Draco Malfoy stared at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. He was all ready for a night out, his stag night to be precise, but he was having second thoughts about the entire matter. His fiancée, Hermione Granger, had enjoyed her hen night the previous weekend, and she'd celebrated with her female friends, his mother included, by going out to dinner and then onto a posh cocktail bar. Draco knew the night had been a huge success, but he wasn't sure the same was going to be said of his pre-marital celebrations.
When the idea had first been discussed, Draco had been under the impression that the evening would just be a few of his friends going out for a few drinks together. But that was before Hermione's best friend, Harry Potter, had stuck his nose in and filled Blaise Zabini's head with the crazy notion of a muggle style stag night, which from what Draco could gather seemed to focus on getting the groom-to-be as drunk as possible and making him look like a fool, all while being entertained by strippers. If anyone other than Blaise had been his best man and in charge of organising his stag night, Draco might not have worried, but if anyone was going to listen to Potter's mad muggle ideas it was Blaise.
"Sodding Potter," he muttered to himself as he finally emerged from the bathroom and into the master bedroom.
"What was that about Harry?" Hermione asked, causing Draco to jump slightly as he hadn't seen his fiancée sitting at her dressing table.
"I was just cursing Potter for mentioning these crazy muggle stag nights," Draco answered honestly. "Why is Potter your best friend?"
"Why is your best friend Blaise?" Hermione countered with a chuckle. "We both know you're only worried about what Harry has said because Blaise is in charge of this evening. If someone like Theo or even Vince or Greg had been your best man, you wouldn't have been worrying about them latching onto Harry's stories."
"Looks like we're both to blame for this mess," Draco muttered with a frown. "Do you think I can say I'm ill? I can stay here with you instead and we can celebrate in our own way."
"No can do," Hermione chuckled as she rose to her feet, shaking her head. "I'm off to the manor. Your mother and I are having a pampering evening, and then I'm spending the night so I won't be woken up by you returning home drunk in the early hours of the morning."
"What if father wakes you up when he returns home drunk?" Draco countered. "Or did you forget he was coming tonight?"
"No, but your wing of the manor is a fair distance away from your parents' wing, so Lucius would have to be very loud and disruptive to wake me, wouldn't he?"
"I could always say I was ill and come to the manor with you," Draco muttered grumpily.
"Fancy a facial, or is it a manicure or a pedicure that you're after?" Hermione laughed, walking over to her fiancé. "I'm sure it's not going to be as bad as you think. There's a good chance Blaise will be sticking to the original plan of a few drinks and something to eat."
"And there's an equally good chance he's arranged a stripper and has plans to shave all my hair off and tie me naked to a lamp-post," Draco retorted.
"Look on the bright side, at least you're a wizard so if you do lose your hair, you can use magic to regrow it," Hermione replied cheerfully.
"Is that all you took from that?" Draco asked with a pout. "Are you not bothered about the stripper? In a few hours' time, I might have a naked woman gyrating in front of me."
"Why would I be bothered about a stripper?" Hermione asked with a laugh. "I know you would never cheat on me. Besides, we both know that if strippers are involved tonight, it'll be more for Blaise than for you."
"True," Draco admitted with a sigh. "Blaise does love any excuse to interact with scantily clad witches. In fact he loves any excuse to interact with the opposite sex at all."
"If anyone is going to end up going home with the stripper, it's Blaise," Hermione remarked.
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," Draco sighed. "I really don't want things to get all seedy with the involvement of strippers. Maybe at the first sign of naked breasts I should hightail it home."
"You do whatever you want, but don't feel you need to avoid the fun on my account. I trust you, Draco. And I know that come tomorrow morning you'll will have done nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about. Although whether the same can be said about other people remains to be seen."
Trusting that Hermione was right, and whatever Blaise had planned, he could handle it, Draco kissed his fiancée goodbye and headed off to meet his friends. The evening was due to start at The Leaky Cauldron, down in London. Once upon a time Draco would never have dreamed of drinking at the pub, which in his youth had been shabby and run-down, but in recent years it had been taken over by one of his fellow classmates from Hogwarts, Hannah Abbot, and she had turned the pub in a genuinely nice place to go and have a drink and a bite to eat.
