Selfishness Isn't Easy
Chapter 1: Missing
Hermione Granger huffed again for what seemed to be the fourth time in the past five minutes. Not only were the papers piling up in her office; Cormac Mclaggen continued to send inappropriate notes to her. She didn't have the time or patience to deal with him today, especially considering how much of a tangent she had gone on for last time she made her way to his office to give him a piece of her mind. No, she simply did not have the time. Maybe I should just send a Howler, she considered. She could never figure out men. As soon as the announcement of her engagement to Anthony Goldstein had been made public (thanks a lot, Skeeter, Hermione has thought bitterly at the time), she had been the center of attention in and out of the Ministry. No one had known about her relationship with the handsome man before that, and she could practically feel the women around the office shooting mental Avadas at her. Anthony had laughed at her, telling her how she should just pay the attention no mind, like he had.
"Easy for you to say," She recalled saying to him dryly, "you've had a lifetime's worth of practice." He had not argued with her after that, so she assumed he had conceded defeat. Anthony was a great catch; and most of the time she couldn't believe she had been lucky enough to catch his attention. He was kind, funny, smart (well of course he was; he was a Ravenclaw), and it didn't hurt that his physicality matched his intelligence; he was at least a head taller than her, with dark blond hair and honey-colored eyes, lightly tanned skin, broad shoulders and an amazing jawline that would make the Roman and Greek gods envious. He was always a popular source of gossip around the office—not that Hermione paid mind to any of it. In all honesty, it had not even occurred to her that he was working for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He certainly wasn't an Auror like herself; she would have at least been on a mission with him before if that had been so. He had told her that he worked in the Wizengamot Administration Services after a clumsy bump-in at a Ministry Ball celebrating the second anniversary of the death of Lord Voldemort.
He had dazzled her with his smile and wit, completely making her forget that she had embarrassingly spilt pumpkin juice on his trousers. She had quickly Scourgified it and shakily introduced herself while holding her hand out to shake his. To her surprise, he had taken her gloved hand gently and pressed it to his lips much longer than necessary—she noted the quirk of his lips as a quiet "oh" left her throat. From then on, he had started taking her out to lunch dates where they would talk about anything and everything. One thing led to another, and before she knew it, they were engaged… And that's when people started paying more attention to her. In particular, the amount of male attention.
You'd think that being engaged would stop it all, she thought as she dropped her quill into her desk, sighed and ran her hands through her hair in defeat, leaning back into her chair. Looking at the clock on her left, she noticed that it was almost time to leave. Today had been quite the uneventful day, though; Anthony had not come to her office to have lunch with her and there was no mention of any Death Eaters terrorizing more Muggleborns. She'd been stuck in her office all day, not even leaving to purchase lunch but instead transfiguring some tea and biscuits. She supposed she shouldn't have complained; this had been the first week in over a year where she wasn't summoned for recon or an emergency battle. And Anthony was a busy man; perhaps he was over working himself. She smiled to herself on that thought—they were alike in that regard.
Even after the death of Voldemort, there was still a faction of his followers that had escaped capture ad continue to terrorize the Wizarding world, often torturing and killing Muggleborns. As of late, their attacks were growing bolder, and the Ministry's original list of known Death Eaters was thrown out. They had captured a good majority of those that were on the list, but for some reason, the number counted in multiple sightings had doubled. This meant that they were recruiting, and it was up to Harry and his department of Aurors to deal with them. Not wanting to leave Harry to deal with it all by himself, both Hermione and Ron followed. Harry had been named Head of the Auror Office at the tender age of 23, graciously accepting it.
Stepping out of her chair to get ready to leave, she straightened her grey pencil skirt and took the hair tie out to re-tie her hair, which she knew had become something akin to a bird's nest from all the frustrated scratching. I should tidy up before I leave, at least. She thought as she glared at the paperwork. As soon as she picked up her first pile, a familiar drawl from the door intruded the room.
"Granger. I see your head clutter has materialized physically. The same could probably be said about your hair."
Rolling her eyes and refusing to meet the cool grey eyes of Draco Malfoy, she continued with her task. "What do you want, Malfoy?" She meant it to sound like a sneer, but it came out tired. She heard the sound of his shoes (which were probably worth more than what she earned in half a year) moving across the floor of her office, stopping just before her desk as he replied.
"What do I want? Not much; perhaps an island all to myself, with bikini-clad women serving me and an unlimited supply of Odgen's oldest and finest firewhiskey." She could practically hear the smirk that he had plastered onto his face.
"So technically you wouldn't be alone."
"I'd have them Apparate when I need them and Apparate when I don't."
She sighed and placed her hands on her hips, finally looking at him. There he was. Draco Malfoy, the man who had everything. Wealth, power, a particularly well social standing (considering his family's history. Though she had to give it to him; he did a good job restoring the family name over the past few years), class and handsome aristocratic looks. He had become an Auror a year after herself and her friends despite Ron's protests (Harry had argued that Malfoy was an invaluable resource of information given his time spent with Death Eaters during the War), passing the evaluation tests and practical only second to Harry himself. His reasoning for joining the cause was to restore his family name, but Hermione still felt as though he did it to continue tormenting the Trio. His services may be valuable to the department, but that still didn't mean he wasn't a world class act of a jerk.
