A/N: sweats Phew! Another chapter done! Enjoy:c)

Warnings: Bad language.

Chapter 33:

"Care to explain why there is a wanted Death Eater in your home?!" Ginny rumbled, in a voice that promised pain.

For a moment, Draco was unsure of how to react. His friend was lying unconscious on the floor and his partner looked predatory. He tried to stand back from himself and count to three before he exploded.

…One…

…Two…

"What in the hell do you think you're doing, Weaslette?" he roared, stepping towards her. At least he had tried.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I interrupt you're little meeting?" she spat, her voice venomous.

Draco flinched, catching her meaning. That had been harsh.

"You know that's not true."

She nodded slowly, "You're right. But what I still don't understand is why an Auror is entertaining a Death Eater! You have a duty, Draco!" she shrieked. "You swore the same oath I did!"

"A former Death Eater!" Draco defended.

"He never even went on trial! The Ministry's been after him for years and---" Her face scrunched up in disbelief. "--And you've known where he was the whole time…" Even to her own ears she sounded hollow. She felt betrayed.

"You don't understand. It isn't like that."

"You must think I'm an idiot. How long have you been in contact with him? With others?" Her voice was frantic now, and Draco held his hands up in surrender as she turned her wand on him.

He didn't want to fight her; it would be pointless. They had both been trained under the same instructors. They were both familiar with the arts of combat, defensive, and offensive magic. They had practiced together too many times to count. He knew all of her weak spots, just as she knew his. Sometimes he admired her courage and recklessness, but during times like this it was just plain annoying. She was scrappy.

He saw the imperceptible twitch of her wand and sensed her magic being pulled to her as she focused on a spell. He was unarmed, his wand on the table beside his drink. He eyed its position warily and groaned. He really didn't want to have to do this. She would kill him.

He watched her carefully as she shifted her leg slightly to the right, her stance uneven. Draco saw his opening. Just as a bolt of light shot from the end of her wand, Draco fell into a crouch, swinging his leg out and around and knocking her feet out from under her.

She fell to the ground, the air rushing from her lungs with a 'whoosh'. She gasped for breath, holding her stomach in pain as Draco straddled her hips. He grabbed her wand hand, prying her fingers away from her weapon and then tossing it across the room.

Rearing up, Ginny swung at him with her left hand. He caught her fist easily, freezing her momentum.

"Too slow," he taunted with a chuckle.

"Too confident," she shot back as her other fist flew at him, her knuckles connecting with his left eye.

He clutched his face with a howl, and she took the opportunity to flip their bodies over so that she was half-lying on top of him, her legs cradled between his own. She pushed herself up onto her knees, reaching for the table above them to Draco's wand that sat on its surface.

Seeing her intent, Draco wrapped his legs around her hips, pulling her back down with a squeak. He twisted them so that he was on top again, holding her hands above her. He slid his legs between hers, pinning her hips to the floor with his own.

Below him, her eyes were wide and furious, her teeth bared and her hair a tangled mass around them. She was beautiful.

"Now, you are going to be quiet and you are going to listen." Draco growled. Her proximity was distracting, and she smelled incredible! Like honeysuckle mixed with a summer's breeze.

"I will not!" she shouted hotly.

"You don't have a choice." A silky third voice drawled, and Ginny arched her neck back, taking in the form of Blaise Zabini. He stood stoically above them, her wand clutched tightly in his hand and the point aiming steadfastly at her forehead.

Her spell had worn off.

"Shit," she said plainly, her eyes never leaving Blaise's, as Draco stood up and came around to stand beside his friend.

The hazel eyed man handed her wand over to Draco with a smirk. Draco pocketed it, gesturing for Ginny to stand. She did so, cautiously, her eyes darting between the two men.

Her partner sighed, touching his left eye tenderly. "Blaise, this is Ginny, my partner. Ginny this is Blaise, the wanted former Death Eater," he said, gesturing between them before picking his own wand up off of the ground.

"Looking good, little Weasel," Blaise teased.

"Shove it up your arse, Zabini"

"Ok! Now that everyone is acquainted, I think a drink is in order," he said mock cheerfully. "…Or five."

The three of them sat, Ginny sitting on the couch while the men sat facing her in two cushioned chairs. Ginny was deathly silent while Draco spoke, his chocolate skinned friend looking smug at his side. She wondered if she could get away with sticking her tongue out at him.

