Hello all. Firstly I'd like to apologise for such a long delay in my update. I do have several reasons including family health problems… but they'd probably bore you as really (I hope) you just want to get on with the story.

I have struggled with this chapter purely because I've been having big breaks between writing bits so sorry if the style seems to change or it doesn't flow quite right...

Hopefully I'll be a bit quicker with the next chapter (I'm sure you're eager to know about Hermione's story) but currently I've lost the notes which is very frustrating as I had a moment of clarity and wrote some good stuff. If I really can't find them then I'll have to start again and hope I can do as well but I'll have a bit of a sulk first!

I have however managed to write bullet points for the next few chapters so hopefully they should all be a little sooner...

I hope you enjoy.

"Hello? Is there someone there? Who's there? Anyone... Help me. Please..."

Draco could see the look on Ron's face and although Harry had his back to him, Draco could almost guarantee he looked the same way. Bloody Gryffindors, he thought. Always wanting to be heroes…

"Wait and be quiet." He commanded in a half whisper, talking to the boys in a tone to be used on a couple of disobedient dogs. Grabbing the back of their clothes he half dragged them back up the stairs to the cramped room.

Harry and Ron both stared at him with shocked faces. "Someone's in trouble, we have to help them." Harry said, a little too loudly for Draco's liking. Harry looked truly stunned and a little disgusted with what he assumed was a display of gross cowardice from Draco.

"Idiot!" Draco hissed at him. "What if it's a trap? I know you checked and there was no-one around but what if all those wands set off an alarm somehow and alerted someone?"

Ron looked around them with saucer eyes, he stared at the walls as if he was expecting people to burst through them and start attacking. If Draco hadn't been worried about pretty much the same thing he would have laughed at the foolish look on Ron's face.

"We should have been more careful." Harry murmured, quietly at least, while crossing his arms. "I knew this was a bad idea."

It was obvious that Harry was blaming Draco for bringing them here; which put Draco's back up immediately. He poked Harry in the chest with one long pale finger. "I did plan on us entering in a more secure way but you said no one was anywhere near the place. Plus even if we were invisible I bet those wands would have known we were here and attacked us anyway."

Harry shrugged one shoulder and pulled a face of disbelief. "Maybe, but I doubt it."

"By Merlin's old and wrinkly pants… Whoever's fault it was, this isn't helping." Ron intervened. "So unless one of you thought to bring a portkey, we're still stuck and have nowhere to go but down those stairs. Unless you'd rather sit here until we starve Malfoy? Plus, what if it isn't a trap and someone really does need help?"

Draco shook his head in almost-mock despair. "We could Apparate out."

Ron flushed slightly but stood his ground. "I'm not going to leave if that person needs help."

Harry nodded in agreement. "Neither am I, and seeing as you don't have a wand I guess you've got to wait until we'll get you out."

Draco scowled. "I never said not to go downstairs. I just said to wait until we had some sort of plan instead of running blindly down the stairs. Honestly, do I have to think of everything? Potter get your invisibility cloak out, we can sneak down the stairs and check out whatever's going on down there without being seen."

It was Harry's turn to shake his head. "No good Malfoy. The cloak will barely cover Ron and me. There's no way it will hide all three of us."

Draco smirked at Harry and pulled his own shrunken bag from his pocket. "Good thing I brought my own then isn't it?" he said smugly as he summoned the cloak from his bag.

While Ron looked slightly bemused and a little in awe, Harry looked as though he might faint. "Where – how?" He spluttered. Frantically he checked for his own cloak and calmed slightly when he realised it was still in his possession.

"I thought it was unique?" Harry asked Ron slightly accusingly.

"I said it was really rare, not the only one." Ron replied in his defence.

"But Hermione did all that research for me, she said that there were other, inferior invisibility cloaks but none even close to mine. That one -" Harry said while pointing towards Draco in a condemning manner, "looks identical. Where'd you get it Malfoy?"

Somewhere deep inside Draco's head there was a voice telling him he should show some remorse about having such a wondrous item that was once owned by the man he tried to kill. But he was angry at Harry for so easily thinking that he had stolen his cloak. So, as he had done for most of his life, Draco forced the voice to the part of his brain where he could lock it away and silence it.

