DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.
CHAPTER 7
"Fuck Malfoy! You feel about as heavy as Grawp might" Harry panted through painfully drawn in breaths, thankful that he'd managed a side-along-apparation close to the front door of his cottage. Draco snorted in his sleep and blurrily woke up from his drunken stupor staggering away from Harry's grasp.
"Harry? Where are we?" He asked him swaying unsteadily on his feet and then tottered so close to him that they were standing practically nose to nose with each other. "You smell soooo good" he slurred and pressed his face into the crook between Harry's shoulder and neck and breathed him in deeply while Harry grew hot under his body.
"Um Malf…Draco?" He tentatively called out, as his completely stoned mentor snuggled deeper into him.
Suddenly without any warning whatsoever, Harry felt his fancy robes begin to slowly slide off his shoulders on its own and as he watched with horrified fascination, a blast of icy cold air hit him on his naked skin making him shiver uncontrollably. Turning around, he looked down and realized half angrily and half amusedly that the twisted Veela had somehow sneakily managed to pull down the zipper at the back of his dress without him noticing a thing!
"DRACO! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? Geroff me you Neanderthal! We're standing outside in the great bloody outdoors where everyone can fucking see us, and you suddenly decide that a striptease was in order?" He heaved a struggling Draco off of him, prying away his roaming fingers with difficulty.
Just barely managing to undo the wards around his house, he shoved him through the front door and heaved a sigh of relief when he was inside the privacy of his own home. "Harry!" Draco exclaimed happily and hugged him tightly, pressing little insistent kisses down the side of his neck, and Harry having had enough of not being able to reciprocate, held his wand up and said 'Levicorpus,' smirking when the man was suspended upside down in midair with his robes falling over his face.
"Harry?" Draco called out to him in a muffled voice "it's kind of dark in here mate" he said sadly and then added a seductive, "Come and join me."
'Insufferable little git!' Harry shook his head while trying not laugh and led him in that very position down to the guest room. Up righting him, he let him fall to the soft bed and bent tiredly over the mattress to pull off his socks and shoes. With that done, he pulled the covers up around him and turned off the lights.
Sometime during the middle of the night however, when he'd finally gone to bed knackered, after removing the day's disguise and was just on the verge of falling fast asleep, he felt a dip in his bed behind him and felt something warm press up against him. But too tired to care just then, he thought it was a part of his dream and ignored his misgivings completely.
Harry woke up the next morning to stunning, drowsy grey eyes, and the only intelligent thing that would come out of his mouth was "Gahhhh!"
"Potter, shut up!" Draco groaned and clutched his head "You sound like the Bandon Banshee who's gone and drunk one too many vials of Felix Felicis's! I think if you shouted any louder, my skull's gonna crack" he said piteously, through the hazy pain of a whopping big hangover.
"I thought that that was what you've been suffering from all along" Harry grumbled, "a cracked skull! But that aside, what the hell are you doing on my bed?"
"Wiseacre!" Draco retorted at his poor attempt of a joke. "The real question is, what the hell am I doing in your house?"
"You drank like a fish last night at the party so I got saddled with you unfortunately. When we came home, I definitely remember putting you up in the guest room but lo and behold, here you are!" Harry said simply "as if I haven't been through enough last night already!"
"Oh no!" Draco sighed "Alcohol and Veela should never go together, I've had experiences in my past that I've promised myself would never happen again!"
"Then what happened last night" Harry asked him, feeling so awkward by just lying there next to the very hot man.
"Fenrir I suppose" Draco said softly "Didn't like the feeling that my childhood nightmare is out and about instead of six feet under."
"Ah that explanation's probably going to get you off of the hook" Harry said disappointedly and inched further away from him surreptitiously.
"And where are you going?" Draco asked him, turning on the seduction to an intolerable level "I've just found out that getting up to you is a great feeling."
"You…you" Harry sputtered and then saw the wide shit-eating grin on Draco's face. "You fucking bastard!" He yelled and kicked him right off the mattress, but could not stop his gleeful cackling.
"Hey your house is amazing" Draco said taking a large bite out of the buttery, warm chicken Danish they'd each gotten at the Ministry Munchies in the Atrium.
Harry nodded and nearly scalded his tongue with a sip of hot coffee. He had been deliberately maintaining an arms distance from Draco all morning much to his mentor's amusement, but he was honestly afraid that if he got any closer to the blackguard he'd either snog him senseless or beat the living day lights out of him! 'I should probably ask Trelawney what to do' Harry thought aimlessly, 'she'd be the only one who'd tell me to kill him since she'd have seen it happening a long time ago.'
