Disclaimer: I still don't own HP, I wish I did though.

A/N: Hi guys! Finally, here is the next chapter. :) I am so sorry that I haven't updated for a while but thank you for all the support and story alerts! They inspired me to overcome my writer's block and write this chapter. I hope all my readers are still reading this, especially the regular ones so please give me a sign that you still are interested! :)

Also, as usual, this chapter is still not edited but I hope you'll bear with me. So, here it is. :)

Chapter 27: Linger

For a lingering moment, I felt a silent gush of wind softly caress my face. It was just a moment, then it was gone. I opened my eyes and got blinded by first rays of the sun peeping from the window of my room.

It was because of that moment that I asked myself, was it just a dream? I stayed like that for a while, trying to remember every single detail from the otherwise very pleasant picture. Waves of emotions slowly embraced me, first was of extreme happiness, then it became confusion, then. . .sadness.

Strange, it has been an awfully long time since I really dreamt. Mainly, it was because I didn't sleep that much, being woken up by nightmares from my past. With a sigh, I looked at the time, got up and went to cook breakfast.

The usual routine followed. I waited for Hermione to wake up, ate, got ready for work, accompanied Hermione to her office and walked towards the DMLE. But even with all the distractions and my conversations with her, the dream never really left my mind.

For a few years now, I had been avoiding thoughts about the future. I never really had a list of things I genuinely wanted to do and I always told myself that I would have time to think about it later. But. . .when was later gonna be? How soon was soon? Frankly, it was getting tiresome, running away.

There was a time that I thought about being an Auror to finish off the mission that was given to me, make sure that all Death Eaters were safely tucked in Azkaban and maybe. . .make sure that Teddy would grow happy and health was all that mattered. But what would happen afterward? What did I really want?

I was about to enter the office when I saw the too familiar Draco Malfoy standing near on the farthest end of the hall, his eyes locked on the floor. I didn't know what came over me as my feet started walking towards where he was. A smirk suddenly appeared in his satisfied face when he lifted his face and saw me standing in front of him.

"Hmp, just when I thought all my efforts for going here are for nothing, you come and show up."

"What do you want, Malfoy?" I said.

Carefully, I studied his features. His face betrayed nothing, not even a speck of emotion and his eyes were set on me. There was something. . .urgent in the tone of his voice, and a hint of relief, but I thought I was only imagining it.

Malfoy feigned hurt at my words, "Is that how you greet an old friend? I came here all the way from Hogwarts, you know."

I drew my wand from my pocket and pointed it on his face. "If you don't have anything good to say, leave and go back to school."

He laughed at me and said, "Heh, you still haven't changed a bit, still as hot-tempered, I see. Lower your wand."

It took me a while as I debated on the matter. In the end, I reluctantly did what he wanted and put my wand back inside my pocket, all the while keeping an eye on him as I crossed my arms in my chest. "Talk."

He was annoyed by my action but closed his eyes. "On Tuesday, three days from now, there will be a meeting at Knockturn Alley at 7 in the evening, they're recruiting."

Truth be told, I was a bit surprised by this piece of information, especially when I knew that I could be a trap. Even if it was not, a question still hung in the air, why did he do this? I stared at him for a while, a part of me wanted to believe him but my better judgment was still to be wary of his words. I knew how fast people could turn against you, just to save themselves. "Why should I trust you?" I blurted out.

Patience, Harry, patience. Don't punch him or people would think you've turned barmy.

Even with my choice of words, Malfoy kept his façade and with a serious face, he looked at me and said, "I don't really care if you will believe me or not, I am just feeding you something which I thought you would. . .appreciate."

This time, I wasn't really able to control myself and grabbed a hold of his robes. "Who gave you this information?"

But Malfoy only stared at me, even though I've already pinned him to the wall. Somehow, I was a bit shocked at his expression, his lips were curved in a thin line and his eyes were serious, dead serious. "Is it wrong to help, Potter?"

He pushed me away with his hand, smoothened his robes and turned his back against me. With a sigh, I observed his every movement; how he looked at the ceiling and how his right hand played with the handle of his wand. Minutes have passed but the silence still remained, it annoyed me.

I looked at my watch and realized that I only have a few minutes to spare. Deciding that I should somehow compromise on the matter without deliberately falling into any forms of trap, I said, "I'll look into this secret meeting on one condition, you will go with me."

Malfoy turned around and faced me, his unreadable eyes set on mine. Still, time was precious and I would be scolded if I didn't go to the office now. Without waiting for a reply, I turned on my heel to leave.

