Red Sky at Night

Red Sky at Night

Prologue

Her favorite thing in the morning, after seeing her husband sleeping next to or kissing her daughter's cheek, was drinking a fresh brewed cup of Essence of Orange tea before her loving husband and beautiful daughter were awake.

She smiled as she sipped the hot liquid.

It was still perfectly quiet in the two-level home. The wireless was off, the television was off, her husband was asleep, as usual for this time of day, and their daughter was also sleeping peacefully. It had been a long time since she'd slept through the night.

"Mum?" a tiny, sleepy voice interrupted her private thoughts.

Hermione turned around to find her and Ron's five-year-old daughter rubbing her eyes with her little fists. "Good morning Alexis," she greeted softly. Her little robe swished around her thin ankles.

"Good morning, Mumma," Alexis repeated.

Hermione grinned to herself. Her daughter's mass of curly red hair swirled around her face. "Come here, Alexis, you can sit on my lap." She set her teacup down on the coffee table in front of her just as Alexis climbed into her lap.

She smoothed the girl's red hair from her rosy cheeks. "Did you sleep well, sweetheart?"

Alexis nodded, her head bouncing gently against Hermione's breast. "Yes, Mumma. I'm thirsty," she announced.

Hermione smiled and reached for her cup. "Would you like a sip of my tea?" she asked.

The little girl smiled and nodded, looking impish. "Yes, thank you very much," she said, taking hold of the teacup between both her small palms. She did not take a sip; it was more of a gulp.

Hermione smiled. "You must be very thirsty to take such a big drink. Isn't it hot?"

Alexis shook her head. "It's not that hot, Mumma!" she exclaimed with a grin.

Hermione smiled and nodded, then came to rest her head lightly on her daughter's crown. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, the scent of her daughter's warm skin filling her nose.

"Ahh...I'm not thirsty any more!" she told her mother.

Hermione took the teacup from her daughter, her eyes still closed, and she balanced it on the arm of the sofa.

"Look what I found!" Alexis proclaimed, pulling something out of the pocket of her robe.

Hermione opened her eyes. Alexis had procured a leather-bound book. It looked vaguely familiar to Hermione but she paid no attention to it, the book could have been any one of hers from childhood or adulthood.

Alexis's blue eyes were gleaming with excitement. She could not read...yet, but she sure enjoyed the feel of a book in her hands. It warmed Hermione's heart and made Ron roll his eyes.

"It's a book!" she told her mum.

Hermione smiled. "Yes, I see that. Aren't you a lucky girl for finding such a special thing?"

The little girl nodded, her red curls bouncing with the enthusiastic movement. "Yep!" she responded brightly. "Can I have it?"

Before Hermione could reply, Alexis's blue eyes went round. "Oh! I've got to potty!" She jumped off Hermione's lap and scurried to the bathroom announcing, "I've got to potty, I've got to potty, I've got to potty!" until the bathroom door closed behind her with a loud thud.

Hermione laughed and settled back into the sofa. It would be a good day. As she sighed, she spotted the book Alexis had found, and left on the cushion next to her. Idly, she picked the book up and turned it over in her hands, studying the different shades of leather.

Looking at it more closely, she realized she had never owned this book. It certainly wasn't Ron's. Then whose is it?

Curious, she opened it. Her eyes widened in surprise. Harry.

The writing on the first page was distinctly Harry's scrawl.

The book fell from her hands as if it had burned her. She hadn't been expecting this: she never thought she would see Harry's handwriting again.

Hermione knew she should wake Ron, but her inquisitive nature overtook reason and she picked it back up and flipped to the first page.

She read the first few pages quickly: it was all there. Harry had recorded everything in this book. He had described the two murder scenes in detail, down to the smell in the air at both locations. The victims' names were in it, as well as the names of the murder suspects. He had even mentioned the reasons behind this journal.

After writing this, I will charm this journal to transcribe all of my thoughts. No matter my location, my thoughts will be recorded. This will hopefully keep certain people safe and out of Azkaban...

Hermione was brilliant, yes, but even Fred or George would have known whom Harry was talking about.

This journal was Les's idea. I cannot say I am totally for it. It was also Les's idea to bring Malfoy into the case. While I am not particularly thrilled about this, I understand that it is for the best. Malfoy is smart, cunning. He knows the right people, as well as the wrong ones.

We've sworn to do no harm to each other, under Dakotah's wand. I am afraid though, that Dakotah is whom I should be worried about.

She brought her chin up. It was all in here. Harry didn't suspect Malfoy and even if he had wanted to, Malfoy couldn't have done anything to Harry. Their wands had been bound to protect one another. Hermione didn't know much about ancient protective magic, but she knew enough to know that whatever Harry and Malfoy had sworn to, it couldn't be broken.

Hermione skimmed the pages, flipping through them until she got to the last page. It was the last time Harry's thoughts had been recorded and there was only one name on the page. Dakotah.

Malfoy is innocent.

"Mumma, are you reading my book?"

"Where did you get this?" she asked quietly. She couldn't tear her eyes from the journal.

"From my bedroom," Alexis answered eagerly.

Hermione turned to look at her daughter. Alexis's head was tipped to the side, her bright ringlets falling off her shoulders. "Honey, you need to stay right here, all right? I need to go talk to your father. Stay right here," Hermione reiterated. Ron needed to see this.

Alexis nodded.

Hermione literally ran to her second-floor bedroom. "Ron!" she hissed after throwing the door open. "Ron, wake up!" She touched him and shook his bare arm.

Her husband groaned.

"Oh, Ron, don't do this to me now! Wake up!" She shook his arm harder. Ron could sleep through the apocalypse if given the chance.

