Friday morning was breakfast as usual until Draco received an owl. It was the same owl father always used in Azkaban, but when Draco opened up the scroll, he knew immediately that this wasn't a typical letter, because the first three words were, "Your grandfather Abraxas." That was a code telling Draco that the letter was spelled so that it would read as unimportant drivel if it were intercepted, but would decode to have very important information for his eyes only. Father hadn't sent a letter like this since being locked away, because father didn't have a wand, but maybe father had acquired one or managed the spell with wandless magic. Draco didn't know, but he did know he had to get some privacy and read this.

Draco looked up and glanced around the Great Hall, to make sure he wasn't being watched and that no one had seen. He made eye contact with Harry, who was sitting next to Hermione and Weasley, but watching him. He shook his head, as if to say, "It's nothing," and his eyes lingered in anger a moment too long on Weasley as Draco grabbed his school bag and got up from the table.

Weasley was too close to Harry for Draco's liking. Weasley hadn't been on Harry's side since the incident outside the defense classroom; Weasley normally sat on Hermione's other side, leaving Longbottom or one of the other Gryffindors to sit next to Harry. It irked Draco that Weasley seemed to be back in Harry's good graces, even though Draco's babies had almost died. Draco was going to have to talk to Harry about that.

Weasley would have to wait, because Draco needed to read father's letter. He was rushing out of the Great Hall when he heard Professor Snape's voice call out his name behind him. He turned around and waited for his professor to walk up to him.

"Mr. Malfoy, is there a matter I need to see to?" Professor Snape asked. He had a morning class, but he could be a few moments late if it meant learning what had his student rushing away from breakfast after receiving a letter from Lucius.

"I don't know yet. I haven't read it. Perhaps we can meet later to discuss it?" Draco asked, indicating the letter.

"Very well. I have a free period before lunch. Please come by my office," Professor Snape requested.

"Yes Professor," Draco said before turning and leaving.

Draco didn't have much time, so he ducked into an unused classroom and cast the decoding spell on the parchment, making sure to give his grandfather's full name as the password to break the code; he had done this enough times in his first five years at Hogwarts to have the spell memorized by heart. The letter went from detailing how proud father and grandfather had been on the day of Draco's birth seventeen years ago, congratulating Draco on turning into such a wonderful young man, expressing love for an adored son, expressing regret on not being able to do more for Draco's birthday, and insisting that Lucius would make it up to Draco next year, to revealing its true message.

Harry knew something was up. He saw Lucius' prison owl delivering something to Draco. He knew Draco had gotten a letter from his dad. But Draco had shaken his head when they made eye contact in the Great Hall and had brushed Professor Snape off when the professor approached. Harry had decided to give Draco space if Draco wanted it, so Harry didn't follow; instead he pulled out his map and watched where Draco went from a distance. At least Draco didn't go far and appeared to be staying motionless in one place, which made Harry think he was doing nothing more than reading.

Draco sat down on the floor to read.

Draco,

Professor Snape has written me several letters about your attempts to leave the school to look for your mother. Although I have not been successful in my attempts to locate her, I must advise you to stay at the school for now. I will be out soon and will be able to locate her myself and you need to remain at the school to fulfill your mission. It is still vital that you complete your task. It is an honor to be given such an important assignment. I know this has been hard on you, but it will all be over soon. I am forever proud of you.

-Love, your father, Lucius Malfoy

When Draco glanced away from the parchment to think, the words changed back to the message relating to his birthday.

'Father's getting out soon,' Draco thought. He was having trouble processing it and what it would mean for him, mother, and the babies. Instead, wild scenarios of escape and/or egregious bribes crossed his mind, one after the other.

Draco sat and thought for five minutes until he heard the bell ring, signaling the need to get to class. Nothing in the letter seemed urgent and he had a free period before lunch and a meeting with Professor Snape to discuss the letter, so he decided getting to class was more important than figuring out what to do about the letter.

Harry watched the map in a state of uncertainty as he walked with Hermione and Ron to transfigurations. He was about to turn around and go to Draco, to find out if Draco needed support and offer his shoulder to lean on if that were the case, but then Draco moved and Harry watched as his boyfriend walked to class only a few minutes behind him.

