Chapter 2

Draco stood on the roof as the sun rose over the city. He had left the Harry's gift on the roof after that night with a small thing of flowers. It was his little place to honor his short term friend. He watched as the sun scattered the nightmares away from the sky with rays of pink and orange. It amazed him, how little the world around the war had changed in the year that had passed since he watch the sun rise in the same spot. A replay of Harry's last words played on repeat as he watched the world awaken. In all honesty, he missed Harry. Not for the same reasons most did, like friendship or love, but he did miss his presence. Harry had an air about him that no one would ever be able to duplicate. They had never been friends, not until Harry proclaimed it there at the very end and while Draco doubted they would've ever been great pals, he still felt loyal to the Boy Who Had Lived. Draco had been right the world was a little darker and a little colder without him in it.

In the year that had passed since that night, a lot had changed in the Order. Slowly and surely, Draco had earned the trust of most of them through his actions and he quit relying on his ability to manipulate to bind relationships. He had risen in the ranks of the Order and was no some sort of figure head for change, which he didn't really mind. He knew it would've been what Harry wanted. On those terms, Draco had very little luck locating Granger, especially since it was a secret. After the first few months of no leads and no where to start, Draco had considered telling everyone what Harry had asked him but didn't. He knew half of them wouldn't have believe him and half would insist that the search was pointless, so he did it by himself. Which proved much harder than he thought it would be. His days had assumed the same routine in order to find out whatever information he could. Checking the radio for the list of found bodies, meeting with the Order, routine check of the safe houses, and then he would go search for her. He always claimed he left in search of his own parents, who had gone missing shortly after he defected, but he knew that trail was pointless. The convenient thing about defecting was that he knew where the Death Eaten normally kept their prisoners, or so he thought he did. In the past year he had checked every POW location he could remember with no luck of finding her. He was running out of leads and out of time. Soon, he would have to give up his fake search for his parents if he didn't present any evidence of them still being alive. He swallowed at the thought. He had never been terribly close with this parents and while, on rare occasion, he did miss them, he knew they were never coming back. At least, not to him.

He lifted the snitch from it resting place and wrapped his fist around it, "Some dying wish Potter. Leave me chasing rotting leads with nothing to go on." He fingered the snitch like he had when Ginny had first given it to him, between his middle finger and thumb and then looked to the sky. The screech of the roof door sounded, and he didn't need to look back to know who was there.

"Figured I'd find you up here."

"And how is that?"

"This is where you come to miss him." Draco gave a grunt at the notion that someone had figured out his secret. Not that it was much of a secret, the roof was public domain. He glanced over to Ginny come and stand next to him. She looked over the horizon with a soft smile, "It's funny, how some things never change." Draco hummed in reply and dropped the hand that held the snitch. They stood in silence, honoring Harry by enjoying the sun rise. "He'd be proud of you, ya know."

"That's a first."

"For which?"

"What do you mean?"

"Is it a first for him to be proud, or for someone to be proud of you?"

Draco hummed in reply, not knowing where she was going with that question. After a long pause, she spoke again.

"I believe that he is proud of you. You've changed a lot since joining the Order and I'd like to believe that it's for the better." He scoffed and shook his head.

"You Gryffindors and your bleeding hearts." Ginny had developed an uncanny way of deciphering what he meant from the hours they had spent together. She had become his favorite Weasley, which didn't say much , but they got along nonetheless.

"You're welcome and no. I don't believe you are still an outcast here. You've earned your place here. Don't discredit yourself." Her words were confident, much like the rest of her was. Since arriving here, Draco had learned that true confidence can't come from money or title or status, it must come from who you are. It was something he was still working on.

"Good God woman don't turn this into something it is." He chuckled slightly as the words left his lips.

She laughed and looked over to him, "I mean it. You deserve your place here now," She paused when she noticed the snitch in his hands, "They have flesh memories, ya know."

"Yes, I do. I've heard the story." He had heard the stories of the Golder Trio on their quests for the horcruxes. He knew how they found a clue on the snitch

"I thought it would've opened when I gave it to you." He laughed.

"No, they don't reuse snitches because they have flesh memories. Each team plays with a different one. I'd probably never seen this one before you gave it to me." She gave a sad smile and nodded. This wasn't new information to her surely, but he felt the need to remind her of it. It wasn't going to magically tell him what he needed to know. She nodded slowly and patted him on the shoulder then turned to leave him in peace. He listened as her steps took her across the roof and waited to hear the door creak open and then shut, but it never came.

"Harry would be proud of you, Draco. I know he would be. Oh… you dropped something." She said before she pulled the heavy door open. Draco turned and watched her disappear behind it as he thought over he words. Would Harry be proud of him? Unlikely, but it was a cute sentiment. He didn't know why he felt the need to make a dead boy proud, but here he was, working his ass off daily to do just that.

