Chapter 8. A Part Time Job
The night got off to a nasty start.
It was barely even dark outside the stuffy apartment when he woke up, and he just laid there, watching apathetically as the final gleams of warm daylight were fading away from the cracks in the old dusty curtain, thinking about about nothing in particular and trying to wake up completely. This was supposed to be the last night of his 'shift' this year and there was still absolutely nothing to show for it, which made him feel quite depressed and tired. This night would probably not change things any significantly either, of course.
It was pretty hot in the old apartment; the fans gave off hardly any cool at all, making it even harder for him to force himself to get up. The only thing the young wizard really liked about summer nowadays was that it got dark later than it did during winter, so he had to always make haste and hence it didn't leave him any opportunity to space out or to lazy around at work. Because if he did, he would most likely have been facing a lot of trouble nowadays, and the 'part-time job' he had agreed to slightly more than a year ago would've become a big embarrassment instead of just being plain boring and disappointing like it was now.
On the other hand, if he got fired due to slacking, he would likely be spending the time of his summer holidays the same way most of his peers did. Probably would also have traveled to some warm country, preferably to a faraway island in a warm foreign ocean. He'd like to get a break from hearing his native language everywhere... To feel like he wasn't himself for once. Like a completely different person.
Stupid dreams, of course.
It was still way too soon for him to be thinking of retiring from the job he had virtually just received, especially given that he was only sixteen and everything was still lying ahead... Or at least they told him so.
He hasn't earned anything yet anyway.
The soft ringing of the old hand made crystal on the nightstand made him flinch slightly, slowly shifting his head to the side and wincing at the brightly shining white object – it was trilling in that loathsome, nagging way he had set up for this certain person.
He grabbed the crystal and looked into the shard of mirror in its core – quietly, without saying a word.
"Harry, answer."
He didn't, silently gazing at the woman through his half closed eyelids instead. Tonks' voice was brisk and focused, but already evidently tired. She clearly hadn't slept all day long, perhaps even longer than that.
"Harry, shall I put you through to the boss?"
"No, don't do that," he growled irritatedly.
"That's my boy. Are you awake already?"
"What do you think?"
"Good. Well, it's the same again for you tonight."
He sighed quietly, blinking a few times and yawning contagiously.
"Nothing new at all? It's my last time this year, you know."
"No, not a thing. Tough luck, huh. Have you prepared to go back home? "
"Yeah. Sort of." He looked around, critically eyeing the complete mess in the room where his clothes were scattered chaotically all over the place.
"Okay. Good luck."
Her last line sounded feeble and unconvincing. Tonks apparently didn't have any faith in him. No wonder, because he didn't have it himself either.
"Thanks," the teen replied neutrally and put the crystal away. He then got up and made the trip to the toilet and to the bathroom. As he was just about to spread toothpaste on the cheap muggle made brush, Harry realized that he was getting ahead of himself, so he cursed quietly and put it back down on the edge of the rusty sink, walking out and heading to the kitchen.
It was completely dark in there, but he didn't bother turning on the light. He opened the door of the refrigerator, covering the small bulb with his hand the next moment — even this tiny source of light made him wince in displeasure. The consequences of the night life were sure hitting the young man hard.
The wizard looked at the familiar small earthen vial (the only remaining one) before taking it to his lips and gulping vigorously.
He coughed, putting the vial back before hugging his sides and slowly falling on his knees. The taste was especially disgusting tonight, that's for sure. Even though there was no specific organic sample in the Polyjuice Potion, he still hated this feeling so much...
Harry lowered onto the floor completely, sitting on its cold surface and grabbing his head in attempt to focus on the required transformation.
There was a good reason why he didn't need a piece of some other person in the potion for it change his appearance. As they had discovered last year when his sister Gwen had pranked him into temporary losing his hair, he possessed the weak latent Metamorphmagus ability, and although Harry couldn't do much with it other than regrowing his hair, slightly changing the tone of his suntan on a whim or doing some other minor stuff, with Polyjuice as the catalyst he could utilize the ability nearly to the same extent as Tonks who had been his tutor back when he was mastering it.
If he had anything to say about it, though, he'd rather not use it at all. It consumed way too much power for his liking, and that was all in all a very unpleasant process. On the other hand, he never complained about it as he understood that there was just no other choice nowadays because if anybody saw Harry Potter, an underage wizard, doing things he did at work... It would be troublesome to explain to say the least.
Looking at the foreign palms which were slightly bigger and significantly more calloused than his own, he got up from the floor and took a glance at the dirty mirror on the wall next to him.
Now he looked like some defined black guy with short hair and formerly broken nose, a foot taller than he was in his natural form which made the t-shirt he was wearing crack on his back. He took as a reference someone he had seen in the United States back when he had traveled there with his father three years ago for some fishy business regarding his training.
