Title: A Spot of Trouble
Name: rainpuddle13 (rainpuddle13 at gmail dot com)
Website: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/littleyellowduck/
Rating: Mature/R/Naughty
Characters/Ships: Draco/Ginny
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various
publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc.
No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Notes: This story is not related to my Tangled Web story arc in any way, shape or form. I
took a little break from my normal fare (and apparently my senses) to write some total crackfic. Thanks to nokomis305
for the beta and suggestions as always. This one is for you girl! Thanks to dragonsangel68 for even more suggestions,
and for actually liking it. Originally inspired by the song "Take the Money and Run" by the Steve Miller Band
and the hurricane season.
Summary: Bill discovers that his little sister is in a spot more trouble than he could have ever imagined.
A Spot of Trouble - Chapter 1
Bill Weasley sat down behind his messy desk in a small oddly shaped office in the most imposing building in Diagon Alley, his morning cup of coffee in hand. As much as he had loved living in Egypt, he was certainly glad for the transfer back to the London office of Gringotts a little over two years ago.
Right after the 'incident' as he preferred to call it.
That was when Ginny had announced to the family that she'd been seeing Draco Malfoy on the sly for quite some time. Needless to say, that didn't go over well with most of the family. Heated words had ensued, many tears had been shed, and a bitter ultimatum was declared.
No one ever thought that Ginny would choose Malfoy over her own family. He was under investigation by the Ministry; his father was rotting in Azkaban; and his mother was conveniently out of the country and unreachable. He seemingly had nothing to offer her, other than himself, and from what his youngest brothers had to say about the boy that wasn't very much at all.
Bill had never met the boy, so he'd tried to refrain from passing judgment, because he'd wanted to give Ginny the benefit of the doubt. He also knew that his brothers could be hotheads, especially Ron, therefore their take on the situation wasn't necessarily reliable. The seriousness of it all hadn't actually sunk in until his father had told him all the goings-on with the Malfoys in his absence. It seemed that the youngest Malfoy had been a very busy boy.
He loved his sister, and if she was willing to resort to such drastic measures, then she must have had very good reason. There was no way that Ginny could be that gullible. He refused to believe it.
And naturally, Ron went completely mad when Ginny had finally worked up the nerve to bring Malfoy home, ranting and raving and threatening to haul his pale arse to Azkaban himself. It hadn't taken much to get Mum whipped up in a fury after that. Bill had to give the Malfoy boy credit though; he stood there and said not a word while Gin had it out with them.
Charlie had tried to help him keep some semblance of peace while the rest of the family tried to shout the roof off, but their efforts were for naught.
Ginny had had enough when she deflected a couple very nasty hexes tossed in the direction of the silent boy at her side. A few final harsh words were exchanged, the ultimatum was delivered, and front door was slammed shut with a thunderous bang.
By the next morning, the youngest of the clan had vanished along with most of her clothes and a worn brown floppy eared stuffed rabbit. By midmorning the news had spread that a large sum had been removed from the Malfoy vault before the Ministry could file the paperwork to freeze the assets.
That was when Bill had transferred to the London office. He had used his position and contacts to make inquiries about his sister, but to no avail. It was as if she'd fallen off the face of the earth; that is, until one day four months later, when a battered Muggle postcard made its way to his in box. It was postmarked from Ajaccio, Corsica and sent to his former address Cairo address. She wanted him to know everything was fine, and she was happy. He had made inquiries in Corsica through Gringotts, but by the time he had arrived, they had long fled the villa where they'd been staying.
About six months later, another postcard arrived, postmarked Algiers, Algeria. He had made a grave tactical error in letting it slip to Ron he had an address for Ginny in Algiers after two months of very discrete inquiry. His youngest brother and his two friends went rushing off to save Ginny from her captor, only they hadn't taken into account that she didn't want saving. Malfoy had only smirked at them before taking her hand and Disapparating, despite Hermione's desperate pleas and Harry's threats. Bill could have killed his brother when he caught up with him in the large flat that used to be their sister's home, mere moments too late, but no, Ron had to do everything with wand blazing first, leaving the questions for later.
