Disclaimer; I dont own Harry Potter or anything related.

The assignment…

The rest of the week flew by all too quick and before I knew it Monday morning had shown its ugly head through the French doors. I grumpily opened my eyes, only to find Draco dressed, packed and ready to leave for work.

"How long will you be gone this time?" I asked sadly.

"Only a day or two. I will be back before you know it." he leaned in for a short soft kiss.

"Hurry back." I said as I pouted on the bed.

"Nothing could keep me from you." he said as he waved goodbye and shut the bedroom door behind him. Crookshanks hopped up on the bed and stared at me with those yellow eyes of his. He rubbed against my hand wanting to be petted. I complied and ran my hand up and down his ginger colored body.

I didn't hear anything from Draco for two days. Usually he owled or apperated home for a few moments every day. I figured he was busy, so I wrote him a letter.

Love,

I am waiting patiently for your return, all alone. I can't wait for you to come home. When you get a moment, owl me back and let me know how much longer you will be. I love you with all my heart.

Love, your wife,

Hermione.

I attached the note to his owl's leg and told him to take it to Draco. I relaxed back into a book I was reading.

Two more days passed. Not only had I not heard from Draco, but his owl had not returned. I knew that America was a long way to go for an owl, but usually his owl was very fast. I was very lonely, and no one had stopped by to visit. The next day I dressed and went into the ministry to find out what had happened, maybe the post was delayed for some reason. I walked into Draco's department to find it deserted. Not a single soul was there. Had everyone been sent on this assignment? I walked down the hall to the Minister's office. A tall thin wizard sat behind a desk in front of the minister's door.

"How may I help you?" he asked in a cheerful voice.

"I was wondering if you could tell me how I can get in touch with my husband, Draco Malfoy. He was sent out to the states on assignment, and no one is here in his department to ask. I owled him, but I had no response yet."

He shuffled through papers.

"Uh, Miss…Draco Malfoy is on vacation. He owled us last week and asked for vacation time since the Quidditch season was on holiday. The whole department is on holiday. Here look at this."

He handed me the letter Draco had sent almost two weeks ago.

"I was there when he sent this, and the next morning he received an owl from the Minister, saying he could have only one week off, and he would need to be here on Monday to start this special assignment. He left the house on Monday, bags packed." panic had risen in my voice.

"I send all the minister's owls. No such owl was sent from here to your husband. You must be mistaken." he looked back down at his paperwork. I ran at breakneck speed to the Auror's offices. Without knocking I burst through the door and ran to Harry's desk. He was casually lounging on his chair, feet on the desk, reading some papers.

"Harry, Harry…" I said between heavy breaths.

"What's the matter Hermione?" he jumped up out of his seat.

"It's Draco, something is wrong. He received an owl last week for a special assignment in the states. He left on Monday. He hasn't visited home or owled. I owled him but have received no response. I went to the minister's office to ask how to get a hold of him and they said everyone from his department was on vacation, and they had no clue where he was. I don't know what to do…" I broke into tears.

"Calm down Hermione, clearly there is some misunderstanding. Sit down, I will go check some things and be right back." he walked away leaving me sitting at his untidy desk. After what seemed like an eternity, he returned.

"Well, no one seems to know what is going on. I owled everyone in his department and they are all off this whole month. No one has seen or spoken to him for almost 2 weeks." his voice was grim.

"What could have happened?" I cried as I laid my head on his chest. "I have to find him. Help me?" tears poured from my eyes.

"Of course Hermione. I am owling Ron and Blaise to help us." he said picking up a quill and parchment.

"Oh, Ron's wedding…won't this interrupt?" I said between sobs.

"It will be postponed if necessary, this is important. Draco is my friend as well." he said putting the final words on the paper and calling 2 ministry owls over before sending them off out the window.

"Now what?" I asked.

"I need you to tell me everything that happened, and I need to see that note the minister supposedly sent." he said will all the seriousness of an auror.

We used the floo to get to my house and I ran upstairs, rummaging through the trash can to find the crumpled up letter. Harry's eyes scanned it.

"We need to go back to my office so I can perform the necessary tests. I think it is a forgery."

This time we apperated and in a flash we were sitting at his desk again. Ron and Blaise ran in the door to find out what in the world was happening.

