Narcissa Malfoy ESCAPED!
The wife of Death Eater Lucius Malfoy and Mother to recently redeemed ex-Death Eater Draco Malfoy was discovered to have escaped sometime yesterday morning from her heavily guarded room in St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Mrs. Malfoy had been serving a sentence at Azkaban Prison and was expected to remain there for the foreseeable future. Following a sudden illness, the details of which we have not been exclusively privy to, Mrs. Malfoy was removed from the prison to receive treatment, only to disappear from her hospital bed inexplicably sometime Thursday morning.
The guards and healers who were brought in for questioning seemed to have been confunded, unable to recall any suspicious activity that may have led to the escape. As Azkaban residents are not permitted to carry wands, and it is highly unlikely that Mrs. Malfoy performed wandless magic in her condition, it can only be concluded that accomplices were involved. However, the hospital holds no record of any visitors to the floor, and nor can the prison or hospital staff involved tell us anything of note in regard to the matter.
"Truly it is a dizzying and unexpected turn of events. The hospital, along with the Auror office will be conducting a full enquiry. Presumably, if our staff have been confunded, we will be able to restore their memories and discover who the culprit was," said Miriam Strout, recently appointed Head of Hospital. "We can only hope there is no Death Eater involvement in this matter."
Blaise stopped reading and looked up at Draco.
"They're going to want you in for questioning."
Draco heard him, but couldn't break from his current train of thought. What did this mean? How had his Mother accomplished such a feat, and why? Was this part of his Father's plan, or was this a rebellion on his Mother's part? Was there a link between Hermione's disappearance and his Mother's escape? The two seemed connected, and yet he could not for the life of him riddle out how.
"Draco, did you hear me? We're going to need to rethink our entire plan."
Finally, he looked up at his oldest friend through tired eyes; he had still hardly slept but for the few potion-induced naps that had been forced upon him by Blaise… and Ron, of all people.
Never in his life had he imagined being held down and forced a potion by the red-headed barmiest wizard of their age, and in his own home.
"I heard you."
Blaise shook his head, while Ron shifted awkwardly where he stood. "Are you… are you alright, Malfoy?" he asked, tentatively.
Draco glared at him. They'd been plotting and planning together the entire day previous, and while Draco had come to accept the man's presence there, he was not interested in becoming chums. When Draco made no response other than the glare, Ron threw up both hands and sat back in his seat.
"Fine, sorry for giving a shit about your mental state. I'll go back to reviling you in every sense of the word, shall I?"
Draco felt the slightest pang of guilt at this. He was not alright, but he could scarcely admit that to himself or Blaise, let alone to a Weasley.
"You can't just ask him outright, Weasley," Blaise said, then turned to smile at Draco. "Draco isn't quite so easy as that."
"Oh bugger off, the both of you. I'm trying to think," said Draco, who was biting his lower lip raw in a similar fashion to the way Hermione always did when she was worried.
"It's just," Ron began, clearly unable to take Blaise's advice, "your Mum is missing now, on top of your… Hermione."
There was an awkward pause in which the fact that Ron he called her "your Hermione" hung in the air without dissipating.
Ron looked away and in an effort to change the subject, mumbled, "I would be in a right state if my Mum was also missing."
"Yes, and while being in a state likely would mean storming around breaking things and screaming baseless admonitions at the sky, some of us lean a bit more toward subtlety, Weasley."
"Oh, I see… so your stoic inward mental torture is a mark of pureblood refinement, is that it?"
Draco glared at him once more. "That's right. Ten points to Gryffindor, it seems you can be competent when you try hard enough."
"Oh that's enough!"
Astoria had returned in the middle of their argument, unnoticed by all. Draco noticed that upon seeing her, Ron looked like a child being caught stealing an extra helping of treacle tart.
"Hello Astoria," they all chorused bitterly. She'd been playing referee for the past day as they had worked to formulate the best plan for infiltrating Lucius's operation.