"Dumbledore." He drawled nonchalantly.

The still raw grief Harry felt over the loss of his mentor showed plainly on his face for a brief second before his eyes narrowed. "What - did you steal it while you were plotting to kill him then?" He growled dangerously.

Ron looked a little taken aback at Harry's sudden revert to anger. He had thought that Harry had decided not long after the funeral that he didn't really blame Draco for Dumbledore's death; in fact Harry had seemed to pity his old enemy in a way. But now Harry seemed to have as much hatred for Malfoy as he had in their first few years at school.

"Mate?" Ron asked Harry gently.

Draco merely sneered at Harry contemptuously, "Back to your normal self, eh Potter?" Only Draco could manage to make that name sound as if it was something that had crawled from under a stone. "Can't handle the fact that maybe you aren't so special after all?"

Ron watched in dread as Harry pulled out his wand and pointed it at Draco; he reached a freckled hand out to try and calm his old friend but Harry pushed it away forcefully. "Oh for Merlin's sake, I've had enough of this troll-shit." Ron said, finally having lost his temper. He snatched the cloak from Harry's unsuspecting hand and threw it over himself, disappearing completely as he ran towards the stairs.

Harry stood open mouthed and rooted to the spot but Draco let out a small chuckle and smiled to himself. "Well mate, looks like you're on your own." The Slytherin smirked as he started to pull the remaining cloak round his shoulders.

"Wait!" Harry cried angrily. "Don't be a prat Malfoy. I'm coming with you."

"Oh, I don't think so Potter. Besides, weren't you saying just a minute ago how much of a bad character I was? I'm obviously not the sort of trustworthy person you'd want to be around." Draco said mockingly, enjoying having the upper hand immensely.

Harry clenched his hands into fists but took a deep breath and said desperately, through only slightly gritted teeth. "Look, I… I'm – I'm sorry, Ok. Dumbledore meant a lot to me and you just don't seem to care. I've lost almost everyone important to me… I can't let Ron go off on his own…"

Draco looked at him imperiously and said. "He won't be on his own though, I'll be there too."

Despite feeling a twinge of guilt over Draco's earlier, truthful accusation, Harry just couldn't imagine trusting his best friend safety with Draco Malfoy. He and Ron had always been there for each other – well, apart from the odd misunderstanding… He swallowed his pride and looked Draco in the eyes… "Please Mal- Draco. I need to go after Ron, Help me out here? Please?"

Draco waited slightly longer than he knew would be comfortable for Harry and just as the other boy was about to speak again he said. "Ok…"

Harry grinned widely with relief and stepped quickly towards Draco but was blocked by the pale boy's hand pressing firmly against his shoulder.

Draco had a sly look on his face as he said "Not so fast… You owe me for this right?"

Harry really didn't like the twinkle in Draco's grey eyes but sighed and asked, "Fine tell me then… What do you want?"

Draco smirked. "Ah, it's not as easy as that. Let's just say that you owe me one favour, of my choice, when I choose."

Harry frowned at all the horrible things he thought Draco could ask of him. "I won't do anything bad." He stated.

Draco scoffed. "Now by the word 'bad', I take it that your definition doesn't include things like, oh… breaking into the restricted areas of school or crashing flying cars in the grounds? Nothing like maybe stealing ingredients to make illegal potions or cheating in classes with someone else's notes, no? How about slashing a student half to death because you fancy seeing what a spell does… None of those would come under your heading of 'bad' then?"

Harry briefly considered trying to explain his actions to Malfoy but figured he'd be fighting a losing battle. "Fine… You can't ask me to hurt someone or do something truly evil to anyone. Ridicule me, ask me to do menial tasks or whatever, but I won't do anything that I consider is at someone else's expense."

Draco mulled this over for a little while; he could see Harry getting more and more agitated the longer he waited. Finally he held out his hand. "Deal"

They shook and Draco held out part of the cloak towards Harry. "Do try not to touch me though Potter…" he drawled as they started down the stairs.

Ron had made his way quickly down the stairs, muttering quietly to himself about how stupid people could be sometimes. He was, of course, careful to overlook all the times that he'd argued with people and taken offence at other's comments.

