Sorry it took me so long to even get started on this chapter. My friend and I have started a story together (Which is up now if you want to read it. It's called "Never an Absolution" by Chalice) and I've been working my little heart out on that.

Things are going to start getting a little confusing with Draco's pseudo name. So just try and remember, Adonis and Draco are the same person, but Draco and Narcissa are the only people that know that.

-=-=-=-

Draco apparated back to his flat and immedietly cast off his new blue work-robes. He hung them carefully in his closet and clicked the door closed. He looked around the small apartment and sighed. How Draco longed to be back in the comforts of his own home. Surrounding him were dozens of cardboard boxes holding what things he felt necessary to bring with him.

His black eagle owl rattled his cage impatiently, showing his need to be free in the night sky. He crossed the room in three strides and unlocked his cage, letting him fly off into the darkness outside.

He quickly rummaged through one of the boxes and found a pair of cotton pajamas to wear to bed. Slipping them over his head, Draco crawled onto his bed and stared up at the ceiling. He hadn't found the nicest place to live. Whoever had occupied the apartment before him hadn't done a very good job of taking care of the space. He had already discovered several things that needed to be fixed, and as he gazed up at the ceiling he saw countless water stains from the leaky roof.

His mind began to wander as it usually did before he fell asleep. He thought of his mother. She now lived alone in the vast Malfoy Manor with only the house elves to keep her company. He didn't worry too much, Narcissa was still well liked among the wizarding world because people recognized that nothing she did that involved Lucius was her fault. He also thought of his new lifestyle. If his father had still been alive it was likely that he would have disowned his son for what he was doing. Not only was he working for the enemy, but he was partnered with three of the people Lucius had told him to despise the most. The legendary boy-who-lived, a Muggle lover, and a Mudblood were not exactly his father's idea of a great group of people to associate with.

To Draco, they seemed like perfectly nice people. For the second time that day he cursed his father's judgment on people. Had he known during school what he knew now, he might have actually befriended these people and not have been so alone.

"To be truly powerful you cannot get attached to people, Draco." Lucius had told him at a young age. For his entire adolescent life Draco had lived by that saying, and he made sure that he avoided anyone he could learn to like.

Images of his partners and his father played through his mind as he slowly drifted into slumber.

-=-=-=-

"This is the first group of them?" Voldemort said as he gazed down at the line of prisoners entering the gate. They were all shaking in fear as the gates melded together behind them, destroying any evidence that there had ever been a opening in the dark stone.

The women clung to their children, trying to protect them from their unknown surroundings. The Dark Lord laughed mercilessly as he witnessed several of them try to apparate. There were wards placed on every inch of their surroundings. Nothing Voldemort didn't want to happen would occur within the walls of the prison.

"This is indeed improved from our last failed attempt." He said to himself. His red eyes shone illogically as he turned to his servant. "You do remember our last attempt don't you, Wormtail?"

The shorter man nodded his head yes, but in his heart he knew he would hear the story again. His master had that look in his eye again, the look that he always got when he recalled his past.

"It happened nearly fifty years ago. I had only been out of school for a few years and was still looking for my calling out in the real world. I had always been good at bending people to my will and was searching for a place where that skill could be used. I was sitting in a German coffee house one morning when this young man came stumbling in.

"He looked as though he was barely scraping by for money and food. I could tell by his stench that he hadn't bathed in days. He was the person I had been looking for. I motioned for him to sit down at my table and offered him my cup of coffee, which he accepted graciously and thanked me repeatedly.

"He told me his name was Adolf, and that he had left home several weeks ago to make it on his own. I told him that I had a vacant bedroom in my apartment and that he was free to live there until he got on his feet. Over time he began to trust me tremendously and thought me to be his great friend. Little did he know that I was like a poison, slowly invading his bloodstream and overtaking his brain.

