This meeting was one of the first segments I wrote and I really love it, hopefully you will too!

Understand I'll stay with you every day
Make you love me more in every way

The sudden brightness caused by the green flames startled him; He had been deep in thought for the past few minutes, completely losing hold of his surroundings. He watched as she stepped from the fireplace, carefully cleaning any traces of cinders before stepping into his office. He had seen her before at Hogwarts, and she was already beautiful then, but time had only increased her beauty.

She took off her Ravenclaw blue cloak and walked towards him; she was dressed simply and her long blond hair was braided to the side. He wondered how, in Merlin's name, Potter had managed to get her. When their eyes met, he could see some uncertainty, but she didn't seem afraid.

"Have a sit" He said, gesturing with his hand to the chairs across the desk.

She sat down, eyes moving about as she studied his office. He watched her for a while, quickly growing weary; it was very late on a Thursday night, it had been a long stressful day at work, and he wanted nothing more than to leave.

"You have a very nice office" She observed.

"It comes with the last name" He remarked, and she nodded.

"Thank you for agreeing to meet with me, Mr. Malfoy"

He nodded. The truth was, he no idea what she wanted to talk about and no idea as to why he had agreed on meeting her, other than the fact he was slightly curious. On the letter she had sent him earlier in the week she hadn't said much, afraid it might be intercepted, and had requested a meeting with him when the office would be empty. For whatever reason it was imperative that their meeting remained a secret and that alone remarkably increased his interest.

"I need your help" She blurted out, her voice so low he could have imagined it.

"Why would Harry Potter's girlfriend need help from me?" Draco asked and she rolled her eyes at him.

"I'm much more than just Harry's girlfriend Malfoy, so treat me as such. As for why, shouldn't the reason be obvious?" She replied, with a knowing smile that only served to infuriate him.

"I wouldn't have asked if it was, not all people possess such an advanced brain as you Ravenclaws" he snapped.

"My, was that a complement?" She teased, and Draco found himself grinning against his better judgment.

"Perhaps, but don't let it get to your head"

"No, I wouldn't want that… Very well Malfoy, let me spell it out for you. As you know, not all Death Eaters have been captured and sent to Azkaban yet. As you should also know, there are others out there, much darker and desperate. They are plotting against the wizarding world, and I assume that they want revenge for the Dark Lord's death and still believe they can have a world like the one you-know-who envisioned. "

"Yes, I have heard the rumors" He retorted, with an edge of indifference.

"They are more than rumors; things are already happening… And that's where you come in, what I need from you is, well, inside information"

Neither of them spoke as the meaning of her words hit him. A long time passed, or maybe just a few seconds, as Draco considered what Chloe had said and she continued to watch him. From the corner of his eye, he could see her observing him with careful eyes, but Draco refused to meet them. Chloe watched his expression with great interest; she could tell her words had hit him harder than what she had expected. After a few more minutes of uncomfortable silence between them, he stood up and walked towards one of the windows. Turning around in her chair, Chloe followed his every move as he pushed aside the curtains and studied the sky outside.

"I understand your mother lying to the Dark Lord has placed the Malfoys in a dangerous situation with the enduring Death Eaters, and I think this is your chance to save your family. You are well aware, I'm sure, that your family would be killed if those people were to succeed. I need you to regain their trust, and report to me… like professor Snape did for Dumbledore…"

At the mention of their former potions' teacher, Draco seemed to snap out of his daze. He finally turned to face her, his grey eyes as inexpressive as always.

"You are asking me to put myself in danger to save Potter?"

"No, I'm asking you to place yourself in danger to save yourself and your family. Saving Harry and the wizarding world will just be a happy consequence."

"What you are asking of me won't be easy… and why me? Why are you asking me to do this?"

"Your mother lied to the most terrifying wizard in history to save her son; I can only imagine her son will do whatever it takes to protect his family as well. I know I can trust you to do this."

"You can trust me? I thought all Ravenclaws were supposed to be smart" He replied, sarcasm in his voice.

