Wow. It's been a while since I've updated, and for that, my apologies.

I hope you all enjoy this chapter. And thanks again for reading and voting! (:

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She was coming to life, removed once again from that frozen state that she’d been living in for what seemed like ages. It was like she’d been placed in a pit of fire, the flames of something magical burning away the ice that existed inside of her; that held her captive. There was still white all around, but she could finally move again and that's what mattered to her.

As soon as she was able to sit up, she heard familiar voices echoing around the foggy room. But this time, instead of going into a panic due to the lack of color and human-contact in the room, the little blonde girl focused on the voices. Looking all around her until she spotted a window inside the room she was locked in; a window with a clear view of the outside that wasn't there the last time.

She managed to crawl her way towards the new window, past the cold fog circling the air. And as she reached the window, debating about how exactly she was going to get a peek through the glass, the window dropped lower and lower. Ending up in the perfect height to get a glimpse of the outside, of whatever existed out of the white room.

"…Thank you, James."

Through the glass, standing on her wobbly short legs, Demetria Malfoy felt her little heart bang happily inside of her chest. Her body filling up with an exhilarating bliss as she, in fact, knew the voice that had woke her up from her deep sleep.

It was her sister's voice, it was Ariana.

And in all of her excitement, Demetria focused back into the view out the window as she also recognized the person her sister was talking to. "Didn't do anything reckless with it, did you, Ana?" James Potter asked, a tiny smirk on his face as he looked up from an open book sprawled on his lap. "Dad would’ve murdered me if it would’ve been taken away. McGonagall had already warned him about handing us the cloak."

Trying not to get distracted from the marbled walls nor the ruby and gold colors inside the dimly-lit room, Demetria kept her eyes glued to her sister as she handed James a folded cloak. "...I'm sorry for being a complete wench with you lately," Ariana muttered uncomfortably, her eyes narrowed at the older boy. "I...erm...thank you."

Outside the fogged room, James reached for the cloak. But instead of taking only what belonged to him, he grabbed Ariana's hands as well. He gave her a deep look, something glittering in his eyes that Demetria could not understand as she watched from the opposite side of the glass. "It's been a few days, how are you feeling?"

Ariana tried to tug her hands away, but sighed in defeated after a second when James did not let go. "I don't want to talk about it, Potter,” she said in an irritated tone. "Can you let go now? I've got an essay I need to turn into Professor Flitwick and I haven't much time left."

"You don't fool me." James frowned at the girl. "What's going through your head?"

"What do you think?" Ariana snapped, again trying to pull her hands away from the oldest of the Potter children. "That I have butterflies and rainbows invading my thoughts, Potter? That I'm painting my world in bright shades of brilliant colors? No. I'm miserable. Now let go."

Demetria's excitement to see her older sister slightly faded; a feeling of worry taking over her little body as she could see the misery in Ariana's eyes.

But why, why was that misery there?

"I can't let you go," James whispered, distracting Demetria from focusing too much into the hurt radiating off of her sister. A pain that was clearly beginning to fog up the clear view the little blonde girl had through the window. "I'm trying to be here for you, Ana. I'm not Al, you know."

Ariana glared at the older Gryffindor as he stepped closer to her, forgetting his book. "What is that supposed to mean?"

But as both Malfoy girls expected an answer from James, they got no response. The oldest of the sisters, however, received the shock of a lifetime when the boy closed the distance between them, pressing his mouth down onto hers. A hand lost inside her caramel-colored waves, pushing her into him as she placed a palm on his chest, trying to keep a distance.

"—Oh, that is bloody disgusting." Reading her exact thoughts, Demetria was glad to see that a redhead interrupted the odd interaction between Ariana and James."Studying for Defense Against the Dark Arts, my butt." Dominique Weasley frowned at her cousin.

"Oi, not in the common room!" Fred appeared there too, behind Dominique and other Gryffindors who happened to walk into the scene. "There’s a contract we all took."

"So that's James." Demetria was knocked back from the window as a gust of air flew inside the room; causing a havoc like a mini tornado. The window she had been looking through disappeared, leaving her inside the fog once again with nothing but the memory of her sister's sad eyes. "He looks more like Prongs the more he grows up."

Making herself sit up after the fall she had experienced, Demetria found someone inside the room with her: a man with dark, curly hair. His brown eyes looking at the wall where the magical window used to be, a smile on his handsome face as he talked to himself.

