Astray in Endeavor



Summary: Ginny Weasley disappeared within a week of graduating from Hogwarts, and Draco Malfoy swore that he would find her if it killed him. Now, three years and an anonymous tip off later, it just might do that. And if he's not careful, her too. In order to protect the world and the woman he fell in love with from a new and perhaps even more dangerous threat, he must swallow his pride and team up with his childhood nemesis before someone else disappears.



Disclaimer: I own nothing. I'm a University student. I have no money.



Notes: This is a bit of a foofy chapter. There's no real action, save for a flashback and a nightmare, but it sort of fills in a gap or two, and it was fun to write. A small note to a couple of reviewers; Thanks for being concerned about my sentence structure, and I'm now a little paranoid about doing that again, and I am an English student, so the only reason the comma's weren't there in the first place was because I was writing those bits in the wee hours of the morning and my finger missed the comma key. And to the other girl, Ron's still alive, fear not, and will be featured a bit more later in the story.





Chapter 3





Draco wasn't used to houseguests. But, Hermione was right. No one would think of looking for the Potters in his house. Not after all the animosity between them. Even after an active and very conscious attempt to put their pasts behind them, the two men still really did not enjoy each other's company. They just weren't the right types to get a long. As Potter had put it four years ago, they would never be friends. Not enemies, but not friends either. It was just one of those things. He winced a little as a sharp wail filled the house. The kid had lungs, he'd give her that much. Probably got them from her mother. He wasn't used to babies in his house either. But, he figured that he probably could get used to it if he had to. Not that he wanted Potter to stay any longer than he had to. In the guestroom, he heard Hermione get up and pick up the baby, in attempts to quiet her. Lying in his own bed, he wondered when exactly he'd stopped thinking of Hermione as 'Granger' or 'Mudblood'. It had been a gradual change, probably, he thought, about the same time he started seeing Ginny and defying his parents.



****



He grabbed her as she went by. She stifled a cry quickly, somehow knowing who had grabbed her. Then she swatted him playfully on the chest.

"I wish you wouldn't do that. One of these days I won't be able to keep from screaming." She said.

"How did you know it was me?" He asked, leaning down, in an attempt to kiss her before she said anything. She managed to lean backward a second too soon, and his plan was foiled. He scowled in mock frustration.

"Ah, ah, ah, none of that now, you'll distract me. I have a class." He pouted. "You're the only one who pulls me into small dark spaces. So, how else would I know it was you?" She told him. He grinned at her.

"You have caught me madam. Now what am I to do with you?" He said, gallantly.

"Oh I can think of a few things." She whispered, before pulling his head down to meet hers.

"Ginny? Are you in here? I saw you disappear....What are you doing?" A soft voice called out of the darkness. Ginny wrenched away from him, and turned in his arms. She peered into the gloom.

"Herm? Are you spying on me?"

"Of course not. I leave that to your brother, why? Where are you? Oh...hello Malfoy. What's going on?" Hermione came into view, and she stared at them, slightly puzzled. Ginny sighed.

"We're seeing each other Hermione. We have been for a few months." She told the older girl. Hermione's eyebrows shot up. She was surprised, to say the least.

"Ah. Okay. Well, I guess as long as you both know what you're doing. Just don't be missing classes to snog." She said, smiling a little.

"You're not angry? Or annoyed, or upset?" Ginny asked, bewildered.

"Why should I? You're both responsible for your own actions. Come on, we're teenagers. We all need a break from reality sometimes." She said. Ginny grinned and threw herself onto Hermione, giving her the biggest hug ever.

"Thank you Hermione."

"For what?"

"For trusting us." Hermione smiled, hugging the redhead back. She glanced up at Draco, a warning clear in her eyes. But he could tell that she did trust him. After all, he had changed.



****



She had been the first one to accept Ginny and himself as a couple, that was what probably won her a decent amount of respect from him. While Ron Weasley was busy trying to rip his head off his shoulders, Hermione was smiling at them, while she and Harry forcibly held him back. In fact, it was probably her who convinced them to eventually leave them alone. Never the less, she was still married to Potter. And that made her a bit of a nuisance. He rolled over and glanced at the clock. It was 5:30 in the morning. Might as well get up. He rolled out of bed, and got himself showered and dressed. When he finished, he found Hermione pacing the living room floor, rocking her baby back to sleep. She stopped when she saw him.

"Did she wake you?" She asked, nodding her head to indicate the baby.

"No. I was awake before the lungs set in." He said. She smiled.

"That's pretty early to be awake Malfoy. Trouble sleeping?"

"Yes." She was a little taken aback by the bluntness of his answer. She frowned, and moved to sit on the couch. He flopped gracelessly into the armchair.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really. But it won't hurt or help, so I don't see why I shouldn't." Hermione just looked at him.

"Go on. Why do you have trouble sleeping?"

"Nightmares."

"I see."

"No you don't. But that's not important. I have recurring nightmares, and taking a sleeping draught doesn't help much because I wake up in the morning feeling like I've got old socks in my mouth a hangover from hell. It's not fun."

"I don't doubt it. What's the nightmare? Or is that getting to personal for your liking?" Draco fixed her with a withering look, considering hard whether or not he really wanted to tell someone. He decided that it wouldn't hurt in the end. It may not help matters, but it couldn't hurt.

"It is personal, Granger." He started, using the old name for the first time in a long time. "But I'll tell you anyway. There doesn't seem to be much point in keeping it secret." She had frowned at him for the use of her maiden name, but it cleared up almost instantly. She gently rearranged the baby in her arms, she had fallen asleep again, and sat back to listen. Draco closed his eyes.

"It always starts off the same...."



