Hello. First I want to say that I know the chapters where Draco is gone will be a little dry; I'm trying to make them more interesting. Thank you again to Beauty422 for reviewing! Another thing is that I've started school again so I'll still be uploading just not as much.

Tuesday, July 13th, 1999

Draco moved around a few leaves on the ground searching for any sign of the former death eaters they had been looking for for ten days. Nothing. Scanning the forest floor he continued on until something unusual caught his eye.

"Hey! Phil, I think I got something here!"

"What is it?" Phil asked as he hurriedly made his way to Draco.

"It almost looks like, a claw." Draco said curiously as he picked up the object and observed it.

"That it is," Phil said as he took the claw from Draco. "This sort is from a werewolf, no doubt about it. This area isn't known for having a group of werewolves, I checked with the ministry before we left. There's no reason they would be in this area. It could possibly be Greyback's."

"Are you sure?" Draco said nervously.

"Yes. But the question is, how long has it been here? He could've moved on weeks ago or might've left it here hours ago." Phil stated while contemplating the possibilities.

"Either way, now we know they're here."

"Indeed." Phil said looking around for more evidence of their presence.

"How do we find them from here?" Draco asked.

"We start scanning the area for protection shields of any sort. Do you remember the incantation?" Phil asked.

"Yeah, I'll take east and north." Draco said taking charge of the situation. He knew they were close, he could feel it.

"Alright, send your patronus if you find anything." Phil concluded while walking in the opposite direction of Draco.

Walking forward a few steps Draco stated the incantation and waited for a barrier to either appear or for nothing to happen. As he expected, nothing. He knew he wouldn't find anything right away; they were fairly close to their cabin, maybe three miles out.

Draco knew that he needed to cover significant ground that day, at least another five miles. He was actually surprised that Greyback and Dolohov remained elusive. If he didn't find anything he would apparate to where he left off the next day.

The forest they were in wasn't all that dense. It was mostly pines, spruces and the occasional shrub. The visibility was decent but it was easy to get mixed up because of how similar the whole forest looked. The smell of the pine trees reminded him of Christmas at the manor. The manor had always housed a gigantic Christmas tree during the holiday and his mother would throw large parties and banquets. Draco missed those times.

Through the next mile Draco came up with nothing. This whole mission so far they had come up with little to nothing other than the claw. Somehow he had expected there to be much more action involved.

Draco hoped that it didn't last longer than the estimated month, but at this rate he could see no way of it ending that soon. He was already itching to get home.

Testing the space around him for the umpteenth time, finally, the curse sensed the presence of a magical shield about one hundred yards out. Unsure if the people inside the barrier could see him, he cowered behind a large tree. Remembering what to do he cast his patronus with the message to Phil.

Draco's patronus was a phoenix. He learned the patronus charm after the final battle, he really didn't know why his patronus ended up being a phoenix but it didn't really matter to him as long as the charm worked. No one in his family or anyone he knew had the same patronus as him, which made him wonder if his was just random.

After waiting for about fifteen minutes Phil found him.

"It's here?" He asked motioning ahead.

"Yes, about a hundred yards ahead of us. What do we do?" Draco questioned.

"We need to see how large it is. There's a good chance that they cannot see us through the shield so we should be safe." He stated as he looked around the area carefully. Draco stepped out from behind the tree with the reassurance that they wouldn't be seen.

They surveyed the area and began testing the borders of the shield. The protected area wasn't that large, maybe a quarter of an acre. Greyback and Dolohov, if it was them, most likely had just set up a camp or perhaps there was an existing house there.

Noticing the sun dipping down on the horizon Phil sighed, "We'll come back in the morning to see what to do with this. We need to figure a way to approach it or if we need to send in some help."

Draco agreed. "We don't know how many others there could be in there and what kind of dark magic they know, or if it's even them."

"Oh it's them alright. There's no reason for anyone else to be out here. We'll devise a plan in the morning." Phil concluded.

After apparating back to the cabin Draco and Phil went to their separate bedrooms for some well needed sleep.

