Authors Note: Okay, in case you forgot from the short description to the story, Lily gets taken on October 31, 2030 and she is 23 years old. I should have mentioned that in the prologue… it's kind of important. Now go enjoy!

November 1, 2030

The Auror Department was a mess, and ever the diligent boss, Harry Potter and took it upon himself to handle it. As of now, a cursed magic carpet had gotten loose and was attempting to strangle one of the younger aurors-in-training. One fast flick of Harry's wand should have done the trick, but the more and more people used magic on it, the tighter its grip got on the young aurors neck.

"STOP!" Harry yelled and all wands in the room lowered to each aurors side. Harry sent one of his more veteran agents to take the young wizard to an interrogation room so they could see how to remove the carpet that seemed to be morphing into the young man's skin. Harry ran a hand through his hair and let out a sigh; he was hoping to put off his next task till later, but there was nothing left to do that another auror couldn't handle.

He retreated into his office only to be greeted with a never-ending pile of paperwork, and with him slamming his office door shut; a stack fell gracelessly to the floor next to his desk. Groaning internally to himself, Harry knelt, feeling his joints creak a bit as he gathered the papers. Age had been kind to Harry, but not generous enough to let him escape the ache and pains that come with being 51. He re-assembled the pile in (hopefully) the correct order, and as he straightened, he felt his spine pop. It wasn't a painful sensation so much as it was an uncomfortable one. He dumped the stack onto his desk and maneuvered around the awkwardly-placed potted plant to his chair.

He reached up to the nearest pile and grabbed his quill from his desk drawer and began filling out was looked to be another dark artifact form. As he wrote, he let his thoughts drift.

Why hadn't anyone ever mentioned that success made the job more routine? When he was in the field, he was out combating the dark arts to protect his family, but now as head of the Auror Department, he rarely was involved unless it was extremely pertinent of him to be. It does keep him safer, though, not having to be in the field, knowing that he gets to live another day to love his family.

So why had he let Lily become an auror?

Well he hadn't so much let her as he argued with her about it. He was terrified, and still is, that he is going to hear news that she was killed in the line of duty, and even he lived another day to love, she wouldn't. She was a skilled witch though, and an excellent fighter. He had confidence in her abilities, but this didn't keep the worry away. Some days, he does wish she gone into the world of politics and not the world of war; less gray hairs for him and her mother.

She would have been miserable in any other job.

She had told Harry this when he posed his arguments against her joining the aurors. The fire in her eyes as the said that she can only be happy keeping those she loved safe made him give in to her.

"She's too much like me for her own good," Harry said to no one and internally chuckled.

The clock ticked sluggishly by as Harry delved deeper into the pile of papers. Yet, before he knew it, Ron was standing in the frame of his office door telling him it was time to close up shop, going off on how Harry works to hard and that even heroes need a break. Harry placed his quill in the ink pot and smiled at his old friend.

"You've been saying the same thing for years, and yet you never cease to be right Ron," Harry stood then, and was assaulted by an owl flying past Ron's head. Ron stood there cursing the bloody bird's existence as Harry took the thick manila envelope from his claw. Once free of the delivery, the owl hooted and flew off, proceeding to smack Ron in the eye with its wing.

"Fuck, I hate those things," Ron muttered as he rubbed his eye. Harry only vaguely heard him as he stared at the envelope in front of him. Red ink covered the entire thing, all saying READ IMMEDIATELY. Harry hated any bad news from his field agents, but especially when it came from Bulgaria, where Lily was stationed. Harry untied the flap and slid out three sheets of parchment.

The first was a basic report. No trace of dark wizard activity, as of Oct. 30 2030. Mildly disappointing, but not urgent news. Harry moved on.

The second was another report, but it was for yesterday. Sent Agent Potter out into the field, we think she found something. Harry was frustrated by the vagueness, what did she find? Did they make an arrest? Do they need help? Aggravated, Harry got to the last sheet.

The third read;

Sir,

We regret to inform you that while we believe Lily had found something, the reason behind this is rather unsettling. Last night, on October 31, 2030, Agent Potter left at about 5:00pm to stake out where we thought to have seen dark activity. She never returned. We've spent the day searching for any trace of her before we wrote this to you. We are sorry sir, but we fear Lily may have been taken.

Agents Matheson and Flockhart

Harry could barley breathe. He didn't want to accept that Lily had been taken. She was too smart, too observant to have gone missing. He watched as the paper vibrated from his shaking. He felt Ron shaking his shoulders, trying to get him to speak.

He shoved Ron's hands off and shoved the papers onto the floor. He didn't care how numb his limbs felt, this was the time for action. He knew he would have to go through procedure for this, no matter how much he wanted to get the search going, he had no choice. He was handcuffed by policies he had helped to re-write.

February 5, 2031

Harry was sitting at his desk, elbows on his knees, face in his palms, tears in his eyes. All the papers on his desk said the same thing, and had said the same thing for three months. No trace of Lily anywhere. They had practically torn Bulgaria apart searching for her, and the neighboring countries. He can't keep the search going any longer. He had already extended it past the 2 month limit, and he didn't think Kingsley would let him extend this another month. This decision was going to kill him and his family.

He had to declare his own daughters case as cold.