Warnings: Language, Sex, Slash ,Angst, Dark Humor, male relationships, and Draco's psychological pingpong match between snarky and quirky
Pairings: Ron/Hermione, Neville/Hannah , Harry/Draco, others
Rating: R for language at first, and then
J. K. Rowling owns Harry Potter and all things associated with the series. This is for entertainment only.
Enjoy
Harry was furious by the time he'd made it to the interrogation room. The neutral white walls were doing nothing to calm his mood, and the tittering voice behind Harry was only making it worse. He was an Auror. Not some shoddy detective who was too much of a coward to hunt down ex-death eaters and dark wizards in the line of fire. Indeed, he was an Auror and a bloody good one at that if the opinions of the wizarding world were anything to go by. The Daily Prophet had long tired of making a spectacle out of the boy who lived every day since Harry Potter was no longer needed as the Savior or the Chosen one. His only job was to hunt down criminals and arrest them like any other worker at The Department of Magical Law Enforcement would do. The most attention he'd receive was a page or two in the paper about his latest arrest, but it was rare to be on the front page even then. Whether Harry liked it or not- which he did , immensely- his days of super celebrity merit were finally waning. He had finally begun to have what he'd always dreamed of : a somewhat- normal life. And now, he was merely an Auror.
Head Auror that is.
So, knowing this, why in the name of Merlin's pants was he being summoned to interrogate a witness?
Honestly,why? Why on earth would they bring him to interrogate someone who was an innocent. The criminal was busy freely roaming the streets this very minute, without fear or anything to stop them, and Harry was abandoning his job to interrogate a witness. Couldn't they see that he was busy taking care of a crucial lead in his latest case? For Godric's sake, he'd been taken right when he finally might have somewhat of a vague lead, a lead that could've been a point in the potential direction of another potentially Dark Wizard: all halted just to interrogate an eye-witness to a crime….
Right…so maybe he wasn't being dragged from something too important, but he wasn't a people person. By any means.
"Why, exactly have I been called again?" Harry couldn't help but ask as he walked with an overjoyed Colin Creevey down the hall. It baffled him how such a person could get into the department of magical law enforcement …then again the department could have picked someone much worse to play errand boy.
"It's the witness, Head Auror Harry Potter sir." Colin supplied with an inanely happy grin, hands twitching for the camera that he no longer carried around his neck. Maybe the Prophet forgot him and his triumphs, but most wizards and witches would still talk just a little quieter, stare just a little longer and dwindle around just a little more whenever Harry Potter was concerned. Harry did his best to politely ignore it, sometimes he'd dream about working while wearing his invisibility cloak.
"The witness is being uncooperative…All they've managed to get out was that he was in Diagon Alley when he witnessed a kidnapping –and, well- we thought that if anyone would get more words out of him, it'd be you, sir…" Merlin, did he love calling him that with an awestruck face. It reminded Harry of the war; when eyes would shine just from looking at a child in the clothes of the Savior. That look would always irk him, though he could never truly figure out exactly why. No one deserved a look of such utter hope and worship, much less want it.
The sound of his feet padding against the dry gray flooring of the halls brought him back to the present, away from scarring memories. The boy trailing him had barely changed since his happy-go-lucky years at Hogwarts, only this time it was a notepad and paper in his hands instead of that intrusive camera. Harry sucked in a stale breath from the corridor, walking briskly into the precinct of investigations without a second glance, trying unsuccessfully –and a little guiltily- to shake of the chipmunk of a man nipping at his heels. It didn't work.
"So, the witness is a man, and refuses to talk to any of the detectives or Aurors but me?" Harry reasoned, having had this problem before. One thing he liked about this section of the ministry was that everyone was so busy with their own work, between answering the dull letters and floo-calls of reports, to howlers of emergencies from informants; they never had the time to ogle "Head Auror Potter" for more than a glance.
Not that they didn't try…
"No, sir, …well not exactly… we can't seem to get anything out of the man but riddles, and we thought that your appearance might help to bring about more information out of him. Though I'm sure you'll be able to get something out of him." Colin chattered, cramming an unnecessary amount of words into his explanation. He placed a cheery smile on his face, grinning as they neared the door that held the older Gryffindor's minor escape.