"Beats the bloody hell out of me why I trust you Malfoy, but its only logical. You are in a key position to make a move"

"Logical?" He asked, as if the word tasted funny "How can any of this be logical? And why should I be reporting to you? You are not an auror, you are not qualified to run a secret operation"

Chloe took a deep breath as she stared into his eyes, wondering if what she was about to say would turn him against her or win him over. Either way, she had to take a chance.

"On the night you were supposed to kill Dumbledore" She began and he shrugged, before turning away from her and looking out of the window again "You hesitated; you were going to lower your wand and accept his help"

"How do you know that?"

"I suspect you know exactly how, but it doesn't matter Malfoy. You and I come from very different families and we share few of the same values, but you were never a heartless Death Eater… It was all nice and well when you were safe at Hogwarts and your family high in status, but everything changed when your dad failed to deliver the prophecy… I remember how you boasted about becoming a Death Eater, but I also see it wasn't what you expected. You don't want these wizards to succeed any more than I do. I am also well aware of my lack of professional skills in espionage and warfare, but would you really agree to work for and with the Ministry? Or do you think they would even listen to this idea?"

He nodded and she took it as a sign to continue.

"You and I share one very important thing Malfoy"

"Really? And what is that?"

"How far we will go to protect those we love… do you think it was easy for me to do this? Come to you for help?"

"Much easier than it will be for me to find out who is behind this and gain their trust"

"That might be true, but I'm afraid you have no better choice if you want your family to be safe"

"And how will you know that I'm not reporting wrong information? How will you know if I'm not one of them?"

"You couldn't kill Dumbledore… that tells me all I need to know"

He nodded again and silence fell between them. Chloe began to trace the patterns in his rug in order to distract herself, knowing she couldn't afford to push him, and only looked up again when she heard him step closer.

"What will I gain from this, besides keeping my family safe?"

"What else can you possibly want?"

"If I agree to this, will you ensure my family's safety?"

"I shall do my best. I do not plan on telling anyone about this, so my resources will be rather limited"

He nodded and began pacing back and forth.

"Do I have your word then? That you will do your best to protect us and that you will not tell anyone what we agreed on?"

"You have my word" Chloe said, getting up. He stopped pacing and they stood face to face, staring into each other's eyes.

"One more thing" He said "I trust you know Potter saved my life a few years ago?"

"Yes, I heard the story"

"I do not like owing my life to anyone, let alone Potter. Regardless of him knowing what I will do to help, when this is all done, my debt to him will be paid"

"Fair enough. Do we have a deal then, Malfoy?" She agreed, extending her hand.

"We have a deal" He replied, taking it.

They shook hands for a few seconds, then Chloe turned her, put her cloak back on and headed for the fireplace.

"I will contact you soon, in order to discuss the details" She said, turning one last time to face him. He nodded.

"And remember, Ms. Lewis, this meeting never happened" He said.

"I'm not sure what you are referring to Mr. Malfoy. I have been in my room, asleep, the entire night" She replied, grabbing a hand full of floo powder and stepping into the flames.

As the days slowly turned into weeks, Chloe found herself getting busier and busier. With no leads on Ana and Neville's killer and no reports of suspicious activities, Harry and the other aurors were forced to put the case aside and focus on other things, but that did not stop Harry from spending at least two hours every night training with Chloe. Add to it the fact that she was on her last month of training with the Ministry and that Ava had left for Wales to see her family for four weeks (meaning Chloe had to help around the café even more) she barely had the time to breathe. Three days after her meeting with Malfoy, he had contacted her with some promising news. They met at his office again and he informed her that he had approached his former girlfriend, Pansy. It took him hours of very unpleasant flattering in order to convince her to let him back in on their circle of friends, but he was far from gaining their trust again. Chloe still couldn't believe she had gone to him for help, but she was convinced he would be the one to find out who was behind the killings. In the meantime, things went back to normal, although people were still urged to remain vigilant.

