Title: Guilty By Association

Author: Tiny Q

E-Mail: one_legged_lesbian_seagull@hotmail.com

A/N Hello again! I just saw 'The Borrowers' with Tom Felton in it. You know the kid who plays Malfoy, well he has red hair in that movie and I just can't help but laugh at the irony. Well anyhoo. Teachers are still on strike so here is the next part . . . I own nothing to do with Harry Potter. (No matter how much I wish I did. I mean honestly, 3 mansions!) It's all J.K.'s! And the bureau idea ain't mine either, that's from Angel(The WB owns that one I think) Only thing I do own is the plot . . . ha ha ha. Thank you to everyone who reviewed! You're all such sweeties and I would fly all across the world to give each one of you a hug but I barley have enough money for gas and movies let alone plane tickets! J/K

Guilty By Association

Chapter 2

Late Arrivals

"Morning!" Harry Potter said cheerfully as he Apparated into the office. Ginny looked up from the parchment she was writing on at her desk and gave him a smile. His hair was still as unruly as it had been when she had first met him and his glasses were still the same. Yet the Boy Who Lived had filled out and was no longer as scrawny as he once had been but was well-built and tall.

"Morning," she replied and then said slyly, "You have a large pile of mail on the front desk." He rolled his eyes at her and headed towards the lobby.

"Are Ron and Hermione here yet?" he asked on his way to the door.

"Hermione's in the library, but I haven't seen Ron yet," she said and went back to work. Harry exited and before the door closed she heard him yelp in surprise at the large pile of mail. She grinned and went back to work.

'Bloody bills,' she thought sourly as she finished filling out the form and signed it at the bottom. This done she stuffed it into an envelope, addressed it and headed over to the large window on the far right corner.

"Here you go Pigwidgeon," she said and attached the letter to the overly happy owl. It was true that he had calmed down since Ron had given him to her, but he still acted like he was wired on sugar. She let out a laugh as she opened the window just before the excited bird ran into it.

"I still can't believe you kept him," someone sighed behind her. She turned around.

"Morning Ron," she said and gave him a quick hug.

"Morning," he responded and looked around, "You the only one?"

"Harry's in the lobby going through his mail," she said shaking her head, "And your wife's in the library."

"Why am I not surprised," he sighed running a hand through his short red hair. He had also filled out since his days at school but had grown a good half head taller than Harry. Ginny wasn't too short herself, but her brother still loomed over her.

He gave her a half smile and walked over to the lobby door and walked through it. Ginny could see Harry sitting at the desk throwing paper around with a very cross look on his face. She let out a short laugh and walked over to her desk. There was another popping noise and she turned to see Tabitha Murphy standing behind her.

"Ginny!" the woman said happily with a heavy Australian accent, embracing her in a hug. "Long time no see!"

"How was your holiday?" Ginny asked, returning the hug, "You have to tell me all about Hawaii!" She stepped back and looked at Tabitha. She had blond hair that fell half way down her back which was pulled back into a half ponytail revealing her crystal blue eyes that seemed to twinkle. Though Ginny was surprised to see that the woman had no tan what so ever. 'Odd,' she thought.

"Is Dudley here yet?" Tabitha asked looking around. Ginny grinned thinking about Harry's cousin who had joined their team two years ago. His parents had died in a car crash when he was eighteen(Harry still couldn't get over the irony) leaving him an extremely large sum of money. He had joined the muggle version of the Ministry hoping to become a secret agent for something called the MI6 but had been fired for using unorthodox methods. She always had her suspicions that Tabitha had a thing for him but never voiced it.

"No," she said then frowned slightly, "But he should be here any minute. Everyone's in the lobby, you should go say hi."

"It's so good to see you again," she said then turned and headed through the door into the lobby. Ginny hadn't seen Tabitha since the beginning of December when she had requested a leave of absence. The woman had been there every day since she had first showed up on their opening week requesting a job. It had been sort of odd without her cheerful smile, but everyone needs a break eventually, even Tabitha.

Glancing over at her desk, Ginny realized that she had finished her paper work and went to join the others in the lobby. Upon arrival she saw that the floor was littered with opened letters and crumpled up parchments. She frowned and looked around for Harry. 'Doesn't that guy ever clean up after himself?' she thought angrily waving her wand causing all the paper to magically fly into the recycle box.

The door to the library was open and when she entered she saw the four of them sitting around the table drinking coffee.

"Hey Gin," Hermione greeted her, "Pull up a chair." Grabbing a cup for herself Ginny sat down beside Harry and joined them in conversation about the lack of activity from Voldemort.

"Hey guys," a voice said from the door an hour latter. Ginny looked over and saw a tall guy with bleach-blond hair streaked with blue standing in the doorway.

"Afternoon, Dudley," Harry said as he looked at his cousin.

"Sorry 'bout that," he said as he walked into the room, his ankle length leather jacket billowing behind him, "My car stalled and I had to get it towed. Damn Benz. Hey Tabitha." She smiled at him then looked into her cup of coffee, cheeks slightly pink. "So we got any work yet?"

