CHAPTER 3

4 years later

Ginny yawned loudly, placing the back of her hand over her mouth and snuggling further into her pillows. She wanted more rest, but the magical alarm clock beside her bed was persistent. She sat up slowly, yawing again and rubbing her eyes as she placed her feet on the floor, and slammed her hand down on the beeping clock.

She stood, stretching languidly, before stumbling forward and into her bathroom. She sat down on the toilet. The seat was cold, and she wiggled a bit before settling. A few moments later she stood, lifted her panties up around her hips, and flushed the toilet.

Walking over to the mirror, she yawned yet again and this time caught a whiff of her own breath. "Yesck" She grimaced, grabbing her tooth brush and squeezed the last amount of toothpaste out of the tube and onto the bristles.

She looked into the mirror as she began to brush.

Ginny Weasley, Auror.

She smiled around her tooth brush. Who would have thought? Little Ginny. Everyone expected her to become a healer, or a Quidditch player. Everyone expected her to marry Harry. She sighed, spitting out her toothpaste and rinsing out her mouth.

She looked into the mirror, dabbing her mouth with a wash cloth.

He had never come back. Not even for Ron's funeral.

She shook her head. She didn't want to think about her brother's funeral. It had been four years… but the images came unbidden; Hermione crying uncontrollably, yelling that he was 'just sleeping', her mother's breakdown after the final battle, Charlie's missing arm... No, she wouldn't think of that.

But why hadn't Harry ever come back? She walked out of the bathroom and stepped over to her dresser, gathering her uniform together and slowly putting it on.

He had said that he would come back, and she had waited for a whole year. A year of going crazy with worry, wondering if he was ok. After that year was up, she traveled. She traveled all over Europe, and even to America, needing to get away. A few months later, she was back, having seen how the world was still affected by the aftershocks of the war. Seeing that evil still existed and it still preyed upon the innocent.

It was then that she decided to become an Auror.

Buttoning up the last few buttons of her Auror robes, she made her way into the kitchen, checking the clock and seeing that she had about fifteen minutes until she needed to Apparate. She grabbed an apple off of the counter and bit into it, the sour of the green apple clashing terribly with the minty flavor of her toothpaste.

Today was to be her first day as a fully trained Auror. She would be meeting her partner today as well, and she couldn't help but feel knots in her stomach from her nervousness.

Looking at the clock once more, she gathered her things and Apparated to HQ.

She landed with a crack outside of Auror Tonks' office. She walked to the front desk and asked the secretary to let the head Auror know that she was here. She then took a seat, picked up a cooking magazine, and waited.

A few minutes, and a few skimmed articles later, the secretary told her Tonks would see her now.

As soon as she stepped through the door, she was enveloped in a tight embrace. "Congratulations on graduating last week!" the currently black haired Tonks said. Her dark tendrils bounced around her face as she pulled back. "So sorry Remus and I couldn't make it, love."

Ginny laughed. "You were on your honeymoon, Tonks! Or should I say, Mrs. Lupin?"

The newly wed scrunched up her face and shook her head, "Let's leave it at 'Tonks'"

"How was the honeymoon, by the way?" Ginny asked cheekily.

"Oh! It was--" An embarrassed cough cut her off and she laughed. "Right, I forgot!"

Ginny looked into the corner to see Neville Longbottom in his Auror robes. She rushed over to him. "Neville!" She smiled, throwing her arms around him.

Neville blushed and nodded his head as they pulled apart. "Ginny," he acknowledged and she smiled up at him.

"Ok kids, time for business," Tonks said. The friendly, carefree tone of a few moments ago was now replaced by a business like tone, reminding them that she was their superior.

"Auror Weasley, we have found an adequate partner for you. He's already two years in and one of our best," she said, steepling her fingers. "Auror Longbottom, here, will take you to your office and introduce you to your partner."

Ginny inclined her head slightly in a respectful gesture, her back ramrod straight as she did so.

"Your partner should fill you in on your newest assignments." Tonks moved her arms in a way that indicated that she was done and Neville walked to the door, pulling it open. Before Ginny could walk through, Tonks called her name once more.

"Good luck," Tonks said with a wink before shooing them out the door.

(0)

They made their way slowly down the corridors, stopping once or twice to say 'hi' to people they knew, or for Neville to introduce her as 'the new kid'.

"So, what's my partner like?" she asked him conversationally.

Neville cleared his throat, looking at her for a moment before finally saying, "He's... difficult."

"Difficult?" She laughed. "What does that mean?"

He sighed. "It means he's had three partners in the last three years. No one can seem to put up with him for too long. His last partner was the longest, lasting eleven months"

"Who was his last partner?"

"Me," he replied with a tight lipped smiled and a rueful shake of his head.

They continued on in silence, their shoes clicking against the hard floors. After an elevator ride and a few more turns, they came to a door. "Well, Auror Weasley, this is the place. My office is just a few doors down."

She smiled at him. "It was great to see you again, Neville. I guess now we'll see each other everyday." She laughed and his cheeks became slightly pink.

"We--uh... that is, we should catch up sometime. Maybe have dinner?"

"That would be great!" she answered and he beamed. "Maybe we could get Luna to come along. The old misfit gang together again!"

His smile faltered slightly, but at her happy expression, he felt it lighten again. "Well, I guess I'll leave you, for now. I have some paperwork I need to go over," he said, turning from her and walking towards his own office.

"Wait! Aren't you going to introduce me to my new partner?" she asked nervously

Neville just smiled at her. "Trust me... He needs no introduction," he said cryptically before walking into his office.

Ginny looked at the door in front of her, biting her bottom lip. She took a deep breath, placing her hand on the door knob and turning it. "Here goes nothing," she whispered as she pushed the door open.

She opened the door and looked inside. The room wasn't big, but it had enough space to fit two desks and two chairs. The walls were a crisp white color; empty, except for a medium sized window on the back wall and a brown side door in the right wall. She looked around and didn't see anyone.

Where was her new partner?

She placed her keys on the empty desk that was obviously hers and looked at the other desk across from it. Curiosity piqued, she decided that maybe she could gather some clues on what her new partner was like by looking at his desk. She had just taken a few steps forward when the side door opened.

She stopped her movement and turned to greet her new partner. "Hi--" She stopped. There in front of her, with a smirk on his face, was none other than Draco Malfoy.

A/N: Thanks to babi-gurl-chels and YvettE Sorrow for their kind reviews!