XII
“Cheers, Weasley.”
“Well done, mate.”
The office was bursting with the news of Weasley’s engagement to Lavender. I felt like punching him in his bloody mouth. Cho Change and Saoirse Callahan were gossiping in the back of the conference room, waiting for the Department meeting to begin.
“A quick engagement,” Cho whispered to Saoirse.
“She’s gone,” Saoirse defended Weasley. “He deserves to move on.”
Cho bristled. It made Draco like her a bit more. He looked around at the meeting attendants and saw Potter was missing again. His second son had just been born a month ago, and judging by the recent flux in publicity, Potter was on another press tour with his ginger wife. He’d been gone more than he’d been around the last few weeks. Which meant that was another set of eyes off Granger’s case. His eyes flashed to Weasley, posturing in the corner over his recent engagement, and suppressed the desire to roll his eyes and hex him into oblivion. Clearly, Weasley’s eyes had been on Lavender’s tits, not his missing ex-fiancé and best friend.
Zacharias Smith, the Head Auror, called the meeting to order. Draco respected the hell out of Smith. He was a strong leader. He didn’t get star-struck by the Golden twats; he treated all the Aurors the same in his department. He watched Smith chew Weasley’s ass last week over misfiled paperwork.
Smith went through various updates, but none applied to Draco’s cases.
“Final order for the day. Malfoy, we need the wards reset on Granger’s place,” Smith said. “Potter’s timed out, and he’s out of the country.”
The wards would have taken Draco three minutes. He excelled at basic charms like these. But Draco wanted to take full advantage of his golden opportunity. He stepped inside Granger’s flat and was shocked at how he found it.
In school, Granger was meticulous. She never missed assignments or lost a quill. But this? Draco reeled. Her home had been ransacked. There could be no other explanation for the state of it. Parchment littered the floor. Quills, ink pots, sharpeners, and Muggle notebooks were everywhere. Her bookshelf had been upended, and her prized collection was scattered over the floor.
He stepped over the landmines of her living room and made his way to her bedroom. He found it in the same state as the other rooms. Her clothes were thrown out of her wardrobe and strewn over her bed and floor. He studied the contents of her counters, looking for any clue to Granger’s sudden disappearance.
He went back to the kitchen and resumed his search there. There was a birthday card on the counter from her mother. He opened the card and read the note from Lisa.
Our darling girl. We are so proud of you. We added money to your account. We know your research will be profound for both of your worlds. And, of course, Dorée. All our love. Happy birthday. Love, Mum and Dad
The research made him pause. They were funding some kind of research for her. But she made no mention of leaving the Ministry from his knowledge. He pocketed the card and decided he’d add it to the compilation of Granger collectibles he had. Draco took a step, and a notebook crunched under his foot. He looked down and pulled up a datebook. He scrolled through and saw it was her scheduler. She wrote everything here, her appointments, to-do lists, shopping lists, everything. Draco would be able to follow her steps for the last remaining days before her disappearance. How had Potter and Weasley missed something this important?
He withdrew his wand and pointed toward the living room.
“Accio Dorée.”
He could hear something rattle back in the bedroom and held his hand out as a small glass vial flew at his head. He wrapped his hand around it and saw that it was a small perfume bottle. He pulled off the glass lid and inhaled.
The memories tore through him like a ghost. He stumbled and gripped the countertop to steady himself. She’d been right under his nose all along.