The next morning, Daphne and Draco launched into a coordinated attack. "You know," remarked Draco as he reached for the last slice of toast, "I've heard it's all the rage to vacation somewhere outside of Europe these days." He frowned as Severus' hand snatched the toast from the platter before Draco could claim the slice. Draco pouted as Severus then proceeded to butter the bread and pile jam liberally, while making teasing eye contact. Before Draco could make a fuss, Daphne cut in.
"Oh, yes, Draco! I was hearing that too! I just got a letter from a Ravenclaw friend of mine who said she traveled to Salem Massachusetts in order to better understand the nature of witch hunts and wizard burnings." Daphne pushed away her half eaten bowl of oatmeal, glancing at her father as she poured herself another cup of tea. "Don't you think that would be a wonderful opportunity, father?"
"Travelling to the United States? Whatever for?" Altair Greengrass seemed a bit perplexed by the idea. "It's not every young witch and wizard who get to vacation in another country—Germany has a lot to offer those who truly want to study the language and heritage. Why, simply the fact that Grindlewald had such success here suggests—" Daphne cut him off.
"Father, I love you, but if I let you get started we'll be here all day! I'm just suggesting that maybe Draco and I could travel somewhere else…extend our education to outside of Europe. I know Draco has traveled extensively in France, as we've traveled through Germany. Everybody does Italy—so passé. I'm simply suggesting that we might have a better time if we were able to expand our horizons." Daphne appeared to be winding up for a passionate speech when Severus spoke up.
"Miss Greengrass. You said that a Ravenclaw traveled to Salem to learn more about witch burnings? Why choose Salem?" Daphne looked at Severus askance. Severus turned to Draco "Any ideas?" Draco was suddenly very interested in the last few bites of bacon on his plate. Severus smirked "Can it be that there's still homework to be done?" Both children groaned. Altair look up with surprise.
"Daphne, I thought you'd finished all of your assignments! I'd hardly let you become distracted by a visit with friends if I'd known—"
"Dad!" Daphne protested "It's only history of magic! I already sort of know why 'Witch burning in the 14th century' was pointless. I don't want to spend the last few weeks of vacation focusing on the dullest assignment from the most boring teacher of the least interesting class in Hogwarts!" Her voice had risen to a whine. Draco sniggered into his napkin, but stopped when Daphne turned her glare at him. "Don't think you get to escape from this either, Draco. I'm sure Professor Snape would be interested to know that you haven't started that assignment either!"
"I'm glad this came to light," Severus paused as he wiped his mouth politely, "It seems that you've gotten ahead of yourselves. Draco, Miss Greengrass, I'd be happy to revisit your request to travel, but only once I've had a chance to review and approve every assignment you were asked to complete this summer. Does that sound reasonable to you, Altair?" Daphne's father nodded, muttering something about daughters who are too sneaky and smart for their own good. Daphne just beamed and kissed her father on his cheek. Draco smiled indulgently at his twin—clearly she had such devotion to her father, and it was completely mutual.
Later that morning, Draco was taking a break from reading about Wendelin the Weird. He couldn't imagine why the witch had the nerve to get herself caught and burned at the stake so many times. It didn't matter that she apparently "enjoyed the sensation—" clearly someone would have wised up to the same witch getting caught over and over. Draco wished Bathilda Bagshot had given more insight into the wizard who'd finally captured Wendelin and convinced her to uphold the Secrecy Statute of the time—not as precise as the one wizards currently lived under, but still obviously against getting caught and burned as a witch forty seven times. As Draco stretched, his eye was drawn to the newspaper. He picked it up and flipped through the pages when an image caught his eye.
The headline read "Ministry of Magic Employee Scoops Grand Prize." It talked about how Arthur Weasley had won the Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw. Draco was embarrassed at the thought of entering a public drawing for money—imagine! The more he read of the article, however, the more incredulous he became. Eventually he called it to Daphne's attention.
