"Hey, Kingsley," I said leaning into my supervisor's cubicle. Kingsley Shaklebolt looked up at me with his dark chocolate brown eyes and calm smile.

"Hello Cadence," he said softly as he looked up at me from his desk chair. "What can I do for you?"

"Have you seen Gabriel?" I asked. "I'm just coming back from lunch and I haven't seen him at all today."

"I have not seen him," Kingsley shook his head.

This made me frown. Gabriel had been off for the last two days and it was very unlike him to not show up at work. Kingsley saw the concern in my eyes and stood up, squeezing my shoulder.

"Why don't you head over to his house? It's not like him not to show," he said. I nodded my head.

"Alright," I whispered as I bit my lip. "Thanks. I'll be back in a bit."

Kingsley nodded his head and returned to his chair, turning away to finish his paper work. I sighed as worry rose up from deep inside of me. I did not like this situation one bit. I returned to my cubicle to pick up my cloak then made my way out of the office. As I walked to Gabriel's house I kept running over different reasons why he wouldn't be at work for half the day. I was worried, but also annoyed. It was unlike Gabriel to not show up at work, but also very much like him to leave all of the paper work for me to do. Maybe he had just decided to take another day off.

I kept telling myself that as I approached his flat. The London street was calm with a few people scattered about, minding their own business as they walked down the street, sat on park benches, or talked with neighbors. I kept a cautious eye on all of them; despite it being calm I had lived too long looking over my shoulder, I most certainly was not going to stop now.

When I reached Gabriel's flat I marched up the stairs and banged on his front door. After a few moments of standing on his stoop I leaned over to his front window, looking into the house. I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary from the window, just empty rooms with plan looking furniture. Gabriel was never one to live a lavished life style. He believed in simplicity and survival so the bare rooms did not surprise me. My frustration peeked at the sight of the empty house. I returned to the door and banged on it, harsher then before, but still no answer came.

As worry began to over-run my system I expanded my mind into the house with Legilimency. I could not sense Gabriel anywhere, which was strange to me. Where could he possibly have gone? He didn't have any family left to visit; and from what I knew he didn't have any friends outside of our co-workers. He could have gone to Hogwarts, but I doubted he'd go without telling me.

I turned the nod of the front door and was not surprised to find it locked. I stepped back and looked up and down the street, it was too busy to try and bust through the front door. I didn't want to draw attention to the fact that I was about to break into Gabriel's house—the last thing I needed was the Muggle police to show up and arrest me for breaking and entering.

I walked down the stoop and made my way around to the side gate that stood tall well above my head between Gabriel townhouse and the house next to his. I lifted the lock of the gate and was disappointed when it didn't move. Of course Gabriel's house was a small version of Azkaban, completely impregnable. I cursed under my breath and looked around me. There were bushes around hiding me and the gate from view of the people on the street. As I looked around I spotted the neighbors trashcans set against the wall of their house. I sighed slightly and moved to them, feeling like a juvenile child. I stepped up onto the trashcans as I hung onto the neighbor's windowsill. I was lucky they weren't home because it looked like I was trying to break into their house not Gabriel's.

Peering over the fence I saw that there was a fence dividing Gabriel's yard from the neighbors, but it easily climbable, unlike the one I was leaning over at that moment. I steadily climbed up onto the edge of the six foot wooden fence, and centered my balance. I was perched on the fence like an awkward disoriented bird, holding myself steady by leaning onto the neighbor's house wall. Once I had my ground I looked around and realized I had no way of getting off the top of the fence—unless I fell. I sighed loudly and jumped down onto the ground as my pants snagged on the fence. The snag caused me to land awkwardly and forced me into a tuck position, then a roll. I stood up straight out of the roll and cursed as I looked down at the back of my legs. There was a large tear on the back of my thigh. I bit my bottom lip and shook my head, upset. These were my favorite pants.

After a moment of morning my pants, I looked around the backyard of Gabriel's neighbors. It was a decent size yard with a small garden and shed at the back. There was a bench with a heart shaped back in the garden that made me gag a little, but I didn't stand long enough to let the scenery sink in. I easily jumped the fence dividing the yards and made my way across Gabriel's finely cut grass to his back patio.

At this point, I was annoyed with him. I had to climb over a fence just to get into his house which ripped my pants all because he had decided not to show up for work. I was going to beat the shit out of him when I finally saw him.