Now that he was at the bottom he took a moment to take in his surroundings; he was in a very long thin room which was obviously the wand maker's workshop, it stretched for what seemed like miles. There didn't appear to be the owner of the mystery voice down here though, and Ron couldn't see any doors that would lead elsewhere; he decided to carry on looking in case he'd missed something.

Protruding from the walls here and there were very realistic looking sculpted stone hands, all of which were clutching wands. The end of each wand emanated a dull light which gave the room a sickly pulsating glow as if the room were lit by poisoned fireflies.

There were several old and rickety tables; one of them was covered with scraps of parchment, scribbled all over them were sketches and annotations on wands. Ron looked through some of them; he noticed that there were several notes made in a spidery writing which mentioned re-examining old cores and some about controlling instability. There were also several maps, all with circles and little notes saying things such as Bowtruckles spotted. New Mahogany source?

Shaking his head in confusion, Ron decided that he wouldn't find anything useful there so moved further into the room. There were two strange looking spindly machines and nearby stood row upon row of neatly stacked bundles of different types of wood. Beyond that stood three extremely large, cast iron chests. Ron walked up to them and noticed that they were all labelled with the same messy writing as the notes on the table had been. Peering closely he could just make out what the first one said. Unicorn hair – Tail and Mane.

"Wand cores!" Ron whispered to himself, "Cool." He carried on to the next chest, labelled Dragon Heartstrings, and the third, slightly smaller chest which read Phoenix feathers. These were the three main cores Ollivander used for making wands. Ron had been ecstatic when he found out that he would actually get his own wand and had read up on the making of them… well actually he had just asked Hermione about it and he could remember at least five minutes of the twenty-odd minute lecture.

Without thinking he reached out a hand to the nearest chest and ran it along the top, stroking his fingertips across the pattern embossed on it and feeling for the small latch, which he flicked softly open. When he pushed it, the lid lifted stiffly with a small squeak and he reached into the chest to feel the vibrant, flame red feathers he could see within. Suddenly he received a painful shock; similar, he imagined, to being pricked by a thousand burning pins. The feeling, along with some alarming white sparks, shot up his arm and caused him to jump back emitting a small squeak of his own, dropping the lid closed heavily with a thump as he did so. He nearly jumped out of his skin when a voice near his ear muttered disdainfully, "Idiot."

Whirling round quickly, Ron was relieved to see a worried and guilty looking Harry pulling off Draco's invisibility cloak, which Draco was quick to remove from Harry's hands. Pulling off the other cloak which he had purloined from Harry, Ron checked his arm and was surprised to find not a mark on it. Pleasantly surprised he asked, "How'd you find me?"

Draco gave Ron a withering look; it took all his effort not to roll his eyes to the sky. The journey down the stairs with Harry had not been to his liking at all - the stairwell was narrow and both boys had wanted to go first so there had been much pushing and shoving which, although Draco had smugly won (just), he felt was a little undignified and beneath him. "Well despite this being a magical property, it's not often that chests and the like open by themselves for no apparent reason – and even less likely that they would then slam down suddenly and omit a squeal like a girl. We guessed it had to be you."

Ron blushed a little and then looked flustered for a moment before saying in what he thought was an intelligent voice. "Well of course I knew you would follow – and I thought I'd do a little investigating, as I could see there was nothing to worry about down here."

Draco let out a 'pfft' of air in disbelief. "Yeah, other than the shock you just got from whatever is being protected in the chest. You're lucky Lucius doesn't own this place – a shocking charm would seem extremely mild compared to some of the precautions he takes." He walked to the chest, lifted the lid and put his hand gently through the gap, both of the other boys could see the magic from the charm crackle around his hand for a moment before Draco pulled away and closed the lid again. "Harmless really but it's difficult to penetrate anyway – the shock tends to deter people from trying again." He noticed that Harry and Ron were looking at him strangely. "Why do you both look as if you've seen a boggart? Is my hair out of place or something?" He asked, self consciously running his fingers through his locks.

Ron walked over to the chest and copied Draco's actions; but again he jumped back and this time stuffed his fingers in his mouth for a second. Shaking the stinging sensation from his hands he asked, "Didn't it hurt you? It's worse the second time."

