Draco was sat on the bed, with Hermione beside him. She was sleeping, they had spent nearly the entire night reading and thinking of ways to test their incantation. Her body was curled up into his left side, and he had an arm around her to keep her steady. 

For want of something to do, he summoned that day's Daily Prophet. It materialised in his hands, and he began single handedly shaking it open. 

He didn't know how it happened. In a split second, the paper was thrown across the room and set ablaze. Draco stood watching it, taking heaving breaths. 

"Wha-?" Hermione covered her mouth on spotting the flaming paper. 

"Draco!" 

He let out a guttural growl and threw his wand across the room. It hit the wall and clattered to the floor. 

This was never supposed to happen. 

"Draco, the room will catch fire!" Hermione shrieked, clearly angered. She stopped the fire and watched the paper crumble into ashes on the floor. Only half of it remained.

"This is all my fault," Draco growled, and noticed Hermione flinch at his tone. He didn't care at the moment, he really didn't. 

"What-? Draco, wait!" 

He didn't even let her finish before he reached for the door. He pushed roughly past her and was about to twist the doorknob, but she restrained him by using both her arms to hold him back.

"Draco, you haven't cast the spells yet," she had raised her voice in hopes of getting him to listen, "stop fighting me! You know you can't leave like this!"

"Let go, Hermione," he said, as calmly as he could muster, "let go, I don't want to hurt you."

"What makes you think I'll let you?" her voice was several octaves higher.

Draco realised his mistake.

He turned around in her hold and looked remorsefully at her, "I didn't mean it like that, I-"

"Stop it," she said, "I don't want an explanation. Tell me what's wrong, you're distressed."

He was very distressed, she got that part right. 

"I have to leave," he said irrelevantly, "I have to, or-"

"Draco, you aren't being rational-"

"How do you expect me to be rational?" he was yelling again, and wasn't ashamed, "She was my friend, she was like my sister! She's gone and it's my fault so stop asking me to be fucking rational about it!"

His chest heaved at the effort he had put into his words and he tried to leave again.

"No!" she raised her wand and pointed it at his chest, "Shut up, for once, and listen to me!"

He was shocked to see that her stance was very threatening. If it would have been under different cirmumstances, he would have been even more afraid of her than he was at the moment. 

"You're making me think you're Imperiused," she said accusingly, "and I will cast a full body bind on you if you don't tell me what happened."

He lost whatever composure he had left. 

"Pansy," he breathed out, his face crumpling, "because of me, Hermione! Because I did something I shouldn't have now she's gone!"

He roughly wiped away hot tears from his face, "I need to leave because the longer I stay here the more people get in danger because of me."

"Leaving will only make it worse," Hermione said, "what do you mean she's-?"

"She's dead!" he was yelling now, he couldn't help it. He ran his fingers through his hair and tugged at it. The pain distracted him for a few seconds. 

Hermione had gone over to the paper and repaired it. He watched as her hand flew to her mouth and she choked back a sob.

"Whoever did that is going to pay and I mean it when I say it," Draco growled, pointing an accusatory finger at the newspaper in Hermione's hands.

"Your mother," Hermione said suddenly, her voice laced with fear, "your parents, Draco, they're not safe."

Draco blinked at her a few times, trying to comprehend her words. 

His parents were in danger.

He did not really have any sort of emotional connection with his father anymore, but still, he was his father. And his mother, gods, if anything happened to her he would never forgive himself. 

"We have to warn them!" Hermione said , throwing the newspaper aside as she began pacing, "they're in danger, we have to warn them somehow, maybe Harry can help."

Draco didn't know how exactly to feel about the fact that she was so concerned about his parents, almost as concerned as himself. It touched him in ways he couldn't explain, and he felt suddenly overwhelmed and very posessive of the brunette in front of him.

"We can't pull Potter into this," Draco said, "he's the only one at the Ministry who seems to have some sense, although he should probably stop telling other people about this right now."

He tried his best not to lash out again. He had to stay rational, Hermione was right. Pansy would be avenged, but now he had to think about his parents. 

