Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling. This is a work of fiction and is for entertainment only. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter 10

"Good morning Hermione," Harry whispered to her as she lay in his guest room. Hermione opened up to see his beautiful green eyes and smiled.

"Hi, Harry," she said.

He gave her a gentle kiss. "You are lovely even in the mornings," Harry said.

Hermione playfully pushed him away. "Not true so don't even go there," she said. "Get going so I can go to the loo."

Harry pouted but walked away. Soon she came into the kitchen where he was standing pouring tea and having a bit of toast. She walked up behind him and put her arms around his waist, leaning in close.

Harry turned around and hugged her. "Time for a proper snogging session," he whispered and leaned down to her. The kiss deepened until Hermione pulled away, smiled and said, "Harry if we don't stop, this tea will be way too cold to drink you know?"

"So?" he asked.

"So, if we are late Wooster AND Ron will have too many questions we don't want to answer right now and we have questions enough to deal with today," she answered.

"Okay," he said. "Last one dressed pays for lunch today!" And they both rushed into their rooms to get ready. Luckily Harry kept some extra things in his guest room or Hermione would not have been able to brush her teeth, something she couldn't bear, having been brought up by dentists. She also kept one of her older outfits in the closet for just such occasions, so she would be fine.

At last they were ready and after a quick look around, they left and walked to the Leaky Cauldron. As the pair came in, talk in the bar went silent. Harry looked at Tom questioningly and Tom came over with a copy of The Daily Prophet. The front page headline glared at them. MALFOY HEIR KILLED AT MINISTRY it read. They glanced at each other and then quickly back down at the page and began to read. According to the aricle, during the previous night, Malfoy had overpowered a guard, grabbed his wand and then cast a curse that had luckily missed the guard but had rebounded, knocking Malfoy powerfully into the stone wall and killing him instantly. An investigation had begun into the incident.

"We had better go quickly," Harry said and grabbed Hermione's hand, walked to the back alleyway and disapparated.

Harry and Hermione arrived just before Ron and, when he did, they all started talking at the same time. Ron had already seen the article and they were all astounded at the news. Arriving at Wooster's office they were ushered in immediately.

Wooster motioned for them all to sit and he spoke to them from behind his desk. "I suppose you have all read the Prophet article by now and are wondering what happened?" he asked. As they nodded, he continued speaking. "The article is false," he said. "The minister and I decided last night that since Lucius had had enough time to realize that Draco was gone, and was without a wand since Lucius took it himself, he would be suspicious of his son's motives. So, we decided that for Draco's safety and our own purposes we would put it out that Draco was killed."

The trio looked round at each other. Harry had the strangest feeling. On the one hand, he was sorry that Malfoy hadn't been killed. It seemed he certainly deserved it. On the other hand, though, Harry realized with a sense of acute wonder, that he didn't want Malfoy dead at all. What he wanted, needed, was for there to be some redemption out of this whole mess. He looked up at Wooster and inquired, "So, what do we do now?"

"Well," Wooster replied, "I think we have three major tasks ahead of us. First of all, the Minister is going to visit the muggle Prime Minister later today to make him aware of the situation and see if the Portsmouth celebration can be postponed. Second, Potter, you, Weasley and Granger need to talk further with Draco to get information on where his father has been hiding most recently. Third, you also need to get him to give you the whereabouts of his relatives abroad so that we can begin to trace Narcissa. I have a feeling that if we could find her, she might be of some help to us as well as her son."

"We'll go in straight away, sir," Hermione said. "Just let me grab a quill and parchment from my desk."

The trio walked down the hall to the same room Draco had been in the evening before. Draco stood as they walked into the room and then sat again, looking quite defeated. It was obvious that he had not slept much at all. "Hello, Weasley," he said.

"Malfoy," Ron grunted. "Risen from the dead, have you?"

"I have you to thank for that Potter," Malfoy said. "After you left last night, the Minister came in and told me that it seemed that you were at least partially convinced that I am being honest and they felt that my 'death' would be to the advantage of everyone. Once again I am in your debt."

"You'll do well to remember it," Harry replied.

"Yeah, just remember it when you decide to mess us around, Malfoy," said Ron with bitterness. "My brother is dead thanks to you and yours and I can hardly stand being in this room with you. But our boss has given us orders. We need for you to start listing places where your father and his cronies have been most recently. Then we'll take the names and addresses of your relatives so that we can begin a search for your mother."

"Weasley, I know that apologizing about Fred isn't nearly good enough but I am truly sorry. I can't imagine how you and your whole family must be feeling. And don't worry, there will be no 'messing you around' Ron. None of you. Those days are done. I know I will end up in Azkaban, and I will have to live with that, but I refuse to help my father kill or hurt anyone else! The remorse I live with everyday is a living torture. The only thing keeping me going now is the hope that one day I will have a small moment of peace from the thoughts that haunt me constantly, if I can help you all prevent my father from doing any more harm."

Hermione spoke up then. "Draco, can you give us addresses or some type of markers so that we might begin to find your father? I don't think that many of us are very familiar with Portsmouth. I remember going there once on a school trip in primary days, but those are certainly not helpful memories for this."

Harry reached for the quill and parchment and began to write as Draco began to talk. One of the places he particularly felt that they should check was the birthplace of the muggle writer Charles Dickens. "Who?" Ron asked.

"Charles Dickens," said Harry and Hermione together.

"He wrote a lot of famous muggle stories, mostly about orphans," said Harry.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "A bit more than just orphans, Harry," she said.

"His birthplace is in Portsmouth, not far from the historic dockyard," Draco said. "One of the men has a sort of safehouse built underneath it. Mad! Thinks it is funny to startle tourists with noises and such when they come in to look around. People think it's haunted. Safehouse can be entered through the muggle sewer access out front. It's not a real access, just enchanted for the muggles."

"Disgusting," Ron said.

"Yeah, well these aren't the most gracious of men with whom my father and his cousin keep company these days," Draco said.

Before they stopped for lunch, Draco gave out a few more places where the men often met and he began to list relatives living in France and Germany, the places he thought his mother might have gone to first. "She won't be killed, will she?" Draco asked with fear in his eyes.

"Draco," said Hermione, "it will serve no one for your mother to die. We all know what happened in the forest with Voldemort. We know she lied to get to you but ended up saving Harry's life We know that she probably holds the key to locking your father up forever. She will likely go to Azkaban, at least for a while, but it is in no one's interest for her to die. We can't promise anything, of course, because it will partly depend on her, but I don't think you need to worry a great deal about her being killed."

"Well, I feel terrible, giving up my own mother," Draco said, his head in his hands. "But I know she will be safer in Azkaban than anywhere that my father might find her."

"Malfoy, you have to remember that she made her own choices, and she wasn't always thinking of you as she should have," said Harry.

"Yes, Potter, I know, but she is still my mother and I don't want to be responsible for her death," Draco said.

"If she dies, it will be her fault, Draco, not yours," said Hermione.

"I just wish I could believe that," he said.