With her dad's company getting ready to unveil their newest model, Elliot was gone for even longer periods of time. Since her mother's passing, Chloe hated being home alone and would usually stay with her uncle, her grandparents, or Ava for a few days but she now found herself spending a lot of time over at Harry's and even had a drawer and closet space her things. Harry would come and stay at the Manor as well, but they preferred his place as it was much smaller and far less depressing with just the two of us. Ava came back on the night before Chloe finished with training and as soon as she turned in her exam on Friday, she hurried to her uncle's café to see her. She was working the late afternoon shift and was almost done when Chloe arrived. As she scanned the room for her best friend, Chloe was shocked to find her wrapped in the arms of a nice-looking man.

"Hem-hem" She said, stepping closer to them.

Both jumped and turned towards her. The man blushed slightly but Ava smiled brightly at Chloe.

"Chloe!" She said, letting go of him and giving her friend a hug "I've missed you"

"It hardly seemed so, you barely wrote me back" Chloe pointed out, hugging her back.

"Well… I got a little distracted" Ava replied, stepping back and looking up at the man's eyes "Chloe I would like you to meet my boyfriend, Jasper Piers"

"Pleased to meet you" Chloe said, shaking his hand "How come this is the first time I hear about your boyfriend?" She added, turning to face Ava.

"I don't see why you are upset; I didn't hear about you and Harry for three whole months" Ava observed.

"Because he is famous" Chloe said "which your boyfriend here isn't…. No offense" She added, looking at him before turning her attention back to Ava.

"It's not that big of a deal" She said.

"Admit it, you did it on purpose to get back at me" Chloe said, in an amused tone.

"Now that's just hurtful" Ava replied, feign pain "I would never"

They both laughed at her words before she walked away to serve her last client. Jasper and Chloe sat down to wait on her and she caught herself looking him over. He was a very tall man, with short brown hair and beautiful hazel eyes; no wonder Ava was attracted to him.

"So, Ava tells me you are her best friend?" He asked.

"She did tell you about me huh? Good to know she only kept things from me…"

"She did, and she also mentioned something about keeping our relationship a secret from you for as long as we could" He said with a chuckle "She wouldn't tell me why but now I see it had something to do with you and your boyfriend"

"I must wish you good luck with that one" Chloe joked and he laughed "Tell me, how did you two meet?"

"It turns out both of us are very interested in magical history. We ran into each other at a bookstore back in Wales and we have seen each other every day since"

"Are you from Wales as well?"

"Yes, this is actually my second time ever coming to England"

"I take it you didn't attend Hogwarts then?"

"No, mum home schooled me. She didn't believe in sending me away for all that time"

"Understandable, I…"

"Oh good, you two are getting along" Ava interrupted "Isn't he great?" She added, leaning down and kissing his cheek.

"Save it for later, will you?" A male voice said and they all looked up to find Harry standing behind them.

"Harry!" Ava squeaked, quickly letting go of Jasper.

"Welcome back. I was going to ask if you had a good time but I take it that you did"

Ava blushed slightly, something Chloe rarely saw her do, before introducing the two men. Chloe was so stunned by Ava's odd behavior that it took her a second to realize Harry was talking to her.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I asked how your exam went" Harry said.

"Oh, it was really easy…. I finished first"

"Of course you did" Ava teased "When don't you?"

"Still mad that you never beat me to it?" Chloe teased back, and Ava stuck her tongue out.

"We should do lunch tomorrow, just us girls" She offered and Chloe nodded in agreement.

"It can't be a very long lunch though; I got to help my dad getting the Manor ready for the party"

"Don't you have house elves for that?" Ava asked.

"You know I do, but dad wants to make sure I like everything, while there will still be time to change things around if I don't"

"Fine, I supposed a quick lunch is better than none"

"Will you be coming as well, Jasper?" Harry asked.

"Yes, if it is ok with you?" he asked, looking at Chloe.

"I don't think I really have a say in this, Ava would probably never talk to me again if I didn't let her bring you" She kidded.

"I believe that" he said solemnly.

When Ava was done, she grabbed her purse and cloak before following all three of them out. After agreeing on a time to meet for lunch, she and Jasper headed one way while Harry and Chloe headed in the opposite direction.

