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C H A P T E R  T H I R T Y | DisApparate

spell. transportation.

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THEY DEPART THE FOLLOWING AFTERNOON for Knockturn Alley to meet Y'Zara and Theo to discuss terms. This is the best case scenario, though. Anything could still happen.

The sun hides behind clouds the color of wet concrete, and though the rain has threatened to fall all day, it has remained steady, nothing more than mist. Thunder rolls in the distance, a deep rumble that sometimes shakes the ground underfoot as they enter the rickety White Wyvern through the front door.

The pub is vacant for the most part, but a few scowling faces turn away from them. Theo is already seated, they approach him just as he polishes off his third pint. When he meets their eyes, they realize that his are red and moist, almost like he's been crying.

"What's happened?" Pansy's voice borders on shrill as she slides into the booth beside him, grasping his stray hand in hers.

He pulls away which makes Pansy settle against the back of the seat with her lips pouted.

"Thing's are worse than we could have known."

"So you found them? Why isn't Y'Zara with you?" Hermione knows he's just as scared, just as paranoid, as she is but she can't help the sudden urge to uncover the truth

"I found 'em, all right. They're in Paris at a safe house, but Y'Zara's dead. She died the night she bit Draco. I guess the Vukovi have made him pack leader, though. How can we save him now?" His eyes shine brightly, growing wet with every word. He's lost his best mate to a dangerous world that runs on pain.

"Surely someone else should have taken that position?" Hermione sits on the edge of the seat, nearly unable to control the overwhelming sensation to find Draco herself and knock some sense into him.

"You're right, love. Someone more skilled should be head of the Vukovi. I'd have expected Ignatio, of course, but I came to the realization that someone must have wanted him in that position. I thought Y'Zara was our leader, but maybe someone else even more powerful is pulling the strings. We just need to figure out who and what their motive is."

Hermione sits back against the seat, unsure of how to feel. Of course, she is angry and sad, but now she knows that at least Draco is alive and if someone has indeed been playing as puppet master, then perhaps they place great enough value in his life to keep him alive.

"What about Ron? Please tell me that you saw him?" Pansy eyes are already full of tears.

Theo doesn't meet her eyes for several seconds before admitting that he did not see Ron.

"I asked Draco, but he has not had any word of Weasley's location. I'm sorry, Pans." He attempts to touch her hand in comfort but she rips away and leaves the table.

Hermione stays for a moment, questioning her next move. She decides to return home and she offers for Theo to join; since he's distanced himself from the Vukovi, he has nowhere to go. He turns her down though.

"There's something I've got to do. I don't expect to be back before Luna wakes, so promise me that you'll keep an eye on her while I'm away." He rises from the booth with a forlorn look in his eyes.

"What do you mean? Where are you going?"

"I'm going to find Weasley. If someone planned for Draco to lead the Vukovi, I have a feeling that they're going to try to get their claws in him as well. I'm to meet Harry at Grimmauld Place before too long. I should probably already be gone." He runs a hand through his hair as he sighs.

Hermione embraces Theo suddenly, fearful that she may lose another friend.

"Be safe," she mumbles before retreating. As she walks out of the door, she hears the familiar crackling of a DisApparation. Glancing back, she sees the sparkling remnants of the spell dissipate into thin air.

The summer proceeds to escape in a blur as life continues around her. Hermione's home is full as Pansy takes a room down the hall, and later, another is filled when they are joined by Luna.

The lithe young woman is far from the happy-go-lucky Ravenclaw from Hogwarts, but every once in a while, a smile creeps upon her lips and her complaints center on an infestation of Nargles. And to stave off the effects of the wolf bite, Pansy brews a weekly allowance of wolfsbane, which helps the girls overcome the first few full moons with hardly a hiccup.

However, they all anxiously await word from Theo and Harry, it becomes exhausting. They worry for Draco and Ron as well. Especially as gruesome articles begin to plague the Daily Prophet's front page, all describing the same crime - homicide with victim drained of all blood.

Only one creature can achieve such a result - vampires. With the werewolves growing stronger in number every week, a war is imminently on the horizon for the Wizarding World.

Her fears about the future only become more concrete when on the 21st of August, in the dead of night, Hermione wakes to sudden and sharp pain in her abdomen. The tumultuous rhythm of cramping makes pained moans escape her mouth.

"Pansy." She continues to call between gasping breaths into the darkness until her friend's thudding footsteps rush through the hall and into her bedroom.

"Keep taking deep breaths. Luna's already taken your bags downstairs, and she'll be waiting at Mungo's for us with Emsilia - just like we planned." Pansy attempts to keep a level of calm between them despite the emotion laced in her voice. She's just as excited about the arrival of Baby G as any of them.

Her labor is intense but lasts just about six hours; less than her own mother's. She is exhausted but equally relieved and giddy to finally meet the child who has blossomed from within her. Bred from lust but loved more deeply than any child has been before.

Looking down into the child's squished face, she can only see a reflection of Draco resting in the crook of her arms, and a sense of sadness begins fills her. The feeling continues to linger well into the night, even filling her dreams with the sense of loss and emotional pain that she's actively attempted to avoid for the last few months. However, the hospital is a lonely place once the chattering visitors vanish from the halls. She is left with herself, her newborn, and her suffocating thoughts.

Ginny and Blaise arrive at Mungo's just after dawn the next day, followed by Neville and McGonagall, the latter of which stays well into the evening.

"Oh, he's positively wonderful, Miss Granger. Just a darling." McGonagall beams as she rises to hand him back before departing.

"I'm beginning to believe that he might be my one true love." My little Corvus.

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