A/n: Thank you for all the follows, reviews and favorites! You guys are amazing as always!

Love~

Chapter 3

Slight Complication

"It seems five years can really change a person. Are you listening to me, Miss Weasley?"

Rose tried not to sigh as she led Scorpius through the winding corridors of the R&E floor, finally finding what she was looking for. She motioned for him to enter the small soundproof cubicle and then shutting the door behind her, waited for the wards to collapse back into place. She sighed and tugged her hair loose, suddenly feeling like she needed to relieve the pressure building up in her head before it exploded. She finally turned to Scorpius – who had been waiting patiently for Rose to acknowledge him – and poked an accusing finger at his chest.

"Why didn't you inform me of your return?"

"Are you asking as the H.O.D, or as a—"

Rose cut him off before she could find out exactly what else he considered her to be. "As your direct superior, it is your duty to keep me informed of everything you do. Is that something that's completely unfamiliar to you, Mister Malfoy?"

"Oh, so we weren't simply pretending to call each other by our last names in public?"

Rose shot Scorpius a disbelieving look and shook her head. "And you were saying something about people changing."

Scorpius immediately brightened at that and Rose groaned outwardly, rubbing her face with her hands. She had forgotten exactly how much of a knack Scorpius had when it came to pushing her buttons.

"Scorpius please," she said through her hands. When he didn't reply, she dropped her hands and looked up at him. The same wide-eyed smile of innocence, which he seemed to have adopted during his time away, was still in place on his face. The only difference was the complex tangle of emotions that glittered in his now grey eyes. But they only lasted for a moment, as he took a step forward and half bowed like he had before, looking up at her with the same cheeky expression.

"But I did," he said, and it took Rose a second to understand what he meant.

"What, when? I didn't receive any form of communication from you in the five years you were away."

Scorpius's eyes widened and Rose immediately corrected herself. "I didn't receive a letter by owl or a message by floo or any other means from either your or anybody else on your team."

If he was disappointed by the immediate rejection to giving him even the slightest chance to feel like she had mentioned only him specifically, he didn't show it. "Initially, I made sure that letters were sent back every week, but after the owls we were using failed to return, we decided to fire-call in our whereabouts and which projects we intended on commencing on our arrival. When we got no reply for either our owls or our fire-calls, we debated on whether our information was even reaching you."

He paused then, and absentmindedly touched his long ponytail, as he stared at the wall behind Rose, instead of looking at her as he had been doing. "Professor Dowlen and Doctor Burry thought it possible that our messages had been intercepted before they reached their destination, after which we tried to refrain from making contact with the home office as much as possible. We made individual and personal voice recordings instead, for both our research and findings, as well as our location, the weather and the equipment. After following this process for three months, we compiled all the data and found the method satisfactory and much more efficient as compared to written reports, which were both time consuming and susceptible to error, as we could not record information impromptu, like we could with audio recordings.

"We had compiled and documented all our findings, of course, but we were no longer sure on how to communicate them to the home office without the fear of interception. It was then, that the Peru branch office in the Ministry let us use their advanced technology – they have created a contraption that is a cross between what Muggles call a 'computer' and our own fire-calling system – which helped us make successful communication with the home office."

Even as Scorpius had started talking, Rose was feeling a nagging doubt in the back of her mind that only seemed to increase with every word he spoke. When he finally finished, she squatted on the floor, completely exhausted with what she had just discovered. Scorpius knelt beside her, his hands hovering near her without actually touching her, his brows knitted in what seemed like genuine concern.

"Rose? Is something the matter?"

Rose laughed ruefully and ran a hand through her long auburn curls. She may have just made a mistake that might have cost them five years worth of research and funds.

"You said that you documented everything you ever studied or researched in these five years?"

Scorpius blinked and nodded slowly. "Yes, I'm perfectly certain that we've documented everything. Even our food and sleep cycles."

Rose nodded, slowly getting to her feet. She stared at Scorpius for a moment, her mind working hard to come up with an instant solution for a problem that she couldn't allow to become any bigger than it was small. Nodding to herself, she patted his chest like she did with Albus when she was trying to get him to do something without asking unnecessary questions, and said, "Go find Renée and tell her to instruct everyone, mainly the Technical Crew, that all data within the department – as well as the data related to the department elsewhere in the Ministry - must be frozen immediately until further instructions from me. Tell her to use my magical signature so that nobody else can make any changes."

