p class="MsoNormal"Allister Sawyer was a big fan of his life./p
p class="MsoNormal"Being the managing partner and founder of one of the most prestigious law firms in Magical London was all the professional success that he could imagine, and the pay certainly wasn't bad either./p
p class="MsoNormal"He'd grown the firm up from when it was just he and one other attorney sharing a small flat to sleep and work. Now it was a multi-floor corporation with twenty new junior associates every year. His office was opulent, with its rich mahogany desk and Corinthian leather furniture; it was his pride and joy, a testament to how far he had come since those early days./p
p class="MsoNormal"He was working on the roster now, trying to decide the best two or three of the junior associates to replace the retirees who would be leaving at the end of the year. Those he chose would stay on, while the others would be let go. It was a brutal practice, but one that was required to ensure only the brightest people worked for him, and it kept everyone else in the business sharp. His musings were cut off abruptly when there was a sharp rapping on his door./p
p class="MsoNormal""Come in," he answered, not expecting anyone to knock on his door at this moment. His staff were well trained to not bother him when his door was closed, except in case of an emergency./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Um, Mister Sawyer," Melody, the front desk attendant stuttered, unsure how her interruption of his "closed door" time would be appreciated./p
p class="MsoNormal""What is it, Melody?" he asked brusquely./p
p class="MsoNormal""Well, um, Harry Potter is in the lobby. He's looking for a lawyer," she informed him, unsure what to do with that information./p
p class="MsoNormal"Allister Sawyer blinked in confusion. It took him a moment to process those words. By the time his brain finally triggered and turned over, he was speaking, "Please take him to Conference Room A. I'll be out in a minute, please thank him for his patience."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Melody closed the door and Allister took a moment to straighten his robes and tie. He ran his hand through his hair, making sure that it was all correctly in place. His reflection looked back at him in the mirror, sandy blonde hair still full and in place, despite his tan face starting to show the wrinkles of his age. When he was finished fiddling with his appearance, he grabbed a briefcase in order to have something to hold and exited the office./p
p class="MsoNormal"Harry Potter didn't look anything like Allister had expected. He was of below average height and was thinly built. His hair was a tousled mess, his glasses were unfashionable, and the muggle clothes he wore were unremarkable in their styling. They seemed downright shabby even, but then again, Harry Potter could afford to wear faded jeans and a hooded sweatshirt, and nobody would consider to dare to think even slightly the worse of him for it./p
p class="MsoNormal"The famous man was standing patiently, looking at a few of the pictures on the wall with interest. Each of them featured Allister, with one of his senior associates and one of their most famous clients. Allister winced as he realized that the photo that had captured Potter's interest was of himself shaking hands with a smiling Lucious Malfoy. A mental note was made to dispose of any signs that the firm had represented the now disgraced and deceased man./p
p class="MsoNormal"Harry turned when Allister entered the room and offered a polite smile and a firm shake as they introduced themselves./p
p class="MsoNormal""I hear you need an attorney Mr. Potter," Allister said, offering up his most winning smile, "You've come to the right place. I can introduce you to our senior partners today if you would like to select one to be your representation."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Well, I certainly hope so, but I actually know who is going to be my attorney," Harry smiled back, pleasantly but confidently./p
p class="MsoNormal""That's great, I'm glad the reputations of my people have spread so far and wide. Who is it?" Allister beamed expectantly, preparing to have to rearrange some workloads to ensure that the hero of the wizarding world had only his best performers./p
p class="MsoNormal""Daphne Greengrass," Harry offered up his answer, with a smile of a man who knew he had just thrown a curveball./p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm sorry, who?" Allister asked, confused by the name he had been given./p
p class="MsoNormal""Daphne Greengrass, I believe she started with you last month," Potter informed Allister pleasantly./p
p class="MsoNormal"Allister found himself looking over to Melody, who nodded as an affirmation that what he said was correct, "Cyrus Greengrass' daughter, the junior associate you decided to let start in August rather than May," she supplied helpfully. Allister nodded, as if remembering./p
