The Hospital Wing and the Astronomy Tower, the Sequel

Draco and Ginny hurried to the astronomy tower, mainly for the reason of finding 'Bob,' but partly hoping they would not find anyone there, or on their way.

The astronomy tower was as they had half hoped, deserted. Deserted of people, that is. Of course, as always there were telescopes, and other such astronomy-related equipment, but also, and Draco was first to notice this, there was a glass bottle in a far corner.

"For some reason, that bottle looks familiar," he said, walking over to the corner in which the bottle lay.

Ginny had a guilty look playing about her face, and Draco soon found out why.

The bottle was the very bottle he had left in the astronomy tower less than a week before; MacRiddler's finest.

"MacRiddler's finest?" said Ginny, looking at the bottle. "Honestly, I've never heard of it. And why would they write, 'not as strong as Odgeon's, but good enough, nevertheless,' on the label?" she added for further inquiry.

"I really don't know," said Draco.

"Something just doesn't add up," said Ginny. "Why is the bottle still here, but Pansy and Colin aren't?"

"And where's Bob?" said Draco. "It seems to tie together when you bring 'Bob' into it."

"How does it?" said Ginny, thinking hard.

Draco stood and thought for a moment, though all his theories were quite nonsensical.

Just then, the astronomy tower door open very slowly, as if the one opening it were doing something which they should not be doing.

Blaise's head peeped around the door, and when she saw Draco and Ginny, she looked angered. "See?" she said to someone behind her. "I told you we shouldn't let them go by themselves."

"Let who go by themselves?" said the voice of Verity from somewhere behind Blaise.

Blaise opened the door wide, revealing the astronomy tower to Harry, Verity, Seamus, Ron, and Hermione.

"We found this," said Draco, holding up the bottle.

Verity suddenly looked almost the way Ginny had when she had first seen the bottle only moments ago.

Ron stepped into the room and quickly made his way over to Ginny and Draco. He snatched the bottle from Draco's hand and studied the label. "My Uncle Bob knows everything about liquor," he said, "But he's never mentioned MacRiddler's."

"Bob?" said Draco. "Your uncle is the suspect?"

"No, no," said Ginny, "a different Bob."

"MacRiddler's?" said Blaise. "What's that?"

Seamus walked over to Ron, took one look at the label on the bottle, and laughed. "That's a joke," he said, "right? That's got to be a joke."

"I don't see what's so funny," said Hermione. "Why are we so intrigued by a bottle?"

"It's a bottle of alcohol," said Blaise. "Why shouldn't we be intrigued?"

"Because it's empty," said Verity.

"It's definitely a joke," said Seamus. "I've never heard of MacRiddler's."

"And you would know, wouldn't you?" said Draco. "Drunkard leprechaun."

"I'd rather be a drunkard than a Malfoy," said Seamus. "I think anyone but a Malfoy would."

"It's because anyone but a Malfoy knows they aren't worthy enough to be a Malfoy," said Draco. "Especially you, Finnigan."

"Stop the fighting," said Verity, stepping in just in time. "We can't find 'Bob' if we're constantly arguing."

"You know, it's nice how everyone adapted to my name for him," said Ginny.

"Yeah, real nice," said Blaise. "All right, so we have an empty bottle of some unknown brand of alcohol in an astronomy tower, but still no sign of 'Bob.' That's no good at all."

"I think the empty bottle ties into the whole affair somehow," said Hermione. "For instance, perhaps 'Bob' drinks MacRiddler's. It can be classified as a clue."

"I still think 'Bob' is my father," said Draco.

"That's really nice for you," said Verity. "But we still haven't found him, have we?"

"Do you think 'Bob' has something to do with the missing Hogwarts students?" Harry, who had been silent the whole while, said.

"Who, Colin and Pansy?" said Blaise. "Nah, I think they ran away together, and one being stupid as the other, lost the way."

"Actually Blaise," said Verity, "this bottle is in a way connected to Colin and Pansy."

"How is it?" Harry asked.

"Er, well, you see, it's kind of a long story" Verity stammered.

"And to cut a long story short, they were last seen in the astronomy tower with this very bottle," said Draco. "And then the next morning, their disappearance was reported."

Verity sighed in relief, glad that Draco had fielded that one.

"This is getting really exciting," said Blaise. "I think we should keep a list of clues and stuff."

