HP Fic: Judgement Issues (Harry/Draco). 13 Smutty Nights series, part 3/13
Title: Judgement Issues
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2079
Warnings: still none, I think. Unless you want one for some serious UST and wee tiny bit of angst. Oh, wait--swearing.
Prompt: 13 Smutty Nights of Halloween fest at hd_seasons , prompt #3 (skeletons; kisses)
Disclaimer: Done for fun, not profit. No copyright infringement intended. Characters belong to JKR.
Summary: The assignment they’ve been given gets more complicated, and an issue in timing only makes it worse.
Author’s Notes: This fic got a bit more mysterious and action-filled than anticipated. One kind of action now, and the kind you’re all waiting for soon :)
"You know, when I signed up for this job, I didn't exactly expect this."
Draco laughed without much mirth and continued to step sideways, pressed against a wall. "I suppose you expected it all to be glamorous chases and tackling Dark Wizards and collecting awards, didn't you?"
"Not exactly. I expected duelling, and chases, and apprehending criminals. I even expected a bit of paperwork. But this..." Potter trailed off as they squeezed through a stone passageway that narrowed the farther they went. "Are we sure we'll fit through?"
"Our suspect did. You saw him. And he was nearly your size."
"That's something else that doesn't feel right. Why didn't he just Apparate to his location? It would have been a lot easier."
Draco sighed. The light was dimming, a result of Potter's broad shoulders blocking the light at the end of the passage as they moved on. "Think, Potter. I know you can. If this place is what we think it is, then there are anti-Apparition wards all over the place. Something to remember if we require a quick escape."
"Do you think our source is right about this?" Potter's breath sounded a bit laboured, and Draco knew the other man was squeezed between the walls even more tightly than he was. At least Potter had thought to cast a spell to keep others from hearing them. "About what we'll find he---oh, fantastic."
Potter had stopped moving. "What? What is it?" Draco couldn't see past him, and if there was an adversary at the end of the passageway, they were done for. There was no getting out of this place quickly.
"I stepped in something."
"Water? A hole? Some sort of hex boundary?"
"No... More like...remains. I'm guessing cat, dog, crup, or kneazle, but it's not as if I can bend down and look. Hold up. We're almost through. Just watch out. This spot's a bit squishy."
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me."
"I wish I were." Potter grunted. "There. Almost out. Give me a shove, would you?"
Draco lifted his arm and gave Potter a push. It was awkward and difficult, but it seemed to do the job. He clenched his jaw when he felt his shoe slide in something. It was worse hearing it at the same time. His stomach gave a little tilt of warning, but he forced it to settle.
"Thanks. Oh, fuck."
"What?" His head was at the wrong angle, and whatever Potter was standing and looking at, Draco could not see it. Then Potter grabbed Draco's arm and yanked hard enough to send him lurching out of the passageway, and Draco saw exactly what his partner meant. "Fuck."
There were bones scattered around the perimeter of the room. They looked to be quite old. There was no decomposing flesh at all, no clothing deteriorating on the bodies. Just grey, dingy bones in a round room with several doors radiating outward. In the centre of the room was something that looked like an altar, a large slab of marble, perhaps. Draco did not want to get close enough to find out. "Well, unless this is some spectacular illusion or the scene of a fairly convincing Halloween prank, I'd say our informant had at least a few things right."
Draco swallowed hard. There were skeletons laid in an elaborate pattern, and what he hoped was not dried blood at the altar. "Necromancers."
"Looks like."
"So, what do we do now? I don't see our suspect anywhere. And the place is covered in dust, but there are no footprints, other than our own."
Potter spun around in a slow circle. "Fuck if I know. Do we try the doors?"
"Are you mad? How the hell have you managed to live this long? Have you not considered the possibility of a trap? This screams 'set-up'."
"If it was a trap, why wouldn't they just take us out when we were smashed into that ridiculous passageway?"
Draco didn't have a good answer for that. And then suddenly, it came to him. "Necromancers, Potter. What do you think the chances are they need us to die either within that circle, or on that stone in the centre?"
