"Do either of you have any idea where he may have gone?" Professor Dumbledore asked. He was sitting in his armchair, in his office. It was a very comfy chair but Professor Dumbledore wasn't relaxing in it. On the contrary, he looked very uptight and upset. Hermione and Ron stood in front of his desk, Ron with the letter Harry had given him clutched in his hand. They were also not relaxing in the comfortable visitor chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk.
"We uh think he might have gone to look for Malfoy," Ron said as Hermione looked like she was on the verge of tears again. Dumbledore’s eyes widened, and he stood up.
"You will continue your lessons and your normal routine. Don't speak of this to anyone yet," Dumbledore said, taking turns looking into each of their eyes.
"What?" said Hermione. "No we need to come with you! This is all my fault I need to go!"
"Hermione," Professor Dumbledore said calmly. "It could be dangerous. This is not your fault. I will ask some other members to come with me so I am not in much danger. You two. Stay here." Hermione opened her mouth to argue but Professor Dumbledore silenced her with a look. She let a few tears fall down her face. Ron led her out of the office.
* * *
Harry realised he had not thought this out clearly. He had thought of it for most of the night but he hadn't thought of the tiny details. As he stood in front of the huge Malfoy Manor he realised he had no idea what to do. In his mind he showed up at the Malfoy Manor, saved Draco from the clutches of his father, and was the hero. He now realised he had no idea how to get Draco.
Stupid, he told himself. Just stupid. Well I have to do something, he thought. I can't just stand here waiting for some Death Eater to come kill me or something.
The Malfoys lived in a little complex. There were four other equally large houses surrounding the Malfoy's house. There was a large golden gate leading into the complex. Outside the gate there was row on row of Muggle houses. The cars driving by didn't give a second glance to the magnificent complex. Harry realised they had no idea it was there. The Malfoys had a huge garden in front of their house. Harry quickly sprinted to a huge clump of bushes, pushed his way inside them, and sat down.
Think Harry think, he told himself. How can I get into the house? He didn't think just ringing the doorbell and asking if Draco was home would work very well. No, he had to sneak in. From where Harry was sitting he only had a view of one of the huge houses sides. There must have been at least twenty windows on this side of the house. Harry suspected there was just as many on all the others. He stood up and took a chance looking into a window.
The room Harry looked upon was huge. Harry guessed it was some kind of living room. There was chairs and sofas draped in black velvet. There was a table in the middle room, also draped in black velvet. The room was painted a dark blue. The walls were quite empty except for a small shelf, painted dark blue to match the walls, built into the middle of one wall. From what Harry could tell, there was nothing on the shelf. Harry tried to fit his fingers into where the window opened. They wouldn't fit. It was locked, probably by magic. Harry turned around and sat where he was sitting before.
He sighed and put his head in his hands. What can I do? he thought. It was then that a thought occurred to him. Lucius Malfoy had appeared on the grounds of Hogwarts to take Draco. But Lucius was supposed to be locked up in Azkaban. Harry couldn't believe it. He was so caught up in making sure Hermione was all right he had completely missed that detail. It was probably all over the news and he had missed it. Harry felt like crying, but knew he wouldn't. He took a deep breath to clear his mind. Think, Harry told himself. If you had to hide someone in a huge house where would it be? Harry sat there for over five minutes thinking. Until finally five words came into his mind.
Under the drawing room floor.
Harry felt like kicking himself for not realising it before then. He had heard about it when he was twelve! When he had heard Malfoy talking about his dad keeping Dark objects under the drawing room floor. Harry stood up. He had to get into that house. He took one step out of the bushes he had been hiding in, and got pushed back in.
"Harry! What are you thinking?" Harry looked up and was slightly surprised to see the long beard and mustache of Albus Dumbledore. And, more to his surprise, Remus Lupin and Tonks standing behind him. They all moved into where Harry had flattened a large part of the bushes by sitting on them.
"Professor Dumbledore. Remus, Tonks what are you doing here?" Harry asked in bewilderment.
"Coming to save you of course," said Tonks.
