Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all its related characters belong to J.K. Rowling

AN: Merry Christmas and thank you to everyone who favourited/followed this story! Hope you enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 2: Murphy's Law Sucks

It was supposed to be an easy mission.

Well, easy could be rather relative, but the mission was really just standard Unspeakable fare. Target obsessed with something they had no business poking their nose in? Check. Target hiding away in some dilapidated, abandoned structure miles away from the nearest human civilisation? Check. Target stole something from the Department of Mysteries? Check. Really, what in Merlin's name was security doing these days? How were they supposed to be the Department of Mysteries if random strangers managed to waltz in and steal artefacts from right under their noses? (For the record, neither Harry nor Draco were around when this breach of security happened. They were simply the ones sent to retrieve the stolen goods and would like to add that had they been around, none of this blasphemy would have occurred.)

Also, not to seem like they were boasting or anything, but Draco and Harry were among the best Unspeakables the department had to offer: they currently held the record for the highest number of successful cases, their teamwork was flawless, and really, what more could one ask for? This was hardly the hardest case they had been assigned. They had been on many infinitely more dangerous and special cases, even one that involved a smuggling ring at a nude resort (that band of criminals were admittedly rather clever and unorthodox).

So, really, with a scope like this and very experienced persons on the job ("Overqualified," Draco drawled, "but I suppose this job requires careful expertise and Merlin knows the newbies have the finesse of a Blast-Ended Skrewt.") the case wasn't supposed to take more than a day given how much information had already been compiled in the case file.

The documents had correctly stated where their target had holed up in to conduct his illegal experiments. They haven't had to expend the effort to track down the idiot, they just apparated to the location indicated by the coordinates on the file. They didn't even have to do much to tear the wards down, only the barest of wards were put up and they were about as flimsy as the thinnest piece of parchment.

"He's definitely no Ravenclaw," Harry mused, "no Ravenclaw would be stupid enough to perform illegal research with stolen materials and security as shitty as this. Even a Fifth Year could construct better wards."

"Gryffindor then? You lot are known for your impulsiveness. This one obviously got giddy over his successful theft and in his overexcitement and overconfidence didn't think to cover his tracks properly."

Harry pouted, "You wound me, how dare you, insulting my line like that?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Are you going so senile that I need to remind you of the fact that only one of your spawn was sorted into the house of lions?"

"Says the one that has already has a receding hairline,"

"I wouldn't dignify that with a reply. Come on, let's go."

They crept onto the property silently, wands held at the ready, spells at the tip of their tongues. Though disillusioned, they were acutely aware of where the other was, completely in sync with each other.

The building looked even worse on the inside than it did from outside. It was filthy and appeared to be a risk of collapsing in on itself from a strong gust of wind. Despite not being able to see him, Harry could practically picture the expression of utter disdain and disgust for their surroundings on Draco's face and had to stifle a laugh.

The stunner that left Draco's wand was perfectly executed and timed with the disarming charm that left Harry's wand; silent, the streams of red light hitting their target right on the mark. Harry hastened to slap on some magic-sealing handcuffs on their unconscious target (for the rare, but not entirely impossible, chance that the stunning spell wore off and their target was miraculously able to summon a feat of wandless magic – they had learnt early on that desperation was not to be underestimated).

"Well, he's definitely our target, all the descriptions in the file are right then." Draco remarked after casting a slew of revealing charms on the wizard lying on the floor.

"Uhh, maybe not all right. How far into his research and experiments did the file say he was?"

"Nothing much, just that he managed to steal some time dust from the department and was trying to create some sort of device similar to a Time-Turner. Instead of transporting the user back in time, it would be able to turn back the physical time of the user so that he would be able to reverse the natural ageing process of the human body. Want to take a guess at his end goal?"

"To become immortal? I would never have guessed, how utterly unpredictable, what a novel idea." Harry deadpanned.

"Right in one, ten points to Gryffindor."

"Jokes aside, you might want to see this." The strained undertone in Harry's voice gave Draco pause and he stepped around the body to peer through the doorway Harry had entered to investigate.

"Fuck."

There really wasn't a better way to put it. The monstrosity in the room looked like someone had taken a Time-Turner and hit it with more than a few Engorgios. Where a chain would have been on a regular Time-Turner, what seemed to be a crudely made human-sized casket lay instead. The hour glass was glittering with a force that rivalled a thousand suns (how Draco missed that from the other room was a mystery), but the worst part was –

"How the fuck did he get his hands on this much time dust?"

"I know, the file only mentioned a small vial missing. This is worrying."

"Worrying? This has just shot past major emergency and right into further than fucking Tartarus levels of hell disaster!"

"First, we need to figure out how to transport this safely back to Level 9 without triggering anything, get out of here before the bloody roof falls on our heads, and throw that bastard into a cell so that we can interrogate h-"

*crack*

If Draco was a basilisk, Harry would be dead ten times over, his eyes blazing with murderous intent.

"Harry I swear –"

*crack*

"Protego Maxima!"

The hastily put-up shield charm protected them from the rubble that once made up the ceiling, but the impact threw them right into the monstrous contraption. If possible, the thing glittered even brightly as the hour glass spun at an alarming speed. The last thing Draco heard before losing consciousness to a flash of blinding light was –

"Murphy's Law sucks."

AN: The smuggling ring case is a sort-of reference to a fic I read a while back about Auror partners Harry and Draco who had to pretend to be newlyweds while investigating a case.