Potter turned to face him, understanding dawning on his face, and that was when Draco saw a fluttering movement by the closest door. "Protego" he shouted, pointing his wand at his partner. For one horrifyingly slow moment, Potter's eyes widened and he fell to the floor as if dragged, his upper body crossing the circle's boundary. Draco still could not see what exactly was against them, but he aimed his wand at a likely spot and cast the first few spells that came to mind--disarming, freezing, binding. None of them seemed to do any good. Potter was still on the ground, writhing like a fish out of water, no sound coming out of his gaping mouth.
Draco sprinted to his partner's side and dropped to his knees. "Potter!" The other man paid him no attention. Without thinking, Draco grabbed him by the legs and pulled. Fuck, what if he was too late? Protego wasn't effective against everything.
Potter slid the rest of the way out of the circle, gasping as Draco pulled him close. "Potter? Potter! Are you all right?"
Potter waved him off and tried to sit up. "Yeah," he said finally, though he certainly did not look all right. "I am now. Thanks."
"What the fuck happened?"
"Funny, I was going to ask you that." His voice was raspy. "I didn't see a damned thing. I saw your face change, and then I saw you cast a protection charm on me, and then the upper half of my body was on fire and I couldn't breathe. What did you see?"
"Nothing," Draco admitted with irritation. The air behind you...it fluttered or shimmered or something, and I threw out the spell just in case you needed it. I threw a number of spells and hexes at the spot, but nothing happened. And look." He pointed at the ground around them. "Still no footprints or other disturbances, other than our own." He thought for a moment as they sat together on the ground and Potter got his breathing to normalise. "Out of curiosity... Do you think the suspect we followed in here tonight was really a person? Or some sort of projection? Just something to catch our attention or lead us in?"
Potter chewed on his lower lip, an old habit Draco was used to seeing, and somehow the familiar action relaxed Draco and let him believe his partner really was all right. "I don't think it was a person. It would explain how he got through that bloody passage so easily. It might have been some sort of illusion. Send out your Patronus to Morgan. Let him know what we found, and warn him about that circle. He should get one of the experts on Necromancers and circle rituals out here."
Draco cast his Patronus and sent it off with the message. "What now?"
"Now we go back and wait for them outside. I don't want to be in this place any longer than necessary. You lead."
"Like hell I'm going first," Draco said, his jaw set. "I'm staying behind you."
Potter didn't say anything. He simply took Draco's offered hand and pulled himself up into a standing position. Several moments later, they were outside the old stone building, huddled together against the cold. "They should be here soon," his partner said eventually.
"Yes. Morgan has his faults, but lack of response is not one of them." He rubbed his arms against the cold wind and gave Potter a smile when he cast a warming charm around them both. "Thanks."
"Welcome. Um. Malfoy? Could you do me a favour?"
"Wasn't saving you enough?" His tone was light and easy, though he felt neither of those things. He kept seeing the moment Potter fell, remembering that instant where Draco had wondered if his protection charm hadn't been adequate.
Potter laughed softly. "Yes, well, one other small thing would be nice. Could you not tell Morgan or the others that I fell into the circle?"
"Isn't that information that might be useful in the investigation? Morgan thinks this fellow we thought we were following also has something to do with the reason we were sent into the Forbidden Forest."
"Perhaps. But if he gets an expert in the field, he won't need me to tell him what happened. Besides, it will only get you in trouble."
"Oh? How's that?"
"The charm you cast on me. The Protego. You never cast one on yourself. Protocol insists that if there are no civilians involved, you protect yourself from a threat, and if time allows, your partner, as he should be aware enough to cast one on himself. Not only did you protect me first, but you never protected yourself at all. And while some might assume you told me to go first on the way out so that you would be safer," he mused, "I believe you did it so you could keep an eye on me and make sure I was all right." He turned to face Draco, who could not look him in the eye. "Am I right?"
Fuck. Unfortunately for Draco, Potter was correct in his reasoning. "I suppose I did forget to cast my own protection charm."
"And the other thing? The reason you told me to go first? Was I right there, too?"
Persistent Gryffindors were such a pain. "Perhaps. How would it look if you died while we were alone together? How do you think the public would react? I have to make certain you're safe."