p class="MsoNormal""Well Mr. Potter, our junior associates don't represent clients. They simply don't have the legal background necessary to meet our extremely high standards. But I assure you that any of our senior partners would be happy to work with you," Allister spoke confidently, hoping to move past the matter./p
p class="MsoNormal""I would like Daphne Greengrass to represent me in all legal matters," Harry Potter stated again, this time with a crystalline hardness creeping into his voice. The tightly controlled diction and the unmistakable clarity made Allister deeply uncomfortable. The entire world had heard that tone for several days over the wireless as he testified in the Death Eater trials. It was a tone that many in the wizarding world now associated with death, as that had been the penalty for aiding Voldemort. /p
p class="MsoNormal""I . . . um . . . am not sure we can do that," Allister stuttered, cursing himself for the loss of his typically unshakable composure./p
p class="MsoNormal""You can," Harry stated in the same tone, a slight smile and a twinkle in his eyes gracing his features./p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm concerned that she might not be able to adequately represent you. Her legal knowledge isn't where I would like it to be for someone handling cases, and of course if she were to make a mistake it would damage the reputation of the firm" Allister explained, recovering his tongue./p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm not looking for a brilliant mind, just someone in the legal field who I can trust," he explained./p
p class="MsoNormal""Mr. Potter, all of my attorney's adhere to the strictest ethical standards. I assure you, any of them can be trusted to keep confidential any sensitive information," Allister argued./p
p class="MsoNormal"Potter pivoted smoothly and plucked the picture of Lucius Malfoy off the wall. He looked at it, as if confirming its contents, then he tossed the picture on the table, and it slid to stop in front of Allister who winced as he looked down at the cracked glass. The accusation was heavy./p
p class="MsoNormal""Greengrass. Or I'm leaving. I only need your firm to assist her. Agree, or I'm going to get her, and a recently retired attorney to mentor her, pay them both a huge sum of money, and your firm won't see either my money or my fame. I'm sick of this." Harry finished, and Allister nodded so quickly that it reminded Harry of Pettigrew in front of Voldemort. The thought didn't endear Allister to him anymore./p
p class="MsoNormal""Melody, please get Ms. Greengrass," Allister ordered quickly, his eyes locked on Harry's wand, which had appeared from nowhere in his flash of anger. Melody looked with concern at both men before practically fleeing the room./p
p class="MsoNormal"Potter sat back down, and his wand disappeared. Allister said nothing and instead looked down at the cracked picture in front of him. As a gesture of appeasement, he stood up and dropped it into the rubbish bin before coming back to the table./p
p class="MsoNormal"The prompt arrival of Daphne and Melody saved them the necessity of making awkward small talk. Allister made a mental note to thank the receptionist, the girl must have sprinted the several hundred meters to the bullpen where the junior associates worked./p
p class="MsoNormal""You wanted to see me, sir?" Daphne asked, her typical coolness on display. She was a good looking woman with an alluring figure, platinum hair, and a pair of icy blue eyes that would have been gorgeous if they weren't so hard in their stare. /p
p class="MsoNormal""Yes, I would like to introduce you to your new client, Mr. Harry Potter," Allister introduced, his smile painfully wide in an almost manic grin at having produced what Potter had requested of him./p
p class="MsoNormal"Daphne blinked slowly, not saying anything for several seconds, taking into account the individual meaning of each of Allister's words./p
p class="MsoNormal""Potter," she greeted coolly./p
p class="MsoNormal""Greengrass," he responded, almost as sedately as she did. For the first time he looked even slightly as though he weren't the puppet-master pulling on every string./p
p class="MsoNormal"Allister looked back and forth between the two teenagers, waiting for more of a reaction. His assumption, based on Potter's behavior, had been that there was a close personal relationship. He expected to see dramatic hugs or an outpouring of affection. Watching them now, they seemed almost strangers. Merlin, he had never seen any 18-year-old respond as aloofly to a woman as beautiful as Greengrass./p
p class="MsoNormal""Daphne, would you be able to draft a quick retainer contract for Mr. Potter? I believe Michaels should have a template you could borrow." Allister requested after a moment of awkward silence./p