"Then how?" Hermione said, running her hands through her hair, "What if we're too late?"

"We can't owl them, there's a risk of interception," Draco said, repeatedly clenching and unclenching his fists, "we can't go there, obviously."

"We have to find whoever did this," Hermione said, fiercely determined, "the incantation, Draco, we have to try it today. It can't wait."

They began bustling about. Hermione apparated away somewhere without telling him once they had set the letters out. When she had not returned after five minutes, Draco had half a mind to get out and look for her even though he knew it wouldn't do any good.

Just when he was about to wrench the door open, she appeared in the room with a crack. There was something in her hand.

"What's that?" Draco asked.

"Something for us to try our incantation on," Hermione explained. She lifted what she was holding for him to see.

"Is that an ice cream cone?" Draco scoffed, annoyed.

"Florean Fortesque's," Hermione nodded, "it should take us to the back of the place."

"Why would you chose an ice cream cone?" Draco asked.

"I didn't hear you having any better ideas," she snapped back.

"Alright," he gave in. 

"I'll try it," Hermione said, "if it doesn't work the way it's supposed to-"

"We should do it together," Draco interrupted.

"No, that way we both will be harmed in case it goes wrong," Hermione said, sounding very much like her bossy eleven year old self, "then we can't do anything to progress."

"Then I'll go," Draco offered.

"I'm not a child, Draco," Hermione admonished.

"I know, but-" he stoped himself. She was completely capable, he knew that. But he just didn't want to put her in harm's way.

"I'll meet you back here in a maximum of three minutes," Hermione said, taking a deep breath, "if I don't come back by then, apparate to Diagon Alley."

Draco nodded curtly, hiding how worried he was. 

She held on to the ice cream cone, took her wand in her right hand, and said in a clear voice, "Transvecto avenseguim vecturi."

She disappeared with a crack. 

Draco stood still for a few seconds, wondering if it had worked, and if he ought to go now. But no, she asked to wait for three minutes. So he would wait for exactly that much time. He began counting. 

He leant against the wall and tilted his head back, counting away in his head. 

What if something went wrong? What if she was badly splinched and couldn't apparate back here?

He gritted his teeth and continued counting. Nearly there…

His foot tapped away at the floor, the only noise in the room. 

As soon as he said a hundred and eighty in his head, he grabbed his wand. Before he could twist, however, Hermione reappeared. 

She was breathing a little shallow, but otherwise looked unharmed. 

"Are you-"

"It works," Hermione said, "it works, Draco, it works!"

A huge grin spread across her face as she leapt at him and encased him in her arms. Draco stumbled backwards but managed to balance himself, then wrapped his arms around her. He too, was grinning.

"This is great," he said, turning around with her still clinging to him, "we can find him now."

"Yes," she breathed, and he finally set her down. 

"We need to prepare ourselves," she said when she was firmly on ground again, "the letters, we have to keept them safe in case the first one doesn't work. Shield cloaks, we need shield cloaks."

She summoned her bag to herself, and Draco caught the cloak she flung at him. 

"This one's short for me," he said, holding the cloak up.

"Then I'll have that one," Hermione said, and they switched cloaks. While Hermione's was a perfect length, Draco's wasn't. But it was doable. 

"Your wand, Draco," Hermione said.

"I have my wand," Draco furrowed his brows, confused.

"Not the stolen one," she said, "your own wand. Using one's own wand can make any spell three times stronger than with any other wand."

"I'm not sure about this," he said, "the Ministry placed a Trace on it, and although Traces on adults aren't all that accurate, it may tip them off."

"Keep it with you," she rummaged around in her bag, then pulled out a long wooden box, "don't use it unless necessary."

"How do you have my wand?" he asked, his tone accusatory.

"I accioed it and it came to me, I packed it up in case something like this would happen," she said as if it wasn't a big deal.

"You're a snoop, Granger," he said, pulling an exaggerated annoyed expression. 

"Back to last name basis, are we Malfoy?" she rolled her eyes. 

