TITLE: 12 HOURS

Pairings: Harry and Daphne

DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter series belong to J.K Rowling.

A/N: If you find any spelling and grammatical errors please bear with me and inform me.

Summary: Its been 5 years since the last major war in the wizarding world. 5 years since a Dark Lord commanded his reign over the magical community of Britain. 5 years of peace and tranquility. But this rule didn't apply to all. Daphne works in DMLE but more under jurisdiction section. Some of original followers of Voldemort have decided to strike back with vengeance and take back what's theirs by their rules.

PROLOGUE

The sun had just come up. It was 8 in the morning of Spring Season of March. A breeze of cool air blew through the open windows of a three stories bungalow. The owner of the house was snoozing off the blissful five minutes after the usual time to wake for the day. The wind caused the owner to simply pull the satin quilts closer to warm the body from the breeze. But to no avail as the wind kept blowing and becoming cooler. The owner or mistress of the house was struggling hard to squeeze every ounce of sleep she could in the five minutes. Finally accepting her defeat, she threw the covers off her face.

Everything was just as it used to be in the morning. The room was lit by the morning sun's golden rays falling on the marble flooring of the room and reflecting everywhere. The window was as usual open and curtains were flaring and flapping due to the ever growing wind. She was still half in sleep, as she grudgingly slipped over her bed covers to edge. She slowly wore her favorite bunny slippers and dragged herself towards the windows. She held out her hand to close the windows when someone spoke in a casual way, "Leave it, it's better open. Besides you should anyway wake up, it's time to do some job."

Her hands went stiff and were clamping the window handle tight as her knuckles turned white. She knew that voice very well, having to endure it for 7 years of her teenaged life. She knew all too well if he was here then by no means at least today she would have a normal day. She spoke in blank tone, "No one ever said you were welcome here."

"Well, Good morning to you too Miss Greengrass." He said in sarcastic respect.

"Malfoy, how come you invade my privacy today?" she turned and glared at the blond ponce who was sitting on a recliner in front of her four posters and calmly enjoying one of her apples.

"I see why he left that Red Haired Freckles in your favor so easily." He said while his eyes drifted all over the skin that was visible and specially curves. She was wearing her simple night dress which comprised of her under garments with a thin silk sleeveless T-shirt which hardly reached her mid thighs and did a great job at accentuating her chest size as much her bra allowed.

"Is it a compliment or an epitome of your lust?" she smirked, "Enjoy a forbidden fruit, is that all you came for?"

"Please don't blame me for some silly teenaged hormones of five years ago. I got a lot many Veelas to satisfy my needs. I'm above such meager needs of a common man now, but I can bow a little if you are so desperate." He smiled through his next bite.

Daphne inched constantly to the pillows of her bed in hopes of getting near to her wand hidden there.

"You really shouldn't bother about your wand and rather wear something warm, not that complaining my view but I can't afford you to fall ill today." He said while taking out a willow wood 9 inches and dragon heart string wand and placing it on the small table in front him besides the fruit basket.

She knew she was now at receiving end of whatever he threw at her next and she had to follow him whether she willed or not. She cursed herself for slacking her defenses and losing her wand so easily, 'Damn it, after all exclusive lessons that dunderhead of all people gave me on staying alert I still lost it in my sleep, and not to mention this guy of all people breached my security wards so easily all the way to my room. I have really become blunt over the years.' She went to the smaller wardrobe and took out a crimson coloured night gown and donned it. She patiently waited for him to finish whatever he was here for as fast as he could. She also checked her occlumency shields for any breaches and was satisfied with the results.

"Ah… lets get straight to point." He took the wand from the table and vanished what was left of the apple and placed the wand back. "As you know the war has dealt a big blow to magical community especially to the pureblood society. As of now many of the pureblood families have either gone extinct or are on verge of it. Including ours Greengrass, we are fairly outnumbered by half-bloods, filthy blood traitors and mudbloods." He spat last part in disgust. "We purebloods.."

Daphne cut in, "You mean, you and your little group of 'Death Eaters' by 'we purebloods', right Draco?" she air quoted twice.

Draco Malfoy was never famous for patience, nor was he cut out for that, but today things were in his hands, so a little tolerance wouldn't harm him. He continued as if uninterrupted, "We purebloods" he glared at a smirking Daphne, "have decided take certain things in our hands. Some of the purebloods who were baselessly arrested in that battle are to be bailed out. And most importantly some of the major families were made to forfeit their entire heirlooms and ancestral artifacts and other riches and funds to the ministry on the accounts of the repair funds to be used in battle aftermath. This is an obnoxious act, treason to us purebloods who are the rightful heirs through family connections. And most definitely we can't afford to lose some of the major strong pureblood by letting them rot in a prison cell. Our magical community thrives on their magic and elegance. We do need some of their guidance for future…"

"Whoa hold on there. Exactly whose guidance are you seeking for, deranged killing machines or psychotic criminals." She sneered at him.

"Interrupting your betters Greengrass, haven't your parents taught you etiquettes of our society. Oh I forgot you don't' have any to refer to." He jeered at her.