I reached the back kitchen door and my heart dropped into my stomach. I grabbed onto the doorknob and pulled fiercely as I looked in the door window. From where I was standing I could see Gabriel's body lying on his kitchen floor. He wasn't moving at all. I stepped back and threw my shoulder into the door, hoping it would break—but who was I kidding? This was Gabriel's house we were talking about. He had more protective charms on it then Dumbledore had on Hogwarts. I was not going to get in unless I provided a key, a secret code, or a special spell. I lifted my elbow and slammed it against the window. You can imagine my surprise when the window shattered. I really thought it wasn't going to work, so I stood on the patio in shock for a few seconds before reaching in and unlocking the door.

The door swung open dramatically as I rushed in. I moved around the kitchen table and chairs, making my way for Gabriel. The kitchen was in shambles—I don't know who Gabriel had gotten into a fight with but it had been a bad bloody fist fight. There was no evidence of magic being used to disrupt the order of the kitchen. It just looked like bodies had been tossed around.

Gabriel was lying on his stomach, his face to the floor. I knelt next to him and leaned over his head to hear him breath. I sighed with some relief when I heard his swallow breathes. I slowly began to turn his hard muscular body over, which was a greater task then it sounded; Gabriel was a fully grown heavy muscular man. Once I had him on his back I leaned over him, my hands touching his chest.

He looked beat up pretty bad, but I had seen him in a worse state. Whatever had happened, the person who did this to Gabriel was a light weight. Which raised the question, how did Gabriel end up on the floor unconscious?

"Gabriel?" I whispered his name as I shook his shoulders carefully. "Gabriel, wake up."

There was a cut on his head surrounded by a dark purple-red bruise; he had a fat lip, and bloody nose. His hands were bruised and cut; and I'm sure there were more bruises under his clothes. I stroked my hand through his hair because he still wasn't responded to me.

"Gabriel," I said his name again as I shook him harder. He still didn't respond, which made me sigh. I had to take him to St. Mungo's. I wasn't trained to heal or deal with these types of injuries. I didn't know what was wrong with him, or why he wasn't waking. He had to be unconscious, but how severe was it?

I held onto him tight and Apparated from Gabriel's kitchen floor. We appeared in a corner behind a large potted plant in the lobby of St. Mungo's. I sighed with annoyance and began to drag Gabriel's body across the floor by his shirt.

"Miss, do you need help?" asked a male voice. I stood up straight as a wizard in a white cloak approached me. He raised his light eyebrows at me as he looked between Gabriel and me.

"Well, yes, that would be nice," I said motioning to Gabriel who was still unconscious. "I found him like this in his kitchen. I don't know how long he's been out."

The nice looking healer nodded his head at me and stepped forward, leaning over Gabriel to examine him. I looked around the lobby for a moment to see that there were people waiting in chairs, looking uneasy and curious. Some of them were looking at me with cautious eyes. They knew who I was and my present made them nervous.

"Alright, let's get him to an examine room," said the healer. He stood up and waved his wand at Gabriel who began to float up into the air. The healer led the way, keeping Gabriel's body in the air ahead of him and I followed.

When we arrived in a room and Gabriel was safe on the bed, the healer began to question me about what happened.

"Tell me again," he said as he leaned over Gabriel examining his eyes and head. "You found him like this?"

"Yes," I nodded. "I don't think he was hit with spells. There was no evidence that magic was used in the kitchen. I think it was just a fist fit, but Gabriel hardly ever loses a fist fight—"

"Your husband always gets into fights Mrs.—?"

"Excuse me?" I said shocked. "Gabriel is not my husband. He's my work partner. And my name is Cadence Coleman."

The doctor did a discreet double take, but I still caught it. "I imagine you'd be a red head," he said with a charming smile. "Then that means this man is Gabriel Quintin?"

"Yes," I said baffled. "Why would I be a red head?"

The healer smiled at me. "Just such a spit fire from what I hear. You'll have to forgive me Miss Coleman, I've only lived in England for five years now. I've only seen your name in the papers recently. I don't follow media gossip, but people here do, and from what I had heard of you I imagined you'd be a red head."

I nodded my head slowly as the healer stood up straight. I was not used to people not knowing who I was. I suppose I was being a bit arrogant to think everyone in the country knew who I was…I mean most did…but obviously I couldn't expect everyone to know. It was a bit of a relief really, to not be known. Although, now that the healer knew who I was I hoped he wouldn't judge me.

