"Where is my mother?" Draco demanded to know the minute Blaise walked out of the room.
"Helping Potter," Blaise told him. "She cleared herself as a suspect and now she's helping. Never thought I'd see the day."
"I don't think we ever anticipated I'd fall for Hermione Granger either," Draco pointed out dryly. "Mother helping Potter isn't the weirdest thing that's happened as of late."
"True, true," Blaise said. "How are you holding up?"
"I miss her," Draco murmured. "She hasn't even been gone that long and I miss her. I'm worried for her. I want to kill whoever did this."
"Well as your advocate," Blaise replied. "I'm going to have to advise you NOT to kill anyone. You're almost through with the final phase, I'd really hate to see you blow it now."
"What if something happens to her?" Draco asked, the anguish beginning to reveal itself on his face. "I just got her, I can't lose her."
"If anyone can take care of themselves, it's Hermione Granger," Blaise replied. "I bet she's sitting there right now, trying to find a way out of wherever she is. I've got to go, I'll be back soon."
Draco watched as Blaise walked out of the auror department. There was nothing he could do, he thought. So he went back to pacing.
Trying to figure a way out was exactly what Hermione was doing. She'd woken up hungry but feeling surprisingly well rested. She didn't want to test her magic though, she knew she'd need her strength. She was currently trying to roll on the mattress to see how far she could get the rope to go. As long as she stayed fully on the mattress, the rope would allow her to move. Hermione began to try to scoot the mattress and herself, closer to the door, feeling the rope give as she went. She made it halfway across the room before she heard a sound on the other side of the door. As quickly as she could she scooted back to where the mattress had been and, by the time the door opened, she was sitting on top of it as if nothing had happened. Her captor looked at her (she assumed since she couldn't see their eyes) and moved toward her.
"I'm hungry," she said quietly, allowing her voice to quiver a little.
Her captor stopped and resumed staring in her direction.
"Can I please have something to eat?" she asked, doing her best sad puppy look.
Her captor responded by moving next to her and pulling out a small knife. Hermione tried to fight but he slid the blade down her arm, lightly but enough to draw blood. The captor wore gloves, she noticed. Didn't want to soil their hands with her blood. They covered the gash on her arm with their left hand, allowing it to soak into the handkerchief she now saw was in the hand.
"What's that for?" Hermione wanted to know.
"To let him know we're serious," the captor hissed.
"Him?" Hermione questioned. "Who? Who is we?"
"Draco Malfoy!" the captor shouted, the voice losing most of it's hiss.
A man, Hermione realized. Definitely a man.
"What does Draco have to do with anything?" Hermione asked.
"Do you really think he'd be allowed to do it and not pay the consequences?" he raged, the hiss completely gone.
Recognition hit Hermione like the Hogwarts Express and flitted across her face too obviously for him to miss it.
"You know who I am," he said.
"Why?" Hermione asked. "I don't understand, I thought you were-"
"Silencio," he replied, quieting Hermione with a flick of his wand. "You'll see him again soon enough. Then you'll understand."
Hermione stared at the man, still shocked by who it was.
"Here," he said and Hermione turned her attention to him. "Eat this."
He tossed her an apple and she barely managed to catch it.
"I'll be back soon," he told her and walked out of the room.
Why would he do this? Hermione thought, as she bit into the apple. How could he do this?
Then all of a sudden she was hit with a wave of exhaustion. He'd put a sleeping draught in the apple she realized, and she should have known better. She slid to the matt, unconscious, before she could scold herself further.
"Whoever did this was very good," Narcissa commented, speaking to Harry for the first time in over an hour. They were only halfway through the box of letters to Lucius. "Everything in these letters sounds exactly like a letter a wife would write to her husband."
"But?" Harry asked, sensing she had more to say.
"But it references places, people, items that I've never heard of or seen," she told him.
Harry's interest peaked immediately. "Like what?" he asked, sliding around to her side of the table.
"Like this letter," Narcissa said, pulling one she'd set aside. "The letter goes on and on about the repairs at our summer home in Galway, Ireland."
"So?" Harry asked, annoyed. "Didn't want him repairing it?"
