When In France

The next morning, Hermione woke up at the crack of dawn and barged into Ginny's room, heading straight for the windows and throwing them open. The bright sunlight flooded the room and Ginny groaned and rolled over in bed.

"Wake up, wake up!" Hermione snapped, pulling the covers off Ginny.

"Fuck off," Ginny murmured into her pillow.

"Don't make me cast an Aguamenti on your face!" Hermione warned.

Ginny sighed. "What do you want?"

"Do you want to solve the whole Damian/Draco/D.M thing?" Hermione asked.

Ginny nodded.

"Then we're going to Paris."

Ginny beamed. "To shop?"

"No!! To go to the French Ministry of Magic. I can use my contacts to check the records and get some information," Hermione explained.

"Although, I'm sure we'll have some time to shop," she added as an afterthought.

Ginny leaped out of bed. "Now you're talking!"

Harry entered the courtyard for breakfast and sat down across Oliver.

"Where are the girls?" he asked.

"They headed off to Paris to go shopping," Oliver said with his mouth full of toast.

"Oh, why didn't they tell me?" Harry asked.

"They decided really late last night and wanted to get a head start, so they left early."

All Hermione had to do was flash some identification at the receptionist at the Ministry, and they were admitted straight in.

"My job has a lot of perks," Hermione said to Ginny.

"God, look at this place. Everything's so chic, even the men are wearing designer robes," Ginny whispered, looking around.

They spent an hour in the Ministry, where Hermione checked through some records. When she had finished, they found a small café where Hermione wrote a few letters to colleagues back in England for more information, while Ginny flirted with the cute waiter.

"Okay! I've done all I can, now we just have to wait for the replies," Hermione said as she sent off the last owl.

"So, we're done?" Ginny asked. "Let's go shopping!"

Hermione and Ginny arrived back at the château after dinner, weighed down by a dozen shopping bags. Ginny was unpacking her shopping in her room when Hermione and Oliver entered.

"We've got a reply!" Hermione said, waving a piece of parchment.

"Oooh, what does it say?"

"Wait, what's Harry doing? We've got to make sure he won't come in," Hermione said.

"Don't worry, Harry and Nate are involved in a heated discussion about Seeker techniques," Oliver said.

"Okay, good. Quick, Hermione, what have you found out?" Ginny asked eagerly.

Hermione cleared her throat in a business-like manner.

"All right. I checked the magical properties listings in the Ministry, as well as Damian's records, and cross checked with Draco Malfoy's records in England. Draco is listed as Missing, since 1998.

Damian seems pretty normal. Born in France, lived here his whole life, set up this boarding house business four years ago."

"Well, nothing interesting there," Oliver commented.

"What was the last-seen date on Draco's file?" Ginny asked.

"The day he was supposed to have left for Order Headquarters," Hermione said. "Also the last time Harry, Ron and I saw him."

"So, we're no closer to finding out anything?" Oliver said.

"Actually, there is something interesting. This château actually belongs to the Malfoys. Now that Lucius and Narcissa are dead, Draco would have inherited this property," Hermione said.

"Well, Damian could have bought it off them," Oliver said.

"Here comes the interesting part. Are you ready for it? This property is bonded to the Malfoy family. It's not allowed to leave the Malfoy bloodline or something like that...some kind of ancient magic," Hermione said.

"So Damian is part of the Malfoy family?" Oliver asked.

"Or...Damian is Draco!" Ginny exclaimed.

Hermione nodded smugly. "Exactly."

Oliver frowned. "Wait, I don't get it."
"It all adds up!" Ginny said excitedly. "After Draco betrayed us and all that, he ran away to France, got a new identity and set up camp in his old family property. The picture of the Malfoys fits in, too."

"He must be wearing glamours and voice charms and all that. He really must be more careful, though, leaving his door open for the whole world to see his picture," Hermione frowned.

"Who cares!" Oliver exclaimed, standing up. "I'm gonna go find Malfoy and give him a taste of his own medicine. Let's see how he likes being betrayed."

Hermione grabbed Oliver's wrist and pulled him back down onto the bed.

"Oliver, no! That's not right, we should..." Hermione trailed off. "What should we do?"

"Do you think we should tell Harry?" Ginny asked.

"Absolutely not. It took Harry so long to get over the fact that he was betrayed. By the love of his life. We can't throw him back into depression," Hermione said.

"Harry hasn't had a serious boyfriend in nine years. Like you said, Draco was the love of his life, and maybe they're meant to be together," Ginny replied.

"Gin, you've been reading too many romance novels. I don't think Harry would want to be with Malfoy after all he's done," Oliver said.

"I think we should go talk to Damian- I mean Draco, whatever, and see what he has to say," Hermione said.

"Oh, yeah, that'll go down well. As if we could just waltz up to him and go, 'Excuse me, but we think that you might be our best friend's long-lost estranged boyfriend who betrayed all of us during the war nine years ago and why don't you take off all your glamours and reveal you are really Draco Malfoy and perhaps you could explain why you betrayed us?'" Ginny said.

Hermione blinked. "Umm...yeah, something like that. Maybe a little more subtle though."

"Wait, we're not even sure Damian is Malfoy," Oliver said.

"Well, we'll just Obliviate him if he's not Draco," Hermione said.

Ginny thought for a while, then nodded with a smile. "Sounds good."