When Draco entered his little bedroom, he smiled. His owl was back sleeping in her cage and a letter was sitting causally on his pillow. It had become quite routine that whenever he sent Aurora a letter, the next night he would receive one back.

He knew that she had been worried over the week where he didn't respond to her letter and felt rather guilty about it. Knowing that, he decided to make more of an effort to make time to respond to her quicker. To be honest, he would be worried too if she hadn't responded.

His heart couldn't help but race as he picked up the letter with the handwriting in which he had begun to adore.

Draco,

I'm so glad that you're alright. To be honest, I was getting pretty worried. I can't wait to see you again. The next few weeks will take so long I can already tell. Everything here is the same old same old. I'm trying to keep busy to pass the time quicker. Tomorrow night George is having a party which should be a fun time. I miss you so much; I can't wait until we can be together again like we were the night before you left. I'm sorry I didn't want to do anything more, I don't want you to think I'm just a tease. We'll get there eventually, it's not that I don't want to I just didn't think it was time to do anything more. But, anyway I miss you and I hope you stay safe.

Aurora

It was amazing how one paragraph from Aurora could make Draco's day so easily. Of course he wasn't mad at her or thought she was a tease for not wanting to go any further with him. He would wait however long she wanted to do more; it wasn't something he would push for. When it happened, it happened. And when it did, he knew it would be like heaven.

Whenever he received her letters he had such an urge to just leave the mission and go home right in that moment, but he knew he couldn't. He had a job to do. But when that job was done he knew he would be rushing back to her.

Draco took his time writing a reply letter. He wasn't really to the point where he could say how he felt about her easily, he didn't want to reveal too much of how she made him feel. He knew he should let Lucille sleep after the long journey so he set the letter on his bedside table and went to sleep.

. . .

Wednesday, July 14th 1999

Aurora knocked on George's office door just after opening up the store. They had a few extra workers in that day so she had a little less work to do. Earlier George had told her to come up to chat about some things.

"Come in!" George called from inside.

"Good morning." Aurora said as she walked in the messy and slightly cluttered office.

"Morning." George said as he put down something he was working on, most likely a new product since he seemed to be covered in some type of green powder.

"Why did you call me up?" Aurora asked, wanting to get to the point.

"I've been sort of concerned about you the past few days, and Ginny told me what you said the other day. Yes, I know she has a big mouth." George said half apologizing for his sister.

"Yes, I was concerned for Draco's safety he hadn't replied to my letter in almost a week. I know he's alright now so it won't be a problem anymore." Aurora explained, not really wanting to discuss it with him.

"Alright I was just curious. Anyway, I wanted to ask you if you would be open to being the manager around here. You do a hell of a lot more work than anyone else that works here. It would of course mean more time here but also a raise." George attempted to persuade her. Being manager was a big responsibility.

"I'd love to." Aurora said immediately as she smiled.

"Great, now remember seven o'clock tonight. Don't be late!" George said reminding her of the party later that day.

In the back of her mind she couldn't help but think of what this whole party was for. George never threw parties just for the fun of it, there was always a reason. Perhaps he was announcing a new product he created or maybe he was finally going to open the store in Hogsmeade. That would make sense for him to make her manager at this location so he could have someone in charge while he was building up the business at Hogsmeade.

"Don't dilly dally get back to work." George said jokingly.

"Yes sir." Aurora said as she saluted him.

"Oh, wait! I forgot, this showed up for you," He said as he tossed her a letter. "I think it's from your brother."

Aurora just barely caught it. Yep, that's Ames's handwriting alright. But why would he send it to her work?

"Thanks."

"No problem." George said as Aurora left the room.

Bounding down the stairs Aurora carefully opened the sealed letter. At the bottom of the stairs she unfolded it, smoothed it out , and held it up to read it.

Aurora,

I'm sending you this message to tell you that my mission will indeed last longer than anyone had anticipated since we have stumbled upon a large group of death eaters and we need to send in more Aurors. Don't be concerned if I do not send to you again until I return. I had to send this to your work so that if it got interjected it would look like a business letter. I will return safe.