"No wait, I wasn't serious," he said hurriedly. 

"I know, you twit, I wasn't serious either," she huffed, "now there are some mild complications."

"Go on," he said coldly.

"Well, there is a possibility that the letter will take us to the place the parchment was created, or the ink was created."

"I figured that could happen long before you pointed it out," he rolled his eyes.

"Very good then, ten points to Slytherin," she retorted smartly.

"Oh, getting cheeky now, are we?" he reached out to tug her hair, "fifty points from Gryffindor."

"That's hardly fair," she said, reaching up and ruffling his hair. 

"Then don't be cheeky with me," he said, his voice low and deep.

"I'll do whatever I want, Draco," she said, pointing a finger at his chest and pushing him away gently, "quit trying to distract me, we have to go."

They cast the charms on themselves.

"On three," Draco said, holding the letter in one hand, and holding Hermione's hand in the other. He felt strangely nervous and apprehensive about whether it would work or not. 

"One," she said.

"Two." he clasped her hand tighter. 

"Three." 

She twisted on the spot and they were gone. The twisting and squeezing sensation was worse than normal apparition. When their feet hit ground, Draco let go of her hand and leaned over to retch. Hermione stood swaying from side to side. 

"Disgusting," he said, wiping his mouth on his sleeve as he straightened up. 

"Water?" she suggested.

"No, I'm okay," he said, waving her concern off. She cleaned the mess on the floor with a muttered incantation.

He took time to look around himself. 

They were in someone's study. 

"Where are we?" Hermione asked, panic evident in her voice as she looked around. 

Now that they were here, Draco realised how childish they had been in planning things out. They had only thought about their course of action up until their arrival, and not beyond that. In their haste to prevent further events from taking place, they had not really concentrated on the present. Thankfully, Hermione had remembered shield cloaks. 

Before Draco could comprehend what had happened, Hermione grabbed his arm and pulled him to the back of the room. They slipped between a cupboard and a shelf just as the doorknob twisted.

His heart in his mouth, he tried not to breathe too noisily. His eyes were wide with panic as the door opened. At the same time, a rage began fuelling itself in him. 

A girl appeared, humming to herself. She had long, auburn hair and a slightly upturned nose, beady eyes. She held herself with pride, and there was a hateful air about her. Maybe it was the way she looked at everything around her with distaste. She rummaged in the desk in the centre of the room, pulled out some papers, and left. Draco heard the door lock click into place. 

They didn't dare to speak and remained silent for the next few minutes. He was about to speak, but Hermione stopped him. She cast a silencing charm on the door, and only then did they both relax. 

"Do you recognise her?" Draco asked breathlessly. 

"I've seen her at the Ministry a few times," Hermione said, glancing at the door, "I think she's the head representative of the Auror department in the DMLE."

The cogwork in Draco's mind ticked away, turning and spinning, trying to put two and two together.

"I think her name is Rena Podmore," Hermione said, "she's the one who ordered the dead-or-alive."

Podmore.

"She's the bitch who ordered the search at the Manor," he said, "she is - she's the one, I'm sure of it. The impersonator, it's her."

Hermione seemed to be in furious thought, "Podmore."

"Sturgis Podmore," Draco said earnestly, "it's his daughter I think."

"Forgive me for bringing this up," Hermione said, "if I remember correctly your father had Imperiused him."

"Yes, and it's okay," he said, "what happened to Sturgis Podmore?" 

"He suffered Azkaban for a few months," Hermione said, recalling what Harry had told her about him, "he died after the Battle, Azkaban was too hard on him."

"I should have known," Draco said, running a hand through his hair in frustration. 

"If she's in charge of the case and she has such a high post in the Ministry," Hermione said as she began pacing, "nobody will doubt her. Not to mention she can meet anyone at any time."

"She targeted me first instead of my father," Draco said, "he was in Azkaban at that time, so there was no way she could reach him."

"She'll go for him now that he's back," Hermione worried her bottom lip, "we have to get to your parents."

