Wand at the ready, he rested his free hand lightly on Draco's wrist. The platinum blonde turned his head and Harry mouthed How long since it happened? at him. Minutes, he mouthed back. Observing the house for a few seconds, Draco anew snaked his arm around Harry's waist and apparated them into Kowaku's bedroom. The place was a mess, sheets spread over the floor and bedside tables toppled over, the content of their drawers visible. Silently they moved as shadows through the room. Draco felt the heat of his sister's body still present in the sheets. Furiously he dug his fingers in the soft fabric, clenching his teeth.
"Smells like dark magic," Harry said. "I will alert the Ministry and my teams."
"It will do no good," Draco grunted, sitting down with a sigh. "I was wondering when this would happen."
He bent over, resting his elbows on his knees and resting his forehead against the palms of his hands. Harry thought Draco looked downright abandoned.
"Revenge for past actions?" he enquired, resisting the want to embrace the blonde.
"I have myself covered quite decently in the Wizarding World. I never expected them to go after her."
"Did anyone know of her existence?"
"My parents and I were the only ones."
"Still a name like 'Malfoy' leaves little to the imagination," Harry murmured.
"Malfoys do not change their name."
"Let's hope they don't get killed because of it either," the Auror said, then bit his lip to the point of bleeding at seeing Draco's expression.
"Are you always this kind on your victims?"
"I'm sorry, Drake," Harry said, this time stepping forward and resting his hand in Draco's neck. He gave the man a soft squeeze and was rewarded with a warm hand against his thigh.
"Do you have a list of names of possible perpetrators?"
"More or less any Dark Wizard who knows of the Malfoys' part in the Dark Lord's downfall and family of those who got killed on either side."
"Yeah," Harry said, squinting slightly. "How drole."
"Is that French I hear?"
"Completely beside the point, but yes, it is."
"I have a good guess who is behind this," Draco said, returning to the subject. "She hid her secret well, all these years, but I recognise Bellatrix's touch anywhere."
"Molly killed her."
"So she did," the blonde said, rising from the cooling sheets. "But she also left behind a child."
"Great," Harry smiled sarcastically. "That's all the world needs. A Lestrange out for revenge. How old is this prodigy?"
"I'm guessing she's about seventeen now."
"That's barely of age," the Gryffindor yelled. "Where has the kid been hiding?"
"Precisely the problem. No one knows. Bellatrix wasn't exactly mother material."
"Somebody must have taught her magic."
"Better ask her when we catch her," Draco said, an edge to his voice.
"Okay," Harry agreed. "But how can you be sure?"
"I've been receiving letters over the last few weeks."
Harry immediately sank through his knees and looked at Draco's face.
"And why – pray tell – haven't you alerted the authorities?"
"Those dimwits? Because I can handle a Dark Wizard and like I said, I never thought they would go after Ko."
"You git!"
Draco's eyes flashed angrily and he rose from the bed, Harry mirroring the movement, causing both men to stand chest to chest.
"Who said it was just one wizard!"
"Who said I asked for your opinion?!"
"Dammit, Draco. You should have owled me. Or if you are so averse to me helping you, someone else."
Draco's fist closed around Harry's upper arm. "And who would have cared, Harry? Who would not have thought that it was my just reward?"
Baffled and hurt, the Gryffindor stared at his Slytherin friend.
"Many more people than you give them credit for, Drake," he said softly. "A lot of people have forgiven you."
"I do not want their forgiveness," the blonde growled.
"Why not," the raven-haired man said, closing his hand over Draco's. The blonde tried to escape, but could not. "Why are you the only one who is incapable of forgiving yourself?"
"Green-Eyes," Draco whispered, his voice on the verge of breaking. "Don't do this. Not twice a day."
"We still need to alert the Ministry," Harry repeated, lowering his eyes and stepping back from Draco. He allowed the Slytherin a few seconds to stop the gaps in his mental shield, before speaking further. "They need to know about this Lestrange kid and Hermione has been working on a new way to locate Dark Wizards."
"Please, no." It sounded a lot like the younger Draco.
"Yes," Harry said in a teasing tone.
Draco gave in wordlessly, squeezing his fingers to the bridge of his nose in frustration and waving an impatient hand at Harry to get a move on. This time, Harry flung his arms around Draco, catching The Look right before they apparated into Kingsley's office. The Minister of Magic did not even flinch at the sight before him and merely looked at the two men.
"Yes?"
Harry explained the situation concisely yet accurately, making sure not to forget anything and giving the Minister more details than Draco could have, if his life depended upon it.
"I think this is a good time to test Hermione's new tracking spells," he said finally. "The letters Draco received might help to have this girl's magical essence."
