Chapter 2: Partners in Crime....Fighting
Harry and Ron stood in the visitor's lounge of the Aurors' office at the Ministry of Magic, two men weeping and embracing each other without regard for the strange looks that passers-by would shoot at them. Harry had not seen Ron in about three years. They had begun Auror training together their first year out of Hogwarts, and had even maintained their close friendship through the stress of their first year of training. Ron, however, was forced to leave after only a year. Ron's father, Arthur Weasley, came down with a serious infection of Flubborian Parasites which left his internal organs torn up to shreds. Mr. Weasley needed extensive reconstructive surgery at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries which was far too expensive for the Weasley family to afford on their already tight budget. Harry, whose parents had left him a large sum of money before they died, paid for the operation, but, despite Harry's insistence that there was no need for the Weasleys to pay him back, Ron refused to think of it as anything more than a loan and took a year off from Auror training to work as a janitor at Hogwarts in order to pay Harry back.
Now, here they stood together again, the wave of emotions flooding back. Harry had always felt guilty about not keeping in touch with Ron, but even Auror training had left him without enough free time to pursue a social life. Once he had actually started his career, he was lucky he had enough time to sleep at night. None of that mattered now, however, because now he stood with his friend held tightly to his chest and he did not feel the slightest bit of shame over his blatant display of affection.
"I've m-m-missed you so much!" Ron said to him through tears of joy. "I almost forgot your little alias," he said, lowering his voice. "When they said I was being teamed up with James Evans, I kept thinking that I knew that name somewhere, I just couldn't remember where!"
"Oh, Ron, you old goof!" Harry said with a light, friendly slap on the arm as he backed out of their embrace. As he stepped back, however, Harry realized for the first time that he had muddied up Ron's robes with the mud that was weighing down the bottom half of Harry's. "Oops!" Harry said, eying the stains on his old friend's robes. "Sorry about that!"
"What?" Ron replied, looking confusedly around, trying to find exactly what Harry was looking at and apologizing for. His eyes came to the spots on his own robes. "Oh, that?" Ron said with a slight chuckle. "Don't worry about that!" Ron pulled out his wand from inside his robes and pointed it at his own body. "Scourgify!" he shouted as a beam of light issued forth from his wand, vanishing all the mud. He then turned his wand towards Harry and performed the same spell.
"Why didn't I think of that?" said Harry. Ron shrugged. As powerful as Harry was and as well known as he had always been in the Wizarding world, he had never quite come to think of himself as a true Wizard. While Ron had grown up with a Wizarding family, Harry had not and, while he hated the despicable people he grew up with, he couldn't help but think of the Muggle world he had come to know in his childhood as being the norm. This all still seemed like some sort of dream to him, and he had the distinct feeling most of the time that he would wake up at any second and all that he loved about his life would fall away from him.
"So how have you been?" Harry asked Ron.
"Oh, well," Ron started awkwardly, "other than finishing Auror training a year later than I had hoped, I guess I'm doing pretty well and all."
They both looked down, avoiding each other's eyes. Ron was finally able to repay the money that Harry had leant him, but he was still not proud of having had to rely on his best friend for money. "How's your dad?" Harry asked, immediately wishing he hadn't asked the one question that could possibly make this more awkward.
"What? Oh, Dad, yeah," Ron responded, embarrassed, "well, he's all better now. He was really frightened he wasn't going to be able to support the family and all, y-you know, b-being out of work for so long. But when he-that is, when, you know, it happened, all of us were grown and moved out, except for Ginny. The money wasn't really a problem." There was an awkward pause. "He's been promoted now, too!" Ron spat out, trying desperately to fill the silence.
"Really?" replied Harry happily. He was happy to see that good, old Mr. Weasley was doing so well, and also happy to see that the conversation had started to move in a far less awkward direction.
"Yeah," Ron replied, apparently also greatly relieved, "he's head of Muggle/Wizard Relations at the Ministry now. Doing a right good job of it to boot! They say he's the best man they've ever had in the position! Then again, the position was only created about ten years ago, but that's still pretty good."
"Yeah," replied Harry, "it sure is!" Harry was starting to feel like he was talking to his old friend at Hogwarts once again and, after the day he had had, he could not have had a more welcome surprise than this.
"So then, partner," Ron said, giving Harry a light, playful punch on the arm, "what's the deal with this assignment at Beauxbatons?"