p class="MsoNormal""Yes sir," Daphne agreed, stepping out of the room for a moment. Melody stood with wide eyes for a moment before deciding that following Daphne was the much safer option./p
p class="MsoNormal""I can see why you would choose her, Mr. Potter," Allister stated with a wiggling of his eyebrows, deep with implication that Harry found revolting./p
p class="MsoNormal""What?" Harry asked lightly, with a tone and a smile that a more familiar man would have known was the equivalent of a cobra flashing open its hood./p
p class="MsoNormal""I mean, a young man like yourself. I can see why you would want a woman as attractive as that on-call. It's nothing to be ashamed of. I'm sure there's a few guys here trying the same thing," Allister explained, his mouth continuing to run even as it became apparent that his words weren't being well received./p
p class="MsoNormal"The temperature plummeted and Allister had a half second of seeing his own visible breath before glass shattered throughout the conference room. The windows along the west wall fractured and the wind whipped through the conference room, wild and untamed. Every picture in the room lost its glass covering, and frames tumbled from the wall. Even the glass decanter and tumblers holding twenty-five-year-old Ogden's finest shattered, letting the dark liquor stain the floor and furniture alike./p
p class="MsoNormal"Harry looked at him with the faintest upturn of the corner of his mouth, "Have you ever felt the cruciatis curse?" He blinked slowly and his green eyes turned bright red as his smile spread wide, wide enough to reveal incisors that seemed to be too long to be natural./p
p class="MsoNormal"Allister felt cold sweat run down his back and he nervously shook his head no, mute with fear./p
p class="MsoNormal""Making sure that nobody in this firm harassssessss her would go a long way towardsss making sure that you never do," Harry advised as though it were a piece of friendly advice rather than a terrifying threat. The hiss in his tone was downright predatory. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"Greengrass returned a moment later, holding a stack of parchment. She did a double take as she saw Allister's suddenly ruffled appearance and . . . something with Potter's eyes./p
p class="MsoNormal""Is everything alright?" she asked curiously, eyeing the glass covered conference room./p
p class="MsoNormal"Allister brushed off her concerns with a jovial laugh that seemed to verge on panic, "Of course, Harry and I were just swapping some old war stories. You know how it goes when a couple of big bucks get in a room together, got to compare horns." He finished the statement with a laugh that seemed to Daphne as though it were slightly unhinged./p
p class="MsoNormal"Daphne nodded, preferring to not investigate the root cause of the dustup. Potter dismissively waved his hand and the glass of the room righted itself in a minute./p
p class="MsoNormal"She handed one copy of the agreement to each of the two men who promptly began to read it. She sat down next to Harry and leaned over his shoulder. He paused a few times to ask about a few items, but for the most part he seemed to have a good understanding of what he was reading. He quirked an eyebrow at her when he reached the portion of the contract about performance incentives for reaching various financial goals, but he nodded in agreement without requesting any edits. Allister made a few requests for changes, but they were more for the sake of clarity and grammar rather than anything objectionable in the contract./p
p class="MsoNormal""Now, all that's left is the signatures," Allister agreed, picking up his briefcase and pulling out the black blood quill that he carried with him. Daphne was just a second slow to stop him, and the man screamed as the quill burned to a cinder./p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm sorry Harry, I was hoping to explain ahead of time, that it's traditional to sign your name with a blood quill on contracts like this one," Daphne said, trying to use her calming voice and putting her body between Harry and Allister. Potter eyed the ashes of the blood quill with a barely constrained fury before letting Daphne prompt him back into his chair./p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm not using a blood quill," Harry declared forcefully./p
p class="MsoNormal""Unfortunately, if it's not signed in blood, it isn't magically binding," Daphne explained, hoping that this wasn't going to be a point of contention. She might not have understood exactly what was happening, but she did know that this insane meeting was going to be absurdly good for her career. /p
p class="MsoNormal""Does it need to be signed in blood, or does it need to be a blood quill?" Harry asked angrily./p