Draco stuffed the parchment roll into his pocket, grabbed his school bag, and went off to transfigurations like nothing was wrong. Only something was wrong and he had trouble concentrating in class. He was so pre-occupied with images of father being rescued by fire-breathing dragons or being kissed by dementors that Draco didn't even notice Harry's frequent attempts to catch his eye.

Harry was relieved that the letter was not so serious as to cause Draco to skip class, but he wanted to know what it said and how Draco was doing with it, so he constantly glanced at Draco time and time again during the lesson. When class was finally over and Draco was walking blindly away, swallowed up by his fellow Slytherins, Harry followed and watched for a sign that Draco was splitting off from the group. Ron had followed Harry and stopped with him outside the Great Hall as they watched the Slytherins descend further into the depths of the castle. Now that it was clear Draco was heading down to the dungeons, Harry turned to Ron and said, "Go on back without me. I'm going to signal him to meet me."

Ron nodded and left. Harry found an empty classroom to duck into. Harry pulled out his coin linked with Draco's coin and tapped it with his wand, causing the words, "ROR Now," to appear on it. Harry kept the coin out in one hand as he pulled out his map with the other, quickly locating Draco. Draco was still with a few Slytherins, but then they continued on and Draco stopped at Professor Snape's office. When Draco was still in the professor's office, without responding to Harry's coin message after five minutes, Harry decided to pay Professor Snape a visit himself and see if he could help with anything; or at the very least he'd discover what was happening.

Draco went to talk to Professor Snape as soon as transfigurations was out. He showed Professor Snape the letter and said, "It's coded sir, so that only I can read it." He couldn't tell his professor what spell was used or what the password was, because that would be a betrayal of his father's trust and he wasn't about to betray his father any more than absolutely necessary.

"Then if you don't mind, please read it to me."

Draco nodded and then having memorized his father's words, he repeated them to his professor. When he spoke, he looked at his hands in his lap, but when he finished, he looked up and asked, "Do you know how he might get out?"

"I suppose the Dark Lord will arrange for Lucius to return to Him the same way He did with his most devoted followers. The dementors are in His pocket, so there shouldn't be much of a risk to your father's life," Professor Snape replied.

Draco let out a relieved sigh. Professor Snape started pacing in the small space of the office, so Draco decided to take a seat and think. He was happy his father would most likely not be injured in an escape attempt, but he was also confused about how he should feel about his father getting out soon. If father got out before Draco went into hiding, there was a chance father could find out about the pregnancy, which scared Draco. On the other hand, if father didn't get out until after Draco went into hiding, he wouldn't get a chance to see father until after the war. He would go another year without seeing the most important man in his life and Lucius could possibly die before Draco saw his father again.

That last thought scared Draco more than the others. He would put the safety of his children above the safety of his father, but he had to see his father again before Lucius died fighting for a cause he didn't much care for. At the very least, he would have to write father a letter explaining his situation once he was safely in hiding and knew that father was out of Azkaban.

Professor Snape was still pacing and Draco was still thinking about his father when someone knocked on the door. Startled, Professor Snape turned around and opened the door to find Harry. Professor Snape sighed and gestured for Harry to come inside, knowing that Harry was nosy and would want to know what was going on. Part of Snape wanted to deny the brat just for the pleasure of it, but he knew that Harry played a big part in keeping Draco safe, so he let Harry in.

"What's going on?" Harry asked, taking a seat next to Draco and putting his hand on Draco's shoulder.

"Father wrote me another letter," Draco said, handing the note over to Harry.

Professor Snape started pacing again as Harry read the letter. It seemed to be Lucius wishing Draco a happy birthday, apologizing for not sending a gift, and promising to make it up to Draco. It came off as sweet and endearing, which Harry had trouble picturing with Lucius. "Well this seems rather nice, but why is Professor Snape pacing? And why didn't you tell me it was your birthday?" Harry asked.

Draco looked to his professor to see if he should tell Harry the truth or not. Professor Snape nodded, so he said, "My birthday's not what's important here. The letter is written in code. It says he's getting out of Azkaban soon."

"Oh…" Harry said as he thought about that. Images of Lucius bribing the Minister of Magic and dementors standing at Voldemort's side as they delivered the prisoner straight to Voldemort crossed Harry's mind while he tried to process this news. "When?"

"It doesn't say, other than soon," Draco answered.

"Oh. What are we going to do about it?" Harry wondered.

