Harry Potter and the Golden Amulet

Disclaimer: I own nothing. I mean it. So please don't sue me.

Summary:

Voldemort has been defeated and exiled to a Hell dimension, finally bringing harmony to the wizarding world. But one of the Dark Lord's loyal followers will do everything in his power to rescue his Master from his hellish prison, threatening the fragile peace so recently acquired. This takes place six years after Hogwarts. Some R/Hr, D/G, H/?.

Chapter 2

The Aurors

Crossing the locker room, Harry Potter despairingly stripped himself of his ruined robes before stopping at his own cabinet. He was exhausted. With a great deal of effort, he opened the cabinet door and tossed in his robes, which landed in a jumbled heap on the cabinet's floor. Methodically, he removed soiled pieces of clothing, throwing them on top of the robes and only stopping once he had reached his boxer shorts. He sighed. It shouldn't be this hard.

Harry became an Auror just before Voldemort's final defeat, after which he was exiled to a hell dimension and peace enveloped the wizarding world. Since then, the Aurors didn't have much to do. Oh, they had to catch the occasional wizard who fancied himself Voldemort's successor but they had proven quite easy to capture. Only one truly dark wizard had eluded capture, Lucius Malfoy, but he needn't worry about him. Malfoy was someone else's pet project and had been told specifically not to interfere. Other than Malfoy, it had been fairly quiet for the Aurors. That is, until recently.

Attacks on muggles and muggle-born wizards and witches were rising at an alarming rate. And whoever was behind the attacks always seemed one step ahead of the Aurors. They had no idea who was ordering these strikes; no clues were left behind and no one group was taking responsibility. Harry suspected Death Eaters were involved but he had no proof, just intuition. And his intuition was screaming.

Wearily, he sat on the bench in front of his cabinet and buried his head in his hands. Today had been particularly dreadful. He'd arrived at the home of a muggle-born wizard and found a horrendous sight. The man looked like he had been hexed with some sort of flesh-eating disease and the Aurors had been called in since traces of Dark Magic were detected. The case was now theirs, though there wasn't much of a case at all. Other than the traces of Dark Magic, there wasn't much else by the way of evidence. He had spent most of last night and this morning combing the wizard's home for clues but to no avail. Finally, he had to cast protection spells around the home in order to restrict the comings and goings. Only Aurors were authorized to enter the crime scene.

Now, he was back at the Ministry. He put off writing his reports until tomorrow. At the moment, he was just too tired.

"Come on, Potter. I thought this is what you lived for! You know, getting the bad guys," Draco Malfoy said, snapping Harry back to reality.

"Sod off, Malfoy."

Harry hadn't even noticed him entering the locker room. He glared at Malfoy, who was leaning on one of the cabinets. By the look of his soiled robes, Harry concluded that Malfoy had just arrived from the field. It still surprised Harry that Malfoy was one of them, an Auror. But he was. And a very good one at that. Harry could not bring himself to actually consider Malfoy to be a friend but he did respect him. It took guts to stand up to Lucius and refuse to become a Death Eater. He joined the Aurors soon after graduation from Hogwarts and was very instrumental in defeating Voldemort. Harry even believed that they could not have succeeded without Malfoy, though he would never admit that out loud.

"Oh come on, now. Aren't you everyone's favourite hero?"

Malfoy was dancing on Harry's last nerve. Thankfully, Ginny Weasley entered the locker area and made he way to her own cabinet, effectively distracting Malfoy. Harry tried to hide his grin. It was obvious to anyone who bothered to look that Malfoy had a thing for Ginny. He definitely didn't make it a secret even though Ginny rebuffed all of his advances.

"Hey there, Fireball," Malfoy greeted Ginny with a sly smile as she reached into her cabinet for a towel.

She slammed her cabinet door shut and faced Draco, annoyed. "Don't call me that."

"Why not? You are a fireball, especially when you get angry. Your cheeks become flushed…just like they are now!"

He was right. Ginny's cheeks had become almost as red as her bright, flaming red hair. She took a deep breath. 'To steady her temper,' Harry guessed. "Fuck off, Malfoy."

He stepped closer to her and leaned into her. "You know, I like it when a woman talks dirty to me," he whispered only loud enough for her to hear, making her blush furiously.

