Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations all characters find themselves in. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy this latest chapter.

Early Valentines' Day present for Carcharias. I didn't forget your Lucius request from 'Corruption'. Thanks for your thought out and encouraging reviews, I always look forward to them.

Sorry about late posting, FanficNet wouldn't let me post before I went to work.

Scent of Danger

The basement room they were hunkered down in was filled from floor to ceiling with cabinets full of papers and files, both men very thankful that they weren't the type to be claustrophobic. But at least someone had put some sort of flowery air freshener in the room to combat the smells one expected to find in a basement people rarely visited by choice, which was a small silver lining and all they had to be grateful for at the moment. The only other thing they had to be remotely thankful for was the fact that they were alone and not upstairs getting knowing looks from everyone they worked with. Apparently the fact that they were now a couple was obvious to everyone they encountered and both men had lost track of the number of people who'd felt it necessary to comment on that fact.

And maiming/killing Aurors while being surrounded by other Aurors wasn't wise.

Sitting across from his man Scorpius skimmed the paper he was reading, the two of them looking through old case files with resigned expressions. Hugo Weasley had sent them a list by owl that had contained the names of politicians with Spanish ancestry who had passed away of seemingly natural causes in the last thirty years. The redhead had had the brainstorm that maybe this wasn't the first time someone like Santana had been sent to Britain and that maybe a past investigation would turn up some clue that they could use to nail Santana's ass. It was a serious long shot, as long as trying to research the ancestry of all the present ministry politicians, but what choice did they have? They'd figured out pretty quick that they wouldn't be able to guard all the names they were generating, especially since the Spanish government had done one hell of a good job of hiding who had done what during the days when 'The Protectors' had been in operation. There was no way to know who would or wouldn't be on Santana's hit list.

And that was if the soon to leave foreigner had any more hits scheduled in the first place.

At least with the case files there was a chance they'd fine some sort of clue. Or at least that was what they'd told themselves when they'd shut themselves up in the room with the intent to stay there until they'd reviewed each and every file.

He felt worn out and exhausted just thinking about it.

Finishing up the dead end report Scorpius sighed as he looked at the useless sheets of parchment. So far there wasn't much to any of them except for confirmation that due to the man or woman's occupation their death had been looked into by Aurors and foul play ruled out. A couple of them had contained notes by their investigators mentioning that the politician in question had been in seemingly perfect health before passing away, but that didn't mean they were looking at Protector handiwork. Possible, but given time passed near to impossible to investigate.

Yet he was feeling a lot calmer and at peace now, the Slytherin noted in some part of his brain as he set aside the case file and reached for the next one. Maybe he was coming to accept the fact that his lover was right and they probably weren't going to be able to properly close this case. Which wasn't like him, but even he was ready to admit that they weren't just looking for a needle in a friggin haystack now.

They were looking for a needle in a bloody hayfield.

Maybe he should have let Albus go out to lunch with Santana when the Spaniard had shown up unexpectedly, apparently wanting to share one last meal with his partner before he left the country. But by silent agreement Albus had declined, explaining that they were going to catch a quick bite to eat in the cafeteria before heading to the basement to do some research for a case they were working on. And being a jealous prat who hated the idea of his man going anywhere with Santana he'd made sure the Spaniard knew that they'd be doing said research for hours and therefore dinner was out of the question too.

Now that he and his partner were an official couple Scorpius was finding out that his earlier capacity for being jealous of men interested in Albus had grown in leaps and bounds. Which was sure to be a problem if he didn't figure out a way to get his possessiveness under control, especially since it seemed to amuse Albus so much. Maybe he'd just give the man's neck a large hickey every couple weeks, that could work.

"No luck?"

Looking over Scorpius shook his head and smiled at his partner. "Not yet. You?"

"Me neither. How long have we been in here, anyway? It feels like it's been forever." Glancing over at the wall clock the Gryffindor couldn't make out the handles, Albus squinting his eyes to no success.

"Your prescription need updating again?" Scorpius asked as he pulled out his pocket watch to check the time. "You keep this up and your lens are going to be as thick as Butterbeer bottles."

Giving the blonde a 'very funny' look Albus was surprised to hear that they'd only been in the room for three hours. It felt longer. Then again, time only flew when you were having fun, the Gryffindor thought wryly as he sighed and turned his attention back to his own collection of files. The words were starting to blur, his eyes were so tired. Of course that's what he got for staying up half the night alternating between research and having sex. They really should have worked more sleep into their night and morning.

Both men turned their heads at the sound of knocking, calling out that the door was open.

