A/N: This story is already finished and has 18 chapters in total.

There will be some detailed descriptions about sexual encounters and the murder cases, as well as panic attacks and depressions, so please keep that in mind while reading.

I'm a German writer and English is not my native language, so if you find grammar or spelling mistakes, I'm sorry.

Have fun =)

I was sitting at my desk, in my dark office in the ministry and stared at the closed file on it.

My heart was beating too loud, too hard in my chest and I knew that it was time to stop.

The office was small and had only one window, where unfortunately the sun never shone through. Dust settled all too easy on the furniture and if I was being honest, I hated it here.

After the war, after we had buried all our friends and ... and Fred, Harry and I had joined the Auror training straight away. We were considered heroes and doors after doors had opened for us and going back to Hogwarts for another year felt impossible for me. Not after the year on the run and everything.

So Harry and I moved into a small flat in Muggle London and started to train while Hermione went back to Hogwarts for another year full of studies.

And I had loved it. Loved the training, the privileges and the responsibilities.

I loved to eat Indian takeaways on the rotten, green sofa while watching telly with my best friend, going to the pub with the other trainees and being good at something.

I had loved to puzzle over significantly difficult cases, putting pieces over pieces together until a whole picture came together and planning my moves against dark wizards and witches like the chess player I always had been.

But now, nearly 5 years after the war, chasing criminals became dull. It felt like I missed out on something. Like, I should have lived my life more. Not working every single minute of the day. After he got a promotion and was now something like my boss,

Harry had moved out of the flat prior to the year, together with Ginny and Luna, like a family. A threesome couple. And it was like he left me behind. We no longer lived together and no longer worked on cases together and I understood that I never liked the work itself all that much.

And now, after the last case, I was tired.

A 16-year-old girl had gone missing, nothing new at first, but her parents were insisting that something must have happened.

Julia was her name; Julia wouldn't go away without telling them.

When she was still missing 3 months later we all knew something must have happened. Then she was found dead in the Thames without any injuries, not even the slightest little bruise and no piece of circumstantial evidence who did this to her.

The ministry nearly closed her case, when another girl went missing. This time it was a 25-years-old healer trainee named Emily. A few days after her teacher reported Emily was missing to the Aurors, she was found near the London Eye. Naked, dead open eyes staring, but not quite staring at the sky. And then another one. And another.

All in all 8 girls between 15 and 25 went missing over a time of six months and I thought that I would never be able to find the person that did this. The girls had nothing in common, some were witches, some were muggles. Different ethnics and religions, different hobbies, family backgrounds, jobs and so on. But with the last one, her name was Lucy, the murderer made a mistake. He was too self-assured, to secure and my new partner Adam and I eventually found the bastard.

The door to my office opened and closed again, and I did not need to look up to know that it was Harry.

'' Congratulations.'', my best friend said and grabbed the wooden chair to sit down. I looked up to see my best friend smiling brightly and proud of me, but when Harry saw my face the smile dropped dead.

''Whats wrong?''

''I..well'', I started, wringing my hands and feeling 17-years-old again.

I was sure that I wanted to stop.

I had already talked to George and we agreed to run the shop together after I'd quit my job as an Auror, but I certainly didn't know how to tell all that to Harry.

''Come on, you know you can tell me everything.'', Harry said.

I sighed, why was it so hard? Had he felt like this when he told me that he would move out and make a baby with my sister and her best friend?

I took a deep breath and we said simultaneously,

''Are you and Hermione finally back together?''

''I want to quit and start to work with George in the shop.''

Harry's mouth opened and he looked gobsmacked, ''Quit ?''

''Back with Hermione?''

Hermione and I had never been a couple, really. In the war, at the fight at Hogwarts, we kissed, because we thought we wouldn't be still alive in the morning. And with the funerals, the rebuilding of the wizardry society and the reconstruction of the memories of her parents we had other things in mind.

After another shared kiss at Harrys 18th birthday and the revolting feeling like kissing a sibling, we decided to stay friends and only friends.

And Harry knew this very well.

I sent him a funny look for that question, '' Why did you ask that?''

''I don't really know. I thought maybe you would be tired to be alone after all these years.'', Harry shrugged his shoulders, ''But don't try to distract me from the fact that you want to quit your job.''

''I just...I promised myself to think about being an Auror after this case and I came to the conclusion that I jumped right on it, but it wasn't ever THE thing for me.'', I said, a hand in my hair, which needed to get washed.

''I thought you liked it.'', Harry said, confusion was written on his face and the dark eyebrows drew together.

'' I liked it for some time, but now I think it is time to move on for me, Harry.''

Harry moved uncomfortably on the chair and I could get a glimpse of another red file on his lap.

''Whats that?'', I asked and pointed at the file.

Harry took a deep breath, ''Another case.''

''For me?''

''Yes.'', he said and put it on my desk. He looked like he wasn't sure to proceed, ''After that, you can go and quit being an Auror and start to be the guinea pig in Georges lab, but I need you for this case.''

''Why not Adam or Roger?'', I said and shuffled a bit closer to read the name on the file, but Harry put his hand on it.

''You are my best friend.''

I let my eyes wander, the closed file on my desk suddenly in view. I had sworn to myself that I would stop this after I got this one, but then I heard the urgency in Harry's voice, '' And because you are the only one I can trust with this.''

I looked up when he pushed the file to me, ''I can trust you to help this person and not work against them.''

Harry stood up and stretched himself. He went to the door, the knob in his hand, he turned to me and said, ''Please read the file and tell me if I can count on you. If not, I won't be angry with you, ok?!''

He closed the door to my office and it went utterly silent in the instant.

The only thing I could hear was my breathing and my drumming heart.

Why had he been so serious? What was this?

I looked at the dark red file, vibrant and a bit like fresh blood. I shuddered and read the name on the file.

It was written in dark, elegant letters, like the name itself.

Malfoy