4
HP
"Morning, Arthur." Amelia smiled as she walked into his office, her arms full of papers.
"Goodmorning, Amelia." He smiled as he looked from his own papers. "I hope you had a good time yesterday?"
"Yes, it was lovely. The twins were really nice, so was Harry, for the short time he was there. Bit sorry that I didn't have a chance to get to know Ron."
"You're welcome any Sunday, open invitation."
"I'll keep that in mind." She smiled. "I made up the report on Dean and Ronkor." She grumbled the last name. "He's becoming even worse than Devinius." She shook her head.
"Half of our cases or just those two." He said with a wry smile, but it turned in a grateful one, when she handed over the papers and took the ones to be filed in her arms. "There is a case in Norfolk, it's nothing to big. Think you can handle it?"
"Alone?" She asked surprised. "I believe I'm more than capable."
"I believe so too." He rummaged around his desk and picked up a paper plane from under his staple and handed it over. "Here's the address, I think you'll be done there in an hour or so but take your time. I'll see you back here."
"Which one?" She asked.
"Both. You'll see when you get there." He gave her an encouraging smile.
"Thank you, sir." She said already turning.
"Amelia."
"Sorry. Arthur." She smiled over her shoulder before walking out of his office. Just across his office was hers. Her door was still open, so she just walked in, let her papers fall on the already paper-filled desk and looked at the paper plane. She read the address as she walked to the apparition point at the end of the hallway. The ministry had added apparition points to every floor for better access, but you could only apparate from those points when you had been queued in. Once she stood at the apparation point, she looked back to the address in her hands before she twisted in the air and vanished.
HP
When she appeared in the alley of a muggle street, she peered around the corner and immediately saw the house she was supposed to go to. Because ministry workers, didn't matter if you were a secretary or the minister, almost no one could dress as a decent muggle. With a roll of her eyes, she walked to the house. She spotted a familiar mop of hair and walked up next to him. He looked good in his Auror robes.
"Hello, Ron." The red head jumped a little as his focus was on the inside of the house.
"Merlin, you scared me. Amelia, right?"
"Yeah, your father has sent me here." She looked around with a slight frown. "Why are there so many Aurors?"
"There is a man holding himself up in one of the rooms upstairs. He has altered toys to attack anyone that comes in except him and he's also wearing a charm that would protect him from certain spells, Doily tried to accio it, but she got burned badly. She's been transferred to St. Mungo's. So..."
"So, that's where I come in." She nodded.
"Yeah." He frowned as he looked at her. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"It's my job." She said as she looked at him incredulously.
"I know, but..." He stopped when she shot him a glare. "Yeah, alright. Let's go." He looked over her head for a moment before he led her inside. Once they reached the second floor, she heard the man shouting behind the door. Three Aurors were standing, wands raised, in the hallway.
"Morning." Amelia smiled at the group. The focused group looked at her surprised for a moment, her easy-going smile and voice, relaxed them a little before they focussed again. She walked forward and reached for the handle. Ron stopped her when he placed his hand on hers, she turned to him with a quirked eyebrow. "I know what I'm doing."
He took her in for a moment, before he nodded and stepped back. He had his wand raised as he stood right behind her, ready to dive in if necessary. She took the wand out of her holster and started to cast several detective charms at the door. She looked over her shoulder to Ron. "Do you know who's in there?"
"Derek Graves." Ron said, leaning a little closer. "He's rumoured to be an ex-death eater. He was in Slytherin, a year above us. Haven't seen him since sixth year, but we didn't have much interaction at school."
"Okay." She nodded and turned back to the door. The man had stopped shouting, alongside the clattering of the toys. Even from behind the door, she had stopped several of the spells he had put on the muggle toys. "Derek?" She called out and placed her hand on the doorknob. "My name is Amelia, I'm not here to hurt you. I'm not an auror, I'm just here for toys. I'm coming in."
"L-Leave the others. Come in alone."
"Alright." She looked to the Aurors behind her. "I'm going in alone." She turned back. "I'm coming in!" She turned the knob and opened the door slowly. In the corner of her eye, she saw Ron step closer but didn't move in with her. The room was dark and musty. The man named Derek was standing the corner, his wand raised towards her. He was surrounded by toys, a lot of them were fallen over, not moving. While others, like a toy dinosaur, a bulldozer and red sports car were nipping at her.
"Close the door." He snapped; his wand shook in his hand. She closed the door with her foot, not taking her eyes of him.
"What's happening here?" She asked soft and slow.
"I was just experimenting when one of the toys escaped and bit a muggle kid. The next moment a handful of Aurors were in front of my house." His eyes flickered nervously around the room; he was tapping his foot fast. Nervous and afraid makes for dangerous situations.
"Derek." She said slowly, watching his carefully. "I'm going to deactivate the toys, so they won't hurt anyone, alright?" She stepped closer, slowly raising her wand to the toys, her eyes still on Derek. "Vicissim Obscura." She twisted her wand and all the toys, one by one, stopped and fell over, laying still on the floor.
