Who Will Stop the Rain

Galleon

Hermione had woken with a fright when she heard shouts and loud banging coming from Draco's room. Instinctually she had snatched up her wand and taken two steps towards the bedroom door before she had paused, listening closely to the muffled sounds of movement next door. At first she had thought Draco was fighting with someone, but all had fallen silent as quickly as the commotion had erupted. Hermione pressed her ear against the thin bedroom wall, straining to hear what was going on. To her surprise, she thought she heard Draco crying. After a few moments, Draco's bedroom door slammed shut and she heard his heavy footsteps stalking down the corridor, growing quieter with each step.

She peered out of her bedroom window and spotted a flash of white-blonde hair exiting the pub and quickly turning left down an alleyway out of sight. Where was he going this time? Hermione popped her head out of the bedroom door to check the corridor was clear, intent on exploring Draco's room while he was out, but paused when she saw the cleaner with her trolley approach. Hermione withdrew back into her room - she would have to wait until the coast was clear.

After she was certain the cleaner had finished her rounds, Hermione took her chance. Slipping out of her bedroom, she tapped the lock on Draco's door she murmured, "Alohamora", wincing at how loudly the door unlocked before hurrying inside. She didn't know how much time she had before Draco would return, so she moved quickly through the room, heading straight for the writing desk pushed against the far wall.

She frowned at the mess of papers left on the desk - lengths of parchment with lists of random locations scribbled frantically upon them, and most disturbingly, three origami figurines. Hermione picked up one of the figurines and turned it over in her hand, feeling uneasy. She doubted Draco Malfoy had taken up origami in the last few days, and it was surely no coincidence that she found them in his room...

"Petrificus Totalus!"

Hermione barely had time to gasp as her body was instantly paralysed. As though in slow motion, she toppled backwards with a floor-shaking crash at Draco's feet. He glowered down at her, his wand still pointed at her immobile form. He kicked the door shut behind him and knelt down beside her.

"Granger," he snarled. "I should have known you three would have something to do with this. Incarcerous."

Ropes shot out of the end of Draco's rope and wrapped themselves around Hermione's hands and feet. Draco rummaged through her pockets, pulling out her wand and tossing it onto the bed. Hermione's heart thumped painfully in her chest - even if she did escape the Full Body-Bind curse, without her wand she now had no chance of escape. Draco considered her closely for a few moments before speaking again.

"I knew it was no coincidence when I saw you outside my house yesterday," he began, his voice low and angry. "I thought you were there to try and get a photograph or a quote like the rest of those vultures. They've got no interest in finding my son. They just want to sell their bloody newspapers..." Draco's face was screwed up in an ugly scowl, remembering with a fresh surge of anger the insulting questions that had been hurled at him, suggesting that he was somehow involved in his own son's disappearance. It had taken every fiber of his being not to hurl hexes in their faces at that suggestion. He fixed Hermione's terrified face with a stony glare, "But when I saw you out in the corridor earlier, I knew that you must have followed me here. I want to know why."

Draco flicked his wand and Hermione found that she could move again, albeit very little considering she still had the restraints in place. Draco brought his face closer to hers and hissed, "I'm going to ask you some questions and you're going to answer them truthfully, Granger. I'll know if you're lying."

Thinking fast, Hermione nodded mutely, her eyes darting between his irate grey eyes and the bedroom door. If she screamed loud enough, maybe someone would hear her...