Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

How To Train Your Auror 2: Family Ties	By : Alcoholic_Rootbeer Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 7990 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, and I will not make a profit from this story

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
- 11
Get ready for some big reveals, some bigger questions, and an ending that will have you chewing your nails. This is Chapter 10: Diggle's Confession.
Special thanks to WayMay for listening to all of the spoilers and giving this plot an A-OK! She also, very generously, has taken the time to edit this chapter. THANK YOU WAYMAY!
~A.
All my friends are heathens, take it slow
Wait for them to ask you who you know
Please don't make any sudden moves
You don't know the half of the abuse
"Heathens" by Twenty One Pilots
"I want to tell you a story, Hermione. A story of a man, and a story of a stone." Gregory Diggle blinked, waiting for a reaction from the object of his obsession, but Hermione wouldn't budge an inch. She sat as rigid as a statue, eyes fixed on his and a hard expression written across her brow. When it became apparent she would not counter, he continued. "Once, there was a man. He was handsome. Successful. He coveted a woman that wasn't his, but that's a side note that only needs to be applied later." Greg smirked as Hermione's lips pursed. He'd procured some form of response, and that was good enough for him.
He resumed his story.
"Now, this man had been hurt. His father stripped from the world, and with him, the last bit of sanity for the poor hero of our story."
Hermione stopped him. "You're no hero, Greg Diggle."
"Oh, I wasn't speaking of myself." Diggle's smirk widened. "Though I suppose the person I speak of wasn't much of a hero, either. More of a villain, I should say."
Her wand touched the letter, and his smirk faltered.
"I speak of Lucius Malfoy."
Hermione stared evenly at him, ranging if he, indeed, told the truth.
"I wouldn't lie to you, Hermione. I've always been forthcoming with you, even when it wasn't in my best interest." Greg's green eyes glistened peacefully at her. "I was honest with you about my involvement with your husband. I was honest with you about who I was as Cane."
"Not from the beginning," she noted, coldly.
"No. But I was still honest. -I could have fed you a thousand different ways in which your husband died, and I was not at fault. But that wouldn't have been truthful, and I don't want you to go through your life led by lies. You're better than that. You always deserve the truth."
"So, what is the truth, then?" Hermione raised her eyebrows, wand still poised to destroy the note should she detect a hint of deception.
Diggle noticed this, and offered his hands out, palms upwards towards the ceiling in a single act of submission. "The truth, Hermione, lies in my own faults. And with Lucius. And in Abraxas Malfoy."
Abraxas… Hermione had heard that name before, though it was hard to remember where. She began the meticulous journey through her memories of the Malfoy family tree that spread across the wall of the drawing room of the Malfoy Manor. At the edge was Scorpius, further in Draco, then Lucius, and then… "You speak of Draco's grandfather."
"And bingo was his name-o." Diggle's face lit back up once again. "After all, it was Abraxas Malfoy who came into possession of the Pandora Stone from his father, and his father before him. But it all begins and ends with Abraxas and Lucius, I'm afraid."
"You're lying," said Harry, pushing up off the wall he leaned against. "Draco's report states that Lucius procured the stone from a Dark Artifacts collector in Turkey."
"And you truly believe a word that comes out of that bastard's mouth?" snapped Diggle, eyes trained on Harry with the force of a well-trained Auror. Which he had been, before he'd been sacked and left to rot here. "He killed my father, Potter. I shouldn't have need to remind you what sort of a man Lucius Malfoy really is."
"So now it's Potter, is it?" Harry quipped back, crossing his arms.
"It's always been Potter." Diggle narrowed his green eyes. "If we're being perfectly honest, I never cared for you."
"Greg," Hermione said, bringing his attention back to her, "Abraxas and Lucius."
"Of course." He nodded his head, smiling sweetly at her. It frightened the witch to see him go from confident, to angry, to gleeful all within a moment. He felt like a loose cannon ready to fire at any time. It sent a chill down her spine. "Are you aware that Abraxas Malfoy died in 1996? Dragon Pox. Very sad way to go, actually."
"What does that have to do with any of this?"
"Patience, my beautiful witch, is a virtue held most precious." Greg tilted his head to the side, then gave an exaggerated cough. "I'm terribly parched. Could I trouble you, Auror Potter, for a glass of water?"
"If we're being perfectly honest, no," replied Harry.
Hermione wasn't one to miss the connotation; Greg wanted to speak to her, alone. There was something he felt he couldn't say in front of Harry. Or maybe, he refused to say. Either way, if she wanted her full answers, she'd have to get Harry to leave the room. "Actually, Harry, I'm a bit thirsty myself. Would you mind?"
