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SIYE Time:18:44 on 28th March 2024
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The Space Between
By YelloWitchGrl

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Category: Post-Hogwarts, Post-DH/AB, Post-DH/PM
Characters:All
Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama, Fluff, General, Humor, Tragedy
Warnings: Dark Fiction, Death, Disturbing Imagery, Extreme Language, Intimate Sexual Situations, Mental Abuse, Mild Language, Mild Sexual Situations, Negative Alcohol Use, Rape, Sexual Situations, Spouse/Adult/Child Abuse, Violence, Violence/Physical Abuse
Rating: R
Reviews: 559
Summary: Harry and Ginny's lives have finally evened out. They've faced trauma, and loss, more than most have, but they've fought hard to find a normal.

If only things could stay that way... Old enemies find new ways to seek revenge.

This story is the sequel to Bound. It would be extremely helpful if you read that first.

Warnings are to be safe. It's probably overkill. Please message me if you have any questions or concerns.
Hitcount: Story Total: 352171; Chapter Total: 3646
Awards: View Trophy Room




Author's Notes:
Thank you Arnel for beta'ing

Please consider checking out my novels on amazon. Sarah Jaune




ChapterPrinter
StoryPrinter


“I bet Dad isn’t too happy,” Al said as he read through the article on the capture of Lovenut the next morning at breakfast. The ceiling above them was a mottled blue with huge clouds sometimes dotting out the sun. Nat had said, the moment they’d stepped into the Great Hall, that it looked like a storm was brewing.

“He never wants the credit,” Rose agreed as she helped herself to a sausage. “That quote in there about how it was a team effort and the Aurors had all played a major role in solving it… it’s so typical of him.”

Nat glanced around to make sure no one listening before she commented. “I know for a fact it was Teddy’s idea to check out Lovenut. He was the one who put it together, so really Teddy should get the credit.”

“You should get the credit,” Al grumbled as he put away the paper to eat his breakfast. “But on second thought, no. I don’t want you to get the credit.”

“That would be bad,” Scorpius agreed as he took the paper from Al and started reading through as he thoughtlessly nibbled on bacon. He took a sip of his pumpkin juice and then, to everyone’s shock, spit it all over the paper and the group.

“Gross!” Rose sighed as she pulled out her wand and flicked it to clear away the mess. “Something earth shattering had better be in the paper for you to–”

“Look at this!” Scorpius growled as he slammed the paper down on top of the piles of food, soaking in a good bit of bacon grease. He pointed to a small article towards the end.

Scorpius Malfoy’s Engagement Imminent.

“Uh,” Al choked back a laugh. “Forget to tell us something, mate?”

Scorpius glared at him. “This is utter crap! I haven’t agreed to marry anyone!”

“The paper has lied before–” Rose began, but Scorpius cut them off.

“My dad sent me an owl.”

The three of them stared at him. It was Nat who recovered first. “When was this? We didn’t see an owl.”

Scorpius hesitated. He shook his head and some of his dirty blond hair slipped down over his eyes as he stared down at the rest of his uneaten meal. “It was on my bed last night.”

“And it said what?” Al asked sharply.

“That they were talking to a family from Germany,” Scorpius sighed as he finally met their gazes again. “I wrote back and told him no! I have no idea why he thinks I’d agree to this when I’ve told him all along I wouldn’t. I think he’s just trying to get me under his thumb. He cooperated with his father, went along with the arranged marriage to my mother, and look where they are now. I’m not doing it! If I ever marry, it’ll be to a girl I actually want to marry.” As he said this, his ears went a bit pink.

“Have all the marriages in your family been arranged?” Nat asked curiously.

“Not all of them,” Scorpius told her. “My grandfather, Lucius, and grandmother Narcissa arranged that one on their own after meeting… actually, I dunno where they met. Anyway, it was still an acceptable match for them so there was no problem. As long as you pick someone acceptable, then you can do what you like.”

“You won’t,” Rose said firmly. It wasn’t a question.

“Not acceptable to them, anyway,” Scorpius agreed bitterly.

Al saw him glance down the table, and then look away again quickly. He almost turned to see who he’d look at, but decided against it. If Scorpius wanted to keep things to himself, that was up to him and he wasn’t going to pry.

“They can’t actually make you marry anyone,” Nat pointed out reasonably.