"I'm three steps ahead of you," said Ron, pulling a piece of parchment out of his robe pocket. "I would've expected Hermione to keep track of everything, but she didn't seem to be taking notes, so I did."

"Where did you find time to take those notes?" Verity asked, eyeing the paper with a look almost like concern.

"I charmed it," said Ron. The he began reading off of the parchment. "So far, we have the disappearance of 'Bob,' who is known to be an impersonator of Hogwarts students so far. Suspects who may be the actual identity of 'Bob' are Lucius Malfoy, and just about any Hogwarts pupil or teacher. A bottle of 'MacRiddler's finest,' some unknown brand of alcohol was found the place two missing Hogwarts pupils were last seen."

Everyone looked at Ron with great disbelief.

"When did you become the practical one?" said Ginny.

"When Hermione began slacking off," said Ron. "We can't all be playing Chess all day getting nothing done, and since Harry made no move to take Hermione's place, I thought it my duty."

"Are you practical enough to accept my decisions?" Ginny asked.

"About Malfoy?" said Ron. "It'll take some getting used to, but until he steps out of line, I suppose I can accept him. But believe me, I'm on a close look out for 'steps out of line.'"

"This is Weasley talking?" said Draco, looking mildly impressed.

"My Ronnie's all grown up," cried Hermione, throwing her arms around Ron.

Harry, Draco, and Seamus all snickered, even Blaise couldn't hold in her evil grin. Ginny turned her head so that Ron wouldn't see her trying to keep herself from laughing, and Verity smiled, cheeks blushing pink from wanting to laugh out loud, but being too polite.

When Hermione let go of Ron, his cheeks were blushed furiously pink, and he looked thoroughly embarrassed.

"Way to go Weasley," said Draco.

"Score!" said Seamus. "Impress the ladies with that brain."

Verity punched Seamus in the arm. "Maybe you should start working on your brain," she said.

"All right, enough of that," said Harry, changing the subject for his best friend's sake. "We still need to find 'Bob,' and maybe by the end of it all, we'll have found Pansy and Colin."

"I hope we aren't that unlucky," said Blaise.

"Okay, there's nothing left for us in the astronomy tower," said Verity. "So let's look somewhere else."

"Hold on, what about the bottle?" said Seamus.

"You don't want to go about carrying that," said Draco. "If a teacher sees you, the gig's up; they'll know you aren't just born to slur your words and act like an arse."

"It's the arguing again," said Verity. "It's not getting us anywhere."

"I think the bottle has some significance," said Hermione. "It may not just be some unknown brand of alcohol. Actually, it might not even be a real brand of alcohol."

"I see what you're getting at," said Harry, nodding his head. "It's probably some sort of set-up. Maybe the name serves as a clue."

"MacRiddler's," said Draco. "Finnigan, do you know a MacRiddler?"

"It's not necessarily Irish," said Seamus. "That's just judgmental."

"I'm not being judgmental," said Draco. "It's an innocent question."

"You are being judgmental," said Seamus. "It's discrimination."

"It is not," snapped Draco. "If I wanted to discriminate-"

"But you don't," Verity said, cutting his words short. "You only want to find out what the Hell's going on around here, and in order to do it, you need to get along with everyone."

"And anyway," said Seamus, looking closely at the bottle's label, "there's words written on here that I don't recognise, so I doubt it was even made in Ireland. Or England, or even Scotland for that matter."

"What words?" said Blaise, looking curious.

"'Lob zum Herrn Getrank zum Herrn Singt zum Herrn zum Herrn der Dunkelheit,'" Seamus read. "Any idea what that means?"

"Praise to the Lord," said Draco. "Drink to the Lord, Sing to the Lord, to the Lord of darkness."

"How do you know?" said Seamus.

"It's German," said Draco. "But what on Earth does it mean?"

"As you just said, Praise to the Lord, Drink to the Lord, Sing to the Lord, to the Lord of Darkness," said Verity.

"I didn't ask for a translation," said Draco, "I asked what it meant."

"What more should it mean?" asked Verity.

"MacRiddler," Ron murmured. "Mac... Riddle..."

"Why didn't we see it before?" Hermione cried out. "Oh, Ron, you're a genius!"

"Tom Riddle?" asked Ginny, becoming frightened. "Are you talking about Riddle as in Tom Riddle?"

