- Harry -
Harry was excited for the school year to begin. He'd spent the summer with the Weasley's, and while there, had been approached by Kingsley Shacklebolt, the new Minister for Magic, asking him if he'd like to internship with the Aurors over the next year in his spare time. As a seventh year he had quite a few free periods and the holidays, and as it was his dream to become an Auror after school he'd happily accepted, but only on the proviso that Ron and Hermione could join as well, which everyone had happily agreed to. They were all thrilled by the opportunity.
"What do you think they'll have us doing?" Ron asked excitedly, as they made their way to the Ministry. "Do you think we'll get to blow doors open and fight bad guys?"
Hermione rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's enthusiasm. "I imagine it will be more shadowing the Aurors on less violent cases since we've not had official training"
Whatever it was, Harry was excited to be part of it, to know he was making strides towards his future after school.
They reached the Ministry and were shown up to the Auror department, where witches and wizards in scarlet robes filled the rooms, owls and paper plane notes whizzed around overhead, large boards throughout the department were filled with pictures of current cases and suspects.
They were shown to a room with Kingsley Shacklebolt and Head Auror Robards, and they all greeted each other with a shake of the hand and took their seats.
"We had planned to ease you in with some nice, simple cases" Kingsley grimaced as he spoke. "But something urgent has come up and we're getting all hands on deck"
He handed out a photo of a man in expensive looking robes, a white male in what looked to be his mid fifties, with dark grey hair and brown eyes.
"This is Felix Kemp" Auror Robards informed them. "He works for the DMLE, as the Deputy Head of Office. He didn't turn up for work four days ago and hasn't been since. His wife hasn't heard from him, his colleagues and boss haven't heard from him and there's no sign of him in any of the pubs, restaurants, holiday homes or any of his usual haunts"
Harry, Ron and Hermione all studied the picture.
"He doesn't have a mistress that he could have run off with?" Ron asked and Robards smiled wryly.
"We did ask the wife and his closer friends. The wife was naturally outraged at the suggestion though finally admitted they hadn't slept together in years, his friends however" Robards paused and glanced at Kingsley, who nodded and Robards continued. "His friends were of the opinion that women weren't Felix's cup of tea, that he was into... younger boys"
The trio all adopted similar silent "oh" expressions of realisation.
"So he could be away somewhere with a young... paid companion?" Harry asked, trying to find a nicer word for male prostitute.
"Potentially" Robards answered. "But in that situation it would have been smarter for him to call in sick and take a few days off without causing suspicion"
"Was he looking into any cases that could have gotten him in trouble?" Harry asked instead.
"No" Kingsley answered this time. "Mr Kemp was not much involved in fieldwork anymore, he was aiming to retire at 60 and wanted to spend the last few years doing paperwork and ensuring he would live for his retirement"
The trio were silent as they thought.
"Had he withdrawn any money before he disappeared?" Hermione asked curiously and Robards nodded.
"He had withdrawn a few thousand galleons and had asked the goblins at Gringotts to convert it to Muggle cash" Robards informed them. "Because of the cash transaction and our lack of contacts in the muggle world, we are unable to know where that cash went"
"Is he muggle-born?" Harry asked them.
"No, he is half-blood, his wife is muggle-born" Kingsley replied. "Why do you ask?"
Harry shrugged a little nervously. "Just in case they had a link to something in the muggle world, through them or their families that the money might go to. Maybe a family member in need, or a cause"
Robards and Kingsley looked at each other and smiled a little.
"I think that would be a good question to go ask Felix's wife" Kingsley smiled and nodded at them, and Harry felt his heart swell a little with pride.
The trio went with Auror Robards to see the wife, Henrietta, at the Kemp family home in Sussex. The house was big, showing a good amount of wealth and extravagance. Robards knocked on the door and Henrietta opened it, holding a very large brown cat in her arms.
"Oh it's you again" she said disdainfully to Robards. "Found my husband yet?"
Harry thought she didn't actually seem too concerned.
"I'm afraid not Mrs Kemp, but I do have some more questions for you if we may come in?"
At that point Henrietta, a thin woman in her fifties with hair up in rollers and a frilly dressing gown wrapped tightly round her small frame, looked past Robards and saw the trio there.
"Why have you brought children along Robards?" she sneered.
"These are our new interns, they're learning on the job, you don't mind if they join do you?" Robards answered casually but he had already stepped into the house.
"If they must" Henrietta rolled her eyes and allowed them in. They filed into the home and took in the clean, pale carpets and walls, following Henrietta through to the lounge as she snapped at her House Elf to bring tea for everyone. She sat down in an armchair, still holding the cat, and the trio and Robards sat on the long, velvet, cream sofa opposite her.
"So Mrs Kemp, we got the bank records back for your husband's private account today, and it showed a cash withdrawal made for 3,000 galleons" Robards told her, watching her carefully, as did the trio, for any sign of shock. She didn't really seem to care.
"So?" Henrietta asked.
"So it was changed to Muggle money. Do you know what that might have been for?"
