Written for the last round of The Blindfolded Competition on the HP FF Challenges Forum. Seriously one of the best contests I've been a part of!
Word Count: 2,469 words
Characters: Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, Luna Lovegood
Prompts: "I broke a nail."
The Importance of Being Inventive
"Lovegood, just give me a bullshit prediction so that I can go!"
"Detective Malfoy," Luna said serenely as she poured some tea, "I have never given you anything but true Divination."
"Divination is just guesswork and luck," Draco drawled. "I'm only here because Inspector Lockhart is into this superstitious shite. Now hurry! I have an investigation to get back to!"
Luna took Draco's cup, swirling its tea leaves. Her dreamy expression was marred by the slightest of frowns. What an odd shape…
Draco's eyebrow rose. "Please tell me you're predicting my death. I wouldn't mind getting time off."
"I see a cog," Luna replied.
"So what? The gears of my fortune are changing?" Draco's tone dripped sarcasm.
"Actually, it's just a cog. If you want to stop the Nargles, I suggest you find one."
"A cog." Draco stared at London's best fortune teller. "Finding a cog is going to help me in this investigation?"
"The first cog you see is the one that will bring you the most happiness." Luna extended her palm expectantly.
Detective Draco Malfoy bit back a furious reply and shoved some silver into the girl's hand. Hat in hand, he stormed out the door of Lovegood's Fortune Telling and Tea Parlour, and walked over to where his constables were guffawing as they made lewd faces at women across the street.
"Crabbe! Goyle!" he snapped. "Find me a cog!"
The constables shared a look of confusion before Goyle nodded at a nearby shop. "Like that one, sir?" he asked.
Draco followed Goyle's direction to the next door shop. Potter & Co's Magical Inventions read the sign and Draco was instantly reminded why he hated coming to this part of town. Troublemakers, thieves and dreamers were the only people who lived here and more than half the population spent their days high on opium. Still, there was a cog drawn on the sign and Draco had a vampire to catch. He waved for the idiots to wait for him and stepped through the grimy door.
Potter & Co's interior was hearth-warm and brightly lit by oil lamps. A bell tinkled above Draco's head, just barely audible over the laughter and clanging metal sounds that echoed from behind the empty counter.
A flap of material moved and a man of medium build stepped into the room, smiling as he removed his goggles. Draco noted the strong smell of smoke and the grease on the man's hand as he approached.
"Welcome!" Harry greeted. "What can I do you for?"
"Detective Malfoy, Station House 4." Draco moved his coat aside to show his silver badge. "I need a cog."
"You don't get many bobbies around here," Harry said, eyeing up the detective. "What do you want a cog for?"
"Just get it," Draco growled.
Harry sighed and disappeared behind the flap. The store door opened and two ruffians entered, though Draco paid them no mind. His mind was flipping over the evidence he had gathered against the newest vampire in town. There was only two places in London that would serve blood to an unlicensed creature of the night, but Draco wasn't even sure what this vampire looked like. That meant no warrants and an undercover operation in two of the seediest bars in the city. And his showpony of an inspector would not permit the mobilisation of the entire force to find one criminal either…
A loud whistling broke through Draco's musing and he flashed back to the present to see the other two customers backing away from a large spinning top that emitted strange lights. Harry and his partners soon burst into the room.
"Put back what you stole or you won't be leaving here alive," snarled George, the fire from his flamethrower highlighting his missing ear.
"Don't try to deny it!" Fred warned, aiming his shotgun at the man who blubbered denials. "The Sneakoscope never lies."
"Give it back and we'll forget about this tomfoolery." Harry's tone was as light as his brass rod's twirling movements.
Predictably, the thieves tried to run. Fred shot one in the leg while Draco pulled his gun on the other. "You're under arrest."
"Good on you!" George cheered as he hopped over the counter. "Reliable little bobby, ain't he?"
His twin agreed as they fleeced the men for the stolen items goods. "If only he stopped them before they took anything."
"If you watched your shop, this wouldn't happen," Draco snapped back. He walked to the door and called for the constables to take the thieves away. As they rushed to follow his command, Draco ran into Harry.
"One cog, free of charge." Harry handed over the copper piece. "Thanks for the help."
"It's my job." Draco's eyes returned to the strange spinning top. "What is that?"
"One of my inventions!" Harry said proudly. "It's called a Sneakoscope. It picks up on suspicious people." He showed it to Draco. "Neat, right?"
