Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling and associates own these characters. I own nothing.
Summary: The anniversary of Voldemort's death is cursed. Famous Auror Harry Potter and his exceptional Team Four deals with the curse year after year. Along the way, he'll lose loose love and find it again.
Warnings: Drarry slash, character death, comfort/hurt, loosely follows the official prologue.
The third anniversary of Voldemort's demise dawned bright and sunny, but Harry wasn't fooled. A day that should have been one of solemn remembrance for those fallen during the war had been turned into a National celebration of victory of Light over Dark. Dancing, drinking, and general shenanigans would occupy most of Wizarding Britain, even Hogwarts held a ball. Harry didn't understand how everyone could forget the fallen so easily, not that anyone listened to him. Ginny said it was a celebration of life, knowing they had survived; Hermione said people needed a reason to be happy again; George didn't care so long as it was good for business; but Harry firmly believed that was why the day was cursed.
The first year, Harry Potter Victory Day – whoever had named the day deserved a Crucio in Harry's opinion – had been the first break in to Gringotts since Harry himself had broken into the Lestrange's vault. The Hit Wizards had called in Auror support after discovering remnants of dark magic, which lead Harry and Ron on a seven day trip across Europe chasing a Warlock who had made off with a Dark Artifact purportedly capable of effecting time. The man planned to bring back Grindelwald, but they had managed to stop his ritual – barely. Ron had ended up in St. Mungos for a week while Harry had been confined to a desk for a month after a curse left him unable to use his wand hand for that time.
The second year hadn't been any better with the discovery of Gary Holdwrites body, the victim of an Avada Kadavra, in Knockturn Alley on HPV Day. No one had been murdered by an unforgivable since the war and every Auror worked day and night trying to find the culprit. Unfortunately, they didn't catch him for two weeks after another three bodies had piled up and the Prophet was screaming about the return of Death Eaters and malcontents.
That year also left Ron a believer in the curse after Hermione, who had graduated Hogwarts that year and only just been elected to the Wizengamot at the time, also refused his invitation to move in together on the same day, claiming it wasn't good for their careers. She had relented only the month prior, leaving Harry without a flat-mate and a sleep-deprived partner. To top that off, Neville had put in his two weeks' notice after getting a job offer to teach Herbology at Hogwarts. That left Harry's team a man short, starting, of course, on HPV Day.
Walking into the Auror's office that morning, Harry didn't know what to expect, but he knew it wouldn't be good. He was already a half hour late, thanks a broken pipe in the subway system which he had been forced to take after realizing he was out of floo powder that morning.
At Harry and Ron's suggestion, the Auror offices had been converted from a mass of cubicles to Four open, large, glass offices, one for each Auror team so they could work together in relative privacy, but the teams would also have an idea of what the others were doing. The offices were warded to reduce sound and could be made opaque if desired, though no one ever used that functionality. They were positioned around the walls of the Auror floor, the center of which was dedicated to interview rooms. The rest of the wall space was used for a break room, the Head Auror's office, two conference rooms, and the reception lobby.
The layout meant that Harry could see his office as soon as he left reception. His team, or what was left of it, was huddled about his desk whispering and looking mutinous. Ron looked the angriest of the lot of them, red faced and likely barely keeping his voice down. Angelina Johnson had her arms crossed, every line of her body defiant and brown eyes flashing angrily. Cormac McLaggen was just as red as Ron, his voice loud enough that Harry could hear him down the hall, likely feeding into, and off of, Ron's anger. Devin Harris, a muggleborn Ravenclaw, was already holding a scroll of parchment which would contain his written complaint about…whatever was going on.
The other offices Harry passed had their own Auror teams, but no one was working which meant they already knew what was going on. The sympathetic looks from the other team leaders said it was official business, but they were glad they weren't in his shoes. Being the youngest team leader and the force behind nearly all the changes to the Auror division, sympathy wasn't something Harry was used to from the senior Aurors. It only made his conviction the curse had already struck stronger.
When his team finally saw him headed their way, conversation stopped, though Ron and Cormac managed to somehow turn a brighter shade of red. Angelina became even more tense and Devin began smoothing his official request over and over again between his hands. Taking a fortifying breath, Harry pushed the door open and fixed Ron with a level gaze.
Before the others could begin talking at once, he ordered, "Alright, tell me what's going on."
The huff of an interrupted ran left Cormac, but both Devin and Angelina relaxed somewhat knowing Ron wouldn't leave out their opinions. Ron still had a hot temper, but he was Harry's second-in-command partially because he was so good at resolving team disputes.
