The office door opened and shut with a slam as a ginger haired man entered and scanned the empty room before spotting the sole occupant lounging in the corner on the only threadbare sofa. A dusty desk was placed in the centre with cases of files stacked on top of each other, while a bottle of firewhiskey and two shot glasses rested besides them. Snorting at his careless posture, Ron Weasley shook his head before sending a stinging hex at his partner, Harry Potter. The boy who lived, jumped at being hexed at, swore loudly before sending a hex back at Ron.

Ron sidestepped the hex and grinned "Nice to see you moving and not on your ass, Harry"

Harry snorted "I am bored, Ron. Not one case this week, not even one. The criminal class of Britain has gone down the drain since I offed Voldemort, I am telling you. At least Voldemort had the decency to keep making attempts on my life, so I never lacked for entertainment."

Removing the case files from the desk, Ron wiped the dust of the desk with a muttered "Scourgify" before he conjured a chair for himself and sat down. "Well, if you're looking for a new bounty, I suppose you're in luck."

Harry blinked, and in a flash, was standing in front of Ron, hands out and eyebrows raised. Ron hummed for a minute as he poured himself a shot of firewhiskey as Harry impatiently started to tap the floor.

Harry finally grunted "The file"

Ron grinned "Oh, I thought you wanted me to pour you a glass." Seeing Harry's unimpressed look, Ron took a sheaf of parchment out of the robes of his pocket and passed it to Harry who snatched it and scanned the documents for a minute.

"Opinions?"

Ron shook his head "Well, we have a chance, just like everyone else who follows the bounty hunters guild. As you can see, Roger Davies has got a 20,000 galleon bounty on his head, which means everyone will be gunning for the prat. Moreover, it seems the idiot decided to abscond some new experimental combat munitions the Department of Mysteries was developing, so the Ministry is an uproar. If we can bring him alive, it would be a good payday for us both."

Harry nodded as he made a note on his notepad before looking around "I think I will sniff around the ministry for some clue, we need to know what type of munitions we are talking about, seeing as we might be going after him. By the way, where is dinner?"

"Call that elf of yours and ask?"

"If only your wife knew how you speak to Kreacher. Very well, Kreacher!"

With a crack, a small house-elf with a bulbous, snout-like nose, bloodshot eyes, many folds of skin, and white hair growing out of his bat-like ears appeared in the room, carrying a tray with two plates and a covered cloche.

"Kreacher has his Master's dinner. Kreacher presumed that Master Weasley would be staying for dinner, so Kreacher made extra", the house elf croaked before placing the tray on the table. "Kreacher also hopes that Master finds a paying job soon or the House of Black would soon be a tarnished wreck" giving both wizards a curt bow, the house elf vanished with another crack.

"Always a charm, that elf", Ron muttered as he lifted the cloche and looked at the leek and onion soup. "Not exactly serving a five course meal, I suppose. You really have an art for picking elves mate. First, it was a dodgy, maniacal elf who would go to extremes to protect you. The second one turned out to be a closet drunk. Now, the latest one seems to get off on crying about the lost fortunes of House Black, in the hands of its decrepit idiot of a master."

"Sod off, Ron. Though I wonder what happened to our last bounty."

Ron gave an incredulous look "Let's remind you what happened, eh? You threw a passer-by into Flourish and Blotts while pursuing the Bounty, through the window, I must emphasize. Then, you have to pay off the damages to the shop which eats into your share of the bounty. Then, the ministry takes another 20 percent because the deal was, you bring the target in alive and in good shape, not on his last breath. And finally, I expect that paying off the hospital bills for that poor guy you threw into the window might have taken the rest of your money."

Harry made a face as he dug into the soup "Did that really happen? Merlin, my luck has really gone down the drain. One of these days, you will find me crawling through the sewers for food."

"Possibly. So, any plans?"

"Yeah. Like I said, ministry first. Then, let's see where the flighty temptress that's adventure takes us."

"I know you're barmy, mate. No need to act like Dumbledore now" Ron finished his soup before standing up "I will hit up the usual contacts at Knockturn Alley. See if it turns anything up."

"Righto"


Roger Davies entered the Lion's tail, one of the seedier taverns in Knockturn Alley, and went straight to the Bartender.