"He had already begun to show signs of loyalty to me, doing almost anything I asked him to without questioning my motives. Before long I had him under my complete control. By this time I had already built several on the penitentiaries. They were fully functional and awaiting their first set of detainees.

"I convinced him that the worthless Muggles and Mudbloods were malicious, and therefore should be destroyed. Under my lead, he became a natural leader. People listened to him and followed what he said. Soon the encampments I had previously built were not enough to hold everyone, and we built more and more, until almost all of the Muggles and Mudbloods in all of Europe were locked away.

"Unfortunately, the Ministry found out about my scheme and teamed up with the armies of Europe and the United States to fight against us for the freedom of my hostages. I had been prepared for this of course. Heaven forbid Dumbledore would ever leave me to my own business. He always kept a close eye on me, even after I had left school.

"However, my forces were not enough to overcome his. I suspect to this day that he had placed an advanced defending charm on all of his fighters, even stronger than mine. After the defeat Adolf and I were left alone among the ruin of my once great prison. I killed him of course, I had no need for him anymore, and fled the area before Dumbledore or any of his angelic followers could find me.

"But nothing of that sort will happen this time. I am more prepared than ever, more precautions have been made. Yes, this time it will be perfect."

-=-=-=-

The next morning Hermione entered the office a few minutes late. She brushed her hair back behind her shoulder and shut the door behind her. All three of her partners were hard at work in their desks, occasionally yelling something over their shoulders to the other two. They hadn't even realized she had entered the room.

She casually walked over to her own desk and placed her coffee mug down on a coaster and sat down in her chair. It squeaked with her added wait, and, in unison, the three men turned around to greet her. Harry and Ron mumbled their usual "Hey 'Mione," and returned to their work. Adonis nodded briefly at her and held her eyes for a moment before returning to his work as well. Long after she had begun her paperwork his gray eyes still haunted her.

Her eyes skimmed over the mountains of information before her. Something was repeatedly occurring paper after paper. In the past twenty-four hours there had been over two hundred disappearances in England alone. There were also several reported in France and Italy.

"Guys," She said and spun her chair around quickly, "have you found anything about people vanishing in your papers? I have at least a couple hundred people who simply evaporated into thin air, and no one seems to be able to find them."

"I've got about fifty." Harry said and handed them to her over his shoulder.

"Twenty or so here." Ron said and placed them on the edge of the desk. She picked them up and added them to her pile.

"I have at least a hundred." Adonis said quietly. He straightened a large stack of papers and gave them to her. "That's almost four hundred people. Where could they all have gone?"

"I don't know. Ron, take these to your dad. Maybe he knows what's going on." She thrust the stack of papers at him and he made his way to the door.

"Alright, Harry you come with me. Hermione, Adonis, you two see if you find anymore missing people." The two wizards left the room. The office fell into a state of uncomfortable silence.

Half an hour later Hermione and Adonis both gave up.

"I've been through these stacks five times. I think we've found all of them." She said and put all the excess paperwork in the file cabinet.

"Yeah, so what have we got? Fifty or so more to give to them when they get back?" Adonis tossed the remainder of his papers into the wastebasket.

"Don't do that! We might still need those for something." Hermione said and pulled them out, filing them in the cabinet with the others.

"You're very uptight, you know that?" He said and smirked slightly. She shrugged her shoulders.

"I know. When you've been friends with Harry and Ron for as long as I have though you kind of have to be. Otherwise they'd be dead by now." She laughed and sat down in the chair across from him. "They were always getting themselves into sticky situations when we were younger."

Adonis shifted nervously in his seat. School was not something he was looking forward to discussing. He hadn't prepared all of what he would tell people about his childhood.

"Keep it simple," Narcissa had said, "don't go into detail."

"Yeah, they seem like the type that could get into trouble if they wanted to." He said and sent her a small, knowing smile. He knew all too well that they could get into trouble when they wanted to. He had been the victim of their escapades more than once.

"That's why they've kept me around for so long." She said and sighed. "So what about you? Did you go to Hogwarts too?"