"You can't be serious, Hermione," he stared at her, dumbfounded. "We're in the middle of an interrogation."
"Harry, please." She gave him her best puppy-dog eyes. The ones that she knew he couldn't say no to. "I've had a rough go of it, today. What with Scorpius…"
She felt terrible for manipulating him this way, but she'd be damned if she was going to miss an important detail because of Harry's presence. She was on a mission to never let Scorpius come under fire again, and she'd do whatever it took to make that happen.
Harry caved. "Fine. I'll get you a water." He sent dagger-eyes towards Diggle. "You can go without." He left the room abruptly, leaving just Hermione, Diggle, and the burly Auror guard at the door.
"Whatever you have to say, Diggle, spill it."
"You really are the brightest witch of our generation," Diggle grinned.
Draco squared himself at the appropriate distance from the Forbidden Forest beside the lake, staring up at the full moon. No doubt, werewolves would be running rampant tonight inside that tree infested woods. He paced as he watched the glow from the moon. He thought of Scorpius, of how tiny his hand was as he held it in his own. Of how, just yesterday, they were digging into sweets and snuggling up on the sofa with Hermione to watch 'Star Wars' for the umpteenth time. Now, his son sat in a cold infirmary with his mother, no doubt, crying beside him as he slept a dreamless sleep. And he had no idea where Hermione was… he could sure use her calm demeanor right about now. It felt as if the world was swallowing him whole.
He anxiously awaited Lindy's arrival, ready and willing to share his thoughts. If Hermione were here he might not need to, as she usually figured things out seconds before him. But as it were, Draco was stuck with perfectionist Lindy Bolt who, while scoring excellently on her exams, wasn't at all creative when it came to her thoughts. Black. White. There was no gray in that head of hers. It irritated the shite out of him. As a way to pass the time, he tried to imagine what it would have been like if he'd been paired up with Bolt in Auror Training. No doubt, he thought, he'd have either offed himself or gone to the dark, if no other reason than to get away from the yammering witch with a filter roughly the size of a toothpick.
"Hello, Auror Malf-"
"Holy shite!" Draco nearly jumped out of his skin as he spun around on his toes, wand drawn, to meet the intimidated eyes of Lindy Bolt. "Bolt, you daft-headed moron! You don't sneak up on an Auror!"
"I wasn't sneaking, sir. I tried to greet you."
"Yes, but you greet from a ways off," he sneered, lowering his wand and rolling his eyes, "Not when you're right up on the person."
"I did try to greet you when I approached," Lindy said, placing her hands on her hips, "But you were lost in your own world."
"Oh." Had he really been so lost in his thoughts he'd tuned her voice out? "I… my apologies."
"No need, Sir." She smiled warmly. "I'm just excited that you're finally including me in the mission."
"Yes, seeing as I don't get a choice in the matter, I figured I might as well pull my resources, so here you are."
"Why do you do that, Sir?"
"Do what?"
"Shut me out." Lindy flickered her eyes up towards the moon. "I don't recall a time I ever betrayed your trust."
"I don't recall a time you ever earned it, either."
Her jaw tensed, but she still kept her eyes trained on the glowing orb in the sky. "Do you want to know why I became an Auror, Sir? It was because of you."
Draco's heart jerked in his chest, and humility crashed over him like an ominous wave. Every muscle in his body tensed as his eyes flickered over to the sandy-blonde witch. She stood there for a time, silent, before she traded glances at the moon for a serious stare towards Draco.
"I'd grown up hearing about the Malfoys. About their dedication to the Dark Lord, and about their deflection at the end of the War. I always found it brave of your family, backing out of the battle and refusing to continue the tyranny."
Draco snorted a laugh, though he found no humor in her words. "Bravery? Is that what you call the most cowardly move in my family's history?"
"It wasn't cowardly. What would have been cowardly would have been to stay under Voldemort's thumb out of fear, of death." Lindy turned her eyes back to the sky, the moonlight spilling across her delicate features. "I'm not particularly brave myself. I was a Hufflepuff, here, at Hogwarts. Do you know what we're known for? 'Particularly good at finding things.' As if that made us sound worthy of something. We aren't the smartest, or the bravest, or the most cunning. But we form friendships that last lifetimes, and we always try to see the bright side of things." She tucked her arms behind her back. "I remember reading about your accomplishments in the papers. How you brought down Bastian Cane and saved the Ministry."