Draco's mind whirled with possibilities. "Is it for sale?"
"Yeah, we have -"
"I'll take it."
Luna finished her cookie as Harry explained his new 'fragrance dispenser'. "Did anything exciting happen yesterday?" she said, cutting across his demonstration of how the dispenser and its fragrance packets worked.
Harry frowned as he put down his invention. "Oh, just a bobby that came by."
"Detective Malfoy?" Luna asked, receiving a nod. "He's cute, isn't he?"
Harry scoffed. "He's a rude, stuck up prick. Did you send him?"
"My tea leaves did." Luna picked up Harry's teacup. "Want a reading?"
"By all means." Harry had learnt to never underestimate Luna's powers.
"A broken nail," Luna declared after a moment of deliberation. "There will be problems in your workplace. However, this will bring you closer to someone you desire."
"This thing is useless!" Draco declared as he swept into Harry's shop.
Harry sighed and set down his latest gizmo. "The Sneakoscope was working fine when I sold it to you. Did you break it?"
"No, it just hasn't shut up since last night! Even when I was alone in my bedroom or in the office!" Draco tossed the invention at him.
"Were you doing anything suspicious?" Harry asked, pinning Draco with a fierce emerald gaze.
Draco swallowed. He might have been planning Lockheart's demise, but anyone who spent longer than five minutes in the phony's presence would do the same. And if Draco's musings were more realistic and gory than most, than it was only because of his wilder imagination. "I thought it detected suspicious people. I'm hardly suspicious."
"What makes a person 'sneaky' or 'suspicious'?" Harry asked. "The Sneakoscope works with intent. It doesn't matter whether you're doing something bad, or if you're a 'good' or 'bad' person. If you're having nefarious thoughts or intentions, the Sneakoscope will activate." He returned it to the detective.
"So it's useless."
"You're the one who didn't want to hear how it works before you bought it," Harry retorted.
Draco glared at his disappointing purchase that was now just barely above his Inspector's level of utility. Then a thought occurred to him. "Could you make it specific to a certain type of species? Say… vampires?"
Harry's brow furrowed. "Theoretically, it's possible."
"Good. Do it. I'll pick it up tomorrow evening." Draco shoved the device back into Harry's hand.
"Listen, asshole, you can't just order me -!"
"There's a rabid vampire on the loose," Draco interrupted him. "I'm sure you've seen the articles." He glanced at the open Daily Prophet on the counter. "I'm in charge of the Supernatural Division and without this device, it will take weeks to track this killer down. So I need it done tomorrow."
Harry gritted his teeth, but his eyes had softened. "I'll do my best."
"Thank you."
Draco dusted his jacket free from coal dust, courtesy of one of Lovegood's customers. He had gotten another useless prediction. A broken nail to show his problems at work? That was a no-brainer, considering that he had yet to catch the damn vampire. The part about his desires was probably just adlib, he decided, as he entered the now-familiar shop.
"I didn't get a chance to test it, what with no willing vampire test subjects and all, so good luck!" Harry said, handing him the Sneakoscope.
"This had better work."
"I take no responsibility if it doesn't." Harry shrugged as his annoying customer left.
Judging by Draco's pissed off look the next morning, it hadn't. "This thing is useless!" Draco threw it hard at Harry.
"Didn't work?"
"Oh, it worked all right. Found all the vampires doing evil deeds within three metres. Problem was, it sounded like a freaking banshee! Scared off nearly all our suspects and alerted everyone to our location! Secondly, I can't prove anything! Yes, we found them in suspicious circumstances and some with illegal items on them, but there's no evidence to convict most of them!"
"Well, if you can prove my machine works in the courthouse-"
"It's inadmissible. I checked." Draco sighed. "We didn't even catch the one we were looking for. Probably disappeared the moment that thing started wailing."
"Guess it can't replace detective work just yet, huh?" Harry smiled sympathetically.
"I wish. I wouldn't mind having one other competent person in the place."
"That bad?"
"Most of my unit joined because we're the most prestigious in the police force," Draco explained, leaning against the counter. "Hardly any of them have any real skills, and our inspector is just the pretty face that brings in publicity and deals with bad press. Occasionally we get some sponsorship out of his name, but that's it."
"Sounds rough," Harry touched Draco's hand. "I'm sorry I couldn't help."
