The next morning it happened, and Draco Malfoy was caught decidedly unprepared.

The papers read, "Black Escapes from Azkaban!"

...but that wasn't all they read. The speculation (caused by an especially observant prison guard), was that he was headed to Hogwarts. Apparently his dear, deranged cousin had been repeating, "He's at Hogwarts" over and over again after the Minister had come to visit.

Of course, anyone who knew a jot about lineages was looking at Draco Malfoy. Draco, himself, fought to keep his expressionvague and disinerested. He really just wanted to crawl under the table. Why? Why was this happening?

And then, just as suddenly as anything, Draco wondered if this was how Potter had felt when the entire school had discovered he was a parselmouth. In some ways, that'd been worse, hadn't it? To go from the Chosen One to the Spawn of the Dark Lord (or whatever the rumors had said, Draco hadn't listened except to contribute to the fracas).

So, apparently, Sirius Black was after Draco Malfoy. If you believed the papers.

Draco?

Draco wasn't quite sure what to believe. His father owned the papers - but his father also knew what he felt about dementors (it was why his father never came to visit Azkaban if he could possibly slink his way out).

There were dementors around the school - and Hogwarts itself was crawling with Aurors. At the look of the one they called Mad Eye Moody, Draco hoped that he was at least gone before Potter got back.

How hard was it to catch an escaped fugitive? Particularly Black, who was both noticeable in his ratty tatty demeanor and garb - and not known for being patient in the best of times. (Draco's mother had mentioned him a few times when Draco had asked to hear tales of the Black household. They weren't always uncomplimentary mentions, either).

His Slytherins were sympathetic, but when Draco quietly had shown up to talk with his Head of House, Snape had simply snorted, "There's no way Black's after you."

Draco rocked back on his heels, halfway up to the Astronomy Tower, again. Was it possible that Black was after Potter? If so, what could Draco do about it? Set a trap? Find a way to impersonate Potter? How, exactly, was Black managing to avoid detection, anyway?

[a/n: yes, truth eventually will out.

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