~*All You Wanted*~
Chapter Five: A Series of Unfortunate Mistakes
Bena: Look, I get to start a chapter again! And how fitting it is too, that I should open probably the most eclectic chapter so far this fic. So... we learn that Sirius actually has a purpose, Harry gets to angst like a pretty boy with problems, the Ministry falls into chaos, and *gasp!* Alex turns out to actually have a job! *giggle* And I get to indulge my fetish for redheads, particularly two of them kissing each other... *falls into a fantasy realm*
Dove: And then, if that's not enough for you, we have more of the evil bastard (whoever he is), much almost-lemon-but-not-quite, chaos of an entirely different sort, why we say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, particularly if she's pregnant… oh, and then, for seasoning, Sirius/Fleur type hints up the wazoo, as well as more reminders that yes, damn it, Sirius would be the right person to question right about now. Oh, and more characters thrown at you… and everyone's a suspect.
Bena: Even ME?
Disclaimer: Harry Potter owns us.
"Some mistakes are too much fun to make only once."
The Ministry of Magic was in a state of total chaos.
Parvati stared over the rim of her coffee mug at the people rushing about, shouting orders, answering questions, and generally being as loud and panicked as they could and still maintain some semblance of order. She held out her mug to Lavender as her friend rushed past. "Refill?"
"Go get it yourself. Hermione's running a check to see if Angelina got wind of something before the rest of us." Lavender ran a hand through her hair nervously. "She thinks it's likely that she went out on assignment without telling anyone... it's just not like her..."
Hermione hurried over as fast as she could, her highly pregnant state considered, and grabbed Lavender's arm. "Lavender, I've got all the documents on open cases under Angelina's jurisdiction. Can you go through them while I finish checking incoming messages for her?"
"Sure, Mrs. Weasley."
"Thank you. Parvati, have you seen Alex anywhere? He said he was going to check the Ministries of the countries Angelina most recently worked with to see if maybe they have any idea."
"He's off making out with that Spaniard."
Lavender frowned, and Alex called from across the room, "I heard that!" before going back to conversing rapidly via Floo in Bulgarian.
Hermione tugged at her hair. "This is a crisis. I hope the Ambassadors are using discretion; we can't afford a leak that our head Auror is missing."
Alex cut off the connection and walked over to Hermione. His face was utterly grave. "We're impressing the urgency that the foreign Ministries keep this under wraps. Don't worry. Did you get that list for me?"
"Lav's got it. Let her go over it, first, and compare it with what I've already given her."
Alex nodded, and headed back over to the side of the room where all of his associates were babbling away in foreign tongues to various Ministries.
Draco strode in, flames practically shooting out of his ears. "We've been at this all night and no one knows where she is yet? Dammit, I need Angelina Weasley this second!"
Fred, who'd been called in for questioning, left off asking questions of one of the newer Aurors and shot over to Draco, eyes blazing. "You! You sent her off on some assignment that's going to get her killed, you used her, you.... you..."
Over on the other side of the room, Alex, who had been trying to straighten out some details with the Minister of Magic in Libya, turned. He gestured for the rather flustered and anxious Alejandro to leave, and hurried over to where Fred was tearing into Draco. "Fred..."
Draco's eyes narrowed. "You blame me? You're the one who can't control his woman. If I knew where she was, I sure as hell wouldn't be panicking trying to find her!"
"You sent her off somewhere, you snake! You were no good in school, you're no good now, and you've gone and gotten my wife killed, I know it!"
"Fred, calm down..."
Fred ignored Alex. "Tell me where she is! She never came home from work, and now she's missing, and I'm telling you to tell me where the bloody hell you've taken Angelina!"
Alex grabbed Fred's shoulder. "Fred, you're going to get into a lot of trouble if you don't stop, and how-"
His arm was shaken off. Parvati took another sip of her nearly-gone coffee. "Maybe he's got her tied to a chair like Ginny."
Lavender shot her a look of pure venom as Fred continued his barrage of accusations. "You underhanded cheating bugger, I know you're responsible somehow! You sent her a new case, or told her there was something up that you hadn't gotten to yet, and you know she wouldn't be able to say no! You sent her off into the unknown, that's the only explanation, and she hasn't contacted me! You got her captured, or hurt, or-"
Alex flung his arms in the air in frustration, grabbed Fred's shoulders, spun him around mid sentence, and laid a kiss dead on his mouth. Fred shoved him away furiously. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Getting your mind off Minister Malfoy for thirty seconds," Alex said, wiping his mouth and looking disgusted. "If you don't shut up, he'll have grounds for harassment and assault and you'll be in holding faster than it took for you to break that off." He rubbed the back of his hand against his mouth, and made a face. "Foul. Did you stop brushing your teeth after school or something?"
