Chapter Nineteen

By the time Hermione and Draco reached the appropriate parlor, the guest had left. Lucius remained in the room by himself, the trademark Malfoy smirk gracing his features. As soon as he heard footsteps approaching the room, he tucked a bit of parchment discreetly into his robes.

The footsteps stopped outside the door.

"What is it, my son?" he sneered, privately thanking Draco for having been born under a meteor shower. This fact was turning out to be far more useful than Lucius could have ever imagined…

Knowing it would be pointless not to reply, Draco stepped into the room, subtly holding out his arm to stop Hermione from entering as well; There was no point in making his father suspicious.

"I heard we had a guest," he stated bluntly. "It became apparent to me that we should have invited her to dinner."

To a Muggle, this statement would have been an obvious cover-up story from an eavesdropper. However, to a pureblood, entertaining another pureblood guest in the parlor and not inviting them to dinner… well, that was practically a crime.

Lucius frowned – Draco had never really paid much attention to etiquette before, unless it was required of him. Was the boy finally growing up? Or was he onto the fact that something out of his power was going on?

Either way, Lucius reasoned, it didn't matter. The wedding would take place tomorrow, just as planned. And after that, well it might take some coercing, but… well, that was a barrier to overcome when the time came, anyway… there was no use in worrying about it now.

"My guest was in a bit of a rush, Draco. She unfortunately was forced to decline my invitation."

"I see," Draco responded, inclining his head just enough to be marginally respectful. "I will see you tonight, father."

.

.

"How did you get this address, Ginny?"

The redhead smirked, revealing a grin full of tiny, pearly teeth. "Harry's got connections everywhere, Hermione. Whatever Harry Potter wants, Harry Potter gets, trust me."

Draco snorted; Hermione frowned.

"You didn't involve Harry in this?"

Ginny shook her head, "Of course not. I just sent a letter to the right people and signed Harry's name at the end. I've gotten quite good at signing his name, you know: It's so messy, no one knows the difference. All things considered, the reply was quite prompt."

"I'll say," Hermione agreed. "Pawleyne Close…"

"That shouldn't be too difficult to find if we Floo there," Draco spoke up. "I'm assuming you're talking about London."

"Bromley to be even more exact," Ginny answered, brimming with confidence and self-worth. "SE20."

"Right," Draco said, momentarily forgetting his disdain for the Weasleys in his anticipation. "Let's go."

"Now?" Hermione demanded.

"Of course," Draco snapped, "what do you want to do, wait around until after tea?"

Hermione lowered her eyes and said nothing.

Draco fidgeted awkwardly; He was sure he was never going to overcome the feelings he'd harbored toward her for the past seven years. It occurred to him, however, that he should at least pretend to tolerate her – the gentlemanly side of Draco even considered that it was rude to snap in such a way at a lady. He was going to have to work on his attitude, if it was even possible to reform after eighteen years.

"Let's go," Ginny announced, frowning at Draco.

"Who said YOU were coming?"

Ginny stood up straight, squaring her chin and boring her brown eyes right into Draco's gray ones: "I am coming along because I was the one who got the address AND because I refuse to let you verbally abuse Hermione. That is why."

Her tone was so final, Draco realized the only way he could possibly get to her to stay behind was by using the Body-Bind Curse on her. That, however, wasn't much of an option, considering he'd never hear the end of it from Hermione, and as soon as Harry found out, he would probably be after his right nut with a butcher's knife.

"Fine. Let's just get the fuck on with it."

.

.

The apartment was much more difficult to find than they'd anticipated. Once successfully Floo'ing to London, it took them a good half an hour to find Pawleyne Close. Once there, it appeared the home had been magically hidden.

After a chorus of swears, hexes and curses, Draco gave up. "Fuck it," he said deliberately. Hermione flinched at his language, but didn't bother to reprimand him.

"What's the house number?" she inquired meekly, instead.

"There wasn't one," Ginny answered sheepishly, "or, I wasn't given one, anyway."

"Fucking useless," Draco muttered. The girls ignored him.

"There has to be a way to get in," Ginny said obstinately. "Otherwise, what would be the point of giving me the address?"

"Maybe they thought you were just going to write her, Gin. An owl would know where to take a letter," Hermione reasoned.

Ginny nodded glumly. "I guess you're right, that must be it…"

Hermione froze, "But if an owl would know where to deliver a letter…. Ginny! We just have to borrow someone's owl and follow it! There are bound to be a bunch of wizarding families in London!"

Ginny's eyes brightened, "You're right: There's a wizarding post office about twenty minutes from here! See, Hermione, we needed your cleverness!"

The three young people hurried to the post office as nonchalantly as was possible. Draco was still unconvinced the plan was going to work, but Hermione and Ginny were more optimistic. They entered the dingy building, checking for Muggles to make sure none saw them enter the apparently empty complex.

"Two knuts for local, please," Ginny requested of the wizard behind the desk.

"Of course. The addressee?" the man prompted.

"Carissa Baxter."

The man's hand paused over the piece of parchment. He looked Ginny straight in the eyes, "What on earth could a young woman such as yourself want from a hag like Baxter?"

Taken aback, Ginny mumbled only unintelligible words. Draco's jaw tightened.

The man shook himself, "I'm sorry. It's none of my business. I just… you look so innocent…"

"Can you tell us what this Carissa Baxter does, sir?" Hermione queried, leaning across the desk.

The wizard blushed, "Well, she's a fortune-teller, at the very least. See, what sets her apart is that she can tailor prophecies to her every whim. But what she mostly specializes in is… well, necromancy." He whispered the last word as thought it were a swear word.

Ginny took an instinctive step back; Draco wrinkled his nose. Although Hermione had been raised in the Muggle fashion, she understood why both purebloods had the reaction they did. Necromancy was the taboo of wizardry. You just didn't do it, and you rarely talked about it. How people even learned the art was a mystery, considering no one had ever permitted a book to be written on the subject.

"We're not trying to get involved with her," Hermione told the wizard, lowering her voice. "We just need to ask her a couple questions… Can you tell us where she lives?"

The man shook his head, "Pawleyne Close, that's all I know. She likes her privacy and everyone is quite happy to let her have it… two knuts, please."

Hermione fished through her pockets, but found only a couple sickles. Ginny had no money whatsoever. Draco, on the other hand, carried only galleons.

"Typical," Ginny muttered, shooting Draco a dirty look when he pulled the gold from his pockets.

Hermione slapped a sickle on the counter.

"89C," the man responded dully, handing Hermione her change. "Next." It was clear he wanted nothing to do with anyone who might have a connection to the necromancer.

They located the owl they'd been assigned, barely much larger than Pigwideon. Ginny carried him in her scarf (something the owl did not appreciate) all the way to Pawleyne Close. Once there, they attached a blank piece of parchment to the owl's leg.

"Show us Carissa Baxter, please," Hermione whispered softly to the harassed owl. The owl screeched, attempted to nip her finger, then flew off haphazardly down the lane.

.

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Author's Note: Hey guys, I really must apologize firstly for the short chapter and secondly for not updating in two weeks. I'm really sorry. Things have been quite hectic at work lately, with the elections and all. (I work for a newspaper). I kind of think this chapter is a bit crappy and I'm really sorry. I will try my hardest to be prompt with my updating from now on.

CherryKat202 - I got your message. You check every day? If you sign up for an Author Alert, it will automatically tell you when someone updated.

Thanks a ton to Readerforlife, amorreal, GoodCharlotte615, whatifgirl, brooklynsam3, RIPJameSiriusLupinTrueMarauder, and sureynot for reviewing!!