N I N E T E E N

"Have I done something wrong?" The short-haired witch asked looking up at the two wizards who stood as still as statues with their hands crossed, brows furrowed and mouths set in a hard line. They had spent the better half of the past half hour glaring at her and Eclaire hadn't a clue why.

The trio were currently at the Malfoy Manor after having taken leave from the crime scene. Eclaire pulled her legs up to sit criss cross on the sofa as her gaze moved from one face to the other, both equally stoic.

"Oh, so now you want to talk?" Yuko glared at her.

"I always want to talk." Eclaire shrugged looking at him sceptically. "Why do I feel that both of you are angry?" She said as she shivered under Draco's icy gaze.

"Oh, I don't know maybe it was the fact that you disappeared without telling any of us where it is that you were headed with a murderer who targets muggleborns on the loose!?" Yuko said losing his cool.

"I told you—" Eclaire started only to be cut off.

"You told me to cover your shifts and disappeared!" Yuko exclaimed.

"I told Draco—"

"You told me you'd find the murderer even if it was the last thing you bloody did! Then we cannot reach you for two days and receive a call that they've found a body that matched your description!" Draco said finally exploding. "Do you have any fucking idea what we went through— what I went through in that span of time?! As I waited for them to lift the sheets off of a dead body praying to anything and everything out there, hoping against all odds that it wasn't you?!"

Eclaire looked up at the silver haired wizard from under her eyes. His silver hair looked as if he'd run his hands through them a million times, his grey eyes blazing with emotion and face set in angry harsh lines. Eclaire did the only thing that there was to do. She leapt into his arms engulfing him in a hug conveying all her feelings.

"I'm sorry. With Yuko in the US, I've never had anyone wait on me since Grandma died. I never meant to upset you." She said slowly and meant it. She heard the wizard grunt as she looked up at him from the hug.

"And you too, Yuko. I'm sorry. I should've explained things before I left." She said looking at Yuko.

"You should never have left alone in the first place, you idiot." Draco huffed as he leaned into the hug, cherishing how she felt in his arms. His heart at peace, knowing she was safe.

"Where did you even go?" Yuko huffed out.

Eclaire sprang away from Draco as she clapped her hands. "I'm glad you asked!" She said gleaming.

"Remember when my house was trashed?" She asked looking at the two wizards. They both nodded mechanically. "And you know how I occasionally forget to vacuum the house—"

"Occasionally? Midget, you rarely ever vacuum your house. It's always a mess." Draco huffed as he leaned back on the wall.

"I beg to differ—"

"We both know that it's the truth, Vanilla." Yuko muttered.

Eclaire glared at the both of them. Both of them thought she looked like an angry squirrel about to hurl an acorn at them.

"Shush. So yes, I had yet to vacuum the house but the other day, I noticed something." She said as she pulled out her phone and showed them a zoomed in image.

"Are those—" Yuko started.

"Wheelchair prints." Eclaire said. "They were very subtle but present nonetheless. I can't believe I didn't notice them sooner!" Eclaire said pacing around.

"The murderer is disabled?" Draco asked.

Eclaire nodded. "That narrows down our suspect list by a lot. I persuaded Esmeralda from the Records department to send me a copy of the list of people with disabilities working at the Ministry. So far, there are twenty-seven people who require a wheelchair."

"That's still too many." Yuko cursed under his breath. Eclaire held up her finger.

"Only, the Ministry provides them with the wheelchairs as a working benefit and twenty-two of those workers use the Ministry provided wheelchairs. I've already taken the prints from those, they don't match. So I was left with five." Eclaire declared. "I asked dear old Sven to get me the prints of the rest five but there was no rain recently hence no mud and consequently no prints but he did get me the models and the company's names from where they purchased it."

"Sadly, two of those companies were located in the middle of nowhere! Something about being organic so I had no cell reception there and had to spend 500 galleons on wheelchairs just to test the prints!" Eclaire huffed.

"Do you know who it is then?" Draco asked.

Eclaire shook her head. "Three of the five prints did not match, the two remaining are yet to be delivered."

"Who do those belong to?" Yuko asked.

"Mattheas Burke and Rose Creevey."

"The Creeveys had a daughter?" Yuko asked confused.

Eclaire shook her head gently. "No, she's married to Dennis Creevey. Her maiden name was Rose Zeller."

"Wait." Draco called out suddenly. "Did you say Burke? As in Burke from Borgin and Burke's?" He asked. Eclaire nodded.

"But Burke died in the Battle Of Hogwarts." Yuko pointed out.

"No, actually. He had a falling out with Borgin and left some time before the war began. The death-eaters hunted him down and killed him eventually, though." Draco explained.

"That doesn't change the fact that he's dead." Yuko said.

"That was Caractacus Burke. Mattheas Burke is his son." Eclaire pointed out.

"Then that gives him motive—" Draco said as the realisation set in among the trio present.

