CHAPTER 6 - INTERESTING REVELATIONS
Walking through the door that Marriott held for them, Harry was met with a busy sight. There were desks everywhere in the room, some messy with scattered papers while others were neat and tidy, most likely like their owners. There were people all over, most of them were working tirelessly at their desks, their heads bent in concentration. There were a few doors around the spacious room that lead to other unknown places to Harry. He just figured they were offices of some sort for more prominent employees.
As his eyes skimmed the masses of blonde, brown and black heads, Harry caught no sight of a vibrant red. He turned back to Marriott and was led into a room through a side door that Harry hadn't noticed yet. The room he was ushered into was quite bleak. It was a dull grey, the walls, the floor; even the light from the candles on the walls appeared to be grey. There was a massive wooden table in the center of the morbid accommodations, surrounded by uncomfortable looking, wooden chairs. Marriott them ushered his junior partners to the chairs before them.
As Harry settled into one of the chairs, finding they were really just as uncomfortable as they looked, the door flew open and in shuffled a fourth person. The redhead hurried to the solitary chair situated on the opposite side of the table. He tossed a file full of papers onto the table before turning to his fellow occupants in the bleak room.
"Hi, Harry!" he said with a smile at his best friend.
"Hey Ron," Harry replied just as enthusiastically. As Malfoy looked on, he sat back in his seat, glowering. As if it wasn't bad enough being in the same room as his arch nemesis, he was now situated in same room as his enemy's best friend also. It was enough to make anyone want to hurl.
Ron soon addressed the rest of the room. "My name is Ron Weasley. I will be your correspondent to the ministry's Department of Mysteries while you are on this assignment," Ron announced, sounding quite professional as he straightened the papers in his file. "Any information from this department regarding your impending mission will be passed to you through me." Ron seemed to have his job down pat by the look of it.
Harry just sort of watched his friend in awe. This was not exactly the position you would expect Ron to have.
"Alright, enough with the formalities," Ron said as he leaned back into his chair slightly. "First thing I'm doing is fixing this room." He retrieved his wand from inside his robes and twirled it with a flourish. Muttering a complex incantation, the room was suddenly transformed. The dull walls went to an inviting beige, and a painting hung on one of the walls. The candles glowed brightly now, giving off an immense light that permeated every inch of the enclosure. The large table morphed into a magnificent mahogany desk with a lovely flower arrangement of lilies off to the side, and the grueling chairs softened into plush, cushioned ones, matching the walls.
"Much better," Ron commented when the full transformation had finished. Both Harry and Marriott nodded in consent, but Malfoy just continued his malevolent glare. "Alright," Ron continued his job, but sounded more genial now, "here is all the information we have for you right now," he motioned to the file, "Are you Shane Marriott," he asked the only person unknown to him in the room. Marriott nodded. "Here you are. You are to be in charge of this information right now," Ron explained, and he handed over the file to Harry and Malfoy's supervisor.
"Thank you," Marriott replied as he took the extended file and began to thumb through it.
"Are there any questions?" Ron inquired, official again. Marriott took a few more seconds to look through the information.
"Nope, none that I can think of," he replied. "I guess we can go now, right?"
"Yes, that's all you will need for now. I suggest you get out there and catch that garbage," Ron said with a smile. Harry couldn't help but chuckle at his crazy friend. Marriott also grinned, but Malfoy, as stubborn as ever, was still slouching in his chair with his arms crossed defensively across his chest.
All three agents rose in unison and headed for the door. Ron, after collecting the remaining papers and documents from the desk, ran to catch Harry just as he exited the door.
"Hey Harry," he said quickly. Harry turned to him in confusion, but a remnant of his previous smile still lingered on his face.
"Yeah?" Harry asked.
"Just wanted to tell you good luck. Go kick some butt," Ron told him with a clap on the shoulder.
"Sure Ron," Harry replied sarcastically, but his former smile returned in full force. He pat Ron on the back once before hurrying after Marriott, and much to his distaste, Malfoy.
"Come on, Harry. Better keep up," Marriott chided as he saw Harry coming up from behind. Harry frowned slightly at the comment but let it pass.
"Where are we going?" Malfoy asked as they exited the building after passing the secretaries.
"We're going to the cafeteria. We need to sort through this information," Marriott held up the file, "Then we will decide where to go from there." Harry and Malfoy nodded in unison.
After walking at a brisk pace past the department buildings of Experimental Charms, Magical Law Enforcement and Accidental Magic Reversal, the three aurors arrived at the outside of another building. It was pretty squat in stature and painted a bright, vibrant yellow. The general joke was that it was so bright that blind muggles could see it. It was otherwise referred to as the "Mustard House".
