By the end of this, I do expect most of you to plot my death. Lol.

________________________________________________________________________________

Tap. Tap.

Padma and her family left Australia a month ago and Pavarti is starting to get worried. It's been a few weeks since she has talked to her sister and she's been questioning her brother-in-law since.

Tap. Tap.

It's just another favor, another that I will greatly appreciate. I just need the background check for the bloke, some kind of information that will settle my wife down and convince her that her sister is in good hands.

Tap. Tap.

Things have been strange in Australia, mate. People are disappearing, and the Wizarding community can sense it. My sister-in-law had remained close with one of her fellow Ravenclaws, Marietta Edgecomb. Remember her? She was the girl who gave Umbridge the information about the D.A.

Tap. Tap.

She was married to a bloke in Durmstrang, a distant cousin to Crabbe that lived in that region. Anyway, she disappeared once her husband died in a hit-and-run, as the muggles call it down here. Pavarti is convinced that something that Marietta said to Padma caused her to flee with her family.

Tap. Sigh. Tap.

My bet is that Padma and her family are safe, and I'm trying to convince my wife that we are too. Look, mate, I just need the reassurance. Please find me the background without anyone from the Ministry finding out, I rather everything be kept a secret. If the Ministry gets involved, things will spiral out of control…

The rest of the letter was left unread as silver eyes looked away from the parchment, forgetting about the farewell of Gregory Goyle's plead for another hushed up favor. "Why are you here?" Draco Malfoy asked the several pairs of eyes staring at him, especially at the person that was tapping their finger on his desk.

"I...I just wanted to run something by you, Malfoy."

"And I got a few papers you need to sign," Ron Weasley said after the Head Auror, both of them looking uncomfortable at their fellow coworker. "What are you doing here, Zabini?" He asked, taking the attention away from him to the man sitting beside him.

Blaise tapped his finger one more time, sighing as he tossed his back lazily on the leather chair. "I'm just bored." He shrugged. "That tends to happen when you make millions of galleons by just waking up every day, you know? My company practically runs itself, and I decided to step out for a bit of entertainment."

"Do you get a kick of watching Malfoy read his personal mail? If so, all that glamorous life you say you live sounds especially dull right now, and I would hate to be you," Ron said.

"Anyway,” the Head Auror cleared his throat, not wanting to hear the response that Zabini would’ve come up to Ron's retort. "The fire that happened at the Burrow, I need an Auror to go down and visit the site. I need all the analysis that makes it back from the evidence that was left behind to be accurate and in depth."

"Why haven't you chosen one, then, sir?" Draco smirked, crossing his arms after he stuffed Goyle's letter into the bottom drawer of his desk. "Need my permission?"

Harry frowned at the sarcasm coming from his Auror. "You've trained the Aurors that specialize in fires, Malfoy. Only you know which one of them is capable of handling the situation, someone who will go deeper into the ashes to actually find something. If I wanted someone to tell me that a gnome started the odd fire, or that maybe there was a combustion in the atmosphere, I would let Teddy handle the situation."

Malfoy still smirked, knowing how much of a headache his relative caused the Boy-Who- Lived. "So, you do believe the fire that broke out at the Burrow was an attack then?"

"Unless an empty field just bursts into flames on its own, Malfoy, then, yes, I do believe someone caused it," Harry retorted, looking impatient. "I don't, however, believe that it was meant to kill anyone. If that had been the purpose of it, whoever caused it would’ve made sure that the fire was unable to be penetrated."

"Harry thinks it was a reminder," Auror Weasley spoke up, stacking the papers he needed Malfoy to sign in an orderly fashion. "That whoever is behind all the deaths and disappearances are letting us know that they are still out there. And if you think about it, Harry's got a point. It's been a few weeks since we've had any connections to the case."