Draco nodded nonchalantly, "Yes it gets worse each time you try until eventually the shock will knock you out. My mother had something similar on the box under her bed – I think she thought if she put a weak spell on it Lucius would think whatever was in there was unimportant…" Draco drifted off for a brief moment but forced himself out of those memories. "Anyway, I'm good with pain so something like this is easy to ignore. Probably I could take five or six goes before I had to pull my hand away."

Both of the other boys looked slightly awkward, Harry noticed for the second time that Draco had called his father by his name. He cast his mind back but the few times he could remember Lucius being brought up in conversation, the younger Malfoy always used to say 'Father' so it was definitely a new turn of phrase.

"Anyway," Draco said flatly. "This isn't helping us is it? Are Phoenix feathers going to help us find whoever is hiding down here; is…" He read at random from a set of small, expensive looking boxes "…Leprechaun hair going to suddenly open a portal to a secret room? I think not."

"Leprechaun hair?" Ron asked ignoring Draco's rant and peering at the other boxes. "Demiguise hair, Hippogriff talons, Ashwinder ash? Ollivander doesn't normally use all of this stuff… There's even Runespoor Fangs here and that's mainly for Dark Arts magic. Guess that's what those notes about experimenting with cores were all about… He's got no Chimaera scale though, shame – it's meant to be really powerful but it's super rare so I guess it's no big surprise… What?" He asked, realising the other two were staring open mouthed at him – well Harry was anyway; Draco just had an eyebrow raised with curiosity rather than scorn, which was as good as a gaping mouth where Malfoy's were concerned...

"Weasley, did Granger give you some of her IQ along with all of that saliva you two swapped or have you been suddenly possessed by an intellectual entity?" Draco asked incredulously.

Ron blushed for the second time and shrugged his shoulders. "I learned some stuff about wands before I got mine – that's all."

"Hmm…" Draco sounded doubtful. "Well-"

But whatever scornful remark was about to leave Draco's lips was silenced by the voice they had heard earlier crying out, "Please, whoever you are – either set me free or be gone and stop tormenting me with the sounds of free men."

All three boys stood as still as statues for a moment; Ron whispered "But there can't be anyone down here - there are no doors... I looked."

Harry was spurred into action; ignoring Draco's hurriedly whispered warnings he called out loudly, "Who are you. We mean you no harm but we cannot help you if you do not show yourself."

Inwardly Draco felt like hitting Harry over the head with the nearest blunt object he could find. He was cursing himself enough for letting his guard down and now this idiot had completely announced their presence. They didn't know who the mystery voice belonged to, he was all too aware of the evil tricks Death Eaters played. Hell, his father – Lucius, he corrected himself – had bragged about them enough... In order to capture someone important, one of Voldemort's men would Polyjuice themselves as someone close to that person – a relative or loved one - and then they would lead their victim into a trap.

Ron looked indecisive, he wanted to help whoever was there but Draco's warning about the wards being set off and Death Eaters turning up had taken an effect on Ron and he was still a little edgy.

"H- Harry Potter? Is that you?" the disembodied voice called out. It seemed to be coming from further down the room.

Draco slapped his hand firmly over Harry's mouth before he could reply with an affirmative answer and possibly doom them all. "We are asking the questions here." Draco said in a cool manner. "State your name and what you are doing here."

"I... I am Ollivander... I have been trapped down here for a long time. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had me locked in this room and left me here to die."

Harry was wriggling madly under Draco's grip and despite his few weeks of being well fed by Ginny, Draco knew he was still not at full strength and couldn't hold the other boy still indefinitely. "It might not be him – it could be a trap." He whispered desperately, trying to make Harry see some sense.

He was rewarded when he felt Harry stop struggling; gingerly Draco removed his hand from over Harry's mouth and let go of his arm. Harry gave him a cursory glance before straightening his top and calling out. "How can we trust you; can you prove who you are? We cannot see you or any doors to other rooms."

There was a pause before the voice that may, or may not have been Ollivander's spoke again. "The doorway is hidden; it was meant to be used as a safe room. Can you see the hand-lights all along the walls? If you come to the far end of the room you are in and look for the third hand from the end you will find that the wand can be depressed causing the door to be revealed."

Draco shook his head quickly as he saw the other two move towards the far end of the room. "We still have no proof as to who you are." He stated.

