Kayley was down stairs having her morning coffee when she heard the door fly open and footsteps making their way down the hall toward her. Kayley scowled and swished her coffee in a circular motion. "Maybe you could, oh, I don't know, not slam the door?" Kayley asked looking up from her coffee at Sky.

"Sorry." Sky said sheepishly.

Kayley shrugged and sat down on the couch that was conveniently behind her.

"So, what's up?" Kayley asked.

Sky smiled, blushing. "I was wondering if you could come to dinner tomorrow night." Sky said.

"Ahh, that's sweet, Sky, but I don't feel that I'm ready to take our relationship to the next level." Kayley managed to keep a strait face as she said it.

Sky scowled at Kayley. "Get over yourself. I met a guy, and he's coming over for dinner tomorrow night, and I wanted you to meet him with my parents."

"Ahhh! Sky, you always were my favorite sister." Kayley said smiling.

Sky sat back in her seat and looked Kayley up and down as if sizing her up. "Well, you'll do." she said after a moment.

Kayley put on her best hurt look. "Well, if you're going to be that way, get out of my house." she glanced at the clock on the wall and stood up. "No, seriously, I'm going to be late for work." Kayley said when Sky didn't move.

"Miss Daniels?" Nichelle said, poking her head into Kayley's office. Kayley looked up from the forms she was filling out. "The Minister would like to see you in his office."

"Now?" Kayley asked, and Nichelle nodded. Kayley rose and crossed the room to the door wondering what the Minister wanted.

She knocked on his door when she reached it. "Come in!" she heard through the door. Kayley entered and took a seat across from the Minister that was starting to feel like her own.

"I'd like you to go be back on the twelfth." he stated bluntly.

"Of February?" Kayley asked thinking of Travis. They had a date this Saturday and Kayley was sure that he would like to spend Valentine's Day with her.

"Is that a problem, Miss Daniels?" He asked sensing her hesitation.

"No, that's fine." She smiled and stood up. "I'll plan on it." she said, letting herself out of his office.

With the new date for her regular expedition to England less than a month away, and everything she had to do for work and Professor Jarvis, and then add her social life in and Kayley was feeling overworked.

Kayley left work a little early the next day. She wanted to look nice for Sky's dinner. By the time she reached her aunt and uncle's doorstep, Kayley was feeling very excited. Aunt Kya opened the door and Kayley was immediately engulfed in a hug.

"Come in, come in, dinner's ready and he's here!" she added the last in an excited whisper and Kayley aloud herself to be guided into the dining room.

His name was Zane Rycroft, and Kayley could tell that he and Sky were pretty serious. The conversation was pleasant enough, and flowed easily, but Kayley's mind was on something else. They adjourned to the living room after dinner and had coffee and talked some more. Zane left at a quarter after ten, saying that it was late. Kayley knew that she needed to go home, but sensed that Sky wanted her to stay longer.

"Want to go for a walk?" Sky asked as soon as Zane had safely gone home.

"Err, that depends, inside or out?" It was a cold night, there were clouds around that could produce snow, but Kayley knew that it was too cold to snow and preferred not to go outside.

"Inside," Sky said with a smile. Kayley got up and followed her down a hall in the opposite direction of the front door. "So, what did you think?" she asked, trying to sound casual.

"He's nice." Kayley said.

"That's all? Nice?"

"And charming and he's great, Sky. Does he meet your parent's standards?" Kayley asked purely out of curiosity.

Sky nodded. "Yup, he's a pureblood." she said, confirming Kayley's suspicions.

"Where's he from?"

"Boston." Sky replied. He had told them at dinner that he came here to start a bookstore.

"So you guys are pretty serious?" Kayley asked.

Sky nodded again, and blushed. "How are things with you and Travis? I thought maybe if we got a little more serious we could have a double wedding."

"Me and Travis?" Kayley asked, clearly shocked.

"Well, I thought that you know, you guys were cutest couple our fifth year, and he's back and you guys are going out…oh my gosh! Did you break up?"

"No," Kayley said slowly, "but you know how Travis is. He'll get tired of being here and want to move, and then we'll end up moving like every five years, and I'm just not interested in that.

"But you go to another country once a month." Sky pointed out.

"Yeah, but that's business. I'll bet that Travis has been to every state and most of the countries. Speaking of work, it's late. I'd better go." They turned around and headed in the opposite direction. "Congratulations," Kayley said, giving Sky a hug. She then hurried to the front door and home.

Kayley's date on Saturday night came up much faster than she was ready for. She left work early again to get ready. He had told her to be sure and dress up, which meant that they were going somewhere nice. Kayley chose a short black dress with short sleeves and hoped that they were going somewhere warm, because she didn't have a coat to go with it. She had a heavy black cloak, her favorite one that she always wore to England, (since it always seemed to be snowing there) but there weren't any only wizarding places to eat at and she didn't want to be stared at by Muggles.

Kayley pulled her hair into a messy bun, leaving tendrils of hair down to frame her face. She applied her make up and then waited, or fretted and nearly changed twice.