"We don't have a summer home in Galway," Narcissa told him, giving him a look. "Lucius has never even been to Ireland as far as I know."
"It's a code," Harry realized, snatching the letter from Narcissa. "They're discussing a plan or something. What else in the letters doesn't make sense to you?"
"Well this one," Narcissa said pulling another letter from the pile. "This one talks about destroying the Manor, the Manor has been in the Malfoy family for hundreds of years, Lucius would never agree to something like that."
"Wait," Harry said, looking through the letters again. "All of these letters are from 'you' to Lucius. Where are his responses?"
Harry moved quickly back around the table and began sifting through the box. "Here they are!" he said, grabbing a thick stack of letters from the bottom of the box. "I need to take these to my team. They can put them in date order faster than the two of us can together. Then we'll go through them, one by one, and you can tell me exactly what stands out in each letter."
Narcissa rose as well. "Draco should be included, Mr. Potter," she said. "Don't make me remind you that I pronounced you dead before the Dark Lord."
Harry stared at her mouth open for a moment before he grinned. "I can see you were sorted into the right house," Harry replied. "And I mean that with all due respect."
Narcissa gave him a small smile back and followed him out of the room.
Draco nearly jumped on Harry when he came out.
"What the bloody hell is going on Potter?" Draco snapped.
"Draco, language," his mother scolded.
"Come on in Malfoy," Harry replied. "I'll fill you in as soon as I set my team to work."
Harry walked back into the room and stood at the front.
"Anything to report?" he asked.
"Hermione was abducted from the alley behind the muggle building that holds the entrance to St. Mungo's," Seamus reported. "But we could tell where she was taken to. Honestly Harry other than that, we haven't got shit. Apologies m'am," he added, when he saw Narcissa standing behind Harry.
"I have a new lead for you to follow," Harry told them. "Two of you will research everything you can about homes under repair in Galway, Ireland. There's a chance Hermione was taken somewhere near there. If you find anything resembling a lead, Ron, you go with them."
"Three of you, Seamus included, I need this box of letters put in date order as quickly as you can do it. Split the stacks, do whatever you have to do."
"You know there's a spell for that," Ron cut in. "Hermione came up with it fourth year."
"You serious?" Harry asked, looking surprised. "And you remember it?"
"Ordino," Ron said, pulling out his wand and casting the spell over the box. "Tempus."
The papers flew into the air and began to glow.
"Are you sure you did it right?" Draco asked amused.
"Quiet Malfoy," Ron retorted. "Give it a minute."
Sure enough, the papers began to neatly stack themselves and two minutes later, they lay in a perfect pile on the desk. Harry picked up the first few and grinned.
"They're in date order," he said, awed. "Ron, that's fantastic!"
"Don't sound so surprised," Ron said, trying to sound hurt but ending up sounding proud. "Some of the knowledge Hermione drowned us in stuck."
Draco felt a flash of pain in his chest, hearing them talk about her. "Can we stop being proud of Weasley and can someone tell me what's going on?" he snapped.
"These are the letters your mum supposedly wrote to your dad," Harry told him. "She didn't write them though and, while she was reading through them, she noticed things that didn't fit, so now, we're going to go through, letter by letter, and see what we can piece together based on what your mother says doesn't fit."
"They were speaking in code," Draco said. "Using seemingly silly conversation to discuss plans. My father knows something."
"Which is why while your mother goes through the letters with Seamus, you and I are going to Azkaban," Harry replied.
"You and I?" Draco asked. "Are you mad? I'm not going back there."
"Yes, you are," Harry told him. "You want your girlfriend back?"
"Of course I do," he snapped.
"Then you'll do this," Harry said. "For her."
Harry waited for Draco to respond and when he didn't, Harry seemed satisfied that Draco would help him.
"You all know what you need to do," Harry told the group. "I expect everything to be done by the time I get back. Let's go Malfoy."
Harry walked out of the room. Draco kissed his mother, then followed.
A/N: Oh a visit to Lucius, how fun! Posting this chapter as I attempt to not burn my dinner. AH! Review, favorite, enjoy!