NG: The Department of Mysteries

Chapter 1

Favors

Scorpius looked at his finally complete wall of cards. He had worked on it now for two straight weeks. It wasn't perfect, but it was nearly. He sighed and looked at his watch, he was waiting for his dad to get home from work to ask him for the hundredth time, if he'd talked to Mr. Potter yet. Scorpius was running out of things to occupy his time today, as he wasn't about to join the dangerous bake off happening in the kitchen with his sister's and his Mom was preoccupied packing to go visit his Aunt Daphne and Uncle Druid. His Uncle had been sick for a while now, and as his Mom was a former Healer, it just made sense for her to tend to him. That was another reason he was eager to visit Albus, it was only a matter of time before it would just be him and his sisters, as his Dad had been working nearly everyday because of issues at work.

"Scorpius," it was his Mom, leaning in the doorway, a sweet smile on her face, "Honey, I'm going to be leaving as soon as your Dad get's home."

"So, soon?" asked Scorpius, he sighed and put his tape down, "I thought you would be leaving tomorrow at least."

"No, unfortunately, your Aunt is sick now as well," said Mrs. Malfoy, she held a deeply concerned look but forced a smile, "I'm sure they'll be fine shortly after I get there, but I'm far too worried to wait. Your cousin is already staying with your Grandparents for the time being."

"So it's just going to be me and them," said Scorpius indicating to the screeching laughs of Vega and Nova.

"Well, actually your Dad and I want to talk to all of you before I go," said Mrs. Malfoy, nervously, "Now, I know you are having issue with your Grandfather, Lucius, but..."

"Please tell me, we don't have to spend the summer with him," said Scorpius, "He hasn't said a word to me since last summer."

"Your Dad's working doubles and we would like to have a home to come back too, preferably not engulfed in flames and Kelpies," said Mrs. Malfoy, sitting on Scorpius' bed, "Besides, maybe you can talk about things..."

"Why would there be a fire, with Kelpies... they are water dwellers Mom," said Scorpius, his Mom mirrored his blank face, "Fine... But when can I go to Albus' house. Do you know if Dad is talking to Mr. Potter about it yet."

"I talked to him," said Draco, coming in the doorway with a questionable looking lumpy muffin, "Love, do you know whose idea it might have been to not follow a recipe this time?"

"Let me guess, Vega," said Mrs. Malfoy, she groaned, "I will be right back... Draco don't eat that."

"No plans, too," said Draco, putting it in a potted plant in the hallway, "Don't tell your sister's I just did that. I'll dispose of it later."

"I bury them, so..." Scorpius shrugged and smiled, "So, you talked to Mr. Potter, today. Please tell me I have something to look forward too after spending the summer with Grandfather ignoring me."

"Unfortunately, no," said Draco, Scorpius sputtered.

"But why?" asked Scorpius, he was trying not to pout or be 'mellow-dramatic' as his sister had indicated from last Christmas.

"Before you have a melt down. I'd like you to know, your Grandparents were looking forward to seeing you for an extended amount of time," said Draco, calmly, Scorpius looked at his feet, "I hope you don't have this attitude when your other Grandparents come next summer."

"Well, I see them every other two years, so," Scorpius shrugged, "I'll manage, sorry."

"Anyways, Potter and I talked about it and frankly, we had trouble figuring when it would work. I will barely have any time with you, save for the first two weeks of August and the last part of August will be very busy for everyone getting ready with school," said Draco, he looked to already be regretting what he was saying as he rubbed his temples, "So, Potter suggested. That..."

"What?" asked Scorpius, trying to figure out if they could at least hang out for a single weekend.

"That you could maybe go over tomorrow," said Draco with a sigh, Scorpius grinned.

"Really?" Scorpius smiled, "For how long."

"A month, Harry?" asked Ginny as Harry had just finished explaining a very similar thing to his wife and a grinning Albus.

"Really?! This is great," beamed Albus, paretically hopping, "Scorpius get's to come over for nearly a whole month?"

"Yes, Albus," said Harry with a half smile, he shrugged at Ginny, "It was the only thing that made sense. Draco's swamped with cleaning up after Hardwire and instead of sending Scorpius to his Grandparents and then back after spending a week here, made no sense."

"So we went from two weeks, to a week, to a weekend, and now a month," said Ginny, she sighed as Albus suddenly looked concerned, "Albus, don't worry, it'll be fine. It's just going to be a little hectic, that's all. Harry, I have so many stories to cover this summer and your booked for the most part with work and teaching at the Auror Academy now..."