"This is none of my business but, did you know about Jasper?"

"No, Ava kept him a secret, like I did you"

"Tell me again how the two of you ever became friends?"

"She might be a little too much sometimes, but I wouldn't have made it without her"

"What do you think of him so far?"

"He seems nice. Honestly, any guy that can deal with her is someone very special in my eyes. What did you think of him?"

"That he is a very brave man…. So, are you excited about the party tomorrow?"

"Not really, you know me, hate crowds. I tried to convince my father to just have a small dinner, that would be more than enough to celebrate the end of my training but he wouldn't listen"

"He's very proud of you, let him have it. It will be fun; all your friends and family will be there"

"I know, I know… I just want it to be over. I'm looking forward to my first day of work on Monday"

"It will be here before you know it. In the meantime, let's get back to my place; Kreacher is waiting for us with dinner"

"Sweeter words were never said, I'm starving"

Lunch with Ava was exactly what Chloe needed. It had been such a long time since they had spent time together, just the two of them, and the hour they had agreed on turned into almost three hours of nonstop conversation and barely any eating before they noticed the time and hurried back to Chloe's Manor. After they had helped Elliot oversee the decoration of the outside patio and the dining room, they both headed to Chloe's room to shower and get ready. When they were finally ready and headed down stairs, several people had already arrived including Harry, Ron, Hermione, Oliver, Dan and Jasper. As it turned out, her father had invited many more people than he had originally told Chloe and she lost count of how many times she had been introduce to people. Dad's business partners were there as well, with their families, and Chloe was very surprised to find the entire Weasley family, except Ginny who couldn't make it, also in attendance. She was very nervous to meet them at first, but Harry had been right; they were all great. Molly was every bit was sweet as Harry had told her.

"Will you agree to join me for dinner at the Burrow now?" Harry asked once Molly and Arthur had walked away.

"Yes, I'll give it a try"

"Thank you" He said, pressing his forehead against hers.

They party went on for several hours and it was very late by the time the last guest, Harry, left. Chloe had wanted him to stay but he still wasn't very comfortable spending the night when her dad was around, something that absolutely puzzled Chloe.

"Thank you for the party dad" She said, standing on her tiptoes and kissing his cheek.

"You are welcome, I can't believe you are about to start on your job… my little girl is growing far too fast"

"Don't all dads say that?"

"But I really mean it" he said, kissing the top of her head "I'm very proud of you sweetie"

"Thanks dad"

"Mum would be too, mum is too"

Chloe nodded, wishing him a good night and apparating to her room. Exhausted, she looked fondly at her large and inviting bed, at the fireplace casting its light and warmth, and at the blond man sitting on the armchair directly across from the fireplace.

"Malfoy!" She yelled once she realized who he has, hands immediately flying to her mouth in a futile attempt to stop the sound that had already come out.

"No one heard you" He said "I casted a Silencing charm"

"What are you doing here? And how did you get in?" She asked once her heart beat returned to normal.

"I have some information for you, and I used the floo network"

"That's impossible, my house is protected and only a few people have access to our floo network"

"It is clearly not impossible, as you see me sitting here"

"How did you do it?"

"The same way the person behind everything can. C'mon Ms. Ravenclaw, use that brain of yours. If only a few people can access your floor network, and yet here I am, what do you think has happened?"

"Someone has infiltrated our side" She answered, with a sinking feeling.

"Excellent, I was starting to think the Sorting Hat had made a mistake with you" He jabbed and Chloe scowled at him.

"And who would this person be?"

"That, I don't know. They still don't trust me"

"Won't they know you used the floo network to get here?"

"I have my means of keeping it a secret" He said and I nodded.

"How about Harry's place? Hermione's?"

"All no longer as safe"

"Bloody hell" She cried, pacing from side to side "I can't tell this to anyone, it would risk your cover… but I can't keep it a secret as it clearly puts us all in danger… bloody hell!"

