A/N: Hey loves! I hope your Holidays have been wonderful! Thank you for you reviews! I'm sorry I keep leaving you on cliffs, I know I hate them too, but it is just where the chapters feel right to end. Ugh please don't hate me! So this is the last full chapter I have completed, I'm almost done with 31 so there will be a chapter next week for sure! After that it may get spotty, but I'm hoping to wrap this up within the next two chapters, maaaayyyybe three. We'll see.
Chapter 30
Draco glared as Alecto dropped Hermione's hair in to the Polyjuice potions. Polyjuice was a convenient way to impersonate someone, it was also, however, easy enough to catch as well.
Alecto smirked at Draco. "Always thought you were cute, you know." She laughed, quickly chugging the potion down, and slowly her hair lengthened, curled, and darkened. Her body thinned and the skin warmed to a warm olive color from a milky pale . Draco felt sick as Hermione stood in front of him. "And now I get to be your girlfriend," Alecto taunted evilly. "I'm not surprised you fell for the little mudblood," Alecto said as she peeled the little red dress Hermione was wearing off of her still limp body, with no care who stood around to see her state of undress. "She does have a nice little body on her."
Draco took off his robes and threw them over Hermione so that she was covered and had some article of warmth when she awoke. He brushed some of Hermione's hair out of her face, hoping that one day she would forgive him for leaving her here, on the table, in the Death Eaters headquarters, surrounded by enemies. He grimaced and kissed her softly on the forehead. Then turned to find the impostor Hermione slipping into the dress she had just taken, smiling happily.
"Ready, Drakey?" Alecto chimed.
"Never call me that," Draco growled. "For fuck's sake, at least try to act like Hermione, you half wit."
"But Drakey," the impostor purred, walking her fingers up Draco's chest, "it's such a cute nickname, and every couple has pet names."
Draco grabbed her hand and threw it away from him. "We do not have pet names, and if you ever touch me again in that manner, I will hex you in to the next century and blow this entire operation," Draco snarled.
Alecto huffed. "Fine," she stepped back. "After you, Draco," she bowed.
Draco gave Hermione one last glance and strode out the door. Fuck.
Harry stood in front of the Malfoy mausoleum, looking up at it with a queasy feeling. Having all your dead relatives buried in your own personal family mausoleum on your property seemed morbid and just a bit creepy to Harry. "All your family is in here?" He asked Narcissa as she slowly pushed open the door.
"Oh no," Narcissa gave a nonchalant wave. "Just the firstborn male heirs, the rest are buried in the cemetery behind the mausoleum. It's actually a wizarding family tradition to keep the direct male heirs together, supposedly it helps carry the magic throughout the family line." She sighed as they walked down the long marble hallway to Lucius' chamber. "It's all pureblood lore though, just another way to remind others that we have money and prowess." She stopped towards the end, and gestured towards Lucius' chamber. "Here."
Harry nodded, looking hesitantly at the chamber, just below it a gold plaque read Lucius Abraxas Malfoy 1953-2002. Harry wasn't sure how he was going to go about this, grave digging was not something he regularly did. "Homenum revelio," Harry muttered under his breath. The tip of his wand glowed for a brief moment, but he couldn't feel a presence. He looked over his shoulder at Jamison and shook his head.
"That work on the deceased?" Jameison asked curiously.
Harry knitted his brow and shifted to the the chamber next to Lucius', the plaque read, Abraxas Septimus Malfoy, 1937-1996. "Er, is Abraxas here?" He asked Narcissa, who stood off the the left of him.
Narcissa nodded. "Yes, that I know."
Harry nodded and cast the spell once more, this time feeling the heaviness in his wand. He turned to Jamison. "So unless Abraxas is still alive in there it does work on corpses."
"I wouldn't put it past Abraxas, you thought Lucius was disagreeable, his father put him shame." Narcissa reminisced, then the realization seemed to hit her. "So, Lucius isn't in there?" Her jaw tightening at the thought.
