Ginny Weasley woke up to the detestable, blaring sound of her alarm clock. She groaned, cursing angrily to herself as she felt blindly over her bedside table for the alarm clock so that she could turn the damned thing off. "Stupid bloody work at this stupid bloody hour of the stupid bloody day," she muttered crossly to herself, her voice thick with phlegm. Her lack of creative adjectives, however, did not allow her any more sleep, nor did it shut off that infernal alarm clock. It was time to wake up up, crawl out from under the warmth of the covers, and force herself to go to work.

Just like every morning.

So she blearily opened her eyes, rubbing the sleep from them with balled fists. She swung her legs over the side of the bed, wobbling unsteadily for a moment before heading into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee, her daily sustenance. She mixed some ground cinnamon in with the coffee grounds and shut the lid, flicking the switch on as she headed groggily to the bathroom, yawning widely as she went.

She twisted the knob for the shower and undressed. She stepped quickly under the torrent of searing water, sighing contentedly as the hot water assailed her, which succeeded in waking her up somewhat more than the alarm clock had. Once she was finished she wrapped a towel about herself, trudging back into her bedroom to get dressed for work. She chose a pair of black slacks and a white tank-top to wear to work itself before she had to put over it the deep blue robes of an Auror. She retreated back into the bathroom to get dressed, also taking the time to brush her teeth, pull up her long claret hair, and apply minimal makeup.

She strode back into the kitchen of her small two-bedroom apartment and poured herself a rich, steaming cup of fresh cinnamon coffee, to which she added two spoonfuls of sugar and a precise, mentally-calculated amount of milk topped off with a thin layer of whipped cream. She closed her eyes as she tilted the cup to her lips. Perfect. She finished off the coffee quickly and carried the cup to the sink. She glanced at the wall clock, which read that it was fifteen minutes until seven. Time to go.

So after making sure she had her work things gathered, she stood in the living room, turning swiftly upon the spot into the compressing blackness of Apparating.

She arrived at work with ten minutes to spare, but she knew that it wasn't enough. She would have been chastised if she was even an hour early, let alone ten mere minutes until they had to get to work. She went into the dingy lady's bathroom that was the employee entrance to the Ministry of Magic, chose a stall at random, and flushed herself down the toilet.

"This is what happens when your ex-boyfriend is also your boss," Ginny thought to herself, teeth gritted as she pushed through the crowd of Ministry workers as she entered the Auror department, trying desperately to make it to her cubicle before Harry saw her. But as luck would have it, he was standing right outside the tiny, walled-off section of floor space that was her cubicle. Lovely.

She clenched her fist and went to move past him into her cubicle, but he blocked her way.

"Running late, are we? I thought I told you what would happen if you didn't start making an effort to show up on time," he said with a smirk that was worthy of a Malfoy. He was clearly trying to goad her into getting angry with him, trying to get her to lose control and show that he could still get to her. But she wouldn't give him that satisfaction, not for anything.

"Late?" she replied coolly. "I believe I still have at least five minutes, Harry."

Despite the fact that they had known each other for over a decade, and they'd been through hell and back together, his eyes still flashed behind his round glasses when she said his name, as though the terms of their breakup had obviously required that she not speak to him with that level of informality. He recovered himself quickly, however, readjusting the round black glasses that he still wore, even so many years since they had gone to Hogwarts, since Ginny had still thought she loved him…

He stepped gallantly aside, gesturing mockingly for her to go ahead and enter. She glared at him, muttering something along the lines of, "Bitter, are we?" as she moved past him into the five square feet of space she had been allotted. He didn't hear her, however, which was all for the best. He was her boss, after all, and she still had to treat him with respect. This was a good job for her, and one that she had studied her arse off to get into. She wasn't going to let it be ruined just because of her and Harry's break up. It wasn't worth it; she would have to learn to keep her tongue under check, even though, being as headstrong as she was, it would be undoubtedly difficult.

She set her files for the particular cases she was assigned to upon her desk, organizing it all before sitting down to review the files. Since Voldemort's defeat nearly six years ago, the main conquest for the Auror department had been to round up the remaining Death Eaters. In the past six years, most of them had been caught, with only a few remaining. To Ginny's credit were the successful acquisitions of Malfoy Senior, Yaxley, and Lestrange, among other slightly less consequential cases. Three major captures all in her name, the first capture being only a few months after she'd first started as an Auror. If one thing stood as fact, it was that she was damn good at what she did. But ever since she had broken up with Harry, her cases had gotten lower and lower in priority until now she was reduced to taking on such cases as a harmless (but admittedly elusive) lunatic that had taken to setting the Dark Mark off at random places across Britain. Harry's pettiness infuriated her, but she took it anyway: What choice did she have? Hell, even Draco Malfoy, (who for whatever reason had chosen to become an Auror after the defeat of You-Know-Who) had better cases than she did, and he was Harry's archenemy!