"Prongs is James' grandfather,” the man spoke again, this time looking down at the blonde child. "My best friend."

She blinked at him, very disappointed that her grandfather was not inside the room with her. That Lucius Malfoy was not making the fog and white fade away like he did the first time she woke up from her binding prison.

"I'm Sirius Black, by the way,” the curly-haired man said, smiling still as his eyes seemed to come back to focus from his previous mumbling. "You can say I am your great-uncle of sorts, but just call me Sirius, alright? I died too young to be anyone's uncle."

Demetria blinked again, more perplexed by the second and every word the man spoke.

Able to read the deep confusion on the toddler's face, Sirius Black rolled his eyes in annoyance as his task became a little more difficult. "This is not how I wanted to spend my day,” he muttered to himself. "I'm here to deliver a message, Demi."

The little girl raised her eyebrow. "Grandad.,” she said with her angelic tone, but sounding very demanding at the same time. "Grandad, now."

"Yeah, yeah, well Lucius is a bit occupied right now, okay?" Sirius huffed at his great-niece. "Look, girlie, don't be giving me that stare, it reminds me of your mother and it's nerve-racking. Your grandfather had to be off taking care of another issue, and since I'm your only family on the other side, I took his place. Got it?"

Demetria stuck her tongue out, grateful that her grandfather Lucius was not around to see such distasteful act.

Muttering something incoherent and probably rude, Sirius sighed as he pulled on a grave expression on his handsome face. "The time’s coming, Demi." He sounded important, almost like he was discussing serious business with the infant as he went directly to the point. "It's been a while that you’ve been stuck in this bind, and we’re very proud of the strength you’ve demonstrated by holding on. But..." He cleared his throat, pausing for a bit. "...But the end is near."

The blonde girl blinked her confusion away, this time understanding perfectly well why the man had appeared inside her imprisonment. She looked up at him, bravery shining in her eyes as she gave him a single nod. "Death,” she replied in a clear voice, the tone of a child no longer in it.

Kneeling down at the girl, Sirius placed a soft hand on her golden curls. "I wouldn't expect anything less from Hermione's child,” he said to her, smiling despite the revelation he’d given her. "...You won't be alone for too long now. Company's on its way."

And the swift gust of thick air blew again, erasing the man from inside of the room; leaving Demetria to feel the ice take over her body and send her to an immobile state.

Daddy, she thought as everything around her began to turn into nothingness once again.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"The day is fast approaching." Looking away from the muggle-contraption that made too much noise, stormy eyes found the pale face of a two year-old little girl. They marveled at the child even through her wires and lifeless state. "And I got nothing to show for it."

Beep. Beep. Beep.

A sigh broke out in one of the cold rooms of St. Mungo's, the sound echoing off the pallid walls. "I wish you could say something." There was silence, just like always. "Not that you ever said anything."

Beep. Beep. Beep.

A snort. "But you never fooled anyone, even when you thought you were." Then there was a pause, erasing any fragment of humor that could’ve appeared in the hospital room. "However...you're too smart for your own good, you must’ve known we were on to you."

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"...We've never done this before, have we?" No response. Not like one was expected at that juncture, it was just customary when one was having a conversation to wait. "Never talked." Silence. "I...I'm not sure whether I'll remember...maybe it’ll be too late then, but we've got to do this more often if we ever get the chance."

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Just you and I." Bouncing off the walls, a choked inhale was heard; something that was caused by a heartbreaking emotion, but also by something that was trying to be controlled and stopped. "F-Father...Father and d-daughter."

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Argh," Draco hissed, streams of shocks invading his internal system as a pressure began invading his mind; taking over the images and memories he was having of the child before him.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"—What are you doing here?"

But as his body began being pulled by imaginary strings and forces beyond his control or say, Draco was snapped away from his fighting with the invisible force as the door of his daughter's hospital room was opened.

"Well?"Hermione Malfoy asked, waiting for a response as she frowned at the unexpected blonde man in the room.

Gripping the words that were fighting to get out, Draco blinked his silver eyes blankly at his wife. "She's my daughter too,” he replied simply but coldly.

Hermione narrowed her brown eyes. "How can I forget?" She said sarcastically, crossing her arms in irritation.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"What?" Malfoy asked the woman, an anger that was formulated to be in his blood began to boil as she gaped at him. "Want to say something? Spit it out."

The brunette hardened her stare, inhaling deeply before she attacked the man. "I'm waiting for you to get out, Malfoy, that's what."

