Disclaimer: All things pertaining to Harry Potter and the Harry Potter universe do not belong to me, nor am I making any profit from their usage.

A/N: So a lot has been happening in RL and I spent whatever extra time I had preparing myself for the next bout of insane amounts of RL work, which is why this chapter is so awkward at parts. And then the overload of RL stuff prevented me from my annual trip back to Hong Kong this year, so I can't visit a few places I wanted to for this story. I also started writing this story backwards, so I have a few of the scenes for later chapters already written.

Chapter 14 — July 15th

Draco groaned, flipping over in bed and squinting at the sun, trying to determine what time of the day it was. It was morning, obviously, but already nearing noon. As his eyes adjusted, Draco watched Harry, who was curled in on himself on the sofa. They hadn't shared a bed since the incident a week ago by unspoken agreement. He really hadn't meant to freak out like that, but Draco wasn't used to waking up with someone else; one-night stands were kicked out before he fell asleep, and Draco hadn't had a lasting serious relationship in forever because he was too alert. But after living with the Dark Lord and his deranged followers in his house for those years, could you really blame him for being a little twitchy? He never talked to his partners about it: if they really knew him, they'd understand without him telling them. Draco had never been one for openness and heart-to-heart talks anyway.

Sighing, Draco flipped back over, staring up at the ceiling. He wondered if his secret admirer would understand. He hoped so. The notes with the past few days had increasingly gotten more personal, from ordinary things like 'Even though you'd never admit it, I know you like muggle music more than any wizarding band.' to statements that made him blush, such as 'I bet you have a secret fetish for lace.' And then the man — it had to be a man, because if someone knew Draco at all, they'd know he was gay, no matter how much he flirted with both genders to get his way — had the nerve to send Draco an underwear bouquet of all things. Made with lacy knickers. This was really disturbing, because Draco was positive he'd hidden his kink incredibly well. He couldn't deny that his admirer knew his tastes well, though. For Merlin help him, he had gotten hard just from picking up the gift.

With a groan, Draco pushed himself out of the bed. "I need a cold shower," he mumbled.

xXxXxXx

"See you!" a girl Draco had never seen before waved at what must be Avril as she exited Avril's flat. Since she wasn't looking where she was going, she ran straight into Draco. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "I'm sorry! You must be one of Avril's friends." Draco gave her a terse nod, about to reply when the girl continued. "Well, I'd love to get to know you, but I simply must get going. Bye!" she said hurriedly before apparating out.

"What was up with that?" Draco asked Avril as he stepped into her home.

"That was my sister," Avril replied flippantly, changing her chipatsu hair back into its normal black colour, and shrinking back into her normal height. "She doesn't really want to meet you. She's just saying that."

"Your sister?" Draco asked in disbelief. "Whatever happened to your rivalry? Were you lying to me?" He hissed, his voice dropping to a low, cold tone.

"No! Nothing like that. It's just...family's important, don't you think? I didn't think I can ever forgive her, but then she showed up at my doorstep, telling me she was sorry, and I just - I couldn't just turn her away. I still don't think our relationship will ever be what it used to be, but maybe it doesn't have to be so harsh between us, you know? I'm right, aren't I?" Avril begged, clutching at the cushion that she had been sitting next to. "Please tell me I'm right."

"I wouldn't say it's wrong to want a family," Draco replied tentatively.

"But?"

"How wise would it be to trust her? She did betray you once," Draco reminded her, "What's to say that she won't betray you again?"

"She seemed…sincere. I wouldn't tell her anything of importance, so it should be alright, yeah?"

Draco raised a disbelieving eyebrow, but his face was calm. Slumping onto the couch next to Avril, he turned to glance at her. "I suppose there's nothing wrong with wanted to reconcile with your family. I wouldn't trust them though. Just don't screw up the case because of your sister."

The corner of her lips curled up at his playful glare. "I wouldn't tell her about the case and Robert; that has nothing to do with her. You needn't worry; it won't affect you or your work. Cross my heart."