She sighed wearily and prepared herself for a day of interminable boredom. Her current case was to track down a senile old man called Madalpho Dorrin who had been illegally brewing the Polyjuice Potion (indeed, Harry had blushed when handing her the report due to his own illegal experiences with the Polyjuice Potion) in order to pose as a dancer in a nightclub. Ginny laughed bitterly to herself. While the whole case was quite comical, it was also utterly ridiculous. She had three major Death Eater captures under her belt. Three, and here she was on this sort of case just because Harry was a stubborn arse that couldn't accept that things were never meant to be between them!

She scanned over the case, forcing her mind to concentrate upon the mundane details. With what she had, she should be able to apprehend him soon; according to the witnesses, he was rather hard to miss. The only problem was that few respectable witnesses were willing to come forward and admit that they had been in a nightclub to witness the old man drinking Polyjuice Potion as soon as his head started going bald on the dance floor. It had already been hell to obliviate all the muggles that had seen it, but the wizard in question always seemed to vanish just before she got to the scene. After awhile she decided that she would be able to focus no longer if she didn't get up and do something. Right at that moment, however, a purple sheaf of paper zoomed into her cubicle and landed upon her desk. She unfolded it and read the memo, which informed her that there was to be a meeting between all the Aurors at nine o'clock. She glanced at her watch: Eight-thirty. Supposing that she could wait a half hour longer, she resumed her mind-dulling examination of the case.

Nine o'clock arrived in a stampede of Aurors rushing gratefully from their work to go to the meeting room, grateful for the break. For even though Harry's speeches were generally boring, at least a room full of people provided interesting things to observe, unlike being stuck in a cubicle for ten hours a day (not including the hour long lunch break).

Like the rest of them, Ginny jumped from behind her desk and hurried to join the meeting. In her rush to get through the doorway she accidentally pushed past Malfoy, shoving him back against the door. "After you, Weasley," he muttered tetchily.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't see you," she said only slightly apologetically as she moved to take her seat at the table.

"About what?" he sneered as he moved into the seat beside her. "We all know you just had to hurry and see your precious Potter."

"You know full well that Harry and I have broken up, Malfoy," she said, staring him resolutely in the face. Harry she may have been forced to relent to, but not Malfoy. If he wanted a challenge, he certainly could have one because she was not at all in the mood to back down.

"Whatever you say, Weasley," he replied, shaking his head in apparent skepticism, though his tone didn't seem to have the usual malice in it. It almost seemed as though he was being an arse from habit rather than an actual desire to do so.

Ginny opened her mouth to make a retort, but before she could, Harry called the meeting to a start.

"Alright, everyone?" Harry said, and was met by nods around the room. "We've got a bit to discuss here today…"

He droned on, and on, and on. Ginny found herself wishing that she was back in her cubicle rather than sitting here listening to Harry. It seemed to Ginny that he really did love being the center of attention, the way he was going on, mindless of the dozing occupants of the room. Malfoy (along with the majority of the room) seemed to be thinking the same thing. His head was up and he had the appearance of paying attention, but Ginny noticed that his eyes were glazed over, and he was obviously not listening to a damned word that came out of Harry's mouth.

"Staring, Weasley?" Draco asked without actually turning to look at her, the trademark Malfoy smirk inset upon his lips.

Ginny threw him a reproachful look. "You wish," she said disdainfully, turning back to pretending to listen to Harry drone on about how even though Voldemort was gone, there was still great work to be done for the wellbeing of the wizarding world and the protection of its people and blah, blah, blah. Ginny stared absentmindedly at Harry for a moment. A part of her still loved him, and a part of her always would, she knew. But it wasn't romantic love; no, she had realized that a bit too late, thinking that her infatuation was love. She had been young and naive, and Harry had been her childhood crush. But her love for Harry was not the kind of love he was looking for, not the kind of love that would allow them to get married and live together and have a family together. She simply could not offer him that sort of love. Not Harry, no. She longed for the day when he could put it in the past so that they could go back to how things used to be, before they had started seeing each other. So they could go back to being friends. But he seemed adamant about not letting it go, leaving her so that he could wallow in his bitterness while assigning her pointless cases that were far below her ability.

