CHAPTER 5 - MEETING MALFOY AND MARRIOTT
Harry awoke at seven AM the next morning, actually on time. After getting ready quickly and grabbing his file from yesterday, he apparated to the ministry fifteen minutes early. As he walked to the front secretaries in the Magical Law Enforcement Department, he stopped to chat.
"Morning Lynda, Jan. How's it going?" he asked.
"Everything is great," Jan, the older of the two, responded.
"How are you, Harry?" Lynda asked with a flirtatious smile. She was new to the department and about Harry's age. She had always seemed to like Harry, but luckily for him, she was currently attached to the Minister's nephew.
"I'm fine," Harry replied with a cute grin as he reached through the front of his robes to his auror ID. "Well, ladies, I'll be off," he said, flashing them his ID and another flirtatious smile as he walked away. He grinned widely as he heard the two women sigh after him. Harry enjoyed his bachelor status and the fact that he could flirt shamelessly with any girl.
Soon Harry had arrived at Crame's office, and it was ten to eight. Entering the front room, Harry flashed Crame's secretary another wry grin before passing into Crame's spacious accommodations.
Crame looked up from his desk and smiled slightly at Harry.
"Good morning Mr. Potter," he greeted jovially. It could never be said that Crame was a grumpy old man. Sure he was strict and sometimes stern, but he was also quite nice to his employees.
"Morning Mr. Crame," Harry replied, still wearing a small remainder of his smile.
"We are just waiting for Mr. Marriott to arrive and them we shall begin. In the meantime, please take a seat alongside Mr. Malfoy," Crame said. It was then that Harry noticed the other figure in the room. Malfoy, with his slick blonde hair and crisp robe, was situated in a cushioned chair off to the side of Crame's desk. Much to Harry's displeasure, the chair that Crame had motioned to was right next to Malfoy. Taking the intended seat, both Harry and Malfoy scowled darkly.
"Malfoy," Harry spat with distaste.
"Potter," Malfoy acknowledged with equal malevolency. They continued to sit in silence, while Crame perused the files on his desks, waiting expectantly for Shame Marriott. Soon, they heard footsteps outside the door. Harry watched expectantly as the doorknob turned and the door was pushed open. Finally, the man Harry assumed to be Shame Marriott entered the room.
"Good morning Mr. Crame. Sorry if I'm late," Marriott said quickly. He was quite a nice looking man. He had wavy, golden hair and startling blue eyes. He was around Harry's height of six-one and he was well built, along with his pearly smile. He appeared to be no older than twenty-five.
"Nonsense, Mr. Marriott. You are right on time. Please take a seat," Crame assured, motioning Marriott to the empty seat to the left of Harry. "Now, I know that some of you already know each other, but before we begin, I would like you all to introduce yourselves amongst one another," Crame stated, and the three seated in front of him stood and turned to each other.
"Hello, my name is Shane Marriott," Marriott said, shaking Harry's hand.
"Harry Potter," Harry replied casually. He was beginning to like the man.
Marriott's eyes bulged. "Are you really?" he asked excitedly. Harry nodded confusedly. "Glad to finally meet you at last," he exclaimed and shook Harry's hand eccentrically a bit more before finally dropping it. Harry's opinion of the man dropped a bit after that encounter. Still, Marriott was better than most. Harry shuddered at the remembrance of the many times people had asked for autographs.
Harry stood back as Marriott introduced himself to Malfoy. Malfoy replied with a slick "Draco Malfoy", and after a solitary shake of the hands, Malfoy turned to him.
"Potter," he spat once more that morning, nodding to Harry.
"Malfoy," Harry replied in much the same fashion, and with a quick nod in Malfoy's direction, all three aurors resumed their sitting positions, though Marriott was looking a little warily at his two partners. Judging by their brief yet silently informative introductions, the two were not exactly on the best of terms with each other.
