the pierce family's biggest secret
"I'm sorry, but I'm not a witch. You guys have me mistaken for someone else." Dru laughed in their faces. The two across from her eyed each other knowingly. She was in denial. "So if you could please let me go, that'd be great, thanks." Dru stood up, but the man gently shoved her back down. "Okay, watch it, handsy!" She glared at him.
"I understand this is a lot to take in, Ophelia."
"My name is not Ophelia! My name is Drusilla Scott. I'm from New York and I do not possess magical abilities! Don't you think I'd know if I did by now?" She shouted at them, in an almost humorous way. "Also, I never got your names." She crossed her arms.
"Right. Dru, my name is Hermione Granger and this is Ron Weasley. We're apart of an organization called the Potter Alliance." She explained and Dru raised her hand to stop her talking.
"Oh, I know who you are."
"You do?" Hermione's face lit up, feeling so much relief wash over her.
"Oh yeah, I've been told all about you guys. Don't get me wrong, I know you're not the bad guys in this scenario or anything, but my boyfriend and you guys obviously have some beef." Dru shrugged with a grin. She didn't feel the need to explain what Draco and her were, because even she didn't know if it were official or not. Saying boyfriend just made it easier.
"'Beef'?" Ron questioned, confused by the statement.
"Muggle term for conflict." Hermione quickly explained to him, rolling her eyes. "Look, the man you call your boyfriend, Draco Malfoy, is a criminal! He's murdered so many innocent people that we've lost count after 30. He's a vile, cruel, horrible person—,"
"Look, Hermie, I don't need to hear it, okay? I've known him way longer than I've known the two of you and honestly, I'll take my chances with the 'criminal'."
"It's Hermione." Hermione spat through her gritted teeth, annoyed with her ignorance and difficult personality. "Just give her the notebook." She sneered to Ron. He nodded, pulling a leather bound book from his jacket and handed it to Dru. Staring at it briefly with pause, she snatched it from him and opened it. Flipping through the pages, she finally landed on one titled 'The Pierce Family'. This section contained several pages of information about Ophelia's parents and her friend group, along with her life at Hogwarts. But she couldn't help but notice something missing.
"What happened here?" She lifted the book to point out the missing page that had clearly been torn out. Hermione shrugged. Dru looked back down, continuing to read on. "What's a pureblood?"
"A witch or wizard with full magical blood. Lineage on both sides of the parents would have to be completely full of magic blood. Half-blood would be someone born to a witch and a muggle, which is a non magic person."
"And what're you?" Dru questioned.
"I'm a muggle born. Neither of my parents possessed magical abilities." Hermione said proudly.
"Oh, so a mudblood?" Dru asked, genuinely not knowing that was a bad term.
"Clearly Draco has been teaching her some things." Ron scoffed in a hushed tone to Hermione.
"And what's this about something called quidditch?" Dru questioned more.
"It's a sports game. I guess quidditch is your football, for American muggles." Hermione told her.
"Says here I was one of Slytherin's beaters. If I am who you say I am, that is." Dru side eyed them, still unconvinced.
"Just, skip to the last page, please." Hermione was growing impatient. So Dru obliged.
—Ophelia Pierce was 17 when her mother Lucinda Pierce, and father Apollo Pierce disappeared with her to America. They returned alone, and lost their lives bravely in the fight against Lord Voldemort. Ophelia's whereabouts are unknown, but she has been obliviated of all memories containing magic and Hogwarts, along with her friends and family. Her name has been changed for safety precautions and her life is now amongst muggles. She is presumed to be dead by anyone who once knew her.
"Where did you get this?" Dru asked, trying her hardest to not believe what she was reading.
"Andromeda Tonks. Draco Malfoy's aunt. You may know her by the name of Annie. She was a friend of your mothers." Hermione told her, and Dru felt her eyes swell with tears as she looked up at her. "We have been searching for you for over a year now, since Andromeda had given us a potion revealing who you were."
"Why would she do that? I mean, if all of this is true, why do I even matter in the grand scheme of things?" Dru scoffed, feeling betrayed by everyone. If the woman she thought was her aunt could lie to her, then was Draco as well? Hermione hesitated.
"We don't know." It sounded dishonest, but Dru had more things to worry about in this moment. Like trying to recall who the hell she actually was.
"I know. It's confusing and we are going to try to get that potion for you. But in the meantime, we need to test your magic." Hermione insisted as Dru handed back the book, shaking her head. She had been lied to her whole life. She didn't even know herself.
"I'm sorry, this is just— wow." Was all Dru could manage to say.
"We've acquired a wand for you. It may not be yours per say, as that's never been recovered, but it's better than nothing." Hermione retrieved the wand from her pocket and handed it to her. Taking a quill, she set it on the bedside table. "Now, I'd like you to try this for me, alright?" Dru couldn't even think right now. Her mind was a jumbled mess as she couldn't figure out what was happening. "Dru, please." Hermione begged and Dru looked to her, then to the quill. Situating herself on the bed, she pointed the wand at the quill. "Now, you're going to swish, like this," Hermione held her wand and moved her wrist in a swishing motion. "Then flick." And Dru watched the hand movements. Dru then copied her flawlessly. "Amazing, Dru! Truly! So now, I need you to repeat after me. Wingaurdium leviosa."
"Wingaurdium leviosah." Dru repeated, slightly off with the annunciation, and swishing and flicking the wand. It didn't work, so Dru began shaking the wand at it. "Is it broken?" She asked.
"No, you're pronouncing it wrong. It's leviOHsa, not leviosah." Hermione shook her head.
"LeviOHsa." Dru repeated, looking to Hermione for approval.
