Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations all characters find themselves in. Thanks so much for reading, hope you enjoy this latest chapter.
I Know You
Albus could feel himself going all mushy over the other man's statement, even knowing that the Slytherin was just teasing him. "I'll be your only partner because no one else would be able to put up with you the way I do long term." The Gryffindor shot back, unaware of the soft, dangerously close to loving look that had come into his emerald green eyes.
"So you're saying we're tailor made for each other?" Scorpius asked as he continued to stroke the man's hair, hungrily absorbing the warmth of the Gryffindor's eyes.
Lips curving Albus had to work hard not to protest when the blonde's hand stilled, no longer stroking as his partner cupped the back of his head. "More like I've been stuck with you long enough to have built up an immunity to your less than appealing Slytherin traits."
He couldn't shoot back that no one would want Albus for a partner, he was well aware of the fact that most anyone in their department would leap at the chance. Not only was his partner the son of the boss, but the Gryffindor was weird enough to actually like doing the boring stuff about their job like paperwork. No to mention the fact that Albus was one of those people who got along with most everyone, a genuinely nice guy through and through, Scorpius mused as he watched the Gryffindor watch him.
"Immunity to all my bad traits, huh?" A gleam came into the Slytherin's eyes. "You sure about that?"
Immediately wariness came into the Gryffindor's eyes. "Maybe tolerance would have been a better choice of word."
"Hmmm. I'd say we more than tolerate each other, Potter. You are sitting on my lap after all."
"A lap you pulled me into." Albus countered, the wariness fading as he realized the Slytherin was just in a teasing mood. "A lap I'm getting off of right now since we have a job to do. Or did your hair color make you forget?"
Scorpius gave his partner a 'very funny' look as he allowed the other man to slide off his lap. He hated dumb blonde jokes almost as much as the Gryffindor's idiot cousin Louis did.
"Just for that you're buying lunch today."
"It's your turn to buy lunch." Albus countered as he held out a hand to help the Slytherin to his feet.
Taking the hand Scorpius let his partner draw him to his feet, not turning the other man's hand loose as they stood there facing each other.
After a moment of knowing silence Scorpius let the hand go and started an argument as to which one of them would be paying for their lunch after they were done searching their latest victim's home.
)
Their search of the politician's house didn't turn up anything that would indicate he was dirty, though what they did find out from various sources had them both agreeing that their victim had been vain, arrogant, and prone to making others do his work for him. Their dead politician had also gotten to his political position through charm and family connections, and hadn't had enough juice to really affect changes in the government, good or bad. Which was discouraging, but Albus was starting to get the feeling that his partner really was right and that something was fishy about the two deaths.
As the workweek drew to a close Albus and Scorpius were no closer to answers, and Albus was not looking forward to the next day, which included another date with Santana. The Spaniard would also be gone soon, which was both good and bad news. Good because then he wouldn't have to fend off the assehole's advances, but bad because he didn't yet know what the other man's ulterior motive for coming onto him was.
It was a half an hour before end of shift and the two partners finished up things while Rorake lounged in one of their two visitors' chairs. He and Scorpius were heading to a nearby bar after work that occasionally had all you could eat wings nights. Rorake loved their wings and had been asked to stop eating more than once.
Albus was still debating accepting their invitation to join them when Louis and Hugo came into the room.
"I found him wandering the hallways." Louis announced as he closed the door behind them. "I'm here to yell at the damn, in denial Slytherin." He added, to explain his unexpected appearance. "And Hugo said you're expecting him."
Hugo all but vibrated with pent up emotion as he took his cue. "I did it, Al! I figured out why he didn't want you to see the tattoo!"
"You the man, Cous." Albus crowed, forgetting that Scorpius was in the room as he pointed his finger at Hugo. "So what's the secret behind it?"
"Well," Hugo began, walking over to set down a large book on his cousin's desk, though he didn't open it to the spot he'd marked. "I started by researching the family coat of arms for the old wizarding families of Spain, and eventually I found Santana's. According to the book the tattoo you saw was indeed his coat of arms, so I considered that you were wrong for a few minutes before saying screw that."
"Potter." Scorpius's tone of voice said it all. And every man in the room, even Rorake, got a chill from it.
Wincing, Albus could all but feel knives piercing him all over from the force of his partner's dark aura. "I'll explain in a second."
"You'll explain now or else." Was the Slytherin's cold response. "You suspect Santana of something…something you haven't discussed with me. Partner." Scorpius all but snarled the last part.
Running a hand through his hair Albus wished they didn't have an audience, but knew it was pointless to try to send the rest away by that point. That and he deserved this in a way for forgetting that Scorpius was in the room when Hugo had come bursting in with his news. So he was just going to have to suck it up.