There was a knock at her bedroom door and Kayley sat down on the bed and played with some papers to look like she wasn't waiting. "Come in." she said. Garvin opened the door and Kayley looked up from the papers that she wasn't really looking at in the first place.

"Mr. Kelby is here, Miss." he said, opening the door wider.

Kayley stood up. "Thank you, Garvin." she said strolling out of the door in front of him. Travis was seated in the sitting room at the bottom of the stairs. He stood up right before she was at the bottom of the stairs.

"You look nice." he said as she crossed the room to where he was standing.

"Thank you, you do too." Kayley smiled as she allowed herself to be led to the door. They took a taxi to the restaurant, which was different for Kayley, and kind of weird, since she and Travis had been raised the same way, but it gave them more time to talk. They went to an Italian restaurant. It was beautiful, painted in deep reds and greens with lace-covered tables for two. Each table also had at least two candles.

"This is nice." Kayley said after the waiter brought desert. They had already talked so much that Kayley wasn't sure there was anything else to talk about.

Travis seemed pleased with her comment. "Wait and see what I have planned for Valentine's Day." he said beaming.

"Ahh, about Valentine's Day." Kayley said slowly, playing with the whipped topping on top of her desert.

Travis's face fell. "What about Valentine's Day?"

"I have to work." she said looking up to see his reaction.

"Of course you do, Valentine's Day is on a Monday. I wasn't planning anything until that evening."

Kayley looked at him sadly. "I mean I have to be in England working. I can't just come home and have Valentine's Day with you and then go back."

"Can't you pretend to be sick or something?" he asked hopefully.

"No, I've been there while I was sick. My boss knows that only death will keep me away." she explained patiently, even though she was annoyed. Travis looked put out.

"May I walk you to your door?" he asked after a long pause.

Kayley agreed, but she didn't invite him inside. She felt exhausted and went to bed almost as soon as she got home.

The next day she went by her school for 'wandless magic lessons,' as she had started calling them in her head. Professor Jarvis was happy to see her. "Can you light your wand when it's far away from you?" He asked as she sat down.

"Yes, sir."

"Excellent, now…"

"Sir?" Kayley interrupted.

"Yes?"

"I was just wondering… how far have you gotten?" she asked hesitantly. She felt awkward and like she was questioning him.

He made a book on the shelf beside the door float to him. Kayley noticed that his wand was sitting on a table behind her. Professor Jarvis caught the book and set it on his desk to the side. "You're unimpressed," he said calmly.

"Well, sir, they teach us summoning in like third year." she offered. He lit a fire in the fire place with a flick of his wrist. Kayley had a feeling that he was just showing off now.

"I have not progressed as far as I would have liked to." he said, "But it takes practice, and I expect to have it perfected in less than ten years time."

"Wonderful, I'll never finish." she said sarcastically.

"The difference between you and I is that I am pioneering. You are not, you are learning quicker than I did because I have bettered the method. Now if you're done being skeptical I would like to continue with the lesson. The next step is levitation. I want you to be able to levitate a brick by next week." he said sounding annoyed.

"I'll be in England next week on business." Kayley informed him.

"Well then, Miss Daniels, be able to do it next week and be ready to show me in two weeks. You are dismissed."

Kayley stood up and left, afraid that she had taken too much advantage of his good nature.

Kayley spent that evening outlining and detailing her relocation plan. After looking at what she had written she threw it into the fire. It was not safe to keep anything around anymore, even in her own house. She was surprised that she hadn't had a visitor. Kayley picked up a piece of paper and a pen, while she was thinking about it she might as well send him a letter so that he would know that she was coming. "Lucky!" The little house elf appeared in font of her instantly. "Go mail this for me, please." The house elf bowed and disappeared with a pop. Kayley rubbed her eyes and decided to go to bed.

The next week seemed to pass in a day and before Kayley knew it she was packing. The guard curses were down when Kayley arrived at the Malfoy Mannor, which she was grateful for. For once it wasn't snowing, but it was still very cold.

After what seemed like forever, Kayley reached the front door. She thought that she would pass out from fatigue before someone opened the door. It was the butler again. He looked her up and down. "Yes?"

"Mr. Malfoy is expecting me." Kayley said. The butler raised his shaggy grey eyebrows and started to shut the door, but Kayley was too quick for him, and stuck her he foot in the door.

She smiled demurely, "I assure you, sir, he is expecting me, and it is awfully cold out here."

He held the door open. "Very well." Kayley followed him

Draco was in one of the more feminine sitting rooms when they found him. He was sitting in a maroon chair across from a woman who looked as if she had aged a great deal in a short time. Draco smiled at Kayley when she entered the room. "Good evening, Miss Daniels." He said.

"Good evening, Mr. Malfoy." She answered.

"I would like to introduce you to my mother." He said. "Mother, this is Miss Daniels."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Daniels." Draco's mother said.

"And it's very nice to meet you, Mrs. Malfoy." Kayley said with a deep nod. Then she turned back to Draco. "I think I'll retire now, if you don't mind."

"Of course not, would you like me to walk you to your room?"

She smiled. "No thank you, I think I can find it."

