The Battle At The Ministry, as it was dubbed by the press, had sent shockwaves throughout Wizarding Britain. In the three-week span that I was out, the community had practically been flipped over its head. Everyone knew that Harry and Dumbledore had told the truth all along, that Voldemort really had returned. Fudge had resigned, as had a number of other higher ranking Ministry officials. The new Minister was Rufus Scrimgeour, just like in the books.

Sirius's name had been cleared. He had claimed the lordship of House Black and the family's seat at the Wizengamot had been reinstated. Since he was also the legal guardian of Harry, this meant that he was the regent for House Potter till Harry turned 17.

Most of the Death Eaters present at the Ministry that night were caught, including Bellatrix and Lucius and almost three dozen. A few escaped and were on the run. Voldemort himself had shown up, shortly after our escape. He and Dumbledore had fought briefly before the Aurors had arrived and Voldemort had to scram.

As for the prophecy… well, I honestly didn't know much, just that Dumbledore had it. He probably destroyed it, since he already knew its contents, but I can't say for sure.

Most of the captured Death Eaters had been straight up tossed back in Azkaban, where the Dementors had abandoned their posts, meaning that the prison was now guarded by Ministry wizards. Lucius, on the other hand, (and also Narcissa, who had been arrested shortly afterwards for being an accomplice) had struck a deal. They had given up names of other Death Eaters, along with Voldemort's plans, in exchange for… my protection.

My actions at the Department of Mysteries had made me a blood traitor in the eyes of the Death Eaters, meaning I would be a target. Granted, the odds of Voldemort or the remaining Death Eaters going after me immediately weren't high, given how badly their forces had been crippled by the DOM disaster, but there was still a threat.

As a result of the deal, I would be spending the summer at a safe location in the countryside, under the protection of the Ministry. No spending the summer in France since there was a chance that some of the remaining death eaters might hide there.

Lucius and Narcissa themselves were sentenced to exile. It had taken up the very last remnants of their influence and contacts to get that sentence; from what I understand they were originally looking at a term in Azkaban. The main argument was that they'd be in too much danger in Azkaban with all the other Death Eaters, and them being… y'know, traitors to the Dark Lord.

How did I feel about that? Well… I didn't have the same kind of emotional connection to Lucius and Narcissa that Draco did, but a part of me did feel a strange sort of sadness… to be honest I wasn't sure where it was coming from. I hadn't even seen them that much at all. Maybe deep down there was still some part of Draco in me, that irrespective of allegiance, loved his parents.

As for the safehouse, the place wasn't bad actually. A two-story farmhouse with a pretty big lawn, a short distance away from Upper Flagley, a town which if I recalled correctly, had a decent-sized wizarding community.

One problem was that I didn't really have much to do. Within two weeks I ran out of things to keep myself occupied.

I had tested out my new silver hand, and found that it was… just a hand. Stronger than a human hand, of course, I was able to crush an apple with some effort. As cool as that was… it kinda lost its spark after a twentieth-or-so apple. I finished reading the Casebook of Leonidas Black trilogy in that time too. There was a new book coming out but that wasn't till September. I toyed around with my Patronus a bit more as well, and confirmed it was in fact a fox. That was cool I guess…

My boredom was exacerbated by the fact that I hadn't seen another human being in the entire two weeks I had been stuck here. I couldn't even write letters because I didn't have an owl. I also had no idea of what was going on in the outside world since I didn't get the Daily Prophet or any kind of news. I knew this whole thing was for my own protection and all that, but I was getting a bit on-edge. So, I had an idea.

I wasn't allowed to leave the property but surely there were measures in place to prevent me in case I was feeling rebellious, right? So maybe if I tested that, I might be able to get the attention of whoever's job it was to keep an eye on me, and then I could try to work something out with them.

I walked out the front door and began walking down the dirt path that led to the edge of the property. I reached the wooden gate, pushed it open and put one foot outside. A few moments went by. The only sounds were of the bushes rustling in the gentle breeze and birds chirping. Nothing else.

Then there was a loud 'POP' followed by the arrival of Remus Lupin, in front of me and just outside the gate.

"What do you think you're doing, exactly?" he said.

"I wanted to talk… why are you here?" I said.

"Well, you stepped past the boundary, I got the alert, so I had to check," Lupin said.

"I meant, I thought someone from the Ministry would show up… isn't this place under their protection?"

"Well, it was," Lupin responded. "Till last night. Now you're under the protection of House Black."

"Wait what?"

"There were some legal issues that took some time to sort out, but yes, as of last night, Sirius is your legal guardian, meaning that your protection is his responsibility, and by extension, my responsibility."

