"And why didn't you hand this notebook over to the Ministry when you discovered it, Mr Malfoy?"

Draco sighed. "Because… because I didn't trust them to do the right thing with it."

The Auror conducting the interview — Wexley, he said his name was — made a note on the parchment in front of him. "And what reason would you have to mistrust the Ministry?"

"Are you joking?" Draco snorted. "How long have you got?"

"Just answer the question, please, Mr Malfoy," Wexley said with a touch of impatience.

"Well, starting from the most recent reason, I'd just recently been arrested for the unthinkable crime of visiting my ancestral home."

Wexley consulted a file beside his left hand, flipping through it until he found the part he wanted. "Says here Aurors Maxwell and Smythe brought you in for questioning because—"

"I don't care what excuses those cretins made," Draco interrupted. "Their reasons were bullshit then, and they're bullshit now. They were found to have acted in contravention to protocol and reprimanded. Their testimony is worth less than a melted knut."

"Yes.. well…" Wexley cleared his throat and turned to another page. He looked mildly uncomfortable, and Draco wondered what the Auror's position was on the matter.

"I understand you visited the addresses listed in the notebook. What did you discover?"

"They appeared to be safe houses. They contained Dark artefacts, and the one in London was being used at the time I first visited."

"Who was using it?"

Draco shrugged. "I don't know. I presumed fugitive Death Eaters and various Voldemort supporters your lot haven't managed to round up yet."

Wexley's next question was interrupted by a knock at the door. It opened, and an Auror Draco didn't recognise poked his head in. He gave Draco a suspicious look, then turned to Wexley. "Sorry, Wexley, but we need Malfoy."

"I'm still interviewing. Can't you grab him later?" Wexley said, annoyed.

"Orders from Robards, nothing I can do."

Fine." Wexley shut the file and stood, shoving his chair back as he did so. "But I better not catch any shit for not finishing this off."

"Take it up with the boss, not me," the second Auror said. He pushed the door open all the way. "Get up, Malfoy."

Draco nodded at Wexley and did as he was told. He followed the Auror through the maze of corridors that made up the DMLE, quietly ruminating as they walked. It was late afternoon, approaching a full twenty-four hours since Hermione's disappearance. Whoever had her still hadn't made contact.

The only reason he wasn't out there right now, trying to find her himself, was because of what would happen if he did. He wouldn't be any help to Hermione if he wound up in a cell.

Failing his ability to actively help, he'd kept the charmed notebook on his person, refusing to hand it over to anybody else. It would be useless to anyone but him, anyway — they wouldn't be able to read any messages that might come through.

He knew that in all likelihood, whoever had taken her would have confiscated the notebook and perhaps even destroyed it, but nevertheless, he held out hope that the kidnappers would decide to use it as a means of making demands through Hermione. If they did, she would find a way to give him some sort of clue or hidden message. Of this, he was certain.

They reached a closed door. The Auror escorting him opened it but didn't enter, instead gesturing for Draco to go through alone. He stepped through to see Shacklebolt and Robards sitting at a table.

"Take a seat, Mr Malfoy," Shacklebolt said, once the escorting Auror had shut the door and left.

Draco did as instructed, wondering if he was about to be told he was off to Azkaban for the less than savoury things he had done. Well, if he was going to go down for them, he might as well do it with his head held high and without regrets.

"Have you arrested that scumbag Mercer, yet?" he said.

"You know we can't, not until there's proof," Robards replied.

"Proof? Well, why didn't you say so?"

Draco retrieved his wand and conjured a vial, then held the tip of the wand to his temple while visualising what he and Hermione had seen while at the warehouse. He carefully extracted the memory and lowered it into the vial, then stoppered the top and handed it to Robards.

"That's all the evidence you need. In that memory, he's conspiring with a man named Ivanov Karkaroff to have muggleborns exiled from the wizarding world. The location is the warehouse listed in the notebook I surrendered to you."

Robards and Shacklebolt exchanged a look, and Draco narrowed his eyes, suddenly suspicious.

"Has anyone even investigated the warehouse yet? Or any of the other addresses? Hermione could be at any one of them!"