“They could stop paying for me to come to school,” Scorpius told her flatly. “That was part of his letter. I had to fall in line or they wouldn’t buy my things for next year.”

“Your aunt has money,” Rose reminded him. “It’s an empty threat. Write to her and tell her you need some funds set up in your name only. It doesn’t take that much to buy books and robes and you’ve said she has a sizable portion, right?”

Scorpius nodded slowly as he mulled it over. “No, you’re right. I’ll send an owl to Aunt Daphne after class. If she doesn’t set up something for me then I’ll have to find another way, but I’m not going along with this.”

“I find it odd they aren’t trying to find an English girl,” Nat said thoughtfully as she forked up a bite of eggs. “They’ve all been English so far, haven’t they?”

Scorpius let out a loud snort. “First off, my family has been disgraced in the wizarding community in England. Everyone knows they sided with Voldemort and then walked away at the final battle. My dad and grandfather both served time in prison. If you’re a fanatical pureblood nut, then you know the Malfoys abandoned Voldemort at the moment he needed them most. If you’re not so fanatical as to have loved Voldemort, then you know the Malfoys were with Voldemort for most of the time through his rise to power. My family is responsible for some truly terrible things. Either way you look at it and no one wants to associate with the likes of me.”

“Plus you’re in Gryffindor,” Al pointed out in amusement. “That automatically makes you a traitor.”

“Too right it does,” Scorpius agreed.

They let the subject drop because it was clearly bothering Scorpius but Al stood with him as his friend scribbled a quick note to his aunt and sent it off in the short break they had between classes.

“The sky is looking worse,” Scorpius noted as they went out to the greenhouses for Herbology.

“I’m telling you,” Nat reminded them, “There is a storm coming.”

A storm ended up being an understatement. They had the rest of that day with only a buildup of clouds but by evening the sky had opened up and rain began to pour down in buckets onto the castle and the wind and lightning intensified as the night went on. By bedtime almost no one had left the common room, preferring to huddle near the fires as the tempest outside continued to roar. Scorpius, Al, Nat, and Rose were huddled up in some armchairs off to the side, jumping every few moments as the loud booms and cracks shook the entire castle while the room lit up in flickering, flashing, eerie glows.

“I do not like this,” Al muttered quietly, even though he knew how it made him sound.

Nat, who was sitting across from him and watching the storm flash, was pale and clearly agitated. “I’ve only ever seen storms like this when stuck in a hurricane or a tornado.”

“When were you in a tornado?” Rose asked from her seat next to Al.

“When I was eight,” Nat told her. “We were in Oklahoma, in America,” she explained. “We ended up in a library to wait out the storm and it was like a freight train was passing close by.”

Al shuddered as the room lit to unnatural brightness and then the crash came again, shaking the windows with unbelievable force.

They all turned as the portrait hole opened and Neville came into the common room. He glanced around and sighed heavily. “It looks like most of you are still up anyway. The storm is getting worse so we’re moving everyone down to the Great Hall to sleep tonight. Please leave your bags here and make your way straight down. Prefects, please check each room and gather up the rest of the students. Escort them down.”

Nerves skittered to life in Al’s stomach as they all followed him out of the portrait hole, past the Fat Lady who was having a whispered conversation with her friend, Violet, about the storm.

They streamed down into the Great Hall to find the tables pushed to the side and squashy purple sleeping bags spread all around the floor. “Come on,” Al said as he moved over to one said and claimed a bag. Shortly after Lily, Hugo, and Honor came over along with James, Caroline, and Louis. Caroline’s dog plodded after her, plopping down next to her the moment she picked a place to sleep, taking up his own sleeping bag. Al thought that was prudent. Even to a dog, the floor of the Great Hall would be cold.

“It’s bad,” James said as he slid into a sleeping bag and the sky above them lit up again and again and again. Down here in the Great Hall, though, the walls weren’t shaking like they had been up in the towers.

“I heard someone say that Slytherin’s common room has flooded,” Louis told them as he sat cross-legged on his own sleeping bag.

Al glanced over to the Slytherins in pity as he saw they all looked extra rumpled, but not wet. The professors could have dried them all off, of course, but the strain was still showing. As much as he didn’t like them sometimes, he wouldn’t have wished that on anyone.

“Ravenclaw tower would have been much the same as ours,” Rose mused. “Only the Hufflepuffs would have been fine, but I expect they didn’t want to single them out to stay.”