"Daphne! Can you believe this? The Weasley family wins 700 Galleons and spends most of it on a vacation?! What were they thinking?" Daphne tilted her head at him inquisitively and mentally asked "So?"
"So? Daphne! This is the family that has more children than good sense! The Weasel broke his wand in that Whomping Willow debacle at the BEGINNING of school last year, and they let him go through an ENTIRE year with a broken wand. Clearly they have no money to spare. So, when they win the kind of money that could finally put them off a paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle, they just waste it on a vacation? Don't you think that's odd?" Daphne just sighed.
"Draco, I'm sure they are allowed to make whatever decisions about money they want. You tend toward judgementalism. No! Don't make that face at me my love. You know I think the world of you. But you do hold everyone to such high standards! Have you ever thought that people are going to fail when you don't allow a little wiggle room in your views of the world?" Daphne studied Draco's face for a minute, judging if her words had sunk in. After a minute, she giggled, "I can say this, though. We can definitely eliminate a trip to Egypt from our wish list of vacation spots!" Happy that Daphne was willing to leave off her painfully accurate statements about his state of mind, Draco laughed at that perhaps harder than was strictly necessary. They were interrupted from their laughter by loud chimes coming from the Floo room.
Still laughing, Daphne crouched down in front of the Floo to accept the fire-call. "Greengrass tent, Daphne spe—oh. It's you." She grimaced at the fire as Blaise's head appeared in the flames. Draco knelt by the fire with a grin. He hadn't seen his friend in a few weeks. Ms. Zabini had managed to secure a proposal to the Swedish prince from last summer, and Blaise had been out of the country at the marriage extravaganza. Blaise looked a little…less than happy.
"Glad to see you aren't sitting around missing me," Blaise said bitterly. "Here I thought you guys missed me as much as I've missed you." He glanced quickly at Daphne, then away. Draco spoke up quickly.
"Blaise, you are an idiot. Of course we've missed you! However, I assure you we didn't miss this mopey side of you!" Daphne nodded rapidly, head bobbing. Draco continued, "Daphne for one has had a miserable summer so far. There's not much her father will allow her to do outside of this tent. In fact, she's already started her History of Magic essay. Can you imagine how horrible her life must have been, for that to happen?" Draco neglected to mention the conversation from earlier, where they'd been forced to start the assignment. The point right now was to make their dark eyed friend grin. Mission accomplished, Draco asked his friend how he'd been.
"Oh, you know," Blaise shook his head dismissively, "You go to one royal wedding, you've been to them all. At least for this wedding, Mother didn't insist I play ring bearer." He glared at Daphne as a snort escaped her lips. He continued, "I did speak to Hermione a few times this summer." At those words, Daphne's mirth melted and her face fell slightly. Draco didn't notice, as the mention of Hermione made him realize he had another avenue for potentially figuring out what had happened in the Chamber of Secrets at the end of last year. He'd have to go about it properly. He tuned back in to what Blaise was saying in time to hear "—and of course, she has no idea what to give him for his birthday—"
"To give something to whom for his birthday?" Draco had a suspicion, but was gratified when Blaise confirmed that Hermione was trying to figure out a gift for Potter. Draco thought for a second before replying "Tell her to get him a Broomstick Servicing Kit from Quality Quidditch Supplies. Specify the one that has the Fleetwood's High-Finish handle polish. It's the best kit they sell, even though it isn't the most expensive." Blaise gave Draco an odd look through the flames, though he only thanked Draco for his advice.
The conversation turned to various excitements about the upcoming school year. Draco spoke with renewed enthusiasm about Care of Magical Creatures. When his friends questioned that interests, Draco again enthused about grizzlepups, but expanded his enthusiasm to talk about Professor Kettleburn. Professor Kettleburn had also taught a magical creatures class at SPARKS, and had been one of Draco's favorite teachers. He was so excited to reunite with the professor this year and had heard wonderful things about the professor's teaching skills—he was such a dedicated teacher that nearly everyone who took the class CoMC received an "O" on the OWL exams. Blaise mentioned that the owls are on their way out with the school supply lists, and for third years, the Hogsmeade permission letter.
