With Darkness There'll Be Light
One - More Sightings
Draco Malfoy left Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry at age seventeen the same person he was when he went in, except with a miniscule difference that couldn't be detected by the normal, human eye. Draco had slowly, and not deliberately, fallen in love. Problematically, with one of those Gryffindors that had always driven him mad. He wanted nothing more than to get away from the whole lot of them…but found it impossible as they were always around; and as fait would have it, later on down the road, he'd need them so he could survive.
Nineteen year old Draco Malfoy laced up his boots and grabbed his cloak. He straightened out his black turtleneck sweater and smoothed out his black pants and robe. As his silver-blonde hair fell into his eyes, he glanced outside. The rain was getting heavier by the minute. Pitter-pattering on the windows and then turning to a light slashing noise as the rain increased. He was glad he could Apparate to work instead of walking like those poor, suffering Muggles.
"Poor and suffering, right." Draco scoffed. He shook his head, grabbed his wand and Apparated to work.
Draco landed with a small 'pop' in his office at the Ministry of Magic in London.
"Morning," said Draco, walking out to greet his secretary. She sat at a large tarnished cherry colored mahogany desk. Directly beside her was a good sized brick fireplace built into the wall, on the mantle stood a very corpulent, silver vase-like bowl. On the wall above that was a large, wooden sign that read: Ministry of Magic -London: Department of Aurors. Under that, was a smaller sign stating: Draco Malfoy, Senior Auror. The door to Draco's office was see-through and could be found about a yard away from his secretary's desk, on the opposite side of the fireplace.
The tall blonde behind the desk smiled at him, "Good morning, Mr. Malfoy."
"Draco," replied Draco automatically. "No Malfoy."
"Sorry," she muttered, setting her quill down next to a sizable jug of glistening green ink.
"Any calls, Melody?" Draco asked, thumbing through some pieces of parchment that were his messages.
Melody sighed dramatically, "Yes, about a million. Which first?"
Draco grinned and leaned a hip against her desk, "Most important first, naturally."
"Mr. Weasley called in and said he'd be late for work. His basement is flooding and he needs to research a charm to dry it up." She shuffled through a few parchments of notes on her polished desk.
Draco rolled his eyes, "Unsurprising. Next."
Melody looked down at a large square contraption beneath her left elbow. There were five little bulbs above five little names. Only one bulb was red, indicating that Ron Weasley was not at work yet. "Mr. Potter is in already. He says to go see him as soon as you get here. He wouldn't tell me why, but my guess is there's been another sighting."
Draco visibly paled under his flushed cheeks and ran a hand through his relatively long hair. "All right. What else?"
"A woman called, she wouldn't give her name. But I think she may have had the wrong number. She sounded quite hysterical. I don't recall what she looked like, however, the flames were quite jumpy. Shall I go through the rest of your calls?"
"No, just block the fire for the time being. I've got to go see Potter."
Melody put a blocking charm on the floo fire place and watched as Draco walked down the cramped hallway. He was wearing tight fitting trousers under his black robes, she could tell. The only reason she'd even taken this job was so she could glimpse Draco everyday. He was quite the lady killer and pretty well known in the wizarding world. Especially since he joined forces with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, two thirds of the Hogwarts Dream Team.
She sighed to herself and went back to work. He was simply unattainable…even for her.
Nineteen year old Harry Potter was sitting at his desk, feet propped up, chewing on the end of his quill. He was looking out the window at Muggle London. The rain was still pouring heavily down.
"Weasel's late again," muttered Draco entering the room and closing the door behind him to a red head who was Harry's secretary (and who also had a large crush on Draco, as most of the girls who worked in that office did.)
Harry let his feet drop to the floor, "Yeah, I know. Where've you been?"
Draco shrugged, "Getting my messages. I'm apparently very popular today. There were about 200."
Harry grinned, "Sure."
"Well?" Draco asked, sitting opposite Harry and glancing causally around the immaculate office. The gold-plated name plate said: Harry Potter, Senior Aruror on it and was gleaming, as if it had just been polished.
"There's been another sighting," said Harry, looking very pale and tired all of a sudden. "Near Hermione's."
"Granger's?" Draco asked, his voice choked.
"Yes," replied Harry. "We need to get over there right away. As soon as Ron gets in. We need to go and collect all the Aurors in this department. We can't go alone. The Muggle police were called I guess.
Hermione is quite shaken up I imagine."
"Is she all right?" Draco wondered nervously.
Harry looked at him quizzically, "Do you care?"
Draco sighed and rolled his eyes, "Haven't you put the school day rivalry behind us? I have. Get over it, Potter. I'm trying to do my job. Just like you. She's my colleague, just like she is yours."
Harry ran a hand through his jet black hair, trying to push it out of his eyes. "I don't know if she's all right. I haven't heard from her. She didn't owl me or call on the floo network."
Draco nodded so slightly that Harry wasn't sure if it even was a nod. Draco suddenly looked very green.
"You've got to trust me if we're going to work together. We've been through this." Draco leaned closer to Harry. "I am not and will never be a Death Eater. I have no contact with my father, my mother is in St. Mungo's. I do not hate Mudbloods, although old habits die hard. I do not hate you. I do not hate Weasel. But that doesn't mean I like either of you, either."
Harry nodded, "Okay." There was an awkward silence following this pronouncement.
"Hear from Sirius?" Asked Draco, trying to be friendly and also trying to pass time.
"Yeah," replied Harry, looking warn and battered. "He's in Romania. Just visited Ron's brother, Charlie. Dumbledore reckons he can come back to Britain soon. Especially if the sightings keep up." Harry sighed. "Let's hope they don't, even though I would like to see him."
Draco nodded, but didn't say anything. He really wasn't sure what to say. Sirius Black, escaped convict from Azkaban, was now working for Dumbledore on a special mission concerning the whereabouts of Voldemort. Even though Sirius' name had been cleared a few years ago, he still had to be careful. Not everyone trusted him. Sort of like people not trusting Draco just because of who his father is…or was.
6 feet, 2 inches tall, Ron Weasley (also nineteen) entered the office as if he'd directly Apparated there, ducking a bit so he wouldn't hit his head.
"Hullo Harry," greeted Ron. He looked quite flushed and a little on the wet side. Well, wet up to his knees anyway.
"Hey Ron," replied Harry, standing up.
Draco stood as well, "Morning Weasley."
"Malfoy," nodded Ron.
"Draco," corrected Draco. "Just Draco. Trying to leave the Malfoy behind, if you'll remember."
"Old habits die hard," said Harry, winking. Draco rolled his eyes. Harry always had a way of throwing anyone's words back at them.
"Let's go get Seamus and Justin. Then we can Apparate to Hermione's."
"What?" Ron asked, looking very shaken suddenly. "Hermione's?"
"There was a sighting there," explained Draco, "Come on, I'll explain on the way."
So the three very tall boys walked down the hallway to an office which held a boy with sandy colored hair and a boy who had brown hair, but stood a foot taller than all the others. They were Junior Aurors, having not had enough field experience to be Senior Aurors like Draco, Harry and Ron.
"Ready?" Seamus Finnigan asked them, picking up his wand. He walked over to the others, looking like a child next to some giants.
Justin Finch-Fletchely smiled glumly at them as he too picked up his wand. Then the five ex-Hogwarts students Apparated to Hermione's.