"I'd better. Or else my summons will be for nothing, right?" Harry ended with a laugh while taking the paper from Creevey's hands, shushing his beginnings of an apology with a smile and walking up to the assigned door. "And for the last time Colin, just call me Harry. I've known you for years."
"I know but, Head Auror Harry Potter sir-!" He was flushed and wide eyed when Harry shut the door, and the brunette turned around to face the probably old and cranky witness that would eventually warm up to the polite and upstanding 'Savior' persona he was about to retch out. As he went to take a seat, he fixed his eyes upon the clip board, examining it for the first time since he'd taken it. Meaningless formalities tumbled out of his mouth as he retained the words upon the sheet, going over the incident and witness himself.
"Nice afternoon isn't it? Though I'm sure you wouldn't agree, what with the trouble you've witnessed today, right? Mist-Malfoy?" Harry nearly jumped back up from his chair in shock at the word printed upon the sheet like a death sentence. He looked up to see the pointed face he'd spent half his time in Hogwarts punching in. Though, through the years he'd definitely grown. Still pale…but pointer, Harry managed through his shock.
"Potter." Draco Malfoy returned with smirk, his right hand coming up to loosen the crimson tie around his neck with a tug and reveal even more pale skin. "You're looking more like the ManWho Lived every day. How's life?" He smiled.
Two things struck Harry at the same time.
One: The minute he looked upon Malfoy an immense amount of power shot out at him, grasping at his own like a vice and almost pulling it out of him.
Two: Draco fucking Malfoy smiled, at Harry Potter. He smiled.
"Uh…Malfoy?"Was all the brunette could bring himself to utter, looking at the blond haired, steel eyed man as if he were an alien and trying in earnest to seize back the sudden burst of energy without looking constipated. Harry was nearly thrown off his rocker at the simple gesture of politeness from the pureblood wizard sitting across from him alone, throw in a rifle shot of pure energy and you had the brunette nearly delirious.
"Last time I checked, yes." The other replied in general amusement. No. This couldn't be Draco Malfoy. Obviously this had to be someone with a polyjuice potion, or a distant relative: Malfoy would never smile at Harry. Never. There were only snide sneers, mocking smirks, or a smug nose turned up so high it would make a pig jealous.
An ancy shuffle alerted his attention again, and he looked up to see his witness grinning nearly inches from his face.
"Is this how you act with every witness? Honestly Potter….you're not very good at this. Unless of course, you're trying to make me confess that way…" He laughed, eyes sparkling with mischief and something slightly unnerving. Under the table and unbeknownst to Draco, Harry kicked himself in the ankle. He had to make sure he wasn't dreaming up some insanely perfect version of the other. It smarted properly, which lead him to believe he probably wasn't dreaming, though that didn't explain why this new Draco was actually being civil. Or that surge of tremendous power he'd just felt.
Harry chanced a look behind him to the witness window, looking through the charmed glass to see the others giving him signs of encouragement before he came back to the disturbingly charismatic witness he'd found himself locked in with.
"Er…no, not usually. Well, um," He looked down to the sheet, forcing himself to be distracted from metallic orbs and perfect white teeth, "I see that from the information you've seen a kidnapping …by a potentially Dark Wizard?"
"Saw it?" he breathed in response, " I was nearly kidnapped myself, Potter. I couldn't believe the nerve of that pompous arse, trying to kidnap someone of my status as if I were some silly nancy skipping along the street." He huffed, smoothing out his platinum blonde locks from his face in an indignant expression from the memory, bringing back that snooty elegant air of Draco's that made Harry comfortable.
"Of course," agreeing with the witness, as prejudice as it seemed, was effective in pulling information out. The other seemed cordial enough, it made Harry idly wonder what the Detectives scale of 'uncooperative" was, "Well Malfoy, would you be-"
"Call me Draco, please. I'd like it more if you did." He made a movement on his face to match the crooning of his voice, and if it were anyone else but Malfoy on the face of this earth, then Harry might've called it a pout. The request was more than disturbing to Harry, but he couldn't risk a lapse in professional courtesy on the job.