"Hmp, I'll meet you at the Leaky Cauldron at five, be sure to be. . .inconspicuous."

Tch, he's still the same as ever.

"Harry? Are you okay? You've been spacing a lot recently."

Hermione eyed me suspiciously as she put her hand on my forehead. I snapped out of my thoughts and smiled at her. "Huh? Oh – er – sorry. I – er – I was just thinking of something."

I'm gonna die.

"Are you really all right?"

Her frown deepened as she retreated to her seat. It was our lunch break and we decided to eat on Hogsmeade. It was a bit far from the Ministry, well, really far, but we've been allotted with a bit of a time because of tomorrow's celebration. "Yeah. Really, I am. I'm just a little worried about work, that's all."

Truth be told, I really had been out of my league recently. I'd been spacing a lot, retreating to the deepest parts of my mind and I always fell silent, even when Ron tried to be funny. There were a lot of things in my mind, including the mission today and the celebration tomorrow, especially the latter. Another year has passed, another day gone since that fateful moment. I already knew I was getting Hermione worried, or should I say, I was already freaking her out, but I didn't want to tell her about any of it. . .yet.

She would kill me when she found out, really.

I could feel that she was really, really getting annoyed that she couldn't do anything to figure out why I was acting such a fool but I shrugged it off and tried to ease out the situation. With a little chuckle, I stood up and urged her to do the same, wrapping a hand around her waist when she did. "You worry too much, let's look around for a while, I haven't seen this place for a long time."

Hermione nodded and only fell silent as we went out of the door. I'm sorry.

We spent the next few hours roaming around town, going inside various stores and visiting old friends. We bought some sweets for Teddy in Honeydukes and Hermione had the time of her life looking at new books in the Tomes and Scrolls. I couldn't also help but chuckle when she went inside Spintwitches, the local shop which sells sporting goods. With the past conversation forgotten for a while, I was a bit relieved as I watched her proceed from shop after shop, and after a while, to The Magic Neep, with a smile in her face, dragging me along while she told me about her mishap at work and some of her frustrations. I listened attentively and laughed with her because I knew that it was the only way to somehow ease her worries.

Finally, we stumbled upon Gladrags Wizardwear and went inside. Hermione started looking on some clothes and picked out a random white shirt for me.

"This shirt will look good in your uniform. Do you want it?"

I examined the white shirt. It was a plain and simple v-neck shirt, but it was true that it would go well with the black uniform that the Aurors wear. With a smile, I gave a nod of approval. "All right, why don't you pick some clothes of your own while we're here. You also need a fresh set once in a while, you know."

Hermione bit her lip as she examined the other set of clothes that were present in the store, increasing the pile in my hand when she saw something she liked. "I already have my fair share of clothes, thank you very much. You, on the other hand, have a limited stock of clothes that it is rather depressing to look on your wardrobe."

The growing pile of clothes in my hands increased steadily, which rendered me speechless especially when I started having trouble following her. "Err – Hermione? I know you're frustrated and all but, I think we should tone down the number of clothes a bit."

For the first time since she picked up that white shirt, she turned to me and realized with a mock horror on her face, the mountain of clothes that I was trying to balance with my hands.

"Oh my – I'm sorry for this, I didn't realize what I've been doing," she said as she frantically levitated some clothes back to their places. I chuckled at her reaction, even for someone who is as organized as her, there were those times when she could be a bit scatterbrained.

"I think I'll just get two pairs of the white shirt you picked a while ago."

Both of us looked at each other and had a good laugh at the experience, especially when we saw the shop owner looking at us with such an annoyed expression on her face. We wandered around the shop some more for the rest of the time. I found a cute dress for Hermione, bought it, but shrunk it to my pockets so that I could give it to her later, just because I wanted to insist that I should not be the only one who should have new clothes. When everything was done, we apparated back to the Ministry and I waited. . .my mind still filled with jumbled thoughts. Roughly a minute before five, the bell rang.

As I entered Leaky Cauldron, Tom, the landlord, immediately recognized who I was. I took a seat in a corner, careful not to draw so much attention. The place was still a bit dark and shabby as I remembered. I was looking for the blonde wizard in the sea of people when all of a sudden, a grubby-looking wizard with hooked nose, mousy brown hair and blue eyes sat in front of me with a bit of an annoyed look in his face.

"I told you to be inconspicuous! Why did you still go here as Harry Potter?"