The group celebrating with Draco included his closest friends, Blaise Zabini, Theo Nott, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. It also included a few other former Slytherins he was still friendly with, like Marcus Flint and Adrian Pucey. Then there was the Gryffindor contingent that came courtesy of his romance with Hermione. Obviously there was Hermione's best friend, Harry Potter, who aside from his recent interference in regard to muggle traditions, was someone Draco actually liked and got along well with. Hermione's other best friend, Ron Weasley, was a slightly different story and Draco knew they would never be overly close, but they'd learnt to put the past behind them and they had an okay friendship and could tolerate each other for Hermione's sake. Ron's twin brothers Fred and George would also be there, along with Neville Longbottom, all of whom Draco got along swimmingly with. And of course, his father, Lucius, and godfather, Severus Snape, would be making up the numbers, and a few other acquaintances had said they might drop in during the evening to have a drink with Draco.
When Draco arrived at the pub he found all the Gryffindors had arrived, as well as Blaise, his father and Severus. The other Slytherins were yet to put in an appearance, but Draco was slightly early and he had faith that everyone else would soon arrive.
"Ah Draco, you're just in time to hear the evening's itinerary," Blaise greeted as Draco joined his father and friends at the large corner booth they'd commandeered.
"An itinerary? Does it come complete with a timetable?" Draco joked, causing the others to chuckle.
"There are a few places we need to be at for a certain time, but on the whole the evening will be pretty free flowing," Blaise said. "Once everyone's here and we've had a few drinks, we'll be heading for something to eat. I thought we would line our stomachs early in the evening. I've got us a table at some new all you can eat place on the other side of wizarding London."
"Sounds good to me," Ron remarked, clearly getting in early before one of his brothers made a joke about his infamous appetite.
"After that, I thought we'd just float from bar to bar, wherever anyone fancies, but then we're going to head to The Golden Galleon."
"What is that?" Harry asked with a frown.
"An exclusive casino," Lucius answered. "I'm a member and I've organised guests passes for everyone, and I'll even throw in several galleons worth of chips for everyone to play with."
"Nice," Fred remarked with a low whistle. "Do we get to keep any winnings?"
"I don't expect any of the money back, it's my contribution to this evening," Lucius said. "I just didn't want anyone to get to the casino and feel unable to join in because they couldn't afford to gamble their hard earned money."
"And then after that, we have the grand finale of our evening," Blaise announced, flashing Draco a devious smirk. "And before you ask about it, my lips are sealed. It's going to be a complete and utter surprise."
"A good surprise I hope," George said.
"The very best," Blaise replied. "It'll knock your socks off."
"As long as nothing else comes off," Draco warned his best friend. "Because I am telling you now, if it's what I think it is, I will not be impressed."
"You will be by the time we get there," Blaise laughed. "Lighten up Draco, you're only going to do this once, so let's make it memorable."
Not wanting to ruin the evening, Draco agreed to put his worries aside and enjoy the night. It sounded like anything untoward was planned for the end of the evening, and he was confident that by that point he would be able to slip away unnoticed if things took a turn he wasn't comfortable with.
Despite Draco's initial reticence he was soon thoroughly enjoying the evening, as was everyone else. The all you could eat restaurant was a hit with everyone, not just Ron, and after that everyone took it in turns to pick a pub or bar where they could get a drink. It was going on for midnight when they hit the exclusive casino Lucius had lined up for them, and they were there enjoying themselves for a good few hours, and everyone emerged from the place with a few galleons more than when they had entered. Or in Lucius's case, several hundred more as he'd been on a hot winning streak all evening.
From the casino, Blaise announced his big surprise was a trip into the muggle world, where they would be visiting a twenty four hour pole dancing club. He'd assured everyone that he'd sorted a tab at the club, and all expenses would be paid for, so no-one had to worry about not having muggle money.
The club itself was nowhere near as seedy as some of the group had been worried about. The waitresses were all attractive young women, and while their uniforms were very minimal they did at least afford the girls some privacy. As for the dancers themselves, several stages were dotted around the large club, and the girls took turns in performing on them. There were also girls offering lap dances, and for a fee private dances were on offer in a set of private rooms on the upper floor of the club.
Given it was the early hours of the morning when the group reached the club it wasn't overly busy and it meant the group didn't have to worry too much about saying something muggles might find odd. It also meant they could pretty much commandeer the attention of any of the girls that caught their eye without having to vie with other punters for the privilege of her company.
Almost ninety minutes after arriving at the club, Blaise decided he would set Draco up with a private dance. Picking out a girl who was the exact opposite of his fiancée, he looked around to find Draco, only to see no sign of his best friend. Spotting Lucius and Severus sitting in a quiet corner, a decent way away from the nearest stage, he headed over to them.
"Have either of you seen Draco?" he asked. "I'm setting him up with a private dance."
