Chapter 35

And There Would Be Noise

'Something's wrong.' Draco spoke up. They were sipping their tea. The afternoon was growing late. Narcissa was gone. She had left in the morning, after a brief conversation with Anton, one escalating into an argument. She had said she would be back by midday. She hadn't returned yet.

'No.' he shook his head.

'How do you even know any of that?' it was a valid question, he thought. Instead of replying, he scratched his nose, then brushed his forehead, staring straight ahead, hoping that no one will push him for answers.

'I don't' he finally muttered, praying this would be enough. It wasn't. It never was nor ever could be. Once again he was forced to give replies to questions he did not know how to answer. And so he looked at the boy. Pale blonde hair combed back in some pathetic attempt at normalcy, slightly sunken, bordering on gaunt face, shrunken frame, and hunched shoulders. He had changed, more so than anyone else, during those past weeks. A shadow of a haughty boy. A broken man, who was learning how to grow up. It felt bad.

'We should… dunno… do something.' Draco, under his scrutiny, pushed his chin up in some mock defiance. 'It does not do well… to dwell' he smiled sheepishly at the rhyme.

'Yeah' he nodded 'possibly so.' Once again he scratched his chin 'But what? We can't really storm in in some random attempt at, dunno, chivalry.'

'They're missing.' Draco immediately hissed. 'We can't seat on our arses and wait for some bloody miracle.'

'Arses, huh?' he shot back, a grin misshaping his lips.

'Shut up.' Draco leered, but without real viciousness behind it.

In silence they finished their teas. Afternoon was heavy and dark, with rain pelting from the swollen sky and icy blasts of wind thundering against the windowpanes. The house felt warm, a semblance of sanctuary, like Hogwarts used to be, those months – or was it years already? – ago.

The stairs creaked and soon Anton entered the kitchen. Hands pushed into the pockets of his pants, eyebrows knitted tightly together, he looked restless and tired. Without a word he threw himself on a chair and stretched his legs.

'Some weather, eh?' he muttered.

'Yeah. Lovely.' He smiled. As far as conversations went, this was quite awful. They were stuck, literally and figuratively at the same time. 'Have you heard -?'

'No.' Anton shook his head 'not a word.'

Silence followed. Another blast of wind shook the window, glass rattling in an almost threatening manner.

''S no good.' Draco muttered ''s no good.'

'We ought to do…. Something.' He said instantly. Sitting home while others were possibly in dire straits felt disturbing. Not only the world went to hell, but also he was immobilized, a nightmare made real.

'Yeah, but what?' Anton's brows knitted even more tightly, a vertical line between them growing deeper and darker, now resembling a scar rather than anything else. The man looked dark, an apparition out of children's book, out of its grave and ready to haunt the world of the living 'We have no leads, we have nothing.'

'It can't be' he said slowly, thinking hard 'all that bad. I mean, she's… tough, isn't she? She ought to… pull through.'

'It's not her I'm worried about.'

'No?' he stood up, picked the cup and walked to the sink 'What is it then?'

'Time.'

'Time?'

'Don't be daft, boy' Anton growled tiredly 'time's our greatest enemy.'

'Maybe she's onto something?' he rinsed the cup in cool water and placed in on the marble top.

'Maybe yes, maybe no, who knows and time's ticking away.'

'Trust her.' He shot and turned to face the man. Their eyes met halfway across the room. Anton smiled bitterly.

'I trust her.' He said slowly.

'But?'

'I don't know' he looked away 'if that's enough.'

Once again silence fell. Harry felt almost compelled to do something. So instead he pushed his hair back and glanced at Draco, who was fidgeting in his seat and toying with his cup. Probably sensing his gaze, the blonde looked up, face blank yet eyes alert, sad.

'He's right, you know' he nodded his head towards Anton '… it's been too long.'