Fred's mouth worked, but no sound came out. He looked ready to kill something, and Alex was certainly the closest target. Before he could act, the ambassador continued.
"If someone didn't do something, you'd be in jail, got it? And how are you supposed to help Angelina from behind bars? Tell me that, Fred Weasley."
He glared at Fred for a moment longer, then turned and abruptly marched off. "Now, I'm going to gargle and see if we can't actually get a room so that Alejandro can finally get home."
He grabbed the arm of the Spanish ambassador on his way out. Surprisingly, very few of the people dashing around the room seemed to have noticed the disturbance. Parvati sighed. "I knew he never got over him. Anything to get his hands on..."
Lavender's hand cracked across Parvati's face, and the whole room went silent. All eyes turned to the small secretary, staring into her friend's face with absolute fury and disgust. Lavender's voice was harsh, the words practically spit into Parvati's face. "Shut the hell up right now, Parvati. I mean it. No one here is in the mood for your self-centered wit, least of all me."
She crossed her arms. "Angelina is missing. Not just unable to be found, not just busy with other work, but actually missing. Completely. She's gone. We've got over half the Ministry trying to find her, none of the Aurors not currently on assignment can go out until we do, we need her to help get Harry back on track on this deal with France, and Fred Weasley happens to be missing a wife on top of all that. And through it all, all you can do is sit here and drink your coffee and act like it's a normal day at the office and make snide comments about everything when all of us are frantic except for you and aren't even acting logically anymore in the hopes that something will happen and we can find her...."
Lavender stopped, gasping for breath, and stared at Parvati with those blazing eyes. After a moment, she spoke again. "Go on and make your little jokes, Miss Patil. Just don't expect us all to listen and giggle when you do. Some of us have work to do."
She stopped, and headed over to the snack table, where she picked up a stack of papers. She turned, and stared at the silent mass of witches and wizards. "Well, somebody say something! Aren't you all supposed to be looking for a missing witch?"
Everyone went back to their frantic bustling and searching. Draco nodded curtly, and strode out, gesturing for Hermione to follow. Fred sank down on the couch next to Parvati and put his head in his hands. Parvati didn't move for a while, still stunned from Lavender's verbal attack. After a few moments, though, she put a hand gingerly on his shoulder.
"Don't worry," she said weakly. "They'll find her."
Now, she thought, if only I believed that myself.
***
It was hard to mark the passage of time in a place as perpetually dark as Gabrielle's house. Even so, Harry was aware that he had been there longer than was warranted by a simple investigative visit. Although that was certainly not a suitable description for it any longer, in any case.
He leaned up on his elbow, wondering if he could reach his glasses. A single candle flickered on the bedside table, and Gabrielle slept, curled into a ball at his side, clutching his arm to her as though afraid he would vanish. Even without his glasses, he could study her in the flickering candlelight. Her hair was spread under her, the curls messy, a few tendrils meandering across her face. With her long eyelashes lying on her cheeks and her chest rising and falling in the even rhythm of deep sleep, she looked like nothing so much as a child after a fever, sleeping off the last vestiges of illness.
A child. What a… completely unfitting time to compare her to a child. A crooked sort of smile crossed Harry's face and he had to hold back a derisive little laugh. In bed. In the middle of the afternoon. With a suspect.
Honestly.
He tried to extricate his arm from her tight grasp. She murmured something unintelligible, but refused to let go. He sighed, and reached over her with his other arm to don his glasses. The room jumped into focus. Even in her private quarters, it was dark, and deep red velvet curtains were drawn across the windows to completely hide the light of the sun. The tall, ornate bed was canopied in unrelieved black. The candles in the wall sconces weren't lit, but even so, it was easy enough to see that the walls were unadorned, although they were papered in dark colors. It wasn't the sort of room that suited her.