A loud crash sounded through the whole building causing everyone to jump and several people to scream in terror. It was the loudest they’d heard yet and it sent several of the teachers sprinting towards the doors while others tried to calm the students down.

“Quiet everyone!” Hannah called out to all the students in a booming voice. “Quiet! Everyone is here and accounted for so we will wait for the Headmaster and the rest of the teachers. Please wait quietly on your own sleeping bag and don’t move around the room. We are safe in here.”

Al knew that was true, as the Great Hall had been rebuilt after the war with the utmost of safety in mind in case the students needed a place to shelter, but the storm roaring around them was not helping.

“Look,” Nat whispered as she grabbed his arm and pointed up towards the ceiling above them.

Al watched in horrified fascination as a branch the size of Hagrid slid across the invisible ceiling and continued on, crashing down onto the ground on the other side of the castle with an intense and deafening crash.

“I do not like this,” Rose whispered into the chaos of the other students. “I really don’t like this.”

“You and me both,” Scorpius said nervously as he patted her shoulder. “We’re safe in here, though. Nothing is going to bring down this building except Dark magic.”

Al glanced over at a squeak from Lily, who had her eyes glued to the view above them. “You okay?” he asked, feeling oddly calmed at seeing everyone else’s panic. Someone had to be calm.

“I’m okay,” Lily said nervously as something else crashed into the castle and she jumped.

“I really don’t like this!” Rose said as she pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her face in them.

“Come on,” Louis said to his little cousin as he scooted closer to put an arm around her. “It’s okay, Rosie! We’re magically protected in here.”

“Then why do all the teachers look nervous!?” Rose demanded sharply.

Al glanced around, studying the teachers and realized Rose had seen something he hadn’t. They were all on edge. Also, they were all here. He hadn’t noticed, but all the house-elves had silently made their way into a corner of the Great Hall, away from the students.

That was really not good! All the calm Al had been feeling, or possibly faking, slipped away in a rush. “Oh, no…”

“What could be doing this?” James asked as he kept his hand clamped on Caroline’s as she sat next to his, staring around at everyone. “What could–”

His pause made Al turn to see his dad speaking to Headmaster Goldstein in the doorway.

“Well, shit,” Caroline breathed out making all of them jump. They all turned to look at her. “What?” she demanded in a quiet huff. “If James’ dad is here then all hell has broken loose.”

It wasn’t a phrase Al was particularly familiar with and said with her American accent, it sounded odd, but he understood the sentiment.

If Dad was here, something was very wrong.

~*~

The storm had been building up on the edge of Hogwarts for hours. They’d been notified at the Ministry that morning, but Harry hadn’t thought much of a storm. Actual weather patterns were not something controlled by magic, after all. No one had devised a spell to create a lasting, powerful storm.

When Voldemort had been rising to power freak storms were actually things like dragons, trolls, and Death Eaters. It was never actually a full weather system.

Then the storm had broken and Percy, bless his obsessive soul, had been watching it using every magical means the Ministry had. When that had failed to net the answers he’d wanted, he’d gone to Hermione and together they’d checked the Muggle reports.

But there was nothing. The storm had formed outside of Hogwarts, which the Muggles had noticed, and then had dissipated. That’s what the Muggles were saying. The storm was gone.

But it wasn’t. It had moved over the school grounds and it had stalled right there wrecking the castle, the grounds, and the village of Hogsmeade which had already been evacuated but not without several people being injured. The residents had all realized quickly they needed to leave and had done so on their own.

Percy and Hermione had quickly alerted the Ministry and anyone who could be spared was mobilized out to Hogwarts to try to dissipate the storm. He’d hoped the castle would be able to withstand the worst of the storm, as it had been built and magically enforced to do just that, but this was no ordinary storm and these weren’t any ordinary circumstances.

Somehow, and Harry still had no clue how the crazy woman had done it, Isabella Crabbe had figured out how to control the weather.

This was no small weather charm, or mini storm. However she’d done it, she’d created something which could cause serious damage on the school. Hagrid’s house had been destroyed, but thankfully the big man had already left to go up to the main school. Still he would have had a few small creatures in his home which would be dead, now.

He glanced around quickly and saw his children watching him and he gave them a small nod before he focused on Anthony again.

“–the whole of Ravenclaw Tower fell,” Anthony was saying.

