Bad [Harry Potter Fanfiction] (Bad Series: 1)

38 | One option

"Potter!"

Harry spun at his name. A man jogged up to him. He pushed up his glasses. Ah, Sharp. He looked over his shoulder one more time, dread spreading through him. Still couldn't find Ginny. She was gone. Maybe they'd been lying. Maybe she got away, bored out of her mind at this horrid birthday ball.

Yeah, that was it.

Sharp stopped beside him, eyes glancing down the corridor.

"Yes?" Harry asked.

"Sorry," Sharp said. He rubbed his face and shook his head. "Weasley continued on, but he reported that Pansy Parkinson is nowhere to be found. They've been looking for her, but no one can find her."

"Bugger." Harry ran his hands over his face, glasses sliding up into his hairline. She disappeared? Probably to wherever Ginny really is. Bloody hell. He needed to go.

"Neither her parents nor the guests know where she or her fiancé are."

Harry stopped, turning to him. "Fiancé?" He didn't remember reading anything about Pansy being engaged.

"Yes, they've been engaged for six months," Sharp said, and at Harry's expression, he added, "You didn't know?"

"No. Who's her fiancé?"

Sharp's eyebrows rose. "Draco Malfoy." Even though he looked different, the stance and expression were the same.

Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy? Match made in Pureblood Heaven. It explained a lot. Had that been Malfoy in the room with her before? Then pieces started to fall together. Why he was spending so much time with Ginny, the business between the two, the couple meeting. Ginny was in trouble. She really should know better than to trust a Malfoy.

"Sharp," he started but paused when he spotted the man glancing down the corridor again. "Sharp."

The man's head snapped in his direction. "Yes."

Harry's eyebrows rose. "Keep searching and find Parkinson, Malfoy, or Fyrefox. Send some of the others to search the grounds and the rest the manor." He turned.

"Have you seen Jack?"

That stopped him. He looked over his shoulder. He didn't have time for their drama right now. They were working. Relax, Potter. He was only asking a question. He exhaled and shook his head. "No, not since you went on your rounds." With that, he went back towards the room Parkinson and Malfoy had met in. Maybe he could find something from where Malfoy left.

He stepped into the room. It was small, full of stuffy furniture, and two doors. The one he came in through, and the other across the room. He stepped out. The corridor shot down towards the side of the ballroom, where Ginny and he had stepped out. He hurried down and came to an end with a dead-end.

Harry frowned. Malfoy hadn't gone back to the ballroom. But a dead-end? Merlin. He ran his hands over his face again and fought a scream. Bollocks. What was he supposed to do now?

Relax.

He dropped his hands.

Take a deep breath.

He inhaled, exhaled.

Go back to the room.

He took a step and stopped, gaze catching on something at the end of the corridor. He walked to it. There was a strange shadow where there shouldn't be, on the wall that held the double Ps of the Parkinson crest, and an enormous mirror. He reached for it, and his hand brushed against a small opening.

A secret door!

He stood in front of the mirror and stared at himself, hand touching the opening. A weak, cold breeze brushed against his fingers. Looked like someone was in too much of a rush to close the door properly. Lucky him.