"Honestly, the more time you all spend yelling at one another, the more time passes where we are getting no nearer finding Hermione."
Draco and Ron began speaking at the same time, each informing her of the reasons why they were individually not to blame. She held up a hand for silence and they obeyed.
"Draco," she said, as she strode across the room, coming to kneel beside him and placing a hand on his shoulder. "I saw the papers. Your Mother. Are you alright?"
He scowled at Ron briefly before turning to Astoria. His eyes softened and he shook his head, speaking quietly in hope of not being overheard by any but her.
"I don't know what the fuck is happening, Stori, and there's nothing I can do."
Dimly, he thought he heard Ron whispering something to the effect of, "how come he'll tell her?"
"Nonsense, there is plenty to do," she said, standing. "First thing's first, the Ministry will be calling. They'll want to question you about your Mother."
"I have nothing to tell them."
"Yes, that's true, however you can't go evading them. Probably best that we go straight to the ministry."
Blaise stood. "Then it needs to be me as Draco. I know it's been a few days since he was seen publicly, so the trace may have worn off, but we can't chance it."
"The question is," said Ron, "do you mention anything to them about Lucius and the Manor?"
Draco looked up, mouth agape. "Weasley, it's too dangerous. What if my Mother's escape is all a ruse and he has her held somewhere? If I publicly defy him, I'm pretty much asking him to hurt her, or Hermione, and we have no confirmation that either of them are safe at this point." The words seemed to leave his mouth with ease, and yet the pain they caused was stabbing at his insides. It had been a strange twenty-four hours of moving between riddling it all out in his head, versus talking it out among the group. He couldn't decide what was worse, the feeling of of being stuck and helpless when he tried to think it all through alone, or the sting of hearing the truth out loud when shared with others.
"Alright then, we need to find out where they are and whether they're safe," Ron concluded.
Draco's stomach dropped. The odds that Hermione was safe… seemed low. The same went for his Mother. To think of them both at once brought forth a truth he did not want to face: at least one of the two was likely in peril. It seemed hopeless, and his worry began to swallow him again.
Suddenly Ron shouted, "We can use the Order!"
Draco groaned.
This was the second time Ron had made this particular suggestion and it had elicited the same effect the day before.
Ron had already alerted all of the old members of the Order of the Phoenix regarding Hermione's whereabouts. Draco could not imagine that the same people would join in any sort of effort to find his Mother, especially because she was a wanted fugitive.
"Oh brilliant," Draco drawled, "that way they can make sure she's chucked back in Azkaban as soon as possible."
Ron grimaced, "Oh you are insufferable, you know that? In case it has escaped your notice, I'm attempting to be not only civil but also decent to you, Malfoy. The least you could do is to give me the benefit of the doubt!"
"Fine, Weasley, please elaborate. What good do you see in bringing your Order into this?"
"Just this: none of them believe your Mother should have been imprisoned in the first place!"
Draco stared at him, gob smacked. Surely that couldn't be true.
As if reading his thoughts, Weasley replied, "it's true. Harry told everyone about how your Mum lied to Voldemort about him being dead. Sure, she did it to get to you, but she did it nonetheless. She seems, in my Mum's opinion, to have been more of a pawn than anything else. My Mum sympathizes with her. Says the Order should find her before the Ministry at large. Thankfully, the Minister himself is an Order member, so it's likely that an operation is already underway."
"If that's the case, Weasley, then why has my Mother been locked up all this…" he trailed off as the answer dawned on him. How could he have forgotten his Father's misdeeds? It had all been momentarily struck from his mind, seeing as how it was information he couldn't share with anyone, tongue tied as he was. His Mother was being held by Lucius alone. She was being taught a lesson.
In that moment, something else occurred to him.
His Mother would never allow herself to be separated from her son. She had once before been sent to St. Mungo's when she had refused to eat. Presumably, she could have pulled the same stunt just to get herself to a place where there was lessened security. A place where it would be easier for her to escape. To get to him.
