CHAPTER 11

Kingsley sat, his eyes flitting over the parchment in front of him, as he read the information carefully. A Muggle slave trade. So, that was what it had all been about? Power and money; why was he not surprised? He brought one long fingered hand up to his brow and rubbed, relieving the pressure in his brain, as he made small circles with his finger tips. There was more behind the Muggle disappearances, he could feel it. But what was it? He slowly let his eyes rise from the paper on his desk and up to the faces of the two young Aurors sitting in front of him.

They were a strange pair. Auror Weasley was sitting there, her back straight and her fingers in her lap; trying not to fidget. Beside her, Auror Malfoy was lounging slightly, his legs crossed and his face completely blank.

Kingsley could see that the assignment was beginning to take its toll. Their eyes were darkly rimmed and their faces drawn. It was hard to tackle a case like this, not able to talk to anyone about it, and having to use stealth as their main weapon. He could see their exhaustion, but also their determination. They wanted to get to the bottom of this case just as much as he did.

The tall man felt his chest swell with pride; they were an odd match up, different in many ways, but equal in their passion and vigor. "You've done well," he said finally, his deep timber floating around the room. He slowly stood from his chair, walking around the desk as he spoke. "I'll let Douglas know that we need to continue surveillance on Alecto Carrows. We need to know when her 'slave' is going to be delivered."

Kingsley paused, looking down at the parchment once again while he thought. "What do you two think about Nott and Crabbe?"

"Pawns," Draco said with out hesitation and Kingsley nodded. "It didn't seem as though they knew much..."

"I need you two to make sure. Tail them and find out exactly how much they do know. Who was the third voice?" he asked.

"We-We didn't see him, Sir." Ginny stuttered

"We need to know who he is, how all three of them are involved in this and to what extent. I trust to you handle this new task as carefully and efficiently as you have the rest of this case." They nodded and he gave them a grim smile. "I'm sure that you have loads of paperwork to fill out on last nights happenings, so I will send you off to get to it."

They nodded respectfully and made their way out of the office. When the door had shut behind them, Kingsley cradled his head in his hands. "A black market Muggle slave trade..." He sighed. This ran deeper than he had originally thought. "I need a drink", he said to himself, wondering if Tonks and Remus would be interested in joining him.

(((((0)))))

Draco and Ginny were both very tense as they made their way down the white walled halls of the Auror department. Not a word was spoken between the two as they walked, taking the familiar route to their office. Their new reports were already sitting on their desks when they had arrived, waiting to be filled.

They worked in silence for the next few hours, both pointedly ignoring the other's presence and focusing on the words they were writing. Ginny glanced up at him a few times, her brown eyes peeking at him from underneath sooty lashes. It was proving hard to do her work when her mind was elsewhere. Glancing at him again, she suppressed a sigh.

'This is awkward...', she thought as she nibbled on the end of her quill, realizing a little to late that it was a real quill and not her favorite candy; sugar quills. She sputtered a little, wiping her mouth. 'How embarrassing.' Her cheeks coloring, she checked to see it Draco had seen her mistake, but he was still engrossed with his paper work.

She sighed long and loud after a few minutes and tried to focus on the papers in front if her. Looking at her parchment, she saw that she hadn't gotten very far. She had explained their suspicions of Alecto, how they followed her to Knockturn Alley and then hadn't gotten any further. She scratched her cheek with her quill as she thought, smudging black ink on her cheek, before lowering her quill back to the paper and beginning to write. When the quill proved to be dry against the paper, she groaned, rubbing at her cheek and shaking her head. Dipping the quill in her ink bottle once more, she began to write.

'Suspect: Nott, Theodore was in attendance as well as Crabbe, Vincent Jr. and an, as of yet, unidentified male…'

She furiously scribbled, keeping her attention on her words and the scratching of her quill, making sure to focus on finishing her report instead of looking at the blond man across from her. Ginny looked at her copy of the conversation from last night, using it as a guide to detail, on her report, what had been said.

'The conversation was concluded and the three men left, walking towards the main area of Knockturn Alley. Aurors did not follow...'