Draco felt Goyle's letter calling out for attention where it was locked away; telling his conscience to let the Aurors before him know that strange happenings were occurring in other places in the world. That Kingsley had been right from the start, the culprits were attacking globally. "Best go with Oswald Fudge, Potter." But despite knowing that he should do the right thing, Malfoy couldn't break the promise he’d made Goyle. "He’s one of the trainees that have been newly appointed as an Auror."

Harry nodded, but made no attempt to get off from his seat and leave Auror Malfoy's office. "Erm...one more thing, mate."

"What now?" Draco asked, snatching the papers from Ron's hands and quickly writing his signature on them. "Do you want me to go find him for you, Potter?"

And once again, Harry frowned at the sarcasm. "What's happening between you and Hermione?" He stated firmly, not bothering to ease in to it as he had planned.

"Nothing," Malfoy responded after a tensed second.

"You didn't show up to your daughter's birthday party, Malfoy," Ron interjected for his best friend. Also curious to know what the hell was going on with Hermione and her ferret-of-a-husband these days. "Neither of you pulled your children out of school when the holidays started, and 'Mione has been really quiet for the past three days."

"We know about the kiss, Malfoy, so fess up," Harry also added, crossing his arms as he glared at the blonde. "How can you hurt her like that?"

Draco kept his arms crossed, something deep in his brain not clicking in his head. Like the cells inside his memory were formulating together to prove Potter's accusation right or wrong, but they had no focus of their own. He wanted to say something, give an opinion, but he felt a tug inside his head, stopping anything that tried to come from him.

"It was a mistake." Was all he responded.

"That's it?" Harry scoffed. "That's all you're going to say?"

"Do you expect me to do something else?"

"Yes! You fix it, Malfoy!" Harry snapped at him. "Look,” he took a deep breath, settling himself, "I get that you and Hermione have been fighting lately, but that's no excuse to go kissing other women, Malfoy. This is your marriage on the line, your children. You and Hermione need to settle whatever is going on before it gets worse."

"How did you handle it, Potter, when Ginny saw you snogging another woman?" Blaise asked, noticing the fury building up in his best friend. "Please, oh-wise-one, provide us with your tactics."

"I didn't snog someone, Zabini," Harry turned his frown to the dark-skinned man. "That woman snogged me. Ginny knew it was not my fault."

"Devoted fans, mate. They can't help but throw themselves at us even after all these years," Ron chirped, grinning smugly as he adjusted his robes. "Witches left and right, it's a bloody curse."

The other three men shared a skeptical look at the expense of the redhead, all of them trying not to laugh.

"—Oi! Oi! Look! Look!" Kicking the door open of Malfoy's office, Teddy Lupin interrupted the men's conversation about Draco's marital-problems. "Look!" Breathing heavily, like he had just ran a mile, the blue-haired wizard pulled out a small booklet from the pocket of his robes. Opening the flap and tossing it in the middle of the table so everyone could see.

"What’s this rubbish?" Zabini asked, raising his eyebrow at the picture of Teddy smirking and winking provocatively at them.

"Rubbish?" Teddy gasped. "That’s my official Auror badge, that is!" He exclaimed, pointing a slender finger at the tile of the identification. "I made it!"

"I thought we were supposed to appointed trainees that were competent?"Ron asked, rolling his eyes at the picture. "The standards of this department are going down the loo, Harry. Best fix it before we have Zabini joining the ranks at this rate."

Teddy and Blaise frowned.

"Well, of course the standards of the Auror Department are going down, Weasley, but it happened before Lupin got appointed," Zabini snapped back. "I believe it went straight to hell when they made you second in command."

"Whatever, can we just please focus on me?" Teddy called, getting in the way of Ron's would-be comeback. "I've made Auror!" He waved his Auror license around. "It’s safe to say that I’m a very capable wizard and that all of you should be very proud." As he paraded his new title, Teddy's smile deflated slightly in one of the corners of his mouth. "...You'll never guess where the Minister put me though."

"Toilet-duty again?"Blaise asked. "Because if he did, let me tell you, Lupin, you do not hand out soap very politely."

