To Find You Again
By Suseh

Chapter Four


Setting her cup of tea down onto the clothed table of her breakfast table, Beatrice eyed her young companion with a sympathetic gaze. The young woman in front of her had her head downward allowing a curtain of chocolate curls to fall forward over her face. It had taken the young woman much courage to come to her and give her a detailed account of her life before coming here, even going as far to prove that she was part of the magical world that had been veiled from the rest of the world.

Beforehand, Beatrice had humored the young woman believing that Hermione was on the verge of a nervous breakdown especially now with Rose's health on the decline; but once Hermione had demonstrated her magical abilities, Beatrice had no choice but to consider the possibilities of everything she had said being true. She couldn't believe that magic was indeed real and that there were real people practicing it behind a veil, keeping their lives separate from those who did not share the magical bloodline. Hermione had explained the three types of bloodlines to her - muggleborn, half-blood, and pureblood. Each bloodline being unique in their own special ways, but with the latter of them being able to boost their magical line pure without a muggleborn or half-blood tainting their precious line.

It was one of purest lines that Hermione had married her into. It had been a story that sounded unrealistic especially with so much information of their childhood together as enemies up to their courtship. She had to admit, even to herself, that the story reminded her very much of Romeo and Juliet but without either party dying for love.

"I was a fool to believe him," Hermione's soft words broke through Beatrice's thoughts causing the older woman to frown slightly at the mess of a young woman.

"Not a fool, luv," Beatrice assured her as she reached out to pat her hand motherly. "No one could fault you for that. Love makes a person blind to what is around them,"

Raising her head and trying to keep her tears at bay, Hermione gave the older woman a sad smile. She was right; love had made her completely blind before their marriage. Had the signs of his infidelity been there all along? Hermione could only grimly surmise that it had been. She had thought he had loved only her - hadn't he sworn that the night he had asked her to marry him?

Pushing away the thoughts from her mind, Hermione shook her head.

"I am afraid, Bea," she admitted to the older woman. "I am afraid that once he learns that about Rose things will get ugly. Malfoys don't take lightly of their toys being taken away and Draco is no different. I am quite certain he's going to be entirely furious with the notion he missed Rose's first steps but I-I can't go back to him. I can't be in a marriage where my husband divides his time between his own wife and his mistress. I won't allow there to be four in a marriage. It would be too crowded."

Bea frowned watching Hermione retract her hands from her tea cup and slump in defeat, her shoulders sagging forward.

"But for Rose, I have no choice," she whispered softly, her voice breaking with the sound of tears. "I can't let my own daughter die because her mother was too selfish to ask her father for help. What kind of mum would I be?"

Sitting at her desk with the Quibbler grasped between her hands and up in front of her face, Luna Lovegood immersed herself into the stories her father had written. She had brought the morning copy with her in order to give it a thorough going-through but she had been busy in the morning. Several Ministry workers had come to bother her with retrieving papers on various wizards and witches to bringing her several stacks of papers that had to be filed away in their respective places. It had been quite a busy morning for her and now that she had a few moments to herself, she wanted to enjoy the quietness that came with it.

Humming softly a tune that she had recalled being sung to her years ago by her mother, Luna laid the paper down onto the desk and ran her hands over the copy to keep the papers straight and crisp. Her blue eyes were glazed over with that far away look in them but her mind sharply aware of what was going on around her. She might like to live in her dream-like world but there was still a huge part of her that kept her feet planted firmly in the real world.

The sound of the office door opening drew Luna away from the contents of a story dealing with the evidence of Bigfoot being a magical creature released centuries ago by a mad wizard into the muggle world. It had been meant to scare muggles from magical areas but before she could divulge further into the fascinating article, her eyes lifted to the intruder who now stood in the doorway of her office door.

"Blaise Zabini," Luna acknowledged in a soft dreamy tone, "what brings you to this part of the Ministry?"

Blaise Zabini gave the former Ravenclaw a dazzling smile showing off his white perfectly set teeth. "I was in the neighborhood and thought I would drop in to offer you a chance to leave this stuffy office for lunch."

