Nied is Not Enough

Chapter 19

"What do you mean, you 'just apparated,' Harry!?! You left him there?"

"No, Hermione, he's the one that walked away. Again." Harry was trying his hardest to keep everything under control. He certainly hadn't planned on showing up unannounced at the Burrow for the winter holidays. He hadn't anticipated Morgan running away from the island. He hadn't expected Draco to walk away again. Apparating to the Burrow seemed to be the only thing he could think to do. So he did- right into the middle of the room where Ron and Hermione were, ahem, celebrating. The cold, salty air still hung about him.

"What did you say to him, Harry?" Hermione was caught between being professor and friend. She felt a little awkward from Harry's intrusion. She was wrapped in just her robe: it being the closest thing to cover herself with. Ron, on the other hand, didn't seem to care one bit and just lounged on the bed, the sheet casually (and barely) covering him.

Harry was famous for his before-the-admission-of-mistakes-sigh. The sigh expelled, he began. "Well, I, we were walking up to the graveyard and I was asking him about Grainne."

"That's it." Hermione made more of a statement than anything.

"Erm, well, he started telling me to shut up and forget about everything. Then he said that Grainne had nothing to do with it and stomped off." He looked sideways, trying to remember exactly what had happened. Out of habit, he shoved his hand into his pocket to rub the shrunken skull.

"Damn that kid!" He was out of his chair again and storming around the room. "She just doesn't know when to quit! I never did anything to her! She's just like her father!" The outburst continued as he searched all his other pockets, including those in his cloak. He slammed his hand against the wall, sending a shrieking Weasley portrait to the floor.

Hermione jumped out of her chair and was trying to dodge Harry's diatribe, her hair floating in and out of her field of vision. Rant subsiding, Harry slumped against the wall breathing heavily. Hermione pushed the hair out of her face; her robes crooked and coming open at the top.

A small snicker came from the bed. Harry and Hermione looked at the barely-covered redhead. He straightened his face immediately. Hermione had her eyebrows knit together in slight fear and frustration. Harry chewed the ends of his fingers. It was absolutely silent as they looked away again. Another snicker erupted from the bed which led to a guffaw and then to a steady stream of good, hard belly-laughs.

"Ronald Weasley! What is so funny?" Hermione held the front of her robes together with one hand and planted the other firmly on her hip. Harry's dejected look made Ron laugh even harder.

Ron sat up, trying to catch his breath. His face was a brilliant pink from lack of oxygen and tears were streaming down his face. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and planted his feet on the floor. He took the sheet and wrapped it around his waist, making himself a bit of a skirt; still chuckling. The other two looked as though they had just attended a wild funeral.

"You really wanna know what's so funny?" He looked back and forth between the two of them. "This whole thing. This whole entire thing is hilarious."

And the tirade began. Hermione started spitting out "Well, Ron's" and "this is very serious" and "you just don't understand" etc. Harry was walking toward Ron shouting random cut-downs. After a few minutes of their ranting, both stopped and panted.

"You done now?"

Harry and Hermione nodded.

"Why don't you both sit down for a minute and have a drink or something. You've worn me out from all this. I felt like I was on one of those horrible muggle talk-shows."

Hermione crossed her arms. Harry threw himself down in the chair again, this time sliding down the back and letting his arms dangle over the sides of the chair.

"Hear me out, please. You two, you know I love you both, right?"

Harry shrugged. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I'm just wondering when everything in the world will stop being such a great mystery that has to be solved...a big silly game that has to be played. It was great fun when we were kids. I wouldn't give those times up for anything. But we're in our thirties, now. Can we stop playing mystery-sleuths all the bloody time? Can we stop with all the drama? Can we just figure out what needs to be done without all the games and all the misunderstandings and all the shite?"

He looked back and forth at them again. This time, both looked as though someone had just spit on them.

"I'll take that as a no, then..." Ron got up and grabbed his clothes from the floor. He shook his head as he left the room and headed to the bathroom.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Hermione grabbed a chair and scooted it directly in front of Harry. "I don't know what's wrong with him. I'm so sorry. Let's just figure this out, okay?"

"I just don't know what I did." And with that, he recounted the entire story of what had transpired since chasing Draco after the Yule Ball.

The late afternoon drifted into evening casting long, dark shadows across the room. Ron hadn't returned to the room and they could hear the bustle of the Weasley clan throughout the house.

Hermione sat back and thought for a moment. "I guess now's as good a time as any, Harry. Here's what I know about the Wolfe women. I've been trying to tell you this for a while, but something always comes up." She let out a sigh. "The Wolfe women aren't very stable. They've been known, in the past, to be very well-versed in whatever magic they practice. They have the tendency to attach themselves to someone...well, not with a bond like you and Draco have, but with an emotional attachment which runs so deep that they are willing to give their own life for it."

"I really don't understand what this has to do with anything." Harry took a sip of water.

"Ghislaine Wolfe, Morgan's great, great, great grandmother, attached herself to a young transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts way back when. They had a secret affair, and when the professor found out about her pregnancy, he ended the affair. She left the school and began a new life on an island. The professor lost his senses and ended up losing everything...his job, his family, his magical abilities. The child was a pureblood, and all the Wolfe's have been pureblood since- that I can find, anyway. They can convince anyone around them of anything. They aren't exactly evil, but they are very conniving. They will use any means necessary of getting their man, if you get my drift. If they don't get their man, the consequences are cruel beyond understanding. They take what ever is the most important to a person and get rid of it."

Harry leaned forward, focusing. He regarded Hermione for a moment before asking, "What does this have to do with Draco?"

"Morgan's mum took her from Draco...she was the most important thing to him," Ron interjected.

Both Harry and Hermione jumped in surprise at hearing Ron's voice. They turned toward the doorway to see Ron.