The vicarious face in the reflection smirked in amusement. Splendid. Now he was completely impossible to recognize.
Harry sighed tiredly then, shaking his new head and blinking a few times, rubbing his eyes. Fortunately this hell would finally end tomorrow... at long last.
Just as he thought about it, the crystal rang again, this time far more demandingly, to his surprise.
Cursing quietly, Harry returned to the bedroom and grabbed the small shiny thing from the sheet, looking at it again with uncovered annoyance this time, but his expression changed to a surprised one the next moment when he met the familiar gray eyes.
"Hey, Harry. It's been a while," the soft voice he wasn't very fond of uttered casually. She didn't look surprised at all – her mirror was most likely charmed to see through the potion's effect, so she was probably seeing his usual face right now.
"Yeah... Morning, Jay," he said sullenly in an alien voice.
"You forgot to add 'glad to serve, your honor' to that. And it's evening at the moment," she added, annoyingly pedantic as always.
"I'm not glad. And there's nothing to be done about it... your honor."
The young woman smiled politely while the wizard frowned, once again noticing how much her features resembled his father's and his own.
Just like Harry and James, despite being a part of nobility, she didn't wear any expensive clothes or jewelry, and her skin wasn't pale contrary to that of most purebloods. Her black hair barely reached her shoulders and was tied with a pink scrunchy in a funny short ponytail on her nape which made her look more like a muggle teenager rather than an adult witch, not to mention that it made her look absolutely ridiculous given her current position in the ministry. However, due to her pretty immature looks, it was really hard for someone who didn't know this woman to determine her age. She could be anything within the range between sixteen and twenty six. The only thing that gave her away was her overly huge chest – none of the girls at Hogwarts had similar size aside from maybe Lavander Brown, and even that was questionable.
Not to mention that it was certainly not to Harry's taste at all.
She paused for a moment, studying his face thoughtfully before meeting his gaze again with a cold stare.
"That's unfortunate...," she muttered slowly. "In any case, I'm calling you on behalf of the Unspeakables to let you know that you've been granted the permission to use lethal magic should it become necessary this night."
Harry narrowed his eyes at her.
"Oh... Really? Too bad I can't use it on certain someone through this mirror then," he grumbled quietly, grinning at her gloomy and always slightly suspicious face, but at the same time trying not to show her that she had taken him by surprise with the permission.
If he was allowed to kill, they had to be dead sure that something was going to happen to him this night. The job of their prophets? Or were they setting something up...? One could never know for sure when it came to Unspeakables.
She sighed, shaking her head at him.
"Harry, I really would like you to take this situation we have on our hands and especially your role in it a bit more seriously. I'm aware of the fact that this is the final day of your work, but I expect you to report back to James in the morning in any case. And... good luck. It is very important for you to succeed. Both to you and the family."
"Since when do you care about the family?" he asked skeptically, but her face had already disappeared before he finished the sentence.
He didn't exactly feel ashamed by his venomous last line, but on the other hand he wasn't feeling quite so irritated anymore either which was a relief. Putting the crystal in the pocket of the white hoodie he had picked up from the floor a moment ago, he opened the cupboard in the hallway, and wondered for a while what else he ought to pack. He had a few pieces of equipment Aurors had given him last week. Nothing special, just the usual stuff for rookies – clearly not meant for those of his caliber power wise, which was why Harry decided not to take anything with him at the end of the day aside from the crystal, his wand and the invisibility cloak – his father's present could be extremely handy when it came down to this kind of job. He preferred going out light, after all, and he didn't fear anything.
Only boredom was his implacable enemy.
Before he went out Harry took a long and careful look at the window, scanning every inch of the court under his window with his eyes. It seemed that nobody was there, so it was probably safe for him to depart.
And so one more night of his hopeless hunt had begun.
He walked around London for about three hours, trying to avoid annoying and noisy people, switching aimlessly from lane to lane without any specific plan, sometimes dozing, letting his conscious mind take a break and his senses roam free. There was nothing going down. Well, he did witness a few relatively interesting things, but they were all ordinary incidents, tame beginners' stuff. And although technically he was still a beginner himself, he decided that adult Aurors were supposed to take care of those, and it wasn't any of his business if they weren't there to do that. He was a special case, after all.
Officially Harry's mission was to find any clue that would help Aurors to find the infamous serial murderer (or a group of them) that had been taking down different wizards, mostly muggleborns, for nearly five years by now, starting with Narcissa Malfoy back in Harry's first year. All the seventeen cases happened in England, and although they could seem to be random and harldy connected between each other, the investigation done by James, Sirius, Remus and Lily had shown that there was at least some connection between all of them.
For instance, all the victims were killed by non magical means.
Sometimes it was a knife, sometimes a muggle gun, or they were simply found beaten up to death, but there was no doubt that the murderer was at the very least aware of magic's existence given that he (or they) was targeting only wizards, specifically. And all those wizards were out of Voldemort's favour, be they just muggleborn or related to those the Dark Lord was likely to consider traitors.