"Lord of Darkness," said Harry, as though a flurry of thoughts had been struck up in his mind. "That's Voldemort, and Riddle was his name when he was at Hogwarts."

Draco reached into his pocket and pulled out the coin which he had originally given to Ginny; the one with the moving inscribing.

Ginny backed away. "Not that thing," she said. "Put it away."

Draco looked at it closely, and began to notice words around the outer edge, words he hadn't seen before. "Nie untergraben die Kraft des Herr," he muttered. "Oh, I've been so stupid..."

"What's that mean?" Verity inquired.

"Never undermind the power of the Lord," said Draco. "I'm not sure why it's there, but doesn't it seem to fit with the bottle label?"

"I thought you said that coin was harmless," said Ginny. "It doesn't seem very harmless to me."

"I told you only what my father told me," said Draco. "But obviously he lied, and there's no such person as 'Bob.'"

"So now Bob is Lucius Malfoy again," said Harry. "And he's still somewhere in Hogwarts."

"And we don't know who he might be disguised as," said Draco, "making him all the more harder to find."

"Well let's get a move on," said Ron, impatiently. "If we're going to find him, we won't accomplish anything by standing around."

Ginny was shocked by her brother's new personality, so she decided to run a little test, just to make sure he really was Ron Weasley. "Ron! Look, there's a spider on the wall behind you!" she cried out.

Ron's eyes widened and he leaped forward with a great yell.

"Oh, never mind," said Ginny. "It wasn't a spider at all."

"As Ron was saying," said Hermione, "let's go."

"Go where?" Seamus asked. "We're going to have to split up, you know."

"We'll go off in pairs, then," said Blaise. "And this time, Harry and I will stay in here."

"In the astronomy tower?" said Verity, doubtfully.

"No, in the north end of the school," said Harry. "And don't doubt us, we will get something done."

"Yes, but not the right thing," said Verity.

"Actually, Verity, I think in a situation like this, Potter won't waste any time in finding the bad guys," said Draco.

"Fine, fine," said Verity. "Seamus and I will go down to the dungeons, and we'll check off everyone we see as a suspect."

"Anyone in Slytherin robes," said Ginny. "He was wearing Slytherin robes."

"He could've changed," said Hermione. "Anyone and Everyone is a suspect."

"You know, he might be outside the school," said Ron. "I think it'd be safe if someone kept an eye open for people outside."

"You and Hermione," said Verity. "That leaves the rest of the school to Draco and Ginny."

"Not by themselves?" said Ron.

"Don't worry, Ron," said Ginny. "And what happened to being practical?"

"The practical solution here is for you to come with Hermione and me," said Ron. "Malfoy can take care of himself."

"No he can't," said Blaise. "Now just drop it, and get started. You've got your tasks assigned to you, what more do you need?"

***

Draco and Ginny made the decision to go to the hospital wing first. It seemed to them a likely enough place to find a pupil in hiding.

They didn't bother knocking on the infirmary door, and instead, barged right in. The room was empty of people, and Madam Pomfrey was obviously still in her office, of which the door was closed.

"I wonder what she's hiding in that office," said Draco, eyeing the office door with suspicion.

"Why don't we find out?" Ginny suggested. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at the office door, which she suspected to be locked, and muttered, "Alohomora."

The door flew open, revealing a rather disturbed scene.

Madam Pomfrey was lying unconscious on the floor, looking a complete mess, chunks of her hair missing.

"Is she intoxicated?" Draco asked.

"No, she's knocked out," said Ginny. "But why?"

"Because she's drunk," said Draco. "I don't know about you, but I'm sticking to that story."

"Why is her hair missing?" Ginny asked. "That seems a little odd, don't you think?"

"Maybe she was so drunk, she cut off bits of her hair," said Draco, "then she passed out on the floor."

Draco and Ginny stood a moment in silence, staring at the unconscious matron, when suddenly, there came a muffled shout from behind them.

"Draco!"

Draco and Ginny whirled around, coming face to face to face with Lucius Malfoy.

Lucius looked as he had never looked before: scruffy. His hair was unkempt and unruly, he had stubble growing on his chin, and his robes were wrinkled and worn. All in all, he looked very tired and very sick.

Ginny took a few steps back, afraid of the man who stood before them.

"Voldemort," Lucius choked. "He lied."

"Of course he did, father," said Draco. "He's a bloody scoundrel."