Ames

To be honest, Aurora was disappointed that she wouldn't get to see her brother for a while longer than she had expected, she hadn't seen him in what seemed like forever. But it was what it was. She knew Ames could handle himself. She wanted to tell him all the new things in her life. Telling him about Draco wouldn't be easy since Ames seemed to have made friends with him in training.

As the work day ended at six o clock Aurora had an hour to get ready for the party. It was casual wear but she still wanted to look nice. She quickly made her way through Diagon Alley to Ollivander's. The old man was going through the shelves organizing the many wands destined to be owned by the next generation of witches and wizards.

Going into her apartment she was a little disappointed but not surprised to see no owl or letter waiting for her. Don't be worried, you know he's fine, she told herself as she went to her bedroom to put on the outfit she had meticulously chosen that morning. It was a simple pair of jeans, a green long-sleeved shirt and a black scarf.

Using a beauty spell, Aurora curled her hair in cute little spirals. She fixed the makeup she had put on in the morning and was ready to go. All of the girly spells she learned in school turned out to be quite helpful.

Realizing she should probably eat before she left, she quickly cooked up some pasta left overs from the night before. While eating her mind went back to the reason for George's party. Wouldn't he have told her? Perhaps it was nothing; George was kind of a party animal from what she'd seen. There were more than a couple times she had seen her boss drunk at a party.

Realizing it was time to go she apparated herself outside of WWW and walked down the cobblestone street toward the side door that lead up to George's apartment.

Ringing the doorbell she looked over to see a young couple maybe in their early twenties holding hands and talking closely while walking down Diagon Alley. Seeing the couple, she desperately pined for Draco. She couldn't wait until she could feel safe in his arms again.

Soon she heard the sound of someone coming down the stairs to let her in. Hermione opened the door all smiley faced and bright. Aurora walked in the narrow stairway.

"Good evening." Hermione said politely.

"Evening." Aurora said back as they went up the narrow stairs together. Aurora was decent friends with Hermione; she was a nice woman but they didn't talk as much as Aurora did with Ginny and Angelina.

Entering the average size apartment she could see some of her friends were already there aside from Harry and Ginny, they seemed to always be running a little late. There were many other people that she didn't know and a significant amount that she recognized from the after party from graduation.

Aurora caught Angelina's eye and Angelina motioned her over to the small group of people she was standing around talking with. Most of them she didn't recognize. George was standing beside Angelina along with Ron.

"Hey, glad you could make it." Angelina said with a beaming smile.

"Yeah, no problem." Aurora said joining the group, standing on the other side of Angelina.

Aurora listened in not adding anything for a while. They seemed to be discussing Ron and Harry's Auror training, Aurors had seemed to become a hot topic with their whole group. Draco had never really told her what training had really involved, neither had Ames. She had never really asked, but she was interested.

"Well everyday was different, but mostly we practiced dueling, spells, the history of Aurors," Ron told them. "I'm glad it's over."

"Well now the real work begins." A man Aurora did not know replied, he most likely was another new Auror.

"Yes, I'm actually leaving next week." Ron announced proudly as Hermione fidgeted nervously.

"Are you nervous?" Angelina asked passively while taking a sip of her wine.

"Not really, I mean after everything I've already been through in my school years I think I know what to expect." He explained.

"That doesn't mean you know what's going to happen." Hermione stated, obviously uncomfortable with the conversation.

"I know, but I feel more prepared then if we hadn't gone through all that." Ron carefully explained to her.

Sensing the tenseness growing in the conversation between the two, Aurora decided to step away. "I'll be back; I have to use the restroom." She said quietly to Angelina.

Angelina nodded, acknowledging her departure.

Relieved that she got out of the uncomfortable situation, she walked down the hallway to the bathroom. Seeing that it was unoccupied so she went in. She didn't really have to use the restroom, so she took a minute to fix up her makeup and straighten out the curls in her hair.

While turning the sharp corner after exiting the bathroom, Aurora accidentally bumped into one of the other party guests.

"Oh! I'm sorry." She apologized, startled by the sudden jolt.

The man she bumped turned around to look at her, "That's alright," he said smiling.

