White Noise

Chapter 5: Partners and Enemies

Ron fell off his broom when he heard who Ginny's new partner was. Literally.

"What?" he yelled furiously. His cheeks nearly matched the color of his hair.

Ginny cringed while Hermione stepped forward, putting her hand on her husband's arm. "Ron," Ginny heard her whisper quietly in an apparent attempt to cool him down, however slightly.

It didn't work.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me at breakfast last week?" he demanded.

Ginny looked away and closed her eyes as she began to rub her temples. Because I knew you would do this.

At that moment, Molly Weasley tumbled out the front door. "What is going on here? I leave for one moment and you two are fighting? What happened to your Quidditch match?" she asked, concern lacing her usually jolly voice.

"Malfoy is Ginny's new partner!" Ron exploded.

Molly put her hands on her hips and shook her head disapprovingly. "Now, Ron, that's no reason to yell, is it?" she asked.

Ginny saw Hermione cast anxious glances between Ron and Molly.

"They'll be going away together!"

Mrs. Weasley sighed heavily but didn't say anything. She looked helplessly at Ginny and shrugged. She turned and began walking back into the Burrow, wringing her hands on the apron she wore.

Ron looked at Ginny, only to follow Molly Weasley into her home. "You knew about this..."

His voice was loud but disappeared as he followed their Mum around the home.

Ginny and Hermione stood outside in silence until Hermione broke it. "I'm sorry about my husband. He doesn't realize...well, I think he's still in denial about Harry." Hermione's voice was quiet, and sad.

Ginny didn't say anything. She didn't know what to say.

"I'm sorry," Hermione started to say, but stopped when Ginny held up a trembling hand.

"Really, it's alright Hermione. You forget I'm Ron's sister. I'm used to his antics," Ginny said, throwing her sister-in-law a small, rather unsure smile.

A light breeze tugged at Ginny's hair, reminding her that it was time to go home.

"Your hair looks nice, by the way. I meant to tell you that before dinner, but well, you looked busy with your Mum..."

Ginny touched her hair subconsciously. "Thank you. You remember Dakotah Prior from the office? She came over and did it," she explained simply.

Hermione smiled and nodded. "Yes, well she did a good job."

Through the open window, Ginny heard her mother's voice grow louder. Ron's too. She looked at Hermione with a smile. "Well, before Ron manages to come out here again, I'm going home. I don't really feel like arguing with Ron about this any more than I'm already going to be once I return from wherever I'm going with Malfoy."

Hermione pulled Ginny to her, embracing her sister and friend. "You take care of yourself, you hear me? It wouldn't do for you at all if you were killed while away with Malfoy -- work related or not."

Ginny chuckled in spite of herself. "You're right you know," she replied, pulling away from Hermione to look into her girl friend's eyes.

She stepped away from Hermione. "Right then, I'm off."

Hermione smiled. "Have a good night!" she wished just before Ginny disappeared into thin air with a crack!

***

Draco stepped into Dakotah's office long before his coworkers were due to arrive at work. It was six o'clock in the morning.

The American witch was there with a cup of coffee in one hand and a Muggle telephone in the other hand. Her voice was bright and chipper for being so early in the morning. She acknowledged Draco with a nod and then motioned for him to take a seat in the chair across from her.

"You're here early," she observed as soon as she put the telephone back on the receiver. Her eyebrows were raised slightly.

Draco shrugged. "I had trouble sleeping."

"Oh? And what was that?" she asked curiously.

"I never made it to bed, actually. I was up all night reviewing the circumstances surrounding the victim's death," he explained easily.

"You mean Harry Potter's death?"

Draco cringed at the mention of his deceased nemesis.

His advisor laughed heartily. "Oh come off it, Draco! Surely you're adult enough to not be affected by old personal feelings now, aren't you?"

She looked at him square in the eye. Her blue eyes were all-knowing and Draco knew she was sizing him up. "You're ready for the challenge then?" she said.

Ready for the challenge? Draco had solved murder cases shrouded in more mystery than this one. "Challenge, Dakotah? I've solved harder cases than this one," he replied a bit sardonically. His mouth twisted into his version of a smile.

For a split second Draco thought he saw a flicker of amusement pass through her wide blue eyes, but he couldn't be too sure.

"You're right, of course," she agreed.

Somehow, he didn't think she did.

"Just don't forget: Ginny Potter is part of the investigation you're leading; it wouldn't do for either of you to become emotionally invested one way or another."

He managed to stop the laugh which threatened to escape, but couldn't quite suppress the cynical snort. "Please, Dakotah, give me more credit than that!"

