Manhattan

Chapter Three

"So, who's the witch?" Draco's Auror captain, Katrina Gordon, asks.

Her feet are kicked up on her desk and she's biting into a chocolate truffle, and if he didn't appreciate how different she is from every witch he grew up around, he would scoff at the impropriety. Katrina's long, blonde hair is pulled up tightly into a ponytail, which dangles over the back of her chair.

"What witch?" Draco questions, furrowing his eyebrows as he reaches across Katrina's desk and snags a chocolate truffle for himself.

Katrina chews her chocolate before eyeing Draco pointedly.

"Oh, please, Malfoy, you've been all broody for weeks. Usually when I get like that, there's a witch involved," Katrina laughs and winks at Draco. "In fact, you're almost as broody as when I got you."

Draco rolls his eyes. He had not been that broody when he arrived in the States… Or perhaps he had been. Katrina would know. She was the first person he met when he arrived. She had only recently been promoted to captain and Draco was her first hire under her new title. He will always be immensely grateful to her for that– not that he would tell her that, of course, lest it inflate her already entirely too large ego.

"It's not what you think," Draco grumbles, popping his own truffle into his mouth and chewing slowly. "It's the protective detail I'm working for the Ministry. She's… difficult."

Katrina pulls her legs down and slides her chair in closer to her desk, leaning her arms against the tabletop.

"Difficult how?" Katrina asks, tilting her head to the side.

Technically speaking, Draco isn't even allowed to tell Katrina much about Granger's case. As of right now, the only things that Katrina knows is that his charge is female (and difficult) and that the case was assigned to him specifically as a joint case between the British Ministry and the MACUSA.

Draco considers how to word his complaint without giving away any specifics.

"She doesn't trust me. I can't very well do my job if my charge doesn't trust me."

Katrina raises a perfectly arched, blonde eyebrow.

"Why doesn't she trust you? You're the Auror from my team that I'd want watching my back if I had to choose," Katrina states, her eyes shifting to the open door behind Draco momentarily. "Don't tell anyone else I said that, though. Cole would be inconsolable if he heard me say that."

Draco laughs lightly and then sucks in a breath through his teeth.

"I knew this particular witch prior to being assigned to her case. We didn't exactly get on," Draco decidedly does not mention that he was the reason that he and Granger didn't get on. Katrina doesn't need to know exactly how much of a prat he'd been prior to five years ago.

"Does it have to do with your history?" Katrina asks, emphasizing that last word. Katrina might not know that Draco had been a schoolyard bully, but she's certainly aware of his criminal history. He had, of course, had to disclose the fact that while he had never served time in Azkaban, he had served house arrest. Katrina had once told him that that was one of the main reasons she had decided to hire him– his expertise in Dark Magic and Dark Artifacts.

Draco's left arm twitches.

"Yes," Draco frowns. "In a way."

Katrina leans back in her chair again, tapping her fingers against the arm of her chair.

"I know I've only known you for four years, Draco, but you're a good man. Whoever you were in England is not who you are now. Maybe this witch just needs the opportunity to realize that."

Draco scrubs his hands down his face for probably the fourth time in the past hour. This witch is truly trying his patience.

"I understand that it's inconvenient, Granger, but so is being stalked by your alcoholic ex-fiance," Draco snaps, glaring at the curly-haired witch across from him. "Your flat needs to be warded, and I can assure you that this process would go far faster if you wouldn't argue with me about it every week."

Granger scoffs and crosses her arms over her chest.

"I'm more than capable of warding my own flat, Malfoy," Granger hisses. "I did it myself for eight months."

Draco grips his wand a bit tighter than necessary.

"Yes, you were doing it yourself because you didn't have Auror protection. Now you do."

Granger glares up at him before stomping off to the sofa in her sitting room, huffing as she drops down onto it. Draco finishes warding the windows in her kitchen before following her.

Draco is sincerely trying to heed Katrina's advice– truly, he is. Draco might not like Granger much– or at all– but it is his job to protect her, and he takes his job seriously. He meant that part when he said that to her on their first meeting. Regardless of who she is, Draco will do everything in his power to keep her safe. Evidently, this is not enough to show Granger that he has changed.