"Neville's replacement just came in," Ron was barely controlling his temper now, but Harry had to admit he was impressed that he was doing it at all with how angry he appeared. "Just made it through training last week, got approval from the Minister," Ron had to take a deep breath, which meant his best friend was partially angry at Kingsley about whatever had happened, "and is now in with Kinna, getting the final speech."
It took most of Harry's discipline not to turn and see who was in the Head Auror's office getting sworn in, or as the Aurors affectionately called it the final speech. Kinna, who had been Minister Kingsley Shacklebolt's partner before he became Minister, was the best Head Auror the division had seen in decades. She was firm, stubborn, and intelligent, but with a temper as firey as Ron's. After defending Harry's new proposals to change the Aurors and stamp out corruption to the Wizengamot and the Prophet, she had earned Harry, and his team's, firm loyalty.
"So what's the problem?" Harry asked, keeping his gaze on his team.
"It's Malfoy," Ron hissed.
Unable to resist any longer, Harry turned to stare at the Head Auror's office. As always, she had her walls half occluded, but he could see the woman's straight black hair pulled into it's usual bun. In front of her, calm and collected as if taking tea, was Draco Malfoy in a crisp set of Auror robes. His blonde hair was longer than Harry remembered it, but the pointed face was exactly the same.
"We can't work with him," Ron was saying. "He's a Death Eater! His family housed Voldemort during the war, he tried to kill you at least twice! None of that's in his file."
"His file?" Harry repeated.
"It's on your desk," Angelina answered. "Harry, he was a torturer. Only a huge bribe could keep that off his record."
"He helped kill Dumbledore, let Death Eaters into Hogwarts," Devin supplied helpfully. "I have an official complaint about his posting here for you, Harry."
"He's a Slytherin," Cormac growled.
"We don't have House loyalty in the Aurors," Harry argued weakly as he watched Malfoy and Kinna stand, shake hands, and the Head Auror begin leading the way out of her office. Which meant there wasn't much time left to get things under control. If his team was this upset about working with Malfoy, he could only imagine how difficult the ferret was going to be. Likely, things would come to a head and he'd be damned if it was his people suffering for this stupid personnel mistake.
Turning to his team, Harry said firmly, "Look, I don't like this as much as you do. I probably like it less than anyone here except, maybe, Ron, but it's out of my hands. Kinna just shook his hand, people," Harry snapped as Cormac and Ron opened their mouths to protest again. "It's official and it's done. If we have to work with him, we do things by the book. If he's a spy, or a plant, or a Dark Wizard, we will figure it out and get him arrested and it will all be above board. Am I clear?"
The thought of getting Malfoy arrested had Cormac and Ron's eyes shining, clearly pleased with the idea. Angelina and Devin were nodding, but Harry was still worried.
"I mean it," he said, meeting first Ron's eyes, then Cormac's, "No planting evidence, no false reports. We've done a damned good job of stomping that nonsense out of the Aurors and we are not about to bring it back. Understood?"
"Yes, sir," Cormac grumbled.
"Yeah, alright," Ron sighed.
Just in time as the door opened and Kinna held it aside for Malfoy to slip through.
"Team Four," the Head Auror said in her most official voice, "This is Auror Malfoy, the first recruit to pass Auror training in seven years. I'm assigning him to you, Potter, to fill Longbottom's absence. As I've been informed you all know each other, I'll skip introductions. I expect," the short woman's dark brown eyes pierced each one of them in turns, leaving no doubt she knew exactly what they'd been arguing about just moments before, "that he will be welcomed as a member of your team. Get him settled, I'm sure today is going to be busy."
"Yes, ma'am," Harry said and earned a small smile from the Head Auror.
Once she left and the door swung shut behind her, he turned stiffly to Malfoy expecting that irritating, superior smirk he remembered so well. Instead the blonde was watching him calmly, posture at attention, as if he was actually waiting to be given an order he would carry out. It made Harry pause, wondering if he should give Malfoy a real shot at this. It seemed so unlikely that three years would have changed the pureblood bastard all that much. After all, the only reason he didn't have an official record of his war crimes was because Harry had spoken up at his trial to repay his mother's life debt. Surely that, and the defense of Lucius Malfoy, had been all he owed the family.
Harry just wasn't sure what to do here. When in doubt, he had always found falling back on protocol worked, at least for a while.
"Neville's desk is here," Harry motioned for Malfoy to follow him to the desk next to the door, "It's yours now, I guess."