"Draco," Harry tried the word out like a new food he'd never tasted, "would you be able to describe the Dark wizard you saw this morning? Or the victim who was kidnapped?"
Malfoy straightened himself and searched for his memory on the ceiling of the office. After a moment, he smiled.
"Nope."
"….Nope?" Harry repeated the word in a confusion of awe and disbelief. Could an everyday word like "nope" even comeout of the others 'refined' mouth?
"Come to think of it, I can't really remember any of it now. Bit of a bad thing, yeah?" The smile on his lips was quirked to the side, looking like one of the actors in Aunt Petunia's syrupy romance movies.
That look sent him positively reeling. He knew that it'd been a couple of years since he'd seen the bloke, but even this was a stretch in personality for Malfoy. Just what was wrong with him?
"That's the third time you've done that, you know. Whenever your mind wanders you bite your lip in the left corner. It's rather cute." Draco informed him, looking amused and interested at the bottom lip being worried between Harry's teeth. He found himself flushing in embarrassment and releasing the flesh; he did not bite his lip.
And Draco Malfoy did not seductively inform his school enemy Harry Potter that he was chewing on his lip like a child watching a puppy he fancied in a window, it just wasn't sane.
This was getting ridiculous.
"Are you…" Harry tried to search for the words, "all…'in there' , Malfoy?"
"Pardon?" Draco quipped, blinking at the oddly put statement. They were slowly talking in circles, and Harry decided to forego being polite for the sake of getting back to his research. Even though he begrudgingly admitted to himself that seeing another former classmate, even if it was Malfoy, wasn't half bad company compared to his cluttered and stuffy office. Not that Ron was bad company in the office, mind you.
"What I'm asking..is why you're acting so…nice?" He said slowly, not wanting to offend the other, despite the countless times that the other had offended him in his teen years.
"Are you actually complaining about me being nice to you, Potter?" Malfoy raised a finely trimmed eyebrow, looking pristine and intimidating in his immaculate black suit, no doubt taken into custody while he was on his way from work. Just what did Malfoy do these days?
"No, it's not that!" Harry assured the other, "It's just that …you seem a lot different…you know. I mean, you're acting really…" Outgoing, pleasant, not trying to scorn me and my entire social circle while threatening to hex me to Salazaar's grave and back? Since when was bloody Malfoy actually attract-
He couldn't find it in himself to finish, watching as the magnetic smile dropped from Draco's angled and flawlessly shaven face. Offend he did, it seemed.
"People do grow up. It'd be extremely unbecoming if I were to act like a petulant child for the rest of my life. I mean, now that the war is over, I don't see much of a reason put you down… other than the fact that your hair still looks like a endangered bird reservation." He reasoned in eloquent simplicity. Harry stared at him in slight shock at the comment, unable to stop watching as he noticed a shift in Malfoy's dark hoary eyes, "Not that you need any help with that, putting down: Gryffindor modesty and what not. Though, I will say that I miss beating you into the ground too. Very few can say that they've had the Savoir of the Wizarding World beneath them. You look great on your knees." He smirked coquettishly, tracing his finger along the table idly, and absolutely …flirting with whatever seemed come from his mind.
Whatever seemed to come to his mind. There!
"Malfoy-" He tried to start, but was cut off by a totting finger.
"Draco, Harry." The blonde reminded him. Did he just call him Harry? Yes, he did. 'A "cute" Harry who looks great on his knees.', His memory reminded him.
"Draco, "he rolled his eyes, before asking seriously, " did they give you anything to drink?" He already knew the answer, after calculating the time witness's were kept, and estimating the time it took the other Aurors to become frustrated. The Armani-clad blonde shot him an incredulous look,
"Well, of course they gave me a drink! It's sitting right there you daft fool! What does that have to do wit- ...oh fuck."
Harry never thought that word could have such a deeply emotional meaning. Surely even Malfoy knew not to take drinks from the Ministry, it was definitely more than just an extra bit of sugar they gave you.
"Back among the mentally coherent, are we?" Harry couldn't help but snidely ask.
