Ron sat at his desk in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and sighed. Life and work had become really boring with the impending arrival of Harry and Hermione's first child. Not only did that leave Ron with too much space on the desk he normally shared with Harry, but it also meant his two best friends were dedicated to all things baby, and all things baby was not a language Ron spoke.
It also meant he had been paired with Seamus, who was an interesting choice in the field to say the least.
Seamus bounded over to his desk, his grin too wide for his face and his mug of coffee sploshing out to run down the side of the cup and collect underneath.
Ron discreetly slid the evidence he was pretending to read to the side. Seamus plonked himself down on the corner of the desk and slapped a warrant under Ron's nose.
"Look here, the bastard finally has a warrant out for him! You ready to get hexing?"
Ron looked down at the warrant and a slow smile spread over his face. "Get your travelling cloak Seamus," he replied.
Seamus grinned in response, downed the rest of his coffee and put the empty mug down on top of the evidence Ron had moved out of harm's way. Ron barely noticed as he stuffed the warrant into his robes, grabbed his travelling cloak and made a bee line for the chimney.
"The Hopping Pot!" he shouted and threw the floo powder into the chimney, barely waiting for the smoke to erupt before he climbed in.
A few seconds later he was spat out unceremoniously on a dirty pub floor and nearly knocked over a rather inebriated wizard in the process. Unfortunately, Seamus had been following him at speed and with his arrival the three of them ended up in a heap on the floor.
Subtle a partner, Seamus was not. It wasn't for the first time that Ron silently cursed Harry and his baby making abilities.
"Official business. Get out of my way," Ron said.
He pushed the drunk wizard aside so he could stand up. He could feel the blood rushing to his head as he scanned the dark room looking for the flash of white blond hair that had taunted his school years.
"Ron! He's running! Come on!" Seamus said.
"What the fuck Seamus?"
Ron turned just in time to see Seamus running after the drunk wizard who seemed to have rapidly gained control over his balance and was heading for the exit. The door flew open and his hood slipped back to reveal a brief flash of white blond hair.
"Come on Ron!" Seamus shot back over his shoulder as he disappeared through the door.
"Fuck!"
Ron started to run for the door and had barely made it through before nearly falling over Seamus' petrified body.
"Fuck!"
He made a last minute effort to jump Seamus. He really must remember to call that in and get Seamus some help.
Ron could just make out the hooded wizard as he gave chase. He felt it in his blood that they'd found him after all this time and without Harry! The glory would be all Ron's. A manic grin lit up his face as his feet slammed the cobbled path. He did love his best friend but it was nice to step outside of his shadow every once in a while.
The hooded wizard dashed into a shop and Ron nearly laughed. What a fatal mistake. He crashed through the door and waved his wand at the back of the hooded wizard.
"Expelliarmus!"
The wand that had been in the other wizard's hand flew at Ron with a breathtaking speed and it bit into his hand as he caught it. He slowed to a stop next to a suit of armor and panted with the effort the run had cost him. A quick glance around the shop told him that Malfoy had chosen a shitty hiding place. It was full of old junk.
"Malfoy."
The hooded wizard turned to face Ron with his trade mark smirk in place. It made Ron want to punch him even more than he had wanted to at Hogwarts. Only a Malfoy would have the arrogance to smirk at the auror who held their wand.
"Weasel."
Ron clenched his teeth. Why did this bastard never fail to make him angry?
"You're under arrest you rotten bastard. It's time to visit Mummy and Daddy in Azkaban."
"Alas, I don't have time for such family reunions today and far less inclination to travel anywhere with you. I might get cooties after all," Draco replied. He shot forward with lightning speed and more strength than Ron would have previously given him credit for to knock over the suit of armor to Ron's left.
Ron hadn't been quick enough to jump out of harms way and he fell open mouthed as the weight of the armor came crashing to the ground pinning him beneath its weight except for his face and right arm. Both his and Draco's wand clattered to the ground and out of reach.
Draco laughed.
Ron wanted to punch him even more than he'd wanted to a minute earlier.
Draco walked to his side and bent down close to his face.
"I always knew you'd lay around on the job Weasel. Honestly, I still can't fathom how you bribed your way into auror training. You certainly don't have the funds. You must have ridden on the back of Potter's fame."
Ron clenched his teeth. There was a stinging behind his eyes that he refused to acknowledge. He bucked underneath the armor, but it was too heavy to shift completely. Only one metal arm moved. Although, it was now right next to Ron's right hand with a surprising gift attached. He couldn't believe his luck.
Draco knelt down to reach for his wand. "I'll be taking that," he said.