"I thought you didn't have one," Draco retorted. Avril winked in return.

"Well, enough pleasantries," Avril smiled, placing the cushion down onto the floor. "You wouldn't visit me for no reason; we're not friends, after all. Why are you here? Have you found Robert yet?"

"Well, we'd like to speak with your partners first," Draco replied. "but those profiles you gave us did help. We know a little more about your people, and frankly, I think we've concluded that the most likely suspects are Heart and G-man. Speaking of which, have you ever noticed a strange relationship between G-man and Wyclyve?"

"Strange?" Avril drawled. "What are you trying to be delicate about?"

"What exactly was their relationship?" Draco rephrased.

Avril frowned. "What do you mean? They were friends?"

"Just friends?" Draco asked.

Avril scowled and swatted at his head. "You moron. Are you incapable of being blunt?"

Draco grabbed her hand out of the air. "Did G-man fancy Wyclyve?"

"Did G-man—" Avril scoffed. "Of course not. Don't be silly." She wrenched her hand out of Draco's grasp, using it to reach for the half-eaten Cup Noodles on her coffee table, only for it to be snatched away by Draco.

"I'm serious," Draco said, "We think G-man may be Wyclyve's accomplice."

"Well…" Avril hesitated, brows creasing together. "When I met Robert, he was already friends with G-man, so I can't tell you how their friendship started. I know Robert cared for G-man, but I'm positive he was straight. It doesn't matter, anyway, 'cause — and I don't mean to sound shallow — I'm pretty sure Robert really only had eyes for me."

Draco rolled his eyes. "I already know that. Stop talking in circles and answer my question."

Avril waggled her eyebrows. "You didn't ask a question," she drawled. "Sometimes I wonder what Harry sees in you."

"What?" Draco frowned, confused.

"Oh, nothing. Just wondering why he'd think you'd be a good…partner, is all," the Chinese girl smiled suspiciously.

And Draco knew that look was suspicious because it took him his whole life to be able to really perfect the innocent act completely and as a liar himself, he knew when someone's innocent look was too perfect to be true. Still, a good Slytherin knew better than to attempt at finding out the truth by merely asking, so he filed away the look for later and focused his mind back to the case.

"What about G-man? He's openly gay, isn't he?" He prompted.

Avril nodded. "Yes. I've never seen him in a serious relationship before, though. He loves hiring rent boys though, especially the ones under him—no pun intended, of course." She snickered and Draco gave her a crooked smile in return. "He was incredibly close to Robert — maybe even as close as I was. I never thought before that he might be romantically interested in Robert, but there's always the chance. And he does seem irrationally angry at me for supposedly driving Robert away."

She hesitated then, biting her lip just a bit. "But why does that matter? Surely being best friends is enough of a reason for him to stand on Robert's side, isn't it?"

"You're best friends with Wyclyve," Draco reasoned, "and you're keeping the mirror away from him." It wasn't until he spoke the words that he realized it. "How do you know the mirror's safe? Wyclyve set you up in this flat, didn't he? How could you guarantee that he didn't put a secret doorway in? Your lot isn't really the most trustworthy bunch, after all" he sneered.

Avril gave him a glare so strong it was as if his stupidity was so obvious it didn't even deserve words to express. Instead, she stood up, grabbing the shoulder of Draco's shirt and dragging him behind her as she stormed her way down the hall of her flat, stopping in front of a darkened door, looking so terribly out of place in the light and airy home. "Open it."

Draco didn't even twitch. "What's inside?"

"This is where I keep all of my dark artefacts," Avril informed him, arms crossed in challenge "and if you, one of the best Aurors around, can get in past my wards, I'll let you confiscate anything and everything you can get your hands on."

"You'll just stand by and watch me confiscate everything?" Draco asked sceptically.

"Get past my wards and we'll talk," Avril smirked. "I dare you to try."

Draco grinned. "Who am I to back down from a dare?"