"Now," Crame began, "You are all here to receive your assignment together," he explained, opening a file on his desk. "If you all would open your files to the first page, we can begin." All three partners did as asked. "You will find a picture in the upper right hand corner. This man is suspected of selling ministry secrets to the dark side. We do not know his name, but he has been coded in the ministry as Joe Scat. We do not know where he gets his secrets from as he does not work in the ministry. It is affirmative as of yesterday afternoon that he has some sort of inside help. Your job as a team is to hunt him and any others that you find and turn them over to the ministry. Are there any questions?"
"No sir," were the negative replies.
"Good. Mr. Marriott, Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy are new aurors here. As their senior, you are also their supervisor. If you need anything or anything goes wrong, you are to report it to me. You are all to work together on this. I don't want any problems from you three, so behave yourselves on the field," Crame warned them sternly.
"Yes sir," they all replied.
"Good. You are to report now to Research and Development in the Department of Mysteries for further information. Here is an authorization key," Crame said, handing a small gold key, similar to Gringotts vault keys, to Marriott. "I want you to report back here with a full update in two weeks," Crame finished.
"Yes sir," was the general replied once more.
"Good day then," Crame said, "and good luck," he concluded with a slight smile.
"Good day Mr. Crame," the replied in unison before exiting the office and then the building.
As they walked over to the Department of Mysteries, Harry and Malfoy reached the door at the exact same time. Malfoy, seeing an opportunity to aggravate Harry, basically cut him off in entering first.
"Watch it!" Harry snapped as he was forced to halt suddenly else he slam face first into the glass door.
"Watch yourself," Malfoy sneered back before entering and promptly closing the door behind himself.
Harry groaned as he opened the door for himself. Upon passing through, he held it open for Marriott. Surprisingly, Malfoy was waiting for them in front of the front desk. Malfoy and Harry just glared at each other, and Marriott looked on warily. Shooting one last dagger at Malfoy, Harry brushed past him haughtily to the front desk for a chat with the secretaries. Marriott walked up also and joined the conversation for a few minutes, leaving Malfoy, scowling, off to the side.
"Well, we had best be off, ladies," Marriott was saying. At this Malfoy joined them at the desk. "Here are our badges," they all pulled out their IDs, "If you need us for anything, we'll be in Research and Development," Marriott finished with a broad, pearly grin. With a small wave from Marriott, the three walked past toward the stairs in the back.
Harry reached the door first, and he held it open for Marriott before entering himself and leaving Malfoy to get the door for himself. Marriott, upon seeing this, halted the group.
"Guys, come on. I've realized that you two don't exactly favor one another, but can you please try to get along. We will be working together for quite a while on this expedition, and you two need to get along in the least," Marriott explained to them. Harry and Malfoy glanced warily at each other. "Can you please just try to get along for the remainder of this assignment?" Marriott pleaded. Harry glanced once more at Malfoy and sighed.
"Yes," Harry replied reluctantly.
"We'll try," Malfoy relented.
"Good," Marriott replied. "Now I suggest we head on up to get our rudimentary information," and with that, he lead the way up the stairs.
At the top of the staircase, Harry motioned for Marriott to go ahead. He then stopped Malfoy. Nodding over to a corner by the stairs, they walked over. For a few minutes there was a tense silence.
"I guess we have to work together for this," Harry started hesitantly.
"Yes, we do," Malfoy sneered. Harry groaned at Malfoy's behavior.
"Ok, I know we don't get along at all, but can we please just put that behind us for this assignment?" Harry tried. "We will have to work together for a while, and it won't do us any good if we are always bickering and purposely irritating the other. So, truce?" Harry asked cautiously, extending his hand to shake.
Malfoy was silent for a while, contemplating the hand in front of him. Finally he took it.
"Alright, but just for this assignment. I just don't want to fail my first job," Malfoy said as he shook Harry's hand once and dropped it.
"Same here," Harry said, and it was almost friendly. They were quiet for the next few seconds.
"Well, Potter, we had better get our information," Malfoy reminded them, and they headed to the Research and Development door. As Harry entered, he realized that this was where Ron worked.
