Hermione's knees wobbled, and she stifled a gasp. Of course Lucius would have wards. They should have known.

Draco was silent next to her. He slid his hands in his pockets.

Narcissa lifted her chin. "I told him it was me. That I was looking for a few documents for one of our accounts. And I promised to close it up in the morning and not enter again."

Hermione felt her heartbeat in her fingertips.

"So tell me, what were you doing in his study?"

"Mother—"

Narcissa's gaze slid to Hermione. "Are you passing information to the True Order?"

"Yes," Hermione said quickly.

"Granger, enough," Draco hissed.

"It's true." Hermione bit her cheek. It wasn't a lie, exactly. Just yesterday Draco had been at Edinburgh giving Charlotte the instructions for the antidote potion. "I'm sorry, Narcissa. I was the one who went inside his study in the first place. If there's anyone you should be angry at, it's me."

"Thank you, Hermione." Narcissa seemed to steel herself, her shoulders dropping. She stepped closer to her son.

"Draco, your decisions are your own. But you must know what it would do to me if..." Her voice trembled. "Please just promise me you'll be careful."

Draco's throat bobbed. He nodded.

With a flick of her fingers, Narcissa produced two newspapers flashing "SPECIAL EDITION" in red at the top. She handed them to Hermione, and turned away with a brush of her lashes.

The sound of Narcissa's heels clicking away receded, and the floor shifted under her feet as Hermione looked down to the paper on top — the Prophet.

TERRORISTS DEFEATED IN CANADA
by Rita Skeeter

Draco dragged the second paper from her fingers — The New York Ghost — as she read on.

Late last night, The Dark Lord's forces struck a cell associated with the terrorist organization known as the "True Order." The insurgents were hiding on the large, sparsely populated Baffin Island off the eastern Canadian coast.

"A resounding success," Albrecht Berge told this reporter. "Our enemies' wards were no match for the Fog, an ingenious new magic which will help defend and protect the interests of the Great Order."

Generals Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange oversaw the operation, along with Berge and his apprentice, Theodore Nott, Jr. They observed the deployment of the Fog from a small island off the coast of Baffin. The Fog was successful not only in penetrating Baffin Island's wards and Anti-Apparition Line, but also in destroying a weapons base seeking to undermine the Great Order.

Berge and his apprentice will return to the U.K. to erect new wards at Edinburgh later this week.

That was all.

She tore through the pages, but found nothing that could help her piece together what had happened. Another resounding victory with no details. Flipping back to the front, she stared at the picture of Berge on the cover, his eyes obscured by round, dark-lensed glasses.

Thanking Merlin that Narcissa had defied Lucius's orders about the Ghost, Hermione reached for the other paper, pulling it from Draco's limp fingers with ease. She thrust the Prophet into his hand before reading.