"You know." She said as she walked closer to the young man, eyeing the charm around his neck. "There is a safe way to experiment with magic." Her eyes flickered up to his, she stepped over a t-rex. "A new lab has opened up on the edge of London, where witches and wizards can experiment with spells and potions in a protective area." She let her voice float around in the room, as if it was a song. Her eyes went back to the charm around his neck, and she recognized the rune on the bottom. She racked her brain for the right spell, not wanting to get a counter spell against her.
"Abhorrere Praesidium." The charm cracked and she quickly cast a full body-bind spell. He stiffened and went to fall over, so she reached for him and lowered him to the ground softly. "I'm sorry." She said picking up his wand. "If they don't find anything more on you, I'll help you out for this, I promise." She cast another few charms around the room, declaring it safe, she called out. "Come on in."
The door opened slowly, and a wand was visible first. But it didn't look like Ron's wand. And once the Auror stepped inside, she knew why. Harry was standing there with his wand raised and his eyes large behind his spectacles. His eyes flickered from the frozen man on the floor next to her, who was leaning against the wall, to Amelia with a toy in her hand.
"Amelia." He breathed. He lowered his wand and walked closer.
"Harry. What are you doing here?" She saw Ron and the other Aurors walk in and inspect the room. Harry placed his hand on her arm, the touch made her shiver.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." She smiled a little and turned her head to Derek. "He was just so afraid."
"Ron, Lola. Take him out of here." He glanced to her. "But be gentle. I want to talk to him in an hour."
They nodded and levitated him out of the room. One by one they trickled out until she and Harry were the only two in the room. Harry looked extremely handsome in his dark grey Auror suit, his arms straining against the fabric. She wanted to caress his arm slowly, mapping it in her head. She snapped out of it when Harry turned back to her.
"Are you okay?" He asked again, his hand was still on her arm and gave it a little squeeze as he stepped a little closer. Amelia looked up to him, they were standing so close that she could smell his aftershave.
"I'm okay." She smiled up at him. She was extremely aware from his hand on her arm, the touch made her skin tingle. After a long moment of fixed stares, she cleared her throat. "So, what are you doing here?"
"Ron was afraid he messed up letting you go in alone and he called for advice." He said as he rubbed her neck nervously.
"I know how to do my job, Harry."
"I know but this was a grey area, you know. This was part of your job, part ours. Ask Mr Weasley later. I don't think he ever had a situation like this."
"I better get going, I need to make a report before you interrogate him." She stepped back, creating space between them, because it felt like a furnace was standing between them.
"Right." He nodded and stepped aside.
"Oh, here is his wand." She said handing Derek's wand over.
"Thanks." He said and tucked it away. When they reached the door, Harry stopped her by placed a hand on her shoulder. "You did great, Amelia."
"Thanks." She smiled shyly, a blush forming on her cheeks. And Harry felt a little proud that he was the one to cause a cute blush on her cheeks.
"Uhm..." He started when they nearly reached the ground floor. "Do you want to grab something to eat after work?"
"Oh." She didn't expect him to ask her so soon. She had to say no, not just because she had plans with the twins but also because she thought he wasn't over Ginny. "I would love to, but I already have plans." She said as she looked forward.
"Oh, okay." He nodded. "Right."
"What about lunch tomorrow?" She asked instead. Lunch isn't like a date, there is no harm in that. Harry seemed to perk up with that.
"I would like that."
"Great." She turned and kissed his cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow." She smiled as she walked out before she apparated out, she looked over her shoulder and called back. "I'll send you the report in an hour." And with a pop she was gone.
Ron looked from the spot she had disappeared from to Harry. "What was that about?"
HP
"What was that about?" Ron asked as he approached Harry. Harry was still standing in the doorway a silly grin on his face. "Oh, Merlin. You like her!" He poked his chest. That seems the snap him out of it. He turned to look at the tall ginger next to him.
"W-what? I don't know what you're talking about." He sputtered.
"Oh, you really, really like her." He grinned.
"I-" He sighed. "I do. You're not mad?"
"Why would I be mad?" Ron asked, thoroughly confused.
"You know... Ginny."
"Nah." He waved his hand. "She broke up with you. You shouldn't sit at home alone for the rest of your life. And I know being the Harry Potter doesn't make it easy to date."
"Yeah." He rubbed his face. "We're having lunch tomorrow."
"Lunch? That isn't really date worthy."
"I know. I asked her for dinner first, but she said she had plans. She suggested lunch. I don't know where I stand with her. If she just wants to be friends or that she likes me too."
"Are you sure she's single? Remember the phone call, or that guy at the ministry." Ron saw Harry's brows knit together. "Well, you can find out tomorrow. And when you know she's single, you can ask her out on a real date."
"That might work." He said and looked around. "We better get going, we're going to need to interrogate Derek."
"Yeah, let's go. Let's talk about your love life later." Ron chuckled as he clapped Harry's shoulder.
It was no surprise to Harry that Amelia's report landed on his desk within the hour, but still he smiled when he saw her messy scribbled name on top of the neatly written report. That woman was such a mystery, a mystery he wanted to unravel. When Ron told him how long she had been in the room, how Derek was bounded, he understood why Mr Weasley said she would fit perfectly in the Auror department. Even though it was still a day away, he was already looking forward to their lunch date, as he liked to call it.