Without a Trace

Author's note--Do you honestly think Danny is going to shoot Draco? Would I do that to you? Read And Find Out.

Enjoy!
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Without a Trace

Episode 2

FIRST CLIMAX (Part 2)

With a pop, Harry Apparated himself and Hermione from the men’s bathroom in the FBI building to the bathroom that was adjacent to Draco’s hospital room. It was faster than driving, and he hoped that it was unoccupied. The sensation left him slightly off-balance, and the first thing he heard was screaming from the other room. His breath caught in his throat as he heard Draco’s unnaturally angry voice yelling for Parker as Ashleigh screamed about a gun. Danny’s voice rang above the others, and Harry choked. Hermione crouched, peering at the blonde child who was cowering halfway behind the toilet, thumb in his mouth. He unlocked the door silently, motioning for Hermione to move to the other side of the bathroom. She complied. He didn’t have to wait long. About five seconds later, Draco tried the knob again and jerked the door open. Harry reacted instantly, grabbing the front of Draco’s hospital gown and yanked. Draco’s hand, mercifully, caught on the door, pulling it shut behind him as several loud cracks rang out, hitting the metal door, followed by Ashleigh’s voice, screaming bloody murder.

* * * * *

Draco’s head began to buzz and feel tight with all of the screaming. He was feeling the prolonged effect of the Imperius Curse, but the rational part of his conscious mind still couldn’t break it. Blaise’s command still held, and Draco’s behavior was growing more violent and erratic the longer the command remained unfulfilled. He tried the bathroom door handle a few times, but it was always locked, until the last time. He pulled the door open, expecting Parker. Everything unfolded before anyone could process what was happening.

Harry was standing there, and he pulled Draco into the bathroom. Draco’s hand was still wrapped around the knob, and he barely registered the door smacking him in the arse as he was unceremoniously yanked into the small room. He flinched involuntarily as he felt several sharp impacts on the door, between his shoulder blades.

Ashleigh’s mouth dropped open as Draco was pulled into the bathroom by unseen forces, but to her horror, Danny—known as Mr. Trigger-Happy for a good reason—fired off several rounds in defense of the helpless blonde child who was in the bathroom. She turned, as if in slow motion, and screamed at the top of her lungs at Danny, feeling a sob well in her throat.

“DANNY!!! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! DON’T SHOOT HIM!! DON’T SHOOT HIM!!”

Danny’s heart was racing as he instinctively pulled the trigger; the only thought running through his head was that Draco was acting violently, and Parker was in the bathroom, unprotected. His chest heaving, he stopped firing, staring at the closed door with three gunshot punctures. It would have been an instant kill.

Aoife had just returned when Danny fired. The sounds were so short and powerful, ripping through the silence of the hospital. She dropped the syringe, and it shattered on the hospital tile. She hightailed it out of the room, only to come face-to-face with Martin, his own gun drawn as well. She squeaked, holding her hands up. Martin rolled his eyes and made sharp motions for her to get down on the ground. Aoife dropped like a stone, seeing Katie laying on the ground with her hands over her head, shaking. There was a bag laying on its side with clothes spilling out of it, and Aoife would have smiled if she hadn’t been so terrified. There was no sign of Pansy, the blonde nurse, or the black man. Martin proceeded with caution, nudging the door open, trying to gauge what was happening.

“Freeze, FBI!” He said forcefully, holding his gun up. Danny spun around, and both men just barely avoided shooting each other as they recognized the other. They both put their guns away.

“God damn it, Danny! What the fuck, man?!” Martin exclaimed, heaving a sigh.

“¡Casi tú me matas, pinche retardado!” Danny yelled back. He lurched as Ashleigh threw herself at him from behind, terrified of the near-death experiences they had all just come through. He recovered, turned in her arms, and put one hand on the back of her head to comfort her. He nodded to the bathroom. “Martin, the boy is in there! Draco’s trying to hurt him!” Martin darted to the door and tried the knob. It was locked again, but there was absolutely no noise coming from inside. He began knocking.

“Draco, Draco, can you hear me? I’m going to break this door down if you don’t open it right now! Parker, are you okay? Stand back, I’m coming in!” Martin pulled his gun, ready to shoot the lock, when suddenly the knob rattled from the inside.