As serene as her smile was, Draco sensed venom was lurking just behind her pretty red lips. "If you say so, Draco... just don't forget: Ginny is part of the investigation."

***

He left Dakotah's office with a sinking and thoroughly irritated feeling. Dakotah knew he was a professional; he didn't need to be reminded that Potter's widow was part of the investigation, and that she was, in fact, a lead witness, although she might not even know it.

He reached their office, glad that he'd gotten there earlier than the 7:30 they'd planned on. He needed the time to sort through his thoughts and clear his head. He'd just begun his ritual meditation when a popping noise filled the office.

"Yes, Les?" he asked, although he wasn't sure that it was his boss; he just figured that given the way his morning had been going...well, it was worth a guess. Draco turned slowly and sure enough, there was Les standing in the middle of the office looking as awkward and fat as ever.

The older, gentler man watched Draco, considering him. "Take care of her," he finally said, sounding more like a worried father than their boss.

Draco found himself opening his mouth in defense but was interrupted when Les held up his hand, effectively silencing the younger man.

"I'm serious, Malfoy." He gave his employee what could be construed as a threatening look. "I've heard all about you and Harry's feudal relationship at Hogwarts; as well as your less than exemplary relationship with the Weasleys.

"You may recall my apprehension at hiring you because of who your father was and who you almost were. Only after Dakotah's insistence did I relent. I would like for you to not prove her trust misplaced.

"With that said, Malfoy, while working on this case please remember to keep your emotions, or seeming lack of them, in check. It wouldn't do for you to fight with your partner. Ginny will win."

As soon as his warning left his lips, Les tipped his bowler's cap in Draco's direction and Apparated to wherever he'd come from.

Draco wasn't sure how he'd managed to hold his tongue from lashing out at Les even as he'd felt the fury rising in his chest.

Damn his father to bloody hell!

He began pacing the length of the office, a nervous habit he never could remember acquiring.

He stopped suddenly to grip the edge of his desk. "When am I going to live your name down?" he asked quietly, viciously.

Nothing in the silence answered him.

Still irate, Draco picked up the quill nearest him, which happened to be an expensive, delicate glass quill, his initials etched near the base. Once upon a time the damn thing had been part of a set, a gift from his father upon graduating from Hogwarts.

With a force he hadn't used in a long time, he threw it at the wall and watched with a small sense of satisfaction as it burst into a million tiny shards of broken dreams.

***

Ginny woke up early that morning from a sleep that had been hacked to pieces by dreams and nightmares alike.

Harry had been there: watching her silently in some, laughing with her in others. Then there were the times when her dream self felt that Harry was there, so sure he'd been watching her, but when she turned, there was only fog.

Malfoy had been there, too. Ginny had seen him there, lurking in the dark shadows of her dreams. She could always feel him watching her and even now, awake in the daylight, she felt he was just beyond her eyesight, just beyond her reach.

She shivered at the thought of him always near her.

An hour later, as she stepped into the office building at 7:25, she prayed to Merlin that the two of them didn't have to be gone overnight, and perhaps more importantly, if they were gone overnight she hoped Les had had the decency to reserve two hotel rooms, not one. If Malfoy knew her dreams, had even the slightest inkling of them...she shuddered, not wanting to speculate on what might happen then.

Ginny didn't feel free to walk right into her own office since she could hear obscenities being thrown about, as well as other low, unintelligible words and then...suddenly all was quiet.

She sighed, tired of feeling trapped in her own domain, and opened the door just as something narrow and sharp came flying toward her. She slammed the door shut just in time to hear the thing break apart.

Waiting until she was sure nothing else was being thrown around, she didn't reopen the door for a good two minutes.

Her partner was leaning on his desk, his palms open against the hardwood top. His eyes were closed.

He didn't even flinch, so she wasn't even sure he'd heard her. She looked down at her feet and found the broken glass, glittery on the carpeted floor. Not knowing what else to do, she attempted a sunnier smile than the one she felt like giving, and slightly joked with him. "Nice welcome you just gave me."

He opened his eyes only to glower at her. Then, as if she hadn't seen him leaning wearily against his desk, he'd straightened his lithe body out, looking as regal as ever. And just as icy.

She pointed her wand toward the broken glass and murmured a repairing charm. The object repaired itself, showing off its true, sleek beauty. Ginny surveyed it, thinking the quill looked much too pretty to break, if not at the very least was too pretty to throw at random walls. She held it out to him; it lay on her palms daintily.

He grunted and looked away from her. "There is a reason it was lying on the floor," he growled.

