Okay, I want lots of reviews for this folks, your slacking off on that front. Sorry for the long wait, I've had this written for a while, I just keep forgetting to post it. You know, I noticed that I have a really weird way of writing Ron and Draco having two completely separate conversations at once, and I don't know why. Sigh. Anyway, enjoy this chapter and REVIEW! Dammit!
Chapter 8
Just over a week later found Draco and Ron with a summons to the council, to which they responded with a mixture of reactions. Ron had barely just been pronounced fit for duty, and he didn't think that the three hundred and forty five sit-up's he had done last night counted as his return to fitness. He wasn't used to being quite so immobile as he had been the past week, and would have preferred more time to get himself back in shape. Draco had of course laughed at him, seated on the sofa and drinking his tea, jibing him at every available opportunity. Draco's reaction to the summons was very different, he wavered between curiosity at what the next mission was, annoyance in case it was yet another baby-sitting job, and faint hope that maybe they were going to get the big mission. It was about bloody time.
"Please sit down, Malfoy, Weasley."
They were motioned to seats almost as soon as they entered the room. Ron took his and leaned back, in a confidence he had learnt over his years, after he had grown past the awkwardness of his youth and trying to please everyone else. Draco was slightly more formal, though the crossed arms and almost glare made the whole image amusing, well, to Ron at least.
"We have a new mission for you."
Draco checked himself before he rolled his eyes, why they always had to start off a mission briefing like that he couldn't even begin to fathom--just handing them a folder with all the information, or telling them straight off the bat what was going on he would understand. But telling them why they had been called, even though it was obvious… well, it was idiotic to say the least.
"Your assumptions were correct Malfoy."
Draco looked up at this, gaze focusing on the black-haired man behind the desk, the youngest council member. "They were?" he asked, not really needing to ask which of them it was. He heard Ron shift in the seat beside him.
"Which one?" he asked, Draco had told him his theories, on both the spy and the last team.
"The last team we sent out to search for the controller of the Chirloc has disappeared. They did not report in two days ago at the scheduled time, their last report was made over a week previously, two day before you were attacked."
"So you believe they were captured and tortured into giving up the information?" Draco asked without the hesitation that others tended to display when they thought about, or uttered the word 'torture', it was like a taboo word, it ranked right up there with 'Voldermort'. It was rather irritating being the only ex-deatheater in the entire organisation sometimes, one could just not have a decent conversation about torture and death, especially not when the only person one actually conversed with happened to be an ex-order member.
Ron winched a little at the idea of anyone being tortured to give up information, it had always been a sore point for him. He saw the council member nod.
"So you want us to take the mission?" Draco asked.
Ron left the talking to Draco, he normally did. It seemed the easier option, Draco sometimes got annoyed when he started asking questions about the mission from the council, because apparently none of his questions were ever relevant. So Ron let Draco question, listening intently, and readying himself for the mission.
"Yes, we do. We need you to locate the Chirloc headquarters, wherever they may be, find who is controlling them and how. And stop them."
"Do we have the last teams information?" Draco asked.
The man tapped the file on the table in front of him. "All here."
"And the other team?"
"We must assume they are dead. However, if you do find them alive they are to be taken back here immediately. But priority must go to the mission. Find who is controlling the Chirloc and stop them. We need an even playing field if we hope to stop the Chirloc once and for all."
Draco nodded thoughtfully, eyes distant for a moment, before they sharpened and he got to his feet, striding over and taking the file. Ron got up as well and followed him. "we accept." was all Draco said, his eyes darted round the four council members and he nodded to each before he turned and left. Ron offered a more general nod and a smile before following.
Draco already had the file open as he walked, eyes narrowed as he read. Ron strode up behind him and took the file from him with a smile. "Don't pretend like you can actually read the thing." he looked at it himself.
Draco raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm hardly illiterate Ronald." he said with sarcasm lacing his tone.
"No, but you can't see what's on the page without your glasses." Ron smirked, scanning over the notes, not really taking much in as he needed to concentrate on where he was going, the last thing he needed was Draco ribbing him because he had walked into something, not when he had every intention of doing the teasing himself.
Draco rolled his eyes. "I only need them for the old books from the library, and you know it. Now give me the file." he held out his hand expectantly.
Ron hid his grin. "Come on now Draco, I saw you squinting at the instructions on the back of your box of tea."
"There are a number of things wrong with that statement Ronald, the first being that I don't have a box of tea, it gets thrown out and the tea bags are in the tea jar, the second is the mere idea that I would have to look at the instructions to brew tea at all. The third being that I don't squint." he eyed Ron, his voice a bored drawl. "Now give me the file."
Ron snapped the file closed and tucked it under his arm, grinning at Draco. "If that's what you want to believe Draco, that's fine. If you hadn't broken my camera I could have given you hard evidence."
Draco's eyes narrowed. He remembered that blasted camera, and the blasted pictures. But he chose not to say anything, it was what Weasley wanted, what he expected, some kind of retort. Well, never let it be said that Draco Malfoy was predicable.