“Martin, it’s Harry! I’m in here! Don’t shoot! Parker’s okay; Draco’s okay now; we’re all okay. Don’t shoot, okay?” HJ’s voice was muffled, and the door opened a crack a second later. Martin saw HJ’s green eye peering at him, and he held his hands up.

“It’s okay, HJ,” Martin said, looking over at Danny. “The guns are away.” Harry opened the door all the way and stepped into the room. He was followed by Draco, who was clutching Parker while tears streamed down both of their pale cheeks. Draco was shaking violently, and Ashleigh tore herself from Danny’s arms to embrace both blondes, crying now herself.

“Oh my god, you’re okay!” She whispered, leading Draco over to his bed and helped him sit. She went back over to Danny and wrapped herself in his arms again. Draco was followed by an unfamiliar brunette. Harry made a half-hearted gesture towards her.

“Guys, this is Hermione. Draco and I know her from school. ‘Mione, this is Danny, Ashleigh, and Martin,” he introduced quickly, and then turned to Martin.

“Where is Narcissa? Is Pansy with her?” They all looked at each other and shrugged. “Okay, Martin, Hermione, you two come with me. Danny, you stay here.” Martin bristled at being given orders by his junior co-worker, but they were the same orders Danny would have given…well, almost. He also wondered why the non-agent was coming with them, but now was also not the time for questions. Harry went first, followed by Martin and then Hermione. Ashleigh kissed Danny and then let him go, giving him a little push.

“Go on,” she said softly. “Go with them. You know you want to.” He kissed her back.

“Are you sure? I can stay,” he offered. She shook her head.

“I’ll lock the door and bar it. That way, no one can get in, and we’ll wait here until you guys come back. They’re going to need you, mi amor. Vete,” Ashleigh gave him a loving look, and he smiled back at her. He drew his gun, pointed it at the floor, and went after his co-workers.

* * * * *

He caught up with them two steps out of the room. Hermione was helping the shell-shocked doctor and nurse off of the floor; they were giving shaky descriptions of who had been here and gesturing absently in the directions that they thought the trio had run. Harry let out a heartfelt expletive when Katie described Blaise, and he was suddenly glad that Hermione was here with him. Katie reported that Pansy took off as soon as Aoife excused herself to check on the shouting, and she had no idea where they might have gone from there. Aoife had just gone back to the room with a syringe, at the same time that Martin had stepped back into the ICU carrying a bag of clothes for Draco. He dropped the bag and pulled his gun as soon as the gun shots rang out, and he motioned for Katie to get down. Martin reported that there was no sign of either women or a black man on his way to the ICU. Harry dropped his head and rubbed at his scar; even after nearly eight years of not being at war, Hermione still felt her heart clinch at the sign of her friend’s frustration.

“Okay, look, they’re obviously not here anymore,” Harry rallied, his mind racing as he tried to think of where they could be. “Martin and Danny, can you guys go to the ground level and lock this place down? See if they’ve already left the building, and ‘Mione and I will go floor by floor.” Harry hoped that they had taken refuge in an empty room and not tried to leave; that’s why he was sending the two Muggle agents out of harm’s way, he hoped.

“Who the hell put you in charge and why is she coming?” Danny finally challenged HJ.

“She’s coming because I say so,” HJ snapped. “And do YOU have any idea of where they’re heading? I didn’t think so. I know these people, and I know how fucking dangerous they are. You have NO idea,” his voice got lower until it was a hiss. “NO FUCKING IDEA what we’re up against. So spare me the politics.” Danny was about to retort when Hermione broke in, looking extremely upset.

“Stop it right now, you two! They are getting away while you’re standing here arguing! I’m from the British government; that’s why I get to be here. Now let’s go!” She turned on her heel and marched out of the foyer, discreetly palming her wand, just in case. While she had worked for the Ministry of Magic ever since graduation, she had never been trained as an Auror, so she didn’t have the skills that Ron did, namely, Stealth and Tracking. She was also rubbish at Divination, and it was frustrating.

