Title: A Most Unlikely Partnership
Authors: Dark Nuriko and Mayhem's Angel
Disclaimers: Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy do not belong to us. The character of Bernard Strongshack however, DOES belong to Mayhem.
Warnings: Future Yaoi. Slash. Stuff.
Notes: Mayhem has nothing to say. Oh wait. This is her first HP fic. Yep. That's it. Nuriko have anything to say?
Nuriko: This is only my third trip into the world of Harry Potter and this time I thought I'd have fun taking HP and DM to a new level. Their future. I play Draco while Mayhem play's Harry. As a side, to all my fans of Magic and Mobile Suits... Part 16 is in the works... and I hope to have it up sometime within the next week. For now... on with this one. Enjoy.
A Most Unlikely Partnership
Chapter One:
Harry Potter waited in the main offices of the Aurors, gathered with all of the other Aurors that the head of the department had called together to make an announcement. He glanced at the clock, noticing his boss was fifteen minutes late. He was thinking of leaving, when the door burst open, revealing the head Auror, Bernard Strongshack.
"Hello everyone! Glad you're all here! Got some exciting news for all of you!"
Harry rolled his eyes. The man was a good auror, but sometimes you couldn't tell. "C'mon Strongshack. Get on with it." He said.
His boss sent the dark haired man a tiny glare, nothing compared to the ones he used to get from Malfoy back at Hogwarts. "I'd like to introduce you all to our newest Auror." He paused, waving a hand towards the door way. "Draco Malfoy."
Draco walked in, dressed in a fine black suit. A black shirt was underneath. Draco had always welcomed wearing black. Mostly because it complimented his coloring. With his pale blond hair kissing his shoulders and his piercing silver eyes, he took in the others.
"Thank you, Mr. Strongshack," Draco said in his deep, cultured voice. As always, a Malfoy, if a reformed one, didn't show a hint of what he was really feeling. He was nervous and worried. Many people hated his father. They strongly hated the Malfoy name. Yet he wasn't his family. In fact, with his father dead and his mother gone crazy, he was the only one left of Malfoy blood.
"I'm honored to be welcomed into such a position," he said after a moment of silence, standing straight and tall.
Harry's jaw literally dropped when Malfoy stepped forward. "What the hell Strongshack? Malfoy? Are you mad? We can't have /him/ working with us! He's on the Dark side!" Harry sputtered, incredulous.
Draco's eyes seemed to narrow. "What's the matter, Potter? Can't stand the fact I'm working at the same place as you and now you've got to act all high and mighty?" he sneered back, falling into old attitudes.
"I am not! I just can't see why you would want to be an auror. Don't you have other things to do? Like torture innocents? And yeah, I can't stand the fact that you're going to be here too!" Harry snarled. He hadn't even changed since school and everything through the war. Still the same old jerk.
Draco laughed. "That was lame, Potter." He then looked at Strongshack. "Forgive me," he said, the smile fading from his lips. Seriousness crossing his features. "That is no way to begin a new job, sir. Sorry."
"That's alright, son. No harm done. Potter, I need every report you're working on, on my desk tomorrow morning. And don't bother Mr. Malfoy anymore."
Harry glared, but decided not to say anything else at the moment.
Draco looked between the two. "It was my fault for beginning it, sir. Perhaps I could help?"
"No, no. Mr. Potter must learn that his actions aren't always appropriate. You can just get set up and find your way around. In fact, Potter can be the one to show you around. Yes, that will work quite fine." Strongshack decided.
"But sir!" Harry started to protest, before he was silenced with another glare, threatening his job this time.
Malfoy really didn't want him to be in too much trouble. "Sir, might I suggest that since Potter doesn't like me, he can show me around as punishment?"
Well, I suppose that will work just as well, but Potter, I will need those reports before the end of the century, hmm?"
Draco sighed and looked away. "Thank you sir."
"Not at all my boy! Now, back to work everyone! Can't stop evil by standing around!"
Draco smiled slightly at that. If it was a true saying, then it was you can't stop evil lying down. But that didn't always work.
"I am sorry about getting you in trouble, Potter. Old habits die hard. Even for me."
Harry glared a little. "So I noticed. C'mon. Might as well show you the place now." He started off, not bothering to make sure Draco was following.
He did follow, keeping a good distance away. "You hate me, don't you?"
"It's taken you this long to notice? Thought you were a bit brighter Malfoy."
He snorted. "So much more than you that all that paper work would have been done by now."
"Right. Like you could do it all." Malfoy hadn't seen Harry's desk yet. Truthfully, it was stacked high with cases that had been finished months ago. He just never got around to writing it all up. "Unfortunately, the only available desk right now, is in the same office as mine, so I guess we'll be sharing for a while."
He shrugged. "Tell me what you know about them and I could. Without a problem."
Harry relented and gave him the details on a few of them as they walked through the maze of halls in the ministry. He came to a door, his name shining on the plaque, and now Draco's had joined it. "This is it. A bit far from everything, but it's alright."
He nodded, noticing the pile of paper work on the desk. Taking the seat that looked less than used; he picked up a folder and began filling it out.
