Mal Foi, Bonne Foi

By: Aubrie1234

When Draco finally felt human enough to return and wouldn't break down in an angry mess, he returned to the kitchen to find the twins arguing over something with Hermione. Harry and Ron were watching uncomfortably and Sirius was nowhere to be seen. Why did Draco have to deal with these idiots again?

"-but it's possible, isn't it?" protested Fred.

"No, it's not." said Hermione.

"Just give it a chance!" said George.

"What's going on?" Draco asked, glancing between them. The twins started, as if caught doing something wrong, while Hermione gave the blond a cool look.

"Nothing." She shook her head. Draco frowned but didn't push.

"Potter, you mentioned talking about what we'd found out?"

"Right." Harry nodded, "Hermione and I found a phonebook to help us figure out if Alex might've changed his name for some reason." Draco and the Weasleys gave the duo blank stares.

"No offense to you guys, but what's a phonebook?" asked Ron. Hermione rolled her eyes with a sigh.

"It gives you all the phone numbers of people in an area and sometimes their addresses." she explained, "So we can check out all the Alexes that live in Chelsea in case Alex might've moved here. It's possible the phonebook is too old to have his name or that he doesn't live here but it's a shot in the dark." She turned to the twins, "Did you find anything?" They shook their heads.

"Nope." said George. They looked forlorn that, out of the three groups, they hadn't found anything. Draco tapped his fingers on the table, thinking.

"With as little as we have, I have an idea of what we could do next." said the blond, "Do you remember Tom, from Alex's memories? We should visit him and find out if he knows anything."

"Good idea, but not all at once." Harry said, "We don't need to attract attention. Hermione?"

"I'll go." She nodded, "Should we go now or-?"

"No way." Fred shook his head, "Too cold and too wet."

"Let's warm up and do it tomorrow." George said, "As much as I hate to put a pause in finding Alex, we wouldn't be any good if we all caught colds." Draco said nothing. He knew they were right but that didn't make him feel better. As they talked amongst themselves about other things, Malfoy got up and headed upstairs. Out of all of them, he was the most wet and decided to get a warm bath so he wouldn't get sick. After going to his room he looked around for towels and such that he could use to dry off and his bath, but could find none.

"Kreacher?"

"Hello, Mr. Malfoy." The house elf appeared in the room with a small crack. Draco gathered the clothes Harry offered him, wrinkling his nose but knowing he had no choice.

"Are there clean towels I could use for my bath?"

"Of course. I will bring them to you." Kreacher gave him a look before snapping his fingers and disappearing. Draco headed to the bathroom and, though he was nervous about the weight of the bathtub in such an old house, he began undressing in the privacy. It was only once he was sitting in the warm water that Kreacher returned with the towels. Draco glanced at the elf as Kreacher gathered up the dirty clothes he'd been wearing minutes before.

"Kreacher?"

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy?"

"When Alex was here a few years ago, did anything happen?" Kreacher's ears twitched.

"Master Alex asked me not to say anything." He still had a sly smile on his face. Draco frowned again.

"I see. You're dismissed." The blond thought about Kreacher's words as he relaxed in the warm water. He knew that Sirius had told Kreacher to respect Alex as a master during his time here and it seemed Sirius hadn't lifted that rule, but what had happened between the elf and his brother that Alex had asked Kreacher not to say? Sirius would be able to get Kreacher to tell the truth but it bothered Draco. It could be a lead to Alex, perhaps, but more likely not and he was getting his hopes up. He was always getting his hopes up for his darker blond brother.

I know you're alive. he thought, closing his eyes, Just where are you?

Hermione took the lead when they left the next day while everyone else went to keep looking around Chelsea and Soho, where Draco had seen his brother. While Draco barely knew how to navigate London, Hermione was an expert and took them to 213 Old Church Street without stressing out about where they were. When they arrived, Draco was unsure about taking the lead but decided to go first, anyway. He knocked on the door and soon came face-to-face with the dark-haired teen that had been in Alex's memory.

"Hello? Can I help you?"

"Yes. I'm Draco Malfoy. I believe you know my brother, Alex?" His eyes lit up.

"Of course I know Al! It's nice to finally meet you, Draco. I'm Tom!" He held out a hand. Draco hesitated, then shook it. Tom looked past him, "And it's nice to meet you too, Ms…?"

"Hermione. Hermione Granger." She shook hands with him too before Tom let them inside. He was home alone and they took seats in the living room. He closed the curtains and suddenly was solemn when he turned to face them.

