Disclaimer: I forgot to make one for Chapter 1 but I didn't own anything then and I don't own it now. Although, I do own Reynold Cane, Mars, Tony, Bob and any other original characters. Unlike Jo, I won't be making any money off this. This disclaimer applies to the whole story.

Draco apparated straight to the Ministry and took the lifts from the Atrium to Level 2. Auror Headquarters was busy this early in the morning with aurors milling about drinking tea and chatting about cases.

"Malfoy, how's the private life treating you?" Draco turned to find his old partner Tony leaning against the wall to a cubicle. He smiled.

"Oh it's going pretty well for me." Tony stuck out his hand and Draco took it, clapping Tony on the back.

"You finally decide to come back to the force?" Draco grinned more widely and shook his head.

"Not on your life. Hey, is your new partner that bad?"

"You kidding me? Anyone would be good compared to you. I hardly ever get blown up anymore." Draco laughed.

"It's good to see you man, but hey, is the Colonel in?"

"In his office, why?"

"Private case."

"Ah, I see how it is." Draco chuckled and nodded.

"I'll be seeing you Tony." Tony nodded and raised a hand in farewell as Draco moved away. Draco walked to the closed door at the end of the hallway. Reynold Cane, Head Auror the door said. Draco knocked twice and waited.

"Enter." A low voice called from inside the office. Draco opened the door and stepped into the room. The office was scarcely decorated. To the left of the door was a small wooden table with a potted plant on it. Directly across from the door was a window with a view of a dreary day in Paris, if the Eiffel Tower was any indication. To the left of the window was a large, grey file cabinet. To the right was a bookcase half-filled with books on magical law and law enforcement. The other half of the case held personal items. An Order of Merlin 3rd class, a small statue of who Draco thought might be Morgan le Fay, and one framed photo of Cane himself shaking hands with the current minister of magic. The center of the room was occupied by a large grey, metal desk.

Reynold Cane stood up from behind the desk as Draco shut the door. He was a small man, only about 5'8" and thinly muscled; although Draco thought that he might have been pretty intimidating about twenty years ago. They called him the Colonel because he directed his aurors like troops in a muggle army, with little sympathy and promises of a harsh reality.

"Malfoy."

"Cane." Draco took one of the chairs in front of the desk while Cane retook his seat behind it. "How are things Cane? Keeping the Wizarding world safe from maniacs and murderers?" Cane narrowed his eyes.

"What do you want Malfoy?" Draco flashed a quick smile.

"I take it your aurors are taking care of business. I mean, they're not being overwhelmed by cases or anything?" Cane's blue eyes narrowed even further if that were possible.

"Of course not. My aurors do their jobs." Cane shook his head. "What is this Malfoy? Are you trying to get your job back because…"

"No, no. Nothing like that." Cane raised his eyebrows, obviously getting impatient. Draco grinned; the man was so easily manipulated. "I'm working on a case."

"And?"

"And it used to be your case. I figured maybe your aurors were being overwhelmed. I have no problem picking up their slack." Cane was silent for a moment, studying Draco. Finally, "Which case?"

"Lovegood. Luna Lovegood. She went missing four…"

"Yes, yes, I remember. Four days ago she up and left. We closed the case."

"Yes, well, I've been hired by the best friend. She thinks there's more to the story." Cane rose and walked to the file cabinet. He rifled through the middle drawer for a moment and came back to the desk with a folder similar to the one Weasley had had. He sat down and opened the folder in front of him.

"We checked out Lovegood's flat. There was no sign of a struggle. It appeared that she had packed a bag."

"What was it that gave that appearance?"

"Her toothbrush and other personal items were missing. Some of her drawers were completely empty." Draco leaned back in his chair.

"No struggle?"

"None." Draco fell forward, leaning his elbows on his knees.

"You're aware, I'm sure, that if someone did take Lovegood they were most likely a witch or wizard, capable of doing magic, capable of cleaning up evidence of a struggle with the flick of a wand."

"Well…I…" Cane fell silent. Draco watched him for a moment.

"What else have you got?" Draco finally asked.

"Nothing."

"Don't give me that. You were so cooperative a moment ago."

"Don't test me Malfoy. I'm still above you." Draco laughed.

"Good one, Cane. No, you see, I no longer work for you and well, you really didn't intimidate me when I did. So why don't you just tell me what else you've got." Cane glared at him for a moment, probably weighing his options. Finally, he glanced back at the file.

"We spoke with several of her friends."

"Who?"

"A Ginny Weasley. She was the one who called in the disappearance. The two were supposed to meet for dinner Friday night. Lovegood never showed. Weasley sent an owl and flooed. When Lovegood hadn't responded by Saturday morning Weasley came to us."

