Disclaimer: JKR & Co owns all, excluding the OCs. Those are mine.
Please Note that although Draco and Hermione still call each other by their last names, they are friendly with each other. They're not close friends and because of this and mere habit, they just never bothered changing what they called each other.
A/N: Thank you so much too all of my story-alerters and reviewers! I'm sorry this post came out late, but I have an excuse — I was editing my Fanvideo-Complimentary-Dark!fic oneshot and now it's posted! If you like Evil!Harry, go read it! It's called "Slavebound by an Incubus". *is shamelessly self-pimping.* And since I'm thanking my reviewers, I want to thank any of you who went and gave me some support for my other fic, "Second Shot at the Stone." I wrote a full 1k for that in about an hour after I got one review and two alerts. Keep it up people! I can almost send it off to my beta! And to mamamae, I'm so glad someone other than me likes those tea mugs! *squishes you* And to RocklifeDude, I'd like to thank you for finding something from each chapter to comment on, even the fillers, which is amazing! Please keep reviewing!
Also, this chapter is a bit longer to make up for my lack of updates. Now, on to the story (since that's what you're really here for, isn't it?):
Chapter 9 — July 11th
The past three days had been stifling; the air hot and humid, the air pressure high with no wind. Finally, the clouds had given out, and it was raining buckets again. Draco stood at the glass wall, scowling out at the half-flooded street that matched his mood that evening.
The gifts had started again, the daily rose with a letter and some small trinket. In the days that passed, Draco had received a set of rare potions ingredients, a dark green leather journal, and a pair of black muggle cuff links with a silver DM engraved in silver. The last one had been a surprise for him as he opened the box; Draco had a secret collection of cuff links only a few of his closest friends knew about. This only enforced the idea that either the Mystery Gifter was Harry or Draco had a stalker he never knew about.
A stalker would make so much more sense, Draco thought to himself, Harry couldn't ever think of me that way.
Harry, it seemed, was putting forth all of his Gryffindor stubbornness into being determined to keep things the same even though it clearly wasn't. Sleeping together was awkward, something it hadn't been even with the complaints Draco had spewed their first night in Hong Kong. Just the day before, when both he and Harry had been reaching for the same lunchbox, their hands brushed each others softly. Draco had pulled his hand away quickly with an apology, but his fingers still tingled with heat where Harry had touched him. Even merely talking to each other over the case seemed much too intimate.
Granger had gotten herself a room a few floors above them, although it was merely for sleeping as she had practically camped out in their room every day. Research and work took on a more serious note and Draco didn't like it. He didn't like staying cooped up in their hotel room, following protocol like everyone else and he most definitely didn't like working through Granger's methods — not because she was muggleborn, as his younger self would have said, but because researching Hong Kong was useless when the Ministry only published and gave out information about pureblood society when they were working with halfbloods. He and Harry had already tried researching earlier that month — Draco knew they weren't going to reach a breakthrough on the case if they stayed cooped up in a hotel room with only books and tension for company.
"I'm done with this," Draco said angrily. He turned violently away from window and stalked across the room. "Research isn't going to help us, Granger, face it. We might have been able to solve cases before like this, but we can't solve this case that way."
Granger placed her book onto the coffee table in front of her before focusing all her attention at glaring at Draco, looking scandalized. She opened her mouth to respond, but Harry beat her to it.
"What do you think we do then?"
"What you and I are best at, of course," Draco drawled, swinging the closet doors open with a dramatic Bang! "We're going to break the rules." He pulled out one of the outrageous outfits Avril had given him and winked at the ex-Gryffindors.
"But you can't do that!" Granger exclaimed, shooting out of her chair. "What those people do; it's illegal! By both muggle and wizarding laws!"
"We'll be fine," Draco waved it off as he handed the outfit to Harry, noting that the brunet took it with no objection whatsoever.
"Malfoy — no! What if we get caught? You two are aurors!" Granger argued, reaching to tug the clothes out of Harry's grasp, who, in return, held them tighter. "Harry, not you too! I am not letting you two go out all alone and break the laws we work to enforce!"
"We're only going undercover, Granger," Draco pointed out, "The best way to get information is always from the inside. Besides, we won't be alone. You're coming with us." He grinned and pointed his wand at her. Before she could even respond, Draco flicked his wand, transfiguring her modest grey t-shirt and shorts into a naughty-looking ripped black camisole with a black and hot pink chequered miniskirt in one swoop.
"Malfoy!" She shrieked; she wrapped her arms around herself, trying to hide some of the newly exposed skin.
"Hmm…" Draco murmured, tilting his head as he scrutinized his handiwork. He flicked his wand again and a black tie with a pink floral design swirling around on it shot out from the tip, wrapping itself around the girl's neck and tying itself into a loose knot. "Much better. We'll have to do something about that hair, though."
