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CHAPTER 12

"There. is. absolutely .nothing. here!" Hermione stressed each word, while she placed each book on the shelf with more force than required.

Draco fully agreed. They had come to Hogwarts in the morning and now the sky was inky blue dotted with stars from what Draco could see through the window. They had missed lunch and in Draco's case breakfast too. He was feeling too weak, as his last meal had been at Granger's house yesterday. The corned beef sandwich he had had for breakfast.

Madam Pince had been really helpful. She had kept students away from that area of the library that Hermione and Draco had occupied. Having an eye on the students and scolding them if they 'accidently' happened to cross either Hermione or Draco.

"How can HOGWARTS have nothing?!" Hermione exclaimed. She came back to the table and placed a huge stack of books on it with a loud bang that echoed throughout the library. Draco wondered how Madam Pince didn't make an appearance to admonish them.

"I mean, it's HOGWARTS! We always find everything here! It has never disappointed me before!" Hermione continued ranting in her disbelieving tone.

"Maybe it's just not the right thing you are looking for..."

"Professor McGonagall!" Hermione shrieked, surprised to find her there.

"Evening, Professor." Draco wished her politely.

"Good evening Mr. Malfoy, Mrs. Granger-Weasley." McGonagall nodded at them. "I must say it sounds rather odd to call you that. I think I'll stick with Hermione." she smiled at Hermione.

"Sure, Professor." Hermione smiled back.

"So as I was saying, maybe it's just not the right thing you're looking for, Hermione."

"Um...Professor...I don't actually understand..." Hermione frowned. "I mean we know Scorpius is ill and we are trying to find him a cure..."

"Sometimes when you need to find something, you just need to stop searching for it so frantically. Neither of you lack the percipience or native wit here. I'm sure between your intellectual acuity and Mr. Malfoy's ingenuity and mental acumen, you both will figure it out." she smiled again, this time there was a glint in her eye, which eerily reminded them of Dumbledore. She then left them with their confused countenance.

Hermione and Draco looked at each other. Draco with a scowl etched on his face and Hermione had her brows furrowed in deep concentration.

"What was all that about?!" Draco blurted out as soon as McGonagall disappeared round the corner. His eyes were fixed on the spot where McGonagall was last seen.

"It's not the right thing you're looking for... Stop searching for it" Draco continued in his best impression of Professor McGonagall, adjusting imaginary glasses up his nose.

"Draco?" Hermione still had her brows knitted together.

"...What does she want us to do then? Just sit and watch my son die? I swear to God this woman's gone round the bend in her old age..."

"Draco..."

"...And did you see that twinkle in her eye? I think she's been practicing that famous Dumbledore-twinkle in front of the mirror!..."

"Draco-"

"...Wait a minute! Maybe she's taking lessons from Dumbledore's portrait! That's just it! Dumbledore has been teaching her how to make her eyes gleam! And that's why her speech is so absurd too!"

"Draco!"

"What?!" Draco looked at Hermione triumphantly, like he just found the answer to some highly cognitive equation.

"Are you quite done yet?"

"Um..maybe. Why?"

"Because I have been trying to tell you that your phone's ringing."

"Oh." Draco looked confused. He looked at his phone which was buzzing on the table. "OH!" He picked it up. It was Claire.

"Excuse me." He told Hermione and made to move away, but as soon as he took a few steps a dizzy spell hit him. It was the inanition again. He quickly held onto a chair to steady himself until the dizziness passed.

"Are you okay?" Hermione called.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He moved to a nearby window and answered the call.

"Hello."

"Hello, Draco? Graham's livid. He thinks you ran away with the money again!" Claire screamed on the phone.

Graham. Oh my God! He totally forgot about him and his work. Draco checked the time, it was 9 pm. Yesterday he had been about to leave for work when Scorp had started convulsing and today he was two hours late.

"I'm coming. Five minutes." he said and disconnected the call.

Oh no! It has been more than 24 hours since he had last seen his son, and now he had to go to that damn place leaving his research. This research was taking so long too! He wanted it to be over as soon as possible, so that he could get his son back...and going to the brothel now will be a huge distraction and such a waste of time when he could be using all that time to find the cure. But Draco wasn't the one to keep debts pending. He will have to go.

He turned around swiftly to inform Hermione and almost fell face-first on the ground as his vision started spinning. Thankfully Hermione had been right behind him and she caught him before he hit the ground and helped him into a chair.

"I knew you were not okay, that's why I was coming to check on you." she scolded, conjuring a glass with some water and pushing it into his hand.