Draco had never been to Hogsmeade outside of his trips to and from the station. His parents viewed it as a rite of passage to get to first experience Hogsmeade as a student, as most Hogwarts students did. He had heard all about the town from the older Slytherins, and was very much looking forward to seeing if the town was as he had imagined it for the last two years. The image that most stuck in his mind was of the Shrieking Shack—it had piqued his imagination ever since he'd heard the rumors—only to have them confirmed by his own father, of all people!
Suddenly, alarms went off throughout the tent. The floo connection ended abruptly as the fireplace simply vanished. Severus and Altair burst into the room, wands drawn. Severus was in the process of pushing Daphne and Draco behind him when Altair relaxed slightly. A glowing bear walked through the wall and spoke to Altair in urgent sounding German. Message delivered, the bear lumbered off. Altair turned to Severus, who nodded in response to Altair's unspoken question. Altair rushed out of the room. Moments later, Draco heard the crack of disapparition. Severus turned to face the two.
"Daphne's father and I had discussed this as a very remote possibility. There was discussion that the security in a wizarding prison had been compromised, though details and locations were never disclosed. That was one of the reasons Altair was invited back to Germany after last year. He is an expert on cultures, yes, but also a magnificent behavior profiler who has been interviewing Grindlewald in an attempt to understand how a Dark Lord rises to power. He was also asked to be near Nuremgard in case the attempt was made to compromise the security of the prison. It would NOT do for Grindelwald to escape captivity. I am here as well out of friendship and loyalty to make certain that nothing happens to Altair. Therefore, I will be joining him in just a few moments." Draco noticed that Severus very carefully did not mention to whom exactly he was so "loyal." He also noticed that at no point did Severus say anything about Altair PREVENTING a future Dark Lord. He filed those insights away as Severus continued to speak.
"I need to make you aware of a few things about your security." Severus looked meaningfully into each set of wide eyes. "You have nothing to fear, but once I leave, the tent will be sealed. No one may enter, leave, or communicate. You will not be able to use any magic, and nothing enchanted will work. This is to make the tent completely unplottable and undetectable. I will provide you with dinner." A wave of the wand left the table covered with sandwiches, juice, and salad. "You are to eat, and spend a quiet evening NOT worrying about us. We can fend for ourselves." With that improbable statement, Severus suddenly grasped both children in a hug. He then spun in place and disapperated.
Draco and Daphne stared around them in a daze. In minutes, they'd gone from joking with Blaise to locked in a tent in a foreign country while wizards may be attempting to break into a prison? It was almost not to be believed. Daphne rushed around the tent, frantically trying to find a way out. She banged her fists on windows, and cursed and sobbed as the one external door disappeared as she tried to open it. Eventually, Draco grabbed her into a hug as she struggled. After a few moments of fighting the hug, Daphne buried her head in his shoulder and sobbed. Draco was furious.
"How could they? Tell us not to worry? What if something happens? Don't they realize we would be DEVASTATED? Just to think that we may be trapped in here while they are in potential danger? Oh, dear." Daphne's weeping had increased in volume. "Umm…Daph…let's eat dinner?" Draco's suggestion was met with the most heated glare he'd ever received from his twin. "Ok! No dinner. At least let's drink some juice. It should cool you down and help you calm down a little." He poured two large glasses and led Daphne to the couch. As her weeping turned into little hiccups, Draco handed her a glass of juice. Mutely she drank the entire glass without stopping. Draco drank his at a more respectful pace (Malfoy's don't chug their drinks, but he was NOT going to remind Daphne of that).
Within minutes, the calming draught Severus had left in the juice had taken effect. However, Severus had calculated the dosage based on the children eating the food left for them. Without anything in their stomachs to mute the potions effects, the calmness Severus had intended left the two children in a deep sleep, curled together on a couch. There they remained until the next morning, when Severus an Altair picked up their respective children and tucked them into their respective beds.