June 8th

Hermione hadn't gotten any sleep as she waited, her heart in her throat, for Draco to send word. She couldn't imagine Scorpius missing, that Astoria had done something that horrible. So she had paced most of the night, ignoring Magi and the other elves as they tried to get her to go lay down or relax. She couldn't do that, not when she didn't know what was going on.

Sure she had been calm and collected when she had Magi attempt to find Scorpius, to go to him. Which had failed because the poor elf said she got turned around and there was a nasty bit of magic surrounding Scorpius that meant no tracking spells or location revealing spells would go through to him. It also explained why Lila, her otter, couldn't go through to him, not could her patronus the eight times she tried.

But she had been calm the entire time she had talked to Magi, got Draco a bag, arranged for an international portkey because Draco needed her to be calm. She couldn't fall apart even though she had wanted too. Draco needed her to be strong because he had looked grey and numb, like he was heavily disassociating. She had to stay strong for him and when he left and she got back home, she had a rather nasty panic attack thinking about all the horrible things that could be happening to Scorpius.

Hermione couldn't understand Astoria, why the witch would do such a thing. Hermione had always told herself that Scorpius' well being came before everything else. She wasn't his mother, she wasn't even a parent to him, but to see Astoria cause that much damage blew her away. There was no reason for it, absolutely none.

"Mistress, please gos to sleeps." Dipsy grabbed the hem of her dress and tugged gently.

Hermione shook her head firmly, "No. I need to wait for Draco to call. He will call and let me know what I need to do. If it happened like Narcissa said it did, I need to be here to tell the aurors, the judge, his lawyers, and Cara. I have to gather everything on this side and take care of it all so he doesn't have to worry about it." She was aware she was talking rapidly, nerves making her stomach churn and her teeth click together rapidly like she was cold. "I have to be ready for that, Dipsy." She had to ensure that everything was taken care of.

"Yous good Mistress but yous no good tired." Magi's voice was firm and Hermione shook her head, the fireplace resting in the corner of her eye so she could keep an eye on it in case it flared green.

"I have to wait, Magi. This is Scorpius, he's important." He was so much more important than sleep and she needed to help Draco. She needed to make sure it was all taken care of for him.

"Yes, youngs Master is very importants but so are yous." Teeny said it softly as she moved over to Hermione's other side, grasping the hem of her dress. "It's okays, Mistress. Yous needs sleeps." She disliked that they were mothering her almost but she also understood why. While she had disliked the entire system in place for house elves, she also understood that they had come a long ways in their treatment and that the elves truly cared about their families. So she also understood that Dipsy, Teeny, and Magi all cared about her well being.

"Thank you, all of you, but until Draco floo calls, I'm not doing anything." Hermione was firm on that. She wasn't going to go to bed or have a rest until she received that call.

"Master Draco would wants you sleeping." Magi sounded half a second from being overly agitated and Hermione just shook her head as she moved from her current place to across the dining room, keeping the fireplace in her peripheral vision, just in case.

"Just until he calls, Magi." Hermione was willing to promise that. Until he called and she knew what was going on, she wasn't going to be doing anything but watching the fireplace and pacing. That was far better than obsessively thinking about every horrible thing that could be happening and giving herself an anxiety attack.

"We will checks, we will make sure, Mistress." Dipsy spoke oh so softly, as if she believed Hermione was easily spooked, and Hermione just shook her head again.

The fireplace flared green and Hermione inhaled sharply and dashed over, all exhaustion forgotten as she stared at the green flames. "Hermione?" Draco's voice came through as did his face among the flames.

"I'm here! I'm right here!" Her heart was in her throat as she looked at him. There wasn't much one could see with the flames but she could see he looked exhausted.

"Sorry I took so long but I had to take mother to the hospital. She was delirious and out of it. She had been doused with a rather potent sleeping draught. I'm surprised she managed to send her note companion to me at all with how she was." He rubbed his hand over his face and Hermione's heart leapt into her throat, beating in the vein in her neck harshly. "Apparently her and Astoria were sharing a drink as a form of 'let by-gones be by-gones' before her and Scorpius came back to England when Astoria doused her. She was tossed into a guest bed and by the time she managed to pull herself out of the stupor, Astoria, her fiance, and Scorpius were all gone."

"So she definitely took him?" Hermione brought her hand up, cupping her throat in her palm as her eyes burned.