It started to fit. His Father had just revoked visiting rights, intent on keeping Mother and Son apart.
That had been Lucius's mistake.
"My Mother is alright," Draco announced suddenly, his mind now crystal clear.
Blaise, Astoria and Ron all began questioning him, but he brushed away their queries with the flick of a hand. "I just know. This isn't part of my Father's plan, he's scrambling. Probably enraged, probably panicked, probably-"
But none of them heard what else Lucius Malfoy was probably feeling, because a large brown owl flew through the hatch at that moment and landed next to Draco.
"That's a prison bird," Draco said matter-of-factly as he reached out to detach the letter. Endeavoring not to rip it in his haste, Draco peeled open the note and read.
Draco,
I am sure by now you have heard of your Mother's escape. This changes nothing. She will surely be recaptured forthwith.
It does, however, change the plans for your wedding. With all the scandal surrounding her escape, it is only right to pull back from the grandiosity of a formal wedding.
You and Ms. Greengrass are to report to the Ministry on Monday next at 9am to be legally bound in matrimony. Mr. Greengrass has already made the arrangements and secured you that date. The formal wedding celebration will be postponed until further notice.
L.M.
As his eyes reached the end of the page, the letter dissolved into ash and floated up into the air, slowly disappearing as it went.
"Blimey. What's that spell, then?" said Ron.
"Never mind that, what did it say, Draco?"
Draco looked up at Blaise and then over to Astoria. "They've moved our wedding up. To Monday."
Astoria's mouth hung open. No one spoke for a while, but eventually his future wife found her voice. "So this is really happening, then."
"It seems so," Draco said, a slight quaver to his voice.
Ron looked from Draco to Astoria with a sense of indignation. Suddenly he strode over to Astoria and took both of her hands in his. He looked determinedly into her eyes with the concentration of a keeper trying to determine which hoop the quaffle would fly to.
"I love you, Astoria Greengrass!"
Astoria's eyes went wide and she jerked her head back while Ron's expression remained entirely serious, if a bit aggressive. Blaise dropped his face into his hands and Draco bit his fist to keep from laughing. Suddenly, Astoria burst out in a fit of giggles. Ron looked around the room at each of them in quick succession.
"What are you all on about?! I love her!"
Now Blaise and Draco both joined the cacophony of laughter, bent double with tears nearly streaming from their eyes.
"Oh! Oh Ron, darling!" Astoria said between laughs, gasping for air, "please stop saying it!"
"But it's true, I love you!"
Another wave of laughter overtook them, as they all fell onto couches or chairs, hitting the armrests for emphasis. Ron crossed his arms and pouted, waiting for them to stop.
It took a few minutes.
"Oh Weasley, you are such a bloody Gryffindor," said Blaise, as he was the first to regain composure. "But thanks, I believe we all needed that laugh."
Draco's overwhelming sense of mirth dissipated fairly quickly, however.
As watched Ron glare back at Blaise, he felt an unfamiliar note of sympathy for the man. Ron might have been an imbecile. He might have been stupid enough to lose Hermione, though Draco would have to thank him for that someday.
What the wizard lacked in subtlety, however, he made up for in bravery. Draco never thought he'd find himself envying the signature trait of the lions, but he'd also never before been faced with a task like the one before him.
He'd done all he could to achieve the task of killing Albus Dumbledore without having to apply an ounce of courage. That task went against who he truly was, so there was no reason to use his guts to achieve it. It was all an effort to avoid something terrible, rather than to move toward a brighter future.
Hermione Granger, it turned out, was his brighter future. For the first time in his life, he was going to have to fight for what he wanted, rather than against what he didn't.
He didn't know why yet, but it seemed an important revelation in that moment.