Potter shook his head. "I think it's something else."
Draco ignored the knotting in his stomach. Potter was sitting too close, staring at him too intently. And fuck all, Draco thought he knew. There had been too many moments lately when he found them a little closer than necessary, and wondered if Potter might just possibly be interested. There were no rumours about Potter's love life as of recently, and work had kept them both busy, but Draco could not remember the last time he saw Potter with a female who was not a suspect, victim, or Granger. "Oh? What else could it be?"
Potter shrugged. "Maybe this." He leaned forward quickly and covered Draco's mouth with his own. Draco was too surprised to react. When he did nothing, Potter withdrew. "Um. Or maybe not." He looked embarrassed and more than a little upset. He stood and shoved his hands into his robes. "Guess I'm not always as right as I think. Sorry."
"Potter, wait, I--"
He did not get a chance to finish his sentence, for Morgan and a whole fleet of Aurors arrived and pulled them apart to begin questioning. Draco swore under his breath as Morgan led Potter away. He stared at the back of Potter's head and willed him to turn so Draco could mouth an apology, give him a smile, something, but Potter never looked his way, and by the time Draco was finished with his statement, his partner was gone.
"Good work, Malfoy. I'd say you've done enough for the evening. Go home and get some sleep. We'll see you and Potter tomorrow, bright and early."
"Actually, I wanted to ask Potter something before I head home--"
Morgan shook his head. "I wouldn't bother, Malfoy. He looked disturbed by what happened here tonight. Said he was going home, disconnecting from the Floo Network, and holing up alone until work in the morning. Said a night of sleep would do him and his judgement good."
Draco sighed. Potter could be so bloody moody sometimes. If only his partner wasn't so impulsive, Draco would have seen the kiss coming and could have reacted the way he had meant to. Of course, if he had reacted that way, their supervisor and coworkers would have walked in on a very different scene, and they would likely be having a very different talk. "Thank you, sir." It still grated on him to use that term of respect, when he did not feel it was deserved. "I suppose sleep is the best course of action." He turned and walked away from the mass of people before Apparating. There was nothing to do now but wait for morning. He could talk to Potter then and sort everything right.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2079
Warnings: still none, I think. Unless you want one for some serious UST and wee tiny bit of angst. Oh, wait--swearing.
Prompt: 13 Smutty Nights of Halloween fest at hd_seasons , prompt #3 (skeletons; kisses)
Disclaimer: Done for fun, not profit. No copyright infringement intended. Characters belong to JKR.
Summary: The assignment they’ve been given gets more complicated, and an issue in timing only makes it worse.
Author’s Notes: This fic got a bit more mysterious and action-filled than anticipated. One kind of action now, and the kind you’re all waiting for soon :)
"You know, when I signed up for this job, I didn't exactly expect this."
Draco laughed without much mirth and continued to step sideways, pressed against a wall. "I suppose you expected it all to be glamorous chases and tackling Dark Wizards and collecting awards, didn't you?"
"Not exactly. I expected duelling, and chases, and apprehending criminals. I even expected a bit of paperwork. But this..." Potter trailed off as they squeezed through a stone passageway that narrowed the farther they went. "Are we sure we'll fit through?"
"Our suspect did. You saw him. And he was nearly your size."
"That's something else that doesn't feel right. Why didn't he just Apparate to his location? It would have been a lot easier."
Draco sighed. The light was dimming, a result of Potter's broad shoulders blocking the light at the end of the passage as they moved on. "Think, Potter. I know you can. If this place is what we think it is, then there are anti-Apparition wards all over the place. Something to remember if we require a quick escape."
"Do you think our source is right about this?" Potter's breath sounded a bit laboured, and Draco knew the other man was squeezed between the walls even more tightly than he was. At least Potter had thought to cast a spell to keep others from hearing them. "About what we'll find he---oh, fantastic."
Potter had stopped moving. "What? What is it?" Draco couldn't see past him, and if there was an adversary at the end of the passageway, they were done for. There was no getting out of this place quickly.
"I stepped in something."
"Water? A hole? Some sort of hex boundary?"