"Er – about that. We were only allowed to take an hour's dose of Polyjuice so I didn't use it yet."

"Hmp, you should be thankful that I brought a spare flask, you fool." He then pulled a flask out of his robes and handed it to me. "Go to the bathroom and drink it now, we don't want any wandering fleas to know that you are here."

I found it a bit annoying that a ferret is ordering me around but nonetheless, I nodded slowly and went to the bathroom as instructed. When I was sure that nobody was there, I looked at the potion which already has a dark blue color, and took a swig.

The effect was instantaneous and I found myself looking at some man I didn't know. He was very tall, lanky, with dark eyes and messy gray hair that I wondered if he was a muggle or if he was a random wizard that Malfoy ambushed for a piece of hair. When I went back, Malfoy was already standing near a door and nodded at me.

Once again, I found myself in the familiar street of Knockturn Alley. I followed him as he maneuvered his way through the place, observing the various establishments as I walked. For a while, we silently passed from shop to shop, trying to be inconspicuous to the people who eyed us suspiciously.

It took a while before Malfoy finally stopped in front of a dodgy-looking door and drew his wand out. With a few taps, the door let out a howl and opened, revealing a dim and nasty-looking pub.

Unlike the Leaky Cauldron, this pub was messy, with cobwebs dangling from every corner of the room. There were very dangerous-looking wizards drinking in the corner of the room and even the landlord looked that he was ready to kill at the moment's notice.

Malfoy took a seat near the counter and ordered a firewhiskey. I mimicked his action and the landlord only grunted in response as he went off to prepare his customers' orders. With a smirk, Malfoy turned to me as our firewhiskey arrived and raised his glass as he said, "Better safe than sorry."

We remained quiet for a while, lost in our own world. For quite some time, the only sound I could hear was the sound of the ice as it collided with the glass. People kept coming and leaving the place and sometimes, roars of laughter could be heard from the other side of the room. Glasses cluttered and people talked in hushed voices that it irritated me.

"Why, in the name of Merlin, do you know this place?" I said in a hushed tone.

Malfoy's eyes were distant and pained, something I only saw today. He held his glass firmly and looked at me with sad eyes. "We held a meeting here once when HE was still here."

I found myself momentarily dumbstruck in what he said and felt a bit guilty. That is when I realized, I haven't any said any ounce of thanks with all the trouble I caused him.

"I – er – thanks." I said, nervously. It was still awkward for me, especially since I never expected a ferret to help me with this job.

A little smirk appeared out of Malfoy's face and a tinge of happiness lightened up in his eyes. But even with that expression, he turned towards his glass. "I – did this so that I can – somehow atone."

"Tch, it doesn't matter now, you can finally. . .move on, do things for the best."

Frankly, I was just trying to ease the situation. I already knew how much he suffered after the war, especially when I was in Hogwarts to witness some of it. A hint of relief flooded his eyes after I said those words. He pondered about it, while he drank his firewhiskey and the relief was replaced by. . .instant regret. "Still, you can't erase what I've done."

Even with a trace of doubt in his features, I was sure he was glad to hear those words. I realized that, he won't be able to finally let go if he didn't learn how to forgive himself, I also had to learn how to do it, and even today, I was still learning with the help of Hermione, of course. Maybe. . .I just had to say the right words so that somehow, I would be able to help him. Easier said than done, right?

"I still think you did what you had to do," I said with conviction. It was only this time, after the war, that I began to understand him and his actions a bit. Sure he was a git, but even with that, he was still. . .human.

He looked at me, his eyes betraying some of the emotions whirling in pools beneath that façade. "You. . .do?"

With a smirk, I finally said, "Don't get me wrong, you're still a git and a ferret."

"Heh, if you told me we'd be working together, years ago, I would laugh at you."

Both of us had a hearty laugh regarding his statement and I realized that I never expected this scene to happen, not in this lifetime. "Ditto, cheers."

The companionship and contentment that I felt afterwards was enough to make my lips quirk upward, and it was broken by him, who seemed to have felt the same way. "So, you and Granger huh?"

With the question, I did something I couldn't help but do, smile. "Yeah."

"Should've expected it."

"I didn't," I said, with a chuckle. Even with all of the things that happened since I realized I loved her, I never really did expect us to be together.

"Funny, what I didn't expect is you becoming an Auror."