"Sodd off , Potter." Malfoy hissed the words venomously low through his hands, snarky and back to normal, yet seemingly irate with himself. After a moment's pause he sat back up, rigid against the chair and holding the old demeanor that Harry recognized in their sixth year. His eyes were no longer openly shining, but deep storming eyes of anxiety and looking to the side in personal thought. "Merlin that was too close…they would've killed me." He mumbled under his breath in a harsh whisper.
"They? Who are they?" The brunette picked up, his tone almost demanding " Are you remembering? There was more than one?"
Malfoy's eyes gave him a scathing look, burning so severely into Harry's eyes that he slightly missed the Draco Malfoy he first walked in to. "I'm not talking about your stupid fucking case, Potter. It's none of your business."
"Fair enough." Harry bit out.
Fair.Harry sat back in his chair, wishing that his consideration for fairness didn't always get in the way. If Malfoy hadn't realized he'd been drugged when he hinted with the 'drink', then Harry knew that his conscious would never let him continue with the interrogation. He sighed, holding up his wand and pointing it at Malfoy in slight exasperation: the git was still mumbling to himself, seemingly growing more stressed by the minute. When he looked up before Harry could cast a spell, his eyes widened for a millisecond in fear before overflowing with aghast.
"Don't you point your wand at me, Potter! I'll have you know that-"
"Deletrius."Harry casted with half-covered snide smile, clearing away any lingering magical effects on the proud blonde.
Malfoy's only hint of a thank you was a twitch of a lip in the opposite direction of a smile. He scoffed, "glad to see that there's some morally competent people on this side of the department. "
"Who are they?" Harry repeated.
"Are you an animagus now, talking like a parrot? Or is your intelligence really so low that you can only handle one sentence at a time?" The blonde remarked, turning himself in within his chair in a way that always managed to be distant and graceful to anyone that looked on. It would've been perfect if it weren't for the tell-tale squint of a troubled mind settled deeply in his eyes. Harry appeared to check the clip board back again, when he was actually checking for a strategy in his brain to deal with the git. There was obviously something that the Malfoy heir had to hide, the subtle raging anxiety that his face had just composed was an undeniable warning signal to even the trainees in the office. Apparently his silence wasn't enough for the ex-death eater, who egged on for another response.
"What, lost your fight after become the Ministry's lap dog, Potter?"
"You could say that," Harry dodged the bullet, keeping his composure as best he could by starring at the blank walls of the interrogation room, "and as the 'Head' Lap Dog in this department, I'd like to ask you a few more questions." The blond merely gave a blank look of disinterest, focusing on the door and flexing his wand hand. It was unconscious actions like that which got Auror's killed, Harry noted. He subconsciously wondered what the prat had been doing with his life after Hogwarts. As much as he loathed admitting it, past Draco Malfoy's old cowardice was a formidably powerful wizard. Yet, after all these years there wasn't one tabloid or story about the famous pureblood after the trail. They hadn't spoken since.
"And I should like to get out of here, but I'm sure your precious Gryffindor nature won't let me go until you've picked every part of my testimony clean. We all can't be the Savior and get whatever we want." Malfoy sneered crossly to his now cold cup of tea, getting nastier and more evasive by the minute. He had to act now or else there might be nothing he could drag out of the witness.
At least not lawfully,he grimaced.
"My sincerest apologies, , but we need as much information as we can get if the department is to catch this criminal. If you could just remember or tell me who you saw kid nap your friend, what you were doing, any of the spells that were used?"
"I told you I can't remember." His tone stayed in gloom, but his Auror instincts honed out the bitter tone of inner resentment. The odd part was, the spell he'd just used should have take care of any Oblivious that might've been used. Harry rapped his fingers against the table, brainstorming for memory igniting questions and answers to the puzzle of a man in front of him, resisting the urge to pull his lip in between his teeth.
" What about what you were doing before that?," He supplied, causing those eyes to settle in on him again, glaring through sleek platinum bangs, "When you got off of work? Do you think anyone at your workplace would remember where you said you were going that day?"
"No one would ever ask me that at my job, even without my reputation." The other brushed the first question off, replying with an air of distaste.
