_______________________<br/><br/>When Paul Buchannan visited Malfoy Manor the second time, a week after his initial tour, he did so in the company of two Aurors charged with the transportation of 12 confiscated dark artefacts from their stable confinement in the Ministry and into Draco Malfoy’s office.<br/>It had so far taken 11 separate trips through the Floo, each object attentively handled and placed on a cleared work space in the study; some were preserved in sealed glass, others cast in porcelain.<br/>Paul himself had stayed in the study with Malfoy, having taken the opportunity to finish the walk through of Malfoy’s wards, though it was less out of necessity and more out of professional curiosity.<br/>The Aurors had just left the room to retrieve the last object, the wards settling around the room as they closed the doors behind them. Potter was nowhere to be seen, presumably catching up after months away from the office.<br/>“Yeah, Robard’s told me,” Paul mused. The fact that Malfoy was a trained Healer had come up in conversation with the Head Auror, though he had failed to offer any context as to why it was a relevant observation.<br/>It made him pause, thoughtlessly glancing towards the tentative workspace Paul had assumed to be Potter’s, the clutter all too familiar. He weighed his words. “Is he alright?”<br/>Only then did his attention return to Malfoy, brows quirked in a question.