"Magical essence," Draco echoed questioningly.
"I'll let Hermione fill that one in. It's her theory anyway."
"Don't make me sit through a lecture by her," the blonde complained.
"Mind your manners, Draco Malfoy," Hermione said, as she walked into Kingsley's office.
The blonde barely reacted and just raised his pale eyebrow at her.
"Don't make me regret defending you all these years," she said, blunt as ever.
Harry grinned widely at the surprise on the Slytherin's face.
"Although defending you does not quite cover it lately," she added evilly, with a quick eye on Harry, after which she turned to Kingsley, smiling brightly. "You called for me?"
The blonde smiled mischievously at seeing Harry's grin fade into a scowl at Hermione's back. Subtly he closed the little distance between himself and the Gryffindor, both men barely registering the conversation between the Minister and Hermione.
"And just what did she mean by that?"
Harry just snorted in reply, refusing to look at the blonde. Feeling his heart lurch, Draco leaned in a bit closer and whispered into Harry's ear: "I will get the answers out of you, Harry Potter. Mark my words."
Harry shivered, shaking his shoulders and looked up to find both Kingsley and Hermione looking at him expectantly; the first with a sceptical look on his face, the second barely able to hold back her giggles. The Gryffindor immediately took one step away from Draco, felt his cheeks flush and grunted something inaudible. Hermione caught the triumphant look on Draco's face.
"What do you want me to do, Harry?" Hermione asked gently.
"Try and track Bellatrix's daughter with your new spells," Harry said, returning to the situation at hand. "Draco, have you got the letters?"
Without speaking, the blond took them from one of many compartments in his cloak and handed them to Harry. Carefully, he unfolded them, scanning the irregular handwriting and handing them to Hermione one by one. His eyes turned darker with every letter he read and he threw Draco a dangerous look more than once. Considering that Kowaku was now in danger, the platinum blonde realised his mistake all too well.
Hermione put them next to each other on Kingsley's desk, studied all of them, murmuring incantations as she handled each of them. Feeling uneasy, Draco intertwined his fingers pressing them to his lips, the way his mother had always done when his father had been out with the Death Eaters, waiting for her husband's safe return. As minutes went by, the room seemed to darken and Hermione's hands started to shake. Yet her voice never once quavered as she resumed her spells, dragging the information she demanded from the letters, the paper, the ink, and the magic that was bound within. Kingsley rose from his chair and stood beside her, resting his hand on her shoulder.
Kafusei.
Shaken, she breathed in and gave the Minister a grateful smile, before returning to her work. The letters now seemed to burn under her touch, all rising simultaneously from the desk before falling back and returned to their original colour. Immediately the room was back to normal and Hermione sank through her knees. Harry rushed forward, but it was Kingsley who threw an arm around her and helped her stumble to his chair. Speechless the raven-haired man bent through his knees and studied his fellow Gryffindor's face. He gently rested his cool hand against her warm cheek, to which she opened her brown eyes and instantly smiled at seeing him.
"I found her," she said hoarsely. "It was not easy. She is skilled for being such a young Witch, but not skilled enough. Be careful, Harry, she is a dangerous girl."
"But still only a girl," he replied darkly. "Did you see Kowaku?"
"No," Hermione shook her head. "But these spells are meant to locate the Dark Wizard, not the victims or anyone else with them, so it says nothing. You need to go to Wool's Orphanage."
"For Death Eaters and Dark Wizards I must say these guys are melancholic to the bone," Harry said, a wry smile on his face.
"Or too young to come up with something better," Draco put in, appearing behind Harry.
He looked down at Hermione with something of a ponderous look on his face, his silver eyes unreadable. Then he leaned in, looking her square in the eyes.
"Thank you."
Hermione, still exhausted, was speechless for a second, but then smiled at him. Before the Slytherin knew what hit him, she had pulled him into a hug. Draco barely contained the urge to struggle free of her embrace and uneasily patted her on the back.
"Harry," Kingsley said, again skilfully ignoring the scene. "Take your team of Aurors and get Miss Malfoy back. Miss Lestrange has earned a one way ticket to Azkaban. There have been quite enough killings thanks to Voldemort. Get a move on. Now."
Harry instantly turned on his heels. From the corner of his eye he saw a protest about to come from Draco's lips, so he grabbed the blonde by the hand on his way out.
"I will take care of him as well," he said, turning back and looking at Kingsley in his office.
"Don't take him along, Harry. You hear me?"
Harry cunningly made a convincing What, I can't hear you! move with his hand behind his ear and disappeared around the corner, an amused Draco in tow.
"Move," the raven-haired man ordered. "Before he decides to come after us."