"Something isn't right here," Hermione said suspiciously.
……..Back on the Road with Draco and Ginny…….
"So he was all, 'You'll soon find that some wiz…erm families are better then others. You wouldn't want to start out on the wrong foot would you?' and Harry was like," Ginny watched her passenger out of the corner of her eye. She had been reciting every old story she had ever heard about Malfoy, and he didn't respond to a single one.
"And?" He prompted.
"And nothing," Ginny sighed. "I've been yacking on and on about my old school for, well about sixty kilometers now, and you haven't said anything."
Rubbing his forehead, Draco grimaced. "I haven't been sleeping well, when I sleep at all. And I have these headaches, these really bad headaches. But listening to you, it's comforting. The headache is starting to move to the back."
"Okay," Ginny sighed skeptically. She wasn't quite sure what type of game Malfoy was playing at, but she was determined to find out. Taking a break from her apparently ineffective interrogation, Ginny flipped on her radio. "How about some music, tell me what you like to listen to."
Draco stared at the radio longingly for a second before turning once more to look out the window. "Forget about it."
"Oh come on Malfoy, don't tell me, you're into classical. You're just too embarrassed to tell me about it. No classical huh? What about teen pop? That's it isn't it? You're into the teeny bopper stuff right?" Ginny was teasing him, but the response she got was far different from the one she expected.
"Will you just shut up?" Draco slammed his fist into the dashboard. "I don't know what music I like; I don't even know who I am!" Realizing what he had just said, Draco slouched back into his seat and resumed watching the landscape once more.
The car began to slow down, as Ginny, trying to understand what Draco had just said, took her foot off the gas pedal. "What…what did you just say?" She finally asked, taking her eyes off the road for a minute to look at Draco.
Instead of answering he defiantly turned his body away from her. Finally, without facing her, he spoke. "I'm hungry. I haven't eaten all day."
Ginny growled in frustration. "If I feed you, will you explain that nice outburst you just had?" When he gave no answer, "There should be a stop in a couple of miles. Will that be ok with you?"
Draco nodded his head in affirmation, and continued to gaze out of the window. The next few miles were passed in silence. Ginny finally spotted the exit for an all night truck stop, and pulled off onto it.
Draco didn't speak until Ginny had parked and turned off the car. "Surely you could have found a better place then this to eat Weasely."
Once again, Ginny couldn't stop the aggravated growl that escaped her throat. Whatever was going on with Malfoy, he certainly hadn't forgotten the high standards his family had been accustomed to. Ignoring his comment, Ginny got out of the car. Not surprisingly, Draco was right behind her.
A middle aged waitress greeted them as they entered, and showed them to a booth in the back. "What can I get you to drink darling?"
"Coffee," Ginny didn't hesitate in answering. It had been a long drive.
"And you sweet thing?" Even though she was a good ten to fifteen years older then him, her age didn't stop her from sending a flirty smile Draco's way.
"Milk," He also didn't hesitate in answering.
Eyes widening, Ginny sent Draco a funny look. "What?" He shrugged his shoulders. "It's a good source of calcium."
"And it sure does a body good," the waitress didn't bother masking the look in her eyes as she checked Draco out once more before leaving to place their drink order.
*Back in Switzerland*
"I can't believe he took the bloody car and just left us there," Ron grumbled, brushing snow out of his hair as they rounded the last corner.
"Its not like Headquarters was that far away," Hermione pointed out. "Honestly Ron, the only reason we took the car in the first place was so we could look 'official'."
Ron sighed as he stepped into the warmth of their base of operations. He was leisurely taking off his coat when the young witch behind the counter hopped up with a squeak. "Oh no Mr. Weasley, no time for that, Mr. Potter has been waiting for that tape since he returned. He wants to see it as soon as possible." The witch herded them through the door to the conference room rather rudely.
"Well I never would have thou…." Hermione's huff was cut off mid sentence as her eyes widened, taking in the transformed conference rooms. Computers and other types of equipment were scattered throughout the room. The big round table that had once been the only furniture present was now replaced with many smaller desks. People were walking back and forth constantly, handing off printed pages, and exchanging information.
"Good, it's about time you got back," Harry stated as he entered the room through a backdoor. "It took you long enough now didn't it?"
Ron's face flushed red, "You took the bloody car. We had to bloody walk, ten freaking blocks to get back here!"
Shrugging his shoulders, Harry held out his hand. "May I have the tape please?"
"Harry," Hermione said as she pulled the Embassy's main video feed from her carrying case. "What are all of these people doing here? I mean, how did they get here?"