"Oh Felix sponsors a lot of the Muggle schools in the area. I think education is important, so I like for us to help the young ones where we can" Henrietta brushed it off as she sipped her tea and stroked the cat, who purred and closed its eyes.
"I see" Robards nodded. As he took down the details of the schools from her, Harry cast his eye around the house. There were a lot of photos of what was clearly a beloved pet cat, but none of husband and wife, or any other family for that matter, and looking around, there hardly seemed the presence of a man at all, everything was overtly feminine.
"Well thank you for your time Mrs Kemp, we'll let you know the instant we find out anything" Robards told her as they stood to leave.
"Yes, yes" she said in an almost bored tone. "Do let yourselves out will you? I don't want to disturb Mr Snuggles" she looked lovingly at the cat in her arms.
Robards and the trio exchanged a glance before leaving.
"Well she definitely loves the cat more than her husband" Ron muttered.
"It's like he doesn't even live there" Harry agreed. "No photos, no sign of any man being there, everything was so feminine"
"I agree" Robards nodded. "I think they are living more separate lives than she's admitting"
They went to the schools, now all dressed as Muggles, where the head teachers confirmed that they got regular payments from Felix and Henrietta but nothing of that size or that recently.
Robards sighed.
"Well I'm afraid this is how it goes sometimes. It can take quite a lot of leads before you start following the right one. We'll continue to make enquiries here, you three get ready for Hogwarts tomorrow and we'll let you know if there's anything you can do from there"
They all bid each other goodbye and the trio went back to the Burrow, packing up the last of their things for going back to Hogwarts.
"I can't believe this is our last year" Hermione sighed sadly as she shut her neatly packed case, rolling her eyes as she watched Ron stuff everything haphazardly into his own.
"I know" Harry smiled sadly at her. "But it's nice to know that we could have our careers already in the works for leaving"
"Does this mean I can make everyone call me Auror Weasley at school?" Ron laughed. "Can you imagine if Malfoy had to call us that?"
"Oh god, don't ruin the excitement of going back to Hogwarts by mentioning Malfoy" Harry groaned. He had always thought the blonde was attractive, who wouldn't? But his narcissism, bullying and elitist nature was just far too off-putting, and Harry couldn't wait for the day he never had to share a class with the snarky blonde again.
"The prick can't cause too much trouble" Ron smirked. "We're honorary Aurors now. He's lucky his dad managed to get out of Death Eater charges, he's not going to push it by winding us up"
"It's optimistic but I think Ron might be right. He's not going to want to give us any reason to even mention his name to the Aurors, and the whole world knows we're working with them now" Hermione smiled at them. "Who knows, it might be a nice, quiet year for us"
"Famous last words" Harry joked.
They left for Platform 9 and 3/4 the next morning, quite a few students pointing and whispering at them. Harry rolled his eyes, it used to bother him so much but after years of practice, it was now just mildly annoying. They hugged Mr and Mrs Weasley goodbye and got on the train. Harry couldn't wait to be back at Hogwarts, classes, Quidditch, seeing his friends. It was going to be a good year.
And yet the first person he had to see when he got on the train was Draco Malfoy. He had stepped in through a door and turned right to see Malfoy, looking past him, like he'd seen a ghost, his face pale and shocked. Curiously, Harry turned left, and saw a boy, who must be the same age as them that he'd never seen in Hogwarts before, a handsome boy with dark hair and blue eyes who smirked at Draco. Harry turned back to Malfoy who finally seemed to snap out of it and see Harry, Ron and Hermione climb on the train.
"Malfoy, I know you like to get in our way, but could you maybe save it until we're at least at Hogwarts" Hermione rolled her eyes.
Malfoy blinked, glancing back at the other boy, before fixing his eyes on Harry. "Tired of playing dress-up at the Auror department already?" he smirked at them. But he did step aside quickly, Harry noticed with satisfaction.
"We can make sure you and your daddy play dress-up in Azkaban if you're not careful Malfoy" Ron muttered to him darkly as he stormed past Malfoy first and Harry saw a flicker of fear in the blonde's eyes, his father's close call with Azkaban probably at the forefront of his mind, and Harry internally smirked.
"Abusing your power already Weasley? I guess you do belong in the Ministry after all" Malfoy sneered after him.
Harry snorted and he made to pass Malfoy as well. "I think that might be the first thing you've ever said that I agree with Malfoy" he said, bemused, remembering Cornelius Fudge and Rufus Scrimgeour.
Malfoy gave him a surprised look before he glared at Harry and turned his attention back to the dark-haired boy who had been watching them all with interest. Harry turned and watched as Malfoy stormed up to the boy, grabbed him by the arm as the boy grinned at the blonde, and Malfoy roughly shoved him into the nearest compartment, slamming the door shut behind them.
Harry frowned. What was that all about?
Hermione groaned, watching Harry watch Malfoy. "No Harry please, don't start the year by thinking Malfoy is up to something"
Harry spluttered indignantly. "I don't Hermione... but that was suspicious right?" he asked.
Hermione sighed and gave him a small push towards the compartment Ron had gone into. "It's Malfoy" she told him. "He's always suspicious"
Harry tried to refrain from muttering "exactly" too loudly, and followed Ron into the compartment. Surely they'd find out who the boy was soon enough.
