"Right we're going to do this my way. I will go to the store and find Hermione and then we'll bring her back. I just need you to calm down and trust me."

"No! We need to go in there now and get her. This has gone on for too long. I told you we shouldn't have let Malfoy get her. It's been five weeks since she went on holiday, three weeks since he went to get her and what progress has actually been made? Fuck all."

"Look, I know you're upset. She's my best friend too. But we're here now. We'll find her. We just need to tread carefully."

Hermione tossed and turned all night, dreams still filled with a silver-haired boy. Now that she'd met Draco she realised the boy that came to her at night looked a lot like him. They had the same cold eyes and piercing stare only this boy seemed far more withdrawn than the Draco she knew. He seemed like he was holding back. The boy in her dreams was cold. He never smiled at Hermione or gazed at her with adoration and pride. He hardly even looked at her at all. He seemed to look through her.

A few of the dreams stayed with her long after she woke up. The boy who looked like Draco had compared her to mud. The scene had swirled and changed to one where she slapped him. Draco, a little older now, surrounded by burning tents, telling her to leave and then calling her hair bushy. Draco being turned into a ferret and her feeling… concerned. Hermione, walking down a grand staircase in a light blue dress and Draco gazing at her in shock.

She shook her head and brought her fingers up to rub her temples. Clearly, now that she had met someone with white-blonde hair her dreams were just putting his face into a place where his physical appearance was similar. It's not like these things had actually happened.

She glanced over at her diary and opened it to her list anyway, adding the things she could remember from her dreams to it. Then she hopped out of bed to feed Boo and get ready for work. Today was the day Draco would take her out on their first proper date. Excited was an understatement. In the shower she made sure to use conditioner, something she often skipped if she didn't have a lot of time, as it helped smooth the frizz from her hair. She even opened a new bottle of body wash that she hoped would make her smell of cherries, a snack she sometimes saw Draco eating until it would stain his lips red. She would laugh, saying he looked like a vampire. He would shake his head, quirk an eyebrow and respond, "You have no idea."

Eight o clock could not come around sooner.

"So where's he taking you then?" Lisa asked, smiling at her anxious friend.

Hermione frowned, thinking for a moment before shrugging, "I've no clue. He just said to be ready at eight."

"What are you going to wear?!" Lisa questioned and Hermione rolled her eyes at her friend, shaking her head and chuckling softly.

"Lisa, clothing is the least of my concerns. He's going to like me for me, not my outfit choices. You sound just like Lavender."

"Who?"

Hermione halted for a moment, a book still in her hand waiting to be pushed into its rightful spot on the shelf. She tilted her head in thought and winced as a headache came crashing to the forefront of her brain. Her grip faltered for a moment and the book fell to the floor with a resounding bang that echoed throughout the room.

"Hermione?" Lisa murmured, reaching out to grasp her friend's shoulder. Hermione flinched and recoiled from her friend, bringing her hands up to clutch her forehead.

"Something's wrong," Hermione muttered over and over, sinking to the floor her head shaking back and forth frantically as if to force the headache and unwelcome thoughts from her mind. She thought of a girl with long, blonde hair that fell in gentle waves down her back. She thought of the girl having strong, brown eyes that sat perfectly on her porcelain face.

Hermione thought of the girl lying motionless on the floor, neck coated with a dark, ruby-red substance that was thick and vibrant against her shocking white skin. There was mud splattered across the girls body from where she had been pushed into the ground and her clothes were torn in places that made Hermione cringe with disgust. Her head swam and she could feel bile rising from her throat. She registered the sound of being slapped before she felt it but when the pain came it shocked her into stillness. Hermione could hear Lisa's voice in the distance, despite the girl being right next to her.

"Hermione? Hermione, what's wrong? Are you unwell?" Lisa questioned desperately. She reached out to pull Hermione up, slinging the girl's arm around her shoulders. Slowly, she walked her friend into the staff room and placed her into a chair. Hermione reached up and wiped the side of her mouth even though she hadn't been sick and rubbed her face with her hands. Lisa grabbed Hermione's bottle of water from her bag, unscrewed the lid and held it to Hermione's lips, encouraging her to drink.

The bell dinged and Lisa glanced out the window on the door to see who had walked in. It wasn't Draco or anyone else she knew. There was a man who was flicking through a book on dragons and as he didn't seem to need any immediate help she stayed put, softly rubbing circles on Hermione's back. After a while Hermione stopped shaking and her breathing became even once more.

"Are you okay? Do you want to go home?"

Hermione blinked up at Lisa. Her face was blank and her mouth opened slightly to form the beginnings of a sentence but no sound came out. Lisa debated calling an ambulance for a moment but decided that might be a bit extreme. Hermione coughed, tongue darting out to wet her mouth and then she began to speak. Her voice was hoarse and unrecognisable as her own, "No. No I'm fine. Sorry."