He'd really thought that Ginny would have gotten tired of the little game after a while, and come home to her family. She had to know that they were no longer angry, and would welcome her back with open arms, mostly, with some prodding to certain members' arses. He didn't want to think about how many family gatherings ended with his mum in tears, or how despondent his father grew as time stretched on without any word from Ginny.
Apparently his little sister's feelings for Malfoy were deeper than he'd originally anticipated.
Just when he'd given up hope that she'd ever contact him again after months had turned into a year, another postcard had come across his desk. It pictured some bar called Sloppy Joe's that was famous, because an American writer by the name of Hemingway used to haunt it a long time ago according to the caption; it was postmarked Key West, Florida. Bill didn't bother to tell anyone in the family.
This time he'd play it smart.
He called in a few favors from his Yank compatriots, finding out all he could about Key West. He also got a report on magical activity in the area from the American Ministry. His nosing around paid off when a report came back describing a young woman, fitting his sister's description, who worked the late shift in a Muggle bar just off the beach, and lived upstairs with a bloke that sounded an awful lot like Malfoy. Being in a high level position at Gringotts definitely had its advantages.
Disappointed didn't begin to cover what Bill felt when he had to change his travel arrangements two days before he was supposed to fly into Miami thanks to mandatory evacuations, because of a hurricane heading for the Keys. That meant that Ginny and Malfoy would have to leave the area for Merlin only knew where. America was huge; they could go anywhere. He had no idea when, let alone if, he'd ever hear from her again. He cursed his luck under his breath in English and Egyptian.
"Mr. Weasley," his secretary called softly after knocking on his door, interrupting his momentary wallow in self-pity. "Mr. Thornbury thought you might like to see this."
"Thank you," he said, taking the manila folder with a red tab and dismissing her with a nod. He waited for the door to close before opening the report. Thornbury was in charge of loss prevention for a number of Gringotts' American subsidiaries. He'd promised to keep an eye out for anything unusual after an evening of drinking had caused Bill to tell an impartial party every single last sordid detail of little sister's disappearance.
He scanned the police report from the main branch of the First National Bank of Georgia in Atlanta, Georgia, detailing a bank robbery that had occurred the day before. Apparently the First National Bank of Georgia was missing approximately $5,000. Not via the normal Muggle stick up modus operandi, but money was mysteriously missing from the vault and not discovered until the end of the business day. A review of the surveillance video revealed no one unauthorized entering or exiting the vault, hence why the report had landed on Thornbury's desk.
It wasn't all that unusual for some wizard to try to get wise, using his special skills to commit a nearly perfect crime. They almost always never took into consideration having to exchange Muggle money for Gaellons, and that was when they got caught.
Then he came to the part highlighted in bright yellow that Thornbury had obviously thought he'd find interesting:
An unidentified male appears for approximately forty-five seconds on the vault security camera, before disappearing from view. He is seen stuffing bundles of money into a small bag. No bank employee reported seeing any usual activity in or around the vault during that time.
The unidentified male is described as approximately 5'10" to 6'0" tall, slender build, and light colored hair, wearing jeans and dark colored t-shirt. He is not believed to be in possession of a weapon, and is not considered dangerous at this time.
Then at the very bottom of the report under additional notes:
Officer Hernadez with FNBG reported questioning a young woman suspected of shoplifting from a store in the vicinity of the bank at approximately the same time the robbery occurred. The woman entered the bank to escape a pursing sales clerk. She was identified as Ginny Prewett, a British National. She was later released when no evidence was found to support pressing charges.
Bill sat back in his chair and closed his eyes, turning over what he'd just read in his mind while trying to make sense of it all. He knew her little adventure with Malfoy would eventually turn sour, but he never dreamed it would be this bad. He'd definitely have to keep this to himself, until he could sort things out the best he could. He didn't even want to begin to fathom what the rest of the family would say. Well, he could imagine what the twins would say…
"Oh, Gin-Gin what have you gotten yourself into?"
~*~