Chapter I

Late

I had thrown on a pair of trousers and button-up shirt, hurriedly cramming my Ministry of Magic-issued Auror robe in my pocket after placing an extendable charm. Hopping from one foot to the other as I pulled my socks and shoes on my feet whilst still making my trek to the door of my flat.

I rarely overslept.

I dashed down the stairs and out the front entry that spilled onto the sidewalk of a busy London street filled with muggles. I should have skipped out of getting a coffee since I was already running late, but I had become addicted to caffeine. Even though the majority of my family drank tea, I preferred coffee. It gave you more of a jolt in the early morning when you needed it. I couldn't skip out on my daily dose of java.

The bell chimed as I entered to find a queue that was, at least, ten people deep. I should have turned and headed into the alley that I usually apparated into work from, but I chose to wait. Plus the line seemed to be moving along. I was only in line for several minutes before the Barista manning the cash register was asking me what she could ring me up for. I ordered my usual with an extra shot of espresso, then I watched as she butchered my name on the plastic cup that was handed off to another Barista to prepare.

But then I realized that I had forgotten the wallet I kept muggle money in. All I had on me were the odd galleons, knuts, and sickles that jangled in my pockets. It appeared I had waited all that time for nothing. My dad was going to come down on me with quite the lecture. One thing about Dad being the Head Auror meant that he automatically was harder on me than the other Aurors. He didn't want it to seem like he was favouriting me because I was his son. I was held to a higher standard.

"Sorry," I told the Barista. "I forgot my wallet."

I was turning to leave when a young man with light brown hair stepped forward and said he'd cover my order. I thanked him, to which he shrugged like he did this sort of thing all the time. We stood quietly as we waited for our drinks to be ready.

"Alby…s," another Barista called as he squinted at the cup filled with my coffee.

I felt my ears warm as I took the cup. "It's actually Albus."

"That's quite the name," the young man who'd bought my cup commented.

"You don't even know the half of it."

I was used to people looking at me funny when they learned my name. I had grown up with it, but it had been a bit of a sore subject when I was younger. Why couldn't my parents had named me something normal, like James and Lily had been so lucky. But no, our parents had chosen to christen me Albus Severus after two of the bravest headmasters that Hogwarts had ever had. It was a mouthful. Not to mention it stood out when I ventured into muggle establishments.

Then the young man was reaching for his own coffee. "I'm Evan." He held his hand out, and I shook it,

"Well, enjoy your cuppa."

"Thanks again," I said. "I'll have to buy a cup for you another time."

"Don't worry about it," Evan said, shrugging.

Then we were out the chiming door and heading in separate directions. I glanced around to ensure no one was watching as I slipped into the narrow alley, then turned on the spot. I apparated straight into the busy atrium of the MoM and rode the lifts to the Magical Law Enforcement floor where the Auror Headquarters were located. I put my wrinkled Auror robe on as I entered HQ.

"Albus, a word."

I didn't even have to look before I knew that it was Dad who had called as I had been passing his office. I groaned as I turned and headed into the spacious room with an enchanted window that was showing a downpour of rain and several bolts of lightning with booming thunder; the weather charmers must be trying for another raise. I sat in the chair across from Dad, the desk serving as the only thing that stood as a barrier between us.

"I don't tolerate tardiness," Harry said. "As you're well aware. What was the hold up this morning?"

"I overslept, Dad. It won't happen again."

"You'll have to make up the time you've missed by staying late."

"I know," I said. "You know I'm usually on time."

"But it still doesn't look good if my own son comes in late, no matter the rarity."

"It won't happen again, I promise."

"You weren't out late, were you?"

"Hardly," I said. "I grabbed some dinner from the Leaky and was back at my flat by half of nine."