Entering the Mustard House, Harry, Marriott and Malfoy headed to an empty booth table in a corner so they could converse freely. They sat promptly, and Harry had taken explicit precautions to make sure he was seated on the opposite side of Malfoy. He consequently was all alone on his side as Malfoy had seated himself next to Marriott, who had busied himself with the file as soon as he sat down. Hastily grabbing the empty glass in front of him, Harry ordered pumpkin juice, and it instantly appeared in front of him.
Malfoy scoffed, obviously at Harry's choice of beverage. He turned to his own empty glass and ordered a martini. He smirked as the cup morphed in martini glass, complete with a little straw. Just as he was about to take a sip of the drink, a hand shot out and pushed Malfoy's arm away from his face. He set the glass down and turned to Marriott, angered by his action. Marriott, meanwhile, had not once lifted his head from the documents in front of him, even when he moved the martini from Malfoy's face. Malfoy scowled darkly at his senior.
"What is that all about?" he snapped. Clearly all Malfoys were not used to having anyone dictate their actions.
"No alcohol," Marriott stated simply without evening faltering in his perusal of the file.
"What?" Malfoy asked incredulously. Another thing he wasn't used to being denied.
Here Marriott looked up to view his charge. "No alcohol while on a mission with me. I will not deal with drunk or cranky, brand new aurors with hangovers," Marriott explained firmly.
Malfoy scoffed again. "As if," he replied before picking up the martini and making to take another sip. Once more, though, his hand was brought to the table.
"Maybe you didn't hear me correctly," Marriott said sternly. Harry was beginning to see strong qualities in the man. It was no wonder that he was put in charge of two fresh, undisciplined aurors on their first mission. "I said no alcohol," Marriott had quite a strict look on his face.
Though Harry was beginning to greatly respect Marriott, Malfoy clearly was not. "Then maybe you didn't understand me. I may be under your jurisdiction for this mission, but I will definitely not let you dictate to me what I can and cannot consume," Malfoy said with enough determination to rival Marriott.
Marriott looked slightly taken aback by that comment. "Listen here, Mr. Malfoy. You may not like being told what and what not to do, but you will get used to it. While you are on this mission, I am in charge. You will do as I say when I say. And if you have any problems with that, you can report directly to Mr. Crame," Marriott stated with such finality that even Malfoy was rendered speechless, which was a first as Harry was glad to see. Malfoy took out his wand and changed the martini back to its original, empty state. He then slouched back in his chair with his arms crossed across his chest, quite the copy of his actions back in the Research and Development office. Harry smiled to himself because Malfoy looked immensely like a pouting child, sitting there.
Harry continued to sit there, quietly sipping at his beverage. Soon, though, Marriott broke the quiet.
"Look here," he said, indicating to a portion in the file. "It tells us what secrets have been leaked out to the other side. They come from all over the ministry!"
This was not good news, even to the new aurors. If the information was coming from multiple departments, they had quite a case on their hands. It was quite plain that there were accomplices in the ministry, and by the looks of it, some of them had to be quite high up in the hierarchy.
"Charms, Law Enforcement, Mysteries. Even information from Hogwarts was handed over!" Marriott exclaimed. "This not good guys."
Malfoy snatched the list from Marriott and ran his eyes over it, confirming what Marriott had said. After a second run through just to be sure, Malfoy paled, even more so than he was naturally. "How do we know that these were all exploited by the same people?" he asked, covering up his short lapse of cool composure.
Marriott began to explain to Malfoy the links between the cases, but Harry didn't hear most of it; he was too busy watching Malfoy. Malfoy hadn't thought anyone had seen his reaction to the list of secrets, but Harry had. The expression on Malfoy's face when he read the list was one of utter confusion for Harry. It could have been surprise at the extent of the list. It could have been shock at the intensity of the information leaked out. It could have been a number of things along those lines.
Suddenly Marriott interrupted Harry's thoughts. "Do you have any issues with going to Surrey for a while?" he asked Harry. Obviously they had progressed past explaining the secrets in the short while Harry's thoughts had been preoccupied. "We have reason to believe that we can gather some information there from an anonymous source," Marriott explained.
Harry thought about it for a moment. He didn't have anything that would interfere with his job until the third, but if necessary, that could be rescheduled that. "No, tonight is fine for me," Harry assured his supervisor.
"Alright, it's settled. We will leave at three. Pack some things as we may be needed to stay for a few days if we get lucky," Marriott ordered.
"Or unlucky for that matter," Malfoy added under his breath, as he stood up to leave along with the rest. As they were walking away, Malfoy felt eyes on his back and turned to see Harry eyeing him quizzically.
Harry was thinking back to that look Malfoy had earlier. Could that expression possibly be something else? Did Malfoy know something about the case? Did he have information on who was betraying the ministry? The look Malfoy gave Harry when he turned around told Harry that Malfoy did. The question was, what did Malfoy know that they didn't?
