I've seen this one before, the girl she gets away
Everybody knows it but no one tries to stop it
Cause she barely even knows him but if she could see inside
Everything is quiet as she waits to tell him who she is

Absolute—The Fray

That bastard is going to pay.

He is going to pay for taunting and torturing him. He is going to pay for the pain he caused and the time he had lost. He is going to pay in the worst way possible—only what would cause him so much pain that he would no longer wish to live? What would make him feel the kind of pain he had felt?

The wife, he thought at first. I'll get to him through the wife. But then, he had done his research. The wife was too difficult, she had, after all, survived the wrath of the Dark Lord himself. The son was safely protected behind the spells and incantations of Hogwarts, untouchable. The daughter, it must be then.

A lucky strike, he thought, women are his specialty. There's nothing like the scent of a woman, the softness of her body as she molds into him, her shrieks at his touch, her response to him. Yes, women are his favourite.

Some liked to kill with a wand. They are the lazy ones, he thinks. He liked to kill with his own bare hands. He liked to put his hands around their soft, pale necks and feel the blood pulse as he slowly drained the life from their bodies. He liked to feel their kicks of restraint, watch their eyes for the feeling of hopelessness they got when they finally realised they could no longer breathe, that there would be no chance for an escape.

It is such a beautiful moment. That's when they looked the most beautiful, when they resign themselves to the fate in his hands. When they finally stop struggling and gasp for their last breath. When his feeling of power and domination was at its highest, that is his favourite moment.

So, the daughter. She would be the one.

It wouldn't be difficult. They probably wouldn't even see him coming. They hadn't caught him the other times—he was too stealthy, too clean to get caught. The only witnesses to his crimes were dead. He had been caught once, though, of course, a careless mistake made by a rookie, but he was smarter now.

He wouldn't get caught for the more dangerous crimes he had committed. Petty theft had been the end of him just a year and a half ago and yet he had the power to escape. He got away, and he thrived in the world.

Maybe he would do a few more, just for practice. She should be his best yet, he should make no mistakes with her.

Rose, what a pretty name for a pretty woman. His little flower. And white roses are the symbol of purity. Surely she would be pure with such a protective father. The thought made him twitch in excitement. Of course, she would be pure, untarnished. He felt a swelling of want in his abdomen. And she would be his. All his.

I made my way into my office without dropping anything, something that was quite a miracle to begin with. My briefcase was overflowing with rolls of parchment, my tea cup was teetering dangerously in my hand, and the quill in my mouth was threatening to drop straight into my teacup.

Monday mornings are always the worst. The relaxed feeling that I get from the weekend totally evaporates and the pile of parchment on my desk seems entirely too daunting.

"Weasley! Why is it that I currently do not have an intern?" Carlos Masen screamed at me, throwing the door open to my office.

There goes any hope for a peaceful Monday morning.

Carlos is very good at what he does (Communications for the Department International of Magic Cooperation) he speaks several languages fluently and can swear sufficiently in all of them, he seems to have a knack for charming all the women too, and apparently he once made the South African Ambassador laugh so hard pumpkin juice came out of his nose. And he's also very attractive. Blond hair, green eyes, toned abs, the whole package. He just happens to know that.

"Probably because you fired the last one." I quipped, setting my briefcase down and ignoring the fact that Masen couldn't even wait for me to be settled before barging in and yelling at me for something that is totally out of my control.

"That's because that idiot had no idea what he was doing! Why do you give me all the idiot men who don't know what they're doing? I told you that I prefer girl interns!"

I sighed heavily and rub my temple at his loud screams. Carlos has yet to grasp the concept of speaking in low volumes.

"Well, the last girl intern you had filed a sexual harassment complaint and quit, so Nott told me to stick the males with you."

"Well that's…that's…." Carlos spluttered his face flushing as he tries to figure out just what his predicament is.

"Completely justified, Masen." My boss, Theodore Nott, walked up just in time to hear Carlos's complaints.

Nott is a very fair boss, for which I'm very grateful. I know that fair bosses are really hard to come by, but Nott seems to have a natural born kind of justice sense. No one ever even dares to cross him, not because we're scared of him but because we respect him and his opinions. He's just one of those people who screams 'voice of reason' and in all circumstances of dispute, we turn to him to lead us. There's no one else I would rather work under.

"But…sir!"

"No buts, Masen. We'll get you a new intern in due time. For now you'll have to fetch your own tea." Nott says in an end-of-discussion tone.

"Yes, sir." Carlos ducked his head, glaring at me for only Merlin knows why as he exits my office.

Finally. I took a sip of tea and tried to decompress from the stressful morning. I had only been in the office for half an hour and already I wished it was Sunday again so I could go back to my reading and peaceful Sunday morning.

"Oh and Weasley?" Nott said, catching my attention again. "Good job on the proposal for the International Peace Talks. I daresay it will catch the attention of some countries!" He smiled kindly at me.

