Title: Guilty By Association

Author: Tiny Q

E-Mail: one_legged_lesbian_seagull@hotmail.com

A/N: Yes hello again! It's me! It keeps snowing over here so when I'm shoveling I have a lot of time to think. The result: A whole lot of ideas for this fic! I have received a lot of reviews asking for more D/G action. (That is what reviews are for people! JK) I kept that in mind for this chapter. And if you are getting bored out of your mind with the little plot development, hear this: Next chapter things will start to fall into place! So just hang ten! Oh. Chained Doves, I would think twice if I were you, about giving those penguins of yours jet packs. For I just might have to call upon my army of one legged lesbian seagulls. We wouldn't want that now, would we? Tiny Q smiles innocently and twiddles her right handed fingers: Vir style Oh yeah. I own nothing! Nothing I saw! Bwa Ha Ha Ha. Except, if you will, the plot.

Guilty By Association

Chapter 7

Bathwater

Draco Malfoy was pissed. No he was more than pissed. He had spent the entire day with Potter and Weasley (that alone was enough to put him in a spiteful mood) but he had spent it meeting contact after contact. From Oliver Wood, captain of Europe's new WQL (World Quidditch League) team, to Lee Jordan, the chief announcer for the WQL. Colin Creevy, a photographer for the Wizarding Geographic Magazine and Cho Chang in her high up Ministry job. Even the set of Weasley twins with their joke shop in Hogsmead where they secretly built weapons to aid in the fight against Voldemort.

None of them had any relevant information except the fact that there was something going down in the docks. Other than that, no one knew a thing. But it was not this that put him in such a foul mood. No. It was the fact that every single one of them had mentioned something about his loyalty or questioned the sanity of Potter or Weasley for working beside a Malfoy.

'It's not like I am going to jump up and kill anyone,' Draco thought spitefully. 'Why the hell would I want to do that?' He glared down at the book before him. He was seated in the expansive library of the Bureau, attempting to find anything that might help in the discovery of Granger. 'Or rather Mrs. Weasley,' he thought and flipped the page, almost ripping it out of the spine.

"I don't know Harry," he heard Tabitha Murphy say as she entered the room from the lobby door, followed by the Boy Who Lived himself. "I have looked everywhere! I know there is some sort of tracking spell but I can't remember where I saw it. And for the life of me I can't remember how it goes."

"That's not like you, Tabitha," he heard Potter say quietly as the man went to get a cup of coffee. Draco glanced up to see the short, blond woman on the verge of tears.

"I know!" she said miserably. "I'm just so worried about Hermione!" She walked over and plopped into a chair opposite of his. She looked at him sadly. "Any luck?"

"No," he said and shifted his eyes away from her gaze to look back down at the book. "There's nothing."

"Figures," she sighed and dropped her head onto the table, causing Draco's own coffee to splash around in his cup.

"I'm sure you'll remember," Potter said as he sat down beside her. "Either that or one of us will find something. I mean, we have books from all over in here," he gestured around the library. "There has to be at least one book in here that can help us."

"Yeah," came her muffled reply, her long hair covering her face. "After it is too late."

"Dumbledore will come up with something before it is to late," Potter sighed.

"How do you know?" she sighed.

"He's Dumbledore. He knows Voldemort better than anyone in the world," he replied. Draco was surprised to see that Tabitha had no reaction to Voldemort's name. There were very few people over seas who didn't, in Europe it was even worse. 'Must come with working for Potter,' he thought and closed the book. Dropping it onto the rather large pile he had already gone through and grabbed the last one from the pile he hadn't yet.

"Well that went well," Ginny Weasley said sarcastically as she entered through the same door the other two had entered from. "I have never seen mother so worried in my life. And the Grangers looked about ready to sew somebody!"

"It'll be alright Gin," Potter said sympathetically in a tired tone as she sat in a chair as far as she could from Draco. He sent her a nasty sneer and continued to flip through the pages of the old, musty book.

The four of them sat in silence as the pages of the book became fewer and fewer until Draco tossed the book onto the pile along with the others.

"Nothing" he said and rubbed his temples. He had been getting a headache ever since they had gotten back a few hours before. 'Must be stress from having to put up with them,' he thought darkly, glancing at the others in the room. They all looked equally tired.

"Draco?" Tabitha asked after having risen her head from the table.

"Yes," he asked, drinking the last of his coffee.

"Where are you staying tonight?" He looked at her for a moment.

"I was going to get a ho-"

"He's staying with me," Weasley cut him off from her seat down the table. He snapped his head to look at her. But she was staring pointedly at Tabitha, who was doing the same in return. "He's already messed up my apartment," she added. "Wouldn't want him to mess up yours."