Harry’s mind spun as he realized he’d missed something vitally important in the moment of distraction. He gaped at his old schoolmate. “Come again?”

“I have never been more shocked,” Anthony said in a low voice. “We’d just evacuated everyone down here when we heard the crash! I had the teachers check and double check and every student is accounted for, which is the only blessing in this. We don’t need to lose more students!”

That was a mild understatement. Harry sized up the situation in a moment and knew that this was not sustainable. They didn’t know how to stop the storm and couldn’t protect he students here. If Ravenclaw tower had fallen, more damage could be coming. Harry pulled out his wand, cast his Patronus and sent a message to Hermione to clear all four of the main conference rooms in the Ministry. It was secure and private, which was what they needed. They could let the parents know what happened from there and send kids home who were interested in going. “We’re evacuating,” Harry told Goldstein. “Right now.”

Goldstein nodded in agreement. “How?”

Harry had the answer as he turned to spot the house-elves. He pointed to them.

In short order he had house-elves ferrying kids and teachers to the Ministry in small groups, taking the sleeping bags with them just in case they had to sleep there. Within twenty minutes, only the Ministry workers and a few key teachers remained at Hogwarts as the storm continued to rage around them.

Hermione arrived with the Minister shortly after all the children had been evacuated. “What are we going to do?” the Minister asked Harry.

He looked at her and shook his head. He honestly had no idea.

~*~

“I’m not going with you,” Scorpius whispered hotly to his mother as she tried to plead with him to come home. “I can stay here.”

“They’re sending the children home,” Astoria repeated to her son. “No one will be left here except you.”

Al and his family, plus Nat, had already been picked up by Mrs. Potter an hour before but as dawn was breaking in London, Scorpius, who hadn’t slept a wink, refused to go. “I won’t be the only kid left.”

“Scorpius, please,” his mother said quietly. “I have missed you. Please come home.”

To what? That’s what Scorpius wanted to ask her. What would he be going home to? Would it be a loving father or a caring home? Would it be a pleasant visit? What was there at his house?

He knew he could go to the Potters. Mrs. Potter had already told him as much, but the professors wouldn’t let him leave with her unless his parents gave their permission which was why he was stuck at the Ministry. “I don’t want to see Father.”

Astoria pressed her lips into such a small line that they disappeared. “Do I deserve to be punished for that? His actions aren’t my fault and I am your mother.”

The problem was she didn’t protect him like a mother should. She didn’t stand up for him when his father was bullying him or trying to control his life. She didn’t stand by him when things were getting nasty. She didn’t stop his grandparents from belittling him and his achievements.

If anyone had said even one of the things his Grandfather Lucius had said to him to Al, Mrs. Potter would have torn them limb from limb.

Mrs. Potter was a proper mother. She was fierce and protective. She kept the worst away while still letting them live a life and take some knocks. She was everything Astoria would never be. It wasn’t because she couldn’t be a proper mother. If that were the case, Scorpius would have felt sorry for her and he’d have given her an easier time. No, his mother chose to be the way she was.

She chose to defer to her husband.

She didn’t have to. She could leave. No, she couldn’t get divorced because she was soul-bound to Draco, but she could still leave. Or she could stand up to him. Or… or… or…

But she didn’t. She chose this life.

Nat had gone on and on and on about how abuse victims were subjected and they weren’t responsible for being abused. That was fine. Scorpius understood that. He had sympathy and compassion for a woman in that situation.

But his mother’s life wasn’t in danger. She’d never been hit, not as far as Scorpius had seen, and his dad wasn’t really a violent man. She was emotionally abused. He could accept it and it was hard to break free from it.

But he’d learned something along the way from his aunt and it was a lesson he was never, ever, going to forget.

He could be a victim.

Or he could be a fighter.

His mother was choosing to be a victim of her situation when she had her own money and could leave. She had family she could go to. Even if she was disowned, she could buy her own bloody house!

Her choice, but not his; not his now or ever again.

Caroline was choosing to fight. He didn’t know her full story but he’d seen enough to know she was fighting to get back her sanity and to build a life. He respected that immensely. It wasn’t always perfect, and there would always be bad days for her, but she kept her eye on the prize and she didn’t keep her focus on the past. That was strength like Draco had rarely seen.

It was a strength his Aunt Daphne didn’t have and maybe never would.