"You're welcome to double-check the wards after I set them, Granger," Draco offers, attempting an olive branch with the stubborn witch.

"I always do," Granger huffs, narrowing her eyes at Draco.

Draco raises an eyebrow at her. His wards are always exactly the same as the previous time, if a bit worn down, when he arrives once a week to update them at Granger's flat. If she double-checks them, then that means she's found nothing that needs changing. Draco resists the urge to smirk.

"And do you ever find anything that needs changing?" Draco asks, crossing his arms over his chest as he eyes the tiny witch before him.

Granger averts her eyes and decidedly does not respond.

"Listen, Granger, I don't need you to trust me," Draco states, although this whole case would be infinitely easier if she did trust him. "I do, however, need you to trust that I am trying to keep you safe."

Granger stands from her seat and looks up at Draco.

"Why do you even care?" Granger snaps, her eyes flashing with something Draco can't name.

Draco is taken aback slightly– but then he remembers that prior to this month, Draco hasn't seen this witch since his trial. The last impression she has of him is of shackles and a cage. Draco supposes that that might affect anyone's perception.

"Because it's my job," Draco responds easily, raising his wand to ward the window in her sitting room beside her hearth.

"Fine. You can see yourself out when you're done," Granger grumbles, stalking off out of the room and down the hall.

Draco hears a door slam and is grateful that he has already warded the windows in Granger's bedroom because he doesn't expect her to come out again.

Draco arrives home to his flat and heads immediately for his bar cart. He pours himself a measure of firewhiskey and sips from his glass as he takes a seat at his dining room table.

Draco presses his fingertips to his eyes, trying to force his headache away by sheer force of will. Unfortunately for him, his headache has a name, and she hasn't gone away.

When Draco had started looking into Hermione Granger's disappearance and poured over the back-issues of the Daily Prophet that Astoria Greengrass had copied for him, he thought that that would be the end of it. He thought that he would satiate his curiosity and move on. Bloody Saint Potter had other plans.

All Katrina had been able to tell him was the floo address at which he was needed and that someone from the British Ministry was hiring him to assist in one of their cases. If Draco had known what that case would entail, he's not sure he would've gone.

That's not true. He probably would have– because he takes his job seriously– but it would've still been nice to have been prepared.

And then to find out why Granger is even in Manhattan in the first place? Draco takes another swig from his glass. As if Draco didn't have enough reasons to dislike Ronald Weasley already.

Having been raised by Narcissa Malfoy, Draco has certain standards for how to treat a witch– injuring them with accidental magic is decidedly not one of those standards.

Draco checks his mobile phone for messages, as he has become accustomed to doing. Granger has never seen fit to contact him, save for the first time so that he would have her mobile number, so he's not sure why he checks so often, but he does.

No messages, as expected.

Draco downs the rest of his firewhiskey and leans back against his chair.

"Oi, Malfoy!" Draco's floo roars to life and he resists the urge to thunk his head down against his dining table.

Draco doesn't stand from his table. He might prefer to not even respond, but Draco knows two things to be true in this moment. One, Theodore Nott is one of his only friends, so it's probably best to not ignore him, and two, Theodore Nott is not easily deterred, so unless he wants the aforementioned wizard to show up physically in his flat, he should probably respond.

"What, Nott?" Draco groans, finally standing and walking into his sitting room to kneel in front of the hearth.

"Ooh, am I interrupting something? About time, if you ask me," Theo sings, the vision of him in the fire waggling his eyebrows. "Speaking of, whatever happened to that last witch? Sabrina, I believe her name was? I liked her."

Draco rolls his eyes.

"Is there a point to this call, Nott?" Draco rubs his brow in frustration.

Theo's fire-likeness smiles a too-wide smile.

"Always, darling," Theo beams. "As I'm sure you're aware, Daph's birthday is this weekend. We're throwing a little gathering for her on Friday evening and I humbly request your presence."

Draco crosses his arms over his chest and raises an eyebrow.

"You haven't a humble bone in your body, Nott."

Theo shrugs.

"Not the point, Malfoy," Fire-Theo eyes Draco pointedly. "You'll come, won't you?"

Draco sighs heavily. Truthfully, he hasn't seen his friends in an age and it would be nice to relax for an evening back home in London. Even his previous trip home had been instigated by work, in a sense.