"No." He said quietly, dreading what he was about to tell her. "I went to Beauxbatons. Not really much to say."

"Hmm…" She mused, not really knowing what else to say. They sat in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. The door banged open and Harry and Ron re-entered the room.

"There have been disappearances reported from every sector here today." Ron said and dropped down into his chair.

"We've got about a hundred more." Adonis said and motioned towards the pile of paper in Hermione's hands. "Did you find out where they've all gone?"

"That's the thing," Harry said and sat between Hermione and Ron. "No one has any idea. Everyone who reported the disappearances just said they vanished into thin air and never came back. They could be anywhere."

"This sounds so familiar." Hermione said and put her head in her hands, trying to rack her brain for what she knew was hidden there.

"I know what you mean." Adonis said and scratched his head. "I swear I've heard something like this before." Harry groaned and looked at Ron.

"Our new partner's the male version of Hermione." He said, and they both grimaced. Hermione glared at them.

"That wouldn't be such a bad thing." Adonis retorted in his and Hermione's defense. "At least I'd be smart." Hermione shot him a thankful smile.

"Too smart." Ron said under his breath. Hermione picked up the snitch shaped stress ball from her desk and threw it at him. He caught it easily from years of experience as a keeper for the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

"I'm going to the library to try and figure this out. Anyone want to come?" Hermione gathered her things and waited in the doorway.

"Sorry Mione, but it's time to go, and I'm not a big fan of unnecessary overtime." Harry and Ron both averted their eyes and exited the office.

"Well I'll go. It'll drive me up the wall if I can't figure out why this sounds so familiar." Adonis said and grabbed his coat. "Shall we?"

They apparated outside the wizard library and walked inside.

"Alright, I guess we should start in the reference section." Hermione pulled her hair back from her face and walked towards the books on her left.

After two hours of pouring over thick books, Adonis sighed triumphantly and shook Hermione's arm to get her attention.

"Listen to this," he said and cleared his throat. "During what muggles called the holocaust, a man by the name of Adolf Hitler, under the control of the dark lord, slaughtered thousands of muggles and muggleborns. The people were reported to simply disappear into thin air, and most were never seen again…"

"That's it!" She shrieked happily and received a harsh look from the librarian. "Adonis that's it! The holocaust… I remember learning about that in muggle school before going to Hogwarts. Is that where you heard it?"

"Are you kidding? My father, letting me go to a muggle school." The minute the words had left his mouth he regretted them. She looked at him inquisitively.

"Your father? What did he-"

"It doesn't matter anymore. It's in the past." He returned to the book and carefully ripped out the page.

"What are you doing?!" She hissed as he folded up the piece of paper and placed it in his pocket.

"I'll return it." He said in the same tone that a child caught drawing on the walls would use. "Just not anytime soon."

Hermione stared open-mouthed and wide-eyed after him. There was definitely something about the way he held himself that was familiar to her, but she wouldn't quite place where she knew it from. She came back to reality and trotted after him.

"Alright, well, I'll see you tomorrow." She said and slung the strap of her work bag over her shoulder.

"Night, Hermione." He said and they both apparated home.

Hermione let her hair fall around her shoulders as she prepared for bed.

Something about Adonis is eerily familiar... but what? Every time I look at him I know that I've met him somewhere before. Especially his eyes, I've seen them before. He has amazing eyes.

Hermione stopped dead in her tracks.

Oh no, I'm not mixing business with pleasure. It just doesn't work out.

He is quite handsome though.

She sat on the foot of her bed and began to scrutinize the facts they had learned that evening.

If this is what I think it is, then the last time You-Know-Who tried this, he had most of his activity in Germany… Where will it be this time?

-=-=-=-

I'm once again sorry for the wait. It's a little longer than usual though, that should please you!

(I'm stealing this line from the story my friend and I wrote) I say this with the utmost sincerity; Review… or die. ::grin::