It was the day after Christmas, and Alexandra awoke feeling guilty and disgraced as the events of the prior night flooded back into her memory. She looked over at her bedside table and saw the chain sitting there. She picked it up stuffed it in her drawer; she didn't want to look at it.

"Morning, Alexandra," Dudley said, coming into her room.

"You're not going to work today, are you?" Alexandra asked, looking at her father's suit.

"Have to," he sighed. "Big project to present today. I'm going to try to get home early, though, maybe around four."

"Okay," she nodded.

"There's lunch in the fridge," Dudley told her. "And I'm leaving my laptop here, so you can play on it all you want. Oh," he added. "Um, don't forget to call your mum. She said to call her after Christmas and, well, it's after Christmas."

Alexandra tried not to look panicked. "Okay, dad. I will. See you when you get home."

"Bye, sweetheart," he said, kissing the top of her head. "Call me if you need anything."

Alexandra waited until she heard the front door close and Dudley's car start until she got out of bed. She went into the kitchen and tried to eat a piece of toast, but found that she was not hungry. Figuring she might as well get the phone call out of the way, she grabbed the piece of paper Dudley had left her mother's number on, picked up the phone, and dialed.

Claridina picked up on the first ring.

"Alexandra," she said in that horrible voice of hers. "Good news, I hope? Have you retrieved the necklace?"

"I-I got it," she said shakily.

"Excellent," Claridina said. "Most excellent. There were no troubles?"

"No," she said softly. "No one knew I took it."

"I knew you could do it," Claridina said, and Alexandra felt sick to her stomach.

"I'll give it to your son at school," Alexandra said. "Now please leave me and my dad alone. I've already told you I don't want to-"

"Now, Alexandra," Claridina cut her off. "I've been waiting for quite some time to get that necklace back. I don't think I can stand to wait much longer. Your father's away at work, correct?"

"What? Yes, he is, but-"

"I'll have someone at your door in less than an hour to collect it," Claridina said firmly. And then the line went dead.

…

"Dad, dad!" James said, shaking his father awake.

"What time is it?" Harry groaned, reaching for his glasses.

"A little past eight," James replied. "But there's someone at the Floo for you. I couldn't make out their face, but they were calling your name."

Harry jerked up. "Thanks, James."

"Who is it?" James asked as Harry threw on his robe.

"Just someone from work," Harry said quickly.

"An Auror?"

"Er, yes," Harry nodded. "James, you know what? Why don't you go get my broom from the shed out back and have a go on it."

"Really?" James exclaimed, his eyes growing wide. "Yes!"

"Is it Malfoy?" Ginny asked sleepily as James ran from the room.

"Has to be," Harry nodded, heading out of the room. "Go back to sleep, Gin."

Luckily, Albus and Lily were still fast asleep. Harry hurried into the living room where he saw Draco's face sitting in the flames.

"I was about to give up," he said as Harry approached the fireplace. "Thought you weren't home."

"I'm here," Harry said. "What's going on there? We haven't heard from you in some time."

"She's been keeping me under he nose," he explained. "But she's finally starting to put more trust in me."

"She still hasn't told you where you are?"

"Wouldn't matter if she did," Draco said. "She's got a Fidelius Charm around here, and I've got no idea who the Secret Keeper could be."

"Right," Harry nodded. "Figures."

"And about the attack at the muggle playground," he continued. "That wasn't her planning at all. Her followers did-"

"I know, they did it on their own," Harry nodded. "We managed to catch one of them and bring him in for questioning."

"She let them go have a bit of fun," Draco said. "Because she was very, very pleased. Her-Her plan's nearly done."

"You still have no idea what's happening with that?"

"I've found out a bit more," Draco said. "She said it's going to take place at nightfall…and she mentioned something about a big event; anything happening at night in the next few months?"

"Nothing that comes to mind," Harry said. "I'll have someone look at that from the Ministry, though."

"That's all I've managed to overhear; like I said, she doesn't discuss the plan with me."

"It's a start," Harry said. "We can tighten security at night now, and if there are any events coming up, we'll cancel them."

"There's-there's one more thing."

"What?"

"This morning I walked past her office," Draco said. "And she was talking, but I couldn't hear anyone answer back."

"What was she saying?"

"Something about a necklace," Draco said. "I-I thought maybe it could be the necklace I gave to you months ago, but why would she be mentioning it now? She hasn't had it for over a decade."

"It didn't seem like anything special when I looked at it," Harry said. "I'll have another glance at it, though."

"Good, good," Draco nodded. "Hopefully next time I talk to you I'll be able to feed you more information."

Harry nodded. "You're doing well. You're…you're really helping us out a lot."

Draco looked right at Harry. "My son…is-is he safe?"

"He's in hiding with your wife and parents right now," Harry told him softly. "We had three Aurors escort him to there from the train, and we'll have three more take him back to the station when the holiday's over."

Draco looked relieved. "Thank you, Harry."

Harry blinked. In all his life, he had never remembered Draco using his first name except when they were in school and he would tauntingly call him 'The Famous Harry Potter'."

"You're welcome, Draco."

Draco gave him a nod, and his face disappeared from the fireplace.

Harry stood up slowly and started towards his office. He hadn't looked at the necklace in months. Not being able to figure out any sort of significance behind it had made him infuriated. He turned the light on in the office and walked over to his cluttered desk. He took out his wand and pointed it at the lock on the desk drawer and muttered, "Alohamora."

The lock clicked and Harry pulled the drawer open. He rustled through pictures of his parents and the little piece of mirror left from the gift Sirius had given him, searching for the golden chain. Harry frowned and pulled out the drawer all the way and emptied the contents onto his chair. He felt his blood run cold; the necklace was nowhere to be seen.