Title: Lost

Summary: It had been six years since the war ended. Seven years since anybody had seen or heard from Draco Malfoy. His tracks have long ago run cold. Hermione, whom works for the Auror office shuffling paperwork, is lost in a world of cold cases. With her own life in shambles she holds on to one case she is determined not to remain unsolved: Draco Malfoy.

Disclaimer: Thank you J.K Rowling for creating the world and characters of Harry Potter. I do not own Harry Potter. All characters and situations in this story are all based on the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. I think I covered everything.

Chapter Four

Bitter Song

It found me

To hold me

But I don't like it at all

Won't feed it

Won't grow it

It's folded in my stomach

It's not fair

I found love

It made me say that

Get back

You'll never see daylight

If I'm not strong, it just might

All I need is a Bitter Song

To make me better

Much better

The sound of the plane was deafening and consent. The lights were dimed and flickered every so often as the plane shook slightly. Hermione looked around to see all of the sleeping passengers, peaceful and content. If only she could be so lucky. Her nerves were kicking in on overdrive, and she was way too restless to be getting any sleep anytime soon. Hermione had been on the plane for about over an hour, which gave her about six more hours before she would arrive at her destination.

Her thoughts began to drift to the events of the past four years that had brought her here to the present. So much had happened yet for her, time seemed to stand still, she could not move on, and she wouldn't until she found him.

It had been a busy couple of months down in the archival office of the Auror Department. With two years that had gone by since the war ended, people were starting to get back to their normal lives. The last of the rouge Death Eaters had been rounded up and sent to Azkaban. That meant a lot of paperwork for Hermione. It seemed since the beginning of that year closed case after case began flooding her floor. All the loose ends were being tied up. Hermione enjoyed the overflow; the longer work hours came as a heavenly distraction from her mundane and shattered life.

But as winter slowly faded into spring different types of cases began to come to her door. The unsolved ones, missing people, unsolved murders and such started littering the floor at an alarming numbers. She had thrown herself even more into her work to make sure that these cases were handled with care, that they would have a proper place. Just in case someone might need them again.

On this particular Friday in April the sun was shining and it had truly been the first perfect whether day of spring. Not that Hermione was enjoying it being coupe down in the basement. It had been a slow week and she was making great progress of organizing the floor that had been in utter disarray before she started working down there. Hermione was quite satisfied with her filling system that she created. Smiling to herself pleased she looked at the clock it read 6:30.

Hermione started to pack up for the day when she heard movement up near the front desk. She rounded out of her office and up the isle curios to see who would be down here at this time on a Friday. As the figure came into view she recognized him at once, it was Sam one of the rookie Aurors, he was scrambling around nervously like he was looking for something.

"Sam?" Hermione stated startling the poor boy.

"Oh you're here" Sam stampeded "I thought you'd be gone by now"

Hermione raised an eyebrow, "yes I was getting ready to leave, I normally don't leave till this time anyway."

"Well I would have thought you would have taken a half day today with it being the wedding and all." He gulped when he saw Hermione's look "Because Harry took one and Ron had the whole day off."

"Oh" Hermione said stunned, realizing what TODAY was. How could she forget Ron and Lavenders wedding? They were probably given each other's vows at that very moment on the rich green fields of the Burrow. Hermione blew out some air and took a deep breath. "I wasn't planning on going."

Sam stared at her blunt honesty, "oh well that nice I suppose…"

"Sam why are you down here?" Hermione snapped. She was over with this whole awkward conversation and just wanted to go home and eat a tub of ice cream.

"Right, well I, by one of the older guys, Frank, you know him of course, and well I was told I had to drop this file off before I could run over to the reception." He said bumbling over his words. "And I was trying to find the right bin to put it in because I thought you were not here anymore."

Hermione was shocked no wonder they gave this kid the bitch work he surly was not ready for the field. Putting on the nicest smile she could muster at the moment she began to speak. "Give it here" He handed over the file, "go on get out of here you wouldn't want to be late for the party." Sam smiled and quickly left stumbling over his feet in the process.

Hermione looked down at the file it was pretty thick one too. She read the front and her stomach dropped. She was soon filled with an emotion she could not place. The file read:

Draco Malfoy- Missing

UNSOVLED

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are about to begin our final descent into New York, currently the weather is ..."

Hermione was startled out of sleep at once. Her thoughts were so fogged and it took several seconds for her mind to register where she was. Looking around she saw several passengers awake and ready to land, she was still on the plane.

"Would you kindly return to your seat, fasten your seat belts and return your seat to the fully upright position and ensure that your tables are stowed."

She silently did as she was told seeing as the other passengers were doing the same

and looked out the small window. She could start to see the land below start to take shape, she breathed and smiled she defiantly preferred flying this way then on a broom that she could never quite get use to.

"Please ensure all personal items and articles of hand luggage are stored securely in the overhead lockers or under the seat in front of you and that no items are obstructing the exits."

