Malicious Intent - Part 2 (H/D)
Title: Malicious Intent - Part 2
Author: sesheta_66
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Word Count: 1.7K
Rating: Eventual NC-17
Warning: none
Summary: Harry’s world is upended when he’s asked to investigate a break-in and threats levied at Draco Malfoy. He’s never told anyone about their short-lived but intense relationship, and now, five years after it ended, doesn’t seem the time. He’s a professional, so he will investigate, find and arrest the culprit, and get on with his life. What else can he do?
Disclaimer: Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
To start at the beginning, click here.
Or to read at AO3, click here.
[Malicious Intent - Part 2]
Malicious Intent - Part 2
Harry arrived at Malfoy’s flat - a new one that he’d never been to before. It seemed he was doing rather well for himself. He took a few calming breaths - he could do this - and wiped his sweaty palms on his Auror robes before knocking on the door.
At once, he felt a wave of magic descend over him. His robes would prevent identification, beyond the fact that he meant no harm. Probably a good thing, given the situation. "Who’s there?" a familiar but shaky voice came from the other side of the door.
"Aurors," Harry replied, pleased that his voice came out steadily.
When Malfoy opened the door, his eyes widened. Harry looked past him into the flat and was taken aback by the mess. He shouldn’t have been, considering the report had said there’d been damage. But it was so strange to see Draco - no, Malfoy - surrounded by such disarray. "I ... I didn’t expect it to be you."
"Yeah, well, here I am." Harry walked past Malfoy, perhaps a bit more roughly than strictly necessary, and suppressed a shudder as the full impact of the destruction met his eyes. He knew this would shake Malfoy up. He’d told Harry how violating the presence of Voldemort and his followers had been at Malfoy Manor. He’d not had a single night of restful sleep the entire time. Someone’s home should be their sanctuary, their escape, he’d said at the time. Sure, he hadn’t been home at the time of the break-in, but the invasion of his sanctuary would have shaken Malfoy to the core. Harry breathed in deeply again, willing himself to be objective. He took out his notepad, turned to the first blank page and waved his wand over it, marking the date, time and case number before turning to face Malfoy. "So I understand you’ve had a break-in."
Predictably, Malfoy rolled his eyes. "What was your first clue?"
Harry narrowed his eyes, but otherwise didn’t take the bait. "If I’m to understand correctly, you also received a threatening note?"
"Yes, it’s right over here."
As he reached out, Harry said, "Don’t touch it!"
Malfoy pulled back his hand at Harry’s command. "I’m afraid it’s too late for that."
"Well, don’t touch it again. We may be able to gather fingerprints or DNA or even a magical signature, if we’re lucky. I’d rather not contaminate it any more than it already has been."
Malfoy glared but said nothing. Harry withdrew an evidence bag and gloves, then carefully picked the paper up by the corner, not wanting his own magic to damage possible evidence, and placed it into the clear plastic.
Once the note was encased in the bag, he ran cursory detection spells - ones that might identify traces of magic or physical evidence without penetrating with his own magic - but with no result.
"Anything?" Malfoy asked.
Harry shook his head and scribbled the results in his notebook. "Does anyone live here with you?" When Malfoy shot him a look that screamed none of your fucking business, he added, "If someone else resides here, they may be able to account for other items missing or damaged. And they might also be in danger."
Reluctantly, Malfoy shook his head. "No. No one else lives here."
"Does anyone else have access?"
Malfoy nodded. "My mother, but only when I open access to her. Generally, it’s closed off to everyone, but the wards are set to recognise her, so when I close them, she isn’t granted access, but the wards don’t push back. With others, there’s a jolt and an immediate warning to me of an attempted breach."
"Only your mother, no one else?" Malfoy nodded. "And there was no such warning this time?"
Malfoy ran his hands up his arms as though suddenly cold. "None."
Harry made more notes in his book. "Right. I’ll do a preliminary scan to see if there’s anything that might require a forensics team to do more in-depth investigating." He ran the same scan over the floor as he had on the note before beginning his walk through. "Stay here, if you don’t mind," he said as Malfoy made to follow him.
"I do mind, as a matter of fact."
Harry sighed. "Look, Malfoy, you don’t have to like it, but I’ve been assigned to your case. I need to work it and do at least a preliminary scan over your flat. If you follow me, it could compromise the readings." Malfoy glared. Harry glared back. "I’m not going to touch anything, just scan. I’m not interested in digging into whatever you’re doing."
