Any Random Tuesday

Chapter Three

Draco’s heart skipped a beat as the door to Hermione’s apartment creaked open. Horrible visions popped into his head of what he might see inside. He thought of a hundred different ways that her bloody body could be laid out in the apartment. The images were gruesome enough to make his stomach churn.
Harry stood in the doorway blocking Draco’s view of the apartment. “Lumos,” Harry whispered lighting up his wand before turning to Draco, “Don’t touch anything,” he warned.
Draco followed Harry into the apartment expecting to run into Hermione’s dead body at any moment. The living room was immaculate, not a thing was out of place. All the books in the bookcase were in alphabetical order by genre and author. The pictures were all perfectly aligned at the exact same angle. Wandering into the Kitchen Draco observed that it too was spotless, not a plate or bowl or even fork was on the counter or in the sink. The bathroom and the bedroom were the same not a thing out of place. It looked like a museum not someplace that a person would live. It was eerie and Draco could feel himself feeling more and more uneasy.
“This is weird,” Harry said. Draco nodded in response, “She obviously hasn’t been here for sometime.”
“So what now?” Draco asked.
“I am going to need to talk to that professor.”
“Is that all you are going to do?”
“Draco, I’m looking at an apartment full of circumstantial evidence. An apartment that I, the head of the aurors, broke into with a paperclip. Before I can do anything else I need a reason to fill out a missing person’s report.”
“Don’t you realize that someone could be hurting her right now? They could kill her while your filling out your missing persons report!” Draco shouted.
“You’re not helping Draco. She is my best friend and I do not want anything to happen to her, but proper procedures must be followed in order for this investigation to be done correct!” Harry shouted back, red in face.
Harry stared at Draco expecting an outburst from him at any moment. He watched the man’s pale emotionless face. For a second, a fleeting second he thought he saw some type of emotion flit across it, but it was gone before he could be sure. Harry gave up and turned away.
“I want to join the Aurors.” Harry turned back to face Draco, unsure if he had heard him correctly.
“What did you just say?”
“I want to join the Aurors.”
“You. Draco Malfoy. Snobby, nose stuck up in the air Malfoy want to join the Aurors?”
“Yes.” Draco responded.
“No.”
“No? Why not?” Draco questioned.
“I’m sure you wouldn’t be able to qualify, not with your deatheater past.”
“I never actually joined the Deatheaters.”
“It doesn’t matter, everyone knows that you tried to kill Dumbledore on Voldemort’s orders.” Harry contested.
“Please, Potter pull some strings for me. I can’t just wait for you and your aurors to find her, “ Draco begged.
“You would have to go through six weeks of training before you could join the investigation.”
“Harry, there’s got to be something I can do.”
“No,” Harry responded in a hurry.
“Please Potter,” Draco begged a second time. Harry stared at him not budging an inch, but suddenly Draco noticed a hint of laughter cross his face.
“There is one thing you could do.”
“What?” Draco asked with eager impatience, “I’ll do anything.”
“Anything?”
“Yes, absolutely anything!”
“Alright,” Harry began a wide smile spreading over his face, “you can be my secretary.”
“You mean get your coffee, answer your floo, get your dry cleaning, and schedule your meetings?”
“Yes, that’s what a secretary generally does, “ Harry answered with a huge grin on his face.
“But, I’m a Malfoy. Other people do all that for me.” Draco whined.
“Take it or leave it.” Harry responded enjoying the tortured expression on Draco’s face as he tried to decide how badly he wanted to be part of the investigation.
“Fine, I’ll do it.” Draco responded.
“Good, let’s go talk to that professor.” Harry responded.

Ginny Potter happily puttered about the small kitchen of the quaint English cottage that she and Harry had bought after they married. She sang a muggle show tune to herself as she chopped onion on her wooden cutting board.
“I'm as corny as Kansas in August,
High as a flag on the Fourth of July!
If you'll excuse an expression I use,
I'm in love, I'm in love,
I'm in love, I'm in love,
and I’m in love with a wonderful guy!”
Ginny Sang. She had enjoyed the performance of South Pacific that she and Hermione had gone to in London’s West End just a few weeks after the final battle. Things had been so hectic then for all of them, that she and Hermione had just wanted to escape for a few hours.
Ginny had loved the music, the costumes, the scenery, the actors, and the story. She had never seen anything like it in her life. She had tried a few times to get Harry to take her to another show, but he felt it wasn’t a masculine thing to do. Hermione had agreed to go again, but they hadn’t been able to find a time that worked.
Ginny paused mid chop. “I should send Hermione an owl,” she thought to herself, “See if she can meet me for tea.” Harry had told her about his meeting with Hermione a week ago and how he had mentioned the two of them getting together. “Hermione is just so busy,” Ginny thought to herself, “I will have to take the initiative.”
Ginny finished chopping her onion and dumped it into a big stew pot on her stove along with some chopped garlic and fresh rosemary. She gave it a few good stirs with her big wooden spoon before wiping her hands on her apron and moving to the living room. She sat down at the desk with a quill and parchment and began to write:
Hermione,
I hope that everything is well with you. I know that you are very busy, but I hope that you could find the time to have tea with me. I will be eagerly awaiting your response.
Love,
Ginny
Satisfied with her letter Ginny sealed it up and went over to the cage where her silvery gray owl Aurora was resting. Aurora was Ginny’s wedding present from Harry. She was a beautiful owl with big brown intelligent eyes that sparkled with life.
When Ginny opened the cage the Owl hopped onto her arm and looked her right in the eye with a slight cock of her head. Ginny grabbed a treat from a nearby table and fed it to the owl before tying the letter to her leg. “Take this to Hermione please,” She told the owl before releasing her at the window.

