Prompt: House Guests (#308)
Chapter 7:
Unexpected Guests
Sunday morning, Tracey proceeded into the Auror offices, grumbling mentally to herself about the early hour and the god forsaken heat as she dragged her feet.
Unfortunately, no matter how much she'd have liked to forget about Friday's ordeal, she couldn't put it far from her mind and even the hour and the season's weather couldn't distract her for long.
Before she could make it into her cubicle, Tracey jumped when her partner popped up right in front of her. She'd been so busy, lost in her thoughts, that it literally seemed like he'd popped out of thin air. Which, of course, wasn't possible. You couldn't apparate directly into the Auror Headquarters.
"You're okay! I was worried, after you left the hospital," Potter said, giving her a look over before averting his gaze as he realized that Tracey's attire was similar to Friday's and still showing more skin than he was strictly comfortable with.
However, Tracey didn't pay this mind as she continue to worry her lip.
"So... did you figure out what was going on?" Harry plowed on, trying to skate over the brief, awkward silence.
"Yeah," Tracey responded, running her hand through her hair as she stepped into her cubicle and fell into her chair. "That's sorted. Kind of," Tracey replied, leaning back in her chair and propping her elbow up on her desk. She focused her gaze on Harry for a moment before speaking. "You wouldn't happen to know anyone with lots of experience cracking contracts, do you?"
Harry furrowed his brow in response. "No... why do you ask?"
Tracey paused, considering whether or not to she really wanted to share her predicament with a co-worker. But as Harry was supposed to be her partner, someone whom she was supposed to trust to watch her back... she thought if there was anyone she could trust, it would have to be him. Besides, being who he was, it might come in handy. And she never knew if Harry would need to be privy to this particular development, somewhere down the line.
Pulling Harry further into her cubicle by his robe and pulling out her wand simultaneously, she cast a privacy before proceeding to tell Harry what this was all about.
"Snape?" Harry finally said when she'd finished. "You have to marry Snape," he said, so slowly that there was a pause after each word. As if he couldn't really believed what he'd just been told and needed to clarify though his brain was working at the speed of a tortoise on land.
Tracey nodded, exhaling loudly and slowly.
She was still not used to that. And somehow, it sounded worse said aloud and coming from someone else.
For his part, Harry had no idea what to think or say. Somehow, the idea of Snape having a romantic life, or even being capable of love, had never been something Harry thought of as possible. He knew he'd been wrong about the man for a very long time, and that Snape had been in love with his mother which had been a major adjustment. And while he no longer hated the man and had grown to respect and even admire him... Harry still couldn't picture Snape being with anyone, much less being married.
Focusing his gaze on his fellow Auror, he suddenly felt a twinge of guilt. He didn't know Tracey that well. Upon his first meeting with the red-head during Auror training, he'd been antagonistic towards her to an extent. And while he barely got along with her now, and she often said or did things that were slightly grating on his nerves, he felt bad about her present predicament.
He was sure that though Tracey was a Slytherin and had a different "relationship" with Snape than Harry had when they were students, the man was still not pleasant. Furthermore, he was their teacher! And old enough to be their father!
Harry didn't know how Tracey felt about love, or marriage, but he was sure that no one would want a marriage forced on them, much less with someone like Snape.
Tracey sighed, looking up at Harry who was simply staring at her, his mouth slightly parted, though he didn't look like he was going to say anything soon.
"Great, I think I broke Harry Potter," Tracey deadpanned before burying her head in her hands, wondering what the hell she was going to do.
xXx
When Tracey got home later that evening, she nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw both her mother and Gemma sitting very comfortably on her couch. For a moment, she merely stood in her Hearth, staring at the two women, who were drinking tea and chatting away.
"Um... what the hell?" Tracey asked, her tone low and bemused.
Though Sundays were generally slow days for her, usually devoted to paper work and studying reports, Tracey found herself very tired. And she wasn't sure she was really up for company. She felt extremely drained, and the heat wasn't helping her. All she'd really wanted to do when she got home, was take a nap and maybe eat a rather big pre-supper snack and hopefully pass out in a food coma.
"Tracey, you really should mind your language," Rowena scolded with a slight frown as she got up and with a flick of her wand, got rid of the soot clinging to Tracey before moving in to hug her daughter.
