Draco Malfoy arrived at breakfast without Crabbe and Goyle.
Percy noticed because the empty places beside him looked unusual. Draco put his bag on the bench, took a cup, and left it untouched while an owl landed in front of him.
The letter was short. Whatever it said made him fold it too quickly.
Ron followed Percy's gaze.
"Something happened."
"An owl delivered a letter," Hermione said.
"You know what I mean."
Percy turned back to his plate. Dorridge's team had gone to the Malfoy house that morning. They had recovered records from Vale's storage office that referred to an older transfer. His remembered account had given them a name to check, but the records had provided the reason to visit.
He had learned that much from McGonagall before breakfast.
He did not know what Draco's letter said.
Harry watched the Slytherin table for a moment, then picked up his fork.
"Do we have Potions today?"
Ron looked down at the timetable he had written on his wrist.
"Unfortunately."
"Then I would like to start one conversation before Malfoy does."
Percy raised an eyebrow.
"About what?"
"The actual potion."
"Dangerous change of policy."
Harry gave him a tired smile and finished his eggs.
At Malfoy Manor, Dorridge placed the transfer record on a table that was worth more than her office furniture.
Lucius Malfoy read it without sitting down.
"A storage entry is not an accusation."
"No," she said. "That is why I have asked about the object it records."
Kingsley stood beside the open door. Two officers waited in the hall. They had shown the signed search authority before entering and had kept their wands lowered while the household staff cleared the room.
The record described a small black book. No title. No visible writing. A damaged spine. It had been collected from Vale's first office years before the locket inquiry.
The receiving signature belonged to Malfoy.
"An old family purchase," he said.
"May I see it?"
"I would have to find it."
Dorridge let the silence continue.
Malfoy looked toward the door. Kingsley did not move.
The first search found several locked cabinets and one smaller compartment behind a row of account books. Malfoy had not mentioned that compartment. He said it contained private papers.
The officers opened it under the search order.
The diary lay beside a bundle of old receipts. Its black cover had no ornament. A faded name appeared on the inside page when the examiner lifted it with a tool.
T. M. Riddle.
The examiner kept it inside the clear observation box. She did not write on the blank pages to see whether they would answer.
Dorridge asked Malfoy who had given it to him.
He said he did not remember.
Kingsley asked whether he knew the name on the first page.
Malfoy did not answer immediately.
The pause went into the written record beside his refusal to discuss the purchase further without counsel.
Dorridge did not need him to finish the story before securing the object. She asked the examiner to seal the box and gave Malfoy a receipt.
The search continued.
At Hogwarts, Snape had placed Harry and Percy at one table and Ron with Hermione at another. Draco worked across the aisle.
The potion was simple in theory. Slice the root evenly. Add it in the correct order. Keep the heat below the marked level.
Percy had faced gods, drowned temples, and a gate that wanted to use his memories. None of those experiences had taught him how to slice a root evenly.
Harry took the knife from him after the fourth attempt.
"You stir."
"I am excellent at stirring."
"That is what worries me."
Percy kept the spoon moving at the required speed. Snape passed behind them and found nothing wrong quickly enough to be irritating.
Across the aisle, Draco missed the signal to lower his flame.
His cauldron gave a hard pop. Steam rose over the table. One piece of root struck Goyle's sleeve.
Snape lowered the heat with his wand and ordered the boys away from the cauldron.
"You will begin again, Mr. Malfoy."
Draco looked as if he had expected a different answer.
"Yes, Professor."
The new potion took most of the lesson. Percy heard Draco drop a spoon twice before the second attempt settled.
Ron wanted to comment. Hermione stepped on his foot beneath their table. Ron looked at her, then at the cauldron, and returned to work.
When the bell rang, Draco left before his usual audience could collect him.
Percy found him by the stair to the courtyard.
He had not followed to ask about the letter. He had followed because Draco had left his potions notebook on the table.
"You forgot this."
Draco turned. His hand went to his robe pocket, then stopped.
"Keep away from me."
Percy held the book by its edge.
"I can put it on the floor if that helps."
"You know what happened."
Percy lowered his arm.
"I know the Ministry visited your house. I do not know what your family told you."
Draco looked at the notebook.
"They searched my mother's rooms. They opened everything."
Percy had no answer that would make that feel kind.
"I am sorry they had to do it."
"Do not sound pleased about it."
"I am not."
Draco took the book and opened it at the wrong page.
"Father says this is Dumbledore making trouble."
Percy waited.