"I'm not sure," he said, "if she knows we were there then she'll make a brash move. It'll be sudden and we wouldn't know."

"You're right," she agreed, disappointed that there seemed to be nothing they could do.

"Wait but if she's using polyjuice - and she must be -" Draco mused, "she'll need my hair or something."

"Right," Hermione said, "how did she get it?"

"I knew that new elf was dubious from the start," Draco's voice turned into a growl in the end. Everything was clicking together.

"New elf?" Hermione asked, looking slightly offended.

"Tibby, I think that's what she's called," Draco said, "she came to the Manor after the Battle, she was at our doorstep, drenched from the storm the night before. Turned out of nowhere."

"She was placed there by Podmore," Hermione completed.

"Yes," Draco said, "my parents."

"Your parents," she echoed, lost in thought, "house elves can apparate in and out of wards. Their magic is different from ours."

The doorknob turned and opened before they could fathom a reaction. 

Rena Podmore stood, stock still, staring at them with her mouth hanging open.

Hermione was the first to react. She lifted her wand, "Confringo!" 

The wall near Podmore exploded, and she barely managed to dive out of the path off the rubble, before shooting her own spell back at Hermione.

"Grab anything you can as evidence," Hermione said between her spell casting, "papers, documents, anything."

Draco shuffled through the papers on the desk, but the papers burnt him when he touched them. Bloody bitch flagranteing everything. He could hear Rena yelling obscenities, but she was too occupied with Hermione to do anything to Draco. He also heard Hermione scream once, but it was replaced by a curse in a split second. Hermione fired spells relentlessly, and only stopped when Draco grabbed her arm. They disapparated.

"Bloody bitch," Hermione said when they collapsed on the floor of their hotel room.

He was surprised to hear her speak that way about someone, but he couldn't really blame her. Rena Podmore was a bitch indeed.

Hermione stood and walked unsteadily to her bag and rummaged in it for the Dittany. 

She was bleeding from a cut near her collar bone. 

"You're hurt," Draco said, walking to her hastily.

"I know, but thanks for reminding me," she snapped, then added, "sorry, it just hurts."

Draco conjured a clean cloth and handed it to her so that she could press it over the wound. She wordlessly handed the bag to him, and he summoned the Dittany.

"Give it to me, please," she made an effort to remain polite. She took the bottle from him and poured a few drops onto the cloth.

"Your hands are shaking too much," Draco observed.

"Her cruciatus lasted only for about three seconds," Hermione said in a way of explanation.

Draco took the cloth from her hands and started dabbing it into the cut.

"Bloody hell, Draco!" she tried to slap his hands away, "It hurts, take it away!"

"Stay still," he commanded, as he continued to clean the blood away. Soon, the cut was clean and no longer bleeding.

"You're feisty when you're hurt," he said, tossing the cloth on the floor.

"It bloody hurt," she said, scowling at him.

"I know," he said in an effort to calm her, "I'm not much of a healer, I'm sorry."

"It's okay," she said.

Their concealment charms began wearing off, and soon they were themselves again. 

"She doesn't know for sure it was us, but she may guess," Hermione said after a few seconds, "and I'm pretty sure there are more people under her."

"We need to get that house elf first," Draco said through gritted teeth.

"Right," she said, "and we need to warn Harry and Ginny as well."

"I'm willing to bet anything that she has people Imperiused," Draco said, beginning to pace, "Shacklebolt is one of them."

"I think so too," Hermione nodded. 

"There are more people working under her," Draco said, "I'm sure one of them is at the Prophet, which explains the nature of the article."

"Which is why Harry must have contacted Pansy," Hermione said slowly.

"I know," Draco said, "it's all adding up."

"Do you remember Broderick Bode?" Hermione asked suddenly.

"Yes, obviously," Draco said, "is it possible tha-?"

"I don't know if he has any children," Hermione said, "but I know that he's in Azkaban."

"There'll be several others," Draco said. 

"We just have to find out a way to get Rena," Hermione said, "and quickly."