I am apologising for the mistakes you will find in this. I know we're meant to check before we post, but there's always one or two little suckers that slip by.

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Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Comet96 xx

Summary:

"These are all woman that fancy you, Malfoy." He shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal. "They've all reported me because they think I'm sleeping with you."

Elspeth Potter was used to the limelight, but getting attention for all the wrong reasons, she wasn't. Being suspended from her job as a Healer was one step, but when family secrets come out it may push her over the edge. Add in romance, family and a few death threats, then you have the perfect Summer of 2003.

How can Elspeth manage a chaotic life when she's keeping things from the Great Harry Potter, Ron can't seem to keep his nose out of other people's business, and Lucius Malfoy is plotting her death.

On top of it all, her cousin is due to get married in August, Blaise Zabini's constantly trying to get her to sign some suspicious looking contracts, and she's certain Narcissa Malfoy has become her number one fan against all odds.

It was going to be a fairly impossible few months.

23rd May 2003

"Elspeth, Healer Malfoy wants to see you in his office," Vinnie said, popping his head through the door of the children's room. I glanced up to look at him and frowned.

"Why?" I asked, rising from the floor and waving goodbye to the children as I left. "What does he want now?"

"Not too sure, Ellie, but I did see Grant heading there earlier."

"Gareth Grant? That dipshit? What has he done?" Vinnie shrugged as he led me to Healer Malfoy's office on the fourth floor.

He stopped outside the door and gave me a sympathetic smile before walking off. What was that look about? Did he know something I didn't? Did he know why I was here?

Not bothering to knock, I barged into Malfoy's office, grimacing as I saw Gareth Grant sitting in one of the chairs in front of Malfoy's desk.

"No respect whatsoever, Draco. I told you she's a liability," Grant said to the blond man leaning back in his seat. He looked too young to be Head Healer of St Mungo's, but no one could doubt he had the ability and gifts to be in the position he was in now.

"I'm the liability here, Grant? Who was it being called up into court on three different occasions because he allowed three patients to die on his watch?" I asked, slamming the door shut as I marched over to the chair he was sitting on and looked down at him.

"Those charges were dropped!" he shouted, rising and towering over me. "And we're not here about me, we're here for you."

"Why am I here?" I turned my attention to Malfoy. He leaned back in his chair, his back straight and arms on the rests. He didn't bother with an answer, just let his silver eyes run over my body. "You're wasting my time, Malfoy."

"Give him some respect, he's your boss." I snapped my head to Grant and clenched my jaw. What in Merlin's name did he thing he was doing ordering me about? "Though I don't suppose you know what respect is do you. You spread your legs open for anyone."

SMACK.

I wouldn't regret that one bit, not even with the bollocking I was about to receive for it.

"Why you little who–"

"Grant, leave my office," Draco drawled, rising from his chair and waving Grant out. Luckily, Grant left without another word and surprisingly shut the door softly behind him. "You know I'm going to have to suspend you for three weeks now and you'll be on probation for another three when you return to work."

"I don't see why I'm the one being suspended here, Grant should be fired for his unprofessional attitude and unqualified role in this hospital," I argued, resting my hands on my hips as I glared at the man in front of me.

"There's a case on Grant, but that's not why you're here, Elspeth." He walked over to his desk and picked up a pile of papers and grimaced as he turned to face me. "I've had a remarkable amount of reports filed about you and most of them aren't good."

"What? Who's been reporting me? And for what? I'm the best damn Healer you have here, Malfoy."

"I know that, but I can't ignore ten reports about you within three weeks." He ran his hand through his hair and sighed in frustration.

"Give me their names," I hissed, stepping closer to him.

"You know I can't do that."

"Draco, give me their names."

"Abigail Jones, Heather Windsor, Janice Green, Kathrine Smith, Karla Briggs, Roseanna Robertson, Gemma Pickerton, Natasha Groves, Samantha Dugless, and Belinda Brown." I scoffed in disgust as he listed off each of their names.

"These are all woman that fancy you, Malfoy." He shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal. "They've all reported me because they think I'm sleeping with you. I've also got no doubt that they're all slept with Grant and he's blackmailing them to get me fired."

"Of course they've all slept with him," came a smooth voice as the door closed behind them. I glared over at Blaise as he leaned back against the wall.

"That's not the point, Blaise. I'm being suspended because Grant is a crap Healer and he feels belittled by a woman that's better than him."

"You're a modest one, aren't you, Ellie," he joked, moving over to the desk and dropping himself down in one of the chairs, resting his feet on the desk.

"She's a Potter, what else would you expect," Malfoy muttered shuffling the papers and setting them on his desk. "I can't change anything now, Elspeth, you'll have to deal with the suspension for a few days until you can take it up with the board in court."

"How about first thing in the morning? I'm not wasting my time going to breakfast and lunch with the old biddies when I could be here helping. I'll have Kingsley here within the hour if you want." I wasn't beyond abusing my power as a Potter to help get me off suspension.

"I'm obligated to having you signed off for a minimum of seven days. It's actually in your contract." Not believing a word he said, I turned to Blaise, knowing he'd give it to me straight.

"He's right, Ellie. Technically you're not allowed to work again until you've had a review with the board and that can only happen after seven days on suspension," Blaise said, reciting the laws as if he was reading from a book. He was used to it, seeing as he was Malfoy's lawyer. This was his job.

