Daily Prophet-15 February 2006

Harry Potter, savior of the Wizarding world, was rushed to St. Mungo's last night after collapsing in his home...

Daily Prophet-25 February 2006

The Boy Who Lived was released from St. Mungo's yesterday morning after a stay of over a week. Tests were inconclusive and Harry Potter seemed to be feeling himself again. This is not the first time the hero has been released after nothing being found wrong with him...

Daily Prophet-2 May 2006

Sources confirm that late Monday night Harry Potter, 26, returned to the hospital. While the reason for the visit is unknown, our hearts go out to his wife, Ginevra Potter…

The Quibbler-10 May 2006

It is a solemn day for the Wizarding World. At age 26, Harry James Potter, the man who defeated You-Know-Who when he was only 17, has passed away in St. Mungo's due to unknown causes...

Witch Weekly-26 May 2006

Widow of Harry Potter, Ginevra Potter, announced today that she is pregnant with the late hero's child. The two had been married for almost three years before Harry Potter died unexpectedly this month. While the hospital claimed no reason for the death, many theories are circling...

Draco threw the day's paper aside and finished his coffee with a deep sigh. The world seemed to be lost without the Boy Who Lived. Everyday there was some new speculation about how he died and why. No one knew the truth, not even Draco, even with his status as both the largest benefactor of St. Mungo's and the Auror assigned to Harry Potter's death. All Draco knew was that Harry had been in and out of the hospital starting in 2004, which was suspiciously soon after the Gryffindor had married Ginny Weasley. Not that Draco assumed it was anything but a coincidence, of course.

"Son of a bitch," Draco groaned to himself, checking the date of the paper again. It was 26th which meant he had to get dressed up and attend St. Mungo's honoring of Harry Potter. Even worse, he wasn't just going as a member of the hospital's board, but he was working undercover.

After getting in an altercation that ended with another Auror in the healing unit, Draco was suspended from his normal job of capturing Death Eaters and dark wizards. Technically, he was completely suspended from the Auror department, but Kingsley always had some alternate plan. Who would suspect Draco Malfoy researching the death of Harry Potter? Now he had to sneak around and ask lots of people he didn't care for lots of questions that he didn't want the answers to.

Standing and stretching, Draco made his way to his home potions kit that had been brewing something vaguely yellow all morning. He stirred it and, after deeming it complete, poured it into four small phials. "Stupid fucking..." Draco mumbled complaints about his evening itinerary. It included drugging innocent people, something he had tried his hardest to stay away from since the end of the war.

He spent the day copying information from the many files he received from Kingsley and trying to memorize them. He wrote questions he would ask the people of interest and attempted to perfect his discrete memory charms, but found no matter how he did it, his arm made a big movement. Relying on the big crowds to keep people from looking at him, Draco focused more on what people looked like and how they were connected to the deceased. He tested himself while in the shower.

"Jessica Clarence," he said as he shampooed his hair. "Secretary who became a friend of the family." He rinsed his hair and searched for his softening potion. "Jonathan Briggs: Healer." Dumping a bunch of the blue liquid in his hands, he spread it evenly on his head. "Nigel Larson: Auror partner." Draco turned off the water once he was finished and toweled off. He stepped in front of the mirror to inspect his face. "Ginny Weasley: pregnant wife, working as potions master of Downtown London Apothecary."

Draco dressed in a black suit and turned his lip up at his appearance; he was so pale. He really needed to get out in the sun more, but that involved seeing people and he was such a recluse. The act of attending this gathering was enough to make his heart pound, and not in the excited way it did when he was going after a rogue.

After finally working up the courage and stomach to Apparate, Draco left for the honoring. When he arrived, the dinner was just over and people were getting up to retrieve drinks and exchange heart felt stories about the scar-headed god. Draco tried his hardest to think only kind thoughts about the man of the hour, but it was so hard to turn back on 16 years of disdain.

Nigel was the first of his list that Draco spotted, but he couldn't convince himself to cross the room and begin a conversation. Draco met Nigel back in Auror training 6 years prior and immediately hated the short, black haired man. Luckily by the end of training, Nigel was assigned to an administrative position along with Potter, while Draco was added to the international team. Because of this, Draco was often out of the country, and thus often away from the administration.

Draco turned to finally go talk to Nigel when he saw a flash of sleek blonde hair and knew immediately that it was Jessica Clarence. "The secretary," Draco nodded and walked over to her.