"I wouldn't mind," Tabitha said, a cold edge to her voice. Draco looked back and forth between the two women then glanced at Potter who had an amused look on his face.

"Don't look at me," he said. It was at this moment that the door opened again for a fourth time in the past ten minutes.

"Sorry it took me so long," Dudley Dursley said as he strolled in. Sitting down beside Draco he looked around. "What's up?"

"Nothing much," Potter said with an amused tone in his voice, then he coughed and went serious again. "Find anything?"

"Nothing," Dudley said gruffly. "Only that there is something funny going on in and around the docks."

"That's the same thing we heard," Potter said. Draco glanced across the table at Weasley. She was looking at Dudley with well covered distrust. The only reason he picked up on it himself was because he had worn that same face for his last three years at Hogwarts around his fellow Slytherins.

He still doubted it himself that the man could work for Voldemort. If Voldemort despised muggles then why would he have one work for him. But then if he thought about it, it made sense. Who would suspect a muggle to work for Voldemort. Only Weasley would be so dumb. But then again, why would the man shoot him in the back and act all friendly now? With out even a hint of hatred?

"Is that the time?" he heard Tabitha squeak from across the table. "I have to go. I'll check the books at my house." She stood up then looked down at Draco. "You sure you don't want to stay at my place?" she asked.

"He's sure," Ginny said sternly. Tabitha nodded then headed out the door.

"Latter," she called over her shoulder as the door closed behind her.

"I should probably get going as well," Dudley said from beside him. "Same time as usual?"

"Yeah, I guess," Potter said and stood up as well. "I'll see you tomorrow Dudley." The tall man nodded then went out the door. Draco could hear him clunking across the lobby floor and down the steps, out to the street. "I think I will go too," Potter said as he walked towards the door. "You going to be alright locking up, Gin?"

"Aren't I always?" she asked. He just shook his head at her then turned his eyes to Draco. With one look he seemed to tell him that if anything happened to her, Draco would be dead by his hands. He just grinned slightly in return and enjoyed the frustrated look on the other man's face.

"Night," he called and left through the door like all the others. He turned in his chair and looked at the red head at the end of the table.

"Couldn't get enough of me, could you?" he asked with a grin.

"Oh get over yourself," she hissed back standing up and turning the coffee pot off. "Who would think to look for you at a Weasley's house?"

"So my well being is all you have in mind?" he asked slyly and quickly headed out of the room as she shut out all the lights.

"You wish," she said sarcastically then left him to stand alone in the lobby. He suspected that she was locking up the other parts of the building. She returned a moment latter and closed the door to the office with a slam. Her cloak was already on and she walked quickly past him towards the main entrance. Pulling on his own cloak, he followed her. She locked the door behind them then after they were outside pulled out a set of muggle keys.

"Why am I not surprised," he sneered as she locked the main doors.

"Shut up," she hissed and stormed past him into the alley. "I trust you can Apparate someplace other than my bedroom this time," she said after he had joined her. With a pop she Disapparated away. Shaking his head, Draco did the same.

When he reappeared in Ginny's apartment moments latter she was no where to be seen.

"Weasley?" he called as he looked around the empty main room. All the lights had been turned on but there was no one there. Taking off his cloak, he tossed it onto the blue couch.

"Put that on the cloak rack," Ginny's voice called from the half open door of the bedroom. A little creeped out, Draco picked up his cloak and looked around for a cloak rack. He found one in a small hallway that led to the main entrance of the apartment. He suspected it was rarely used.

Ginny walked out of her bedroom clutching a bathrobe and a couple of large, white fluffy towels. She shot Draco a dark look and proceeded through the main room.

"Where are you going?" he asked her, an amused smirk playing across his lips.

"I am going to take a bath," she said, not pausing in her trek. "And you had better leave me alone or else you might not wake up tomorrow."

"Where's your sense of fun?" he asked with a hint of sarcasm.

"It left when you showed up," she hissed and disappeared down the hall. He heard the door to the bathroom he had been in before open and close with a slight slam. There was a large Jacuzzi tub in there which Draco suspected, was one of the perks of the place.

Hearing the water turn on he sighed and looked around the room for something to do. Spotting a radio under the large window he turned it on with the intentions of catching a Qudditch match. The radio was tuned to what he assumed to be a muggle station. Wizarding music just didn't have this kind of beat to it.

The song was in the midths of a drum solo with a trumpet playing in the background and a woman humming softly. The music paused, the trumpet playing predominantly: "Why do the good girls always want the bad boys?" the woman asked, the drums continued to play then the song continued with the woman singing about "bathwater".

