Chapter 3: Searching for that Someone

Honesty

Is what you need

It sets you free

Like someone to save you

Let it go

But hurry now

There's undertow

And I don't want to lose you now

All right

Sit down and spill your heart

Lets start from the very start

Cause I can see by your eyes

You're wasted

Your energy comes and goes

You taking your time, you know

Nothing can change what happened, so

Back to the start now

I won't let you go this way now

One Republic (Someone to save you)

A shadow rippled in the alleyway. The figure slid closer to the red shiny telephone booth tucked out of sight on a street corner. Crowds of people ebbed and flowed in the distance and the occasional muffled discordant noise reached his ears. One or two people would occasionally appear directly in front of the red booth, dressed in robes, but none of the members of the public would take note of these rather odd facts.

Draco stood shrouded in the shadows, except for his silvery grey eyes, which were currently glinting in the stream of sunlight that had somehow managed to sneak its way in. His hands were trembling and his throat was parched. Doubt had woven itself into the fiber of his being. Was he able to do this? And most importantly, would he be able to get out of there without raising the alarm?

He nervously withdrew a wand from within his cloak pocket. After breathing in several deep breaths, he managed to calm himself enough to mutter a few incantations under his breath to change his eye color from grey to a light blue and his blonde hair to a dark brown. On an afterthought, he decided to change his skin color to a light tan. Might as well be thorough right?

Shoving his doubt into the mental trash bin of his mind, he took confident steps from the alleyway and into the bright red phone booth. He hesitated slightly before pressing several numbers onto the keypad. He held the receiver to his ear and waited. Within a few seconds, a female voice asked: "Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. What is your business here today?"

Draco quickly reiterated the lie that he had decided on.

"I have an appointment with the Head of Magical Law Enforcement."

A nametag clattered out onto the tray beneath the phone. He picked it up and noticed the gold printed letters that spelled out 'GUEST' on it.

"Please pin the tag on your robes and head to the side desk of the atrium to allow us to check your wand when you arrive. Thank you."

With a groan of metal, the booth moved downwards into the broad atrium of the Ministry of Magic. Crowds of witches and wizards moved in every direction at once. Most looked hurried and frazzled as they rushed from place to place.

"You'd think Voldermort hadn't died yet with the way they are acting," Draco mused.

He quickly ducked out of the way of one particularly frenzied witch carrying a bundle of files. He caught muttered phrases as she passed: "Oh dear god… I'd better get this to… Potter is going to be so mad."

Draco chuckled internally. How could anyone be scared of Potter? Everyone's treating him like a saint now, as if he'd dropped out of heaven and graced everyone with his awesome presence. Maybe it's because of that, he mused. He quickly righted himself as he realized he'd probably been standing there for a good minute, smiling into thin air.

He tried to put the appearance of someone on his way to a business meeting and strode over to the desk at the side of the atrium that had a sign: 'Please hand over your wand for inspection' in front. He reached into his cloak and pulled out the wand that wasn't his. He was well aware of that fact, but the young witch in front of him didn't. She placed it on a small weighing scale. A small note popped out instantly from the machine.

"12-inches. Made with yew with a unicorn tail hair core. Is that correct?" She read out before glancing at him.

He quickly nodded his assent and she passed his wand back to him. With a slight wave of her hand she dismissed him and called the next person behind him forward.

A smirk graced his face as he quickly moved to the elevators. He slid into one just as it was closing and ended up with, of all the blasted magical folk, Saint Potter and the Weasley. He stifled a groan into a coughing fit. Potter looked at him with concern.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Er… Yes."

He quickly jabbed the elevator button for the 8th floor. Weasley just eyed him with a weird look. He cast a quick glance over their robes. The auror symbol was emblazoned on their right chests. He didn't quite expect the Ministry to give them positions when they hadn't even technically graduated in the first place.

"You guys are aurors huh?" He tried to phrase his question as innocently as possible.

Potter looked down at the symbol, as if just realizing it was there, before glancing up. He nodded. His bright green eyes seemed to be scrutinizing him. Draco shivered slightly.