p class="MsoNormal""It doesn't necessarily need to be a blood quill, but I don't know how else . . . oh my god," she cut off mid-sentence and turned away, as Harry drew a knife from his belt and sliced the palm of his hand open. Her stomach turned over as she glanced over to see him press one of his own quills into the bleeding wound of his palm and scribble his name on the paper./p
p class="MsoNormal"Daphne passed the paper over to Allister who was looking at Harry like he was truly a mad man./p
p class="MsoNormal""That was my last blood quill," he complained, more out of shock than irritation. The man turned a ghastly shade of gray when Harry passed the still dripping knife forward, as though he expected Allister to take it and repeat the same gory practice simply because he didn't have a blood quill within reach at that moment./p
p class="MsoNormal"Potter shrugged and cleaned the knife off with his wand before pocketing it when Allister held up his hands in refusal. Daphne blinked as she saw the tiniest of smirks grace Potter's features. It was subtle, barely visible to somebody who knew him, but it was there./p
p class="MsoNormal"Melody ran to grab a blood quill, and she returned holding it a moment later. Potter glared at the implement but decided not to immolate the instrument. Allister quickly scribbled his name on the line and passed the signed forms off to Daphne with a haste as though they could scald him at any second./p
p class="MsoNormal""Are we done?" Potter asked Daphne, seemingly ready to walk out the door./p
p class="MsoNormal""That's all I need you for today, Potter," Daphne confirmed./p
p class="MsoNormal""Thanks Greengrass," he nodded, stepping for the door. He was halfway out when he stopped and turned back, "Allister, you should probably talk to Greengrass about her job title. I've heard from a emvery/em reliable source that junior associates don't handle casework at your firm."/p
p class="MsoNormal"And with that he was gone, only the echo of a chuckle on the wind remained to indicate he had ever been there./p
p class="MsoNormal""Greengrass, in the future, please alert me when Mr. Potter is going to be in the office for a meeting, so I can make the proper arrangements," Allister requested before leaving the conference room and heading for the relative safety of his office. As he left Daphne was pretty sure she heard him finish his thought by muttering, "to be out of the country."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Being the managing partner and founder of one of the most prestigious law firms in Magical London was all the professional success that he could imagine, and the pay certainly wasn't bad either./p
p class="MsoNormal"He'd grown the firm up from when it was just he and one other attorney sharing a small flat to sleep and work. Now it was a multi-floor corporation with twenty new junior associates every year. His office was opulent, with its rich mahogany desk and Corinthian leather furniture; it was his pride and joy, a testament to how far he had come since those early days./p
p class="MsoNormal"He was working on the roster now, trying to decide the best two or three of the junior associates to replace the retirees who would be leaving at the end of the year. Those he chose would stay on, while the others would be let go. It was a brutal practice, but one that was required to ensure only the brightest people worked for him, and it kept everyone else in the business sharp. His musings were cut off abruptly when there was a sharp rapping on his door./p
p class="MsoNormal""Come in," he answered, not expecting anyone to knock on his door at this moment. His staff were well trained to not bother him when his door was closed, except in case of an emergency./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Um, Mister Sawyer," Melody, the front desk attendant stuttered, unsure how her interruption of his "closed door" time would be appreciated./p
p class="MsoNormal""What is it, Melody?" he asked brusquely./p
p class="MsoNormal""Well, um, Harry Potter is in the lobby. He's looking for a lawyer," she informed him, unsure what to do with that information./p
p class="MsoNormal"Allister Sawyer blinked in confusion. It took him a moment to process those words. By the time his brain finally triggered and turned over, he was speaking, "Please take him to Conference Room A. I'll be out in a minute, please thank him for his patience."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Melody closed the door and Allister took a moment to straighten his robes and tie. He ran his hand through his hair, making sure that it was all correctly in place. His reflection looked back at him in the mirror, sandy blonde hair still full and in place, despite his tan face starting to show the wrinkles of his age. When he was finished fiddling with his appearance, he grabbed a briefcase in order to have something to hold and exited the office./p