Harry awoke at seven AM the next morning, actually on time. After getting ready quickly and grabbing his file from yesterday, he apparated to the ministry fifteen minutes early. As he walked to the front secretaries in the Magical Law Enforcement Department, he stopped to chat.
"Morning Lynda, Jan. How's it going?" he asked.
"Everything is great," Jan, the older of the two, responded.
"How are you, Harry?" Lynda asked with a flirtatious smile. She was new to the department and about Harry's age. She had always seemed to like Harry, but luckily for him, she was currently attached to the Minister's nephew.
"I'm fine," Harry replied with a cute grin as he reached through the front of his robes to his auror ID. "Well, ladies, I'll be off," he said, flashing them his ID and another flirtatious smile as he walked away. He grinned widely as he heard the two women sigh after him. Harry enjoyed his bachelor status and the fact that he could flirt shamelessly with any girl.
Soon Harry had arrived at Crame's office, and it was ten to eight. Entering the front room, Harry flashed Crame's secretary another wry grin before passing into Crame's spacious accommodations.
Crame looked up from his desk and smiled slightly at Harry.
"Good morning Mr. Potter," he greeted jovially. It could never be said that Crame was a grumpy old man. Sure he was strict and sometimes stern, but he was also quite nice to his employees.
"Morning Mr. Crame," Harry replied, still wearing a small remainder of his smile.
"We are just waiting for Mr. Marriott to arrive and them we shall begin. In the meantime, please take a seat alongside Mr. Malfoy," Crame said. It was then that Harry noticed the other figure in the room. Malfoy, with his slick blonde hair and crisp robe, was situated in a cushioned chair off to the side of Crame's desk. Much to Harry's displeasure, the chair that Crame had motioned to was right next to Malfoy. Taking the intended seat, both Harry and Malfoy scowled darkly.
"Malfoy," Harry spat with distaste.
"Potter," Malfoy acknowledged with equal malevolency. They continued to sit in silence, while Crame perused the files on his desks, waiting expectantly for Shame Marriott. Soon, they heard footsteps outside the door. Harry watched expectantly as the doorknob turned and the door was pushed open. Finally, the man Harry assumed to be Shame Marriott entered the room.
"Good morning Mr. Crame. Sorry if I'm late," Marriott said quickly. He was quite a nice looking man. He had wavy, golden hair and startling blue eyes. He was around Harry's height of six-one and he was well built, along with his pearly smile. He appeared to be no older than twenty-five.
"Nonsense, Mr. Marriott. You are right on time. Please take a seat," Crame assured, motioning Marriott to the empty seat to the left of Harry. "Now, I know that some of you already know each other, but before we begin, I would like you all to introduce yourselves amongst one another," Crame stated, and the three seated in front of him stood and turned to each other.
"Hello, my name is Shane Marriott," Marriott said, shaking Harry's hand.
"Harry Potter," Harry replied casually. He was beginning to like the man.
Marriott's eyes bulged. "Are you really?" he asked excitedly. Harry nodded confusedly. "Glad to finally meet you at last," he exclaimed and shook Harry's hand eccentrically a bit more before finally dropping it. Harry's opinion of the man dropped a bit after that encounter. Still, Marriott was better than most. Harry shuddered at the remembrance of the many times people had asked for autographs.
Harry stood back as Marriott introduced himself to Malfoy. Malfoy replied with a slick "Draco Malfoy", and after a solitary shake of the hands, Malfoy turned to him.
"Potter," he spat once more that morning, nodding to Harry.
"Malfoy," Harry replied in much the same fashion, and with a quick nod in Malfoy's direction, all three aurors resumed their sitting positions, though Marriott was looking a little warily at his two partners. Judging by their brief yet silently informative introductions, the two were not exactly on the best of terms with each other.