He glanced to the ground when the door had finally shut all the way to find a small square of parchment. Frowning, he reached down and plucked it between two fingers. Unfolding it slowly, he began to recognize it. It had been from a long time ago, fall of '92, at a bookstore, Flourish and Blotts. He had torn the page out of a copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them while some egotistical author was temporarily harassing Harry. He had heard rumors around his home, mere whispers from the house elves about what was in the Chamber of Secrets. It frightened him more than whispers should've. So, he'd torn the page and slipped it into Hermione's notes one day at the library while she was browsing the selves. He hadn't seen the page in years and he wasn't sure where it had com- Stopping mid thought, he lifted the snitch to see that it had in fact done the unexpected. There was a tiny square shaped opening just beneath the inscription of "I open at the Close". The snitch did have a flesh memory, but when Ginny had handed it to him, it had been the first time he touched it. Potter had given him a clue, mimicking the way Dumbledore had helped Harry. But how where the two related, the riddle and the paper? He groaned at his ignorance, "Thank you, Potter, you fucking prat." Now, he had to figure out what it all meant, "Great."

He had stayed on the roof most of the day trying to decipher the clues. Draco had come a quick conclusion that eve these were unsure leads, once he figured them out that was. Harry hadn't known where she was, these were just the leads he had. "I Open at the Close" and a brief summary of Basilisk information. The only tie the two had was unlikely, strained at best. He kept going over the ties until it hit him. "Oh my lord."

He scrambled, ungracefully, to his feet and ran to the door. He flung the door open and sped down the stairs to where the Order main office was. Running into people here and there, he weaved his way to the door at top speed. Shouting sorry behind him every time he met a new face, he hoped it was enough of an apology.

Bursting through the door and causing many people to jump in their seats he searched the room for anyone who would listen.

"By God, Draco!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed with a hand over her heart. He felt bad for startling her. Since defecting, Draco had attempted to amend his relationship with the Weasley's and while it had gone over smoothly with the most of them, some were still skeptical. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had become part time parents to him, but not in a mushy gushy sort of way. They just accepted him and it was nice.

"My apologies, Mrs. Weasley. This is important."

"What is it my dear boy?" Slughorn was the next to speak.

"I-uh-I…umm." Draco stammered, he hadn't come up with a cover story before he ran down here., He hated lying to them, but he knew that he had too.

"Out with-it son." Mr. Weasley came from next to him and placed a hand on Draco's shoulder. Draco swallowed before continuing.

"I think I found them. My parents. And possibly some of the other defected Death Eaters." Draco knew that the Order was looking to recruit anyone who defected who was willing to join the force. It had been the ploy he use for them to agree to his frequent trips to look around the country. If anything was going to help him now, it was this lie. He silently praised his Slytherin heritage for teaching him how to lie properly.

"I have a lead. It's unexpected and well, dangerous."

"What is the lead?" the eldest Weasley brother in attendance said. Bill had always been decent with Draco since he arrived. He hoped that kindness would extend to now.

"Just…rumors. I've heard He is storing any defected Death Eaters they find in the same place. It's secret, only a few people have ever been there, but I think it's our best shot." Other had gathered around to hear what Draco had to say and the pressure began to build. He knew if he didn't contain the story it would take a life of it's own and that was the last thing he needed.

"Where?"

"The school," Draco paused to give them time to process what he was saying, "In the dungeons. Keeping them there for… target practice." He made up a believable and equally horrible reason for Him to keep the defected Death Eaters nearby. It was a gruesome thought, but it was plausible. Shocked faces were scattered around the room.

"Where did you hear this from? It could be a trap." Ron was the next to speak up. He was the most skeptical of Draco, which was logical. In school, they hadn't necessarily been mates.

"Mostly in passing, eavesdropping. From multiple sources that the holding place was one we wouldn't expect nor one we would most likely ever try to get to." After Harry had been hit with the dark curse, the Order had commanded that any living members run for it. Draco didn't know much more past the evacuation order. Ron squinted at him and Draco tried as hard as he could to plead with him through eye contact.

"What do you want us to do about it? Bring a bunch of Death Eaters in to the main safehouse? What so they can kill us in our sleep? Not likely." Ron spat. He would never forgive Draco for anything he had done, and Draco was completely fine with that, but this wasn't about them. Ron needed to remember that. After Harry passed, Ron had been livid with Draco. They couldn't even be in the same room with one another which wasn't really new but was somehow much more intense than it ever had been before. Draco soon realized that Ron blamed him for Harry's death and Hermione's disappearance/assumed death, which was typical of Ron. Assuming things that weren't even plausible. It had taken months for them to even look at each other without glaring.

"Ronald!" Mrs. Weasley cried out.

