A/N- Everyone, I am so sorry that it's taken me this long to update. Things are so busy for me; I barely have time to write. I have no idea when I'll get the next chapter up. I'll be in Europe in the beginning of April, so I don't know if I'll get the next chapter up before that or not. Please forgive me, it's all I can do right now. Thanks for the reviews everyone! It really means a lot. And if you can, please check out my one-shot fic, Till I See You Again. Alright, on with the chapter…
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Many people went up to Neville after the memorial of Parvati, all with tears in their eyes. Women spoke encouraging words to him, and men just hugged him. It was Harry and Hermione's turn.
Hermione had tears in her eyes, and didn't bother wiping them away. "She was a great person, Neville. She really was."
"Thanks, Hermione," Neville said, his whole face streaked with tears, as he looked down at the sleeping baby. "We'll be okay…"
"Is there anything we can do, mate?" Harry asked.
Neville's head shot up, his eyes filled with sadness and determination. "Yea. You two can get your marriage back together. Don't ruin your lives."
"We're trying, Neville," Hermione said.
Neville choked back a sob. "Well, you're not trying hard enough."
Hermione glanced at Harry and looked down. Harry hugged Neville, and then Neville walked to another group of people who were beckoning to him.
Why does it seem that there's always silent moments between us, Hermione thought, still looking down. Another voice answered. Because you are having silent moments.
"Leave it to Neville to say something like that today," Harry said.
"Well, he doesn't know everything going on right now. But we shouldn't get annoyed with him." Hermione said looking up. "How much longer until Pansy's funeral?"
Harry looked down at his watch. "In about a half hour."
"Well, I'm going to go and freshen up." Hermione said, and she made her way out of the Great Hall.
**********
A while ago, Draco was worried about Ginny, and couldn't understand why she wasn't there. Now, he was extremely worried, and that worrying was growing worse. If it had been Pansy's funeral first, he could understand why Ginny might not show up, but this was Parvati's; she had wanted to be there. You should stop worrying, Draco. She probably just fell asleep. You know she hasn't slept well the past few nights.
But even with this theory, he couldn't get the feeling that something was wrong out of his head. In a half hour, the next funeral would start; plenty of time to get to the Manor and find his wife. He went over to the girl who was holding Shannon. "I'm gonna go out for a little bit. Can you keep an eye out on Shann?"
The girl nodded, and Draco kissed his redheaded daughter on top of the head. Then he headed out the doors, and ran for Hogsmeade as fast as he could.
**********
The flames around Ginny were growing hotter and hotter, and she was finding it harder and harder to breathe. The man was gone, leaving her alone. There was no way she could apparate out, with her condition, and Draco had put charms on the house, forbidding anyone to apparate, in or out.
She forced herself to move. She had to move, do something, so she wouldn't fall back unconscious. I have to get out of this fire circle, she thought desperately.
Even with the pain and bleeding, she forced herself to form a tiny ball with her body, and she rolled through the fire circle that the killer had made for her.
The fire was spreading everywhere now, going up the curtains on the windows. And there was nothing she could do about it as she fell back into unconsciousness.
**********
Draco's heart stopped when he saw his house. The area where his living room was located was ablaze. He ran inside the house.
"Ginny!" he yelled, and then he covered his mouth because of the smoke.
He made his way over to the living room, and saw her, lying down on her stomach, a pool of blood all around.
"No!" his scream shook the house and he ran over to his bleeding wife. He picked her up and ran out the nearest door that led outside. Reaching outside, he sat down and stared into her face, which was blood splattered. "Come on Ginny. Don't leave my, baby." He cried.
All of a sudden, people popped up all over the place. There were medi-wizards there and they rushed up to Draco. "You've got to save her. Don't let her die," he croaked.
"Don't worry Draco," one of the men said.
But even as they apparated away with Ginny, Draco wondered if it was too late.
**********
Pansy's service was over now. There were men and women now going up to Cal and giving him hugs and encouraging statements.
But that's not what Harry and Hermione were looking at. Men seemed to be running out of the castle, just leaving the funeral. "It's not like this is a Quidditch game and people can leave whenever they want," Harry said. "This is a funeral."
Colin ran up to them from the outside, breathless. "Harry… Hermione," he said as he tried to catch his breath. "You… have to come now…Ginny, she's been shot."
Hermione gasped. "Ginny? She's been shot? No, they caught the guy, he's locked up!"
Colin continued. "Draco found her in their house. I hear the wound was pretty bad."