"Miss Kayley! Wake up!." Kayley, still mostly asleep, took a swipe at the house elf that was standing beside her bed. Then she felt a draft, then more than a draft, she was cold. She cracked one eye open sleepily, and say that she was uncovered; all of the covers were at the foot of the bed. She sat up to pull the covers back over herself, but was unable to. The little house elf was standing at the foot of the bed, just out of reach, holding the covers.

Kayley glared at the elf. "Fine." She growled before getting up. The house elf still stood at the foot of the bed, holding the blankets. She ignored it and started getting dressed. A glance at the clock on the wall showed that it was almost twelve thirty.

Kayley was downstairs by one o'clock. Mr. Malfoy was seated at the dining table and eating lunch. He stood when she entered. "Did you sleep well?" He asked after she was seated.

"Yes, thank you." she replied. The conversation was light and border line awkward, and after a short time Draco excused himself to go and do whatever it was that he did on Sundays. Kayley remained at the table and drank her water and thought about random things.

The events of the night before entered her thoughts. Mrs. Malfoy's voice had seemed familiar, she decided. Where had she heard it before? While she was wondering she remembered the dream that she had had the night before. She was wondering around his house and she had come back to the door; the door with the woman behind it, that she had had such sinister thoughts about. In her dream, she was bolder than real life. She pushed the door open to reveal a dark room—a bedroom. There was a bed in the middle of the room and the light from the hall rested on the body of the woman that was resting in the bed. She looked old and frail, and it took Kayley a while to recognize her as Draco's mother. Kayley gently shook herself out of her reverie.

Kayley returned from work the next day frustrated. There was too many, just too damn many, and not enough places to hide them. She couldn't relocate the whole damn ministry and nearly everyone there had reason to believe there was a Death Eater after them.

Kayley worked on a plan for a while in her room before she gave up. It was an exaggeration, of course, that the whole ministry wanted relocated, but it seemed like it.

The whole week went like that. Dinner was average the night before she left, but when Kayley thought about it what had she expected? Draco went to his study afterward and Kayley decided to explore the library some more. She was scanning the shelves, searching for something that looked good that she hadn't heard before when she heard a noise behind her. Kayley turned around to see Draco heading toward her.

"Miss Daniels." Draco said in greeting.

"Mr. Malfoy," she replied.

"Would you accompany me out for a drink?" he asked.

"Yeah," Kayley said before following him out of the room.

When they got to the porch, he surprised her by not quickly grabbing her around the waist and Apparating. It had started to snow and there was already a thin layer on the ground. Kayley surveyed it for a minute before turning to Draco.

"I don't suppose that you want to walk?" she asked ruefully.

"No." He answered promptly. She sighed a little before she wrapped her arms around his neck and closed her eyes.

When she opened her eyes they were standing in the same alley. They walked to the Three Broomsticks and it went in much the same way as the time before, they talked about everything but work. When they finished, Draco looked at her for a long while, before he said, "Can I show you something?"

"Um, sure," Kayley said, surprised for the second time that night.

Draco stood and Kayley followed him out the door. Instead of heading to the alley they had come from, Draco lead her in the opposite direction. They headed down a road in the opposite direction from where they had come. The road was lined with trees, and it seemed to take forever to get to where they were going. Kayley pulled her cloak around her tighter. She looked at the snow on the ground, it was getting deeper. As she concentrated on the snow she didn't realize when Draco stopped and almost ran into him. She caught herself in time and stopped beside him. Then she looked up and caught her breath. There in front of her was the most beautiful castle she had ever seen.

"This is Hogwarts?" she asked. He nodded. "You went to school here?"

"Six years," he said, looking at it too.

Kayley stared at until a sharp bark broke her from her trance. She followed the sound with her eyes, and saw that it was coming from a huge dog that was tied to a stake out side of a wood hut. A huge man came out of the hut and looked in there direction. He held a crossbow in one hand.

"Who's there?" he boomed before starting in there direction.

Draco took her by the elbow. "Time to go." he said starting off in the direction they had come from. The dog started barking more loudly and more rapidly. They were running now, and so was the man behind them, even though he hadn't seen them yet. Draco swore, and mumbled a spell. Kayley heard a swishing sound behind them and realized that their foot prints were disappearing. The next thing Kayley knew she had been pushed to the ground behind a bush, just off of the path, and Draco was on top of her. "Shh," he whispered, before checking the path, the man was almost to them. Then he was on her, kissing her. Before Kayley knew what she was doing her hands had come up and were between them, on his chest, pushing against him to get him off. Then abruptly, she changed her mind, and her hands went up, and over his shoulders and came to rest around his neck, and she was kissing him back.

After what seemed like both a lifetime and no time at all, he stopped and rolled off of her. He stood and helped her up. They both dusted the snow off of themselves. Their pursuer was no where in sight. They walked back to Hogsmeade in silence. When they got back to the alley Kayley put her arms around his neck without protest and they Apparated back to his house with out a word.

He opened the door for her and followed her in. When they got to the stairs that lead to her room she turned back to face him. "Good night, Mr. Malfoy." she said before mounting the stairs.

"Good night Miss Daniels," he said when she was almost at the top of the stairs, and he wasn't sure she had heard him.