"Ginny, it'll be fine. I'm teaching one day a week for three hours. I'm due for some vacation if we get really swamped, and if worse comes to worse and something comes up. I'm sure Scorpius would give James less trouble then Lily and Albus combined."

"We're right here," said Lily, Harry and Ginny looked at their three children at the dinner table.

"Why would I have to watch them," said James, as if he had been jinxed, "Who elected me mature enough to babysit."

"Did I say James, I meant Mayella," said Harry, James frowned, "What now?"

"I meant I don't want to watch them, not that I need a babysitter," scoffed James, biting into his potato.

"Famous last words, Jimmy," said Teddy, walking in the back door and taking of his coat, "Family."

"Your late, Teddy," said Lily, indicating to his plate.

"Sorry, Victorie and I..." Teddy began, James groaned, "Victorie and I got caught up shopping for Dom's birthday."

"Likely story," scoffed James, "Late for dinner. Missed dinner all together yesterday... We're losing you, aren't we?"

"James, don't be so dramatic," said Ginny, with and eye roll.

"Mom. One day, he's just going to stop showing up, because he's too busy snogging our cousin, mind you," James grimaced, "Savor these moments, I suppose."

"If you and Victorie get married, can we have dinner at your house?" asked Albus, he smirked at James expression.

"Of coarse," said Teddy, looking at James, "Fair warning, we like to play a dinner game called Kiss After A Bite."

"Ew," said James, putting his fork down, "Mom, can I be excused to go vomit."

"No," said Ginny, "You can be excused to go clean the dishes, if you'd like."

"It's better then this. Snogging talk and Scorpius," said James, shaking his head as he got up and took plates.

"I was still eating that," said Albus as James took his plate.

"Not anymore," said James, Harry raised a brow and James put the plate back down, "Fine."

"So, what about Scorpius?" asked Teddy, eating his food, "Delicious dinner, by the way."

"Scorpius is coming to stay with us for a whole month," beamed Albus as he at his food, "he looked at his Dad, "When does he come?"

"Tomorrow morning," said Harry, Ginny's eyes went wide, "What?"

"Harry, this weekend, really?" asked Ginny, as if waiting for him to pick up on what she was indicating.

"Well, yes," said Harry, he froze, trying to think of any possible meaning in the look his wife was giving him.

"I have so much to do," said Albus, he went through a mental checklist of what he needed to do in his room. Where was Scorpius sleeping? Was his room clean enough? Did he have enough games? What was Scorpius going to do at the family picnic with he and Rose... "The family picnic is this weekend, right?"

"Yup," said Lily, she smiled, "Roxanne promised to wear the hat I made her, too... Albus, do you think Scorpius would like something?"

"That's this weekend," said Harry with wide eyes, he sighed, "Well, I'm sure it will be fine."

"Yes, a little Malfoy kit surrounded by Weasley's," said Teddy calmly, "Just a typical gathering."

"Did you just say kit?" asked Lily, "Like a kitten... that's weird Teddy."

"No, as in a ferret," Teddy whispered mostly to himself.

"Teddy... what did I tell you about spending time with Ron," said Harry, hiding a small smile.

"Recently as a general whole," said Teddy, "As a whole it's always been, 'Teddy, never repeat him in public.' As of now it's, 'Teddy, I really mean it, don't repeat.' But he tells the story so well."

"Are there going to be rules," said James, leaning in from the kitchen.

"Yes," said Ginny, "No ferret puns. Ron's been running them ragged since the platform."

"I don't get it," said Albus, "Rose wont tell me. She just laughs."

"How often do you think Ron's been smacked this summer, so far?"asked Harry, in a whisper to Ginny.

"No nearly enough," shrugged Ginny.

Not far away, later that evening Rose finished talking on the house phone that she had been talking on with her cousin Albus. The idea of Scorpius at their family gathering was both laughable and concerning. She didn't imagine that anyone of her family members would say anything to Scorpius about his family, but Scorpius wasn't stupid and he would know that awkward feeling that was a promise to come. Her door opened and Hugo came in with a large chess board and wordlessly set it up.

"Maybe, I don't want to play," said Rose, Hugo raised a brow, "I'm kidding."

"I was worried there," said Hugo, "So, I guess something happened at the Ministry earlier, because Mom and Dad are trying to be all secretive, but Dad's voice carries, so yeah."

"Ohm, so, why are we setting up chess?" asked Rose, putting on her socks.

"Well, in case we have to abort eavesdropping, we have an alibi," said Hugo, "I'm winning."

"Well, let's be realistic," said Rose, changing one of the pawns on the board, "I'm winning. Got to make it believable."

