A.N. I'm under the delusion that whatever I write is rubbish so I'll need lots of encouraging reviews to constantly tell me my writing isn't bad…:-)
Again, thank you all, those who reviewed, for sparing the time to review! Love ya all!
Oh, and btw, there's a slight problem with my fanfiction account- it isn't saving the changes I made to the summary…so you're all stuck with the same till my account behaves itself.

Summary 1(by Alex): Harry is sent on a tough secret assignment involving a Quidditch team and a strangely enchanting Miss Hermione Granger. AU. Post Last Battle.

Summary 2(by Jeevesandwooster):Harry Potter is an auror for the ministry of magic, and he's good at his job. When members of a Quidditch team and their wives go missing, he's a natural choice for the assignment...but he'll need a wife to fit the victim profile. HHr

Summary 3( by Anime Princess): After a series of missing couples from an advertized Quidditch team, Agent Harry Potter and Agent Hermione Granger(of Beauxbaton)have been paired together in the investigation. Neither like the other-what will happen? HHR

Chapter 4: Waiting

6 months ago

The sepulchral silence of Azkaban Island was suddenly shattered by the sound of wailing alarms.

A guard ran into the Head Warden's office, gasping as his breath hitched in his chest.

"An escape?" came the icy query.

"Sir…" panted the guard, "From the high security cell. Number 4 has…vanished, sir!" The guard's eyes were wide with fear and surprise.

"What the devil d'you mean 'vanished'? You can't just 'vanish' from this island-you'd be fried alive or some such equally gruesome thing if you tried to apparate…"

The guard shrugged helplessly, his bewilderment very obvious as he did so. "I…I don't know, sir…"

The Head Warden looked grim. "I trust all of you have looked everywhere-what happened to our wards?" The last part of his question was directed more to himself.

"Everywhere, sir," was the emphatic reply.

A worried frown graced the Head Warden's face after he'd dismissed the shaken guard. "Number 4…This can't be good." He decided to firecall the person he was thinking of.

Even though the thought of breaking the bad news to this person wasn't pretty.

Minutes later, he was looking at a stony faced Harry Potter. His position was a tad uncomfortable as he was looking up at the young wizard from the fireplace, but he didn't dare to ask if he could come over to Mr. Potter's place. No, it was a delicate situation as it was.

"Malfoy escaped? And I thought you had the highest level of security reserved for such a high-profile surviving Death Eater?" The bright green eyes bore into the Head Warden's making the latter feel decidedly like squirming. " Luckily for you, our runaway prisoner has no old cronies left to gather them together and cause us any trouble. They're all dead."

…………………………………………………………….

3 months later

Kingsley Shacklebolt glanced at Harry who was listening intently, before continuing with his bit of news. " They identified the body washed ashore." He paused for dramatic effect, though everyone knew what was coming next.

"Malfoy," said Neville quietly.

"Suicide?" was Harry's incredulous question.

"Looks like it," shrugged Kingsley. "Anyway it solves our problem, doesn't it?"

Harry ignored the vaguely nagging feeling that was colonizing the depths of his mind and simply grinned at Kingsley, nodding his agreement.

……………………………………………………………

Present

"This is my wife-Hermione."

"Nice meeting you, Mrs. Potter." Katherine Collins smiled at the young witch standing next to her famous husband.

"Likewise, Ms. Collins," replied Hermione, smiling politely.

" Mathur will show you to your room. Do come down and join us for dinner. Our manager, Mr. Edwards will meet you there as will the other applicants for the team." The dark-haired witch turned to go after ringing for Mathur whoever that was.

"One moment, Ms. Collins," said Harry, flashing her his most charming smile. "Ron's here isn't he? I'd really like to see him- he missed my wedding, you know."

"Of course, Mr. Potter. Mr.Weasley has been terribly busy, of course. But you'll see him at dinner. He's the coach for this team after all."

"Great! Darling, you'll be able to meet Ron finally," enthused Harry, his eyes sparkling with anticipation.

"That's wonderful, love," said Hermione, slipping her hand through Harry's arm.

Katherine watched them for a moment before shaking her head slightly and walking away.

Harry was looking down at Hermione , pools of emerald meeting swirls of cinnamon. Automatically, his head dipped down and her face turned upwards to meet it. His lips were about to brush hers when they were rudely interrupted by a hacking, pointed cough.

They broke apart, faces flushed, to find a rotund individual gazing at them as if to chide them for what would have been a rather public display of affection. He was not a tall man, and as mentioned earlier, decidedly well fed. He had a thatch of thinning black hair and twinkling dark brown eyes (that were now looking beady). When he spoke next, his accent told them that he was Indian.

"I am Amit Mathur. You are Mr. and Mrs. Potter, no?"

They nodded in confirmation.

"I am having two daughters. Both are girls. But I am leaving them behind and coming to this job. See, money is also needed for living, no?"

Harry nodded again, while Hermione murmured a few vague words of sympathy.

They had walked up a flight of stairs, Mathur guiding their luggage with his wand, and were now standing outside a white door with a bright blue doorknob.

"Here is your both room. I hope you are liking. You are very nice, I can see." He smiled a nicotine-stained smile at them, and they returned the favor, minus the nicotine-stained teeth.

The door closed softly, leaving Harry and Hermione alone in their room.

"Well," began Hermione, but broke off as Harry grinned mischievously at her.

"You are having two daughters, yes? Both are girls, no?"

"Stop it, Harry," said Hermione, laughing at his perfect imitation of Amit Mathur. "I thought he was rather a dear…"

Harry stopped chuckling abruptly. "Funnily enough, I liked him too-some weird instinct tells me he's okay."

Hermione looked at him, her expression serious. "I suppose you are going to be very excited about seeing 'Ron'?"

