A/N: Hello! Here is another chapter! I hope you enjoy it. :D

Big thank yous to everyone who reviewed, alerted and favorited this story. So thank you to The Green Eyes and BloodyRose90. You are sweet. Paige Taylor: I love getting reviews. I like it when people let me know how the story is working or not working and I appreciate every comment, even the less than coherent ones. Thank you for coming to my defense, saying people should review more. Hint hint. But not to worry, I won't withhold chapters because I want more reviews. This story would continue even if I didn't get any because I simply like writing and I know people are reading ;)

Warnings: Snape is annoyed, Ron is picking fights and Hermione is a know-it-all... but then, so is Andy.

.XXVI.

"Where is he?"

The peaceful family sitting down to a very late dinner started at the billowing entrance of an incredibly irate vampire.

Andy, red eyed and blotchy face, looked up as Severus swooped in from the door. She shook her head and winced as Severus released a snarl. "We don't know, Severus, but please keep your voice down. Teddy just settled to sleep."

Severus ignored her comment and turned to Draco who seemed low and completely lost. "Well then, when was the last time you saw him?" The anger rolled off the vampire in droves.

Draco struggled, ignoring the guilt he felt when he thought about his initial search for the other boy. He was delayed by Molly at the Burrow until after lunch when he finally was able to excuse himself. He had just flooed in to the living room at Spinner's End when two burly men in uniform grabbed him by the arms and wrestled him outside. For hours he was detained, and questioned on why there was a gasbomb released at that address and if it was a terrorist attack. They fired question after question at him as if they were spells and Draco was unable to understand most of them. They were talking about something to do with chemical agents and explosives and terrorist movements. They ransacked the entire upper floor of the building and asking him about the occult and whether he was an avid practitioner. Needless to say, Draco was confused.

The moment they left Draco alone, with an open window, he was gone, shifting not without effort and winging quickly back to Andy's. He didn't even get a chance to ask those men about Harry.

"Last night." Draco whispered. "He went to bring you the blood and didn't come back again."

Severus growled and then groaned, pressing his fingers tightly against the bridge of his nose. "I spoke to him last night." He said gratingly. "And he was in the house this morning, I knew that much." Severus sank down in the only extra seat, a tall stool that was set at the table for Harry. "When I woke this evening, only an hour ago, I was aware of people in my house, people who did not belong. The police."

"The what?" Narcissa questioned, speaking for the first time to the vampire she had only heard of. She knew them to be a muggle occupation of some sort but was convinced that they worked in garbage disposal.

"The police, woman! Do not interrupt!" Severus snarled at Narcissa, unable to tolerate the woman during the best of times.

He took a deep breath and glared at the table. "The house was filled with noxious fumes, designed to fill the lungs and enter the blood stream. It is a means of weakening an opponent, especially one of superior magical strength, to make the kill easier."

Andy gasped suddenly, her eyes filling with tears. "Oh no, Harry." She whispered. "You foolish child, I didn't even think—"

"Andromeda! What are you babbling about?"

"It was weeks ago and Molly and I didn't think anything of it though Arthur wanted to go to the ministry but I knew Harry would never agree to it…"

Severus made a threatening sound in the back of his throat and Draco gulped, leaning away from the man sitting beside him.

Andy took her turn to stare down the vampire. "A howler came and threatened Harry, blaming him for the loss of his family. We don't know who sent it."

"What happened?"

Andy narrowed her eyes in thought. "It exploded in the usual manner when it was left, untended, but it destroyed the Weasley's table and some of the sideboard."

"That wasn't a normal howler." Severus said softly, accusation running deeply in his voice.

"No." Andy agreed.

The floo flared up and Draco excused himself gratefully, checking to see, hoping to see Harry standing there.

It was Granger and Weasley. "Sorry it took so long." Granger panted, pulling a bag from her shoulder. She tossed it to Draco who caught it absentmindedly.

