As soon as the Golden Trio disapparated from the wedding reception, they had to run off a road to avoid a bus.
"Where exactly are we?" Harry asked Hermione as they made their way down the street.
"Tottenham Court Road," she replied. "I used to come to the theater here with Mum and Dad." Just thinking of her parents caused tears to invade her eyes. "Quickly, this way." She led them into an alley and began pulling clothes out of her handbag.
"Blimey, Hermione, how did you get those to fit in there?" Ron nearly yelled.
"Undetectable Extension Charm. I've had all the essentials packed for days, just in case."
"Thanks, Hermione," Harry told her as he accepted his outfit.
Suddenly, a corporeal patronus in the form of a weasel appeared. In Arthur Weasley's voice, it spoke, "Family safe. Do not reply. We are being watched."
Ron sighed with relief. "That's great. Hopefully they know we're fine."
Hermione nodded and told them, "Now find some space behind one of these dumpsters," before pulling out her own clothes. There was a thump inside the purse. She realized aloud, "That'll be the books."
Once they were all changed, they made there way to a coffee shop where Hermione ordered three cappuccinos for them.
"What about all the people at the wedding?" Harry wondered. "Shouldn't we go back?"
"They're looking for you, mate," Ron told him. "We're better off where we are. Now, where do we go from here? Leaky Cauldron?"
Hermione shook her head. "Too dangerous. If Voldemort really has taken over the Ministry, then none of the old places are safe." She lowered her voice as two men in construction uniforms walked in through the doors.
"So?" Ron prompted her. "Where else can we think of?"
"DUCK!" Harry yelled just as he saw one of the men slip a wand out of his sleeve. They all whipped out there wands and engaged in a very brief battle, the trio quickly wiping out the two wizards.
Just then, the waitress that had taken their order came out from the back and gasped in shock.
"Go!" Hermione demanded. "Leave!"
The woman obeyed without a word, running off.
The trio approached the two wizards they had just beat.
Harry motioned to one. "That one's Dolohov, I think. He was at the Battle of the Department of Mysteries."
"And I'm pretty sure the other one's Rowle," Ron said. "My father once mentioned a Ministry case against him and I saw his picture."
"How did they find us?" Hermione wondered.
Ron shrugged. "I dunno, but we've got to do something."
"Erase their memories," Harry told them as he closed the windows of the shop and locked the door.
Hermione stepped up to the two Death Eaters and muttered, "Obliviate."
"Let's get out of here," Harry said.
"Maybe we should tidy up a bit?" Ron suggested, only eliciting weird looks from his friends. "Alright, alright, let's go."
Three hands met in the middle and they apparated away just as Draco and Voldemort appeared outside the coffee shop.
"It's closed," Draco noted.
"It seems that way," his master spoke as he unlocked the door. "He may still be in here, in which case, you will have to take on whomever he is with."
"Of course, my Lord." Draco could only hope that the trio had made it out of there already.
Voldemort cautiously opened the door so that he could take Potter by surprise, but the interior was completely dark.
"Lumos maxima." Draco's wand lit up the whole shop. There were a few overturned tables and fallen over chairs, indicating the occurrence of some altercation. He and Voldemort carefully stepped past the mess to the back of the shop, where Death Eaters Dolohov and Rowle rested unconsciously on the floor.
"Renner—"
"Wait," Voldemort interrupted Draco. "I shall check their memories first." He dived inside each of their minds while Draco examined the surroundings for anything the trio might have left behind. They both found nothing.
"Rennervate," Draco woke up the Death Eaters.
As Rowle came to, he realized who was standing in front of him and instantly stood. "My Lord," he greeted with a bow. Dolohov quickly followed suit, but then they both looked around.
"My Lord," Dolohov began, "where are we?"
Draco sighed. "Well, you know the Dark Lord does not take failures lightly."
"N-no, of course not!" Rowle sputtered.
"I should kill you both right now," Voldemort told them, "but I have more pressing matters to attend to. Draco, please see to it that they are properly punished and returned to their homes before I change my mind."
"Yes, my Lord," Draco nodded as the Dark Lord vaporized away. He then turned to the two Death Eaters. "I suppose this is your lucky day."
With that, he hit them both with a stunning curse and began working on altering their memories to show that Draco had tortured them with a variety of painful curses. He then transported them back to Malfoy Manor and placed them under Wormtail's care.
"Send these fools home," Draco instructed. "I suspect they'll want some rest now." He added in a dark laugh before leaving the servant and his scowling countenance.
When Wormtail disappeared, Draco made his way down to the dungeons.
"Luna!" he exclaimed when he saw her. She smiled when he entered. "Hello, Draco, and before you say anything else, I'd like to let you know that there was nothing you could do."
"I know, but I can now." When Draco had shoved Rowle and Dolohov into Wormtail's arms, he had casually slipped his hand into the rat's pocket and taken out the key. He took that key out and unlocked the first cell, which contained Luna. He then locked the cell, relieved that Voldemort had mandated the cell system to be updated so they wouldn't have to lock and unlock every single cell when they only needed one.
"How will you explain this?" Luna asked.
"Don't worry about it. Erm, you don't know how to apparate yet, do you?"
Luna shook her head as Draco realized he didn't either, as he had been too busy for the classes last year.
"Well, I supposed I'll just have Wormtail take you. He's been to your house before."
Luna followed Draco out of the dungeon, saying, "I trust you."
Moments later, Wormtail appeared in front of Draco, who immediately Imperiused the man. "Take Luna home and tell her father that if questioned, he should say he found Luna outside walking home."
Fortunately, Wormatil did as told and returned in a timely manner, allowing Draco to change the memory in Wormtail's mind so that it seemed like he dropped his key right into Luna's cell as he rushed out of the dungeon upon hearing Draco. After dropping off the Death Eaters, Wormtail, in accordance with the false memory, was Imperiused by Luna to take her home.
As Wormtail shook his head and started recovering from the mind invasion, Draco made it appear as if he were coming down the stairs.
"What's all the racket?" Draco demanded.
"What?"
Wormtail still seemed out of it, so Draco pushed him further. "I thought I heard someone else a bit ago and now there's no one. What are you up to, rat?"
Draco noted the newly arrived look of shock on Wormtail's face as the former Gryffindor realized what his memory told him he had done.
"I really don't want to call the Dark Lord and have him kill the both of us for finding nothing. So I'll repeat myself: what are you up to?"
Wormtail didn't speak.
"Imperio!" Draco instructed Wormtail to tell him what had happened, according to his memory. Once he blabbed, Draco dragged him to the dungeons and noted that Luna wasn't there before acting angry.
"The Dark Lord will hear about this!" Draco drew Wormtail's left arm and touched the Dark Mark with his wand. Within moments, Voldemort was in front of them.
"Draco Malfoy, this had better be worth my time."
"My Lord, it seems Wormtail has let our prisoner escape," Draco told him, acting outraged. "He must be punished!"
Wormtail hung his head low and attempted to apologize.
Voldemort didn't show any expression on his face as he said, "Silence! Wormtail, you'll come with me now. Draco, you may retire for the day. I will attend to the matter."
"Yes, my Lord," Draco agreed with a bow. The Dark Lord and his unfortunate servant vanished.
Draco brushed off his robe with a smug look before heading upstairs.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! It's already chapter 10 and they haven't even hit September so this will probably be a long book, especially with all of Draco's adventures added in. But I'm super excited about what's to come and hopefully you guys are too!
As always, I encourage you all to share this book with your friends, comment, vote, and keep on reading! Thank you all so much!