Hermione looked at Harry. "We have to get to the hospital, Harry. Now!"
**********
At St. Mungos Harry wished he could just disappear. There were reporters from the Daily Prophet all over. Harry grabbed Hermione's hand as the tried to make their way through the crowd of reporters.
"Sir, if you two are reporters, I can't let you come any farther. You'll have to move over there," a man said as he pointed to the side.
"We're not reporters. We're friends of Draco and Ginny," Harry said.
"Sorry, we're not letting anyone in, now go over there," the woman said with a smug smile.
"Please sir," Hermione said with tears in her eyes. "We're really good friends. Harry's like a brother to Ginny."
"You reporters are all alike," the man said as he glared at them. "Always acting like you're friends of the victim so you can get a good scoop. Well, you're not going to do that this time."
"Listen," Harry said, getting annoyed. "We went to school with Draco and Ginny. I'm an Auror who works with Draco."
The man stared at Harry. He put together the names Harry and Auror, and looked up towards Harry's forehead. He felt stupid now. "You are an Auror." He turned to Hermione. "You poor thing, you must be afraid you're next."
Harry and Hermione both froze. Of course, he thought. Three Aurors' wives have been targeted. The killer is actually going after-
"Excuse me!"
Harry spun around and faced a reporter. "Did you say you are an Auror?"
Harry nodded.
"Sir, do you have any idea why the killer is targeting Aurors' wives?"
Harry blinked" Well, I uh… Just realized a second ago that that might be the case…"
The reporter turned to Hermione. "What's your name, ma'am?"
"Hermione Potter," she said as she backed away.
"Potter, huh?" the man said as he made a quick glance toward Harry. Then he turned back to Hermione. "So, how do you feel about this… About possibly being the next victim?"
Hermione swallowed. "Well, I-"
"Did you know that Mrs. Malfoy was also involved with drugs?"
Hermione burst into tears as she turned around, and this made Harry angry. "Will you please leave us alone? We just want to see our friend!" he said as he put his arm around Hermione and led her away from the reporters.
"Are you okay?" he asked when they were away.
"Oh, Harry, I'm so scared," she said as eyes filled with tears. "I mean, are they telling the truth? Are we really being targeted?"
Harry sighed. "I don't know, Herm. But we have to find Draco."
They were in luck. Just down the hall, they caught sight of a blonde haired man, slumped on a chair with his head in his hands.
"Draco," Harry called.
Draco looked up with bloodshot eyes. He stood up as Harry and Hermione came forward and gave him fierce hugs.
"How is she, Draco?" Hermione asked.
"She's alive," he replied. Then he shifted his eyes toward Harry. "Who's doing this Harry? Who? They were supposed to have the guy locked up; everyone was supposed to be safe. And then I go home and find my wife lying on the floor stained with blood, almost dead."
"I know," Harry said.
"No, you don't know," Draco cried. "You don't know what's its like to go through that. That should never have happened to Ginny!" he said as he slammed a fist into the wall and broke down. "She can't die. She can't leave me," he said as he shook with tears.
Hermione had tears running down her face.
Draco turned around. "These murders have nothing to do with drugs, or whether someone is a muggle-born. Someone is out to get our wives."
Harry tensed up and immediately put his arm around Hermione, who surprisingly, didn't pull away.
The three of them turned their heads as they heard another voice down the hall… A rather angry and desperate voice. "What do you mean I can't go down there? Ginny's my sister!" Ron yelled with wide eyes.
"Sure she is," said the same man who had given Harry and Hermione trouble. "When will you reporters ever learn?"
"I can't believe this!" Ron said as he ran his hand through his hair. Then he caught the eye of Harry. "Harry! Help me!"
"That's really Mrs. Malfoy's brother, sir!" Harry called, half wishing he could have found that amusing, if it had been under a different circumstance.
The man muttered something under his breath as he grudgingly let Ron pass. Ron ran up to them with eyes as red as Draco's. "How is she?" he asked, to no one in particular.
"Alive," Hermione answered softly.
Ron breathed heavily. "Fred and George will be here soon…" He didn't really know what to say.
"Harry, Hermione, don't waste your time here. I don't know when they'll let us in to see Ginny, and they'll probably need you over at the Ministry. We have to figure out what's going on," Draco said, leaning back against the wall.
"I know," Harry said. "I just want to be sure Ginny's okay."
"I'll let you know when we learn anything else. But we can't waste any more time just standing around."