Ignoring Blaise, the blue-haired wizard looked at Harry Potter; his regularly gray eyes turning a sad brown color. "...He gave me my mum's office."

"Tonks' office?" The redheaded man asked, a little surprised. "Kingsley's had that office closed down for years. He has not had someone take over it since your mother..."He paused, earning a hit to his side by his best friend.

"The Minister's been saving that office for you, Ted," Harry explained, standing from his seat and walking over to his godson. "He’d been hoping since you were a boy that you'd take up after Tonks' career path."

Teddy looked saddened. "Think mum's proud wherever she is?"

Harry smiled simply, not bothering to address that; the question had been rhetorical. "Come, we'll go get the key and I'll help you clean it up a bit."

Knock. Knock.

"Excuse me, Mister Potter?" Entering the office in the perfect time as it always seemed, Tanya Rowle marched herself through. Ignoring the awkwardness the men had all looked up to stare at her, except the puppet she had controlled behind the desk. "Miss Wood asked me to let you know that Arthur Weasley’s waiting for you in your office."

"Any message with that?" The Head Auror asked.

"Just that he finished his meeting with the heads of the Department of Mysteries and the Wizengamot," Tanya explained. "Oh, and Mister Malfoy, you have a visitor,” she added in the second silence between the men.

But before Draco could even ask his secretary to send the person in, a brunette teenager walked into the office. Her silver eyes scanning the place as she entered, arms crossed in annoyance as she flicked them towards the woman standing in her way.

"Ariana," Malfoy sighed, looking at his daughter brush by Tanya, “what are you doing here?"

"I tagged along with Lavender—who’s waiting for you, Ron." Ariana turned to the redheaded man. "She said she wants to discuss the matter of adding another two zeros to her earnings."

Ron groaned. "Bloody hell." He stood from the chair. "The bloody woman is off on temporary relief for the last couple of months and is not scheduled to come back to work for me until the year is up, and she wants more money? She's lucky she’s getting anything!"

"Stingy as always, that Weasel," Blaise sighed, also standing from his seat as the redhead left the office. "Well, gents and ladies, I'll see you all later. My favorite designer just opened a new store in France, and I've got to go get my privately-selected robes before the common people start appearing."

"Dragon skin?" Teddy asked as the man fixed his blazer.

"Do I wear anything but?" Blaise chuckled smugly. "I'll bring you back something, Lupin. An Auror has to be at his best, you don't want to look like these fashion-less gits."

"Brilliant. Thanks, mate."

Zabini grinned proudly, like he was about to donate money to a charity. "Pub later on, Lupin, we got to celebrate." Crack and he was gone.

"Ana," Draco called his daughter again, not letting the girl get distracted by the sound of apparation echoing around, “what are you doing here?"

Ariana aimed a quick glare at the woman still standing loyally next to her, like she was waiting for her father's command to throw her out. "Haven't seen you much since we came home, dad."

"I'm working."

"I can wait," Ariana retorted quickly, the inherited stubbornness that she’d gotten from both her parents came out to play.

"Mister Malfoy, if you want I can have little Ariana wait outside with me until you're finished," Miss Rowle offered so generously, still ignoring every awkward expression the Head Auror would make when she spoke. "I'm sure I have a few children books that she could read."

Ariana glowered, looking at the witch like she had suggested she sit and color or play with dolls. "I'm fourteen, Miss Rowle, not five. I can entertain myself."

Tanya tugged on a smile, a glitter of something burning in her green eyes as she looked at the girl. "Oh, but of course, Miss Malfoy, I am so sorry. Your father did mention you had a birthday recently, my apologies."

"Ted, how about you show Ariana around for a bit until Malfoy finishes his paperwork?" Nervously, Harry turned to his son, who was laughing silently from his stance due to Ariana's reactions to the secretary. "I'll finish with Mister Weasley soon and then I'll go find you."