Finally Harry declared the meeting over at around ten o'clock. He told them they could have a ten minute coffee break before returning to work, an opportunity that Ginny seized gladly as she stood up to leave. As she was doing so, however, she noticed that the wonder of Harry's speeches seemed to have literally put Malfoy to sleep. The side of his head was being supported by his hand where his elbow was propped up on the surface of the desk. Ginny grinned, slapping him upside the head with her folder. His grey eyes instantly snapped open as his elbow slipped, causing his head to nearly fall forward on the desk.

"What the hell, Weasley," he hissed angrily, composing himself hastily.

"Well good morning, sunshine," she replied, smiling brightly at him. "Come on, Harry said we could have a ten minute coffee break, which you might want to take advantage of rather than have Harry find you sleeping."

"Oh, yes," he muttered sarcastically. "Wouldn't want to upset Scarhead."

They were the only ones left in the meeting room now, everyone else having already left to chug down a cup of the pitiful office coffee.

"Why do you work for him if you hate him so much?" Ginny asked questioningly. Malfoy ran a long-fingered hand through his platinum hair before replying, "Long story, Weasley, and not one that I consider to be any of your business."

"Right," Ginny said. "I was just asking, sorry. But now I'm going for coffee, are you coming or should I tell Harry that it's your naptime?"

"Yeah, I suppose I need it," he said, standing from his chair and yawning. He had gotten quite tall since Hogwarts, now standing above Ginny at what she guessed to be at least six feet tall, if not more. His long silvery hair was mussed on one side from where he had slept, but his robes were as pristine as ever. He headed to the door, but stopped before going through it.

"Coming?" he asked.

"Oh," Ginny said smirking. "I wasn't aware that you needed an escort."

Malfoy laughed. "Right, Weasley," he said, but Ginny was amazed to hear that her surname hadn't been spat out with his usual venom. She cocked her eyebrow suspiciously but followed him out the door toward the increasingly longer line that led to the Auror department's sole coffee maker.

Draco Malfoy sat back at his desk, a Styrofoam cup of heavily creamed and sugared coffee in hand. He hesitantly took a sip of it, bracing himself for the horrible taste. He was not disappointed; it was repulsive. But he took another drink anyway, figuring that it was better than nothing, before setting the cup down on a clear space on his desk. He could hear slightly raised voices coming from the cubicle next to his, so he leaned his head closer to the wall of his cubicle, pressing his ear flat against it so he could hear what was being said, and by whom. He was somewhat surprised to hear the Weaselette's voice, obstinacy clear in her tone. He hadn't even realized that she had the cubicle next to him. The second voice was more expected, but it still made Draco roll his eyes. "Pothead," he thought to himself. "What a surprise."

Potter was currently saying something along the lines of, "If you want better cases, Ginny, you'll just have to work yourself up like everyone else." Draco could just imagine the self-satisfied look on Potter's face as he said this.

"Work myself up?" Weasley hissed. "I've captured three Death Eaters, Harry, three! I think I've more than proven myself!"

"Well, I'm afraid that's for me to decide, not you," Potter replied haughtily.

"Harry, why can't you just be reasonable? You know I can do it. I'm absolutely bored out of my mind having to do cases like this!"

"Out of your mind?" Potter spat at her. "Now you know how I've been for quite some time now."

Ginny went to make some retort, perhaps, but at that moment Draco, having taken pity on the youngest Weasley, exited his cubicle and went to stand at the doorway of Ginny's. "Excuse me, Mr. Potter," Draco said, hoping to throw Harry off with the use of the term "Mr." He succeeded. Potter turned quickly to face him, seemingly forgetting all about the argument with Weasley.

"Yes, Malfoy?" Potter asked somewhat coldly, flattening his bangs habitually to cover the foul scar on his forehead.

"Can I see you for a moment? I have a question over the Baggins case."

"Right," Potter replied distractedly. "Yeah, I reckon."

As Harry moved past Draco out the door, Draco shot Ginny a look that plainly said "you owe me". She gave him a confused look, quickly followed by a grateful half-smile. Draco then quickly moved into his cubicle and opened the Baggins file on his desk to ask Potter about it, even though he knew it by heart and was having absolutely no trouble with it. In fact, it was pretty much wrapped up.