Weasley fussed with something else and ended up dropping it with a ringing bang.

"What is that?" Draco asked in disgust as Weasley tried to balance it in his arms with a large white book.

"Fellytone!" Weasley said proudly, trying to hold it up and almost dropping it again.

"A telephone, you incompetent—"

Draco spun around, despairing when he saw Severus standing rather closer than comfort.

"— ignoramus. There is no use for that, regardless of your intelligence, or lack thereof."

"But we need to find…" Granger started but quelled under the thunderous look on Severus's face. The two women entered the living room to see what the fuss was about.

"Oh good!" Andy said, clapping. "You brought it. I know we have a phone jack in the kitchen."

Severus stopped her with a look. "And the meaning of this is…?"

"We need to find Harry." Andy said fiercely which was dampened by her still red eyes. "We're going to call every hospital in Great Britain if needs be!"

"The boy is dead." Severus stated coldly, "or he will be soon which lands squarely on your shoulders."

"What are you talking about?" Weasley demanded. "Andy didn't do anything and if we have a chance—"

"There is no chance." Was ripped through Severus's clenched teeth. "He is dead or soon will be!"

"Severus, shut up!" Draco yelled, unable to take it anymore. "He isn't dead, alright. You seem to be forgetting who you're talking about. Harry doesn't die. Not even when the killing curse is cast at him."

Severus sneered. "Afraid of heart break, are you?" He stepped forward possessively. "And you seem to be forgetting, boy, that Harry only survived all those years, all those blasted deadly adventures of his, because of me."

"Hey!" Weasley asserted, trying, and failing to understand, though by his face, he was truly starting to suspect that something was happening between his best friend and this blond ferret.

"No! Severus. You don't know. That wasn't you who saved him that night." Draco said forcefully, ignoring everyone else except for the enraged vampire.

"How would you know, pathetic little coward that you are. You were hiding in the castle and the Dark Lord, minutes before he killed me, told me that you had deflected." It was like a bow pulled on his bottom lip, stretching his mouth into the parody of a smile. It was more terrifying than the snarl or sneer. "Be glad you're little hero won, for you would have been worse than dead or soul deprived."

Draco gulped but stood strong and opened his mouth to form a retort.

"He's right." A lilting voice from behind Severus spoke. Narcissa stood, straight and tall, staring at Severus.

"What?" Severus asked, annoyance crossing his face at continually being argued with.

"Harry Potter did not require your assistance. He was struck by the dark lord's killing curse but did not die. Nor did he feel the pain from the subsequent torture."

He let out a laugh, cruel and terrible as anything the Dark Lord emitted. "The boy had to die, though it wasn't his body that mad man killed, it was a piece of his own soul!"

Narcissa raised a single brow, "And the pain?" she questioned.

Severus shrugged. "Perhaps he had better self control than I thought. He is still dead. And I will die too, after I find the one responsible."

He stalked out of the room and Draco could hear the door open and slam shut followed by a chocked sob from Granger and open weeping from Andy.

Draco stared at the far wall. "He's not dead. There is no way Harry would die so easily." Then he quietly retired to Harry's room and crawled into bed, lacking the energy to continue.

"Yes. Yes. Thank you. I understand. Thank you." Andy pressed the phone down into the cradle and buried her face into her palms.

"Aunt?"

Andy turned her head and breathed in, wiping her eyes. "Sorry, Draco." She said. "I can't find him. There are so many- so many nameless patients and none of them match Harry's description."

"Are there any other places in the muggle world we can try?" Draco asked, not even bothering to try and hide his uncertainty.

"I just don't know, dear. Hermione is looking into it."

Draco sighed and patted his aunt's hand before getting up. It was high noon and Granger and Weasley had been out all morning, trying to gather more information but without outright admitting to knowing whose house had been attacked, it was rather tricky business and something only someone truly comfortable in the muggle world would be able to accomplish.

Draco just hoped that Granger lived up to her 'know-it-all' reputation.