"What do you think?" Ron asked sarcastically.

"So I'll take that as a no then," he said as he plopped into a chair next to Ginny.

~*~

"I'm telling you Gin," Harry said from his desk across from hers, "If we don't get a new case soon I am going to freak. What I wouldn't give to be with Remus and Sirius right now."

"You know," Ginny sighed looking up at him, "Now that you have said that something huge is going to fall into our laps. And then you'll be complaining that you have too much to do and wish it would be all quiet again."

"I never thought you the superstitious type," he said raising an eyebrow at her.

"I'm not superstitious," she responded, "Just realistic."

Everyone had left the office a little while ago. Ron and Hermione had Apparated home to get ready for their movie and dinner. Ginny had silently wished her friend luck before she had left, and now it was just her and Harry. She sighed and went back to writing a letter to her brother Bill. There was suddenly a loud crash from the lobby and all the candles in the building went out.

"What the?" Harry asked jumping to his feet. Ginny also stood, waving her wand trying to get the candles to re-light.

"There's something wrong," Ginny whispered, "They won't light."

"Lumos," Harry said quietly and a large amount of light shone from the tip of his wand. The two of them walked to the center aisle and made their way towards the lobby door.

"You just had too say something didn't you?" Ginny hissed at him quietly. Walking through the door the two of them couldn't see a thing since there were no windows in this room. There was another crash near the door and Harry pointed his wand in that direction.

"Damn shovel," she heard someone curse. The light from Harry's wand fell upon a man dressed in a crimson cloak lying on the floor.

"Who's there?" Ginny asked, wand raised to strike.

"It's just me," the man responded standing up.

"Seamus?" Harry asked, pointing the light at the man's face. 'Well that explains the lights,' Ginny thought grimly. Every time Seamus Finnigan came to pay them a visit something exploded. Last time he had nearly hit that ugly plant and she was a little disappointed that he hadn't hit it this time.

"Yeah it's me," he said raising his hand to cover his eyes, "What's with the third degree?"

"Just a little edgy," Ginny sighed lowering her wand, "Nothing's been happening lately."

"So I've heard," Seamus replied, running a hand through his sandy-blond hair.

"To what do we owe this visit?" Harry asked while attempting to light a fire with his wand. After a few attempts he finally got it lit and the room was filled with an eerie, dim light.

"I need to ask a favor of you Harry," he said plopping down on the couch.

Harry looked at him, "What kind of favor?"

"Do you remember Draco Malfoy?" he asked and Ginny looked at him sharply.

"Of course," Harry replied, "Why?"

"Because he quit being an Auror yesterday and has disappeared," he said.

"What?" Ginny gasped, "I just saw him this morning."

"You saw him?" Seamus demanded standing up, "Do you know where he went?"

"No," Ginny said shaking her head. "Why did he quit?"

"Joe Wallski," he started and Harry made an exasperated noise. "Yeah I know. Well he wanted him to help track down his own father and arrest him. Either that or he could resign. Guess which one he chose."

"Doesn't surprise me," Harry said quietly as he began to pace the floor. He stopped pacing and looked at Seamus. "So what is this favor you wanted?"

"Well I was wondering if you could help me find him," he started, "But since Ginny has seen him already I assume you won't have too much trouble finding him."

"Why do you want us to find him?" Ginny asked. "The Ministry is more than equipped to find a missing person."

"Because I'm not really supposed to be doing this," he said, "But he's the best and I don't want to see another of our dwindling Auror force to disappear because of that git, Wallski."

"Right," Harry said, "We'll begin a search first thing tomorrow. You're in no hurry are you?"

"No, not really," the man replied. "Tell me when you find him. I just want to talk to him and see if I can change his mind." He then turned to Ginny, "Always a pleasure," he said to her. "Latter Harry."

With that he Disapparated away. The instant he was gone all the candles flared back to life.

"So when were you going to tell me that you saw Malfoy?" Harry asked her with a humorous look on his face.

"Get out of here," she said with a laugh.

"Fine," he laughed back, "I'll see you tomorrow then. Night." Harry Disapparated with a pop and Ginny was left alone. Shaking her head she quickly went through the building and locked everything up. Pulling on her multi colored scarf and matching mitts, Ginny flung on her black cloak, grabbed the fallen shovel and turned the lights off. Locking the door on the top of the landing with her wand she exited the building and pulled out the muggle keys. After having locked the door she turned and entered the alley beside the door to Apparate home.

"Weasley," a voice said weakly and a figure stumbled forward out of the shadows. Silver-blond hair caught in the moon light.

"Malfoy?!" she gasped in disbelief as she caught him under the arms as he stumbled into her, the shovel clattering to the ground.

"Help . . ." he trailed off going limp as he slipped into unconsciousness.

~*~

A/N Sorry this one was so short but the next one will be longer! Reviews Please! J