Finding Harry - Harry, Draco, PG Title: Finding Harry Author: elfflame Rating: PG Summary: Harry disappears the night of the attack on his parents' home. (Pre HBP canon) Disclaimer: This story not intended to infringe, no money is being made. The characters and places do not belong to me. I’m just borrowing them for a bit. A/N: Notes with the Prologue
Lucius Malfoy sat at his desk, going over his paperwork when a house elf stumbled into the room and prostrated itself on the floor in front of the desk. "Master," it squeaked.
Lucius pursed his lips. As much as he wanted to ignore the thing, he supposed he should acknowledge it. At least that way it would leave. He finished the letter he was writing, taking his time as he signed his name with a flourish at the bottom of the page before looking up. "Well," he snapped to the elf who was still cowering on the floor, "what is it, Dobby? I don't have all day."
"Professor Dumbledore is at the door, Master. He is wanting to speak with you."
"Tell him I'm a very busy man, and I don't have time to talk with him today."
The elf trembled where it lay. "Dobby does this already, Master. But Professor Dumbledore says he has something urgent he says he is needing to speak about, Master."
Damn meddler. What did he want now? Lucius sighed. "Fine, Dobby. Show him in."
Lucius moved from his desk to the cabinet he stored his alcohol in and poured himself a drink, then stood by the fire to wait for Dumbledore's arrival. He didn't wait long. The normally placid headmaster strode in as though something were biting at his heels. Upon seeing Lucius, he wasted no time.
"Where is he, Lucius?"
Though his heart plummeted at this, none of his emotion showed on his face. Did he perhaps know? No, it simply wasn't possible. He'd been too clever in covering his steps that night… "Him, Dumbledore? Whoever do you mean? I'm afraid I can't help you until I know who you might be talking about."
Though Dumbledore was normally a calm and quiet man, all of those mannerisms seemed to have fallen away. "Do not give me that, Lucius. You know exactly who I'm talking about. What have you done with the boy? Is he in good health?" Lucius could see that Dumbledore was on the verge of breaking, and he had never seen such a look in the headmaster's eyes. It was a good thing that he had already made arrangements for the boys to attend Durmstrang. Otherwise…
"I'm sorry, Dumbledore, but I honestly have no idea what boy you are speaking of. The only two boys in this house are my own sons. You have met them before, I believe? Draco and Orion?"
The headmaster waved this aside. "Not those boys, Lucius. I know you have Harry here somewhere. And I will find him. With or without your help. If I have to bring in the Ministry on this, you will regret it."
Lucius smiled. "Now, Dumbledore, do calm yourself. You look as though you are about to implode. Can't have that, can we?" Not in Malfoy manor, anyway, Lucius thought to himself. "If you'd like, I can give you a tour of the house, and you will be able to see that the only people here are my family. Would that content you?"
Dumbledore took a slow breath to calm himself. "It…will do. For the moment. But if I am not totally satisfied that you have shown me the entire house…"
Lucius slowly smiled, the smile never quite reaching his eyes. "Of course, Dumbledore." He walked to the door, and waited for Dumbledore to follow him.
However, before they could even take a step from the room, Orion and Draco skidded to a stop in front of their father. "We got our letters, father!" Draco waved his letter at his father, but Orion hung back, looking at the tall old man behind their father with wide eyes.
Lucius hid his grimace. "Isn't that…nice," he sneered. "Too bad you will be attending Durmstrang instead."
"Oh, no they will not, Lucius," a cold, clear voice came from further down the hall. Narcissa Malfoy never ran, so she was still making her way to her husband's study, and was only halfway down the hall, sedately walking from her own room.
Lucius glared at her. "We will discuss this later, Narcissa."
"No, Lucius. We will discuss this now. I will not allow you to send my sons to the arctic simply to appease your ridiculous pride. Both of our families have gone to Hogwarts for generations. I see no reason that Draco and Orion should not attend there as well."
"They will attend Durmstrang, Narcissa. I have already made preparations for their transport at the end of August. The matter is closed."
"And I say that if they do not attend Hogwarts, you will regret it." She stood now, directly in front of Lucius, a slight smile on her face, her arms crossed.
He eyed his wife up and down for a moment. Then he sneered. "Small loss." He turned to Dumbledore. "Follow me." He strode off down the hall, eager to get the headmaster out of his house as soon as he could, ignoring the cold look on his wife’s face.
«--*--»
Dumbledore stood outside the gates to the Manor once more after his whirlwind tour of the estate. There had been no signs of another boy anywhere. Least of all Harry. Luckily, he didn't have to take Lucius Malfoy's word on the matter that he had indeed shown Dumbledore everything there was to see. It was time to find out Harry's exact location so that he could tell the ministry where to look.
He pulled a trinket that he had borrowed from Alastor out of his pocket. It was called a Life Glass. It was a circular piece of glass with a handle attached, rather like a Muggle magnifying glass, but when one looked through it at a building, it revealed the occupants inside. It could tell a general sense of gender, age, and which of many different kinds of species the being was. Dumbledore only hoped it would be able to see where Harry was hidden.