"Pour me a bloody Mary, would you? Emphasis on more vodka and lemon juice" Roger said while throwing a couple of knuts on the bar. The bartender looked at the man before nodding towards the back door. "I need some help getting the new supplies of vodka in. Could give you me the drink for free if you help me out?"

Roger nodded "Why not?" Getting up from the seat, he followed the bartender through the backdoor into what was a dinghy cellar. Turning to close the cellar, Roger spotted a flash of light and dived away, avoiding a nasty looking purple hex.

"You shouldn't have done that, friend", Roger shouted while throwing a blasting hex at the bartender who shielded it smoothly before sending a slicing curse at his neck. Narrowly avoiding the curse, Roger sent a muttered 'Flipendo' which threw the bartender back. Drawing back, Roger tapped his fist and vanished.

The bartender looked confused before his face turned to abject terror as he saw a hand going straight through his chest before being withdrawn. The man spouted out blood before falling face first on the ground, dead. Roger looked at his blood covered hand in disgust before cleaning it with a flip of his wand. Suddenly, an explosion sounded in the bar and Roger hastily opened the door and ducked through, looking at the smoke in front of him. Apparently, in his absence, someone had felt free enough to toss around explosion curses with abandon as the smoke cleared to reveal a destroyed bar, with the front door and wall blown apart.

"Stupefy"

Roger dodged the stunning curse before once again tapping his wrist and vanishing, now appearing behind the bar, taking cover. Shouts erupted at his disappearance as three bounty hunters revealed themselves, looking around the destroyed room carefully with wands aloft. Suddenly, another blasting hex came through one of the windows striking one of the bounty hunters and dissolving his wand and the arm into a mix of splinters and jelly. Howling in pain, the man never saw the killing curse erupting from Roger's wand, as he dropped to the floor, still clutching his stump. Roger saw the opportunity as the two remaining bounty hunters dropped to the floor and started cursing the spot where they saw the killing curse come from.

Once again tapping his wrist and vanishing, Roger appeared right behind the bounty hunters and with single slicing hex, loped off their heads, restoring calm to the destroyed bar. Looking around, he called out "Anymore left?"

"Not if you count the three bounty hunters lying dead outside" a female voice called out before the half destroyed front door opened to reveal a striking blonde witch with shoulder-length hair and wand in hand.

"Good" Roger commented before grabbing a bottle of firewhiskey and drinking it straight from the bottle.

"How unhygienic" the witch commented with a twitch of her nose. Roger merely shrugged as he belched the flames erupting from his mouth before grinning. "That was a good demonstration of the bracer, wasn't it Daphne?"

"Brilliant" Daphne replied, eyes narrowed. "Now, we need to get out of here before more bounty hunters or Merlin forbids, Aurors descend on this place." Roger nodded as he gestured Daphne to lead the way out.


Harry Potter evaded the flashes of cameras as he entered the Ministry of Magic through the floo, ignoring the shouted questions from the press before he entered the lifts and pressed the button for level 2. The brass grill doors closed with a clang stopping two witches from following him into the lift as the familiar female voice announced, "Level 2, Department of Magical Law Enforcement including the Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters, and Wizengamot Administration Services."

Harry emerged into the corridor and looked through the enchanted glass windows, showing sunny weather, apparently Magical Maintenance had just got a pay raise. Avoiding looking at the Auror bullpen where the cubicles were buzzing with laughter and paper airplanes were flying around, Harry turned the corner to a silenced passage with oak doors and bronze handles, each with a plaque denoting the occupier of the room. Disillusioning himself finally, Harry crept up to one of the doors before slowly opening it and casting a practiced glance inside the room, finally stepping inside and closing the door behind him. The occupant of the room had apparently had his chair turned towards the window and thus, hadn't noticed Harry's foray into his office, before jumping as the door closed. Turning quickly, he looked around and seeing nothing, he grumbled "Get out here Potter, it's not funny anymore."

Chuckling, Harry undid the disillusionment charm on himself "Malfoy"

Malfoy shook his head as he dropped the report he had been reading on his immaculate desk "Here for the information on Davies, I presume?"

Harry cast a careless eye around the room, noticing the new curtains "Been decorating, Draco?"

"Yes, I have. I hope no one saw you coming, cousin?" Draco sighed before dropping back on his chair.

