As I'm leaving the Manor, head buzzing with panic, I see the door to the main floor library slightly ajar, and realise I overlooked it. It's literally full of books from the 1500's that no modern person can even decipher, so no one goes in there. My heart starts thudding again, as I realise it's never left open. I see it closed so much, that it usually looks just like part of the wall to me. I have to check it out.

I head inside, and see tracks in the dust. Several of them. It looks like a fight broke out - a few scorch-marks hit the wall by the sconce light, and some of the books have broken spines. One of the books has been pulled down, opened, and some pages ripped out.

I rush around to pick them all up, and check them from and back for clues. Nothing. The book itself is an original copy of The Miller's Tale, which was written by the wizard Chaucer, concerning the silly and strange antics of Muggles in love. But no clues.

So I go to put it back where it was pulled from, and there it is - a wand. Potter's wand - I've seen it a million times. He was here. He gave up all his power to leave behind a message. And as I pick it up, I realise what a genius he can be. When he's facing death, anyway.

He's turned it into a Portkey.

The tug behind my naval turns into a sickening whirling feeling, which lasts quite a long time, longer than a normal Portkey. I do my best not to throw up, and my ears pop so badly that I have to clutch my head in my hands.

When I land, or stop, I collapse into a heap, and crack open an eyelid to discover my surroundings. There's grass beneath me, bushes next to me, and sky above me. No threats around me, that I can detect. I think I'm in a park.

I become aware of people walking by, Muggles from the looks of it. One of them throws coins at me, and another one tells me to get a job. Definitely Americans. They seem in a big hurry, and most of them don't look at me.

I stand up, and dust myself off. I don't know what the time difference is, but it's daylight here too. I look around, operating on pure adrenaline. I should have had someone come with me. A grown-up. A real Auror. I can't do this alone. But I don't have time to wait for someone to believe me enough to help. Nor could I get back to England even if I wanted to.

On the pathway that seems to cut through the park, I spot a bench that's broken exactly down the middle. One of the slats of the bench has been ripped out and seems to be pointing towards the entrance to the park. Or is it pointing the other way, deeper inside the park?

Operating in a blind panic, and trying to trust my instincts, I check out the gates to the park, and see a public bathroom marked 'out of order'. I step inside and down a few steps - remembering our Ministry's use of public bathrooms last year - and my instincts were right. The fight continued in here, at least based on the cracked sinks, bent toilet stall doors, and the toilet itself has been splashed everywhere and the seat ripped off.

Well, I suppose it can't hurt to try, so I step into the toilet and pull the flusher. Nothing. Except wet feet.

I look around, somewhat desperately. I catch my reflection in the mirror and it wobbles slightly. My reflection winks at me. The mirror! It's been made into a portal. I should have known - it's the only thing in this bathroom that's not broken.

I step closer to it, and touch it with my fingers. They start to pass through, with a feeling like ice where the mirror touches my skin. My foot steps on something slippery that I can't see, and my knee hits the ground with a sharp burst of pain. I feel for what I slipped on, and my heart leaps. The Invisibility Cloak!

I throw it on, put up the hood, and clamber up the sink. I jump through with no reservations about entering into a kidnap and hostage situation against three armed wizards, completely unprepared. Well, almost no reservations.

The scene I drop into on the other side of the mirror is not what I expected. My brain rapidly takes in some sort of ballroom or large Atrium. There's a mob here, all wearing silver cloaks, hoods up, and raising their wands. The stage ahead of me contains 4 figures - a cloaked figure doing the talking, Mother, Father, just standing there, and Potter, on his knees, bound, and head hanging.

I stand in silence, not daring to breathe, as I come to terms with the fact that no one can see me. It's an unnerving feeling.

"... The war fought this night shall be our victory, the Muggles will finally be evicted from our island, and all their bridges and boats will be burned. We will be free once more to live out in the sunshine, not under the ground like rats…" Vanessa is pacing the stage, and her rant sounds strong, powerful, and persuasive. My parents just stand there like sheep, and anger bubbles up in me.

I have to get Potter his wand back. He will be able to fix all this. So I try to sneak around the side of the room, against the wall, to avoid bumping into bodies. But this place is packed.

I end up bumping a few people, and they turn around and push right back. They don't see me, so they end up blaming the person behind them. A few fights break out, but that actually helps provide cover, as long as I dodge out of their way quickly enough.

Reaching the stage at the front of the room, I cast an Unbinding Charm at Potter, and his wrists fly apart. He hurries to keep them together, to continue looking like he's at their mercy. Now that I am up close, I can hear his heavy breathing, and see he has a broken nose and a cut lip. His head stays down and I see his eyes darting everywhere, trying to take everything in, and see who is helping him.

As Vanessa continues her rant, complete with a plan of attack on the Muggles in Manhattan, I slip Potter's wand under his knees, so it remains out of sight between the Cloak and his clothes.

"And as the dawn rises, so will our community, back from the ashes, like the Phoenix of legend…" Vanessa is speaking, and Potter hits her with a Gagging Spell so quick I didn't even see him pick up his wand, and her next words are just squelchy gulps.

He stands up, tall and imposing, and the crowd gasps. A silvery light bursts from his wand and then he flicks it in an X-shape and I find myself Tongue-Tied, along with the rest of the room.