He bumped into her and turned quickly, bracing her with his hands. She was wearing an inappropriately short dress that, while black, did not project any sort of respect or modesty for the situation. "Merlin, I'm so sorry," Draco exclaimed, smiling at the young woman. She was only a few years out of school according to her papers. Potter hired her despite her lack of experience and NEWTs. There had to be some reason for that, of course.

"Oh," she smiled in response, staying in his grasps longer than necessary, her body leaning slightly into him. "Don't worry about it." Her long fake lashes batted at him from around her big blue eyes. Her lips puckered slightly and she darted her tongue out to wet them.

"I'm so lost in my own world right now, it's hard to pay attention," Draco told her solemnly, frowning and looking to the ground.

She nodded with a thoughtful smile and placed her hand on his chest. "I understand completely."

Perfect. "Listen, let me get you a drink and we can talk," Draco suggested, hoping he could knock out one suspect before becoming too inebriated himself. These events always made his hair stand on end if he didn't drink enough.

She nodded in response and flipped her sheet of hair over her shoulder. "Red wine," she smiled, taking a seat at the table next to her.

Draco made his way to the bar, his hand in his pocket fiddling with the phials he had filled earlier. They were low-grade Veritasium that allowed a person to become completely comfortable sharing all kinds of information they never would otherwise. Draco thought of them as a way to speed up trust, it was the only way he felt comfortable using them. The potion was easy enough to fight if one really wanted to; it wasn't like Veritasium in that respect. Still, Draco hated resorting to drugging.

"Two red wines," Draco ordered, pulling out one small crystal container and dumping the contents into the left glass. The bartender watched him with a raised eyebrow and Draco realized just how obvious he had been. "Calming tonic for the girl," Draco excused his actions, and walked away. He really wasn't cut out for the undercover work. "Here you are," he said, handing the blonde her drink and joining her at the small table for four. "To Harry."

"To Harry," Jessica repeated, their glasses clinking before she took a sip of her spiked drink. "Mm," she hummed and inspected her wine. "You know, Harry was a bit of a drinker himself. He loved wine, red especially. He said he liked the way it made him feel," she explained, a frown on her red lips.

"Did he ever come to work drunk?" Draco asked, pulling out his notepad and quill. He dropped them in the seat next to him, placing a spell so they would record everything.

Jessica sipped her wine again and shook her head excessively, her hair dancing around her. "Oh Merlin, no! Harry only drank after work. He was very passionate about his career," she commented, a small smirk starting to form on her face.

"Did you go out for drinks with him?" he questioned, a new idea of the man's death coming into his head.

Smiling coyly, she looked around the room as if looking for a specific thing or person. Finally satisfied with her survey she leaned forward and put her mouth next to Draco's ear. "Only every time he went out." She sat back in her seat with a firm smile in place.

So Harry had been cheating. "Were you involved romantically?" Draco asked, looking around himself. With a final glance, he noticed that Nigel had spotted them and was staring intently. The man couldn't leave anything alone.

"I wish," she frowned, sinking in her seat and downing the last of her wine. "Once I kissed him, but he didn't seem interested."

Nigel looked to be excusing himself from his conversation to walk to Draco. Draco knew he only had a minute before he was interrupted. "If he wasn't cheating on his wife why did he go out with you so often?"

"It's probably because he didn't want to be around her," Jessica sighed sadly, her finger running around the lip of her glass slowly.

"Why wouldn't he want to be around his wife?"

"He was scared. Alcohol was all that made him feel better," Jessica explained with a strange expression. She was becoming aware of the topic slowly, the potion already wearing off.

Draco pulled his wand out of his pocket and held it under the table, ready to Obliviate her memory but was unable to complete the charm.

"Draco Malfoy," Nigel drawled, the thick accent making Draco's name sound positively common.

"Nigel," Draco nodded curtly in response, looking sideways at Jessica who would soon be very aware of all that she had told Draco.

"What are you doing here? Surely not paying your respects, as you have none," he chuckled to himself and took a swig of his scotch.

"I'm going to go to the loo, I don't feel well," Jessica excused herself and left the men, tripping slightly as she walked quickly to her destination.

Shit.

"Heard about Howard's blood loss in Austria yesterday. Pretty big fuck up, wouldn't ya say, Draco?" Nigel's thin mustache moved with his sly smile. He straightened his jacket and raised his eyebrows expectantly at Draco.

"You don't know the circumstances," Draco said flatly. He reached to the seat next to him to pick up his notes and shoved them in his coat pocket discreetly.

"Oh, I get it!" Nigel exclaimed, turning around to point at someone in the crowd. "You're here to impress the ol' boss. You want him to end your suspension."