Malfoy hesitated. "Fine," he said, then crossed his arms over his chest. "But I’ll be watching."
Harry turned away before rolling his eyes. He could run whatever diagnostics he wanted and Malfoy would be none the wiser, but he wasn’t about to tell him that. Let him think he’s watching me.
As it turned out, there was no trace in the flat left from the break-in, except ...
Harry waved his wand over Malfoy before grasping his arm. "I’ll need you to come to the Ministry to make a statement." Harry Apparated them both to the Ministry, then said, "Sit down here, Malfoy. I’ll be back in a little while to take your statement." When Malfoy made to open his mouth, Harry placed a finger over it, effectively silencing him. He then took Malfoy’s hand and gently slipped his family ring from his finger, placing it on the table and pressing his finger more strongly to Malfoy’s lips. He waved his wand and the ring was first encased in a translucent bubble then raised to the ceiling. Then, without any warning, he Apparated them once more, this time to the front room at Grimmauld Place.
No sooner did they land when Malfoy pulled out of Harry’s grip. "What the fuck, Harry?"
"That’s Auror Potter, if you don’t mind."
"Fine, then. What the fuck, Auror Potter?"
"Your flat had a number of tracking devices, three different types: one includes video surveillance, one audio only and the third was, I believe, meant to be found. Far less sophisticated than the other two."
Malfoy looked momentarily ill. He recovered quickly and scowled at Harry. "That still doesn’t explain why we’re here."
"I wanted to speak to you in private."
Malfoy pursed his lips and eyed Harry warily. "And the Ministry wasn’t private enough?"
He had a point, particularly since he had no idea that only three people at the Ministry even knew about the case. This place, after all, was where they’d practically lived together. Had spent their best times. It was also the place where Harry currently lived with Ginny. This was such a stupid idea. And yet ... "Relax. I mean strictly about the case."
"Go on." He didn’t look remotely convinced. He also looked about as uncomfortable as Harry now felt. "And what was with my ring? That’s a family heirloom."
"Whatever. Look, I wanted to tell you about the tracking devices, but there was one on your person as well. Inside your ring. That’s why I removed it and left it - under protection - at the Ministry. Now whoever’s listening will hear the muffled goings on there but not our conversation." This had been the only place he’d thought of that would be private, with Ginny currently away at a game for the day and well into the night. "Now does it make sense?"
Malfoy shrugged and his fingers played with the spot where his ring usually rested. "So talk."
"What do you want to do about the listening devices?"
He looked at Harry incredulously. "Get rid of them."
"Or," Harry suggested, "you could let them think we’ve only found the obvious ones."
Malfoy shuddered. "It’s creepy being watched."
Harry agreed. "I can fix that. Run a time-loop that projects what we want by using some of your memories."
"You can do that?"
"Yeah. It’ll take a bit of time to work it out, but I think I can manage it by tomorrow."
Malfoy stared at Harry for a long well before reluctantly saying, "That’s impressive."
Harry didn’t want his approval or compliments or, well, anything. He just wanted to find whoever was threatening Malfoy, lock him away and get on with his life. "Look, I don’t need your praise, I just need your decision."
Malfoy looked poised to argue, but decided against and said, "Okay."
"Good. Let me get a Pensieve and you can place a bunch of memories into it. Then I’ll work on rearranging them in several different configurations so the loop doesn’t get detected too readily. We’ll only use it when you want privacy."
"I want privacy all the time."
"Yes, well, you probably haven’t had that for some time now."
Malfoy once more looked ready to sick up. "What do you mean? Didn’t they just leave them yesterday?"
"Not if my detection spells are correct." He looked at Malfoy’s distraught face and forced himself to remain impassive. "And they usually are. I would say about six were left yesterday, including the three that are easily found, but the rest were left earlier. A couple much earlier."
"Just how many are there?"
"I noticed about fifteen. I’d have to re-run my diagnostics to be sure I didn’t miss any that might be close together - I didn’t want to alert whoever is watching to what I was doing - but there are at least that many."
"What the hell?"
"I’d say someone - or possibly more than one someone - wants to know every move you make."
Malfoy wrapped his arms around himself and shivered; he looked utterly vulnerable and petrified. It was everything Harry could do to hold back from taking him in his arms and telling him everything would be okay. Instead, he said in as professional and detached a voice as he could muster, "Right, so let’s get on with this, shall we?"