It was nearly four thirty pm and Harry would be home in half an hour. Ginny had laid out the good dining room with their wedding china and best napkins that had been handmade by her mother. She had even put the antique candlesticks that her mother had given her at the center of the table. She had a good bottle of Shiraz in the fridge, French onion soup on the stove and a pot roast in the oven. The little cottage smelled of garlic and rosemary.
‘Perfect,” Ginny thought to herself with here hands clasped together and a wide grin spread across her face. She left the kitchen and retreated into the bathroom for a quick shower before she got dressed for dinner. She wanted this night to be memorable.

It was nearly five pm when Ginny returned to the kitchen dressed in an emerald green empire waist gown. She placed a book like package on Harry’s plate before running into the kitchen for her wand and returning to cast a quick incendio to light the candles.

At five fifteen pm Ginny pulled the French onion soup that she had placed under the broiler out so that the cheese wouldn’t burn. Nothing was grosser than burnt gruyere.

At five thirty pm Ginny sat at the table sipping sparkling cider, hoping that Harry would arrive soon so that they could eat.

At seven thirty pm Ginny sat at the table sipping her fourth glass of sparkling cider as she picked at the pot roast on her plate. Anger and a little bit of fear mixed inside her. Harry had never been late before, at least not without sending her an owl to let her know that he would be late. Something told her though that he wasn’t in any danger.

At eight pm Ginny decided she wanted a clock like her mother’s for Christmas.

By nine pm the candles had burned out and Ginny’s carefully prepared meal had long since grown cold. Leaving everything in its place a weary Ginny made her way to the bedroom, where she laid down on the bed fully dressed and promptly fell asleep.

It was only half an hour later when Harry apparated into the silent cottage with a crack. His stomach grumbled and he tip-toed toward the kitchen. He was glad that Ginny hadn’t waited for him. He didn’t mean to be so late, but the interview with the professor and the filling out of the missing person’s report had take awhile and Harry had lost track of time. Even now he had only returned home to check on Ginny and grab a bite to eat before returning to work in order to organize the investigation.
“Shit, she made pot roast,” Harry thought to himself peering into the refrigerator, “She only makes that on special occasions. What am I forgetting?” He knew it wasn’t their anniversary, it wasn’t his birthday and her birthday was August eleventh and this was September. He didn’t know what it could be. He grabbed a piece of the pot roast and headed to the dining room.
“Damn it,” he swore, “candles and wedding china!” Harry knew he was missing something important. “Oh god! A present!” he exclaimed unnerved. He grabbed the gift and headed to the bedroom to face his fate.

“Ginny, Ginny,” Harry whispered shaking the redhead, “Ginny!” He finally shouted.
“Harry,” the redhead mumbled rolling over to face him and rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
“Ginny, what is this?” he asked holding up the wrapped present.
“What time is it?”
“It’s nine forty five.” Harry told her. Suddenly, he felt her hand contact with his face in a loud “SMACK” that left him stinging. “Fuck, Ginny!”
“HARRY JAMES POTTER YOU ARE ALMOST FIVE HOURS LATE!” Ginny fumed sitting up on the bed, “You didn’t even send me an owl to say that you were going to be late, and I spent all day cooking a special meal for you.”
“Ginny, I’m sorry something came up at work and I lost track of time,” Harry paused feeling it was best not to tell her about Hermione at this time, “Why?”
“Why? Why what?” she questioned.
“Why did you make a special meal? Why did you get me a gift?”
“Open the package Harry.” Ginny stated sitting with her arms crossed. Harry pulled at the wrapping to reveal a book.
“The Wizard and Witches Guide to Pregnancy,” Harry read aloud, “Were pregnant?”
“Yes, Harry two months,” Ginny pouted, “I had everything perfectly planned for how to tell you and of course you ruined it.”
“Ginny, I’m sorry,” He responded pulling her close and hugging her close to him a big smile plastered on his face.