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: If this Chapter took too long for people, I'm sorry, but it is mid-term time and I haven't had as much time to work on this.
Chapter 4
Draco sneezed as the century old dust made it's way into his nose.
"Bless you!" Harry said, rubbing his own nose. Hermione shuffled by with another giant book and dropped it in front of Malfoy. Harry hid himself in his file folders in order to conceal a smirk.
"What is this one??" Draco asked, trying to avoid another sneeze.
"Catalogue of all Ancient Celtic Rituals spanning the early centuries. Could be useful." She answered, setting herself down in another chair, and tugging at the volume of 'Irish Rituals from the Dark Ages' to open it. Harry grinned, and Draco knew why. This was the Hermione Granger that everyone remembers. Bookish, covered in dust, and completely happy in every way.
"Boy, it didn't take you long to leave me for someone else. I had no idea it was going to be someone who has been dead for centuries, mind you." Harry teased. Hermione flashed him a grin.
"Nonsense, luv. You know I like my men with a bit more flesh than this guy does." She said, showing him a picture of the author. It wasn't pretty. Harry grimaced.
"Oooh. Yeah, I'd forgotten about that minor detail." Draco rolled his eyes and tried to bury himself as far as he could into the book he was reading without setting off another sneeze.
It was another three hours later when Hermione whistled in amazement.
"I think I found it." She said. Half an hour ago she'd traded the 'Irish' book for the large one on Celtic rituals. She set it down with a thump and the three of them peered at the page she pointed too. Harry read it out loud.
"'The Rites of Balthazar Resurrection of a king of Darkness.' That sounds about right. " He screwed up his eyes behind his glasses. Before continuing "'The Rites of Balthazar require great preparation, and strength of will. A subject containing the will of the resurrected must be prepared properly as the vessel of his return.' You know, this doesn't sound very Celtic." Hermione sighed.
"That's because all you know is the Muggle Celtic legends, Harry. Celtic Wizards are of slightly different ilk. They were pretty nasty." She explained.
"Ah." Harry said.
"Well that does sound about right for a bunch of Death Eaters. Find the most evil sect of ancient wizards, and use one of their rituals to bring back their leader. But, where would they have to do this kind of stuff? Potter, you said they'd need a place with some sort of ancient magic right? Is that true?" Malfoy wondered, trying to peer at the extraordinarily small print in the book. He wondered how Hermione had been able to read it, Potter he could figure with those glasses, but human eyes weren't supposed to read things that tiny.
"It is. They'd need a sacred altar devoted to the beings of Darkness in order to successfully complete the ritual." Harry reported after a moment of concentration.
"So what we need to do, is locate any such altars, and see of we can pinpoint Death Eater movements around them."
"You make it sound so easy." Hermione sighed. Draco pondered for a moment, and then Harry voiced what he'd been thinking.
"What do you think 'A subject containing the will of the resurrected' means?" Hermione fell into thought for a moment.
"Well, the 'will' could be the mind..." Draco mused. "But, that doesn't seem likely...." Hermione's eyes suddenly lit up, but then darkened.
"Oh dear."
"What?"
"The 'will' could also be powers, couldn't it? Maybe the subject is going to be Harry." She said. Harry frowned.
"Could be..." He trailed off as a sudden whump sounded from the fireplace in the corner of the Ministry's Library.
"Ouch! Damn." Someone cursed, and then the sound of a baby crying filled the library. Hermione looked a little puzzled, and got up to investigate. Before she could get very far though, Something bright orange came around from behind a bookcase, looking very flustered.
"There you are!" Ron Weasley exclaimed when he saw them. Draco had to smother a laugh at what he was dressed in. He knew that Ron was playing for the Chudley Cannons, but had yet to see the six foot five man dressed completely in orange.
"Ron, what on earth are you doing here? I thought you were on babysitting duty." Hermione huffed, taking Andrea from his arms.
"Ah, right, sorry about this, old chums, but I do have a practice this afternoon. And Lav is still at work."
"Oh for heaven's sake. Why did you tell us? We'd have asked Neville or Colin." Hermione looked about ready to start fighting with him again.
"Ah, but how can one resist the temptation of looking after this sweet little one? Besides, I didn't think you lot were going to be this long." He said, looking at his watch. "Hallo, Malfoy. Scared your new assistant off yet? I hear this one's a real dunce cap." He said, his grin not completely reaching his eyes. It never did anymore.