"Would he appreciate that?" Severus asked with a frown. "He is pretty devoted to Hermione."
"She's a dancer, not a hooker," Blaise snorted in reply. "It's all innocent fun."
"Innocent or not, I'm not sure it'll appeal to Draco," Lucius cautioned his son's best friend. "If he's anything like me, his mind will be firmly on the witch he has waiting for him at home. Because as pretty as these young ladies are, they don't hold a candle to my Cissa, and I very much think Draco will feel the same about Hermione."
"Probably," Blaise admitted with a sigh. "But there's no harm in checking with him. He can't have gone far, I'm sure I can track him down."
Leaving the two older wizards to carry on enjoying their evening, he headed off in search of his best friend. However, the relative quietness of the club meant that he was easily able to track down the other stags and establish that Draco was not with any of them. He wasn't at the bar with Harry and Neville, he wasn't by one of the stages with Ron and the twins, and he certainly wasn't already ensconced in one of the private rooms like a few of the other Slytherins.
"He has to be here somewhere," Theo remarked, when Blaise reached the stage where he, Vince and Greg were sitting watching a curvaceous redhead undulating around the pole in the centre of the stage.
"You would think so, but I don't know where," Blaise muttered with a frown.
"Maybe he went outside to grab some air," Vince offered, his eyes never leaving the young woman on the stage in front of him.
"Yeah, maybe it all got too much for him," Greg agreed, equally absorbed in the show he was watching. "This place is pretty smoking."
Deciding that it was a possibility that Draco might have stepped out for some air, Blaise headed outside with Theo to check things out. They did find a muggle man they'd seen in the club earlier smoking nearby, but when they'd asked if he'd seen anyone he said no-one else had left the club in the last fifteen minutes.
"When did you last see him?" Blaise asked Theo as they headed back indoors.
"Merlin knows," Theo snorted. "I've had a few drinks, and quite honestly all those bars we visited are blurring into one. I can't remember what happened at what time."
Finding the rest of the party, and gathering them together, Blaise found that Theo's situation was pretty common and no-one could accurately remember when they'd last seen Draco. They all agreed he'd been with them during the pub crawl, and Neville and Severus were pretty sure he'd been at the casino, but no-one could give a definite last sighting of the groom-to-be.
"Maybe we left him behind somewhere," Harry suggested with a laugh. "He could have been at the bathroom when we left and no-one noticed."
"Does it really matter?" Marcus questioned, his eyes drifting back towards the girls who were still performing. "He'll eventually turn up at home."
"I think we should try and find him," Lucius said with a frown. "Narcissa will not be happy if she discovers I've lost Draco again."
"Again?" Theo questioned. "Have you lost him before?"
"More like temporarily misplaced," Lucius replied. "And I found him easily enough."
"When was this?" Severus asked, wondering why he'd never heard this story before as he'd known Draco his entire life.
"When Draco was little, he must have only been five or six," Lucius answered. "Narcissa was called to her parents as her mother was bad and at that point her father was pretty fragile and didn't have long left, so she didn't want to take Draco with her. Not knowing how long she was going to be, she didn't want to leave him with the house elves, so I was tasked with looking after him. I had a few meetings that afternoon that I couldn't postpone, so I took Draco with me to the meetings. However, when I returned home, I didn't have Draco with me, much to Narcissa's fury."
"Where was he?" Fred asked as everyone listened intently to Lucius's story.
"I retraced my steps and found him in the offices of one of the wizards I'd been doing business with that afternoon," Lucius said. "He was curled up asleep under one of the desks and no-one had noticed him."
"Was this at least your last meeting?" Severus asked, chuckling at the mental image of Draco curled up under a desk as knew from experience that when he was younger, Draco had been able to curl up and sleep anywhere.
"Sadly not," Lucius admitted sheepishly. "I'd attended two meetings after that and hadn't realised he wasn't with me."
"Wow, Ginny would kill me if I went out with James and came back without him," Harry remarked.
"Narcissa was not happy, hence why we need to find him now so she doesn't drag up the past," Lucius said. "I'm sure if we did as I did last time and retrace out steps we'll find him."
Deciding that they didn't need everyone for the search, Lucius, Severus, Blaise, Theo, Harry and Ron decided that they would find Draco, while the others either carried on without them or called it a night, despite the fact it was nearing morning. However, because of the time the group soon encountered an issue with retracing their steps as many of the bars and pubs they'd visited earlier in the evening had closed for the night.
"I think by this time, there's a good chance he's simply gone home," Severus remarked as they hovered outside of the now closed Leaky Cauldron.
