With you in my Arms

23. "Don't tell me she's a Hufflepuff!"

"Harry!"

Neville Longbottom came running along the corridor trying to catch up with his friend.

"Have you seen the latest edition of the Prophet?"

"No..."

Neville handed him his copy and then just waited until Harry had read the article concerning his fiancé. He looked at the fellow Griffindor, looked at the paper again and then sighed.

"Neville, should I manage to get a hold of her again it will be your pleasure to have her confess to you again. And this time make her sweat!"

The other wizard grinned.

"I'll do my best."

They went separate ways at the next corner and while Neville was on his way to check up on some of his more exotic plant, Harry was going to see, if he could get some more of his assessments finished before the end of the day.

He opened the door and saw a familiar figure sitting in the chair behind the desk. Malfoy's arms were folded behind his head and his eyes were closed. He looked tired. For a moment he felt himself reminded of his own tiredness lately due to Ginny staying late. Trying to banish the thoughts that these memories conjured up he found himself wondering, if he would ever be able to get used to his best friend having a serious relationship with their former enemy.

What could the Slytherin have done or said that she of all people had been willing to become his girlfriend? She was smarter than any girl he knew, including Ginny. She had brains and saw things nobody else would ever consider. Though she was also not someone, who didn't know that there was more to life than learning.

What had gone wrong between her and Ron? He had been thinking about that a lot. Especially after her having confessed to spending a night with Malfoy. What had Ron done or not done to drive her into the arms of him? Ginny had asked him, why Hermione hadn't been contend with her brother. He hadn't had any answer to that question. They had both seen all through their final year at Hogwarts, that there was something niggling Hermione. She had been looking for something or someone, but she hadn't found Ron.

"Malfoy."

The eyes of the addressed male shot open. He lowered his arms.

"Potter."

"What are you doing here?"

"What do you think?"

It was more a snarl than a question.

"Daily Prophet?"

"Daily Prophet!"

"Has she seen it?"

"No. I burnt that pathetic excuse of a newspaper." 

Harry sighed in relief and closed the door. He went to the desk and sat in the chair before the desk. He gave his counterpart behind it a long glance. He should be sitting on the other side, but their seating arrangement didn't seem wrong for some strange reason. There was the moment of insight that one day Draco Malfoy would be a member of the Auror Office. This felt strange, though Harry knew with a weird confidence that he was right. There would be the day when his ex-nemesis would be a colleague of his.

He tried to get his attention back to matters at hand. Malfoy was looking at him with a very  strange look on his face. Could he possibly have seen and felt the same as Harry had done? The moment of reckoning passed and a question asked in an easy manner dispelled the building tension.

"Have you got the information I asked for? I don't think, I want her to stay in England that much longer."

"No, she shouldn't be here right now. I have asked around and found a trace of them in Wirrabara."

"Where?"

"Wirrabara. A rather small, unimportant settlement in South Australia. They got about ten streets and the whole place looks like it has been done with a chessboard in mind. Her father seemed to have found employment with the Forest Headquarters for some reason."

"He is a Muggle..."

"He is a Muggle dentist. They take care of Muggle teeth. That's nothing even remotely connected with forest management."

A rather surprised look was all the answer to the imparted information.

"There is one thing though."

"What?"

Draco had suddenly the impression, that there was something coming his way, which he wouldn't like.

"He has been send on secondment."

"Secondment? What's involved in that?"

"A kind of work exchange. You are send or request to work with a different department of your company. One of the Weasleys has been working for a Gringott's branch abroad in the past."

"Ah?"

"Hermione's dad is now on secondment in Scotland..."

Draco's jaw dropped. She had sent them to the other side of the world and they had come back to the UK?

"He is working with the Forestry Commission, they have their offices in Silvan House in Edinburgh. Which is a bit weird, when you think that Tolkien's tree dwelling elves are called Silvan..."

Draco looked at him, as if he had just watch the other wizard slowly loosing his sanity. What for Merlin's sake was he talking about? House elves weren't living in trees! They were living in houses hence the name and who was Tolkien?

Harry noted the looked he was receiving and cleared his throat.

"Never mind. Just a Muggle reference to a specific book you'll have never heard of."

"No..." Was the rather slow answer to this explanation.

There was a short pause.

"Is her mother there as well?"

Would it be necessary to do a world tour in order to get her parents back?

"As far as I could find out, yes."

His far away journey was turning into a going-to-where-everything-begun journey. He stood up. His plan needed to be put in motion, with a lot of modifications, but still.

"Thanks, Potter."

"You are welcome."

Draco had reached the door as he heard the young man behind his back saying, "If you ever break her heart..." He didn't need too much imagination to know what would happen to him, should he decide to treat her the way Weasley had. He had no intentions of ever doing that to her. She would be treated with the tender loving care she deserved.