The Dark Lord's Daughter- Book One (A Harry Potter Fan Fic)

Chapter Thirty: Ten Years Later

Ten years had passed and not much had changed. Leah and Barty were still on the run from the Ministry, moving all across the country. They lived in abandoned muggle houses that they would fix up with magic until the Ministry got too close and forced them to leave again to find a new hiding spot.

Together, they had two more children, Mason Artemis Crouch two years after Seth, and Fiona Everly Crouch a year after that. Out of all her children, Leah thought Seth looked the most like her, with his black hair and pale green eyes. Mason's hair was the lightest brown of the lot, but both him and Fiona has inherited Barty's brown eyes. Arya was growing up to look painfully like Amber. Her eyes were hazel and her hair not quite as bronze as Amber's had been, but it still gave Leah a punch in the gut to look at.

Still, the six of them trudged on. Leah was forced to hide herself from public eye whenever she had to do something as mundane as going to the store. She feared the hood of her cloak would be permanently stuck to her head soon. Unable to find work, Leah was forced to burn through her mother's savings that had been left to her. Good thing her mother's family had been wealthy.

Daphne helped when she could. Her sister had moved back to Bulgaria, where she was now working for a major potion brewing company. Daphne would send her sister money and kind letters. But soon Leah became distant with Daphne. The pain of losing Amber was still too fresh, even after ten years. She felt like she couldn't be a decent sister to Daphne, so she stopped responding to her letters.

Draco wrote to her occasionally too, telling her about his life. To her happiness, his name, plus Lucius and Narcissa's names, had been cleared only a few months after the war. Since then, Draco had married a lovely pure blood woman named Astoria Greengrass and they recently celebrated the birth of their first child. Leah was sad to have missed all this. Draco was, after all, like a brother to her and she was missing all these important milestones in his life. But like with Daphne, she soon stopped writing to him as well, letting him get on with his life.

The only other person to write to her was Daniel. She found out that he had spent a few short months in Azkaban for his involvement with the Death Eaters, but got out early since he had been so cooperative with the Ministry. After that, he took his wife, Rebecca and Savannah and moved to France. While there, Savannah married a lovely Frenchman named Nicholas, and they were expecting their first son to be named Damian. Leah was named the godmother. But like with everyone else, Leah soon dropped out of contact. She didn't want to burden everyone with her criminal existence.

Living in hiding wasn't easy, especially with children. Not being able to interact with children their own age, Seth, Arya, Mason, and Fiona became closer than any group of siblings Leah had ever seen.

And yet, as she watched Seth and Arya get closer to their eleventh birthday, she couldn't help but feel sad. This was not how she wanted to raise her children, in hiding and in secrecy. That was the whole point of Harry Potter winning the war, so she wouldn't have to live in fear anymore. Though the threat of her father was gone, she was still hunted everyday. Everywhere she looked, Leah was reminded of why they were hiding. Though the Ministry had slowed down its efforts to find her, they had, by no means, stopped. Wanted posters with her face plastered on them still followed her everywhere, collecting ten years worth of dust.

Eventually Leah and her family found themselves in an abandoned mansion on the outskirts of London. The place was big and black, reminding Leah painfully of Malfoy Manor. It looked to be in one piece, but even from afar, Leah could see how dirty and musty it was. The mansion sat in the center of a lush, green field, surrounded by a wall of trees. Unless you were standing directly in front of it, like Leah was, you couldn't see the house at all. Leah was in love immediately.

"It'll take a lot of fixing up, but it's perfect," she said to Barty who smiled in return.

Her children ran towards the house, screaming in mirth, leaving Leah and Barty to carry the bags of everything they were able to take with them. The inside of the house was so thick with dust that it nearly made Leah choke.

"Tergo!" Barty said with his wand out. Most of the dust was siphoned away, but there was so much of it that a good amount still lingered. At least she could breathe.

The cleaning of this house took weeks. On the outside, it looked to be in one piece, but on the inside, the floors were caving in and the walls had holes. Mildew and mold grew in every nook and cranny, disgusting Leah further. But, with the use of magic, Leah and Barty soon got the house fit to live in. Leah thought it looked nice. The walls were now shiny and made of a deep black wood. Ebony, Leah thought, like her wand. The carpets had been thoroughly scrubbed and were dark green, making Leah feel more at home than anything. The counters and table tops along with the fireplace mantle were all made of white marble and shone brilliantly in the faint light. The house was still empty of furniture. Leah would have to sneak out into the muggle world and purchase some later. Black leather would look perfect.

The children's laughter echoed through the empty halls on the upper floors. "I like this one," Barty said to Leah, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"I do too." She sighed and rested her head on his shoulder.

He stroked her hair like he did when she was upset. "What's wrong love?"

"I'm tired of hiding," she confessed, her voice slightly muffled as she was pressing her face into his robes. "This is not how we were supposed to live. We were supposed to get a happy ending so we could raise our children in peace and without fear. But instead, we're forced to live in secret, moving from house to house all across the country to make sure we don't end up in jail so we can protect and raise our children. What happens when they get ready to go to Hogwarts? Seth and Arya are almost eleven."

Barty stiffened under her grip. "I know," he muttered, "but there's nothing we can do about to. We turn ourselves in and we're sure to go right to Azkaban and the kids would be put in an orphanage."

"Daniel promised me that wouldn't happen," Leah sobbed. Over the past ten years, Leah had tried to be strong, for Barty, for her children, but she was reaching her breaking point. She couldn't live like this anymore. She was not a coward. She would not live in hiding anymore. "I'm going to change that," she said suddenly, jerking upright. "No more tears, no more hiding. I'm going to make things right once and for all."

"What are you going to do?" Barty asked apprehensively. He still had his arms wrapped around her waist, but she was slowly pulling away.

Grabbing a spare piece of parchment and a quill, Leah began to scribble furiously. "I'm going to turn myself in," she said fiercely, her green eyes gleaming.