"Oh… okay, whatever," I said. "I wanted to talk, that's why I stepped outside."

"You couldn't have just asked normally?" Lupin said.

"How? I don't have an OWL, or a Floo connection or anything."

Lupin raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"I didn't have any way to communicate. I haven't seen anyone in the past two weeks, all I was told was that there'd be a guy that came to check every week but he hasn't shown up once."

Lupin groaned and shook his head. "Merlin's balls, this Ministry…" he muttered. "Anyway, what was it you wanted to talk about?"

"This," I said. "Can't I like… leave the house, like every now and again? Go to town, do something?"

Lupin opened his mouth to say something but I cut him off before.

"Look, I know you're gonna say that it's all for my protection and whatnot, and I get that, but let's be real here. Voldemort's whole operation has been crippled right? I'm not gonna be the Death Eaters' biggest priority given the current situation. So, I can afford to poke my head out every so often? I can wear a disguise or something? Please?" I pleaded.

Lupin contemplated for a minute then sighed. "Alright, I'll have a word with Lord Black and see what we can do."

"Yes! Thank you!"

[…]

I spent the remainder of the day awaiting an update, but Lupin didn't come back that day. It was only the following day that he showed up, when I heard a loud 'POP', accompanied a few moments later by a knock on the front door.

I opened it and Remus stepped in.

"Alright, so I had a chat with Lord Black," he said. "And he agreed to let you go out once a week. Not unsupervised, of course, and not without disguise. I don't think I should have to explain why. What you said yesterday may be true but we are still not going to take any risks, understand? And you'll obey your supervisor no matter what."

"Yeah sure, sounds fine to me," I said. I didn't expect to be let loose entirely, and while having a chaperone around me didn't exactly sound super fun, it would at least be an improvement over my current situation.

"One more thing, I mentioned your overall situation to Lord Black, and he and I agreed you should have a means of communication, so we're setting up a Floo connection in your fireplace. It's a two-stop connection, from here to the London residence. Any letters you want to send, give them to us via the fireplace and we'll see to it that they're delivered safely."

"Thanks a lot," I said gratefully. "By the way… when can I go out?"

"Saturday evenings," he replied.

"Isn't today Saturday?"

"Yes, it is," he said, looking at his watch. "And from the looks of it, she's running late-"

Just then there was another 'POP' outside.

"Ah," Remus said softly and opened the front door. A pretty young woman, no older than 24 or 25, with long dark brown hair and rosy cheeks entered.

"Sorry I'm late," she said apologetically. "Had some last minute business at Gringotts to take care of."

"It's alright," Lupin said. "Draco, this is Hestia Jones, she's volunteered to look after you while you're in town."

"Hi," she waved with a smile.

"Hey," I waved back.

"Right, well, I've got to go," Lupin said. "Busy schedule, so I'll leave you two to it."

And with that he disapparated.

"Right, so… shall we get going then?" I said to her.

"Hold up, we need to give you a disguise first," she said.

She conjured a large mirror with her wand and gestured me to stand in front of it.

"Now, we're gonna see a bunch of disguises and I want you to tell me which one you like, m'kay?"

"Uh, okay,"

She rapped my head with her wand.

"Ow!"

"Sorry," she winced. "Ehm, well, what do you think of this one?"

I looked at the mirror, and saw that my appearance had changed. I was much taller, looked like I was in my late twenties or early thirties, with red hair and a beard.

"Uh… let's try another one," I said.

"Okay," she said, and rapped my head with her wand again, more gently this time, and my appearance changed again. This went on for another ten minutes or so before I finally settled on an appearance that I liked. I was a few inches taller than my actual height, looked early twenties, had long dark brown hair, and slightly tanned skin. The disguise also made my silver hand look like a normal one.

"Alright, we're good to go, I think," Hestia said. "Make sure you keep your wand concealed."

"Right, got it," I said.

We left the house and started walking to Upper Flagley. On the way, I said, "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Fire away."

"Remus said you volunteered for this?" I said. "Can I ask why? I mean, I don't think it's a particularly desirable duty."

"Well, I'm actually from Upper Flagley so it was convenient. Also, given how most of my routine goes, this is a nice change of pace," she said. "I'm a Curse-Breaker, you see, so my week is usually pretty loud and chaotic. A quiet evening is welcome."

"You're a Curse-Breaker?" I said. "That's so cool, what's it like?"

"Frankly, it's awesome," she said. "You find objects that may be cursed or have some kind of protective enchantment on them, and you dismantle those spells, make sure they're safe for research purposes. At first you'd mostly be called out to deal with petty stuff. Like a cursed doorknob that bites people, stuff like that. But with time and experience you'll get better work. More dangerous as well, of course, but that's half the fun. Last month I lead an expedition in South America for Gringotts, and we found dozens of old cursed relics. A vase nearly bit my hand off!" she said but she seemed giddy about it.

