CHAPTER 2
To Be Loved
"HOW IN THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN?" yelled Robards. "HOW THE FUCK DID YOU MANAGE TO SCREW THIS UP MALFOY?"
Draco looked confused. "ME? I DIDN'T SCREW ANYTHING UP!"
"A PRISONER IN YOUR CUSTODY DIED!" said Robards. "IF THAT ISN'T SCREWING UP, THEN I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS. I WANT YOUR WAND NOW!"
"FUCK YOU!" Draco yelled back.
"Excuse me?" Robards asked. "What did you say to me? That's it…I've had about enough of your…"
Before he could finish, Harry stands up and gets in front of Malfoy, and looks at Robards.
"Enough of this shit…" said Harry. "You want to blame someone, blame me. He didn't do anything wrong and you know it. You know, I've seen a lot of hatred in my life but yours takes the cake Gawain."
"Excuse me Mr. Potter," said Robards. "You don't get to call me that."
"The hell I don't Gawain." said Harry. "Remember, I don't technically work for you. I work for Minister Shacklebot. I bet he'd love to hear how you have treated some of the Auror's under your care, especially how you've treated Mr. Malfoy here."
"He is a disgrace," he said. "He is a known Death Eater."
"He saved my life and the life of everyone in this building.", said Harry. "If your prejudice wasn't blinding your vision, you'd see he is a changed man and a god damn good Auror. So no one is getting sacked Gawain. What we need to do is find out what is happening, and who is behind it."
Draco didn't really like Potter sticking up for him. Sometimes he felt like he didn't belong, and others, it made him feel important. Not just to him, but to her as well. She was always encouraging him to be a better person.
Silence filled the room like a breath, and each of them stared at one another for a few moments, until Robards begins to speak.
"Alright Potter," he said to them. "You feel like Malfoy here is worth the effort, tomorrow, you two are partners. And yes, I can make this happen, so do what you guys are good at and find me the man responsible for killing a witness in my own department."
Harry nodded, and Draco looked as it bugged him, but he eventually came around and nodded as well.
"Good," he said. "Go home, get some rest. If you feel this is half as bad as you say it is, your going to need it."
Both Harry and Draco stood up as Robards went back to writing something on a parchment.
"Oh and Mr. Malfoy," he said. "My apologies, it won't happen again."
"Yes head Auror." Draco said.
"But if you ever talk to me like that again," said Robards. "You'll be out of this department faster than you can say "Stupify", do you understand me?"
"Yes sir," said Draco.
Both men walk out of the office, and Harry stops Draco.
"We'll find out who did this Draco." He said. "Want to get a drink before we go our separate ways?"
"Unfortunately Potter, I can't." he said. "I've got other plans. I've got to tell Luna about Dean. Then I think I need to spend time with my wife."
"You go home, and I'll inform Luna." he said. "When you get home, just tell her I said hello."
Draco nodded, and walked away from Potter and the department itself. He headed towards the floo network, and with a green flash, he was gone.
His home wasn't like Malfoy Manor. He loved his childhood home, and knows that one day it will belong to him. Until that day, he bought a nice little house just outside London. Little bit of quiet is always good. And here, it's very quiet. He gives himself a small dust off and steps out of the fireplace. The smell of home always made him feel better when coming home from work.
It was getting close to almost 10 so she would probably be getting ready if not already in bed. He puts his lays his coat on the back of a chair, and puts his bag on the ground by it, and walks into the kitchen. With her job, its hard to see how she has time to come home, and clean, but it's always spotless when he gets back. As an extra plus, there on the kitchen counter is a small glass with a bottle of fire whiskey next to it. He usually has a half of glass almost every night he comes home.
He grabs the glass, goes to the icebox, takes a few cubes out and places them into the glass. Normally he would just use a spell to chill the glass, but tonight was a bit rough, so he just did it the old fashioned way. He pours the whiskey about ¼ of the way into the glass, puts the top back on the whiskey and puts it up in the cabinet where it belongs.
He grabs the glass, and goes back into the main room. He sits down on the chair, where he laid his coat a bag down. He takes a sip as his mind wanders around trying to fit some pieces into this newly formed case. His mind wanders to how Dean told him to chase after Fletcher, helping the muggles. He was sure Dean would have gotten them out and to the ministry for help.
With everything that has gone on, he hasn't even had time to settle down to realize his friend and partner were dead. Tears start to form as if all the emotion that had built up in him decided that it wanted to break free. A strand of water runs down his face as now some anger has built into him.