I had been woken up at one from my flatmate and cousin, Rose, stumbling down the hall into her bedroom, giggling with her beau. It was always harder for me to get back to sleep after waking up, no matter how tired I was. It made no sense why Rose always brought Scorpius to our flat when he didn't have any flatmates. I was close to moving out. I made enough to live on my own, but Rose didn't. Rose could move in with Scorpius since they rarely ever slept apart, though. I was constantly finding Scorpius's things scattered throughout the flat. It made it more clear just how perpetually single I was compared to everyone else my age.

It was harder for me. There were more straight people than gay, and people didn't exactly broadcast their sexual orientation. Wizards were less open about being gay than muggles. Yet another thing that kept the wizarding world from catching up to the modernness of its muggle counterpart. Then add in the fact that I still hadn't came out to anyone in my family.

"…dropped a couple new cases on your desk," Harry was saying. I wondered how much I had missed. I figured if I nodded it would look like I had heard every word. "You're working with Beasley, as usual."

Quentin Beasley was my partner. He had been in my training class and we had both graduated at the top of the class. We also made a great team.

I nodded to show that I had heard and understood.

A few minutes later and I was sitting in my cubicle pouring over one of the cases when Quentin popped in, plopping in the spare chair that was mostly filled by him when we were working on cases together.

"Wotcher, Albus," Quentin said. "I came by first thing and you weren't in yet."

"I overslept."

"Rose and Scorpius crashing in late again?"

"Affirmative," I said. "I still don't get why Rose doesn't just crash at his, especially since they'd have the whole place to themselves."

"Scared of commitment?"

"No clue."

"Anyway, which case are you reading over?"

"The misconduct one."

"Stupid that is," Quentin said. "How come we always get the disorderly conduct cases?"

"Because they're the easiest and we have to start somewhere."

"But we've been busting your arses for a few years now," Quentin said. "We should be getting bigger cases. You should say something to your Dad."

"You know Dad doesn't like to show favouritism."

"But I'm tired of getting stuck with all of these disorderly cases."

"Better than no cases."

"True," Quentin said. "We could be like those sods Naught and O'Reilly. How they ever managed to pass training is beyond me."

I glanced over my shoulder at the doorless entry. It was hard not to be overheard by the other Aurors walking by.

"I doubt they heard me, probably snoozing."

"Watch it," I warned.

The worst part about misconduct cases was having to stand guard at the scene for at least a week after an incident had occurred to ensure no more disturbances happened. One of the cases had been a fight that had broken out at the Pixies and Stardust nightclub in Diagon Alley. That meant that Quentin and I would have to patrol both front and side entries into the club every night this week to ensure there weren't any repeats. Misconduct offenders were cited and then released. Repeat offenders would spend a couple days to a week in the holding cells on the bottom floor where the Wizengamot courtrooms were located; we tried to avoid sending witches and wizards to Azkaban unless they had committed a serious crime.

I took a sip from my coffee, which made me think more of the muggle that had paid for it. He had been attractive, but I doubted I'd ever see him again. Then there was an even slimmer chance that the muggle was actually gay. It was so hard to tell, especially since I didn't go about flaunting my sexuality.

"I suppose we'll be stuck on night patrol for the rest of the week," Quentin said. "I'll have to cancel the date I set for tonight with that one witch I was telling you about a couple days ago. Shame, too, since she had hinted that this date might lead us back to hers. It's been months since I've had a shag."

I half listened to Quentin as I scanned through more details. Apparently the offenders had streaked naked after getting wasted at Pixies and Stardust. Lovely. They had been cited for indecent exposure, as well as muggle violence when a couple of them had ended up in a rowdy tussle. All of them male and in their early twenties.

I tended to tune out my friends when they discussed their romantic entanglements. Hearing about their woes of dating made me feel inadequate; like I would be forever hopeless in ever finding someone. Even if it were just a spontaneous fling that was over before it even lifted off the ground.

Eventually Quentin went back to his cubicle. Most of the experienced Aurors despised paperwork, thus passing it on to us rookies. We still got to do field work when needed, but most of what we did in the first few years was paperwork that no one else wanted. It was called paying your dues.