Harry felt pity for the woman, she had finally been free of her husband and to now find that he still lived must have been terrifying. "I think I'd like to take a look, just to be sure."
Narcissa nodded, and stepped up to the chamber, and started muttering under her breath. "There was an issue with grave robbing in the 1800's, and ever since then the chambers are warded once their sealed."
Harry cringed slightly, he was only joking to himself earlier about the grave robbing. This was certainly not the way he thought this investigation would be going, but he carefully broke the seal, and removed the marble slab to the chamber with Jamison's help. A dark mahogany casket sat just inside the chamber, and with more spell work, he and Jamieson lowered the casket on to the ground. Harry turned to Narcissa again. "If you would like to step out, we shouldn't need anymore assistance." He was not sure how the widow would feel about upsetting her husbands final resting place. Or so Harry hoped it would be his final resting place.
Narcissa shook her head. "No, I want to see," she said a firmness in her voice.
Harry sighed nervously. "Er, uh, okay then." Harry rounded the coffin and undid the latches, slowly lifting the lid only to find it empty. He looked across the casket to Narcissa, who was slowly walking to the open side.
A heavy sigh crossed her lips as she stared at the empty coffin. "Damn it, Lucius," she said under her breath again, an irritated look on her face. "He was in there when he had the funeral, it wasn't an open casket because Azkaban had been cruel to him, but I made sure he was in there before closed it."
Harry looked at the woman closing the lid slowly. "Unfortunately, there are many convincing ways to fake your death in the magical world. It's not the first time I've heard of it, first time I've seen it, however." He looked waved his wand and levitated the empty casket back into its chamber. "Narcissa, given the circumstances, I feel it would be best if we moved you into a safe house."
Narcissa eyed him carefully. "What about Draco and the elves?"
"The elves can go with you and we will keep you updated if we find anything on Draco, but we need to get you to some place safe as soon as possible. We can wait for you to gather somethings, but you must be quick about it," Harry pressed.
Narcissa nodded. "Well, back to the manor then, I suppose. It shouldn't take me long with the elves help." She started walking to the entrance of the mausoleum.
"Jamison, put the marble back and reseal it. I don't want anything to look out of place. I'm going to take her back. Come find us when you're done." Jamieson nodded and turned to the slab of marble as Harry trotted after Narcissa.
Draco quickly stepped out of the fireplace in the foyer of the Manor. He hoped he had at least a few minutes before the Death Eaters realized that Alecto would need to alter the Malfoy wards before she could easily floo to the manor. She may look like Hermione but the wards still wouldn't let in anyone without permission. Sadly, it would only be a few minutes because Lucius was capable of altering the wards, and it wouldn't take him long to do so. "Mother!" He called frantically, running through the foyer, into the gallery, then the drawing room. "Mother!" he roared anxiously.
"Draco?!"
Draco spun around quickly to find his mother just entering the room behind him. "Mother!" he exclaimed. He ran over to her and wrapped her in a tight hug, apparating her to her room before she could get a word in edgewise. "I need you to quickly pack your things and get to some place safe." Draco let her go to summon her luggage.
Narcissa looked at Draco. "Draco," she gasped, "Harry Potter is here! He's going to take me to a safe house. Draco, you're father is still alive!"
Draco just about dropped his wand. "How did you find out?!"
It was his mother's turn to look shocked. "How did you know?!"
Draco huffed. "It doesn't matter. We need to get you out of the here now." He started throwing things into luggage, every article of clothing he could find was being tossed into trunks and bags.
"Draco Lucius Malfoy! Tell me this instant!" Narcissa demanded dangerously.
Draco threw the another set of robes into the floating trunk behind him and turned on a dime. "Mother," he said pointedly, "I need you to trust me, just go. Let Potter take you to the safe house then ask questions."
His mother locked her jaw, but with a flick of her wand all her toiletries were flying across the room in to the last open trunk.
"Minny," Draco roared, there was a small pop to his left and, before she even got a chance to greet Draco, he started barking orders. "Finish packing for my mother then take all her things downstairs," he said, crossing the room and wrapping an arm around his mother again before apparating back to the foyer, where a very confused Potter stood.
