Author's Notes:

Many, many heartfelt thanks to Laura for beta reading this chapter! Your help is very much appreciated! :-D

And last, but not least, one last bow to the Queen of Alpha and Beta Reading, Mr Benzedrine, whose comprehensive help, from commas to plot holes, helped keeping this chapter on track. May she never ever change...

Chapter 8: Don't tell me about being too involved!

"Everybody knows their task?" Harry said; taking one last look at the Aurors that took part in the raid of the shop. He and Ron had discussed the last details of the procedure the evening before when Theo had left, like which Aurors to take, and how to enter the building without too much of a warning to prevent the staff from escaping. He smiled faintly when he saw the grim, but determined look on the other Aurors' faces; they all knew what was at stake here. "Let's move!"

Two of the Aurors placed themselves at the back entrance, two stood on the other side of the still empty Diagon Alley to watch the main entrance, and two more stood in front of the neighbouring buildings, just out of view from the shop. Harry and Ron would be the ones entering the shop like customers, asking for the manager; the others would enter upon a previously chosen signal.

"I'm sorry, we're still closed, gentlemen," the staff member on the ladder said when he saw Harry and Ron enter, stopping from checking the shelves. He wore simple, but well-tailored black robes, and his hair was traced with grey strands. "We'll open in about twenty minutes, and would gladly serve you then–"

"Oh, I didn't see a sign outside," Harry replied, pointing over his shoulder to the door, sharing a glance with Ron.

"We don't have one, but everyone knows we open at nine on Fridays. It's only twenty to nine." The staff member climbed down the ladder, throwing them an irritated glare, but otherwise remaining polite. "But if you gentlemen absolutely insist on being served right now..."

"We'd like to see the manager, actually," Harry said, and saw the shop assistant go pale for a second before catching himself again.

"He's not in yet," the staff replied. "He'll arrive shortly before the shop opens." He went behind the counter to put his notes from the shelf check away. "Can I help you instead?"

"Should we wait until the manager comes in?" Ron asked with a low voice so that only Harry could hear him.

Harry shook his head. "The stake-out said he is already in." And with one last glance, he discreetly sent off the signal for the other Aurors to storm the building; seconds later, the place was swarmed with Aurors going through every single room. "Get me the manager!" Harry bellowed, following everyone upstairs to search the rooms.

"You better stay where you are," Ron said with a grim smile, aiming his wand at the assistant who by now looked rather petrified.

"There is one!" an Auror shouted from the other end of the floor, and everyone ran towards him to catch the suspect, casting blocking spells on the door, causing the wooden door frame to creak and crack from the onslaught of magic.

When Harry and the others arrived in the room seconds later, the Auror and the suspect were still in a fight, trying to immobilise each other with the Stunning Spell. Harry thus pulled his own wand to disarm the suspect, and was about to utter the words when the suspect turned around and took a step towards the window.

"You won't get me!" the suspect said as he jumped out of the window, out onto the street beneath.

His duel opponent wanted to follow him, but was held back by the Auror closest to him. Thus hindered, he only could look out of the window to see where the suspect would land on the ground, muttering curses.

"He escaped, for Merlin's sake!" an Auror next to Harry let out in frustration. "Jumping out of a bloody window–"

"He Apparated," the one at the window said, turning around, his eyes wide.

"It's okay, Stephens. We still have the guy downstairs, and probably lots of new information," Harry replied, putting his wand away again. There was no one else in here, according to his information, so there was no need to keep his wand out. "Take everything you can find. And check every corner for hidden magic!"

"Yes, boss."

With a sigh, Harry turned towards the stairs to join Ron in the shop. "Stephens, you come with me. I need your expertise with the Revelio Charm."

"Potter!" Draco bellowed when he arrived at the Auror Department. Theo had informed him about the raid as promised, but he had been stuck in a bloody meeting he couldn't get out of. When he had arrived at the raided shop earlier, everyone had already gone, and business was almost back to normal in the street. And Potter had the nerve to go on without him, to leave him out!

