Spoilers: Quite possibly everything that's out there for Harry Potter (books not merchandise). -
Rating: R… but lets start with PG-13 and see first.
Random Facts:
My writing inspiration came from nommikin (HPFF), KimMalfoy (HPFF), and Sandra E (FF-- I love her Inu Yasha stories.) The inspiration all together, however, was um… (This is a guess) boredom and waiting for Naruto even though it doesn't come on today (have to wait until April 15th Damnit!)
I don't know if this chapter is long enough or all this in-between information is hogging all the glory. It's quite hard to know, seeing as I'm too lazy to copy and paste. However, it does seem long so that should be good, right? -.-'
Research done on story: Gah, I've never seen so much research for one story. Oh well, least it was worth it. Anyway, I got most of my facts from the books, my cousin, Carolyn, and the site, Harry Potter Lexicon. You should check out their Wizarding World Currency Converter. It helped me so much and it's fun to see how much money costs, from wizarding to muggle.
Note: When I bold the first word of a new paragraph like--
"She ate very quickly."
--It's sort of like having to place a separating mark (which could be pushing enter a few times, enlarging font, placing a -, period, or anything else to signal a break in the story).
Disclaimer: I own a bear I named Snuffles (cause he looks like the commercial bear). I own fun toys and movies-- not I'm not a pervert, I just like to keep busy (haha, just kidding). But I DO NOT own Harry Potter. So, I shall quote everyone else on this-- "if I did own it, why would I be writing fan fiction for it?"
Disclaimer WILL be true throughout all the other chapters. Keep this in mind and please do not say that I'm trying to steal Rowlings work. That is an insult to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness!
Summery: As a plea, Malfoy begged to live under a mentor instead of living in Azkaban for he, in fact did betray Voldemort during the war to help their side. They took his plea and assigned him to one of their most appreciated (and lazy) aurors-- Ginny Weasley.
To Live With and Without You
Chapter One:
The New Assignment
She scowled as her partner went on and on about how awful it was to go to the boss's office, right after a mission that she didn't care to attend. His eyes were lit with humor while he twirled his wand in his hands, his tone mocking as she prepared her folder. Unfortunately, with her partner and his relentless gabber, she couldn't concentrate. Grip tightening on her quill, she gave a stern tugon her hair before writing one word down which equaled up to only one sentence in the past fifteen minutes.
Brilliant, she thought, throwing a sharp look at Benny, her American partner, before glowering back at the paper. She was to see her boss, Riley Cunningham (a man who won over three awards in the war and was thus promoted to own his own squad) within twenty minutes and she couldn't wing the report. Her quill finally cracked in her hand and she cursed out loud causing Benny to shut up for a moment and stare at her with squinty brown eyes before laughing.
"Geez, Weasley, I know life's hard but you don't have to break things over it," he said, grinning. "Here, have mine. I don't think you can finish though… you've got ten minutes."
"Thanks," she muttered reaching for a quill before pausing and staring at him. "Did you say ten minutes? I thought you told me I had twenty!"
"Nope," he said, still grinning at her. Her scowled deepened and even with the knowledge that she practically threw her last partner out of the room for wrecking an assignment up, he didn't show any sign of backing down. "Guess you're in big trouble now, huh? But… if you paid me a few galleons I could help."
She opened her mouth to retort, to tell him that he knew he couldn't offer information like that but the sound of their boss made them both freeze and forBennyto startmouthing off excuses. Riley laughed and shook his head causing Benny to shut his mouth and show signs embarrassment.
"Didn't here you come in," Ginny said calmly, smiling at him while having her arm cover her paper. She was sincerely glad that they invented ink that dried as soon as you wrote it down.
"Not a surprise is it?" he said, smiling. His accent was still thick from living in Italy during the war for so long, even years after. She returned his smile as he looked over at Benny. "Could you excuse the two of us?"