****



Draco looked around the forest clearing, warily. It was oddly familiar, though he couldn't say why. There were dark shadows coming from every which way, something that he did not like in the least little bit. Something rustled to his left, and he whirled around to see what it was.

There wasn't anything there. But, that particular something rustled again, and this time Draco reached for his wand. Only to find that it was missing. Here was a good clue that something was very, very, wrong. The rustling came again.

"Whatever you are, you can't intimidate me like this." He said. The rustling stopped. A twig snapped, then all was silent again. Then someone burst out of the bushes and cannoned into him.

"Hey!" He shouted as he fell to the ground. "Watch what you're...Pansy?" The person looked up at him, and smirked.

"Draco...darling. How wonderful it is to see you."

"The pleasure is all yours I assure you. Where are they?"

"Where are who, darling?" She asked, batting her eyelashes.

"Who do you think, simpleton? Your marvelous Dark Lord worshiping friends." He said, standing up and brushing himself down.

"I'm not going to tell you." She laughed, and skipped off into the bushes. Enraged, he charged after her. Within a second, he was standing in the middle of a circle of black figures. They were all looking up. When he followed their gaze, one of them laughed. And then Pansy's horrible cackle joined in. Up in the air, in partial body bind was Ginny.

"Ginny!!" He shouted automatically. This time they all laughed at him.

"It's too late for her Malfoy." Crabbe's voice taunted, from somewhere to his right.

"Should've left her alone. What were you thinking, a Gryffindor?" Goyle's voice laughed, behind him.

"Oh well, Draco, darling. You don't have to worry about her anymore." The figures all fired streaks up at the girl.

"NO!" Draco yelled at the same time that she screamed. Then she dropped, like a stone. Panicking, he managed to catch her, and tried to rouse her. This provoked more laughter.

"She's dead Malfoy. Get over it."

"No. Never."

"Well, if you want to be like that, I guess we won't have to worry about you anymore either." Crabbe said. As if they were all one the figures turned and pointed their wands at him. Too late, he realized that he didn't have his wand. He held Ginny closer, and closed his eyes as he heard the damning words he was waiting for.

"Avada Kedavra."



****



"That's horrible." Hermione said, her face ashen.

"You're telling me. I have to go through it, night after night." He said, opening his eyes again.

"Do you think it means anything?"

"I have no idea. It could be a representation of the past, or it could be a warning of the future. It's not always exactly the same. Sometimes it's just my father who kills her, sometimes it's me, by accident. Sometimes I have a wand, sometimes I don't. But in the end, we both end up dead. That's the one constant."

"Could it be a combination?"

"A combination of what?"

"A combination of...say, the past and the future? I've heard that it can happen to some wizards." She mused.

"It's possible. The bits with the Death Eaters are a bit like what did happen that night. Though, the bit about Ginny didn't happen."

"I figured that one out on my own."

"I'm not going to tell you what happened in the forest."

"I'm not asking."

"Okay."

"Okay." The baby made a gurgling noise and Hermione shifted a little to see if anything was the matter. Draco watched her intently. She looked up at him a moment later, and raised an eyebrow.

"Would you like to hold her Malfoy?" She asked. He jumped a little.

"You what?"

"Would you like to hold her? She's awake, and she hasn't eaten yet, so there's no danger of her spitting up on you." Hermione looked as if she was trying to contain giggles.

"You would trust me with your baby?" He asked, a little quietly. She shrugged.

"Why not? I trusted you with one of my best friends." She said.

"Yeah, she disappeared, and now she's been kidnaped by Death Eaters." He snorted.

"Ah, but none of that's your fault. Whereas, if you drop my daughter, that will be your fault." She said, smiling at him. He studied her for a moment, then afforded her a small smile.

"Alright. But only for a bit." He conceded. She grinned at him, and got off the couch. Gingerly, she arranged the baby in his arms and then smoothed back the girl's hair tenderly. It was very dark fluff, she was already looking like her father. At the moment her eyes were a shade of blue, but that would change.

"So, bets on whose eyes she gets, yours or Potter's." He commented. Hermione laughed.

"Well, I think she'll get his eyes, but he and most of my family maintains that she'll have my eyes."

"What about Weasley?"

"Oh, Ron agrees with me. Said something about the hair coming complete with eyes." She said. Draco smiled a bit again, and looked at the little bundle in his arms. She really was tiny. But, he'd seen Hermione not long before she gave birth, and at the time, he'd been thinking anything but small.

"What's all this then? Malfoy showing a compassionate side. Wonders never cease." Harry had come into the room. Hermione rolled her eyes, and carefully took the baby back.

"Harry, that's not very nice. He was always nice to Ginny." Harry snorted.

"Perhaps. But somehow Malfoy and a baby just don't really mix."

"Oh, posh. I think Malfoy would make a wonderful father. Now, I'm going to make us all a nice breakfast, and then we are going to get back to work on this mystery. You take Andrea, she needs changing."

"But-"

"No buts! I got up with her this morning, and you know the arrangement. When I get up, you change the first diapers. When you get up, I change the first diapers." She said, giving him the baby, and then flouncing her way to the kitchen. There was silence for a moment, presumably while she adjusted to the size of the place, and then,

"Accio bowl!" Harry sighed, and looked at his daughter.

"I guess it's you and me, kid." He said to the baby. She gurgled at him, and he grinned.

"You do realize that she has you wrapped around her little finger." Draco said from his position in the chair. Harry glanced at him.

"Yeah. I know, they both do actually. And believe me, there's nothing else I'd rather be." He said, turning and heading back upstairs.

"What I wouldn't give to be in your condition, Potter." Draco murmured to himself. "What I wouldn't give."



End of Part 3

Stay tuned for Part 4