Author's Note: Hello all and welcome back to the second chapter of Book III! A special welcome and thanks to TheMushroomGuild for reviewing last week's chapter (I'm really happy to know you're as excited as I am to have arrived at this point, though Sophie's testimony will have to wait a little bit longer until she and Draco are out of immediate danger), and welcome007 for also leaving a review in the past week.

As a side note, I thought it might be good to know that I've completely written out Book III and have started on the fourth and final book of this story. Book III is about the same size as Book I and II combined, so I've still got a lot for you in store! :) Now, enjoy the story and don't forget to leave a review!

August 3, 1996
Bath

As it turned out, Sophie had been truthful when saying to Draco that she would likely not get much sleep. However, the truth was also that she didn't try to sleep. While there was likely little she could do if Death Eaters would in fact turn up at her door, she felt better knowing that at least they would not catch her in her sleep.

Instead, she turned on the coffee machine and unburied her old notebook from one of the untouched moving boxes in the attic. The remainder of the night she considered her options.

The first thing that she came to realise was that Draco and Narcissa remaining with them for a longer period was really not an option. Despite the obligation she felt towards helping them, she could not risk endangering her parents any more than she already did. Besides, there was only so long that she could pacify her parents, and she doubted they would be alright with two strangers living in their home without any explanation or plan of getting them into some kind of witness protection.

Of course, this begged the next question or what she could do with the two Malfoys. She could hardly turn them out on the street – especially knowing that they were running from the bad guys, instead of being part of them. The one luck that the two had had so far was perhaps that Malfoys staying at a lowly Muggle residence must have seemed so unlikely to the Death Eaters that they would not consider looking there. Still, that luck was bound to run out at some point. No, she needed to get them somewhere safe, somewhere protected. And that thought brought her to remember the Order of the Phoenix headquarters in London.

-xxx-

When morning came, Sophie had drank enough coffee to spend her a life time, circles under her eyes that nearly rivalled the bruise around Draco's eye in darkness, and a completely thought-out plan. At eight o'clock, she left the house with only a scribbled note to her parents telling them of her whereabouts. By nine, she returned, two shopping bags and all the necessities to carry out her plan in hand.

Fortunately, her parents had been so thoughtful to let their guests sleep in, and Sophie did not have to try and explain her plan to the Malfoys in code language. Instead, she sneaked into her room after a curt knock, happy to find that Draco had already changed into her father's jeans and a sweatshirt. She found a laugh bubbling up in her throat despite herself, for all in all, he looked positively miserable in them.

She was quick to cover it up with a cough, knowing he was unlikely to share in her amusement. 'How did you sleep?'

He shrugged, 'Terribly, though I guess that was to be expected.'

She nodded.

'I didn't prepare for a cat to jump me in the middle of the night however. I think he was trying to kill me.'

'Oh yeah, I forgot that Severus opens the door sometimes. He likes sleeping on my chest, but he has a horrible dislike of strangers. It's a miracle he didn't scratch you in the face when he found out you were not me, really.' She shrugged, only now noticing how uncomfortable Draco looked all of a sudden. Then she remembered. Severus. Snape. She cleared her throat and threw down one of the bags she carried on the neatly made bed in an attempt to dispel the awkwardness. 'I bought some clothes that should fit you a bit better than my Dad's. There's a cap too.'

'Cap?'

'Baseball cap. It's like a hat, but with a brim on only one side. It's pretty popular amongst eh… amongst people like me.' She watched him take out the clothing with barely veiled disapproval, and hastened to say, 'I know, I know, you hate it. But I have a plan, you see, and I need you and your mother to look as inconspicuous as possible for it to succeed.'

'What kind of plan?' He straightened up, baseball cap now forlorn in his hand, and a suspicious look on his face. She noticed his wand had disappeared from the nightstand and suspected he must have replaced it on his person. She could only hope he had heeded her warning not to use it.

'I know of a place… a safehouse, if you will. I cannot tell you where it is, but I can show you. However, I would need us to get to London, and the only way to do that is by taking a bus, the train, and then another bus in London. Ergo, the disguise.'

-xxx-

It had taken fifteen more minutes of convincing before Draco finally budged – especially since she would not tell him where they were going once they got to London. Luckily, the boy himself said that it was probably best he tell his mother, which left Sophie to deal with the unfortunate job of informing her own parents. Needless to say, they were less than pleased.