Frustrated, Hermione grabbed a handful of Ron's hair and yanked on it, not feeling the slightest bit sorry when he suddenly sat up and yelled a loud, "Ouch!"

He glared up at her, his bright blue eyes snapping. "What the hell was that for, Hermione?" he asked, rubbing the spot on his head she had yanked.

Hermione stuck the journal out, holding it under his nose. "Read this."

Ron groaned and fell back to the bed. "Don't make me read so early in the morning!"

"Ron, could you be any lazier?" she asked, irritated.

He rolled over so his back was to her. "I don't want to. What's so important about that anyway?"

She tapped her fingers on the leather-bound book. "It proves that Malfoy is innocent."

That got his attention. He rolled over on his back and looked at her incredulously. "You're kidding me, right?"

Hermione shook her head. "Why would I joke about this seven years later, Ron? What kind of woman do you think I am?"

He sat up, reaching for the journal and taking it from her. There was silence as Ron opened it and scanned it.

When she could tell that he was reading no more, she sat down on the edge of the bed. "Well?" she prompted quietly.

"It appears to be authentic," he added quietly.

"Will you have it analyzed?" she asked.

"Of course." He sighed heavily. "Where did you get this?"

She rested her chin on his shoulder, looking at him. "Alexis. She brought it downstairs this morning. I didn't ask her where she found it."

Ron looked confused and why shouldn't he be? His entire world had changed seven years ago and now...she took away whatever closure they had over it. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Don't be. If Malfoy is innocent, then he shouldn't be in Azkaban."

Hermione nodded and kissed his shoulder. "You're a good man, Ronald Weasley. I'm lucky to have you."

He stood up and looked down at her. "That's right, and don't you forget it."

Hermione smiled and followed him down the stairs.

***

Ron glanced out the thin door window, looking to his small family. Hermione was standing, leaning against the wall. Her long bushy hair flowed past her bosom, making her look alive and strong. Alexis sat in a nearby chair, her chubby little legs swinging to a beat only she could hear.

To his side, Adrienne Stone put her hands palm down on her desk and gave a heavy sigh. Adrienne was Head of the Department of the Authentication of Legal Documents. While Harry's 'diary' was not a legal document, per se, it was a document and Adrienne would know if it was authentic. She would be able to tell if it was what it was.

"Well?" he asked harshly, curious as to its validity.

"Where did you find this?" she asked, apparently ignoring his unasked question.

"Alexis says she found it in her room." Ron shrugged uncomfortably. "That's all she'll tell us."

"How do you think it got there?"

Ron's glance darted between the book and Adrienne. "I have no idea. Hermione and I haven't really discussed it, seeing as right now we just want to know whether or not it's authentic!"

She brushed back a wayward strand of blonde hair. "It appears to be authentic."

"It appears to be?" Ron narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

She shoved the book in his direction. "Ron, it is authentic. It proves that Malfoy could not have murdered Harry, and it proves that he was not there when Harry was murdered. It does prove that Malfoy and Harry were working together."

"Maybe Harry just didn't have any time to think Malfoy's name before he was killed," Ron suggested.

The way she was shaking her head, Ron knew he was wrong.

"Every thought was recorded down...even the ones Harry didn't realize he was thinking, which means that even subconscious thoughts are recorded down. There is no way Malfoy was there, Ron."

"Why isn't the journal thicker?"

Adrienne skimmed the binding of the journal with her finger. "It's magicked, Ron. It's been charmed so that the journal looks a lot less thick than it really is. Even when you open it, it doesn't look thick; see?" She opened it and Ron nodded.

"As you turn the pages, the front pages disappear. Likewise, if you're at the front of it, there are no back pages. It's like an optical illusion," she explained.

There was a long pause where Ron wrestled with what he knew to be true with what he wished was true.

"So Malfoy is innocent?" It was a question more to himself than Adrienne.

She smiled wanly. "I'm sorry to disappoint you Ron... I know all about your feud with Malfoy, but yes, he is innocent." Adrienne picked up the journal. "And this proves it."

***

They waited in silence for Malfoy's release from Azkaban prison. The only voices came from the reporters, who waited in eager anticipation, hoping to be the first to get Malfoy's interview.

Ron watched the prison's entrance as avidly as the reporters did, and as closely as Narcissa Malfoy was.

Hermione reached out and grabbed his hand, squeezing it within her own and smiling up at him when he looked into her eyes.

The moment was broken when the prison doors creaked open. Two guards stepped out and then a lanky, thin man appeared behind them. The man was bald, the sun glinting off his smooth head. His clothes were gray with grime and sweat. When the man looked up, squinting into the bright sunlight, with his pointed features turned up, Ron suddenly saw the Malfoy he remembered from their schooldays.

Though he was barely a remnant of the man Ron put in prison all those years ago, Draco Malfoy was unmistakable.

"He looks the same," Hermione whispered lowly.

Ron blinked and then looked at her, confused again. "What?" he hissed. "Are you blind, he doesn't look anything like Malfoy! He looks tired, old and dirty. Malfoy wouldn't be caught dead going into public looking so wrecked," he argued.

Hermione shrugged. "Maybe not, but he's obviously Malfoy, isn't he?" she countered. "He still looks like an aristocrat."

Ron nodded, his gaze returning to Malfoy. Malfoy chose at that moment to look at Ron. Their gazes locked. Ron could have sworn he saw Malfoy turn his nose up in disdain, but he couldn't be sure, because as soon as it began, it was over and Malfoy went to his mother.

The two blondes embraced tightly and for a moment, Ron caught a softer side of Malfoy. It was not a side he would be seeing again anytime soon.