"Dammit Dean," he quietly said to himself. "Why didn't you just get out of there? Why?"
And like a trigger, he tosses the glass into the fireplace. He expected the glass to shatter, but it just floated there in front of the fire place. Draco sunk into the chair, now more emotional than ever. A hand came down on his shoulder and he embraced it as more tears flowed from his face. He looked up and saw his wife standing over him. Her body was wrapped in some sort of night lingerie, with her brown hair hanging in a perfect pony tail, and her face was showing empathy and you can see she's worried about him.
"What happened?" she said. "Why are you so sad?"
"Dean…" he muttered. He was shaking so much that she had to press herself to him to get him to relax. "He's dead "Mione. My partner and friend is dead."
She seemed shocked, and could tell it was really hurting him. "
My friend is dead, and I can't even tell Luna who did it," He said. "What kind of friend am I?"
She embraced him more, pulling him closer to her chest. He loved the feel of her body, and knew she felt the same way about him. She leaned to him, and kissed him as he held her. He brought her to him in the chair, as she passionately kissed him. His hands started to work on their own, as he grabbed her waist, and started to work their way up to her chest.
He could feel her start to breath heavy, and knew where this would lead to. As newlyweds, nights like this happened often. But this was the first time she was embracing him when he was sad or upset since learning that his mother passed away.
Her breathing was now even heavier, as she straddled him in the chair. He kissed her neck, which sent shivers down her spine, letting out a small moan. He continued down until he reached her breasts.
He cupped them and kissed them to her moaning even more. He could feel her rock back and forth wanting him to take her right then and there. He wanted so much to make love to his wife, and lifted her up as he got up to from the chair. They continued to kiss as he carried her to the bedroom, where he laid her down on the bed gently looking into her eyes, tears still falling from his face.
HE'S BETTER OFF DEAD DRACO. HE HELD YOU BACK, AND HE WASN'T YOUR FRIEND. I'M YOUR ONLY FRIEND DRACO…I MADE YOU WHO YOU ARE…I GAVE YOU HER…I MADE ALL OF THIS FOR YOU…DRACO MALFOY….YOU BELONG TO ME FOREVER….
He woke up in a sweat, breathing heavily. Only a few hours had passed since he been home, but this dream happens more often than not. He calmed his breathing, and looked over to his right. His wife lay there naked, in a peaceful state, asleep. He gets up slowly without waking her, grabs his wand and heads to the kitchen. Takes another glass and raises his wand.
"Aguamenti" he whispers putting the tip of his wand to the glass.
The water fills the cup, and Draco puts his wand down and takes a drink of the water. The refreshing drink quenches his thirst, and he places the cub into the sink. He picks up his wand points it at the cup and says ".Scourgify."
The cup, now looks perfectly clean. He grabs it out of the sink, and places it back into the cupboard. He heads back to bed, but something was troubling him, and what Mundungus said before he was killed.
"He has eyes all over, including here in the ministry…."
His mind continued to wander. Who would benefit from all of this? Why is it that he cannot understand why it is, his friend is gone and he is still alive? The emotions start again, and he knew he had to stop thinking about it, or he'd end up like his father after his mother passed.
His father, what a worthless piece of work he became. If it wasn't for Draco, his father would be rotting in Azkaban. And he made sure he told him that every time he saw him, which made Lucius upset. He was already in a state of despair, and it didn't help when Draco told him it was his fault his mother died.
Draco knew it wasn't, but he was so hurt, because his father did nothing since her diagnosis. It went fast, faster than anyone could imagine. The disease spread, and not even the muggle doctors could help her. He gave up on his wife, allowing her to die. He did that to her and to Draco.
The anger now was building up, and he had to keep calm. He couldn't think about it anymore. He had to move on. There were more pressing answers to find out with what happened yesterday. The only problem is, now he had to team up with the one guy who he really doesn't like that much, Harry Potter.
"Saint Potter," he mumbled, going back to his school days at Hogwarts. He shook his head. "I swear its fucking karma."
He stood at the doorway of his bedroom, naked, tired and pissed. The sight of his beautiful and naked wife made him a lot calmer, to a point where he started getting a rise from looking her.
"How could I get so lucky?" he asked himself.
She probably get a bit upset if he woke her, especially since they both have to get up early, so had to gut it up and head back to bed. He lay next to her, having to endure her body next to his and not being wake her up and have his way with her. He was sure she'd enjoy it, but he didn't want to take a chance for her to not get sleep. Besides, being the assistant to the Minister of Magic was very time consuming. She did so much in so little of time.