"Probably," Lucius agreed. "But let's be sure."
Being sure involved going to Draco and Hermione's house, which Lucius could let them into thanks to the fact he was a blood relative to Draco, who had set the wards around the house. While people slumped down on the sofa and chairs, the booze and the lateness, or rather the earliness, of the hour hitting them, Lucius hurried upstairs to check his son was home safely. However, he was back less than five minutes late to announce that Draco was nowhere to be seen.
"Did you not ask Hermione if he was home yet?" Ron asked as he stifled a yawn. He was more than ready for bed and eager to get home.
"Hermione is at the manor," Lucius replied. "She and Narcissa had some sort of girly pampering evening last night, and Hermione was going to stay at the manor so that she wouldn't be woken by Draco arriving home drunk."
"Maybe the fact he's drunk is why he's not home," Theo suggested. "Maybe he's had an accident."
"I hope not," Lucius muttered, knowing that his wife would kill him if any harm had come to their son and he hadn't noticed.
While Lucius decided to check with St Mungo's, in case an accident had occurred and Draco was in hospital, Harry decided to check with the Ministry and see if any incidents had occurred that might have involved Draco. However, St Mungo's had no record of Draco being admitted, and they had no unidentified wizards matching his description, and the Ministry hadn't attended any incidents that evening that had involved Draco.
"So he's not at home, he's not in hospital and he's not in a jail cell," Blaise summarised. "So where is he? Still out enjoying himself?"
"I don't know, but I do know we have to return to the manor and inform Narcissa and Hermione that we have lost Draco," Lucius announced with a sigh.
"We?" Severus questioned with an arched eyebrow. "What is all this we business?"
"I'm not doing this alone," Lucius snorted. "You're coming with me because you're my best friend and Draco's godfather. Blaise is the Best Man, and therefore responsible for this entire mess. Theo, I'm sorry but it's unfair to let you leave now, so you have to join us. And Potter and Weasley here are coming with us to deal with Hermione."
"Why do we have to deal with Hermione?" Ron whined.
"Because you're her best friends, and I'm not sure I can handle two irate witches at the same time," Lucius admitted.
"Before we face the firing squad, maybe we should leave it a bit longer," Harry suggested. "It's barely sunrise, so I doubt Hermione and Narcissa are even up. Besides, if we wait here a bit longer, Draco might come home."
The thought of Draco returning home, and making a visit to the manor and facing Narcissa and Hermione unnecessary, had everyone agreeing to Harry's plan, so they all settled down for a quick nap while they waited for a more reasonable time to face the music and admit they'd somehow managed to lose the groom.
After an enjoyable, peaceful breakfast, Hermione and Narcissa had moved into the sunroom at the back of the manor, to enjoy the view of the manor gardens on what looked to be a glorious day. The pair were discussing any possible last minute wedding plans that might need attending to when they heard movement from the doorway and Lucius entered the room.
"Ah, the dirty stop out returns," Narcissa chuckled. "You know Lucius, when you said you might be late, I didn't think you meant you would be stopping out all night."
"Sorry," Lucius said quietly.
"As long as you had a good time," Narcissa said with a smile. "You did have a good time, didn't you? More importantly, did Draco have a good time?"
"Is he with you?" Hermione asked, seeing that Lucius wasn't alone, but not quite able to make out who was with him as they were still out in the hallway.
"No, he's not with us," Lucius said, stepping further into the room and gesturing for the others to join him.
One by one everyone else trooped into the room, Severus came next followed by Blaise and Theo with Harry and Ron bringing up the rear. All of them looked slightly bleary eyed and quite possibly hung over. Clearly it had been an eventful night.
"Do you all want some breakfast?" Narcissa offered. "The elves can whip something up."
"Not right now Cissa," Lucius said, jumping in as Ron opened his mouth while his stomach rumbled loudly at the mere mention of food. "We have to tell you something."
"Please don't say you've left Draco tied up somewhere," Hermione groaned. "Or don't tell me you've shaved all his hair off, or given him an inappropriate tattoo."
"As far as we know, he is not tied up, he still has all his hair and is tattoo free," Lucius said. "But unfortunately, we don't know where he is."
"You don't know where he is," Narcissa repeated as Hermione frowned in confusion. "Lucius Malfoy, are you telling me that you have lost our son for the second time in your life?"
"Not lost, just temporarily misplaced," Lucius argued. "I'm sure we can find him somewhere. We tried retracing our steps last night, but he seems to have just vanished."