"Alex told me all about magic and he hasn't talked to me in weeks, not since he left the last time. What's going on?" At first Draco felt enraged and betrayed that Alex exposed their secret to a Muggle, but with the care Tom was taking not to expose them, Draco saw that he might be alright.

"We wanted to know why he was here." Draco asked. Tom nodded and took a seat.

"He really didn't tell me the truth until he left, but he said he was staying over here because he'd run away from his family. Since he had nowhere to go, My mom and I let him stay." The Muggle shook his head, "He never really said anything until the end, just stayed quiet and helped around the house. He didn't come with me to school so I wondered what was going on. He even gave me a fake address when I asked him where he lived."

"Fake address?" Hermione sat forward, "Could you write it down for us?"

"Sure." Tom went to the kitchen and soon came back with a small strip of paper, which he handed to Draco, "You think he could be there?"

"Maybe." said Hermione, "We've gotta follow any leads we can find." Draco studied the address in his hands.

'54 Ovington Street' Draco wondered why Alex would make that his fake address. Maybe he wanted to live there someday? Maybe it was a better place than the Manor? Whatever it might be, at least it gave them a lead.

"Thank you, Tom."

"Don't thank me, just find Alex." Draco nodded. He and Hermione bid their goodbyes before leaving the home. Hermione turned to Draco.

"You did well in there."

"Thank you."

"It seems like Alex made a good friend."

"He did. Maybe one day Tom can come over to the Manor." Hermione raised an eyebrow, "I said one day, Granger. That doesn't mean it'll happen."

"If you say so."

Once they had the address, Fred offered to scout the place. They weren't going to go in all at once without a plan. At least some form of strategy was finally getting through their thick heads. Draco nervously waited for Fred to return, as did everyone else. They were likely wrong, but they had to know.

"Are all of you just gonna sit around until Fred comes back?" Draco glanced at Sirius.

"'S not like we can do much else." Ron said. Unlike the others, he and Harry were making most of their time by playing a game of Muggle Chess, which neither had attempted before. But Like in Wizard's Chess, Ron had a large lead over his best friend. George was refining the ideas for new joke items he and Fred had come up with over the past few days while Hermione was catching up with a book. Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There was the title. It sounded familiar to Draco, somehow. As for himself, he was just slumped in his seat, fingers tapping the table. It was a habit he'd picked up recently to convey his worry, ever since the war had ended. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Well, I'm gonna go see Buckbeak." Draco raised his head.

"Could I come with you?" Everyone stared at him. Sirius narrowed his eyes.

"Promise not to insult him again? Because I'm not protecting you if he decides to attack a second time." Draco winced.

"I know, and I promise I won't." Draco got to his feet and followed Sirius to Buckbeak's room. Sirius went in first and bowed. When Buckbeak allowed him in, Draco followed suit. Buckbeak sniffed him before giving a small angry caw and getting to his feet. It was clear he recognized Draco's scent. This was bad.

"Back up!" Sirius hissed. Draco didn't raise out of his bow but did back away. He was forced to stop when he hit the wall, though. Buckbeak sniffed him again and then, much to their surprise, the hippogriff bowed back. Draco slowly raised out of his bow, somewhat astonished as Sirius grabbed some weasels for Buckbeak.

"He looked so mad." said the Marauder, "Wonder what made him change his mind." Draco didn't know. He approached but not too quickly, not wanting to set the hippogriff off again, and laid his hand on Buckbeak's side. He sat down beside the large creature and stroked the hippogriff's feathers. Buckbeak gave a small purr as Sirius raised an eyebrow, "The last time he let anyone near him like that was with Alex." He threw the weasel at Buckbeak, who snapped it up and swallowed it.

"I can understand that." Draco murmured, "Did you ever see his stuffed animal? He had this little stuffed hippogriff he named Jack and he always loved the toy, not to mention hippogriffs themselves." He took on a saddened look, "After what I did, getting my father to make a trial against Buckbeak, Alex was disappointed with me. He was angry at first, but mostly disappointed. After that, I tried to change, to get Father to stop the trial, but there was nothing I could do." Draco lifted his head and met one of Buckbeak's eyes, "I always wanted to say that I'm sorry." Sirius was quiet.

"..When did you learn Buckbeak was still alive?"