"There's a spacious waiting room a few hallways away, you can wait there if you'd like,” Draco retorted. "I'd like more time with Demi."

"Oh, so you remember you’ve a daughter now, is it?" Hermione glared, taking a step away from the door; closing it behind her as she could hear footsteps outside. "Funny, Malfoy, but where the hell where you yesterday? Two days before that? Last month? Do you see where I'm going with this?"

"I was working, Hermione. Don't try and make me feel guilty about that,” the man defended himself from the woman's accusing tone. "I'm working my hardest to get the people behind the attack that put our daughter in this state."

"Your daughter needs you here!" Hermione hissed. "You seem to forget that when you’re trying to be the hero."

"Funny, Hermione," Draco spat, glaring with his signature scowl as strange venom continued to pump through his system. The venom designed to attack and injure his wife; to make her suffer against his will. "Is that why you wanted that entrance into the case? So you can be the heroine and feel better for being the cause of Demi's comatose state?"

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Hermione erased the step she’d taken towards the man, a knot of something extreme blocking her airway as she looked at him with a pained expression. Shock taking over her body as the pain began to make its effect in her chest.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"...You think it's my fault?"

Of course it's your fault, Mudblood. "...I..." The voices inside his head began to shout commands; saying insults and forming sentences that Draco would never dare to say to Hermione in present times. "...Does it matter?" He managed to say, the best thing he could come up with without his prisoner setting him free or obeying it either.

"Not from you, anyway,” the brunette muttered back, trying to swallow her knot. "Why are you here?" She asked after a second of silence.

Draco knitted his eyebrows, the venom halting. "I don't know,” he said sincerely, getting flashbacks of Tanya Rowle pointing her wand at his head, mumbling spells and orders, and then the memory of shaking hands in greeting with Dean Thomas, his daughter's Healer.

"Will you be around when she wakes?"

"Is there an estimated date when that’ll happen?" He replied, watching as Hermione lost her gaze at the glass crib separating them.

Hermione's bottom lip trembled, her head slowly shaking her curls. "No, but I hope." She bit her lip, trying to contain her emotions from flowing out. "At least...I wouldn't want to bring her balloons and streamers to this place."

Feeling everything inside but showing nothing on the outside, Draco gave a single nod.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

And as the silence reigned on, Draco walked towards the glass crib; stepping over wires and ignoring the muggle-contraption as he leaned down towards the comatose little blonde girl. "...Don't let me forget,” he whispered so low that he hardly heard himself, pressing a kiss to his daughter's cold forehead as the strings of his prison stopped for that tiny second.  "Well, I guess I’ll leave you two alone." He turned to the brunette woman, eyeing her indifferently.

"Do you regret what you did, Draco?" Hermione spoke instantly, not even letting the man get close to the door so he could disappear from her. (It had been days since she last saw him, and even though she hated to admit it, her heart had not been the same since.) "I need to know,” she added, trying to justify her curiosity.

Malfoy stared at his wife, his outer-shell again as plain. "What do you think, Hermione?" He questioned, able to diverge the venom.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"I use to think loads of things, Malfoy,” she replied, that knot forming once again as she stared straight into his silver gaze. "Like how I thought I'd probably be a Weasley, but instead I married you." She fought with herself, trying to hold her composure as she spoke. "I thought our forced marriage was never going anywhere, but I loved you. I thought I was freed from you before, but we got Scorpius."

Draco looked away, not being able to handle the glistening in his wife's eyes.

"I thought we had all we could ask for, and that our happiness was genuine, but you shattered that..."

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Despite that, I thought you'd stay, Draco," Hermione swallowed, tears blurring her vision. "...You had three reasons to stay, and one of them is lying in that crib."

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Looking back up to the shattered expression on the brunette's face, Draco took charge towards the door. "Goodbye, Hermione,” he said, opening the door and walking out before he could break her even more.

                                                                                  X

"Ron!"

At the shout of his name, a redheaded man looked away from the flashing of intense lights in front of him. His blue eyes widening at the collapsing wall that was heading his way as his best friend flew backwards; unable to send help his way.

"—Deprimo!"And right before the shreds of glass and marble could crush Ron Weasley to a disturbing death, a strong wind swooshed towards the crumbling-wall and sent it flying backwards and away from the redhead. "Stay focused, Weasley!"

Nodding once at the blur of a silver-eyed man, Ron raised his wand up high at the wizard moving dangerously towards him. " Expelliarmus!"