"What are you doing? You weren't serious about helping me with this were you?"
He didn't even look up. "Does it look like I was serious? If I come across one I don't know anything about, Then I'll set it aside and leave it for you."
Harry was surprised for the second time that day. "Well, okay I guess." He sat down on the other side of his desk and grabbed a folder, and started working. It wasn't long before this became boring, and he had to stop and stretch, looking at the clock.
The large pile had become rather small. Twelve files rested to Draco's left while the rest were at his right, finished and complete. He looked up and blinked. "Are those five the only one's you did, Potter?"
"Um, yeah. The paper work was never my strong suit." He blushed and looked away, grabbing another file.
He laughed. "Give me those, Potter. Take these. I didn't have the case information or I would have them done as well." He took the pile beside him and went to work, handing over two of the twelve sitting beside him.
Harry took them. "These are the only ones you didn't know?
He shrugged, looking away. "You rambled on about a lot of them while showing me around. You didn't leave out much, and many of them seemed to be alike... so it wasn't hard to finish the paperwork."
"Oh." He couldn't think of anything else to say, unused to Malfoy being so nice.
He then smirked. "Of course, that's only two of tweleve I didn't know. So you need to get to work, Potter," he commented with a smirk.
He stared at him, green fire in his eyes. Leave it to Malfoy to fool him like that. He reached for his quill with a bit of a snarl and got down to work.
Malfoy couldn't help but grin. Potter was a handsome man, but when his eyes were spitting fire, he was breath taking. And Draco knew every way to make him angry. "Come now Potter? Did you think I'd make this that easy for you?"
"No. Of course not. Can't expect anything easy coming from a Malfoy. Especially you." He snarled in the other man's direction, refusing to look at him.
Draco laughed as he finished up the ones sitting beside Harry. Once they were finished, it was left to the twelve he hadn't been able to do. "Oh, well, be thankful I'm on your side then. Cause this kind of intelligence would be deadly in the wrong hands," he commented. He had a photographic memory. It was one of the reasons his father had wanted him to join Voldemort all those years ago. But in the end, he couldn't handle it. So he let it go. There was nothing else he could have done. When Voldemort fell, he had almost been brought into the group. Luckily, he had escaped untouched... but not unscarred.
Harry looked up, sensing something hidden behind those words. Something he wasn't going to learn of anytime soon either. "True. I think it would be. Thank you for helping."
He shrugged it off. "It was partly my fault your boss got angry with you."
"No, he's always angry with me for something. It wasn't you."
"So, still causing trouble even out of school, eh Potter? I suppose that's nothing new."
"Hn. Maybe." He bent back over his work, wanting to finish
"Well, in any case, this many files being handed it... I don't think he'd sweat over twelve... even when there are over fifty-two done."
Harry blushed. "I suppose you're right." He put down his quill. "Do you want to go eat?" Its getting kind of late." He offered, thinking to pay him back for his kindness, as out of place as it was.
He blinked, raising a single eyebrow. "Are you sure about this? After all, being seen with me might hurt your reputation."
"Hn. I'm sure it will be fine. Nothing to worry about if you're a fellow auror right?" He asked of the blonde.
He shrugged, nodding his head. "I suppose not. Even if every one of them wondered what the hell I was doing here."
"Yeah. They probably are. What are you doing here though?"
"I've seen first hand what wizards could do. I worried for a while. Then decided I could be of help with everything that's stored up here." As he spoke, he tapped his forehead.
"Up there? What are you talking about?" Harry asked, staring at him quizzically.
He rolled his head. "And they made you an Auror? I meant in my head, Potter. I've got a lot of knowledge in my head."
"Oh. Well, most people do. Are you saying you're so special to this job because you know so much?"
Draco's silver eyes flashed as he watched him. "You have no idea how much I know... or what I wished I could forget."
Harry decided it was best if he dropped it right there. He didn't want to get back on Draco's bad side already. "Alright. C'mon. I'm hungry."
He nodded and followed him, but he was silent. He didn't want to remember what his words had made him remember.
Harry noticed his silence, even as he was deep in his own thoughts. He wondered what the blond had meant when he said that his knowledge was so powerful.
A woman stopped and stared as Draco passed by, before calling out to him. "Mr. Malfoy, what a surprise. I didn't expect to see you out and about."
Draco grimaced and waved her off. "Leave me alone. I will do what I can, miss. Please be certain to remember that."
She swallowed at the tone and nodded. "Of course, Mr. Malfoy. Forgive me." She then rushed off, glancing back at him occasionally.
Harry looked back at the woman then turned to Draco. "What was that all about? Why shouldn't you be out? That is a strange comment to make to someone."
He nodded. "It would be, if it weren't for the fact that I've been in Saint Mungo's Hospital for the last five months."
"What! Why would you be there!"
"Voldemort doesn't take kindly to people who refuse him."
"Well, that's true, but he's been gone for four years now. How are you being punished now!"
"I haven't been for the last year. But for seven months I refused treatment. I got so ill one day, they had to take me in. He had one of his servants tormenting me. He said he would tell him when to stop. When Voldemort died, there was no one who could stop him from doing what he was. Yet, eventually, Aurors found him... and rescued me."
