A Future Uncertain

Chapter 13: The Book

Draco sat up in bed as the wards were breached. During the war, visitors never had qualms about entering their home at night. Since the ending of the war, there were few visitors, but none that entered during the night. The chance that this was trouble seemed incredibly high.

Draco quickly grabbed his wand. The recent events had sent everyone into a panic, and his families' paranoia even more so than most. Lighting his wand, he left for the safe room. He knew his parents would look for him as soon as they could. Until then, he'd sit alone, waiting for this to pass as it had in the past.

It was a good twenty minutes of twirling his wand and practicing spells on the lone chair in the hidden room before his house elf, Flick, gave news that his parents had taken care of the guest.

Draco shrugged his shoulders. He was still worn out from the attack on Hogsmeade, and he would talk to his parents in the morning.

Right before drifting off to sleep he heard a door shut from what sounded like the guest room next to his bedroom. Usually, no one entered his wing, but it didn't sound like a disturbance, so he stayed in bed. It was probably the elves doing a sweep of the house.

Harry insisted that he speak with the Malfoys, but they spoke in riddles, and all her own questions were denied.

Everyone was telling her that she would know the reason she was here eventually, but eventually didn't seem soon- or reasonable- enough.

If she was going to be staying as protection, shouldn't she know what she's protecting against? But despite her questioning, there was no prevail. All she learned was that Harry was angry at the Malfoys for 'dragging her into this mess.'

Whatever mess they were talking about, she knew it involved the recent attacks. However, there had to be more to the story, or else they would all argue normally around her, which they weren't.

She was at the point that she was thinking about hexing Harry for whatever he was hiding, but she knew that similarly to arresting Blaise, he wasn't allowed to talk about it to people outside of his job.

A house elf woke her in the morning to let her know that her presence was mandatory at breakfast- which could have possibly been the most awkward of events in the history of ever- with only the elder Malfoys.

"Miss Granger, why exactly did you miss the Portkey we arranged yesterday?"

Oh you know, just breaking into Azkaban in a failed attempt to free Blaise. "I just lost track in the library. I'm usually a punctual person, but I guess I was feeling a little nostalgic," she replied, not expecting them to believe her, but hoping they wouldn't push.

Lucius made a noise of disapproval, but didn't ask again.

Narcissa explained the schedule: schooling on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8 to 6, and explained that all other hours she was free to do as she pleased. All they asked was that she let them know if she plans to leave their grounds.

Hermione decided to take a trip to the library. Scouring the shelves, she found two books: "A magical guide for the forgetful Wizard" and "Cures to forgetful magical minds". After taking a quick trip to her bedroom, she left to relax outside.

Propping her back against a strong tree, she skimmed through the second book first. It was mostly a medical magical guide that proved little help in the way of magical objects. However, the second book- well, that held promise.

It provided information on artifacts that held different properties in memories. Hermione began at the intro, as not to skip over anything important.