"I did not agree to this!"
"Hermione, Draco's right," Harry said as he walked out of the bathroom. He was sporting a pair of slashed black skinny jeans held up by a thick belt with hanging chains and silver studs lining it. An emerald green shirt with sleeves ripped so it gave the image of a tank top with loops of torn cloth for sleeves and a snug black vest completed the look. He was just snapping the thick buckle bracelet onto his wrist as he spoke. Draco tried not to contemplate what his thoughts about how hot Harry looked right then meant. "We won't make any progress if we don't try something else. Besides, last time Draco did this, it worked. And we'll have you with us this time, in case we miss anything."
Granger seemed to be considering it — probably because Harry agreed to the plan — so Draco took that as his cue to head to the bathroom. He stripped himself of his silk shirt and trousers, replacing them with a pair of leather pants that showed off his every curve and a rumpled dark steel blue top unbuttoned to just above his navel and hung just framing his arse. Cold-steel coloured chains wrapped around his neck and hung down his chest, the shirt covering them just enough to be a teaser. The long, thin sleeves of the shirt were sinfully tight, wrapping around his thin but muscled arms.
With a quick charm, Draco's hair shortened in the back into petite spikes and his fringe grew down to his ear and off to the side, in a mock emo cut. Another spell streaked his newly-lengthened hair to be streaked in the same fashion as he had it last time; only instead of emerald green streaks, they were a silvery blue, making his blond hair look ethereal. Draco clipped on the (fake) star earring, lined his eyes in kohl, and pulled on his dragonhide boots with criss-crossing buckles and fingerless gloves.
He gave himself a sexy — even if he did say so himself — wink in the mirror, and left to see how his partners were fairing.
xXxXxXx
"Dragon!"
All Harry saw was the electric blue blur of a short Chinese girl leap off of the chair she was on and at Draco.
"Hello, Hallah," Draco greeted, giving the girl an awkward hug before peeling her off of him. "Where's Av—Phier?"
The blue-haired girl appeared to not have noticed the slip, as she gave a small teasing smirk before turning and waving her hand rapidly at a random space in front of her. "She's around here somewhere."
"Don't be a tease," Draco replied smoothly, a smirk of his own curling his lips. Hallah giggled at him. That's smile is fake! Harry wanted to yell. He's mine!
"Yes, Hallah, don't tease," Another girl's voice came from behind them. Harry recognized her as Heart from the pensieve memory. The man next to her had natural black hair, but his fringe was died a dirty blond. Unlike the woman, he wore a scowl on his face. G-man, Harry thought.
"Oh Heart!" Hallah laughed, "Don't go ruining my fun! You know I don't steal."
"Heart," Draco gave her a polite but slightly stiff nod. She smiled gently in response. "I suppose you might be willing to inform me of Phier's whereabouts?"
"Ever so formal," Heart replied airily, taking on an expression reminiscent of Luna Lovegood. "I believe she's in one of the VIP rooms. Follow me."
She took a step forward but G-man held a blazer-clad arm out, blocking her path. "Not so fast. Who are the dogs?" he demanded
"My friends," Draco replied smoothly. "They're with me."
"They can't enter VIP area." G-man sneered, curling his lip. Heart and Hallah were glancing back and forth between the two men, eyes wild with excitement as they whispered into each other's ears. "The wards are set to invitation-only."
"They're invited." A voice came from behind the Chinese man. Harry shivered slightly at the calm but dangerous tone. G-man whipped around to see just who would dare defy someone of his rank and coming face to face with Phi— Avril.
The girl stood there, green hair flaring out from her face, eyes narrowed, lips twisted into an icy sneer.
"What—"
"I said, they're invited. You might not accept them as your people but I'm accepting them as mine." G-man glared at her, lips twitching as if he was just barely holding in a retort that he knew would be useless. Avril smirked and threaded her fingers though Draco's, pulling him behind her as she walked away. "Come." Harry and Hermione followed, Harry noticing Hallah slip a stack of bills into Heart's hand with a pout.
The quartet made their way into the back VIP rooms, where Avril ushered them in quickly before throwing a few complex — and probably dark — locking and silencing spells at the door. Once done, she dropped Draco's hand and sauntered farther into the neon-on-black decorated room. Plopping down on a silver-green, rounded sectional, she spoke, switching into English. "And who are you?" This was directed to Hermione.
"I'm Hermione Granger, Top Researcher for the British Ministry," Hermione said, surprisingly politely in response to Avril's snarky tone and holding out one black-with-pink-sparkles manicured hand out for the Chinese girl to shake. "I'm working to help Harry and Malfoy with this case."