Harry thought over this, "So you decided to become one yourself and save others?"
He nodded once. "I know there are others like me, who are being tormented. Even as we talk, there's at least two people unaccounted for."
"Have you told anyone else about this? I think someone needs to know, so we can search for them."
He nodded, almost as if rolling his eyes would have been a waste of time. "Of course. I wasn't about to wait until I could go after them myself... they could be dead by then."
"Who did you tell? Were they able to do anything?"
"Strongshack was the first I told. He sent men out. Told me there were some positive and negative results."
"Positive and negative? How? Did they catch the ones responsible?" Harry wondered why he hadn't heard about all this before. Strongshack had probably kept it locked up pretty tight, the whole business having to deal with Voldemort. Being a younger, less experienced auror, he wasn't always kept informed. It was difficult getting used to, since he had known everything about Voldemort before when he was in school
Draco nodded. "Some were captured, others not. The victims... were not always so fortunate."
"They died? How many people were holding them anyways?
"At last count, fifty-seven. But those were the ones I knew about."
"Fifty-seven? To control two people? To torture them?" Harry was shocked. He hadn't thought it would be that many. Maybe four or six, but 57? "...How...How many tortured you?"
"There were four in charge of me. I heard it was the same with others. But the number I was referring to was the number of victims."
"Victims. Those were all people who left Voldemort, who suffered for the light side?" Hearing this saddened Harry. He felt that any of the work he had done to rid the wizarding world of Voldemort, hadn't quite been enough.
He nodded. "They refused to help him. That upset Voldemort and he expected to torture them until they were ready to accept. I don't think he ever expected you to win."
"I'm sure he didn't expect it. There were times where even /I/ thought I wouldn't beat him. Still, it's too bad that we've lost so many that could have helped us."
Draco nodded. "Too many people who didn't need to die, died. It was terrible."
"I'm sorry you had to go through all that yourself. You must have thought you were going to die several times yourself." After hearing allthis, Harry had definitely developed a respect for the blond walking next to him.
"Well, it certainly wasn't something I expected to walk away from. But it's in the past. I want to help prevent this from happening to others." He kept walking, not bothered by the stares he got.
Harry noticed the stares Draco was getting as well. He was used to getting stares, so he managed to ignore them easily. "Right. Get on with your life. Try to right the wrongs of the world." He said, opening the door of a small café for his companion. "It's not easy though. But I think together, we'll be able to fix some of the world's problems."
Draco blinked, eyeing the dark haired boy almost warily. "Since when did you ever want to have any part of me?"
"Since today."
His gaze softened slightly before he headed on into the café. "So does this mean you want me as a partner?"
"Guess it does." He followed after Draco, heading over to a table in the corner.
He smirked. "Good, because Strongshack already decided I was to be your new partner."
Harry glared. "Figures. He's always doing something like that. I suppose I can deal with it this time."
Draco laughed softly. "I suppose you can. After all, I am rather handy to keep around, even if it is for paperwork alone."
"Heh. You've got that right." The waitress came by then, and Harry ordered a ham sandwich and tea.
Draco gave the person a smile and ordered a pastrami sandwich with ranch instead of mustard and green tea.
Their food came shortly, and the conversation picked up again, this time on a more positive stream.
Draco took a bite of his sandwich before looking toward Harry. "So, where do you live now? Last I remember, you were living with your god awful relatives.
"Lived with the Weasley's for a while, after school and such, but I've got a place in muggle London. What about you? Still head of MalfoyManor?" Harryasked in return. Although, it didn't seem very likely, since all wizards on the dark side knew where it was.
He nodded. "Surprisingly, yes I am. But, it was marked unplotable back during the wars and still isn't plotable today. When father died and mother went insane, there was no one else who would be living there, so, I just couldn't leave it to go to waste."
"Suppose not. Plus you probably didn't want to give up your family home, bad memories or not. It's definitely helpful that it's unplotable."
Draco nodded. "There are more bad memories than good, I regret to admit, but it is still my home. I sent most of the house-elves away, except one. He was too stubborn to leave and almost straight out told me he'd kill himself if I made him go. So, he's still there. Kind of reminds me of how Dobby was. He might even be related to him."
"Really? Never met one that sounds so bold. He could be related, but I have no idea how the family trees of house elves work." He took a bite of his sandwich. "At least there's someone else there. A little less lonely."
Draco's eyes saddened slightly. "It's not really. Dorry isn't really a people person. It's usually just me."
"Well, that happens. House elves don't really seem to be the most social creatures. I'd rather live with one instead of next to Mrs. Crassly and her cats, howling all night long."
Draco laughed, finishing up his sandwich. He then stood, taking his tray to the trash and tossing everything away before looking back toward Harry. "Well, all that and howling cats aside, how about we get back to work?"
"Already?" He groaned. Catching the look on his companion's face, he quickly stood and did the same. "Okay, okay, back to work it is." Harry sighed. At least it wouldn't be as long or boring anymore.