"Drink up. You look even more pale now. Is it something to do with the call? Can I ask who it was?" she eyed the phone still clutched in his hand.

"It was Claire. I'm late for work." he said while slowly sipping the water. It was cool and nice. A soothing relief to his parched throat. He hadn't realised he'd been thirsty the whole day. He extended his glass for more water and Hermione filled it up.

"For work? I presume you told her you will not be coming?" she asked sarcastically.

"I have to go, Granger. I already missed a day with everything that happened yesterday, I cannot afford to do so again." He tried to stand up but Hermione grabbed him and pushed him into the chair again.

"Are you mad?! Did you see yourself in the mirror? You look terrible!" she said incredulously.

"Thanks." Draco said apathetically.

"You know I didn't mean it that way." she gave him a tight-lipped look.

Draco gave a nonchalant shrug. He stood up and tried to walk away but Hermione caught his hand firmly.

"You are not well, Draco! And with everything that is going on with Scorpius, this is not the time to be going for work! Just shut the hell up and take some time off!"

" Granger, my ...boss is not a very kind person. He won't take it lightly if I miss even a day. So just let me go. I'll be fine. See, I'm already able to stand without falling over." Draco explained with as much patience as he could muster.

Hermione looked at him suspiciously but the grip on Draco's arm loosened. She removed something from her pocket and placed it in his palm. It was a galleon.

"Take this with you." was the only explanation she offered.

"And what is this?"

"It has got the Protean Charm on it." she said. Hermione had upgraded the spell. The galleons now don't just send messages, but they send the person's location as well if he/she was in danger. "Just touch the coin if you need help."

Draco raised an eyebrow and looked at her disbelievingly.

"Listen to me okay!" Hermione said exasperatedly. "I have a very bad feeling about this. My intuition says I shouldn't let you go and my intuitions are usually right. It's a miracle I'm actually letting you walk away from here. So take the coin and don't argue."

Draco pocketed the galleon and left the place swiftly before Hermione changed her mind. When Granger spoke like that, the boys knew never to argue. Draco still remembered the slap he had received from her in third year.

"Any luck, mate?" Ron asked.

Harry shook his head. "They haven't got a clue what they were doing there." he said.

Most of the DMLE had been in the interrogation rooms for the better part of the afternoon, questioning those death eaters who were sporting the guise of Edmund Bradshaw. They were all back to their original faces now as the polyjuice had worn off. The only problem was that each and every one of them had been imperiused.

They were all interrogated using different methods and even Veritaserum was used and it only revealed that they were telling the truth, which overcomplicated things. Their statement had been recorded. They didn't even know when they were kidnapped. A team of aurors had already been sent out to the places from where these not-death-eaters were possibly kidnapped and imperiused. Most of them lived alone so there weren't many missing persons reports. All in all it had been a well thought out plan.

Just yesterday Harry had been reading the complaint filed by Ollivander of the threatening letters he had been getting and today his shop was attacked. Maybe Ollivander can shed some light on this case...though it was highly unlikely he has enemies. Maybe there was some ulterior motive. They first need to find out the motive of whoever was behind this.

And where was the real Edmund Bradshaw? When they had gone looking for him, he was missing. The search party had been notified and were already working on the case. Even his neighbours had no idea about his whereabouts. He had no relatives and according to his neighbours he was a secluded person, hardly ever came out of the house.

The Edmund Bradshaw who had been killed was also another polyjuiced individual. His family had been notified of his death and they blamed the aurors for it.

"I am going to file a case against you in the Wizengamot!" the lady, who Harry assumed was the wife of the-killed-fake-Edmund-Bradshaw, shrieked at Ron. "It is you people's fault he died!" she continued and her shrieks were intensifying Harry's headache.

"Ron, just get her to shut up please." Harry sighed. It must have been too loud because the next second her shrieks turned even more deadly.

"Oh yeah, Mr. Potter? You were there when he was killed, weren't you?! Why didn't you save him! Just because everyone calls you the saviour, you seem to think too highly of yourself! You are nothing but-"

Harry tuned her out and left the place. He reached his office and slumped into his chair. He needed a pain relieving potion for his damn headache. There were a pile of files on his desk...oh yeah, the damned paperwork! He had to finish it the same day and submit it to Robards and then go find Draco.