"He's in the meeting room, Draco." Theo got up from his desk to approach his friend. "I informed you as soon as I knew–"

Draco shook his head. "Just got stuck at the company. Daphne wanted to go through a few things regarding a new offer, on Pansy's orders." He looked around and saw that everyone else was watching them. "Meeting room you said?"

Theo nodded, and pointed towards a set of doors. "The one on the far left. The other two are used for interrogations. They brought back half the shop, and one suspect–"

"Thanks." Draco left his friend for the meeting room, where he barged right in. "You!"

Harry only briefly looked up from his notes, acknowledging Draco bursting into the room with a simple nod. "What's the problem, Malfoy?"

"You conveniently forgot to inform me about the raid. You know I wanted to be there as well–"

Now Harry straightened up, not in the least intimidated by Draco's rage. "This case doesn't allow for any mistakes. You're still a civilian, Malfoy, and they aren't allowed to take part in raids–"

"We had a deal–"

"And I have rules to follow. Whoever has Hermione, I do not want to give them any opportunity to escape justice because of a mere technical mistake such as allowing a civilian to participate in a raid."

"Oh, bugger your rules!" Draco retorted, stepping closer, his hands long since turned into fists from the restraint not to hex Potter on the spot. "You know I'm your best shot at finding her. Or why haven't your precious Aurors found that shop earlier? It was all there in her files!"

"We know now," Harry replied calmly, pushing his glasses back up.

"Yes, three weeks late in my opinion. Don't you think it strange that–?"

"We'll deal with that situation when we have found her, understood? No need to make accusations right now," Harry interrupted Draco, and closed his notes demonstratively. "And you better go back to your company–"

"No. I want to sit in during that interrogation."

"Not like that. You're far too involved personally–"

"And you aren't? You're basically her brother, Potter." Draco came one last step closer, his hand reaching out for the file that was still lying on the table. They had a clear agreement that he was allowed to sit in on all interrogations and interviews pertaining to Hermione's kidnapping. "Don't tell me about being too involved."

Harry pulled the file out of Draco's reach. "Not for your eyes. You don't have the clearance for those."

"Liar."

"You can watch the interrogation from the observation room next door. Ron and I will do the interrogation; we are trained for such situations." Harry shook his head quite decisively when Draco opened his mouth for a retort. "Don't. The more you argue, Malfoy, the less inclined I am to let you even watch it."

Draco huffed at that, but saw no other option than to agree with it; watching the interrogation from the observation room was better than nothing. "I hope you have some decent coffee around here," he finally said, barely holding back a sneer, but conceding to the argument.

"Thanks." Harry nodded briefly, then picked the file up to leave the room. "I'll have some coffee from the cafeteria brought down for you."

.xx.

About ten minutes later, Draco was installed in the observation room, sipping a surprisingly good cup of coffee from the cafeteria while watching Harry and Ron enter the interrogation room through the one-sided window. Draco noticed that it wasn't the same shop assistant who had served him that evening he had visited the shop; the captured staff member looked older, like he was higher up in the hierarchy of the shop—at least his clothing and well-groomed hair were an indication of someone higher up in the ranks.

"You won't get any information out of me," the staff member said, his arms crossed in defiance, and with the confidence of someone who thought he couldn't be touched; Draco could only weakly smile at that misplaced confidence.

"Thomas Barsky," Harry read out from the sheet in from of him. "Forty-five years old, working at this shop for nine years. Wand: unicorn hair, chestnut, 10 ½ inches, rather unyielding. Is that right?"

"Yes, yes. That much you and your rough dogs got right."

"Have they started yet?" Theo entered the observation room and closed the door quietly behind him, in his hand another cup of coffee. "They're quite good at this, you know?"

Draco only nodded in acknowledgment, his eyes fixed on the people in the interrogation room; Potter was still listing all the personal information from the sheet, to the growing irritation of the suspect.

"Are you done listing my information? I am the one." Barsky was now drumming his fingers on the table as if to release some of his tension.

"You know why we arrested you?" Harry asked matter-of-factly, and pushed his glasses back up his nose.