Shifting around in her seat Hermione's mind wafted back to her dream. The dream replayed the day she received Draco's file. Something in her changed that day for the better or worse she did not know. All she knew was that he could not be lost up until the war started he had always been a consent never changing figure in her life even if he was an ass. She was craving so bad to get back to normalcy again. Back to the days where Malfoy would taunt her, Ron and her were still together, and Harry needed her with help on their homework.

"After landing please remain seated with seat-belts fastened until the aircraft has come to a halt at the gate…"

But as the years rolled on it became something more, something that Hermione was too afraid to define. The more she learned about Draco and who he was the more determined she was to find him. She started interviewing people off the record and behind the Ministry's back. The first couple of attempts had been futile, apparently Gregory Goyle, who seemed to be close to Draco never really knew anything about him. So she went to the next logical person his girlfriend back at Hogwarts, Pansy Parkinson.

Hermione was led to a big room near the front of the Parkinson Manor. The walls were covered in a pale blue, gold accented crowned molding circled the room, and in the middle of the room on an elegant old looking couch sat Pansy.

"Thank you for meeting with me" Hermione greeted walking over to the proper young woman that Pansy had become.

"Well let's just say I was curious of your motives," Pansy smiled nodding her head, she reached out her hand gesturing to the opposite couch "Now sit make yourself comfortable."

Hermione sat down immediately. "Right, well this is really not official or anything, just so you know" Hermione explained, "I was looking through the files and realized there were many holes."

"I see and you believe I may be able to fill in some of them for you?" Pansy retorted with her eyes raised, "What makes you think I have any more information that I haven't already given the Ministry?"

Hermione didn't falter, "You are not one to willing let go of information, unless they ask the right questions." She gave a little smirk and continued, "Second if you had no further information I wouldn't be sitting here in your fancy parlor."

"I always admired you Granger, you were always clever and daring, I dare say we might have gotten on well during school if you were in Slytherin."

"That is all well in good now but let refocus on why we are here," Hermione persisted,

"I need you to tell everything you know about Draco Malfoy, because the more I have the closer I will be to finding him."

Pansy gave her a knowing look that Hermione quite didn't understand. "Draco was a very complicated human being. He and his family had secrets dark, dark secrets." Pansy took a deep breath and continued, "The reason why I never told anybody what I'm about to tell you now was because I was afraid. At the end of the war you weren't too sure where everyone's loyalties lied. If Draco did manage to survive I didn't want some self righteous Death Eater going after him for revenge."

"So why do you trust me with this information?" Hermione asked

"That year before he disappeared, Draco started to change; his outer shell began to break. He was always a good actor, playing the part of Luscious Malfoy's son to the tee. Draco never believed the whole pureblood thing, I thought he did a bit back then just not to the extreme of his father, but now that I look back on it he thought the whole thing was rubbish. You see as close as we were he never really confided in me that much. I just observed him enough to get glimpses of the true Draco." Pansy stopped to take a breath.

"Did you love him?" Hermione blurted out, "I'm sorry to ask but you were dating him right?"

Pansy's eyes glazed over and she gave a small smile. "I suppose I was back then but if you knew him who wouldn't fall. The thing with Draco was he kept the neutral people neutral, me, his enemies the closest, and the ones he cared about the most the farthest away from him as possible."

"So he was only close to Crabb and Goyle to get information?" Hermione inquired, a bit shocked.

"Perhaps," Pansy shrugged her shoulders elegantly, "I never truly understood his motives for sticking around those two."

"You still haven't answered my question." Hermione reminded her, "why are you telling me all this?"

Pansy closed her eyes as if to remember exactly what to say. "It was the day of the attack on Hogwarts, all year long Draco was nervous, jumpy, and scared. But that day he was calm and reserved, he looked confident. The night before he had snuck out of Hogwarts to go home, You Know Who was supposed to arrive at his house in the next couple of days. He told me he needed to get something out of the house before that thing arrived. We were in the library when we were discussing this, you walked by and I said some smart ass comment, when he said… Pansy abruptly stopped and almost froze. Thunder shook from outside and the sky turned to gray, leaving the once bright room in an eerie dark glow.

Hermione got a chill down her spine, "what did he say?" she urged Pansy to continue.

"He said to watch out because that girl is going to help save us all one day." The rain began to fall and slam against the windows now, it almost mimicked the sound of

Hermione's rapid heart rate at the moment. What did she find out or was this all-useless information it just left her with more questions. "That is all I can really tell you, but there maybe someone else that can help you more." Pansy looked nervously to the weather outside and shook her head as if to get rid of a bad thought.

"Who"

"Blaise Zabini"

Hermione slowly stepped into her hotel room for the night before she would take the train up to Salem in the morning. It was raining intensely that night and she was soaked head to toe. Slowly striping down to her underwear she went over to the window to draw the curtains closed when a bolt of lightning hit the dark sky illuminating parts of the city that could not be seen before. She saw a figure across the street on top of the building his long coat billowing in the treacherous storm she scream out load slamming her hands against the window when another flash of lighting lit up the sky, and the figure of a man was replaced by a flag whipping in the wind. Hermione's heart began to beat at a normal pace again. It was nothing. She was just seeing things.