Weasley, for his part, clearly wanted to be in love. A few days of courting was clearly not sufficient to produce such a result from a genuine place, and yet… he knew what he wanted, and he was willing to say it out loud. For that, Draco respected him. The sensation of feeling respect for Ron Weasley felt foreign in his body. He shook it off quickly, but still crossed the room and put a conciliatory hand on Ron's shoulder.
"An admirable attempt to break the promise, but I'm afraid your feelings aren't strong enough to get through the barriers of such dark magic as our Fathers have invoked."
Blaise and Astoria stood stock still observing the unlikely goodwill coming from Draco, waiting for the volcanic eruption that would predictably come.
Rather than explode in anger, however, Ron shrugged and said, "I 'spose it was a long shot."
Then, turning to Astoria, he added, "I sure as hell love that baby of ours, though I 'spose that won't count?" He looked glumly down at her stomach and ran his hands over it before looking back up into her eyes.
She put her hands on his cheeks and whispered, "I'm sorry for laughing."
He shrugged, "It's alright. I'm a bloody idiot."
She shook her head. "No, you're sweet. And you're going to be a wonderful Father, even if our family is all fucked up and odd." With that, she kissed him, and it was too much for Blaise or Draco to stomach.
"If you two are finished," Draco began, causing the couple to pull apart and give him their attention. "We should probably get to the Ministry."
"Right, I'll get the polyjuice and let Gabi know. She's having a lie in," Blaise said with a smirk.
"Yes, I imagine so given how late you were both up," Draco called after him. "You know you can silence your room, right?"
Blaise shrugged, now grinning. "Can't help it if I forget while in the throes of passionate lovemaking!"
A small voice came from behind the closed door of the spare bedroom. "Blaise what ah you telling them?!"
"Nothing, my dulcet darling!" he called back, just as he reached the door and disappeared.
"Right, then… I'm going to Dad. I'll find out if there's any update on the search for Hermione and then see what's being done to locate your Mum."
Draco nodded, but Astoria looked suddenly anxious.
"Do you think-" she blurted out, "I could go with you, Ron?"
"But you have to accompany me to the Ministry," Blaise said.
Without missing a beat, Astoria reached up and plucked a few strands of her hair, reaching out to offer them to Draco.
"There's an entire wardrobe of my clothes here, and I don't trust him," she motioned to Blaise, "with my body."
Draco stared at her, dumbstruck, while Blaise and Ron cried out with arguments against this idea.
Astoria once again held up a hand and they all fell silent. "I'd like to meet the future Grandparents of my child. Perhaps I can be of some other use in these efforts as well."
Then she grabbed Ron's hand and turned to the floo, signaling the end of the conversation.
"Where is the Order located?" Astoria asked.
"We, uh, set up at our old headquarters. It's in London, but I'll have to take you inside the Fidelius charm- no floo yet, it'll have to be apparition," Ron said, clearly still shocked by Astoria's desire to meet his parents.
"Well, what are you waiting for?"
Startled, Ron held out his arm. Astoria turned to Draco and Blaise, threw them a smile and a wave, and took Ron's arm. The pair disappeared with a loud CRACK.
The two remaining wizards looked down simultaneously at the strands of Astoria's hair.
"I knew I'd eventually get to snog you, Draco," Blaise said with a devilish grin.
Draco sighed deeply, but made no retort. He walked stoically to the bedroom where, for appearances sake, some of Astoria's clothes were kept in a large ornate wardrobe.
Pansy appeared at the wrought iron gates topped with winged boars that she hadn't seen in so many years. In the distance, she could make out a cloaked figure coming down to meet her.
Finally, the tall, lean form of Neville Longbottom came into clear view. Her stomach flipped. He'd know all about her potions by now.
"Parkinson," he said in a colorless voice, then pointed his wand and magically unlocked the gates.
"Hi, Neville," she replied in a small voice.
She had expected someone else to meet her, but supposed it made sense it would be him, being a Professor and all.
Neville jerked his head in the direction of the castle. "Let's go. Room of requirement."