"Thanks," Malfoy said passively as he took a seat in the swivel chair. "What are we working on?"
"We-" Ron started and Harry quickly held up a hand to cut him off.
"We're getting back to work now," he said in the soft commanding tone that his team knew meant no arguments would be tolerated. The four Aurors returned to their desks, preparing reports and tracking down leads, or whatever they were doing. Harry's team mostly worked independently on their cases, each with a job he was confident they would accomplish on their own, and come to him for help when necessary. It worked well; Team Four had the highest number of closed cases in the division.
Turning back to Malfoy, Harry was again surprised to see the absence of that irritating smirk, but did notice the angry glare grey eyes had fixed on Ron's back.
"We're working on a smuggling case," Harry said, drawing Malfoy's attention back to him, "Dark Artifacts, mostly from Egypt, that are being sold to merchants in Diagon Alley as ordinary Artifacts. Several people have been cursed, none seriously. Unfortunately there are few leads as the Artifacts are being switched out either after they leave the manufacturer or after they're delivered to the stores and we can't find a pattern to the attacks. Neville was working on breaking down the spells that were disguising the dark magic on the Artifacts. I gave that job to Cormac, but do you think you can handle it?"
"Yes," Malfoy's attention hadn't wavered for an instant, "but I'd be better suited to hunting down any Dark Artifacts currently out there."
"Duly noted," Harry hadn't expected such a mild argument, "but Angellina is already assigned that task. She's our liaison with the public and is also in charge of interviewing the shopkeepers, manufacturers, and victims so if you need those records for your work, ask her."
"Alright," Malfoy looked disappointed, but not outright mutinous for not getting his way. Maybe he had changed. "Where are the artifacts?"
Cormac, who had apparently been eavesdropping instead of working, levitated the security boxes from the pile next to his desk to Malfoy's, letting the drop rather roughly onto the flat surface. Harry shot him a look, before turning back to the blonde.
"Neville's files are in the bottom right drawer, I suggest you start with what he already learned. We have our first group meeting at lunch, then the second at five before some of us get to go home. The rest of your time is yours to pursue your assignment however you feel is best. If you need any help, my desk is right across from yours and, for the record, you answer to me. Any questions?"
"You work through lunch?" for the first time some real emotion passed across Malfoy's pointed features; he was positively shocked.
"Of course we do," Harry grinned. "Team Four is the best Team the Auror Division has, Malfoy. We work hard, play hard, and especially work through lunch. It's at one, have a report for me on what you've been doing ready then."
"Yes, sir," Malfoy sighed, opening the file drawer and looking for the summaries Neville had left for his replacement. He didn't even notice the stunned expression on Harry's face from being called Sir without any mockery. When he turned away and caught Ron's eye, he knew the redhead had also noticed, but looked more confused than anything else.
Walking to his best friend's desk, Harry sat down on the edge and asked quietly, "Come get a drink with me?"
Ron nodded and they both slipped out the door, heading for the break room. Once they were a suitable distance from Team Four's office, Harry broached the elephant in the room.
"What do you think?"
"Think you're handling this better than I would," Ron answered immediately, frowning. "You really mean to have us work with him, don't you?"
"I don't know what else to do," Harry said honestly, "He's been approved by Kinna and his teachers. He doesn't have a record-"
"Which is your fault. I told you that was a bad idea, didn't I?"
"That's the only 'I told you so' I'm going to give you," Harry sighed, "but yes you did. I still stand by that, though. I owed his mother a life debt. Telling the truth at his trial and his father's was the best way to pay that off. They still got fined, which if you ask me is the best way to hurt a Malfoy."
"He still had to have bribed someone to get in here," Ron leaned against the wall as Harry began making himself a cup of coffee with the old fashioned coffee press. There was a heated cup prepared daily by Margorie in reception, but he found making his own cup was relaxing and wasted more time when he needed to talk to Ron.
"You really think he could have bribed Corney or Dawlish?" Harry asked, referring to the Aurors assigned to approve new trainees and then guide them through the grueling training.
"No," Ron sighed again, "Well, maybe to get his application passed to take the training, but definitely not to finish it. That was why I suggested them for that position in the first place. They're old school and they can't stand Dark Wizards, but you know that. Just, Harry, it's Malfoy. Ferret face. Remember?"
"All too clearly," Harry shook his head, "I'll review his file tonight, see how he did in the training, and I'll schedule a meeting with Kinna to talk about his past, but there's really nothing else we can do."