Other than that, Aurors had nearly no clues at all, which made Harry's work seem to be absolutely futile, at least to himself. But his father believed in him for some reason, and he was going to become a full time Auror after graduating from Hogwarts, so there was no other choice but to follow the orders he received.
It wasn't until about 2 A.M. when the streets of the town got significantly less crowded, which made the situation change dramatically for the teen.
He was sitting on the bench just a hundred yards away from Leaky Cauldron with his eyes closed, enjoying the light breeze and the warm atmosphere of late summer as well as various odors of bakery, flowers and melting asphalt which were flowing around him, trying to sense anything familiar around, and, which was completely unexpected, succeeding shortly.
Harry turned his head to the left, watching the four wizards, two men and two women, closing in on him. They weren't paying any attention to him, naturally. He was dressed like a muggle, and he had learned to conceal his naturally very powerful magic long ago, so that was to be expected.
Still, the four of them made him flinch in surprise as he recognized them nearly instantly as they walked under the dim street light. Contrary to their obvious disinterest in him, he was wondering quite a lot what they were up to.
There was the tall man with short goatee dressed in tight black clothes that were covered with a very expensive crimson mantle with onyx black decor lines, as well as fashionable dragon skin boots. Having the heavy walking stick with silver knob in his grasp and seemingly ignoring everything around, he looked a lot like his son who was following him a few yards behind, wearing a significantly more humble black robe similar to the ones they had at Hogwarts, if only a lot more tight, neat and rich looking.
The man's wife was right next to him – Harry had never seen her in person before, but he was sure on her identity nonetheless as he remembered her face clearly from his father's archives. And although he didn't like her looks all that much, he had to admit that she was pretty appealing as her long, brilliant black hair was matching the colour of her delicate dress and her golden coloured mantle just perfectly.
And finally...
Young Potter's temporarily brown eyes stopped on the young blonde witch that was walking alongside the pair's son who was her and Harry's peer, her hand in his. The bright blue eyes, seemingly devoid of any emotion the same way they were at Hogwarts whenever she was in public, were hard not to recognize. She wasn't paying any attention to the muggle Harry was at the moment as she was carefully listening to the other teen's quiet yet visibly pompous jabbering while the four of them were passing by the black haired teen.
Although looking a bit unhealthy these days, she was still beautiful, without a doubt. Harry hadn't seen her in two months, and although it was probably not that long, somehow she seemed to had changed. She looked better and worse than she had appeared back in June at the same time – probably for the one and same reason which was walking right next to her now.
Her features became a bit sharper than before as she had apparently lost a few pounds of weight, being on the brink of becoming slender now. Her skin was paler than usual, which added more to the image of a typical pure blooded Slytherin witch – most likely because she had spent the entire summer indoors. At the same time, her chest seemed to had grown a little bit, nearly reaching C cup now, as well as her slightly curly light blonde hair which almost reached her thin waist, and she also had become a couple inches taller than he remembered. Or had she...?
He eyed her up and down and smiled.
No, she was just wearing high heels. Well, that was new. But that snowy white mantle looked really good on her, he couldn't deny it, as well as the modest silver dress that was nicely narrowing all the necessary curves of her body.
Harry couldn't hold back a smirk as Nott Jr. passed him by alongside his betrothed. And knowing his Slytherin classmate as good as he did, although Harry did it inadvertently, he had known it worked as a taunt even before the predictable response came.
"Is there something funny, you filth?" Harry leaned lazily against the back of the bench, meeting the cold glare of the dark blue eyes and smirking peacefully. With his appearance changed so much, he was supposed to look a good decade older than Theo and his counterpart, so there was no way a muggle man would take someone like him and his words any serious... at least at this point.
"Nah, just admiring your chick's booty, bruh. No offense, alright?" he said in an American accent, enjoying the typical cute blush on Daphne's face as they stopped, making Theo's parents turn around as well.
"Theodore, what's going on?"
"This mudblood has just offended Daphne!"
Harry sighed inwardly, suppressing the desire to shake his head and cocking his eyebrow, pretending not to understand a thing.
"Mudblood, y'say...? Hic–what did ya just call me, dog? You racist or somethin'?" He barked angrily, slightly raising up. Actually as ridiculous as it was, the situation was also becoming a bit troublesome. If any of them discovered his true identity, that would put his whole mission under a huge risk if not fail it completely.
On the other hand... Perhaps they were actually the key to his success this night? What if they could lead him to a clue?
Either way, provoking them any further was not an option. If anything, he needed to calm them down and avoid the upcoming conflict so that he would be able to follow them under the cloak.
"I'm sorry for my son's pitiful behavior and manners. Clearly we haven't taught him well enough, mister...?" Nott's father came close, offering his left hand politely while his wife stared at Harry with uncovered disgust.
