Disclaimer: Look! Look! *points gleefully* It's the official document
saying that I own them all! Look, it's right there! That pig with wings has
it in his mouth!
Warnings: Nothing bad, just my annoying habit of not explaining anything. :)
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.
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Smoke & Mirrors.
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Part Two. Winds Of Change.
"You could have left your drink behind."
"And you could have just told me what's going on." Draco sipped his drink as they walked along, towards the elevator. He'd been drinking far too much that morning to try for a safe Apparition so they'd Flooed in instead, not wanting to risk it. "I don't see why I actually have to come into the office for this."
"I think you're the only person I know who could travel by Floo and not spill his drink."
"Don't be stupid, most of Slytherin can do it. We used to practice early on with water. Especially during the holidays."
"Why would any of you bother?" Morgan was nervously flicking through his folder, trying to take his mind off what he was about to do. "What's the point of being able to carry a drink while Flooing? I can't see any situation in which it would come in handy."
"It's just a pride thing. See who can do it the best and all. Besides, it came in handy today. I used to be one of the best. See, the trick was to know the path you were going to take so that you could anticipate the necessary turns." Draco nodded to a few familiar faces, wishing they didn't have to walk so fast but Morgan showed no signs of slowing down. "So what is this vaguely about."
"Your party. Sort of. In a way."
"Well, that's cleared that up then." Draco muttered sarcastically.
They arrived at Auror HQ, a larger room than the one from last year. Ever since Draco's final year at school, more and more people seemed to become interested in being Aurors, meaning they had to move almost every year to accommodate the swelling of numbers. Now that the Ministry seemed to have worked out a decent budget for once, having enough Aurors to cope with the demand was working much better. Most of the higher ranked ones even had a decent pay.
Draco looked around as he followed behind Morgan quietly. He rarely ever saw this room as he worked mainly on remote, but he smiled politely and waved at a few people that he passed. He might not get into the office much, but every one knew who *he* was, for one reason or another.
The two were finally standing next to the desks that were assigned to them and Draco suck into his chair with gratitude. "Why are we in here?" He emptied his glass and pushed in towards the young man. "Get me another will you."
"I think you've had enough."
"But I'm not asleep yet." Draco whined back.
Morgan's mouth twitched from a repressed smile and he stood up. "What were you drinking?"
"A B and B."
"We don't have any brandy, I'll get you some milk."
"Pest." Draco mumbled. He rubbed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. Feeling better he flicked open Morgan's folder and took a quick look but couldn't see anything that would call for him to come into work on his birthday. His new drink of the day was placed in front of him and he absently sipped it. "And we're here because?"
Morgan stopped smiling and pulled a second folder out from under his desk, dragging his chair over to sit next to the blonde. "I got this from a friend, of a friend, of a friend, of a friend. A little over an hour ago, the Dark Mark was seen over a small town in the south. Selsey. I'm sure you know where that is. Naturally Aurors were dispatched to it almost immediately. What they found was ... disturbing."
Draco had certainly perked up the second he had heard 'Dark Mark', Selsey had grabbed his attention even more. "What do you mean by disturbing?"
"It came from your house, Draco." Morgan said gently. "It appears that your father tried one last attempt at alerting people that something was wrong. All the preliminary tests have been done and that's what it looks like."
"What exactly do you mean by 'one last attempt'?" Draco was sobering up fast, the gentle buzz of alcohol dying off and he gave a suspicious look to his 'milk'.
"He's dead, Draco." Morgan shifted uncomfortably. "He's very, very dead."
Draco was quiet for a few seconds as his mind turned this over. "You're either dead or you're alive. You can't be very, very dead."
Morgan gave a slight cough. "This one is. Lucius, I mean. Um. The body ... they're saying that ... it ... it doesn't look human."
"Dead?"
"Yeah."
"Very, very dead?"
"That's what I've heard."