And the raging battle continued.

At that certain point, none of the people on the defending-side could remember how they’d gotten to the decaying building they were being attacked in. Perhaps it was the flashing lights and spells being thrown their way, or the danger and death crawling through every corner that they turned that forbade them to remember who had made the call. Who had reported the attack, and what’d been the cause of the violence.

But not Harry Potter, of course; he remembered the cause and the uproar as the memory played in his head as he picked himself off the ground again.

'Dad! Dad!'

"Obscuro!" Through the spells flying everywhere, Teddy Lupin impaired the vision of his attacker; halting the man from sending the torture curse his way. "Levicorpus!" And once the man had lost his sight, Teddy made sure that the attacker went soaring towards the ceiling and away from his protecting-path.

"You should’ve killed the bastard!" Auror Johnson hissed at Teddy, hexing his own attacker into a motionless state after he caught sight of the blue-haired wizard's noble defense of one of their own. "This isn't training anymore, boy! You kill them before they do it to you!"

Teddy frowned at the Auror as he helped Auror Amelia Boot up, dodging another spell heading his way as he could see his father between the bright lights. Watching the man in battle was like an insight to the history of their Wizarding World and their savior. "I don't kill, Johnson,” he’d said to the sandy-haired Auror.

Auror Potter turned in his stance, throwing a quick look at his son before he continued on.

'Teddy, what is it?' The Head Auror had looked away from the two men seating across from him as his adoptive-son rushed into his office.

'Did you find another compromising baby picture Tonks kept of you?' Ron chuckled, turning towards Teddy. 'Are you naked in it?'

'We just got a report from the connections of the Ministry in France,' Teddy ignored Ron's joke and looked at his father and at Draco gravely. 'An attack broke out in the ambassador building, they got Percy.'

Wretched expressions were exchanged between the members of the Weasley/Potter clan; Harry and Ron waiting to hear the rest of Teddy's report as they stood from their respective chairs.

'The attack was led down towards the outskirts of Paris. We’ve to go now and take over the situation. Kingsley ordered it.'

'What about my brother?' The redheaded man had practically hissed, his freckly-face turning pale. 'Where's Percy?'

The question was left unanswered as commands started barking out from the Head Auror's mouth; calling in all of the Aurors in the special case assigned to them by the Minister of Magic.

"Uff." Landing on the torn floor of the ancient French building, a brunette woman rolled herself quickly onto her back as a jet of green light hit the floor on her right; barely missing her by an inch. "Incarcerous!"

Noticing one of the many attackers inside the building land on his back with ropes binding him immobile, Draco Malfoy turned to look at the Head Auror race his way towards the brunette. Something inside of his chest settled itself as he found the woman breathing and moving; calming the voices in his head.

"Hermione, are you okay?" Harry asked loudly, helping her off the ground as Ron cast a bubble of protection at the two as he ran to them. (Typical Golden Trio behavior, always protecting each other like a reflex despite of anything.) "You should’ve sat this one out, 'Mione."

"I'm fine," Hermione snapped at her best friend, dusting herself off and clutching on to her wand as she aimed a quick glance at the blonde looking at her. (A nod was exchanged between the two, letting the man know that it was alright for him to move on his path.) "Now, move!" She added, waving her wand in the air and sending a flash of light towards a deranged woman aiming a spell at the three.

Everything around the Aurors was crackling down. The walls of the building blasting off, sending shreds of marble and plaster in every direction; the windows of the place breaking apart, the glass becoming method of weapons for both sides of the battle; the historic chandeliers dangling beautifully in the once-respectable building came crashing down, squashing anyone in the way as it added to the clutter on the floor.

The battle was definitely at its prime, becoming the marker of the past destruction that attackers had left in the lives of the people the Aurors were trying to protect; of their precious new world.

"—Avada Kedavra!"A body landed on the ground with a thud, heads turning for a quick second to see what side had lost a member. And at the sight of a shiny badge facing towards the ceiling, the battle continued with a fresh wave of lights and spells.

It was the second Auror to fall dead in less than half an hour.

"Stupefy!" Teddy shouted, his voice squeaking towards the end as he sent his spell towards the figure that’d murder his fellow Auror. There was something glistening in his gray eyes, clouding over his vision as he could still see the rigidness of the fallen Auror. (Of a bloke that started the program when he had, a friend.) "Stupefy!" He shouted once again, his wand pointed at another direction as his body filled with anger.