"Where do you work, and what time did you leave yesterday?" Harry insisted, wanting to at least put something on the form chart starring unimpressedily blank at him from his clip board.
"I can assure you that my office hours have nothing to do with the kidnappings," he flat lined, repeating, "And my work establishment is none of your damn business, Potter."
"I think it's exactly my business, Malfoy."
"Just because you're the Chosen One doesn't make you the fucking Minister of Ma-"
"I'm Head Auror , actually, and it gives me enough to ask a simple question."
" See, funny thing about Aurors is, they can't do shite to people like me." Malfoy suddenly smirked, a prideful and acidic darkness lighting up his features ,"Your silly little branch couldn't even take my wand from me." He haughtily informed Harry, lifting up a new wand that seemed to be fashioned from elder wood. The blond saw the flex of Potter's wand arm, and added, " Not to worry , I wouldn't waste a single spell on you, Scarhead." He finished by standing up, showing a full view of his lanky and still quidditch-worthy body. It distracted Harry more than he'd like to admit, even more than the nickname he'd hated so much. Well, that explained all that power rush.
"Just where are you going?" The he stipulated offensively, finally reacting to the only person able to get under his skin other than Voldemort
"Well," drawled the pureblood, casting a quick Tempus charm while stretching languidly, "seeing as I've been here for four bloody hours-longer than most witnesses I'd assume- and you've no evidence or reason to hold me after slipping me that vertisirum, I think I can go home, thank you. Unless you've got some profound objection, Head Auror Harry Potter Sir?" He sneered, looking at Harry expectantly and displaying a snarl of white teeth through red lips. Grudgingly, Harry had to look away from the sight, and less grudgingly, he knew he had to let Malfoy go.
For now.
"Open the door, Creevey." he said to the ceiling with a disguised look of apathetic annoyance.
"Creevey, Creevey," Malfoy murmured offhandedly as he watched the door open, blinking when he remembered, "Colin Creevey? That insufferable little chipmunk got into the D.M.L.E.? Merlin you people must be desperate."
Harry couldn't help but choke on his laughter at the statement, so close to his own, ignoring the curious look it got from Malfoy. Finally he regained himself, "Weren't you dying to get out of here, Malfoy? Or are you just a glutton for punishment?"
His hard earned pride as Head Auror wouldn't allow him to stand up and leave with the other, and instead he found himself pretending to check off parts of the information sheet the blonde strode towards the door.
"Depends," Malfoy hummed unexpectedly, causing Harry to look up in slight confusion, only to be met with Draco Malfoy's smooth backside still striding towards the door. He couldn't tear his eyes away, it seemed, which shocked him and disturbed him at the same time.
"Ah, yes." He heard the blonde gasp lowly, pivoting around as he reached the threshold to the hallway and his exit, "a bit of advice , Potter: Don't make yourself so damn easy to read. I had more of a challenge with Babbity Rabbity and the Cackling Stump as a child." Grey eyes mocked lightly, and – to Harry's utter disbelief- cast an approving once over on the suit clad Savior.
Before Harry Potter's gape could even form the other was out of the room and half way down the hall, confident swagger making the women and men peek up from their cubicles as he exited. Not to mention that backside…
"What is wrongwith me?" Harry mouthed in mortification, running a hand through his hair and smiling meekly at his best friend that walked into the interrogation room.
"Mate, what was all that about?" Ron quipped right off the bat as he took three tall strides and leaned against the solitary table in the room. His countenance now looked more worried than upset, years of being married to Hermione finally catching up to him.
"What was what all about?" Harry replied, hoping to Godric that Ron didn't pick up on some of the more ….different parts of the interrogation.
"You're face Harry," he urged, " your face. It was like I was watching you at a bad Chudley Cannons game! Up and down and everywhere, like those RollingCoasters dad always talks about." He remarked with a grimace.
"I …I really don't know," He grasped, pulling himself together to scrape up a small truth, "It's just…It's Malfoy you know? He's always gotten to me like that." It was good enough, "And it's Roller-Coasters, Ron."
