A/N: A quick revision on 8/20/19 - I changing Katie Bell - who already works in Australia in my AU to Alicia Spinnett who plays Quidditch with Ginny.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my ideas. Thanks to J. K. Rowling for allowing us to play with her characters.

Reminder: Words in italics are character's thoughts, magical terms, emphasis in dialogue, newspapers and/or magazines.

Chapter 24

Harry and Ginny are quite hungry since they were too busy to eat breakfast and decide to go to a muggle café around the corner from Grimmauld Place. They walk out and are stunned to see Dudley Dursley standing outside. Harry releases Ginny's hand and walks toward his cousin, noticing his slumped shoulders and the bewildered look on his face. Dudley's confusion finally clears when Harry reaches out and touches his shoulder. He questions, "Hey Big D, what's up?" He notices that he has grown taller and his lost more weight since he last saw him. He has darks circles under his puffy, red rimmed and bloodshot eyes. Finally he responds quietly, his voice is gruff and sounds like he is on the verge of crying, "There was no 12, I kept looking, but there was no 12. Then here you are. The envelope on your Christmas card showed 12 Grimmauld Place, but there was no 12. Just 11 and 13. I didn't know what to do. I just kept standing here. What if you weren't here…" Dudley continues to ramble on about the location and a couple of tears roll down his cheek.

Harry is stunned that his burly relative is crying since he hasn't seen him do it in years. He stopped when he realized he got his way quicker by screaming and bullying. Ginny walks up to them and gives Harry a stern look then glances back to the door of his townhouse. A bit exasperated, Harry huffs, "Come on Duds, we can talk inside." He has to pull on the sleeve of his coat to get him to follow.

Once they are over the doorstep, Harry introduces Ginny and she offers to make tea and slips into the kitchen. He invites Dudley to sit down as he explains in simple terms that his home is hidden by magic by keeping people from noticing 12. Dudley nods, understanding enough at the word magic. Several minutes later Ginny returns, floating a tea tray in front of her. She serves and joins Harry on the sofa. Dudley is staring off into space and doesn't touch his tea or biscuits. Knowing he usually scarfs those down, Harry furrows his brow and says, "Dudley?" causing him to startle. Harry inquires rather harshly, "What are you doing here?" His sharp tone causes Ginny to gasp "Harry!" her voice sounding very much like a reprimand from her mother or Hermione. Dudley won't meet Harry's eyes. She watches him, seeing his hand shake, sloshing hot tea on his pants, causing him to grimace. With a flick of her wand, she puts a cooling charm on the spot so he won't burn. She pinches Harry and gives him a look that would make most men cower. Harry clears his throat and says, "Sorry Dudley. Old habits. So, uh, what can we do for you?"

Dudley gives him a broken look and explains, "When I got home from uni for holiday, Mum and Dad were sitting on the couch." Dudley shakes his head and continues, "Well, you know how Mum usually is, going on and on when I get home?" Harry rolls his eyes and nods. "Well, she didn't, neither of them said or did anything. Didn't even look at me, even when I shook Mum's shoulder." Harry gets a sinking feeling. No, it can't be that.Brushing the thought aside, he asks, "What happened then?" Dudley looks pained then explains, "Well, I got cheesed off, thinking they were taking the piss out of me and left. I didn't get home until after midnight and they were still sitting there, in the dark. I called emergency when they still wouldn't respond. They were both severely dehydrated. The doctors think they would have died if I had waited much longer to call." Harry's stomach is in his shoes, he knows what has happened. Dudley is speaking again and Harry tunes back in, "only do what they are told. The doctors don't know what's wrong. Harry, do you think magic can help? I don't know what else to do." Defeated, Dudley slumped back into the chair and sighs.

Harry swallows the huge lump in his throat. He doesn't want to tell Dudley the truth, that The Demented has struck again. Instead, he replies, "There might be something. I'll have to get them to St. Mungo's, our hospital, and have healers look at them. Once I get approval, it will be easy to get them moved since we already have the transfer process established. Dudley looks relieved. They exchange cell phone numbers and Harry tells him he will let him know when it will happen. Dudley tells him he won't be returning to school next week, but Harry encourages him to go back, telling him he won't be allowed to visit them at the wizarding hospital and it'll be better for him to stay busy. He promises to let him know if there are any changes in his parents and that he will try to visit them as often as possible. Dudley accepts this, knowing he can't do anything else since the hospital was ready to move them to a nursing home. Harry reaches out to shake his hand, but is enveloped in a hug. He awkwardly pats him on the back and tells him everything will be okay. Dudley thanks him and heads out.