p class="MsoNormal"Harry Potter didn't look anything like Allister had expected. He was of below average height and was thinly built. His hair was a tousled mess, his glasses were unfashionable, and the muggle clothes he wore were unremarkable in their styling. They seemed downright shabby even, but then again, Harry Potter could afford to wear faded jeans and a hooded sweatshirt, and nobody would consider to dare to think even slightly the worse of him for it./p
p class="MsoNormal"The famous man was standing patiently, looking at a few of the pictures on the wall with interest. Each of them featured Allister, with one of his senior associates and one of their most famous clients. Allister winced as he realized that the photo that had captured Potter's interest was of himself shaking hands with a smiling Lucious Malfoy. A mental note was made to dispose of any signs that the firm had represented the now disgraced and deceased man./p
p class="MsoNormal"Harry turned when Allister entered the room and offered a polite smile and a firm shake as they introduced themselves./p
p class="MsoNormal""I hear you need an attorney Mr. Potter," Allister said, offering up his most winning smile, "You've come to the right place. I can introduce you to our senior partners today if you would like to select one to be your representation."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Well, I certainly hope so, but I actually know who is going to be my attorney," Harry smiled back, pleasantly but confidently./p
p class="MsoNormal""That's great, I'm glad the reputations of my people have spread so far and wide. Who is it?" Allister beamed expectantly, preparing to have to rearrange some workloads to ensure that the hero of the wizarding world had only his best performers./p
p class="MsoNormal""Daphne Greengrass," Harry offered up his answer, with a smile of a man who knew he had just thrown a curveball./p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm sorry, who?" Allister asked, confused by the name he had been given./p
p class="MsoNormal""Daphne Greengrass, I believe she started with you last month," Potter informed Allister pleasantly./p
p class="MsoNormal"Allister found himself looking over to Melody, who nodded as an affirmation that what he said was correct, "Cyrus Greengrass' daughter, the junior associate you decided to let start in August rather than May," she supplied helpfully. Allister nodded, as if remembering./p
p class="MsoNormal""Well Mr. Potter, our junior associates don't represent clients. They simply don't have the legal background necessary to meet our extremely high standards. But I assure you that any of our senior partners would be happy to work with you," Allister spoke confidently, hoping to move past the matter./p
p class="MsoNormal""I would like Daphne Greengrass to represent me in all legal matters," Harry Potter stated again, this time with a crystalline hardness creeping into his voice. The tightly controlled diction and the unmistakable clarity made Allister deeply uncomfortable. The entire world had heard that tone for several days over the wireless as he testified in the Death Eater trials. It was a tone that many in the wizarding world now associated with death, as that had been the penalty for aiding Voldemort. /p
p class="MsoNormal""I . . . um . . . am not sure we can do that," Allister stuttered, cursing himself for the loss of his typically unshakable composure./p
p class="MsoNormal""You can," Harry stated in the same tone, a slight smile and a twinkle in his eyes gracing his features./p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm concerned that she might not be able to adequately represent you. Her legal knowledge isn't where I would like it to be for someone handling cases, and of course if she were to make a mistake it would damage the reputation of the firm" Allister explained, recovering his tongue./p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm not looking for a brilliant mind, just someone in the legal field who I can trust," he explained./p
p class="MsoNormal""Mr. Potter, all of my attorney's adhere to the strictest ethical standards. I assure you, any of them can be trusted to keep confidential any sensitive information," Allister argued./p
p class="MsoNormal"Potter pivoted smoothly and plucked the picture of Lucius Malfoy off the wall. He looked at it, as if confirming its contents, then he tossed the picture on the table, and it slid to stop in front of Allister who winced as he looked down at the cracked glass. The accusation was heavy./p
p class="MsoNormal""Greengrass. Or I'm leaving. I only need your firm to assist her. Agree, or I'm going to get her, and a recently retired attorney to mentor her, pay them both a huge sum of money, and your firm won't see either my money or my fame. I'm sick of this." Harry finished, and Allister nodded so quickly that it reminded Harry of Pettigrew in front of Voldemort. The thought didn't endear Allister to him anymore./p