"Thank you sir!" I practically beamed at him.

I worked really hard on that proposal. I'm thrilled. Perhaps I'll be able to finally start working on my own instead of editing everybody else's propositions and letters. That's what I do now, as undersecretary to the undersecretary (the official term is junior undersecretary) to the Head of the Department of International Magic Cooperation.

Nott left my office in the same way he came, quietly and I turned back to the multitude of letters on my desk, grabbing my pot of red ink and beginning to settle in for a day of editing. I love my job. It took me a really long time to get here. To begin with, I took a gap year, travelling around Europe and doing fun things and meeting interesting people.

Then I had bumbled around, sometimes helping my mum out, sometimes helping my dad out, sometimes working at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and eventually landed myself as the secretary under the Marketing Director of the Department of International Magic Cooperation. It seemed to be a lucky thing—a coincidence of fate that I should already be so interested in foreign countries and then I found myself working for the Ministry with the possibility of having a job that would entail doing almost exactly what I did during my gap year.

And now at the ripe old age of twenty four and I can finally say that I have found my passion. It just took a lot longer than my sixteen year old self had thought.

Dad and Mum had been thrilled when I finally told them I found this job. I don't know what they thought was going to become of me but I don't think they had envisioned this.

I had just organised my desk and felt ready to take on the day when my door burst open again, much to my chagrin.

"Weasley, your boyfriend's stupid arse owl missed your desk again." Carlos said bitterly as he threw a bouquet of flowers on my desk.

The flowers are beautiful: orange and pink daisies, one of my favorite flowers. I lifted them to my nose and inhaled the beautiful smell. I saw the note from Wes and sighed lightly, he's a keeper, that one.

Hello Love,

Happy three month anniversary!

I'll pick you up at your flat tonight at 7. Be ready and wear something the nice.

Love,

Wes

I giggled and smelled the flowers again.

Wes, my boyfriend of three months, does these romantic gestures that make me feel like a princess or something just a deserving. He's got this knack for being romantic, something that my past boyfriends have all sadly lacked. None of them would have ever, ever, in a million years remembered our three month anniversary, let alone take me out to someplace nice for it. But this is just one of the reasons that I like Wes. He's kind and has a good memory like that. He makes me feel like I'm not the only one in the relationship.

My parents are a bit cautious though, because he's thirty, almost six years older than me. But trust me when I say that no other twenty four year old is looking to settle down. All the boys are just looking for a good time, and personally I'm glad that I've found someone who finally looks like husband material. Or, at least he could be.

I fingered the petals on the daises, admiring the bright colours as I contemplate for just a few minutes longer the difference between Wes and all the other boys. Despite my family's reservations I can't help but think that this could go long-term. Unless of course, something drastic were to happen that would change that, but nothing like that can even come to mind right now.

I pushed back from the desk and hurried over to my briefcase near the wastebasket and dug around in there for my planner to write down the date, but I couldn't find it anywhere. I started to panic and dragged the briefcase to my desk, emptying all of the contents out on the table, but still not finding it anywhere.

Had I left it at home?

I went through my morning routine and I was certain that I had put it in there…but perhaps I hadn't. Maybe it was somewhere else.

I promised myself that I would look again at home, but resign myself to writing a To Do List here, on a spare piece of parchment because writing things down always helps me remember them better.

To Do

-Edit Joana's proposition for the new Universal Dialogue for Teen Witches and Wizards Conference

- Assign new intern to Masen because he fired the other one

-Make sure that we have butterballs for the Ecuadorian Prime Minister who is coming into town on Thursday

-Date with Wes tonight at 7.

-Look for planner

I sighed and sat back down to my desk and settled in for a long day of editing.

He watched her from a safe place, enjoying the look of panic on her face as she searched for the little black notebook he had in his hands. He felt the thrill of the chase fill him and the excitement rushed through his veins like alcohol through an alcoholics'.

Surely he would have to practice on others before it was her turn. She deserved only the best. With her beauty and her fire, she would present a challenge. But he like challenges, they made his heart beat faster in anticipation.

But for now he would just wait. He would watch her and learn about her and take his fill of her.

He would torture her like her father had tortured him.

And her father would pay dearly, like he had paid every day that he was behind bars.

And she would be his. All his.

A/N: All right, so, this story has undergone some editing as anyone who has read this story before will soon see (I hope). Actually, it has totally changed completely. So here's hoping you all think that the change is for the better (though I certainly do!). Anyway, this story will be undergoing major editing and then continue to be published on a fairly regular basis within the next five months or so, hopefully being finished soon (hopefully by May of 2012, if not sooner than that!).

So, please let me know your thoughts. I'm very excited because this is a different style than I've written before and it's always great to hear feedback and constructive criticism.

Let me know what you think (please),

~wwccd