'I wonder if that's true,' Draco thought, leaving the radio on deciding he rather liked the sound. He began to skim through the titles of Ginny's many shelved books. Mostly romance novels, old textbooks and references. 'How dull,' he thought and walked into the kitchen to retrieve the copy of the Daily Prophet he had seen there earlier.

"That was No Doubt's Bathwater," a chipper man said on the radio as Draco returned with the newspaper. He sat down on the couch and pushed the blanket out of the way. "Up next we have Simple Plan's I'm Just A Kid." The song began to play and Draco began to read.

After about an hour, he began to hear a noise in the background of the apartment. At first he tried to ignore it, but something in his brain told him persistently that something about it just wasn't right. Putting the newspaper on the table, he walked over to the radio and turned it off in the middle of Jimmy Eat World's The Middle. Cocking his head to the right he listened closely for the peculiar sound.

It seemed to be coming from somewhere in the back of the apartment. Pulling out his wand he began to head back towards the kitchen. The sound was soft but as he approached, it became louder and more defined.

It was running water.

Actually, it was more the sound of water spilling off of a high surface.

'What the-' he thought and approached the bathroom which Ginny currently occupied. Sure enough, it sounded as though the tub was over flowing. Glancing down at the floor, Draco saw a large puddle of water forming around the door. 'She probably fell asleep or something stupid like that,' he thought and knocked on the door.

"Weasley." he called. There was no response. "Weasley?" he tried again after a moment. "You're ruining your floor with all this water. Not that it matters much. It's not that nice anyway." Still no response. He was sure that an insult would have gotten a reaction out of her. But no. She remained silent and the water continued to run. The puddle around the door spreading ever larger across the hardwood floor.

Starting to get a little worried, he called: "If you don't turn that water off, I'm going to come in there and turn it off myself."

Nothing.

"Alright," he called, pulling his wand towards the doorknob. "I'm coming in. Alohomora." The door unlocked and he twisted the knob. Keeping his eyes on the floor, he opened the door, having to push a substantial amount of water out of the way with it.

"Wea-" he stopped dead at what he saw. Ginny was floating in the tub, her red hair flowing around her head like fire.

"Oh my god," he whispered. Waving his wand he stopped the water from running and made all the water on the floor disappear. "Ginny," he gasped and rushed to the side of the tub and pulled her quickly out by her shoulders.

'She can't be dead,' he thought at the feel of her cold skin under his hands. 'She can't'. He lay her on the tiled ground and gently pushed her head back and checked her pulse.

It was weak.

Draco let out a small sigh of relief then opened her mouth to see if she was breathing.

She wasn't.

Supporting her head he pinched her nose and covered her mouth with his own, giving her two deep breaths. He watched her chest rise and fall with each, but she did not begin to breathe on her own. Counting to five he gave her a third breath, then another five seconds and a fourth.

"Come on Ginny," he said before giving her another breath. "Breathe." He was beginning to fear that maybe he would not be able to revive her. 'If only I had looked into the noise earlier,' he hissed at himself, giving her another breath. He was now panting with the effort.

"Potter's going to kill me if you die," he hissed. Breath. "Wake up!" Breath.

Ginny made a sudden gurgling noise in her throat then began to violently cough up water. Draco quickly turned her onto her side.

"That's a girl," he said soothingly, surprising himself. Suddenly realizing how very naked she was, he turned and grabbed one of the large towels that was resting on the counter and hastily wrapped her in it.

"Are you alright?" he asked her after she had stopped coughing and was breathing at a quick but steady pace.

She nodded her head and shivered slightly. "What happened?" she asked, looking up at him then around the bathroom.

"You tell me," he said, dropping down to the ground beside her and helping her to sit up.

"I was just so tired for some reason," she sighed after a moment, dropping her head. "I never fall sleep in the bathtub," she said quietly. "Never."

Draco stayed quiet, willing his own breathing back too normal. His pants and shirt now wet but it didn't bother him.

"Oh no," she groaned after a moment. He looked over at her questioningly. "We were even. Now I owe you."

He let out a small laugh of disbelief. "I can put you back in there if you like. I'd be doing the world a favor. They are probably all outside your door right now, cheering and when you walk out they're going to gang beat me."

"Malfoy?" she asked innocently, leaning over and looking him straight in the eyes.

"Yes?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Shut up."

"Alright."

~*~

A/N: Well that is it for now. Tiny Q dodges a snow ball Hey! Stop it you two! Glares pointedly at Draco and Ginny Next chapter to come soon. Hopefully!

Thanks to all my lovely reviewers! Princess Evil, pinkish panther, Chained Dove, tujunga(Thanks! I'll keep that in mind for future chapters!), Caliko, Mary, Verena Gruen, ChildLikeTendencies!