p class="MsoNormal""Melody, please get Ms. Greengrass," Allister ordered quickly, his eyes locked on Harry's wand, which had appeared from nowhere in his flash of anger. Melody looked with concern at both men before practically fleeing the room./p
p class="MsoNormal"Potter sat back down, and his wand disappeared. Allister said nothing and instead looked down at the cracked picture in front of him. As a gesture of appeasement, he stood up and dropped it into the rubbish bin before coming back to the table./p
p class="MsoNormal"The prompt arrival of Daphne and Melody saved them the necessity of making awkward small talk. Allister made a mental note to thank the receptionist, the girl must have sprinted the several hundred meters to the bullpen where the junior associates worked./p
p class="MsoNormal""You wanted to see me, sir?" Daphne asked, her typical coolness on display. She was a good looking woman with an alluring figure, platinum hair, and a pair of icy blue eyes that would have been gorgeous if they weren't so hard in their stare. /p
p class="MsoNormal""Yes, I would like to introduce you to your new client, Mr. Harry Potter," Allister introduced, his smile painfully wide in an almost manic grin at having produced what Potter had requested of him./p
p class="MsoNormal"Daphne blinked slowly, not saying anything for several seconds, taking into account the individual meaning of each of Allister's words./p
p class="MsoNormal""Potter," she greeted coolly./p
p class="MsoNormal""Greengrass," he responded, almost as sedately as she did. For the first time he looked even slightly as though he weren't the puppet-master pulling on every string./p
p class="MsoNormal"Allister looked back and forth between the two teenagers, waiting for more of a reaction. His assumption, based on Potter's behavior, had been that there was a close personal relationship. He expected to see dramatic hugs or an outpouring of affection. Watching them now, they seemed almost strangers. Merlin, he had never seen any 18-year-old respond as aloofly to a woman as beautiful as Greengrass./p
p class="MsoNormal""Daphne, would you be able to draft a quick retainer contract for Mr. Potter? I believe Michaels should have a template you could borrow." Allister requested after a moment of awkward silence./p
p class="MsoNormal""Yes sir," Daphne agreed, stepping out of the room for a moment. Melody stood with wide eyes for a moment before deciding that following Daphne was the much safer option./p
p class="MsoNormal""I can see why you would choose her, Mr. Potter," Allister stated with a wiggling of his eyebrows, deep with implication that Harry found revolting./p
p class="MsoNormal""What?" Harry asked lightly, with a tone and a smile that a more familiar man would have known was the equivalent of a cobra flashing open its hood./p
p class="MsoNormal""I mean, a young man like yourself. I can see why you would want a woman as attractive as that on-call. It's nothing to be ashamed of. I'm sure there's a few guys here trying the same thing," Allister explained, his mouth continuing to run even as it became apparent that his words weren't being well received./p
p class="MsoNormal"The temperature plummeted and Allister had a half second of seeing his own visible breath before glass shattered throughout the conference room. The windows along the west wall fractured and the wind whipped through the conference room, wild and untamed. Every picture in the room lost its glass covering, and frames tumbled from the wall. Even the glass decanter and tumblers holding twenty-five-year-old Ogden's finest shattered, letting the dark liquor stain the floor and furniture alike./p
p class="MsoNormal"Harry looked at him with the faintest upturn of the corner of his mouth, "Have you ever felt the cruciatis curse?" He blinked slowly and his green eyes turned bright red as his smile spread wide, wide enough to reveal incisors that seemed to be too long to be natural./p
p class="MsoNormal"Allister felt cold sweat run down his back and he nervously shook his head no, mute with fear./p
p class="MsoNormal""Making sure that nobody in this firm harassssessss her would go a long way towardsss making sure that you never do," Harry advised as though it were a piece of friendly advice rather than a terrifying threat. The hiss in his tone was downright predatory. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"Greengrass returned a moment later, holding a stack of parchment. She did a double take as she saw Allister's suddenly ruffled appearance and . . . something with Potter's eyes./p
p class="MsoNormal""Is everything alright?" she asked curiously, eyeing the glass covered conference room./p