Albus and Scorpius both blinked in shock when Lucius Malfoy's voice came through the door, informing them that the door was in fact locked.

The two Aurors got to their feet, giving their partner a puzzled look. They hadn't locked the door, why would they? Had they done it accidentally or was the older man just having problems getting it to open? Because if it was the latter neither of them wanted to be the one to inform the head of the Malfoy family that he just hadn't tried to open it properly.

Walking over Scorpius tried to open the door, pulling on it. "It really is locked…and it locks from the outside."

"Could someone have accidentally locked us in?" Albus asked, walking over to stand at his partner's side. Pulling out his wand the Gryffindor pointed it at the door, his brows furrowing in confusion as he realized he couldn't remember the spell that would unlock it. He knew that he knew…he just couldn't remember.

Frowning when the Gryffindor said as much Scorpius reached out and grasped Albus's chin, turning the man's head to look at him. "Your eyes are glassy."

"You are kinda blurry." Albus admitted, picking up on the concern in his partner's voice.

Taking inventory of himself Scorpius realized that he was feeling a little lightheaded as well as worn out, his vision just a little blurry around the edges. Acting on instinct Scorpius wrapped his arm around Albus's waist and pulled the other man away from the door.

And then Scorpius yelled for his grandfather to force the door open by whatever means necessary.

)

Within five minutes the door flew open with a sound reminiscent of a cannon blast, Lucius Malfoy striding into the room with his wand unsheathed and at the ready. The old man's eyes scanned the room for possible threats, watching his grandson stumbled over towards him with his arms wrapped around his partner. Opening his mouth to demand to know if they were hurt and what was going on the Slytherin's eyes narrowed as his nose caught a faint scent in the air that tickled an old memory from his past. It took a moment for him to place the significance of the smell, but as soon as he did he moved as fast as he could, shoving the two men out the door as quickly as possible while demanding to know how long they'd been in the room.

"Bout three hours." Albus slurred out, shaking his head as he tried to remain conscious and aware. "What wrong with us?"

"What's wrong is that you two were in a small, airless room filled with a poisonous toxin." Was Lucius's tense reply, moving to take each man by the arm since it was obvious that his grandson wasn't quite up to keeping the both of them upright. "You two need to visit St Mungos at once so that the poison can be neutralized before it causes serious damage. Lucky for you both that it's extremely slow acting."

"Then why use it?" Scorpius asked, taking deep breaths in the hopes that that would somehow help expel what he'd already breathed in.

"Because the poison is untraceable once it's killed you. It disrupts your body's ability to function so that the death comes off as natural." Lucius answered, glancing down at the man his grandson was so devoted to. Obviously the poison had hit the boy the hardest and the Slytherin could only hope that the Gryffindor was as hard to kill as his father. The toxin he'd smelled was a stupid way to kill someone since it required long term exposure all at once, tended to alert it's victims by making them feel sick first, and the smell was a dead giveaway. But that basement room had been ideal in this case and the boys hadn't known what their noses were telling them.

Pulling out his wand since his brain was working just enough to realize he was going to pass out very soon Scorpius quickly sent off an alarm to let their fellow Aurors know that they were in need of assistance.

And that his grandfather was helping as opposed to harming.

That done Scorpius's mind turned to the fact that at least now they knew how their two politicians had died. The fact that they'd almost had to die themselves was a pisser though. There was also the fact that a little voice in the back of his mind was pointing out that they'd set themselves up for their present circumstances by telling their would be killer that they were going to be in a place for hours that was ideal for knocking them off.

"Sorry…told him we'd be in for hours."

"S'okay. My idea…go to the basement in the first place. Love you by the way, case I die."

"Love you too, Partner."

"Oh for Merlin's sake, you two aren't going to die so quit it with that before I get as sick as the pair of you."

"Love you too, Grandfather."

Lucius looked up towards the ceiling, asking why he'd ever thought it was a good idea to not interfere with Draco and Astoria's parenting. Obviously he'd been out of his mind.

It would embarrass Lucius later, but he actually made a sound of relief when he saw Harry Potter and three other Aurors he didn't know come stomping down the stairs to relieve him of the two basically unconscious men he had on his hands.

He'd never been so happy to see a Potter in his life.

)

Rushing into the hospital Rorake headed towards the main desk, intending to ask them where he needed to go to find his best friend, who'd apparently been poisoned at work. But a flash of blonde hair had him instinctively turning his head in time to see a familiar person running in the direction of the elevator. And trusting that Louis would know where they were going the Slytherin just managed to get into the metal box before the doors closed behind them. "Do you know how they're doing?"