And with those words, he unsheathed his wand and pointed it at the door. "I'm getting the basic wards: standard locking charms with anti-portkey and anti-apparition spells…and a password triggered Reducto right on top! Aren't you afraid you'll blow apart your flat with that?"

"That one is only for emergencies," Avril replied, deadpanned. "Continue."

Shrugging, Draco turned back to his task, "I've disabled your Torrencido spell and the Simulacrum Praepostere — wonderful spell, by the way."

Avril's blinked slowly, lips curling upward and clearly pleased. "Isn't it? Turns your body into an inside out phantom, so all you'd see is inside yourself and you don't even have to die to do it!"

Draco smiled. His father had showed him the spell back in third year. The person disabling it had to be incredibly focused, and the wand movement was tricky for someone inexperienced with the dark arts. And Draco was an expert in the dark arts. His father had kept a wide ad extensive collection of books that Draco had studied from his whole life. It all started from his father's influence; Lucius Malfoy had deemed dark arts lessons necessary at a young age and Draco hadn't had a choice in the matter. And then the war came along, and it was simply impossible for one to live in the same house with the Dark Lord — not to mention Aunt Bella — without the any knowledge of the dark arts. After all, according to them, anyway, someone who knew what curses you used also knew what to expect, and therefore, torturing them would be less fun.

Then Potter killed the Dark Lord once and for all (thank Merlin) and Draco was pardoned by the Wizengamot for his crimes, sparing him from Azkaban. By that point in his life, Draco had already gone through over half of the Malfoy library. What followed afterwards, however, was pure luck. Draco had not had any idea what he was to do with himself after the war; no one would hire an ex-Death Eater, never mind the pardon, and there wasn't anything Draco really felt the ambition and interest in doing anyway. It was just another ordinary day; Draco had been picking up some ingredients at the apothecary for some potions he'd been meaning to make when he'd come across a few Aurors and a blocked off building, just around the corner where Diagon Alley ended and Knockturn Alley began. Draco, loving a good mystery, lingered for a moment watching and listening from a few feet away.

"We have to go in!" one of the Aurors had yelled. "They could be dead by now!"

"We don't know anything about the Dark Arts! Just wait until a Senior Auror gets here!" the other, smaller, Auror had whimpered, hanging onto his partner's arm as if it were a lifeline. Considering the spells that had been cast on the building at the time, the second had probably saved his partner's life by stopping him from charging in.

And then there was a pop! and Potter, of all people, appear, confirming Draco's assumption. He fumbled with his wand for a moment, casting a few spell to no results. Draco had shaken his head in exasperation, marching over and taking out his own wand.

"Malfoy?" Potter had spluttered. "What are you doing here? This is a crime scene; you can't be here."

"Oh for Salazar's sake," Draco snapped. "You don't know what you're doing. This is a Feriati Interiori Dissiliunt barrier." The three Aurors had stared at him blankly. Draco rolled his eyes at them all. "The internal combustion spell. Blows up anyone who crosses the barrier from the inside of the body. Give me five minutes and then you can rush in in all your Gryffindor glory and save whomever it is that needs the golden boy this time." Potter was stammering a response, but Draco couldn't remember what it was, as he had already began disabling the invisible wall in the doorway. The trick with Dark Magic was that to put it in place, one had to be harsh and full of anger or some other negative energy. In order to dispel it, however, required the gentle, patient unravelling of the spell, cloaked with the same type of negative energy used to create the spell, thereby fooling magic itself until enough of the threads that made the wards whole had been broken, leaving the magic to shrivel up and die on its own.

Draco ended up saving seven hostages from a serial killer the Aurors had been tracking for months.

"Thank you," Potter had told him. "We couldn't have done it without you, Malfoy. Still, how could you have known you'd be able to disable that spell, if you haven't used it before?" he'd asked, narrowing those emerald eyes at Draco suspiciously.

