Disclaimer: I own nothing you see before you that has been copyrighted by J.K. Rowling. It's all hers; I just play around with everything. I also don't own anything from Ocean's Eleven, although I'd like to take a few of the actors home with me.

Honesty must be the best policy, but its important to remember that apparently by elimination dishonesty is the second best policy.

- Unknown

***~~~***

The next few days passed by in a blur for Ginny and Draco, although Draco's haze was mostly alcohol-related.

Ginny wandered around aimlessly during her patrolling, narrowly missing death a few times before she snapped back into reality long enough to slay her attacker. All of her colleagues noticed this unusual distraction but were wise enough not to say anything.

But Draco, on the other hand, didn't bother with work, and spent a few days in front of a fire, living on a diet of Ogden's Firewhiskey and Froot Loops.

A few days after the 'incident', as she now referred to it, Ginny walked around her home, brushing past things or not heeding where they were. A loud crash brought her out of her reverie, and after looking around, Ginny saw that she had accidentally knocked down the one remaining picture of her and Draco. Carefully picking up the picture from among the pieces of shattered glass, Ginny stared at it very closely. In the picture, both she and Draco were grinning widely, with their arms around each other. 'We were so happy!' she thought. 'And all of that time he was running around behind my back with different girls.'

Forgotten, the picture fluttered back down to the floor. 'Why couldn't I have seen anything? I'm supposed to be a Slayer, with superhuman instincts. Why was I so blind?'

Suddenly, feeling a surge of anger, Ginny picked up the closest thing to her, which happened to be an old glass paperweight, and hurled it at the wall. It satisfyingly exploded on impact with a resounding crash, shards flying everywhere.

'Displaced anger will never get you anywhere.'

She whirled around to see Harry leaning against the doorjamb, arms crossed.

'Merlin, you scared me! You're lucky you didn't come in a minute earlier, or I might've thrown something at you.'

'I've got quick reflexes so no worries.' Pushing off, Harry walked towards her, cleaning up the glass with a flick of his wand. Placing a large calloused hand on her shoulder, he gently pushed Ginny down to sit with him on the couch. 'What's wrong, Gin?'

She intensely studied her fingernails, trying to avoid Harry's probing gaze. 'Nothing,' she muttered.

'Of course nothing's wrong! I mean, throwing things, walking into things, and almost getting killed a few times while patrolling is just you being really, really happy. Am I getting warmer?'

Harry's question was met with a cold silence. 'Seriously Ginny, what's wrong?' Harry forced her to look at him by tipping her chin up with a finger. 'I'm worried about you. I don't know if you're sick, or depressed, or just lonely because Draco is still on his business trip, but-'

He was cut off by Ginny's muffled sob, cluing him in a bit more. 'Is this all about Draco?'

Ginny's dropping head nodded her answer. 'Yeah, and I'm sure his business trip is going just dandy.'

Something in her bitter tone sent Harry down a darker, more frightening thought path. 'What did he do to you? Did he hit you? I swear, if he did, I'll make sure that he will never have the ability of even thinking about having children, ever. And that's before I tell any of your brothers.'

Ginny loosened Harry's fingers that had painfully latched onto her right arm in the heat of the previous passionate outburst.

'No, Harry, he didn't hit me. He's never hit me, so don't go and beat the shit out of him. No wait, that's an appealing concept. But we've just broke up, that's all.'

'Gin, I've been your friend for over ten years, and for awhile, I was more than your friend, so I'd like to say that I know you pretty well. Better than most do. And in knowing everything about you that I do, there is no way that just a simple breakup is what is bothering you. There's a lot more that's eating at you. Tell Uncle Harry all of your problems.'

Ginny was still reluctant to tell him, although she'd already told everything to Hermione that morning. The older girl had been surprisingly levelheaded, and had promised not to tell Ron anything.

'Fine. Do you need motivation?' Harry muttered something under his breath, and then held out his hand. In what had previously been an empty palm now lay a chocolate frog. 'See? Chocolate. Comfort food. Now spill.'

Ginny could see that her roommate was in earnest, and settling back on the comfy couch, soon found the entire story pouring from her. Like her, Harry was suspicious of Draco's story, and was heard to be calling him some very unflattering names. All of this was understandable as they both really only had Ginny's side of the story. 

'What are you going to do?' was Harry's next question.

'I don't really know. Just try to get over him, I guess.' Ginny sat there, tears drying on her face, looking absolutely miserable.

'Easier said than done?'

'Clearly.'

'What can I do to make you feel better? You're still my #1, always remember that.' Harry covered one of her hands with one of his, and pressed it firmly.