"What the hell do I know? You raided the shop. I'm just there to sell exclusive treats for your pets and animals–"

"That is just a cover," Ron interrupted. "The shop is used to spy on unsuspecting customers, revealing their status."

"Status? What status? I just sell them treats–"

"We found several cleverly placed Revealing Charms in the shop, all adapted to show whether a customer was a full wizard or hiding a Creature form."

"I don't know anything about those Charms," Barsky replied, still drumming his fingers on the table, but now shaking his left leg as well.

"He knows about them," Draco remarked, sipping some of his coffee. "He's not some simple staff member, is he?"

Theo shook his head. "No, he's more like second-in-command, worked his way up, as far as I could find out. Don't know why he was filling shelves that morning..."

"...maybe they were put in place by a previous owner, what do I know?"

"We know for a fact that those Charms are connected to a series of disappearances and kidnappings," Harry continued; Draco was surprised how calm he still seemed, he would have threatened the staff member already.

"People disappear every day," Barsky said, shrugging. He was now relentlessly drumming on the table, close to the point that it started to annoy Draco while the others in the interrogation room still ignored it.

"You face life in Azkaban for compliance in kidnapping, maybe even murder."

"Life? In Azkaban? For working in a shop?" Barsky laughed, albeit rather nervously. "You can't pin that on me. Oh, no."

"We can," Ron replied in a harsher tone, and then got up from his seat. "And we will. You were in a position to decide what happens with the information about a customer." Ron leaned down next to Barsky in very intimidating proximity. "You decided whether someone would get kidnapped or not."

"Me? No." Barsky tried put some distance between him and Ron, but failed miserably as the redhead pulled him back rather roughly.

"Your son works in the shop as well?" Harry asked, shaking his head briefly as a silent instruction for Ron.

Barsky grew pale and gaped several times. "Anthony? He's innocent. All he does is wiping the floors and feeding the few animals we got. He's not involved in anything..."

"They got him," Draco remarked. "He's telling the truth about his son."

"And they are being nice today. Weasley usually plays the menacing one, Potter's the brain playing all the cards until he has them."

"Potter and brain," Draco said, chuckling.

"Yeah." Theo chuckled as well. "He's about to play the last blow..."

"Please leave my son out of it, he doesn't know anything," Barsky begged, trying to move away from Ron who was towering over him.

"Tell us what we want to know," Ron said with a low growl, leaning in, "and we might consider your son innocent."

"I-I can't. They would kill me." Barsky shook his head violently. "My family..."

Harry placed a small vial on the table. "You know what that is, don't you?" he asked, pushing the vial closer to the suspect.

Barsky grew more nervous, shrinking back from the table. "Veritaserum?"

"Can they do that?" Draco asked in the observation room, taking another sip of his coffee.

"The use of Veritaserum is a legal nightmare," Theo replied with a sigh. "We could use it during an interrogation, but whatever is confessed under its influence cannot be used as legal evidence in a trial. But this one is already about to crack, anyway..."

"We are trying to find one of us," Ron said, placing his hand on the back of the suspect's chair, creating thus a rather intimidating closeness. "So, we might not hold back from using every means possible to find that person again."

Barsky tried to move away from Ron, visibly uneasy about the implied physical threat, and then slumped even further into the chair, letting out a defeated sigh. "You don't know what you're up against," he said. "Absolutely no idea."

Harry straightened his glasses. "Tell us everything you know and we might even consider a deal about your sentence."

"I'm as good as dead anyway," Barsky said bitterly, shaking his head. "Just make sure my son is safe. They don't treat traitors nicely, and their family even less so."

"Who's they?" Ron asked, straightening up.

"They don't use a name, everyone just calls them The Organisation if they are ever mentioned."

Harry wrote down a few notes. "Go on."

"They are everywhere, in every government, economy, sports, take your pick. You won't recognise them, but they are everywhere. I'm just a very small wheel in the whole structure, I only know what I need to know... But whatever, or whoever they take, they won't give it back easily, if at all." Barsky took a deep breath. "Please, promise to keep my family safe, and I tell you how the shop works."

