Blind

Chapter Seven

Five months later...

Five months had passed and still the Ministry seemed no closer to a cure than it had previously been. Hermione continued her work at St. Mungo's, though she became more distraught than ever. As she fearfully told Harry one evening when they were seated in his room discussing the options for helping these people, Narcissa's predicament had gotten worse.

"Narcissa is a very slender woman to begin with, and then she's lost a lot of weight yet in St. Mungo's and it's very easy to tell that she's expecting a baby even when a regular woman could still hide it. And now that her attackers have noticed, they've been treating her even worse. I'm afraid they think it's their fault and they don't want incriminating evidence," Hermione had explained.

She had taken to spending some nights up at St. Mungo's but she had yet to see one person enter Narcissa's room, let alone an attacker. On the other hand, Harry and Draco had remained rather dormant since Draco had blown their chances of getting into the Ministry. Harry would spend hours in the Malfoy family library, searching for any clues he could find. Draco spent most of his time moping, unless he was forced to find a way to chase Bellatrix out of the house, though she had greatly reduced her number of visits.

One night, Harry had retired to the kitchen for a butterbeer, completely exhausted and crabby from his unsuccessful search of Narcissa's desk and library. He was slurping away at the liquid, its warmth lifting his mood slightly, when a large object fell from the fireplace. It was Hermione.

"H-Harry, where's Draco?" she asked. Her face was white and she was shaking.

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. Why? What's wrong?"

"Find him," Hermione simply replied. "I need to get some things, then you and Draco meet me back in here in about five minutes." And with that, she sprinted away, and Harry set off to find Draco. He found him skulking about the hallway and dragged him into the kitchen.

"What's going on?" Draco asked angrily. He hated whenever people disturbed his sulking.

"I don't know. Hermione sent me to get you."

"Well, this had better be good," Draco snarled impatiently.

Soon, Hermione returned, cramming blankets into her canvas bag. "Draco, where's your family's medicine or potions cabinet?"

"Other side of the kitchen," Draco answered, perplexed as he pointed at a small black cabinet.

Hermione hurried over to it, flung open the doors, scanned the variety of bottles lined inside and pulled out several. Dumping them in her bag, she hurried back to the fireplace. "Now, you two follow my lead. Say 'St. Mungo's Angels Room,' you hear?" She tossed Floo Powder into the fireplace, stepped in and yelled, "St. Mungo's Angels Room!" and she disappeared.

Harry and Draco followed suit. They soon found themselves in a small room filled with squashy armchairs, a small wardrobe, and a sink. "Here, put these on," Hermione instructed as soon as they both arrived. She flung bright blue robes and masks at them. "Hurry now!"

They scurried into the uniforms and Hermione then led them through several hallways until they were outside a small door at the very end of one corridor. "In here and keep your voices down," Hermione insisted.

She gently pushed open the door. "Narcissa? I'm back, and I've brought some people to help me. You'll be all right." But Harry could pick out a small waver in Hermione's voice as if she wasn't as certain of her words as she should be.

Narcissa Malfoy was curled up on the ground amid a pile of pillows and blankets. Sweat was dripping down her rather beat up face and she was clutching a blanket so tightly that her hand had gone completely white.

"What have you done to my mother?" Draco growled at Hermione. He strode over and set himself behind her, but jumped back up. He turned furiously on Hermione. "You never told me my mother was pregnant! And she looks worse than ever! I thought you were taking care of her, Granger!"

"Draco, is that you?" Narcissa cried. "Oh, I didn't want you here but I'm glad you came anyway!"

"Let's get her onto the bed," Hermione said.

"No, leave me here. Delivering is dirty work and it'll be easier to clean up. We don't want to leave any remnants in here," Narcissa protested.

Hermione bit her lip. "Well, okay then."

"Delivering?" Draco cried.

"I think that life has been too hard on her here and it's set her into premature labor," Hermione said soberly. She suddenly straightened up importantly. "Harry, how about you sit behind Narcissa, kind of prop her up? And Draco, you should sit next to her, hold her hand, pretend you're the father. I'll handle everything else."

Harry adjusted the pillows Narcissa was sitting on so that she could sit up a bit. He sat behind her to add extra support. Besides he was certain that it was best if everything else that was going on was hidden from his view. Draco would have a fit if Harry got even a glimpse of the lower region of his mum's body.

"She's making strange noises, Granger, is she supposed to do that?" Draco asked uncertainly, staring as his mother whimpered in pain.