The only thing at her disposal was her logic, and her brain was working overtime to puzzle out what Zabini, Pansy, and Narcissa would do to hide and escape. They were Slytherins, though, and that worked to Hermione’s advantage. Working her way up to the current position she held—Crouch Senior’s old job of Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, which included being the Minister of Magic’s Representative to Foreign Wizarding Worlds, as well as reporting to the Muggle Prime Minister—acquainted the Gryffindor intimately with the world of suave Slytherin guile.

She ended up at the elevator with the three FBI agents in tow before she finally growled in frustration. She didn’t have a clue. The doors opened, they stepped on, and Hermione scanned the departments on the elevator button list, her eyes searching for something, anything! Radiology, Oncology, Emergency, Pediatrics, Maternity, Geriatrics…Hermione was about ready to bang her head against the wall. Suddenly she looked up at the list again.

“What if they’re still here in the hospital, posing as a couple with a baby and the proud grandmother? They might be at the nursery!” Hermione exclaimed, turning to Harry. Harry nodded, and she pushed the button. The elevator had already gone past that floor on its way down to “Emergency”, and Danny and Martin got off, heading straight for the hospital security desk. The elevator doors were just closing when Martin suddenly turned around and waved frantically. Harry reacted just in time, shoving his hand in the closing crack to make the doors spring open again as he reached for his gun, barreling out.

* * * * *

The lobby was quite big, but Harry saw the reason for the commotion as soon as he took three steps off of the elevator. Samantha and Elena had their backs to the hospital entrance, guns drawn, and were surrounded by half a dozen NYPD officers, all pointing their guns in the same direction. The hospital security guards had herded all of the receptionists and anyone else in the lobby out of the way, and in the middle of the semi-circle of cops and agents were none other than Blaise, Pansy, and Narcissa. Pansy was standing behind Blaise, clutching his shoulder. The only reason the police hadn’t advanced on them was because Blaise had Narcissa in front of him, his arm around her neck, and his wand point jammed into her temple. He was threatening to stab it through her skull, and Harry was perversely impressed that he possessed enough knowledge of Muggles for that. He also knew the stand-off wouldn’t last much longer before someone called his bluff, and then he suspected that Blaise would take to hexing everyone. Danny and Martin joined the group with their guns out. Harry, however, took Hermione’s elbow and slipped around, whispering to her.

“Okay, here’s what we’ll do,” he said. “I’ll show my face to keep them distracted. You slide around to the side—don’t let them see you—but don’t get in front of the cops with guns either. See if you can get off a Stunner at Blaise.”

“Harry, it’ll flash a red light,” she whispered back.

“We’ll come up with some explanation. Go!” He gave her a small push and turned away. She crouched and headed around behind the police officers, sliding her wand properly into her palm. She popped up and tried to maneuver to get a clear line of sight. She was very reluctant to use a Stupefying Charm around the Muggles, and then she had an inspiration. She knew a few low-level jinxes that would serve her purpose of incapacitating Blaise without fanfare; she hadn’t used them since her early years at Hogwarts—training for the War came in later years and didn’t exactly require the relatively harmless jinxes—but she was confident she could still cast them without detection.

Harry pushed his way in between two police officers, drawing Blaise’s attention. He watched the Slytherin’s mouth drop open, while Narcissa and Pansy both curled their lips in disgust. Blind hatred quickly replaced the shock as Blaise stared at the Boy Who Lived, the man that Draco preferred over Pansy. He knew he should be grateful to Potter for occupying Draco, since all Blaise wanted was Draco’s wife, but the idea of being indebted to the infuriating Gryffindor didn’t sit well with Blaise at all. He kept hold of Narcissa but pointed his wand at Harry instead of Narcissa’s temple.

“Hold your fire, everyone,” Harry glanced at the semi-circle, catching Sam’s eye. She nodded and verbally confirmed it since she was in charge.

“Zabini,” Harry continued arrogantly, determined to keep the three’s attention.

“Potter,” Blaise sneered back. “I felt it, you know, when you broke it. You pulled Malfoy out from under my control.”

“What you did was Unforgivable, Zabini,” Harry said. “Did you think I was just going to leave him like that?”