"You didn't like him, and I got a vibe off him too. He seemed to be upset when I got a look at his tattoo so I asked Hugo to look into it for me. No proof, Scorpius, other than our guts."
"You got a vibe out of him and you've been going out of him?"
Seeing where this was going Louis put a commanding hand on Hugo's shoulder. "Hugo, you were saying something about discovering the truth behind the tattoo. Why don't you tell us what you found so that you can flee for your life as soon as you're done explaining things. There's going to be a lot of yelling and arguing afterwards that you aren't going to want to be caught up in. I've got a beef with the other Slytherin too."
"Oh." Hunching his shoulders in response to all the negative energy in the room Hugo swallowed hard before following Louis's advice. "Okay…so uhm…as it turns out the coat of arms for the Santana family isn't their original one. It was changed at the beginning of the eighteenth century. The coat of arms was changed at that time because the...organization the family had belonged to at the time had just been disbanded. To show their continued loyalty the Satanas switched to the insignia of said group." Here Hugo opened the book to the correct page, turning it for Albus to see, Scorpius walking over to stand behind his partner to get a look. "The group was a part of the Spanish government originally, a sector of what would eventually become their Aurors. Their focus was investigating accusations of corruption and double dealing among the social and political elites. They kept the rich and powerful in check so to speak. But during the two years before the department was disbanded the head of the Ministry and most of his cabinets were seriously corrupt. The sorta Aurors couldn't do their job legally with the Ministry the way it was, so…some of them started cleaning things up vigilante style. It wasn't long before the bad guys figured out who was killing off their members and they retaliated in turn, not just going after the men responsible but their families as well. That didn't go over well, but I'll spare you the not important details and say that blood was shed back and forth until enough of the good guys in the Ministry could throw the bad ones out. They didn't like the way the vigilantes had handled themselves so their department was disbanded and the members forbidden from working in law enforcement ever again."
Scorpius made the connection immediately. "The dead politicians we have on our hands."
"McEntyre died before Santana officially came to England, but we only have his word for when he got here." Albus added, also seeing why Hugo was so pumped. "What are the odds it's just a coincidence?"
"That's what I thought." Hugo grinned at them, pleased that they were on the same wave length. "I know your first victim was bad news, and his death didn't look like a homicide at all. According to what I've read so far the standard operating procedure for these guys, at least in the beginning, was to make the deaths look natural so that no one would suspect them." And now the young Ravenclaw's brows furrowed. "But what I don't get is why he went after Rufus Dirk. The man was sleazy, yeah, but not corrupt. At least not as far Mum knows, so maybe I'm wrong."
"Aunt Hermione isn't easily fooled." Louis agreed, crossing his arms as he considered the puzzle before them. "Of course we're supposing the guy isn't wearing the tattoo just because it's his family's coat of arms."
Albus looked over at his cousin. "He had it over his heart, and he definitely didn't want me looking at it."
"And just how would you have seen a tattoo situated over his heart?" Scorpius demanded to know.
"I found a way to get into his hotel room while he was in the shower and he came out in a towel. How many times do I have to tell you that I wasn't letting him get past first base before you'll bloody well believe me?"
"Well excuse me for questioning your honesty. What possible reason would I have to assume you're a lying son of a bitch?"
Rorake got to his feet and spoke for the first time since Albus's cousins had come into the room.
"Scorpius, chill. Albus was an ass, he knows he was an ass, but people are apparently dying so zip it for a moment. Ravenclaw Weasley, you have anything important to add?" When Hugo shook his head the Slytherin nodded. "All right. Then put together a report for these guys about your findings so that they have something to show to their boss tomorrow. Gryffindor Weasley, we're heading out with Ravenclaw Weasley so that these two can hash things out and then get back to work. I'll buy you both wings."
And in short order Rorake had the two Weasleys out the door, though he had to point out to the blonde one that he could consider this the date he wanted so badly since Louis hadn't been keen to leave Albus alone to face Scorpius's wrath.
Finally, though, Albus and Scorpius were once again alone in their office.
)
The two partners stared at each other, Albus's face faintly pleading while Scorpius's was a hard mask that indicated he had no intention of letting the Gryffindor off the hook any time soon. That point was driven home moments later when Scorpius abruptly broke off eye contact and walked through the space between their desks to head for their coat rack to retrieve his coat so that he could get the hell out of there before he said or did something he'd really regret.
He was so angry and hurt…
Moving quickly Albus followed after his partner, reaching out to grab the Slytherin's free hand as the other man retrieved his coat from the hook.
"Let go of me, Potter."