Walking through the door that Marriott held for them, Harry was met with a busy sight. There were desks everywhere in the room, some messy with scattered papers while others were neat and tidy, most likely like their owners. There were people all over, most of them were working tirelessly at their desks, their heads bent in concentration. There were a few doors around the spacious room that lead to other unknown places to Harry. He just figured they were offices of some sort for more prominent employees.
As his eyes skimmed the masses of blonde, brown and black heads, Harry caught no sight of a vibrant red. He turned back to Marriott and was led into a room through a side door that Harry hadn't noticed yet. The room he was ushered into was quite bleak. It was a dull grey, the walls, the floor; even the light from the candles on the walls appeared to be grey. There was a massive wooden table in the center of the morbid accommodations, surrounded by uncomfortable looking, wooden chairs. Marriott them ushered his junior partners to the chairs before them.
As Harry settled into one of the chairs, finding they were really just as uncomfortable as they looked, the door flew open and in shuffled a fourth person. The redhead hurried to the solitary chair situated on the opposite side of the table. He tossed a file full of papers onto the table before turning to his fellow occupants in the bleak room.
"Hi, Harry!" he said with a smile at his best friend.
"Hey Ron," Harry replied just as enthusiastically. As Malfoy looked on, he sat back in his seat, glowering. As if it wasn't bad enough being in the same room as his arch nemesis, he was now situated in same room as his enemy's best friend also. It was enough to make anyone want to hurl.
Ron soon addressed the rest of the room. "My name is Ron Weasley. I will be your correspondent to the ministry's Department of Mysteries while you are on this assignment," Ron announced, sounding quite professional as he straightened the papers in his file. "Any information from this department regarding your impending mission will be passed to you through me." Ron seemed to have his job down pat by the look of it.
Harry just sort of watched his friend in awe. This was not exactly the position you would expect Ron to have.
"Alright, enough with the formalities," Ron said as he leaned back into his chair slightly. "First thing I'm doing is fixing this room." He retrieved his wand from inside his robes and twirled it with a flourish. Muttering a complex incantation, the room was suddenly transformed. The dull walls went to an inviting beige, and a painting hung on one of the walls. The candles glowed brightly now, giving off an immense light that permeated every inch of the enclosure. The large table morphed into a magnificent mahogany desk with a lovely flower arrangement of lilies off to the side, and the grueling chairs softened into plush, cushioned ones, matching the walls.
"Much better," Ron commented when the full transformation had finished. Both Harry and Marriott nodded in consent, but Malfoy just continued his malevolent glare. "Alright," Ron continued his job, but sounded more genial now, "here is all the information we have for you right now," he motioned to the file, "Are you Shane Marriott," he asked the only person unknown to him in the room. Marriott nodded. "Here you are. You are to be in charge of this information right now," Ron explained, and he handed over the file to Harry and Malfoy's supervisor.
"Thank you," Marriott replied as he took the extended file and began to thumb through it.
"Are there any questions?" Ron inquired, official again. Marriott took a few more seconds to look through the information.
"Nope, none that I can think of," he replied. "I guess we can go now, right?"
"Yes, that's all you will need for now. I suggest you get out there and catch that garbage," Ron said with a smile. Harry couldn't help but chuckle at his crazy friend. Marriott also grinned, but Malfoy, as stubborn as ever, was still slouching in his chair with his arms crossed defensively across his chest.
All three agents rose in unison and headed for the door. Ron, after collecting the remaining papers and documents from the desk, ran to catch Harry just as he exited the door.
"Hey Harry," he said quickly. Harry turned to him in confusion, but a remnant of his previous smile still lingered on his face.
"Yeah?" Harry asked.
"Just wanted to tell you good luck. Go kick some butt," Ron told him with a clap on the shoulder.
"Sure Ron," Harry replied sarcastically, but his former smile returned in full force. He pat Ron on the back once before hurrying after Marriott, and much to his distaste, Malfoy.
"Come on, Harry. Better keep up," Marriott chided as he saw Harry coming up from behind. Harry frowned slightly at the comment but let it pass.
"Where are we going?" Malfoy asked as they exited the building after passing the secretaries.
"We're going to the cafeteria. We need to sort through this information," Marriott held up the file, "Then we will decide where to go from there." Harry and Malfoy nodded in unison.
After walking at a brisk pace past the department buildings of Experimental Charms, Magical Law Enforcement and Accidental Magic Reversal, the three aurors arrived at the outside of another building. It was pretty squat in stature and painted a bright, vibrant yellow. The general joke was that it was so bright that blind muggles could see it. It was otherwise referred to as the "Mustard House".
