Baton Rouge

- 40 -

A few weeks passed. The Toad accepted the story regarding Draco's disappearance, but wasn't exactly delighted with it.

When Blaise reappeared at the cottage a week after his last visit, he told them that Umbridge had said she would take care of 'the problem' personally from now on. They all wondered what she could have meant by that.

Blaise eventually made the educated guess that she would probably send some Aurors to track down Draco without involving Blaise himself in the search, just to be on the safe side.

"After all, it's not my area of responsibility," he said with a shrug. "And she probably doesn't fully trust me on the matter either."

In the days that followed, Draco kept mulling over whether Blaise was right or whether there was more to the Toad's cryptic statement. But at some point he had to admit that it was just wild speculations. As long as the Toad didn't get the idea of also going after Blaise, the cottage's Secret Keeper, they were safe for the time being.

Apart from that, they made no real progress. Finding a way to get close enough to the Dark Lord to kill him seemed like an almost impossible task. Even Hermione, on whom Draco had set all his hopes, was becoming more and more desperate.

"How is that supposed to work when even Blaise doesn't know where he is? He hardly shows himself! He lets the old hag take care of everything," she hissed in frustration one day, throwing a scroll of parchment across the room that contained a detailed map of the Ministry.

Draco had to smile at that. He found it attractive when she was so quick-tempered.

Still, she was right. Time flew by and it seemed like neither of them would be coming up with a brilliant idea any time soon.

But what had he expected? Potter had been on the run for four years. The problems wouldn't melt into thin air within four weeks just because he and Hermione had shown up at the cottage. If it were really that simple, The Undesirable would have found a solution much sooner.

Weasley, for her part, didn't come as often anymore. With Blaise being in Berwick-upon-Tweed less often because it was too risky to be unavailable as the leader of the Pursuit Squad, she no longer seemed to feel the need to pay them daily visits. Also, the pregnancy was gradually taking its toll on her, as Draco had noticed. She tried hard to hide it, but with each passing day as her baby bump grew, so did the shadows under her eyes.

It wasn't hard to guess what fears she probably harbored, even if she wasn't entirely on her own. She had already told them that her mother coddled her since she was pregnant, which was cold comfort, at least. Draco had clear memories of Mrs. Weasley, who had always struck him as the complete opposite of his own mother, and he was glad that someone cared for the redhead.

But still. Blaise couldn't be with her, which was probably pretty hard for her. And Weasley knew that if anyone in the Ministry found out she was pregnant and there was no boyfriend or husband in sight, she would have to be more than careful. Especially since, if Draco wasn't mistaken, the baby would be born with raven hair, thanks to Blaise. Only Merlin knew how Weasley wanted to explain this to the Ministry. The relationship between her and Potter hadn't been a secret, not even in Death Eater ranks.

So Draco was starting to feel genuine sympathy for the young witch.

But she behaved bravely. Whenever she entered the house, she put on a determined expression and asked the other three for new ideas, although neither Potter nor Hermione nor Draco could give her satisfactory answers.

Weasley wasn't that harsh to him anymore, either. They didn't talk much, especially when they happened to find themselves alone in one of the small rooms, but once she caught him pinning Hermione against the wall in the hallway and kissing her longingly, and Draco could have sworn that she mumbled "blood traitor" as she pushed past him, a grin on her flushed face.