Harry sighed to himself as he walked into the door, shoulders slumped, but determined to right a wrong. .It had been a long few weeks, a long, hard few weeks with regrets and self loathing, but today he was going to make the first step in making Hermione's life right once again.
"Mr.Potter" Anton Hense greeted
Harry turned to the short, balding man and held his hand out.
"Mr. Hense, I presume."
Anton nodded and shook Harry's offered hand.
"Call me Anton, and if you will follow me, we can get started on this."
Harry nodded and followed the man down the hall and into a nicely decorated office.
"Now, You say you have a story that you would like me to write?"
"I do." Harry replied, "And I chose you due to your reputation for printing only what needs to be said and doing it straight to the point."
Anton smiled, "I am a firm believer that the message can be given without dragging all of the dirt into the mix."
"So, what do you have for me, Mr. Potter?"
Harry pulled the black book from his robe pocket and dropped it down on the desk in front of him.
"Inside that book, you will find things that will both horrify you and make you queasy. The book is the story of why Hermione Granger gave my position away to Voldemort."
Anton winced a bit at the names of both Hermione and Voldemort, but otherwise held a mask of indifference.
Anton then picked up the book and stroked his fingers along the spine. He didn't really want to read it, he didn't need anymore images of bad things going through his head, not after everything he had already seen and read the days following the end of the war.
"Tell you what, Mr. Potter, how about you just tell me the story as best you can and together we will make a tasteful article that will not cause anyone grief, myself included."
Harry nodded, "Fair enough."
Oooooooooooooooo
Three days had passed since the 'incident', and Hermione carried on as if nothing had happened at all. They still had 16 days left to find Abby and Hermione threw herself into that instead of thinking of other things that would surely cause her to become distracted.
They had four more Manors to check along with three buildings that Hermione had noticed Alexia go to in the time that she followed her.
"Found anything?" Draco asked over the muggle walkie-talkie that Hermione had given him.
"I'm not sure." She answered back, "There seems to be some activity on the west wing, but I can't tell who it is or what they are doing."
"Can we get in? Or are there guards again?" He asked and released the stupid button.
"No guards that I can see, but the wards appear to be unusually strong… I believe there has to be something here but I can't be sure."
There was a silence before Draco came back, "I'll meet you there in two minutes."
Draco started his walked to the West Side of the large manor, hope filling his heart. He was terrified that they wouldn't find her and if fate was on their side, and they found her with time to spare, he promised he would never take advantage of anything ever again.
Draco slipped down on the ground next to her, but didn't say anything as she was concentrating on something.
"Alexia is here." She said out of the blue, "but I don't see Abby with her."
Draco felt his blood run cold. Were they off in thinking what ritual they were up to? Did she already dispose of Abby?
"Them I'm going in to look for her." Draco replied
He started to stand but before he could get completely to his feet, Hermione gripped his ankle and pulled him back down.
"Now is not the time to be stupid. You cant just rush in like a blond Zorro."
" What the hell is a blond Zorro?"
"Never mind" she said while shaking her head, "All I'm saying is we need to be careful. If Abby is in there, and you go rushing in, they might leave and ruin any chance we have at getting Abby back."
Draco huffed but didn't say anything.
"Now, The wards seem to be weaker the further away from the West wing you are. I suggest we find the weakest point and slip in undetected… we need to watch before acting or we will only get ourselves and Abby killed."
Draco wanted to scream, he hated waiting for anything, especially when it came to the well being of his daughter but for Abby's sake, he would listen to Granger.
Oooooo
Anton looked as if he had seen a ghost. He had been one of those people who shunned Hermione, even cursed at her a few times, and now, he felt just as guilty as Harry did.
"Merlin, Mr. Potter, I – I am at a loss for words."
Harry nodded in agreement, "I've been like this for weeks… I haven't even tried to get my divorce settled."
Anton sighed and stood from his chair, "What about the Weasleys? Do they know about this?"
"Ron does, but he would rather stay out of it… he has a thing of not wanting to admit when he is wrong."
"And the others?"
"Have no idea. I actually planned on flooing Molly Weasley and letting her know about the article that way she doesn't have a fit."
Anton picked up the book once again and handed it to Harry, "I suggest letting the people close to her know what happened before tomorrow… then burn that blasted book before everyone knows what happened to her in all its gory details… There are somethings that are better left private."
"Will do." Harry replied, "So, it will be printed tomorrow?"
"It will, but I should also warn you that I caught wind of another article that will also be running tomorrow. It would appear that Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy are being accused of using Dark magic… the Ministry is going to offer a huge rewards for them, breathing or not."
Harry frowned, What the hell was going on?
A/N: Short chappy, I know, but I want to get some other stories updated. Sorry for the delay.