Continued in Part 3
Author: sesheta_66
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Word Count: 1.7K
Rating: Eventual NC-17
Warning: none
Summary: Harry’s world is upended when he’s asked to investigate a break-in and threats levied at Draco Malfoy. He’s never told anyone about their short-lived but intense relationship, and now, five years after it ended, doesn’t seem the time. He’s a professional, so he will investigate, find and arrest the culprit, and get on with his life. What else can he do?
Disclaimer: Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
To start at the beginning, click here.
Or to read at AO3, click here.
[Malicious Intent - Part 2]
Malicious Intent - Part 2
Harry arrived at Malfoy’s flat - a new one that he’d never been to before. It seemed he was doing rather well for himself. He took a few calming breaths - he could do this - and wiped his sweaty palms on his Auror robes before knocking on the door.
At once, he felt a wave of magic descend over him. His robes would prevent identification, beyond the fact that he meant no harm. Probably a good thing, given the situation. "Who’s there?" a familiar but shaky voice came from the other side of the door.
"Aurors," Harry replied, pleased that his voice came out steadily.
When Malfoy opened the door, his eyes widened. Harry looked past him into the flat and was taken aback by the mess. He shouldn’t have been, considering the report had said there’d been damage. But it was so strange to see Draco - no, Malfoy - surrounded by such disarray. "I ... I didn’t expect it to be you."
"Yeah, well, here I am." Harry walked past Malfoy, perhaps a bit more roughly than strictly necessary, and suppressed a shudder as the full impact of the destruction met his eyes. He knew this would shake Malfoy up. He’d told Harry how violating the presence of Voldemort and his followers had been at Malfoy Manor. He’d not had a single night of restful sleep the entire time. Someone’s home should be their sanctuary, their escape, he’d said at the time. Sure, he hadn’t been home at the time of the break-in, but the invasion of his sanctuary would have shaken Malfoy to the core. Harry breathed in deeply again, willing himself to be objective. He took out his notepad, turned to the first blank page and waved his wand over it, marking the date, time and case number before turning to face Malfoy. "So I understand you’ve had a break-in."
Predictably, Malfoy rolled his eyes. "What was your first clue?"
Harry narrowed his eyes, but otherwise didn’t take the bait. "If I’m to understand correctly, you also received a threatening note?"
"Yes, it’s right over here."
As he reached out, Harry said, "Don’t touch it!"
Malfoy pulled back his hand at Harry’s command. "I’m afraid it’s too late for that."
"Well, don’t touch it again. We may be able to gather fingerprints or DNA or even a magical signature, if we’re lucky. I’d rather not contaminate it any more than it already has been."
Malfoy glared but said nothing. Harry withdrew an evidence bag and gloves, then carefully picked the paper up by the corner, not wanting his own magic to damage possible evidence, and placed it into the clear plastic.
Once the note was encased in the bag, he ran cursory detection spells - ones that might identify traces of magic or physical evidence without penetrating with his own magic - but with no result.
"Anything?" Malfoy asked.
Harry shook his head and scribbled the results in his notebook. "Does anyone live here with you?" When Malfoy shot him a look that screamed none of your fucking business, he added, "If someone else resides here, they may be able to account for other items missing or damaged. And they might also be in danger."
Reluctantly, Malfoy shook his head. "No. No one else lives here."
"Does anyone else have access?"
Malfoy nodded. "My mother, but only when I open access to her. Generally, it’s closed off to everyone, but the wards are set to recognise her, so when I close them, she isn’t granted access, but the wards don’t push back. With others, there’s a jolt and an immediate warning to me of an attempted breach."
"Only your mother, no one else?" Malfoy nodded. "And there was no such warning this time?"
Malfoy ran his hands up his arms as though suddenly cold. "None."
Harry made more notes in his book. "Right. I’ll do a preliminary scan to see if there’s anything that might require a forensics team to do more in-depth investigating." He ran the same scan over the floor as he had on the note before beginning his walk through. "Stay here, if you don’t mind," he said as Malfoy made to follow him.
"I do mind, as a matter of fact."
Harry sighed. "Look, Malfoy, you don’t have to like it, but I’ve been assigned to your case. I need to work it and do at least a preliminary scan over your flat. If you follow me, it could compromise the readings." Malfoy glared. Harry glared back. "I’m not going to touch anything, just scan. I’m not interested in digging into whatever you’re doing."