"Not before I'll be taking you in, you scum bag!"
Ron yanked at the handcuff that had been hanging loosely from the metal arm and snapped it over Draco's outstretched hand until he heard a satisfying click and a momentary, but horrified intake of breath from the blond. Never let it be said that Ron couldn't think on his back when without a wand.
Draco yanked his arm back as if he had put his hand in a flame and toppled onto his backside. Fortunately for Ron the sudden movement gave him a precious moment of leverage to free his left hand and he made a grab for the other half of the cuff, pulled it from the metal arm and snapped it closed around his right hand. He grinned. Draco would not be leaving him without an arrest.
Draco looked horror struck and what little colour he had in his face was fading rapidly. His mouth opened and closed like a fish for a brief second. Ron grinned even wider. He couldn't remember a time when Draco had ever looked so lost for his smart ass words.
"You fucking stupid prick Weasley!"
Ron laughed.
Draco looked murderous.
Ron laughed even harder. Even the weight of the suit of armor on his chest didn't stop him.
"Laugh away. Laugh until you're blue in the face. Laugh because you are such a bumbling fool that you don't even comprehend what you've just done," Draco said, his skin flushed a faint pink.
Ron had never seen Draco's face anything but pale. He knew this wasn't the time, or the place, but it really did make Draco look much more attractive. Come to think of it, he really was much more attractive in general up close. Ron's thought path stopped dead. He was more than comfortable with his sexuality but to think of Draco as attractive? He wanted to shudder, but nothing happened. He felt a flutter of panic in his chest. He looked down at the handcuff circling his wrist. There was the faintest tracing of interlocking hearts on each chain connecting the two cuffs. The metal around his wrist began to glow. Ron pulled his hand towards himself gingerly and felt the resistance as Draco pulled back.
"Fuck," said Ron.
"Eloquent as ever I see," said Draco.
"Fuck!"
Ron drew a deep breath and blew it out slowly in an effort to get control of his temper.
"Yes, I do believe we've covered that already."
"Malfoy! Will you shut the fuck up for the first time in your life?"
At this rate Ron would need more than just the air in his lungs to stop him from punching Draco when he had a better range of movement.
"Do you know any other adjectives apart from the word 'fuck'?" asked Draco.
"Shut the fuck up and be useful. Get this thing off me."
Draco snorted and sat back. He brought his fingers up to his face to inspect his nails.
"If you could be so kind as to remind me why I would want to do that?"
"If I'm not going anywhere, then you're not going anywhere and someone is eventually going to revive Seamus and when that happens you'll have aurors blasting this place apart," Ron said.
Draco cocked his head as if in thought.
Ron ground his teeth together.
"Probably. I can just imagine the headline from Rita Skeeter now though, can't you?" Draco said, waving his hand in the air. 'Weasel so desperate to be like the big Harry Pothead and capture the big baddy that he resorted to putting love cuffs on the gorgeous Draco Malfoy'. Way to go."
Ron yanked his hand upwards with force. Draco cried out in surprise and nearly fell face first into the suit of armor.
"You will get this off me right now, or so help me, I will kill you," Ron said.
Draco regained his balance and smirked.
"Did your peasant family teach you nothing as a child or was your skull just too thick to allow new information in?"
"Spit it out Malfoy."
"You can't kill me, even if you manage to learn the incantation one day. The cuffs won't allow you to do anything that might even come close to hurting me. Which also means you can't turn me in," Draco replied, looking smug.
"Judging by just how much I want to punch you right now, I think that's bullshit that you've just made up. Suit your fucking self. I'll just wait until the others get here."
Ron sighed and turned his head to look up at the ceiling. Hopefully Seamus would find them first, get the bloody cuffs off and nobody else in the office ever had to find out. He owed Ron big time for sleeping with Ginny. Even now the thought made his blood boil.
"And how exactly do you expect the situation to improve when that happens?"
Draco sat back on his legs and crossed his arms.
Ron turned back to face the blond.
"Your skinny arse will end up in Azkaban. That's good enough for me," he said and turned to stare at the ceiling once more.
Draco laughed.
Ron couldn't think of a time he'd ever heard Draco laugh with humor instead of plain spite. The sound washed over him and pulled at the corners of his lips. He almost wanted to smile in response.
"What's so funny?"
Draco recovered himself and smirked.
"I'm not going anywhere near Azkaban until these cuffs come off and none of your pathetic little friends can make that happen," he pulled his wrist up to examine the cuff closely. "Only Mister Argate can take this spell off."
"Well who the fuck is that?"
Draco shrugged, the picture of innocence.
"Beats me."