He looked down at her again, sleeping peacefully, the black satin sheets drawn up almost to under her chin, as though she were chilled. She looked so tired, as though she hadn't slept nearly enough lately. He sighed and slowly worked himself loose. She murmured again, but this time, he rose in any case, and began moving softly around the room, preparing to leave. He couldn't stay, of course, as much as the idea appealed. He was supposed to be working.
"Working," he muttered under his breath. "Right."
She was still sleeping when he stood by the bed ten minutes later, not at all sure of what to do. He smoothed the hair off of her face, then gave in to temptation and leaned over to kiss her softly on the forehead. She didn't wake. Sighing, he pulled a pencil out of the inside pocket of his robes. With a wave of his wand, it became a white tulip. He placed it where her hands still curled, as though holding onto him even when he was gone. With one last look, he stepped out of the room and softly closed the door behind him.
The hallways of the house were dark and empty. The house-elf he had seen earlier was not in evidence. The oppressive silence seemed to suggest that he and she were the only things alive inside the house. Down the stairs, down the hall, and out the door he went, moving by touch sometimes, it was so dark, even in the middle of the day. The heavy door swung silently open the moment he touched it, and he winced at the bright sunlight coming in. He stepped into the early autumn afternoon, golden and fragrant. The door closed without a sound, and when he tried turning the knob, it was locked.
What the hell am I doing?
With that thought, he closed his eyes and Disapparated with a pop.
***
The wing of the hospital had been cleared completely. Not a single human being could be seen-no doctors, no nurses, no other visitors to be found, save the one very important visitor walking briskly down the hallway, her heels clicking a staccato rhythm on the linoleum.
She strode through the corridor with long strides that sent her robes twirling around her legs. Her face was completely blank, devoid of even its usual business-like expression as she opened the door to the room.
The second she entered, that changed. Her eyes widened, and her voice snapped out like a whip. "I was told zere would be no one else 'ere today. I specifically asked for zat to be ze case."
Sirius looked up, and surprise bloomed over his face. "Oh! I'm sorry; I had no idea…"
Minister Poulain crossed her arms. "Well, now you do. Now if you would kindly leave?"
He looked back at the pale figure lying in the bed, and shook his head. "If it pleases you, Minister, I'd rather not."
The French Minister's eyes narrowed for a moment, then traveled to where Sirius' hand rested gently atop Fleur's motionless one. Her gaze softened. "Very well. Do you mind if I visit as well?"
Sirius smiled distractedly. "Not in the least." He stood, and gestured to the chair. "Please, sit."
"Merci." She settled into the chair, and peered at the chart hanging beside Fleur's bed. "'Ow 'as she been doing?"
"Better, I suppose. She's been moving a bit more, but there really haven't been any major changes yet." He ran a hand over her hair gently. "At least she's not doing any worse. There's always a chance, as long as she doesn't take a turn for the worse."
Minister Poulain nodded somberly, and put the chart back. "Yes. Sank God for zat."
Sirius made a noise of agreement, then looked at her more closely. "You know, you look familiar."
"You 'ave seen me everywhere, yes?" She smiled wryly.
"Well, yes, but you do look familiar. Or you sound familiar. I can't tell which, but there's something about you that's very familiar."
Minister Poulain looked him dead in the eyes. "You aren't ze first person to say zat. I must remind you of someone. I 'ave 'eard zat before."
Sirius stared back at her pensively for a moment, then smiled. "That must be it. You do have the sort of face that triggers memory."
He knelt beside the bed and looked up at the Minister. "Why are you here?"
"I make it a point to keep up with ze events of ze witches and wizards in my country," she replied. "When I read about zis poor girl, and learned zat she 'ad no family nearby to visit 'er, I took it upon myself to check up on 'er and keep zem informed."
"Oh." Sirius looked genuinely impressed. "You really are an amazing woman, Minister. Not just in matters of magic and our world."
She smiled back at him. "Many sanks."
She stood, and Sirius followed suit. "I apologize for my earlier be'avior. Your company was most enjoyable. I'm glad to see zat Fleur 'as someone 'oo cares so deeply to watch over 'er."
Sirius looked at the bed, and smiled sadly. "It's my pleasure, Minister Poulain."
The Minister followed his gaze, eyes sad. "I must be going now. If you'll excuse me."
"Have a lovely day," he answered as she left the room. The door clicked closed, and Sirius returned to his once-again solitary vigil.