Draco pursed his lips as he saw Kingsley exchanging words with the man Draco recognized as Arthur Weasley. How did people already know about his suspension? His reputation as the best Auror would be out the window by the end of the next workday. "I'm here to say my goodbyes." Draco stood to leave but was forced to stay in place as Nigel stepped uncomfortably close.

"I've got my eye on you, Malfoy. I know what you're up to and when I get proof I'm going to take you down," he threatened, stepping back as soon as he finished.

"I look forward to it," Draco nodded and immediately left, weaving in and out of the crowd. He needed fresh air and he needed solitude. Pushing past a particularly packed section of the room, Draco felt a hand grasp his for a mere second before letting go. His vision blurred for a moment and a voice echoed in his mind. "Good work." Draco turned as he kept walking and saw Kingsley still talking to Mr. Weasley.

"I hate that," Draco mumbled to himself, shaking the echoing voice from his head. Some of the head Aurors seemed to love to communicate with Legilimency, but it only reminded Draco of the Dark Lord. Suppressing a shiver, Draco continued down a long empty hallway.

He pushed the door to the back balcony roughly and was surprised to see anyone. "Sorry," he said to the woman who was leaning against the wrought iron bars that enclosed the space. "I didn't think anyone would be here, I'll go."

She turned and he immediately realized who she was. "Oh, you can stay. I just came here because the other balcony was filled with people smoking. You're not going to smoke are you?" Ginny asked, smiling weakly. Her eyes were sunken in and outlined in red. She wore a black long sleeved dress that clung to her body and stopped just below her knees. Her hair was down and blowing around her face with each gust of wind. The long red curls contrasted the formality of her dress and made her look even more lost than her eyes suggested.

"No, just looking for some fresh air, myself," he explained, crossing to stand near her.

Studying her was the closest he would get to answers at this time, he thought, so he watched her. She was the primary suspect in Potter's death and she was standing a meter away with her hand on her barely pregnant belly. Her bottom lip was a much brighter red than her top lip; it was from biting it, Draco assumed. The freckles that dusted her nose and the tops of her cheeks stood out against her pale skin and her long spider-like eyelashes made her big glossy eyes look innocent.

"Please," she started, finally tearing her eyes away from the flower covered grounds. "Please stop staring at me," she requested, her brown eyes meeting his.

"Sorry," he excused himself, turning to look at the gardens. "You're very beautiful," he told her. It was a reason for him to stare, but it was also true.

Visibly rolling her eyes, her lip turned up in disgust. "Please don't hit on me either."

Draco shook his head, feeling bad. "No, no, I didn't mean to. You probably find it strange that I'm here," he acknowledged, shifting his weight to lean his back against the railing.

She shrugged like she hadn't thought anything of it. "I assumed you were here for the same reason as everyone else." Ginny rubbed her belly with both hands lightly before returning her grasp to the terrace fence.

"And that reason would be..." he lead her with a raised eyebrow.

"For the cameras," she answered confidently, but a few seconds later her bottom lip quivered.

"I'm not here for the cameras," Draco told her honestly. He was there to find out why Harry had died so young and unexpectedly.

Ginny sniffed and looked at Draco with a soft smile. "I don't know how much interaction at the office you actually had with Harry, but he talked about you at home sometimes."

They did talk when Draco was in the home office. Annoyingly enough for Draco, Harry was usually the first to congratulate him on a successful mission. Harry even insisted on taking Draco out for drinks after he had detained Dolohov, who had killed two Muggle-born children the week prior. Draco didn't know why, but it always seemed like the man was trying to wiggle his way into Draco's life. "We talked a few times, not often."

"Well," Ginny sighed. "Harry really respected and trusted you. You know he was the last signature needed for you to join the international team. According to Harry, the form was missing a supervisor approval, but no one else wanted to sign. Luckily, Harry had been completely initiated into the force as administration the day before, and he happily added you to the team." Ginny looked away when she finished. Her fingers loosened their grip on the bar and she looked calmer.

Draco hadn't known any of that. All those times Harry inserted himself into Draco's business, Draco believed there was an ulterior motive. He thought Harry didn't trust him, turns out he trusted Draco a lot. That was if Ginny was telling the truth. "Wow, I had no idea," was all he could say. He was lost for a moment, confused about the information and where to take it. "I'm so sorry about your loss. Did he know about the baby before he...?" Draco was never like this. He could always finish a sentence no matter how gruesome it was. He once told a woman that a Death Eater had cooked and consumed her husband, and yet there he was not being able to finish much of anything around the redhead.

She smiled slightly but it looked more like a contortion of her lips to keep her from sobbing. "Yes," she breathed. "He was really excited. We were waiting until the three month mark to tell anyone."