Harry ignored her glare and smirked, shaking the man's hand.
"Pete. Is cool, man. Kids can be a pain in an ass, I know for sure," he glanced at the older Nott's arm, stopping his eyes on the wrist for a moment. "Yo, that's some tatoo you got there! Does it have any real meaning?" he nodded casually at the Dark Mark before raising his head to look at the man's face amusedly – the expression of his darkened notably. Would Nott Sr. be idiotic enough to use any charms against him now? That would be a wonderful opportunity to put the man in jail... Maybe even his son, too.
"It's a memento," finally said the older wizard, turning away and walking back toward his wife. "Let's go."
Meeting his classmate's angered gaze one last time, Harry chuckled jovially, but then he nearly coughed when his eyes slid to the girl who didn't follow the three of them right away – she just stared at the polymorphed wizard in fear and a mixture of other emotions, unable to look away for a second.
"Daphne, what's wrong?" Nott Jr. turned around, frowning at the blonde who now seemed to be downright scared.
"N-nothing at all... I'm sorry. I'm just not used to having mudbloods around," she muttered quietly, rushing towards Notts as they walked down the street without looking back.
"Oh, shit." Harry sighed at the belated realization in a few seconds, covering his face with his palm and rubbing it tiredly.
She had recognized him, of course. Daphne was able to sense his magic since their childhood, and he didn't bother to hide it that well anyway. After all, what was the probability of him stumbling upon her, of all people, in the muggle part of a spacious city like London, especially so deep at night?
If he followed them now, even under the cloak, she would still sense his presence without a doubt. What would she do in this case? Give him away directly? Or just panic and make the situation even more confusing and complicated?
Still, he didn't have that many options. Notts were clearly heading towards Leaky Cauldron. Perhaps he would be able to trace them from there...
He entered the familiar old pub in a minute. It was completely empty by now, but Tom, the owner, was still at the bar, cleaning a wooden cup and apparently spacing out as he flinched at the light tingling of the bell at the entrance.
"Uh... Welcome, sir! Would you like to–"
"Quiet, Tom. I'm here on behalf of Aurors." Harry took a small certificate from his pocket, showing him the shining magical rune on it. "Have Notts just been here?"
The old man's eyes widened worriedly as he nodded quickly.
"Yes, they have, sir!"
"Where did they go?"
He glanced in the direction that led toward the back door before looking away, resuming to cleaning the cup.
"How would I know, sir? They went to Diagon Alley, I can tell you this much, but they didn't feel like telling me what their destination was."
"Are you sure?" Harry quickly took a few golden coins out of his pocket and put it on the desk in front of Tom, making the old man gasp and smirk busily the next moment.
"Oh well, sir... I'm just an old man, mind you, and my ears fail me sometimes these days, oh, my ears... But I believe I heard that beautiful woman mentioning Knockturn Alley... Yes, certainly... Something like, uh... I think she said she didn't fancy that place at all. And I also believe that her noble husband told her that they wouldn't be walking around for too long."
"So I presume their destination is somewhere close to the entrance. Thanks, Tom!" Harry smirked, winking at the man and rushing towards the hidden back door of the pub, but stopping the next second, turning his head and scratching his chin thoughtfully.
There was a far better way to catch up with them now, the one Daphne wouldn't expect in case if she was staying on guard and trying to sense him in Diagon Alley. And this way, he was sure he'd be able to tail them without getting spotted... Especially with the cloak.
Piece of cake.
He took the weightless tissue out of his pocket, draping it over his shoulders and turning to Tom once again.
"You haven't seen me, got it? Not tonight, not ever."
The old man began nodding quickly, smiling softly.
"Of course, sir! Of course..."
Harry stormed toward the fireplace, grabbing a handful of Floo on his way and putting the cowl of his cloak on.
"Borgin and Burks!"
As expected, the creepy store was completely empty at this time of the night, so the teen decided to run as fast as he could to catch up with Notts at the entrance of Knockturn Alley after demolishing the lock on the entrance door with a light motion of his hand, breaking the charms that protected the store as well.
According to his calculations, Daphne and Notts were just about to enter the area, so he rushed outside and ran across the nearly empty dark lane toward the required turn where his supposed targets were to appear any moment now, and just as he turned to the right and jumped down the ancient stone stair, he nearly gasped, barely managing to land without making a noise.
Just as planned. They were there, walking significantly slower than they had been in the non-magical part of the district and staying silent now which was making the task of following them a bit harder since he was afraid of them hearing him.
Still, Harry grinned triumphantly after briefly studying their faces. Daphne didn't react to him at all, at least visibly – there probably was a chance that she wasn't trying to sense his presence at the moment, so he decided to take the risk and follow them. There was hardly anything to fear, really; the worst possible outcome would be a direct confrontation with Notts, and that was something he sure wouldn't mind after two months of doing nothing interesting or useful at all.