Draco nodded. "What else?"

"Hermione Granger was the first to notice Lovegood missing. She flooed over at Lovegood's flat around 3 pm Friday afternoon. Lovegood wasn't there, Granger assumed she was out running errands or stuck late at the office."

"Who else did you speak with?" Cane glanced down at his file.

"Um, Ron Weasley. Great auror. You know he's been out of work for a couple of weeks now, since the accident."

"What accident?"

"What, you didn't hear?"

"Obviously." Cane smiled.

"Weasley was involved in an apprehension two weeks ago, got hit with some spell, lost all the bones in his arms and legs, been having a hell of a time growing them back apparently."

"What, seriously?" Draco had to smile, picturing a boneless Weasley. Weaslette had said that her brother was currently out of work, but this…

"Yes, Malfoy, seriously." Cane rolled his eyes. Draco cleared his throat and focused back on the man in front of him.

"What did Weasley have to say?"

"Not much. He wasn't real close with Lovegood. He's dating Granger."

"Yeah, yeah, who else did you talk to?" Cane flipped a page in his file.

"Colin Creevey saw her Thursday evening, they watched a movie together."

"They were dating? But I thought Creevey was…"

"Gay? Yep, Creevey's as homo as they come. No, apparently they're just friends."

"Anyone else?"

"Just the ex-boyfriend Longbottom."

"Neville Longbottom?" Cane nodded. Draco smiled.

"Now that's cute."

"Longbottom hadn't seen her in a couple of weeks."

"Great." Draco ran a hand through his hair. "Is that all?" Cane nodded. Draco still planned to do his own interrogations but it was a start. "Great. Thanks." Draco stood to leave.

"Malfoy?" Draco stopped with his hand on the doorknob. "You really think there's more to this case than there appears to be?" He looked suddenly nervous. He had good reason to be. If this was a kidnapping, he'd failed to see it. That didn't bode well for a head auror.

"Who knows?" He opened the door. "I'll see you around." Then he left.

Ginny rolled over and groaned. God she was sick of the late shift. She hated working at night. Not only was it dark and creepy but it was also when all the weirdoes came out to get drunk. Besides all that, she ended up sleeping all day after working all night. It didn't leave much time for a life. Thankfully she had tonight off.

Ginny sat up and rubbed her eyes to get the sleep out. The clock read 12:13. Draco should be back from the Ministry by now. She got up and padded into the kitchen, looking forward to a sandwich with the leftover turkey her mum had sent home with her, and froze in the doorway.

There was another roll of parchment sitting on the kitchen table. Okay, this was just creepy. How did he keep getting these notes into her apartment? Ginny had never heard an owl. She resolved to ask him about it when she saw him next and tapped the parchment with her wand. It unrolled slowly and Ginny read the thin, black script.

Red,

Meet me outside Lovegood's flat at 2 pm.

D. Malfoy

That was it? No news from his meeting with the aurors? No biting remarks about her punctuality? Ginny shook her head and headed to the fridge to make her sandwich.

He was leaning against the wall outside Luna's building when she apparated in, looking as cold and arrogant and delicious as ever. Ginny shook her head and walked towards him. Luna lived in a three story brick building in an all magic area. Her flat was on the third floor, facing the front. Draco glanced at his watch as she walked up.

"So you can be on time. That's nice to know." He smirked down at her. Ginny glared back.

"Save it Malfoy. You said you'd owl me with what you'd learned."

"I figured I could tell you in person." He opened the door to the shared stairwell and motioned her inside.

"I met with Reynold Cane, the head of the auror department."

"I know who he is. What did he tell you?"

"I'm getting to it Red."

"Don't call me Red."

"He told me all the same stuff you told me. How she packed a bag and there was no struggle."

"That's it?" They were on the second landing now and Draco paused to take his wand out of his pocket. Ginny followed suit.

"He told me they interviewed you and Luna's other friends. The only thing he told me that I didn't already know was that Granger had noticed her missing before you did."

"I didn't think it was important."

"Everything is important." He held up a hand and she stopped walking. He opened the door to the third floor and looked around, then motioned her forward. "We'll talk about it later." He said. "Which one is Lovegood's?" Ginny pointed to the door at the end of the hall.

"305." She said. "Malfoy?" He paused and looked back at her. "How did you get those notes into my flat?" He smiled and turned away. "Malfoy."

"A magician never reveals his tricks." He said over his shoulder.

"Magicians aren't real." He turned back to her with a grin.

"That's what muggles think about wizards." He raised one eyebrow. Ginny sighed and stepped up to Luna's door. She took a key from her pocket, inserted it and turned the knob. The door came open easily. Obviously Draco had been right about the wards.