Scorpius looked like he had quite a few questions he wanted to ask her, but she looked him in the eye, her palm still pressed against his chest, and said gently but firmly, "Now."

Scorpius paused for only a moment, before nodding and hurrying out of the cubicle, leaving Rose to take a moment to think things through.

If what Scorpius had just told her was true, - and despite how much she couldn't tolerate him, he had never actually lied to her about things that were important – then there seemed to be only one explanation as to why she had received such minimal information about the expedition.

It was true that she had got regular reports about the funds or the equipment or the findings, but after a time, she had left the team directly involved with the expedition to take care of all the reports and only inform her if there was something substantial that she needed to know about. She was now regretting the decision to reduce what she had then considered unnecessary work, as it came to bite her in the arse.

Wernicks had been in charge of the entire operation from their home office, giving him direct control over everything that came and went through whichever channel, be it owl or floo or complicated machinery. Which meant that he had always been up to date of the happenings of the expedition even after the initial excitement of an international research project had died down and everyone had returned to what work they could do here in London, rather than speculate on the happenings half way around the world.

This either meant that Wernicks had simply cast the duty he had been given onto someone – or multiple someones – and washed his hands clean of it, or he had knowingly withheld the information from reaching Rose. Either could be true with him and she wasn't sure which was worse. Her disinterest in finding out more than the important reports on whether the crew was doing something useful or not, probably fueled his accurate assumption that she didn't care one way or another about the happenings in Peru.

She had been more concerned with talking to different international and national agencies and rich, noble families and trying to convince them to donate funds for the extensive – or as Wernicks had rightfully called it, flamboyant – project and making sure the resources were utilized to their full capacities. Renée's division had been in charge of all the theoretical and research related work, meaning she only knew whatever the wizards who left Britain with had known, and not any new findings they had uncovered in their stay in Peru.

The entire project had been more experimental and archeological in nature, meaning it was almost completely under the expertise and control of the Practical Division; meaning Wernicks could have thrown the data out the window of his office onto the road below, and no one would have been the wiser.

While she was working through all of this, she had made her way to Wernicks'/Scorpius's former/present office, and just as she had feared, it had been completely cleared out. She didn't doubt that Wernicks had wanted to disappear from there as soon as possible, which made her problem more complicated. If he had indeed done away, or even worse, run away, with the information, it was of the utmost importance that he be tracked down and brought to her immediately.

She scribbled a hurried memo, folded it into the form of a paper plane, and mumbled 'Head Auror's Office' to it, as she made her way to the elevators. The memo zoomed away and into the closing doors; it would reach its destination just before she did. She only had to wait three minutes till another elevator that was traveling upwards opened at her floor, and she got on, tapping her foot on the metal bottom while braiding her hair down her side. The tight bun would give her a headache and that was one thing she couldn't afford to have at the moment.

She strode out of the elevator as it pinged open on the level where the Auror Department was located, and made her way toward the Head Auror's office. She knocked once and entered before she was told she could.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," she said breathlessly and the two men who were hunched over a map looked up at her.

"Rose?" Harry half turned as though to block Rose's view of the map and the other Auror hastily folded it shut. She wanted to roll her eyes at that, but stepped in and said in a low voice,

"Uncle Harry, a moment, please?"

Harry regarded her with a slight frown and then seeming to deem it important enough that he could stop whatever he had been doing, nodded at the other Auror. As soon as the man left, Harry raised the piece of parchment in his hand and asked, "Is this about the matter you just wrote me about?"

Rose nodded, trying not to bounce on her heels or fiddle with her hands, lest she seem unprofessional. "Can you find him?"

"Do you really think he could have done something like breach levels of such high security?"

If it were any other time, she probably would have been exasperated by Harry's endearing tone, but just then, all she wanted to know was that she hadn't caused any permanent damage to her department and the people who worked there, therefore in turn, the Ministry.

"It isn't clear yet, as he may have had access to data with a high clearance level," she said as calmly as she could, without asking him to hurry.

"How high?"

"Head of Department."

Harry raised his eyebrows at her. "You gave someone access to your magical signature?"

"No, not mine exactly. I only rearranged it so that he could access the files he needed with his own signature without having to get clearance from me every time."