Snatching the tape from Hermione's grasp, Harry rushed over to a TV set up in the far corner, answering her over his shoulder. "These are the muggleborns from our department. There are a few purebloods. Some are on loan from the Auror squad, anyone who can blend in to muggle society."
"You don't even know if this is Malfoy we are looking for yet," Hermione was becoming more and more confused and she didn't like it. "Even if it is Malfoy, what has he done to be hunted down like an animal?"
"And how the hell did you get all of these pip-squeaks here so fast mate?" Ron interjected.
Harry chose to ignore Hermione's inquiry and answered Ron's instead. "Last night a man fitting Malfoy's description put two muggle patrolmen in the hospital."
"That's it?" Hermione gasped. "That's the reason you dragged the whole unit to Zurich?"
"No," Harry ground out through his clenched teeth. "That's the reason I came to Zurich. I didn't call the rest of the unit until this morning when a contact also saw a man fitting Malfoy's description entered the tavern over on Gemein."
"That's the one with the vault system isn't it?" Ron questioned.
"Yes," Harry answered as he fast forwarded through the first half of the embassy video. "Malfoy could have had a vault there; they run off of a numbered account system. No names or anything that can be traced."
Hermione felt as if she would begin pulling her hair out at any second. "Why didn't you tell us any of this Harry? It's not like you to keep secrets."
"A ha, here it is," Harry scooted closer to the television set, totally ignoring Hermione's comment.
"Unreal," Ron whispered, leaning over Harry to get a closer look.
"I knew it," Harry said triumphantly. Draco Malfoy's face was displayed clear as day on the monitor. "Alright," Harry called out as he jumped to his feet. "I want somebody combing through the rest of these surveillance tapes. Get me airline manifest, train manifest, anything on anyway that he could get out of the city."
As everybody in the room hurtled into action, Hermione slouched down into a chair next to Ron. "Something isn't right here."
"You don't have to tell me love," Ron whispered in her ear as he stroked her back soothingly.
*On the road again…*
Ginny picked at her food, instead choosing to watch Draco as he devoured his meal as if he hadn't eaten in weeks. When he was about halfway through a large stack of griddle cakes, Ginny voiced her thoughts. "So are you going to tell me or what?"
He immediately stilled, lowering the fork that had been halfway to his lips. Swallowing uncomfortably, he took a swig of milk before meeting her gaze. "Memory like a fucking elephant," he grumbled under his breath.
"I heard that," Ginny frowned, slouching back further into the booth.
"Fine," Draco growled, wiping his mouth with a napkin. "But you can't look at me with those big brown puppy dog eyes for at least a day," he stipulated.
A smile tugged at the edges of Ginny's mouth, "Deal, so spill already."
"I can't remember anything that happened before two weeks ago," He seemed to deflate a little, as if he had been holding his breath.
"Lucky you," Ginny said, the brow once more knitting together into a frown.
"I'm serious," Draco clenched his hands into fists. "I don't know who I am; I don't where I'm going or why I'm going there, nothing."
Leaning forward, elbows on the table, Ginny looked into his eyes. "You mean, like you have amnesia or something?"
"Yeah," he answered softly, leaning back into his side of the booth.
"Well that's just great," at least he was making a little bit more sense now. Amnesia explained why he didn't recognize her, or well, her name.
Dragging his bag out from underneath the table, Draco began to dig through it. "These are real," he said as he produced a small stack of passports from various countries. "I got them out of some sort of safety deposit in Zurich."
"What do mean, 'some sort of deposit box'?" Ginny asked as she flipped through his passports. Sure enough, every single one of them had his picture pasted inside.
"It was weird," Ginny watched him lean back and ruffle his slightly long hair. The action was unheard of for a Malfoy, and she was shocked. "I went into this shoddy tavern that this key told me to go to…."
Ginny's ears perked up at that word. "A key?"
"A key," Draco confirmed as he fished it out his bag and slid it across the table at her. "This door just appeared, and the box was inside. When I opened it there they were, money, passports, a gun," his voice conveying that he had no earthly idea what he was doing with a gun in his safety deposit box.
"Anything else?" Ginny inquired as she stacked the passports neatly.
Reaching into his bag once more, Draco pulled out the slender wooden stick, "Only this,"
A/N: I know its been a few days, I've been kind of busy!! But here it is!! Some people have asked about why my other fic hasn't been updated, well, I've hit a bit of writers block concerning it. Do you ever work so hard to make the most perfect ending, but then, you find yourself stuck in the middle with no way to bridge the gap? Well, that's where I'm stuck, everytime I try to write the middle part of the story, it just ends up sounding crappy, but I'm working on it, it might take a while, but I'm working on it…. I hope ya'll enjoy this chapter, I'll try to post more soon!!