A smile appeared on Ginny's face. It was shaky and small, but at least it was there. A bit of the old trickster glint came back into her eyes. 'You could run a hot bubble bath and make me some chocolate chip cookies?'

'Gin, I love you, but I don't love you that much.'

She pouted, whimpering slightly.

'Fine, fine. I'll get you your damn cookies. But you're running your own bath.'

'Yay!' Ginny bounced slightly on the couch. But she sobered very quickly. 'Thanks for everything Harry. It means a lot to me that you're always here for me when I need you.'

Harry embraced her tightly. 'You can always count on me, day or night. I'll be here for you.'

Ginny pushed him away jokingly, the moment getting too serious, and wiped away the fresh tears. 'Oh stupid, stop it. You're making me cry again.'

'But haven't I ever told you that you look absolutely ravishing with a red nose and tear-stained cheeks? You have this je-ne-sais-quoi about you.'

Ginny got up, laughing. 'You're such a hoser, Harry. (A/N: sorry about that, just a personal touch.) Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go soak in that bath you mentioned before. But there better be cookies here when I get back, or else…' she shook her fist mock-seriously at him.

'Aye aye capitan!'

                                                                                                ***~~~***

'Time to get up, Master Malfoy!'

A shaft of light ran across his face, waking Draco abruptly. 'Fucking hell!'

'Tut tut, Master Malfoy, such language. Its time for you to get up, take a bloody shower and go to work,' said his old housekeeper, who he affectionately called Nana. 'Its high time you got up and actually did something with yourself,' she chirped loudly, doing nothing but increasing the severity of his headache and his hangover.

But Draco hauled himself into a sitting position from where he had been sprawled on the floor in front of the fireplace hearth. 'But Nana, I've got a killer headache, and…'

'But its all self-inflicted so don't give me any of that "I'm depressed, because my girlfriend left me so I can't go to work and have to sit at home and get drunk" speech. Get up, and go do something about the entire situation.' She handed him a cup of coffee and a piece of toast. ' You just need some strong coffee, which I've put a Hangover Cure into, and a bit of breakfast, and you'll feel much better. If your job is the problem with your relationship, which I'll assume it is, you need to go and fix it.'

Draco wolfed down the toast and tossed back the coffee, already feeling slightly heartened. Jumping up, he kissed Nana on the cheek and started off to work. But the elderly woman's voice stopped him at the door.

'Master Malfoy, you're not leaving this house looking like that, are you? What will people think?'

Draco drew back and looked at his reflection in the large mirror hanging on the wall. His hair lay flat on one side of his head while sprouting crazily in every direction on the other, his shirt and pants sporting numerous stains or blotches of unrecognizable substances. Catching a whiff of himself, Draco recoiled slightly; the slight smell of booze and vomit clung to his clothing. But he grinned sheepishly. 'So I'm a pig, what of it?' But with a flick of his wand, Draco was once again groomed, impeccably dressed and smelling much better.

'But if you'll excuse me Nana, I have some pressing business to attend to.' With a pop, he Apparated off to his office, still a bit hung over, intending to fix his mistakes and give his boss a well-deserved piece of his mind.

                                                                                                ***~~~***

Draco stormed into his boss' office, and threw himself dramatically into a chair that sat in front of the desk.

'Yes Draco, please come in, and feel free to take a seat,' Wayne Lowe said dryly.

Draco sat up and slammed his fist down onto the desk. 'I am not going to be the Ministry's manbitch anymore! I refuse to be prostituted for someone else's gain.'

Lowe reclined slightly in his chair, a bit taken aback at this uncharacteristic outburst. 'That was a bit random but… now, now, Draco. I wouldn't call you our manbitch. You're more of our manwhore. Besides, I thought you liked this gig. Laying lots of women, while getting information to defeat the bad guy. Its basically a win-win situation.'

'For who? Some teenage bloke still stuck in his comic book phase maybe. But I refuse to do it anymore. This job is ruining everything good that I have going for me. I need to change things in my life, and so I'm starting here. Find some other guy to do your dirty work, because I won't.'

'Nice speech. Did you practice it?'

'A little. Did I rush it? Because it felt like I rushed it a little.'

'No, it was good. But are you sure you won't reconsider? You're the best gigolo we have,' Lowe said, trying not to laugh.

'I mean it!' Draco yelled, rising out of his seat.

'I know you do. Just come back in tomorrow and we'll talk about another task that will leave you just as fulfilled.'

'Oh shove it,' Draco called back as he left the office, leaving a laughing boss behind.

