Time to get things moving! I hope you like this! Who do you suspect?
Lucius wasn't prepared to get up the next morning and go for an interview with The Daily Prophet concerning his missing wife and son. Not about his release, not his clearance of charges, but of the fact that his family had been stolen from him. Everything else regarding him was irrelevant. They only wanted to know about Narcissa and Draco. He laid in the bare bed of the small cottage the family only used when Draco was little, refusing to get up and face the day. This wasn't supposed to happen—his family was supposed to make the front page with joyous news, not more bad stuff. He turned over, putting an arm over his eyes. It took twenty more minutes to actually convince himself to get up and face the day.
And then he was running late.
Lucius threw on some clothes (which were the same as he'd worn the day before—the Aurors didn't want him removing anything from the Manor) and tried to do a freshening spell upon himself. However, it only really erased the sleep from his eyes; the rest of him, his hair and gray streaks, weren't affected. He Apparated away from the cottage since it didn't have any wards, arriving safely at Hogsmeade, where the conference was taking place.
To say Lucius was stunned by the turnout was and understatement.
There were a ton of people there—women, children, older teens, people he didn't remember ever knowing. The Aurors waved him. The same Auror woman he'd talked to the day before stepped before him. "Now here's the plan," she said, reading over her notebook. "We're going to have you get up and talk first, then Narcissa's family will go next, and then I'll give a fact report. The Daily Prophet will be taking pictures and writing out your responses, and they'll help spread the word about your family's disappearance. Doing alright?" Lucius let out a sigh and rubbed his face. "Fine," he said. She wasn't sure if he which part of her speech he was addressing. But she didn't have time to ask. The Daily Prophet spokesman called everyone's attention forward. "May I have your attention please? We're ready to start! Can I have everyone's attention?" The murmuring turnout all faced directly to the front of the Three Broomsticks, where a small podium was set up beside a big picture of the same picture they'd used against Lucius in court previously—the picture of Narcissa cuddling Draco in her arms right after the Battle of Hogwarts; one of those shots that a reporter snagged while the two of them didn't know. Draco was crying and holding onto her, she was tenderly stroking his hair. Lucius wasn't in the shot. The Aurors in court had pointed this out, stating that clearly he wasn't connected with his family and didn't stop to comfort them after the Dark Lord's defeat. Lucius couldn't look at the picture. He couldn't stand to see Draco crying like that, especially when he imagined the boy sobbing as a man tried to…
An Auror escorted Lucius up to the stand. Everyone's eyes shot to him, glaring, judging. How could this ex-Death Eater be free one day, and caught up in all this the next? He cleared his throat uncomfortably. It suddenly felt very hot up there. "I'm Lucius Malfoy. Husband of Narcissa, father of Draco." he said. What else was there to say? "If you know where my wife and child are, please come forward. Please give us any information you may have. Thank you." He stepped aside. A few people whispered to each other. The female Auror glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. Narcissa's family stepped up—Druella and Cygnus Black, as well as a middle-aged woman who was very pretty, but looked frighteningly similar to Bellatrix. Lucius had no idea who this was and why she was standing with Narcissa's parents. "Greetings, everyone." Druella began. "Thank you all for coming and showing your support for our lost loved ones. It's like an oasis in our desert of despair to see that there are so many wonderful people out there willing to help us. I'm Druella Black, Narcissa's mother, Draco's grandmother. This is my husband, Cygnus Black, who is father and grandfather to our daughter's family respectively. We are so grateful to you all for assisting us in the search for our beautiful, sweet, brave daughter and her precious little son. If anyone would like to help in the investigation and search for Narcissa and Draco, we've organized teams to help us with parts of the search. The stations are set up across Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley—we figured they would be most accessible to people if they wanted to stop in. You can sign up to help search woods, distribute flyers, dive into waters, and help with charting and mapping. We can't express our family's gratitude to you for your unending efforts." She stepped down from the podium, Cygnus wrapping an arm around her protectively. The Bellatrix-look-alike went up next. "As my mother has said, we are very grateful for our support in this difficult time. My name is Andromeda Tonks—I'm Narcissa's older sister." Oldest, Lucius smirked. "I came to speak on behalf of my wonderful sister, who grew up the sweetest and most innocent of all of us Black sisters. I knew she'd be a wonderful mother when she grew up. And indeed she was. My nephew Draco is one of the gentlest, most timid, misunderstood boys out there. We need to find them because they are a family; if they're separated or something happens to one and not the other it will literally destroy them." Andromeda paused, wiping tears off her cheeks. She stepped away from the podium. Druella opened her arms and caught her in a hug. Apparently Andromeda was allowed back into the family again.
The Auror got up to speak next; giving the fact report as she said. "Hello, everyone. Thank you for attending. I'm Detective Dora Tenner, and I've been assigned special casework for this event. I have evidence to report to you all that will aid in the specification of where to search and possibly what to look for." She went on and on describing the scene when they arrived at the Manor, telling how much blood there was, what was broken, every single nick they discovered so far. The five people stood around the photograph of Narcissa and Draco, all looking somber and tearful as The Daily Prophet took snapshot after snapshot. The crowd began swarming again, all shouting and asking how they could sign up to help find the missing Malfoys. Lucius stepped aside with Dora. "We scanned the blood in the bed." she said rather abruptly. Lucius made a noise. "It was Draco's." she finished. Although the thought stung him, he didn't reply. She waited another second or two to keep going. "We also did an analysis on the marks on the walls and doors of your home. From what we can tell so far, they were from fingernails. Long fingernails. We're assuming they're Narcissa's. The hair was hers as well. The person used a pretty strong sealant spell though, because no fingerprints of his are anywhere; I've seen that sort of stuff before—killer doesn't want to be found out, so he leave evidence to make it look like a suicide or something." Lucius snapped his head over to glare at her at the mention of the word 'killer'. "You said before…that we weren't going to jump to such conclusions." he sneered. Dora looked at him a little strangely, eyeing his facial expressions. "Alright," she said smoothly. "My mistake. I misspoke." The two turned away from each other staring back at the crowd. Andromeda and Druella were passing out flyers with a picture of Narcissa and Draco on them while Cygnus answered questions from anxious people about the investigation so far. Lucius sighed. "Who would've ever thought all of these people who hated the Malfoys so much just a few months ago would be so eager to help them?" he murmured, looking at all the women who were crying over Draco's picture, all the older people speaking about Narcissa and calling her 'the woman who stopped the war'. Dora let out a breath, looking out of the corner of her eye to catch the smirk on Lucius's face. "Keep in mind which Malfoys they're wanting to be saved." she quipped.
And before Lucius could respond or turn to glance at her, she was walking away towards a crowd of reporters who were desperate for answers regarding the findings in Malfoy Manor.