"Now," Crame began, "You are all here to receive your assignment together," he explained, opening a file on his desk. "If you all would open your files to the first page, we can begin." All three partners did as asked. "You will find a picture in the upper right hand corner. This man is suspected of selling ministry secrets to the dark side. We do not know his name, but he has been coded in the ministry as Joe Scat. We do not know where he gets his secrets from as he does not work in the ministry. It is affirmative as of yesterday afternoon that he has some sort of inside help. Your job as a team is to hunt him and any others that you find and turn them over to the ministry. Are there any questions?"
"No sir," were the negative replies.
"Good. Mr. Marriott, Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy are new aurors here. As their senior, you are also their supervisor. If you need anything or anything goes wrong, you are to report it to me. You are all to work together on this. I don't want any problems from you three, so behave yourselves on the field," Crame warned them sternly.
"Yes sir," they all replied.
"Good. You are to report now to Research and Development in the Department of Mysteries for further information. Here is an authorization key," Crame said, handing a small gold key, similar to Gringotts vault keys, to Marriott. "I want you to report back here with a full update in two weeks," Crame finished.
"Yes sir," was the general replied once more.
"Good day then," Crame said, "and good luck," he concluded with a slight smile.
"Good day Mr. Crame," the replied in unison before exiting the office and then the building.
As they walked over to the Department of Mysteries, Harry and Malfoy reached the door at the exact same time. Malfoy, seeing an opportunity to aggravate Harry, basically cut him off in entering first.
"Watch it!" Harry snapped as he was forced to halt suddenly else he slam face first into the glass door.
"Watch yourself," Malfoy sneered back before entering and promptly closing the door behind himself.
Harry groaned as he opened the door for himself. Upon passing through, he held it open for Marriott. Surprisingly, Malfoy was waiting for them in front of the front desk. Malfoy and Harry just glared at each other, and Marriott looked on warily. Shooting one last dagger at Malfoy, Harry brushed past him haughtily to the front desk for a chat with the secretaries. Marriott walked up also and joined the conversation for a few minutes, leaving Malfoy, scowling, off to the side.
"Well, we had best be off, ladies," Marriott was saying. At this Malfoy joined them at the desk. "Here are our badges," they all pulled out their IDs, "If you need us for anything, we'll be in Research and Development," Marriott finished with a broad, pearly grin. With a small wave from Marriott, the three walked past toward the stairs in the back.
Harry reached the door first, and he held it open for Marriott before entering himself and leaving Malfoy to get the door for himself. Marriott, upon seeing this, halted the group.
"Guys, come on. I've realized that you two don't exactly favor one another, but can you please try to get along. We will be working together for quite a while on this expedition, and you two need to get along in the least," Marriott explained to them. Harry and Malfoy glanced warily at each other. "Can you please just try to get along for the remainder of this assignment?" Marriott pleaded. Harry glanced once more at Malfoy and sighed.
"Yes," Harry replied reluctantly.
"We'll try," Malfoy relented.
"Good," Marriott replied. "Now I suggest we head on up to get our rudimentary information," and with that, he lead the way up the stairs.
At the top of the staircase, Harry motioned for Marriott to go ahead. He then stopped Malfoy. Nodding over to a corner by the stairs, they walked over. For a few minutes there was a tense silence.
"I guess we have to work together for this," Harry started hesitantly.
"Yes, we do," Malfoy sneered. Harry groaned at Malfoy's behavior.
"Ok, I know we don't get along at all, but can we please just put that behind us for this assignment?" Harry tried. "We will have to work together for a while, and it won't do us any good if we are always bickering and purposely irritating the other. So, truce?" Harry asked cautiously, extending his hand to shake.
Malfoy was silent for a while, contemplating the hand in front of him. Finally he took it.
"Alright, but just for this assignment. I just don't want to fail my first job," Malfoy said as he shook Harry's hand once and dropped it.
"Same here," Harry said, and it was almost friendly. They were quiet for the next few seconds.
"Well, Potter, we had better get our information," Malfoy reminded them, and they headed to the Research and Development door. As Harry entered, he realized that this was where Ron worked.