A/N: This story is loosely based on the book, One For the Money. A few ideas for scenes are used at the beginning of the story, as well as the gist of the plot, but the story is largely based upon my own ideas. The characters in this story belong to JK Rowling. This story is canon compliant up until the epilogue. Though this first chapter is not exactly a prologue, it is much shorter than the other chapters will be. Finally, special thanks to tumble and fall and Christy with a CH, my wonderful betas, and to Gamma Orionis for the story cover ;). Enjoy!

In every woman's life, there are certain moments that can either make her or break her. A woman will encounter something horrible that she can either use to better herself as a person, or she can let it get to her, eat at her and turn her into a revenge-hungry lunatic who will never move on until her need for vengeance is satisfied. For me, my moment happened when I was seventeen, and unfortunately, I went with option two. Fresh out of Hogwarts and brimming with a brand new outlook on the Wizarding world, I decided to take a chance on someone who I had previously thought was nothing more than an elitist, pureblooded bigot.

Draco Malfoy, who was the person solely responsible for turning me onto the dark path of revenge, had been the bane of my existence throughout the entire time we were in school together. He tortured me, picked on me, and was generally just a foul git with absolutely no redeemable qualities. Well, he had a few redeemable qualities. He was good looking, charming, and sexy, enough so that he was able to coax me into going out with him as soon as I finished my seventh year of school. We went out for a while, had a few drinks, and shared quite a few laughs. I gave him my virginity, and the next thing I know he disappears. He went on to the Auror Academy, and I didn't hear from him again. I never forgave him for that. For nine years, I did nothing but fantasize and plan how the revenge would finally happen. For nine years, I waited. And then it happened. I finally got my chance.

When I turned twenty-six, I finally got my opportunity to get back at him. I was recently divorced from the Boy-Who-Lived, completely broke, and living in a flat that I could barely afford. Unfortunately for me, I had little-to-no work experience and absolutely no real-life training. I was having a difficult time finding a job, so I did what anyone in trouble would do. I used my familial connections and went to my brother, Ron, for help.

Ron was also an Auror, although he spent the majority of his time in the office rather than in the field like most of the others, due to an injury that he had gotten on his first assignment. I figured he might be able to give me a job as his secretary. He had been talking about the position being open for weeks because his old secretary, Astoria Greengrass, had disappeared without ever giving him notice. When I arrived at his office, however, I saw that the position had already been filled.

I stormed into his office without knocking. "Ron! You hired Parkinson as your new secretary?" I'm sure the squeal in my voice was rather obnoxious, but I was infuriated enough to not really care.

"Gin, I needed a secretary," Ron answered, trying to calm me down with logic. "You never said for sure that you wanted the job. I had to get somebody."

"But – but Parkinson?"

My brother shrugged. "Sorry, sis. Maybe I could ask some of the other guys if they need some help."

I sighed, resigned. "No, no, that's all right." I threw myself in the chair on the opposite side of his desk. "Isn't there anything else you can hire me for, Ron? I just need to make enough money so that I don't have to move back in with Mum and Dad."

"Gin, this is the Auror department. Unless you're an Auror or a secretary or you want to go into filing, where you've got to spend all of your time alone in a dark room, there isn't much else for you to do around here."

"But Seamus works here, and he's not any of those things."

"Seamus is a bounty hunter."

"Well, why can't I do that?"

"Because you're a girl who just happens to be my sister, and you would get yourself killed in an instant. Besides, I don't have any openings for that, either. And –"

He was cut off when his new secretary slag abruptly burst into the office, unannounced, while pretending that I wasn't there.

"I've got some bad news," Pansy said, although she didn't appear to be too broken up by it. "Seamus got hurt; says he has to take a leave of absence, effective now." She tossed a file on the desk. "Those are his incomplete cases until he gets back." She turned around and left without so much as another word.

I looked back at Ron, my eyes wide. "I guess you've got an opening after all, don't you?"

"My answer is no, Ginny," he said firmly, crossing his arms over his chest with an air of finality.

After staring at my brother for a long moment, my lips turned into a smirk. "You know, I was married to your best friend for six years."

