The Werewolf's Daughter

37. Missing

It had been two weeks since the news of the Azkaban breakout had been in the news and Draco had barely spoken about it. Maya didn't push him, but she made sure he knew she was there for him if he wanted to talk about it.

Maya was sat in the common room one Friday night after everyone else had gone to bed, trying to get on top of her homework. She felt like crying. There was so much to do and not enough time to do it all in. She could feel it getting worse every day.

Draco found her sitting there, just staring at the work she had to do.

'You ok?' he asked, sitting down next to her.

'No. I have too much to do and not enough time to do it in. I'm going to fail this year, I know it.' She cried.

'Maya, I've never seen you like this before; why are you so anxious about this?' he asked her gently.

'I just hate exams. I can't do them. We had to do them in 1st and 2nd year at Ilvermorny and I swear my head just went blank when it came to them.'

'But you passed them all, right?'

She nodded. 'So, you can do them then. You just need to have confidence in yourself. Maya, you know all this stuff, you know the work, you get great marks on your homework, you're going to do great in your exams; but you don't have to worry about that for a while yet. Do you want me to help you with a homework schedule this weekend?' he asked.

'Would you? You're the best!' she said, leaning in to him. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

'No problem. I don't want you getting stressed out ok?' she nodded and kissed him.

'How are you?' she asked, expecting him to say fine like he did every day.

'Scared.' He admitted, trying not to look at her.

'What?' she whispered, 'What are you scared of?' she asked.

'Him.' He said, quietly. 'What if he manages to find us? Sirius got in to the school when he was on the run.' He said, his voice shaking slightly.

Maya was about to answer when the common room door opened, and Professor McGonagall stepped through the door.

'Oh, Mr Malfoy. I'm glad you're here. I need to talk to you.' She said.

'Ok, what's wrong Professor?'

'Are you happy for me to talk to you while Ms Jones is here?' she asked.

Draco nodded, and gripped Maya's hand.

'Draco, you know your father has escaped Azkaban.' Draco nodded again. 'Well, your mother was getting ready to move in to the house Ms Jones shares with her father, however when the Order members went to escort her, they found your house had been trashed and your mother was missing.'

Maya clapped a hand over her mouth. 'What?' Draco moaned 'My mother?'

McGonagall nodded 'I'm sorry.' She said. 'I promise you that the whole Order are looking for her, but I had to let you know.' She said.

'I understand.' Draco said, his voice shaking.

'Is there anything you want to ask?' McGonagall asked him, but Draco shook his head and the Professor left.

Maya and Draco sat there in silence for a while, until Draco asked her to come up to bed with him, something they hadn't done since they were caught before Christmas.

'of course,' she said, 'let me get my pyjamas.' She was back in a flash and Draco hadn't moved.

'Ready?' she asked, holding a hand out to him. He took it without saying anything.

That night, she slept with her arms around him, cuddling and holding him instead of the other way around. She felt him shaking and knew he was crying, but he was doing it silently which meant he didn't want anyone to know.

Maya felt like crying too. That monster had Narcissa and god knows what he was doing to her. Her sister too – Maya didn't know her, but she had heard she was insane. 'Please find her.' Maya whispered out loud.

…

Narcissa had now been missing for 3 months. The Order assured Draco that they were constantly on the look out for her, but they were no closer to finding her.

It was getting closer to their exams and Maya was getting increasingly worried about Draco. He was barely sleeping, and his focus was, understandably, not on his classes or his work. The teachers had given him a pass, but Maya was worried he wouldn't do well in the exams.

The day before their first exam, the 5th years were in the Gryffindor Common room studying, when Professor McGonagall came in. She found Maya and Draco sat in a corner, revising (or at least trying to) and asked them to come with her. She led them to Dumbledore's office and sent them in ahead of her.

'Mum!' Draco shouted, running in the room and knocking the wind out of the very skinny Narcissa standing in front of them.

'Oh Draco!' she said, sobbing. 'I'm so glad you're ok.' She whispered, stroking his hair.

'Me!' he cried 'I've been safe here, it's you that was in danger. What did he do to you? I'll kill him!'

'No, you won't!' Narcissa said, sitting him down in a chair, while she hugged Maya. 'You two have exams starting tomorrow. I know you've been worried about me and that's why I asked to come here when they found me. I didn't want you to keep worrying and mess them up.'

'I want to come home with you.' Draco said, 'I need to keep you safe.'

'Most definitely not!' she responded 'I am going to a safe house tonight. I can't say where, but you will join me there in the Summer, ok?' she said, kissing him. 'Now, go. Get ready for your exams. You are both going to do great.'

The students were then ushered out of the headmaster's office, to allow them to discuss the safe house. Maya was happy she was back, but Draco was still worried.

'Did you see how skinny she was?' he asked, seething. 'I hate to think what he did to her.'

'I know Draco, but she is right. We need to concentrate for the next few weeks and once exams are done, maybe Dumbledore will let you go early?'

Draco nodded; he knew she was right. He was definitely happy his mum was back, but it was still quite hard to concentrate.

They were back in the common room now. 'Time for sleep' Maya yawned 'Goodnight Draco – sleep well. We have a busy two weeks ahead of us.'

Draco nodded 'Goodnight beautiful' he said, kissing her.

That was the first night Draco slept properly in 3 months.