Hey there,
so this is chapter 1 already ;) I hope you enjoy and let me know, you do :P
Also hopefully I will be able to update at least once a week - then again Ive got exams at the moment and should indeed be studying instead of writing, so in case of a returning conscience, I will not promise anything.
Have fun and once again: Please let me know, what you think :)
Love,
Nim
Disclaimer: Unfortunately I do not own the world of Harry Potter, nor any characters you might recognize from J.K. Rowlings wonderful universe.
***chapter 1***
It felt strange to walk through the ministry again. It had been years since I had last visited my father at work.
Several people seemed to recognize me though. I was not totally surprised - even though reporters had mostly accepted, that I did not want any media attention and I had not often appeared in the newspapers over the last five years.
To be honest, I had been in the papers often enough after Hogwarts and a certain incident at Teddy´s wedding.
Which was one of the reasons for me estranging from my family and not being at public events anymore.
A lot of people started whispering and indiscreetly pointing at me when I walked by.
Ignoring their attention, I marched towards the elevators. The crowd separated and I could pass by easily, which was - for once - a nice side effect to being Lily Luna Potter.
When I pushed the button for „level two: Department of Magical Law Enforcement" where the Auror office and therefore my father´s bureau was, there were more whispers in the elevator, that I ignored.
Stepping out and walking towards the Auror Headquarters, I tried to focus on the tasks laying ahead.
I would work with a couple of aurors in order to stop a ring of dragon traders. My main task would be to analyze the animal´s reactions and calculate their dangerousness for each other and the operating aurors.
The prospect of working together with the aurors did not make my heart overflow with joy, but I was looking forward to stop wizards and witches from abusing the creatures I had fallen for years ago.
Before I had really noticed, where I was going, I found myself in front of my father´s office.
Dusting off my trousers and straightening out my shirt hastily before I knocked, I busied my hands like always when I was nervous.
He was only my father for god´s sake. And head of the Auror Department, which would make him my boss for the time I would help with this case.
When my knuckle met the dark wood, I felt like time was getting slower until it stopped at Harry Potter´s „Come in."
With shaking knees I opened the door and stepped into the room.
My father was sitting behind a huge mahogany desk, surrounded by shelves and papers everywhere. It was obvious, where my untidiness had come from.
„Lily."
He stood up, eying me warily like a stalemated animal.
Awkwardly we looked each other up and down.
„Hi."
I could not make myself addressing him with „Dad" or „Father", so I just nodded uncomfortably.
He swallowed hard, obviously managing his emotions of seeing me after this long time.
After a couple of uncomfortable seconds that felt like hours, he sighed deeply and stepped around his desk, attempting to hug me, but opting for standing in front of me when I took a step back.
„Lily - it is so good to see you. I… I had given up all hopes of you accepting the case. I had actually given up all hopes of ever speaking to you in person again."
Nodding callously I masked my emotions behind a stony poker face.
„Actually I am still not here to work as an auror. I am here to help stop people from abusing dragons and for that reason only."
The sadness in his eyes made me sick to the bone, but I could not allow myself to let him get through to me. I could under no circumstances allow him to open up my emotional barrier.
No one in my family could do that, it would make everything crumble to pieces again. I had needed years to shut off all my emotions towards any of them, so if I would switch them back on, there would be tears and chaos and feelings I had sworn to never allow myself again.
So I took up all my Slytherin control and masked the upwelling emotions behind a cold and professional voice.
„I am here as an outside consultant for this special task. Although I already signed the contract, there are two conditions I want you to promise not to break."
Waiting for him to get a grip on himself and to nod, I paused.
„First: There will be no mentioning of anything that happened in the past and you as well as your team will treat me like a total stranger."
He swallowed audibly, what gave me the possibility to control the hardly noticeable shaking of my voice before I continued.
„Second: Your family will not know of my cooperation with your department and most of all not about my being back in England and even London."
I saw his jaws clench together, when I excluded myself as I spoke of the Weasley-Potters and braced myself to either start a Weasley-ish loud discussion or walk out on him, just when his professional and almost cold voice cut through the atmosphere of his office.
„As you wish, Ms. Potter."
The room was quite big, there was a long table with nineteen chairs around and several of the fake ministry windows in each wall.
Tuning out the murmuring by lazily mustering the other occupants of the room, I was sitting on one of the chairs close to the front end.
My father had given me a file with the information they had gathered up to this day, as well as another one with a list of the aurors working on the case.
Across from me sat a dark skinned, shaven-headed man. He wore black jeans and a white muscle shirt, that showed off loads of tribal tattoos as well as strange runes on his skin.
Next to him sat a witch of my age, light blueish hair reaching her waist and making her seem like a nymph. With her being one of only two women of the remaining team, I identified her as Allison Cooper.
There were a couple of empty chairs beside them. A fierce looking guy with long dark hair, that made him look like an Indian sat alone. He had several ear rings consisting of snake teeth and misshaped claws, that were obviously an attempt to look dangerous and mysterious. It actually worked.
A couple seats away from me sat a brown headed, broadly built man, whom I recognised as Hunter Wood as he had been in his fifth year with my oldest brother when I started Hogwarts.
He was engaged in conversation with a blonde man with a beard and piercing green eyes.
Fiddling with his pen was a ginger haired boy like guy with dozens of freckles across his face and huge nerd glasses that made him look like an owl. He sat beside Wood and his friend and looked slightly uncomfortable and insecure.