Draco looked at his hands, resting on the tabletop. The situation was starting to sink in, his stomach churned. His eyes started to burn, but he blinked back the tears quickly and blamed it on the alcohol. "How?"
"Nobody seems to know."
"Give me the folder."
Morgan handed it over quietly.
Draco flicked it open and noticed what was wrong straight away. "There's no photos."
"I know. I can't seem to find any. Not anywhere."
"This is just a standard fact sheet. It doesn't tell me anything that you haven't already."
"That's the weird thing. No seems to known anything further than the basics and you know what that means."
"Yeah, it means two things. One, that this is somehow linked to another investigation and they're keeping it quiet."
Morgan frowned. "What's the other one?"
Draco gave a grim smile. "It's one of Harry's."
Morgan shook his head. "No, you can't think that."
"It'll be one of his. So you get to do something for me. You get to find out why my ex is working my father's death."
"I hope you're not thinking what I think you're thinking."
"What?"
Morgan leaned even closer, dropping his voice. "Oh, come on, Draco. You know the rules. You can't be on this one. No one is allowed to work a case involving a family member."
"I want this case Morgan."
"The boss will never go for it."
"No one could do it better than me. I knew him, and I knew all his little tricks." Draco snapped the folder shut. "Get me this assignment."
"No chance. Maybe you could help on an advisory level, but it won't go any further than that."
"This is not negotiable." Draco smiled and stood up. "I'll get it, one way or another."
"You'll get what?" A curious voice from behind them and they turned. "What are you even doing here, Draco? It's your birthday."
"Hello, Hermione." The blonde greeted her in a friendly manner. "Seen any dead Malfoys lately?"
Hermione's eyes widened, making her replacement eye spin slightly. "Who told you about that?" She gave a cross look to Morgan and then looked across the room at somebody.
"When exactly were you going to tell me?"
"We only got it like an hour ago! We were going to pay you a visit this morning."
Draco crossed his arms. "Well, I'm here now, spill."
"You probably already know more than you should, I'm not saying anymore." She walked passed them, heading for her own table and they followed without invitation.
"I want this case." Draco said as he perched himself on her desk."
"Out of the question, you know the rules."
"Why aren't there any photos? Where are all the preliminary results?" He leaned in as she pretended he wasn't there. "What's the Ministry hiding?"
Hermione looked at him briefly before ducking her head. "Look, I don't know the full story either, but I've been given my orders and some of them involve you ... in the 'keeping you out of it' sort of way."
"This is bull shit."
Saria came rushing up to them still fastening her robe. "Oh, Draco, I just heard! What's going on, what's the plan?"
"There is no plan. Not for you." A young man walked up, Harry at his side. "This isn't your case, Frenchie."
Saria scowled. "Just because I'm from Beauxbaton does not make me French, A. I was born London."
"Don't call me that." The man moved to sit in his chair next to Hermione.
"Well, excuse me, *Thias* but who shouldn't call who what?" Saria gave him a pointed look.
Thias, Harry's new trainee, sneered and made himself look busy by opening up some forms and beginning to write.
"Hello." Harry said awkwardly. "How is everyone today?"
"Fuck off, Potter. My Father's dead and your little clique is keeping me in the dark."
"It's not your case, Ko."
Draco smirked. "Not yet, anyway."
Hermione seemed to have finished with what she was working on and stood up. "We all know you won't get this assignment, Draco. It was ours even before Lucius' death. You can't just come and cut in."
Draco turned, motioning for his friends to follow. "Watch me. Oh and Hermione? Your absence was noted last night."
Hermione blushed and flicked some of her fringe out of her eyes. "I told Morgan to pass my apologies on, I was busy."
"Well, if you'll excuse us."
"Hey, wait." Thias stood up meaning to follow after them. "We need your statements about last night, you were some of the last to see him alive."
"Tough." Draco kept walking.
Thias went to go after them but Harry caught his arm. "Let it go for now. We'll ask them later."