"I am going to inform the headmaster and Draco is going to write a letter," Professor Snape said, coming to stand in front of the boys and no longer pacing. He had known the basics of what they would have to do from the beginning; it was only the potential complications with Draco's task and pregnancy that he had been trying to work out. Now he decided to figure that out later and concentrate on getting the letter written.

"What should I write?" Draco asked.

"Agree to stay put, finish your task, and stop sneaking out to locate your mother," Professor Snape replied.

Draco took out his writing supplies from his bag and said, "Alright." But when he touched inked quill to parchment, he came up with a blank.

"Start by agreeing to stay and work on your task," Harry prompted.

Draco nodded and wrote the sentence. "Should I ask him when he'll be coming?" Draco asked, looking to Professor Snape.

"Yes, but do so cryptically, because his mail will be screened," the professor replied.

Draco nodded and wrote, "When do you think I will be able to visit you? I miss you so much, father."

"Good," Harry said, leaning over and reading the note when Draco put his quill down.

"Now what?" Draco asked.

"Write about what's been happening in your life. What's new since the last time you wrote," Harry suggested. That's what he did with Sirius the few times he wrote Sirius.

"Okay," Draco replied and began to write again. He didn't want to tell father about most of the things happening in his life right now, but there were a few things that were general knowledge and one popped out at him as the sort of thing he'd complained to father about back when his father had influence in the school and might be able to do something about it: Professor Slughorn's detention.

After Draco wrote about the injustice of being given a detention when he hadn't even been caught messing up Potter's potion, he went on to write about the more recent prank he played on Harry with the bubotuber pus. Of course he left out the fact that he switched the pus out for rotten milk or that he had thrown up when he smelt it; instead he exaggerated Harry's injury and said that there were many boils on Harry's face before Harry ran off to the hospital wing.

Harry watched as Draco wrote. He was about to shout at Draco when he read the line about Draco having messed with his potion. He had no idea that Draco had done it and the sudden color change to blue when it had been yellow green now made sense, because Draco had added the excess fig leaves. But Draco floating things into his cauldron to mess with him was nothing compared to the gravity of the situation with Draco's father, so Harry left it alone and continued to read the rest of the letter Draco was writing.

Writing about the prank yesterday reminded Draco of something he wanted to talk to Professor Snape about. "Sir?" Draco asked and waited until he had the professor's attention. "Are you really going to give me a detention for pranking Harry? I had to do it, because Pansy was going to do it. If she'd done it, I wouldn't have been able to switch the bubotuber pus out for milk." Draco left out the part about how he had started it by asking Pansy about pranks she was planning on playing on Harry and seeming excited over the prospect of joining in, because that was beside the point, since he was clearly the hero in this story.

"She was?" Harry asked. He hadn't known that and after watching Draco scowl at him so many times during the past week, he was beginning to suspect the worst of his boyfriend and that the prank was Draco's idea and was just another piece of subterfuge.

"I will excuse you this once; you may consider it your birthday present. I know you have enough on your plate with your detention from Professor Slughorn," Professor Snape answered. "But if Mr. Weasley or anyone else asks, I gave you a long essay assignment on defensive shields that you are to have completed by the end of term."

"Yes, thank you. sir," Draco replied, grateful for the reprieve. He had enough going on without having to spend three hours in the same room as Weasley just because they both happened to have detention with the same professor.

"Are you finished?" Professor Snape asked, gesturing to the letter sitting in front of Draco.

"Yeah," Draco replied, handing the note over.

Professor Snape read the letter before handing it back and saying, "Good, send it."

Draco nodded and started putting his things away.

"What time are we meeting tomorrow?" Harry asked hopefully. He was going to ask for conformation that they were still meeting, but he didn't want to give Draco the chance to back out.

"I'm going to visit mother in the morning and show her father's note. We can meet after lunch," Draco offered, getting up to leave. Then he turned to the professor. "Thank you for your help, sir."

Professor Snape dismissed Draco with the wave of his hand, because his mind was busy racing with the implications of the latest news. He would have to make sure he acted before Lucius escaped, because Draco would need to be whisked away to a safe house, but he didn't want to change his plans if Lucius was not going to escape before the end of the term. His cover as a spy depended on this.

Draco left, walking towards the owlery to mail the letter and Harry watched Draco go.


Author's Note: I think this letter might just be the last one before Lucius gets out. Up next will be the reunion between Harry and Draco.

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