Dream Girl

TWENTY SEVEN - OFFER

"Mr. Malfoy."

Draco recognized the voice instantly and he felt like his blood froze in his veins. He quickly extended his occlumency shield before he turned around to face the headmaster. Snape was one of the best Legilimens he knew and he couldn't afford him to get into his head right now, or ever actually.

"Snape?" His voice was cold without a single hint of respect. He didn't have to pretend right now, there was nobody around. School hallways were always empty these days. Most of the students preferred hiding in their common rooms during the free periods. There were lower chances to be punished by Carrow siblings.

"I was asked to arrange a floo passageway to the Malfoy manor for some urgent matter as soon as possible," Snape said plainly with no emotions. He didn't wait for Draco's reaction. He just simply started walking back to his office, expecting Draco to follow.

And so he did.

He tried to not show how anxious he was right now. He knew that Snape personally seeking him out wasn't a sign of anything good. The new headmaster almost never left his office. Also the fact that he was so suddenly called to go back home was rather nerve wracking. He should go home soon for Easter holidays anyway so why call him now?

They both walked in silence. When they entered the office he quickly walked over to the fireplace and grabbed a handful of floo powder, trying to not think about the worst possible outcome that could wait for him at the other side of the floo network. Was Voldemort waiting for him there? Has someone found out about his secret defection or his relationship with Alora? There were thousands of things that could have gone wrong.

"Draco, dear." His mother welcomed him with a quick hug and pulled him towards the meeting room. "Don't worry. They just wanted to ask you a few questions. He said he has some interesting information that can help gain our reputation back."

Draco was expecting the Dark Lord so he was rather surprised when he saw Carnelian Nott and a few other lower rated Death Eaters that were currently working as Snatchers. A big weight dropped from his shoulders at the sight of their guests.

"Nott," Draco barked, nodding his head ever so slightly as a form of greeting.

"Don't worry, Narcissa. We will make this as quick as possible. Can't impair the education of your only son for too long, can we?" Theo's father said with an undisguised sarcasm. Draco's mother caught the sign and left the room promptly, throwing the last hopeful look at her son.

"What do you want? My mother said something about gaining back our reputation," Draco asked calmly, taking a cup of tea from the house-elf that appeared next to him and waving him away before he could offer the drink to their guests. He slowly sat down on the closest chair, watching all these men in front of him with a vigilant look.

"You and my poor imitation of a son were friends, is that right?"

"Yes. What's that have to do with it?" he said plainly, waiting for him to continue, trying not to clench his muscles angrily at the insult.

"I will get to that. Do you know where he is now?"

"As you said yourself, we WERE friends. We are not anymore. So all I can say is that he's definitely not at Hogwarts right now," Draco shrugged nonchalantly, continuing sipping his tea.

Carnelian was looking at him fixedly, not blinking and Draco could feel the poor attempt on Legilimency. He was definitely underestimating Draco, thinking he could easily get into his head. Instead of telling him to stop and throwing him out of his house, he decided to put down his shield partially, showing him only the information he wanted. The older man looked content, not realizing at all that all the memories he saw in Draco's head were old ones or slightly ajusted.

"Why are you asking anyway?"

"As you know, there is Taboo on the Dark Lord's name. This morning we were sent to some random muggle village, because there was an alert someone broke the Taboo. We really hoped we would find someone from the Order or Potter himself, what a disappointment it was when I saw my own son all comfortable and giggling with some random girl. Like he didn't betray his own family by running away and not accepting the mark," Nott explained with clenched teeth.

"I see he was able to escape since you came to my house empty handed," Draco looked around lazily with a pretended lack of interest, but internally he was panicking even more now. Utterly terrified that his worst nightmare could become reality.

"Unfortunately."

"Is that all then? Is this the only reason why you call me here today? What a waste of time."

"No. You see, he wasn't alone and I have this feeling that we are on the trail of something big. A girl of your age with dark wild curly hair and pretty face, does it sound familiar to you?"

Draco pretended to think for a moment. "No, not really. We Slytherins aren't exactly known for befriending people from other houses."

"Make sense. Too much contamination outside of our house, am I right?" Carnelian chuckled darkly. He didn't wait for Draco's reaction and continued. "We narrowed it to four girls who never came back to the school at the beginning of the year. Savannah Coil, Ottie Bitterwood, Alora Burns and Elise Griffis."

Draco was hiding behind the small cup of tea, it was probably the only reason no one noticed the small change on his face at the mention of Alora. "I don't know any of them."

"No wonder. All except Burns are Mudbloods. That brings up the question, why is she on the run? What if she is the one Dark Lord is looking for?"

"And what exactly do you want from me? I already told you I don't know where Theodor is and I definitely did not spend a lot of time chasing after every girl with pretty face last year, didn't I?!" Draco's voice became angry and Theo's father noticed the change, slouching a little in fear. Coward.

"I need you to find out anything useful about Burns. She is the only one who didn't have any evident reason to run away. She must be the one the Dark Lord is looking for. We could both gain from this, I will give you credit. You can help regain some reputation back to your family and to mine too. You know more than anyone where your family is standing right now."

Yes, Draco knew. After the big fail in the Ministry with the prophecy and the following imprisonment of his father his whole family was at the bottom of the imaginary ladder of Voldemort's followers. It was only a miracle that Draco wasn't already dead because of it. But he didn't really desire to gain their former reputation back.

"You need me to?" Draco gritted, ignoring everything else Carnelian said. He slowly put down the now empty cup on the table and stood up, towering over the older wizard.

Carnelian slouched even more. "Ehm. Sorry. I am asking you to? You know what it would mean if it was us who would bring the Dream Girl to the Dark Lord! Only Potter and his stupid friends had more value."

"I am not taking orders from you but I will consider it. But if it turns out that your son is on the run with some random girl just because you wouldn't approve of her...Let's say that The Dark Lord wouldn't exactly be happy to hear that your own son was able to escaped from you with ease without a proper fight. Five against two, was it?" Draco looked around the room meaningly, seeing not a single hair was out of place on any one of them. "I guess your son isn't the only disappointment of the Nott family, isn't he?"

Carnelian clenched both of his fists again, slowly losing his temper. "My apologies. I would really appreciate your help," he managed to say at last though clenched teeth. There were zero signs of honesty in his words and Draco was sure that Nott would gladly hex him right now.

"I'll see what I can find out. If I'll have time for that."

Draco turned around and headed back towards the fireplace, promptly stepping in. His mother won't be happy that he didn't say goodbye to her but he would see her in a few days anyway. He was afraid that he couldn't hold his pose for much longer. He was panicking so hard, dread was flooding his whole body. Alora and Theo were on the run for several months without being spotted. Not until now. If they were caught today he could lose them both and that was his biggest fear.