Just when I was done categorizing the other people in the room and started to try and match the names I had read earlier to the unknown faces, the door burst open and Scorpius Malfoy came in with three other aurors.
He nodded greetingly towards every group, making sure not even to blink into my direction.
When he started talking, the mumbling and whispering of the others fell silent immediately.
„Aurors, we have a new extern consultant concerning our case."
Pointing into my direction with a frown, he continued.
„Miss Lily Luna Potter will support us as far as her competence allows her to. She will not meddle with our detections, her sphere of competence is limited to counsel concerning the dragons."
I knew, that his last sentences were directed at me and tried to resist the urge to stick out my tongue at him.
Surely it would be helpful to at least try and be cooperative.
This time fully turning towards me, he pointed at the other aurors to introduce them.
„Our team consists of Gabriel Zabini" - he pointed to the tattooed black guy I had studied first - „Allison Cooper" - the girl next to Gabriel nodded briefly.
„Further on Luke Jackson" - the shy ginger boy waved his hand briefly - „Hunter Wood and Ty Carter" - Wood and the blonde guy with the beard nodded seriously.
„Also Mateo Garcia" - po-faced Indian-mystery-man made a grumbling noise - „Elijah Cooper and Liam Young" - two of the guys who had entered the room with him nodded briefly as their name was said.
„And as aurors in charge of the operation we have Dominique Weasley and myself."
My blue eyes locked with Dom´s grey ones, none of us about to back of.
She looked fabulous, her long blonde hair reaching her waist; dressed in tight blue jeans, a silk shirt with a blazer and black heels that made me suffer from acrophobia.
After a moment of tense silence, Scorpius continued talking, lightly touching Dom on her elbow and making her break the eye contact.
„We are going to re-structure all our evidence, Ms. Potter will help providing information on dragons as well as on her previous experience with dragon traders in China."
There was a shuffling and interested murmuring at his last words. I felt most of their eyes locked on me and started fiddling with the hem of my leather jacket.
With a flick of Scorpius´ wand, the windows on the front end of the room disappeared and were replaced by a huge pin board.
Several pictures of different people appeared, as well as notes on evidence and theories.
„Ms. Potter will have to recollect every memory of her past experience as well as the information on the dragons, that will be helpful for us. One of our teams will help her to do so."
I prayed that this team were not him and my cousin.
„Cooper and Zabini are still on their other case, we will memo you, as soon as we can continue and need more men. Jackson, head-auror Potter just told me, that Foster and Gray need you for some tech-stuff on their case with this Swedish drug brothers."
Owl-boy nodded and his eyes lit up as the word „tech" hung in the air.
„Garcia, you go off and torture puppies, or do whatever you do in your free time."
I had to suppress my comment on how that was something, I would have expected himself to do, but as I looked at mystery-pocahontas-boy, I could really imagine him boiling kittens, so I shut up.
Lost in thoughts, I did only catch some of his last sentences addressed to Wood and Carter.
„… order from Potter, you still have loads of overtime and he still thinks, you should go to the psychs. We have to go through with the normal procedure after losing your partner. "
Wood frowned and Carter looked really pissed off, but neither of them argued.
„That leaves Cooper and Young to deal with Ms. Potter. Dom and I will rearrange the evidence and consult our mole."
Her voice was strict, yet melodic and beautiful, when my cousin continued.
„Any free time is to either spend at home or in the gym. There will be lots of overtime once this mission comes back into action, so I want you to clear your mind. None of you are to accept other missions beside this one…"
She stopped Zabini´s interruption before it came up with a swift motion and continued.
„…of course unclosed cases are to finish, but after that we need all our concentration on these bastards. We won´t forget that they killed four of our best men."
She stayed silent for a second before continuing in a serious and almost sad voice, I had seldom heard her use before.
„Collins and Price were an outstanding team and as brilliant aurors as Watson and Cole. We will not forget them, neither will we forgive their murders and we shall not rest until they are avenged."
After a deep breath and a respectful pause, she looked at each auror at the table and nodded encouragingly.
„So - let´s go and catch some baddies!"
There was applause before everybody hurried off to do what they had been told.
„So, Ms. Potter… You are a dragon tamer in Ireland?"
I nodded and tried to ignore the unsaid question. My father had held his promise, I had not been asked about my past or relation to him yet although I knew, all of the aurors were dying to do so.
The two guys who had introduced themselves as Elijah Cooper and Liam Young. They were a little bit older than me, Elijah being 25 and Liam 27.
The condition I had made my father agree to, had felt absolutely necessary for me to even consider working with anyone of the ministry. But to help them, I would have to indulge into some things of the past, I had successfully hushed up before the media or my family had known about any of it.
Making a decision, I looked Elijah square into his deep brown eyes.
„Mister Cooper. I really want to help you and your team. Not because I am in any way interested in the business of aurors, ministry or anybody else, but because these people are brutally abusing dragons."
He did not make the mistake to interrupt me, so I continued.
„To help you, I will have to tell you things nobody knows about me. I don´t want them to appear in any documents, I don´t want anybody except the three of us to know about them."
Cooper and Young looked at each other, obviously trying to imagine what I could tell them.
„I would not tell you any of this, if I did not think some of it might help you catch these bastards. There might be details to some of my memories, that seem unimportant to me, but you might see parallels to this case.
So if you can agree to my conditions - I am Lily."
Hey guys,
would not let me post this as one chapter, so I divided it into two. Keep on reading and tell me what you think?! :)
xoxo
Nim