The two crept down the hall to hear into the kitchen from the banister. They could hear talking, but it wasn't easy to make out every word. From the sound of Hermione's voice, Ron had said something concerning. Rose wished she had gotten a new pair of extendable ears when she was at the shop yesterday, and Hugo's had broken when Molly and Lucy had gotten a hold of them and couldn't share the other day. Rose took a few ginger steps down the stairs, she could see her parents shadows in the dark living room from the kitchen.

"Ron, honestly, how on earth could they have gotten in?" asked Hermione, "Has anything been recorded missing?"

"Hermione, I just got back twenty minutes ago. Paulson and Donovan are double checking, but Malfoy says there doesn't seem to be anything missing," Ron's voice sounded doubtful, clearly he had gotten a look, "It's not what I meant, Hermione. Anyways, Audrey got there when I went to go turn in the report, she said she would double check."

"This is going to be loads of paperwork. I'll have to go in early tomorrow to follow up with Hardwire and the Aurors... what?" Hermione's question was obviously from something Ron had said, "Are you kidding me?"

"No," said Ron, "Apparently he wont be back until next week... I didn't say that."

"Well I guess I will follow up with Malfoy," Hermione sounded livid, "Promoted for one week an already on vacation. The Department of Mysteries is supposed to have four agents besides Hardwire. Where are they?"

"According to Malfoy and Audrey, they are with Hardwire," said Ron, he sounded like he had lost an argument, "Yes, I know it's not protocol, but it's not my department or Harry's... Well if Harry had his way, Hardwire wouldn't be allowed back in the Ministry."

"So the most dangerous and secretive part of the Ministry is being secured by two people," said Hermione, she groaned angrily, "When Hardwire get's back, I will be having a meeting with him."

"Hermione, what will you do. Yell at him," said Ron, "It's his Department, and Kingsley will say the same... I'm starting to see that, now. Harry and Audrey were right about his work ethic."

"... I guess I'll have to wait till morning," sighed Hermione after a moment of quite, she sighed, "Yes, I know. Ron? Ron... stop it."

"And off we go," said Rose with an eye roll as she and Hugo headed back upstairs.

"What happened?" asked Hugo, with a sigh, as they got in Rose's room, "Your hair was obstructing the sound. Ow!"

"It was not," said Rose as she threw a pillow at her brother, "Apparently the Department of Mysteries was broken into and the new Head, Hardwire didn't bother showing. I didn't get much more information before kissy time hit."

"Oh... what are you doing?" asked Hugo as Rose picked up the house phone she'd left on her night stand, "Mom and Dad can hear on the other end."

"I know," sighed Rose, "I wish Dad would just cave and let Mom get us Cell phones for the summer time. It'd be far easier then waiting for an Owl."

"Mom says that they mess up around magic though, so they'd probably have to make a special one for our world... You know in Japan, Mom says wizards and muggle technology are basically the same. She said it wont be long till its globally converted," said Hugo, who began to prattle on about it, Rose's mind drifted from trying to figure out what was so dangerous in the Department of Mysteries to listening to her brother talk about the gossip he'd heard all year that he'd yet to tell her.

Albus yawned as he headed down the stairs in the middle of the night, he was far too awake to go to sleep and far to tired to continue rearranging his room. The whole house was quite, save for a whine from Snuffles who pranced behind Albus into the kitchen. Albus looked to see his Dad still or already up and sitting at the counter looking out the window. This wasn't unusual, Harry often had trouble sleeping for various reasons, nightmares and bad dreams mostly. Harry rarely talked about what his nightmares and dreams were, but would change to subject to any of his children to catch him up by asking about theirs. Albus continued his walk into the kitchen and wordlessly sat next to Harry, who simply smiled as he pulled himself up on the stool.

"Too excited to sleep?" asked Harry, looking at Albus.

"Yup. I tried, no luck," said Albus, he was going to ask Harry about what had kept him up, but he saw that his leg was bouncing against the floor. Nightmare. "Mom's sleeping."

"Yeah," said Harry, "I was up working on papers for tomorrow so I don't get called in this weekend."

"Makes sense," shrugged Albus, he knew Harry was lying, but he brushed it off, "Dad. If I turn my bed sideways, I think I can fit another bed in there."

"Yeah," nodded Harry, "Or we could build the bunk bed I got earlier. I figured we could switch back to your regular one and keep it stored in the attic until yours or James' friends crash over."

"That'd be great," smiled Albus, he'd been worried about his room being too cramped for them, "Dad..." there was swoosh sound in the living room from the fireplace.

"Hello?" asked Harry as he stood up, wand already out.