Harry shrugged his shoulders. "Beats me," he replied. "Meretrix never tells me much of anything. She doesn't much like me-,"
"Yeah," Ron said, "I noticed. The whole time I was talking to her, she couldn't seem to say your name-your fake name that is-without rolling her eyes. What did you ever do to piss her off so much?"
"You remember what she was like back in Auror training," Harry said.
Ron gave a snort of laughter. "Yeah," he said, "right near made Neville look like Dumbledore with all she could do. So what did she tell you about this whole Beauxbatons thing?"
"Not much," Harry replied, "just that three students have died so far-,"
"Died?" Ron asked in shocked disbelief. "Students have died?" Harry was taken aback to learn that Meretrix had told Ron less than she had told him.
"Yeah," Harry replied, "that's about all I know about it. But then again, from the sounds of it, I don't think anybody over at Beauxbatons knows too much more than that either. Sounds like their pretty damn scared about what's going on and, to be honest, I don't really blame them."
"So when do we leave?" Ron asked excitedly, the shock leaving his face and a look of pure, joyful anticipation filling his eyes. Harry knew how much Ron had always wanted to be an Auror and, as much as Harry knew that it was wrong to encourage such youthful behavior, he couldn't bring Ron down from the cloud he was on. The mission itself would take care of that if things got to out of hand, which they always did, in Harry's experience.
"First thing in the morning," Harry told him, sorry to see the look of joy fading from Ron's eyes at the prospect of having to wait a whole twelve hours to leave. "Beauxbatons wants to pretend that the location of their school is still a big secret, so they've set up a portkey to transport us tomorrow."
"Why can't we leave tonight?" Ron asked with the inflection of an anxious child.
"You'll find, Ron, that patience is quite important in our line of work," Harry told him. "It's not all fun and adventure. You should know that by now, all the times we faced Voldemort back in school." Harry was astonished to see that Ron did not wince at all at the mention of the Dark Lord's name.
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Ron said, glumly. "It's just that Auror training got me so damn pumped up, you know? Made it seem like this was going to be all action and fun, even though I knew it wasn't true. Just got me looking forward to the real thing, that's all."
"Don't you worry, Ron," Harry told him, "by the time we get through with our first assignment, you'll be missing the monotony of Auror training like you never thought possible." Ron gave Harry a half smile at this comment that told Harry that Ron was both excited and deathly afraid of what awaited them at Beauxbatons.
Harry and Ron stood in the visitor's lounge of the Aurors' office at the Ministry of Magic, two men weeping and embracing each other without regard for the strange looks that passers-by would shoot at them. Harry had not seen Ron in about three years. They had begun Auror training together their first year out of Hogwarts, and had even maintained their close friendship through the stress of their first year of training. Ron, however, was forced to leave after only a year. Ron's father, Arthur Weasley, came down with a serious infection of Flubborian Parasites which left his internal organs torn up to shreds. Mr. Weasley needed extensive reconstructive surgery at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries which was far too expensive for the Weasley family to afford on their already tight budget. Harry, whose parents had left him a large sum of money before they died, paid for the operation, but, despite Harry's insistence that there was no need for the Weasleys to pay him back, Ron refused to think of it as anything more than a loan and took a year off from Auror training to work as a janitor at Hogwarts in order to pay Harry back.
Now, here they stood together again, the wave of emotions flooding back. Harry had always felt guilty about not keeping in touch with Ron, but even Auror training had left him without enough free time to pursue a social life. Once he had actually started his career, he was lucky he had enough time to sleep at night. None of that mattered now, however, because now he stood with his friend held tightly to his chest and he did not feel the slightest bit of shame over his blatant display of affection.
"I've m-m-missed you so much!" Ron said to him through tears of joy. "I almost forgot your little alias," he said, lowering his voice. "When they said I was being teamed up with James Evans, I kept thinking that I knew that name somewhere, I just couldn't remember where!"
"Oh, Ron, you old goof!" Harry said with a light, friendly slap on the arm as he backed out of their embrace. As he stepped back, however, Harry realized for the first time that he had muddied up Ron's robes with the mud that was weighing down the bottom half of Harry's. "Oops!" Harry said, eying the stains on his old friend's robes. "Sorry about that!"
"What?" Ron replied, looking confusedly around, trying to find exactly what Harry was looking at and apologizing for. His eyes came to the spots on his own robes. "Oh, that?" Ron said with a slight chuckle. "Don't worry about that!" Ron pulled out his wand from inside his robes and pointed it at his own body. "Scourgify!" he shouted as a beam of light issued forth from his wand, vanishing all the mud. He then turned his wand towards Harry and performed the same spell.