"Aren't you a bit young to be one? I'm not trying to be nosey here, I'm just rather curious…"

"We're taking our auror training in whilst studying for our N.E.W.T's."

The Weasley has spoken.

Draco nodded slowly, as he processed that in his head. The ministry was clearly desperate to pull Potter into their good graces.

After another few seconds of uncomfortable silence, the elevator pinged and a cool voice said: "Level 8. Ministry Records."

Draco jerked and quickly headed out whilst muttering a quick "Nice to meet you guys" over his shoulder.

As the door slid silently shut behind him, he heard Weasley talking to Potter.

"That guy was rather odd wasn't he?"

He glanced around the hallway, noticing that it was rather quiet, which was actually not surprising. Hardly anyone ever came up here unless they were looking for information, or in his case, the location of a particular bushy haired woman. He strode down the hallway, glancing at the doors on his left and right, after realizing that the doors were marked in alphabetical order he quickly found the door that was marked with a single solid brass plated 'G'.

Pushing the door open, and towering shelves filled with papers and folders entered his vision. He released a low groan as he observed the stacks. This was going to take awhile.

He was halfway down an aisle before he realized that he had a wand and that in fact, he was a wizard. It baffled him why he had never thought of it in the first place before he summoned Granger's folder. A thick file slipped out of the shelves two rows from where he was and sped towards him. He snatched it out of the air and opened it.

Hermione Jean Granger

Gender: Female

Date of Birth: 19 September 1979

House: Gryffindor

Parentage: Muggleborn

Parents: Edward & Andrea Granger

Current highest level of education: O.W.L.

A photograph was attached to the folder. It was clearly the one from the Yule Ball in the fourth year. The year when people realized that Granger could possibly be (for lack of a better word) hot. The Granger in the photograph smiled and waved at him. The next few pages detailed her accomplishments and exploits at Hogwarts. He reached the end where a new page was added.

The parents of Ms Granger have been found dead in their apartment in Australia on the 15th May 1998. The investigation has revealed this to be the act of several Death Eaters still on the run.

Draco noted the photos attached. He shuddered at the dreadful scene of Granger's parents lying prone on the floor.

This was why she left the Wizarding World. In addition to what he did to her… it would send anyone for a nervous breakdown. He saw another addition towards the bottom of the page.

Current whereabouts of Ms Granger: Unknown

He frowned. This was likely to be difficult. He mulled over in his head the places she could have gone to. Since she was not staying with Potter or the Weasley, could have gone to her parent's house? Or would that have been too much for her? After pondering for a while, he decided to start the search at her parent's house in London first. He ruffled the pages of the folder again as he tried to find an address. Finally he found a page with the address written on it. He ripped the page out and shoved it into his cloak pocket. Shoving the folder back onto the shelves, he quickly retreated from the room and headed back down the elevator.

Once out of the elevator, he exited the Ministry quickly and retreated into the alleyway once more. He pulled out the crumpled page and repeated the apparition coordinates in his mind before he left with a virtually silent pop.

He appeared in front of a bungalow. It was only then did he realize that the sun had begun to set. The golden evening rays flooded the rather unkempt front yard. There were no flowers and the weeds were rampant. He noted the soft glow of light in one of the windows. His heart rate accelerated and the loud thumping drowned out all other sounds. His stomach seemed to keep falling. He never had much experience with apologizing to anyone and he knew, deep down, that this apology was the one that mattered most. She could provide the key to helping him turn around and change his life and what he thought of himself. Right now, he didn't believe himself to be more than anything but the scum of the earth with all the crimes he had committed. This was one act that he could hopefully change.

He gulped before he pushed open the creaking gate that led into the yard. The air had seemingly frozen in his lungs and he was struggling to breathe. Damn Gryffindors were always much better at this sort of things. His footsteps caused the gravel under his feet to crunch slightly as he approached the door. After a slight hesitation, he raised his hand and rapped on the door.

There was a muffled thump and a curse before he heard the person rapidly moving towards the door. The door slid open.

"Malfoy?"

"Hi Granger."

A/N: Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter. I know it's been two weeks since my last update! I'll be back to updating weekly from next week onwards.

This is my christmas present to all of you. Have a merry christmas!

AmandaCJY