Written for Round 10 of Season 2 of the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition as Beater 1 for the Falmouth Falcons
Prompts: (6) specialty, (12) onwards
Disclaimer: Characters herein do not belong to me and I am not making any money from this.
Word Count: ~2100
A/N: Beater 1s could write about either the Goblin Liaison office or the Centaur Liaison office and I chose to write about the Centaur Liaison office. The Goblin Office also makes it in (lol) but only in mentions.
More notes at the end because spoilers.
Also, my Chrome is telling me that "onwards" isn't a word but since that is the prompt, that is how i used it.
And one last thing: this could be Drarry if you squint a bit, but for the most part, it isn't.
.x.x.
Draco holds his breath, his heart beating wildly, unbearably loud in the tiny broom closet that is his office. It's an important moment, most possibly for his entire career. All five whole months of it. It's most likely the highest achievement anyone who's ever held the position will ever achieve and Draco is going to be the one who accomplishes it. There is nothing like setting high goals and then reaching them, though Draco can definitely do without the awful amount of work he had to put into getting there. But a challenge is a challenge, and no one in the Ministry is about to let him take his wand any farther than the security guard station in the Atrium (where Draco must go to reclaim it upon leaving). He steadies his hands because this was a moment that could not afford any mistakes. Draco bites his lip in concentration and—
"Malfoy, have you seen—"
Draco's head snaps up, wrenching his hand back in surprise—a mistake. A huge one.
"Shit!" He watches in horror as the paper replica of the Ministry he'd spent three—THREE—months on implode on itself in reaction to Draco's sudden movement.
Granger just shakes her head by the door before closing it again without ever finishing her sentence. Or maybe she does, but Draco can't find it in himself to really care.
.x.x.
"Centaur Liaison, how may I help you?" Draco says, his voice falsely cheerful, smiling at the man standing in front of his desk.
"Yes, hi." The man is clearly not a centaur, but Draco makes no comment. He just keeps smiling.
"Hello, Sir. How may I help you today?" He feels like an idiot.
"I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of the Pest Advisory Board." The man laughs nervously and scratches his head.
Draco's smile doesn't slip because he's used to this. If anything, it grows wider.
"Down the hall back that way and to your left," Draco says. His cheeks are starting to hurt.
"Oops! Must have just missed it. Thanks!" The man waves sheepishly and runs off.
.x.x.
Despite the circumstances, Draco is quite happy with his job, pity position or not. It's better than sitting awkwardly at home with his parents pretending they've still got some semblance of respect left. At least here, he gets paid to sit around and be awkward. And as long as Draco is being completely honest, he likes that he's the only one in the office and there's no one to tell him what to do. Though, he's a bit disappointed by the fact that he still needs to deal with idiots.
He doesn't regret taking the job. The only downside he's seen so far is that it's on Level 4 with the rest of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.
.x.x.
"Centaur Liaison, how may I help you?" Draco forces a smile but he knows it isn't convincing.
"Right. Er, I'm looking for the Goblin Liaison Offi—"
"Across the hall," Draco says, interrupting the woman. She turns and looks at the large, obnoxious sign by the door that Draco had put up in hopes of never getting any more questions asking for it.
"Oh! Thank you!"
Draco scowls the second she's gone and stands to slam his office door closed.
He opens it two minutes later, sweating and cursing.
.x.x.
The little room that is the Centaur Liaison Office is located in the back corner of Level 4, as far away from the lifts and as out of the way as possible, though this, it seems, hasn't deterred all the visitors Draco gets. This, he knows, is partly the fault of his almost always open office door. But he cannot be blamed for that. No, Draco blames the Magical Maintenance Department for always leaving his broom closet at slightly above Sahara Desert at mid-afternoon in the summer and Draco's only relief is leaving his office door open so that the cooler temperatures of the corridor outside might make it more bearable. This only works half the time. The other half, Draco just spends in the break room where the Maintenance blokes can't purposely mess with the climate to torture him.
.x.x
"Centaur Liaison, how may I help you?" Draco doesn't look up, just continues scribbling on the piece of parchment in front of him, pretending to be busy, though all he's done so far is draw a stickman with messy black hair, huge round glasses, and a lightning-shaped marking on his head.
"Er…"
"Pest Advisory Board is back that way and to your left. Have a good day, Sir." The stickman is currently falling off his broom and stickman Draco is laughing. There's a dementor involved somewhere, but Draco hasn't figured out how to draw a stickman dementor yet.
"Er, I'm not looking for the—"
"Goblin Liaison is across the hall." Draco jerks his quill in the general direction of Not Here and looks up. At Potter. Shit. And did he just say that out loud?
Potter smiles. "I see you've been keeping busy," he says.
Draco attempts to hide the drawing, but he's sure Potter's already seen it. "I have been busy," he finds himself saying, "I was just…just…taking a break. A tiny one."
"Right," Potter says. Draco can hear the laugh although Potter isn't actually laughing, but it's implied. He scowls.
"What do you want, Potter?" He emphasizes the 'p', spitting the name out with a sneer like the way he had back in school, only he's out of practice and can't seem to muster up the hatred he used to feel so it comes out almost a stutter. Potter's smile doesn't waver. If anything, it seems to grow wider.
"I wanted to consult a centaur expert," he says.
"And?" Draco says.
"And centaurs seem to be your specialty?" Potter says before dropping a file on Draco's desk.
Draco stares at it. Blinks several time before he discreetly pinches himself to see if he isn't just imagining this. He isn't.
He snatches the file off his desk and flips it open before Potter can change his mind and take it back.
.x.x.
Draco hates the woods. No one ever told him he'd need to actually find a centaur when he took the job. He hates it even more when Potter laughs the second time he trips on the undergrowth.