He hadn't said anything about the-killed-fake-Edmund-Bradshaw mentioning Malfoy just before he died. He wanted to enquire Draco himself before he could report it to the DMLE. It seemed like the Imperius had worn off and that is when the-killed-fake-Edmund-Bradshaw had tried to escape but was AK-ed instead. He wanted to question Draco now, but if he doesn't want anyone to know, it will have to wait. He sighed and started on the paperwork, resigning himself to a long day.

Hermione was immersed in her copy of Harrison's Manual of Medicine when the galleon in her pocket started getting hot, so it took a while for her to actually realise it and by the time she retrieved it, the coin was burning up. She placed it on the table and quickly noted down the apparition coordinates and ran to the front gate of Hogwarts to apparate from there.

She reached the place and gagged at the stench. She had landed in some alleyway which wasn't the best alley by far. She slowly walked into the street. It was a muggle neighbourhood. There were people everywhere and most of them were half dressed. Judging by the shops around and the seductive looks they were casting, these people were more likely to be Sex workers! Hermione thought.

She was in a red light district. What was Draco doing here?!

She carefully looked around. How was she supposed to find Draco among all these people? The Protean charm only helped so much.

"LLLLooking for someone?" came a voice from the side of the street. Hermione turned around and saw she was right in front of what appeared to be a brothel and the voice belonged to a girl in her late twenties who was leaning against the door of the said brothel and was wearing a...bikini. There was no other word for it.

The voice was supposed to be seductive, that is why she had rolled her "L" in "looking", but somehow it alerted Hermione to danger. Definitely not someone you could ask help from.

"Er...No...I was just...Um..." Hermione stammered.

"Seems like it's your first time here. Don't worry, I can help you." she smirked.

"No, no thank you!" Hermione said, looking around, trying to find an escape route.

"Straight or queer?" The girl asked suddenly.

"What?"

"Never mind. We've got excellent male and female escorts. You can come inside and take your pick. She caught Hermione's hand, trying to pull her inside.

"No! I'm not interested!" Hermione tried to pull her hand back while simultaneously trying to retrieve her wand from her sleeve...if only this stupid girl will let go!

"Hermione?"

Hermione turned around and sagged in relief. "Claire! Oh thank God.."

"Leah, how many times do I have to tell you not to interfere in my list of clientele?" Claire turned her attention to the girl.

"And how the hell am I supposed to know she belongs to you? Has she got a tag with your name written on it?" The girl released Hermione and crossed her arms, glaring at Claire.

"Oh I don't have the mood to argue with you right now." Claire snapped and pulled Hermione to the end of the street where there were less people.

"What are you doing here?" Claire asked.

"I...I came in to see Draco." Hermione said reluctantly. Draco was in need of help and Hermione had already wasted so much time. She didn't know how much she can tell Claire, but for now she was the only one who can help.

"Why?" Claire looked at Hermione with narrowed eyes.

"Is that even a question?!" Hermione snapped. She can't afford to waste anymore time.

"Alright, come with me."

Claire took her to another brothel and stopped by the reception.

"Mia, is Draco here?" Claire asked the receptionist.

"Yeah, I think he's free now. His clients just left."

"Clients? You mean more than one?" Claire looked shocked.

"Yeah, all Graham's men. I was actually thinking of checking on him...to make sure he's fine. You know how these men can-"

"Which room?" Hermione cut in.

"Excuse me?" Mia asked.

"WHICH ROOM?!" Hermione asked desperately.

"242...but you can't just-"

But Hermione was already bolting up the stairs before Mia could finish, taking two steps at a time.

"Hermione! Wait! You can't go in there!" Claire was yelling from the bottom of the stairs.

She threw open the door marked 242 and as soon as she did that, the coppery stench of blood hit her.

Draco was lying in the middle of the room with a sheet around him...in a pool of blood. There was so much blood, Hermione can hardly make out anything else. She ran to him and cradled his head, checking his pulse, it was hardly there.

Draco slowly opened his eyes and groaned. He looked up and smiled faintly.

"H..Hermione..." he whispered.

"Draco! Oh thank God...I thought I lost you!" Hermione held him close.

"Took you... long... enough...to come here." he was finding it very hard to talk.

"I'm so sorry, Draco! I didn't know where to find you...I was-Hey! Hey!" Hermione tapped him on the cheek.

Draco's eyes were almost closed.

"Draco! Stay with me okay? You're gonna be alright! Just stay with me..." Hermione said, panicking and she apparated to Mungo's without further ado.

Draco asked permission to use McGonagall's floo and he reached his house. He quickly took a shower and changed his clothes before leaving his flat. By the time he reached Graham's Brothel it was already 9:30.

