Medical Magic (Drarry)

Chapter Five: Eureka

            "I'm stuck," Harry admitted. He was in the middle of dinner with Ron and Hermione, and the case had been distracting him all night.

Ron and Hermione exchanged a look before Ron asked hesitantly, "Stuck, how?"

"On the damn Draco case! I don't know what to do next!"

Hermione cleared her throat. "Maybe you should have waited to project until you had more to go on."

Harry humphed. They just didn't understand. He had had to know whether or not Draco was still alive before he invested as much time in the case as he wanted to. "I just... needed to know I wasn't chasing after a ghost."

Hermione put down her fork. "Harry, it seems like Draco is alive and doesn't want to be found. Are you sure searching for him is the best thing?"

Harry stared at her open-mouthed. Choosing his words carefully, Harry said, "His mother needs to know where he is."

"Are you sure you don't mean you need to know where he is?" Ron asked.

Harry gawked at Ron. "I don't know what you're talking about," he spluttered, feeling his cheeks grow warm.

"You always were a bit... obsessed with him, mate."

"I was not!" Harry yelped, his cheeks flaming.

"You were, Harry," Hermione murmured.

"Well, he still needs to be found. It's my job."

Hermione and Ron exchanged a glance. "Fine, we'll help you. What do you know so far?"

Harry rattled off the information from memory. "He vanished from the Malfoy Manor on May 2, 2000, exactly two years after the Battle of Hogwarts. His mother waited two days to report him missing because she assumed he was at their beach house, which I need to go to next. There was no investigation made, and no one has looked for him since. He is alive; we know that."

"That's not much to go on," Hermione frowned.

"Do you want us to go with you to the beach house?" Ron offered.

Harry perked up. "Sure! More eyes are always better. Let's go now!"

Hermione gave him a death glare. "You're eating first."

Harry glanced down at his full plate and started wolfing it down. Hermione rolled her eyes in exasperation.

Within half an hour, they had apparated to the Malfoy beach house. To everyone's surprise, it was more of a small cottage than an imposing manor.

"Not what I expected," Harry admitted.

"Charming, though. I can see why Malfoy spent time here," Hermione added.

A house elf, small even by their own standards, opened the door for them when they approached. "I am Teeny," she introduced herself. "Mistress Malfoy told Teeny visitors would be expected. It's an honor, Harry Potter and friends." She curtsied.

Before Hermione could say anything, Ron nudged her. "Play nice, Hermione."

She humphed but stayed quiet.

"Can you show us around, Teeny?" Harry asked gently.

"Teeny would be pleased to, Master Harry. Follow Teeny." She led them around the small cottage, explaining each room in detail. Harry cast searching spells as he went, but there wasn't a single magical object inside. They might as well have stepped into a muggle residence, not a pureblood's vacation home.

"There's nothing here," he said, disappointed. He hadn't thought that there would be a big neon sign telling him what to do next, but he had thought there would be something.

"Sorry, Harry," Ron clapped him on the back.

"Where's Hermione?"

Ron rolled his eyes. "She found a room with books."

Following Ron, Harry entered a small office decorated only with bookcases.

Hermione was frowning at the bookcase in front of her, obviously lost in thought.

"What is it, 'Mione?" Harry asked.

She turned to him. "All these books are from magical authors, except for this bookcase. These are all American muggle authors. And look," she pointed at their bent spines, "they seem to be the ones most read."

Something triggered in Harry's mind. "American? OH MY GOD!"

Harry barreled through the house, excitement coursing through him.

"Harry?" Hermione and Ron called after him. He stopped by the front doors, all but vibrating with contained emotion. What emotion, he didn't want to think about.

"Guys, when we were in the shower, I heard the TV on, and it was AMERICAN TV! Come on, hurry, grab me."

"In the shower? With Malfoy?" Ron gaped.

Harry had forgotten he'd conveniently left that bit out of his retelling earlier. "Yes, shower. Now hold on."

When both of them had gripped Harry tightly, he apparated them to his office.

Running to Draco's map, which was currently hanging on his wall behind his desk, he went right over to North America, where only one dot lay. "Here. Draco is here."

Hermione and Ron exchanged a glance. "Are you sure, Harry? That seems to be a smaller city, or more like a town. Why would Malfoy go someplace like that?"

He turned to them, beaming. "I'm positive. I'm going there right now."

"Harry, you can't just leave like that. You have to do the paperwork. American won't just let you in. You have to fill out the Visa, and you can't do that until tomorrow."

"But -," he started.

"But nothing. You have to go home and get ready."

He knew she was right, but the voice in the back of his head kept whispering, "You're so close to him, just a little further. So close, you can almost touch."

Harry had no idea what he wanted to do with Draco after he found him; he just knew deep in his bones he had to.