Instinctively Albus did as he was asked, and then acting on instinct again the Gryffindor reached out again, this time to wrap his arms around the man's waist to draw Scorpius back up against his chest. "Just listen, okay? Just let me explain one thing and then you can march out of here and go back to ignoring me. Please?"
As unmoving as a statue Scorpius forced himself to remain in check, the set of his jaw indicating how hard he was working not to let the other man have it.
Smart enough to know he had maybe a minute if he was lucky Albus spoke as quickly and concisely as possible. "You're my partner, there's no one I trust more to cover my back. I didn't tell you about my suspicions because they were just that, and because I knew that you'd forbid me to keep seeing Santana. And if you did let me keep feeling him out you'd have insisted on shadowing me, protecting me, and he's an Auror, he might have noticed. Or someone might have told him, since I couldn't rule that possibility out either. I knew he wanted to use me, and he couldn't do that if I were injured or dead. I never thought you couldn't be trusted with the information." Albus's arms tightened around the Slytherin's waist. "I just knew you'd be as overprotective of me as I'd be if the roles had been reversed. I swear."
The man's words slowly smoothed out the worst of the sharp edges, Scorpius relaxing a little in the Gryffindor's grasp, though he was still pissed that his partner had left him in the dark about Santana. Especially since he'd be willing to bet that Ravenclaw Weasley wasn't the only family member Albus had clued in about the possible Santana problem. Their boss would already know, he'd bet his vault on it.
But he couldn't argue with the other man's reasoning either. Hadn't he followed the two on their first date, for no other reason than jealousy? They wouldn't have been able to ditch him for a second if he'd known that Satana's interests extended beyond the desire to get into Albus's trousers.
"I'm still mad at you." Scorpius finally said as his voice returned to its usual tone and volume.
"Fair enough. You want to order take out and I'll fill you in on the rest? My treat."
Turning around in the man's arms Scorpius stared into the Gryffindor's hopeful eyes for several telling moments before nodding, wrapping his own arms around the other man's waist for a quick return hug before dropping his arms back to his side.
"Deal."
)
Louis stared up at Rorake, still shaking his head over what he'd just witnessed as he walked the Slytherin towards the man's front door. "You should be five times your present size, seriously. I've NEVER seen anyone eat so much at once. And that was just the wings, not even counting the salsa and chips Hugo shared with you. Where the hell do you put it all? Not even Hugo's dad can eat as much as you do!"
Not remotely insulted Rorake smirked at the Gryffindor. "And his dad is pretty damn skinny as I recall."
"Weasley genes." Louis shot back dismissively. "We don't get fat. Our metabolisms kick fat ass."
Chuckling, Rorake shook his head as they came to his door, retrieving his keys from his pocket. "Well now that you've seen me to my door you can go, Weasley, assured that our one and only date went appropriately." Though he was pretty sure the blonde had claimed that necessity to be a personal dating rule so that the blonde have an excuse to harass him longer. Hugo had tried to referee earlier and Louis had obviously held himself in check because of the brainiac's presence at the bar.
"Anyone ever tell you that you're one crappy date, Goyle?" Louis asked sweetly, fluttering his lashes at the Slytherin.
"What? You want a kiss good night?"
Louis's gasp of outrage was almost loud enough for Rorake's nearest neighbors to hear. And they weren't that close by.
"Problem?" Rorake asked just as sweetly, thinking to himself that arguing with the blonde was almost like a bizarre sort of foreplay for them. It was certainly stirring him up, though he had no intention of ever acting on that chemistry. "Because if you were thinking I was going to invite you in you're going to have to suffer the disappointment. Even if you are that easy, I'm not."
Vibrating like a plucked guitar string Louis's whole body shook as he lifted his arms, his fingers curved in like claws as he glared up at the Slytherin. "I want to kill you so badly right now!"
Rorake just raised an eyebrow. "Would that be a reference to the fact that your French side calls an orgasm 'the little death'? Because if it is you're really not getting the fact that I'm smarter than your previous men. I'm not going to jump your bones no matter how much you beg."
"For your information I have to beat men off with a stick!"
"Are you sure you don't hit them with the stick first, addling their brains?"
The Slytherin deftly caught both of the Gryffindor's fists as they came at his head one after another. Closing his larger hands around each of the blonde's fists Rorake brought up his right knee to block the other's man's knee, which had been aiming for his groin with deadly intent.
"If this is your idea of foreplay, Weasley, it's no wonder you go through guys so easily."
"I'm going to find a stick and beat your head in with it!"
"And even if you managed it I still wouldn't sleep with you."
As soon as the Slytherin let him go he was going to kill him, Louis thought as he struggled in the other man's grasp.
The satisfaction would be orgasmic.