"Actually no, Weasley, this one is quite resilient." Ron nodded. Harry sighed a little and shook his head. Ron had steadfastly refused to believe that Ginny was missing. If anyone were to ask him about her, all he would say was a vague mumbling about how she was fine, but he hadn't seen her lately to give any details. When Draco had started working on finding her, he had tried to ask him where she might have gone, but he never gave him a straight answer. Odder still, the Quidditch player had begun treating Draco as if they had been friends for years. It was mildly disturbing, and Draco wished fervently that he would stop it and face the music. At the time, Harry had believed that Ron had completely snapped, but Hermione had insisted that it was just his way of dealing with the circumstances, and they should let him work it out on his own. That had been three years ago. And there was no indication that he was going to be changing his mind any time soon.
"Anyway, I must be going, so I will leave you to get on with your work. Enjoy!" Then the man apparated away.
"Hermione. I think three years is a bit of a long time to live in denial, don't you?"
"For once I agree. That man can be so irritating. I almost wish he would disappear, but then his wife would want to find him, and I would be the one looking for him." Draco muttered. Hermione sighed.
"Oh, don't think I don't know how bad it can be for him, but I don't know what else we can do, he won't even listen to his own mother about it anymore. It's as if he's tuned out of reality."
"It can't end well. What if we never find her, or what if she dies?" Harry wondered.
"Do not even contemplate that thought, Potter. It's not going to happen. Period." Draco hissed. He stood up and stalked down an aisle to put a book back. Hermione looked reprovingly at Harry.
"You had to say that didn't you?"
"What? You can't say that you haven't thought of that possibility."
"Of course I have. But I have the sense not to say it in front of temperamental Slytherins. Who are sheltering us, in case you've forgotten."
"I'll apologize."
"Good."
Harry didn't get the chance to do so however, Draco returned and studied them for a moment.
"Why don't you two keep at it here. I want to go and check a couple things out." A second later he apparated away.
"There are twelve of them." He grinned in satisfaction as Harry jumped when he heard Draco's voice.
"What?"
"Death Eaters. There are twelve."
"Now, how in the world did you find that out?"
"I beat Crabbe up for information."
"You what?"
"I beat Crabbe up for information. What's wrong with that?"
"I thought he was in Azkaban."
"He is. Just means he's easier to talk to." Harry shook his head, deciding not to think about it.
"So, who are they?"
"Names that you wouldn't know off the top of your head." Harry shot him an exasperated look.
"Malfoy..."
"So I brought them with me." He said. Harry rolled his eyes.
"You're a prat."
"And you're a git. So we're even." He handed Harry the folder he had been carrying. Harry flipped through it, and nodded.
"I'll check this out." He said, and then left the living room to hurry up the stairs. Draco watched him leave. It hadn't been quite as easy as he'd said. And he'd had to resort to measure that he wished he hadn't needed, but he got his information in the end anyway. It had been very strange seeing his ex-bodyguard like that. Not something he ever wanted to experience again. He sat back in the armchair that he'd claimed his favourite as a child. If there was one constant in the world, it was comfortable chairs. Of course, there was a point when Ginny had been his constant...a long time ago...
****
Malfoy stalked down the corridors, looking for blood. It didn't have to be anyone's blood in particular, but taunting a first year would be nice. Specifically a Gryffindor first year, but he'd take a Hufflepuff in a pinch. Sadly, the halls were empty, save for a ghost or two. They were never any fun, because they could always just leave in the middle of something particularly snide that you were saying. So, fuming silently, he barreled around a corner.
"Bloody hell!" Was all he heard before he smacked into someone, and landed on the floor. What luck, he thought, now he had someone to take everything out on. Now, who was he going to be belittling in a minute. He glanced across from him and saw, to his great delight, the youngest Weasley. However, she spoke first.
"What the hell is your problem, Malfoy? Do you ever pull your mind out of the dungeon long enough to even look where you're going?" She shouted, obviously irritated. He glowered.
"I could say the same about you Weasley. What was it this time? Oh of course, Potter, what else could it be." She looked shocked. He smirked, feeling victorious, but then things changed again.
"I was actually paying attention to where I was walking, you troglodyte. You were the one who was contemplating which of us to sacrifice to the Dark Lord." She hissed, scrambling to her feet and moving away. He shot to his feet instantly and grabbed her arm.
"Don't you ever insinuate such a thing again. Do you understand?" He growled. Her eyes narrowed and she slapped him. He staggered back from her. Raising a hand to his face, he stared at her dumbstruck.
"Grab me like that again, Malfoy, and the next one will be aimed much further down." She said, so quietly, that the threat seemed that much more real.
"You hit me."
"Well observed, Malfoy. You've got exactly five seconds to get out of my face, before I do something to yours." She said, turning away and stalking down the way he had come from.
He stared after her.
"No one hits me." He said. Turning and wandering away, suddenly he felt a lot better.