"I'm not sure where to start. The war I suppose." Draco paused, gathering his thoughts. "Ginny, you have to understand what it was like for us. We were so young and…"

"So was I." She cut him off.

"Yes, but it was easier for you in some ways." She attempted to protest and he hushed her. "You were raised with a choice, to fight or not to fight. There was no oppressive Dark Lord on your side, hiding in the shadows. There was just a choice. For the children of Death Eaters, it was a bit different. Our path was carved out for us from birth. While you enjoyed bedtime stories and playtime, we awaited the second coming of our lord. And when he finally came, and we were old enough, he called us to service. There was no chance of a refusal. It was Him or us, Him or our families."

"It was survival," Blaise added, his tone surprisingly bitter.

"You know about my sixth year, what I did, my 'failure', and then McGonagall's offered protection. The protection of Hogwarts; I would've been a dead man without it, dead or forced to fight for Voldemort."

"Like me," Blaise whispered, his gaze meeting hers stonily. "We all did what we had to. You fought for your side and I fought for mine, but I am not a bad person, and I'll be damned if I'm going to let you drag me to Azkaban." He hissed. His posture was picture perfect and his shoulders square.

Her eyes narrowed at him. "You are a wanted criminal, Mr. Zabini, and I am an Auror. Do you expect me to ignore my duty?"

"No, but I expect you to have a heart! Isn't that what all you red-headed blighters were always on about back at school? Courage and honor?"

"And integrity," she amended.

Blaise shook his head at her in disgust. "Is the world black and white to you, Weasley? Good versus Evil, right? Well, how does this sound? For the last six years, I've been living in America. As a Muggle. Wrap your brain around that. A former Death Eater rejecting magic and living among the people he once persecuted."

Ginny sat back in her seat, trying to understand everything she had just been told.

"I married a bleeding Muggle. Our son is a squib!" he continued in exasperation. "And neither of them will ever know about our world. To them I'm just a regular chap who travels overseas for his work in computer technology."

She remained silent, but Draco could see her relenting, the fire cooling in her brown eyes.

He stood, taking a seat beside her on the couch, his fingers trailing up to play with the strands of copper hair that always fascinated him. "He's a good man, and I know that you're mad at me, but he doesn't deserve to go to prison," he whispered quietly. "We could use his help, you know. He was in the Death Eater ranks longer than I was. He may be able to tell us something…"

He could see the cogs in her mind turning as he spoke, her eyes lighting up as she finally came to a decision. She turned those illuminated eyes on the other man in the room. "Alright, I have considered you argument and have concluded… that I do not find it necessary to ship you off to good 'ole Azkaban." She held a finger in the air pointedly. "But, you must give us any and all information you may have regarding our current case and …"

"I-I haven't been a part of the Wizarding world for ages. What possible help could I be?"

"…And I want a blood vow," she finished, her head held high.

His eyes locked with hers, examining all of the implications of such a vow, the pros and the cons. "Done," he agreed after a moment, taking her hand and shaking it, accepting the finality of his decision.

"My wand, please," Ginny said, her hand held out expectantly.

"You're mad," Draco whispered to his partner, handing her wand back over to her. She smiled at him brightly as she began her preparations for the blood vow ritual.

Blood vows were heavily frowned upon by all of the Ministry's departments. She could be fired; she could be arrested for even thinking about it.

The vows were ancient, left over from the days of the Wizarding religious wars under Merlin and Arthur's reign. The vow always consisted of two people: The 'will' and the 'servant'. Essentially, the person who performs the binding is the 'will'. This person, following a successful blood vow, is able to tell if the 'servant' breaks their contract. If the contract is broken by the 'servant', the 'will' has the ability to punish him. If the 'will' breaks the contract, the vow would be dissolved. The blood vow, while once popular, had since been deemed inhumane. It was a spell that was used to assist in the oppression of the enemies of the Crown and the Round Table.

Ginny smiled at her partner. "Now we've both broken our Auror oath," she said cheekily as she readied the knife that she had transfigured from a tumbler. She turned to the dark skinned man standing to her right. "Are we ready?"

"Yes."

She pressed the knife's blade to the man's palm, holding his wrist steady with her other hand. "This is going to hurt," she said, looking into his eyes and feeling the first stirrings of uncertainty.

"I trust you," he responded, and Ginny could see the sincerity in his eyes, the need to be understood and accepted in return. It struck a chord in her.

"You don't have to do this," Draco said from her other side, pleading with them to reconsider.