"How do you suggest I prove myself without showing myself?" The voice asked tonelessly.

Harry piped up again. "If you are who you say you are then what did you tell me when I bought my wand from you?" He had an odd, faraway look on his face. He was remembering how disturbing Ollivander had seemed on the day he had got his wand and was feeling dubious that they should trust this person even if he really was the wand maker.

"So it is you Harry..." The voice sounded slightly more hopeful than it had before. "I remember that day; just as well as I remember every wand I have ever sold... Holly, 11 inches, with a single phoenix tail feather as its core. As for what I said to you – I believe my words were, among others 'It just so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather resides in your wand gave another... just one other. It is curious that you should be destined for this wand when its brother gave you that scar.'"

"Yes." Harry murmured. "You said that you expected me to do great things… You said Voldemort had done great things with his wand…"

Ron frowned at this bit of news. Almost as if the hidden person could see his disapproval, they said: "Great… but terrible if you recall. Please Harry, you are my last hope – I will surely go mad if I am left here for much longer."

Harry couldn't shake off the feeling that perhaps Ollivander had been a little mad already, but he knew that his mind was made up. Before Draco could stop him, Harry strode towards the end of the room and grasped the third wand from the end.

"Get your wand ready Weasley…" Draco hissed, subtly manoeuvring himself so that Ron was in front of him. Ron did just that and quickly moved so he could back Harry up if necessary.

As Harry pulled down on the wand, a noise similar to the hissing steam of the Hogwarts express started and where there had seemingly been just a plain and very dirty wall before, a crack stared to appear. As the crack widened, more detail could be seen almost springing to life on the wall, panels and a small grated window and finally an intricate handle; all of which made up a very large and heavy looking door.

Harry cautiously peered at an angle through the grill, hoping that this approach would minimise the chance of anyone waiting on the other side managing to hex his head off his shoulders. What he saw through the window made him scrabble frantically for the handle.

The man shackled by his wrists to the floor was Ollivander although he was barely recognisable. He was thin to the point of emaciation; his hair was a dirty matted mess, hanging limply over his face in which the features were sunken so deeply that Harry couldn't help but think of a skeleton's face. If it hadn't been for his striking eyes - pale, wide and silvery - Harry might have doubted that the person in front of him was who he claimed to be.

As Harry finally wrenched open the door and took a step closer, he noticed that there appeared to be an awful lot of what looked like old, dried blood splattered around the room. Ollivander's torn clothes and parts of his face and arms were also caked with it. Harry thought he could even recognise the smell that lingered in the room, a musty stench like old meat with a faint hint of copper. It crossed his mind that a normal seventeen year old really shouldn't be accustomed to such things, but then again he realised that he was no normal seventeen year old; even in the wizarding world.

"Are you hurt?" He asked Ollivander with a concerned look in his eyes. Harry wasn't too confident on his healing abilities, especially not for anything that could cause this much blood-loss.

"Not anymore." Ollivander replied cryptically.

Harry looked at him dubiously but decided maybe he'd been wrong about it being blood. Maybe it was wand varnish… he though desperately. Harry bent down so that he was the same level as the wand maker and gently lifted the wrists that were encased in metal. "Do you know a spell I can use to get rid of these?" Harry asked him quietly.

"You could try liberatio, yes that should work. Like this…" Ollivander waved one of his hands shallowly in the air while repeating the word. Harry tried a couple of times without success; but finally the cuffs opened with a click and fell to the ground heavily.

Ollivander smiled weakly at Harry, "Thank you." He said simply as he reached his bony hands out to Harry's shoulder for support. "Please, let us leave this room." He said, looking at Harry pleadingly with those strange eyes.

Harry considered calling to Ron for help, but the old wizard weighed so little that it wasn't really an effort to lift him. The two of them walked slowly out of the room, Harry supporting the stumbling man the whole way.

"Ron, you can put your wand down now." Harry said quickly, reassuring the other boy that he was in no danger. "Grab me the chair from by that desk would you?"

When Ron moved to do what Harry had asked, Draco came fully in to view. Ollivander gave a short gasp and his hand clutched quickly to his chest. Harry looked up at Draco questioningly but Draco, understanding his quizzical look, just shrugged his shoulders in the universal gesture of confusion. However, despite denying it to Harry, a nasty thought was forming in his brain.

