Chapter 1

Hermione's POV

I wasn't sure how it happened, but somehow I had gotten myself into this mess. I couldn't extricate myself from it. It was like trying to disentangle myself from a spider's web that had woven itself so tightly around me without completely destroying the webs. As I stared out of the rain-misted window and struggled to keep my tumultuous thoughts under rein, something strange occurred to me... A revelation. A thought. A realisation that everything I had done was wrong. And I was the only one who could mend the problem.

Five days ago

The door swung open and Harry stepped into my office.

"Hermione, we need your help." He said without preamble. I took in his appearance. In dark red robes and casual clothes underneath with the same round spectacles perched on the bridge of his nose, Harry looked the same as ever. He had certainly outgrown his lanky build and had formed more bulk and muscle due to the line of his work (he was an Auror), but his boyish face and features had not changed much; his jawline was slightly squarer than before, with light stubble framing it at the moment.

"What is it, Harry?" I stood up from my chair and flicked my wand, transfiguring a foot stool into a cushioned chair so that he could sit down.

"A Death Eater had escaped from Azkaban." His face was grim, and the words that came out from his mouth were worse. A Death Eater. Escaped. From Azkaban. I felt the breath leave my lungs in a whoosh as my brain processed those words.

"How?" I asked, even though I already half-guessed the answer.

"Same way Sirius escaped. He was an unregistered Animagus. We should've known." Harry ran a hand through his hair, looking extremely frustrated with himself.

"It's not your fault, Harry." I told him. I knew how he felt.

He just shook his head and gave me a forced smile.

"So who is it?" I dreaded that answer.

"Lucius Malfoy."

Draco's POV

I wasn't sure how the hell it happen. How did my world suddenly tilt off-axis and spin in a pirouette before crashing downwards into a black, empty, depthless hole?

"Draco, we have to find him before it's too late." Mother said. It was 24 hours since we received the news of my father's escape from Azkaban, and she now looked as if she had aged ten years within those hours. Her smooth forehead was now creased with a perpetual frown, her eyes looked glazed and tired, and there were dark bags under them. I know I probably didn't look any better than mother- maybe I looked even worse.

I paced around the room which I had converted into my study. "I know, mother. But how? Where?"

"Besides, we're being watched so closely. I doubt father would be stupid enough to come here after escaping from that hellhole." I lowered my voice into a whisper as I spoke, knowing that there was no privacy even when I was safely esconced in the grounds of Malfoy Manor, not when there were Aurors surrounding this room as we spoke. Aurors. I stifled the urge to scoff out aloud. What would father say if he knew that he was the reason those Ministry dogs were allowed into Malfoy Manor?

"Then where did he go?" Narcissa covered her face with both hands, her tone getting desperate. We were having conflicting feelings. Both of us wanted to see him -or at least, mother wanted to more than I do- but at the same time both of us didn't want him to get caught, knowing that the consequences would be dire for him. What struck us as odd was the fact that he chose to escape at this time, when he had served his jail sentence for five years already and only had another five years to go. Maybe his sanity was at its end and he snapped. Or maybe he had been planning this escape for ages. But if that is the case, why did he not escape earlier? Why serve the sentence for five years if he already had a way out? None of this made any sense.

"I don't know." I was at a loss. The puzzle pieces just didn't fit.

Then someone knocked on the study room door and I opened it with a flick of my wand. Potter stood at the threshold of the room, looking grim as usual, and there was an unexpected visitor with him. Granger.

"Malfoy. We need to ask you a few questions." Potter said, and I waved them in. My mother stood from her chair and gave them a wane smile. After Potter had testified at my mother's trial and helped her case by telling them how she had aided him at the crucial moment of the battle, my mother had significantly softened up towards him and even Granger, who had helped throughout the trial by digging up evidences to show that my mother was a victim of circumstances.

"Fire away." I tried to smirk at them, but I didn't think they bought my devil-may-care act. Both of them looked as exhausted as I felt. There was a moment of awkward silence, then my mother shot me a pointed look and I reluctantly conjured two chairs with a lazy flick of my wand.

"Did you know anything about your father being an Animagus?" Potter asked right after his butt landed on the chair. I stilled immediately. Was that how they think he escaped?

"No. I didn't know." I replied. Granger was staring at me as if she was trying to figure out whether I was telling them the truth.

"Mrs Malfoy?" Potter turned to my mother. My mother shook her head slowly.

"I didn't know anything about Lucius being an Animagus. I've never seen him change into an animal or anything of that sort." She said.

"Are you certain that he had shown no signs of being an Animagus? Did you find him strange during a period of time, or did spend large amounts of time keeping to himself?" Granger spewed a string of questions, her voice sounding strangely high-pitched and shrill.

I fought the urge to frown at her. "Nothing of that sort happened, Granger."

"Hermione." Potter said to her, his tone sounded as if he was warning her. Something strange was going on.

"What the hell is it? Do you have a theory?" I was unable to hold myself back. If they had some idea where my father was and was hiding it from me...

"Harry. They should know." Granger was whispering furiously to Potter.

"There's no evidence to your theory, Hermione! You'd just worry them for nothing." He shot back, equally angry. I had not seen Potter so riled up since the last time when he had worked on a horrendous murder case.

"What's going on? You'll tell me now, Potter, or I swear I'll-" I began, but mother quickly interrupted me in a reprimanding tone, "Draco!"

Then she faced them and said in an imploring tone, "Please tell us what is going on, Mr Potter."

Granger glanced at Potter expectantly and he relented with a slight huff. "Go ahead and tell them."

Her eyes were wide and shining with an emotion I could not place. Was it sympathy? I felt a lurch in my stomach at that possibility.

"After my investigation, I discovered something disturbing and it is just a theory of mine, but there is no discounting the possibility of it." She said, and paused as if to take a breath before revealing her discovery.

I held my breath and waited.

"I think Lucius Malfoy was abducted."