It's a good idea, Rachel. And it might work, if Draco weren't the product of two of the oldest pureblood families still in existence in Britain.

They'll have a tapestry. Narcissa will have a portrait, maybe more than one. There are ways they can check to determine if he's really dead - and while Narcissa might not have been sure in the case of my brother, or may not have wanted to call attention to the lack of a death date, she'll certainly avail herself of every possible hope of life in Draco's case.

And Bellatrix knows that.