Especially with the permission he had...
Sneaking a few yards behind their backs, he followed the four wizards through Knockturn Alley to some inconspicuous semibasement of a very old and abandoned three floored house. Its windows were all boarded up, but the small door that led to the building's underground part appeared to be anything but unused – the clean, polished and shiny door handle was more than ample proof to that.
Trying desperately not to give away his presence, the sixteen years old wizard came dangerously close to Notts and Daphne, stopping right next to the girl and raising his hand in preparation to attack them should they notice him by any chance.
"Merlin... Did they have to make it so complicated to get there? Why not just host it at some decent place? Malfoy Manor, for instance...," the older woman sighed, crossing her eyes and wincing slightly as her husband was looking for something on the door – probably a hidden sign or some other way to open it.
Harry grinned at the man's evidently annoyed expression, knowing approximately what he was about to say on the matter.
"That would be impossible, Agnes, and you know it. Malfoy Manor is currently under young Draco's control, for Lucius has made his son the head of their family after Narcissa's death."
"So what?" She shrugged indifferently. "It's not like the boy is any better than his father. He should be easy to manipulate, so why don't we do it yet?"
"Oh, that he is...," the man smiled wickedly. "And he is currently manipulated by Potters, so he is our of our reach... For now, at least."
The Boy Who Lived narrowed his eyes at the family, clenching his fists and trying to to breathe steadily.
What a bunch of naive fools... Was that what they honestly believed? They were tremendously delusional in this case. But he couldn't complain, of course, although it was a bit irritating to him, much like Daphne's presence... no, that one was actually more exciting than irritating for some reason. And somehow... somehow it also made him feel sick, seeing Theo being so possessive around her... And especially her clearly not minding it at all.
"Potters... Damn them," suddenly barked Theodore, looking at the dusty ground under his feet and kicking an empty tin can which made a loud rattling sound echo across the space around them.
The woman gazed at the teen skeptically while Daphne looked away, as if guiltily, which nearly made Harry slap his face and shake his head.
Don't make it so obvious, silly...
"Is there any specific reason why your father mentioning those people made you upset, my dear?"
Theo snorted, rolling his eyes.
"No... Not at all. It's just that their older offspring is my rival at Hogwarts. Always prying into my business and cheating in studies to beat me when it comes to marks. Nothing special about him, just another mudblood loving filth. Same with the rest of his family, I suppose."
Harry smirked, covering his mouth not to giggle at the sudden outburst, and especially at Daphne's reaction to it – the girl blushed slightly and clenched her fists, frowning at her betrothed.
Well, knowing Theo, that wasn't any surprising. After all, he was blatantly lying regarding the real situation between the two of them. Whereas it was true that Harry always cheated as much as possible in order not to waste more than necessary time on stupid and useless subjects and tasks at school, Theo was no match for him, and they could hardly be called rivals with the blue eyed boy being so utterly inferior in basically everything except maybe transfiguration – that was never Harry's strongest side as it required too much accuracy and patience, but contrary to Potions (which was similar to transfiguration in this aspect) he didn't have anyone to tutor him at home in this particular subject.
"It's open now. Get in, quickly. We're about to be late," the older wizard barked, clearly wanting them to drop the unpleasant topic and walking inside first.
His wife followed him, and so did Theo a second later. Daphne was the last one to go through the doorway, and Harry decided to follow her as tightly as possible, but...
Much to his shock and anger, just when he was about to slide inside after the girl, he received a heavy blow in his abdomen – and a very painful one. The heel of Daphne's white shoe pierced his skin even through the cloak, making the teen fall on his butt clumsily, gripping the slightly bleeding wound and raising his head to look at he blonde in disbelief.
How dare she...?
"What was that?" Theo's father turned around, frowning at the girl who gasped loudly, falling on her knee pretentiously.
"Oh... It's nothing, Mr. Nott. I just tripped. I'm not really used to wearing such shoes...," The man snorted contemptuously while Theo grabbed Daphne's hand roughly and pulled her inside.
"The door!" Daphne yelped, pointing in Harry's direction which made the teen frown even more. He didn't let said door close by blocking it with his magic, and the Slytherin witch was fully aware of the way his abilities worked, so it was at this point absolutely obvious that she had recognized him and didn't want him to follow them no matter what, even going so far as to harming him.
But why...?
"Forget about it, it's charmed by someone far more powerful than any of us. We don't have any time to waste, let's go."
Daphne glanced directly at Harry and shook her head quickly before turning around and following the three of wizards into the complete darkness of the hall.
Harry jumped up, slowly walking in as well with his hand still on the damaged spot on his waist as he was trying to see anything in front of him.
They had been walking across the underground part of the building for what seemed like good three minutes before Mr. Nott finally stopped next to one of the old wooden doors, opening it effortlessly this time.