"Yah." Draco gave a small nod. I've contacted the MACUSA Department of Aurors to get their help but they told me this was a civil matter and they weren't going to get involved as we are under international law." Draco ran his hand through his hair and Hermione's heart sank, making her feel overly nauseous. "I tried to tell them that Astoria was only allowed to have him until the eighth and she was violating a court ordered custody agreement but they refused to hear me out." There was a touch of defeat in his voice that Hermione hated to hear.

"I'll contact Harry, we can get your lawyer involved and perhaps we can apply for an injunction against Astoria to bring Scorpius back to England." Hermione rolled it over in her head before she nodded. "Maybe, because you are under the auror department in England and the custody agreement was made here, then Harry could find a way to help you search." There had to be something they could do. Astoria was blatantly breaking a custody agreement that a judge had made. Hermione doubted the judge would look favourably towards Astoria after hearing about what she had done.

"That would be a massive help, if you could, darling. I've also contacted Blaise and Theo for their contacts for magical bounty hunters to try and help track Astoria and Scorpius down." He let out a heaving sigh. "I just can't do anything right now until mother is back on her feet. She's been sleeping it off for now and was given some potions to help neutralize the draught to the best they could but she needs time." He shook his head again and gave a low curse. "I knew I never should have let him go." The amount of self-loathing in his voice was almost enough to break Hermione's heart.

"None of this is your fault, Draco. You wanted to do the best by Scorpius, Astoria is at fault for this, not you. You'll find Scorpius. I don't doubt it for a moment." He would. No one would search harder for their child than Draco. He would find Scorpius and bring him home. "Do you want me to contact Figwiggins to get the injunction ready?"

"I can do that." Draco stared at her through the green flames and even through the magic the look was piercing and probing. "Have you slept, Hermione?" The question was pointed and Hermione pinched her lips together. "Darling." Draco nearly breathed it out. "Get some sleep. You need to rest. We are a team and I need you to be okay in England while I'm over here." The words were not snapped out but definitely firm and said with no room for argument.

"How's your arm?" Hermione knew it was a change in conversation but she didn't want him worrying over her too much.

"It's burning and I wish I could cut it out but you aren't changing the subject." His gaze was piercing as he met her through the flames. "Hermione, you need to go to bed, you need sleep. I need you to help me and in order to do that, you need to be fully functional." The censure was clear and she blinked away tears at it. She felt like she was being useless if she wasn't helping. "I need you to take care of yourself, darling, so you can help me because I need all the help I can get. Okay?" At the softly said word she nodded and swallowed hard.

"Okay." She looked at him and he rubbed a this face.

"This is a fucking mess but we can deal with it." He sounded a little less defeated and Hermione knew that it was a win, if a small one. "Get some rest and then talk to Harry. I can't leave the apartment until mother wakes up fully so once you are awake and have your talk with Harry done, floo me so we can make a game plan." There was no room for argument so Hermione simply nodded.

"Okay, Draco." She nodded and tried to give him a smile but it came out shaky and almost brittle with emotions she didn't have the mental capacity to name at the moment.

"Please take care of yourself while I'm gone. I can't worry about you too." He said it softly, with a touch of pleading and Hermione found a touch more resolve.

"I will. I promise. We are a team and we can't be if we are neglecting our own health." Hermione gave a firm nod at that, feeling bolstered. She honestly wanted to hug him, to press herself against his chest and let him hold her but he was right. He couldn't expend the energy worrying about her when he had to search for Scorpius. She needed to do better.

"I couldn't have said it better." Draco nodded, "Magi, please ensure Hermione goes to bed." He called it out and the elf came over, grasping Hermione's elbow.

"Come on, Mistress. We gets yous to bed." She didn't give her any chance to argue as she pulled Hermione to her feet. "Listen to the Master. We gets you to bed."

"I'll talk to you later, Draco." Hermione called it out over her shoulder and Draco just nodded from the fire. The fire went out and Magi didn't give her a chance to say anything as she tugged her towards thehall.

"Yous gets to sleep, Mistress." She said it firmly, "Master says you needs it." Hermione just wished there was something she could do for Draco. He was stressed, there was no doubts about it but there had to be something she could do to make his life just a touch better.

The idea pinged into her head like she had been zapped and Hermione inhaled sharply and then smiled. "Magi, I need all the texts on dark magic that you can find in the Malfoy library." She could do for Draco what he did for her. She could research a way to remove the dark mark.

"Sleeps first." Magi lead her towards Draco's room. "We will looks for them but Mistress needs sleep." Magi narrowed her large eyes as she looked up at her and Hermione gave a small nod, burying her sudden urge to research as best as she could.

Draco was right, she couldn't be worrying him while he was trying to find Scorpius. They were a team and she needed to ensure she was taking care of herself.