'London?' Her mother had repeated in shout-whisper. Sophie had gathered her parents in the living room while Draco talked to his mother upstairs. That way, she hoped she would be able to clear the air before the Malfoys would come down to leave.

'I wouldn't go if it wasn't necessary,' she countered, 'Besides I'll only be a day. I've been away for longer than that.'

'To your friends in Lockeridge, not to the big city with two people that we hardly know – one of which, might I add, is someone who we thought up until yesterday to be imaginary.'

'And what if the father comes after them?' Her father added, voice ever calm though no less concerned.

'That's why I need to get them away from here. I promise to be careful; I'll drop them off, stay the night and then come right back.'

'I'm sure there's other ways…'

'There aren't. Please, Mom, Dad, you must trust me. If you love me and trust me, you must allow me to do this.'

A long silence had followed and when it ended, she was surprised it was her father who sighed. 'Fine. But we expect you to be home tomorrow at noon, not a minute later. If anything at all changes, you call the house. And for heaven's sake, Soph, you've got a good head on your shoulders; use it.'

Just as she was about to respond that of course she would use her head – when had they ever known her not to – the creaking of the old stairs announced the arrival of the two Malfoys. When she turned, she had a hard time to hold in her laughter.

Draco came down first, looking terribly uncomfortable with the way the light blue jeans strained against his legs and the washed grey shirt stretched across his torso. On top of it, he was wearing the leather jacket Ryan had left at her house and that she had added to Draco's ensemble at the last minute as she'd considered what may or may not be on his inner left forearm.

Mrs. Malfoy must have been at least as uncomfortable as her son, but did a much better job at hiding it. In fact, if the woman would have told her that the traditional lace-up boots that she was wearing underneath her baby blue sundress were all the rage in Milan, Sophie would have probably believed her. Still, there was a strain between her shoulders that belied her seeming ease.

'Good,' Sophie said, awkwardly clearing her throat as she stood from the couch, 'You're ready. That's… good.' She scratched the back of her neck. 'Okay, let me just get my bag and we'll be off.' She got up, casting one last glance between her parents and the Malfoys, and then speed-walked into the kitchen. She quickly looked through the contents of her bag and, satisfied that all was there, made for the living room when her eye fell on her mother's new stainless steel knife set. Not giving herself a moment to consider what she was doing, she took out one of the bigger knives and wrapped it into the sweater she had packed in her bag. Then, she returned to the living room – and came to an immediate stop.

'I hope everything works out for you and your son,' her mother was saying, genuine as always, standing in front of Narcissa Malfoy. 'If there's anything else we can do… Andrew's firm is specialized in civil litigation law, but we would be happy to bring you into contact with someone more versed in family or criminal law.'

'You did more than enough,' Narcissa interjected, voice cool and poised. If she was at all confused about the meaning of these terms, she did a fine job at hiding it. 'We are… most grateful to you for your hospitality.'

'Right, we should go,' Sophie said, before her parents could dig more into the situation of the Malfoy family. 'Our bus to the train station departs in fifteen minutes and we still have a bit of a walk. Hats up, please.'

August 4, 1996
Bath

In fact, it was only a five minute walk to the nearest bus stop – and the bus that would take them to the train station was never early, especially not in the busy summer months. Even so, Sophie felt glad to be out of the house – and away from her parents. What was more, she told herself, the sooner they would arrive in London, the sooner she could leave all of this behind her and return to her normal life.

The walk was spent in complete silence, as was the wait at the fortunately deserted bus stop. It was only after their bus had pulled up and Sophie had bought tickets for the three of them that they found themselves forced to speak.

'You take the seat, Mrs. M…- eh Mrs. M.,' Sophie said, gesturing towards the last empty seat on the packed bus. It was probably to be expected, Sophie thought as Mrs. Malfoy sat down and the bus rattled back into motion. This was one of the few bus lines this side of town that would take people to the train station and the city centre, and it was a sunny summer day. As she settled herself against one of the metal poles a metre or so away, her gaze shifted from Mrs. Malfoy – whose wide-brimmed sunhat did a good job at obscuring her face from watching eyes – to Draco. The baseball cap she had gotten him was pulled low over his eyes; even so, she could see the silver eyes below shift restlessly around. When he noticed her gaze, he stepped a bit closer.

