Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Say Please	By : ColdWaterFairy Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 28207 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 12
- 13
- 14
A/N: Many thanks to my beta mamacita.
Harry walked into the Ministry, rubbing his still-stinging shoulder. He was wondering if he should be worried that he wanted to marry a woman who was so skilled at hexes when he was accosted by reporters.

"Mr. Potter, how are you handling Miss Granger's disappearance?"

"Mr. Potter, do you have anything to say to the frightened parents of young girls?"

"The Ministry is responsible for the disappearance of Miss Granger?"

"Do you know if there's going to be a memorial service for Miss Granger?"

Harry turned around so abruptly that one reporter ran into him. He glare was enough to have people taking a collective step back. "Who asked me about the memorial service?" The idiot reporter, young by any standard, didn't even try to blend into the pack.

"Is there any plan for one, sir?"

Harry was so incensed he wanted to hit the reporter, but he knew that would just cause the others to go into a feeding frenzy. "Please tell me who told you she was dead so I might owl them to correct their assumption," he asked in a tight voice.

The young reporter nervously twitched and backed up a step. "N-no one told me she was dead, sir."

Harry didn't let up. "Then why did you ask me if there was going to be a memorial service?"

By this time all the other reporters had stepped away from the boy and stood avidly watching, cameras at the ready, all of them salivating at the thought of catching a picture of Harry losing his temper. The boy answered, "I just assumed it b-because none of the other witches h-have been found but that one and she was dead...."

Harry made sure he was invading the reporter's space when he hissed, "She's not dead. And if you even think about printing such rubbish—" for his next words he leaned in so that only the reporter could hear— "you'll know the reason why Voldemort feared me."

The young reporter shivered at the name of the Dark Lord and jerkily nodded his head in understanding. Harry glared at the rest of the reporters and headed to the elevator. When he stepped off at his floor he was met with noise, but it wasn't as loud as usual. A group of Aurors standing in the hallway went silent at seeing him step into the department. Harry ignored everyone and headed back to where the files were stored. He was seriously disappointed with himself for not having thought to check the log before now. It wasn't advertised that the Ministry kept track of all employees, excluding the Unmentionables, every second of the day while they were inside the building. The Ministry had instituted this practice after the war to insure that no one could sneak into a department to spy or steal anything.

Harry ignored the greeting Keller called to him as he walked past the other man's office. He stopped at the door that led to the room housing the records and waited for his magical signature to be recognized, then entered. He wasn't sure where the files were that he was looking for or even if the file from the night of Hermione's disappearance was still there. The bastard could have taken it and destroyed, it for all Harry knew.

He spent the better part of the afternoon looking through boxes before he hit pay dirt. Sucking on the tips of his fingers that still stung from the hex the file held, he flipped pieces of parchment until he came to the day in question, then scanned down the list to the time slot an hour before the party was to start.

Harry gasped. His head started spinning and all he could do was stare in incomprehension. This can't be right. He would have told me if he was here that night, wouldn't he? He quickly scanned the rest of the names on the list. There was a total of thirty people still in the building during that block of time, but only five of them had the security clearance to access the department floor after hours: the Minister, Blaise, Robert, the Auror on duty that night, and Keller March.

Harry couldn't twist his mind around the possibility of Keller being responsible for the missing witches or Hermione's disappearance. Harry couldn't deny that by the time he'd calmed down enough to start investigating Hermione's whereabouts, Keller had already started. He had personally interviewed Robert and cleared him. How could Harry trust anything Keller told him about the case or Hermione knowing he had omitted the information about being here at the time Hermione was taken?

Harry had been dealt emotional blows before, but he had never felt more angry or betrayed than he did at that moment. He'd thought that with the passing of Voldemort he wouldn't have to constantly suspect people, that he could let go of the paranoia and move on. It was just too much for him right now. He quickly made a copy of the file and returned it. He had to get out of there and talk to Ron. He wasn't going to do something rash and lose the chance to recover Hermione safe and sound.