Vanessa has recovered her composure enough to begin duelling, lightning-fast, but Potter's legendary reflexes aren't exaggerated. He even smirks as they parry curses, and he finds her weak spot immediately - her left shoulder is less mobile and he focuses his attacks on that side.

Just then, a muffled commotion breaks out at the back of the room - some have their wands out and are firing random curses at the stage, but no one wants to accidentally hit Vanessa, so they're mostly for show. As I look back I see a stream of people come leaping through the mirror. Aurors! I note Shacklebolt heading the group, and the confusion on his face.

But my tongue is still swollen double it's size, so there's no way I can explain anything to him. He'll have to figure it out himself, which doesn't take long, as he starts hitting people with Binding Curses almost immediately. The rest of the Auror team swarms around, with the element of surprise on their side, about half the silver-cloaks are down already.

I watch as Pan tackles Father, and bowls him over with ease, before turning her wand to my mother. My heart thuds, with anger at them, and worry. Why aren't they fighting back?

I step closer and the realisation hits me. My Father is lying on the floor, face completely blank, eyes wide open. Imperius. Vanessa's spell is still just holding on, despite fighting Potter. My stomach flips and my mind races. How long? Is this why… Could I have..?

But there's no time. Under cover of the commotion, I drag him under the stage. Potter almost steps on me as he jumps off the stage backwards to keep fighting, but I roll away just in time.

Mother is valiantly fighting off Pan, expression just as blank as Father's. I cast a Shield Charm around her, and head back to Shacklebolt, pulling off my hood.

He looks shocked to see my floating head, but not surprised to see me. As he's tugging a Bound silver-cloak towards the wall, he says, "Malfoy, what's going on here?"

"She captured my parents, and Potter. She wants to take over Manhattan. I followed them here. Please, call off Pan, my mother is Imperius'd. I don't want either of them getting hurt."

Shacklebolt eyes me. "As long as you take your mother and go. Back to England. I don't have a clue how you got involved in all this, or if I can even trust any of you. I can't have you jeopardising my Aurors."

My shoulders sag. Of course he still doesn't trust me. "Fine."

I flip my hood back up, and follow Shacklebolt as he calls off Pan. She looks confused, and annoyed, but I ignore what they're saying to each other, toss the cloak over Mother and wrestle her back towards the mirror.

She's still in fighting mode, so her wand burns and cuts me, but I have the upper hand in size, the element of surprise, and the Cloak, so I manage to subdue her. We're barely fully covered, but no one's paying attention in all the commotion around us. I drag her bodily through the magic mirror, and back to the park.

Finally out in the fresh air, there seems to be enough distance to snap Mother out of the spell. She begins panting and panicking, with no idea where she is. I rip off the Cloak so we can breathe.

"Mother, shh, it's fine. You're fine. It's me, Draco. You're fine."

"Draco?" She says, seeing me as if for the first time in a long time. She clutches her arms around me and I feel her sobs coming from her chest. "I'm so sorry, Draco."

I shake my head, blinking fast against the sting in my eyes. "No, I'm sorry. I left you, I let her take you, I was being…"

"Oh, sweetheart, it wasn't your fault. Your father was - where is Lucius?"

"Back inside, I need to go back for him." I say, trying to stay calm, but dreading going back in there. "Stay here. Try to think of a way to get us home."

She nods, and discreetly casts a Shield Charm on herself while eyeing some strange running Muggles.

Through the mirror, chaos still reigns. The silver-cloaks have overtaken Potter, surrounding him completely, and the Aurors can't get close enough to him to free him. I hit a few of them with the Knockback Jinx, creating a space to let the Aurors get though. Vanessa dusts herself off and looks around. I throw a quick Body-Bind curse at her, let more Aurors have at her, then duck under the stage to retrieve Father.

He's passed out cold, and we can't both fit under the Cloak. I can't levitate him or drag him, that would get us seen. So I attempt to Apparate, hoping I can remember the park well enough to show up in the right place, and not Splinch either of us.

I take three deep breaths. Destination. Determination. Deliberation.

We arrive next to Mother with a pop, I quickly check all mine and Father's limbs are attached, and I can't help celebrating, just a little bit.

To my surprise, Mother has already commandeered, enchanted, and Disillusioned a Muggle automobile. She helps me drag Father into the back seat, and she takes the driver's seat, which is on the wrong side. My heart skips as I realise we're safe, and we can get out of this place.

Once we're in the air, I try to fill Mother in on what happened. Her memories are vague, all she remembers is answering the door, and that must have been three days ago. She does remember a Jack Trilby, but doesn't recall if he had any children, so I can't verify whether the story came from Dad's memories, or was actually true.

After we're as caught up as we're going to get right now, we lapse into a comfortable silence, broken by my occasional yawn.

"Sleep." Instructs Mother, softly. "We'll have to take turns at the wheel, and you need your rest."

"I can take over." I offer, immediately, despite having no clue how to pilot a flying Muggle mobile. "You must be exhausted."

Mother shakes her head, her hair a complete state. "I feel fine. Like I've just woken up from a long, deep sleep. But this trip is going to take at least overnight."

So I nod, and settle back in my chair. As soon as I close my eyes, thoughts of the battle we've left behind fill my mind. I can still hear the clashing of spells, the cries of pain, and I can see the Aurors still outnumbered two-to-one.

I sigh, and wrench open my eyes. "I have to go back."