"From Alex, after the war. I didn't come in here sooner because I was scared of doing this alone, afraid I would get hurt again even though I was trying to make amends." Draco reached up, slowly, carefully, and rubbed the hippogriff's beak, "Thank you for giving me another chance." Not sure if the blond was talking to him or the hippogriff, Sirius let it go. Buckbeak nuzzled Draco gently and Sirius wondered if the creature could not only sense Draco's wish to be forgiven but also his connection to Alex. Sirius wondered why Buckbeak gave the blond another chance. It wasn't really something to dwell on but it made him wonder. He looked up when he heard a small knock at the door. It was George. Sirius raised an eyebrow but George didn't come in. Glancing at Buckbeak, Sirius made his way over.

"What is it?"

"I was wondering if I could talk to Draco alone. No offense to you, but there's something I wanna ask him in private." Sirius nodded.

"Just be careful." Giving a goodbye bow to Buckbeak, the Marauder left the room. George entered and gave a welcoming bow to Buckbeak. When the hippogriff bowed back, George took Sirius place in feeding Buckbeak. Draco hadn't reacted the whole time but George knew that Draco knew he was there.

"Well?" George finally asked.

"Well what?"

"Aren't you wondering why I wanted us to be alone?"

"No. You're gonna talk to me about Alex."

"Not gonna say you're wrong, but don't always assume what I have to say is gonna be about Alex or jokes."

"Then what do you want?" Draco looked at the redhead for the first time as George fed the hippogriff.

"Have you ever thought about what Alex would've been like if things had been different? Like, what if he wasn't a Muggle? What if he didn't have an Obscurus? What would've changed?"

"Why are you asking this?" George shrugged.

"Curious."

"Well… He probably would've been as bad as me, maybe. Neither of us would have been good people, and even now it's a stretch for me."

"Fred, Sirius, even Moody wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for him." Draco frowned.

"How can you be so sure about that?"

"Because of his Obscurus. He blocked the shot at Sirius, he protected Moody at the Battle of the Seven Potters, and he saved all of us when he protected us from an explosion." George turned to Draco, "I know all this because of a feeling I have, mostly around Fred. If Alex hadn't saved us, Fred would've been dead."

"Guess it's not just me, then." Draco went back to petting Buckbeak. George frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"As I explained this to Potter, I had this feeling inside me that linked me to Alex, sort of like a brotherly instinct, I guess. It appeared when I promised to protect him and it vanished when he disappeared. Like, whenever something happens to him, like he gets hurt-"

"-you can feel it." George finished. Draco nodded, "Yeah, I have the same thing with Fred and my other siblings. It's a really strong sense, isn't it? Makes you feel awful when they get hurt and there's nothing you can do, even though you have no idea what happened."

"I know, you don't have to tell me." Draco clenched his hand, careful not to grab any feathers and accidentally pluck them.

"Well, don't think you're alone in caring for Alex." Draco looked up when George sat beside him, "Fred and I, we really care for him too."

"And how does that work?" George shrugged.

"Don't know. I guess, when he started spending time with us after he had to leave home, we just kinda bonded? Besides you, Fred and I care the most about him of everyone here. He's like a little brother to us. I know we don't always get along, Draco, but we both care about the same person, so if you ever need to talk, Fred and I are always available." The blond stared at him, somewhat unconvinced, but gave a slow nod. Before he could voice an answer, the door was opened by Harry.

"Sorry to interrupt, but Fred's back and he's got news on Alex." Harry left. Draco and George shared a look before giving their goodbyes to Buckbeak and leaving the room in a flash. When they got down there, everyone was waiting.

"Is he there?" Draco demanded.

"He's there, alright. He lives there now!"

"What?" How? Did Alex suddenly detach from his previous life and make an entirely new one? "How is he even living there?"

"I don't know. Think he's sharing the rent with someone, though."

"Then let's head over and get him back!" said Ron.

"Hold it!" Hermione interrupted, "It's too late to go out and see him. We need to wait until tomorrow. He won't be happy if we come knocking at suppertime." They all glanced to a clock on the wall. She was right.

"First thing in the morning, then." George said, "The more we wait, the greater chance we lose him somehow." And with that they disbanded, muttering about Alex. When they were finally going to bed, Draco couldn't get to sleep. His head was running through all sorts of scenarios with Alex and just wondering what was going on, why Alex was there and not home. He'd forgotten to ask Fred how Alex looked, if Alex seemed to enjoy living there, then supposed he'd learn the truth soon enough. At least they'd finally found Alex again.

Only a matter of time, right? Then why do I have a bad feeling about all this?

Wow. I wrote all this in one day and got it posted in the same day. Very unusual for me. Anyway, next chapter is where we finally meet Alex again. It's not gonna be pretty, I'll tell you that.

Now, please read & review!