"Why?" Draco asked, waiting for the answer he knew was coming.

"Incase of a... miscarriage." She looked away again, but this time she turned her whole body.

This was it. It was a possible clue. "Did you have any reason to believe you might have one?" Like brewing particularly poisonous potions while pregnant.

Her shoulders began to shake and a sob escaped her lips. "I'm sorry," she choked out, embarrassed of her sudden flood of emotions.

Fuck. "No, I'm so sorry to pry!" he insisted. He debated about resting a hand on her back, but figured it would be more disconcerting than comforting. "I know how you feel right now."

She turned around suddenly, her red eyes wide and her hair swirling around her. "You know how I feel?" she asked between sniffs.

Good job, he thought to himself sarcastically. "Well, with Astoria," he told her and realized he hadn't said her name in months.

A realization swept if Ginny's face and she looked more apologetic than demanding. "I remember... sort of."

Draco sighed, knowing that playing the widower card might even get him more details, but he just wasn't in the mood to talk about the past. This is work, he assured himself, you do whatever you have to for the truth. "Well, she was pregnant… four years ago, I guess. Merlin," he breathed. "It feels like it was twenty years ago." He pushed himself to continue. Deep inside of him he felt something vibrate, like a warning not to bring up anything that he had avoided talking about for so long. "She was stressed out. Her father was on trial again with new evidence and new charges. It was obvious there was no way he would get off; they just had too much proof and in the audience was a young girl he had made an orphan." No, he told himself, not what comes next.

Ginny, seemingly understanding his internal battle, placed a small hand atop his larger one that was grasping the metal bar with force. "It's okay," she assured him.

"She and her father had always been close, as her mother had died while she was young. When he was sentenced to Azkaban, she went to the hospital with complaints of pain. They put her on bed rest but she was back in the hospital within a fortnight. We got her the best healers at St. Mungo's, but it wasn't enough. She… she went into labor early and she passed away during... The baby-the baby girl had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck and…" he trailed off again. Oh Merlin, he had never had to tell anyone what happened. Everyone who needed to know already knew. Shit, shit, shit, shit! He felt his bottom lip quiver slightly before a tear fell from his eye.

"I'm so sorry," Ginny choked out, tears falling from her own eyes. She had her hand possessively placed around her belly and her brows were pressed together in pain. "I've miscarried twice," she whispered, taking a step closer to him. "And now Harry."

It was such a personal moment, and Draco couldn't help but feel connected to the girl. Just a few hours before she was a stranger to him, and now he looked at her, tears falling from his eyes and hers, and he longed to embrace her. It was probably overstepping the bond, but he reached out for her anyway. As soon as his arms reached around her, he could tell she welcomed the physical contact. "I'm so sorry," he repeated her words in her ear.

They must have looked a sight. Draco Malfoy with his arms around a pregnant Ginny Weasley, both of their eyes and faces wet with tears. Draco could only imagine what Mr. Weasley thought when he came across them on the balcony, Nigel only a pace behind him. The door creaked closed behind the men, alerting Ginny and Draco to their new company. The two backed away from each other, but not fast enough to incriminate them.

"Gin, come inside. Your mother wants to ensure you return home safely," Mr. Weasley told her stiffly. He acknowledged Draco with a small nod of his head.

"Okay, thank you," Ginny smiled in response, wiping her tears away with the palm of her hand. She turned slightly to Draco and met his eyes with such kindness. "Thank you for talking with me. I hope I see you soon," she told him, squeezing his hand slightly before following her father back into the ballroom.

Nigel stayed on the patio, a look of disgust across his face. "What the fuck were you doing out here with your dirty paws on her?" he spat, taking a few steps forward.

Draco sighed and adjusted his jacket, ready to return inside and find the Apparation spot so he could return home. "We were sharing a personal moment, if you must know." You wanker, Draco added in his mind. "I should be going home now."

"If I ever see you near her again, I will fucking kill you," Nigel whispered harshly, his eyes turning to slits and his fists clenched.

"Pretty possessive, aren't you?" Draco mused with a raised eyebrow. "I wonder why that is. I wonder what lengths you would go to protect her. You say you would kill someone. I just hope you never have to resort to that…" Draco told him, his face stone cold. The man's words had just earned him a spot on the top of the list of suspects.

Nigel blanched, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. He couldn't even formulate a sentence, let alone look scary anymore. He let Draco push past him easily, too lost in the blond's words to bother with the present.

"…resort to that again, that is," Draco added, before disappearing back into the crowded dancehall.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed!