Disclaimer: I own nothing obvs…. and for fair warning, I curse like a sailor so my characters will likely end up doing the same :/

Chapter One: Gossip and Old Friends

It had been three years since Ginny Weasley had heard the name Draco Malfoy. The war had ended, the Death Eaters sentenced, and the Malfoys, seemingly inexplicably, exonerated. Ginny gritted her teeth at the memory of Harry Potter standing in defense of that dark family. She had loved Harry for years before the trial and three years later was still happily involved with him, but that memory held no small amount of betrayal for her. Narcissa Malfoy's greatest risk in lying to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had managed to be the family's saving grace. Her lie managed to convince Harry that Lucius should not be imprisoned for killing innocent people, plotting torture and treason, or even giving a piece of Lord Voldemort's twisted soul to a small child. Draco Malfoy was only slightly better in her mind's eye simply because he had been too much of a coward to actually inflict any lasting harm. He had tormented her friends and her family throughout school, almost killed two of her brothers in backhanded attempts to kill Professor Dumbledore, but somehow Harry was able to stand by his side as well. Draco hadn't the will the kill Dumbledore, and he had managed to keep his mouth shut when his aunt Bellatrix presented him with his three childhood enemies. That was enough in Harry's mind to ensure the Malfoy's freedom.

"Something the matter?" Harry asked her quietly with a smile on his face. Ginny sighed, shaking her head slightly to clear her thoughts.

"No, I'm just exhausted from practice today. The way we were running drills today you'd think we were the worst team in the league instead of in the top three!" she muttered, returning his smile with a small one of her own. Though it pained her to admit it, sometimes being a professional Quidditch player was less than a perfect profession.

"It's just so odd that of all people Malfoy would get called up! There's nothing mysterious in the least about that wanker," Ron exclaimed, oblivious to the small exchange between his sister and her boyfriend. Harry and Ron had been discussing the latest news from the Ministry with their respective significant others. Hermione herself had mentioned her tidbit of news involving the youngest Malfoy, although Ginny had found her tired mind too swamped in uncharitable thoughts about the malicious teenager she had known to focus on why exactly his name had been mentioned.

"What's this about Malfoy?" she asked, wrapping her hand around her pint and glancing about the other tables. The Leaky Cauldron had become a hot spot for Ministry officials to unwind after a long day, but the place was practically bursting at the seam on this particular Tuesday night.

"Honestly Gin, you should ask for a day off from training or something! They're working you girls far too hard! I was just saying how today the Unspeakables announced that Draco Malfoy was to join them in the Department of Mysteries. Quite frankly, it's the last possible place in the world I would want Malfoy to be," Hermione repeated, looking at her friend with concern. It was unlike Ginny to be uninterested in the last bit of gossip.

"The Unspeakables! Why on earth would they want a prat like that for? Do Malfoys even know what working for a living means?" Ginny exclaimed, her tone matching her brother's. Ron nodded along with her, taking a deep sip from his drink.

"Well it's not really like he gets much say in the matter. When you're called to be an Unspeakable, that's it, you're called. There is no turning it down," Hermione replied, swirling her bottle of butterbeer.

"I feel like there's some great piece of the puzzle I'm missing here, but how do you get selected for a job you wouldn't do? Surely even Malfoy wouldn't be dumb enough to apply for a position he didn't want," Ginny reasoned, although she couldn't understand wanting to be an Unspeakable in the first place.

Unspeakables had the most undesired of professions at the Ministry. They were unable to discuss their work with anyone, it was unknown if they could even discuss it with each other come to that. No one knew what exactly they worked on, other than the broad subjects of 'love' or 'death' or 'time.' That wasn't even enough to go on to actually know what they did. A few things had slipped out over the years, such as the Time Turner Hermione had used in her third year. It was one of the only things Ginny knew was housed in the Department of Mysteries, and she was well aware that she knew much more about that department than many of the magical people strolling through Diagon Alley on any given day. Furthermore, being an Unspeakable had the unwanted effect of ruining your social life. There was no meeting up with mates to rant about a bad day at the office which meant that the part of your day you spent the most time devoted to was effectively off limits. While Unspeakables were not banned from having personal relationships, most of the witches and wizards who ended up in the department did not have very active social lives. A few had managed to marry, but those marriages often proved unstable. It was a running line of gossip when an Unspeakable did get into a relationship and a hardship on their partners. For people like Ginny and her friends, keeping in the stress and triumphs of work would have been impossible.

"It's not that you apply to work for the Department," Harry began, pausing to take a sip of his fire whiskey. "Down there somewhere they've got some sort of device or method which spits out this parchment stating the newest Unspeakable. I don't really know how they do it, but they come up with this paper to the Minister's office, and he contacts the candidate. But since Malfoy is a convicted Death Eater, they had to come to see me afterwards." Harry had risen rather quickly in the Auror Office, and was currently the assigned to oversee all the cases of the Death Eaters who had been convicted. His staff wasn't very large, as most of the convicted remained incarcerated, but for being only 21 and in charge of his own department Harry took the responsibility very seriously.

"Bloody ungrateful lot too," Ron muttered. "They were so arrogant, demanding that they be escorted to Malfoy that instant! The nerve of them I swear. Just because no one else seems to remember the Malfoys were dangerous doesn't mean they can just go waltzing up to him! There's a reason for restrictions on evil bastards like them!" Ron glowered, but took pains to glare at his drink instead of his best friend. Ron had never understood Harry's decision to speak at the trial of the Malfoy family. Next to her, Ginny felt Harry tense slightly. She took his hand in hers under the table, smiling at him as she gave it a tight squeeze. Harry relaxed and she saw him smile softly even though he kept his eyes on his drink.

"Well anyway, tomorrow I've tasked myself with getting in touch with Malfoy. I can't really trust any of my staff to not blast his face off," Harry said, sighing heavily at the end of his statement. Ron had the good grace to redden in embarrassment, knowing the comment was indirectly intended for him.

"You'll be careful, right? While Merlin knows I wouldn't be opposed to hexing the living daylights out of Malfoy, I'm not entirely sure even you would be able to overlook my trampling of the law." Ginny's eyes danced as Harry's face blossomed into a large grin and he pulled her over for a kiss.

"Honestly you two! You've been together for over three years now and still mooning about," Ron grumbled before throwing back the rest of his pint and pointedly looking at every other spot in the bar except the couple seated across from him. Harry laughed, pulling back and running his hand through his perpetually messy hair.

The conversation happily continued from relationships to sports to family. With all of the laughs and pints, Ginny quickly forgot all about Draco Malfoy and the Department of Mysteries.

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A/N: hey this is my first fic in ages, so any comments are greatly appreciated!