Entering the Mustard House, Harry, Marriott and Malfoy headed to an empty booth table in a corner so they could converse freely. They sat promptly, and Harry had taken explicit precautions to make sure he was seated on the opposite side of Malfoy. He consequently was all alone on his side as Malfoy had seated himself next to Marriott, who had busied himself with the file as soon as he sat down. Hastily grabbing the empty glass in front of him, Harry ordered pumpkin juice, and it instantly appeared in front of him.
Malfoy scoffed, obviously at Harry's choice of beverage. He turned to his own empty glass and ordered a martini. He smirked as the cup morphed in martini glass, complete with a little straw. Just as he was about to take a sip of the drink, a hand shot out and pushed Malfoy's arm away from his face. He set the glass down and turned to Marriott, angered by his action. Marriott, meanwhile, had not once lifted his head from the documents in front of him, even when he moved the martini from Malfoy's face. Malfoy scowled darkly at his senior.
"What is that all about?" he snapped. Clearly all Malfoys were not used to having anyone dictate their actions.
"No alcohol," Marriott stated simply without evening faltering in his perusal of the file.
"What?" Malfoy asked incredulously. Another thing he wasn't used to being denied.
Here Marriott looked up to view his charge. "No alcohol while on a mission with me. I will not deal with drunk or cranky, brand new aurors with hangovers," Marriott explained firmly.
Malfoy scoffed again. "As if," he replied before picking up the martini and making to take another sip. Once more, though, his hand was brought to the table.
"Maybe you didn't hear me correctly," Marriott said sternly. Harry was beginning to see strong qualities in the man. It was no wonder that he was put in charge of two fresh, undisciplined aurors on their first mission. "I said no alcohol," Marriott had quite a strict look on his face.
Though Harry was beginning to greatly respect Marriott, Malfoy clearly was not. "Then maybe you didn't understand me. I may be under your jurisdiction for this mission, but I will definitely not let you dictate to me what I can and cannot consume," Malfoy said with enough determination to rival Marriott.
Marriott looked slightly taken aback by that comment. "Listen here, Mr. Malfoy. You may not like being told what and what not to do, but you will get used to it. While you are on this mission, I am in charge. You will do as I say when I say. And if you have any problems with that, you can report directly to Mr. Crame," Marriott stated with such finality that even Malfoy was rendered speechless, which was a first as Harry was glad to see. Malfoy took out his wand and changed the martini back to its original, empty state. He then slouched back in his chair with his arms crossed across his chest, quite the copy of his actions back in the Research and Development office. Harry smiled to himself because Malfoy looked immensely like a pouting child, sitting there.
Harry continued to sit there, quietly sipping at his beverage. Soon, though, Marriott broke the quiet.
"Look here," he said, indicating to a portion in the file. "It tells us what secrets have been leaked out to the other side. They come from all over the ministry!"
This was not good news, even to the new aurors. If the information was coming from multiple departments, they had quite a case on their hands. It was quite plain that there were accomplices in the ministry, and by the looks of it, some of them had to be quite high up in the hierarchy.
"Charms, Law Enforcement, Mysteries. Even information from Hogwarts was handed over!" Marriott exclaimed. "This not good guys."
Malfoy snatched the list from Marriott and ran his eyes over it, confirming what Marriott had said. After a second run through just to be sure, Malfoy paled, even more so than he was naturally. "How do we know that these were all exploited by the same people?" he asked, covering up his short lapse of cool composure.
Marriott began to explain to Malfoy the links between the cases, but Harry didn't hear most of it; he was too busy watching Malfoy. Malfoy hadn't thought anyone had seen his reaction to the list of secrets, but Harry had. The expression on Malfoy's face when he read the list was one of utter confusion for Harry. It could have been surprise at the extent of the list. It could have been shock at the intensity of the information leaked out. It could have been a number of things along those lines.
Suddenly Marriott interrupted Harry's thoughts. "Do you have any issues with going to Surrey for a while?" he asked Harry. Obviously they had progressed past explaining the secrets in the short while Harry's thoughts had been preoccupied. "We have reason to believe that we can gather some information there from an anonymous source," Marriott explained.
Harry thought about it for a moment. He didn't have anything that would interfere with his job until the third, but if necessary, that could be rescheduled that. "No, tonight is fine for me," Harry assured his supervisor.
"Alright, it's settled. We will leave at three. Pack some things as we may be needed to stay for a few days if we get lucky," Marriott ordered.
"Or unlucky for that matter," Malfoy added under his breath, as he stood up to leave along with the rest. As they were walking away, Malfoy felt eyes on his back and turned to see Harry eyeing him quizzically.
Harry was thinking back to that look Malfoy had earlier. Could that expression possibly be something else? Did Malfoy know something about the case? Did he have information on who was betraying the ministry? The look Malfoy gave Harry when he turned around told Harry that Malfoy did. The question was, what did Malfoy know that they didn't?