Teddy nodded obediently. "Come, Ana, we'll go visit Dolores Umbridge at her new headquarters,” he grinned mischievously, taking a hold of his relative’s hand and leading her towards the door; his father right behind them, rolling his eyes. "She's the one that hands the Daily Prophet out now, did you know? Bet they didn't teach you that in your History of Magic lessons."

With a swish of her wand, Tanya closed the doors of the office; an innocent smile spreading on her face as Mister Potter turned for a second, looking back at her with a suspicious stare. But before he could get a good look or see the wink she had sent his way, the Chosen One was out of her sight.

"Do you have those files I sent you for, Miss Rowle?" Draco questioned, looking at the papers scattered on his desk.

"Certainly,” the woman responded, walking towards his desk and placing the files she had gotten from the department's vault of secrets. "I also made a background check on the two Death Eaters you asked for. Except, there was nothing to be found about the man named Thorfinn unlike Avery."

"Why is that?" Her boss asked, opening the files.

"Well, we have old records from Avery's part, sir. His files with the Ministry go back before the second uprising of the Dark Lord and after. There was a lot to research in the archives of Azkaban, where the man’s currently serving his lifelong sentence,” she continued, even as the pupils of the man started going unfocused the more she stood in his presence. "But Thorfinn is just a first name, Mister Malfoy, and it’s unlikely to get anything with that." She glared, her pulse rising as her personal thoughts mixed into her report.

"..T-Thank you, M-Miss Rowle." Blinking as the words on the files started to blur and he could feel his senses begin to freeze, Malfoy let out a ragged breath.

"Something wrong, sir?" Tanya smiled again, quickly forgetting about her anger. "You seem a little put-out." She took another step closer, her wand out already. "Troubles with the wife? Rumor has it paradise isn't as divine as it has been for the past fifteen years."

Draco gritted his teeth, his secretary's voice penetrating his ears like if it was fighting a barrier to get through. "H-Herm...Hermione,” he barely managed to say, his neck twisting like he was being possessed. "Argh."

"It's a beautiful marriage you two share, Mister Malfoy," Tanya sighed happily, her illuminating wand-tip pointed at his head. "And with such beautiful children—"

"Ariana," Malfoy hissed, his pale face turning red as he fought against a pressuring force.

Tanya's eyes momentarily flickered away from him as she turned a picture-frame around from his desk; a photograph of his children, a year old perhaps. She saw Ariana stand beautifully with her purple dress floating back with the wind, her brother standing next to her; firm and serious, looking especially handsome and put together. Both with the same profound metallic-eyes, blinking them at the camera as the youngest of the Malfoy children stood unstably in the middle.

"D-Don't," Draco managed to say with a harsh tone, one that did not come from Tanya's making. "Get...Stay away."

After staring curiously at the maternally-inherited brown color of Demetria Malfoy's eyes, Tanya rotated the photograph back towards her boss. "Your little Ariana is such a charmer,” she said mockingly at the man. "I'll be sure to correct her attitude problem,” the woman spoke enchantingly. "But like I was saying, Mister Malfoy, you and your wife, sincerely meant to be."

A curse escaped the man's lips.

"Til death do you part, like the muggles say in their wedding ceremonies. Which pertains to your mudblood wife, if you think about it."

Malfoy's face twisted in pain, his cheeks flaring scarlet. "Hermione w-won't—"

"Silence," Tanya snapped, annoyed with the resistance that Malfoy was putting up. It was impressive, but by the swift movement of her skilled wand, that fight was long gone.

                                                                                     X

"So, what happened after we left?"

"Pansy." Ginny Potter frowned at her sister-in-law as she passed her a cup of tea, giving her a disapproving stare. "It’s none of your business what happened."

The dark-haired woman knitted her brows at Ginny, taking her tea indignantly. "I deserve to know what’s going on here, Ginny. I am one of Draco's best friends."