Outside the small window, night fell. A nurse stuck her head in the door, informing him that visiting hours were long over. He sighed and stood, brushing his fingers over Fleur's cheek, his eyes haunted, before walking out. He did smile once, a smile that never reached his eyes, as he left the building. "So that's where she went," he murmured under his breath. A woman passing by looked at him curiously, but of course no one had any idea what he was talking about.
And no one would think to ask.
***
Gabrielle woke to soft footsteps on her thick carpet. It was dark, even though one of the windows had a curtain half drawn back. She sat up, pulling her sheet to her chin, her eyes growing wide and rather frightened.
"If I wanted to, I'd already have," said the man in the shadows, peering out over the garden.
She shivered anyway, clutching the sheet. She wasn't sure if she should apologize, or beg for mercy, maybe, or just keep quiet. Who knew what he wanted from her? She just kept quiet.
"You've managed to cloud his judgment and convince him you have done nothing wrong," he continued after a moment. "Your means were… rather extreme. Still, I commend you."
Gabrielle swallowed back a shout that that was not why she had done it. "Sank you," she whispered.
"Of course, he'll spend even more time here, now. You'll have to be careful."
"Time 'ere is time away from ze investigation," she said just as softly. She had her own reasons for wanting him to fail. Once he knew what she had done… all the blood on her hands… she must not think. She had to stop.
"Good girl," he said, with a delighted little laugh. "You're starting to think the way you should." He turned to her, and his face was eerily lovely, though barely distinguishable. "Don't get attached," he said, his voice still surprisingly mild.
"Of course not," she said, just as softly. People she was seen to care about got hurt.
"We have another meeting next week," he said. "I trust I will not need to curse you this time so you behave?"
She was silent. She could not make herself commit murder without the Imperius Curse. She had tried. For Fleur, she had tried. In the end, he had cursed her so she would keep to her task. She wasn't entirely sure she wasn't grateful.
"Get some rest. You look frightful." He walked into the deepest shadows in the corner, and she knew he was gone.
***
Hermione sat down with a small sigh of mixed relief and frustration. "Is there anywhere we haven't looked yet?"
"Parvati's sneaking into Harry's office to see if he might have anything that might give us a clue, but from what you've given me, no," Lavender answered. She frowned at her superior in concern, and handed her a cup of tea. "Here. You should relax. Aren't you due or something?"
"I'm fine." Hermione took a sip of the tea, and made a face. "What is this?"
Lavender buried her face in her hands. "Oh, not again…"
Ginny was sitting with Fred, rubbing his shoulders and trying to talk him out of the despondent state he'd fallen into. "Don't worry. Look, we're all concerned, and we've got everyone in the Ministry working on this. If she's anywhere to be found, we'll find her."
"And if she's not?" Fred asked, voice hollow.
Ginny winced. "Oh, that isn't what I meant, and you know it…there's always hope. Angelina could get out of anything; she's always been able to. Even if she's into something really dangerous, she'll get out of it. We'll find her, I promise."
Fred took a deep, shuddering breath, then looked up. "Where'd the bastard get to?"
"Who, Draco?"
Fred cracked a grin. "Well, him, too, but I meant Alex. He disappeared. Where is he? I still need to hurt him for earlier."
"He went along to translate for a couple of Aurors that headed to France. They're trying to track down Harry or Minister Poulain to see if they might have any idea where Angelina is."
"Oh, you mean he actually has a job?"
Parvati walked back in, carrying a small stack of folders. "Contrary to what he believes, yes. Hermione, I think I found a few files around Harry's case in France, but I don't know if any of it will help. I thought I'd let you look through it, see if I missed anything."
Hermione took one look at the files, and closed her eyes. "Not now. Lavender, could you check? If you still can't find anything, then I'll look at them."
"Absolutely." Lavender took the files from her friend and headed over to one of the couches to sit down. "This could take a while. Does anyone have any other ideas where we could look?"
Hermione didn't open her eyes. "None. I'm too tired. Has the Auror department come up with anything new?"
"They're all out scouring the seedier parts of the world to see if they can find her that way." Parvati sat down beside Hermione, and looked at her tea. "Can I try a sip?"
"Your funeral."
"Hey, green tea!"
Lavender looked up from the files and made a face at Hermione. "See?"
Blaise ducked his head in. "Any luck yet?"
"None. We're still banking on France." Parvati set down the tea and rubbed her temples. "That's the hot spot right now, and Auror priority. I can't think where else she might be."
