Chapter 10 – Bad dreams … and bad news

Draco awoke with a start. He relived those horrible memories of the events on top of the Astronomy Tower again and again in his dreams. Each time he would awake drenched in sweat and near panic. As always, it took him some moments to readjust and recognize where he was. His room was dark and silent. The air seemed stiff. No breeze came in from the gardens. Then he remembered closing the windows the night before because a pair of doves had considered his window sill as the best place to court each other.

As he got up, he wondered why he had awoken early in his nightmare. Usually, he would dream the whole scene at the tower and then some … namely going back to the manor to be punished by the Dark Lord for his failure. And then, more often than not, the nightmares would shift to the dreadful events happening in his home to the one he loved.

This time, however, he only remembered seeing the Death Eaters barging out of the Vanishing Cabinet. Not that he couldn't live without having seen the rest of it. It was a terrible sight to see this scum destroying the school he loved. His aunt had been totally out of it. And why the hell anyone would allow Greyback into a school full of students was still beyond him. After all, he could easily have gone after one of their precious pureblood children.

Draco was so lost in his rather dark thoughts that he nearly jumped when he heard the tap on the window. That must have been what woke him. A beautiful white owl sat on the sill, now, instead of the doves. He recognized her as Harry's. Slightly impatient now, she tapped again at the window though she must have seen him coming over already. "My, you're impatient, Ginger." He said while letting her in. For whatever reason Harry had called his white owl Ginger, Draco would never understand. All Harry said was that all the important females in his life were somehow connected to something ginger when he got her – so his owl which so much resembled his beloved Hedwig had to, too, if only by name. Well, Draco certainly hoped that at least one of these women wouldn't be 'connected' to anything or rather anyone ginger anytime soon.

The owl seemed to pout at him for not coming immediately when she tapped the window the first time. "Merlin, will you give me the letter now? Or should I tell Harry to send that little excuse for an owl, Pigwidgeon, next time?" That did it. Ginger all but threw herself at him, lifted her right leg, to which the letter was attached, and once he had taken it she left – without waiting for a reply or even a treat. 'Wonderful, now she'll be all huffed up and Gin will blame me. What did they have to write at this ungodly hour, anyway?" he thought while tearing open the letter. It was a short scribbled notice from Harry.

I'll be at the Leaky Cauldron. Meet me there asap. I got new hints as to who was involved in the crash. And be nice to Ginger, I woke her after she just returned from a hunt … you know how she is.

'Yeah … she's exactly like me if it comes to be woken up.' Draco thought amused. He already walked over to his closet to get something to dress. Then he put a cleaning charm on himself and left after writing a short note to his mother.

Since he hated apparating and didn't know whether they would go anywhere else, Draco decided to take his broom. On his flight to Diagon Alley he wondered what hints Harry could have gotten now … after all this time. He was also quite surprised that Harry did notify him. True, he had made him promise but he always thought that Harry would try to wiggle out of that.

Once he arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, Draco marched inside looking for Harry. The bar was empty, though. Tom, the landlord, was the only person present.

"Hey Tom. Do you mind giving me a shot of firewhiskey?" He needed something to calm his nerves. "And you haven't by any chance seen Harry here tonight, have you?"

"No, I haven't yet. But as you see, there's not much traffic tonight, anyways. I think I'll close early tonight. You'll get your firewhiskey, though. Do you think Harry will show up anytime soon? For the two of you I could stay a moment …" Draco decided to stop Tom's unusual rambling at that point.

"I got a message from him, so I think he'll come." For some reason, Tom's behaviour made him suspicious. "Anything wrong, Tom?"

The next moment, the door flew open and Harry entered the bar.

"Thank Merlin, Draco, I was afraid they got to you first. We'll have to go somewhere else." He turned to Tom. "Thanks, Tom." Then, he took Draco's arm and dragged him out.

"Okay, just listen, Dray. Someone is trying to drag the Malfoy name in this all. I got a letter from Kingsley today. The ministry could stop the Prophet from writing some bullshit about Hermione being held against her will at Malfoy Manor in the last minute. Skeeter seems to be intent on making a big affair of all of this.

However, I got another letter, today, an anonymous one. It said that the Death Eater attack was a charade to distract us. According to that source, a hit man was commissioned to kill Hermione. The reason was not stated, though. I have no idea whether this is true or not but it would at least explain why we couldn't find any Death Eater in the vicinity after the crash. All of them, who we know of, were recorded to be out of the country or, safely, in Azkaban. How any of them should have been able to make an appearance there and then just vanish again remained a mystery. But if someone only 'played' the Death Eater, it might explain a lot. I mean, we all agreed that it just didn't add up, right? How should Death Eaters have known 'Mione would take the bus? How should they have watched her so closely? And why would they attack her when I was as easy a target? I'll try to see whether this is a hot lead or not.

You have to be even more careful, though. That's why I wanted to meet. The press are after you to get an interview. And you have to even have a closer look as to whom you allow to enter the manor. I know you already are but up to now there was only reason to distrust those with connections to Death Eaters in the past. If indeed the attacker wasn't a Death Eater, though, it could have been anyone."

It took Draco some minutes to digest this.

"So, basically, you're saying that for some reason someone wants her dead? Is there any motive you can think of? I mean, she's Hermione Granger! Who the fuck would want to kill the war heroine except some deranged Death Eaters who'd want revenge?" Draco was fuming by now. He hated the feeling that the last one and a half years were gone by without anybody investigating in the right direction at least.

"That certainly is a good question if the hint is right … I don't know, Dray, but we better find out. You could start by asking Hermione whether she would know anyone. Also, I would like to ask your father whether he could carefully ask around. You know … erm … some of his business acquaintances are, well, operate in … let's say in circles where some people might know about hit men and how they operate. Now, that's it. I will go to the auror department now and you should probably head home. And I'd suggest not to try and hide this from 'Mione. She'll find out anyways." With a grin he turned around and left Draco to his own devices. Grumbling, Draco decided to follow his advice and go home. And then, with next morning's breakfast, he'd again be the one to break the bad news to Hermione.