He walked back down the hall and passed Keller's closed door. Part of Harry wanted to wretch it open and ask Keller why he'd never told Harry about being on the floor that night. Keller was no father figure to Harry, but he was one of the few people Harry trusted implicitly. He heard Keller's door open and the sound of the Minister's voice inside. He risked a look over his shoulder to see Keller looking at him. Harry tried his best to keep the anger off his face, but he wasn't entirely sure he'd managed it and so quickly looked away and walked faster, wanting to be off the floor as soon as possible.
Draco grunted in frustration and threw a book across the room. "Maybe you should take a break," Hermione suggested.

Draco had been trying unsuccessfully for the past two hours to release Hermione from the painting. Hermione had cheerfully reassured him after every failed attempt, but after two hours her optimism was now halfhearted.

"I'm going to get something to eat," he told her, and he got up and left the room.

Hermione sat back in the chair. She wanted to be free, she really did, but there was a small part of her, minuscule really, that didn't want to have to return to the real world. She felt a sense of freedom. No one was depending on her, she wasn't constantly worrying about whether or not her skills were as good as Harry's or Ron's. Hermione listened to Draco moving around in the kitchen. It was scary how quickly she had gotten used to his presence. She wasn't ready to settle down and get married like Harry and Ginny were, but she wanted someone to come home to. She wanted what she thought she'd had with Ron before work, insecurities, and the waning of passion had wreaked havoc on the relationship.

She was envisioning different scenarios in her head where she and Draco were a couple when she heard a knock on the front door. Hermione couldn't help but tense. No one had come to the door in all the time she'd been there. Oh no, does the kidnapper know I'm here? She waited in breathless anticipation to find out who was at the door. Hearing the voice of the blonde slut, she settled back against the chair to listen to the conversation she was having with Draco. This should be good. She reprimanded herself for her unkind thoughts about Astoria for the briefest of seconds before dismissing it altogether.

Draco tensed when he heard the knock. Who could that be? He snagged his wand and went to the door. He peeked out of the viewer and cursed silently when he saw Astoria. He opened the door and greeted her with as much enthusiasm as he could muster.

"Hi, Astoria. Come in."

She smiled nervously at him before stepping inside. His forced cordiality had not gone unnoticed. "I just wanted to stop by. I haven't seen you in three days," she said as she fidgeted with the strap of her handbag.

Draco shut the door and tried to decide whether he should lie about how busy he'd been. Looking at Astoria, he felt guilty. He shouldn't have used her like he had. She'd never shown herself to be like the other girls he'd had one night stands with. She seemed genuinely kind, and to want nothing from him.

After a long, uncomfortable pause, he finally said, "I have to be honest with you. I'm sorry if I led you on the other night. I can't give you what you want."

Astoria just smiled at him. "Draco, I didn't think by sleeping with you we'd automatically become boyfriend and girlfriend. I had fun and—I think you did too," she finished in a rush.

"I did, but it can't happen again." How could he explain that he was having a one-sided relationship with a painting of Hermione Granger? "You're a lot of fun and you deserve better, you really do. I'm really not—you see, just now I'm sort of—" He paused, wishing he'd left well enough alone. Finally he fell back on the tried and true, hoping it didn't sound as lame to Astoria as it did to his own ears. "I hope we can stay friends, yeah?"

For a minute it looked like she was going to fight his decision, but then she inclined her head. "There's someone else, isn't there?" When he didn't say anything she regarded him in silence for a moment, then without a word she turned and left. Draco hoped Hermione hadn't heard Astoria's last comment; maybe she would think it was someone he'd met before Hermione had come here.

He moved back into the kitchen and glanced at the letter from his mother, then ignored it as before. He walked back into the bedroom, burning with curiosity. He wanted to look at Hermione and see if she'd heard. He knew she had to have—the door was open and the flat wasn't that big. He sat down on the floor and picked up another book and started to flip through it.