"Follow me," he commanded, passing through the intangible blueish fog behind the doorway and disappearing right away.
In spite of clearly being aware of his presence, this time Daphne didn't attempt to stop Harry, sighing deeply and going in after Notts instead without turning back.
Harry frowned. Something was seriously off with whatever they were up to, it was obvious at this point. For Daphen to hit him so hard just to prevent him from following them? What a foolish girl. As if she hadn't realized that this would only strengthen his resolve to go and find out what was the deal no matter what.
He got up and jumped into the strange mist, not really surprised at the familiar feeling of the portal spell hooking his insides and pulling him to some other place – not that far away as it was only a matter of a few seconds before he got up from the floor on his slightly shaking legs, and...
His eyes widened a bit.
Those were his shaking legs! He had transformed back! But wasn't it too early for that yet...?
He held back a curse. Of course, the fog was most likely charmed to cancel any temporary effects like that of Polyjuice.
The wizard walked toward the only door in the empty room, stopping before it and noticing that it was half open. Strangely Daphne and Notts weren't anywhere around despite him following them tightly, which, as he deduced, was most likely due to some complex charms protecting the place from unwanted guests and thus taking those who passed through the fog to different locations.
And as if to confirm his assumption, he saw a masked and hooded man standing in front of him just outside the room, leaning against the opposite wall and watching carefully the place behind Harry's back as he clearly didn't see him through the cloak which was already a big relief to the young wizard.
Feeling his heart beginning to race in excitement, the teen smiled, passing by the man quietly and walking toward the end of the corridor from where he could hear multiple subdued voices coming.
But before he was able to enter the hall, he got pushed inside the small side room – a bathroom, judging by the interior – and got pinned against the cold tiled wall.
"What on earth are you doing here? I told you not to follow!" hissed the blonde girl, staring right into the place where his eyes were supposed to be under the cloak.
Harry whistled quietly, eyeing her up and down.
"Woah... That's impressive. So you can really see me, after all."
"That's not the point!" she hissed again, looking carefully at the door before closing it and turning back to Harry. "Why? Why are you always so stubborn?"
He chuckled.
"Easy, girl. I don't recall you telling me anything of sort. What I do remember, however, is you hitting me really hard with your heel. That was painful, you know!"
"Oh, shut up!" She groaned, clenching her fists and rolling here eyes. "You're a smart boy, you should've been able to understand!"
"I'm a slow learner," he smirked playfully, "And you still haven't explained how is it possible for you to see me through the cloak."
"I don't see you, stupid... I sense you," she sighed, shaking her head at him. "We've already been through this, haven't we?"
"True," he drawled reluctantly, as always feeling that she wasn't telling him the entire truth on the matter but deciding to let it slip for now once again. "So what are you guys doing here? And what's the deal with you being so nice with Theo? Holding hands and so on...," he sneered mockingly.
"Shut the hell up!" she shrieked defensively, crossing her hands. "I'm the one asking questions here!"
"Oh? And since when we're so brave?"
"Since the day I became a woman!"
His smile died out as he stared at her while his expression darkening.
"When?" He finally squeezed out, making her eyes widen at his tone which made her realize how exactly he must have interpreted her words. But then she gave him a mysterious smile – apparently she found his reaction amusing for some odd reason he neither understood nor cared about.
"About sixteen years ago. And what's up with that face?"
It was hard for him not to let out a loud sigh of relief. Instead, he looked away, pulling the cowl of his cloak off and sliding down the wall, finally getting a chance to sit after the long and traumatic chase, even in spite of the floor being cold and dirty.
"I just thought Nott had done something nasty to you, that's all," he murmured, refusing to meet her gaze.
"Uh huh...," she smiled slyly at him, leaning on her shoulder against the same wall. "Well, you don't have to worry about that... yet."
He glared at her darkly.
"Don't fuck with me."
"Why? Don't you find me attractive enough?" she giggled jokingly, making the wizard shake his head and sigh.
"You don't understand the current circumstances. Otherwise you'd have avoided these stupid jokes."
"Oh?" she looked a bit worried now, "Enlighten me, then?"
He didn't reply, taking the same piece of parchment he had shown to Tom at Leaky Cauldron not so long ago instead and handing it to the girl who gasped after studying it for a couple seconds, covering her mouth as she looked at the shining rune in disbelief.
"What the–what's the meaning of this...? Are you–no, it's not possible. You haven't even graduated yet!"
"Anything is possible when you are James Potter's son who just happens to be the most powerful wizard in his generation. Yes, I work for Aurors now. In a special unit, a secret one as hiring underage wizards is kinda illegal. I came here because of my current mission. You guys were overly suspicious, you know. Especially you."
It was her turn to give him a grim look, biting her lip nervously.