                                                                                                ***~~~***

Hermione Granger-Weasley lay on a coach in her living room, reading. Ron had gone to work, and it was one of her days off so she fully intended to laze around and spoil herself. Hermione glanced around at her home in satisfaction. She and Ron weren't rich, but they were comfortable, and their home emanated a sense of warmth, love and simple elegance. But her alone time was suddenly interrupted by a knock on the door. Groaning, she went and opened it to see the last person she would expect to find on her doorstep. Draco stood there, staring intensely at her. Hermione made a move to slam the door in his face, but Draco put out a hand and stopped her.

'Look, I know you probably talked to Ginny and so you don't want to talk to me but I need someone that will listen to my side of the story,' he said quickly, praying that she wouldn't try to slam the door again. 'And you're the most levelheaded person I know. You don't have to believe me, but would you at least listen to what I have to say?'

Hermione sighed, but then opened the door a little wider to admit Draco into her home. A small smile appeared on his face, knowing that he'd finally be able to get this huge weight off of his chest.

Hermione sat down on a couch and indicated for Draco to sit across from her. 'I'm not really in the greatest of moods where you're concerned so I'm not going to be a good hostess and offer you something to eat or drink. But I'll listen, but make it quick because I'm meeting Gi- I mean, I'm meeting someone later.'

'Its ok. You can say that you're meeting Ginny later. You don't have to censor things on my behalf. But what exactly has Virginia told you, so I know where to start?'

Hermione sat a little more upright, her body becoming tense. 'Just that you've been lying about going on business trips because you're really just staying and cheating on her with different girls. These 'business trips' are just a convenient cover story. And then when she caught you, you tried to use some cock-and-bull story about that being your job, to get out of it.'

'But that's where she's wrong!' Draco exclaimed. 'Its not just some story! I'm telling the truth. And unfortunate aspect of my job is that I have to go undercover as a Deatheater and seduce women who are in the Inner Circle so that they'll give me inside information that we couldn't otherwise get. But I swear, this morning I went to the office and I quit. They're giving me another job.'

Hermione still looked skeptical. 'But how do I know that you're telling me the truth?'

Draco sighed and leaned back in his armchair. 'You just have to trust me. I don't have any proof with me, and I couldn't give you any anyway because it's all official Ministry business. But you just have to believe me. I love Ginny, and I would never hurt her intentionally, ever. I want to spend the rest of my life with her, but she won't even talk to me.' Draco's head sunk down onto his chest. He couldn't even hope that the brainy girl would believe him. He had provided her with no real proof, just words.

But Hermione reached over and put a reassuring hand on his arm. 'I believe you. Its crazy but I do. I know Ginny loves you, but she's really hurting right now. Even if you weren't actually cheating on her, you did lie to her, which can often be the worst thing you can do. But if I can, I'll try to talk to her later, try to get her to see your side.'

Draco really smiled for the first time in days. He reached over and hugged the brunette. 'Thank you so much! I don't know how to repay you but…thank you!'

Hermione stood up and swatted Draco away. 'Now get out before I change my mind!' she said jokingly. 'Its almost time for me to meet Ginny, and I still have to get ready.'

Draco almost skipped to the door; he was in such a good mood. But with his hand on the handle, he turned back to face Hermione. 'Once again, thank you so much. I'll treasure this more than you'll ever know.'

'Oh get out of here you big sap.'

'Very sympathetic.'

'What can I say, I'm married to a Weasley.'

'Touché.'

                                                                                                ***~~~***

People bustled around the busy coffee shop just inside Diagon Alley, some jostling others to appease their caffeine addiction. But Hermione and Ginny managed to find a quiet corner in which to settle down.

'Draco came to see me this morning,' Hermione said as she and Ginny relaxed.

'Oh?' was Ginny's seemingly disinterested answer, she stirring her chai latte in an attempt to detach herself from the conversation topic.

Knowing her friend, Hermione continued on. 'He's pretty distraught. This entire thing is really hurting him.'

'What, and its not hurting me? Who's side are you on anyway, Hermione? You're supposed to be my friend, not his.' Ginny sat scowling into the steaming drink she held.

'I'm not choosing sides, and I know you must be absolutely devastated. But I think Draco-'

'No,' Ginny interrupted. 'We do not refer to him by that name. If you have to talk about him at all, use the words 'it' or 'he', and if you have to, using his surname is also acceptable.'

'Don't you think that's a bit childish?'

Ginny glared at her.

'Alright then, moving on,' Hermione said as she took a sip of her coffee and leaned back in her chair. After shooting a skeptical look at her friend, she spoke again. 'As I was saying before, I believe that 'Malfoy', as you want him to be called, is telling the truth.'

'What?' Ginny was aghast, her mouth gaping open rather unattractively. 'So you're telling me that, although Malfoy has lied to me, hurt me, and slept with some Slytherin chit, along with Merlin knows who else, I should apologize and forget about everything that happened? Not bloody likely!' Ginny snorted.