"Do it," Blaise urged, pressing his palm upwards against the blade.

The room was eerily still, the world frozen in anticipation as Ginny reconsidered her-perhaps rash- idea. This wasn't like her; she was angry and irrational. She thought of her father, of what he would do, what her Mum and brothers would have done… and finally what Hermione would do.

"No," Ginny said at last, making her decision.

"You need to know that you can trust me. Do it, Weasley."

"It wouldn't be honorable," she argued, putting the knife away to Draco's relief.

"I won't go to Azkaban, if this vow keeps me from it…"

"I won't send you there. Draco trusts you, and as his partner, I should trust his judgment."

"Thank you," he mumbled honestly, just as Gerald entered the room, announcing that dinner was ready in the dinning room.

"Don't thank me yet. If you screw us over, I'm still going to kill you," she threatened as she followed the elderly butler in the direction of her food.

Blaise gaped openly for a moment, and Draco smacked him on the shoulder roughly. "Is she always like that?"

Draco nodded solemnly, a strange twinkle in his eyes. "She likes to have the last word," he explained.

"You should have let her cut me," he caterwauled, punching his friend lightly in the arm.

"Hey! I'm injured!" Draco moaned, pointing at his swollen eye.

Blaise laughed as they walked along the hall. "Think she'll fix you up?"

"No, she may have accepted you, but she's still angry at me. It's alright, though. I have some salve upstairs."

"Well, you had better go get it before that thing scars your already hideous face."

"Ha. Ha."

"You've missed me," the black haired man surmised with a smirk as they entered the dinning room.

"Only because you make me look better by comparison," Draco shot back, taking his seat next to his partner.

It wasn't exactly the evening he had planned, far from it in fact. But as he and his partner explained their case to his old friend, he couldn't help but think that all had not been lost.

After dinner, they retired in the study once more, Draco taking his seat by Ginny on the couch with Blaise sitting across from them. "We have reason to believe that Mr. X is indeed Antonin Dolohov, but seeing as he is currently infirmed, it just doesn't seem plausible. If you could give us any information on anyone else that Avery was close to, or anything at all…" Draco mumbled as he rubbed another layer of salve onto his battered cheekbone and the skin surrounding his eye.

Blaise's face was screwed up in concentration. "It was so long ago…" he said, trying to remember the names and faces of countless Death Eaters that may have remained in contact with Avery. "What about the victims? I had heard about the disappearances. All the Muggle news stations are talking about it."

Ginny riffled through the papers in front of her, pulling out a few sheets and handing them over to him.

Blaise glanced at them half-heartedly, his mind still lost in thought. Suddenly his head jerked up, a look of surprise crossing his features as he grasped one of his thoughts and held on to it, remembering.

"Wait. Dolohov---does his room have a window?" Blaise asked, his forehead wrinkling over a deep frown.

"Yes, but it's heavily barred, there is no way that he could…" Ginny paused, watching the look of comprehension as it crossed his face. "He's an Unregistered Animagus," she whispered, and Blaise nodded at her. "What is he?"

"A sparrow. He was one of Voldemort's best spies. I can't believe that I didn't remember."

"I never knew," Draco mumbled.

"Not many did."

"How do we prove it?" Draco asked, turning his attention toward his partner.

"Tapes," Ginny muttered after a moment, hitting her palm with her fist. "Tapes! Dr. Ridge said that the prisoners were monitored!"

"When they had visitors. She never said that it was all of the time."

"It's worth a shot."

"Um, guys?" Blaise called to them, looking down at the papers in his hand's strangely, having now taken the time to process the information.

"What is it?" Draco asked, coming to stand behind his friend.

"This is a list of the victims, right?" he asked quietly.

"Why?" Ginny spoke up.

"Some names are missing," he responded, pointing to two names on the paper. "I recognize their last name; they were on the news a few weeks back."

"Audrey and Michael Sutters," Draco read aloud.

"What do you mean?" Ginny persisted.

Blaise met her eyes levelly. "They had children, but the children's names aren't listed." He looked down once more, scanning the list. "This one, too. Here, give me a blank piece of parchment, maybe I can recognize some other names," he said, pulling a pen from his pocket.

Ginny nodded, flipping through the papers in front of her and finding a blank one. Only Draco noticed the way she subtly waved her wand at the paper before handing it over to the other man.