"Now where were we?"
Harry didn't even try to sneak back in, knowing Ginny was probably up. When he opened the door there she stood, looking like she was ready to hex him halfway into next year. He held up his hand to cut off her tirade.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

He didn't answer, instead asking, "Is Ron up? I need to talk to you both."

Ginny went to wake Ron and Harry sat down on the couch. After they had joined him, Harry told them what he'd found, handing the parchment to Ron. Harry wanted reassurance that he was just blowing things out of proportion, but when he looked at Ron's face he knew he wasn't.

"Why would he tell us he was in the building at the time unless he didn't want us investigating him? He's always hammered into us the importance of checking on everyone associated with a case, no matter how low-profile or unlikely they seem. What are we going to do now?"

"We have two options," Harry said. "We can either confront Keller with what we know and see if he has a explanation, or we go on the assumption that he is or knows the kidnapper."

"What about the Minister or Blaise?" Ginny asked. "They had the security clearance."

Ron shook his head. "What possible motive would the Minister have for kidnapping the girls? The fact that we haven't been able to find them or stop other witches from being taken just makes the Ministry look bad, and by extension, him. He's been breathing down our necks for weeks to solve this case. I also can't see Blaise doing anything to risk his chance of becoming Minister of Magic."

"I agree with Ron, Ginny. What possible benefit could they get from kidnapping these witches that out weighs the consequences if they get caught?"

"You know, I always thought Keller had a crush on Hermione; something about the way he was looking at her at last year's Christmas party. I don't know, Harry—I just don't think you should focus solely on Keller. You could end up missing something important."

Looking at Ron, Harry asked, "What should we do?"

Ron was quiet for a moment. "I guess what it comes down to is whether we're willing to risk our jobs, our reputations, and possibly our lives to find Hermione—and for me the answer is yes."
Draco was beyond frustrated. All he wanted to do was scream. "We were so close, and then nothing!"

"Calm down, Draco. It has to be in that book. Your last attempt was so close I could feel it." Hermione watched as Draco raked his hands through his hair in agitation. She had to smile; his hair stood up every which-way, reminding her of Harry. Draco started flipping through the rest of the book.

"Hermione, I'm not seeing any other spells that could possibly help." Draco started going through other books aimlessly.

She was so surprised that she didn't speak for a moment. Draco had called her by her first name. She couldn't help smiling. "Maybe we should stop focusing on just one spell. I bet it took multiple spells to get me in here."

"That makes sense." Draco started writing down spells they'd tried before that had shown promise. "There are about five spells that showed any effect so I guess we'll just have to play with the order of them."

For another hour and a half they experimented with the order of the spells. Suddenly there was a loud bang and smoke started to fill the room. Draco was knocked backwards, causing him to hit his head on the footboard of his bed. His fall precipitated by a heavy weight landing on him.

"Oh Draco, I'm sorry. Are you okay?"

Draco struggled to get up and Hermione shifted her weight to the side so he could. She grabbed his wand and cleared the smoke. Then she, too, stood up and launched herself at him.

"You did it, Draco! You got me out." She hugged him with glee and pride, and Draco hugged her back. Hermione tilted her face to look at him. He was staring at the wall, where an ugly black scorch mark now covered the spot where her painting had hung.

When he looked down at Hermione, Draco couldn't help staring. She looked just as luminous as she had in the painting. He wanted so many things in that moment, he couldn't name them all. He brought his hand up to brush at a streak of soot on her cheek.

"You need a bath," he told her, his voice going husky.

"I imagine I do," she said softly.

Draco debated whether or not he should kiss her. He could always chalk it up to excitement over releasing her. Her lips were so close. Suddenly Hermione pushed him away and bolted for the bathroom.
A/N: There you go. Sorry about the long wait, I hope this makes up for it. Let me know what you think.

Thank you to: kazfeist,smurphy and samantha

Special thanks to: dracoyoflam- Your review meant a lot to me.
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