Author's Note: As much as I would love to take credit for a second chapter in as many days, the fat is that the first half of this chapter was written as the beginning of chapter three but then I changed things around. Anyway please enjoy - let me know what you think in the reviews, or via PM. If you recognise it I probably don't own it. ~Thanks N
Draco was sitting in a booth towards the back of the Leaky Cauldron, here he was sheltered from prying eyes but still able to see most of the bar, and both external entrances. It was a habit he picked up during the war, in this case it also managed to place him as far away as possible from the so-called singer who was playing tonight.
He pulled out a silver pocket watch, checked it for the third time since arriving, and then snorted into his glass, typical he thought. He drained his glass and smacked it down on the table, he dropped several sickles beside the glass as he went to reach for his jacket but sensing something behind him, he stilled before relaxing and saying, "Late as usual Potter".
Draco threw his jacket back down and waved over Hannah Abbott, the new landlady, as Harry Potter slid into the booth across from him. Hannah arrived with a bottle of Ogden's Finest and a second glass, as she went to fill both glasses Draco said, "Just leave the bottle thanks Abbott, Potter's paying."
Hannah looked at them both and then reached her hand out "That'll be fifteen galleons up front then thank-you - and if either of you become too rowdy, I'll throw you out whether the bottle is finished or not".
Harry scowled at Draco before handing over the money to Hannah thanking her. Draco smirked back at Harry, and started to fill the two glasses with firewhisky, pushing one of the glasses towards Harry,
"To your uncanny ability to ruin my free time" Draco raised his glass to Harry smirking before taking a sip, Harry just rolled his eyes, and shook his head while also drinking.
"Ever the drama queen Malfoy – I got held up for 15 minutes while I made a quick stop at home to see my pregnant wife,"
"Ah yes, the lovely Mrs Potter, how is she doing by the way? The Harpies sure could use her talents on the pitch this season,"
"We don't talk about that" Harry looked grim momentarily before slyly adding "Hermione was there with her".
Now it was Draco's turn to look grim; his lips thinning almost imperceptibly. Though he had built strong friendships with Potter, his wife, and even the extended Weasley family, the brunette muggle born had remained elusive. He knew she had forgiven him for his part in the war, so it wasn't that, they just didn't seem to get along. She had testified at his trial, and they had shared Head Student duties in their final year at Hogwarts, but since then he had hardly seen or heard from her. In fact, unless it was absolutely necessary for them to both attend a social event, like for example the Potters' wedding, one or the other usually managed to put in apology. Fierce competitiveness seemed to have morphed into mutual dislike, and for some reason that bugged Draco. Ginny Potter often joked it was unresolved sexual tension, which Draco vehemently disagreed with, but it was still not something he wanted to explore too deeply. So, by unspoken agreement Hermione Granger was almost never mentioned in his presence unless someone wanted to annoy him.
Raising his eyebrows slightly at Harry, he chose to ignore the remark by finishing off his drink and pouring himself another before pulling out a magically shrunken copy of the files Harry had sent to him earlier that day. When Draco enlarged them with a wave of his wand, Harry noticed that he already started to make notes on them. Harry reached across to look over Draco's notes, while Draco gave him a couple of minutes to review everything in silence before beginning his brief explanation. He watched Harry pull apart the file and the crime scene photos caught his eye – it was a very grim murder scene, not the worst that he'd consulted with Potter on, but this killer was notably sadistic.
Draco thought Potter had been mad when he first approached him to discuss consulting with the Auror Department, after he finished his training as a healer. Potter had outlined the role of muggle forensic investigation and thought that similar principles could be applied in the magical world and given Draco's knowledge of magical injuries and his knowledge of the dark arts, Potter had gained approval from the Head Auror to start a small pilot program with Draco acting as a temporary consultant on cases. Their success was unprecedented, Draco had gone on to study criminal psychology in his spare time at muggle university and had travelled with Potter around the world giving lectures on their scheme and assisting to set up similar teams in several other countries.
Potter finished reading and broke the silence asking, "So you recommend contacting Durmstrang and asking about the curse used?"
"Well yes, it's obviously Eastern European in origin, that much I can tell at first glance, there is a couple of books I can reference in the library at the Manor and I will check on them during my time off, but as the victims have no known links to Eastern Europe themselves I doubt it would have been chosen as part of a ritualistic killing. So perhaps it was opportunistic, in that this was the nastiest thing the murderer could think of doing to their victim. It is obscure enough magic that you wouldn't stumble across it unless you were looking so, they probably learnt it somewhere. Durmstrang is the best place to ask as they will be able to tell you if they've ever had a Dark Arts professor who included this type of material in their curriculum, if so then you have a list of students who may have encountered it whilst there that you can cross reference with people in England at the time of the murder. If not, then it's more complicated you'll need to start looking into people who may have encountered such work in their further education".
Harry looked thoughtful before nodding, "Which would be more time consuming and result in potentially a higher number of suspects".
"Obviously," Draco replied in a voice that reminded Harry of their old potions master, "Although it's really not much to go on," Draco frowned re-examining one of the photos "This is very thorough, the killer seems to be well practiced in removing any traces, including their magical signature, from the scene; that kind of clean-up is especially difficult with dark magic generally and curses specifically. Since there's no obvious links between the victims and anyone from Eastern Europe, it may also probably worth contacting other jurisdictions looking for similar cases. I can help with that the day after tomorrow, and review anything that comes up in whatever spare time I have over the next week".
Harry smiled, "Thanks Malfoy, I appreciate it'.
Draco smirked again "Now Potter don't thank me, yet, I haven't sent you my bill".
Rolling his eyes Harry finished his drink and packed away the case files, before the two friends drank the rest of the bottle of firewhisky, discussed the latest quidditch results and narrowly avoided being thrown out by Hannah when they decided they could sing a much better, and ruder, rendition of the song being played by the live performer.