“Of course not. I just underestimated you,” Blaise looked from his wand back to Harry’s angry green eyes. “You being empty-handed and all.” Harry peeked over Blaise’s shoulder without moving his face. He could see that Hermione wasn’t quite in place.

“Give it up, Zabini. You’re surrounded. Let’s stop this charade before someone gets hurt.”

“You’re the only one who’s going to get hurt, Potter! Ava—” Blaise’s Killing Curse was interrupted by Pansy slumping to the ground, still clutching the black man’s shoulder, and he was pulled off balance. The brunette wasn’t unconscious, but her legs gave out from under her. Hermione cursed under her breath; it would have hit Blaise, except that Pansy shifted right at the wrong moment. She quickly cast a Jelly-Fingers Jinx, hitting Blaise this time, and he began fumbling for the wand. Harry sprang into action, followed by his other teammates and the police officers. He grabbed Zabini’s wand while the other law enforcement agents grabbed them, forced them facedown on the ground, and handcuffed their arms behind their backs.

It took one NYPD officer on each side of her to haul Pansy up, since her legs were wobbly due to the Jelly-Legs Jinx. As they were being escorted from the building, Pansy caught a glimpse of someone familiar out of the corner of her eye, and she began screeching when she looked closer.

“Granger! You did this to me, you fucking Mudblood!” Pansy screamed, writhing against the officers’ hold. Harry paused them and backhanded Pansy, drawing blood out of the corner of her mouth. Danny and Martin jumped forward and tried to pull their comrade away from the girl. Harry spat out a retort and then allowed her to be taken.

“Don’t call her that, you stupid Slytherin slut! You don’t deserve Draco! Get her out of here!” Harry paced, throwing his friends’ hands off of him. He realized that he lost his temper, and he shouldn’t have struck Pansy. As Harry, it wouldn’t have made a difference, but acting as Special Agent HJ Potter, if she got a good enough lawyer, that could cost him his badge. Danny knew that better than most, but then again, Pansy was British, so she may not press charges.

* * * * *

The police were just putting the three suspects in different vehicles to transport them to the FBI office when Hermione pushed past Harry and called out to all of the officers.

“Stop! Stop, wait, please! I am Hermione Granger, and I’m a representative of the British government. These three are citizens of the Crown, and as such, I am assuming control over them. Please take them to the British embassy right now,” she raised her voice, holding a badge up. Everyone stopped and stared at her; the NYPD officers all looked at each other and then cracked up, continuing with what they were doing.

Harry walked up and put his hand on her shoulder. When she turned to look at him, he, too, had to suppress a laugh, but for different reasons. His friend might have matured, but right that second, Harry saw the bushy-haired, buck-toothed little eleven year old girl who frowned at him and Ron for not paying their academic studies as much attention as she wanted them to. He forgot that she was a high-ranking government official and the smartest witch ever to graduate from Hogwarts (in his opinion) and that he was the Chosen One and an FBI agent; just then, he and Hermione were both scared, nervous eleven year olds from Muggle backgrounds about to embark on the biggest adventure of their lives to date, and he pulled her into an impromptu hug. She squeaked.

“I’m sorry, ‘Mione,” he released her, chortling a bit. “Look, it doesn’t exactly work like that. Let them take them to the FBI office, and we’ll talk to Jack. I’ll get them released into your custody, and you can take them to Azkaban. How’s that?”

“Harry, they escaped your office once before,” Hermione screwed up her face. “How do you know they won’t do it again? Then we’ll be right back where we were.” Harry held up Zabini’s wand, and Hermione took it.

“So go with them,” he suggested simply.

“What about you? Aren’t you coming?” Harry sighed. He really wanted to go up and make sure Draco was okay, but he knew he couldn’t shirk his duties. Draco would still be around after he got the three Slytherins to the British embassy, but if he left them alone for too long, they might slip away again. As much as Harry hated to admit it, he could forego seeing Draco for another couple of hours if it meant a lifetime of safety and security from his crazy bitch of a mother, a wife, and a former best friend.