"Ron!" Mr. Weasley followed suit, "We have been searching for these people for weeks, trying to raise our numbers for the next fight. If this is a lead we need to follow it."

"Arthur is right." Draco sighed inwardly that the others could see reason. He felt a prang of guilt, but if he was right about this, he knew it'd be worth it.

"We'll dispatch a team immediately. Thank you, Draco." Shaklebolt said.

"No!" he cried out, once again causing alarm. He was met with many concerned expressions, but he only looked to Shaklebolt. "Let me go, please."

"Why?" the older man questioned.

Draco had to pull something out of his ass and he had to so it quickly. "Do you really think defected Death Eaters will just come with you willingly? They'll assume you're up to something."

"We are up to something. It's called freedom, ever heard of it?" Ron sneered from his spot and Mrs. Weasley swatted him on the arm.

"Please, you think they are just come with us willingly? Let me head them mission please. They won't believe the Order is trying to help them without someone they know being there." Draco pled.

"Or this is some huge scheme to feed people right into His hands. You are just looking for a reason to run back to your precious Lord. You sicken me." Ron shouted. Draco felt an overly familiar rage rise within him.

"If I wanted to be a Death Eater still, I would be. You think I wanted that life? You think I asked for it? I didn't. I did what I had to survive. What am I even saying? I don't have to prove myself to you. You'd never believe me if I did." Draco shut down the accusation quickly, leaving no room for people to question him. "Please Shaklebolt, this could be our chance." He didn't want to stoop to a first-year manipulation tactic of guilt tripping, but he had to get them on his side. He could feel the former thrill of manipulation flow just beneath his skin and he found it unpleasant, more than unpleasant. Nauseating was a more apt description, especially since lying to those who had shown him genuine human connection made his stomach flip.

Shaklebolt frowned at him and shook his head, "Draco, no one is accusing you of betrayal, but it would be much safer if we left the missions to those with experience. I know how much you want to be a mission head, but I'm not sure this is the best suit for you."

"Please, these are my parents," He knew the parent card was a low blow, but he knew it would help his cause, "I know I can do this." The older man was quiet for a moment before sighing. There was a long pause and Draco wasn't sure if the Wizard would side with him or not. If he didn't the plan was useless. Surely, he could attempt to infiltrate the school on his own missions, but this was Hogwarts they were talking about. Not some simple shack in the middle of nowhere. He couldn't handle it by himself. He needed backup if he was going to find Her.

"Fine. You can go and be head." Groans filled the air from Ron and a few others, "Ginny, Bill, Ron you're going with him. You listen to what he says. Draco take their advice. They've all headed large missions before. Don't be stupid. We don't need to lose any of you," Shaklebolt paused getting up to leave the room, he stopped by Draco just before he exited and placed a hand on his shoulder, "I want to believe you can do this. Don't let me down…. And don't get killed." Draco sighed heavily at his words and nodded. He gave Shaklebolt a small smile before he left the room. He felt the anxiety of having to convenience them be replaced with the weight of responsibility. He now had three more lives hanging in the balance of his actions and under his responsibility and to be honest, he didn't like it.

"Like I'm going to help you." Ron spat with an overly dramatic eye roll. Ginny smacked him on the back of the head.

"You don't have a choice. You're going."

"Yes, I-I'm going to need you. I have something you have to do." Draco looked at Ron with honest eyes.

"Oh yeah? And what is so important that I must do it?" He questioned. Draco knew he couldn't tell Ron the truth to the plan at the moment or it would only raise more questions.

"It doesn't matter at the moment. I'll tell you when it's time for you to know." Ron obviously didn't believe the answer, but he gritted his teeth and took it. No matter, how much he disliked Ron or wanted Ron to not dislike him, he still hated lying to him. But with what was at stake, it was worth it. Hopefully. The room was quiet, and Draco could feel all eyes still on him as he looked to the floor. This plan had to work. It just had too. Draco had no idea if this was in fact the lead Harry meant him to find, but it was all he had. He wouldn't know how to handle the group if the got there and she wasn't there. He wouldn't know what to do with himself if she wasn't there. He swallowed at the thought that this was possibly a dead end.

"Okay, boss man, when do we begin?" Ginny was the first to speak.

Draco looked up with wide eyes before collecting himself, "First thing tomorrow morning."

"But we have stuff to plan, to pack. How exactly do you suggest we get onto Hogwarts property without a plan?" Ron questioned, Draco had a feeling he was going to have to counter every pass Ron made at his competency. He sighed before answering.

"I will handle that. You guys just go get ready. I'll clue you guys in when I get the rest of the details figured out." Draco said with a nod and left the room. Closing the door behind him, he fisted his pocket and wrapped his hand around the snitch hidden there. He smiled to himself, I'm coming for you Granger.