Pansy grimaced. "Why in there?"
Without looking at her, Neville said, "It's secure and out of the way. There are still some students here who had late exams. We didn't want to take chances of them being seen."
They were silent as they walked, and Pansy thought the iciness he was giving off was entirely valid. She wanted to tell him as much, but instinct persuaded her to follow his lead.
After several minutes of silence, Neville stopped walking abruptly and turned to her, taking a deep breath.
"Was it all a lie to you?" he said. She'd never seen him properly angry before. In the back of her mind she registered that it suited him.
"I- it-" she sputtered.
"Look it doesn't matter to me anymore, Pansy, I'm with Hannah now and we're to be married, but ever since I found out I just- can't stop wondering what our- what that was even about. Was I ever of sound mind?!"
She looked up at him, wide-eyed. "Neville," she whispered.
"Or were you just messing me about, dousing me with love potions and Merlin knows what else and then going home to laugh about it after?!"
Overwhelmed by a sudden flood of sadness, Pansy burst into tears and dropped to the ground. They were in the castle now, and she leant against the stone wall to steady herself. Neville stood stock still, looking down at her, showing no signs of empathy.
When she regained the ability to form a sentence, she said, "Neville I have to tell you something."
He raised his eyebrows. "Something else?! Do I even want to know?"
"Probably not," she mumbled, looking at the ground.
"Well get your arse off the floor then and spit it out."
Shaking herself, she quickly stood and wiped tears from her eyes before meeting his. Taking a deep breath, she said, "I never gave you any potions."
He gaped at her in disbelief. "But Ron said…"
She nodded. "He accused me of it. I just didn't deny it because I figured, in the end… you'd come off better. Probably not- not wanting to be associated with me… like that."
He continued to gape, his brain clearly whirring with the new information.
"So I- so we-"
She waved a hand in a resigned way. "It was all real. Too real. Why do you think I did a runner?"
After a bit more stunned staring Neville managed an, "Oh."
Then after a long silence he said, "I just assumed you were embarrassed to be seen with me."
"Well," she cringed, "I kind of was?"
He looked up at her, clearly offended and she held up both hands. "Sorry Neville, but I'm doing this new honesty thing and sometimes I just-"
"Never mind, it's fine," he said, with a wave of his hand.
"Look that was only because I was a bloody moron back then! I mean look at you, you're fit as fuck! I was just worried what people would think and far too self-conscious to actually believe you could like me without… without my potions."
He looked at her sadly and shook his head.
"But it doesn't matter anymore, does it? You've got someone now. Congratulations, by the way," she said, and managed a small smile.
"Thanks," he said with a grimace, clearly still hung up on what she had just confessed.
The pity stung worse than the anger, but then that always did seem to be the case.
"We better go, I'm sure there's lots to sort out. We mustn't keep our Mistress waiting," she said, making to continue walking down the corridor. Neville grabbed her hand and spun her around.
"Pansy… thank you."
She raised her eyebrows and shook her head. "I told you, everyone is getting the truth these days. It's the only mode I operate in-"
"I meant," he interjected, "for what you're doing for Hermione. And Ron for that matter."
She looked down and he was still holding her hand. He let go as soon as he noticed as well, and she fell her heartrate increase. It didn't matter, however; she was not about to add homewrecker to her list of misdeeds. She had lost her chance with him a long time ago, and that was that.
Steeling herself, she straightened out her robes and said, "It's really the least I can do given… given my part in all this."
He had his hands in his pockets and was smirking at her in a way that made her stomach dance.
Desperately needing to end the interaction, she gave a stiff nod and began walking again. Mercifully, he followed, and she knew that they'd soon be busy with much more urgent matters that would require their full attention.
A/N: Thanks so much to all you lovely readers. I adore your commentary and always look forward to hearing your thoughts!
Chapter 38 will be up next Friday and we will discover some of what is happening in the RoR
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