Vexed- A Dramione Fanfic

22. Alter

The Aurors had spent the past few weeks combing through the Marshlands and had found two more lethifolds in hiding. They were quickly taken care of by Terry Boot and Harry to ensure that no mishaps occurred. Draco and Hermione were requested to visit the Cottage once again to check for the charmed jewellery.

Later with the help of some scholars and more research on Hermione's part, it was figured out that just as Draco had predicted, the Malfoy necklace was not charmed. It was simply a key to travel through time since it had been in the family for centuries. The spell was such that it needed something to bind the two time periods, something that existed in both the present and in the era one wished to go to. Silvius had guessed that the Malfoy bridal necklace would never be destroyed for centuries perhaps and had used it as the anchor to the spell. The earrings were never seen or found again. Neither was the box in which they had found them in.

The floorboard under which Draco had found them, remained loose, which meant that they had been hidden there at some point but had now vanished without a trace. They had last seen it while they performed the spell in the past. The investigation team concluded that the earrings were somehow left behind in the past and they were the key to the spell, the portkey of this magic time warping spell.

Everything was almost the same as before. Almost.

Hermione slept with lesser nightmares each night. She did not need any dreamless sleep draught anymore. Her nightmares were fewer, and now were more about time warping and lethifolds attacking a certain blonde male. These were nightmares she could rationalise and ignore because she knew that Draco Malfoy wasn't so stupid or weak to get attacked and trapped like that.

She had seen Draco occasionally when he had dropped by to meet Harry and her at the Ministry. His potions were gaining a lot of popularity and credibility with the Ministry's backing. He even decided to donate a certain amount of stock to St. Mungo's for free each month. 

Past two weeks had been tiring for Draco. The purple bags under his eyes were back, but the dead look he had in his eyes was gone. He no more resembled the walking dead. He just looked like an overworked blonde young man, which was acceptable. Narcissa Malfoy had been after his life to speak with Hermione, which had forced him to go meet her at the Ministry during his visits. His Mother had threatened to go meet the young witch herself or else.

Even Blaise had joined in on her complaining brigade that Draco was working too hard. But he wanted to finish what he had started before leaving. He wanted to finish the potion for the mentally affected patients of St. Mungo's. Now that his own Mother was less forgetful and more like her old jovial self again, he wanted the same for Neville and Hermione. He wanted her to be truly happy without a shred of worry in her life before anything else.

He worked through the nights, sometimes sleeping in the office itself. Narcissa had often wondered if talking to Hermione would help, but Blaise had told her not to since Draco was working on something to surprise her or so he had said. So she decided to approach the next best person she knew would be able to get some sense into her son, other than Blaise, who was being completely ignored by Draco on the advice taking front.

At a Monday morning, when all the Ministry workers were mumbling and grumbling about their Monday blues, Narcissa was at the Auror office, sharp at nine to meet Harry. Harry had been planning to take a week long leave but was often reminded of how we would need months off after their kid was born. Ginny's morning sickness and hormones were taking a toll on him too. As he moved towards his office, he was surprised to see an equally poised but much more feminine blonde figure waiting for him near his office. Usually, Draco would stop by, but everyone knew those were excuses to see Hermione and not Harry and Hermione.