If only Bolt knew the truth that hadn't been put in the papers about Draco's involvement; he doubted she'd find him accomplished then. "I didn't do it alone," said Draco, humbler than he'd ever sounded in his life, "I had Auror Potter, and Auror Thomas, and… Hermione." A lump settled in his throat, but even swallowing couldn't push it down. Merlin, how he needed her tonight. "But you were there. In the thick of it. And, despite your dark past, you didn't give in. You brought down one of the most dangerous criminals in Ministry history, and after refusing to submit to Voldemort. You're a beacon of hope that some of us only wish we could live up to." Lindy pursed her lips, and, unexpectedly, swiped at her cheek. Was she crying? "I have no ulterior motives, but you constantly distrust me. When Auror Potter told me I'd been assigned to you, I was so excited! Working with the famous Auror Malfoy! But all you've done is talk about how I'll never live up to your girlfriend and how much of a muck-up I am. It's discouraging, to say the least." She closed her eyes, and two more tears escaped down her cheeks. "I only wish you'd trust me, just a little. You'd find I'm loyal to the cause, and I could be more help than you think."
Draco's ego deflated so that it felt as if all the air in his lungs had escaped him. It never occurred to him just how cold and calloused he'd been towards Bolt. It was just his nature to lash out when things turned to shite. To think someone looked up to him as an Auror baffled him. Why would anyone want to look up to such a broken man?
He gave a heavy sigh, finding the ability to breathe again, and stepped up next to Lindy, placing a firm hand on her shoulder. "Alright, Auror Bolt. I'll give it a try."
Lindy turned her head towards him, prying her eyes open. "You… you called me Auror Bolt."
"I did." He smirked. "Best not ruin the moment by talking about it."
"Sir." She gave a nod, and wiped the last bit of tears from her face. "So, what did you ask me out here to discuss?"
"Right." He removed his hand from her shoulder and almost tucked it in his pockets- but he remembered the stone last moment and caught himself. "When I was sifting through Victoria's visions, I found one thing in common."
"What's that, Sir?"
"Besides their obvious involvement with our white wolf, they show very distinct scenery. The first one was in the Forbidden Forest. The second, here, at the lake."
"And the third?"
"The shrieking shack." Draco sorted through his thoughts before he spoke again. "I think the white wolf wants Victoria to join him for something, but for what I can't be sure. He's showing her specific places. Places she could identify and possibly go to. He's trying to lure her out of Hogwarts."
"He'd have to have a reason."
"He does." Draco looked to Lindy. "Victoria's an animagus. Or at least, has the potential to be."
"She is?" she gasped. "How do you know?"
"Because, I have reason to believe that our white wolf is one as well. And if I'm correct, he's not too far from his prey, which means… how would you feel about a wolf hunt this evening, Bolt?"
"Listen carefully, now, Hermione, because what I have to say is important." Greg nudged down to the envelope clutched in her fingers. "What I've written in there will explain how I came about what I'm to tell you next."
"Which is?"
He leaned closer, careful. Precise. "I did something no other wizard has ever been able to do. I brought someone back from the dead."
"Sir, are you sure we should be doing this?" Lindy asked, her wand glowing from the tip as she and Draco trudged through the wooded shroud of the Forbidden Forest. "We should have written to Auror Potter, at the very least."
"Come on, Bolt. Where's your sense of adventure?" Draco smirked, hopping over a log. "You shouldn't be afraid of a forest like this -wasn't this part of your training?"
"What? Taking a midnight stroll through a werewolf and centaur infested forest? No, sir. Never."
Draco stopped in his tracks, reminiscent of his last visit here, two years ago. "You mean your trainer never made you run laps through here?"
"Absolutely not!"
He knew there was something off about Diggle's friendly little promenade with his Auror trainees. "Sounds like I had a tougher trainer than you."
"Wasn't it Auror Diggle?"
A howl pierced through the trees, rendering the Aurors silent. Draco doused out the light of his wand, and with a silent motion, encouraged Bolt to do the same. The two of them stood quietly within the woods, eyes adjusting to the darkness.
"Do you think that was a werewolf?" Lindy whispered.
"No." Draco shook his head. "That was something else." He took a couple of steps forward, wand pointed out, pupils finally attuned to the black abyss of the woods. He thought he could see something move up ahead, but perhaps that was wishful thinking. He nudged his head, and Bolt followed him as he trudged on, careful to shift his weight evenly amongst his feet to not break the twigs beneath his feet. 'Come on,' he thought, 'Come and show yourself, you bastard.'
