Chapter 12

I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters; J. K. Rowling does. In addition, I do not make any profit from this fanfiction. Huge thank you to my beta...AmyLouise.

Chapter 12

Saturday, July 30, afternoon. Ministry of Magic.

Harry Potter looked downright terrible. He was still in the same clothes he had worn on Friday morning. His hair was a mess, and it was extremely difficult to keep his heavy eyelids open. Harry sighed and turned his attention to Malfoy. Lucius stood in front of him as perfectly groomed as ever. His annoyingly impeccable robes quite literally hurt Harry's eyes. They just were way too perfect for such a morning.

Malfoy held his serpent-headed cane in his gloved hands, the customary mask of cold indifference in place. The only reminder of a sleepless night were the dark shadows under his eyes. Lucius' sharp, icy stare hit Harry like a dozen steel needles. It was clear that just beneath the restrained exterior simmered powerful emotions. Shivers prickled down Harry's spine...Malfoy was obviously in a very dangerous mood.

Slowly, almost reluctantly, Harry uttered, "Dolohov is in this room. You have fifteen minutes Malfoy. Give me your wand." He extended his hand.

"My wand stays with me. I won't use it on him, so stop quivering," Lucius snapped and walked to the door of the interrogation chamber. There Harry, who wasn't ready to let him enter just yet, stopped him. He stood there by the door, deeply engrossed in his thoughts...something was clearly bothering him. Lucius frowned and waited. When, after a minute, nothing changed, he hissed, "If there's nothing else, Potter, may I proceed?"

Harry's green eyes focused on Lucius again, and he hesitantly began, "When we seized Dolohov..." Harry paused and nervously rubbed his face with his hand, "... he yelled something about Hermione and you."

Pavement-grey eyes began to smoulder with murderous fury as Lucius inquired, "About Hermione?"

Harry nodded. "He said that Hermione... that she..." Evidently, the words didn't want to come out of Harry's mouth. After a pause and a visible effort to calm himself, he continued, "That Hermione is pregnant, and the child is..." The last part was lost. Harry just couldn't say it. "Agh, forget it."

This time, the fire in Lucius' eyes was addressed to the Boy-Who-Lived.

"Did I hear you correctly? Did you really just ask me that, Potter? You, who call yourself Hermione's best friend?" hissed Lucius through his clenched teeth. "Don't you know her at all? Did you believe this filthy bastard? What happened to Gryffindor loyalty?"

Harry felt miserable. He didn't know what had come over him. Why did he ask Lucius? It was a mistake. He shouldn't have asked. He shouldn't have doubted Hermione. However, from the moment he had noticed flickers of something between Lucius and Hermione at the Manor, the seed of doubt had planted itself deeply in Harry's heart. Then there had been Dolohov with his nonsense...the bastard's words fuelled his doubts even further.

Lucius cold voice interrupted Harry's inner turmoil.

"I don't want to know your reasons, Potter. This moment will haunt you for eternity. I, however, have one warning for you...silence your Aurors. This bullshit should not leave these walls. Do you understand? If it does, the damage will be substantial."

"Aurors will never tell...they all are true professionals."

"You might be surprised, Potter. Now, may I?"

Finally, Harry stepped from the door and said, "I hope you will use common sense, Malfoy. I doubt that you want to end up in Azkaban because of this pathetic excuse for a human being."

Lucius gave him a curt nod...his vindictive glare boded nothing but hell for the man inside.

The moment Lucius entered the room and shut the door, Harry sank to the nearby chair. He sat there and contemplated two things. First...how his best friend had managed to end up in the middle of such a mess; and second...exactly how many Ministry rules he had broken since Friday morning. Harry sighed. The Malfoys were always bad news. Always.

Inside the Interrogation Chamber

Meanwhile, inside the room, Lucius turned his full attention to the restrained figure in the chair.

A maniacal smile spread across Dolohov's face. "Lucius, old friend," he hissed.

"Antonin, we meet again..."

Dolohov opened his mouth to answer, but Lucius' Silencio caught him before any sounds managed to escape. Dolohov's smile faltered and his gaze became guarded and worried. Lucius' menacing expression frightened him. His attempt to draw a calming breath was cut off by Lucius' wand, which was pressed hard into his throat a second later, forcing Dolohov to struggle for every breath.