"No... More like...remains. I'm guessing cat, dog, crup, or kneazle, but it's not as if I can bend down and look. Hold up. We're almost through. Just watch out. This spot's a bit squishy."
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me."
"I wish I were." Potter grunted. "There. Almost out. Give me a shove, would you?"
Draco lifted his arm and gave Potter a push. It was awkward and difficult, but it seemed to do the job. He clenched his jaw when he felt his shoe slide in something. It was worse hearing it at the same time. His stomach gave a little tilt of warning, but he forced it to settle.
"Thanks. Oh, fuck."
"What?" His head was at the wrong angle, and whatever Potter was standing and looking at, Draco could not see it. Then Potter grabbed Draco's arm and yanked hard enough to send him lurching out of the passageway, and Draco saw exactly what his partner meant. "Fuck."
There were bones scattered around the perimeter of the room. They looked to be quite old. There was no decomposing flesh at all, no clothing deteriorating on the bodies. Just grey, dingy bones in a round room with several doors radiating outward. In the centre of the room was something that looked like an altar, a large slab of marble, perhaps. Draco did not want to get close enough to find out. "Well, unless this is some spectacular illusion or the scene of a fairly convincing Halloween prank, I'd say our informant had at least a few things right."
Draco swallowed hard. There were skeletons laid in an elaborate pattern, and what he hoped was not dried blood at the altar. "Necromancers."
"Looks like."
"So, what do we do now? I don't see our suspect anywhere. And the place is covered in dust, but there are no footprints, other than our own."
Potter spun around in a slow circle. "Fuck if I know. Do we try the doors?"
"Are you mad? How the hell have you managed to live this long? Have you not considered the possibility of a trap? This screams 'set-up'."
"If it was a trap, why wouldn't they just take us out when we were smashed into that ridiculous passageway?"
Draco didn't have a good answer for that. And then suddenly, it came to him. "Necromancers, Potter. What do you think the chances are they need us to die either within that circle, or on that stone in the centre?"
Potter turned to face him, understanding dawning on his face, and that was when Draco saw a fluttering movement by the closest door. "Protego" he shouted, pointing his wand at his partner. For one horrifyingly slow moment, Potter's eyes widened and he fell to the floor as if dragged, his upper body crossing the circle's boundary. Draco still could not see what exactly was against them, but he aimed his wand at a likely spot and cast the first few spells that came to mind--disarming, freezing, binding. None of them seemed to do any good. Potter was still on the ground, writhing like a fish out of water, no sound coming out of his gaping mouth.
Draco sprinted to his partner's side and dropped to his knees. "Potter!" The other man paid him no attention. Without thinking, Draco grabbed him by the legs and pulled. Fuck, what if he was too late? Protego wasn't effective against everything.
Potter slid the rest of the way out of the circle, gasping as Draco pulled him close. "Potter? Potter! Are you all right?"
Potter waved him off and tried to sit up. "Yeah," he said finally, though he certainly did not look all right. "I am now. Thanks."
"What the fuck happened?"
"Funny, I was going to ask you that." His voice was raspy. "I didn't see a damned thing. I saw your face change, and then I saw you cast a protection charm on me, and then the upper half of my body was on fire and I couldn't breathe. What did you see?"
"Nothing," Draco admitted with irritation. The air behind you...it fluttered or shimmered or something, and I threw out the spell just in case you needed it. I threw a number of spells and hexes at the spot, but nothing happened. And look." He pointed at the ground around them. "Still no footprints or other disturbances, other than our own." He thought for a moment as they sat together on the ground and Potter got his breathing to normalise. "Out of curiosity... Do you think the suspect we followed in here tonight was really a person? Or some sort of projection? Just something to catch our attention or lead us in?"
Potter chewed on his lower lip, an old habit Draco was used to seeing, and somehow the familiar action relaxed Draco and let him believe his partner really was all right. "I don't think it was a person. It would explain how he got through that bloody passage so easily. It might have been some sort of illusion. Send out your Patronus to Morgan. Let him know what we found, and warn him about that circle. He should get one of the experts on Necromancers and circle rituals out here."
Draco cast his Patronus and sent it off with the message. "What now?"