Normally, Lucius would have looked beyond shocked at these words, and then would have forced Draco into an apology for speaking of his master in such a way, but at the present, he made no protest.

Instead, Lucius nodded, glumly. "I've come from Azkaban to warn you," said Lucius. "He has plans, Draco."

"And you escaped Azkaban and came all the way here just to tell me that?" said Draco. "Have you ever heard of owl post?"

"I'm here to protect you," said Lucius, looking, for once in his life, sincere. He then looked at Ginny, with the same sincerity. "Both of you."

"This is my father," said Draco, almost to himself. "He's a bloody mad man."

"I have wasted an entire day to find you, and you call me a mad man?!" Lucius shouted.

"Well, you are," said Draco. "You killed the matron, you disguised yourself as me, and now you're saying you're here to protect us. I don't know what they were doing to you at Azkaban, but believe me father, it's turned you queer."

"Disguised myself as you?" said Lucius. "What is this nonsense?"

"And what's more, you also disguised yourself as Finnigan," said Draco. "Finnigan in Slytherin robes."

"Isn't he a half-blood?" said Lucius. "Disguise myself as a half-blood? Not for all the Galleons in Gringotts!"

"I think we should stick with the 'Bob' story," Ginny muttered to Draco in an undertone.

"He's lying," said Draco. "Don't trust him so easily."

"He's your father, for crying out loud!" said Ginny. "You can't even trust your own father?"

"If he was your father, would you trust him?" Draco inquired.

"Don't be ridiculous," said Lucius.

"Father, what have you done to the matron?" said Draco. "Because if that's how you treat a defenseless old woman, how can anyone trust you?"

"I did nothing to the matron," said Lucius. "In fact, I saw her leave this very room only eleven minutes ago."

"Eleven minutes?" said Ginny.

"Malfoys are very precise," said Draco. "Although some of us feel the need to lie for no reason whatsoever." He glared at his father, and his father glared back.

"If Madam Pomfrey left already," said Ginny, "then why is she still in her office?"

"Because my father is a pathological liar," said Draco. "I thought I told you that already."

"If I'm a pathological liar, that makes you pathological disbeliever," said Lucius.

"Ooh, good one," said Draco, with great sarcasm.

"You're not worthy of the Malfoy name," said Lucius.

"No, you aren't," said Draco. "I am."

"I was a Malfoy first," said Lucius.

Draco scowled. "You still aren't worthy," he said.

"You were just an experiment," said Lucius. "By the age of sixteen, you were meant to be soulless. And not a Malfoy, by the way."

"And that's your fault," Draco shot back. "You aren't worthy of the Malfoy name; selling out your son like that."

"But you quickly destroyed everything," said Lucius. "A true Malfoy move."

"So now you're defending me?" said Draco. "You've lost your mind."

"You are my son, after all," said Lucius. "And I am here to protect you from Voldemort's powers."

"Okay," said Draco, doubtfully.

"You don't understand," said Lucius. "Voldemort has escaped from Azkaban."

"Yeah, I know," said Draco. "And your point is...?"

"My point is he'll come for you," said Lucius. "He now has three targets on his list, all pure-bloods mind you, though I wouldn't exactly call Potter a pure-blood."

"Will you get to your point?" said Draco.

"He's now not only after Potter but after you as well," said Lucius. "And for some strange reason, her." He pointed at Ginny, who was hovering behind Draco.

"Well that's just lovely," said Draco. "But why did you have to go and attack Pomfrey?"

"I didn't," Lucius snapped.

"Well then who did?" Draco asked. "Peeves?"

"Possibly," said Lucius. "But to tell you the truth-"

"So you're going to tell the truth, are you?" Draco interrupted.

"I don't know where your matron is," said Lucius. "But there are far more important matters at hand."

"The matron is in her office," said Draco, "and she's dead."

"Knocked out," Ginny corrected.

"That's impossible," said Lucius. "I saw her leave the infirmary."

"She never leaves the infirmary," said Draco.

"I saw her leaving," said Lucius.

"You say a lot of things," Draco drawled.

An angry glint appeared in Lucius' eyes, which usually meant he was either going to drink until he passed out, or hurt somebody. Just as he was about to step forward toward Draco, Ginny cried out.

"Mr. Malfoy, look out!" she cried, just as a figure moved forward from the infirmary door towards Lucius.