"Sir… Sir, I don't think anyone's out he-"
There was a sound. A sound that would haunt Draco Malfoy for the rest of his life; it was somewhere between a thunk, a squish, and the crunch of metal grinding against bone. He turned his head, and timed slowed to a crawl. Lindy Bolt looked up at him, eyes wide in surprise, clutching at a spindly arrow that ran through the left side of her chest.
"Bolt-" Draco took off towards her at once, but he wasn't quick enough. No matter how hard he pushed his legs, he didn't make it to her before she collapsed to her knees as blood pooled from her mouth. Draco threw himself in front of her, eyes as big as saucers, chest heaving up and down as he struggled for breath. Lindy stared at him, confused, before her eyes trailed down to the arrow. "Bolt." Draco thrust his hands out and braced her by the shoulders. "Don't move, Bolt. We- We'll figure this out. You're going to be fine."
"S-Sir…" Crimson leaked out of her lips and down her chin. "I… I…"
"Don't talk." He felt her begin to fall, and turned her so that she fell back into his lap, head against the lower part of his stomach. She blinked up at him, coughing. Blood splattered onto his face. "Bolt… Lindy…" He raised his wand, sifting through spell after spell, but he couldn't think of one that would stop her lung from filling with blood. Lindy reached up towards him, hand grasping for his face, before the light drained from her eyes, and the world turned without her. "Bolt… BOLT!" Draco shook her. "Don't you… you can't die on me!" Her head fell to the side, lifeless. "Shite. No. NO!" Panic spread through him, and he set her gently down on the ground, preparing to lift his wand and go after the son of a bitch who killed his partner, when he heard someone begin to clap, slowly, from behind.
Clap. Clap. Clap. "What a performance! It had bravery! It had merit! Sure, a side character takes a hit, but what's a good story without a bit of drama?"
Draco jerked around, wand ready to cast a spell, and came face to face with an arrow to his temple. Behind it, gripping it tight, was a hooded figure dressed in black, and beside them, a short, petite girl wearing robes the color of burnt orange that offset her olive complexion. There was no doubt in Draco's mind that this had been the person to clap and jeer only moments ago. She twirled a strand of her short, brown hair and smiled at him happily.
"I wouldn't piss him off, if I were you," she said, nudging over to her hooded friend. "He's trigger happy." She jumped up on her tip-toes and patted the man on the head. "Good boy, Bruno."
A low voice from inside the hood responded. "If you don't want to end up like the spare, here, I'd take your mitts off of me."
"Touchy, touchy," the girl teased, and smirked down at Draco. "Auror Malfoy, I presume."
Draco couldn't answer -his body was too busy shaking from the shock and horror of witnessing Lindy's death. He knew he should be casting spells or making death threats, but all of that was lost on him as he glanced over at Lindy's body.
"You didn't actually like her, did you?" She strolled over next to Lindy and kicked her limp corpse. Draco snarled. "Oh? You did? Pity."
"Get the fuck away from her!"
"Shut it." The man with the bow and arrow pressed the tip of the arrowhead into Draco's forehead. "No talking. Get up. Walk."
"I'd listen to him, if I were you. His arrows never miss. He bewitches them that way."
Not wanting to join Lindy in the grave, Draco carefully rose to his feet as the girl walked up behind him and snatched his wand.
"Good boy." Before Draco knew what had happened, thick manacles slipped over his wrists behind his back and drew together by magic. "Now, let's get to walking, shall we?"
"What… what are you saying?" Hermione whispered. "Are you actually implying that you successfully performed necromancy?"
"Implying? No. Stating it plain as day."
"That's impossible."
"You and I both know that nothing's impossible where the Gray is concerned."
Hermione's chest tightened at the same time Harry emerged through the doorway with a bottled water. He sat it down on the table in front of her forcefully, showing his apparent irritation for being asked to leave the room. "Did you two have a good talk? -Let me make sure I'm caught up. Diggle says he brought someone back from the dead?" Hermione glanced up at him, and Harry waggled his eyebrows. "I'm the Head of the Auror Department for a reason, Hermione. You think I don't know when something's up?"
"I… I'm sorry, Harry. I just was worried he wouldn't talk with you around."
"He's right here, you know," Diggle muttered from across the table, disgruntled that Harry outsmarted him.
"Back to business, then," said Harry, smiling from ear-to-ear. "I say he's full of it again."
"I'm full of hurt at your accusation that I'd lie about something like that," quipped Diggle.