Something about him looked familiar, like she had seen him before recently. After a moment she remembered who he was. It was Michael, they had met two weeks earlier at the after graduation party for Harry and Ron.

"Wait, I remember you," Michael said while smiling, "you're Aurora right?"

"Yeah, I remember you too, from the party two weeks ago." She said as they stood in the small hallway.

"So how have you been?" He asked making simple conversation.

"Pretty good, how about you?" Aurora asked going along with it.

"Great, I'm actually getting ready to leave for my first mission." He mentioned. For some reason everyone just loved talking about Aurors and missions.

"Will you be going alone?" Aurora asked knowing that they usually were given partners from what Ames had previously told her.

"No, I got paired up with a more experienced Auror. I'm quite glad of it too, since it's my first one I'll need some help." Michael explained.

"Do most new Aurors get paired up with a more experienced Auror?" She asked wondering whether Draco was paired with someone, he had never told her. Then again they didn't really talk about his mission altogether.

"Yes, Aurors are always assigned one right away. Later on we are assigned a more permanent partner who is as equally experienced or close to it. But, you must be sick of hearing about Aurors." Michael said as if reading her mind.

"A little bit," Aurora laughed, "it's the topic of choice among my friends."

"I know. I believe they're still talking about it now." He said motioning to the group including Angelina and George.

"Which is exactly why I decided to take a little break." Aurora said. Michael seemed like a really nice guy, she hoped he knew that she wasn't single considering what Angelina may have told him two weeks before.

"So you work at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes right?" He asked curiously.

"Yes, I do. It's quite an interesting job, never boring that's for sure." She said while smiling thinking of all of the hijinks George had pulled over the time she worked there. There must've been at least twenty times where she went home with magical powders and liquids stuck in her hair.

"I can imagine. How long have you worked there?" Michael asked folding his arms.

"Since the end of last summer, when it reopened." She said remembering those first few days getting to know George and Angelina. They had become friends pretty quickly with all the work they put in every day to get the business started up again.

"So you know George well?"

"Yes, we've become quite good friends after seeing each other almost every day for a year."

As if on que, the ginger haired man they were talking about cleared his throat loudly calling attention to himself. Aurora and Michael turned toward him, interested in what he was preparing to say. He stood separated from his friends.

"First of all I'd like to thank you all for coming tonight," George said above the now silent room. Angelina was standing beside him.

"I've invited you all tonight because I have an announcement, actually we have an announcement." George continued including Angelina in the statement.

"Last week, I asked Angelina if she would be my wife." George said proudly and excitedly.

"And, I of course said yes." She said with a beaming smile on her face as she held up her hand, stated a hiding spell and in a moment a beautiful diamond ring was revealed on her finger.

The room erupted with hoots, hollers, and clapping. Aurora clapped loudly and whistled. She couldn't be happier for her friends. There was no way that this is what she expected to happen tonight but she was pleasantly surprised.

George kissed Angelina in front of their closest friends. They looked extremely happy together.

Aurora was smiling ear to ear. "Well I definitely wasn't expecting that," She said to Michael.

"No, I didn't either." He said.

"Angelina is glowing," Aurora said still ecstatic.

"Yeah, you're not married are you?" He asked jokingly.

"No, I'm not." She replied and snickered, seeing this as a good time to state her relationship she added, "I have a boyfriend but we're certainly not getting engaged any time soon."

"Why not?" He curiously questioned.

"We've only been dating for about a month." She explained to him.

"Oh I see, why isn't he here with you?" He asked inquisitively looking about the room.

"He's an Auror and he's actually on a mission right now. He's been gone for almost two weeks now. He was in your class for Auror training I believe, he graduated with all of you." Aurora said.

"Really? What's his name?" Michael asked with a grin of interest.

"Draco Malfoy." She said succinctly.

"Ah, yes he was in my class. Our teacher thought very highly of him, must be why he was the first sent out. Actually I think our teacher is the one that is his partner considering he also is on a mission." Michael recalled.

"Phil, right? The man that lead the graduation?" Aurora asked.