"What's your point?"

I continued to smirk, knowing full well that my marriage to Harry had allowed me to delve into some seriously scandalous rumors about him, many of which his wife would kill him for. "Well, to be frank, dear brother, Harry and I had some issues towards the end of our marriage, as you know. Recently, I found out that the two of you used to frequent a strip bar, and there was this blonde named Scarlett who just had this thing for redheaded men…"

"Fine!" He sighed, his cheeks reddening with every word I said. "Fine. Go ahead. If you get killed, I'm telling Mum you used the Imperius Curse on me."

I should have felt guilty for blackmailing my brother, but some part of my desperation just wouldn't allow me to get to that point. After jumping from my seat, I went around to his side of the desk and pulled him into a hug, not bothering to care if his air circulation was being compromised by my doing so.

Afterwards, I sat back down and picked up the file that Pansy had tossed onto Ron's desk. I began to thumb through it, carelessly glancing at the names as I went along. Most of the cases were pretty straightforward - people who committed petty crimes and got out on bail, but didn't bother to show up for their trials. Some of the crimes were less petty, though, and some of the criminals were a bit more elusive. I was lost in thought, scanning over the names, until I came across the one that I knew would change my life. This was the break that I had been waiting for. This was the empowerment and the control that I had been looking for – searching for – and it all came down to just a few sheets of parchment. My eyes lit up and my heart started to pound against my ribcage as I realized that it was now in my job description to go after none other than…

"Draco Malfoy?" I exclaimed, staring at my brother in disbelief. "I have to apprehend Malfoy?"

Ron stood up immediately. "Oh, no," he said, walking over to me, attempting to steal the file from my hands. "I don't want you looking for Malfoy. He's dangerous, and an Auror, and you've got no experience with this to begin with. I can't let you do that."

I shoved the file under my shirt, knowing that was the one place that Ron would not go searching for it. "Listen to me, Ron. You gave me that file, and it is not my fault that Draco Malfoy's case just happens to be in it. I will find him, you mark my words."

I turned to leave the office as quickly as I could before I lost my nerve, or before he had a chance to talk me out of it, but I was halted by Ron's words.

"He is a murderer, Ginny."

Slowly, I turned back to face my brother. "He killed someone?" I could tell that my face was turning white. It wasn't that I had really high expectations for Malfoy – he had never been an individual with particularly heavy morals – but I never thought him to be a murderer. "Who – who did he kill?"

"Ginny, please reconsider this," he replied earnestly. "Going after him isn't going to lead you to anywhere that you want to go." He was looking at me with his 'big brother' eyes that were supposed to show how much he cared, but once he saw that I was not budging, he sighed. "Theodore Nott, in cold blood. He was apprehended after being stupefied at the scene, but because he had been a clean Auror up until that point, with no priors, and because his mother threw lots of money at the Ministry, he made bail and never came back for his hearing. There's big money on him, Gin, and he's incredibly dangerous."

Theodore Nott was a name I did not expect to hear, and I quickly opened the file to be sure that Ron had his facts straight. After spending a fair amount of time on Malfoy's arm before he entered the Academy, I got to know his crowd of friends rather well. It wasn't as though they were the best lot to associate with, I realized, but some of them were pretty decent people. Theo was among the decent ones. He had a good sense of humor, he was smart, and he was always friendly with me, even when some of the others weren't.

I swallowed hard. "Why would Malfoy kill Theo?"

"I don't know, but I can't let you search for a murderer. Especially not Malfoy. You've got a history with him. He knows you, and he will hurt you."

"No," I retorted firmly. "I'm going after Malfoy, Ron, and nothing is going to get in my way."

Determined, I left the office, clutching the file under my arm with my chin held high. Admittedly, I had no idea what to do first, but I'd be damned before I let Draco Malfoy get away with a crime so heinous. No matter what my relationship with him had entailed in the past, I had to go after him. He needed to be put behind bars, once and for all, but I wasn't going to delude myself into thinking that this had nothing to do with our history. Everything about this case was personal.

All I needed to do was figure out where to begin.