"I'm going to go get his file from the Ministry." Yuko said straightening up. "We need to take a warrant out from the Ministry to question him."

"But that's going to take a week!" Eclaire exclaimed.

"Vanilla, do you forget who your friend is?" Yuko tsked at her. "I can call an emergency meeting. Can you be there in a few hours?" He asked her and Eclaire nodded.

"Then I'll see you at the Ministry." Yuko said to her. "Draco." Yuko nodded at him in farewell and he disapparated.

The two lovers were left alone in the room with the dark haired wizard's departure.

"Now all we need to do is and question him and—" Eclaire was stopped short as Draco reached out his hand to hold hers.

"Claire, you know you don't have to do this, right?" Draco asked looking down at her brown eyes that shone with confusion.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"I know I told you that Astoria was an important friend to me and so is Blaise but I don't want you risking yourself for them." He said. "When I found out that you were missing, the only thing that reverberated in my head were your last words to me—how you said you'd free Astoria even if it was last thing you did." Draco took a deep breath. "All I'm saying is, they're from money and they can hire lawyers. I just— I just don't want you to take on this case on my account."

"Draco, it's my job—" Eclaire began but she was cut off as Draco slid a hand to cup her cheek.

"I know it's your job and I also know that auror trainees are not involved in high security cases unless they volunteer." Stormy grey eyes gazed into warm brown ones trying to convey the emotions behind the words.

"If anything happens to me during this mission— no listen to me, love." She said as her hand cupped his cheek when Draco tried to protest.

"If anything does happen to me, it will not be your fault, okay? I chose to do this mission and I chose this profession knowing full well what it entailed. I choose what I do and I bear the consequences." She whispered as she caressed his smooth skin.

"But it is not you alone that bears the consequences." Draco whispered back. "What of me? What am I to do without you? The thought hit me the hardest when I realised I could lose you. It was as I watched the doctor lower the pall off the dead body that I realised waking up without you by my side would be absolutely meaningless. Claire, I love you. And I cannot possibly imagine a life without you in it." Draco murmured. "So if it is on my account that you've taken up this case, I implore you—please don't."

Draco Malfoy had heard the phrase To Make Her Fall In Love, You Must Make Her Laugh too many times to count in his school days. But the ones who said this were fools. Absolute blithering fools. Because as I see a smile blossom on her face from my words, I am the one who falls harder. Harder and harder every waking moment.

"You love me?" Eclaire asked as she covered her mouth to stop her giggle. He said he loves me. Eclaire thought giddily.

"You never left me a choice, midget." The silver haired wizard's face softened on seeing her happy.

"And I wouldn't have it any other way!" She exclaimed laughing as she hooked her arms around his neck and jumped, looping her legs around his waist as his hands caught her in place, slender fingers grasping onto her thighs.

"I love you too, my darkling." Eclaire said as she gazed down on his face, trailing her finger on his cheek as she leaned down to kiss his nose. "I did take on the case because of Astoria's imprisonment," Eclaire murmured as she kissed his eyes,"but know this, I would have taken it up anyway. Do you possibly think I could sit still and do nothing as innocent people got murdered and framed?" Eclaire tsked. "My, my, do you even know your girlfriend at all—ack!" Eclaire exclaimed in shock as Draco pretended to drop her.

"What were you saying? I'm not sure I heard you." The silver haired wizard grinned sneakily.

"I said, you don't know your girlf— Dracooo s-stop!" Eclaire started laughing hysterically as the wizard's hand tickled her.

"Drac—did you just apparate to your bedroom?" Eclaire asked as the duo landed in what Eclaire knew too well to be his room. The silver haired wizard only smiled.

"Did I?"

"I have to be in the Ministry in a few hours!" Eclaire exclaimed laughing as she slapped his shoulder.

"Then we best make it quick." He said as his fingers tightened around her thighs and his mouth descended on hers.

Despite her verbal protests, she received his lips just as eagerly. Her hand went to grasp his hair and the other cupped his cheek, their mouths moving fervently against each other. Eclaire could feel his breath intermingling with hers, she could taste him as she bit his lower lip and she could feel him want her as a low groan escaped his mouth making the entirety of her body aware of every hard plane of his body that stood meshed with hers. She felt his tongue on her mouth when she gasped and broke away.

"Pinky promise it will be quick?" She asked breathless.

The silver haired wizard looked at the woman in his arms, her legs hooked around his waist, hands tangled in his hair, lips swollen from his kiss with her cheeks flushed yet her eyes shining with innocence as she held up her pinky finger asking for a promise. Draco laughed as he kissed her finger before hooking his finger with hers.

He looks enchanting when he laughs. Eclaire thought as she watched his eyes crinkling with his laugh as smooth as silk.

"Promise." He whispered and that was all it took for Eclaire to pull him forward and join their lips together.

They both knew he was lying.