"Alright, Malfoy, what did you need help with?" Potter asked.

Draco smirked to himself. This Potter obviously wasn't the brightest crayon in the box. A Malfoy, needing help from the likes of Potter? Yeah, right.

After a couple more hours of boredom, it was time for lunch. Ginny generally went out for lunch, but today she was broke, yesterday having been the day to pay for the rent on her apartment. So she walked to the Ministry cafeteria, choosing the simple meal of fish and chips from among the food. She moved to an empty table to sit down and eat her meal in silence, longing for the next four hours of work to pass by quickly. She wanted to go home and settle herself down on the couch with a good book and a hot cup of coffee. She wouldn't have to worry about Harry, about work, about anything for two whole days. Today was Friday, and the one advantage to being on low-profile cases was that she got the full weekend off. She supposed she had Harry to thank for that.

She understood why Harry was being so difficult, she honestly did. But she hadn't expected it at first, and if she had expected it she wouldn't have expected it to still be going on nearly two years later. When she had first broken it off with him, he had been quite understanding. She could see in his bright green eyes how heartbroken he was, heartbroken to the point that Ginny had cried all that night as well, knowing how much she had hurt him. But he'd not pressured her or tried to make her feel guilty at that point. All he had done was hugged her and told her he loved her one last time before apparating to Godric's Hollow to visit his parent's grave and be alone. He had even given them both the week off so that they wouldn't have to see each other at work for a week. Time enough for them both to compose themselves. But when she had returned, she found a hard and bitter Harry waiting for her. It killed her to see him like this, knowing that he only did it because he still loved her.

She was startled from her reflections by someone poking her shoulder quite annoyingly. She spun around to find out who was doing the incessant poking, her hair whipping behind her like a comet's tail. It was Malfoy. She rolled her eyes.

"Merlin you're annoying," she said exasperatedly. "Can I help you?"

"Touchy," he replied smirking. "I was just wondering if you minded if I sat here. Everywhere else is full."

"And you're actually asking my permission?"

"Believe it or not, Weasley, even Malfoys are polite," he snapped. "And besides, you owe me. I saved your arse back there with Potter."

"Yes, and thank you for that," she replied, scowling at the memory. She indicated for him to sit in the seat across from her. He sat down, picking unenthusiastically at his food.

"Disgusting, isn't it?" Ginny said as she watched him.

"Yeah," Draco replied, but then added sneeringly: "Kind of reminds you of your mother's food, eh, Weasley?"

Instead of getting angry and coming up with some insulting retort to throw back at him, Ginny said, "Come on, Malfoy, give it a break. Your tendency to be a complete and total arse may have been somewhat acceptable in Hogwarts, but we're adults now. Grow up."

Malfoy gave her a surprised look, and Ginny thought she saw a flush rise to his pale face. He sighed loudly and said, "You're right, Weasley. Sorry."

Ginny looked up at him guardedly, but her shock was written all over her face. Had he actually just acknowledge that she was right? Moreover, did he actually just apologize to her?

"So what's going on, Malfoy?" Ginny asked bluntly.

"What do you mean?" he replied slowly, tucking in to his food with vigor.

"You just...never mind."

He cocked a pale eyebrow at her. "Believe it or not, Weasley, I'm not the same arrogant prick you went to Hogwarts with. I have grown up a bit since then."

Now it was her turn to raise her eyebrow at him. "So you're telling me that the whole Pureblood I'm-a-Malfoy-so-I'm-better-than-you thing has passed?"

He chuckled lightly. "Don't get carried away, Weasley," he said. But he said it with a joking tone to his deep voice, which Ginny realized.

"So why did you decide to become an Auror," Ginny asked after a few moments of silence.

Draco shrugged. "I thought it fitting."

"Fitting?" Ginny asked, narrowing her eyes. "How so?"

"To make up for my father's grandiose mistakes, I suppose," he said vaguely, his eyes darkening as he spoke the word "father". But his tone left her no room to question him further. Ginny had wondered why he'd even been talking to her. It had been common knowledge in the Auror Department – indeed, everywhere in wizarding Britain, thanks to the Daily Prophet – that she had been the one to arrest Malfoy Sr., Draco's father. They had even thrown a celebration in the office, giving everyone the day off work to laugh and render themselves drunk from the large amounts of Fire whiskey and iced vodka that had been provided. She remembered that Harry had run to her, swept her up in his arms and kissed her in front of the whole office. It had been her first big arrest. Although she had mainly focused on Harry that day, upon reflection she realized that Malfoy had not even shown up to work that day. She had thought then that this was because he was at home sulking, but now she thought that perhaps this was simply because he hadn't wanted his presence to make the celebration awkward.