"It is hard to believe... Even though I trust you, of course. Always. But... If you're already an Auror–and this mission... Does it mean that you're not coming back to Hogwarts tomorrow?" he smiled at the way her eyes widened at the idea.
She seemed scared.
"No, I am coming back, don't worry. It's just a part time job as well as training for me."
"Hm... I see," she lowered her eyes timidly, looking a bit embarrassed. "But Harry, I–this mission of yours–I don't think it has anything to do with what's happening here."
"And what is happening here, exactly? You never told me. Want me to interrogate you?" He smirked at the way she blushed at his suggestion.
"That wouldn't be necessary. It's not that big of a secret, but I thought it could be dangerous for you to show up here all of sudden."
"Dangerous? Why? Is Voldemort around?"
She shook her head before sighing perplexedly, avoiding his eyes as she turned around and sent an anxious glance towards the door.
"No, I don't think so. It's just that... We've been pretty successful at hiding our connection until now. I don't want us to get exposed. Beside that, everyone present here are either former Death Eaters or people related to them. They want pureblood families to meet up and to discuss some common business... That's the extent of my knowledge, at least." She looked back at him.
"Well then..." Harry rubbed the collar of his cloak thoughtfully, distantly staring at the space in front of him. "There is a huge chance that my target is here among these people, then, so it was a right decision to follow you. Although I suppose I could arrest you for trying to stop me there," he smirked jokingly at Daphen who frowned.
"I wasn't aware that you are an Auror... or whatever you are. I was just trying to protect... us," she finished the sentence quietly, as if unsure if it was the right way to put it.
He smiled a bit more warmly than he wanted to.
"Don't worry about it. The Polyjuice effect got canceled, but I can still walk around and listen while being invisible. Let's go," he got up, putting the cowl on again.
"Harry–," she wanted to say something as he gave her a surprised look but shook her head and smiled instead. "I missed you."
"Yeah. Lead me to the snakes' nest now. Oh, and just for your information," he stopped, once again puzzled for a moment by the fact that she was able to look directly into his eyes while he was cloaked, "I have the permission to use lethal magic now. So–"
"No!" Her eyes widened in fear. "Please, don't! Don't kill him!"
He frowned. He was just going to make another joke, but now, getting what she was implying, he couldn't help but feel tempted by the sudden idea.
"Why?" he asked casually, even though that wasn't his intention to begin with. "That's a good opportunity, don't you think so?"
"He–," she bit her lip again, lowering her head and shaking it, "He hasn't done anything yet, Harry. He isn't a good person, mind you, but he doesn't deserve to die either. Remember that both of us are in this together. He suffers as much as I do."
Harry studied her face for a few long seconds. That was typical for Daphne who was still that sheepish and kind girl under the facade she had built up throughout the years since the day they had bound themselves together with the Unbreakable Vow. Always so righteous and fair, defending those who totally didn't deserve any mercy... Some Slytherin she was.
This girl was his complete opposite in so many senses that it made Harry constantly wondering whenever they interacted if he liked her or actually loathed her with passion. In his opinion most people didn't deserve any kindness or mercy at all. Most of them were pitiful beings anyway, wizards or not... Their miserable existence didn't have any valid point, so he couldn't care less about them unless they crossed his interests somehow.
Daphne, though... She was just something else. She was very predictable and naive from his point of view, but at the same time... Whenever he was about to reassure himself that she was just a foolish girl, she always managed to pull something absolutely unexpected to surprise or even shock him completely.
Much like today...
"I understand," he finally said indifferently, hiding his hands in his pockets. "I was just kidding anyway. I wouldn't abuse my rights." Oh, he would. And by the skeptical look the blonde gave him, she knew that as well.
"Please, be careful and let me know when you'll be leaving this place."
"Won't you be able to see that yourself? I mean sense... Whatever."
"I might be distracted or you might be too far away for me to notice."
"And if you'll be watched?"
"Well, you are invisible, I'm sure you can figure something out."
He grinned devilishly, following her to the door.
"Point taken."
"If you do something indecent, though, I'll probably freak out and you'll get busted, so you better be careful!" she winked at him, opening the door.
The boy's lips curved into an idiotic smile before he went after the girl. Once again, she had managed to catch him by surprise... So naive yet so cunning and shrewd at the same time.
What a witch.
They entered the spacious hall full of various people who were both standing and sitting everywhere around, chatting, eating and drinking. Their faces were hardly distinguishable under the dim light candles that were floating around, but Harry managed to recognize a few of them, so he knew that Daphne hadn't lied. There were mostly people from the families Aurors called 'shady' – and apparently his secret accomplice was now heading towards Notts who were talking to...
Harry frowned, stopping for a second and not believing his own eyes. Percy Weasley? What was he doing there...?
As the soft music that was flowing out of nowhere drowned the sound of his footsteps, The Boy Who Lived walked swiftly toward them, noticing how Theo's arm wrapped around Daphne's waist as she came close to them. She didn't react to the possessive gesture again, to Harry's anger.
