51

They were all very ill at ease with how well she settled into the Manor. It disturbed them that she knew her way around and the fact that she appeared comfortable in the grand setting only made them more wary. She seemed to glide through the rooms like a ghost, remembering everything that had come to pass within these walls. Now bound to her agreement with Fudge, they were going to have to get used to her living here for the immediate future.

Fudge had given no indication of when his trial would be held; the Wizengamot was overstretched as it was and under pressure to reach verdicts. Of course, with Fudge sitting as Chair, the pressure to come to decisions was even greater. Kathryn was increasingly beginning to worry that Fudge would postpone his trial for as long as possible. Despite the fact that the trial of Lucius Malfoy; the trial of Pureblood society's heavyweight, would be one of the most highly anticipated events in the aftermath of Voldemort's fall, Fudge seemed none too keen to get on with it.

Due to their newfound obligations as war heroes and heroines, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Sirius and Ginny could not visit her as much as she would have liked. She was sure that this was, in part, the work of Fudge; trying to see if depriving her of her friends would make her crack. She wouldn't, however, for she was cut of thicker cloth. Also, what Fudge had conveniently forgotten was that she had the entire Manor to explore of her own free will.

She explored most of it when Harry, Ron and Hermione were around; they wanted to see Malfoy's domain as much as she. Using the sheaf of parchment the solicitor had given her, they explored the many underground passages and hidden rooms the Manor had to offer. It did not surprise them that they did not lead anywhere pleasant; although the secret compartment under the drawing room floor was empty.

The first room they found in the cellars seemed to be some kind of collection of Death Eater property. There were vials of dark liquid that looked horribly like blood stored in an ebony box. Each had a faded label with a name and a date neatly written across.

"That is just sick." Ron muttered darkly as he surveyed an impressive, yet disturbing, collection of knives. Of course, these were nothing compared with what Malfoy had in his own personal playground. She did manage to re-open that room without making herself sick; doing so, however, once she was alone in the house. She had a feeling that Harry wouldn't have wanted her to be exploring such a disturbing place. Her curiosity, however, was insatiable and she studied everything; from the neatly arranged implements that hung from the walls to the dark stains that seemed to be everywhere. Nothing in this macabre collection looked unused, despite how highly polished they might be. Her eyes landed immediately on the gleaming dagger with the jewelled hilt. It was the exact same one that he had taunted her with two years ago and, judging by its position in its own special holder, it was one of his favourite toys.

The first passage they explored led first to a set of furnished rooms that appeared to have been made to hide his family, should the need arise. Through another doorway concealed in the stone walls, they came to another passage to which they could not see the end. Lighting their wands, the four of them walked on for what felt like miles before the tunnel finally ended in a set of steps that led them straight to a wall. Running her fingers across the stone in a now practiced manner, Kathryn found the groove and slipped her ring into the keyhole to unlock the door. It opened out into a plain looking room; a great contrast to the plush appearance of the secret chambers they had just left. Looking out of the dirty window, Hermione could see that they were in the small Muggle village that was near the Malfoy Estate.

"It's funny isn't it?" Hermione commented as she peeked out the window. "He despises Muggles but sees fit to use them as an escape route."

"Yes," Kathryn murmured, "and all the time my escape route was across the corridor." She said, referring to the fact that this passage was located exactly opposite to the room where he had kept her prisoner. Not that she would've been able to get out, but it was still the principle behind it. For him, it must have been funny to keep her so near a way of escape.

The next passage they found was in the cavernous wine cellar, accessed by rearranging the wine bottles sitting in the rack in the right sequence. No one could have figured it out; the lock responding to the exact weight in each holder. This passage had three doors within it, each one made to look like a solid stone wall, and each one opened by a different means. The air became colder and the darkness more intense as they walked down the passage, descending far below the Manor. Ron was just beginning to complain as they passed through the third hidden door and they were all considering turning back when they hit a smooth stone wall engraved with the Malfoy crest.

"See, I told you it wasn't much further." She cocked an eyebrow at Ron who, in the darkness, couldn't see it.

"Well, let's hope there's a fire or something inside because I'm bloody freezing!" he rubbed his bare arms in a vain effort to keep warm.

"Ok, now," she studied the parchment by the faint light of her wand, "the last key is the ring so, if I put it here," she slipped the ring into part of the crest, "the door should open." The stone slid apart to reveal a pitch black room. With a wave of her wand, she lit the candles that sat in brackets on the walls.

"It's a library!" Hermione whispered as her eyes alighted upon hundreds of books. "Another one!" she could barely contain her delight.

"Well, don't touch just yet," Kathryn laid a steadying hand on her friends shoulder, "there is a probably a good reason why they were down here."

"It's probably where dear Draco found the curse he used on you." Harry muttered as he walked further in and began to read the titles.

There were several armchairs in the room, an empty fireplace and a desk or two for reading. There wasn't a trace of dust anywhere and, judging by the piles of books that hadn't been returned to their proper place; the room was not left unused.