"Oh Draco! Graham had been in checking if you had come. He was furious." Mia said.

"Let him know I'm here." said Draco, walking to the stairs."Which room is empty?"

"You can use 242."

"Alright, I'll be there."

And Draco went up the staircase, on reaching the landing he remembered Hermione's coin. He quickly reached inside his pocket checking if he placed it in there and to his relief it was there in his shirt pocket. He didn't know why, but he felt like atleast for Hermione's peace of mind he will have to keep it safe. He never carried his wand to work...because his nature of work involved getting intimate with his clients and if those people got hold of it, it will become a huge problem.

He was sitting on the bed of room 242 when the door banged open. Graham walked in with four of his favourites.

'This can't be good' was the first thought that crossed Draco's mind.

"Why'd you miss yesterday?" Graham demanded.

He didn't seem in the mood for chit-chat. Draco knew he couldn't use his flirtatious attitude to calm him down...he was too angry for that.

"My son is sick." Draco thought it better to just go with the truth.

"I don't want your excuses, boy and I don't care even if you are sick, let alone your son. When I told you you've got to come every day, it means every day. Just be thankful I haven't called you in the mornings yet." Graham bit out, his nostrils flaring.

"Listen, Graham, I'm sorry...it was an emergency, I -"

"I have given you twenty five thousand pounds, Draco. And from what you've already done I can't trust you at all. I need to make sure this won't happen again."

He waved his men forward and reached for the door. "Just make sure he doesn't die." was his departing comment.

"What? Graham! What the hell!"

Draco reached for the galleon but it was knocked out of his hand. After that everything that happened was utter chaos.

"Draco? Draco! Wake up! It's a nightmare. You're safe, Draco...Just wake up!"

Draco opened his eyes, panting. It's a nightmare, a nightmare. He told himself repeatedly and tried to calm down.

Someone was standing by his side, holding his hand. He looked up to find Hermione leaning over him with teary eyes.

She helped him sit up and placed pillows behind him to make him comfortable. She placed a glass to his lips and Draco gratefully gulped down the water.

The room was dark. The curtains were closed, faint moonlight filtering through them. He could smell the sterile hospital scent in the air and there were beeping machines beside the bed. Ok, so St. Mungo's he thought.

Hermione was sitting on a chair beside his bed, his palm still clutched tightly in her hand. She looked worried, eyes reflecting concern.

"I'm fine." Draco said, just to ease out her worries.

"No, you're not!" she said in a clipped tone. "The healers had been in. They told me all about the damage your body went through." On saying this, a tear escaped her eye.

"You could have almost died!" she continued. "They had to do an emergency surgery to save you! You are still malnourished. Don't you eat at all? And...and it's not just that." She looked at Draco, tears freely flowing now. "There's evidence of..of s..sexual assault. There were severe injuries by your groin and the healers said it cannot be the work of just one person..."

"Hermione-" Draco began but she put up her hand and Draco stopped talking.

"You were beaten raw and brutally raped!" she yelled and then took deep breaths to get a grip on herself.

After sometime she started talking a little calmly, "I remember what I told you in my house that day, Draco, the day Harry found you passed out in the restaurant loo. I said you don't have to tell me anything you don't want to...But this is really serious and I have to know what's going on..."

Draco nodded. He took deep breaths himself. If he was going to do this, he needed to stay composed as well. If he was going to open his heart and tell Hermione the truth, then he needed to collect himself. After a few minutes, or maybe hours he started talking.

"I was sacked from so many muggle shops because I didn't know how to operate their devices...even simple things like the switch baffled me. People didn't have the patience to teach me how to use them. They thought I was behaving like an idiot, naturally.

It had been another tiring day and after being thrown out of a cafe for having no idea how to operate a coffee machine , I felt terrible. I was walking back home and in my musings, I ended up in Holbeck's red-light district. I live in Holbeck and had had no idea that such a place even existed there until then.

I was lost and was trying to find a way back when I met Claire. She was sweet and agreed to help me find my way home. On the way, we started talking. Surprisingly, she just guessed that I was unemployed and was in great need of a job...though looking at my miserable state, I think even the dumbest person could guess that.

She suggested joining the sex industry. I was horrified and immediately declined the offer." At this point Draco snorted, his eyes distant...lost in thought. Hermione was holding his hand in a death grip...eventhough she had no idea if she was offering comfort to Draco or to herself.