"Are you shitting me?" I looked between the pair and knew that I was in fact going to have to wait seven days for a freaking board review.

"Afraid not, Ellie. You should head home and get yourself comfortable," Blaise said, wiggling his feet as if demonstrating how to do so.

"If I didn't like you, Blaise, I would have cursed you by now," I spat as him, crossing my arms as I looked at Malfoy. "Is there nothing you can do?"

"I've already tried." From the tired and drained look on his face, I believed him.

"Right, if it all goes tits up, don't come crying to me, I've already told you I'm the best you've got," I said, marching over to his fireplace and grabbing some floo powder. "Rettop Manor." With one last glance at the two men in the room I stepped into the fire.

The glass of wine was looking tempting, but I couldn't bring myself to drink it. I didn't want to chase my problems away with drink and end up like an alcoholic. I'd seen what that had done to some people and I wasn't willing to let it go that far.

"Does Mistress not want her wine?" Poppy asked and I looked down at her big brown eyes and the concern looked she had there.

"Oh, no thank you, Poppy, sorry for wasting it," I said, pushing the red wine towards her on the edge of the kitchen island.

"It's alright, Mistress, Poppy will use it for dinner tonight," the house-elf said before disappearing into her kitchen downstairs.

"Not even your house-elf wants to talk to you," I grumbled to myself, resting my head in my hand and leaning on the table. It seemed everything was going tits up in my life at the moment.

I was suspended from my job, I was lying to my family, and I had some serious issues with admitting to some life changing news. Resting my head on the table, I stifled the sob that was desperate to make its way from my throat. Against my attempts, my eyes leaked the awful substance known as tears.

"If I knew I'd return home to my girlfriend crying on the kitchen island, I would have brought flowers," joked the familiar voice of my better half. I glanced up at him and admired the way his teasing face turned to one of worry as he caught my tears. "Hey, sweetheart, what's wrong?"

"I suck," I cried, wiping my tears away as he joined my at the island, his arms wrapping around me. "I fail at everything. Why can't anything be normal for a change? I'm fed up of lying to everyone and it's making me tired."

"What do you mean lying to everyone?" He ran his fingers through my hair and gently cupped my face. "Are you lying to me?"

"You know who I'm talking about. We need to tell my family about us. I don't think it's fair to keep it a secret anymore." He frowned at my words and I knew why we agreed to keep things quiet between us, but that wasn't fair anymore. "We need to tell Harry and the rest of my family."

"You know it's not that simple," he moaned, stepping back from me and running his hand through his hair. "My father—"

"I don't care what your father thinks, Draco. He doesn't get a say in your life anymore. Unless it's not your father's opinion you care about." From the deep sigh and the hand rubbing his eyes, he knew what I was talking about.

"You know it has nothing to do with that," he said shaking his head. "You being a Potter has no sway on the way I feel about you."

"What about my Weasley side?" I knew how much he disliked the Weasley's and even though he had long left Hogwarts, the rivalry he had with Ron was still a sore subject between them.

"You're not actually a Weasley, Ellie, they're just your godparents." We'd had this argument a thousand times and I wasn't willing to believe that he didn't somewhat resent part of me for being related to the Weasley's.

"I'll have you know that my great-grandmother was Marianna Prewett, so I am in fact related to the Weasley's," I said smugly giving him the slight smirk he was known for at Hogwarts.

"You are quite the devious witch and I completely understand why you were placed in Slytherin." He placed a kiss on my lips and wrapped me in his arms. I sighed in comfort and rested my head against his chest. "You know it won't just be our families we tell, right?"

"I know, but I'm tired of hiding you away from everyone." I pulled back and looked up at him, letting him see how happy he made me by agreeing. "Plus, Harry's wedding is in August and I don't plan on going alone like I did with Ron and Hermione's. There are far too many aunts and uncles trying to set me up with 'successful' men. I'm content with the one I have."

"Lucky me," he teased, pressing a kiss to my head and swaying with me to the music in his head. "I've got a surprise for you though."

"You know I don't like surprises."

"Hopefully, due to the circumstances, you'll thank me for this one," he said spinning me around, before wrapping me in his arms, my back to his chest. "I've decided to take a few days off and whisk you away to our Cornish cottage."

"How have you managed to get a few days off?" I asked knowing how difficult it was for him to get time off due to his busy schedule. It wasn't easy being Head Healer.

"That's where Blaise comes in. He pulled the board members up on a few indiscretions they had and managed to get me a week off in return for our silence." He explained it as if it wasn't a big deal, but I knew him better than that.

"Did you have Blaise blackmail the board members so you could take me away?" It was hard to keep the smile from my face and he didn't bother hiding the sheepish look from his. "You could be fired for that!"

"Trust me, sweetheart, they won't be reporting me in fear that they'll end up in Azkaban."

"What?"

"Don't worry about it. You should hurry and pack so we can leave," he said waving me off towards our bedroom. I frowned at him, taking in the way he chewed his bottom lip in nerves. There was something weird going on with him.

"Poppy's making us dinner, can't we leave after? I don't want her cooking for no reason." Maybe Hermione had been rubbing off on me, but I respected Poppy and tried to give her the most comfortable room and kitchen she could ask for.

"As you wish, my dear." He didn't hide the roll of his eyes.

"There's no reason to be snarky about it, Draco," I muttered, glaring at him and doing as he suggested and headed to our room to pack.

Thank you for reading xx