"Avada—"

"Protego!" Covering the burst of green light that would’ve ended the existence of Teddy Lupin when he turned his back, Auror Johnson turned towards the newly-appointed member of his team. "See what I mean, kid?! Get them before they get you!"

"Ron, on your left!" Hermione yelled, ducking once again as a deadly spell was aimed at her head. "Glisseo!" She pointed her wand-tip towards the staircase of a new hall she’d ran into; making the two attackers racing down the steps slide down with a heavy hit to their heads as they collide with the ground.

"Impedimenta!" Ron had hissed, blocking the Unforgivable that was headed at him. "Where is my brother, you son of a bitch?!" He glowered, aiming another unmentioned spell towards one of the unknown attackers. "Where?!"

"Visiting the bloody werewolf and his wife!" The attacker had retorted back, cutting through Ron's spells easily and expertly as he caught the infuriated attention of the blue-haired Auror. "Or having a family reunion with the other dead Weasley."

With a curse that's too colorful to be expressed, Ron launched himself forward to the man that’d clearly brushed up on his history before joining the battle. "Petrificus Totalus!" And as the attacker flew back in a bind, Ron raised his wand to the man's head. "Avada—"

"No!" Teddy blurted, pushing the redhead man away from the frozen attacker. "It's not worth it, Ron! We'll find Percy!"

"Confrigno!" Away from the other Aurors in the levels below of the building, Hermione sent flames out of her wand at a cloaked woman that knocked Draco down onto the floor. "This is how you defend yourself, Malfoy?!" She glared at the blonde man as the woman recoiled at the flames threatening to eat her. "Pathetic!"

"Is this really the time?" Harry shouted at his best friend, sending another witch flying back into a wall before she charged towards Hermione; the wall crumbling completely in the process. "Protego!"

"Clever as always, Mister Potter!" A woman crackled with a mental laughter; her knotted blonde hair creating the illusion the witch had just arrived from the slums of France. "We wonder how long your luck will last, though!" She added, sending a jet of light towards the Boy-Who-Lived.

"—Crucio!"

"Argh!" One of the new Aurors was knocked on her back from a searing pain invading the bones in her body; making her scream like someone had just dug a knife through every layer of skin. The torture of an Unforgivable at such a young age marking her insides as she withered.

"Stupefy!" Harry Potter hissed at the man causing the Cruciatus Curse; stopping the Auror’s screeching pain.

"—Avada Kedavra!"

"Draco!" Hermione screamed at the same time the spell was sent towards Auror Malfoy. She ran as fast as she could towards her husband. "Expelliarmus!" She hissed, diverging the green light from touching any part of Draco as she knocked him down on his back. "What's wrong with you?!" She slapped the blonde man's chest. "Be careful, Malfoy!"

Interrupting the response of Draco, one of the attacking-witches chortled manically at the sight of the husband and wife. "Now, if you could’ve gotten that quickly to his father, Mrs. Malfoy, Lucius would still be here,” she teased darkly.

Hermione raised her head, glaring with venom at the woman.

"Or your precious half-blood baby would still be alive."

"Stupefy!"

"Impedimenta!" The woman shouted, protecting herself from the stunning spell the Brightest Witch of the Age had thrown at her. "Come and get me!" She laughed as Hermione leaped onto her feet; the chase beginning.

With the invisible strings pulling in every direction they wanted him to move, Draco was surprised when his desire to run after his wife was granted. His legs moving in top speed before the Head Auror could even register that one-third of his Golden Trio was running after a murderer. "Hermione!" He yelled after his wife.

"Your shield, Malfoy, your shield!" Harry barked at his once-nemesis and he took off after him and his best friend.

Just as he ran up the old staircase of the French building, Draco came into a stop as he noticed his wife standing frozen at the entrance of a door; her chest heaving up and down from the run she had taken.

"...I can't believe it,” she breathed, feeling the presence of her husband approaching her. "No." Tears brewed in her eyes, her waves shaking in denial at what she saw.

With his wand tightly between his fingers for precaution, Malfoy pushed Hermione back a step as he appeared at the doorway; wand at the ready for whatever was at the other side. And just as he thought he was prepared for an instant attack, he found himself mentally defenseless at the scene on the opposite side of the old door.

"Malfoy, welcome," a man greeted.

Nothing had prepared Draco to see the man of years past smiling up at him with the body of Percy Weasley at his feet.