'Look.' Harry sighed. 'I know about Muggle transportation a tad more than any of you. Trains get delayed, buses get stuck in a traffic, shit happens.' He almost choked on the last two words. It probably had something to do with finding a DVD copy of Trainspotting at four am and then binge-watching all Danny Boyle films straight into morning. Now his head was full of swearwords, innuendos and really tasteless pun.

'Yeah.' Anton shook his head like a dog trying to get water out of its fur 'It's plausible. What about them, though?'

'How would we…' Harry bit his lower lip 'If we were to find them…' his voice trailed off once again 'How do you look for people?'

'What?' Anton's eyebrow shot up.

'How do you…dunno, track people? Magic-wise?'

'There are…spells.'

'Are they traceable? Hermione and Bellatrix?'

'Unless they're in some magic-proof place, or there're certain enchantments on, like in Hogwarts, they ought to be.'

'Could we trace them?' excitement flooded him.

'What if it blows their cover?' Draco cut in, sharply, eyes thunderous.

'It's worth the risk.' He answered meekly. He was not really certain, but surely anything was better than nothing, right?

'Oh is it?' the blonde drawled icily. 'Speedy Harry, wondrous Harry, Harry the white knight in shining armor, always rushing in to save the day… Not thinking about the consequences.'

'Can it.' He found himself snapping. Shut your trap you dumbass, you know shite. Two pairs of eyes locked into him 'Look' he added apologetically 'let's set a deadline, or something. If your mum isn't back by, dunno, tomorrow morning, we go look for her. She went to Cambridge. People get stuck in places. She has no phone. Blimey, she probably hasn't got a clue as to how does one use it, so it'd take her much longer to get around. But' he pointed his finger 'if she's not back by morning, I'll –' he cut himself off.

Was it really such a grand idea to go looking for Madame Malfoy? Wouldn't it be better to send someone else? They've sent so many people out there, and none has reported back. Snape was kind of missing. Hermione and Bellatrix were probably too. Now, Narcissa had gone out solo and she was running late. It felt like a stupid horror movie. Instead of sticking together, they were splitting up.

And inadvertently getting lost.

Bollocks. How many more? Should they split up or should they search? How should be sent out there?

'What?' Draco's voice cut into his musings. The blonde finally stood up and stretched. His joints popped and he exhaled loudly through his nose. He picked his cup up, lifted it and examined in the lamplight. For split seconds he looked as though he was marveling at the mysteries of the magical universe. Then he shifted his gaze and looked him dead in the eye. There was no malice in those palely irises, merely extreme exhaustion and some amount of immense sadness 'You'll go on your own?'

'I –' he began, but had nothing sensible to say, so he snapped his jaw shut. He removed his glasses and wiped them with his shirt and then put them back on. It was stalling, but a stalling he was used to. Being bespectacled had its pros. 'Look' he cleared his throat 'it's bad we're splitting up. But then again we can't go all out, can we? I know how the Muggle world works.'

'You can't go solo, boy.' Anton drawled grumpily 'Not only you're on his hit list, the Undesirable Number One, but also you're a kid in the Muggle world's eye, aren't you?'

He was learning. Anton, the notorious Death Eater, was actually learning the quirks the world he had so despised not so long ago. Truly, how the world moved, was a marvel unparalleled by anything.

'Yeah, but the more we split –' he began, but Draco cut him off.

'You'll go under disguise. Not magical. Muggle. You do have ways, don't you?' the blonde then shifted his gaze to Anton. 'And you'll go with him.' He walked towards the sink and finally let go off the cup. He placed it gently and looked at it for some time 'If Mother's not back, that is.' He added in a mournful whisper.

It was truly a horrendous situation.

A/N:

Well, you guys, I don't have words. I'm so sorry it took me ages to update and I'm sorry it's such a short chapter. Life's a cruel mistress, sometimes, and I was busier than Hogwarts El during Christmas. Or something.

As of again, thank you for your patience, support, remarks, comments, opinions. I treasure them all and am extremely grateful for each and every single comment you've made. I will try to do better in the future.

Cheers, Chris.