CHAPTER 7

A/N: Draco has been a little soft as of late... I'll fix that, muahaha

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The next day was hell. Ginny left early that morning for the Ministry. On her way down to the Auror department, she passed by Tonks' secretary, who quickly informed her that she 'looked like shit.'

"Thanks, Clara." She sighed as she made her way to the lift that took her to her office.

She had been sitting at her desk, perusing the files on their new case, when Draco Malfoy strode into the office.

"Hey," she said with a small wave, not even bothering to look up from her papers.

Draco hung up his cloak in the corner before turning to see her. "Damn, Weasley. Can't you ever keep your ink off of your face?"

Ginny raised her hand up to rub at the ink on her cheek and scowled at him.

"I guess when you grow up covered in dirt and grime you get attached to the feeling," he said with a sneer, taking his seat across from her.

This was all she needed, Draco Malfoy with his knickers in a twist. She rolled her eyes. Some days having Malfoy as a partner was easier than others. Today was obviously not going to be one of the easier ones.

Deciding to ignore his outburst for now, she turned back to her papers. "Where should we start on this case?" she asked. She had an idea of where to start, but she wanted to see what his opinion would be.

He snorted. "Always turning to me for the answers, eh, Weasley?"

Her eyes widened a fraction and she breathed deeply. She would not let him get to her. They had a job to do.

"We'll start at the houses. Get your cloak," he said as he walked over to get his own.

"The houses?" she asked, her brows knitting together in confusion.

"Yes, the houses," he cooed as if talking to a small child. "I want to see if we can find anything."

"Like what?" she snapped.

He raised his eyebrows at her. "Like a magic signature. Clues. That's our job, isn't it, Weasel?"

Oh how she hated it when he called her that. She stomped over to the wall and grabbed her cloak, wrapping it around her shoulders. When she was done, she bowed slightly, waving a hand to the side. "After you, ferret," she said, cold as ice.

He simply sneered at her before striding from the room.

Once they reached the Apparation area of HQ, they both quickly placed cloaking spells over themselves. They couldn't risk being seen by any wandering Muggles.

After they were done, Draco turned to her, and right before Apparating he said, "Don't splinch yourself, Weasel"

Pop! And he was gone.

Her hands turned to fists at her sides. He ALWAYS had to have the last word! The ruddy bastard!

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She arrived on the scene only a few moments after him. Swallowing her temper, for now, she strode over to him. She looked at him questioningly as he turned towards her.

"Well? Get to work. Look for clues," he said, waving her away.

She ground her teeth together and turned sharply away from him, making sure there was a good distance between them.

She looked around her at the rubble that was once a house. Bricks now turned to pebbles. It was a mess and it made her heart ache to imagine what had happened here.

Shaking off the feeling and pulling out her wand, she began searching through the former house for clues. A little ways away from her, she could see that Draco was performing a few spells, looking for a magic signature.

She sighed as she continued. She had no idea what she was looking for, but was confident that when she saw it, she would know it.

She searched everywhere, the perimeter, the inside, everything was covered. It was hard to find clues when everything was so dilapidated. Like a needle in a haystack. She continued on, tripping over some of the larger rocks as she concentrated on the task at hand.

On her second sweep, she still had found no clues.

"Weasley! Let's go," she heard Draco yell. She stood, brushing off her robes, and walked to his side.

"Find something?" she asked.

"Maybe. I want to see if it matches up with the other houses." She nodded. They decided on a house to visit next and Apparated.

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Draco rubbed at his chin. "It's definitely all the same signature," he said. "Hopefully forensics can trace it to the owner."

Magic signatures were tricky. The signature strength depended on the strength of the wizard. Everyone had a signature, but only known criminals' signatures were filed and kept in the Ministry's database.

"Let's get back," he said before Apparating away.

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They walked through the hallways, passing Clara's desk as they did so. Draco stopped suddenly and Ginny turned around. "Malfoy?"

"Go on ahead and give the findings to forensics. I have something I need to do," he said, dismissing her.

She nodded and continued down the hall, grateful to have a break from him. He was even worse than usual today.

After turning in the signature, she made her way back towards the lift, assuming Draco was probably in their office by now.

She had to pass by Clara's desk to get to the lift, and when she was almost there, she saw that Draco was definitely not in their office. He was sitting on Clara's desk, leaning towards her and whispering in her ear.

Her stomach tightened oddly and she rubbed at her scar thinking that maybe it was aching again, since it was a magically inflicted wound. But the pain wasn't coming from her scar. It stretched up to her chest, constricting her breathing.

She looked up at Draco and Clara again and glared. How pathetic. Shouldn't they be working? Surely Tonks wouldn't put up with this. Looking at Tonks' door, she saw a note saying 'Out to Lunch'.

I 'Figures,' /I she thought.

She stepped closer to the two at the desk and cleared her throat loudly. "I'm done," she said.

Draco glanced up at her. "I'm surprised you didn't get lost, Weasley. Looks like you finally did something right today," he condescended and Clara giggled, gaining a glare from Ginny.

When the giggling stopped under the force of the 'Weasley glare', Ginny turned her attention to Draco, staring pointedly at him.

Draco stood, turning to Clara once more. "So, I'll see you Wednesday night?" he asked and the secretary nodded, her cheeks pink.

Ginny couldn't help but roll her eyes as they made their way to the lift and down to their office.

They filled out some paperwork on what they had found at the houses they visited and then concocted a plan on how to begin their inquisition of the known suspects.