* Welcome to yet another convoluted scenario designed for the sole purpose of getting Harry and Draco to hook up. lol Six years after the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry is an Auror assigned to go undercover to capture a murderer. The catch? Harry has to use himself as bait through a gay dating service. It seems like a good plan until Harry starts to fall for one of the men he's supposed to be investigating. Is he falling for the murderer or the next victim? MxM Drarry

"Harry, can you come into my office?" Kingsley Shacklebolt's voice sounded through Harry's new portable floo.

Portable floos had recently become the latest rage in the wizarding world. A device, looking very much like a watch, projected a miniature version of the green-flamed network anywhere a wizard went within the confines of the protected wizarding world. Unlike the original network, only voices came through the system. But it sure was a hell of a lot faster than owling.

"On my way Kingsley."

Harry made his way down the hall and upstairs to the Minister of Magic's had taken years for the wizarding world to heal and rebuild after the war. Many of the Death Eaters had been either imprisoned or killed. A few were pardoned, as in the case of Draco Malfoy and his mother. Hogwarts and Diagon Alley had been restored to fully functional and thriving. And no longer did anyone worry about a Dark Lord taking over.

But that didn't mean things were perfect. Wizard turned on wizard, as often happened without a common goal to unite them. There was still a need for Aurors and the Ministry court system. At twenty-four, Harry had been part of that system for the past several years.

"Have a seat, Harry," Kingsley smiled. "I assume you've heard about the string of burglaries and murders."

"Yes sir."

"Head Auror Jasper brought to my attention that a connection between the victims has been discovered."

"I didn't know. I'm not assigned to that case."

"You are now."

"But, I'm in the middle of–

"Auror Wick is going to take over your case. She'll work with Auror Weasley for the time being."

"Why? Why me?" Harry questioned.

"Because you're single."

"There are plenty of single Aurors, Kingsley."

"Not gay ones."

Harry paled. How did Kingsley find out? Did other people know? Harry thought he'd been subtle. He thought Ron and Hermione were the only ones who knew.

"Relax Harry. I'm not judging you. I need you on this case because being gay and single gives you an advantage the other Aurors don't have."

"How did you find out? About me, I mean."

"Quite by accident, really. I saw you at a Muggle club last year. I thought about approaching you, just to say hello. But a man handed you a drink. The two of you were rather cozy. I didn't want to spoil your fun, or cramp your style, so I left."

Blushing, harry asked, "You go to Muggle clubs?"

"I was meeting a snitch. He left quickly after giving me his information and I decided to stay and have a drink. I'm a single man myself. Although, my interests lie with women."

"Oh."

"Like I said Harry, I'm not judging you. Let me explain. The connection between the victims in this case is a dating service. All sorts of new businesses have cropped up since the invention of the portable floo. This dating service is somewhat modeled after Muggle dating sites on their internet."

Harry smiled. "It sounds like Arthur Weasley has been keeping you up the Muggle world."

"Yes," Shacklebolt smiled back. "Anyway, all of the victims are– were members of this service. All had similar profiles. We have reason to believe these are hate crimes. All the victims were gay men."

"Forgive me, Kingsley, I'm not sure how I can help in this case any more than another Auror. Isn't it a matter of investigating the rest of the members?"

"Well, that's the problem. It's an anonymous service. Members pay a one time fee to get access to the private portable floo network and spells to conjure profiles. Members don't use their real names. If they choose to meet other members, the service itself doesn't have anything to do with it. It only provides contact information. The hook-up is up to individual members."

Harry sighed. He could see where this was going. "You want me to join the service and troll for the perp?"

Laughing, Kingsley replied, "Yes, I suppose I do. This would be strictly undercover. You'll use a pseudonym and a profile designed to lure the suspect out. Do Weasley and Granger, er, I mean Weasley, know about your . . ."

"That I'm gay? Yes. They're the only ones I've told."

"Good. I want you to keep them apprised of your movements in the case. The other Aurors won't know of your involvement." Kingsley leaned forward. "It's against Ministry LGBT regulations for me to reveal that you're gay. However, if you choose to out yourself you'll have my full support.

"Thank you sir." Harry sighed. "But I don't think I'm quite ready for that. I'd like to keep my private life as private as possible. There is already still too much interest in my business. I'll be sure to keep Ron and Hermione in the loop." He paused. "What happens when I need back up?"

"You'll have it. It might come out that you were undercover in the case, but no one has to know why, exactly, I chose you. Unless you choose to make your preference public."

Harry frowned. "It's not a preference. I didn't make a conscious choice."

Kingsley put his hands up. "I'm required to use the language of the law. It's a tricky subject for a lot of people. LGBT groups are trying to make sure there aren't prejudices in the work place. I'm required to remind you that coming out is your choice and that I will not consciously, or otherwise, divulge your private life. Same as anyone else here. Let me assure you Harry, this information in no way affects my perception of you or how well you do your job."

"I appreciate all of that sir. But, there are Aurors with much more undercover experience than me."

"True," Kingsley conceded. "I tried to plant Auror Davis into the service. It became obvious that he was not only uncomfortable interacting and trying to seduce other young men, he didn't know the culture. He didn't know the slang that went along with it, and he was called out by several members. I need someone who knows what he's getting himself into and can handle the situation."