"Really?" Somehow, his words struck a chord. For days now, my mind was in a haze of desperate attempts to catch up. . .I was confused. Living with the knowledge of a prophecy has made my life predictable and now that I had so much more. . . When he nodded, I sighed and uttered, "Hmmm, I guess you can never tell where you'll end at. Er – have you decided on what you wanted to do?"

"Maybe a Healer or an Unspeakable, whichever works."

Who would ever think that Malfoy already has a career set in his mind? "Cheers, then. To the future!"

He raised his glass with a smile, "To the future!"

Both of us emptied the contents of our glasses and ordered another set as we waited for the renowned time when the meeting would take place. As usual, the place bustled that I couldn't help but grip my wand tighter as I waited for some sign of conspicuous activities. Beside me, I knew that Malfoy, however calm he looked like, was also at the ready, his eyes scanning the place every now and then.

But things never went the way we expected them.

It was after a while when a person with blonde hair caught our attention. He was muscular and tall, and has the sense of foreboding in his features. He rallied most of the people inside and together with some of his cronies, he began to speak.

I eyed Malfoy suspiciously, not fully aware that the meeting would go to this extent. He only shook his head,I realized that he did not expect this either. So, we had no choice but to listen to the Death Eater's every word with great caution.

"My friends, I have gathered you all today to inform you the extent of the damage this Minister of Magic has inflicted upon us."

Everyone inside hollered in approval to the beginning of his speech and yelled words of disgust towards Kingsley, including the landlord, who also told some of his customers how the Minister betrayed his trust. Malfoy nudged my side, as he too, joined the cheers and guffaws.

"I, a servant of the previous Dark Lord, want to knock on your hearts and ask for help regarding this situation. We have to unite and inflict more damage than ever before, just to show those filthy witches and wizard that we are better and more powerful."

The roar of approval in the crowd was drastic, people started lifting the tables and chairs as a sign of their impending revolt. I drank from my cup as I observed this man, they were careful enough to drink Polyjuice and disguise themselves, and even with the information that was given by these loathsome people as they began to babble incoherently about what they knew, it wasn't enough for me to get the gist of the situation, especially what they really planned.

They were good, really. They spoke with much conviction and anger than I remembered, and they also addressed people with information that was vague but sufficient. The man with the sinister-looking face seemed pretty much satisfied with the ruckus he caused and then, looked in our direction.

"You there," he pointed, looking directly into my eyes. Malfoy nudged my side again and I could tell that this was already going bad. We have to get out now, or else, we may lose our lives.

"Aye?" I tried to say with as much loathing and anger I could muster.

"What do you think about this current regime and Harry Potter being alive?"

Panicked gripped my insides as I willed myself to think of anything that could satisfy this Death Eater's question. Here goes nothing. "I – er – the current Ministry is bad, nothing like how good Lord Voldemort ran it and er – it is because of that Potter boy bastard."

Great, I am calling myself a bastard.

"Tch, nice try, boy. How about you," he pointed at the person at the furthest end of the room, "what do want to do with that boy, especially now that he and the others are getting stronger while we, who are loyal to the Dark Lord, kept rotting away in hiding?"

He answered and the crowd cheered, but the man has already shifted his attention to one of his subordinates. My instinct told me to act, run away from this place as quickly as I could for the sense of menace was getting stronger, but my body didn't want to move.

Immediately, I felt eyes around me as the man continued his campaign, as if nothing happened. He told us more about how they had been trying to gather more people in the past few years and how they had to hide in filthy muggle villages so that they won't get caught. I slowly reached for some Peruvian Instant Darkness Power in the depths of my cloak and gripped it, along with my wand while I signaled Malfoy that it was time to retreat.

He seemed to guess what I wanted to do, for he slowly nodded and I saw that he was already casting some charms so I mimicked his reaction. With a slight smirk, I realized that if we couldn't at least obtain some useful information, then it would be good if we destroyed their plan.

After a few seconds, the battle to escape. . .began.

I casted Reducto at the far end of the pub and hastily threw the powder into the air, causing everyone inside to scurry and panic. I fired spell after spell, intent on causing as much havoc as I possibly could while Malfoy tried to figure out how we could escape.

My body tensed in anticipation, but I didn't have to wait because two roughly dressed wizards burst at me, even though they couldn't see.

"Expelliarmus," I said, hindering the first man's attempt to find out where we were and threw the invisibility cloak at Malfoy's direction. Then, I ran to the opposite direction to buy Malfoy some time and casted spell after spell at the second one, but he was too fast and dodged them all. Finally, I let him discover where I was and threw a Stupefy.