"So what are the plans for today then?" Harry asked him while he was smarmily chatting up a storm with all the hot witches and wizards in the lift with them. "Well I thought we'd go and report to the boss first and then stop at my place to get my bike and then head out for a trek in the Epping Forest. I mean, if we're going to catch the wolf bastards we might as well be on our A game right? We have only three days until the full moon anyway."
"That's great Sir, but why your bike?" Harry queried making sure that there were at least three people between them, wondering how he'd survive another day in such close proximity.
"We're going to investigate in a muggle community. If we just popped in suddenly out of nowhere, they'll start thinking that the forest is haunted."
"Wait I have a better idea" Harry countered desperately "Mr. Weasley always drives his muggle car into work, so maybe he's brought it in today as well, so we could borrow it."
"Hmm…yeah that's a good plan" Draco shrugged "Do you know how to drive it though?"
"Yep" Harry said relieved 'At least I won't have to sit stuck to him!' "I'll go ask Arthur while you talk to the boss, that way we can leave faster."
"Done" Malfoy said and they parted ways as soon as the doors of the service lift opened.
"We're going to die Potter" Draco growled, holding onto the handles on the roof of the Ford Anglia in a vice like grip. This was the third time the exhaust of the dratted car had backfired and Harry was starting to get worried as well. "We're almost there" he said gritting his teeth and praying for a miracle, "It's just around the corner."
They had decided to go as married partners for their cover, who were tired of living the humdrum city life and were just looking into a house by the Forest. They'd spruced themselves up in muggle clothing and wore matching rings on their fingers just in case they were asked about it.
The plan was a simple one. All they had to do was talk to as many locals as they possibly could and then go for a trek in the forest so that they drop the standard Ministry markers here and there which would keep them from getting utterly lost on the day of the stake out.
They turned at the bend in the road and were greeted by the sight of tiny clumps of buildings, surrounded by the serene Forest and its greenery. Stopping the car at the main entrance they got off and bought maps and some gear to take with them on the trek.
Afterwards they spent some time with the locals and asked them all kinds of question about the place and its residents and were quite happy to hear that there were more retirement homes than families with younger children, because that narrowed down their watch completely.
They left the place an hour later and finally started their exploration of the woods. The forest was magnificent with tall Oak trees, Silver Birches, Holly and several pollarded trees, but the best parts of it was when they'd suddenly come across hidden rivers and ponds in the midst of all the foliage.
There were several muggle trekkers and bikers like them but they'd already found out from the people that by the night the place was dead silent, with no activity whatsoever.
It was sun down by the time they'd gotten back to their car and they were bushed. Their boots were wet and felt heavy and their clothes were dirty as hell, but they were happy with what they'd accomplished and decided to call it quits for the day.
"Um Potter?" Draco said looking down at his watch in consternation "It's eleven o'clock in the night mate! By the time we get this car back to the Ministry and then apparate to your place we're not going to have anywhere to eat!"
"Actually I've thought about that already" Harry admitted, and feeling a tiny bit nervous said, "Um would you mind if I cooked us some supper?"
"You can cook!" Draco asked him in surprise.
"Yeah, it won't be great, but it will be edible…"
"Edible's good" Draco said leaning back on the seat as if the matter was completely settled, he hated sleeping on an empty stomach because it made him really cranky in the morning after. "I really do love you after all Potter" he said and the car nearly swerved off the road.
Draco watched Harry move around the kitchen effortlessly and whip up the most aromatic and delicious looking tomato, sausage, cheese and mushroom pasta he'd ever eaten. He was sitting at the island in the middle of the room and quietly thinking about how great it was to actually have someone working alongside of him and how seamlessly Harry had fit into his life.
Remembering the kiss from last night, he felt his stomach churn uneasily because quite frankly, it had scared the bejesus out of him. It had called to something so primal and deeply buried within him that he had felt weak kneed and shaky after it had happened. Something he'd never before felt in all of his vast experience.
Now taking a bite out of his food, once it had been served up piping hot, his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when a burst of flavors hit his tongue and he couldn't help but moan with pleasure. "God, Potter! Those are some mad skills! Where the hell did you learn to do it like this?"
"Mrs. Weasley taught me some stuff when she found out I was going to be living alone" Harry said modestly.
"If I ever see her, I'm going to kiss the living daylights out of her" Draco vowed after a sip of wine.
'Or you could just kiss me again' Harry smiled to himself.