Luna said nothing for a moment as her slender blond brows furrowed together in thought. She was well-aware this was going to be no ordinary lunch; he wanted isomething/i from her but what? Luna couldn't fathom what it was Blaise was after. He had never shown her an ounce of interest in the past and now here he was offering to take her out to lunch. Although she was suspicious of the offer, she was left with no choice but to accept. It would, after all, lead her to learn the real reason behind it.

"I would love to," she answered finally rising from her seat and leaving her paper opened and forgotten. "Let me grab my purse from the back and we can go."

"Take your time," he replied as he waited for her to return from the other room. His hazel-green eyes swept over the tiny office and then over to the closed door. He could only surmise that it was the door that led to what he sought and he had to figure out a way to get in there without drawing further suspicion away from the Ravenclaw. It was not going to be entirely easy on his part but Blaise would make it worth while for the Ravenclaw. He would make sure that by the end of the day she would willing give over all her secrets - and that of Hermione Malfoy - to him.

Pleased with himself and this idea of this working in his favor, Blaise straightened his black tie and turned his gaze once more to Luna's returning small frame.

"Are you ready to go?" He asked cocking his head in her direction.

"Yes," she said retrieving her office keys from near her computer and turned off the screen. She opened her purse and dropped the keys inside. "I only have an hour left."

"Then let us hurry to enjoy our luncheon together," he said turning away from her and heading out the door in which he had arrived through. He could hear Luna scurrying behind him. Her soft shoes quietly slapping against the concrete of the Ministry hallway.

Draco Malfoy threaded his fingers through his long platinum blond locks and lifted his silvery blue eyes skyward to the ceiling. It had been a rather long afternoon filled with meeting after meeting and finally he had a moment to himself to think. He had not had such a moment either to decide his estrange wife's fate since the day after seeing her again. He had already tried bribing several Ministry officials in order to gain access to her files as Jean Logan but all had politely declined the offer of money.

For Malfoy it was maddening not to know anything of the life Hermione had made for herself. He knew next to nothing of what of the acquaintances she had or if now she was with anyone else. The very idea of her being with anyone angered him. He had refused to sign the divorce papers long ago, stating quite clearly to his wife's solicitor that, "Malfoys do not divorce."

It was no lie on his part. Divorce within the Malfoy Family was rather unheard of. It was even a word Malfoys detached themselves from. Although most of the earlier marriages within the family were arranged (like that of his ancestors and his parents), the couples were given the leeway to lead separate lives shortly after the birth of an heir and that of a spare. Some Malfoys were fortunate enough to find love much like him when he had chosen Hermione to share his life with.

He still had not a clue to why she had abandoned their marriage. During the first month of her disappearance, he had spent his nights pacing the floor of their bedroom trying to wrack his brain of reasons why she had left and nothing had ever come to mind. This bothered Malfoy greatly. He hated not knowing what he had done to drive her away. He had thought they were happy and that they had their lives ahead of them together as couple.

Draco leaned his head back against the black leather wing of his chair and let out a frustrated sigh. A part of him had been thrilled to see her that night but the other half of him had been furious enough to drag her out of the room by her arm. She had made him a fool and he would never forgive her for that.

Pressing his thoughts of Hermione to back of his mind for later analyze, Draco drew back his attentions towards the stacked papers waiting for either his signature for approval or his stamp of rejection. For a moment, he did not want to even want to consider work. He wanted to leave his office, clear his mind, and get himself a breath of fresh air. Perhaps then he could come back in and work before deciding the next course of action for his marriage.

Pushing his chair back, Draco removed himself from it and retrieved his wand from desk, slipping it into the hidden pocket underneath his left sleeve of his robes. He made his way out of his office and brushed past his secretary as he barked out, "I'm going out. Hold all my calls and cancel all my meetings for the rest of the day."

He didn't even give the poor woman a moment's chance to say anything back before he stepped into the opened elevator lift and pressed the level floor button.