“Yeah, I am. What do you say we ride along with Sam and Elena this time?” He smiled at her, putting his hand on the small of her back and guiding her towards the blonde and black-haired agents.
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Chapter notes:

1. Draco’s head began to buzz and feel tight with all of the screaming. He was feeling the prolonged effect of the Imperius Curse. I have no idea if this is even plausible or what, but in my mind, Draco's been told to do something, and the longer he goes without doing it, the less "in control" he feels...plus, JKR says that the caster can have some influence over how the spells and curses affect the victim, so I was thinking that Blaise (combined with some influence from Narcissa) isn't above using violence to get what he wants. Therefore, Draco would resort to violence in order to accomplish what Blaise tells him to.

(On the flip side of that, let's say that Hagrid or Hermione--two non-violent people, in my opnion--cast an Imperius. Because they wouldn't resort to violence, neither would the person on whom they cast the spell. But then again, Hermione and Hagrid wouldn't USE that spell in the first place. Anyway, I hope my analogy and explanation makes sense.)

2. Several loud cracks rang out, hitting the metal door. I'm such a fucking nerd, I actually started to research whether hospitals would have metal doors for bathrooms. Then I realized how...OCD that was, so I stopped. If you have a problem with the door being metal, then imagine it's a very, very hard plastic that bullets wouldn't go through or something...basically, I needed something that Danny would hit while aiming for Draco. I mean, would you rather Danny have shot Draco? :P I didn't think so! (Me either, by the way!)

3. ¡Casi tú me matas, pinche retardado! This is Spanish for "You almost killed me, you fucking retard!"

4. mi amor. Vete. This is Spanish for "my love. Go."

5. Stealth and Tracking According to the HP Lexicon, this is one topic that Aurors are given training in.

6. She was also rubbish at Divination. The only thing at her disposal was her logic. These are both verified by Hermione's page on the HP Lexicon website.

7. Crouch Senior’s old job of Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, which included being the Minister of Magic’s Representative to Foreign Wizarding Worlds, as well as reporting to the Muggle Prime Minister. The department (and Crouch) is confirmed by the HP Lexicon under the "Ministry of Magic" tab. The rest of her titles are all made up by me. I needed to give her an impressive resume. :)

8. Stupefying Charm; low-level jinxes (Jelly-Fingers, Jelly-Legs). All of the jinxes and curses mentioned, as well as their effects, can be found on the HP Lexicon.


Author's note--See, everything's okay! No, of COURSE Danny couldn't shoot Draco! I'm a Draco girl all the way...even if I love to put him through Hell and then some...but we all do...right? lol

Anyway, I'm not nearly as confident about this chapter as I'd like to be, and I think I'm too close again. I hope that you guys find it satisfactory and believable, but if it's not, please let me know right away. I really appreciate you guys for reading this!

I hope it's making sense, still. I know I described Danny shooting at Draco, like, three different times, but I wanted to capture the reasons why and all. Hopefully it's not TOO repetitive?

I also tried to explain what's happening here, too. Let me know if you're confused.

HPDMkawii--I know!! *wails* I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I was actually going to stop it a little bit before then...but I couldn't help myself!

Yeah, so that's about how I felt when I read the cliff-hanger of SlashPervert's "Harry Potter and the White Queen" chapter..."Where's Draco?" "Gone." (If you guys haven't read it, GO READ IT! Just watch out for that cliffie! It's a great story, though!) *sigh* Sorry.

WeasleyWench--*sob* Sorry! I did update, but I am upset with myself for these fucking delays in updating and being so erratic and all! I hate that I'm like that. ANYWAY, OMG I fucking LOVED Chapter 11 of "Personal Ad"

FIC RECOMMENDATION: If you haven't read WeasleyWench's "The Personal Ad"...holy fucking shit, it's great! And I think I died several times over while reading Chapter 11! :D

(Summary of Chapter 11: He saved him; he kissed him; outed by the house-elf; and then the promise of spanking! *dies yet again* If you don't understand, go read it!) And that "outed by the house-elf"...fucking BRILLIANT! (I hope you can tell how much I loved that part because I'm STILL raving about it!)

Maizeysugah--Hi! Thanks for your review! Of course, I couldn't shoot Draco! haha Hope you liked!

Thanks for reading, you guys!