"We've canvassed all the buildings from the outside, but have not yet entered," Robards said. "We don't want to alert any hostiles, given the sophistication of the wards around them."

"Are you serious?" Draco looked at the Auror, feeling a profound sense of disbelief and disgust. "Her life could be at stake, and you're sitting around with… with your thumbs up your arses, just canvassing?"

"It's precisely because we care for her safety that we haven't breached!" Robards snapped. "Did you not hear what I said about the wards?"

Draco groaned in frustration and dropped his head into his hands, tugging at his hair. How could they be so bloody dense? Lifting his head again, he leaned forward, giving his best Malfoy glare.

"Did you not hear what I told you about how I got past those wards? Did you not hear what Fred and George said about their product? For Salazar's sake, Robards! You're Head Auror! Use your brains. Ask the twins for doses of their Invisibility potion, enough for everyone you've sent to the addresses. If they use it, the wards won't pick up any movement. They'll be able to sneak in completely undetected."

Roads and Shacklebolt exchanged another glance.

"Yes, well… we weren't really sure that was the best option, considering the product and its creators form part of the investigation. Its legality is highly questionable."

"A member of the Wizengamot being a key player in a plot to exile all muggleborns is most definitely illegal!" Draco argued. "Are you really going to waste time with that ridiculous moral dilemma? Use the resources at your disposal and worry about the legality of the potion later!"

He turned to Shacklebolt, hoping to appeal to him as someone who had been an active combatant in the war and member of the Order. "Minister, surely you can see that getting tied up in bureaucratic red tape is not the best option here?"

Shacklebolt drummed his fingers on the table. His eyes flicked from Draco to Robards, his mouth pulled into a thin line. After several beats, he sighed.

"I agree with you in principle, Mr Malfoy, but I am the Minister. I can't be seen to be endorsing activity of a questionable nature."

"You wouldn't be the first Minister to do it," Draco snorted. "Look, if the ends justify the means, I'm sure you can manage to get out of the resulting blowback relatively unscathed."

Privately, Draco felt a stab of discomfort at his words, because 'the ends justify the means' had been used too many times in their world to excuse actions and decisions that hurt others. One such supporter of such a mantra, of course, had been Dumbledore. Endorsing it now, when he'd criticised the old Headmaster's justification that his own actions were for the Greater Good, made Draco feel like a hypocrite. He supposed he was a hypocrite.

In saying that, now he thought he understood on some level what had motivated Dumbledore's thinking. Now, Draco had someone he wanted to protect, someone who he would go to any lengths for. If he was doing it for Hermione, rationalising that the ends justified the means didn't seem to be as problematic as it might be in any other situation.

"Look," he said, turning back to Robards. "The potion is the safest way to breach the warehouse and all the safe houses without alerting anyone. And if you get to that warehouse, you'll have enough Dark artefacts to keep the whole DMLE busy for a year."

"It would be good for public relations to have a win like that, Minister," Robards said. "You know how it is with people saying we aren't doing enough to track down the few Death Eaters and Voldemort supporters that are still out there."

"As if we don't have other things to do," Shacklebolt said. "We can't be spending all of our resources on trying to find a small group of agitators. Besides, in all likelihood, the most notorious ones have fled the country."

"Or they could be using Polyjuice," Draco interjected, thinking of what Hermione had told him about her, Harry and Ron's antics with the potion. "For all we know, ones like the Carrows are out there right now, walking among us, and we don't even know it."

"Would we find any of them at these safe houses, Malfoy?" Robards asked.

"I'm not sure," Draco admitted. "The signs of occupation Hermione and I saw didn't give anything away as to who might be staying there, and for all I know the ones who were there at the time have moved on by now. In fact, that's almost guaranteed. Staying in one place too long would be foolish."

Robards considered Draco's answer for a while, then turned to Shacklebolt. "I think we should do as Mr Malfoy suggests, but need your sign off on this, Minister."

"I don't like it," Shacklebolt said, frowning. "Nevertheless, I suppose in this instance the end does justify the means. However, I must ask that you instruct your people not to engage with any hostiles they see unless absolutely necessary. I'd like to know who is there and what their numbers are like."