"It's a painful experience," Hermione replied.

Narcissa was now moaning and her grasp on Draco's hand became tighter. "Granger, don't you have any pain-numbing potions in that bag?"

"I didn't see any," Hermione said apologetically. "You know, she's handling it well. Most people would be screaming in agony at this point."

"I have a high tolerance for pain, and if I screamed, it would show weakness," Narcissa explained, her lips forming into a half smile. "And I do not tolerate weakness."

"Of course not," Hermione said, setting a row of potions by Narcissa's feet. She then threw a blanket over Narcissa's legs. "There you are."

"Oh my God, oh my God," Narcissa muttered. "It's so early, but it's time, I swear, it's time!"

Hermione blanched. "Are you certain? I-I don't know much about delivering babies, you know. Here, Harry, throw some of those pillows this way."

Harry tossed Hermione about six pillows and she used them to prop Narcissa's legs up. "I-I-I guess that means you just push now." She quickly unscrewed one of the bottles of potions and then waved her wand to conjure up a small bowl of water. She turned back to Narcissa. "That's it, breathe deeply," Hermione murmured. "Push again...Lovely. Now push....Harry, get him!"

Draco Malfoy was swaying dangerously. Harry reached over and smacked him on the head. He jerked up, his cheeks pink.

"You're truly your father's son, you know that?" Narcissa said, sounding amused even through her travail.

"Push, Narcissa-oh! We have a head here! How on earth you didn't end up with a breach baby, I'll never know, but I won't complain. Oh, sorry, push...great. I think one more should do it. Now push!"

Narcissa's face was screwed up in concentration, but she let out a small cry and fell back on her pillows in exhaustion.

Hermione had caught the baby, and was now putting a small drop of Sleeping Draught in the child's mouth, so to keep it hushed.

"It's a girl," Hermione said, positively beaming.

"A girl? Oh, thank the Lord. If she had been a boy, we would have had to kill him, for fear of splitting the estates," Narcissa said happily.

Hermione cleaned off the baby and gently handed her to Draco. "Here you are. My job's not done yet." And she resumed her seat at Narcissa's feet.

Draco looked down at his new sister. She was rather red and wrinkly, but he thought she looked lovely just the same. Sparse blond hair covered her head. She was very tiny. He was certain that if he wanted to, he could cup her in his two hands.

"Scourgify!" Hermione said, obviously finished with whatever she had to do. She couldn't help but smile as Draco held his sister so uncertainly. "She is very tiny, but then again she was born three months early. She's healthy though."

"I know I shouldn't do this, but might I hold her?" Narcissa asked. "I can't see her, but if I could just feel her, I'd be assured."

Hermione bit her lip but nodded. "Go on, Draco, set her in your mum's arms."

Narcissa gleefully took her daughter. "Ah, you're so little! And you need a name now, don't you? I've been thinking, and I'm going to call you Dreda." Narcissa pronounced it "Dray-dah," letting the sound of it roll from her tongue. "Dreda Lucia Malfoy. You know, it was an old tradition, naming a girl by taking her father's name and replacing the 'us' with an 'a.' Of course, as a Malfoy, you need your own distinguishing name, but I daresay your father would be proud for you to have his name as your middle name. I know he's your father, I'm absolutely certain. Because even though those awful men tried to make my body expel you, you wouldn't let them. You're a tough little girl, you know, and only a Malfoy could be that strong."

"Why would you have any doubt?" Draco asked shakily, but Hermione silenced him by shaking her head.

"You need to get her out of here. If they come around, they'll try to kill her," Narcissa said hurriedly.

Hermione came over and scooped the baby from Narcissa's arms. "Take some of those extra blankets from the bag and hand them to me," she instructed Harry. She quickly placed the baby among them and nodded at the boys. "Right then, let's get her to Malfoy Manor, shall we?"

*************

"This is rather cute, don't you think?" Hermione asked, holding up a tiny purple robe for Draco and Harry to see.

They had arrived at Malfoy Manor and Harry and Hermione had dragged Draco's old bassinet from the attic, but when searching for clothes, they only discovered the ones Draco had worn, but he had been born at a full nine months. Hermione offered to shrink them, but Draco was determined that his sister not be put into boys' clothes. So they had skirted off to Diagon Alley where they were currently in Madam Malkins' Robes For All Occasions.

"Hideous," Draco said stiffly. "Dreda doesn't like purple, do you, girl?"