"Yeah, really cousin. What kind of manners are those?" Gemma questioned with a teasing grin as she flicked some of her dark-chocolate locks over her shoulder. Tracey merely scowled at the brunette over her mother's shoulder as she pried herself gently away from her mother's hug.
"Is there a reason you're here?" Tracey asked, addressing her mother.
"I thought that perhaps we could have dinner, and discuss the contract and what we are going to do about it," her mother stated, her tone somewhat delicate.
Tracey raised a brow at this. Her stomach suddenly felt like she had sour milk and was reacting.
"What's there to talk about?" Tracey asked, feeling like they were all beating a dead horse. She really wished she could just forget about the whole thing that was turning her life into one giant, ball of misery that she was sure the titan Atlas couldn't even bear it.
"Well I've sent a copy of mine to Ira Goldstein, he's a member of the Wizengamot and has always dealt with my families legal matters," her mother offered in response, to which Tracey furrowed her brow slightly as she moved into her apartment and sat down in her armchair, discarding her Auror robes along the way.
Goldstein, Tracey thought with a slight frown, wondering if the man was related to Anthony Goldstein. They'd been in the same year at Hogwarts, and quite recently had broken up after dating for two or so months. And by recent, she really meant in the last six months.
A Ravenclaw, what was I thinking?
In her brief dating history since breaking up with Theodore, Tracey dated a grand total of about ten men in about three years, and few of them had been Ravenclaws. But something that the all seemed to have in common, was that they were all somewhat anal retentive, neat-freaks that were obsessed with their jobs.
And they say Slytherins are ambitious, Tracey thought as she looked questioningly at her mother. Though, she was being slightly unfair, considering so many of her relationships failed because she'd been so focused on her Auror training, and were just as much her fault as her exes'.
"Did you receive your copy of the contract?" her mother asked, to which Tracey merely nodded. "And what are you going to do with it?" her mother asked impatiently.
"Well I was going to look at someone to look it over, but if you already have someone on it, what's the point?" Tracey asked, because as much as this was her life, Tracey wasn't very good at creating bridges with complete strangers. And though this was not a personal matter, she wasn't trying to make friends after all, she didn't know where to even start looking for someone that could tackle this particular matter.
"Tracey!" her mother cried, her grey eyes flashing.
"What?!" Tracey asked, though she cringed slightly, knowing that her mother was angry.
"This is your life, young lady! You can't just bury your head in the sand and hope that things will turn-out just fine, without any of your own input!" her mother scolded, her voice sharp and slightly louder than her normal speaking voice.
"I'm not burying my head in the sand. I just don't know where to look for proper... help on the matter! Besides, wouldn't it be much more effective to have Goldstein assemble a team to try to crack the contract?"
Her mother paused, her hands on her hips. A thoughtful look flitted over her face before she gave Tracey a look that meant Tracey had made a good point, but she wasn't about to admit it because Tracey was missing the point. Tracey tried not to look pleased with herself and relaxed marginally into the couch, now that her mother wasn't looking at her like she was going to turn Tracey over her knee.
"That is a good plan," her mother finally stated, schooling her features back into her regal and haughty expression. "But I think we must also meet with Severus."
Tracey cringed at the suggestion. She wanted to bury her face in her hands and whine out the question why.
"We have to see if he is doing anything about the matter. And also," her mother started, narrowing her eyes on Tracey, knowing the younger woman wanted to complain before hesitating in the next point she wanted to bring up. "Come up with a deadline... in case nothing is found. After all, a wedding takes time to plan, and there is the bonding to consider. We only have until the second week of October at the latest, and I don't want to risk even getting that close."
Tracey grimaced at this. As much as she wanted to throw up at the thought that they might not come up with anything, she knew that it was a huge possibility.
Being the pessimist that she was, and thinking herself to be quite pragmatic, she knew that her mother had a point. And as Slytherins, they all valued being well-prepared.
She just really hoped it wouldn't come to that.
"Fine," Tracey replied, before looking up at her mother and trying her best puppy dog look. "Could you take care of that?"
Rowena was tempted to roll her eyes. "Honestly Tracey, sometimes I wonder if you've grown up at all," Rowena retorted, almost telling her daughter it was her future husband, that Tracey should be the one arranging this meeting with him, but instead she bit her tongue, not wanting to be so callous. After all, Tracey was her baby, one she'd always wanted to protect.
"Well, now that all that is settled," Gemma cut in, drawing the two red-heads' attention to her. "Dinner anyone?"
TBC...