"Understood," said Robards. "And the warehouse?"

"Document what's there and report back before confiscating anything. I think it best to keep our knowledge of all this as quiet as possible until we can locate and retrieve Miss Granger. If, as Mr Malfoy suggests, there is a connection between the kidnappers and these locations, we don't want to tip them off in any way. They need to keep thinking they have the upper hand."

Robards nodded and stood. "I'll get my best people on it."

Can I go?" Draco asked. "Please?"

"You're not an Auror, Mr Malfoy," Robards said.

"I know that." Draco stood and clasped his hands together in supplication. "But I can't sit here and do nothing. Besides, going into a building alongside others while potioned is difficult, because you can't see or touch each other. If you're close, you'll get a sense of their presence, but that's it. It can be quite disconcerting, and it's potentially dangerous."

Robards looked at Shacklebolt, who again looked conflicted.

Draco turned his appeal to him. "Please, Minister."

Shacklebolt looked at Draco a moment longer, then nodded. "But you are to follow every order you are given, to the letter. And do not take matters into your own hands."

"Yes, sir. Thank you."

"Come on then, Mr Malfoy," Robards said." You can share your experiences and suggest the best way to go about this once we get to my office."

"You'll have Potter and Weasley on one of the teams, right?" Draco checked as they left the room.

Robarts huffed in irritation. "Got no bloody choice, do I? If I didn't include them, they'd probably hex me and take over."

Draco made a sound of amusement. "There's no 'probably' about it, sir. Those two would absolutely hex you and take over."

Draco paced up and down the room, clenching his hands. On one of his laps, he detoured to kick over the chair he'd refused to sit in since they'd returned to the DMLE. The investigation of the buildings had been a bust.

Well, not entirely — not according to Robards, anyway. The safe house in Wales showed signs of current occupancy by at least half a dozen people, although none of them had been present when Harry and another Auror searched it. As for the warehouse, everything that Draco and Hermione had seen when they investigated was still there, and Robards had been dizzy with excitement at such a haul.

However, there had been no sign of Hermione anywhere, and Draco was struggling to deal with the crushing anxiety that was threatening to take over. He'd been so sure that she would be at one of them, or at the very least they'd come across a clue that would give them more information as to her possible whereabouts. She was counting on him and he'd failed her. He was at a loss as to what to do next.

"What did that chair ever do to you, Malfoy?" Ron asked from a corner. He, too, was standing, jiggling a foot impatiently.

"Existed," Draco growled. "It was in my way."

"You went out of your way to kick it," Ron pointed out.

Draco tried to think of a retort and couldn't. He settled for "Shut it, Weasley."

"Hey, I don't blame you," Ron said. "But we'll catch shit from Robards if you start destroying the furniture."

"I don't think Robards would notice at this point," said Harry from another corner. "He's too busy going over the inventory of all the stuff in that warehouse. If you wanted to pick a time to trash the office, now is as good a time as any."

Before Draco could take up Harry's implied invitation, however, the door to the room opened and an Auror burst through with a bundled up newspaper in his hand. "The kidnappers have made contact," he said. "They wrote to the bloody Prophet, of all places."

He slapped it down on the table. Draco, Ron and Harry dashed over to read it, with Draco wedged in between his two former rivals.

"Exile all Muggleborns or face the consequences" - Hermione Granger's kidnappers release their demands!

Draco read the article in disbelief. The kidnappers were—

"They're mental," Ron said, speaking exactly what had been going through Draco's mind at this moment. "This isn't even taking the piss, it's just completely bloody mad. 'Exile all muggleborns or attacks on them will resume'? What are they on?"

"It's… I don't even know what it is," Harry added. "The Ministry will never go for it."

"Some would," Draco said. "At least, some members of the Wizengamot and Council. They'd grab the excuse to get rid of muggleborns with both hands, and pretend they were doing it for their benefit."

"It doesn't even make sense," Ron said. "If their demands are 'get rid of muggleborns before we attack them again', why do they even need Hermione?"

