[A/N: Thank you to Calamity Owl for beta-reading this chapter!]
A tawny owl bearing a Gringott's pendant pecked at the closed window of Malfoy Manor until Lucius opened it with a wave of his wand, allowing the bird to land on his desk. He and his son glared at the interruption, which glared right back at them.
Back at Hogwarts, Draco might have been headstrong enough to attempt a staring competition with an owl, but a few years under the closer supervision of his parents had cured him of some of that behaviour.
Lucius removed the letter from the owl's leg and gave it a treat. Gringott's owls rarely left one alone unless given a treat. Gregory Goyle, Sr., had once found himself without treats and injured one while driving it away. To this day, those damned goblins required him to physically come to the bank and wait in line whenever they had correspondence for him.
Draco looked up from the parchment on which he was summarising the key allegations in the devastating information release from the presumably late Undersecretary's files. "What is it, Father? Account statements shouldn't come out till next week."
"It's a letter from Umbridge," Lucius said. "The goblins had instructions to deliver it after her death. It's blood-locked, too, which must have cost her a small fortune."
"That sow had the temerity to demand the blood of a Malfoy?" Draco snarled. "You ought to throw it in the fireplace and send it to the same hell she's in right now."
"Were she alive, I would not hesitate to put her in her place," Lucius responded. "However, she is beyond the reach of such gestures now. Passing up whatever information is in this letter out of sheer spite for its sender would be of no use to our family in the long run, would it?"
"I suppose not, Father," Draco said.
"I agree," Lucius said. "Draco, your concern for your family's blood is laudable, but you must be wary of giving in too quickly to your baser instincts."
A shadow passed over Draco's face and he looked down at his feet. "I'm sorry, Father."
"I enjoin you only to be careful," Lucius said. "You need not apologise again. Pansy is an acceptable spouse of good breeding and little Vulpecula is a worthy addition to the family." As he spoke, he pricked his finger with a letter opener and allowed a drop of blood to fall on the magical wax sealing the letter. "Now, then, let us see what that foolish harridan-"
Lucius froze.
"Father?" Draco asked. "Father, what's wrong?"
"Fetch your mother." Lucius's tone was firm, but the parchment in his hands shook like a leaf. "And send your wife and daughter home. We have much to discuss."
"But what of the documents released today?" Draco asked.
"They must wait," Lucius said. "Now fetch your mother and three Calming Draughts. We are all likely to need them soon."
oOoOo
After she put Harry to bed back at home, Hermione floo'd back to 12 Grimmauld Place and politely announced her presence.
Remus came downstairs a moment later. "Hermione! I didn't expect to see you again so soon. Sirius has gone off to the Ministry to see how they're going to handle the release of the blackmail material."
"That's clever." Hermione clasped her hands in front of her to try to steady her nerves. "I can't wait to hear what he finds out."
"Likewise," Remus said. "Is something troubling you, dear? You're unusually nervous."
YOU ARE READING
Hermione Granger and the Theft of Magic
Fanfiction(AU) Hermione's biggest worries in life are her dissertation and her rent, at least until she drunkenly takes a stick from a green-eyed stranger and breaks what she thought were the laws of physics. Now she's facing a high-stakes, impossible test, b...