"Rose, we don't give normal Ministry workers such power for a reason—"

"He was the Secondary Division Head," Rose interrupted impatiently. She should have expected Harry to ask half a dozen questions before he agreed to send a few Aurors to perform such a wide-scale search. But every minute lost was a minute she couldn't get back and that didn't bode well with her.

Harry frowned at her impatience and asked, "Was? As in, he's no more the Head?"

Rose wasn't sure what exactly Harry wanted her to say, so she answered every form of that question. "Scorpius arrived earlier than planned, so Mister Wernicks was asked to step down. It had also been brought to my notice that he had been doing quite a few unscrupulous things behind my back, so I had to let him go."

"And you let him go knowing he had knowledge of said information?"

"Uncle Harry, I had no idea he had been withholding information from me for the past five years! I would really appreciate it if you would put out a BOLO for him so that I can get the rest of my department and the information under control."

Harry eyed her with his typical 'Auror face' and asked, "Are you sure all the information is accounted for?"

Rose's breath caught as she noticed the tone of his voice. He thought she had been incredibly irresponsible to let something like what she had, happen, and he probably also thought she may have been too young for the position of H.O.D after all.

"Renée and Scorpius are on it as we speak."

Harry raised his eyebrows and regarded her with an expression that she thought meant that he was deciding whether she had come to him to clean up her mess, in which case he most definitely would do it only after an excruciatingly long interrogation session that she didn't have the time for, or if she had simply made a small error that had unfolded into a series of unfortunate events. She wanted to scream in frustration and tell him that this was the first time she had committed a mistake on her own accord, but that would seem like she was defending herself out of guilt, like Wernicks had, and she would rather Harry treat her like a suspect than fall down to that man's level.

While she waited for Harry to make his decision, as though hearing her silent prayers, there was a hurried rap on the door and Scorpius poked his head in.

"May I," he panted and Rose noted that he was short of breath and was pink in the face. He must have run all the way there from wherever he had been. When Harry waved him in, Scorpius nodded at him and then turning to Rose, said, "We've rechecked all the important information. None of the data seems to be missing or tampered with. The others are still going through the rest to see if—"

"No need," Harry cut in, folding Rose's memo into a neat square and placing it in between his index and middle fingers. He touched Rose's arm as he walked past her and called out the door, "Tom? Yeah, have you found him yet? That Wernicks fellow who was given the pink slip an hour ago. Yeah? Alright, go take that lunch break, Tom."

He then poked his head back in and held out the square of memo in between two fingers to Rose, his eyes glittering. She eyed him expectantly.

"They caught him before he got into the tube in Muggle London. He's causing a big ruckus, I'm sure. I'll call you once my men are done drilling him."

"I don't think you'll have to drill him or anything, he wouldn't lie—"

Harry chuckled and shook his head, causing Rose to frown at him.

"Rosie, it was just a figure of speech. I'll take good care of him, I promise."

"Wait, you found him already? That means—"

Harry raised his fingers that held the memo, an amused smile on his face. "Of course I sent Aurors after him as soon as I got your memo."

Rose's mouth fell open as the implications of what he'd done became clear. "Then you were yanking my chain this whole time!"

Harry made a face and said, "A girl shouldn't be saying 'yanking my chain', Rosie."

"I'm a woman!"

"Yes, yes," he chortled, ushering her and Scorpius out.

"Oh, and it's good to have you back, Scorpius. Rosie seemed awfully lost without having you to 'yank her chain'," Harry said, grinning. Rose turned red. Scorpius grinned back and did a smart salute.

"It's good to be back, sir. I'll be sure to make-up for all the yanking she's missed. Five years worth of it."

"You do that," Harry replied, laughing as he disappeared back into his office.

Rose immediately backhanded Scorpius in the stomach and glared at him.

"Oof! Alright, alright, I promise I won't do any wanking!"

Rose's eyes widened at that and her face flushed.

"I don't care if you yank or wank! I'm leaving!"

She turned on her heel and stomped toward the elevators, too hot-headed to see the cheeky grins on the face of all the Aurors around who had heard her exclamation, or the way Scorpius's eyes twinkled with promise as he made his way after her.

A/n: I really do not know how I feel about this chapter, so please review and tell me what you think!

Oh, and, Harry's here! yay!

Love~