"Hmm what did you say?" Draco asked him looking up from his plate quizzically.
"Um…Mr. Weasley would have something to say about that" he said quickly and got up to send the plates and cutlery to the basin with magic. While they washed themselves in a happy sort of a dance with Harry supervising the process, Draco came over to hand in his own plate and then suddenly shocked him when he unconsciously wiped off a fleck of soap bubbles from Harry's face rather gently.
"It was great" he affirmed and smiled at him sweetly, for the first time without a hint of sarcasm lacing its edges.
"Th…thanks" Harry stammered and looked away, "If…if you want you can sleep in the guest room tonight…"
"Sound good" Draco said, "But I'm going to have go back home in the morning anyway to change out of these clothes and stuff, so I think I'll just go now instead."
"Um yeah…okay then, see you tomorrow and um goodnight" Harry smiled back at him and watched him leave feeling torn between acute disappointment and relief.
"Simmer down people and listen up" Draco clapped his hands impatiently. He and Harry had come up with the decision yesterday that they were going to need the help of the other Aurors to catch the Broadmoor brothers and so he'd called them for an impromptu meeting that morning.
"We've already been through the details of the case once, but if you need anything more clarified you can go to Lupin or Harry or my-self and we'll be glad to help you. Right now, I've brought in a couple of people today, who I think are going to be the turning point for us, so please pay attention."
Through the side door two people suddenly walked in and stood next to Draco quietly, waiting for him to introduce them. "You guys are all familiar with the Weasley twin's, Fred and George right?" Draco said and pointed them out "They've been working on a secret weapon for us at their joke shop to help us try to nab these suckers with lesser hassle. They were brought in three months ago when we first learned about the case and I think they're finally ready with a prototype."
"Thanks Malfoy" Fred said taking the floor from him and patting him on the shoulder "As you know, catching a werewolf is nigh impossible because they're vicious beast when turned, no offence Lupin" he said turning to the sedate man who grinned and waved him on, "So George, Ron and I came up with a simpler technique of stopping them…"
Walking up to the table beside his brother, George placed a tiny glistening ball on the tabletop that looked like a black oyster pearl and said with a flourish "Voila! Presenting to you,'The Rete d'Argento', also known as 'The Silver Net'!"
"So before you guys start wondering about what it does, let me demonstrate it you" Fred said and threw the ball up in the air and sent a couple of sparks at it from his wand. Once it had peaked, the ball burst open and huge, actual silver net flowered from within it, trapping all them under its shimmery texture. "
"The wolves will able to move very minimally underneath them, in fact look at Remus, he's been struggling to get it off of him! But the only problem is, that we have no idea how long the magic will withstand the pressure from the wolves, it might only give you a couple of minutes at best."
"Which is where Mr. Severus Snape comes in" Draco said and the door opened to let in a third man.
"Snivellus!" Sirius barked out happily "What're you doing outside the dungeons? Sure being under the sun is a good idea?"
"What are you talking about Black?" Snape asked him silkily, "You're a big, dark and ugly cloud looming over my head, so what sun? Also it seems like you need my help as usual, so here I am" Snape sneered at him "Never could managed to do things on your own now, could you?"
"Can't you be a little nice for once Sev?" Black asked him laughingly, toying with the man because he was so close to losing it and snapping.
"I can be, but only when hell freezes over, you delirious cur!"
"Okay shut up you two!" Draco said getting exasperated "Can we get back to the case now, Uncle?"
Severus nodded and after shooting Sirius a murderous glare said "I've been studying the modified version of the Wolfsbane potion and I've found out that the hallucinogen in the mixture is very a strong one. It makes the wolves angrier, violent and more bloodthirsty, beyond the usual. I've however managed to create an antidote which will suppress the effect of the hallucinogen and aggravate the suppressant effect of the wolfsbane part of it, so you should have a docile wolf by the end of it. But as Mr. Fred Weasley here said, the wolves have a metabolic rate which is phenomenally high and they've been pumped up with the drug so again I can't really tell you how long it'll work."
"Thanks guys" Draco said politely could you wait for me in my office?" he asked them "We'll have to discuss the issue of the price for these little suckers" he said pointing to the burnt out black ball and watched them leave before turning back to the now very, focused group in front of him.
"I need you people to decide who is free to come with us on that night because there is no way Harry and I can pull this off on our own and once were ready with the list, we'll start training with those silver net things and how to use them. Please come to a decision by the end of the day, since we now have only two days before full-moon. Thank you all for your cooperation."
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