"Fine, I'll come."

Theo cheers over-dramatically.

"Wonderful!" Theo shouts before abruptly cutting off the floo call.

When Draco arrives at Nott Manor on Friday evening, much to his surprise, he does feel infinitely more relaxed than he has all week. This fact is helped, of course, by the fact that immediately upon his arrival, a tumbler of firewhiskey is thrust into his hand.

"Zabini," Draco says in lieu of thanks to the Italian wizard who handed him the glass.

"Malfoy," Blaise nods in return, in place of a greeting.

Draco sips from his glass as he looks around the Nott Manor parlor at the familiar faces. Theo Nott, of course, stands with his arm slung over the shoulders of Luna Lovegood. Blaise Zabini is refilling his glass at the bar across the room. Beside him is Pansy Parkinson, chatting with the birthday celebrant, Daphne Greengrass. From another corner of the room, a beast of a man– Neville Longbottom– comes up beside Pansy and slips his arm around her waist, kissing her temple as he does.

Sitting on a sofa in the middle of the room is Draco's former fiancee, Astoria Greengrass. She is turned toward a man beside her, running her fingers through his cropped, sandy brown hair– the man: Seamus Finnigan. Interesting.

Draco takes a seat on the second sofa across from Astoria and raises an eyebrow when the witch turns. He notices, then, that her left hand now holds a shiny piece of jewelry adorning it which hadn't been there the last time he saw her.

"I see congratulations are in order," Draco states, the corners of his lips turning up slightly. He may not be close with the witch, but he has to assume that this particular match is one of her own choosing, given Finnigan's blood-status. That's more than she would've gotten if her marriage to Draco had gone through.

Astoria looks down at her engagement ring quickly and smiles, leaning against Finnigan as he wraps his arm around her back.

"Thank you," Astoria says, her smile still placed firmly on her lips. "Seamus, you know Draco Malfoy, I presume."

The Irishman eyes Draco warily before relaxing. It seems that he trusts his fiancee and her assessment that Draco is not a threat in this moment.

"Malfoy," Seamus greets, somewhat tightly, still.

"Finnigan," Draco responds. "This is a good witch you have here. Treat her well."

Seamus' arm tightens marginally around Astoria as he glances at her fondly. Astoria catches Draco's eye and smiles in thanks.

"Oh, I intend to."

Hi, friends! We're a few days early, but I dunno, I just felt like uploading a new chapter today.

Let me start with just a quick response to some comments I received regarding the first two chapters of this fic. I completely understand that Dramione is not everyone's cup of tea, so if it isn't yours, don't read this fic. I assumed that this was clear given the tags for this fic, but if it wasn't, this is a romantic Dramione fic, lol.

Next, I want to be absolutely clear that I am NOT glorifying domestic violence with this fic. I'm condemning it. Someone commented that Dramione writers glorify abuse and while I understand where that comment is coming from in a sense, that completely removes the aspect of character development, growth and owning up to one's mistakes- all of which are present in this fic.

Once again, I am NOT glorifying domestic violence. I'm a survivor myself, so I absolutely am not in the business of enabling abuse. The intention of this fic is rather the opposite.

Now, all of that said, I have a few comments about this chapter. If you're familiar with me, you know I like to give some behind-the-scenes into my writing. (:

First, yes, Draco dated a witch named Sabrina. She's not mentioned again, but when I was trying to come up with a name for a former flame of his, the first name that came to mind was Sabrina. Yes, it's terribly ironic. Yes, it's intentional. :P

Also, if you read my other Dramione multi-chapter fic, Worth the Wait, you will know that Astoria Greengrass was a main character. She is not in this fic. However, this last scene was my nod to my Astoria from WtW because she deserved to find happiness too. Don't ask why I picked Seamus. I think I just love him. :P

Anyway, all of that said, thank you so much for reading, I really hope that you enjoyed this chapter. (I may or may not upload again on my scheduled Tuesday. Perhaps it'll depend on your responses. ;P)

I am overwhelmed with the amount of follows and favorites that this fic has received already. It truly has blown me away. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

Please review if you feel so inclined. I love reading reviews. (: