding it empty as she headed for the doors of her husband's office. She needed him now more than ever. She understood his reasons now.

But just before she could settle on those electrical currents of longing, Special-Auror Malfoy opened the doors to her husband's office, getting the surprise of a lifetime.

"..Soon, Mister Malfoy, soon."A low voice mumbled.

Frozen at the door, with her heart falling somewhere deep in an abyss inside of her body, Hermione saw a dark-haired woman pressing her lips onto her husband. A hand snaked through the blonde strands of his head, their eyes fixated upon each other as their lips moved together in an odd way.

"...Draco?" Hermione murmured with a shaking voice, something horrible taking over her as her husband's secretary turned to look at her. Her brown eyes meeting Tanya Rowle's green; no resentment or guilt swimming in her pupils.

"Oops." Shrugging with a blank tone, Tanya turned to her boss. "You're wife's here, Mister Malfoy. I think you should talk to her now." Silver eyes blinked, Draco Malfoy nodding as he kept his focus on his secretary. "Mrs. Malfoy." Tanya nodded curtly as she passed the brunette, her note-pad and quill close to her chest as she exited the office.

Hermione blinked, still so shocked."Draco?"

Hearing that voice he’d known for almost all his life, Draco Malfoy turned on his chair; a sort of shiver crawling up his spine and hurting the inside of his ears. He looked at his wife's expression, knowing that there was an indefinable pain written all over her features, but he couldn't do anything. He was frozen. He couldn't even feel his limbs move but his hands were stacking papers on his desk nonchalantly. There was a spark trying to ignite itself into a powerful flame, but a high-speed wind made it impossible—he was a puppet now. "What?"

Hermione held on to the handle of the door, her previous anger coming back as Draco sounded oblivious to the tears running down her cheeks. "You were kissing another woman, Malfoy, do you want to explain that to me?!" She hissed through a knot in her throat, her legs shaking.

He wasn't speaking, but his lips moved. Venom was engraved into his head, thoughts of fury being inserted into his brain cells; dark feelings that weren't his. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Answer me!" Hermione screeched, more tears pouring out. The room was spinning all around her, shades of different colors appearing as spots in her vision, a hurt so immense cutting her up like a knife.

Malfoy narrowed his eyes at the brunette, his exterior showing no concern or importance to the situation. Even as his inside was trying to fight against an imprisoned hold he was in. "Is there something you needed, Hermione? I've got a few reports that need to be on Potter's desk by the end of the day.  I don't have time to waste with you."

Gritting her teeth so she couldn't sob into hysterics, with everything she had trying to compose herself, Hermione inhaled a scorching puff of air. "...You're going to regret this, Malfoy. I promise you...you'll regret this." And she turned on her heels, escaping the office with a speed that she didn't even notice when Tanya slithered her way back inside the office.

"Don't worry, Mister Malfoy, I think she has it completely wrong," Tanya said with a laugh, closing the doors behind her as she approached the controlled man behind the desk. "Both of you will regret this."

Draco remained still and lifeless, but inside he was fighting to break free; to move by his own accord, trying to run after his wife, but nothing came. He just saw an illuminated wand-tip being pointed at his face, the magic in his blood trying to fight the spell that was being inflicted inside of him.

But the battle was lost—he crumbled beneath the light.

"When this is done, you will remember nothing, Draco Malfoy," Tanya chanted, her wand raised high into Malfoy's pale face and unfocused silver eyes. "You'll continue trusting me, believing that your wife has gone mental. Go along with the fight. Keep my trust and identity hidden; it will be over soon."

And as deceiving as she has been all along, there is one thing Tanya promised and would keep true to, and that is that she would end it soon for Mrs. and Mister Malfoy.

Their end was coming, and that was a guarantee.