Chap 2. Work, Weasleys and Whiskey
A/N-Hey everyone! Thanks for the reviews I just love how they were all positive about my first chapter so I hope that I can continue to impress. Now I really didn't say anything about this story on the first chapter and I probably should have( silly me and my first FanFic Noobisim.) First of all I understand that there are many people who is condemn a FanFic if it sports a god like super Harry. Well this isn't one of those, the Harry in this one is skilled, for reasons you will soon find out about, and he is just as powerful in not a little more so that Dumbledore and Voldemort were. Also this isnt going to be a " OMG, im so sorry for leaving please throw me on the ground and ravish me) in the first three chapters fic either. While it will happen later and it might be graphic, Harry and Hermione are grow ass people now. They do have a falling out like the one that they just had and the decided to be friends the next day. It just dont work that way in the real world, sorry. As way im taking away from the story so go ahead my children and READ!
Two of the master leveled dummies were thrown back against the wall on the far side of the practice arena! There were two throwing knives and a tomahawk sticking out of each of their chests along with a shuriken in the middle of their foreheads. A third and fourth one were ducking and dodging while shooting nasty looking spells at their ever moving enemy. Harry easily weaved in and out of the spells like they were coming from first years while sending back enough to match both of them. Jumping out of the way of a particularly nasty chopping hex he slashed his wand downwards and the ground started to split apart swallowing one of the dummies before closing itself back up.
Now that there was only one of them left Harry decided that he was going to try something that he hadn't done in a while. Slowing down until he was exactly opposite of the dummy he stopped shooting off spells of his own and just started deflecting everything that it sent his way. Now these weren't the normal training dummies that you could just go out a bye for a pretty knut or two, no these were specially made by the Department of Mysteries to be able to shoot over one hundred and eighty spells per minute if they were not being fired upon and to top it all off they each had over two hundred spells that they could use at any given time. Now that it was no longer on the defensive it was able to throw curses at its fullest potential, which made deflecting them damn near impossible. But then again, he was the king of doing the impossible after he was told that he wouldn't be able to it. His favorite so far was when he went in alone to collect the fifty ancient vampire that had made a home in Transylvania about a year after he had joined the Unspeakables.
It was a mere two day's later that he came back with a new necklace made of one hundred individual fangs. Of course he was questioned about why he wasn't able to bring back any of the vampires but his only reply was that they wouldn't come without lethal force. He quickly rose the ranks in the DoM until Saul Croaker was the only Unspeakable that was a higher rank than him. Unlike the other Unspeakables Harry never had a partner unless Croaker didn't gave him a choice and when a situation like that happened Croaker was the said partner.
Deciding to end it, Harry deflected a severing curse straight up into the air. Forcing his magic into his legs he jump higher than what should have been possible for any human. His augmented movements were faster than the dummy could keep up with and it didn't have time to move as Harry caught up with the severing curse and deflected it again but this time right towards it. The spell hit it and cleaved the dummy clean in half. Taking off his mask, he wiped what little sweat was on his face before turning to the now decent sized group of Unspeakables who had come to watch him. He was forced to suppress a grin when he saw Croaker going around collecting money from people who had bet against him. It reminded him of back when he was at school and the twins used to run bets all of the time.
Now that he thought about it it had been a while since he had seen the twins or any other Weasley except for Ron in a while. The only reason that he had even seen Ron in the last fortnight was because the auror department had to call in the help of the Unspeakables when the last of Greybacks pack attacked a small muggle town. After that was wrapped up they went for drinks at a pub in central London and caught up at on what had been going on in their lives. Ron was now working right under the new head of the DMLE so girl by the name of Amy Vinesworth. Harry had never talked to the woman even though he had seen her throughout the ministry. The best part of being second in the department was that he didn't have to deal with all of the people the Croaker did. He remembered laughing when Ron told him that he looked way to skinny for his own good and that he should come to one of the Weasley's infamous weekly dinners so his mother could fatten him up.
Harry had politely declined, ever since he and Ginny had their fall our Harry didn't show up at the Burrow unless it was a birthday, holiday or special occasion. Every time he came back though he was embraced with warm welcomes but Ginny would still shoot him a look of longing and sadness every now and again when she thought that he wasn't looking. She was dating Dean again and was getting a little better about doing it every time that he came over but until she was able to break the habit completely he wouldn't be showing up for any of the weekly meals. He did promise to stop in after work sometime in the near future. That had been two weeks ago and he had yet to go over there. Sighing he made his way to his office and swapped his battle robes for causal black ones.
" Harry any plans for tonight?" Croaker asked him as he made his way towards the elevator.
Harry turned around to face the shorter man before answering. " Yeah, I kinda promised the Weasleys that I would stop by tonight for just a little while. After that i'll probably go pub jumping until I get drunk enough to take someone home. Why did you need something?"