This time he was successful to get past her aloofness as she was infuriated at his mockery of her parents. No one had ever crossed her with any such statement since her sixth year after she made it clear what were they risking for even thinking like this. She controlled her anger as she couldn't do anything to him with her wand not in her hand. She smirked again, "You never change Malfoy, still chanting your father's name to get your bidding done. And you of all people is talking about betters!"

"Smile as much as you want Greengrass, we will see how long you can smile." He smirked.

"Get to point Malfoy. Why you came here? And do mention how you came here so that I avoid such minor accidents next time." Her aloof cold eyes bore straight into his.

"Oh, well I got a job for you." He paused.

"And…" she raised an elegant eyebrow.

"You work as a solicitor and advisor in the International Magical Office of Law and the jurisdiction section of DMLE. So you are perfect for our cause. We want you to obtain some classified files and information on some prisoners of Azkaban. And then we would want you fight some of our cases in front of wizangamot. We rely on you and your efforts to regain some of our rights back. Also I want ledgers of some Most Ancient and Noble families which are no longer alive or have been forfeited to the ministry by nefarious means. I hope you know that ministry always keeps a backup references for all Noble families. And don't worry you will be paid satisfactorily for your work." He stated in a business tone.

"Draco… Draco… Draco, did you honestly thought I would even think about gifting you a knut for your birthday let alone do your dirty jobs." She sighed heavily as if talking to a 5 year old, "Well let me tell you clearly this final time I . DON'T . EVER . WANT . TO . DEAL . WITH . YOU . EVEN . FOR . MILLIONS . OF . GALLEONS . Do you understand?" she punctuated every word, "I think its time for you to leave, as I've some important business to handle today." She gestured to the doors.

"I thought you would say something like this. Any way I presume this belongs to your family." He took out a bracelet and placed it on the table.

Daphne's eyes went wide as she knew whose bracelet was it. The bracelet was made of gold. It was shaped like a snake that was swallowing its tail. The eyes of the snake were made of diamonds, which were charmed to tell the mood of its owner. And also tell whether they were alive or dead or in mortal peril. There was a small carving on head of the snake, a rose which is in full bloom and a dagger emerging from within the bloom. It was the Greengrass family crest. On body of snake, Daphne could clearly read the name of owner the bracelet 'Astoria Greengrass'. Since it was magically carved on it so only a Greengrass by blood could read the name carved on it and change of colour in the diamonds, so it was no doubt the bracelet was original. The diamonds were light grey which means she was in mortal peril and most probably semiconscious. She was enraged and was cursing herself to even let this happen. A spasm of fear flitted across her face then settled on contortion, she definitely didn't like where this was heading, "Where is she?" she whispered menacingly just above the wind.

"Good to see we are back on same boat." He smiled his charming smile which did nothing but infuriate her further. "Now let's deal. You do our job and we release your dear sister and I hope nothing more is needed to be said."

Daphne simply glared at him but didn't interrupt.

"Good, here is the list of files and ledgers of some Ancient and Noble families that we require. List of those inmates of Azkaban on which we require the classified information. And the list of some other classified files that you will get for us." He placed 3 folders on the table.

"Oh and please don't try to do something you will regret, which includes contacting any Auror. Here, this a two way mirror. Contact me and I will tell where to meet me after you get the files and documents for further tasks. You have got '12 Hours' to get these files to us. Right now it is 8:10 A.M. I expect you by 8:10 P.M. Good Luck. Remember 12 hours." He got up, nodded his head once, brought out a Galleon and vanished leaving the wand, the bracelet and 3 folders behind.

The moment he had vanished Daphne lost her composure and sat on the bed heavily. Just within a span of mere 10 minutes her life had gone from usual calm and composite to flushed down the gutter. It was not even morning properly and she already got an insane task served to her in a golden plate. She blankly stared where Draco had just vanished. Her blank expressions changed to rage and disgust, her wide eyes were now blood shot from anger. "That bastard how dare he threaten me and my family, my little sister just like that. How dare he think I will simply follow what he says? Ughh… how could I simply let her get kidnapped." She had always dreaded how she will take care of her sister after her parents died, she had promise her mother that she will save her sister from harm at her life's cost. So accepting this task was not an option but her only way to save her sister. She eyed the cursed envelops. She hesitantly got up and crossed the room and slowly extended her hand uncertain about what would she find. She stopped, steeled her mind and picked the 3rd one and glanced at the list. Her eyes went wide and she paled considerably, 'Scratch insane task, this is bloody suicide. These files are in Minister's office.' Her legs went numb and jelly like, the list slipped to the ground. Only one thought ran through her mind, 'remember 12 hours'. She looked at wall clock and saw that she had already lost 5 minutes.

The long forgotten windows remained open.

A/N: The chapter ends.

A/N: I will try my best to make this a weekly update. This story will have 12 chapters, each for every hour.

A/N: I will post chapter 7 of my story 'THE BOND' by tomorrow.

SO PLEASE READ, ENJOY AND REVIEW. THANKS.