"You mean you don't even know where you lost him?" Hermione demanded sharply. "When was the last time anyone can remember seeing him?"
"We can't quite remember," Harry admitted. "We can all remember seeing him over the course of the evening, but we can't really pin-point the last place he was seen."
"I would swear he was with us at the casino," Severus said. "I'm sure I have a memory of him winning at blackjack, or was that Lucius?"
"No, poker was my game," Lucius supplied.
"So where did you go after the casino?" Narcissa asked.
"A club," Lucius replied with a shrug.
"What sort of club? Where was this club? Did something happen to him there?" Hermione questioned.
"You know, I can't remember seeing Malfoy at the club," Ron mused. "Flint and Pucey were straight off into the private rooms, Nott here settled at one of the stages with Crabbe and Goyle, Harry and Neville chose the safety of the bar, and I was with my brothers at another stage."
"Stage?" Narcissa interrupted with a frown. "What sort of a club has a stage?"
"I think I can make a wild guess," Hermione said with a shake of her head. "And let's guess what was on these stages. It wouldn't happen to be naked women, would it?"
"Naked women?" Narcissa cried. "You went to a strip club?" she demanded of her husband.
"I sat in a corner with Severus and didn't go anywhere near any of the girls," Lucius protested.
"I should hope not," Narcissa tutted. "And I sincerely hope you did not leave our son in a place like that."
"No, we're sure Draco wasn't at the club," Blaise assured the irate witches in front of them. "In fact, Weasley might be right in the fact Draco never made it to the club. When I asked a few girls if they'd seen him, they didn't seem to even remember him."
"They would have remembered Draco if they'd seen him," Hermione predicated. "He's pretty memorable."
"Which should make him easy to track down," Narcissa said. "So how are you going to find him?"
"You want us to find him?" Theo questioned.
"Yes, I expect you to find him," Narcissa replied sharply. "You lot have lost my son, and you can damn well find him."
At the fury emanating from both Narcissa and Hermione, the wizards in the room shared an uneasy look, not having a clue as to how to go about finding Draco. As they continued to look at one another, totally dumfounded, Hermione and Narcissa shared a look, smirks creeping onto their faces.
"Oh, look at their faces," Narcissa chuckled. "They don't know what to do."
"I know, they have no idea where to start looking for Draco," Hermione remarked, also chuckling. "Although, I'll give you one clue. You won't find him in a pole dancing club."
"How do you know the club was a pole dancing one?" Lucius questioned, narrowing his eyes at his wife and future daughter-in-law.
"A little bird told me," Hermione said with a sly smile. "A little bird who flew the nest before he was subjected to such a scene."
"Draco," Lucius hissed.
"You called father," a voice from the doorway called, and everyone turned to see a refreshed looking Draco entering the room. "Oh you lot look like you've had no sleep."
"We've spent the last few hours looking for you," Blaise accused, glaring at his best friend.
"Why, I've been tucked up in bed with my fiancée," Draco retorted with a grin.
"What? How?" Ron questioned, looking baffled by Draco's presence.
"The second Blaise mentioned the pole dancing club, I was out of there, and everyone had been drinking too much to notice my disappearance," Draco replied. "And since I didn't fancy spending the rest of the night alone, I came here."
"While we were all trawling the cold night for you," Severus drawled.
"It's not that cold," Draco remarked with a roll of his eyes. "And besides, logic surely dictated I had returned home. I made it clear that I wasn't interested in any strippers on this stage night."
"They weren't strippers, they were dancers," Blaise argued.
"Either way, they were not my cup of tea," Draco said with an unconcerned shrug. "But thanks for looking for me, guys. I really appreciate it."
"And maybe next time, you'll keep a closer eye on him," Narcissa said to her husband. "That is twice you've lost our son, lose him a third time and you'll be losing something else entirely," she added, her eyes drifting down to Lucius's trousers to let him know just what he was jeopardising.
"I promise, it will never happen again," Lucius vowed. "Now, didn't you mention breakfast? I'm starving and poor Weasley over there is almost fainting with hunger. It's been a long night."
"But what a night," Blaise added with a grin. "Even thinking we'd lost Draco was worth it. It was an epic night of the stag."
With everyone agreeing it had been a good night, Narcissa called the elves to organise breakfast for the men. Soon the men were tucking into a lavish cooked breakfast, and tales about the previous evening started to flow. Even the fact they'd briefly lost Draco quickly became an amusing anecdote, and it was clear that for years to come they would all remember the stag night where they had lost the groom-to-be.
The End.