"Tell me again why it is you need me to go with you?" Draco says, grumbling. He turns to look at Potter who looks quite relaxed and at home, which really just isn't fair.
"It's better than that tiny office, though isn't it? At least it's not hotter than hell out here," Potter says, completely not answering Draco's question. He's right, but Draco isn't ever going to tell Potter this. "Why don't you ask the Magical Maintenance folks to fix that for you, anyway?" Potter continues.
"I have," Draco mumbles. Because he has. He was ignored, though, and the next day, it had started raining. While he was inside. It'd ruined his best robe and sent a very clear message: Draco was not to complain.
Thankfully, Potter doesn't ask him to explain. Not like Draco would have said anything, anyway. He might go back to find a hurricane in there or something.
.x.x.
"Centaur Liaison, how may I help you?" Draco says looking up with a smile only to have it falter a second later.
The man at his door has a sneer on his face, not unlike the ones Draco used to always wear. He knows him, recognizes him because he works right across the corridor.
"Still here are you? Thought they'd have gotten rid of you by now," the man says before going into the office opposite his. He pauses at the door then turns and says loudly, "The temperature is just perfect in here isn't it? Those Maintenance blokes sure know what they're doing." The door swings closed, but not before Draco hears the laughing from the Goblin Liaison office.
Sometimes, on days like these, he hates his job, but it'll be a cold day in his broom closet before he quits.
.x.x.
It isn't so much that they find the centaur herd as it is the centaur herd finds them. This, though, doesn't seem to faze Potter. He just holds up his hands, wand still stashed somewhere. It takes Draco a second to do the same. He stares at the arrows pointed at them and suddenly he thinks his broom closet is paradise.
"You are not welcomed here, Harry Potter," says one of the centaurs.
"I know," Potter says, "but I'm here on official Ministry business."
"They do not send Aurors to do the business of other departments," the centaur says.
"I'm here to escort Mr Malfoy, of the Centaur Liaison Office," Potter says and Draco blinks because that is definitely not what the file he read said. Draco is here to offer advice and support to Potter as he takes the statement of the centaur who had inadvertently witnessed a murder. "He'll be taking the statement, and then we'll be on our way."
The centaur narrows his eyes as he looks at Draco, and Draco trembles. He remembers the story of Umbridge, the crazy old DADA professor who had a mental break down after a centaur herd attacked her.
"Would this be the same Malfoy as the one who followed He Who Must Not Be Named?" There's a tense moment where it seems every eye in the clearing looks at Draco's left arm. Draco doesn't move. He's frozen. He doesn't realize he's holding his breath until he takes that first shuddering one after the centaurs have turned their attention back towards Potter. Draco looks too, and Potter doesn't look as relaxed or at ease as before. He wonders why.
Draco catches Potter's glance a moment later, a worried look on his face, but Potter doesn't say anything, and Draco isn't about to ask.
.x.x.
"Centaur Liaison, how may I help—" Draco cuts himself off when he sees it's just Granger.
"I'm really sorry for doing this, Malfoy, but could you help me get some things from the Archives?" she says, looking apologetic.
Draco scowls at her, but takes her list and goes anyway.
At least this way, he's somewhat useful.
.x.x.
Draco takes the centaur's statement, most of which was about the odd alignment of Jupiter's moons on the night of the murder, which Draco doesn't really understand and isn't about to question. He notes down everything significant that he can while Potter watches on fifty feet away. Draco thanks the centaur when they finish and walks back to where Potter is.
Another centaur escorts them out of the centaur territory, and as soon as they are out, Potter turns to Draco and asks, "Are you all right?"
Draco stares at Potter for a second before scoffing. "Why wouldn't I be?" He turns and marches onward as put together as he can manage because the erratic beating of his heart that started while they'd been in the woods hasn't yet stopped and seems to get worse every time he looks at Potter.
.x.x.
"Centaur Liaison, how may I—" Draco scowls, ignoring the way his heartbeat speeds up.
"Hey, Malfoy," Potter says. He's smiling again, which just makes everything worse.
"Potter," Draco says, because it'd be bad form not to.
"You had lunch yet?" Potter asks him.
Draco shakes his head. "No."
"Would you like to join me and Hermione? We're going to this great little place around the corner," he says.
"…Muggle?" Draco asks because he's sure there aren't any Wizard run shops around these parts.
"Yes…Is that a problem?" Potter says. Draco is about to say no, but really, it is a problem because Draco hasn't any Muggle money.
"Don't worry about the bill," Potter says in a rush, before Draco can say anything, "You can pay us back later."
Draco still hesitates, but then Potter smiles at him so hopefully, he finds himself saying yes before he even realizes he's doing it.
.x.x.
Draco will miss his broom closet. It's small and cramped and can barely fit the tiny desk they've stuffed inside, but it was his for the year that he'd been there. It may have been a pity position and a dead end job, but Draco doesn't regret taking it. It was a step forward and he'll continue to march onwards.
He closes the door, smiles at the map he had pinned up earlier detailing directions to all the different departments and offices on Level 4 including both the Pest Advisory Board and the Goblin Liaison Office, and turns around.
He meets Granger by the lifts, and really, Draco isn't sad to leave this Department at all.
When the doors open to his new Department, Potter is there.
"Welcome to Level 2, Department of Magical Law Enforcement," he says.
Draco grins. And yeah, maybe the Centaur Liaison Office isn't such a dead-end job after all.
A/N (cont): The HP Wiki says that "being sent to the Centaur Office" is a joke meaning the person in question is about to be fired and this kind of inspired this story where instead of being fired, it's someone's step into the Ministry. Basically, it was a test to see if Draco would stick with the job even though it's basically a BS position. Also, because no one was about to just take Draco in because of his DE stint.