"Greg, what does any of this have to do with the white wolf?"
Diggle stared at her.
"You… you don't mean to say… you created him?"
"Created isn't the word I'd use."
"Talk." Harry slammed his hands down on the table. "Or I swear to Merlin himself, I'll burn the bloody letter."
"I brought a man back from the dead."
"On a whim, or…?"
"I wanted to see if it was possible." Diggle's eyebrows knitted together, and for the first time that evening, he looked pained. "I wanted to see… because I wanted -no, I needed to know if it was possible." He clenched his fists. "Lucius Malfoy took everything away from me. My father. My family. -My mother was never the same after my father's death. I thought if I… If I could…"
"You wanted to bring him back." Hermione, despite her obvious hatred for Diggle, understood that emotion. That want.
"Indeed." Diggle attempted to gain composure, tilting his head side to side to loosen the tense muscles in his neck. "But I was afraid to attempt it without testing the theory first. What if I brought back a soulless corpse? I couldn't… I couldn't do that to my family."
"How the Hell would you even go about doing something like that? Gray magic is powerful, but it has to feed off of magic that already exists," Harry said definitively.
"The answer to that, Auror Potter, is simple. I found the resurrection stone."
Draco wasn't sure how far they walked. It seemed like hours, but by the judgment of the moon overhead, it couldn't have been long at all. His feet ached. His stomach had spilled vomit miles ago, leaving him shaky and weak, and his head throbbed. The cuffs dug into his wrists, subduing any wandless magic. Finally, the arrow pressed between his shoulder blades lifted away, and he was shoved to his knees.
"Am I allowed to speak now?" he sneered as the young girl twirled his wand in front of his face.
"Hmmm… I suppose you can. But no funny business. I'll go let the boss know you're here."
"Oh, if you'd be so kind." Draco's words oozed with sarcasm.
He watched the girl skip off into the woods, leaving him alone with the archer. He thought about making a death threat, but the sound of rustling from behind the trees caused him to fall silent. Moments later, he saw two golden eyes flickering through the brush. A fox scurried out, ran up to Draco's knee, and bit it. "OWW! Fucking Hell!"
The archer drew his arm back. "Shut it. He approaches."
The wolf stepped out from behind his tree, the white of the fur catching Draco's attention first. It looked like freshly fallen snow on a winter morning, and just as soft. Two golden eyes glistened back at him, pensive.
"What the Hell are you looking at?" Draco growled, fighting against the cuffs. "If you're going to kill me, kill me!"
The wolf approached him, eyes trailing over Draco's hair, his eyes, his chin. It sniffed his shoulder, baring its teeth, but still, it did not attack.
"That's impossible." Hermione gasped. "That's… the stone was lost during the war. Harry, tell him."
"Where did you find it?" Harry asked, his voice measured.
"In the Forbidden Forest. That's where you were rumored to have dropped it, was it not? I used the Gray, and I found it."
Hermione sifted through her thoughts. "If… if what you say is true, then who did you bring back?"
Diggle stared at her blankly.
"Who did you bring back, Greg!?"
"I had to test my theory, Hermione. I had to see if it would work. -And I thought, maybe, if I tested on someone that it wouldn't matter to me if it went wrong…"
Hermione gasped. "Tell me you didn't."
"Did what?" Harry looked between them. "What did he do?"
"I'm sorry, Hermione. I've vowed complete honesty between us now. I'm sure you've figured it out by now. Who I thought would be expendable if it went wrong, and who would work to my advantage if it went right…"
The wolf snarled as it sniffed at Draco's left arm, and backed away. Could it sense his Dark Mark?
"I know who you are," he said, wriggling his wrists as he tried to slip his hands free of the manacles. "I know you attacked my father. I know you're behind the attack on my son and Victoria Crabbe! So why don't you quit hiding behind your mask and show yourself!"
The wolf blinked at him, then let out a howl that vibrated through Draco's eardrums. Before his eyes, he saw the change -the fur and the frame transfigure to a man with pale skin and long, white blonde hair that shrouded his eyes. He stood before Draco, naked, and walked over to a knapsack tucked beside a nearby tree. He turned his back as he dressed, and when he was clothed, he turned back around and brushed the hair out of his face.
"It seems my associates went out to catch themselves a dove and returned with a dragon...It's been a long time, Draco."
Draco blinked. "Gr… Grandfather?"
(holds breath) MORE REVEALED NEXT CHAPTER!
- 9
- 10
- 11
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

How To Train Your Auror 2: Family Ties