Hermione shook her head. "The Sleeping Draught won't have worn off yet, Draco." She reached for a handful of robes. "Here's some pink and a flowered one and a red one and a dark green one since you seem so set that she should look like a Slytherin."

"She's going to be a Slytherin, or the family will disown her," Draco said simply.

Harry exchanged a look with Hermione, but they let the comment drop. "Here, let's try it on her, then," Hermione said, taking the baby from Draco's arms.

As soon as Hermione had settled Dreda on her lap, the baby began to stir and opened her eyes. She looked up at Hermione and then opened her mouth and starting crying at the top of her lungs.

"Granger, she knows your Mudblood and it's upsetting her!" Draco said, picking Dreda back up. She immediately quieted down. "It's all right, Dreda, I won't let that filthy thing touch you ever again. I know, I know," he murmured, bouncing Dreda gently.

Hermione scowled and crossed her arms. "That's a Malfoy baby all right," she muttered.

"I told you the worst thing that could happen now was having another Malfoy loose in the world," Harry said snidely.

***********

Draco strolled down a long corridor, Dreda cradled in his arm, sucking away at a bottle. It was about two in the morning and she had awoken for another feeding.

"You eat a lot, you know that?" Draco asked her as he watched her mouth greedily draw in more milk. "Now, if you look in this picture here, you'll see your great-great-great grandfather, Hortensius Malfoy. And that woman next to him is your great-great-great grandmother, and her name was Ursula. Now, Hortensius was famous for a string of Muggle tortures, but it's nothing compared to Ursula. She murdered more half-bloods than any Death Eater ever did. " He nodded his head towards a large portrait. The man had sleek white-blond hair, the Malfoy trademark. His wife was also blonde.

Draco moved slowly down the corridor towards the master bedroom. He stopped besides the large statue of Narcissa that guarded one side of the door. "Here's your mother. You remember her, don't you?" He then stood in front of the statue of Lucius. "And here's your father, Lucius Malfoy. You haven't met him yet, but just wait until he sees you. He has high expectations, but then again, you probably won't have as many because you're a girl. He'll be really proud of you, of course, because you'll probably remind him of Mother, and he's quite fond of her." Draco suddenly realized that he was talking to a baby, not even a day old, and he had to laugh. "You don't understand a word I'm saying, do you?" He looked down at Dreda's face, but she had abandoned her bottle and was quietly watching him with startlingly gray eyes.

"Erm, Draco," a timid voice said from behind him. Draco whipped around to find Hermione Granger standing there, a small bottle filled with a bright green liquid clutched in her hands. She looked uneasy, but it was nothing compared to Draco's face. He had flushed at the idea that she had probably been listening to him talk to Dreda.

"What do you want?" Draco snapped.

"Here, give her this potion. She's really little and this potion should help her get a bit stronger, seeing as we don't have any medical supplies for her around here," Hermione quickly shoved the bottle in Draco's hands, spun on her heel, and dashed away.

Hermione did not stop running until she reached the library. She burst through the doors, making Harry jump from his seat. He had been waiting for her so they could search for more clues.

"It's no use, Harry!" Hermione cried. "We've been here for five months and haven't learned anything. No, we've got to do something else!"

Harry looked at her suspiciously. "What? Just minutes ago you were determined to come back in here, certain we'd find something, even though I've been telling you for weeks that there's nothing else in here. Why change your mind so suddenly?"

"Harry, if you had only witnessed what I just saw. Draco was wandering around the corridors with his sister and it was sooooo cute! I just want to get their family, well what's left of the family, together and as soon as possible."

"You've gone completely mad," Harry mumbled.

"Perhaps so," Hermione said, a smile creeping across her face.

"Well, then what do you propose we do?"

"There's only one thing we really can do," Hermione replied. "We need to get into the Ministry again."

"Well, we can't take Draco," Harry said pointedly. "Seeing as he ruined that part of the plan earlier."

Hermione shook her head. "I wasn't planning on taking him, actually. I was thinking more along the lines of sneaking into the Ministry at night. We've done it before." Harry's mouth dropped open at her suggestion and she laughed at him. "Oh, really, Harry, it's just the thing you'd suggest."

"Yeah, but I wouldn't expect it coming from your mouth!" he cried in astonishment. "Of course, I'm all for it," he quickly added in case Hermione thought he was being a wimp.

"Excellent, we leave tonight!" Hermione said happily.

"Tonight?"

"Tonight."