Blaise scribbled furiously, speaking to himself under his breath as he wrote. "This family had a daughter… and this one had two sons. I don't understand," he mumbled as he continued to write. With a look of confusion, Blaise gazed at the freckled woman once more. "None of the children are listed."

"Why wouldn't the children's names be listed on Avery's list?" Ginny pondered, turning to her partner.

"Maybe because the list is only of the slave candidates," he answered, his brows raised in consternation.

"Then where are the children?"

"…Somewhere else."

Ginny sat back heavily. How could they have not realized? They should have been pooling together information from the Muggle world to help with the investigation. Even the list that Kingsley had originally given them was incomplete in the face of this new information. They would have to get a more comprehensive list A.S.A.P.

This case just became an even bigger pain in my side.

She was still staring blankly into the distance, lost in her own world, when Draco sat down beside her. The blond man stared at her for a moment, his expression soft as he studied the profile he knew so well.

Blaise ticked his pen against the table, gaining his friend's attention.

When Draco looked up at him, the chocolate skinned man angled his head in Ginny's direction and gestured with a finger between the two, a well shaped eyebrow raised in question. The corners of Draco's mouth pulled upward slightly and he shrugged at the darker man.

Blaise pulled his head back in understanding, a shit-eating grin spreading across his face. A Malfoy and a Weasley. My, My, the wizarding world has certainly become a lot more interesting since I left.

After a lengthy explanation of how pertinent it was that Blaise not speak of anything that had been discussed, Draco and Ginny finally let him leave, walking him to the door. When the thick front door had fallen shut, Draco spun on his partner, grabbing her elbow roughly.

"Ow! What the—"

"What jinx did you put on that paper?" he forced out.

Ginny pulled at her arm, trying to disengage his grip. "Nothing," she answered evasively.

He looked at her incredulously, throwing his arms up in the air in frustration. She could see his anger and exhaustion fighting for control over his body as he moved. Ginny understood the feeling perfectly. "I saw you, Ginny. What was it?"

She yanked her arm away and he let her fall away from his grasp. "It was just a little jinx, like the one Hermione put on that Edgecomb Bint in fourth year. It is just to insure that he doesn't tell anyone. If he does, then that's just unfortunate for him."

"What does it do?" he hissed

"It will… well, lets just say that he won't be as handsome any more," she said, twiddling her thumbs and looking anywhere but in the direction of her partner.

He growled low in his throat and Ginny coughed lightly.

"Hermione came up with it; I just improved it a little." She chanced a look at him; his gaze was fierce and terrifying, and Ginny became defensive. "It's not that bad, he will just be covered in boils!" she explained, turning away from him. "Rainbow colored boils…" She muttered under her breath, hoping Draco wouldn't hear.

Ginny's back tensed when she heard the sound of glass crashing to the floor behind her. He was seething. She turned back to him, repairing the fallen vase and avoiding his withering glare.

He didn't even attempt to calm down this time. He was too far gone. "You are insane! Just like those half-witted brothers of yours!" He exploded.

"Hey! Leave my family out of this!" she shouted back at him, her eyes locking with his as he approached, as graceful as a snake.

"You're right. Let's leave the Weasel twins out of this. This is about you, you hypocrite!"

"Hypocrite? How dare you!"

"You spout all of that crap about trusting my judgment, about integrity. Bollocks!"

"I do trust your judgment, Ferret. But if you expect for me to trust a former Death Eater then you are sorely mistaken."

"I am a former Death Eater."

"That's different, You're—"

"What? What am I, Weaslette? An Auror? One of the good guys? Blaise was right; you only see in black and white."

"Yes! I do see in black and white; it's my job! We are Aurors, Draco. We take down dark wizards and protect the innocent."

"Oh, don't give me that codswallop. Little Ginny against the world, right? We both know why you joined, Weasley." His silver eyes were stormy and his face flushed, strands of gold-spun hair falling around him.

Ginny jutted her chin forward, defensively, daring him to say what he had already implied.

"Integrity? Honor? You joined up for revenge. Pure and simple. You wanted to take down as many followers of the man who killed your brother as humanly possible."

Ginny flinched, her brown eyes shining in anger and hurt. "You act as though you're any better!" she shot back. "Your mother was a dark witch, taken down by her own people, and you're going to tell me that revenge never crossed your mind?"

"Leave her out of this," he spat through clenched teeth.