"You said it," Ginny retorted, stirring the spoon inside her cup, “you’re Malfoy's best friend, not Hermione's. Maybe you should be badgering him for information, not sticking your nose around here where it doesn't belong."

Sitting quietly across the two women, Hermione raised her index finger in the air as her ears perked up to a new the women's attention and distracting them from their would-be fight. "Shh."

"—Mum."

"—Mum." Walking down the staircase with brooms in hand, Scorpius and Al stared at their respective mothers. "Al and I are going to have a game of Quidditch outside."

"Sorry, dear, but I don't think you can at the moment," Hermione spoke to her blonde son, looking up at him with guarded eyes. "The neighbor is building his son a treehouse, and he has been up and down the trees in his backyard all morning."

Scorpius frowned and loosened his hold on his broomstick. "I told you living in a muggle-neighborhood was rubbish, Potter."

Al groaned. "Well, what the bloody hell are we supposed to do now?"

Mrs. Potter scowled at her son, her brown eyes glittering with a glare at the boy's foul language. "You could’ve been spending the weekend in Romania with your Uncle Charlie's family just like Lily is, Al, but you ruined that, didn't you?"

The thirteen year-old tried not to roll his eyes as Malfoy pulled on a smirk. "...It wasn't even that big of a fire,” he grunted under his breath.

But having acute hearing and a temper of a mad woman, Ginny caught every word. "You destroyed half of James' room, Albus Severus! You don't even know enough magic to save your life, and yet you played dangerously with spells that you don't even know how to contain!"

"He broke into my trunk!" Al talked-back to his mother, feeling the need to throw the broomstick so she could get his point of anger. "He nicked some of my belongings, and you had nothing to say to that. But of course, punish me when I tried to get him back." He frowned at the redhead woman. "He's the one who threw the first spell, anyway!"

"And do you know the amount of trouble your father got into with the Minister just so he would not expel either of you?" Ginny gripped the spoon of her tea tightly; like she was afraid she'd send it flying to his head. "You and James are grounded until the holidays are over, so your lack of entertainment is not my problem, Albus. You’re lucky I let you come here with me today."

And at that, Al had nothing to contradict. James was being looked after by Luna Thomas; surely enjoying a splendid day with Lorcan and Lysander and their potions-set. (His brother's worst nightmare.) Al smirked at the thought and turned to look at his best friend. "Fancy a game of Wizards chess?"

"Fancy destroying the beast's room?" Scorpius offered, still upset that he’d to put a hold on his Quidditch needs because of the muggles all around their property. "We won't need magic. I've got a baseball bat grandfather Granger gave me ages ago."

As Scorpius and Al made their way up the stairs again, before the blonde could catch his mother's scowl, Hermione turned back to her friends with a blank expression. "I should’ve used that bat three days ago."

"Oh, oh." Pansy grinned, adjusting herself on the couch in the Malfoys living room. "You can't take that comment back, Hermione, you have to speak now."

"There really isn't anything to say, Pansy." The brunette took a sip of her tea.

Ginny settled her teacup on the small table separating her from Hermione, not buying the solemn look on her face. She’d known her for years now, practically all their lives since she became best friends with her brother, and there were a few things Ginny could pin-point from Hermione. And one of those was her bluffs. "You were a mess weeks back, Hermione, because of what Malfoy did. As a woman, as yourself, you don't let something like that go." She crossed her arms, looking like that mother with a faulty patience.

Clearing her throat, trying to adopt that same firm expression as the redhead had, Pansy faced Hermione. "You can't keep it all hushed up forever, Hermione. You need to speak about it. You will drive yourself mental, and we all know it."

Hermione brushed a curl behind her ear, her fingers starting to shake as her chest filled with a gripping pressure. "Ginny, how’s Molly doing? I was checking a few updates on the special case in the Auror Department yesterday morning, and I saw the incident that at the Burrow."