But Ginny didn't mention this. She instead turned the conversation toward lighter subjects. She learned that Malfoy was living in an apartment only a few blocks from her own in Bristol, and that he, too, was a coffee addict. They had an unspoken agreement not to talk about anything from their pasts at Hogwarts. Instead they talked mostly about work, and eventually, they spoke of Harry.

"So why'd you break up with him?" Draco asked interestedly. "I mean, he's the great Harry Potter, the Boy who Lived, the savior of the wizarding world and all that. So why would you want to break up with him?"

"I didn't love him," Ginny said simply. "But he just doesn't seem able or willing to accept that."

"He gives you a hard time, then?"

"You saw him," Ginny replied haltingly, and Draco took that as his cue to say no more on the subject. He could tell that it really pissed her off, though. Her hands had clenched into fists and her mocha eyes had flashed. She was the typical stubborn redhead, Draco could tell, and he could see that the way she had to stand down to Harry enraged her. For whatever reason, it enraged Draco himself that Potter could treat her that way. As heartless had some had claimed Draco to be in the past, he would never try to mess up someone else's career based solely upon personal reasons.

"So," Draco said to break the silence. "Where do you usually go for lunch if not here?"

"Oh," Ginny said, realizing then that her hands were balled into fists. "This little café up the street. Le Café Matin. Ever been there?"

"No," he said. "Is it any good?"

"The coffee is to die for," Ginny replied.

"I'll have to try it sometime," he said thoughtfully.

"I definitely recommend it," Ginny said. "The cinnamon lattes are amazing."

"Cinnamon, eh? Typical for a redhead."

Ginny laughed. It was true enough.

After lunch Draco returned to his cubicle. He had just finished everything for Baggins case other than actually apprehending Cornell Baggins, which was not his job to do anyway. That, now that he had all the needed information, would fall to one of the higher Aurors. He was thinking about checking out early. He had some errands to run today that he couldn't do tomorrow, due to the fact that he was supposed to be meeting up with Blaise and Pansy to do some shopping. He reflected back over his conversation with the Weasley girl. He was surprised to find that he had actually enjoyed their talk. She seemed to have a sense of humor, and she also seemed to have some intelligence under that red hair, even if she was a Weasley.

He quickly reprimanded himself for adding in that last thought. Those were his father's words, and he most certainly was not his father, whatever mistakes had been made on his part in the past.

Finally the clock struck five. Sighing in relief, Ginny gathered up her things so that she could head home and fulfill her daily fantasy of being alone on the couch with a book and some coffee. Yes, her life was truly pathetic.

As she made to head out the door, a voice called her back.

"Oi, Ginny!"

It was Harry. He looked flushed and slightly out of breath as he ran toward her.

"If you want me to stay longer to do some pointless assignment, Harry, I'm afraid I can't. I've got plans," Ginny said, automatically flying into defensive mode.

"No, it's not that," Harry said. He seemed embarrassed. He kept alternating between ruffling his hair and fumbling with the hem of his sleeve. She knew him, and knew that this was how he acted when he was nervous.

"What's going on, Harry?" she asked suspiciously.

"I just wanted to…say I'm sorry," he muttered incomprehensibly.

"What was that?" Ginny asked confusedly.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking up at her for the first time. "I was just thinking about…things…and I realize now that I've been being a bit unfair around here."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Ginny replied slowly, but she was interested to see where this was headed.

"Well, I just wanted to let you know that I've moved you back up. I've passed the Dorrin case on to one of the new inductees. I've reassigned you to the Carrow case. You'll have the file on Monday."

"The Carrow case? Merlin, Harry, are you kidding me?" Alecto Carrow was one of the last four Death Eaters out there; being assigned to this case could be her chance to prove herself yet again. She leapt forward and enclosed Harry in a huge bear hug, to which he uncomfortably responded two with a couple of pats to her back.

"Thank you, Harry," she said, smoothing down her robes in front, though her face was flushed red with an almost childish excitement. "You won't be disappointed."

"I know I won't," he said, staring at the floor rather than at her. "I'll see you Monday."