" Nothing to important. There is a new Hit-Wizard from America that might be switching departments and needs shown around the depths of the ministry, and since you seem to only be busy busting my practice dummies I figured that you would be the man for the job." Croaker laughed at the sarcastic look of excitement that Harry was giving him.
" Croaker in the four years that ive been working in the DoM what has made you think that I would be the caretaker for any of the lackeys that decide to come down here. Hell Hit-Wizard is just a fancy word for ' I get to strut about everywhere that I want to and bug people about how good of a duelist I am.' How the hell did it even get to the point that they were given clearance down here?" If there was one thing that Harry hated more than having to talk to the other ignorant ministry workers, it was having to show the new people how to get around effectively. They were always so giddy and talkative that half of them didn't make it through half of the tour without having to find someone else to show them. Not being a people person, there was only so many questions, Oooo's and Ahhh's that he could take before going off on a rampage. It had been over a year since the last time that he had given a tour. " If anything they should be inducted before they are allowed to step onto this level in the first place."
" Well I know that you have a different woman in your bed every night or so. I remember the one time your brought back three different girls, and at different points in the night too! This one is a pretty little number so I was just looking out for you." He grinned. " Plus she's transferring over from America. You know how much the yank girls love a British accent.
Harry just stared at him. " Just have Clancy, or Tyler do it! I have to get going."
" Oh no, even if she has to wait until tomorrow you will be showing them around. Clancy is in the middle of remaking the time turners and Tyler is working on a spell that gets through wards without setting them off." He stated in his 'Im still in charge around here so you do as I say voice.'
" Please that voice might work with the newer people but we both know that the reason I just don't take your place is because I dont feel like dealing with the Minister or his underlings. If its that important to you I will do it, but in return i want a fourth of tonights winnings." He said holding out his hand.
Both he a Croaker knew that he didn't need the money by any means. Hell he could probably buy the Ministry itself with his bank account with everything that was left to him by his parents, Sirius, and the Slytherin vault. Since he was the one who killed the last heir to the line after some dealing with the goblins he was able to convince them to let him claim the vault. No this was more about not just giving into his demands and wanting something in return. " I'll be here around. . . whenever the hangover potion kicks in. If they aren't ready then, well thats their problem not mine." Harry said as Croaker handed over 73 galleons. This would definitely pay for whatever drinks that he wanted tonight. While to most people 73 galleons was a very large sum of money, Unspeakables had just about as big a salary that you could possibly get in the Ministry. The lower ranked Unspeakables were paid just a few thousand less that the the Heads of the other departments, while others like Croaker and Harry were on par with that of the Minister.
Giving his superior one last look Harry took the elevator up to the lobby. Donning his hood so that no one would be able to notice him he quickly made his way to the nearest floo network. Secrecy was about the most important thing that was kept in the DoM. Only other Unspeakables were able to know who you were and even then some of the higher ups kept their real names a secret from them as well. It wouldn't be very secretive if someone was able to walk up to and Unspeakable in the street and after and imperious or a slipped truth serum was able to find out everything that they were doing down there. Harry didn't care who in the department knew and really wouldn't care if anyone on the outside knew what he was to be perfectly honest. There were very few people in Wizarding Britain with both the power and skill to keep up with him on a bad day and the closest person would probably be the man that had he had just finished talking to but then again, Harry wouldn't want to go up again his old transfiguration teacher either. She might be old but anyone who could hold back Voldemort for any decent amount of time was an excellent duelist in his his opinion. That reminded him that he had promised her to come by and check in every now and again. He almost felt ashamed when he realized that it had been over five months since his last visit.
He quickly walked out of the building and once he was passed the anti-apparation wards he disappeared without a sound. A few second later he was in his flat. Landing in a roll he came up with both of his wand drawn, each tip glowing with the energy of a spell ready to be cast. Seeing that no one or thing was here besides him he holstered both of them before banishing his robe into the dirty laundry bin. With a wave of his hand a towel and set of clothes flew towards him and he walked into the bathroom for a quick shower. Most wizards didn't both with shower's after they learned the Scourgify spell, but Harry always felt much better after a nice hot shower. Fifteen minutes later he was in the floo heading for the Burrow.
As soon as his feet hit the ground he was in a bone crushing hug. " HARRY YOU DARLING LITTLE LAD! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" Mrs. Weasley squealed before letting him out of the vice grip.
" Sorry its been so long. Ive been busy at work lately." He told her which really wasn't a lie. He had just finished a case where the biggest stash of dark and illegal items for the last century was found. A few of the Death Eaters that had gotten away after Voldemort's downfall were pooling their assets at one place. Since he had been keep up on all of the ones that the Ministry didn't put away in Azkaban it wasn't to hard to find out what they were doing.
" You are always working so hard now a days. I never knew that overseas shipping was such a big thing." She told him. That was his cover job, the owner of a worldwide shipping service that could and would ship anything that you could think of. It would explain the amount of money that he had, and any weird gadgets that he might accidentally let people see him with.