"Yep, that's him. Draco's in good hands I can assure you. Phil knows what he's doing, he's been an Auror for over twenty years." He said trying to assure her of Draco's safety.

"Well that's good to hear, but it's hard not to worry." Aurora said while smiling knowing that Draco would be shielded from harm's way. "Anyway, I think I need to go congratulate my friends on their engagement, do you mind?"

"No, of course not. I have catching up to do with some other Aurors that I had training with." He said passively.

"Alright, I'll see you around." She said as they parted ways.

Angelina was in the kitchen pouring glasses of wine for her guests with her wand effortlessly when Aurora walked in.

"Hey, Angelina congratulations!" Aurora said as she walked up to her.

Angelina turned around and smiled hugely. "Thanks, I was so nervous about telling everyone."

"Why? Everyone assumed this would happen soon." Aurora said.

"Because marriage is a big deal and I feel like we're ready, but I was just worried about how our friends would react. But, everything turned out perfect." Angelina said finishing up the group of wine glasses.

"Well of course it did, can I see the ring?" Aurora asked, sharing her excitement.

"Of course, isn't it beautiful?" Angelina asked as she held up the ring. The diamond was princess cut and was on what seemed to be a white gold setting with two small gems on either side of the diamond. It looked perfect on Angelina's dainty finger.

"It's so pretty. Did George really pick this out for you?" Aurora said, surprised at the man's good taste in rings.

"Apparently, it is shocking isn't it?" She said while laughing to herself admiring the ring.

"Yes, so how did he propose to you?" Aurora asked looking back up to her.

"Well we were in his office and he was supposedly showing me a new product that he was thinking working on. He brought out this maroon colored box and waved his wand over it. Then the box burst open and there were little fireworks of a bunch of different colors and the last one spelled out 'Will you marry me?' and I looked over to him and he was on one knee holding up the ring. I said yes immediately." Angelina told her with a grin from ear to ear.

"That's so cute, I'm so happy for you guys." Aurora said honestly.

Throughout the rest of the night Aurora chatted with her friends and even had a glass of wine, which George had insisted upon for the occasion. At around ten o'clock Aurora decided to go home, seeing that she did have work the next day.

After saying goodnight to everyone she went back down the narrow staircase and onto Diagon Alley. From there she made the short walk from WWW to her little apartment. There were a few stragglers left on the street finishing up their shopping and making their way home.

Upon arrival, Aurora tried to get in quietly so she didn't wake . The old man went to bed rather early and woke up at the crack of dawn. She tip-toed up the stairs and went into her homey apartment.

Aurora quickly got into her pajamas and into her bed. Letting her mind drift off she began to think about Angelina and George's engagement, to tell the truth she didn't exactly see it coming, they hadn't acted any different since they had gotten engaged. Maybe they were really trying to hide it.

Quickly Aurora fell into a deep sleep.

When her alarm went off dutifully she groaned and got up from her bed. As usual it was still dark outside with the sun just barely peeking up from the east.

While getting ready for work, Aurora heard a slight noise from the other room. She put down her hair brush carefully by the sink and wandered out of the bathroom. Apparently the noise had not come from the bedroom since nothing had been disturbed.

A little nervous, Aurora quietly opened the door to the rest of her apartment. Before she turned the corner she made sure nothing had been moved or touched in the kitchen. After turning the corner she realized her nervousness to a little noise was pointless. All the noise was, was Lucille trying to get in the closed window.

She sighed in relief and went to the window and shoved it open. The little owl flew in and promptly landed on the arm of her couch. Aurora took the letter from the bird and sat down on the couch to read it.

Aurora,

Please don't be worried about me, I'll be alright. I do not think you're a tease at all. We can go at whatever pace you want to. I have been anxious to get home but we haven't made all that much progress. Hopefully it will pick up very soon. I hope you had fun at the party. Going to a party sounds like a fun time right now. I hope you're doing alright and I'll be back before you know it.

Draco

Aurora was relieved to know that Draco didn't think that she had been a tease. At that time she wasn't ready for anything more, but she knew that she soon would be.