"Malfoy?" Harry looked stunned. "Where the hell have you been and where's Hermione?!" Harry looked like he was about to blow a fuse.
Before Draco could say anything, the only open floo erupted in green flames and the impostor stepped through. Draco instinctively pulled his mother closer to himself, almost tucking her behind him, before he realized this is not how he should be reacting to his supposed girlfriend. "I took Hermione to the chateau we have in France." He looked back at Potter, who was now looking suspiciously at Draco, then back to Hermione. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to raise such an alarm. I only meant to surprise Hermione with a well earned mini vacation." Draco let go of his mother and crossed the room to Alecto and swung an arm around her shoulders. "I just got in when mother told me that you were taking her to the ministry."
Narcissa looked at Draco for a long moment. "Yes," she said calmly. "Hermione, darling, it's wonderful to know you are safe, we were so concerned for you two."
Draco thanked Merlin that his mother was playing along. It would make this far easier. Now all he had to do was convince Potter to play too, so they could all three trick Alecto. Hopefully Potter knew Hermione as well as he thought he did. "I'm sorry that we didn't send an owl or anything, there was a flying tour of Paris that we wanted to catch, and just made it for, and well, by the time that was over, it was late and it just slipped our minds."
Potter eyed Draco, then looked to Hermione who was happily cuddling into Draco's chest at this point. "How was the tour? See a lot of good sights?" He asked in a convincing enough voice that Alecto didn't catch on.
"Oh, just wonderful. We saw the Eiffel tower and that was just soooo romantic," she hummed.
Draco could see the confirmation in Harry's eyes. "You always said you wanted to see that." Harry smiled. "I'm so glad you got to go on a vacation, you have been working so hard lately."
"Yes," she purred again, "Draco does love to spoil me. But what's this I hear about a the ministry?"
Draco looked to Potter, the ball now in his court, "We were concerned for her safety after you two disappeared, feared it was copycat murderer."
"Oh! Well, clearly we're fine! There's no need for a to take her to the ministry, Narcissa is perfectly safe here!" Hermione said with a sickening sweetness.
Harry looked back to Draco briefly. "Yeah, well, there's paperwork that needs to be filled out after the missing persons report that we submitted. We have to have her sign waivers and such acknowledging that she's ceasing the investigation. You know, regular bureaucratic bull." Harry mussed his hair a bit.
Hermione looked skeptical for a moment, but must have decided against fighting with an auror. "Okay, well, hopefully it won't take to long," Hermione flashed another disgusting smile.
"Can't say," Harry shrugged. "You know how the ministry is." He half chuckled. "Anyways, Mrs. Malfoy." Harry gestured for her to step in to the floo.
When the green flames consumed his mother, Draco felt a nervousness lift from him. Harry gave Draco a reassuring nod before he, too, stepped into the floo and was gone with a green flash. When the two were gone Draco pushed the impostor Hermione away from him as quickly as he could.
"What, Draco? Are you really so disgusted with me?" Alecto sneered. "I mean, I look like her, smell like her, sound like her, and yet you're treating me like I have Dragon pox."
Draco, however, refused to give her the time of the day. He needed to come up with a plan to tell Potter about the Death Eaters plot without the impostor knowing.
Harry stepped in to the Atrium of the Ministry. If Narcissa was scared she wasn't showing it. "Ms. Malfoy, if you'll follow me, we're going to head to the Aurors department," his voice brisk. Narcissa simply nodded, and holding her head high, she followed him to the lift. As they stepped on to the lift a few people gave Harry a curious look, not sure why he was accompanying a Malfoy anywhere. He just shook his head, hoping that the gesture would be enough to suppress any ministry gossip. When the lift finally made it to the second floor, Narcissa and himself were the only two left, yet she had not said a word to him since they had left the manor. He gestured for her to exit the elevator, and then led her down hallways to his department and then swiftly in to his office.
