Chapter 3

Those Things With The Eyes

A/N: a bit late to the party but here is chapter three. I absolutely love hearing what you think and it really pushes me to write so feel free to comment! Always open to constructive criticism as well because this originally started and a way to flex my writing muscles and has now developed into a story that I'm really excited about.

Enjoy!

It was funny, Draco thought. He had never seen someone look less like an Auror if they tried.

The newest addition to the department was, putting it simply, surprising. Her credentials were those of a seasoned Auror, but she presented very differently to how she did on paper.

The first thing that he noticed when he caught sight of her was her eyes. They were large, round and edged with long lashes. They were like deep brown pools that seemed to go on forever. It was rare that Draco was ever taken aback by anything, but he couldn't deny the depth of those eyes and couldn't begin to imagine what it was that made them seem to carry on for what felt like forever.

The rest of her was rather unassuming. Her face was round with high apples on her cheeks, her nose was small and straight and her mouth was like a pink rosebud. She had a little brown mole perching on her top lip to the left side. Half of her thick brown hair was piled up on top of her head in a messy knot and the rest was skimming her shoulders.

But those eyes. For a split second he fell into them, but he caught himself before it was too late.

The fact of the matter was, Draco didn't have time for mentoring a new recruit. His work alone was hard enough, what with raids and surveillance work taking up most of his waking hours, without the millstone in the form of a trainee hanging around his neck.

First thing on the agenda for Romilly was a briefing. She was directed by Draco into a large room with a long table and she took a seat. Various witches and wizards filtered into the room after them, a buzz of activity and conversation passing through them.

Taking it all in, Romilly just sat patiently with her bag on her lap. Everyone in the room seemed so confident and important and she wondered how long it would take for her to feel that way. As confident as she was on a normal day, her first day nerves were undeniable.

A chair next to her was pulled away quickly and a witch a few years older than Romilly sat herself down in it. The witch turned to look at her.

"Hello." The witch said, clearly surprised but not unfriendly. "I've not met you yet."

"Hi." Said Romilly in return. Before she had a chance to elaborate, the witch had stuck out her hand for Romilly to shake.

"Alicia." She said confidently, shaking Romilly's hand briskly. "Spinnett. First day?"

"Is it that obvious?" Romilly smiled back.

"Yes, but also you're the first new face we've had in a while since the rules tightened up a while ago." Alicia shot Romilly a friendly smirk and her dark eyes twinkled. "Are you going to tell me your name or will I have to guess?" She teased.

"Oh. Romilly. Williams." She said, taken aback by the woman's confidence, slightly in awe of her.

"Nice to meet you Romilly Williams." Alicia retorted, unwrapping her scarf from her neck and allowing her hair to fall from her shoulders. She pushed her sleeves back and rested her forearms on the table.

Romilly noticed deep welts and scars on her arms, one travelling from the V between her thumb and index finger all the way to the crook in her arm. Romilly caught herself looking and had a brief moment of panic that Alicia had spotted her staring, but she had leant over to her other side to discuss something with an older wizard next to her.

A few moments later, a disheveled Harry Potter entered the briefing room. His hair was messier than Romilly had previously seen it and the dark circles under his eyes matched the ones Draco had, proving that he too had been working through the night.

She watched him make his way to the front of the room where he met Draco. Harry took off his coat and ruffled his own hair, which dispelled what looked like plaster dust.

Harry and Draco were discussing something that Romilly couldn't hear over the chatter in the room, but their expressions were serious. Draco was listening intently and nodding slowly to whatever it was that Harry was saying.

Suddenly Harry turned to face the room and shifted his expression to a brighter one to address the room, and clapped his hands twice. The room quickly silenced at the noise.

"Good morning, everyone." Harry said, his confident voice reaching the far corners of the room. "I hope we are all well." He slung his coat over a chair. Draco took out his wand and cast what Romilly assumed was a silencing spell over the closed door to the room before sitting down beside Harry.

"As you all know, the raid on the home in Hawkchurch took place last night and I'm happy to say that it was successful and with no casualties. A wizard by the name of Croburn was arrested and taken into custody in the early hours of this morning and his dark objects seized, which we will need to examine."

He turned to a witch sitting near him who was writing on a sheet of parchment as he spoke. "I will need these items recorded by you, Katrina, they're in my office." The witch nodded and continued to make notes.

"We've made plenty of raids in the past few years," Harry continued "but it is no secret that these have been increasing as the months go by. More and more wizards with dark connections have been discovered due to the increase in activity, which until now we have been quick to tackle with no repercussions."

There was a murmur of satisfaction around the table.

"However." Harry said, his expression turning more serious and the room silenced again. "The raid last night proved different in two ways. The first being that the place was rigged with traps, as if ready for our arrival and the second..." He paused. "The second is that we have reason to believe that Deatheaters have been using this house as one of their bases. This is only speculation at this point as our only reason to believe this is that Colburn was not someone who would be keeping dark instruments and requiring the use of offensive spells, of which there was evidence of at the house. We've seen it before when Deatheaters have prayed on other's weak nature and used it to their advantage and this appears to be the same here."

The members around the table exchanged glances of concern.

"I will need each and every one of you to remain vigilant, especially on your raids. I need everything recorded upon your return to the office. I need larger groups of Aurors attending scenes and… I know you won't like this, but we need to start regular patrols again, especially in the areas known for dark wizard activities."