And there was the rub. Scorpius wasn’t going to be a victim. Victimhood could be thrust upon a person against their will, at least for a time, but after the initial blow, it was a choice. Even if someone continued to throw curses at him, Scorpius could dodge, duck, block, fight back, or ignore. Unless they were real threats to his physical safety, it was all just words. Just words.

Nat had told him there was a nursery rhyme from America that went like that. ‘Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.’

Well, sometimes words did hurt. Sometimes they hurt a lot. But their continued hurt was a choice made by the person who heard them.

So Scorpius took a deep breath and shook his head. “Mrs. Potter said I could stay with them. I want to stay with them.”

His mother opened her mouth but both of them froze as someone walked up behind her and Scorpius turned a grin towards his aunt. Astoria glanced to her sister and sighed heavily.

Daphne’s blonde locks fell around her face in loose curls. Her blue eyes were narrowed in on her sister. Her lips were smiling but her eyes were cold. “Baby sister.” Scorpius opened his mouth to say something, but shut it again quickly. It was best not to get in the way of this. His mother would be spitting mad to see her sister dressed like a Muggle, but of course Astoria would never say anything to her. She never said anything to her.

“Daphne,” Astoria said heavily. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to see my only nephew, of course,” she answered as she walked over to Scorpius and gazed up at him with a frown. “I don’t think I like how tall you’ve become.”

“I’m not shrinking for you,” Scorpius laughed as he bent to hug her.

“Impudent brat,” she sighed as she smiled a genuine smile for him and patted his cheek. “Give your mother and me moment, sweetheart, and then I’ll get you out of here.”

Scorpius was only too happy to comply.

It took about two minutes of their quiet argument before Astoria stormed off in a huff and Daphne beckoned him to her. “Come on,” she said as she hooked her arm in his. “Do you have any of your things?”

“Only the bag,” he said as he pointed to the one on his shoulder. “Where are we going?”

“To the bank, my love,” she told him calmly. “We’re going to make you an independent gentleman.”

“Can we do that without my parents?” Scorpius asked, unsure of what the answer would be.

“We absolutely can,” she assured him as they waited for a lift. “Then I hear you’ve been invited to the Potters’. We’ll get you to their house after that’s done. I have an appointment in New York in a few hours and I have a Portkey to catch.”

“You have an appointment?” Scorpius asked in surprise. “For what?”

“I…” Daphne hesitated for only a moment as the lift door slid open and they stepped in. It wasn’t until she’d pushed the button for the Atrium and the door had shut again that she answered him. “I have a love of Muggle fashions.”

“I noticed,” Scorpius said.

“So, I started designing Muggle clothing,” she explained with a small smile.

Scorpius took it in for a moment before he nodded. “If it makes you happy.”

“It makes me very happy,” she promised with a small laugh. “I finally feel like I’ve found myself and something I can do. I like the Muggle world. No one knows who we are or where I come from. My breeding is meaningless to the Muggles. Plus, it really makes your grandparents furious!”

He couldn’t help but laugh. His Grandfather and Grandmother Greengrass weren’t exactly on good terms with Muggles. They’d never been Death Eaters, but it wasn’t because they loved Muggles. “A bonus.”

“It’s also built up my gold reserves nicely,” she promised him. “When I received your letter, I knew I needed to come back for this. So we’ll get you set up, grab a spot of lunch, and I’ll drop you with Ginny’s brother at his shop. I expect you can get to their house from there.”

Scorpius said he could.

By the time they were leaving Gringotts, Scorpius’ heart was absolutely skipping in delight. His aunt had given him more than enough for his last two years at school. She’d also ensured he would never have to move home again. It wasn’t a giant fortune by any stretch of the imagination, but it was enough for him to build a life away from Malfoy Manor.

He hugged his aunt one more time as they stood in front of Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes and he thanked her again.

“Do good for yourself,” she told him as she took his face in her hands. “Do good for yourself, do what you want, and never settle for anything less than true love.”

“You should do that, too,” he told her as she let her hands drop and she took a step back.

“I promise,” Daphne told him as she waited until he’d pulled the door open and entered the shop.

It was Rose’s dad who greeted him with a grin. “How are you, Scorpius?”

“I’m alright,” Scorpius said as he shifted his bag on his shoulder. “Listen, can I use the Floo here? I’m going to stay with the Potters until school is open again.”