Ollivander gratefully sank down into the chair that the very wide-eyed Ron had dragged over for him. Harry moved so he was closer and asked "Are you ok; do you need any medical help? Can you tell us what happened?"

The elderly wizard pried his eyes away from where they had been fixated on Draco and looked at Harry. "I am physically well... thanks to a friend, just a little weak and stiff jointed from sitting on the cold floor for so long. And yes I will tell you my tale, though perhaps you would be kind enough to help me upstairs to my store front first... I am anxious to make certain nothing has been damaged or taken. Once I am sure of that we can sit more comfortably in the kitchen and I will tell you what happened to me."

The boys all looked at each other anxiously. "Erm..." Harry began nervously. "We, erm. Well the fact of the matter is..."

"You set the wand wards off didn't you?" Ollivander guessed. "Yes – I remember that now." He added strangely.

Ron looked at Harry and circled a finger by his temple to indicate how crazy he thought the gentleman was.

"Still no harm done." Ollivander murmured. "They won't attack me so we should be quite safe... yes." He stood and held out and arm which Harry took quickly. The four of them moved slowly towards the staircase, Ollivander casting sidelong glances at Draco all the way, until climbing the stairs made this impossible. Draco made sure he walked behind the others to avoid the burning gaze coming from those milky silver eyes.

They made their way back up to the closed door, behind which awaited the many wands that the three younger wizards still considered to be a great threat. Ollivander released his grip on Harry's arm and shuffled slowly to the handle. He grasped it and twisted; as soon as the door started to swing open he threw his arms out wide and splayed his fingers.

"There, there." He said soothingly. "Settle down now. Back to your boxes please." To the complete shock and awe of the muggle raised Harry and mild surprise of the two pure blooded wizards, the wands flew back and settled in the boxes, which closed around them and then the boxes proceeded to stack themselves neatly on the shelves.

Ollivander smiled happily. "Simple theft charm really, just a very old one so it will seem strange to you youngsters. Only I can remove wands from their cases." He obviously knew what the boys had been trying to do as he continued, "I know you, Harry Potter, cannot be in need of a new wand. Even if I had not just seen you use it downstairs; I know that it has much more to do with you yet."

He turned to Ron and regarded his red hair and freckles calmly. "And you, latest in a long line of Weasley's to enter my shop in need of assistance. Yes I remember you…" He added as Ron's eyebrows rose. " Willow, 14 inches and the core was a hair from the mane of an exceptionally friendly unicorn. Practically gave me the hair she did – very strange but one mustn't grumble. It's better than nearly being gored…"

He realised that he was rambling and cleared his throat; his eye's twinkled as he spoke to Ron again. "Your wand is broken again perhaps? Another casualty of youthful recklessness?" He didn't seem to be too convinced.

"No, my wand is fine." Ron said in an overly polite manner, pulling his wand out quickly as proof that he hadn't been reckless and the first wand incident was purely a one off. Ollivander had unnerved Ron just as much as he had Harry.

As there seemed to be some strange tension between Draco and Ollivander, Ron added helpfully. "It's Malfoy's wand that needs replacing sir. 'They' broke it." He dropped the speech marks in as easily as he replaced Voldemort's name with You-Know-Who.

Ollivander obviously understood as he nodded knowingly. "Yes, yes. That's right…" He paused and turned towards the boy that was studiously avoiding his eyes.

"I have been waiting for the day when you would walk through my door." Ollivander said passionately, his piercing eyes met Draco's – who wondered fleetingly if those pale silvery eyes had once been the strong metal grey of his own.

Draco sighed, he had suspected something like this was going to occur; he was instantly recognisable after all. Well, he'd just have to be the bigger man and put things straight. "I am assuming that the man I used to call Father was involved in your imprisonment. I can assure you that apart from my name, I am in no way affiliated with him anymore."

He was just about to try and explain that he required a wand in order to go on a probably impossible quest to take back something that had been stolen from him, but Ollivander interrupted.

"I fear that you are labouring under a misapprehension. Lucius Malfoy has barely ever spoken a word to me in his life – let alone laid his hands on me. No, it was because of your Mother that I know one day our paths would cross…"