"Oh! So my brother's death is fair game, but when it's—"

"She was my mother. The only one I ever had. You lost two brothers! No big loss there. You have four more!" Draco's eyes widened, shocked at his own words. His breath caught as the woman in front of him deflated. She grabbed her chest, her fingers fisting in the fabric of her shirt, and he could see the beginnings of tears forming in her eyes.

"I didn't mean that," he said honestly, moving closer to her. "Gin, I swear I didn't mean it," he pleaded, his hand fluttering lightly over her arm, hesitantly, as though he were afraid that she would break.

"Do not. Touch. Me," she threatened. Her voice was icy cold as she stepped around him and paced over to the door, swinging it open. "I joined because it was the right thing to do. I joined so that I could help people," she whispered, her words drifting over to him. Then she was gone.

"Fuck!" he shouted after she had Disapparated. "FUCK!" he yelled again, knocking over the newly repaired vase again in his rage.

With a wobbling gait, he made his way up the grand staircase, turning the corner to the left and carried on down the dark hallway to his bedroom. With trembling hands, he pressed the door open, kicking his shoes off in random directions, not caring where they landed as he unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt. He took the last two rickety steps to his bed and sat heavily on the mattress, his hands cradling his head as he released a tremulous breath.

"I'm sorry, Ginny…" he whispered, his voice echoing around the empty room. "I'm sorry."

He didn't know what to expect when he arrived at work the next day. More than likely, she would give him the silent treatment and cold shoulder. Still, he found himself checking his desk carefully as he sat down, afraid of a retaliatory prank, charm, or hex. What he received instead was just as terrifying and even harder to deal with.

She was acting normal. She smiled at him as he entered the office, sipped her morning tea with the same quiet 'slurp', and chatted with him about unimportant things. It was all so… normal and yet it still left him feeling bereft and cold.

He would rather have the yelling and shouting, or the silence and angry looks, he realized. At least he would know that she felt something. He was supposed to be the unfeeling one, damn it! He was supposed to be the person with the thick mask of indifference. His look didn't suit a passionate woman like Ginny. It was unsettling.

He found himself ignoring her as she spoke, too angry to listen. Even to his own mind, it sounded insane, but he wished that she would act more Ginny-like. She was using his own tactics against him, trying to force him into a false sense of security and comfort.

He scowled at her as she cheerily reminded him that they needed to speak with Dr. Ridge about obtaining any footage of Dolohov's room for Auror Douglas and the Surveillance and Location department to look over.

He wanted to shake her. Yell at her until he saw her face flushing in fury, her eyes flashing with stubborn determination. Most of all, he wanted to kiss her, and through that action he would prove to her and to himself that she was not as unemotional and indifferent as she was acting.

Ginny watched her partner's expression as she spoke. He seemed confused by her actions, and she felt pride swell in her chest. She could do this; she could prove to him that he didn't affect her. That she could bounce back from what ever he threw at her.

He scowled at her, and a strange sort of emptiness settled in her stomach. "Let's get over there now, so that we can grab an early lunch," she said, mentioning St. Mungo's again and standing from her seat.

"Stop it," Draco finally grit out.

"Stop what?" she asked, schooling her features into a portrait of naïveté.

He stood fluidly, his posture ridged as he slid closer, invading her space. He smirked at her as her hackles raised, the line of her shoulders becoming straighter and her head lifting in challenge. There she is, he thought as her brown eyes peered at him cautiously. His smirk stretched into a smile as he lowered his head to hers. "You're no good at playing games, Weaslette."

She opened her mouth, a snarl ready on her parted lips. The cutting words that were right on the tip of her tongue never made it any farther as his mouth crashed down on hers. She remained motionless as he assaulted her mouth, forcing herself not to react. His lips softened upon hers as he grabbed her shoulders, pulling her closer and beseeching her to respond.

Against her will, Ginny could feel her eyes becoming heavily lidded and her lips puckering in gentle pressure against their mate. Her hands wrapped themselves around him of their own accord, and she sighed into his mouth. Tingles danced merrily down her spine, every nerve ending focused on his feel and touch.

Then he moaned.

Ginny's eyes flew open, the sound awaking her as if from a dream. An angry crease furrowed her brow, and in one swift movement, she bit down on her partner's bottom lip. Hard.

He yelped and the coppery taste of his blood filled her mouth as he stumbled away from her, his hands flying up to shield his injury. As he fell back, Ginny jerked her right knee up, connecting painfully with the area between his legs.

Draco shouted incoherently, falling to his knees, his hands leaving his mouth in the interest of further protecting the more important part of his anatomy.