"Harry, Albus wouldn't just let one of his students get kidnapped off the school grounds," said Remus. "Obviously Albus would get someone to look for him, and we've had people search this house looking for him-"
"Have you looked everywhere?" interrupted Harry.
"Of course," said Tonks. Harry looked her in the eyes.
"Even underneath the drawing room floor." The three adults stared at Harry. Harry quickly explained overhearing Draco one day. There was a long silence after Harry had finished.
"Harry, you are to stay out here. We will go in," said Professor Dumbledore.
"No! No way have I come this far not to go in there!"
"Harry," said Remus reasonably. "It's far to dangerous to go in that house."
"I'm going in," said Harry stubbornly. Remus was about to argue but Professor Dumbledore interrupted him.
"All right Harry. You can come."
"Albus," started Remus.
"Remus you're not my parent. You're not Sirius either. I'm going in," said Harry. Remus looked surprised but didn't say anything.
"So should we have a plan or something?" said Tonks.
"Working in my line of work," said Dumbledore, "you get told a couple of things." He motioned for them to follow him, and he slowly walked out of the bushes and walked farther down the side of the house. They went to almost the end where there was a large shed. Dumbledore slowly pulled open the door. Inside were a number of magical things. Magical plants, a few dusty old books, a strange looking instrument that was emitting purple sparks, and three shrunken heads. Dumbledore walked right to the back of the shed and ran his hand along the wall.
"It's supposed to be here somewhere," he muttered. "Aha here it is." It was pretty dark, and smelled very musty in the shed, but suddenly the shed was flooded with light. Apparently Dumbledore had found a latch in the door and had pulled it open. They were looking on a long sloping hallway. Everything was completely gray stone, although there were a few lanterns. They walked down the hallway as softly as they could but their footsteps still echoed of the walls. They finally reached a large wooden door.
"Harry, have you seen anyone in the house?" Dumbledore asked.
"No one."
"All right, well, this is a pretty big house so there's a very small chance someone will be on the other side of this door. I'm pretty sure it opens into a sort of cellar. Everyone wands out, just as a precaution. They all pulled out their wands and Dumbledore opened the door. It was pitch black and they couldn't see anything. The three adults muttered Lumos, so Harry followed suit. It was very damp in the room. There was many shelves, all seeming to hold different coloured potions. Dumbledore walked right past them to another wooden door. The door opened up to another set of stairs, this time leading up. They walked up them without saying a word. They eventually reached yet another door made out of wood.
"Ready everyone?" Dumbledore asked. They all nodded. He pushed the door wide open. They were now in a very large hallway. It seem to be the main hallway as there was a set of stairs leading up to another level and 6 doors on either side leading to different rooms. They closed the door behind them, and realised the door blended in perfectly with the stone wall. Someone didn't want people down there.
Dumbledore pointed to the stairs and they all followed him up them. As soon as they had reached the top they heard a voice at the end of another long hallway. Dumbledore and Tonks opened the nearest door and went inside. Remus pushed Harry into it and followed him inside. Dumbledore put his ear to the door.
"It's Narcissa," whispered Dumbledore. "And Lucius." The voices got louder as they moved down the hallway.
"He's my son to Lucius. It doesn't seem right."
"Narcissa, dear, you don't seem to understand. He was seeing a MUDBLOOD." Lucius yelled the last word. Harry clenched his hands.
"Lucius keep your voice down. I know that, but it doesn't seem right to keep him locked up in that little room."
"He will stay in there until he's had a little sense knocked into him. Now, I'm leaving, I have a meeting." They heard Lucius walk past the room they were hiding in, which seemed to be a bedroom, and down the stairs. A few moments later Narcissa followed.
They all looked at each other. Dumbledore opened the door and sprinted to the end of the hallway. He opened the door at the end and walked in. It was definitely the drawing room.
Harry and Tonks both crawled around on the floor looking for a latch as Dumbledore and Remus remained standing looking for some kind of lever. Harry ran his hand along the floor. Come on, he thought. His right hand suddenly dropped a few centimeters. He had found a latch. He opened it up. It was a trap door.