How could she be so submissive? How could she not defy him...?!
He couldn't find the answers, so he decided to drop the issue for now. He had more important things to deal with now that he had been granted the opportunity to sneak into the place full of criminals and their associates.
"Don't you think there is at least the slightest chance for us to win the election?" Nott Sr. looked grimly at Percy who seemed to be a little nervous, replying right away as if talking to his boss,
"No, I don't think so, Mr. Nott. It is very clear at this point that my father is going to become the next Minister of Magic. It can't be helped, and the upcoming tournament is only going to make his position even more secure, with Dumbledore supporting him..."
"I see," Nott sighed, taking a sip of red wine. "Very well then, if it can't be helped then we need to get over it and adapt to the situation."
"Yes, I believe that is the best possible option for us right now. There is something else I wanted to suggest, though, if you don't mind."
Harry looked ad Daphne who glanced back at him perplexedly, clearly not really understanding what was there to their conversation while the invisible teen strode forward slowly, walking behind Daphne and Theo's backs and coming closer to their bunch.
Although the successful election campaign of Arthur Weasley was a big surprise to the Magical Britain after Fudge had gotten arrested with the corruption charge back in May thanks to Sirius Black's investigation, a lot of people including some of Arthur's own children believed that the man wasn't suited for such responsible job, which was why Percy being here now made sense to Harry.
"What is it?" asked Nott skeptically, looking at the scrawny young man who smiled nervously.
"Rumors in the ministry say that Potters... Well, Aurors in general don't really support Dumbledore and his followers, and that's to say the lest. Perhaps you could use that fact to build some bridges, so to say."
Theo's father hemmed thoughtfully, playing with his fingers on the glass he was holing.
"Potters, you say... Well, I can't say your suggestion is exactly unwise, although we have never been friends with their brethren. But seeing as Dumbledore is getting more and more power lately... Perhaps things are about to change. Theodore," he looked at his son who raised his head to return him the gloomy gaze. "I want you to befriend Harry Potter."
Harry covered his mouth with his hands as his eyes widened while he was trying to suppress the laughter.
Not only the idea of Death Eaters uniting with the likes of Potters was beyond ridiculous, but the fact that Theo would most likely have to lick his arse throughout the entire next year now... And moreover, Daphne's reaction!
The girl looked like she was about to faint, afraid to look in Harry's direction and rubbing Theo's wrist reassuringly.
"Is that really necessary, father?" The invisible wizard could give him a credit for taking it so stoically. It was probably the first time when Harry felt somewhat remotely similar to respect for his Slytherin classmate.
"It is. Do your best, son. This is very important to all of us. Dumbledore must not be allowed to get even more power than he possess right now. And the enemy of our enemy is our friend, do not forget. Beside that, I want you to take part in the tournament, son. Make sure to prepare yourself." He turned back to the red haired wizard and nodded. "Thank you for your aid, Mr. Weasley. Working with you is a big pleasure."
The tournament...?
"That is mutual, Mr. Nott. I'm looking forward to working alongside you and your people. I don't want Magical Britain to fall apart again."
"Neither do I. Cheers, young man. You are truly a bright wizard."
Deciding that it was enough, Harry stepped towards Daphne who was looking worriedly at Theo who in turn just stared into the space in front of him with an impassive expression. Before the girl could react, The Boy Who Lived pecked her cheek carefully, making her flinch and snap her head as he whispered quietly right into her ear, burning her skin with his breath which made her shiver slightly,
"See ya on the train, my friends."
She turned around, but he was already storming towards the exit.
"What is it?" asked Theo distantly, noticing her strange reaction and looking at his betrothed.
"Uh... Nothing... Just my impression," she mumbled, following Harry's back with her eyes worriedly as he left the hall.
Although his primary task was still under a question, he was sure he had received a priceless piece information, one that could even possibly mean the success of his mission as well. Maybe Daphne wasn't actually an idiot, but she was never interested in politics much so even though she would most likely tell him later about what happened at this strange party today, the fact that he had visited this place in person and witnessed everything himself was supposed to be absolutely invaluable for Aurors.
All he had to do now was to get back to the ministry and to give them his memories to study thoroughly with a pensive. To get the face of each and every wizard who was here tonight. To hear through all of their conversations.
Possibly even to find the murderer they were looking for...
He smiled, passing through the familiar blue fog.
"Good game, Death Eaters," he whispered and grinned as the portal activated once again. "You're done for."
So... I'm back after the break I decided to take after finishing the prologue part. The updates will be coming out more frequently from now on. You may expect the pace of approximately one chapter in two weeks. Although fyi it will depend on the amount of reviews I get, so if you want to get the next chapter sooner than later, please leave at least a few words! I appreciate everything ^.^ Thanks and cya soon!