"Nah, I cast the disillusionment charm on myself as I entered the corridor. And no one was in the corridor so no one knows which room I entered" Harry casually sat on one of the high wingback chairs before helping to an apple from the fruit stand off the side table. "Anyway, Davies. What did he do?"

"Monumental buggery, I could say" Draco considered a gray file marked 'Top Secret' in front of him for a couple of seconds before handing it to Harry, who opened the file and glanced through it, eyes narrowing as he took in all the information. "I see you have seen what has Roger Davies stolen, I presume?"

"Yes"

"If this gets around, there will be uproar. The British Ministry has been working on these bracers for the last five years and Davies escaped with the blueprints. Now, I believe he will be looking to sell them off to dealers in the black market who have connections to the international market."

"If these blueprints are so important, why not get the Aurors on it?" Harry asked, now looking up at Malfoy who sighed again "The Minister can't. You know it would be political suicide if it were to get out that the very bracers that we have been crowing our heads off for the past two years, the ones that the Minister has promised will revolutionize the way wizarding warfare is conducted are stolen along with the blueprints."

Harry snorted "So, you get the bounty hunters on the job who don't need to know what they are after, and don't need to know since bounty hunter contracts specify that packages need to be unopened or no pay for us poor sods."

"Sod off, Potter. No one asked you to ride out of Gringotts on a bloody dragon. The goblins were baying for blood and the only way to avoid another war was to pay them off. You know that I know that, and the entire wizarding world knows. I hardly feel the need to beat that beaten horse" Malfoy snapped, now getting up and grabbing the file he had been reading earlier.

"I know" Harry grumbled before getting to his feet "I have a few leads now that I know what's in the package. I should get some results soon."

"Hopefully," Malfoy said before smirking "without throwing anyone through the window again"

Harry gave Malfoy a rude gesture before disapparating with nary a whisper.


Ron emerged into the destroyed bar that was The Lion's Tail a few hours, looking around the three dead bodies and deftly avoiding the two Aurors who were taking witness statements with his bounty hunter's license. Casting a surreptitious look around, Ron cast an obscure little charm that Harry had taught him and observed as a miniature sparkling version of Roger Davies and the three bounty hunters duked it out before they were killed. As he analyzed the fight, he recognized Daphne Greengrass, one of his fellow graduates from Slytherin enter the fight and take out one of the bounty hunters with a well placed hex before Davies finished it off.

"Impressive" Ron scowled before hastily canceling the charm as one of the Aurors made his way toward him.

"We don't want your kind here, bounty hunter. In fact, take these three dead mates of yours with you" the Auror started menacingly.

"Buddy, I fought against Death Eaters, you know. Your little posturing tells me all I need to know about how great you're at this job, apart from the paunch you are developing of course" Ron grinned at the rapidly purpling face of the Auror, before jauntily walking outside the building and with a last wave, apparated out.


Harry emerged on the well cobbled alleyways of Newcastle, taking a quick look around to check for Muggles before making his way to the address of one of the premier smugglers of arms in Britain, one Oswald Capelput. Capelput was a man Harry genuinely loathed, surprisingly even more than Voldemort as the man, though a psychopath, clung to his twisted ideology. Capelput, on the other hand would sell off anyone and anything for a bag of galleons. Appearing on the street where Capelput lived in an ostentatious two floor mansion, Harry blinked as he saw Daphne Greengrass loitering right outside Capelput's house. Cautiously, he made his way towards his former classmate, his wand up his sleeve, ready for drawing. Daphne spotted him and her posture instantly turned alert.

"Potter"

"Greengrass. Fancy seeing you here. Roger inside?" Harry amiably asked. Daphne's face shifted and her blue eyes narrowed.

"Making unfound accusations, Potter? I could sue you if only you had two knuts to rub together" Daphne countered, casually drawing her wand.

Harry's eyes glimmered "Now now, let's not be aggressive, eh? I am just here for Davies and the top secret thingamajig he stole. Now, I have no clue how you became involved in this thing, but if you leave now, I won't pursue you."

Daphne laughed "Potter, you're still a naïve idiot. You see, I need the money Davies will bring me. I need to get out of this country before my father tries to get me married off to some high society idiot and I became a show bitch."

Harry opened his mouth, but before he could say anything he was hit by the cruciatus curse on his shoulder. Screaming in pain, Harry dropped on the road as Davies made his way to the pair of them, his wand pointed at Harry, and his side covered in blood.