~~~~~~~~~~
Draco collapsed on to his bed, causing Cujo to become airborne for a few seconds before bouncing back down. She wuffed sleepily and nodded back off. "Okay you two, here's what we do. I want you to get in touch with every single one of our contacts and tell them to keep their ears open for whatever is going down about my father. Then I want you to go visit everyone you can remember from the party last night. Someone might have seen something, my mother will get you the guest list, no problems."
"There's one thing." Morgan said gently as he sat down next to him.
"What?"
"That mystery guest of yours."
Draco's eyes flickered towards his friend. "Forget about that, it's not important."
"But he might have seen something."
"Then I'll ask him myself."
"You also don't know where he went after handing over your present."
"Leave it, Morgan." Draco growled out as a warning.
"For all you know, whoever it was crept down to your father's study and waited there to kill him."
"I said leave it!" Draco sat up. "Whoever that was is none of your concern right now. What you have to do is simple. You alert our contacts and then interview the guests. And you get it done before Harry and his posse can, all right? Explain to the guests that they're aren't to say that they've already given statements. We aren't officially on this case so I don't want to get fried for interfering. The boss would have our heads on sticks for it."
Morgan nodded and let it go for now, knowing that he would have to mention it sooner or later for his own interview. Then Draco would probably have to reveal who it was. He patted Draco on the shoulder and stood up. "We'll get who ever is was."
"I know."
"Oh, and Draco?" Morgan pointed to the cupboard. "Saria and I bought some stuff for Cujo. Food and bowls and stuff."
"All right." Draco nodded, mostly lost in thought.
"What are you going to do while we're interviewing?"
Draco looked out the window. "There are a few contacts of my own I have to speak to."
"Okay, be careful." Morgan walked out and shut the door behind himself.
Draco rubbed his temples and stood up, already formulating the plan in his head. He triple checked that he had his wand and then headed for the fireplace. One last pat reassured him that his wand was well in hand as he threw the powder in. He knew if he tried leaving his house without it, he probably wouldn't come back. He rubbed at his throat absently as he stepped into the fire and spoke the name of where he wanted to go.
To Be Continued.
Warnings: Nothing bad, just my annoying habit of not explaining anything. :)
.
.
.
Smoke & Mirrors.
.
Part Two. Winds Of Change.
"You could have left your drink behind."
"And you could have just told me what's going on." Draco sipped his drink as they walked along, towards the elevator. He'd been drinking far too much that morning to try for a safe Apparition so they'd Flooed in instead, not wanting to risk it. "I don't see why I actually have to come into the office for this."
"I think you're the only person I know who could travel by Floo and not spill his drink."
"Don't be stupid, most of Slytherin can do it. We used to practice early on with water. Especially during the holidays."
"Why would any of you bother?" Morgan was nervously flicking through his folder, trying to take his mind off what he was about to do. "What's the point of being able to carry a drink while Flooing? I can't see any situation in which it would come in handy."
"It's just a pride thing. See who can do it the best and all. Besides, it came in handy today. I used to be one of the best. See, the trick was to know the path you were going to take so that you could anticipate the necessary turns." Draco nodded to a few familiar faces, wishing they didn't have to walk so fast but Morgan showed no signs of slowing down. "So what is this vaguely about."
"Your party. Sort of. In a way."
"Well, that's cleared that up then." Draco muttered sarcastically.
They arrived at Auror HQ, a larger room than the one from last year. Ever since Draco's final year at school, more and more people seemed to become interested in being Aurors, meaning they had to move almost every year to accommodate the swelling of numbers. Now that the Ministry seemed to have worked out a decent budget for once, having enough Aurors to cope with the demand was working much better. Most of the higher ranked ones even had a decent pay.
Draco looked around as he followed behind Morgan quietly. He rarely ever saw this room as he worked mainly on remote, but he smiled politely and waved at a few people that he passed. He might not get into the office much, but every one knew who *he* was, for one reason or another.