"As much as I enjoying watching you like this, I might have a solution to your problem"

"Really?" She said, stopping and turning to face him "What is it?"

"I was doing some reading the other day on protective spells, to keep my family safe, and I came across a very old spell that might work. It hasn't been used in a long time due to its complicated nature, but if casted correctly, it will protect any entrance points such as fireplaces, windows, and doors. Only those whose names you say during the casting of the spell will be able to enter, so even if a Death Eater decided to take the floo network here like I just did, they would not be able to take a step out of the fire"

"What about other people? What if I were to bring someone whose name I didn't say to the house?"

"If they come with you or any other people who have permission to come in, then the person will be able to enter"

"So, if a Death Eater were to kidnap my father, he would be able to walk right in?"

"Not without your father's permission, which he would give by uttering a safe word"

"What safe word?"

"The one you choose when casting the spell"

"Have you placed the spell on your house?"

"No, the spell requires two people. Considering our…. delicate situation, I believe we should cast the spell at our Manors together. You and I will need some time together in order to practice the spell; it is very long and complicated"

"Okay. Is there a way to undo it?"

"Yes, there are actually two ways. Those who casted the spell can say the counter spell together or the spell will undo itself when it's two casters die"

"So, if someone on the other side were to find out about the spell" She began, but Malfoy cut in.

"We could be killed" He said, matter of factly.

"We are essentially putting ourselves in danger, to keep those we love safe"

"I guess you can say that, but remember that no one but the two of us will know about the spell"

"That's not true; we have to tell other people. What if your mother brings a friend home? Don't you think she will get suspicious if her friend can't get in?"

"We will tell our family members to utter the words when coming in, but we will say that it is for another protective spell"

"What about Harry's place? Hermione and Ron's? My family's?"

"If we succeed with placing the spell on our Manor's, I'll consider helping you place it on the other places"

Silence fell between them as they stared at each other. She wanted to demand that he gave his word that he would help protect the other places, but decided against it. Malfoy could end their deal at any time, and she couldn't afford to lose his help.

"Should I be worried that someone will attack soon?" She asked, thinking about how vulnerable they all were until she and Draco could figure things out.

"I don't think so, for some reason the man in power does not want to attack this way again"

"Again?"

"That's how they got to Neville and his girlfriend"

"Oh… well, I hardly find any comfort in that"

"You shouldn't, it probably means he has something far worse planned"

She gulped, and silence fell between them.

"You have a nice room" He said, breaking the silence, and Chloe watched as he leaned back and put both feet on the ottoman.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself" She observed.

"I wonder how mad Potter would get if he knew I have been to your room" He teased, his signature smirk on his face.

"We will never know" She replied "We agreed on keeping this a secret, remember?"

"Do try not to spoil this for me?"

"My apologies… I'm sure he would be furious"

"I like to think so" Draco agreed, looking far too happy "So tell me, why do you still live with your dad? Your family has enough money to afford another Manor"

"Why do you still live with your parents?"

"Fair enough…. Malfoy Manor will one day be mine. It is also such a big place I can go without seeing my parents… Doesn't make sense to spend money on other living arrangements. And there is mother… she is a formidable witch, but the events of the past few years took a toll on her health, it helps her if I'm close by and it makes me feel better"

"Malfoy, that is so…thoughtful"

"Don't act so surprised. And you still haven't answered my question"

"Similar answer. This Manor will one day be mine. And after mum's death… I can't bare the idea of my father living here all alone.

"We are an oddity, many of our schoolmates couldn't wait to leave home"

"Speaking of schoolmates, it seems you have done a good job so far getting them to trust you"

"There are very few of us left, they had no choice but to give me a chance"

"Works for us… I don't mean to be rude but, is there anything else Malfoy? It's been a long day and I would like to sleep"

"No, that is all" he said, standing up and heading to the fireplace.

"Malfoy" She called and he stopped "Thank you"

The faintest of smiles crossed his face, before vanishing as fast as it had come. With a short nod, he stepped into the flames, muttered Malfoy Manor, and was gone in a flash.