"Right, right." Ron nodded vigorously to both, dropping the minor inquisition he'd give Harry now and again. "Are you still up for the party at the office tonight? Neville's got Hannah brining a few kegs from the Leaky Cauldron, and Ginny's going to be there."
Harry couldn't help but groan, standing up from the uncomfortable metal chair and placing the clip board under his arms. "For the thousand time, mate, enough with the Ginny prepositioning already! It was just puppy love, and she's already found a new boyfriend, again. " he gestured with his hands; not an ounce of bitterness in the statement, only irritancy at his freckled friend.
"But you're so much better than this berk, he's nothing compared to you!" Ron groaned, finally admitting the real issue with a whine.
"I'm your best friend Ron; of course you're going to think I'm better." Harry shook his head, walking in toe with Ron and stopping at his office.
" I know , I know, " Ron drawled on, "but you are coming, right?"
"Wouldn't miss it." Harry smiled patting his long time companion fondly on the shoulder. Ron merely stood there, casting a glance off to the side. The awkward silence stretched on for another minute or so until the Boy Who Lived could no longer stand it.
"What is it?"the brunette said knowingly, watching as the other gave him a sheepish glance back.
"I was wondering when that raise was going to come?" He said with the air of a poorly planned joke, smiling with more of an expectant frown once he caught the look Harry gave him. "Eh heh, er…kidding." His freckles always stood out more when his face got red.
Harry sat down on his desk, trying to be as professional as best friends could manage, "When you do something worth merit this week, other than pushing the paperweights Hermione got you for Christmas around your desk, then I might think about it." He ended up prodding, sighing when he glanced down at the barren wasteland of a file report printed 'Eye Witness: Draco Lucius Malfoy'.
"Pushing paperweights?," Ron barked in offense, "I'll have you know that I was the lucky bloke who had to bring The Ferret into the office in the first place! He even made me make him bloody tea like this was some Fancy little restaurant and-"
Harry jumped up in slight disappointment, "You made the tea? It was you who put that veritaserum in his tea? I thought you were better than that Ron!"
Ron gave him an open look of honest confusion, the soft browns of his eyes looking wide as saucers "….what? I didn't put any of that in his tea! The bastard didn't even deserve sugar, much less any potions!"
Harry blinked; the confusion of the day had been spreading around back and forth like the flu it seemed. And all over one witness,
"You didn't?"
Then, was all that – that emotion- really Malfoy back there?
His favorite subordinate and best mate only scoffed, "Blimey no, and even if I wanted to, I couldn't."
"Well why not?"
His best friend turned to him then, looking at the brunette as if he'd come from another planet. If anyone else were to come into the office at that moment in time they'd think Ron had just been told Harry was considering writing an article for the Quibbler.
"The slimy snake's got Level Nine clearance." Harry paused, brain shutting down over a single sentence.
Auror's were only on level two.
'Saw it? I was nearly kidnapped myself, Potter.' His words rang in Harry's head like a warning bell gone off far past it's time.
The blonde definitely had a thing or two to hide, not to mention a solid reason for being kidnapped. No reason my arse.
"Level Nine? He's ….level nine?" Aurors were only level two. Harry felt that all too familiar tingle of something starting to happen, that warning feeling in the back of his neck when he'd stepped over the line into a Dark Wizard's territory while on a raid.
"Didn't you hear the rumors?"
"No," Harry grit out "I didn't. I didn't hear any rumors, hear-say, tabloids, or whispers. For Merlin's sake, just tell me the point, Ron!"The anticipation was about to set in and take over his senses if he didn't catch the adrenaline on time.
"I though you knew...Malfoy's an Unspeakable, Harry."
Well...that's the end of that chapter. If you made it this far then hopefully you liked it, and even more than hopefully you want to read the next chapter. The plot does ignore some elements of DH, including Creevey's death, and a few other's deaths. If you were wondering, this chapter is probably as lighthearted as it's going to get, and the rest of the ride is all down hill from there. Just what is Malfoy keeping under wraps? Is he really an Unspeakable? Why can't Malfoy remember? And why is his personality riling up Harry in more ways than one?
Until next time~
Thanks for reviewing.