"Now, may I please ask, what just happened?" Narcissa asked smoothy as she sat down in a chair across from Harry's desk.
Harry moved around his desk to see if there had been any letters or notes left for him that may allude to what was going on with Draco and Hermione. "Well, Ms. Malfoy, your son and I concocted a plan about two weeks ago after Theo Nott was approached by his father to join an underground death eater rebellion." Harry looked up at the woman, her face unwavering in its composure, so he continued. "We had intended that he would be approached by Nott and pledge his loyalty to the rebellion, hoping that they would take him back to the headquarters where he would use the portkey galleon and the aurors would be able to catch the suspects." Harry balled his fist in frustration. "Something, however, has gone wrong. Hermione is now missing, and someone is clearly impersonating her."
Narcissa nodded. "I thought Hermione was acting strange, but how can you be sure?" She wondered.
"Well your son was very clever. You see, Hermione hates flying, always has. So that was Draco's first clue. The next clue was when I asked her about the sights, she said she really liked seeing the Eiffel Tower, which Hermione has already seen and thinks is rather dull after you've seen it once. Hermione's favorite thing in Paris is the Louvre. Lastly, Hermione's been to Paris several times, so when I implied that she's never been, she would have corrected me. So that is not Hermione, someone is pretending to be Hermione, which means that someone is holding the real Hermione against her will." Harry looked up at Narcissa, who was now looking more upset.
"What do we do, Mr. Potter? My son and your friend are in trouble." She wrung a handkerchief nervously in her hands.
This must have been what a very upset Narcissa looked like, Harry thought to himself. "We're going to figure that out." Harry said as confidently as he could, though he was completely at a loss.
Hermione's skin shivered and a damp coldness woke her once again. She opened her eyes in the dank dark cell and sighed, praying that, somehow, this was just the most life-like nightmare she had ever had. She closed her eyes again and bit down on the inside of her lip, hoping the pain would wake her and that she had simply kicked off the covers of her bed. It did not rouse her, however. This was a real coldness seeping into her bones and real stone floors digging in to her exposed skin.
She opened her eyes again, a renewed horror washed over her as she realized that she was lying on the ground in nothing but her lacy undergarments. Her red dress had been stripped off her. She scrambled up, steadying herself as she stood. Looking around, there seemed to be a rumpled pile of blankets next to the cell door. She traipsed over quietly and bent down to pick up the blanket, but was immediately surprised by its softness and weight. Typically, jailers didn't give captive nice things, as she drew it up, however, she realized this was not a blanket but robes, and by that fabric and weight, expensive robes.
Hermione's eyes welled with tears, she held it to her nose and Draco's musky scent filled her insides. She buried her face in the robes, trying to fight back outright sobs. If Draco wasn't wearing his robes, what was he wearing? Where was he? Was he.. no, she thought she mustn't let her emotions get the best of her. No one ever escaped by sobbing. She wrapped the robes around herself, instantly her skin thanked her, she then stepped up to the bars and peered into the hallway, but there was nothing there except a lone torch on the wall, giving off a orange glow into her cell. She listened hard, but the only sounds were of rodents scurrying in the cells around her.
She needed to figure out a way to get out of this cell. She padded over to the lock on the cell, it was most likely a magical lock. She took a deep breath, if it was a simple charm a wandless Alohamora might work, but anything more complicated than that and she...Well, she knew what that meant. She focused her mind on her magical core, she felt it humming beneath her skin like a sudden warmth bubbling from her chest cavity. She then focused on the lock, imagining it popping open with ease, and the humming buzzed excitedly as it moved through her chest and down her shoulder into her arms and sat vibrating at her fingertips. "Alohamora," she breathed, and the vibrating jetted out of her fingertips and the lock clanked against to metal bars.
Hermione opened her eyes in excitement, but it died as she looked down on the lock still very much in tact. She pulled down on the lock just the make sure that it had not sprung, and she tried desperately to not let despair overwhelm her. Instead, she took a deep breath and tried again.