There was no answer from Harry's fireplace. That was to be expected—it was Thursday, Harry was at work, and if Draco was hiding at his place, he wouldn't be answering firecalls. Sirius could've waited until evening, but he wanted to sort this business out as soon as possible. The less he saw of Lucius, the better. So he decided to stop by the Ministry right away. If he was lucky, Harry would be at his post, busy with the usual parchment-pushing as he scribbled his much-hated reports, or discussing the latest Quidditch match with Ron.

After his miraculous return, Sirius was offered a job at the Auror division or anywhere else in the DMLE, but he refused. This type of life was not for him. Too much bureaucracy, too many bosses and rules. It was so much better to be doing the same thing, while still keeping your freedom. And much more interesting too—if Harry's stories about his job were to be believed, Sirius would have died of boredom in his place. With the inheritance he'd got from his favorite uncle, he'd been able to buy a few rooms for an office in a good location and put out an ad, and from there, he let the rumors do the work of building his reputation.

Strangely enough, there had never been a magical private investigator in Britain before. Wizards took their issues either directly to the Ministry, or, in more delicate cases, to their friends or former schoolmates. So they were wary of Sirius at first. The Order of Merlin and effusive news coverage notwithstanding, it was hard for the magical world to get used to the idea that Sirius Black, the perennial boggart of years past, was not actually a criminal. But gradually people began to trust him. But eventually, his small clientele, mostly composed of Harry's acquaintances, was supplemented by people, and even creatures, that he'd never met before.

Sirius came down to the Auror division and looked around for Harry in the bullpen. He found him sitting at his desk, scratching behind his ear with his quill, and staring off into space with a tormented look in his eyes. Just as he'd suspected—he was composing his latest report. Sirius made his way between tightly packed desks, hovered over Harry, and said loudly:

"Hi."

Harry's head jerked up and he smiled.

"Sirius! What are you doing here?"

"Let's go to the cafeteria, we need to have a chat."

Harry tossed his quill aside.

Sirius turned around, and almost knocked an unfamiliar Auror off his feet. The man rubbed his bruised shoulder, threw him an ill-tempered glare from under his fringe, and advised him to be more careful. As he turned away, he also added something else under his breath, so that Sirius didn't hear him. If Sirius hadn't been in a hurry, he would've definitely asked the Auror to repeat his words a bit louder, but he didn't want to get into it in front of Harry.

The cafeteria was empty for now—it was too late for breakfast and too early for lunch. The only people there were some girls who sat by an artificial window with a garden view, and chatted with each other quietly. Harry got coffee for the both of them, and Sirius was happy to accept, as Pansy somehow never got around to making him one.

"Did you finish going through that file? Mary is starting to give me the stink-eye."

"Sorry, Harry, I didn't have a chance. I swear I'll finish it today, but right now I have more important business."

"What's happened?"

"When was the last time you saw Draco?"

Harry frowned.

"Saw him—the day before yesterday, in the evening, when he was getting ready to go home. Heard him—yesterday morning. We were making plans to meet after work, but he didn't show up."

"Has that happened before?"

Sirius was frantically trying to think of any other place where Draco could have gone. His old school friends? His mother? Hogwarts? No, in any of those cases Lucius would have known all about it by now. A tiny chill ran down his back.

"A couple of times, when his father managed to ruin our plans, but Draco always got in touch with me the next morning, to explain. But not today."

"This morning Lucius showed up," said Sirius. Harry clenched his jaw. "He asked me to find Draco."

Harry scowled for a couple of seconds, staring sightlessly at the table in front of him. Then the corner of his mouth twitched.

"That bastard! He's done it after all!"

"Bastard? You mean Lucius?"

"Who else... Draco used to say that his father wouldn't even stop at an Imperio, if it wasn't for the restrictions on his wand. He must have come up with something, and hid Draco."

"And to draw suspicion away from himself, he asked me to find him."

"Yeah. Otherwise, why would he be asking you, of all people?"

"And just because of that, you think that Lucius is responsible for Draco's disappearance?"

"Draco definitely didn't run away, otherwise he would've gone straight to me. He's done that several times before. Even if he was hiding somewhere, he would've let me know, for sure."

"But in the past, didn't he always tell his parents where to find him, too?" Harry winced and nodded. "And no squabble could keep him with you for long. Sooner or later he always came back home, didn't he?"

"Well... he loves his mother, and his father, too, to be honest. Although I can't imagine what's there to love in that bastard. One time, he happened to see me and Draco. Well, you know... He pretended like I wasn't even there, but the stuff he said to Draco! Uncle Vernon could take tips from him!"

Sirius chuckled. What Harry was saying did make a certain amount of sense—Lucius was perfectly capable of pulling something like that, but to impersonate Narcissa while he was at it? No, something here wasn't adding up. In any case, it would be worthwhile to visit Malfoy Manor.

"He could've been abducted, or..." Sirius decided not to mention murder. "The Malfoys were constantly getting threats."

"They've been getting them for five years, and nothing. Just a couple attempts, and even those were a long time ago. No, we need to check out Lucius!" Harry rose from the table. "I'm off to Malfoy Manor. I'll smoke that reptile out."

"I'm with you." Sirius shot to his feet. "I promised to start an investigation if you didn't know where Draco was."

"Yes, an investigation... that's good. And I'm hoping that we won't have to look far."