"What did you think you were doing?" she yelled at him, and Draco would have felt pleased that her passionate side had returned if it weren't for the excruciating pain in his groin.

"Kissing and making up?" He gurgled from his place on the floor.

Ginny skirted around him with a 'tsk' and headed toward the door. He could hear her footsteps growing more distant and for one fleeting moment he was afraid that she was going to leave him there, rolling pitifully on the floor. Her footfalls paused and Draco sighed in relief.

"I'll meet you at the Hospital." Her voice floated down to him and then her footsteps picked up again, fading as she moved down the hall.

With a half sob-half groan, Draco lay there, cupping his manhood and wondering why nothing was ever easy when it came to Ginevra Weasley.

Ginny had to bite her lip to keep from laughing when her partner arrived at the hospital. He was walking with a slight limp and -although he tried to hide it- she could see a muscle jumping in his jaw each time he moved, the only other indicator that he was in pain.

Serves him right.

They traveled the long hallways to the Psychiatric ward and smiled pleasantly at the guard. Mr. Digg eyed Ginny warily, remembering her meltdown and subsequent beating of one of their high profile patients a few weeks prior. They waved their badges at him and he led them down the hall to Dr. Ridge's office again, wondering where the cute pink-haired Auror was this time. He liked her a lot better than the little firecracker currently following him.

Dr. Ridge was startled to see Ginny again, and when they questioned her about any tapes or surveillance on Dolohov's room, she did not seem happy. It took Draco's not-so-gentle reminder that it was her duty as a Mind-Healer to provide the Ministry with any and all information that she had at her disposal. Her fear of the law overpowered her dislike of the redheaded Auror and she agreed to gather everything she could and to have it hand delivered to Auror Douglas at the Ministry.

Pleased with her cooperation, the two left, deciding that an early lunch sounded like a fabulous idea. They stopped at a small deli, ordering roast beef sandwiches and crisps, and took their food back with them to the office.

The sky above them was clouded and grey as they walked below it, the scent of rain heavy in the air. A brave little bird flew against the strongly blowing wind, calling out what could only be a warning to other birds of what was coming. It made their walk along the cobbled city street seem cumbersome, and it added to their already whirling thoughts.

"We need to talk," Draco said, breaking through the awkwardness of their silence.

"What is there to talk about?" Ginny asked, hefting her bag higher on her arm and speeding up as a drop of water splattered against her skin.

"Oh, I don't know… us? Our argument?" he condescended, jogging to keep up with her, and pleased that it no longer hurt to do so.

"Us?" she asked incredulously, pausing. "What 'us'? If you are referring to 'us' being partners, then I assure you that there is nothing to talk about." She finished, beginning to walk swiftly again, feeling overcrowded in his presence.

"You know what I am referring to," he seethed, sidling up to her.

"No, Draco, I don't. I was not aware that there was an 'us'. All that I was aware of was that I have an asshole of a partner whose idea of fun is trying to mess with my head!"

"Is that what you think I'm trying to do?"

"Yes!"

"You're being ridiculous, Ginny. You know how I feel. I want to be with you." He stressed, his temper boiling.

"Why should I believe anything you say? I have no reason to trust you, not when you've been hiding your… friends from me," she snapped, trying to lose him as she accelerated her pace.

"Is that what is bothering you? You're afraid that you can't trust me anymore?" he asked, matching her step for step.

"No."

"Then wh—"

"I'm afraid that I never should have trusted you in the first place!" she screamed, spinning on him. Draco halted, searching her face and seeing the honesty of the statement lurking behind her eyes. She turned from him again, her long hair spinning around her in a flurry of red silk as she stalked the rest of the way to the Ministry.

He let her have her space, watching her silhouette as it disappeared into the distance. As he began to cover ground once more, cascades of rain spilled onto his crown and shoulders, soaking his clothing and adding to his mood.

A/N : I'm not very happy with this chapter but I'm happy that it's done.

I've had some questions on how many more chapters will be posted and the truth is that I'm not quite sure. I think that there will be between 5 and 7 more chapters, but it all depends on how long it takes to fit in everything that needs to be added and how I decide to break up the chapters. It was never meant to be this long, lol. But I am determined to keep it under 40 chapters! …if possible. :c)

Thank you so much to all of the amazing people who have reviewed and/or favorited this story. You guys keep me going.
This chapter got a little out of hand! Lol, tell me what you think! Pretty pretty please! With sugar on top?