The Road You Take Don't Always Lead You Home

Draco stumbled out of the bathroom. It was such a hassle to do on skates, but sometimes you just had to go. As he crossed towards the rink, he saw a small girl struggling to find an opening in the crowd.

"I don't think you can get around that way," he told her.

The girl jumped and turned, unconsciously putting her right hand to her left shoulder. "Wh-who are you?"

The little girl sounded frightened. Draco dropped down on one knee in front of her. "My name is Draco. I come skating here all the time. I don't think you can get through the crowd there--you'll have to cross the rink."

"Oh." The girl smiled. "My name is Kelsey, Kelsey Anne Fieldman. I have to get to my mommy and papa. Mommy will be very worried if she can't find me." She frowned. "She worries a lot. Randi says she worries too much."

"Randi?" Draco repeated.

Kelsey nodded. "My big sister. She's eight."

"I see."

Kelsey looked down at her scuffed brown rental skates. "Mommy worries about me most, 'specially after last month. She's 'fraid it'll happen again."

"Afraid what will happen again?" Draco asked, genuinely curious.

"'Fraid I'll get hurt again," Kelsey said matter-of-factly. "It wasn't on purpose, but I got real badly hurt. Randi says Mommy's too panicky."

Draco's eyes widened in surprise. Before he could say anything, he heard a deep, frantic voice calling, "Kelsey? Kelsey?"

"Papa!" Kelsey called, turning towards the voice. "Here I am!"

A tall, muscular sort of man with dark blue eyes and dark hair slid off the rink, stumbled over to Kelsey, and swept her up into a hug. "You had us worried, Cadpig," he said, speaking lovingly.

Kelsey hugged her father. "I had to go potty, and then I couldn't get through the people. This nice man was going to help me."

The man smiled gratefully at Draco. "Thank you. Do you work here?"

"No, but I've been coming here so long I probably know more than the staff," Draco answered with a smile. He held out his hand. "Allow me to introduce myself. Draco Malfoy."

The man grinned. "Oh, that's going to make things easier. They told me I was going to be your partner...I'm Yekyl Fieldman. Call me Jake."

Draco's eyes lit up. "Oh! Nice to meet you...and your charming daughter. I'd introduce my daughter to you, except I don't have one."

Kelsey giggled. Yekyl smiled. "Well, I think I'll be introducing you to my family in a moment...here come my other two."

The young girl Draco had noticed skating with the toddler during the partner skate was coming towards them, holding the toddler's hand. "Papa, Mom says she'll be around in a second. She's still panicking...says if Kelsey's not in the bathroom she's going to check outside."

"Kelsey's right here," Yekyl assured her as she joined them. "Draco, this is my oldest daughter Randi and my son Paul. Kids, this is my partner at work, Draco Malfoy."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Malfoy," Randi said politely, holding out her hand.

"Likewise." Draco shook her hand, nearly unbalancing himself.

A woman with bushy brown hair and a worried expression came off the rink and skated towards them. "Did you find her? I hope she didn't wander outside...we don't know anything about this area, anything could have happened to her..."

"I'm here, Mommy," Kelsey said with a smile. "I just had to go potty."

"Oh, thank goodness." The woman snatched Kelsey out of Yekyl's arms and hugged her tightly. "You had me scared to death, young lady."

"I'm okay, Mommy," Kelsey assured her mother.

The woman looked gratefully at Draco. "Did you find her? Thank you so much. I was so worried and--" She stopped and frowned. "Do I know you?"

"You might," Yekyl said suddenly. "Bunny, Cadpig, Ducky, go skate for a while, okay? Let us know if you go anywhere other than the rink and our table." After the kids glided off, he added in an undertone, "When did you graduate?"

Draco understood the question. "Technically I didn't, the school closed before my graduation--among other problems. But I was in the class of 1998."

"Wasn't that your class, Jitterbug?" Yekyl asked.

The woman nodded. Suddenly her eyes lit up. "Oh! You went to--"

Draco nodded. "Your husband is my new partner at work."

"Oh, you're an Auror?" The woman looked hopeful. "Tell me, do you ever run across Ron Weasley or Harry Potter at work?"

Draco frowned. "They aren't Aurors."

The woman blinked. "That's funny. I know they both always wanted to."

Suddenly, Draco recognised the woman. "Gra--Hermione?" he asked incredulously.

"Oh, you do know each other," Yekyl beamed--then frowned. "Wait, what did you start to call her?"

"Granger," Draco admitted. "Old habits die hard."

Hermione frowned. Suddenly her eyes widened. "Malfoy?"

"Good Lord, nobody's called me that in years. I'm just Draco now." Draco tried to force a smile but couldn't quite manage it. It had suddenly hit him that this woman had left two people he now counted as family when they needed her the most. Turning to Yekyl, he added, "Glad you decided to take that job...they were going to partner me with some rookie fresh out of some school in Sweden otherwise."

Yekyl half-smiled. "We almost didn't come...we were worried about transplanting the kids."

"What changed your mind?" Draco asked.

Yekyl ran a hand through his dark hair and sighed. "Kelsey got shot."

"What?"

"She was walking home from a friend's house down the block--not needing to cross any streets, so we thought it was safe--and got caught in a crossfire shooting. An inch lower and a hair to the right and she would have been dead."

Hermione shuddered. "As long as I live, I'll never forget seeing her on that pavement...I thought I was going to lose her."

"She mentioned to me that Randi thinks you worry too much," Draco recalled.

Hermione chuckled in spite of herself. "I might. I always did. Ron and Harry could tell you."

"I'll be sure to ask them." The sentence slipped out before Draco thought about it.

Hermione looked hopeful. "You see them regularly?"

Trapped, Draco sighed. "Yes."

"But they aren't Aurors?"

Draco shook his head. Hermione sighed. "Draco, am I going to have to drag this out of you kicking and screaming?"

"Probably."

Yekyl chuckled. Hermione glared at him before turning back to Draco. "Why won't you just tell me where they are?"

Draco sighed. "You've been gone for ten years, Gr--Hermione. Forgive me for saying this, but you're not the same person you were and they aren't the same either."

"I know, but--"

"No," Draco interrupted. "No, you don't know. You vanished, Grange--Hermione. They didn't know where you'd gone. Their lives had shattered--Harry and Lupin were both badly hurt, Ron lost almost his entire family. Your disappearing was the final straw. They've spent ten years rebuilding their lives without you and I'll not have you wrecking them again."

Hermione frowned. "You sound like...you're actually worried about them."

"And you're not?"

"Of course I am! I'm just surprised that you are!"

Draco met her eyes. "I've changed in ten years, Granger. Maybe it's time you gave it a try." He nodded to Yekyl. "I'll see you in the office tomorrow, then." Turning away from them, he skated off across the rink.