Harry looked down at Hermione, who was looking back up at him. He knew she also didn't want to leave. But maybe it would be better to go.
Harry looked back at Draco. "All right." He looked down to Ron, who had taken the seat they had found Draco in. "Are you gonna be okay, Ron?" he asked.
Ron nodded.
Hermione went over to Ron, bent down and gave him a hug of comfort. He hugged her tightly, while tears ran down his face. Hermione pulled away and gave Ron a kiss on the cheek. "She'll pull though Ron," she said softly.
"Thanks, Herm."
She got up and walked back over to Harry, who took her hand, and they apparated away together… again.
**********
"Do you think he'd count me?" Hermione asked.
They were now walking to the Ministry, taking the long way, for both of them needed some air.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"The killer. If he really is going after Auror wives, do you think he'd leave me out, because we're not married anymore?" she asked, slowing down her pace.
But Harry stopped all together. "Hermione, we are married."
Hermione looked down. "Only on paper. You can't call what we have a marriage. And maybe he knows this. Maybe he won't include me in his plans."
"We can hope," Harry said.
Hermione put her hands over her face, breaking out in tears. "Who would have thought that our separation could have any kind of blessing…"
He didn't know what to say to that, as his own heart twisted in pain.
Hermione stopped crying after a few minutes, and Harry put his arm around her as they started walking again.
"When we get to the Ministry we're going to ask the Minister to schedule a meeting, then we get back to the house and pack bags."
Hermione looked up quickly. "Bags? For what?"
"We have to go somewhere he won't know where to find us. I don't want to take the chance that he will come after you."
"Harry, you can't ask off. Every other Auror will be asking off and you know the Ministry can't spare all of you," Hermione said matter-of-factly.
"Not every Auror is married. And if they don't let me off, they'll have to fire me 'cause I'm not letting you be alone."
"Harry, don't be stupid," Hermione said. "I'm frightened, but I'll stay over at Lavender's."
"Two women alone is even worse." Harry shook his head. "No, I'm staying with you."
"Then I'll stay with Fred and Angelina. Or Ron."
"Angelina is probably looking for a place to stay too. And Ron will have to be at the Ministry," he said. "I'm starting to be happy he never took our advice and got married right away," Harry said as an afterthought.
"Then why don't all of us Auror wives get together and hide. We can go and stay at a hotel."
Harry sighed in frustration. "Hermione, you aren't thinking clearly. All of you staying in the same place at once is too easy. If he found out where you were, he could get you all in one shot."
Hermione cringed. "You don't have to be so dramatic, Harry. I'm just trying to find a simple solution."
"Well, here's the solution. I'm staying with you tonight!"
They were right outside the entrance to the Ministry now. Perhaps they should have just gone in and stopped talking. But they didn't.
"Oh Harry, I'm so touched. Of course, stay with me tonight because there's a chance I could get shot. But once this is all over, you can just leave me again and stop caring!" she said angrily.
"I do care. I've never stopped caring, but you're too blind to see it!" Oh he wished he could take back those words.
"Oh, so you're telling me when you fell in love with another woman, I was too blind to see that?
"I haven't fallen in love with any other woman! Why do I have to tell you this over and over again?!" he shouted.
"You're not supposed to tell me, you're supposed to show me. Show me that you love me! That's what I want from you Harry! But you aren't doing it, you aren't trying to fix this!" she cried.
"Do you want me to just leave you alone so he can get an easy shot? Do you want me to pretend that I don't care?"
"For the past few months you haven't cared. I have friends, Harry, I'll be fine."
"But I won't!" he said hoarsely. "Every minute I'm afraid I'm going to hear that you were the next one. I can't even think straight. And nothing you can say is going to make me change my mind on this. We are doing this my way now, and you are going to live with it."
"So in other words, you're going to protect me from getting killed, but I'll get killed from the protection?" Hermione asked as she folded her arms across her chest.
"Oh, look who's being dramatic now."
**********
There was going to be a meeting that night. Harry and Hermione finally made it to the Ministry and talked to Minister Bones about having one. The Aurors and their wives needed to get together and talk about what they were going to do.
Marina had gotten to cooking right away, knowing the place was going to be packed, and it was. In the courtroom, where things were to be decided, Percy and Minister Bones were sitting on the big platform, while the Aurors, married or single, were down below.
There was only one question on everyone's mind, only one. Who killed the Auror wives… and why?
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Nitya and Matt, thanks for the beta work!
WKris