Romilly listened intently to every word, and couldn't work out if she was overcome with excitement or nerves at the prospect. It had been a quiet few years for catching dark wizards, but there had been predictions and whispers that Deatheaters may begin to resurface from hiding.

Her eyes flicked to Draco, who was leaning back in his chair, his face gaunt.

Draco's background and upbringing were no secret, even to Romilly who had never crossed paths with him at school due to the fallout of the Battle of Hogwarts pushing her attendance back a year. His infamy preceded him and she remembers the day that his name was splashed across the Daily Prophet when word got out that he had come out of isolation and applied to become an Auror, of all things.

Romilly wondered how he had managed to work himself up to such a high position as Deputy in the face of such adversity. She imagined that it couldn't have been easy. She also imagined that listening to this meeting wasn't easy for him either, considering that his family was one of those that probably would have been under scrutiny while Voldemort was alive.

"We have a new list of properties that will need surveillance, which I will post on the board outside my office." Harry continued, and Romilly returned her attention back to him. "I will leave it to the team leaders to choose their Aurors, so make sure that you have enough members for the job that you have been assigned to. Alicia, I want you to head up Ron's team in his absence."

Alicia gave one confident nod.

"Very good." Harry said, looking around the room. "Anything anyone would like to add?" His eyes fell on Romilly.

"Ahh yes, before I forget." He said, making Romilly freeze. "We have a new addition to the team - the first in a couple of years. Romilly Williams will be working directly with Draco for her training but I want you all to welcome her, you unruly bunch."

There was a collective chuckle around the table and a few witches and wizards smiled or nodded in greeting. Romilly managed a small smile but could feel the blood rush to her cheeks.

"Reports that are outstanding will need to be on Draco's desk by this afternoon and I will be chasing them." Harry continued. "That's all, everyone back to work."

The scraping of chairs filled the room as every member apart from the two men at the head of the table got up and began to filter out of the room.

Romilly faltered, not knowing what to do next. Her eyes flickered over to Draco who was now in deep discussion with Harry again.

Luckily, she didn't have too long to feel awkward as Alicia spun around to face her.

"You okay, newbie?" She asked, slinging her bag over her shoulder. "Come on, I'll show you around."

"I think I need to wait for…" Romilly tried to protest, but Alicia dismissed this with a casual wave of her hand over her shoulder in Draco's direction.

"Oh don't worry about them, they'll be locked away for hours now. If Harry's face is anything to go by, they've uncovered more than they bargained for in that raid last night. Come, let's get a coffee and I'll show you what's what."

"I won't lie to you, I'm concerned." Harry said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Hmm." Draco ruminated. "I hate to say it but so am I."

"It's the increase of sightings that worries me." Harry continued, falling into a chair and stretching out his legs. "Before now we assumed that there would be followers still out there but just lying low… but the fact that there's more sightings means they're getting confident again."

"Who do you reckon is heading it up?" Draco asked him, leaning against the edge of the table.

"Well I was hoping you might have a better idea about that." Harry said, but his eyes flashed slightly with mirth. The subject of Draco's dealings in his youth was still a humorous topic for Harry and Draco was fully aware of it. It used to make him cripplingly uncomfortable but he was learning to accept his colleagues' friendly jibes.

Draco considered this for a moment. "Macnair? Or the Carrows?"

Harry shook his head. "I don't think the Carrows would be the ones running this. I was thinking that Selwyn could be deranged enough."

Draco nodded. "Good point, yeah..."

"This is why surveillance needs to be tight. Once we figure out who's behind this we can work out how to attack it. Your inside intelligence where the Deatheaters are concerned is invaluable at this point as it will help us come up with a solid plan of action."

"You're right." Draco responded. He gave a big sigh.

"Well we all knew it would probably happen eventually." Harry said, getting up from his seat. "And who knows who they've managed to get on their side, by choice or not."

"You have to ask yourself what the point is though." Draco suggested. "Why are they doing it?"

Harry shrugged. "For the same reasons as before. Power…bloodlust… sheer stupidity?"

"I was thinking more revenge but stupidity sounds plausible."

Harry chuckled and let out a large yawn. "You should probably get some sleep." He said to Draco. "You look like shit."

"Oh cheers, and you're the picture of health." He scoffed sarcastically. "Anyway I can't go home yet because someone put me in charge of babysitting the new recruit."

"Well remind me never to let you babysit my kids because I don't see her anywhere here." Harry retorted, gesturing to the empty room.

"Oh shit, I've lost her already." Said Draco, raising his eyes to the heavens.

"I wouldn't worry about it, I saw Alicia march her out so she'll be fine for now." Harry picked his coat up and shrugged his arms into it. "But I want you to watch that one. If we're expecting what I think we are from this dark activity, we're going to need all the strong Aurors we can get and she looks like she could be one."

"She looks like a bush baby." Draco said, before he could stop himself. "She doesn't look like she would say boo to a boggart."

Harry narrowed his eyes in curiosity. "A bush baby?"

"Yeah. You know, those things… with the eyes."

"Right, those things with the eyes…" Harry chuckled at his friend's analogy. "Bush baby or not, she's promising, so use her. Get her on jobs with you, work out her strengths and see where she's best fit."

Harry let out a second yawn. "These reports can wait, I'm going to get home and try to catch up on some sleep. I suggest you do the same when you can."

"I can't be clocking off when you're busy sleeping, someone's got to get some work done around here." Draco said sarcastically.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Prick."