Dressed in the finest all-black suit, with his hair slicked back like it had been in their first year at Hogwarts, his face had matured with a more chiseled jaw (albeit still pointy), a nose that screamed aristocratic breeding, a lean to medium build and the infamous Malfoy smirk on his face, he looked completely out of place in her office. "Get to the point Malfoy, I've had a long day and would like to head home."
It was his turn to look away from her, idly looking around her office as he spoke. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your fiancé has gone missing."
There was a claustrophobic silence that filled the room for a few seconds before she could form any words. The room began to spin so fast that she had to look away and grasp the corner of her desk for support."W… What do you mean? Anthony's missing?"
"Whom else would I be talking about?" He rolled his eyes.
Panic filled her chest. "What do you mean 'missing'? I just spoke to him—"
"A week ago? Yes, like everyone else. He hasn't been seen at work this entire week, has not contacted his office, and his apartment seems to have been broken into. Honestly, he's your fiancé; you'd think you would be the first person to know."
She was in no mood to suffer his inappropriately timed sarcasm. "We're both busy people, Malfoy. We don't check on each other constantly—did you say his apartment was broken into? Who had been the first to check? And why wasn't I informed straight away?"
He began inspecting his nails. "You're being informed now—"
"You know what I mean, Malfoy—"
He dropped his hand from his inspection and narrowed his eyes on hers. "You're being informed now because I just got back from the apartment. I've been assigned to the case—"
This was insane. "Why would you above all people be assigned? Why wasn't I told about it? Harry—"
"Potter," He interrupted, clearly offended at the way she interjected him, "thought it wouldn't be wise to assign this case to you, considering your affiliation with Goldstein. We can't have emotions running high—Granger, where the fuck do you think you're going?!"
She was already half way towards the door before she replied. "This is ridiculous, I'm going to find Harry and—" But she never finished her sentence because the man in question was as her door.
"Malfoy, I told you not to say anything until I got here."
Draco shrugged, and offered no other response. Hermione was an array of emotions; angry, scared, hurt, and confused. The more logical part of her brain told her to stay calm, but against better judgment, she blew her top off.
"Harry James Potter! Tell me what in the hell is going on?! Where's Anthony?!" She practically screamed.
He gave her an apologetic look. "Hermione, that's what we're trying to find out. I've managed to select a search party of Aurors to find him—"
"And when were you going to tell me about Malfoy being assigned to the case?"
At this point, Harry had the right mind to glare icily at Draco, who looked thoroughly amused. Hermione wanted to hex his balls off. "I don't think it's a good idea, 'Mione."
"So instead you assign Malfoy. What were you thinking?!"
"Malfoy is our best bet at finding him. You know he knows more about the Dark Arts than we do—"
"Wait a minute. What does that have anything to do with all of this?" Hermione demanded. It seemed like this situation had taken a turn for the worst. Tears were threatening to fall from her eyes as she implored him to explain with the way she looked at Harry.
He sighed in resignation and scratched the back of his head, obviously refusing to meet her gaze. "His apartment was filled with remnants of Dark Magic. His furniture was smashed and there was blood in the kitchen. Clearly he'd put up a fight and had lost. We're not entirely sure who or why they targeted him, but my hunch is that their real target… is you." Harry was looking at her dead in the eyes with a grim line set on his mouth.
Hermione suddenly couldn't breathe. How did any of this make sense? Why would they target Anthony? He wasn't a threat to anybody and he had no enemies that she knew of. He would have told her at least. Unless Harry's assumption was correct…
Draco interrupted her train of thought, and she was surprised to find him standing next to Harry. When had he moved? How long had she been hunched over like the way she was? She was surprised to find her arms holding her waist like as if she were trying to hold herself together. "Think about it Granger; Death Eaters are currently targeting Muggleborns like yourself, and now that they're becoming scarce, they're acting much more boldly and tactless. Getting to you, being Saint Potter's Mudblood friend,—" Harry elbowed Draco, "what? I'm just trying to get into their frame of mind—the poster girl for Wizarding Equality, and now engaged to a well-known Pureblood… That'd be a landslide of a win for them. I'm surprised that they haven't done it sooner."
Hermione felt a hand on her back that began to rub it soothingly. It wasn't helping. She realized it was Harry. "Hermione, you see why we can't have you on the case."
This only made her feel even more determined. "But this is my fault! If it hadn't been for us coming out as a couple, none of this would have happened! If you won't let me in on the assignment, I'm going rogue."
The room was silent again as the two men watched the intensity written all over her face. She would not let them see her break down; she refused to let the tears fall. They had to understand why she needed to be there, looking for him. They had to understand that if she wasn't, she would forever feel the guilt for not at least trying. It was Harry who broke the silence with a frustrated groan. Malfoy continued to stare at her with his arms crossed, like as if he were trying to figure a difficult puzzle.
"There's no stopping you, is there?"
"No."
Draco suddenly piqued up and strode towards the door. "I'll see you in my office tomorrow then, Granger. We'll brief the others tomorrow at six." And then he was gone.
R & R lovelies xx