Mr. Weasley nodded as he called over to one of the shop girls to mind the store. “I’ll be back in a moment,” he said as he led Scorpius to the fireplace in the back.

Mrs. Potter greeted him with a smile and told him Al was in his room and to take his stuff right on up. Dinner would be ready in a few hours.

And that was that. She didn’t push him, didn’t pry, didn’t ask questions, didn’t nag, and never once made him feel like a worm just for being himself. He wanted to hug her, but didn’t. He didn’t think she’d mind but it felt too weird.

If he ever married, he wanted to marry someone who would be a mother like Ginny Potter.

In return, he’d made the choice to never, ever, be like his father.

Ever.

~*~

It took them the better part of three days to dispel the magic of the storm and in the end none of them could tell whether they’d truly dispelled it or the magic simply wore out. Whoever had cast it, and Harry had a very good idea of who that was, had to have rallied a hundred witches and wizards to get it concentrated. He’d thought it was impossible until he started asking in the villages outside of Hogwarts where the storm had started and he found out that a convention of foreigners had shown up, booking every room within ten miles.

Harry stared at one of the pub owners with a blank expression as she talked on and on. “You know I don’t have anything against these foreign people, but they were a strange lot, they were! All of them wearing cloaks and the like! The one who paid us, though, she were the worst of them all! She gave me a turn, I tell you.”

“What about her?” Harry asked, thankful he’d taken the time to change into a nice Muggle suit. He wouldn’t have made any headway with her in robes.

“She was cold, you know?” she went on. “She weren’t right. Some people are off their rockers but you like them well enough, but not this one. This one was just not right.”

It was probably the best description of Crabbe any Muggle could give him. “Thank you,” he told her as he took his leave.

Now he had to figure out how she’d made it into the country without any of them knowing she’d come. It was supposed to be impossible, but the woman was nothing if not resourceful.

Harry took a short break to go home for dinner and he found his children, Nat, and Scorpius there all laughing and having a good time as they ate and spoke. Only Ginny saw the worry in his eyes, but she knew enough not to say anything about it while the kids were awake.

Only they weren’t children anymore. James was seventeen. Al was sixteen. Lily was fourteen. His son was a man, and he had another on the cusp and he wondered, for just a moment, what his life would have been like if he’d had a stable home to come to.

But of course, he had. He’d had the Weasley’s. They were that home for Nat and Scorpius. Nat’s parents were great, of course, but they were never around. Draco, however, was an ass.

It took them all a moment to notice he was there and the second he saw him, Al pounced. “What’s going on, Dad?”

The father in him wanted to brush Al off. It was on the tip of his tongue to do so. He desperately wanted to protect him, but then he remembered what he’d just acknowledged. This son was almost a man and this son wanted to be an Auror. Al hadn’t really said much about it, but Harry knew what to recognize. He’d seen the same thing in Teddy’s eyes and in the mirror. Al was his mirror in a lot of ways, but not in one area. Harry hadn’t been protected. Dumbledore had stuck him in situations which let him test himself.

Al hadn’t really had that chance and the father in him was extremely grateful, but the Auror knew that was dangerous.

So Harry sat slowly and told them what he could.

“Maybe she’d getting in with a house-elf,” Al said as soon as he’d finished the story. “Their magic isn’t registered.”

Harry’s brain skittered to stop as he realized it was so obvious and yet they’d missed it yet again. “It’s… it’s possible she is using a house-elf.”

“It would be an odd coincidence that the letter nut was using an elf and Crabbe is using an elf, too,” James mused thoughtfully as he popped a grape into his mouth.

It suddenly seemed like a major coincidence to Harry, as well. He’d assumed one had nothing to do with the other. The man had been fired from the Ministry for his treatment of the house-elves, but what if the obvious answer had been that the man had been helping Crabbe all along. But why would he do that?

“I have to get back to work,” Harry said absently as he kissed his wife. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

He left and hoped he’d get to sleep in his own bed that night but he wasn’t honestly certain he would.

It just seemed like a terrible coincidence he’d be dealing with the letters, which was extremely distracting and time-consuming, so much so that he missed the movements of a large group of wizards moving in towards the school to set up a storm.

Questioning Hughes Lovenut ended up being a simple process. He spoke to the Minister, who spoke to the legal team at the Ministry, which decided this fell under the same category as when they’d caught Death Eaters. Harry was given access to Veritaserum to use on Lovenut who confessed to having been a spy for Crabbe for several years.