Instantly, people who regained their composure threw spells at where the man vanished. I was hit by a stray spell in my left shoulder, but I resisted the urge to scream and instead started throwing the powder everywhere as a diversion. Volleys of spells came at different directions and I ducked at a table for cover. I didn't know where Malfoy was and how we could possibly still escape. My left arm hurt like hell, and it was rather limp and useless now.

"Tch, I should've known a spy would be here. Who told you about this meeting, runt? Tell me and I may. . .free you painlessly."

Spell after spell tried to hit me, but I just retaliated. Sometimes, I could hear someone groan in pain as a stray spell hit him and I was a bit satisfied that I was able to incapacitate some of them. I crawled from table to table, trying to reach the area where Malfoy and I got separated and casted spell after spell.

"Come out, come out wherever you are, Axelo," came a voice to my left. I immediately recognized it and started crawling away from him. Damn.

A magical rope attached itself to my wand and struggled to pull me towards the caster. I tried to pull away and my gut instincts told me that this wasn't good, but I was already getting closer, as the length of the rope shortened. Finally, when I knew that I couldn't possibly get rid of the spell, I pointed it towards the person and found Malfoy looking at me with aggravation.

"You fool; you could've gotten us killed."

"We had NO CHOICE! They were already on the move by the time I casted the spell and some already had their wands ready."

Only a grunt was his response as he threw some powder again and started casting a spell upon an object. It was after a while before realized that he was trying to make an illegal Portkey and offered to buy him some time. So I started throwing hexes and jinx and every direction possible.

A third figure emerged in front of me. The shape revealed that she was female, but she remained hidden in the darkness. I could feel her as I adjusted my eyes with a spell the George made. Instantly, my line of sight became wider and I realized that she wore many battle scars around her body.

It wasn't hard to figure out that she could see us and the instant she realized where I was, she aimed her wand towards me and casted the Killing Curse. I was able to dodge the spell and casted Confrigo, which she just blocked. "You're good," she said with a smirk in her face.

Instead of replying, I aimed a spell for her left knee and she only shifted her leg to dodge and casted her own. She grazed my cheek and I was impressed that with all the volleys of spell aimed towards us, she was the only one who was able to make a direct hit.

"Depulso." The spell attempted to grasp her, but to no avail. She grabbed my shirt with her fist as she murmured, "Interesting, I see why Dolohov and Yaxley were having problems with you. Avada – "

I started to struggle away from the spell but I realized that I won't be able to escape. I thought it was the end and closed my eyes, silently praying for a quick death. But nothing happened, for she suddenly fell unconscious before me. I followed the direction of the spell and saw Malfoy with his hand of glory, firing down spells at different directions.

When he saw me, he grabbed a hold of my shirt and made me touch a rubber ball, suddenly I felt the same hook that was associated with a portkey and all went black.

When I opened my eyes, the Atrium of the Ministry stood before me and I found Malfoy, all bruised up and dirty, looking at the fountain. With a grunt, I tried to stand up as I nursed my injured hand and was relieved that we were both alive. "In the end, we didn't really get much."

But Malfoy didn't look at me and kept staring at the fountain as he handed me the cloak. When he closed his eyes, he turned his back at me and started walking towards the exit, but not before he said, "They are after the Elder Wand."

I watched as his figure slowly disappeared into the darkness as he slowly apparated away. For a moment, I just stared at the point where he vanished and wondered if this really happened. The thoughts of the previous encounter swam inside my mind as I tucked the shrunk invisibility cloak inside my pocket.

Finally, I looked at my watch and stood up to go to the office for some potions. I walked back inside the Ministry and observed how it was a little lonely when everyone already went home. Then, I thought of Malfoy and his life in Hogwarts. I wasn't able to ask how he was doing and if he felt a little lonely. With a sigh, I slowly unlocked the door, only to find a frantic Ron pacing around.

When he saw me, he immediately let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding and went towards me with look of trepidation in his face. "Where have you been? I've been waiting for you for HOURS!"

Funny, Ron never did wait for me after work. My heart started pounding in my chest when I realized that something was suspiciously odd. "Erm – is something wrong, mate?"

"It's Fleur, she's gone to labor."

A/N: Well, what do you think? Was the action scene okay? Sorry, I always have some difficulties when I post some of those kind of scenes. Hit the review button and tell me your opinion, especially if the story has become a bit boring or if I need to improve certain things to make it better. I want to improve, so your opinions matter. If I get a lot of reviews for this chapter, I will post the next one early. :)