Avril looked her over, eyes scanning Hermione from her sleeked and charm-highlighted hair to her transfigured ankle boots. A tiny nod of approval was given and she grabbed Hermione's hand, using it to yank the surprised girl into the seat next to her. Harry and Draco stared. "Well?" Avril asked, watching them. "Sit! I've told you, Draco, I'm not a Legillimens; you'll have to tell me why you're here."
"Just checking in on how things are going on your side. Have you received any calls from Wyclyve since?"
"No. I did receive a sms though," Avril replied, pulling a pouch from a hidden pocket in her skirt. "I got you two a phone; it'll be easier for me to contact you and vice versa this way. I forwarded the message to them." She turned the pouch upside-down. Two touch-screen mobiles fell out onto her palm and she handed one to Draco and the other to Harry. "I taped your number to the back, and all of our people's numbers are put in already."
Harry tapped the device in his own hand, glancing at Draco as the screen lit up. The blond was tapping the screen randomly, his face pulled into a scowl in frustration. Harry gave an amused smile, reaching over to help his crush. "Like this, Draco." It took him but a minute to pull up the message Avril had sent him. Draco leaned away from him just slightly, but nodded his thanks.
He's just a plaything. I know you love me.
Wait for me. We'll be together soon.
"He has a spy," Draco announced, lifting his head from the small screen. "There's no way he would know about us otherwise."
"I don't think so," Avril disagreed. "You two do kind of stand out — there aren't that many English in China, if you haven't noticed."
"No, it makes sense," Hermione pointed out, turning to face the other girl. "You two didn't bother with a glamour to make you look Asian, so you already draw people's attention. But only your inner circle knows about your 'relationship' with Draco. One of them has to be working with Wyclyve."
"We'll need a profile for each person in your inner circle," Draco cut in, "as soon as possible."
"I can get those for you."
"Is there anyone we should specifically look out for?"
"G-man, maybe," Avril thought aloud. "We had another fight the day after you met him. We're of the same rank so he can't do anything publicly without hurting his own reputation but I would be wary of him just in case."
"There's something else," Hermione said, looking at the screen of Harry's new mobile. "'Wait for me. We'll be together soon.' Doesn't that sound a bit off to any of you?"
"What do you mean, Hermione?" asked Harry.
"It just sounds as if there's more behind those words." Hermione frowned. "I can't quite put my finger on it. He's planning to do something with the mirror — and he thinks that whatever he does will make Avril fall in love with him."
"That's ridiculous! Robert wouldn't do something so…" Avril waved her arms wildly, pausing as she mentally searched for a word, "insane."
"We have to consider everything," said Draco. "And I wouldn't put it past him to do something insane." He sneered the word. "He's not the Wyclyve you knew anymore."
"Just three years," Avril mumbled. "It's only been three years."
"You haven't even seen him for three years. Not three days, Avril. People change."
"Can we not talk about this?" Avril asked quietly. "I know it's necessary for us to catch Robert but I don't like thinking about it too much." The other three nodded, Draco reaching out and giving the other girl an understanding squeeze on the shoulder. "What else do you need my help on?"
"We need your help finding half-blood establishments." Harry answered quickly, trying to get a word in. He didn't feel very comfortable merely standing on the sidelines, watching Draco and Avril. Although to be honest, Harry just wasn't very comfortable around Avril at all. He should be the one Draco cared about.
The girl in question smirked, although it was a bit weak. "Finally. And here I thought we weren't good enough at hiding."
"Do you have a list of places we could look up?" Hermione asked eagerly as she pulled out a self-inked quill and a roll of parchment from her pocket and returned them back to their original size.
"You'll have to go there if you want information about it. None of our societies are published in the public books. The Ministry would tear us down if they knew all that was in there," Avril replied. She took the offered parchment, but ignored the quill. Instead, she tapped her wand onto the parchment and the words swirled their way out from the tip and onto the parchment. "This will let you in past the wards to our library. I'll take you there now."
"What spell is that?" Hermione nodded enthusiastically as she asked, the look in her eyes practically begging for more information to learn.
"A handwriting spell I invented…years ago." There was momentary falter in her words and she looked away from them. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Draco stiffen just a bit, as if he understood her unspoken words. It really did bother Harry just how close Draco and Avril acted even though they only knew each other for such a short time.
The blond gave a slight cough, "Well, why don't you guys go? I'd rather to observe the club, if you don't mind."
"I'll join you," said Harry hurriedly. He was sick of research and books and besides, clubbing with Draco or research? It was obvious which would win out — especially when the blond was dressed like a fucking Harry buffet.
"We'll see you later then." He watched Avril pulling Hermione over to the floor-length mirror on the opposite side of the room and the two walking straight through it, Hermione clutching the parchment as a shield in front of her as she went.