"Who's Lavender?" Lisa asked, wondering if something had happened to the girl to bring out such a terrible reaction from Hermione. The brunette shook her head and Lisa sighed. She didn't know much about Hermione's background. She had been inconsolable when she had shown up at the shop for the first time but hadn't mentioned where she had come from or why, just that she needed a job and a place to stay. Lisa had offered her one on the spot and told her about some flats that were being let out by her friend Jack close by. She'd never pried any further, waiting for Hermione to trust her enough to tell her. She knew that day would come soon. Things were escalating and so much was going on in Hermione's life, Lisa knew she'd need someone to talk to eventually and she also knew that she would make herself ready and available as soon as her friend needed her.

"Can I stay in here for a bit? I'll be out in a minute." Hermione murmured, her voice cracking.

"Sure. Look why don't I close the shop for the day and we'll head back to yours to get you ready?"

Hermione nodded briefly and gave her friend a small smile. As Lisa left she laid her forehead down on the desk in the staff room and promptly fell asleep, forgetting all about Lavender and her bloodied skin. The memory vanished and it was as if Hermione had never remembered it. She dreamt about Draco again being chased by an invisible boy throwing snowballs at him.

"Hello, sorry Sir but we're shutting for the day." Lisa called, shutting the staff room door behind her and making her way over.

The man turned around to face Lisa and frowned, shaking his head and pointing towards a piece of paper on a string that was stuck to the window in the front door, "No the sign specifically says you don't shut until four. It's only two."

Lisa crossed her arms defiantly and narrowed her eyes at the man, "Not that it's any of your business but my colleague is unwell. I'm taking her home."

The man raked his fingers through his hair, pulling a few tufts out in the process. His green eyes flashed with worry as he pushed his glasses up his nose. He then shut his book sharply and returned it to the shelf. "Is she okay?"

Lisa's glare only got stronger, her posture straightening itself out trying to make her look taller and more intimidating, "That's hardly a stranger's business to know."

"I'm not a stranger," He responded, "My name is Harry. We went to school together. Hermione is my best friend. She told us she was going on holiday and then vanished. We're concerned. We've come to get her and bring her home."

"We?" Lisa questioned noting that he was the only person in the shop. She took in his appearance. The man had scruffy brown hair, inquisitive green eyes, was skinny but tall and well dressed. His posture was slightly slumped and his eyes continued to flicker towards the staff room door. Lisa crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows, holding her hand out to stop him when he attempted to walk towards where Hermione was hidden.

"Her boyfriend's here as well."

Lisa sputtered incoherently and laughed, "He's getting a bit ahead of himself! It's only their first date tonight!"

It is Harry's turn to laugh now, "Their first date was four years ago! Ron's not taking her out tonight anyway. She doesn't know he's here. They're forever on and off, though it's only a matter of time before they give things a try proper-,"

"Ron?" Lisa interrupted the brunette. "I don't know a Ron. I'm talking about Draco."

Harry's laughter stopped suddenly, his mouth opening and closing in shock. His arms are tensed by his sides. His otherwise handsome face becomes marred by an aggressive looking scowl and he stormed out, fists clenched to his sides. Lisa stayed where she was, watching him go and wincing at the door slamming behind him. She quickly moved towards the door and turns the open sign to closed. She glanced out of the window to make sure Harry was out of sight before she getting Hermione.

Lisa can't shake the strange feeling that something wasn't right for the rest of the day.

Harry apparated to Gawain Robards office as soon as he is out of sight. He ordered Ron to stay at the hotel they've checked into as he knows Ron's temper would be far worse than his if he found out. He could have laughed if it hadn't of been so cruel. Surely it had to be a joke. Draco Malfoy, the most cowardly, evil, pathetic bully taking their Hermione out on a date? This was ridiculous. Maybe it was a joke. Harry wouldn't put it past him, taking Hermione out for a twisted form of revenge. Maybe Draco thought if he dated the muggle born girl he had taunted for years that the wizarding world would finally embrace him with open arms.

No. No way. Harry was going to put a stop to this immediately. How dare he. How dare Draco take advantage of his best friend when she couldn't remember everything he had put her through? Harry couldn't believe that Draco had originally had the nerve to say that him going to get Hermione was 'conflict of interest.' Well, this certainly was a conflict of interest now. Harry was going to make damn sure Draco never worked in the ministry again.

"Harry," Gawain greeted, standing from his chair, "What seems to be the issue."