Ginny draws Harry's attention back to her when she places a hand on his arm, "I saw the look on your face when he told you the symptoms. You know what it is, don't you? And it's bad?" He nods. Looking down to meet her eyes, he traces his knuckles down her cheek then gives her a sweet and gentle kiss then says, "I'm sorry. I wanted to spend the first day of our engagement together, but I have to get in touch with Kingsley and Malfoy." Ginny smiles even though she is disappointed, "I wouldn't love you so much if you weren't the person you are and I'm very proud of you. Helping them, even though they were so horrible to you. You are such a good man Harry Potter. But you do have to eat, so we are still going to that café like we planned before you go to work." He smiles and kisses her lightly. "I love you so much Ginny and since there really isn't anything we can do for my aunt and uncle, but get them to the Janus Thickey Ward, so we'll go to lunch. We probably won't be able to get them transferred until Monday anyway, but I'll have to go see them at the muggle hospital to make sure they are really victims. I'll send the minister and Malfoy a patronus then we'll head out."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Hermione and Draco spent the rest of the morning exploring and learning each other. What reaction a kiss does here and a touch does there. After eating some left over hors d'oeuvres from the party last night, he is chasing her back to her bedroom when Harry's stag comes flying in the hall with the message, "Meet me at the ministry in an hour. There has been another attack of The Demented, two victims."

Hermione's eyes get big when she hears the message. She looks are Draco with concern. Fuck Potter's timing. Now she knows and I wanted to protect her from it for as long as possible. Plus, the dolt is not supposed to put anything about cases in any form of message.Draco meets her gaze and shakes his head saying, "You should not have heard that, you are still on holiday." She smiles at his concern and says, "You know I wouldn't have been able to hear it if I didn't have clearance. I created the spell myself to prevent unauthorized persons from hearing our patronuses unless the counterspell is cast first." Draco grins at her, marveling again at her magic. "Yes love, I know, but that it is a failsafe. He should not have mentioned the case." She concedes, but even so she gets excited and has that gleam in her eye knowing she will finally be able to work.

Draco knows he cannot keep the case from Hermione any longer. He takes her hand, leading her to the sofa and spends the next 30 minutes giving her a quick brief on what they know. The only real details they have are the current status of the victims and how they were found. He tells her about Potter's moniker being related to the Dementor's kiss and feels placated when she agrees the symptoms of the victims are not similar enough to warrant the nickname. When he kisses her goodbye, he tells her he needs to go home so he can take a shower and change, she argues that she is coming along. He finally gets her to stay behind by telling her at this point she would be a liability since she is not up to speed on the case. He also has to promise to bring her copy of the case file before he leaves.

It does not take Draco long to get ready. When he apparates into her flat, he can hear the water running. He grows hard thinking about how he could have easily been in the shower with her if not for the damn case. He sits down on her sofa and let's out a frustrated grunt. He flips through the file, knowing it will distract him in a matter of moments. Looking through the photos of the victims he knows he is missing something, he just cannot figure it out and it frustrates him so he closes the file and drops it with a huff. He leans back on the sofa and closes his eyes, taking deep breaths, knowing he needs to calm down. Already being aggravated before he sees boy wonder is a bad idea, especially since he will likely get an earful about Hermione. A few minutes after the water shuts off, Hermione comes in the room, "Draco?" He looks up and is captivated by her. He loves to see her in form fitting muggle clothes, instead of the shapeless robes they wear to work. She is wearing jeans, a fitted red jumper and his necklace. Her hair is still damp and hanging in loose curls around her face. He stifles a groan at her appearance before standing up, pulling her into his arms and kissing her passionately. In a husky voice he says, "Merlin! You are making it difficult for me to leave." She grins up at him with a twinkle in her eye, "Well then, just take me with you." He gives her a brief kiss and leans back quickly, causing her to chase his mouth. She brings their lips together again for a sensuous kiss. He pulls back and touches her forehead with his as he lets out a ragged breath. "You know I cannot do that love. The minister would kill me if I brought you in before your time off is complete." She argues, "I can always just say I was stopping by." Draco shakes his head no. "Stay here and catch up on the case. I left the file on your coffee table. I will bring the notes from today back with me and we will discuss them, then go out to dinner. Would you like to have some Italian food this evening?" She nods, then reaches up, putting her arms around his neck so she can pull him down into another kiss. Reluctantly, he finally pulls away saying, "Gods woman, you make things hard on a man." The sexual innuendo laced pun causes Hermione to giggle. She watches him as he strides away from her. She marvels at his physique and how good he looks wearing an emerald green button down shirt and beige trousers. Her eyes linger on the way they cling to his arse. He can feel her stare, so after he releases the floo powder and calls out, "Auror Office at the Ministry of Magic," he looks over his shoulder and winks at her saying quietly, so as to keep his destination on track, "Looking forward to this evening love," then he steps into the fireplace and is gone in a swirl of green flames.

Hermione falls onto her sofa, thinking of his smirking face as he left and is lost in the memories of the last 24 hours. She is absentmindedly playing with her necklace when her fireplace roars to life. When she looks up, she is disappointed for a moment when she sees that it is Ginny before she smiles.