Ginny stepped into the tiled entryway and looked around. Luna's tiny living room was in front of her. It looked normal as ever. Lavender couch and carpet, a coffee table with claws for feet, two mismatched end tables with two antique-looking lamps. A small wireless sat in the corner. Ginny felt Draco step up close behind her.

"Nice." He said.

"It looks fine to me." Ginny said.

"If you say so."

Off the living room, to the right, was the kitchen. Ginny took a step forward, headed for the kitchen and felt Draco tense behind her.

"Red." He grabbed her arm, effectively stopping her.

"What?" She asked, turning to glare at him. She swung her free arm around, knocking into one of the lamps in the process. The lamp wobbled for a few seconds then fell, with a muted thud, onto the carpet about a foot from where Ginny stood. There were three high-pitched beeps and then Draco threw her out the door, into the hallway and fell on top of her.

The explosion that followed was deafening.

"Oh." Said Ginny, once the shrapnel had settled and the ringing in her ears had subsided to a manageable level. Draco raised his head to look down at her.

"Yeah, oh."

They were sitting on the steps in front of Luna's building, watching aurors and rescue workers hurry back and forth across the lawn. Thankfully no one had been seriously hurt but there had been some fire damage to the flats beside Luna's.

The aurors were convinced that it had been some sort of mishap with a muggle appliance or something. Draco was more than willing to let them believe that. This was his case now and he wasn't good with sharing. He glanced up as an auror walked over to them. Ginny stood.

"What have you found?" She asked.

"Not much. We're still pretty sure it was an accident, Miss." The young man said.

"An accident? And what was it, a coincidence that Luna went missing four days ago and now her flat's blown up?" Draco could almost feel the Weasley temper coming on. He stood up.

"Well…I…" The auror stammered. Clearly not accustomed to raging red-heads.

"Stranger things have happened Red." Draco said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Wha…" She turned her glare on him and Draco stared at her pointedly, telling her with his eyes to shut the hell up. She shut her mouth.

"I'm sorry." She said, turning back to the auror. "I must still be in shock over the whole explosion thing."

"Of course." The man nodded sympathetically and walked away.

"What the hell Malfoy?"

"Shh, we'll talk about this later."

"That," she pointed past him at the blackened out windows of Luna's flat. "Was no accident." He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away from the doorway, away from the activity.

"Not here." Then he grasped her other arm and apparated them away.

When the squeezing sensation stopped Ginny opened her eyes and looked around. They were in a dimly lit room. It was a large room and there were tables and chairs scattered about. A long bar ran along one end of the room. The smell of alcohol was unmistakable. It took Ginny a moment to realize that they were not alone.

"Mr. Malfoy." The man behind the bar said, setting down the glass he'd been polishing. "What'll it be?"

"A firewhiskey and…" Draco looked down at Ginny expectantly.

"Oh…um, a butterbeer?"

"Coming up." The man said. Draco took Ginny's arm again and led her to the back of the room. He scooted into a booth, pulling her along with him.

"Where are we?" Ginny asked, shrugging off his hand.

"It's called the River Styx."

"You come here often." It wasn't a question. The bartender had called him by name.

"Often enough." Their drinks came and Draco was silent, nursing his whiskey. Ginny took the time to look around.

There were actually several customers milling about now that Ginny looked. Most were men, sitting alone or in groups, sipping drinks and making jokes. They were old and young, in varying states of wealth or disrepair. The few women there were looked decidedly worse for it, like they'd been sampling the wares for a few too many years. Ginny turned back to Draco.

"Why are we here?" He looked up at her slowly and seemed to contemplate her before answering.

"People here don't ask questions. They let me be. It's nice." Nice was not a word Ginny would use to describe the River Styx. Seedy maybe. Creepy definitely. And it was well on its way to looking dangerous. "Relax. You're here with me. No one's going to bother you." Ginny eyed a man two tables over with yellowing teeth and biceps the size of small trucks. He'd been staring at her since they'd entered.

"Tell that to them." Draco shifted his attention to the man Ginny was staring at. He calmly raised one eyebrow. The man turned away.

"There, now back to the business at hand." Ginny turned back to Draco flabbergasted.

"What was that?" She asked incredulously. Draco rolled his eyes.

"I hold a certain degree of respect here. You shouldn't judge a man by his muscles, it's his wand that matters." He made the point by placing his own wand on the table. Draco was in no way lacking muscles but Ginny could see his point. It was magical power, not physical, that won in the wizarding world.

"Alright." Ginny sighed. "So what was that back there at Luna's? What was with the giant explosion?"

"It was an explosion charm, triggered to go off when someone stepped on the carpet."

"How did you know? How did you know soon enough to save us?" Ginny asked.

"Just a feeling." She glared at him.

"Yeah right. Arrogant prick." She muttered.