"I hope you're happy," Harry said, his voice eerily calm, "I hope you think you're clever for sending Draco Malfoy of all people to get Hermione, because you've all but ruined her life now."

Gawain stared at the young Auror in shock, "I think you're being a bit extreme-,"

"EXTREME?! I'll show you extreme! Draco's lied to you. He's found her alright. He's taking her out on a DATE. I bet he found her the second he got there and had conjured up some sick scheme to get back at us. I want him dismissed from the case now. I want him fired. I want him gone."

The two stood there for a moment. Harry wasn't even concerned that he had just crossed a line. He didn't care that he'd insulted his boss. Hermione could be in danger. Harry was red in the face, arms shaking with anger. The lights in the room flickered and Gawain raised his hand to Harry to remind him of his place.

"Mr. Potter," Gawain said, "Let me be very frank with you. Draco is one of our most skilled Auror's. He is on par with you. From what you have just told me I am assuming that Draco has recently found Miss Granger and, in an attempt to get close to her, is taking her out. I hope you realise how damaging it would be for the girl if Draco were just to show up and drag her away not just for her, but any friends she's made out there. You were able to find, isolate and render unconscious the six witches and wizards you have brought back and while Draco is taking a little longer than I hoped, I believe he is trying to bring her back in a way that will be the least damaging for all parties involved. If you dare raise your voice to me again like that I will have you taken off this mission. You have been warned."

"But-,"

"You have been warned, Harry."

Harry nodded once, uttering a small 'sorry' and turned, apparating back to the hotel. Ron rose from the sofa where he was watching a muggle music channel and asked if Harry was alright. Harry contemplated telling Ron what was wrong but decided that now was not the right time. He simply told his friend that everything was fine and walked down to reception, charming the young receptionist into telling him if Malfoy was staying in the hotel. Unluckily, he wasn't and Harry had hit his fist against her desk in anger, before storming back to his room.

He would find Malfoy by the end of the night and he would make sure that he understood that Hermione's safety and happiness came first.

It just so happened that earlier that day, before Harry's trip to the Ministry, that Draco had called Gawain to tell him of his progress. It was awfully lucky really, because had Harry of gotten to Gawain before Draco, the latter would have been in a lot of trouble.

"Auror Robards speaking,"

"Gawain, its Draco. Just calling to tell you that I have recently located Hermione Granger. I have decided that to bring her back as successfully as possible I'll need to get close to her. She's made friends here and so I want her departure from Australia to seem as normal as possible. I plan to charm her into thinking I am... interested in her and then use that to convince her to move back to England. Then I'll bring her into the Ministry and everything can go back to normal."

"Marvellous, Draco. While this will take a little longer than I had hoped I am glad to see you thinking about this from everyone's point of view. After all, we don't want muggle's popping up asking questions about their missing friends. I'm impressed. This is something Potter hasn't considered."

Draco smiled to himself. Not only had he won more time with Hermione but he had also bested Potter. Oh, this day was turning out amazingly. He cleared his throat to speak again, "Just a quick question though Sir, have we confirmed if the issue is with the memory? And if so, how are we restoring it?"

"Yes Draco your hunch was right, it is a memory issue. Unfortunately, as we don't know the spells that have been used, we've been unsure about performing any specific counter curse. However we know that a lot of memory charms, like obliviate for example, can be broken when a lot of stress is put on the person which brings repressed memories back into their conscious mind."

Draco thought back to a case he'd studied during his training involving Bertha Jorkings. Lord Voldemort and Peter Pettigrew had broken a memory charm placed on her by Barty Crouch Senior and extracted information from her about the whereabouts of Crouch's son using the cruciatus cruse. Draco's voice when he next spoke was slightly higher than usual.

"Do you mean to say that you are going to torture these people?"

"Of course not, Draco. You are aware of Legilimens?" Draco confirmed this and Gawain continued on, "I'll give you an example. Matilda Edwardson was found a few days ago. Harry went to all her friends and family and collected memories from them involving Matilda and her life. Then, using the spell Legilimens, we have projected these memories into her mind which sends it into overdrive as it attempts to connect all these faces, names and feelings that she already knows. It's a tiring task for both Auror and magical folk, but it works. Most of the witches and wizards have admitted when they've gotten their memories back that they were getting recurring dreams of their original lives anyway."

"So they do remember their time as a muggle?"

"Not exactly. They remember that throughout their period as a muggle that their old life was coming to them in some form or other but aside from that none of them can give us details," Gawain said. Draco sighed. So Hermione wouldn't remember him after this. She wouldn't remember the time they'd spent together. He wasn't particularly surprised. He wasn't that Draco thought life was constantly out to get him but some luck would be nice, for once.

"And do they know who did it?"

Gawain chuckled, "That is another story entirely."