Malfoy hesitated. "Fine," he said, then crossed his arms over his chest. "But I’ll be watching."
Harry turned away before rolling his eyes. He could run whatever diagnostics he wanted and Malfoy would be none the wiser, but he wasn’t about to tell him that. Let him think he’s watching me.
As it turned out, there was no trace in the flat left from the break-in, except ...
Harry waved his wand over Malfoy before grasping his arm. "I’ll need you to come to the Ministry to make a statement." Harry Apparated them both to the Ministry, then said, "Sit down here, Malfoy. I’ll be back in a little while to take your statement." When Malfoy made to open his mouth, Harry placed a finger over it, effectively silencing him. He then took Malfoy’s hand and gently slipped his family ring from his finger, placing it on the table and pressing his finger more strongly to Malfoy’s lips. He waved his wand and the ring was first encased in a translucent bubble then raised to the ceiling. Then, without any warning, he Apparated them once more, this time to the front room at Grimmauld Place.
No sooner did they land when Malfoy pulled out of Harry’s grip. "What the fuck, Harry?"
"That’s Auror Potter, if you don’t mind."
"Fine, then. What the fuck, Auror Potter?"
"Your flat had a number of tracking devices, three different types: one includes video surveillance, one audio only and the third was, I believe, meant to be found. Far less sophisticated than the other two."
Malfoy looked momentarily ill. He recovered quickly and scowled at Harry. "That still doesn’t explain why we’re here."
"I wanted to speak to you in private."
Malfoy pursed his lips and eyed Harry warily. "And the Ministry wasn’t private enough?"
He had a point, particularly since he had no idea that only three people at the Ministry even knew about the case. This place, after all, was where they’d practically lived together. Had spent their best times. It was also the place where Harry currently lived with Ginny. This was such a stupid idea. And yet ... "Relax. I mean strictly about the case."
"Go on." He didn’t look remotely convinced. He also looked about as uncomfortable as Harry now felt. "And what was with my ring? That’s a family heirloom."
"Whatever. Look, I wanted to tell you about the tracking devices, but there was one on your person as well. Inside your ring. That’s why I removed it and left it - under protection - at the Ministry. Now whoever’s listening will hear the muffled goings on there but not our conversation." This had been the only place he’d thought of that would be private, with Ginny currently away at a game for the day and well into the night. "Now does it make sense?"
Malfoy shrugged and his fingers played with the spot where his ring usually rested. "So talk."
"What do you want to do about the listening devices?"
He looked at Harry incredulously. "Get rid of them."
"Or," Harry suggested, "you could let them think we’ve only found the obvious ones."
Malfoy shuddered. "It’s creepy being watched."
Harry agreed. "I can fix that. Run a time-loop that projects what we want by using some of your memories."
"You can do that?"
"Yeah. It’ll take a bit of time to work it out, but I think I can manage it by tomorrow."
Malfoy stared at Harry for a long well before reluctantly saying, "That’s impressive."
Harry didn’t want his approval or compliments or, well, anything. He just wanted to find whoever was threatening Malfoy, lock him away and get on with his life. "Look, I don’t need your praise, I just need your decision."
Malfoy looked poised to argue, but decided against and said, "Okay."
"Good. Let me get a Pensieve and you can place a bunch of memories into it. Then I’ll work on rearranging them in several different configurations so the loop doesn’t get detected too readily. We’ll only use it when you want privacy."
"I want privacy all the time."
"Yes, well, you probably haven’t had that for some time now."
Malfoy once more looked ready to sick up. "What do you mean? Didn’t they just leave them yesterday?"
"Not if my detection spells are correct." He looked at Malfoy’s distraught face and forced himself to remain impassive. "And they usually are. I would say about six were left yesterday, including the three that are easily found, but the rest were left earlier. A couple much earlier."
"Just how many are there?"
"I noticed about fifteen. I’d have to re-run my diagnostics to be sure I didn’t miss any that might be close together - I didn’t want to alert whoever is watching to what I was doing - but there are at least that many."
"What the hell?"
"I’d say someone - or possibly more than one someone - wants to know every move you make."
Malfoy wrapped his arms around himself and shivered; he looked utterly vulnerable and petrified. It was everything Harry could do to hold back from taking him in his arms and telling him everything would be okay. Instead, he said in as professional and detached a voice as he could muster, "Right, so let’s get on with this, shall we?"
Continued in Part 3