"I have heard enough from you. Now, you will listen to me. For Narcissa, I should have killed you, you dirty bastard. However, circumstances forced my hand. I will make sure that you will rot in Azkaban instead, Antonin. I will not sully my hands with your filthy blood."

Lucius stopped his bloodcurdling hissing and stepped back from the prisoner. The constrictive pressure of his wand disappeared. Dolohov drew a relieved breath and relaxed. A mad, twisted smile reappeared on his face.

With a last, deadly glare at Dolohov, Lucius turned on his heel and with slow, measured steps walked towards the door. His gloved hand covered the doorknob, ready to open it. Then he paused.

"And yet..." He turned to face Dolohov again.

"One more detail," growled Lucius, focusing his grey eyes on his prey. Moving with predatory fluidity, he rapidly closed the distance between them. One powerful and precise blow of his cane forced the chair with the bound wizard to fall back. When the back of Dolohov's head met the stone floor with a sickening thud and a dark-red puddle began to grow beneath him, a crooked smirk appeared on Lucius' face. He made one more step forward, and looming directly above the man on the floor, gazed into his terrified, frozen eyes.

"Your filthy mouth will never taint the name of my women. You will never talk about Narcissa or Hermione again." With these words, he stepped hard on his throat, right under the chin. Putting his entire weight on his foot, Lucius waited until something snapped under it. When a soft cracking noise reached his ears and Dolohov's eyes rolled back into his head, Lucius uttered a satisfied hum and walked out of the chamber.

A minute later, Harry hurriedly walked into the room, took in the scene in front of him, and yelled, "WHAT DID YOU DO?"

"Relax, Potter. He fell; somehow his chair tipped over." And with an elegant swirl of his robes, Lucius left.

Saturday evening. Harry Potter's House

"I cannot believe it. Why didn't you tell us right away? How long did you know?" Ginny chattered happily.

"For about a month, I guess. I don't know, Ginny, why I didn't tell you. Everything seemed very complicated." Hermione smiled tiredly.

The two friends sat on the sofa and chattered continually. Harry looked at them with a smile. After he checked Dolohov into Azkaban's hospital, he was finally free to go home. So, he picked up Hermione from her flat right after work and brought her with him.

"What I don't understand is this: how could you, knowing that you were pregnant, agree to Malfoy's plan?" asked Harry.

"I didn't know when I said, 'yes', Harry. I found out later."

"Why didn't you call the whole thing off then?" Harry kept pushing.

Hermione shook her head. "I don't know, Harry, honestly. I guess I wanted revenge as well."

Hermione thought for a moment and then added, "Yes, I wanted revenge Harry. I needed it. My child will never know her father. I cannot explain how conflicted I felt when I found out that I was pregnant. I was happy, yes. But at the same time, it hurt so much...I couldn't tell Ron, couldn't share my joy with him..."

"It's all bitter-sweet, Hermione, I know. We need to stop these depressing talks now," Ginny interrupted, patting Hermione's shoulder. "We all need to move forward...especially now, with a new Weasley on the way. Ron would want us to move forward; I know it." Ginny wiped the stray tear from her cheek. "By the way, we need to tell mum, dad, and the boys. When do you want to announce it, Hermione?"

Hermione smiled through tears. "You just can't wait, Ginny. Next week, I will officially announce it next week, I promise."

Ginny gave Hermione a warm hug and went to check on the sleeping James.

Taking advantage of the moment, Hermione turned to Harry. "How did it go with Dolohov?"

"Smoothly. We got him without a hitch. I am going to use this GPS idea quite often, I think." A smug smile lit up his face.

"Yup, it was very clever. Brilliant, I'd say. Where is Dolohov now?"

"In Azkaban's hospital; he had an accident during his conversation with Malfoy." Harry's lips formed a hard line, and he fell silent.

Hermione watched her friend thoughtfully. "You know, he could have done something awful to me. Dolohov. I know he wanted to. I didn't have a wand to defend myself. I had tried to Apparate, but it hadn't worked. I had been so scared, Harry, really scared...for the baby and myself," breathed Hermione as her eyes began to moisten again. "The baby saved me, you know. My little, brave baby was blasting Dolohov's arse into oblivion every time he tried to touch me. I had never felt anything like that before, Harry. Can you imagine? No wand, no anything; just raw, elemental magic." Hermione gently put her palm on her stomach.

Harry covered Hermione's palm with his. "That is a brave little lad in there. He will be just like his father."

"Try a brave little lass, Harry." Hermione's laughter filled the room.