"You're right," Harry agreed. "They must be planning to do something else with her, something they aren't saying right away."

"Maybe they think the Ministry will take them more seriously if they have her," Draco suggested. "She's the most well-known muggleborn for generations, what with her involvement in the war and the campaign to get us Slytherins off the hook."

"What if they intend to hurt her publicly, like some sort of messed-up show? Make an example of her, or something?" Harry worried. "They could be planning anything."

"We have to find her before they can do anything," Ron said, stating the obvious in a way that was very like him. "But how? Malfoy, are you certain there are no other notebooks like that one you found?"

"If there are, I've no clue where they would be," Draco said. "I doubt my father had more than one. Besides, even if there is another one listing additional locations where they might hide, there's no guarantee that wherever they're keeping her is written down."

"It's hopeless. Those addresses were our one chance, and now we've no clue where to look next," said Harry.

"Hang on!" Ron exclaimed suddenly. His face was alight with excitement. "Back when we were hunting the Horcruxes, and we were looking for the real locket — Harry, you remember — Dung had pinched it, and he was nowhere to be found, right? You sent Kreacher to find him, and he did. Maybe he can find Hermione, too!"

"Yeah, I remember," Harry said. "But I don't know if Kreacher would be up to it now. He's pretty old and about a hundred times as grumpy as he was back then—"

Ron visibly deflated. "Bugger. I was hoping—"

Why didn't I think of it sooner? Elf magic!

"I have house-elves."

Ron and Harry's heads shot up to look at Draco.

"They've all met Hermione at one point or another. If anyone can find her, they can. I'll call them right now." He stepped back from the table. "All Malfoy house-elves, report at once!"

The words were barely out of his mouth when five simultaneous cracks signalled the arrival of the elves. They surrounded him, all standing at attention.

"What is you needing, Master Draco?" Tippy asked.

Draco crouched down, so he was at eye level with them. "I need your help," he said. "Hermione is missing. Kidnapped. We have no way of finding out where she is."

The elves all gasped. "Do you know who is snatching Miss Hermione?" Pria asked.

Draco shook his head. "We have suspicions, but nothing concrete. The kidnappers have released demands. They want to see all muggleborns exiled from our world. If the Ministry doesn't comply, they'll target those muggleborns and their families with acts of violence. We don't know what they'll do to Hermione, but we don't want to wait around and find out. Can—"

"We will finds Miss Hermione, Master Draco," Arby interrupted. "Leave it to us."

"We can punish the bad wizards who is snatching her, too," Poppy added. Her little face was contorted in a fierce scowl. "What does you want us to do to them, Master Draco?"

Draco badly wanted to tell them to unleash the worst of their magic on Hermione's captors. He very nearly gave them that order, but the sound of a throat being cleared brought him back to the present. He looked up to see Harry and Ron watching him and sighed.

Turning back to the waiting elves, he gestured at his companions and said, "You had best ask them."

The elves looked at Harry and Ron expectantly. The two men shared a glance, seeming to communicate.

"Incapacitate them and bring them back along with Hermione," Harry said after a moment. "Don't go out of your way to hurt them, but if they attempt to escape or attack you, do what you need to do to stop them."

The elves nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Right, you have your orders," Draco said. "Bring her back to me—to us—safely."

The elves bowed and disappeared. Only once they were gone did Draco realise the Auror who had brought them the newspaper was still in the room, watching avidly. Harry and Ron noticed him at the same time.

"What are you staring at, Jones? Go and get Robards and the Minster," Harry snapped.

"Er… right. Yes sir, Mr Potter." Jones turned on his heel and hurried from the room.

"That was a good idea, Weasley," Draco said. "To use elf magic."

Ron shrugged and grinned. "I have them from time to time. Good ideas, I mean."

"Even with their magic, it might take a while," Harry admitted. "It took Kreacher a few days to track Dung down when we gave him the mission."

"Let's hope it doesn't take that long with all five of them looking," Draco said. "Who knows what might happen in a few days' time?"

He went and retrieved the chair he'd abused earlier, positioning it in front of the table, then dropped into it.

It was in the hands of the elves now, and all they could do was wait.