"Unless he's a Dark Wizard plant," Ron said gloomily.
"Then we'll arrest him, like we would any other Dark Wizard, but there's no proof of that. The Malfoys have been clean since their trials. We have to accept that."
"We do?"
The stubborn set to Ron's jaw made Harry laugh.
"What do you think Hermione would say?"
That deflated his friend rather quickly, but Harry was smart enough to hid his amused grin behind the rim of his fresh cup of coffee.
"Innocent until proven guilty," Ron let out a long suffering sigh, "Yeah, yeah, I know. It's not like she's been reviewing all those old trials for the last year or anything." Clapping Harry on the shoulder, he forced himself to smile. "Come on then, we have smugglers to catch. Why were you late, anyways?"
"The day is cursed, remember?" Harry said conversationally and hid another grin as Ron groaned.
"Don't remind me."
To Harry's surprise, Malfoy had made significant progress by the time lunch rolled around. No one had spoken to the newest member of Team Four, though Harry had kept a watchful eye on him, but that wasn't exactly unusual. Some days Devin didn't speak a word until lunch and Angellina hadn't even been in the office other than for morning check in. Cormac and Ron were huddled around the former's desk, having been tasked with chasing down a suspect for questioning and hadn't paid anyone else any mind since they'd actually started working. Harry himself hadn't spoken to anyone since that morning, having kept busy with Malfoy's file and writing memos to the new Auror's teachers, Kingsley, Kinna and even Hermione in case Ron was right and Malfoy had bribed someone.
That was why, when Angellina swept back into the office with everyone's usual orders from their favorite Chinese place, Harry knew no one had asked what Malfoy wanted for lunch. That was fine if they had gotten him something generic, or if Angellina had simply forgotten their new coworker until she was already ordering the meal, but Harry doubted the reason was anything so innocent. His suspicions were confirmed as Angellina cheerfully dropped off everyone's meal at their desks, leaving Malfoy's for last, and then handed it over with a cheerful smile. To his credit, Malfoy looked equally suspicious of the meal, managing a polite thanks, but not making any motion to actually touch the food.
Apparently Ron and Cormac were in on the joke, because they didn't let that stand.
"Not hungry, Malfoy?" Ron asked with his mouth full of his chicken curry.
"Think he's too good for muggle take out," Cormac said, equally disgusting with a mouth full of pineapple pork.
"No," Harry said casually as he got to his feet. He'd managed to open his beef lo mein, but was too angry to take a bite. "I think he's just being polite and doesn't want to admit he hates, what is that, Szechuan beef? No worries, Malfoy, I like that just fine."
"Potter," Draco began as Harry dropped his uneaten container infront of the blonde and scooped up the food Angellina had left him.
"No need to thank me," Harry interrupted loudly, taking a seat there on Malfoy's desk and lifting a mouthful of spicy beef to his lips. He watched Ron turn a delicate shade of green, Cormac choke and splutter on his food, and Angellina's dark skin turn pasty white. He set the chopsticks back down in the container and brandished it at his team.
"What the hell did you put in his food?"
Three guilty sets of eyes exchanged equally guilty looks, but Harry took little comfort knowing all four of them hadn't been involved in this.
"Not going to tell me, then?" Harry demanded, his casual barely masking his anger. "So I should eat it to find out? Or better yet, how about YOU eat it and I'll have Devin give a diagnosis."
With a wave of Harry's wand, the containers flew from Angellina, Ron and Cormac's hands, landing on his own desk with a splat. Another flick conjured plates and a third split the contaminated Chinese food into equal portions in front of the guilty trio. They eyed it and Ron looked like he might actually take a bite.
"I don't need your protection, Potter," Malfoy whispered.
"I'm sure you don't," Harry said in that fake pleasant voice that was making even Devin, who hadn't done anything, look nervous, "you did pass through Auror training, but this isn't about protecting you, Malfoy. This is about my team stabbing me in the back."
"You know we don't have any problem with you, Harry," Cormac blustered. "You're our team leader; we respect you."
"Yeah, mate, it's him we can't stand," Ron said.
"Him? You mean the member of MY team that I'M responsible for? Or maybe you're forgetting I'm the only person here whose reputation is directly reflected by whether or not he can ensure his team works together. No, it has to be you've forgotten it was my idea restructure the Aurors into teams, my changes to how new Aurors – like him - are trained, and made it my BLOODY RESPONSIBILITY TO KEEP SHIT LIKE THIS OUT OF THE AURORS ALTOGETHER!"