"I didn't," Draco had admitted. But at Potter's softening look, he hurriedly added, "It was just too painful watching you lot fussing around like a bunch of amateurs. And as professional, I thought I ought to take over before one of you got blown up." He'd stuck his nose in the air, trying to regain a look of superiority before Potter started viewing him as some Gryffindorish hero, but it was all in vain, as Potter merely smirked at him.

"A professional, eh? We could use a few of those," Potter had chuckled, before his smile faded. "We've lost so many in the war."

"Bullshit," Draco had snorted. "The Aurors have never been any good. If they had studied even a quarter of what I have, they'd have caught all the Death Eaters before they attacked."

"So join us then," Potter had replied and no amount of Malfoy training in the world could have stopped Draco's jaw from falling to the floor in that moment. "We don't have enough Aurors, and competent ones at that."

"Ex-Death Eater, remember, Potter? They'd never accept me!" Draco had growled, angry at Potter's thoughtlessness.

"They'd accept you if I recommended you," he'd said simply before walking away. "Just sleep on it, okay, Malfoy?"

Draco had thought about it. After a week of sheer boredom, and acknowledging it for once, he went to the Ministry and asked for the forms to apply to be an Auror. Now he was one of Britain's best, second only to Harry Potter, because nobody could ever beat the man who killed the Dark Lord in a race for best Auror.

"Done!" Draco announced. "Alohomora." He placed a hand on the doorknob, but did not turn it. Instead, he scowled and tipped his head toward Avril, complaining, "You used blood magic on the lock! Oh, that is really not playing fair. "

Avril's smile could outdo even the Cheshire Cat from that silly muggle film Harry had made him watch. "Never said I was. Playing fair, that is."

"So no one but you can get in?"

"My immediate family can," Avril admitted. "but the rest of the house is warded so only my friends can enter my flat."

"Very well," Draco sighed. "I suppose it's enough to keep Wyclyve out until we get him. Do you want me to put up your wards for you, or would you rather do it yourself?"

"Myself, of course. What, did you think I trusted you?"

xXxXxXx

"So how're interrogations going?"

Harry turned away from the papers he had been studying on the parlour table, a smile splitting his face as he spotted the blond. "Draco! Hi! Everything's going well — really well, actually. I've been to Laba's place. He doesn't know anything at all. He doesn't even care that Wyclyve's gone and has no idea he's back. I used legilimency on him too; told him I wanted proof that he was a 'badass'." Harry shook his head. "I still can't believe he went for that. I also stopped by Heart and Kenneth's place. Kenneth wasn't in, but I got to ask Heart a few things. If she's the spy, she's doing a pretty dam good job of acting, because she didn't slip up even once."

"So it seems we were right so far," Draco responded, sidling up behind Harry. Harry knew it was only so he could look over his shoulder at the papers — completely platonic — but he couldn't help but wish that it was because Draco wanted to be closer to him. Harry could feel the heat radiating from the Slytherin, his warm breath caressing the back of his neck. Harry's skin was prickling from a brush from the body behind him — or perhaps it was from the blush that Harry knew must be spreading across his body from Draco's close proximity. He wondered if Draco was wearing his gift from the day before. Oh god. A rush of pleasure shot through Harry at the thought.

"-orrow?"

Harry blinked. "Sorry, what?"

Draco gave him a strange look. "What's got your head in the clouds?" He asked rhetorically, continuing without waiting for an answer. "I asked if you wanted to take a break tomorrow; we can find the rest of them the rest after. It'll be Kenneth's birthday, so all of them will be at the club, partying. Avril's invited us. Might as well have some fun while we're working, eh?"

Harry smiled softly, turning around. Even with his backside pressed against the edge of the table, there was only a sliver of air between the two of them. "Very well, what do you have planned tomorrow?"

Draco grinned. "We haven't gone touring in a while. What do you think?"

Harry slung an arm around Draco's shoulders to give him a squeeze, giddy with excitement. He nodded.

"It's a date."

A/N: It's my birthday again! Wow, I can't believe it's been a year already O.O

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