He held the glass up so that he could see the manor through it. Immediately, dots appeared on the surface of the glass. More than a dozen dots in green and violet appeared in one area, which Dumbledore assumed was the kitchens, and therefore obviously showed the small army of house-elves that ran the household. A red dot was visible in a room on the far right side of the second floor, and a dark blue one seemed to be moving back and forth nearby. Dumbledore smiled to himself. He was sure that by now, Lucius was getting himself into quite a state.
Now Dumbledore looked for the silver dots that indicated young human males. He quickly noticed two, lurking near the room where the elder Malfoys were obviously still discussing their children’s' future. He knew these must be Draco and Orion. But where was Harry? Though he scanned every other inch of the manor and its grounds, no other silver dots appeared.
So then where was the boy? Perhaps Lucius had him hidden in his 'secret' dungeon under the manor? And it was shielded from these types of devices? But then how could the owl have gotten to the boy? Dumbledore knew the boy had to have mail access, as the letter had been opened. Dumbledore knew the boy had to be here somewhere. The spell on the letter had proved that. So then where was he?
He examined the portion of the manor where the Malfoys were gathered, and wondered. Had Lucius been telling the truth? Did he truly not know where Harry was? But then why had Dumbledore felt the flash of fear from the man when he had first entered?
And then an idea struck him. Perhaps Dumbledore had paid attention to the wrong lie. Perhaps...perhaps it was time to get a better look at the Malfoy twins.
Dumbledore approached the manor gate once more, smiling.
«--*--»
Lucius ground his teeth silently as he looked at the man in front of him. He could see no way out this time. It would only take a simple spell to confirm that Orion Malfoy was, indeed, Harry Potter. But Lucius would be damned if he would give him up. This boy was his chance. After the Dark Lord had fled, the boy had looked up at Lucius, tears and blood mingled on his chubby face, and Lucius had realized something. If this boy, at one and a half years old, could survive the deadliest curse in existence, imagine his power at ten, or twenty. And if Lucius were to raise that power…It would be his to control.
So he had taken the boy. A few spells to change his appearance, subtly, of course. A few memory charms, both on healers at St. Mungo’s and on Narcissa, to convince them that he had been born grossly underweight, so they had been watching him since his and Draco’s birth. And Orion Salazar Malfoy was accepted into the family with no one the wiser.
And now it was all about to fall apart. All because of a meddling old man who couldn’t let go.
Dumbledore sighed. “Lucius, I don’t want to harm the boy. He obviously seems happy here. And I’m glad of that. But I am afraid that I have to insist that he come to Hogwarts, where I can watch him. I will not take him from here, as long as you are willing to concede me that.”
“I see,” Lucius managed to choke out. “And if I refuse?”
Dumbledore smiled. But there was no kindness in his eyes.
“Ah, so you don’t want to hurt him, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t, is that it? Perhaps I should tell him that.”
“I don’t think that would be wise, Lucius. After all, once he learns of your role in all this, he won’t exactly be pleased with you.” Albus smiled a mischievous smile then. “Besides, it might make your wife a bit more pleased with you if you allowed the boys to attend my school.” He stood, and looked down at his former student. “Just think over what I’ve said. I’ll know when I get the boys’ responses, won’t I?”
After the headmaster had left, Lucius mulled over his choices. He supposed he could take the boy and run. But Lucius didn’t feel that he was cut out for the life of a fugitive. But obviously, the boys would not be attending Durmstrang, despite what Lucius wanted. He supposed that he would simply have to step up the boys’ training while at home.
Well, there was something he could get from this, at least. He pulled a cord, and a house elf appeared after only a moment. “Master sent for Dobby?”
“Yes, Dobby, go and ask my wife to come here.” He narrowed his eyes, and added, “And don’t take long. I’m sure I could come up with a suitable punishment if I find myself having to wait…” The house-elf blanched and scurried from the room.
Lucius knew this wouldn’t go well. It would look as though he were caving, but it was the only way. Better than to tell her the truth about why he was giving in.
Narcissa took her time appearing, and by the time she had arrived, Lucius had crossed to his alcohol cabinet, and was already on his second glass.
“You want something, Lucius?” she asked in her coldest voice, her arms crossed across her chest.
Lucius steeled himself. Giving in was not something he was good at. It left a bad taste in his mouth. Despite all the alcohol. “I have changed my mind, Narcissa.” Her eyes widened slightly, and her stance relaxed just a bit. “I have thought over your arguments, and decided that it would, indeed be more advantageous to keep the boys closer to home. Then they can come home for more than just the summer holidays.” He tried to smile, but his facial muscles didn’t want to work, so instead his expression turned into a kind of leer. “I will leave it to you to tell them they will, indeed be attending Hogwarts.” He turned from his wife and gulped down the rest of his glass, the bottle still clutched in his other hand, ready for the next round.