"Huh, that's… nice. So, do all Curse-Breakers work for Gringotts or…?" I asked.

"Gringotts has their own team of Curse-Breakers, of course," she said. "But no, not all work for them. There's private Curse-Breaking firms and freelancers too, of course, and the Ministry has their own squad as well."

"So… say I wanted to become a Curse-Breaker, which one would you recommend?"

She smiled. "Well, I'd say you start with the Ministry Curse-Breaking office. That's what I did. The work they do isn't as flashy but the bar isn't as high either, so it's easier to join. For the most part you'll be taking care of cursed doorknobs and regurgitating toilets and such, mixed with the occasional big-ish thing. Basically a kind of police force. Like I said, not as flashy but with a few years' experience you could apply for a private firm or Gringotts. That's where they start sending you out on expeditions."

"Right, right, gotcha," I said. "So, Curse-breaker training, what's that like?"

We talked about Curse-Breaking all the way to town. If I was gonna become a Curse-Breaker than I needed as much advice from a pro as I could get. We reached the town around half past four. It was a pretty nice place, with some pretty obvious signs of a wizarding population. Namely some of the buildings. Wizarding buildings tended to be a bit wonkier looking, they were generally more colorful, and crooked, as if they had been slightly bent by a giant.

"Wanna grab a drink?" Hestia said.

My throat was parched from all the talking, so I agreed. She led me down the main street before turning right. We passed a large, busy looking pub and went down another, smaller lane before reaching a dingy looking building with a sign hanging outside that read "The Green Dragon."

Original.

Anyways, the inside of the pub was nice enough. It was clear this was a wizarding pub.

"Can I try firewhiskey?" I said in a low voice.

"Nope," she said. "You're not old enough."

"Oh, c'mon…"

"No, stick to butterbeer," she said firmly.

"You're no fun."

We got our drinks and sat down at a table near the window. I was sipping my butterbeer in silence, looking out the window into the narrow street as people went about their business outside. One couple in particular caught my eye, though. They were middle-aged, and very well-dressed. They were also definitely wizards judging by their robes. Both of them, and especially the woman, looked weirdly familiar.

As they passed by the window, I saw a pin on the man's robes. Dark green with a white prancing stallion, the symbol of the House of Greengrass!

That's why they looked so familiar, they were Daphne's parents!

But uh… what were they doing here?

"You okay?" Hestia asked.

"Uh, yeah," I said. "Um, was that… Lord and Lady Greengrass that just went by outside?"

Hestia looked out the window and said, "Yeah, I think so. Why?"

"Nothing, just surprised to see them here."

"They have a summer residence out here," she said. "It's not far from town."

"Huh…" I said.

"Something on your mind?" she inquired.

"No," I said, and returned to my drink.

[…]

After leaving the pub, I explored the town with Hestia a bit. Found a nice music store and bought some of my favorite albums, both wizarding and muggle music. The town itself was nice enough but admittedly there wasn't much to do. Not that I was really complaining, I was just glad to be out of the safehouse for a while.

By the time I got back, the sun had almost set. I waved Hestia goodbye and went inside the house. Closing the door behind me I stepped into the living room and saw that the lights of the kitchen were on and there were noises coming from there.

My heart thumping in my chest, I took out my wand and carefully approached the kitchen. I peered over the doorway and saw… Kreacher, in the kitchen, cooking some kind of stew.

I let out a sigh of relief, alerting the elf to my presence. He quickly turned around to face me and croaked in surprise. He held up a hand and I was sent flying back on to my back.

"INTRUDER!" he croaked. "How dare-"

"No, Kreacher, it's me!" I shouted. Realizing I was still in disguise, I tapped the top of my head with my wand and my appearance changed back to my real one. Kreacher stood still for a second, then sunk into a deep bow and croaked, "Gravest apologies, young master, I didn't recognize you!"

"It's okay, don't sweat it," I said, getting back on my feet.

Kreacher straightened, walked over to the pantry and started slamming his head against it.

"Woah, woah, Kreacher, stop!" I said. "I forbid you to hurt yourself!"

He stopped just inches away from hitting his head, wiped the tears streaming down his face.

"Thank you, young master," he croaked.

"No problem," I said, rubbing the back of my neck. "Listen so um… what're you doing here? Did Sirius send you or something?"

"Master Black has given me the task of caring for your household needs in addition to my other duties," he said. "It is a great honor to serve the Malfoy heir."