"Yes. Now, continue." Ron could tell that Hermione was a bit too excited for this, but he enjoyed watching her teach others. It also finally got her off his back a little.
"Wingaurdium leviosa." Dru stated exactly as Hermione had done. But nothing happened still. "I think it's broken, guys." She said to them.
"It's not broken!" Hermione insisted. "Your mind just isn't in the right place, Dru, you need to focus!"
"Oh yeah, because that's totally easy to do right now." Dru rolled her eyes, giving it one more try. But still, nothing. "See, not a witch. Can I go home now?" Hermione groaned, frustrated with herself, but even more so with Dru and her lack of passion.
"I have a better idea. How about we just take a break and introduce you to the rest of us?" Ron spoke up finally. Dru and Hermione agreed, and Dru stood up, following them out the door. She looked around the large house, seeing a side door to her left that she could easily escape from. But then again, a house full of wizards doesn't make for much of a fair or easy fight. She'd wait until the best moment.
As Dru was led to the living room area, faces emerged with odd expressions across them. Some were eager to meet her, while others were skeptical and hesitant. They all knew she'd been spending time with Draco and they all knew her and Draco were once together at Hogwarts as well. Which was just one of the few things Hermione had been withholding from her intentionally, for this brief time being.
"Ophelia!" A voice spoke, and Dru turned to see a tall, skinny, redheaded boy approaching. "I mean, Dru, sorry."
"Hi?" She questioned.
"She's still is having trouble accepting it all." Ron told the boy, who now nodded, understanding.
"Well, I'm Fred. Fred Weasley. Ron's older brother. I'm sorry for kind of kidnapping you."
"Oh, you're the one who shot me with a spell. Got it, I'll keep my distance." Dru joked.
"Yeah, sorry about that one. But uh, you and I were actually friends back in school!" He exclaimed, happily. "If I'm being honest, I may have had quite a big crush on you for a while, but you were too busy with Ma-,"
"Fred!" Hermione snapped, cutting him off. Dru cocked her head, wondering what she was missing.
"Many men." Fred corrected himself. "Loads of 'em. You were just, you know, getting around." He laughed uncomfortably.
"I was hooking up with many men, but not you?" She rose an eyebrow at him. "Hm, at least I wasn't that big of a slut then to still have standards." She said with a straight face before smirking, but Fred still looked hurt from the insult. "I'm joking with you. It was a joke. Do British people not know what that is?" And then his smile came. "But thanks for the memo that I was a whore, I guess?" She followed Hermione further in, and was now faced with the second of her captors.
"Dru. I apologize for earlier." The pale haired girl spoke softly.
"It's no biggie." Dru told her. No, it really wasn't. Because clearly, Hermione was the one giving the orders. So her main issue was with her.
"You look radiant by the way. Soon your magic will come through. I'm sure of it." Luna smiled at her.
"Yeah, I wouldn't get your hopes up. I'm still pretty unconvinced." Dru told her, before continuing on. It took a full thirty minutes to get through conversations with the members here. It didn't take long to realize that this was just a small portion of their little alliance and she'd probably have to meet many more. She knew she'd struggle remembering their names, but she didn't really care. As far as she was concerned, she'd be back in Draco's flat, drinking whiskey and putting this all behind her.
"Anything coming back to you now?" Hermione asked her. Dru shook her head and shrugged. "Alright, well, I have something more I can show you. Just, follow me." She then led Dru to the kitchen, where a shoe box sat on the counter. Lifting the lid, Hermione pulled out several photographs, and reluctantly, handed them to her. Dru accepted them, and her smirk faded.
The first photo was of Dru, in her Hogwarts Slytherin uniform. Age 11 or 12, standing with four others. The names were inscribed below in order of appearance. Pansy Parkinson, Blaise Zabini, Ophelia Pierce, Draco Malfoy and Theo Nott.
Flipping to the next photograph, was of Ophelia and Fred and what looked to be a copy of Fred, but was actually his twin named George. They were sitting in the Great Hall of Hogwarts, faces full of food and laughing hysterically at something unsaid.
Third, a photo of Ophelia and her parents in front of the Hogwarts Express on platform 9 3/4. Her heart dropped at the sight of them. She was wearing her robes and her parents looked more than proud. Her eyes began to tear up once again, seeing her parents move as if they were right in the palms of her hands.
She moved on to the final photo, not wanting to see her parents faces as it hurt to much. A slight gasp left her mouth and her heart skipped a beat, but shattered at the exact same time. It was captioned: Draco & Ophelia, yule ball 1994. She wore a short black silk dress, which clung to her upper thighs. Draco was in a tux which was tailored perfectly to his form. And the two of them, were kissing. Dru couldn't believe or understand what she was looking at. The photos fell from her hands and she looked at Hermione, with tears streaming down her cheeks.
"I—I don't understand. This has to be a trick, these can't be real." She was in denial still.
"We weren't sure if we should show you that last one, because it could make you want to go back to him, but you deserved to know. Maybe it could trigger some memories." Ron spoke. Hermione was looking sickly. She had not wanted Dru to know her past with Draco, but at this point, anything that could jog her memory, was beneficial.
But Dru wondered, how could her whole life be a lie? How could she not know any of this? How could her parents lie to her like this? She knew it was for her safety, but that fact didn't make any of this hurt any less. She began to connect the dots. Draco and her weren't drawn to each other by chance, but simply because they were destined to find one another again. That familiar feeling she always felt around him, was because he was familiar. The fact that she was able to move so quickly with him and their flourishing relationship, and the fact that she felt comfortable with him. They didn't meet for the first time that night outside his apartment. They met again.