"I'm used to it," Draco said, looking away. "Anyway, I have an idea of how to make this worth it."
Harry rolled his eyes and removed his hand, the moment broken.
"Could you maybe make it so that it picks up on ill-intent aimed at a specific person?"
"For you?"
"For my mother."
Harry blinked in surprise. He hadn't thought of the detective as a family man.
"I have far too many enemies, but she only a few dangerous ones." Draco stood up straight.
Harry thought it sounded like a lonely existence, and one that was heart-achingly familiar. "I can only try."
The shop was oddly cold after Draco left.
It took two weeks of endless investigations, dead leads and Luna's mumblings alternating between the object of his desire and the prey he sought before they finally got the bastard. The vampire had claimed over twenty victims during its gruesome feeding spree, and Draco counted his blessings that he hadn't been one of them. It was a close call according to Luna, who foresaw a Grim in his path.
At that time, he had made a breakthrough in the case so he only cashed in the death prediction after the case's conclusion. Lockhart gave him two weeks off, more than would be usual for one Grim Divination, but the blonde probably wanted to use the time to steal all the credit.
Without intending to, Draco spent much of his break visiting Harry to work on the new Sneakoscope. Since it was a gift for his mother, Draco wanted it to be perfect. He complained about the design until Harry etched motifs into the glass. It took a lot of arguing but eventually he also convinced Harry to get rid of the infernal racket it made. By downsizing it and reducing its buffer zone, Harry discovered he could get the sound to emit a cheerful buzz. The crazy lights were replaced by a silver glow that Harry thought was pointless but Draco liked it.
"You know," Luna said as she poured them all tea, "it's a nice thought, Draco, but kind of pointless."
"What do you mean?" Draco and Harry frowned.
"Well, a Sneakoscope doesn't discriminate between the types of evil intent or deeds, does it? Someone could consider hurting you but never acts on it, or they could be jealous of you and wish you ill. They may do something harmless, like putting bugs in your soup, or they could be a mass murderer hiding amongst your friends. Wouldn't the Sneakoscope treat it all the same?"
Both boys felt incredibly stupid after that. However, it lit a fire under Harry and even after Draco returned to work, he still visited the inventor to offer snide critique. The bill for the job kept rising, but Draco didn't mind. His family was well off and conversations with Harry were well worth the price tag.
However, after more than a month of hard work, the new design was done.
"It's a bracelet of tiny Sneakoscopes," Harry explained as he locked it onto Draco's wrist. "The green one picks up on jealousy, the yellow on harmless pranks, the red on murderous intent and the last on everything else."
Draco raised a brow, causing Harry to scowl.
"It's not like I can think of everything, you know! This is better than nothing…right?"
"It's very useful, actually," Draco held it up to the light. "Stylish too. How do you get it keyed to one person?"
"A simple blood ritual." Harry handed Draco the instructions and the bill. Draco paid the large figure wordlessly. "The one on your wrist is for you. This one here," he said, giving Draco a box, "is for your mother."
"I only paid for one."
"The other is a gift, from me to you."
Draco thanked him, stowing away the box carefully. A soft whirring reached his ears and he glanced down to see a Sneakoscope keyed to Harry had activated.
"What bad thoughts are you thinking of, Draco?" Harry teased.
"Honestly?" Draco threw caution to the wind. "What you would look like bent over this desk. Considering I would like to take you on a date first, is it really that bad?"
Harry's cheeks flushed. "Luna broke this one yesterday. It activates by mistake." Before mortification could completely set in Draco's expression, Harry quickly added, "I would like that date though."
"Oh… good." Draco grabbed the annoying gadget and flung it into the waste bin. His lowering hand hit the desk at an odd angle, making him hiss in pain.
"You okay?" Harry grabbed his hand concernedly.
"Yeah… I broke a nail, is all." Draco pulled off the offending hangnail as proof.
Harry blinked, then chuckled. "You know, a Divination from Luna suddenly makes sense to me."
Draco stared at the other for a moment, before he too chuckled. He reached over the counter and pulled Harry close for a long overdue kiss.
In the workroom, Luna popped out the Extendable Ear and shook her head fondly as she stated, "Boys." Her outstretched hand was soon crossed with the twins' silver. Really, how silly of them to bet against the fates.
One of these days I will return to my Drarry one shots. Until then, review and let me know what you thought!