He lay next to her without waking her again, messing with her hair, staring at her naked body in the moonlight. God she was beautiful. And he couldn't understand how lucky he was to have her. The way he treated her in the past, calling her all sorts of god awful names, only because of how he was raised.
Then there was the moment he fell for her. It started during the battle of Hogwarts, in the Room of Requirement, his friend Crabbe starting the fire, and dying while he was being saved. He didn't want to end up like that. He had his whole life ahead of him, and he didn't want to die.
As the battle broke out, He watched as Ron was chasing after someone, when he saw that she was being targeted. He rushed to her, and grabbed her falling to the ground just before the spell hit. He raised my wand at her assailant, and next thing he knew the assailant was out cold, and she is in Draco's arms.
Weasley still to this day thinks he attacked her, but he couldn't let any harm come to her ever again. He swore it to her that day. It took him a while to convince her, but ultimately, she fell for him, pulled a few strings with some contacts at the ministry, got him pardoned, and in the Auror department, where he wanted to atone for his father's sins to the ministry and the wizarding world.
"I will never let anything hurt you again, as long as I live" he whispered in her ear.
He laid his head on the pillow, looking up at the celling. The next thing he knows, she has her head nestled on his chest. He falls asleep as they both lay in silence and calm for the next few hours before they start their day all over.
As he awoke, she is nowhere to be seen. The water from the bathroom is running, which only meant one thing, she was showering. He loved looking at her with no clothes on, and wanted to continue doing it for the rest of his life.
He gets up, walks into the bathroom, where she is actually standing by the sink brushing her teeth.
"Good morning beautiful." He said making her look at his direction. Suds from the toothpaste are around her mouth as if she has been overcome with rabies. "I take that back," he said laughing at her. She just glared at him, as she turned back to finish up.
"I started the shower for you," she said to him.
"What do I stink?" he asked.
"A little," she said jokingly.
He goes up to her cradling her waist, kissing the back of her neck.
"You keep that up," she said, "We'll never get out of here."
"I'm ok with that," he said. "I'd rather be here than work anyways."
"I'm so sorry about what has happened." She said. "I'm sure I'll be briefed on the incident. So, I guess it's best to hear it from the horse's mouth first."
He glared at her playfully. "You calling me a horse?" he said smiling.
He loved joking with her. But she was right, she'll find out everything. Robards was very thorough in his reports. He tells her everything, Mundungus, the warehouse, the events with Robards, and with Harry, everything including the deaths of Dean and the Muggles, as well as the death of Mundungus Fletcher, inside the ministry.
"That's terrible," she said. "And Robards is a fucking asshole!"
He loved it when she cursed. It took her awhile to come out of her shell, but when she did, you'd swear she was a sailor coming to port.
"Harry says Hi by the way," he said. "Apparently I'm getting paired with him to solve this case."
"That's good isn't it?" she asked. "I mean, he's a great wizard and auror, just like you. You should be proud to be teaming up with him. I know he would be if he were in your shoes."
Draco knows she means well, but it's Harry Potter. The boy who lived, the boy who defeated the Dark Lord Voldemort, twice, how can he compete with that?
"I know that I don't have a choice, and my job is on the line to catch who or whatever has done this" he said. "The odds are not in my favor."
"You worry about catching this person," she said. "As far as your job, I'm pretty sure you're not going anywhere. No Robards on the other hand, that's could be a different story."
"Hun," he said to her. "Don't get involved ok."
She nodded, but something tells Draco, that this won't be the last time it gets brought up. He looks at the clock and cursed.
"Shit," he said. "I'm going to be late."
With that, he passionately kissed his wife, grabbed his coat and bag and flooed back to the ministry.
As he walks into his department, the looks some of the Aurors were giving him didn't sit right with him. Yeah, he'd get a few stares from them, but this seemed different. Almost as if something had happened, and he was getting blamed. He made his way to his office, and there is where he realized what was going on. Someone told him he was wanted into the Head Auror's office. As he walked in, the Minister of Magic, along with some of the officers, Robards, and Harry were in there waiting for him.
Shacklebot was sitting in Robards desk, looking at the young Auror.
"Mr. Malfoy," he said. "Thank you for joining us. So, I heard we had an eventful evening last night. Care to give me your accounts? And If I were you, I'd be very thorough."