Harry chuckled. Auror Davis, while a ladies man and a big flirt for certain, was actually somewhat of homophobe. It tickled Harry to think that he had to pretend to be gay.

"You're right sir. This assignment will be much easier for me than Auror Davis. When do I start?"

"Right away. An account has already been set up for you." Kingsley slid a parchment forward along the desk. "Here's the access information."

Harry read the parchment in front of him and quirked an eyebrow.

"Snake Charmer?"

"Believe me, that's mild compared to most."

"I'm supposed to be a Pureblood. Hints of money, but nothing blatant. Hobbies, likes, dislikes. This is nothing I can't handle." Harry laughed. "I actually do enjoy flying and reading. Don't tell Hermione that."

Kingsley laughed too. "Speaking of Hermione, I suggest you recruit her for helping you learn a bit about Pureblood traditions, if it comes up."

Harry nodded.

"The victims have all been wealthy Purebloods. I'll leave it to you to fill in the rest of Snake Charmer's personality. I'll expect regular reports on your progress."

"Yes sir. I won't let you down."

"I know you won't. You never have."

oOo

"Blimey, it figures. Only Harry would get assigned to dating," Ron grumbled.

"Ron, what are you complaining about? You're married. And besides, I'm not actually dating. It's more like reconnaissance. I'm trying to ferret out a murderer."

Hermione, still fuming at Ron, addressed Harry instead. "Shacklebolt seems to have handled the situation delicately. And he wants me to help you on research?" Her eyes lit up.

"Yeah, about Purebloods specifically."

The three of them perused the information provided by the conjuring spell accessed through Harry's portable floo. Viewing the profiles of the victims. They could see the similarities. There were several wizards in the service who had made contact with all five victims.

"So, the goal is for my profile to attract the perpetrator. He'll contact me, try to get me to take him home, then kill me." Harry laughed. "Or, he can try."

"If you know who has a connection with all the victims, why don't you just contact him?"

"I think it would be a waste of time to contact all the profiles who have interacted with all of the victims. There are too many. I'm going to wait to see who propositions me first. If I have to, I will contact everyone."

Harry's portable floo dinged. "I think I got a hit."

The friends leaned in to read the message appearing in the miniature green flames.

Snake Charmer

My name is, ironically, Ophidian. A match made in heaven, if there ever was one. I was beginning to get bored with this service until I read your profile. If you're interested after reading my profile, please contact me. Consider me charmed.

"Look, it went automatically to his profile," Ron said. "Is he one of the blokes that hooked up with the victims?"

Harry scanned his list of possible suspects.

"Yeah."

"Wow, on the first try," Ron patted him on the shoulder.

"Ron, that doesn't mean he's the one. There are nearly twenty fellows on this list."

"Still, it's a lead," said Ron. "Are you going to contact him?"

"I suppose I should. But he could also be a potential victim. He's got several markers in common with them."

"What are we looking for?" asked Hermione.

"All of the vics have been Purebloods, wealthy, have expensive hobbies, and most of them are openly gay. One victim's family had no idea he was gay and in this service."

"Merlin, is that the time?" Hermione gasped suddenly. "Ron, we're supposed to meet my parents in half an hour for dinner."

"But, we need to help Harry with the case."

"I'm fine Ron," Harry rolled his eyes. "You're not getting out of going to dinner with the Grangers that easily."

"All right," he grumbled. "Well, let us know if anything else comes up."

Harry was actually grateful that Hermione dragged Ron off. He wanted to go through the profiles and make notes, trying to determine a motive for the murders. Their houses were robbed, but little seemed to be taken. Harry considered it almost inconsequential. He figured the murderer was attempting to make it seem as though robbery was the main motive. But Harry wasn't buying it.

Something made Harry think there was more going on. While he was making his way through members who were either potential victims or potential suspects, two more notifications came through his portable. One seemed to have nothing in common with the victims, the other had only contacted three of them. He checked them out anyway, and made notes. His mind, however, kept wandering back to the first message.

The more Harry read, the more interested he became in this man. He seemed well read, not that it was particularly important to Harry. But he wanted someone of relative intelligence. The party boys he'd been hooking up with never had much to talk about besides sex and drugs.

Truth be told, what Harry really wanted was lazy Sunday afternoons cuddled on a sofa in front of a fire with someone special. They could be reading or listening to music, or simply talking about their hobbies.

He sighed. Who but a Muggle would see anything other than the Chosen One, hero of the wizarding world?

He would have liked to meet the man whose profile he was still perusing. Ophidian. The name was unusual. And sensual sounding.

"No," he berated himself. "This is for a case, not my personal life."

Another ding sounded. Followed quickly by another. Two more messages of interest. As he opened and read the messages, he couldn't help compare them to the first. They were not nearly as charming or provocative. But, because this was a case, and not his personal life, Harry viewed the profiles. The first seemed like just another boy toy partier. The second fit in a little better with the victims profiles, and he'd contacted all of them.

He made some notes on a parchment, keeping track of who sent him and the victims contact information. As he was about to sever the connection, Harry changed his mind.

"Oh, fuck it," he muttered to himself, and sent a reply to Ophidian. "I can always say it was part of the investigation."