Annoying!Astoria is very annoying and she keeps on reappearing. So this Astoria is Awesome!Astoria. (yay! alliteration!)
HP=JKR
If you're here from which we haven't updated in two years and don't remember the rest of the story, here's a quick summary:
Hermione (I almost wrote Harry :$) and Ron are engaged but suddenly Ron breaks it off so he can be with Fay Dunbar who he's been seeing for two years behind Hermione's back.
Draco Malfoy is adamant that Thestrals hate him and are plotting a giant conspiracy against his family.
Daphne Greengrass was kidnapped months ago and her body was recently found with a Dark Mark cast above it. Draco and Hermione are assigned to her murder case and discover a vial with a memory that shows her being killed by Bellatrix Lestrange and an tall stranger.
Suddenly, Astoria Greengrass- Daphne's sister and Draco's fiancee- is kidnapped. Draco is very attached to her and begins to work non-stop to find her. Meanwhile, Hermione, Ginny and their new friend Pansy plot against Ron and Fay's wedding, even pulling a stunt that threatens the new couple's future marriage.
There was a soft knock at the door followed the familiar smell of a Muggle cappucinno and a despondent sigh. Draco didn't look up from his work.
"Hi, Malfoy." The voice was feminine, bossy, and outspoken but it's normal verve was absent. If Draco cared, he would have taken time to notice that the voice was also sad.
"If you're looking for company, Granger, leave and go to the wedding," he said in a clipped tone as he searched for the 'Dolohov' folder.
Draco looked up in surprise as a mug full of black coffee was placed on his desk gently. Hermione Granger wasn't looking at him with pity, as the rest of the Ministry workers did, but instead she didn't look at him at all. The tense man allowed himself one minute to slow down and noticed that the Gryffindor Princess's chin was wobbling, her eyes were nearly closed, and she was breathing irregularly and rapidly. Ah, yes, Draco mused, she was the Weasel's forsaken, she was probably the only person not invited to the wedding, and judging by the signs, she was about to have a nervous breakdown similar to Pansy's many of third year, which would be followed by hyperventilation. Luckily, Draco was much older and also educated in how best to deal with hysterical females.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Draco asked softly, ignoring the loud summons of the Dolohov folder. Hermione looked at him in surprise. "It's not good to keep all your feelings bottled up like that. Pansy did all the time in third year and she had nervous breakdowns on a daily basis. The common never looked the same."
The Gryffindor girl sniffed and Draco silently Summoned a box of tissues. "Well, I should be over him, shouldn't I? It's been a month," Hermione said, her voice cracking and her fake smile wilted. "It hurts to see them together all the time, and not only did I lose a fiance but I also lost my best friend." Hermione wiped her eyes quickly and stared at Draco with unnerving sadness. "Oh, but you must be going through worse! I'm sorry, my problems must seem petty. You're always working so hard and I've been a stuck-up snot who can't get past the past. You really love her, don't you?"
Draco felt an electric shock go up his spine. He knew he loved Astoria but now he recognized the gaping hole she left in his new life.
She was like an anchor. She made sure he woke up early and cheered him up by making scrambled eggs with cheese and English muffins with margarine. She threw him out of the house so he would arrive at the Ministry ten minutes early and she always Owled him little funny notes, always at 11:30, like, "You sir, are very attractive, therefore I must stare at you." And after a long day of skeptical side-glances from co-workers and very loud whispers behind his back, she would be there, ready with jokes to cheer him up and some Muggle game to help him forget his distrusting colleagues who only saw the scared sixteen-year-old Death Eater, not the grown man who had saved five Aurors and threw his own father in Azkaban while on a mission.
Astoria was a beacon of light in his miserable existence. If she wasn't at the Manor, he would have never returned- all that was left there were horrid childhood memories and a robotic mother who hated him for returning when his father never did- Lucius had quickly bought his way out of course, but he had moved to America without saying goodbye.
"Yeah, I love her," Draco said quietly, almost to himself. "She's like a sister. And I think she loves me like a brother."
Hermione noted the present tense of 'love' despite the fact that Astoria had disappeared over a week ago and there were no leads whatsover. She was as good as dead.
"She's very lucky to have someone like you," Hermione said honestly. She had to admit that Malfoy was very handsome, intelligent, and it turned out he could be very understanding and kind as well.
Draco Transfigured his chair into a long, plush couch and Summoned two goblets of wine. He patted the seat next to him and handed Hermione a glass.