The two were finally standing next to the desks that were assigned to them and Draco suck into his chair with gratitude. "Why are we in here?" He emptied his glass and pushed in towards the young man. "Get me another will you."
"I think you've had enough."
"But I'm not asleep yet." Draco whined back.
Morgan's mouth twitched from a repressed smile and he stood up. "What were you drinking?"
"A B and B."
"We don't have any brandy, I'll get you some milk."
"Pest." Draco mumbled. He rubbed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. Feeling better he flicked open Morgan's folder and took a quick look but couldn't see anything that would call for him to come into work on his birthday. His new drink of the day was placed in front of him and he absently sipped it. "And we're here because?"
Morgan stopped smiling and pulled a second folder out from under his desk, dragging his chair over to sit next to the blonde. "I got this from a friend, of a friend, of a friend, of a friend. A little over an hour ago, the Dark Mark was seen over a small town in the south. Selsey. I'm sure you know where that is. Naturally Aurors were dispatched to it almost immediately. What they found was ... disturbing."
Draco had certainly perked up the second he had heard 'Dark Mark', Selsey had grabbed his attention even more. "What do you mean by disturbing?"
"It came from your house, Draco." Morgan said gently. "It appears that your father tried one last attempt at alerting people that something was wrong. All the preliminary tests have been done and that's what it looks like."
"What exactly do you mean by 'one last attempt'?" Draco was sobering up fast, the gentle buzz of alcohol dying off and he gave a suspicious look to his 'milk'.
"He's dead, Draco." Morgan shifted uncomfortably. "He's very, very dead."
Draco was quiet for a few seconds as his mind turned this over. "You're either dead or you're alive. You can't be very, very dead."
Morgan gave a slight cough. "This one is. Lucius, I mean. Um. The body ... they're saying that ... it ... it doesn't look human."
"Dead?"
"Yeah."
"Very, very dead?"
"That's what I've heard."
Draco looked at his hands, resting on the tabletop. The situation was starting to sink in, his stomach churned. His eyes started to burn, but he blinked back the tears quickly and blamed it on the alcohol. "How?"
"Nobody seems to know."
"Give me the folder."
Morgan handed it over quietly.
Draco flicked it open and noticed what was wrong straight away. "There's no photos."
"I know. I can't seem to find any. Not anywhere."
"This is just a standard fact sheet. It doesn't tell me anything that you haven't already."
"That's the weird thing. No seems to known anything further than the basics and you know what that means."
"Yeah, it means two things. One, that this is somehow linked to another investigation and they're keeping it quiet."
Morgan frowned. "What's the other one?"
Draco gave a grim smile. "It's one of Harry's."
Morgan shook his head. "No, you can't think that."
"It'll be one of his. So you get to do something for me. You get to find out why my ex is working my father's death."
"I hope you're not thinking what I think you're thinking."
"What?"
Morgan leaned even closer, dropping his voice. "Oh, come on, Draco. You know the rules. You can't be on this one. No one is allowed to work a case involving a family member."
"I want this case Morgan."
"The boss will never go for it."
"No one could do it better than me. I knew him, and I knew all his little tricks." Draco snapped the folder shut. "Get me this assignment."
"No chance. Maybe you could help on an advisory level, but it won't go any further than that."
"This is not negotiable." Draco smiled and stood up. "I'll get it, one way or another."
"You'll get what?" A curious voice from behind them and they turned. "What are you even doing here, Draco? It's your birthday."
"Hello, Hermione." The blonde greeted her in a friendly manner. "Seen any dead Malfoys lately?"
Hermione's eyes widened, making her replacement eye spin slightly. "Who told you about that?" She gave a cross look to Morgan and then looked across the room at somebody.
"When exactly were you going to tell me?"
"We only got it like an hour ago! We were going to pay you a visit this morning."
Draco crossed his arms. "Well, I'm here now, spill."
"You probably already know more than you should, I'm not saying anymore." She walked passed them, heading for her own table and they followed without invitation.
"I want this case." Draco said as he perched himself on her desk."