****
He smiled ruefully. He supposed now that if he hadn't been so angry that day, he wouldn't be sitting here, wallowing in self pity.
****
"Are you following me?" She turned around abruptly, glaring at him.
"When did you grow a spine?" He retorted, circling her.
"You look like a vulture when you do that."
"I like vultures."
"It figures." She rolled her eyes at him. He found that eerily attractive.
"Why aren't you afraid of me?" He finally asked, noticing how her brown eyes widened slightly. She drew herself up to her full height. Which, compared to his 6 feet and extra, wasn't very much.
"I am not afraid of you because there is nothing to be afraid of." She said.
"Really? I'll bet there are some people around here who would disagree with you on that one."
"That's because most of them haven't experienced real fear."
"And you have? The Weasel's protected little sister?" He stopped and peered at her face. She blinked at him, and something flitted through her eyes.
"Yes. I have."
"I don't believe you."
"Too bad. I have no control over what you feel. Only what I know is true." She told him pointedly, then she turned away and walked into a classroom.
"Hey Weasley!" Malfoy yelled down the empty corridor. After weeks of daily insult matches with the little redhead, just missing one day was not natural. She stopped, turned slightly to throw a death glare over her shoulder, then started walking again. He frowned, then picked up his pace to catch her.
"I said, Hey Weasley." He said when he reached her.
"I heard. I just chose to ignore."
"Why?"
"Because, all we ever do is argue. And I don't feel like arguing with you today, I've already had enough with my brother." She muttered.
"So let's do something else, then." She stopped dead.
"What did you say?"
"Let's do something else, then." She stared at him, her eyes bewildered.
"Why would you want to do something else with me? I'm a Gryffindor."
"Well, I look at it this way, you're the only person in the entire school who doesn't either fear me, fawn over me or hate me vehemently. So, by default that makes you the only person around here worthy of my time." She blinked at him.
"I'm not sure if I should feel flattered or disgusted."
"Flattered would be nice. Come on, I know what we can do." He grabbed her hand, something perfectly natural at that moment, and dragged her out of the castle.
****
He was roused from his memories by the sound of someone trying to break down his door. He got out of his chair grumpily. He reached for his wand, in case he needed it, the banging came again.
"What in the name of..." He flung open the door, wand pointed and at the ready, to find Orderly standing on his doorstep. But he wasn't alone. Standing with him was a small girl, about 3 years old, sporting strawberry blonde hair, and carrying a suitcase.
"Can I help you Mr. Orderly?" He asked, irritated. He put his wand away, and glared hard at the office assistant.
"Uh....Good evening sir. This little girl just sort of..ummm...appeared in the office before I left. I...uh..I believe she belongs to you." With that, he apparated out of there, leaving Draco staring at the child. She was looking up at him like a deer caught in the headlights. He blinked.
"Hello." He said. "Perhaps you'd like to come inside?" He held out his hand, to let her decide what she wanted to do. Hesitantly she placed one of her tiny hands in his, and he led her slowly inside. He closed the door, and led her into the living room, and settled her in the chair that he had just vacated. He examined her carefully. She looked very familiar, but he couldn't say where he'd seen her before.
"Well then little one. Who are you exactly?" He asked quietly, so as not to frighten her. She looked up at him, and then pulled something out of her cloak pocket. She hopped of her chair and gave it to him. It was a piece of sealed parchment. Sitting on the couch, he broke the seal. The little girl crawled up next to him, and watched. He nearly had a heart attack when he recognized the handwriting.
Draco:
I know I made a mistake when I left three years ago. I know because I missed you, and because of what I know is going to happen. They're coming for me, Draco. They want me because I house a piece of Voldemort inside my mind. They'll get Harry too, through Hermione. You mustn't let that happen, if they get both of us, they'll succeed. There's one more thing that you should know. The little girl you see now, she's our daughter, Draco. I'm sending her to you now because I know she'd be killed if she was with me when they come. She's why I left. Take care of her. Please. I love you.
Ginny.
Draco shuddered. He looked at the girl again, and the picture came to mind again. She had been sitting oddly, she was wearing looser clothing, she'd had her hand spread across her stomach. Suddenly the snatches of conversation made perfect sense. She hadn't known what to do about being pregnant. And Hermione hadn't known what to tell her to do either. He was still lost in whirl of understanding when he felt something bury itself in his side and wrap small arms around him. He shifted slightly, and pulled her onto his lap. He looked over her again, smiling as he ran a hand through her shiny hair, then traced her face. She smiled at him, then buried her face in his chest. He hugged her. He had a daughter. He had been a father for three years. It was amazing.
"Potter!"