"I was sure that I will not stoop that low where I will have to sell my body for money, but that night I had no money at all to buy food and Scorpius had to go to bed hungry...So I decided what to do and the next morning I went back to the red-light area, hoping to catch Claire. I found her in the same place she found me the previous night. It was like she knew I'll come back. She is very perceptive and it was this attitude of hers that made me like her and we soon became very good friends.

She took me to Graham, who was the one who ran this business. He gave me the choice between sex industry and drug smuggling...I chose the former. After my time in Azkaban, I didn't want to do anything unauthorised...and among the many number of Graham's businesses this was the only thing which wasn't illegal. Now that I think about it, maybe I should have taken up something else, even if it was unlawful...anything would have been better than this. But I was always such a coward."

Draco shook his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts and continued on. "So then I started working. It was awful but it's close to ten months now and I have no idea how I've managed to stay this long...desperation can do that to a person, I think. The problem now is that I borrowed twenty five thousand pounds from Graham for Scorpius' treatment, and made a deal that for two months I will work for him until the debt is paid back. The catch is that I'm not allowed to keep a single pence to myself for these two months and will have to report anytime he calls.

I cannot miss even a day and this..." Draco gestured with his hand, motioning to himself "...is the punishment for being absent yesterday. Graham thinks I might run away with his money again." Draco sighed.

"Again?" Hermione asked.

"Oh yes. We are supposed to pay twenty percent of our earning on each client to Graham, which I didn't do for a month because I was at a shortage of money for Scorp's potions."

"Draco, I-" But before Hermione could finish, she was interrupted.

"No, Hermione. I know what you're going to say and the answer is no." Draco said firmly.

"But Draco just let me help you! You're being forced to do something which you absolutely detest...I can't watch you go back to that hell after knowing all this, Draco." Hermione pleaded for him to understand.

"That's how it is, Hermione. Maybe it's just karma, you know the cause and effect concept. I'm just paying for my mistakes."

"That is totally beyond the point! Besides, you've paid plenty, even for things which weren't your fault. Please let me help you! I can talk to Ron and-"

"No, No! Promise me you won't tell anyone about this."

"What? I can't do that! If I have to help you, then I will have to talk-"

"Hermione." Draco said in a tone that suggested that the argument was over.

"I promise." Hermione sighed.

"Thank you." Draco nodded.

They sat in silence for sometime before Draco spoke again.

"Aren't you disgusted?" he asked out of the blue.

"What?"

"Aren't you disgusted with me?" he asked again.

"Why should I be?" Hermione looked at him like he's gone mad.

"Because I'm a whore?" he shrugged casually.

"Don't say that! You're just a professional sex worker. That's just it!" Hermione scolded.

Draco chuckled. "This is hardly the time for euphemisms, Hermione."

"Shut up, Draco. Just shut up okay? Don't behave like you're very good. It doesn't befit a Slytherin. So shut up and come here."

She stood up from her chair and grabbed him, pulling him forward and enveloping him in a big hug and Draco let her. They both needed it.

"Don't you dare say that again. You might believe yourself to be a coward, but in reality you're so brave, Draco. ... Not everyone can handle things the way you've been doing for such a long time." Hermione sniffled and Draco petted her hair, smiling slightly. "I'm so so soooo proud of you!" she said, tightening her hold and Draco hugged her back with the same intensity.

Later that night, Hermione sat in the chair beside Draco's bed, trying to read the book she had in front of her...but her thoughts were elsewhere. Draco was asleep. He had wanted to see Scorpius but after being reprimanded for the second time for trying to stand up, he had grudgingly gone to bed. But only after she had assured him that Scorpius was fine and was in the room just beside his.

Hermione had informed Ron that she won't be home tonight as well and asked him not to repeat this morning's incident with Rose. Ron believed she was in Grimmauld Place.

She sighed and closed the book, knowing it's no use to keep attempting to read when her mind was so distracted. She held Draco's hand again, looking at him sleeping peacefully. She really wanted to help him, but how? Draco had made her promise not to tell anyone about it and she knew Draco will never accept any monetary help from her. But she can't just let him keep doing what he's been doing all this while just because he has no choice.

Draco had later admitted that he had been eating only a single meal everyday, the breakfast at Hermione's house. She can start by forcing him to eat three meals a day at her place. Even if he won't accept money, he will have to agree to this, Hermione wasn't letting him go otherwise. And then maybe slowly she can try talking to him, and make him accept her help...?

She put her head down on the bed and was soon asleep. Afterall she hadn't slept the previous night as well...Life was never easy.

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