"It would seem that now Morgan is trying to get rid of you, Harry, seeing as how she thinks you are the most important thing to me." Draco stepped into the room from behind Ron.

Harry stood instantly, as did Hermione. Both were in shock not only seeing Draco in the Burrow, but the state of him as well. His hair was a mess and his skin was splotchy red. Harry remembered Draco walking away from him on the island, he had been wearing a cloak, but it was not on him now. One of his sleeves was slightly torn, the other was unrolled and hanging by his hand. It was obvious that he had been doing some serious searching.

"Get dressed, Hermione. We're helping." Ron had come fully inside the room and picked up Hermione's clothes from the floor shoving them in her direction.

She looked at the pile of clothes in her hands and back up at Ron. "But, Ron, we haven't even eaten yet!"

Everyone in the room stared at her in disbelief. Ron strode across the room and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Mum's packed food for us. We need to get going. She's been gone for six hours already." He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Are you feeling alright?"

Hermione nodded, but the look on her face made it look like she wasn't so sure. She waved Draco and Harry out of the room to dress herself.

Draco was the first one out and he stood near the top of the stairs. His shoulders drooped as he looked down the staircase.

"Draco, I, erm..." Harry started, but really didn't know what to say. He felt like he needed to say something, but the words were stuck somewhere inside him. He wanted to apologize. He wanted to understand why he had been shut out. He wanted to stop hurting. He sidled up to Draco and tentatively placed his hands on Draco's upper arms.

"We are going to take care of this later, Harry. All I want to do right now is find Morgan."

His words felt dry in Harry's ears. Harry felt his throat tighten. He had to choke back the urge to cry as he pressed himself against the blond. "We'll find her..." he whispered into the back of Draco's head. Draco nodded against him. "How did you get here?"

Draco straightened up a bit. "Ron found me on the island. He said that you and Hermione were being incredibly dramatic and..."

Harry smirked behind him. Thinking about what Ron had said earlier, he supposed that his entire life had been a little dramatic. He either took everything too seriously or not seriously enough.

"...he apparated to the island to get me. I have no idea how he found me. I was just popping here and there looking for Morgan, searching the house again; looking for her in the water...you know the sea is how her mother died..."

Harry inhaled Draco's scent. He smelled like the island, like the earth. He smelled like home. It suddenly struck him what an arse he had been earlier that day. Not just that day, but for the past several months. Even beyond that- since the night Voldemort was destroyed. "I didn't know that, Draco. I'm sorry..."

"Threw herself in. Right in front of the cottage. The tide...just..." he trailed off into silence.

Harry slid his arms around Draco's waist and pulled himself closer. Draco felt small to him just then- like pressing too hard would snap him in half.

"She just...I never meant for it, Harry. I never meant for it." Draco was barely whispering.

Harry kept holding on. There was nothing else he could do. He wasn't sure if Draco was referring to Grainne or Morgan. It could have been both or neither. It could have been the relationship between Draco and himself. At this moment, none of the questions seemed to matter. This man- one of the strongest men Harry had ever known in his life- was breaking and they both knew it. All the arrogance was stripped away, all the harshness of his character gone.

//I need you, Draco.// Harry sent the message to Draco.

Draco slumped a little further into Harry's arms. "That isn't enough, Harry. Need is not enough." He stopped for a moment before continuing. The silence was overwhelming. "But it isn't just you...I've been a bit of a...well more than a bit of a..." he trailed off again.

Harry closed his eyes settling against Draco even further- gave him a squeeze of understanding. He remembered sitting at the Head table his first night back at Hogwarts watching Morgan in that sea of nervous faces- the little wave she gave him as she stood next to Dobby while waiting to be sorted. Her sweet face glowing with the anticipation...

"Dobby!" Harry stood up straight so quickly that he nearly knocked Draco down the stairs.

"What on earth are you talking about, Harry?" Draco was trying to regain his balance as Harry spun him around by the arms so they were facing each other.

"I told Dobby to watch out for her! We need to find him! He must know where she is...or at least where she might have gone!" His eyes were full of excitement as he paced to the bedroom door and began knocking. "Ron! Hermione! We need Dobby! Let's go!"

The door flung wide open as Ron and Hermione came bursting through.

"What are you on about, mate?"

Harry was already on his way down the stairs with Draco in tow. "Hermione," he hollered backward as he tromped the stairs, "Will you go back to the island with Draco and run some of your tracing spells? Ron, you come with me back to Hogwarts so we can find that little beast of an elf, get some information and find our girl!" Our girl. "Hahahahhaaaaa!"

Harry might have looked a bit wild to those that didn't know him, but to the three standing with him on the landing, he looked like the Harry they knew back in school. His eyes were bright and passionate- glowing with a plan and set on triumph. This mattered. His family mattered. Harry reached up and took the shoulders of Draco and Ron who were on either side of him. Hermione stood in front of them wriggling her way into her cloak.

"Draco," Harry squeezed his shoulder for just a moment, "Could you please leave your end of the link open? Mine'll be open as well."

Draco nodded. Harry turned his head in Ron's direction. "We'll find Dobby and let Draco and Hermione know what he says. Hermione?"

"Got it, Harry. Shall we, Mr. Malfoy?" Hermione had turned into the no-holds-barred, mystery-solving fanatic that Harry adored.

Harry released the two men, but before Draco and Hermione could apparate, Harry grabbed Draco by the shoulders once more, and spun him so they were face to face. Harry looked intensely at his Draco; "I love you. I need you. We will find her." And with that, kissed Draco quickly and harshly, released him, took Ron by the front of the cloak and forced the front door open.

Within seconds, they had landed at the gates of Hogwarts, ready to rip the doors from their hinges.