Draco hadn't the first clue about where to go about investigating the whereabouts of his sister. One couldn't very well go off gallivanting around the English countryside without any idea of where to start.
He had decided to head to the Ministry building in London. Certainly, the people at the Ministry of Adoption could see his reason for needing the information he required. Using the techniques that Lucius had always showed him had proven dismally ineffective, however.
After trying for several minutes to bully the officials into giving him the information he wanted, he turned to bribery. When that failed to work, he had even tried flirting with the ugly woman in front of him. She should feel grateful that someone as good-looking as me would do this, Draco thought to himself. But she didn't even blink when he sent her his most affective smoldering smile. Instead, she glared at him and told him to go away or she would call a guard to have him escorted off the premises. The nerve of that woman! Draco was incensed. How dare she treat a man of his position that way.
"I'm just trying to find my sister!" Draco shouted in desperation.
Relenting somewhat, the adoption official said, "Look, even if we did have the information you want, we couldn't give it to you. The birth mother takes an Unbreakable Vow together never to reveal the existence of her child to anyone else ever again. This is believed to have saved many people a lot of heartache in trying to trace their roots. The Ministry is of the mind that the records should only be disturbed in case of a broken law or an emergency."
Suddenly, a sickening realisation hit Draco in the stomach. His mother's sudden and inexplicable illness...was it because she had broken the Vow by telling Draco about Arachne?
No, that didn't make sense, she had been ill for weeks...the answer came to him. Lucius. Narcissa had told her husband on his deathbed about her illegitimate daughter. A noble confession, if a bit misplaced. Now she was dying as a result.
"But this is an emergency! My mother–she broke her Vow by telling my father and I about the existence of my sister. Now she's dying! Is there anything you can do?"
Wide-eyed, the woman looked at him and said, "The only thing that can save her is if the adoptee chooses to release her from the Vow. In that sense, it's not a true Unbreakable Vow...but it's close enough."
His mind whirling, Draco ran a hand over his forehead. "If I can prove to you that my mother is dying, will you give me the information I need?"
"Yes, but we need documented proof."
"You'll have it within the hour."
Draco went directly to St. Mungo's, asking for papers which documented his mother's illness.
As promised, he had returned to the Ministry of Adoption in a record forty-seven minutes.
The female official perused the documentation, and handed Draco a precious copy of the adoption documents.
It turns out that not only had his mother taken the Vow never to reveal her daughter's name, but the Vow included a stipulation that she would never reveal the name of Arachne's father as well. Harsh, Draco thought, but extremely effective. It had kept Narcissa silent for years. Apparently, motherhood or conscience had got the best of her and she could no longer keep her secret.
Arachne had been adopted by a German couple whose names were Annika and Rolfort Schwartz twenty-five years ago. According to sealed record, her last official residence had been in Munich as of the time she was eleven years old. It wasn't much to go on, but it was a start.
Draco was impatient to get back to Malfoy Manor and grill his mother about her illness. Surely she had known why her health was in such decline. Why had she never told him? Why the endless parade of healers?
The young man didn't even wait for the house-elf to answer the door before he barged into his mother's room because he was so furious.
"Wake her," Draco demanded of the house-elf once he stood by his mother's bedside.
The little elf looked up at him with huge tear-filled eyes. "Mistress has not awoken today. This elf cannot wake her."
At that, Draco hovered over his mother, trying and trying to get her to awaken, but it was no use. Yet another healer had arrived only to tell him, "She's in a coma."
Draco had no doubt his mother was in such a state because she had chosen to speak with him about Arachne the night before. It also explained why she had not revealed the name of Arachne's father. If she had, it surely would have finished her off.
The clock was ticking and Draco knew it. Narcissa had days, if not hours left. While Draco was no idiot, he still came to the realisation that he needed help and he needed it as soon as possible. And he knew just where to get it. That bleeding heart Gryffindor would be certain to help me, Draco thought with satisfaction. And she knows how to keep her mouth shut. Yes, it's time to contact that mudblood, Hermione Granger.