Hermione Granger was feeling quite pleased with herself. She’d be seeing Draco and his daughter on Friday at the puppet show. Well, they wouldn’t be seeing her as she’d stay out of sight. But still, she relished the thought of spending time with them anyway. She wished she had the courage to tell Draco that she knew of his precious secret.
Hermione was not a stupid witch. No, she’d known and kept Draco’s secret almost from the beginning of their correspondence. Of course, he’d charmed his handwriting so she wouldn’t recognize it. He’d tried to be subtle and not give away incriminating details. But she’d figured it out with just a touch of her “detective work,” as she liked to think of it.
Smiling, she remembered how just about 5 years ago she’d begun getting letters, signed only as “your friend-in-need,” requesting her help with finding a home for a refugee baby. The very first letter had been written in such desperation, she’d skipped Charms class just to draft a response. That’d been in her seventh year, her N.E.W.T.s year. Frowning slightly, she thought that probably was the only class she’d skipped the entire year!
That first letter had outlined the beginning of a very stark situation. Someone, a pure-blood- and she’d suspected a very young- wizard, had become a father. He’d described a pretty sad set of circumstances. The mother, who was Muggle-born, didn’t recognize the child as her own. The child had been a mistake. He didn’t want any of his friends to know so he couldn’t ask them for help. His own parents wouldn’t help him- in fact, and she shuddered remembering this, he’d said that his father told him to “kill the mudblood bastard.” The emotion within the letter was overwhelming. He’d pleaded with her to help him figure out a way to ensure the child’s safety and welfare- and he’d insisted that the child be placed in the Muggle world.
She’d never really understood that last requirement. She made many suggestions about placing the baby with childless wizarding families. In fact, she tried very hard to place the little girl with her friends, Remus and Tonks. They both wanted a child but were unable to have one because of the Ministry of Magic’s eugenicist policies on human-werewolf breeding. But the father had been insistent. He thought the baby would be gravely endangered if it remained in the wizarding world. So, she’d helped him find a special home for unwanted children in Muggle London.
She smiled as she thought of Ms. Dorothy and Ms. Nancy. She’d met them several times before recommending their place to the father. They ran a special kind of house- one for unwanted children who couldn’t be placed for adoption, for whatever reason. When she’d visited, Hermione had noted that many of the children were very well-dressed and played with expensive toys. The two matrons conspiratorially shared with Hermione that their home was for “accidents”- the illegitimate children of the super-rich, celebrities, or even royalty. She knew that this was the kind of place for her friend’s child because by then she’d already realized that her friend-in-need was none other than Draco Malfoy.
She chuckled to herself, before sitting down to write another letter to Draco. She had looked up a charm that would allow him to hide his daughter’s magical activities from passersby. However, she decided she wouldn’t tell him that only non-magical folks would be blinded. Thus, she’d be able to enjoy another day of watching the two of them.