"Dad?" asked Albus, but Harry had already walked ahead.

"Hey... Harry!" it was Teddy, a stunning spell nearly hitting him, "Sweet Toadstool Tea, Pops."

"I have to work on my aim," sighed Harry, "What are you doing here so late? Rally?"

"Nah, the Department of Mysteries got busted into and I was hanging at Malfoy Manor while Draco dealt with it. Figured you'd be up... Hey Albus," said Teddy, picking up the vase pieces with Harry, who'd been the one to hit it.

"What's going on?" it was Ginny, coming down the steps, wand out, "Oh come on, I just bought that vase."

"Dad almost knocked out Teddy," said Albus as Harry took the vase, a little too happily to the trash.

"What's happening?" asked James, nearly tripping down the stairs with his own wand.

"Oh, put your wand away," sighed Ginny, waving her hand at her son, "Lily, what are you doing?"

"I heard a noise," said Lily, armed with a Beater's stick, she'd obviously gotten from the hall closet.

"As proud as I am, that everyone arms themselves and runs to loud noises, everything's fine," said Harry with a sigh, "Teddy's just stopped in."

"Right. Everyone, off to bed," said Ginny, she stared at Lily with a small smile, "Honey, where did you get that?"

"I keep it under my bed, in case someone breaks in. I have to make sure I can protect James and Albus," said Lily confidently.

"I have a wand," said James, with a scoff.

"You also almost tripped down the stairs, so... yeah," said Lily, who promptly turned and headed back to bed, "Night."

"Albus, why don't you head to your room. If your still up in a bit, I'll stop in, okay," said Harry, he smiled, "Try and get some sleep, okay."

"But... okay..." said Albus, he'd been watching Teddy anxiously, wondering if everything was okay at the Malfoy's.

Albus got all the way up the stairs and closed his bedroom door before walking back to the steps to listen in. He almost yelled as a hand covered his mouth as James and Lily joined him on the steps to listen in. They couldn't really hear anything, except now the kitchen light was on and from the sounds of thumps, Teddy was sitting on the counter telling the details of whatever had happened, that he knew.

"What's even in that section?" asked Ginny, "Audrey always said it was more of a junk drawer of items."

"I know Malfoy has been working on cleaning that area up," said Harry, he scoffed, "Hardwire put him on that duty the moment he came into office. That's where he was today when I went to talk to him, knee deep in a bunch of dangerous books that no one had filed properly for ages."

"Probably just some juvenile's on a dare then," said Ginny, "Why else break into something that had piles of junk everywhere."

"Draco said it'd be easy for someone to take something and not be noticed. He and Audrey did a brief check of everything they had filed, but since everything's still lost essentially. There's really no telling," said Teddy, from the crunch sound he was eating an apple now, "I told him if he needed to pull an all nighter, I could stay with my cousins, but he said it's a lost cause for now."

"Where's his wife?" asked Ginny, concerned.

"She left this morning to deal with a sick family member. Draco's not sure, but from the sounds of it, it's a pretty bleak situation. Anyways, I wanted to stop in and give you the lowdown, Harry. As Ron put Donovan and Paulson on the case and they'll be loads of paperwork tomorrow. Paulson's meticulous with that sort of stuff," said Teddy.

Albus leaned forward to hear better, he forgot James was leaning on him. James lost his crouched position and slipped, causing he and Albus to slide a few loud steps down and wake up Snuffles again. Who began barking at them, and whining as James lay on the steps over Albus. Albus looked up to see Lily shaking her head slowly and burying her face in her hands. Snuffles was licking James, worried his favorite Potter was injured, stepping on Albus in the process. There was a loud sigh from Ginny in the kitchen.

"If your not dead, you better get back up stairs and in your rooms," came her voice sternly, though they could hear Harry laughing and Teddy snort, "Stop encouraging it, you two."

"We could be seriously, injured, you know," said James, "Snuff, get off!"

"You wouldn't be, if you'd stop listening in," said Ginny, the two got up and hiked up stairs.

"Nice going," said Lily as she headed to her room, giving them a shameful look.

"Oh, like you've never gotten us caught before," scoffed James.

"When I do it, it's to get you in trouble," said Lily, she rolled her brown eyes and fixed her glasses, "Please catch up."

"You know I'm worried when she gets to Hogwarts with us," said James in a whisper to Albus.

"Are you kidding, consider your cloak gone the moment she gets to the tower," said Albus as he went to his room, he closed the door. Staring at his room, he decided to get back to rearranging everything for when Scorpius got there in the morning.

TO BE CONTINUED