"Shall we go?" Draco asked, already by the door. Harry nodded and they headed back out to the club.
xXxXxXx
Draco was amazed by how well the club was decorated. The black walls were decorated with swirling, neon, floral designs all the way up to the ceiling, where a mysterious mist wafted down to the floor. Flashing disco lights came shooting through the mist, each colour extraordinarily sharp. It was a bit like walking through a wizards' battle — lights as bright as spells flashing across the room, once in a while striking a target. Only now, when the light hit someone, instead of falling down stupefied, the person seemed to glow for a second. But then the light would move away and it would seem as if the glow was merely the creation of one's imagination.
It must have already been pretty late, as the dance floor was crowded, full of sweaty bodies gyrating to the heavy beat of the fast music. "Let's go over to the bar," he shouted into his partner's ear before grabbing his hand and pulling him through the throng of people.
"Two firewhiskeys," Draco told the bartender.
"I'll…I'll be right back," Harry told him before rushing away. "Loo."
Draco nodded, sipping his drink. He swivelled around on his stool, scanning the club for anyone who might be working for Wyclyve. He spotted Heart and her boyfriend dancing, the two of them practically shagging out in the middle of the dance floor. LaBa was playing 5-10-15-20 with another bloke and winning brilliantly. Hallah was missing. G-man was leaning against the wall, arms crossed. As if feeling Draco's eyes on him, the brunet lifted his head and glared at Draco from under his dirty blond fringe.
"Hey you." Draco turned around to the bartender and raised an eyebrow at the greeting. "I'm supposed to give this to you." A box slid across the counter.
It was wrapped in blue paper, with a big silver bow tied on top. After checking it for hexes or curses, Draco slowly pulled the wrappings off. It was a box of Lemon-and-Green-Apple flavoured, frosting-filled Sugar Quills. A note was tapped to the top.
I know you have a sweet tooth, although even with all that sugar most would say you're too sour. You can be like a lemon, sour and sharp, or maybe like those Green Apples you always have on hand. But I know you, and I know that you can be sweet when you want. Your sugar is all hidden in the inside. Would you be brave enough to spill some of it out and love me too?
"What's that?" Harry's voice pulled Draco out from the trance he had fallen into after reading the message. Draco stared at Harry. Could it be him? It just couldn't be…
"Isn't this from you?"
"What?" Harry's eyes darted to the box. "It—No? I mean..."
Well, it only makes sense, Draco thought as Harry stuttered confusedly. Of course Harry didn't love him. Draco was shocked to find himself a bit sad over the fact though it really ought to be this way. Harry wasn't the secret admirer and Draco only guessed it was him because he was much too eager to find out who the real gifter was. He covered up with a trademark smirk, laughing as he said "I'm just joking. It's only a gift from the mystery person. Don't worry about it. I don't care too much for them." He lied as he slipped he box and note quickly into his pocket and turned back to the bartender to order another drink, not catching the hurt look that flashed across Harry's face.
*A typical Chinese Lunchbox is a white stryofoam box with white rice on the bottom with a few pieces of meat (either chicken or pork, usually) on top with one leaf of some Chinese vegetables. A lunchbox is usually only eaten by financially-challenged people (because they're not very good but rather cheap), people in a great hurry and/or are very busy, or people with no friends.
*5-10-15-20 is a drinking game. Two people hold their hands out as fists in the middle. One person calls out either 5, 10, 15, or 20, as the two people open their fists. You can open one fist, both fists, don't change at all, close one fist, or close both fists. If the caller calls out the correct total number of fingers (1 open palm=5 fingers, 1 closed palm=0) open, they win and the other person drinks. You start with your hands as they are from the last round. Winner calls the numbers until they loose, then the other person starts calling. You can also gamble while playing, but most only drink.
**Note: Here's a little time frame explanation. Avril/Harry/Draco/etc are all around 24 to 26 years old (depending on their birthdays). Avril was kicked out of her family at around 17 years old (she was still a child to her parents, but old enough to survive on her own) so she's been around the "mafia" (for lack of better word) for about 8/9 years. The Wyclyve case is still open and not too full of information, so it makes sense for Wyclyve to have left for England around three years (maybe about 3 and a half) before "present" time. This gives Wyclyve time to build up his Dark Artefacts business to the point where the Ministry intervenes.
A/N: Mehhhh….RL has been taking a toll on me and my muse is giving me the silent treatment for having no time to actually sit down to write. I'm so sorry for how long this chapter took to update. Thank heavens for Nimielle on LJ who pulled me out of my writers block. I never abandon a story once I start it, though, so don't worry if an update is just a tad late. At least we're getting somewhere now…or maybe only I see progress because only I know how this is going to end ^_^
Lemon-and-green-apple-flavoured, frosting-filled sugar quills for all those who review? I'd like to see if any of you guys can guess where I'm going with the case. Tell me your theories please?