Ginny notices her friend's brief look of distraught before her grin and laughs, "So he's that good?" Hermione blushes and Ginny laughs. "Aha! So he deserves his nickname from school then?" Hermione frowns when she thinks of all the girls whispering about his sexual talents, even the Gryffindors, calling him the Slytherin sex god. She scoffs, but feels like she is going to throw up when she remembers that supposedly he'd worked his way through all the pretty purebloods and halfbloods in Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw and was working on their house 6th year. Was it all just a lie to get me in bed?

Ginny mentally kicks herself for bringing that up, momentarily forgetting her friend's insecurities. She racks her brain then remembers something that might help, "You know there was an article in Witch Weekly recently that named Malfoy as one of the most eligible bachelors in the U.K. They called him the reformed bad boy. It noted he hasn't dated or been connected to or seen with anyone since he broke up with that pureblood witch from France before Auror training. It even quoted Parkinson saying she thought someone slipped him Amortentia, since he was fine, then all the sudden the day Slughorn brewed it in potions class, he completely lost interest in her. She blamed the love potion on their breakup, either that or he must really be gay, since that hag from Paris looked like a guy. But I think he finally realized she looks like a dog and he could do better." This finally brought a smile to Hermione's face when she quietly says, "No, he definitely isn't gay." She's quiet for a minute then adds, "I didn't know it could be like that. So tender, but amazingly passionate and gratifying. Well the third time wasn't quite so tender." When she realizes what she just said, her hand flies to her mouth and her face feels like it is on fire, causing Ginny to cackle, "Oh Herms, it's nothing to be embarrassed over! Tell me more?!" She rolls her eyes at the terrible nickname that only Ginny is allowed to use and exclaims, "No way! You know more than you should about it."

To change the subject, Hermione says, "Thanks for the note you left. I was so caught up I didn't even realize people were here until this morning." Ginny responds, "You are quite welcome," laughing to herself that she just revealed a whole lot more about what she was feeling last night. "So how did Harry take it? I assume everyone saw us kiss." Ginny smiles and squeezes her hand saying, "He's fine." Hermione let out a relieved sigh. At lunch, they decided not to tell her about his flip out, just that he's okay, because he is now. That way Ginny wouldn't be lying to her best friend, especially his since initial reaction would only hurt her. They also decided not to tell her yet that his family are victims, knowing she would cut her vacation short no matter what, even if his aunt and uncle were arseholes to him growing up.

Ginny moves the conversation along by telling Hermione that Hannah and Neville are now together and they decide they are a good match for each other. Then Ginny just can't hold it in any longer and blurts out, "Harry and I are engaged. We were going to come over together after he finishes work to tell you, but I couldn't wait any longer!" Hermione squeals and hugs her friend then pulls back and states, "He finally did it! Let me see which ring* he picked out!" Ginny holds out her left hand. "Oh, it's so beautiful! This one wasn't in the stores. He must have had it made. It's perfect there were three he couldn't decide between and it looks like he combined them." Ginny feels all warm inside and for a change replies shyly, "He told me at lunch he did and the story about dragging you all over the London one Saturday when I had a closed practice. Thank you for helping him." "You are so welcome, I'm so glad Harry asked me for my help with…" Hermione stops speaking abruptly when she notices her best friend is starting to cry. Before she can ask, Ginny brushes the tears away, takes a deep breath, smiles brightly and says, "Happy tears. Um, not to change the subject but Hermione I wanted to ask, well, you're my sister in every way but blood and my best friend, would you please be my maid of honor? You know you won't have to do much since, well, Mum." Both girls laugh and Hermione answers, "Of course! I would be honored to be your maid of honor. This is such an honor…oh Merlin, how many times can I say honor!" Both girls break into laughter.

Ginny invites Hermione to dinner with her family, but she declines telling her she has a date. They both laugh again then hug, promising to get together again before the quidditch seasons starts back up. Ginny tells her she is heading over to tell Alicia Spinnet, who is one of her teammates, to ask her to be a bridesmaid. As she walks toward the door, Hermione reminds her, "Um, Gin, you, Harry and Draco all have full access through my wards." The redhead turns around and replies, "Yeah, right, forgot that. Little scattered, big morning and all." She is about to apparate when she stops and gives Hermione a knowing look then asks, "So Draco too? When?" Vividly blushing, she looks down at her hands, fidgeting and says, "Um…since I moved in." Ginny beams, "Good! Oh, and by the way if Mum floo calls later tonight, and if you aren't too busy and answer, tell her I'm in the shower and send me a patronus letting me know. I'm staying with Harry again tonight." Hermione shakes her head, "Well at least Molly will stop bugging you about getting married now and I won't have to cover for you for much longer!" She gives her a wink telling her thanks and bye before she is gone.

Hermione picks up the large case file and begins to skim through it, familiarizing herself with everything and looking at the pictures and notations. She accios a legal pad and pen and begins making her own notes. She knows some of the names of the victims and recognizes the surname of others. She gets a sinking feeling she knows how the victims are connected, but she needs to double check. In the meantime she begins profiling.

A/N: You can see Ginny's ring on my Pinterest page (search for The Auror Mentalist), or on my author Facebook page - Chalayne.

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