Harry hadn't heard what Malfoy had said to Ginny but judging by the smug look on his face and the blush on her cheeks, he must have said something suggestive. Though Ginny made it a point to reject Malfoy at every turn, Harry suspected she rather liked his attentions. Harry gave an involuntary shiver as the thought of Malfoy and Ginny crossed his head. 'Yuck,' he thought. She was practically his sister. It's not that he didn't find her attractive but, with Ginny, there seem to lack that certain spark. A spark she seemed to have found with Malfoy. She was just too stubborn to admit it. Harry thought she must have acquired that trait from Ron.

Harry shifted his attention back to Ginny and Malfoy. He was still blocking her way.

"Malfoy, move. I need to take a shower," she ordered. Harry could have sworn he heard Ginny mumble "a cold one". Draco opened his mouth to say something else but Ginny cut him off. "And, no, you cannot join me," she warned, making sure he saw she had her wand with her. She would not hesitate to curse him and Malfoy knew it so he just smirked as she walked past him to the women's shower room.

Once she was out of earshot, he turned to Harry. "That woman loves me." Harry sniggered and reached for his own towel.

***

Harry sat in a booth at the Three Broomsticks, nursing a butterbeer, deep in thought. His mind kept replaying the sight he had seen at the muggle- born wizard's house. A flash of red brought him out of his trance. It was Ginny. Slipping in the seat in front of him, she ordered a drink for herself.

"I see you've escaped your fan-club," Harry teased.

Ginny rolled her eyes only then her gaze froze. Harry looked back and noticed Malfoy walking through the door. "It's not enough that I see him eight hours a day, being partners and all, but now he has to follow me on my off hours!"

Malfoy made his way to their table and plopped himself down on the seat, next to Ginny. She crossed her arms in a huff, her cheeks becoming red with annoyance, much to Malfoy's obvious pleasure. Harry shook his head. "So, Potter, where's your boyfriend?" Malfoy asked. Harry didn't care to dignify that remark with answer.

"WHAT?" A loud screeching caught their attention. It was Ron. And to no one's surprise, Hermione was with him. Hermione and Ron's rows have been legendary, especially since the infamous Yule ball in fourth year. As both walked over to the booth, Harry was able to catch a few snippets of Ron and Hermione's conversation. "What do you mean, you've requested active duty?" Ron asked Hermione.

She turned to him in a very calm manner, which meant she was actually rather angry. It seemed the angrier Hermione became, the calmer she seemed. "Just as I said, Ron. I have requested active duty. I'm an Auror not just a researcher."

"But…but…you're the best researcher we have!" Ron tried to convince Hermione but she would have none of it.

"Ron, the Ministry has plenty of researchers. Anyway, I don't know why you're going on about it. It's a done deal. Mr. Appleberry has already approved my request," Hermione informed him. "Hi guys," she greeted once she had reached the table. She frowned when her eyes rested upon Malfoy. "Malfoy," she said, her voice cold.

"Mudb—Granger," he replied, catching himself before the slur slipped.

Ron and Hermione sat beside Harry. "So what's this about requesting active duty?" Harry asked.

Smiling, Hermione began explaining her reasons behind her request. Even though she enjoyed researching, being engulfed with parchments and books, she found that she missed being in the thick of things. "And, even with being in the field, I can still read and research," she reasoned. Hermione saw that Ron still wasn't convinced. "Look Ron. I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself."

"I never said you couldn't," he replied indignantly.

"No, but you were thinking it!"

"Oh, and now you're an expert on what I'm thinking!"

"Of course I am. It's not like you do much of it. Thinking I mean."

Harry coughed before Ron could respond. It was best to nip this in the bud, especially since they were in public, not that it ever stopped them before. People had already started to turn in their direction. Thankfully, Ron decided not to answer her but began brooding in his corner, effectively ignoring Hermione. Harry didn't know which was worse, when they fought or when they ignored each other.

"As I was saying before Ron's little outburst," she began. Ron almost said something but stopped himself at the last minute, remembering that he was ignoring her. "Mr. Appleberry has approved my request to return to active duty as an Auror. He also wanted me to find all of you to tell you that there would be a meeting tomorrow morning. Seven o'clock sharp. He wants all of us to be there, even Malfoy."

"Why didn't he tell us himself?" Malfoy asked.

"You had already left."

"Well," Harry began, "if we must be there that early, I suggest we call it a night." They all agreed and left the Three Broomsticks.