'That's not what I-'

'Or maybe,' Ginny plowed on, 'I should do all of the above, and when he comes home, I should dress in a little French maid's costume, cook him his favourite meal, and then jump on him as soon as he walks through the door and give him sexual favours.'

'Sounds like a plan.'

Ginny glanced to the side and made eye contact with a neighbouring couple who had caught all of her last diatribe and were openly staring, coffee all but forgotten. 'What the hell are you looking at?' Looking back at her friend, she continued on. 'Its really the principle of the entire situation. He cheated on me. Whether it was for work or not doesn't matter, because he shouldn't have done it either way. You can always say no to things.'

'But what if he had to do it to keep his job?' Hermione protested.

Ginny set her empty cup down carefully. 'I thought that he would love me enough to make the best choice for both of us. But obviously he didn't. And nobody cheats on Virginia Weasley, not even the King of Slytherin.'

Hermione made a face over her mug. 'That sounds vaguely sinister.'

'Yeah, well what can you do?' Ginny caught a glimpse of her watch and gasped. 'Shit! I have to run or I'll be late for some meeting with Harry and the chief.' Ginny grabbed all of her stuff, and after kissing Hermione on the cheek, got up to Apparate away. 'Give all of my love to Ron. Speaking of whom, where's my little niece or nephew? I mean, you guys are married. Stop taking so long, and give me another Weasley! C'mon, the rest of my brothers are going to start making fun of Ron soon if you guys can't get your act together, and I'll warn you now, it won't be pretty for either of you. So chop chop!'

'Yes ma'am,' Hermione saluted her but then laughed. 'Soon, I hope, soon. We just haven't gotten lucky, but not for lack of trying.'

'Ew! This is my brother we're talking about. Way too much information! But I have to dash!'

'Please talk to Draco!' Hermione called out to her.

'I'm not promising anything.' But then she was gone, only the echoes of her voice remaining.

                                                                                                ***~~~***

'Weasley! Get your ass in here!'

Ginny groaned at the voice of one very pissed off chief. She had already had one less than satisfactory meeting with him earlier that day after coffee with Hermione, and was definitely not looking forward to another one. She quickly got up and ran over to his office, hoping that her show of promptness would lower the decibel of the yelling.

'What is it chief?' she asked sweetly.

A very rumpled looking older man sat behind a large wooden desk holding out a sheaf of paper. 'What the hell is this?'

Ginny leaned over to get a closer look. 'Its my paperwork, sir.'

'Are you sure, because it looks like complete garbage to me. The quality of your reports has gone significantly down recently. Your paperwork over the last few days provides no real information about the fighting or the demons. It's as if you just reported on some fight that you'd faintly overheard in someone else's conversation. You used to be the best at this kind of stuff. We depend on paperwork like yours to give us useful information that we can catalogue for later use. Its all pretty important, so what happened?'

'Sorry sir, my mind's been elsewhere,' she sighed.

'I can understand that, it happens to the best of us, but in this business, your mind being elsewhere is what gets you killed. Now I want you to take a few days off to get your shit together.'

'But sir!' Ginny protested. 'I need this job to keep me busy. I can't not work. Right now, me and not working would not be good friends. I'll go insane.'

'Too bad. As of now, you're on paid holiday. Now I don't want to see your ass in here for at least two weeks. Is that clear?'

'Crystal,' Ginny spat bitterly. She walked slowly out the door, and over to her desk. Picking up her jacket and her lucky stake, she turned to leave.

'Gin, where are you going?' Harry called over to her.

'I'm out,' she said quietly.

'What do you mean, out?'

'I mean that you'll be working solo for the next two weeks. I'm supposed to go and work through my problems, so that I don't make any careless mistakes and get myself killed. I'll see you at home, okay?' Ginny started to walk away, but stopped when Harry spoke again.

'Since you'll be home a lot, would you mind doing my laundry? I've got a pile of dirty clothes in my closet.'

Ginny turned and glared at him.

'I'll take that as a no.'

'Good-bye Harry. And watch your back; you never know if I'm putting something in your food.'

Harry chuckled, turning his attention from the departing fiery redhead to the mountain of his own paperwork on his desk.

A/N: I've finally got that all together! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think that the next chapter will be the last. And then I'll finally be done this story. Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Etc. I'll be sad, but then I'll have time for new stuff. And Lord knows I've got tons of it, floating around on paper or in my head. I think that the next chapter will be one of the best in this story, but don't quote me, as I've only written a few paragraphs of it. Ciao, and don't forget to review. You review because you love, and I'll love you back. But in a purely platonic way…damn, I've said too much.