"Out of the question, you know the rules."
"Why aren't there any photos? Where are all the preliminary results?" He leaned in as she pretended he wasn't there. "What's the Ministry hiding?"
Hermione looked at him briefly before ducking her head. "Look, I don't know the full story either, but I've been given my orders and some of them involve you ... in the 'keeping you out of it' sort of way."
"This is bull shit."
Saria came rushing up to them still fastening her robe. "Oh, Draco, I just heard! What's going on, what's the plan?"
"There is no plan. Not for you." A young man walked up, Harry at his side. "This isn't your case, Frenchie."
Saria scowled. "Just because I'm from Beauxbaton does not make me French, A. I was born London."
"Don't call me that." The man moved to sit in his chair next to Hermione.
"Well, excuse me, *Thias* but who shouldn't call who what?" Saria gave him a pointed look.
Thias, Harry's new trainee, sneered and made himself look busy by opening up some forms and beginning to write.
"Hello." Harry said awkwardly. "How is everyone today?"
"Fuck off, Potter. My Father's dead and your little clique is keeping me in the dark."
"It's not your case, Ko."
Draco smirked. "Not yet, anyway."
Hermione seemed to have finished with what she was working on and stood up. "We all know you won't get this assignment, Draco. It was ours even before Lucius' death. You can't just come and cut in."
Draco turned, motioning for his friends to follow. "Watch me. Oh and Hermione? Your absence was noted last night."
Hermione blushed and flicked some of her fringe out of her eyes. "I told Morgan to pass my apologies on, I was busy."
"Well, if you'll excuse us."
"Hey, wait." Thias stood up meaning to follow after them. "We need your statements about last night, you were some of the last to see him alive."
"Tough." Draco kept walking.
Thias went to go after them but Harry caught his arm. "Let it go for now. We'll ask them later."
~~~~~~~~~~
Draco collapsed on to his bed, causing Cujo to become airborne for a few seconds before bouncing back down. She wuffed sleepily and nodded back off. "Okay you two, here's what we do. I want you to get in touch with every single one of our contacts and tell them to keep their ears open for whatever is going down about my father. Then I want you to go visit everyone you can remember from the party last night. Someone might have seen something, my mother will get you the guest list, no problems."
"There's one thing." Morgan said gently as he sat down next to him.
"What?"
"That mystery guest of yours."
Draco's eyes flickered towards his friend. "Forget about that, it's not important."
"But he might have seen something."
"Then I'll ask him myself."
"You also don't know where he went after handing over your present."
"Leave it, Morgan." Draco growled out as a warning.
"For all you know, whoever it was crept down to your father's study and waited there to kill him."
"I said leave it!" Draco sat up. "Whoever that was is none of your concern right now. What you have to do is simple. You alert our contacts and then interview the guests. And you get it done before Harry and his posse can, all right? Explain to the guests that they're aren't to say that they've already given statements. We aren't officially on this case so I don't want to get fried for interfering. The boss would have our heads on sticks for it."
Morgan nodded and let it go for now, knowing that he would have to mention it sooner or later for his own interview. Then Draco would probably have to reveal who it was. He patted Draco on the shoulder and stood up. "We'll get who ever is was."
"I know."
"Oh, and Draco?" Morgan pointed to the cupboard. "Saria and I bought some stuff for Cujo. Food and bowls and stuff."
"All right." Draco nodded, mostly lost in thought.
"What are you going to do while we're interviewing?"
Draco looked out the window. "There are a few contacts of my own I have to speak to."
"Okay, be careful." Morgan walked out and shut the door behind himself.
Draco rubbed his temples and stood up, already formulating the plan in his head. He triple checked that he had his wand and then headed for the fireplace. One last pat reassured him that his wand was well in hand as he threw the powder in. He knew if he tried leaving his house without it, he probably wouldn't come back. He rubbed at his throat absently as he stepped into the fire and spoke the name of where he wanted to go.
To Be Continued.