Unfortunately, she’d never told him what she was up to. Lovenut’s price for helping her had been his house-elf. In return for the house-elf, he did as she asked.

Harry then went to speak to the elf, Lolly, who was staying with the other Ministry elves. He’d learned from that mistake. The poor creature was so traumatized by the whole experience of having been Lovenut’s slave, that Harry felt like a villain for questioning her.

She was a tiny thing and quite young for an elf. She wouldn’t meet his eyes and at first she didn’t want to speak to him. “He is master,” she kept repeating over and over again.

“I just need to know,” Harry told her gently, “where you came from before you went to live with Lovenut.”

“I… I is from the house of Crabbe,” she said slowly. “Mistress gave me to Master.”

Of course! Isabella Crabbe was from an old, wealthy house! They would have had a house-elf. “How many elves did Mistress Crabbe have?”

“I… I is not telling!” Lolly cried unhappily.

Harry smiled gently. “Lolly, I just need to know how many. I don’t need to know anything else. Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

Lolly shook her head for a moment and then shuddered. “I has two brothers.” She tried to hit herself, but Harry grabbed her hands and stopped her.

“No, Lolly,” Harry told her firmly. “You belong to the Ministry now. I forbid you from hurting yourself. You are doing what the Ministry asked of you.”

When he had Lolly settled, he left to speak to Hermione who also hadn’t been home in days. “So there are parents,” Harry told her as her face showed extreme concern over Lolly’s story. “She also has two brothers. They don’t typically have that many children, do they?”

“Honestly, it’s not well known,” Hermione told him with a shake of her head. “They’re bred like dogs, Harry! One house has a female elf, one has a male, and they get them together a few times so both houses get a new elf. It’s absolutely disgusting! Only the Hogwarts elves are left to themselves to form families, but even that was disrupted by Lovenut for the last ten years. I’ve tried to speak to the elves from Hogwarts but they won’t talk to me about it. They get horribly embarrassed by the whole topic.”

Harry and Hermione fell silent for a long minute.

“I’m very worried about what happened to that elf,” Hermione said in a voice so low Harry almost missed it. “I am keeping an eye on her. I think Lovenut was extremely abusive with her.”

Harry couldn’t stop a shudder. He hadn’t thought to ask Lovenut about that while under the truth serum, but then again he was positive he didn’t want to know. “See what you can do for her. She’s safe here, at least.”

It was small comfort, but it was something.

They sent the children back to school two days later. They’d had to finish the repairs to the school, especially to Ravenclaw tower. Blessedly, most of the student’s possessions had been recovered from the debris and repaired for their owners. It had taken most of the available Ministry staff but everyone had wanted the repairs done quickly.

Moreover, more protections were put up around the school. Harry had gone to Gringotts and had asked to borrow a bunch of their best to work on building up the school.

Still, it didn’t feel like it was enough. He delivered his children to the school and wondered what would happen next.

Also, he wondered if their home was any better.

Still, the children had exams to sit and the end of the term to finish.

Nat sat her exams by herself in Neville’s office, with a Healer present, and food on hand. Everyone else did their exams just as they’d always done at Hogwarts.

Harry spent the time preparing their home to be even safer, which unfortunately meant restricting owls from accessing the house. He delivered the magical mirrors for communication to everyone in the family, including getting one to Charlie. He’d gone personally to Romania to deliver the mirror to his brother-in-law and secured Charlie’s promise that he’d come to visit soon.

Molly and Arthur were the only ones who found the whole situation difficult. “I just don’t know about all of this,” his mother-in-law told him as she held up the mirror. “I just say Ginny Potter and Ginny’s face will- OH! Hullo, darling! Well,” she said as she turned to Harry and beamed at him. “Isn’t that something.”

“Mum,” Ginny said from her own mirror. “Did you need something?”

“No, sorry,” Molly told her with a laugh. “It was an accident.”

“Hermione says the Muggles have a phone which can call people just like the mirrors,” Harry told Arthur who was immediately fascinated.

“Really? The telephone?” he said, having finally learned how to say it correctly.

Harry knew he had him then. So now the whole family could connect with him at any point, as he had a mirror he would keep in his pocket constantly. It was the best he could do, but still it never, ever felt like it was enough.
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