"We'll decide about that depending on what you can tell us about the shop," Harry replied. "Go on."

"Burke's told me something similar yesterday when I tried to ask him whether he knew anything about those disappearances. Never saw him so nervous," Draco said, swaying the rest of his coffee around in the cup, his eyes still fixed on Barsky, who was spilling everything he knew. "He told me to forget about it, that I would put myself in great danger for even asking."

"Yeah, Burke has always been a little shitpants."

Draco nodded. "Yes. But he's more afraid of losing money, apparently. Because he gave in when I told him that I might take my money elsewhere."

"What did he say?" Theo briefly contemplated drinking the remnant of his coffee, but then threw his cup away instead.

"Babbled about an underground organisation that also controls art dealing, said they were everywhere, and that they were very dangerous to even know about. He made a very nice offer on an item that had just arrived in his shop, just to make me leave."

"A dangerous underground organisation... Funny we haven't heard anything about them before."

"Funny indeed," Draco agreed, and threw his cup in the bin as well. "I think it might be wise to keep an eye on your colleagues... Something's not quite as it should be. Or can you explain to me why no one came across the shop before I did?"

Theo narrowed his eyes, an indication that he was mulling about the question, and then shook his head. "Have you told Potter about this?"

Draco shrugged. "Just dig a bit and let me know." He checked his watch, and let out a deep sigh. Astoria wanted him back a long while ago. "I need to head back to the company, with a small detour to the florist."

"Okay, I'll let you know what else Barsky has told us."

"Hey, you're still here..." Late that evening, Daphne knocked at the frame of Draco's open office door, a tired smile on her face. "Is my little sister making you work overtime?"

Draco looked up, and shook his head. "I just don't feel like going home, you know?"

"Yeah, I get that. It's just lonely at home." She leaned against the door. "I'm heading down to the Black Quill for an after-work drink. Care to join me?"

He leaned back, taking a deep breath while stretching his arms. It had been ages since he had been out for a drink; he usually had one at home these days while working through Hermione's files. After another heartbeat, he sighed. "Why not? It's not as if I'll get anywhere here or at home tonight..." He sorted the files in front of him, and got up to join her at the door.

"Astoria shouldn't be so tough on you, I think," Daphne said when they made to leave the company together to walk down the street towards the Cauldron that would let pass through to Diagon Alley. "You're doing the right thing."

"You're the only one," he replied with a brief smile, offering her his arm to hook in.

"Yeah, they aren't the ones who went through a horrible separation. All happy in their marriages and relationships. Moping is left to us."

He chuckled at her over-dramatic huff to emphasize her words. "You're still in contact with Edwin?"

"You know his name is Edward!" She nudged him in the side with her elbow. "And no, I haven't spoken to him in over a year. Last I heard is that he left for the States with some new fling. He didn't even stick to the one he thought better than me."

"At least you made him pay..."

"Yeah, Pans helped with that. She told me what I should do, and even recommended someone. No one walks over me like that. Or you for that matter."

"She didn't exactly walk over me, Daphne," Draco said, trying to contain the disappointment in his voice.

"Ah yes, she walked out on you, now I remember," she countered bitingly. As they had arrived at the Cauldron, they stopped to face the inn; it was, after all, only a short walk through Muggle London from their company to the Cauldron, and one they both like taking for the bit of fresh air it provided, instead of Apparating into Diagon Alley.

Letting go of her arm, he held the door open. "Ladies first."

"Thanks." Daphne stepped in, going straight for the back of the pub without acknowledging anyone she passed; Draco followed straight behind. "Let's see if we can get the private booth at the Black Quill, not everyone needs to hear us mope around," she said and tapped the bricks to open the passage. "To an interesting evening."

Draco nodded, returning the soft smile she had shown before she stepped through the passage. "To an interesting evening." To his own surprise, he was looking forward to it, for once not feeling pressured to keep it together as he would have with Astoria. And thankfully, he didn't have to show up that early at work the next day.

TBC