"Now we go back and wait for them outside. I don't want to be in this place any longer than necessary. You lead."
"Like hell I'm going first," Draco said, his jaw set. "I'm staying behind you."
Potter didn't say anything. He simply took Draco's offered hand and pulled himself up into a standing position. Several moments later, they were outside the old stone building, huddled together against the cold. "They should be here soon," his partner said eventually.
"Yes. Morgan has his faults, but lack of response is not one of them." He rubbed his arms against the cold wind and gave Potter a smile when he cast a warming charm around them both. "Thanks."
"Welcome. Um. Malfoy? Could you do me a favour?"
"Wasn't saving you enough?" His tone was light and easy, though he felt neither of those things. He kept seeing the moment Potter fell, remembering that instant where Draco had wondered if his protection charm hadn't been adequate.
Potter laughed softly. "Yes, well, one other small thing would be nice. Could you not tell Morgan or the others that I fell into the circle?"
"Isn't that information that might be useful in the investigation? Morgan thinks this fellow we thought we were following also has something to do with the reason we were sent into the Forbidden Forest."
"Perhaps. But if he gets an expert in the field, he won't need me to tell him what happened. Besides, it will only get you in trouble."
"Oh? How's that?"
"The charm you cast on me. The Protego. You never cast one on yourself. Protocol insists that if there are no civilians involved, you protect yourself from a threat, and if time allows, your partner, as he should be aware enough to cast one on himself. Not only did you protect me first, but you never protected yourself at all. And while some might assume you told me to go first on the way out so that you would be safer," he mused, "I believe you did it so you could keep an eye on me and make sure I was all right." He turned to face Draco, who could not look him in the eye. "Am I right?"
Fuck. Unfortunately for Draco, Potter was correct in his reasoning. "I suppose I did forget to cast my own protection charm."
"And the other thing? The reason you told me to go first? Was I right there, too?"
Persistent Gryffindors were such a pain. "Perhaps. How would it look if you died while we were alone together? How do you think the public would react? I have to make certain you're safe."
Potter shook his head. "I think it's something else."
Draco ignored the knotting in his stomach. Potter was sitting too close, staring at him too intently. And fuck all, Draco thought he knew. There had been too many moments lately when he found them a little closer than necessary, and wondered if Potter might just possibly be interested. There were no rumours about Potter's love life as of recently, and work had kept them both busy, but Draco could not remember the last time he saw Potter with a female who was not a suspect, victim, or Granger. "Oh? What else could it be?"
Potter shrugged. "Maybe this." He leaned forward quickly and covered Draco's mouth with his own. Draco was too surprised to react. When he did nothing, Potter withdrew. "Um. Or maybe not." He looked embarrassed and more than a little upset. He stood and shoved his hands into his robes. "Guess I'm not always as right as I think. Sorry."
"Potter, wait, I--"
He did not get a chance to finish his sentence, for Morgan and a whole fleet of Aurors arrived and pulled them apart to begin questioning. Draco swore under his breath as Morgan led Potter away. He stared at the back of Potter's head and willed him to turn so Draco could mouth an apology, give him a smile, something, but Potter never looked his way, and by the time Draco was finished with his statement, his partner was gone.
"Good work, Malfoy. I'd say you've done enough for the evening. Go home and get some sleep. We'll see you and Potter tomorrow, bright and early."
"Actually, I wanted to ask Potter something before I head home--"
Morgan shook his head. "I wouldn't bother, Malfoy. He looked disturbed by what happened here tonight. Said he was going home, disconnecting from the Floo Network, and holing up alone until work in the morning. Said a night of sleep would do him and his judgement good."
Draco sighed. Potter could be so bloody moody sometimes. If only his partner wasn't so impulsive, Draco would have seen the kiss coming and could have reacted the way he had meant to. Of course, if he had reacted that way, their supervisor and coworkers would have walked in on a very different scene, and they would likely be having a very different talk. "Thank you, sir." It still grated on him to use that term of respect, when he did not feel it was deserved. "I suppose sleep is the best course of action." He turned and walked away from the mass of people before Apparating. There was nothing to do now but wait for morning. He could talk to Potter then and sort everything right.