"What is going on Harry?" Blaise spoke first.

"Draco is missing. I was right, this is a forgery. He received this while on vacation from the office. He left this past Monday to go to America, or so he thought. He hasn't been heard from since." he looked at the other two.

"Bloody hell." Ron said. "What do you suppose happened?"

"I think someone purposely wanted him to leave his house, so they could do something. What, I'm not quite sure of. All I know is that he has been gone for 4 days now." Harry instinctively wrapped his arms around my shoulder.
"Will Lavender be terribly upset if you postpone the wedding? I have to help Hermione find him."

"She may be upset, but she will get over it. I will owl her and tell her what is going on. I want to help too."

"Me too." Blaise said with his arms crossed. "Draco has been my best friend for almost 10 years."

"Okay, I am going to round up the other Aurors to help us. Meanwhile, none of you breathe a word of this outside of this office. Ron, in your letter don't tell Lavender exactly what happened in case it leaks to The Daily Prophet. Just tell her I need your help with something. Blaise, take Hermione home and look through the entire house for clues, anything out of the ordinary. We will begin looking at where he apperated to." Harry said with real authority.

"All right." we all said in unison. Blaise took me by the hand and we apperated back to my house.

"I will look upstairs," I told him. "You look downstairs in the study, living room and kitchen." I walked up the dark steps to our bedroom. I sat down on the bed in frustration and cried. 'What had happened?' I looked on the floor, under the dressers and bed. I looked through the trash can, the wastebasket in the bathroom and out on the terrace. I looked through his clothes pockets. I found absolutely nothing. Not one clue, not one thing out of the ordinary. I walked into the spare bedroom, which we used for a guest room and came up empty again. The linen closet held no secrets either. I walked down the steps, defeated. Blaise was tearing up the couch cushions and feeling inside.

"Find anything?" I asked, knowing the answer.

"Nothing." he said sadly.

"Is there anywhere you haven't looked?" I asked.

"Just the guest bathroom."

I ran as fast as my legs would carry me to the tiny room. I opened every drawer, tipped the can upside down and lifted the toilet lid. Nothing.

"Nothing in here." I called back to Blaise who was advancing on me in the hall.

"What about outside?" I asked.

"I haven't looked there yet." he said. "Let's look together, we will cover more ground that way." we walked out the front door and covered every inch of the porch and bushes. We went to the back yard and searched everywhere, which took quite a while due to its vast size. We were about ready to give up when Blaise yelled loudly for me.

"What is it? Did you find something?" I yelled running towards him at top speed. His face was a blank white. He stood up and pointed. There on the side of the porch, covered by old leaves and other stuff, was Draco's bag he had taken with him. I covered my face in horror and screamed. Blaise picked it up with his sleeve and said we had better get back to Harry's office. With a pop we both landed firmly in the middle of the ministry lobby. We quickly ran to the Auror headquarters and yelled for Harry when we burst in the door.

"Harry, Harry, hurry up, we found something." I yelled. Several people looked up startled by the sudden disturbance. Harry ran out from behind a desk over to us.

"What is it?"

"We found Draco's bag on the side of the house, under some leaves. Nothing else was in the house. I didn't touch it with my hands in case some evidence remained." he handed Harry the bag, which he took with a tissue. We sat there at Harry's desk until the wee hours of the night, while all available Aurors scanned the bag for clues. He had packed 3 shirts, 2 pairs of pants, socks, boxers, one extra pair of shoes and one tie. His wand was in the bottom. His family crest cufflinks were in a small satin bag in the side pocket. He had packed nothing else out of the ordinary. Nothing that suggested he would be gone for long, or was not going to the assignment for the ministry. My face was pale and I felt dizzy. I had not stopped since I woke up this morning, and my life had gone down the toilet in one single day. Harry was busy working on finding him, meanwhile Blaise, Ron and myself sat in stunned silence around the empty desks. Ron offered to go get me something to eat, but I had no appetite. He brought me back some tea anyway and I sipped it reluctantly. My thoughts wandered to him, our first kiss, our first true date, and our nighttime trysts at Hogwarts. Our wedding. Tears poured down my pale face. 'Oh, Draco, where are you?' I thought. 'I need you now.' I buried my face in my hands and laid my head on the vacant desk.