I ended up working through lunch to plow through the paperwork that seemed to be stacking up on my desk at a faster rate than I could fill in, quill scratching furiously over the rough, yellowed parchment. One of the few perks of working for your dad was that he realised when you hadn't left for lunch. A little over an hour after my allotted lunch slot and Dad was placing a bag of lunch in the only empty space on my desk's surface.

"I thought you might be hungry so I picked you up a turkey burger while I was at Fortescue's."

"Thanks, Dad," I said, not wasting any time before ripping into the bag. My stomach had been growling; I had forgotten breakfast in my rush.

"Are you planning on coming to dinner on Friday?"

"I was, but I may still be on night patrol at Pixies and Stardust," I said, gritting my teeth to get past my annoyance. "Are James and Lily going to be there?"

"Yes, and Teddy and Victoire are bringing the kids."

Teddy and Victoire had the coolest kids. I was bummed that I may miss out on an opportunity to visit with the Lupins. Those kids were a crazy bunch. Remus was five, almost six, and the twins, Nymphadora and William, were in their terrible twos.

"You could pop over before your patrol," Harry said. "Your mom is going to have dinner ready by five."

"I'll swing by."

The rest of the afternoon went by fast and before long I was leaving the office half an hour later than I normally do to make up for being late. I grabbed a quick dinner at the Leaky Cauldron and ended up running into Rose and Scorpius. We winded up sharing a table, though I definitely felt more like a third wheel. I shouldn't have since Scorpius had been my best mate throughout all of our Hogwarts years since we had shared a dormitory. I had been the only one in my family to be sorted into Slytherin, but none of my cousins had disowned me for it. Sure, James had teased me continuously for it, but it was all in good humour. But anymore if I saw either Rose or Scorpius, the other was always present. I could never catch up with just one of them at a time.

Scorpius was actually the only person I had ever came out to. I came out to him at the end of our sixth year. So far he hadn't told a soul about my being gay. I had been having a hard time my sixth year with coming to terms with my sexuality since I had been having sexual fantasies about a Hufflepuff in our year. It had gotten to the point where I couldn't concentrate in any lesson I had with him. I had known that I had no chance since the guy in question was dating my cousin Roxanne. I hadn't heard anything about him since I had graduated Hogwarts. Honestly, I had went out of my way of submerging myself in the Auror Training Program to distract my thoughts. But I still, to this day, would find my thoughts drifting to that particular wizard; you never forgot your first crush.

Scorpius had helped me extricate those daydreams from my mind. But I hadn't been able to confide in him about my frustrations with being single and gay since he had started dating Rose several months ago.

"Working on any interesting cases, Albus?" Rose asked, for lack of anything else to talk about.

"No," I said. "Just misconduct cases. I'm night patrolling with Beasley outside of Pixies and Stardust all this week."

"Rough," Scorpius said. "So no exciting field work?"

"Not since that rogue werewolf went on a turning rampage a couple years back," I said. "I suppose it's good that there's a lack of horrific things so big that they need to let the rookies in on the case. It's just dull at work when the majority of your day is spent filling in paperwork, followed by patrolling outside one of Diagon Alley's nightclubs."

"Your Dad can't pass some of the better cases down to you?"

"He could, but he doesn't since that might be misconstrued as nepotism."

"But you and Beasley finished at the top of your training class a few years ago," Rose said. "Surely you've both paid enough due to earn yourselves a real case."

"I'm sure it's coming soon," I said. "I can tell Dad is ready to start handing us some of the bigger cases. He seems impressed each time we turn in a final report, and he usually sticks us together on cases instead of shuffling us around, unlike the other rookies."

"You'll move up the ranks in no time," Scorpius said. "You've just got to hang in there."

Then the conversation dwindled down to just Rose and Scorpius talking to each other, thus making me feel left out. I bowed out soon after the topic changed to go meet up with Beasley for our patrol. I hoped that night would bring some entertainment in the form of silly drunks acting like fools that we could laugh at to make the time pass quickly.