Arms wrapped around himself since he was the type to spaz when he was worried, Louis shrugged his shoulders jerkily. "The message I got was that they were going to be okay but who knows. I mean they were poisoned!"

"Albus is the Chosen One's son. He'll get the best of the best." Putting aside his own worries Rorake moved forward, pulling the stiff and unresponsive Gryffindor into his arms, giving the blonde the hug the man obviously needed.

"I'm only letting you hug me because I'm worried."

Lips curving Rorake gave the man one last squeeze before moving away, assuming that the other man wouldn't want them to be seen hugging in public. He wasn't entirely sure he wanted people knowing that he was mental enough to get involved with the blonde either. He'd spent years trying to convince the Wizarding World that he didn't take after his father in the brains department after all.

And only someone who'd been involved with Louis would understand how he could possibly be worth all the trouble.

Stepping out and onto their floor Rorake let Louis take the lead, trusting the man to get them where they needed to go. He had no doubt that wherever Albus was, Scorpius would be too. Potter's father would have made sure the two weren't separated, knowing how the men would feel about that.

Mentally repeating the directions he'd been given the blonde scanned the hallways as they walked through them, just in case. And it was because of this that not only did he spot a number of his family standing around as they waited to see Albus, but he saw the lone man standing at the mouth of a connecting hallway.

A man with distinctly Hispanic features.

The sound Louis made in the back of his throat was very close to a growl, the Gryffindor off like a shot as he ran towards the man with blood in his eyes.

And sensing the fact that he was about to come face to face with a deadly force of nature Santana took off down the hallway, quickly opening the door that led into a stairwell.

But if there was one thing all of Louis's past boyfriends could agree on, besides the fact that he was a living definition of high maintenance, it was the fact that the Gryffindor had damn long legs and knew how to use them.

Right behind the man Louis headed down the stairs with his wand in hand, aware that Rorake and people related to him were likely following him but not about to stand by and let anyone other than him blast the bastard who'd put his best friend in the hospital.

And it was thanks to his excellent self-preservation instincts and years of Cursebreaking training that Louis jerked backwards when his senses told him to, the curse sent his way blasting a fiery hole into the wall where his head would have been.

"YOU FUCKER! YOU WERE AIMING FOR MY FACE!"

While Louis cursed out the bastard for daring to attempt to mar the perfection that was his face the Gryffindor was passed by Rorake, his Uncle Harry, and two of his cousins as they continued down the stairs after the man who had not only poisoned Albus and Scorpius, but had tried to DISFIGURE HIM.

"Oh you're going down."

Leaning over the stair railing Louis concentrated solely on his hearing, listening to the sound of footsteps hitting the steel stairs with rapt attention. And with his wand lifted and at the ready the Gryffindor sent a curse down the stairwell just as the target came into view as the man turned to start down the next flight of stairs.

The sound of the Spaniard falling down that next flight was music to the blonde's ears.

)

Hurrying down the stairs Harry got a good look at the Spaniard and smiled fiercely, glad in that moment that his nephew was downright psychotic when it came to his face and the punishing of anyone who might think to damage it. The spell wasn't one he recognized, but it was…interesting to say the least. It was probably a spell Louis had made up himself specifically for the face crime since Santana's own face currently reminded the Gryffindor of a broken, runny egg. The man's head was a weirdly shaped blob and the foreigner's features were all over the place. Which was probably why the man had tumbled down the stairs in the first place, the Auror theorized to himself as he used his wand to secure the unconscious prisoner.

Suddenly having one eye where your chin was would throw a guy's balance off.

Whistling under his breath Rorake raised an eyebrow as he observed from the stairs. "Well hell. What did he hit him with?"

"Whatever it is he's definitely going to have to teach it to me." James announced as he glared down at the bastard who'd poisoned his little brother, fighting the urge to do some damage of his own. But the man wasn't conscious to feel it, so what was the point?

"This is why you never mess with Louis's three 'Fs'." Was Rose's opinion as she surveyed the damage, thinking that the man looked like something out of a portrait by Picasso. Or a face painted on skin color play-doh and then manipulated weirdly.

"Three 'Fs'?" Rorake repeated as he gave Rosie a questioning look, figuring that in the interest of not ending up like the man on the ground he should know what three things he shouldn't mess with.

"His face, his figure, and his family."

Turning his head to watch the blonde in question join them with a well satisfied smile on his face Rorake smiled and shook his head. "Should have known."