"O- of course, sir!" Benny said, standing up much too quickly for he knocked his chair over. "Shit! I mean, sorry sir," he muttered, picking up the chair and giving a curt nod before leaving the room completely.
Riley gave a hearty laugh and Ginny couldn't help but smile. His laugh was contagious and he had that type of personality that reminded you of a loving father; often she could remember Benny telling her how guilty he becomes because of one look Riley would give him when he would be disappointed in him.
"He's good for us isn't he?" he asked her before motioning towards the seat in front of her. She blushed, feeling slightly ashamed as she had forgotten her manners.
"Take a seat, please," she said quickly before straightening the report and turning the pieces of parchment over so he couldn't see them.
He eyed the pile of parchment before smiling. "That wouldn't happen to be today's report would it?" he asked and she nodded, slightly cautious about it. She vaguely wondered if the person who had to fill in for her that morning, told him that she wasn't actually there, "Ah, wonderful, but that's not why I'm here."
"Really," she said, her brows creeping forward in thought, "then why are you here?"
Riley sighed, a frown appearing on his lips. "Have you heard about Draco Malfoy's trial a few weeks ago?" he asked, sounding slightly unsure but Ginny didn't catch it.
"Of course," she said, laughing slightly. "That's all my brothers have been talking about. They think it's ludicrous at how Malfoy is actually begging people to help him-- actually they probably think it's more funny then ludicrous…anyway, why?"
"Did you hear what exactly he pleaded?" Riley asked, avoiding answering her question completely.
"Not exactly, no."
"He wanted to be able to live under an auror rather then go to Azkaban," Riley said, moving his hand forward and clasping Ginny's mouth close. He knew how temperamental she could be when her heart and (most of her) life were in it. When he pulled away Ginny looked a bit sour but he carried on nonetheless. "After all he did help save a lot of the fighters on our side by simply mentioning where Voldemort was hiding. He might've even ended the war sooner then we thought possible!"
"Why is that I feel like you're trying to convince me that Malfoy's suddenly a great and oh-so-wonderful guy?" she asked, eyeing Riley carefully who suddenly looked more stern at her sudden question. Her jaw dropped and her face paled incredibly. She placed a hand to her forehead and tried to calm her anger before she got fired.
She could barely breathe.
"Now, Weasley…" Riley said, warningly.
She wanted to hit something-- hurt something.
She couldn't believe how stupid these people were.
Had they forgotten?
She looked at her boss and scowled deeply.
Had he--?
"You," she muttered, closing her eyes as the room suddenly felt dizzy. "You. Placed. Malfoy. With. Me?" she asked, slamming her hand down and staring at him. His eyes narrowed at her sudden reaction and she scowled while muttering a quick and unfelt apology to him.
"You barely get jobs now-a-days and because you seem to enjoy staying at home more often, it seemed to only make sense."
"Oh, oh, oh! Sense, he says, sense," she snapped, standing. "It would make sense if you promoted me! It would make sense if you gave me a raise! It would make sense if you assigned him to- to Benny! But me? A Weasley, are you and everyone else out of their bloody mind?"
"Weasley," he snapped, watching the red head slowly sit back down in her seat, avoiding his gaze. "You will accept this assignment. Or else, I will be sure to fire you!"
Her head snapped over at him, her mouth hanging open and her arms opened in shock. "Fired…" she repeated, her voice sounding weak.
Riley sighed, nodding. She buried her hands in her face and forced herself not to cry in front of him. "I don't want to, Ginny," he said softly. She could hear him all ready standing before walking quietly to the door. "You're one of the best that's under my command. If I lost you it'd be hell but I can't allow you to stay working here if you drop this assignment."
With that, he left her, only a sound click signaling his exit.
You will meet Mr. Malfoy outside of the post office in Hogsmeade at noon sharp.