"Is it?"
"There is a dangerous object they are looking for. The records led to your house."
"What object?"
"You should ask McGonagall what she can tell you. I will not guess about what they found."
Draco gave him a sharp look.
"Since when?"
The question landed exactly where it should have.
"Recently," Percy said.
Draco shut the notebook. He walked away without thanking him. Percy let him go.
Harry was waiting at the next landing.
"He said something about his mother," Harry said.
"I heard."
"I do not like him."
"I noticed."
Harry watched Draco disappear around the corner.
"I still do not want his house to be full of people he cannot stop."
Percy leaned against the rail.
"We can want the book found and leave him alone."
Harry nodded. They went to lunch before Ron could accuse them of missing a meal on purpose.
The recovered diary reached an isolated Ministry room before sunset. Its first examination did not involve ink.
The outer cover carried a preservation charm. That charm could not explain the second reading inside the pages.
Flitwick compared the pattern with the destroyed locket's record. A line of active magic moved through the blank paper and gathered beneath the name on the first page.
The diary pulled toward a sealed bottle of writing ink placed beyond the inner enclosure. The bottle remained closed. When the examiner moved it away, the pull followed it and then stopped at the barrier.
Dumbledore wrote the response beneath the first reading. He asked the second examiner to repeat the test with plain water and no ink.
The diary did not move toward that container.
The pages stayed blank.
They had enough evidence to continue the anchor examination without giving the book a person to answer. The examiner removed the ink bottle from the room and sealed the diary again.
Dorridge's second report concerned Malfoy's records. There were references to a bank vault and two objects transferred by people using different names.
One description included a small golden cup.
The name of the vault owner had been kept beneath a separate seal. Dorridge had requested the bank's cooperation. She would not ask an officer to enter a vault on the strength of an old nickname alone.
Dumbledore read the report and marked the cup entry on the list of leads.
At school, the four friends heard about the diary after dinner.
McGonagall told them the name on the first page, the initial pattern, and the next examination. She did not give them details of the family's rooms or the items unrelated to the inquiry.
Ron asked whether Ginny was still clear of it.
"Your parents have checked the books at home," McGonagall said. "The recovered diary had remained in the cabinet. The handling record does not show a transfer to your sister."
Ron rested his elbows on his knees and rubbed his face.
Percy waited until he looked up.
"It is found," Ron said.
"Yes."
"Before."
Percy nodded.
That word mattered more than anything he could add.
Hermione asked whether the diary had been damaged yet. McGonagall said no. The team would finish confirming the anchor and then use the method checked on the locket.
Harry took out his list. He wrote recovered beside the diary but left the line uncrossed.
Percy noticed and said nothing.
After McGonagall left, Ron wrote another letter to Ginny. He told her the worrying book had been found away from home. Then he asked whether her fairy book had bitten anyone since yesterday.
Percy watched him fold the page.
"That will sound strange."
"We are a strange family. She will cope."
Hermione went to return a library book. Harry stayed beside the fire, holding the diary report.
"You knew the name," he said.
Percy looked at him.
"Lucius. Before the transfer record."
"Yes."
"And you told them where the information came from."
"Yes."
Harry turned the report over.
"Keep doing that."
Percy did not thank him for the instruction. He nodded and picked up his essay.
Draco passed the open common-room door in the corridor outside with Snape beside him. Percy caught one glimpse before the portrait moved shut.
He hoped someone would tell the boy what had been found without asking him to defend it.
The next message arrived for Dumbledore, not for the four friends. Nyx had accepted Dorridge's protection. She had reached the agreed meeting place and supplied the name of a man who collected records for Acheron.
It was the missing assistant from Vale's office.
McGonagall brought that part to Percy before bed. Nyx would speak to Dorridge first. If she wanted Percy present later, the meeting would take place at school with an adult beside them.
"You can stop worrying about whether she came alone," the professor said.
Percy read the short message and gave it back.
"Thank you."
He slept with no letters beneath his pillow and no book waiting for him to write in it.
Ron woke him once to ask whether garden fairies could be soul anchors.
Percy threw the nearest pillow.
Harry caught it before it hit the lamp. By morning, all three had decided that Hermione did not need to hear about the investigation.
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can you tell i ran out of instant noodle jokes, and also im so freaking tired. Also, I- *Static*
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User 001: Yes, there is [REDACTED]
User 002: Have they figured out [REDACTED] yet?
User 001: Nah, idts. But imma give them a hint soon.
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