p class="MsoNormal"Allister brushed off her concerns with a jovial laugh that seemed to verge on panic, "Of course, Harry and I were just swapping some old war stories. You know how it goes when a couple of big bucks get in a room together, got to compare horns." He finished the statement with a laugh that seemed to Daphne as though it were slightly unhinged./p
p class="MsoNormal"Daphne nodded, preferring to not investigate the root cause of the dustup. Potter dismissively waved his hand and the glass of the room righted itself in a minute./p
p class="MsoNormal"She handed one copy of the agreement to each of the two men who promptly began to read it. She sat down next to Harry and leaned over his shoulder. He paused a few times to ask about a few items, but for the most part he seemed to have a good understanding of what he was reading. He quirked an eyebrow at her when he reached the portion of the contract about performance incentives for reaching various financial goals, but he nodded in agreement without requesting any edits. Allister made a few requests for changes, but they were more for the sake of clarity and grammar rather than anything objectionable in the contract./p
p class="MsoNormal""Now, all that's left is the signatures," Allister agreed, picking up his briefcase and pulling out the black blood quill that he carried with him. Daphne was just a second slow to stop him, and the man screamed as the quill burned to a cinder./p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm sorry Harry, I was hoping to explain ahead of time, that it's traditional to sign your name with a blood quill on contracts like this one," Daphne said, trying to use her calming voice and putting her body between Harry and Allister. Potter eyed the ashes of the blood quill with a barely constrained fury before letting Daphne prompt him back into his chair./p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm not using a blood quill," Harry declared forcefully./p
p class="MsoNormal""Unfortunately, if it's not signed in blood, it isn't magically binding," Daphne explained, hoping that this wasn't going to be a point of contention. She might not have understood exactly what was happening, but she did know that this insane meeting was going to be absurdly good for her career. /p
p class="MsoNormal""Does it need to be signed in blood, or does it need to be a blood quill?" Harry asked angrily./p
p class="MsoNormal""It doesn't necessarily need to be a blood quill, but I don't know how else . . . oh my god," she cut off mid-sentence and turned away, as Harry drew a knife from his belt and sliced the palm of his hand open. Her stomach turned over as she glanced over to see him press one of his own quills into the bleeding wound of his palm and scribble his name on the paper./p
p class="MsoNormal"Daphne passed the paper over to Allister who was looking at Harry like he was truly a mad man./p
p class="MsoNormal""That was my last blood quill," he complained, more out of shock than irritation. The man turned a ghastly shade of gray when Harry passed the still dripping knife forward, as though he expected Allister to take it and repeat the same gory practice simply because he didn't have a blood quill within reach at that moment./p
p class="MsoNormal"Potter shrugged and cleaned the knife off with his wand before pocketing it when Allister held up his hands in refusal. Daphne blinked as she saw the tiniest of smirks grace Potter's features. It was subtle, barely visible to somebody who knew him, but it was there./p
p class="MsoNormal"Melody ran to grab a blood quill, and she returned holding it a moment later. Potter glared at the implement but decided not to immolate the instrument. Allister quickly scribbled his name on the line and passed the signed forms off to Daphne with a haste as though they could scald him at any second./p
p class="MsoNormal""Are we done?" Potter asked Daphne, seemingly ready to walk out the door./p
p class="MsoNormal""That's all I need you for today, Potter," Daphne confirmed./p
p class="MsoNormal""Thanks Greengrass," he nodded, stepping for the door. He was halfway out when he stopped and turned back, "Allister, you should probably talk to Greengrass about her job title. I've heard from a emvery/em reliable source that junior associates don't handle casework at your firm."/p
p class="MsoNormal"And with that he was gone, only the echo of a chuckle on the wind remained to indicate he had ever been there./p
p class="MsoNormal""Greengrass, in the future, please alert me when Mr. Potter is going to be in the office for a meeting, so I can make the proper arrangements," Allister requested before leaving the conference room and heading for the relative safety of his office. As he left Daphne was pretty sure she heard him finish his thought by muttering, "to be out of the country."/p