Cunningham
She wrinkled up the piece of paper and threw it into the trash before shooing Riley's owl out of her living room. "Why do I have to see him so damn early?" she muttered under her breath as she entered her kitchen. After being asked nearly every single question possible by Benny, she went home, showered, ate, slept, and woke to Riley's owl pecking at her feet. As she made breakfast she continued her grumbling and snide comments ("--should close my window at night--stupid blondes--better get a raise--have to buy more food--bloody birds--I could starve him--") about both, today, yesterday, and about life.
Too focused on making her bowl of cereal and reading the muggle newspaper, she got from her post (which would send a wizard or witch any type of post every day for a mere sickle or two-- depending on what you wanted to have sent), she never noticed someone entering her home nor them actually placing a bag on the kitchen table. (She was leaning over at the counter, with the paper opened in front of her.)
"Bad day yesterday?" a familiar voice asked, causing her to jump and drop her spoon back into the bowl which caused the substance to splash about and ruin part of her newspaper.
She looked over and rolled her eyes at Harry who grinned. "You should learn to knock," she muttered whipping out her wand and cleaning up the stain on her paper before cleaning the rest the muggle way. "Even if I gave you a key into my home, you should. It's no fun for me when you scare the hell out of me, Harry."
He grinned before shaking the bag so it caught her attention. "You'll forgive me," he said, walking towards her with it, "I've got a gift for you."
"Really," she said, biting her lip in anticipation. "What is it?"
"Remember how you asked if Jenny, from my floor, made cakes because her cookies were so wonderful?" he asked, causing her to grin and grab the bag from him. "Take it as an early gift for whatever."
After removing the box and opening the lid to find a perfectly made chocolate cake, she sighed and smiled over at Harry. "You've made the day seem better, Harry," she said, shaking her head as she dipped a finger to take some of the whip cream which sat upon the strawberries and tasting it. "I don't know how you did but you did and I'm thankful," she continued before leaning over to hug him.
He gave a slight laugh as she pulled away. "No problem," he said, before removing his fleece. "What's so bad about today? It's actually nice out, the weather I mean, oddly warm for November."
Ginny didn't answer at first but placed her cake into the fridge. Once she had closed the door, she stood there, still holding the handle. "Malfoy's going to live with me," she muttered, softly--
--too softly.
"I can't hear you," Harry said, he was moving about the kitchen, not noting Ginny's sudden sullen ways.
"I said," Ginny said, breathing in deeply and turning to Harry who managed to find a bag of half-eaten chips and began eating them. "Malfoy's been assigned to me and…his going to live here."
Harry stopped chewing. In fact he didn't move at all and she was sorely tempted to mutter the reversing spell for the simple hexes, just in case. But she held her breath and didn't move either because she feared how he was going to react, what he was going to say.
"You--"
He began, swallowing quite hard.
"--And Malfoy have to live here?" he asked slowly and she winced before nodding, "then I'm moving in too."
"What?" she asked, as he grabbed his fleece and placed it on. She followed him as they walked past several of her rooms to her front door. "Harry, I don't know if you--"
"I am. There's no way I'd let Malfoy any where near you! Especially after his stupid case."
"But--"
Why was she fighting so hard to keep Harry away again?
"Tell your boss to stick it up his arse if it bothers him--"
Right. Her job.
"--I'll come back tonight with some of my stuff. When are you going to meet, Malfoy?" he asked, his hand all ready holding the doorknob. Ready to leave when he was satisfied. Ginny sighed and ran a hand through her uncombed hair; she loved Harry, really, but since the war he seemed to become more stubborn then before about the people around him. Although it was sweet at times, right then and there is was unbelievably annoying.
"Er," she said, eyeing his hand before looking at him, "noon."
With that, Harry nodded and left.
End Chapter
Draco: I'm not even in the chapter…
Ginny: Shut it before I make you.
Draco: Oh and how will you go about that? By k-i-s-s-ing me? (Laughs)
Ginny: (muttering) -.-'…You'd be lucky if I did.