“The way sadness works is one of the strange riddles of the world. If you are stricken with a great sadness, you may feel as if you have been set aflame, not only because of the enormous pain, but also because your sadness may spread over your life, like smoke from an enormous fire. You might find it difficult to see anything but your own sadness, the way smoke can cover a landscape so that all anyone can see is black. You may find that if someone pours water all over you, you are damp and distracted, but not cured of your sadness, the way a fire department can douse a fire but never recover what has been burnt down.”
— Lemony Snicket
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“Tully, where was the last place Theo was seen?”
The elf’s mop came to a sloppy halt on the floor. She paused for a long time, long enough that a puddle was soon formed there. When she did look up, her eyes were glossy and frightened.
“Tully does not know, sir,” she said sadly, bowing her head.
“Think,” he urged on. “This is important. I need to know.” And when she didn’t say anything, “You want your master back, don’t you?”
Tully straightened up, her large ears twitching. “Master does not like Tully, sir. Master isn’t caring for Tully.”
“Of course he does!” Draco said, irritated. “Theo just never displays human emotion.”
Tully wiped her eyes on her new dress that was already soaked from the mop and other housework. He didn’t think it would look new much longer. “Really?”
“Yes,” said Draco at once. “I’m a little disappointed in you though, Tully. If Theo heard what you said he’d be so upset.”
Tully’s eyes went wider than they already were, and she looked around guiltily before taking a step closer to Draco. “You won’t tell master Tully thought badly of him, will you? Tully hates to sees master sad.”
“Of course not.” He felt a small amount of satisfaction that his cunning was still intact.
“Okay, well,” she began, her voice getting very low, “Tully heard master saying to Miss. Pansy about leaving for Padfree’s Restaurant, but he never came back, sir. Said he was meeting somebody there and wouldn’t be back until late.”
“Who was he meeting?”
“Tully doesn’t know. He didn’t tell Miss. Pansy either. Oh, but please don’t tell anyone Tully told you,” she said, horrified, “because Tully was not supposed to be eavesdropping!”
But Draco wasn’t listening. His brain was already processing this new information. He knew Padfree’s was Theodore’s favourite restaurant, he had his fourteenth birthday there, and Draco knew that was why Pansy had been so upset when they’d met at that restaurant. But she never told him that that was the last place Theo had last been seen. Though, it made sense because he suddenly understood what Weasley had meant about ‘Auror business’.
That was when it hit him. The Death Eaters had cornered Theo like they had done to him, only it seemed Theodore, unlike Draco, had agreed to join them.
Was that what had happened to Lucius?
He might have mumbled a thank you to the elf, but he couldn’t be sure. Draco was in his own world now, mind going over possibilities and theories. So when he turned to leave the Care for Elves building, it was credit to him that he didn’t jump five feet in the air when he came face to face with Granger.
“What are you doing?” she asked, hands on her hips suspiciously.
Draco didn’t think he needed to answer, the look on her face told him she’d heard everything anyway. If he were in his right state, Draco would have gone off at her for being the nosy know-it-all that she was, but he wasn’t, so he used the Floo Network to go back to the flat without paying her a second glance.
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A Wonderful Fortuitous Love
Fanfiction"You see, Draco Malfoy, without your sarcastic replies to endure each morning and that arrogance only you could carry, I find myself somewhat missing you." Draco thought the biggest problem living for a year under the same roof as Hermione Granger w...