Draco leaned forward. "Should you really be antagonizing me when I'm the only thing standing between you and that guy at the bar?" Ginny glanced over at the bar. The man on the end stool was staring at her. He was large and bald and had a snake tattooed on his forehead.

"He doesn't look so bad." Ginny said, trying unsuccessfully to suppress a shiver. Draco let out a bark of laughter.

"Fine. I saw the warning spell shimmer on the carpet. And then there were the warning tones." Ginny rolled her eyes at him.

"So what does this mean?" She asked.

"This means that someone doesn't want us poking around in that apartment."

"Hate to break it to you but no one's going to be poking around there anymore."

"I suppose not. But it does tell us something else."

"What?" She asked, leaning towards him.

"The aurors searched her flat three days ago. Obviously the charm wasn't there then or we'd have a few less aurors on our hands."

"So…"

"So whoever did it had to have come back after the aurors were there, sometime between Saturday afternoon and today."

"We should ask her neighbors if they saw anything." Draco nodded.

"We'll do it tomorrow, when the place has calmed down some. You ready to leave?" Ginny nodded and stood up. Draco placed a few coins on the table.

"Malfoy, were you serious about the guy at the bar?" Draco looked over at the bar.

"Nah, that's just Bob. He's a real nice guy. Wouldn't hurt a nargle."

"But nargles don't…" He grasped her shoulders and apparated them away.

Draco had apparated them back to Diagon Alley, neutral ground he'd said. From there, Ginny had apparated to Ron and Hermione's flat. Now she was sitting in their small kitchen, sipping tea with Hermione.

"And then he brought you to Diagon Alley?" Hermione asked. Ginny nodded. She had just finished recounting her adventurous day with Malfoy for the other woman. "God, Ginny, it's a wonder you're unscathed." Hermione stood to refill the tea pot.

"I know."

"So what is he going to do next?" Hermione asked, sitting back down across from Ginny.

"We're going tomorrow to talk to Luna's neighbors. We're hoping maybe somebody saw something." Hermione nodded.

"It is the logical next step." They were silent for awhile, each lost in her own thoughts. There was a groan from the next room. "Ron." Hermione said.

"How is he?" Ginny asked.

"Complaining like a child." Hermione groaned. Ginny grinned at her.

"Sounds like Ron."

"Most of his bones have grown back."

"That's great."

"Yes, the healer just wants him to stay in bed for a few more days since they're still pretty brittle. He could fracture something." Ginny nodded. "And your brother is milking it for all it's worth. The other night he couldn't sleep so he laid there groaning. I guess he figured hat since he couldn't sleep, I shouldn't be able to either."

"What a prat."

"Oh, that's not even the worst of it." Hermione sighed. "Yesterday he told me that I'd better tend to his needs. Said it had been nearly a month and he was ready to explode." Ginny groaned and covered her ears.

"Ahh. Too much information."

"I'm sorry. He's just driving me insane." There was a low moan from the next room.

"Should we check on him?"

"No, he just does it to get attention. He knows you're here. He probably thinks that you'll play right into his poor little cripple routine. If he really needs something he'll call me." Ginny smiled and shook her head. She'd look in on him before she left, but she didn't think for one second that Hermione was exaggerating. Her brother could be one annoying prick. "Enough about your infuriating brother, what about Malfoy? Ron says he's one of the best. Do you think he'll be able to find Luna?"

Ginny sighed. It was the same question that had plagued her mind for the past two days. "I don't know Mione. I mean, he seems competent."

"Is he still an arrogant ass? Ron and Harry have spent some time with him but I've only seen him in passing since school."

"He's changed a lot." Ginny smiled to herself, remembering their banter in his office the previous day. "But he's still pretty cocky. He's just more mature about it. And he's got this dark side. I suppose he had it in school too, towards the end. Only then I think it had more to do with his father and Voldemort's influence. Now, well, now I don't know. It's like he's seen too much. Like he knows evil but its there just beneath the surface and he's keeping it in check."

Hermione stared at her. "You sure got a lot from spending one day with the man." Ginny shrugged. "Well, maybe that's what we need." Hermione said, rising again to take their tea things to the sink. "Someone who knows evil. Someone who can get into these sick bastards' minds and figure out what they're thinking."

"I think what we need is a hero." Ginny sighed.

"Maybe you've got one."

A/N: I'm glad everyone's enjoying the new story! Thanks for the reviews! For the record, Cane's negative attitude towards homosexuality in no way represents my own feelings. Everyone is free to live as they please. So please disregard any other negative comments Cane, or anyone else for that matter, might make in the future. Oh and what Ginny was about to say right before Draco so rudely apparated them away was "Nargles don't exist." Hehe. Don't forget to review!