"This was banned in fifteen sixty-seven!" Hermione cried from the far wall, pointing to a blood red volume with silver lettering.

"Don't touch it." Ron warned her again. "I wouldn't put it past Malfoy to have every banned Dark Arts text stashed somewhere."

"I think we found his hiding place." Harry said dryly as he examined a set of volumes concealed behind a glass door. "Hermione, what do you think to these?" he pointed out the small books.

"Oh my God!" Hermione clapped a hand to her mouth when she saw them. "Only three complete sets of those are known to exist." She paused for a moment whilst she counted all fifteen volumes. "They're all there. And he's got three of the five remaining copies of 'Chaland's Guide to Practical Dark Arts'. They were outlawed by the Ministry in the twenties." She explained, pointing out the three, dark green volumes. "It's believed that they are where Voldemort gained some of his knowledge. I've read about them and they are supposed to be full of stuff darker than we can imagine."

"Sounds like an interesting read." Kathryn commented, running her hands over the texts that lined the walls. "I'll bet he has everything here. If it was outlawed, banned or placed under strict controls; he will have a copy. I'll bet you couldn't even obtain some of this stuff from Knockturn Alley's most despicable shopkeepers; even Borgin and Burke's."

"What are you going to do about it?" Harry was uneasy of his sister being in possession of things which, if discovered, were worth a long sentence in Azkaban.

"Well," she paused for a moment to think, "none of what you've seen leaves this room." She told them sternly. "I'm not giving Fudge even more ammunition."

"But everything in here is illegal!" Hermione protested as Kathryn made to leave.

"And they are quite secure there, I think you can realise that." Kathryn reminded Hermione with a smile. "Besides, what Fudge doesn't know won't hurt him." she shrugged as the three of them followed, the lights extinguishing as the doors closed.

"You mean you're actually going to protect him?" Harry asked her incredulously as they walked quickly back up the passage. "After what he did?"

"Yes." She replied assuredly, sealing the door behind them once Ron had exited into the wine cellar. "I am, technically, the owner of this house for the time being and the penalty for possession of those books would fall upon me. What I really don't need is a spell in Azkaban."

"But Fudge would understand; it isn't your house, they aren't your books." Harry rationalised. "He would understand that they're Malfoy's."

"Fudge is just looking for ways to shut me away, Harry!" she exclaimed, storming out of the cellar. "He wouldn't care!"

"We could get rid of them." Ron suggested at they trailed after her.

"I think not." Hermione retorted indignantly. "I'm not getting rid of a collection that good, even if they are full of Dark Magic."

"I'd hope not." Kathryn found it comforting that Hermione was siding with her on this. "We shouldn't let Moody hear about this because he'd be here in a flash with his firelighters. It is not mine to do anything with anyway, it still belongs to him."

"What about that other passage?" Ron asked. "You said there were two in the cellar."

"Yes, there are two, but you all have to be getting along, don't you?" she cast her eyes at the clock. "Don't want to miss your appointment with Fudge."

"I hate that man." Harry grumbled as he too looked at the clock, they had to be at the Ministry in five minutes. "He's just trying to look like he has our support. He's managed to keep the fact that he had put you under house arrest very well hidden. If I didn't know better, I would have said Malfoy was helping him, but that is out of the realm of possibility."

"I think the man has more of a brain then we give him credit for." Kathryn summoned the small box of Floo power from above the fireplace. "You can come back tomorrow if you like. I won't be going out." She said rather gloomily as they all took a pinch of the green powder. She could tell something was wrong when they all cast each other nervous glances. "But if you can't it's ok." She quickly added, replacing the box and not meeting their gaze.

"Well, it's just that we have to do some interview about it all at lunchtime tomorrow." Hermione quickly explained. "For the Daily Prophet."

"Won't that raise questions about me?"

"They're not allowed to ask about you and we wouldn't answer if they did." Harry quickly said. Despite his reservations and anger over what had happened; Harry had quickly realised that his support was invaluable to his sister.

"I guess I am going to conveniently slip into obscurity then." She tried to sound casual. "Soon everyone will forget that I was even there and I will only be remembered for the scandal. My name will become synonymous with treachery and I will live out my life in quiet, but abject humiliation." It disturbed the three of them to hear how far she had thought this through. "At least that is what I think Fudge has planned for me."

"Oh come on, he can't have thought that far ahead." Hermione brushed off her worries.

"Oh he can, he's had Malfoy whispering in his ear for years. I can assure you that he had an adequate capacity for scheming." She grinned mischievously as Harry threw his Floo powder into the fire. "He just doesn't realise that I'm not that easy to break."

Once they had gone, she retired to his study to formulate her plan. Fudge had, after all, given her permission to leave the grounds should she have a pressing matter of business. The offices of the Daily Prophet were in Diagon Alley and she hadn't yet paid a visit to Gringotts to inspect the Malfoy vault. What she hadn't told her brother was that Malfoy had also passed on some of his devious ways to her as well.