"Cheers to us lonely souls," Draco said gravely. Their glasses connected with a timid Clink!
Harry, Ginny, and countless others had smiles plastered on their faces that didn't quite reach their eyes, as Fay Dunbar-soon-to-be-Weasley strolled down the aisle in white Auror robes. She had been coerced into marriage again after several romance novel-worthy attempts by Ron to win her over, but they had all hoped that she would say no, even if that meant hurting Ron. Hermione was the one for him and almost everyone knew it.
Nevertheless, the audience's smiles became a tad more genuine as the couple took their vows. No one cared for Fay except for a handful of family members and friends but Ron had a large goofy grin and looked the most carefree he had in years.
"They'll be a most formidable couple," Ernie MacMillan said reluctantly. No one could deny the pure love in the couple's eyes.
"She's got nothing on Hermione though," Hannah Abbot muttered.
"Zat crazy fanatic girl won't be able to keep 'im en ligne for more zan a year," Fleur Weasley stated.
"The Wrackspurts are most pesky today, aren't they, Luna?" Newt Scamander, Luna's boyfriend, mused. Luna nodded.
"The Crumple-Horned Snorkacks will definitely stay away."
"They're perfect for each other," Ginny muttered.
"Nothing can bring someone back from the dead," Draco said. "The Resurrection Stone- which is just a myth- only brought back a carbon copy. So we can rule out Voldemort."
"What if they never were dead?" Hermione argued. "Voldemort could have made another Horcrux, maybe even a weak one."
The door opened suddenly and a lively and slightly intoxicated Harry Potter appeared in the doorway and teetered into the room.
"Don't tell me you two're working!" Harry slurred. "It's a holiday!"
"It's Ron's wedding, nothing special," Draco sneered, mostly to prevent Hermione from screaming angrily at Potter then having a nervous breakdown.
"Harry, do you remember the Resurrection Stone?" Hermione asked, her voice wavering slightly.
"Yeah, I used it and got to see my parents and Sirius when I went to Voldemort at the Battle," Harry said, a bit more alert.
"It's real?" Draco asked calmly, despite the sudden rise in his pulse.
"Yeah, but I threw it away," Harry said nonchalantly.
"Where?" Draco asked hurriedly.
"The Hogwarts Forest."
"Oh no, oh no, oh no! What if Voldemort found it?"
"I killed him- kinda. Remember? Then he was too preoccupied with celebrating over my dead body to go looking around for some tiny stone in the ground. And it was dark too!"
"But assuming he found it and turned it into a Horcrux, he could easily return from the dead and appear as something a bit more solid than a ghost," Hermione mused. "He could turn into something and give orders and move around more efficiently. A human host wouldn't even be necessary. He could stay in that form for all eternity if he wanted to!"
"It's Voldemort. He would crave a powerful physical body," Draco said gravely. "But he would immediately summon his Death Eaters. Which he did." The man pulled back his sleeve and showed his Dark Mark, which was jet black.
"Wasn't that just a scar before?" Hermione asked tersely, an impassive look on her face.
"Yes. The only way it could have reappeared was if Voldemort reappeared," Draco answered.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Harry snapped.
"Because I didn't want to think it was important," Draco said, his face paling. He looked more vulnerable than Hermione had ever seen him. "I didn't want to think that he's back or what it would mean for me or my family. Obviously no Death Eater would do something as risky as this but still, I- I-"
Hermione smiled sympathetically at the haunted young man. She knew that Voldemort had stayed in his home but she thought he had outgrown the demons that followed him. Apparently not.
Draco took a deep breath and once again his face became impassive and his eyes were cold.
"There's one more thing." Hermione stepped back, frightened by the biting steel in his voice that she hadn't heard since her sixth year. "I Apparated there and I landed in a copse of trees. I saw a small gathering of Death Eaters and a tall, hooded figure who reeked of anger, but not of the usual authority that Voldemort carried around. I assumed it was just a power-hungry impostor so I left but, well, it might have been Voldemort."
The two Gryffindors stared at the Slytherin for a long, long moment, then Harry spoke, his voice clear of any hint of intoxication.
"This stays between us three," Harry ordered. "No one can know otherwise we'll have a wide-scale panic on our hands. I need you two to continue working on the Greengrass case- hopefully it will give us a bigger picture of what the hell is really going on. And Malfoy." Draco looked at the Senior Auror, expecting anger and perhaps a dismissal from his job, but Harry just sighed.
"My scar started burning too."
There was a cute moment k. Feedback will promise more cutesy moments! :p