'Are you sure this is safe?' He asked in a low voice, eyes pausing on his mother for a moment before starting their restless wander again.

Sophie was about to scold him for suggesting that just because it was a Muggle invention, the bus was somehow unsafe. Just as she opened her mouth however, she noticed his gaze was not directed towards the vehicle, but rather towards the other passengers. Her expression softened and her tone lightened with that heart-bleeding empathy her mother had instilled in her. 'I think that the chance of those people who are behind you ever taking public transport is quite slim – let alone them looking for you here.' She gave him what she hoped was a comforting smile, 'It's the safest of the options of getting to London, I promise, at least without being able to drive a car myself.'

His frown deepened, and his eyes remained trained on her for the first time in the conversation. 'What's in London?'

'A safehouse.'

'Whose safehouse?'

'I can't say.'

'Where is it in London?'

'I can't say that either.'

One of his blonde eyebrows drew up, face guarded and suspicious. 'Can't say or won't say?'

She considered this. It was true that she didn't want to tell him – for the obvious reasons. First, she was certain that any suggestion to go and live in the house of Harry Potter's godfather would not go over well in any case. Then, even disregarding his views of Harry Potter, she was unsure of his opinion of the Order of the Phoenix. Just because they were apparently running from the bad guys, it did not automatically mean their affinity with the good guys had increased any bit. Then of course there was also the fact that she couldn't tell him, due to the Fidelius Charm that had been placed on the house that forbade her from discussing it. 'A bit of both?'

'Why?'

She sighed, realising there was no satisfying answer she could give him at that moment. 'Not here. You'll simply have to trust me for a little longer, okay?'

-xxx-

He did, reluctantly. When the bus stopped at the train station ten minutes later, Draco and Mrs. Malfoy trailed somewhat hesitantly behind her into the busy Bath Spa railway station, where Sophie proceeded to buy their train tickets. At a kiosk, she bought three coffees and a newspaper from what remained of her allowance of the past half year – the rest having been spent on clothing, transport tickets, and a London city map that morning – while she explained to the amiable shop keeper that she, her mother, and brother were off to visit her grandmother in Chippenham. The Malfoys did not speak when she handed them their coffee, nor as they wiled away the last minutes of waiting browsing the shop.

On the train, it was luckily a little less crowded than it had been on the bus – many of the tourists already having left for London at an earlier hour and few business people working on a Sunday at all – and they easily found four empty seats that were placed across from each other. As Draco and his mother took two of the seats next to each other, Sophie made herself comfortable on the one opposite of Narcissa, next to the window. It was a long train ride, she knew from experience, and she would not survive in the aisle seat, constantly being jostled by passers-by.

As her companions sipped on their coffee in silence – the looks of thinly veiled disgust not going past Sophie – Sophie took out the newspaper that she'd bought and flipped it open. Britain had won six medals in athletics on the Olympics the previous day. She hardly cared – but at least it was good that no mysterious circumstances had beaten it to the front page. She skimmed past the specific names of the athletes, ready to turn the page when a sharp intake of breath gave her pause. Looking over the edge of her paper, Sophie noticed Narcissa was staring straight at her, eyes wide and face even paler than usual.

'Can I see that?' She said and Sophie was so shocked that the woman spoke directly to her than she handed the paper over without pause.

Draco leaned in, both Malfoys pouring over the final page. Several minutes passed without a word – Sophie waiting with baited breath – before Narcissa handed her back the newspaper stiffly. Turning it around, she immediately noticed what had spooked them.

"Local depression? Locals from small Wiltshire village are puzzled". The article described how multiple people from Lockeridge had called in with reports of sudden frost in their gardens, unexplainable cold, and feelings of sudden and overwhelming depression. Of course, most of it was based on rumours and hearsay, with no evidence to back up the claims. Still, it made Sophie's stomach turn because she knew exactly what kind of creatures could cause such symptoms. And what may have drawn them to Lockeridge the previous day.

When she put the paper down, she noticed Draco's gaze was trained intently on her – and she realised he was assessing her. Judging her reaction. And she realised belatedly that as a Muggle, she shouldn't have any. Well fuck.