Feeling a bit more uninhibited than she should've, Ginny shrugged and threw the thing behind her shoulder and didn't even wince when the most expensive quill she'd ever set eyes on shattered behind her.

Malfoy only managed to stare at it.

Ginny drew herself up to her full height; the top of her head barely reaching his shoulders and she found the courage to look him straight in the eye, hoping they might reach some sort of silent agreement.

"Let's go then, shall we?"

He continued looking down at her for a long moment and Ginny noticed faint blue flecks surrounded by the silver mire of his eyes. She blushed and looked away once she realized she was staring.

Draco continued looking at her in an amused sort of way, which she didn't find at all amusing herself.

After the redness receded from her cheeks, she looked back up at him, this time avoiding his eyes, which left her looking at his nose...he had a very nice nose...Ginny lowered her gaze again, not wanting to be looking at his nose, and thinking he had a very nice nose....

Her eyes dropped to his lips. They were pressed together in a thin line and Ginny had a fleeting thought that if Malfoy was to smile...well, he'd have a very nice smile. Her eyes flew back to his the moment her thoughts wandered past his smile.

She smiled with what she hoped was ease. "Where are we off to then?" she questioned, hoping this was at least a safe subject. Les hadn't told her where they were headed to. It was odd she hadn't questioned it at the time.

"Nottingham," he replied quietly, watching her and waiting for her reaction.

"Nottingham?" she asked weakly, feeling her heart stop and then start again, beating at an alarming rate. Her eyes fluttered closed and unwanted images floated to the forefront of her mind.

The little girl's body...parents dead...house in flames...Harry led the investigation...

Ginny thought she might pass out. The world was whirring around her at a speed she was unable to match.

She managed to sit down and take a couple of deep breaths. Draco stayed standing, watching her like a hawk.

It took a few minutes but she managed to recover from the shock of hearing that town's name again.

Although she must have been as pale as a sheet, she smiled wanly up at her partner. "Alright then; we can go whenever you're ready."

***

The entire way to the Apparition port, Ginny prepared herself for going back there. She tried to psyche herself into believing it would be alright to go back, even as she stepped out of the Nottingham Apparition port into the bright, blinking sunlight.

It had been three years since her first job as a caser in Nottingham. A family of Muggles had been found bludgeoned to death, except for the little girl: she 'd burned in a fire alive, finally dying after the shock of the bitter cold nighttime air met with her hot, charred and barely alive body.

Ginny had had a hard time in forgetting the case. It had taken a full year before she could go to sleep without those haunting images hovering there, just beyond her sleep. Harry had been so good to her then: holding her and rocking her as her body was ravished by the nightmares.

"You've been here before?" Draco asked casually.

Her eyes narrowed to dangerous slits as a dangerous thought crossed her mind. She turned on him, the rising anger evident by the red of her cheeks and the heavy heave of breast. "You sick, sadistic son-of-a-bitch!" she spat out, pushing him away from her. "You knew!"

He took two steps back but didn't look too vexed about her sudden outburst. He simply turned a corner of his mouth upward and continued staring at her, waiting for her to continue.

"You prick!" she yelled furiously, unconcerned with the number of people staring at them. "Why in the hell would you bring me back here after you knew what happened?"

Draco grabbed her forearm and forced her to go with him, although she was cursing him out the entire time. "Would you shut up?" he finally demanded, halting so unexpectedly she crashed into him.

Her mouth closed, but only for a moment. Draco interrupted her.

"You may continue to cuss me out after we check-in at the bed and breakfast, if you must," he told her with an impatience that rivaled her own at being told to shut up by her partner and enemy.

Her nostrils flared and she brought her hand up before throwing it toward Draco's cheek.

Draco was quick though, and stopped her hand by grabbing her wrist just before contact. He lowered his face until they were so close Ginny could see the individual crease lines of his lips. "I wouldn't try it, Weasel," he growled.

Embarrassingly enough, tears stung at the back of her eyes. She blinked once, twice and prayed to God they were gone. Then she did the only thing she could since he was gripping one wrist and the other was useless when it came to those kinds of things.

She spit in his face.

Draco immediately let go of her wrist and recoiled. "You wench!" he shouted as he wiped her spit off of him.

She smirked, rather pleased with herself. Ginny then smoothed out her trousers and ran a hand through her reddish-gold hair and puffed out her chest proudly. "I suppose we should get a move on, then? They'll be expecting us at the bed and breakfast, right?" She smiled as though it was her idea that they continue onward and cocked her head in the direction they were to go before she continued walking on at a fast pace.

Draco scowled, but wisely enough, kept his mouth in check.