Looking at the brunette in annoyance, Ginny settled on rolling her eyes and taking a sip of her tea. "We didn't want to bother you with something like that, Hermione, that's why we didn't tell you,” she first clarified. "And, well, you know my mum. She's still running around the Burrow like nothing happened."

"Except, something did happen," Pansy interjected, frowning. "I'm trying to get Molly to see that, but all she does is pat my cheek and tell me she adores me,” she continued, ignoring the snort her sister-in-law gave. "Whoever these ruddy gits are, they are making everything impossible for us."

"It's not you who they want, Pansy," Hermione said informatively. "Don't you find it odd that Ron and Harry, being two of the most important people of the Wizarding World, have yet to suffer anything?"

"What do you mean?" Ginny asked. "The Burrow—"

Hermione shook her head, interrupting the redhead, “if they wanted to kill any of you they would’ve done it, Ginny. There’s no doubt about that." And that was something that the Brightest Witch of the Age was spot-on; they had not intended to murder. "I just...I have a feeling like they are waiting to strike against Harry and Ron til the end."

Tension grew in the air, and Pansy Weasley looked frightened. Like the brunette had just mentioned that her worst nightmare is waiting out there; waiting for the moment to strike and wipe her reason for existence out. It did feel like that, like the seconds were dragging on and she knew that it was going to drive all of them mental until they captured someone.

"—Go to your room, Ariana, and stay there!" Bang. "Move!"                              

Quickly standing up from her seat as the door was closed loudly, Hermione took a few steps towards the door when her husband and daughter came to view.

"Dad, I—"

"Ariana, stay," Hermione called, crossing her arms as Draco glared roughly at their daughter; not allowing her to continue on with whatever she was going to say. "What's going on?"

"What was she doing at the Ministry?" Draco asked loudly, not noticing when his son and the Potter boy began peeking from upstairs due to the commotion.

Hermione knitted her brows, looking momentarily perplexed. "She was supposed to be with Lavender. They were going to go to Diagon Alley, she asked permission."

"Well, she was supposed to be at home," Malfoy snapped at his wife, still wearing the glare on his face. "Do you want to risk our other daughter? Use your head, Hermione! It's not safe to let her out unprotected!"

Watching the scene from the couch, Pansy had to slap a palm on Ginny's mouth before she could let out her gasp; both of them staring at the blonde with outraged eyes.

"It's not mum's fault," Ariana spoke up, turning to her father with guilty eyes as her mother gritted her teeth. "She didn't know Lavender was going to the Ministry. I… I didn't think it would be much of a problem."

"The Ministry isn't a place for fun, Ariana," Draco continued with his furious tone. His blood boiling against his will, but no one noticed. "You were disrespectful, and I had to cut time from my job to bring you home."

Ariana tightened her lips into a line, trying her hardest not to glare back at her father. "...I'll apologize to her then, if that will make it better."

"Apologize to whom?" Hermione questioned, her anger contained for another fraction of a second. "Ariana, answer me,” she pressed as her daughter looked down.

The girl sighed. "I was rude to Miss Rowle,” she spat instinctively at the name of the secretary. "I told her to piss off when she gave me a coloring-book."

Pansy let out a tiny snort, imagining the scene. (She was sure Hermione was proud of her little Ana for that.)

"She has no respect for her elders."

"Oh, and how terrible is that?"  Hermione hissed sarcastically. "I'm sure that the woman deserved it, Ana is never disrespectful to people who don't deserve it."

"She will apologize, Hermione," Draco said seriously. "I will not have rumors circling around that my children are uneducated, bad-mannered, brats."

"How about the rumor about you being too defensive of your secretary?" The brunette woman practically shouted, her anger no longer controlled. "My daughter will not apologize to that woman, Malfoy."

Breathing in through what felt like stranger lungs, Draco felt like his insides were being jerked around. Forcing his limbs to move, his eyes to glare, his mouth to spit out venom, and he couldn't do anything about it. "Didn't I tell you to go to your room?" And it was because of that lack of control that he grabbed his daughter's arm with deep fury and shoved her towards the staircase.

