Come Back
Chapter Twelve
The Prophet
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"Come on Harry, there is a Daily Prophet Office by the Post Office." Ginny said as she took a hold of Harry's arm and lead the way down the street.
It was the perfect day, not a cloud in the sky. The sun was shining brightly casting gentle shadows on the shops of Hogsmead. Harry and Ginny were walking happily down the street, once again getting stares from the passersbys. Ginny was wearing a smirk as people began to stop and whisper in their direction.
They had reached the Daily Prophet office, Harry almost walked past it. It was hard to tell that it was even there, the only indication was the small gold letters written in a neat scrawl on the office door. If Ginny hadn't pointed it out Harry would have kept on walking. Ginny opened the door and pushed Harry in, a small bell rang from somewhere inside the office.
A deep, loud booming voice came from behind a small counter located to the right as soon as you stepped inside the door. "What do you want?"
Harry was surprised when he looked over the counter and seen the small wired hair old warlock that was looking back at him. He was sporting maroon robes and a pointed hat with the words Daily Prophet on the brim. He seemed truly aggravated at the company standing in front of him.
"If you want a job you have to see the Diagon Alley office, we don't deal with those matters." Said the warlock.
"Um, no we need to speak to someone in the records department." Ginny said.
"I'm the only one who works here missy, so if you have a question, out with it." He said grumpily.
"Oh, well, we need to find out if it was ever posted that Mr. Draco Malfoy was reported dead, or if he has been seen alive since the night that Voldemort fell." Ginny asked.
"Have a seat; it will take me a while to search." The warlock said as he pointed to a pair of dusty chairs in the corner of the office next to the front window.
Harry moved over to the chairs, brushed them off and sat down. "I thought this office would be bigger." Harry said after the warlock went into the back and Ginny sat down."
"Yeah, me too, they must have this office here just to keep track of what is going on with Hogsmead and Hogwarts. The reporters must all be in London at Diagon Alley. Or maybe they just keep all their records here." Ginny said while looking around the small dusty office. "Not very friendly is he, I suppose I'd be grumpy too working in a place like this."
Harry picked up a copy of the Quibbler that was almost two years old, brushed off the cover and opened it. Ginny leaned over and looked at it with him, while they waited for the warlock to return. It took nearly forty-five minuets for him to return, and when he did he brought back a stack of newspapers nearly as tall as he was. Dropped them down on the small table in front of Harry and Ginny, wiped his forehead of sweat with his sleeve and looked over at them.
"Here, this is every newspaper that mentions the word Malfoy from the past three years, have fun looking." He gave an evil grin and walked back to his desk.
"Well, let's get started Harry." Ginny said pickingup the first paper.
They sat for hours, looking through each article for any hint of Draco. Ginny made the job slightly easier by placing a charm on the stack of papers that made certain words glow red and stand out in the articles. The words, death eaters, Malfoy, Draco, Order, and deceased were the words she choose, but so far Draco had not appeared once.
After about three hours of searching they came to the very last paper. This was the special edition paper that the Prophet printed the night that Harry killed Voldemort. In it was a rather large article about Harry, a list of the dead and surviving Order members and death eaters. Harry couldn't help but laugh as Lucius Malfoy was listed among the dead that night, but not a single mention about Draco was found in those papers.
"Well, what does that mean?" Ginny asked Harry.
"It either means that Draco's body is in that casket or he is still alive and hiding with the rest of the Death Eaters." Harry said while putting the papers back into a pile. "Hey Ginny, do you know if Draco ever graduated from Hogwarts?"
"No, I don't think so Harry." Ginny said with a questioning look on her face.
"Ok, think that settles it, we need to go talk to your Dad, were going to need Ministry approval before we go digging up people, come on." Harry returned the papers to the warlock, thanked him and walked out the door pulling Ginny with him.
They were now back out onto the streets of Hogsmead and Harry started to head towards The Three Broomsticks to floo home.
Ginny stopped Harry. "Harry can we please apparate home, I can do it you can just grab my arm."
"Oh, alright Ginny." Harry said defeated. "Lets go to the Burrow first to see if he's home yet."
Harry grabbed a hold of Ginny and moments later they were back at the Burrow.
"There, wasn't that better Harry?" Ginny asked smiling at Harry.
Harry still didn't care for the sensation of apparating but thought it was better to humor Ginny. "Yes, much faster Ginny."
The Burrow it transpired was empty, Mrs. Weasly left a note saying that Her, Ron and Hermione were at Hermione's parents house for tea and everyone one else was at work. Her note also said that everyone was expected for dinner at the Burrow. Ginny and Harry decided to wait to talk to Mr. Weasley that night instead of barging in on him at work.
Harry and Ginny once again found themselves home alone at the Burrow. However Ginny's plans were completely different than Harry's.
"Harry, you want to start looking for a place to live?" Ginny asked.
Harry could tell that this was all that Ginny could think about right now; every time she talked about it her whole body seemed to glow from excitement. "Sure Ginny, let's look in the paper first."
Ginny picked up the mornings paper from the kitchen table at sat down in her Dad's normal seat. Harry sat beside her and took a biscuit off the plate that was on the table. The entire house was quite for a brief moment until Ginny shrieked and jumped up from her chair. Her face was suddenly pale.
"Merlin's beard Harry! It's him, look Harry, look!" Ginny shoved the paper into Harry's hands.
Harry scanned the page that Ginny gave him and found exactly what she was talking about. In the right hand corner of the paper were the obituaries, and written in small writing was:
Dead, age 52 Mr. Lucius Malfoy.
Mr. Malfoy is survived by wife, Narcissa
Son, Draco Malfoy has been missing for three years.
Lucius was found dead at his place of residence
Yesterday evening.
"What! How can this be, he didn't die yesterday, I killed him!" Harry said as he to tossed the paper and jumped from his seat. He turned to look at Ginny who looked as fearful as Harry did.
Ginny grabbed Harry's hand, "What does this mean Harry? First he was reported dead three years ago, now they say he died last night? What do we do?"
Harry couldn't think, his mind was racing so fast he couldn't stand it. "Ginny, we need to find out who was in that casket, and we have to find out tonight."
"Okay Harry, we'll go tonight. But we don't have Ministry approval yet." Ginny said.
"I don't care, I can't wait for them. We need to find out before to many people see this Daily Prophet" Harry said. "We will go when everyone else goes to bed tonight; my Dad's old cloak should be in that trunk from school."
Ginny didn't argue, but instead walked over to Harry and embraced him in hug. "I'll be there for you Harry, always." Ginny said then she kissed him passionately.