"I got the money" Roger commented without taking his eye off Harry as he continued to writhe on the ground. Daphne, looking at the blood on his robes, asked "I guess the negotiations didn't go so well?"

Roger grinned "It seemed a shame to leave those bracers with that idiot. So, I got them both."

Daphne looked at Harry and nodded "Enough, we don't need Potter dead. We have the money, and you have the bracer. Let's go now." Roger shrugged before removing the curse and stowing his wand inside as Harry panted with relief on the ground. Daphne glanced at Harry one last time before grabbing hold of Roger's sleeves and apparated out. If she had looked around, she would have seen the pale yellow color of the tracking charm clipping her on her calf.

"Couldn't have come in earlier?" Harry coughed as he pushed himself to his feet. A disillusionment charm broke as Ron emerged on the street, with his wand held ready.

"Sorry, just got here", Ron apologetically spoke as he pushed a pain relieving potion at Harry. Harry, grimacing at the familiar taste of potions, drank the potion in one go, while stifling his gag reflex. Finishing the potion, Harry felt the pain in his bones lessen as he stood more freely, now without support.

"How did you get here?" Harry asked curiously as he checked the street before nudging Ron to follow him.

"Apart from Capelput, only the bartender of Lion's Tail handles the big fish of international arms trading. Since I found him dead ten minutes ago, that only left Capelput, and here I am" Ron said, as he analyzed his tracking spell and found his targets on the docks of Dover. "Ready?"

"Raring" Harry grunted as he dissapparated, Ron following a second behind.


The docks were open in the mid afternoon as people moved around, no one idle enough to care about two wizards suddenly appearing within the crowd. Harry looked around and spotted Daphne's blonde hair entering the wizarding entrance of the Docks. Pushing through the crowd, Harry and Ron entered the wizarding Docks, getting splashed by a miniature waterfall. Entering the docks, the duo found themselves in the middle of a spell fight as Davies and Daphne were being attacked by two bounty hunter teams, tossing around lethal spells without caution as one of the spells blasted the entrance to the local apothecary, setting it aflame.

Harry dodged one of the spells before lashing out with a flame whip, clipping one of the hunters on the arm, sawing it off completely and cauterizing it. His howls of pain brought the attention of the hunters on Ron and Harry who simultaneously cast flashbangs, blinding everyone in the alley but themselves. Ignoring the shouts of pain, they incapacitated all the bounty hunters and stowing their wands for safekeeping, leaving Daphne and Roger rubbing their eyes in pain.

"Ron, take Daphne. I have a score to settle" Harry muttered as he moved towards Roger. Davies stumbled to his feet before tapping his wrist and vanishing.

"Oh, no you don't", Harry flicked his wand, a concrete shield covering his upper body, in the nick of time as Roger's fist broke against the shield where Harry's right lung would be. Scrambling back in pain, Roger tried to send a spell but apparated and reappeared in front of Roger, grabbing him by the throat, slamming him against the burning apothecary. He held him there for a minute as Roger's left side started burning and the man started screaming.

"Harry, that's enough", Ron said, placing a hand on his shoulder. Harry let Roger go, dropping him on the street as the man moaned in pain and onlookers watched. Harry took out a pair of magical cuffs and used it to bind Roger safely, taking a glimpse as Ron did the same with an unconscious Daphne.

"She give you any trouble?" Harry nodded at Daphne, to which Ron shrugged "More or less. It's good for practice, I suppose. See you at the ministry" Ron vanished with Daphne as Harry took one last look at the destroyed Docks before grabbing Roger and vanishing with a whisper.

Harry placed the ten thousand galleons in his Gringotts vault, his payment for the bounty delivered in the morning. Already, Kreacher was grumbling about Grimmauld Place needing a new coat of paint and all the silverware needing to be replaced. Harry snorted in amusement as he exited Gringotts and made his way to his office, looking forward to the next bounty.

"You win some, you lose some"


Hey everyone, I am back. I know there is an unattended fic that's on my page without any resolution and I apologise for that. I lost my mojo for a bit and then, uni started and I couldn't work on it. Today is the first day when I felt inspired to write something, so I wrote this one shot. I don't think it's connected to my other fic so that's not necessary reading. As always, Read and REVIEW.