Blaise's expression fell. "Oh. Well, hopefully something will turn up, right?"
"We're hoping. That's why we've got two Aurors there looking in person."
His eyebrows rose. "Two? Firsthand?"
"Yeah. We're hoping that they can get in contact with Harry or Minister Poulain and see if they received any information about the France situation that might give us a clue to where Angelina is."
Blaise tilted his head thoughtfully. "Well, that's a start, at least. Good luck. We're still looking down in information for any missed floo transmissions."
"Thanks."
Hermione let out a small groan, and Lavender set down the files. "Hermione, please! Take a break. Why don't you go home and rest? This isn't good for you."
"Because I'm due."
"Exactly." Lavender tsked. "Because you're due soon, and you need your rest. I won't be done with these files for a while yet. Go home."
Hermione sighed and pressed a hand to her burgeoning belly. "Lavender…"
The door banged open.
"What the hell happened here? I got back as soon as I flaming could!" Harry, looking disheveled, gave those assembled an exasperated glare. "I was off the clock for less than half a day! Then I come back to find Higgs and Dobbs there, along with Alex of all unsuitable people, ready to beat my head in? What the hell?"
"Minister Malfoy is going to kill you," Lavender informed him in a singsong voice.
Blaise, on his way out the door, smirked. "And you have lipstick on your collar."
From the depths of the office, Draco's voice howled, "POTTER!"
"I'll buy the flower arrangement for the funeral," said Ginny, jumping up at the voice, "but if you don't get the hell in there he'll kill me too, and then I'm not buying anything. So get." She nearly pushed him into the office in front of her as a shield.
Hermione winced, both hands on her stomach now. "Excuse me," she said in a firmer tone of voice.
Lavender patted her on the shoulder with a, "There, there, yelling can't be good for the baby." She didn't so much as look up from the files she was studying.
Hermione seethed. "That's what I'm trying to say! The bloody baby-"
"Swearing is bad, too, Hermione," Fred said firmly. "What if Ronald Jr. hears it?"
"We already have a Ronald Jr.," Hermione got out, scowling. "He was the first. Of two. Of which there are about to be three, so-"
The door flew open again to admit Alicia Spinnet of Foreign Affairs. Her usually neat hair was rather messy today, and her eyes were slightly too wide.
"You let him corner you in the broom closet again, didn't you?" said Fred, looking at her mussed robes and shaking his head.
Alicia blushed. "No! I had a talk with him about… how did you know about the first time?" Her eyes narrowed. "You've been spying, you sicko!"
"No," Fred said, managing to summon up the energy for a grin, somehow. "I'm just his brother."
Hermione remained largely ignored by all assembled.
"I will deal with you later," Alicia growled. "In the meantime, I've had a transmission from Minister Poulain, which Minister Malfoy doesn't seem to be taking, so-"
"He's in there," said Lavender, gesturing with the folder. "Must have cast a Silencing Charm on the office so that we couldn't listen to him rip Harry up one side and down the other. Bit out of character, really."
Alicia glared. She was rather good at it. "I don't care to know, unless yesterday was the big day, which by the lack of monetary reimbursement and no significant improvement in Virginia's mood, I deduct it was not," she said curtly. "But as for Minister Poulain, she sent her own people out to look, especially around that manor in the city, and they-"
Parvati banged the door yet again and stalked into the room with a mug of coffee, which she thrust at Fred. "Drink or sleep," she said menacingly. "And if the rest of you ask why you didn't get coffee, everyone dies."
"Will you just listen to me for a damn moment!?" Hermione screamed. She looked about ready to cry.
"No swearing," Alicia and Parvati said in perfect unison.
Just then, the one fire not being used for conversation on the other end of the room turned a violent shade of green and Emma Dobbs, former Hufflepuff and current Auror hurtled out. She looked scared to death and about ready to throw up, though very little phased the plump, neat woman anymore. She looked wildly around the room, searching for an authority figure, and finding none, turned instead to Fred Weasley. "They found her," she said softly.
All the noise in the room immediately went dead.
In the silence, Hermione closed her eyes, clearly done with any possible formalities, and screamed. "If someone doesn't get me to a flaming hospital THIS bloody MINUTE I'm going to give birth RIGHT HERE before I yank those flaming bananas out of your ears and beat you ALL to bloody death with them!!!"
After one moment of thunderous silence, chaos resumed.