Her cheeks warmed and she glanced up at Draco once more before quickly looking away. No, they hadn't followed. They had kissed instead. She raised her fingers to her lips, touching them gently and remembering the pressure he had placed there. Her body hummed and her heartbeat sped a little as her skin remembered his touch.

The scraping of a chair against a hard floor snapped her out of her reverie, and her brown eyes snapped up, meeting his steely grey ones. "Where are you going?" she asked, speaking to him for the first time since the previous night.

"Home," he said simply, stacking his files and leaving them in his out box for the elf to take and deliver.

"You're done?" she asked dumbly and he nodded. She couldn't help but notice the width of his shoulders, or his confident gait as he walked towards the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Weasley," he said without looking back at her before exiting the room.

She stared after him for a moment before letting her head fall to her desk, her breath ruffling the papers beside her as she let out a frustrated scream. She was such a fool.

It was just attraction, that was all. She could deal with this, awkward or not.

"You're attracted to him, so what?" her friend said, pushing her long messy hair behind her right ear. "It's perfectly normal to be attracted to someone you work with. Hell, Gin, sometimes when Colin comes to drop off the pictures to me, I can't help but stare at his toosh as he walks away."

Ginny laughed loudly, "Colin!" She sputtered as she grabbed another two Butterbeers from her fridge.

"Oh, Gin! You never noticed? Colin's ass is divine!" she said fanning herself. "It's so round and tight!" she continued and Ginny snorted. "So you have noticed!" her friend accused.

"Maybe once or twice, while we were back in school," Ginny admitted with a laugh as she opened the Butterbeers. She placed them down on the table and handed the caps to her friend, who pocketed them gratefully.

Ginny's best friend, Luna Lovegood, had done well for herself since the war. She was a journalist and editor for 'The Quibbler', a now well known and well respected paper. She also had a small business on the side, making unusual and unique jewelry out of Butterbeer caps and other interesting, every day things.

"Then you know where I'm coming from!" Luna insisted. "Colin's ass is…" She held her hands out in front of her as if grabbing an invisible butt and then broke into laughter.

Ginny joined her, laughing loudly and trying to talk between giggles. "You may be attracted to your handsome photographer, but I bet you haven't kissed him," she said, her laugh growing bitter.

Luna silenced immediately. "You kissed him?"

Ginny looked away, afraid to look at her friend's reaction as she nodded.

"Oh. Oh my... But why? Were you attacked by grumbies? I hear they've been breeding like crazy lately, and they do tend to make people do things they'd never do--"

"No, Lu. We kissed by our own free will."

Luna sat there, shocked. She stared at her friend for a long time before taking a big swig of her Butterbeer. She closed her eyes, putting the bottle down. "I think you need to start at the beginning."

Ginny covered her face with her hands. "We were on an assignment and we--found ourselves in a difficult situation," she said, not wanting to give too much away. "So we had no other choice but to kiss."

"What do you mean?"

"It was an act, so that we wouldn't get caught. We were acting as a couple. So… we kissed," she whispered, peeking between her fingers.

"Oh. Well, did you enjoy it?"

Ginny sighed. "It was perfect," she said throwing her hands up in exasperation. "...Perfect. I've never felt that much passion! …and it was all an act." She groaned, hugging her arms to her chest.

"What does he think?" Luna asked gently.

"I don't know, but things are awkward now! He's my partner and all I want to do is kiss him! It's... wrong! I don't even like him!" she said hysterically. "He's a prat and cruel and UGH!"

Luna laughed. "Sounds like he hasn't changed much since school."

"No, he hasn't," Ginny agreed.

"Know what I think?" Luna asked, sitting forward, "I think it's just been too long since you've been with a guy. You need to go on a date, meet some more people. All you do is work and hang out with me and Jasper!" Luna said, indicating the cat sitting on the back of the couch. "If you go on a date, your feelings of attraction for Malfoy will go away because you'll be wrapped up in your new guy."

Ginny squeaked, a blush creeping up her cheeks, and Luna eyed her heavily.

"What else haven't you told me, Ginevra?"

"I have a date next week."

Luna squealed and gestured for her to continue.

"It was supposed to be sooner, but this case just started picking up, so I had to push it back," she said quickly.

"Who!" Luna asked excitedly.

"Neville Longbottom."

A/N: thought I had forgotten about Neville, didn't you?