"Why didn't I think of that?" said Harry. Ron shrugged. As powerful as Harry was and as well known as he had always been in the Wizarding world, he had never quite come to think of himself as a true Wizard. While Ron had grown up with a Wizarding family, Harry had not and, while he hated the despicable people he grew up with, he couldn't help but think of the Muggle world he had come to know in his childhood as being the norm. This all still seemed like some sort of dream to him, and he had the distinct feeling most of the time that he would wake up at any second and all that he loved about his life would fall away from him.
"So how have you been?" Harry asked Ron.
"Oh, well," Ron started awkwardly, "other than finishing Auror training a year later than I had hoped, I guess I'm doing pretty well and all."
They both looked down, avoiding each other's eyes. Ron was finally able to repay the money that Harry had leant him, but he was still not proud of having had to rely on his best friend for money. "How's your dad?" Harry asked, immediately wishing he hadn't asked the one question that could possibly make this more awkward.
"What? Oh, Dad, yeah," Ron responded, embarrassed, "well, he's all better now. He was really frightened he wasn't going to be able to support the family and all, y-you know, b-being out of work for so long. But when he-that is, when, you know, it happened, all of us were grown and moved out, except for Ginny. The money wasn't really a problem." There was an awkward pause. "He's been promoted now, too!" Ron spat out, trying desperately to fill the silence.
"Really?" replied Harry happily. He was happy to see that good, old Mr. Weasley was doing so well, and also happy to see that the conversation had started to move in a far less awkward direction.
"Yeah," Ron replied, apparently also greatly relieved, "he's head of Muggle/Wizard Relations at the Ministry now. Doing a right good job of it to boot! They say he's the best man they've ever had in the position! Then again, the position was only created about ten years ago, but that's still pretty good."
"Yeah," replied Harry, "it sure is!" Harry was starting to feel like he was talking to his old friend at Hogwarts once again and, after the day he had had, he could not have had a more welcome surprise than this.
"So then, partner," Ron said, giving Harry a light, playful punch on the arm, "what's the deal with this assignment at Beauxbatons?"
Harry shrugged his shoulders. "Beats me," he replied. "Meretrix never tells me much of anything. She doesn't much like me-,"
"Yeah," Ron said, "I noticed. The whole time I was talking to her, she couldn't seem to say your name-your fake name that is-without rolling her eyes. What did you ever do to piss her off so much?"
"You remember what she was like back in Auror training," Harry said.
Ron gave a snort of laughter. "Yeah," he said, "right near made Neville look like Dumbledore with all she could do. So what did she tell you about this whole Beauxbatons thing?"
"Not much," Harry replied, "just that three students have died so far-,"
"Died?" Ron asked in shocked disbelief. "Students have died?" Harry was taken aback to learn that Meretrix had told Ron less than she had told him.
"Yeah," Harry replied, "that's about all I know about it. But then again, from the sounds of it, I don't think anybody over at Beauxbatons knows too much more than that either. Sounds like their pretty damn scared about what's going on and, to be honest, I don't really blame them."
"So when do we leave?" Ron asked excitedly, the shock leaving his face and a look of pure, joyful anticipation filling his eyes. Harry knew how much Ron had always wanted to be an Auror and, as much as Harry knew that it was wrong to encourage such youthful behavior, he couldn't bring Ron down from the cloud he was on. The mission itself would take care of that if things got to out of hand, which they always did, in Harry's experience.
"First thing in the morning," Harry told him, sorry to see the look of joy fading from Ron's eyes at the prospect of having to wait a whole twelve hours to leave. "Beauxbatons wants to pretend that the location of their school is still a big secret, so they've set up a portkey to transport us tomorrow."
"Why can't we leave tonight?" Ron asked with the inflection of an anxious child.
"You'll find, Ron, that patience is quite important in our line of work," Harry told him. "It's not all fun and adventure. You should know that by now, all the times we faced Voldemort back in school." Harry was astonished to see that Ron did not wince at all at the mention of the Dark Lord's name.
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Ron said, glumly. "It's just that Auror training got me so damn pumped up, you know? Made it seem like this was going to be all action and fun, even though I knew it wasn't true. Just got me looking forward to the real thing, that's all."
"Don't you worry, Ron," Harry told him, "by the time we get through with our first assignment, you'll be missing the monotony of Auror training like you never thought possible." Ron gave Harry a half smile at this comment that told Harry that Ron was both excited and deathly afraid of what awaited them at Beauxbatons.