"Cool," I said.

I know the Ministry had its hands extremely full with everything that was going on, but goddamn was I glad that the House of Black had stepped in. To be honest, the rest of my summer may not be so bad if things continued like this.

"By the way," I said. "Would you happen to know if there's like a record player or something around here?"

"If I recall, there is a player in the attic. May I retrieve it for you?"

"Nah, I'll get it myself," I said. "Wait, what do you mean, recall? Have you been here before."

"Indeed, younger master," he said. "This residence was part of the Black estate. Master Regulus even stayed here for some time prior to his death."

"I thought this was a Ministry safehouse?"

"During House Black's dormancy it was seized by the Ministry. As of yesterday it has been returned to the estate."

Huh… neat.

I went upstairs and into the attic, muttering, "Lumos," as I entered the dark, dusty room. It was full of boxes with junk and old belongings in them. Odd that the Ministry hadn't cleared any of this out despite the house being in their possession for a few years… yeah, the Ministry under Fudge had been both incompetent and corrupt, but still.

I moved past a few rows of boxes and found a box near the window that had the coveted record player in it. I put a Levitating Charm on it and was about to leave the attic when I noticed a book in that box that caught my eye.

It was a small, black journal with the letters 'R.A.B' inscribed on the cover in golden ink. I picked up the book and opened it. It was Regulus Black's diary from the looks of it, the first entry was dated 31st July, 1972. I quickly read it, it was about him receiving his Hogwarts acceptance letter… so he must have been around 11 at this time.

I pocketed the book and headed back downstairs. I put on a record, and started reading the journal as I ate my dinner. The first two years he wrote in it pretty frequently. Short entries generally, for almost every day, mostly about classes, making friends, fighting with Sirius. It wasn't terribly intriguing to me so I skipped through most of it, though I did notice he had an admiration for Voldemort even from a young age. After the third year the entries started getting less frequent, once or twice a week. Further reducing to once or twice a month by the fifth.

There was only one entry for 1977, but it was a long one. It was about him becoming a death eater… Christ, he must have been, what, 16?

After that there were only a few entries, each several months apart. In the last few he started getting cold feet about being a Death Eater. The very last entry was the most important one, in it he wrote about one of the Horcruxes, Slytherin's Locket, and that he was gonna try and destroy it, and that he suspected that there may be more…

I sat in silence for a few minutes after reading that… Regulus had died trying to destroy the Locket. He had retrieved it, given it to Kreacher who had escaped from the cave, while he himself had died there.

As I sat there, thinking about the diary, an idea started forming in my head. A way I might be able to help the Order out greatly, without exposing my unusual knowledge of the Horcruxes. I could extend the last entry, add information about the other Horcruxes, posing as Regulus. And then hand the diary over to Sirius as having found it by chance. It might just work…

I thought it through, it seemed solid. No real reason anyone would question it, regulus had been a reformed death eater, so it makes sense he'd try to find out as much as he could about horcruxes so he could destroy them. With this knowledge the Order could eliminate most of the remaining Horcruxes. Because let's face it though, even if I wasn't stuck here, there was no way I'd be able to take out the Horcruxes by myself.

Sure, I'd gotten the diadem, but that had had pretty much zero defensive charms as it would have been too risky for Riddle to set those up extensively at Hogwarts, right under Dumbledore's nose. The others would probably be loaded with dangerous magic guarding them. Better to let trained wizards handle them.

I took out a quill and started writing about the Horcruxes. What they were and where they may be hidden. I made them sound like theories, like "I believe the ring may be hidden in the Gaunt shack near Little Hangleton," instead of outright knowing for sure. To make it more convincing.

I wrote about the ring, the cup, the diary (for good measure) and Nagini, though with Nagini I only mentioned Voldemort having the intentions of making her a horcrux. Since Regulus died in 1979 and Nagini didn't become a horcrux till much later. It was unlikely this would matter, since I didn't think anyone else knew when the snake became a horcrux. But I wanted to keep my bases covered nonetheless. I didn't mention the diadem, since it was already dealt with.

I also didn't mention Harry, since there was no way Regulus would know about that one. Plus Dumbledore already knew about him…

Yeah, this Harry thing was a teensy issue.

For now though, this would be a big help. I finished writing and added the finishing touches. I pointed my wand at the parchment and muttered, "Mimica," and my writing changed to match Regulus's. Then I applied a Fading Charm to make the ink look older.

I'll go to Grimmauld Place tomorrow under the guise of delivering a letter and give this to Sirius then. Right now though I was getting tired. I had lost track of time reading the journal, it was half past one in the morning. So I headed up to bed, and fell asleep immediately as I hit the sheets.