With lunch spread out upon the table before them, Luna and Blaise settled down to eat quietly. The silence was uncomfortable for Luna. She was not quite used to eating with a Slytherin. Most of the time when she went out to eat with friends, they were mostly of the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor variety. There was always conversation flowing from them but lunch with a Slytherin was a far different experience. For one thing, it was deafening quiet and certainly there had to be a reason behind the invitation to lunch. Slytherins didn't do casual lunches without reason.

"I must say your invitation to lunch was rather surprising at best for me," Luna commented hoping to open the floor between them to the flow of conversation and eventually the breal/b reason revealed. Her water blue eyes searched his dark features for a moment looking for a reaction. An emotion. But received nothing more than a slender raised brow and schooled features set into an unreadable mask.

For Miss Lovegood, this did not forebode well with her at all. She could normally read someone as if they were a mere page from the Quibbler spread out and opened before her to every single interpretation but Blaise Zabini was as readable as a stoned gargoyle. A slight frown marred the corners of her mouth as she lowered the fork.

"Oh?" was the only response he was willing to give her for a moment.

"We were hardly friends at Hogwarts," she stated, "and I must say you have me quite curious to your reasons behind this...lunch."

Retrieving the clothed napkin from his lap and touching the corners of his mouth with it before setting it back down, Blaise reached for the fluted glass of wine and took a sip. Over the brim of the glass, his hazel eyes gazed calculating at the young woman across from him. He was quite certain that Luna was everything he had heard of while at Hogwarts but having her in front of him did not truly prepare him. Oh by no means was he in love with her. No merely fascinated with her and nothing more. He was certain that once he had the response he had come for, he would be finished with her all together.

"Can't two schoolmates meet up and have lunch?" He asked with a lopsided grin. "It has been quite a long time, Luna, and we have much to catch up on."

The emphases on her name caused her spine to straighten and her body to stiffen at the familiarity of her name. She finished the last bites of her lunch and laid her fork down onto the empty china plate.

"I don't believe this is merely a luncheon to catch up on lost time," she replied in her dreamy tone. "We don't have anything to catch up on as we were never friends from beginning to the end of school. So what is your real reason behind this little date?"

"Let's discuss Jean Logan or should I say Hermione Granger-Malfoy."

He watched in amusement of the colorful array of emotions filtered across her features - confusion, recognition, realization - before finally settling into a horrified expression.

"I think," he continued as he eyed her lazily, "we have much to talk about. I have already discussed it with your Supervisor and he was more than willing to allow you to have the rest of the afternoon off."

Luna swallowed hard and knew she had fallen right into the snake pit.

With Rose settled down into bed, Hermione re-entered the living room and plopped down on the couch ready to go over several important files dealing on the results of potion effects had on the volunteers who had taken them. She had pressed the important papers off to the side during the day as she was still trying to deal with the idea of being forced to tell Draco of Rose's existence. She still had not settled the matters within her head but thought work would do the trick to give her more time to consider the matter later on.

Hermione began to sort through the papers skimming over several important data when a knock on the door roused the black print upon the paper. Her lips turned downward into a frown. It was far too late to have visitors, she was certain of it. Could it be Bea? Had Rose left something behind at her home? There was really no way of answering that, she supposed, unless she answered the door.

"Coming," she called out and raised from the comforts of the couch, moving across the room towards the door, her hand reaching out and twisting the old brass knob upon her door. As the door swung open, she was really surprised to find the figure on the other side. "Luna, what are you doing here so late?"

"We have to talk, 'mione," she whispered. "Can I come in?"

Hermione moved to the side and allowed the blond to enter into her home before peering out into the hallway and then shutting the door behind them.

"Blaise came to see me, Hermione, today," she began wringing her hands together, "and took me to lunch. This was no ordinary lunch. He knows I know where you are."

Author's Notes: Forgive me for closing it there. xD I honestly wanted to continue it more but I needed the cliffhanger that would give me the push to start up the next chapter. I do not know when the next chapter will be out at this time. I am looking at possibly the end of this month to around next month sometime. My sister still needs therapy and we are trying to get her the appointment necessary to help her heal better.

Since I had the leisure at this time, I thought I would go ahead and write this chapter for you all. :D I do hope you have enjoyed it. I wish to thank you all for the reviews and the favorites!

And to my French readers, thank you so much!