"Gabriel's unconscious. It looks like he has a concussion, but I'm going to prescribe him something that will wake him up within the next couple of hours. I will also send someone in to clean him up," he added. "Are you going to stay here with him?"

"If you don't mind," I nodded.

"Alright," he said. "I'll be back in a little bit."

"Thank you." I followed the healer out of the room with my eyes, watching the way he stood tall and walked gently across the floor. His white cloak swayed behind him as he moved. There was a bode of confidence to his walk, and as he glanced back at me over his shoulder his dark green eyes made my heart flip over. When the door swung closed behind him, I bit my bottom lip and closed my eyes as I gripped the bottom of the bed. I tried to shake the girlish feeling that had crept into my system as I sat down next to Gabriel's bed.

As I looked at him I realized how peaceful he looked despite being beat to a pulp. Worry had built up inside my system over what had happened. Gabriel was such a well trained fighter I found it hard to believe that many people in the world could beat him in a fight, especially to the point of knocking him unconscious. Who would do this, and why would they do it?

There was a knock at the door and before I said a word it opened and a female healer entered. She looked young, maybe twenty, and carried a care kit in her hands. She set it on the table next to the bed as she smiled at me. Her blond curls bobbed next to her face as she moved, and her candy coated lips were too perfect. I knew that as soon as Gabriel was conscious he'd be flirting with the pretty healer.

"Hello," she said. "I'm Jennifer, Healer Marcus sent me in to clean Mr. Quintin up."

I nodded my head slowly and stood as she began to clean Gabriel's cuts.

"I should go back to the office, let our boss know what is going on," I said motioning to the door. "Did Marcus say when Gabriel would be up?"

"Probably by this evening," said Healer Marcus coming into the room. I turned and saw him smiling as he carried a small potion bottle into the room with him. He handed the bottle to Jennifer who thanked him and placed it on the table next to her care kit. "Jennifer, give him half the bottle once you're done cleaning him up. He'll need the rest when he wakes."

Jennifer nodded and continued to tend to Gabriel's surface injuries. Healer Marcus touched my arm and motioned for me to step into the hall. "If I may speak to you?"

I nodded and followed him out of the examine room. I crossed my arms over my chest as Marcus stood in front of me. He turned and smiled at me, allowing me to take in his very handsome appearance.

"Gabriel will be fine," he said. "There is no need to worry. Does he have any family?"

"No," I shook my head. "Not that we know of," I added with a laugh.

Healer Marcus nodded as I smiled.

"Can I come back to see him tonight? I need to know what happened at the house," I asked.

Marcus hesitated for a moment. "When he wakes he's still going to need a great deal of rest, Miss Coleman."

"Please, call me Cadence," I interrupted. Marcus smiled.

"Donovan," he said bowing his head slightly. I bit my bottom lip and nodded my head to acknowledge him. "You can come back, but I don't think Gabriel will be well enough to discuss what happened. We won't know how severe the head injury is until he wakes."

"Do you think it's going to have long term effects?"

"No, I don't think so," Marcus shook his head. "But he might have trouble remembering things for awhile. We just have to let it heal on its own and there isn't a way of telling how long that will take."

I bit my bottom lip nervously. I wasn't sure if I could handle Gabriel being out of commission. I needed him as my partner for a reason. Despite any desire to be independent of Gabriel I needed him—it was the curse of violating our guardian-student relationship: I would always be dependent on him.

"Cadence," Marcus said touching my arm. "He will be fine. It will just take time."

I forced a smile and nodded my head. "Thank you. I need to go. I'll be back later though. Thank you, Donovan for everything."

"Of course," Marcus nodded his head. "I'll see you later then."

I nodded and turned to walk down the corridor towards the lobby of St. Mungo's. There was a nervous feeling in my stomach that caused my entire body to ache—many things were causing my nerves to spike but the biggest concern was when Gabriel would be back on his feet. The second thing that was bugging me was who the hell attacked Gabriel—it must have been someone he knew because no one would be able to get in the house. I frowned slightly as my thoughts raced. I had gotten into the house. As I left St. Mungo's I decided to return to Gabriel's townhouse to see if there was anything that I had missed in the kitchen. I couldn't fix my when Gabriel was going to be better, but I could at least figure out what had happened at the house and catch the bastard who hurt him.