" Yeah it is. We've expanded this last month and that's always a hassle at first." He told her as Ginny and the twins walked into the door.
" HARRY!" all three of them yelled in unison before enveloping him in a Weasley sandwich.
Taking a step back he looked at the twins which a cheeking grin. " Whats got you so happy Harry?" George started.
" One would think that you know something we dont." Fred finished and a second later the paint bombs that they tried to stow away in Harry's pockets during the hug went off in each of their pants. Fred was covered head to toe in green paint while George was wearing a nice shade of pink
Harry did bow to both of them and then Ginny who was almost on the floor dying with laughter. They both looked at each other with a shock at the fact that their prank had been switched back on them so easily. Throwing themselves on their knees, they started to praise him.
" Please oh pranking god!"
" Teach us your ways!"
" Please, such pranksters like us are unworthy to stand in your presence." The last sentence they finished together making it even funnier.
" I guess that I can teach you a few thing over a drink of two. Me and Ron are heading to a pub out in London tonight and you three are more than welcome to join us. He is supposed to be bring Lavender so I could use some company." he asked.
Fred and George looked at one another with a pondering look on their faces but Ginny was the first people to break the silence. " Sorry Harry but I im working a double tonight, maybe next time alright?" She said giving a longing look and a quick peck on the cheek.
" What about you two?" He questioned.
" Well it has been a while since we last got out."
" Plus with you around we are sure to pick up the ladies."
" And we do enjoy the ladies."
" So yes we'll go with you!"
Harry just rolled his eyes, " Well you better get cleaned up because im not taking either of you anywhere looking like that."
With matching looks of horror of going out looking as they did, the both raced up the stairs towards their room. Walking over to the stove Harry conjured a fork and pick off a juicy looking lamb chop. It was honestly the best thing that he had eaten since he didn't know when. He was an amazing cook himself after all those years with the Dursley's but there was something that just made Mrs. Weasley's food taste better. He knew that the Hogwarts house elves would probably accept a salary if they could get a hold of some of her cookbooks. The twins came bustling down the stair right as he swallowed the last of it. " You guys ready to go?"
" As ready as we'll ever be." the both his head he grabbed each of them by the wrist and they all three vanished.
When they reappeared they were in the middle of a large club with loud music playing a people dancing everywhere. Strobe lights flashed randomly along with the music making it look like something out of a movie. Yelling at the twins to follow him, he walked them over to the bar were Ron, Lavender were at. What surprised him was that sitting there talking to the couple were Neville and Luna.
" Hey, looks like the gangs all here!" Ron shouted in delight when he saw Harry and the twins approaching. " Finally we can party!"
All of them ordered drinks and toasted to that. As the night progressed they all talked about how they had been doing in between more drinks, dancing, and a few disappearances from one person or another from the group. Lavender drug Ron off about an hour after everyone had got there and it was a good thirty minutes before either was seen again. Harry noticed the grin on Ron's face and mangy look his hair was now in. After that the twins ironically found another set of twins and they took it to the dance floor. The group joked about their antics as the kept switching partners back and forth until none of them knew who they were dancing with.
By the time that the bar was closing the group was as smashed as they could be. Harry had finished off an entire bottle of Blishen's Firewhisky and was holding on to half a bottle of Goblin Ale which no one but him would even take a swig of. Despite the ridiculous amount that he had drank he was the only one who wasn't stumbling around like an idiot.
" Hey Harry, wanna meet up after work tomorrow?" Ron asked him as he threw his arm around Harry's shoulder for support.
Harry looked at his friend before apparating a foot to the side so his arm was no longer around him. " Sorry Ron, were getting a new intern tomorrow and I have to show her the ropes. I have no idea what time ill be finished but it will probably be late. Maybe some other time."
Giving a slurred answer that Harry nor any of the others could understand Ron popped away with Lavender at his side. Harry turned and quickly gave Luna a hug and Neville a quick handshake before they too disappeared. Turning around and seeing that Fred and George were occupied with the other set of twins, Harry gave them a thumbs up and apparated away. He appeared in his flat again with both wands drawn and again there was no one else but him. For a second he wondered why it was that he had gotten into that silly habit but the answer came as quick as the question. Because a good man once told him to keep constant vigilance and that advice had saved his life more than once, if it was good enough of Mad-eye they it was good enough for him. Looking down at the bottle in his hand he took another big swig of it and banished it to his personal bar along with other half drunk bottles of various types of alcohol both muggle and wizarding alike. If someone didn't know better they would think that he was trying to start his own pub with the amount of booze that he had stacked along the shelves. Giving a huff he plopped down on recliner, not having the energy to make it to his bed. With a snap of his fingers, his robes changes into night clothes and he was sleeping before the blanket that he summoned fell on top of him.