- Draco -
"What the fuck are you doing here?" He exploded at Charlie after he slammed the door shut. Charlie just grinned at him. "You can't just sneak into Hogwarts!"
"I'm not sneaking" Charlie shrugged happily. "I go to Hogwarts"
Draco stared at him like he was mad. "You go to Durmstrang" he said slowly, as if talking to an idiot.
"I transferred" Charlie responded in the same patronising tone, his smirk never leaving his face.
Draco stopped, staring at him, blinking to make sure he wasn't dreaming. "You what?"
"I transferred" Charlie shrugged, taking a seat. "I thought, why go to Durmstrang and be bored out my mind all year, when I could go to school with my bestie" he gently kicked his foot at Draco jokingly.
Draco just continued to stare at him. These two worlds weren't meant to meet. He wasn't the same person in both of these worlds. He didn't know how to do both. He wasn't prepared for this.
"Fucking hell mate, if you'd rather I didn't, I can just go" Charlie raised an eyebrow at Draco's unresponsiveness.
"No" Draco breathed, though he wasn't entirely sure that's what he wanted to say. "No, of course I want you here"
"Tell that to your face"
Draco rolled his eyes and sat down opposite him, trying to regain his composure and calm down. "You fucking surprised me, you dick" he said bluntly.
Charlie laughed loudly. "I know, you should have seen your face. Oh man, imagine all the stuff we can get up to when we actually have our wands with us? This is going to be a fun year" Charlie twirled his wand in his hand, and it crossed Draco's mind that they'd never actually seen each other perform magic.
Draco swallowed hard, he didn't want to do their usual antics, not here, not where his dad and his other friends could find out. Not when Weasley had just threatened him with Azkaban. Not when he wanted a future that didn't involve middle-aged men having sex with him for meagre amounts of muggle cash, not when he had so many secrets that could destroy him and his family.
"Charlie" he started anxiously. "We can't do those things here. We need futures, real ones. Nobody here knows about..." Draco trailed off.
Charlie rolled his eyes and leaned forward, taking Draco's hand in his, and Draco tensed. "Dray, do you think people at Durmstrang know about me? Relax okay, I just mean we're going to have fun together, alright? Legal, wholesome fun" he smirked again.
Draco snorted, leaning back. "Not too wholesome, we're not blowing bubbles and finger painting together like bloody Huffle - hey!" Draco shot up. "What if you're not in Slytherin?"
Charlie waved that off. "I'll be in Slytherin, don't you worry your pretty little head about it"
"If you say so. I'm not introducing you to my friends until I know for sure though" Draco warned, smirking.
Charlie rolled his eyes dramatically. "Snob"
Charlie was called in to the centre of the Great Hall with all the other first years, while Draco sat down at his house table as did everyone else that wasn't first year. Draco smirked. He looked almost ridiculous standing there, towering over all the other first years. He caught Draco's eye and smirked back, instantly knowing what he was thinking.
"You know him?" Blaise asked beside Draco, seeing the exchange.
"A friend of the family, he went to Durmstrang instead of Hogwarts but is transferring over for his last year" Draco said as explanation. It was what they had agreed upon on the train.
"He's hot" Pansy commented, tilting her head as she devoured him with her eyes. Draco just rolled his eyes at the usual vapid comment from Pansy.
Draco glanced over at the Gryffindors and caught Harry Potter's eyes which were also looking between him and Charlie curiously. Draco looked away quickly, and was glad when Professor McGonagall clinked her glass to begin proceedings.
"Welcome back students for another, or first, year at Hogwarts. Let us start the year by beginning the sorting. You all may notice that we have a new student, and you all may also notice that he is not one of our first years" at this several people tittered and Charlie just smiled good-naturedly back.
"Charles Romanov has transferred here from Durmstrang to finish his final year of studies" McGonagall continued. "Mr Romanov we will sort you first if you could please take a seat"
Charlie nodded and stepped up, sitting down on the seat and Professor McGonagall placed the sorting hat on his head. It sat for a moment and Charlie locked eyes with Draco, who felt tense, and gazed back, wishing him in Slytherin as hard as he could, ignoring the feel of Potter's stare into the side of his head. Charlie quirked the tiniest smile and the sorting hat perked up.
"Slytherin!"
Slytherin house cheered, and Draco relaxed, clapping as Charlie thanked McGonagall and walked confidently down to Slytherin sitting in between Draco and Pansy, the latter having immediately made a space for him.
Draco introduced him to everyone as the rest of the sorting took place and Draco glanced at his friend, his best friend, who knew basically everything about him, sitting right beside him in Hogwarts, at the Slytherin table. They would be together all year, they would be normal, do fun things, not get hurt, they'd have a healthy friendship, they'd be what they always should have been, safe. Draco was suddenly excited for the year. Charlie turned and grinned at him, pressing his leg against Draco's under the table, as if he could read his mind, like they had always somehow been able to, and suddenly the feeling made sense to Draco. For the first time since starting at Hogwarts when he was eleven, he felt whole.