"Are you insane?" Hermione barked, launching herself towards Ariana before the girl stumbled over the first step.

Scorpius appeared at the top of the stairs, looking both confused and cautious while his sister leaked a few of the tears she’d been holding in.

"Go to your room, Ana!"Draco ordered again, pushing his wife a few steps back and grabbing his daughter once more; this time with a firm grip on the back of her hair.

"Flagrate!" Snapping out her wand instantly after Draco shoved Ariana roughly up the first three steps, Hermione made sparks of fire explode in front of his eyes; distracting him enough to let Ariana loose. "Get out of my house, Draco," Hermione said with all the fury a mother could have and all the scorn a woman has in her body. Her wand was still raised high, her wand-tip still glowing as her fingers clutched on to it with all her might. "Get out and don't come back."

"This is my house," Draco said through clenched teeth, eyeing the brunette woman as he inhaled the anger in the room.

Hermione shook her head, her brown eyes filling up with tears. "Not anymore, Draco." And it was the hardest thing she ever had to say, but she did it. It was obvious he’d made his choice and she was not about to let him mistreat their children for another woman. She didn't know who was standing before her, but she knew she needed to get him out—even if that was tearing her to pieces. "Leave."

Draco took a step away from his daughter, leaving her stunned at his retreat. He could see all of it happening, but like the color of his eyes, there was a light-gray shade of something in between his imprisonment and the outside world. He could see the damage he was making, but the more he tried to make a signal that he was there, that it was a trap, the more he lost the little fight he had left. He didn't know how he was going to get out of it. The spell was too well-bonded. And he didn't want to wake up to reality when he had lost everything and there was no getting it back.

Tanya Rowle was playing the cards right, and her next move was for him to break down all he cherished and loved.

"Dad,"Ariana squeaked, her silver eyes shot open as her father headed straight for the door. "Dad, where are you going?" Her chest heaved in panic, her sight glazing over by her tears as she turned towards her mother. "Mum, do something! Don't let him go!"

But Hermione stayed silent, repressing the sobs threatening to escape her body at the sight of the man she loved walking out the door so easily; without any fight. Like the past fifteen years of marriage never meant a thing.

"Dad!"

"—Termino." Turning around in dismay as the door closed before she could reach it, Ariana cried at the woman who forbade her to get her father back. "Come with me, Ariana."

The girl shook her head, tears falling shamelessly as Ginny and Pansy walked their way towards her mother; trying to subdue their shock and glances of worry.

"Come with me, Ariana," Narcissa Malfoy repeated to her granddaughter, waiting a second of hesitance. Narcissa placed a palm on the back of Ariana's back, leading her down the hall.

"Hermione, are you okay, darling?"

Not having enough strength to roll her eyes at Pansy, Hermione settled on a simple nod. A strong headache pressing the sides of her head together, adding to every other pain she could possibly feel. "...It needed to be done."

"Sure," Ginny murmured to her friend, knowing that nothing they could say at the moment was going to change how Hermione felt. So instead she reached over and gave her a hug, the simplest act of comfort Hermione would not reject.

And as the two women clung on to her, like if they were afraid she was about to fall to pieces in front of them, Hermione blinked her eyes towards the top of the staircase. Looking deep into the torn silver eyes of her son; his pale face looking twisted in pain as Al put a supporting hand on his shoulder.

He gave her a glower, and then turned from his place. Disappearing from her like his father had—the same way he had come back to her many years ago. Scorpius, the reason why Hermione ended up marrying Draco Malfoy instead of living a muggle-life after the first heartbreak he had caused her.

And as her children were nowhere in view now, she clutched onto Ginny's arms, letting out the sob that she was fighting to keep in. Through a moment of selfishness caused by the pain rippling inside her chest, Hermione wondered how beautiful life could’ve been if she hadn't been pregnant with Scorpius and she would’ve vanished from the Wizarding World forever.