X
"They seemed to have some kind of serious lead," Draco said later, after he had poured over the file, seated on the sofa, Ron sprawled out beside him. "Were going to meet with a contact."
"Contact was a trap?" Ron suggested.
"Maybe." Draco said, but he didn't look convinced.
"Ok, so Contact wasn't a trap, they were followed."
"Maybe." Draco repeated, frowning at the document in his hands. "They were scheduled to meet this Contact two days after they made their report. Chances are they never met whoever it was, unless they succumbed to torture almost immediately. The scale of planning it took to get those Chirloc in position, and they were probably at every known route we could have taken, it would take at least a day, maybe more."
"Any info on the Contact?" Ron asked, shying away from talking about what might have happened to the other team, the ease Draco had with that sort of thing gave him the shivers sometimes.
Draco shook his head. "None, just that they were to meet them, get some information. They got the location from another contact they mention earlier, so it's safe to bet they didn't know anything."
"So the Chirloc found out about the search and struck first." Ron said, mulling it over.
"The last contact could have been a set-up completely, the last one they saw--Melbon--could have set it up as trap…" Draco trailed off, thinking.
Ron watched him. "Any preference on how we start then?" he asked after a moment, itching to get out there.
"We take the last known location and play it by ear. You should enjoy that." Draco said, smirking.
Ron rolled his eyes. "Why do I have the feeling you're making fun of me again."
"It's entirely your own fault for being too easy." Draco drawled, a hint of a feral smile on his face.
Ron gave him a frowning look, he knew exactly what was going through Draco's head. "Malfoy, we have a case, remember, finding the Chirloc's secret hideout. Effective immediately, like missions usually are." he pointed out dryly.
"We're not leaving until I check a few things out anyway." Draco said, leaning forward, hand sliding up and along Ron's chest to his shoulder, where his fingers tightened.
Ron hid his half smile and asked. "Ah, and those things would be what exactly? Given that this is a high priority case?"
Draco shrugged slender shoulders, balancing himself with his hand on Ron's shoulder while his other hand snaked down to rest at the top of Ron's jeans, his eyes never leaving Ron's. "the location for one, needs to be scoped for any adverse magical fields." he said.
"Ah yes." Ron said sardonically. "Because the other team wouldn't have done that and put it in their report." but his hands were moving, of their own accord entirely, to rest on Draco's thighs, kneading them with his thumbs as Draco's hand made quick work of the button on his jeans, and the zip.
"You know as well as I do that magical fields can occur instantaneously. Or would you prefer to arrive and suddenly find you can't do magic?"
"ok, you've got me there. But that could be done now, so why don't we go already?" Ron asked with a smirk.
"Because I also have to do a quick run through in the library." Draco told him, sliding the jeans down, glad when Ron raised his hips enough for him to pull them down, his hand going back up for the boxers.
Ron shifted slightly, and his hands moved, refusing to let Draco have all the fun. "Oh?" he asked. "And what do you need the library for?"
Draco's lips twitched lightly, curving slightly upwards. "There's a book down there on old meeting places of the Chirloc. I need to check if any are close to where we're going."
Ron shoved Draco's trousers down with one hand and pushed his shirt up with the other. "Thought you'd already read all the books, and memorised them?"
"I did." Draco replied, trailing his fingers along the tops of Ron's legs, teasing. "Do try to be careful of my shirt Ronald, I'm beginning to think you have an obsession with ruining them."
"If you memorised them then why do you need to check them again, you should know if the location is anywhere near one." Ron got annoyed when the shirt didn't stay where it was put and started to undo the buttons, popping one or two off, just to annoy Draco. "I do have an obsession with ruining them."
Draco stilled suddenly, fingers just inches away from where Ron would have liked them to be. "Why on earth would you want to ruin my shirts?" he asked it with a kind of abject wonder, as if he just couldn't fathom the answer. "And I need to check to make sure. You know, planning ahead, perhaps keeping one step ahead and alive. Not that you would know anything about that, you rush headlong into everything."
Much to Ron's relief Draco's fingers started to move again, and he arched slightly. "I like ruining your shirts, you get all angry when I do." he grinned, hands gripping Draco's sides. "I'm not reckless Draco. I do plan ahead. Just admit you're a perfectionist, you need to double check things a thousand times before your happy." his grin turned sly. "You know, that kind of makes you like Hermione."
Draco froze at the obvious (in his opinion) insult, eyes narrowing at Ron, glaring. Ron took his chance, throwing Draco off balance and sending them both crashing to the ground in between the sofa and the coffee table. And Ron was on top, exactly where he wanted to be.
"You call that planning ahead?" Draco asked, head cocking to the side. "And one more mention of Granger--or Potter, for that matter and--"
"And what Draco?" Ron said. "What are you gonna do? You can't turn the tables on this one."
Draco smirked. "Wanna bet?" he asked evilly, he grabbed a fistful of Ron's hair and dragged him downwards, legs wrapping round Ron's middle, jerking him down until they were just a tangle of limbs on the floor.