"Of course. That will also serve as a reminder to me to begin looking for the real Ron."

Hermione had already started unpacking and with a couple of expert flicks of her wand, her clothes arranged themselves neatly in one half of the wardrobe.

Harry looked on in slight amusement. "Are you always this neat?"

Hermione looked a little annoyed at that. "What's wrong with being neat?" she demanded. "I hate things being messy-prevents me from thinking straight."

Harry crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "So that would mean that my untidy mop of hair would prevent you from thinking straight…" he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at her.

Hermione huffed irritably. "How immature! I'm off to have a bath." She grabbed a towel and slammed the bathroom door and seconds later, the sounds of water being drawn for a bath made it clear that Hermione would be busy for quite a while.

Harry plonked himself on the bed and leaned back into the fluffy pillows.

What the hell is wrong with me?

You're flirting with Hermione. Not to mention almost kissing her.

Oh, right- I didn't, of course, know that. This is a Mission, for Merlin's sake.

Yeah…but she's your wife, you know.

Hullo? It's a temporary arrangement. An act. Whatever.

Ah, then why did you try to kiss her? It wasn't necessary…

Oh shut up.

……

Great, I'm carrying on a conversation with the annoying voice in my brain. I'm completely losing it…

…………………

Hermione tried to push out thoughts of Harry trying to kiss her by scrubbing herself with soap a little more vigorously and splashing water onto herself with more force than usual. It was almost like as if she wanted to wash away all her unbidden thoughts.

He was just making the act more convincing, that's all.

Splash. Splash.

He didn't mean anything by that little flirtation. He was just trying to make things less awkward between us.

Yeah, right.

Splash. Splash. Splash.

When Hermione came out of the bathroom half an hour later, she was fully convinced that everything was strictly professional between her and Harry.

He was fast asleep on the bed, his hand thrown carelessly over his head, his glasses slightly askew. His face looked peaceful and relaxed as opposed to his expression when he was awake- he had an aura of danger, like a watchful panther, ready to spring.

"Harry, wake up, we have to go down to dinner." Hermione shook him gently.

Harry sat up, his hair looking as gloriously messy as ever. "Give me ten minutes. I'll be ready."

Hermione ran a brush through her wet hair, muttering a charm to dry it as she did so. She gathered the brown-gold locks to tie it in a ponytail.

"Leave it."

Hermione turned sharply. "Sorry?"

"I said, let your hair loose. It's pretty," said Harry casually while he wriggled his feet into his socks.

Hermione sat frozen for a few seconds with an odd expression on her face.

"What's up?" asked Harry when he realized his wife had just assumed an unmistakable resemblance to a stone sculpture.

"N-nothing." Hermione hastily brushed her hair one last time and left it loose. "I'm ready."

And then they were making their way down to dinner.

……………………………………

Unidentified Location, Present

A tall red-haired man stood at the barred window of his cell looking at the inky blackness that was the night sky outside. He sighed and turned back to look at the second occupant of the cell.

She was a blonde, but the grime of the cell gave her tresses a brownish tinge. Her large blue eyes gazed comfortingly at the man.

"Harry will find us, Ron." There was a calm faith in her statement.

Ron looked at his wife, concerned for her health because she was pregnant. He walked back to her, the pronounced limp in his left leg indicating he was yet another victim of the war against Voldemort.

"And that frightens me for some reason, Luna. We're being kept here for a purpose. Probably to lure Harry here, I don't know. He mustn't find us, and yet he must." He ran a hand through his fiery red hair and sighed again. "I wish I'd never been tempted by the salary they were offering. I wish I'd never come to Australia."

"You can say that again, mate," came a third voice, male this time from the darkness while Luna just squeezed Ron's hand supportively. "Me and Lavender think we should've just opened that dream pub o' mine." The Irish lilt in Seamus' voice was reassuring somehow.

All four occupants of the cell glanced at the same time in the same direction. A fifth person sat still in one corner of the dingy room. Angela Thomas, beautiful and athletic was mourning the loss of her husband, Dean.

The room fell silent, each person reminded of their dead companion.

They sat there, waiting….

………………………………………………………

A.N. I'm sorry I didn't update earlier- my computer decided to go on a strike…Anyway, I hope this chapter was better than the last…

The Gryffindor Drummer: Hey thanks for reviewing. Keep reading and reviewing!
Old-crow: Yes, I know (Smiles apologetically). I'll try and plug in those holes. And I really can't help my characters-they jus' do whatever they want. (Grins apologetically again). Thanks for reviewing!
EmotionlessNightmare: Thanks-glad you liked it! Don't stop reading!(And reviewing of course!)
AsIfIreallyKnow: Ahoy there! Thanks for being so encouraging! As for the summary-well- read the first author's note! Thanks once again:-)
Oro4: I'll try…sometimes my brain just congeals and my writing doesn't flow very well. So as far as possible I shall try and make my chapters longer! I'm thrilled to bits that someone likes my story so much :-) Keep reviewin'!
Romulus Magnus: Thanks for reviewing! Hey, I reviewed your stories, just like you asked me to. I hope you update soon-any author needs to keep writing to maintain that flow of thought…
FranGilraen: Hi there! Thank you so much for reviewing- glad you appreciate my humour! Keep reading-makes an author feel good, really!
Rottenkittenstastelikebras: Ha ha…:-)) See, I've updated-where's my cookie? And I'm grinning 'cos you liked the chapter!
Lunastella13: Of course I have to mention you-all those who review get replies. And it was really nice o' you to tell me to allow anony reviews. I have done so. And as for Harry and Ginny-to tell you the truth- I don't know. Ginny storms off, but they haven't yet broken up- I'll just plug that hole when it becomes very noticeable ;-)