The shout finally earned Harry the chagrin he had been waiting for and he was glad for the silencing spell he had placed on the office so the other teams wouldn't know what was happening. Lowering his voice, Harry resumed the falsely cheery tone from earlier.
"It's like you've all forgotten what it was like when Kingsley let us join the Aurors. The cute practical jokes and the 'friendly' hazing which was really all a ruse to let us know just how much we weren't wanted here once the senior Aurors found out we wanted to change the status quo. And we did, didn't we? Cleaned up this Division, got rid of the corruption, made it a good place to work. Until today when it's someone else that WE don't like."
With a wave of his wand, Harry vanished the food in front of everyone except Devin and Malfoy. Pushing off the desk, he shook his head and tiredly dropped the silencing wards.
"Harry," Angellina said softly, "we're sorry. We didn't mean-"
"Don't," Harry snapped, holding up a hand. He really didn't hear what they didn't mean. "Put your reports on my desk and get the hell out. I need a break from the lot of you."
The next fifteen minutes was spent in near silence, the veteran members of Team Four quickly scratching our their reports and dropping them onto Harry's desk before filing out one by one. To Harry's displeasure, Malfoy didn't follow suit and was still sitting in his chair, staring at him, when the door shut the fourth time. Looking up with a scowl, Harry eyed his new subordinate and then let out a long sigh.
"When I said the lot of you, that meant you too, Malfoy."
"I didn't know they would assign me to your team," was not really what Harry expected the blonde git to say.
"Well, they did and we all need to get used to it. So far I've got no reason to complain, but you better be certain I'm looking for one. You don't have a record, which is technically my doing, so I can't complain they let you in the program. From all reports you excelled in every aspect of Auror training, so I can't complain that you aren't qualified. However, we are here to catch Dark Wizards using Dark Arts and I know for a fact you are the former and know more about the later than you can let on without being sent to Azkaban. So you tell me, Malfoy, should I be happy you've been dropped in my lap?"
None of the defensiveness or entitled attitude that Harry expected crossed Malfoy's features. He merely sat back in his chair and said in a completely serious tone, "Yes."
Unable to help himself, Harry laughed and motioned with his hand for the blonde to elaborate. He did, getting up and walking across the small space between their desks to neatly set a scroll in front of Harry. Malfoy's report, he guessed. Then he said the only thing that would have made Harry agree that he should be happy to have a Malfoy in Team Four.
"I know how you can catch the person leaving the cursed objects."
"Explain it again," Harry ordered, gripping his coffee mug tightly to hide how he was positively vibrating with excitement.
As soon as Malfoy had explained his theory and plan, Harry had conjured a Patronus to deliver messages to his team ordering them back to the office. While they waited, he'd outline the plan with Malfoy and was more than satisfied it would work. He just had to get the team caught up and have the sting approved by Kinna.
Standing at the back of the office, Malfoy didn't look too pleased to be the center of everyone's attention, another surprise for Harry who was used to the blonde's nearly pathological need for attention.
"The Dark Magic is being hidden beneath a modified confundus charm," Malfoy began, just as he had for Harry. "It's been placed over the cursed objects so that when someone touches them they only feel particularly strong magic. That's also why all the objects have had quite a bit of power, so as to not draw extra attention."
"How's that going to help us catch the bastard doing this?" Cormac demanded.
"Shut up a minute and he'll tell you," Harry said, "Go on, Malfoy."
Picking up one of the evidence boxes, Draco drew out the crystal ball that had put Milly Hodglegde in St. Mungos for a week until Healers had managed to drain all the pus from the blisters that had erupted over her entire body. He held it in one hand, his own eagerness overriding whatever uncomfortable feelings he had held before.
"The way the confundus charm is layered over the curse causes instability. The magic left behind from that instability mingled with the other charm the bastard is also using, which was why it was so hard to tell what he was doing in the first place. The second spell is a stasis charm on the curse itself so that it's only activating after the object passes into the hands of a customer and not affecting any of the store clerks or business owners. What we can do is ward all the shops in Diagon Alley to remove any stasis charms as soon as they pass through the door, meaning –"
"Meaning the curse will go off on the son of a bitch planting the cursed objects as soon as he walks through the door!" Ron hooted, clapping his hands together. "When do we get started?"
"I've already put in the paper work," Harry said with a grin. "Kinna is reviewing it now, so get ready. I want this set up before dinner. Oh, and cancel your plans for the next week, boys and girls. We're on a rotating shift until we've caught him."