Title: The Pennington Case
Genre: Auror!Harry, Auror!Draco
Summary: In which Harry and Draco are partnered for a mission, and an infamous evil wizard has glitter all over his floor.
A/N: This is for @ssoftdrarry !!! Gosh, I had no clue which prompt I wanted to do and i’ve ended with this one. It’s a tad (well, very) long, a bit of a cliche, but I hope you like it. I AM SO SORRY IT IS RUSHED, ANNIE. Warning: Mentions of r rated stuff ? sort of ? yeah.
Other writers: @peraltiago-drarry @tossermalfoy @ssoftdrarry @okaypottah @rosadearest @pixiemalfoy
“Oh, you’ve got to be joking.“ Harry said in disbelief.
Surely, this was some sort of practical joke. He wouldn’t put it past some of the people he worked with. Maybe there was, in fact, another Harry who also happened to be in Paddock wood last week on a case. That wasn’t completely unlikely...
Ron scooted over on his swivel chair to get a better look.
“Mate,” he began sympathetically, before giving Harry’s shoulder a hearty pat. “I am truly sorry.”
Harry continued to stare miserably at the piece of parchment in his hands, as if doing so would change what was written on it. This was just his luck, wasn’t it? Put on a case with bloody Malfoy.
“It’s the Pennington case as well!” Harry groaned, shaking the letter for emphasis. He was half tempted to throw the blasted thing out of the window. “You know how much time we are going to have to spend together?
Beside him, Ron had began to eat what Harry assumed was a jam sandwich. Harry looked at it disdainfully - he couldn’t even think about food. This whole Malfoy news had put him off his appetite (though the sandwich didn’t look particularly appetising, anyway).
“Sounds genuinely torturous.” Ron spoke through a mouthful of bread.
It was just then that Will Adley, one of their closer colleagues, happened to stroll past their cubicles.
He paused upon seeing Harry’s dismal expression.
“Harry’s been put on the Pennington case with Malfoy.” Ron explained.
“Blimey...that’s the skinny white-haired bloke who glowers at everyone, right?” He blew out a breath. “Your school nemesis, wasn’t he?”
Harry sunk lower in his chair. Merlin, how bloody embarrassing.
Will’s lips twitched. Harry put his head in his hands and let out a long, laborious groan.
“Come on, it is a bit funny Harry,” Will said, clearing his throat. “But still, a bit odd, yeah.”
“It’s mental,” Ron interrupted. “I reckon Robards is having you on. Surely he doesn’t think this is a good idea?”
Will leaned back against Harry’s desk and scratched his head. “Well, makes sense. That Malfoy is a bloody good Auror. You too, Harry. Probably a way to get you both talking. Would make sense for you guys to actually interact, you know.”
Harry would have protested, but it was true. Objectively speaking, Draco was a good Auror and well, he’d probably make for a rather decent partner, as diligent as he was...but this was Malfoy, and Draco Malfoy was a complete git.
“Ron doesn’t interact with Malfoy and he’s doing just fine.” Harry grumbled. “Think you need some bonding time with him, actually-”
Ron fixed him with a stony expression that managed to set Will off laughing. “Oh, fuck off, Mate.”
Harry took a good look at the parchment again. Hell, he didn’t even want to begin to read the full case attached underneath.
It was all quite daft really. After all, he wasn’t as though he despised the other. It was just that every time he saw Draco around the office, the blonde would give him this completely unwarranted dirty look, as though Harry’s mere presence deeply offended him; as if he’d want nothing more than for Harry to simply drop dead or disintegrate into a pile of dust.
Or, he’d look away from Harry and pretend he hadn’t even seen him at all, which somehow, managed to be more irritating than all the scowling. And to think Harry practically saved his life a few years prior. Alright, so he wasn’t expecting a long and profound thank you speech, but - well, something at least. A simple greeting in the morning would suffice.
Harry couldn’t help but think it was really quite ironic. Back in Hogwarts, he wanted nothing less than for Draco to just bugger off. He’d considered using a silencing charm on him once a day (at least) to shut his stupid, pompous mouth.
Or maybe it wasn’t his permanent scowl, or his obnoxiousness. Perhaps it was just the the way he strode around in those ridiculously fitted pants (that he must have charmed to fit his legs like that) or how he managed to make the Auror gear look like something from a high-end fashion magazine. Really now, Ron definitely didn’t look like that in his uniform.
Harry didn’t know why he examined Malfoy’s dress pants in such tormenting detail, let alone why he even cared if Malfoy said hello to him or not, but it all got on his ruddy nerves.
He put the parchment on his desk with a sigh. “Wonder how Malfoy has taken to the news.”
“Well, you could ask him now.”
Harry looked up at Will, his dark brows furrowed. “Why would I go and do that?”
Will was staring past Harry’s head, looking a bit stiff. “Er, because he’s marching over here right now-“
Harry’s head whipped back around so fast he thought it might have gone flying off his neck.
Sure enough, there was Malfoy, striding over with his lips pursed, his grey eyes set directly on Harry, and Merlin if it wasn’t unsettling.
He fought the urge to quite literally punch himself in the face and promptly sat up straight. He was an Auror, for Christ’s sake - you’d think it would take more than Draco Malfoy walking towards him to get Harry breaking out in a sweat.
He stopped directly in front of him, looking ridiculously tall looming over Harry like he was.
“Potter,” Malfoy spoke. The huskiness of his voice was so startling Harry had to try and force his eyebrows from shooting up his head. Merlin’s beard - his voice hadn’t always been that bloody deep, had it?
“Malfoy,” He replied, standing up from his chair for good measure. Even then, Draco was a few inches taller. “Got a letter too, then?”
Malfoy locked his jaw. “Can I have a word?”
He briefly looked towards the other two, turning back to Harry with a particularly menacing expression. “In private, Potter.”
Harry begrudgingly allowed for Draco to pull him off to some desolate corner, where the two of them stood facing each other. Draco had his arms crossed haughtily, and Harry sort of hovered there, too busy taking in the details of Malfoy’s face to actually say anything. Draco’s hair was longer than it was at Hogwarts, falling just past his eyes. His chin managed to look even pointier these days, too-
Harry blinked. “Well what?
“We need to discuss the case, you gigantic dullard. Perhaps I’m asking too much of you, but can you possibly try and stay focused for one second?”
“Could you try not to be a dickhead for one second?” Harry snapped.
Draco went to say something but stopped upon seeing two ministry officials walking down the corridor. The two boys nodded in greeting as they passed - It wouldn’t look particularly good if the two of them were seen arguing with one another.
“Then pay attention, would you?” Draco hissed once they had gone.
“Alright, alright- Sheesh.” Harry muttered. He really didn’t want to waste his breath arguing with Malfoy, anyway. “I’ve been following up the case a bit, so I know a thing or two about it.”
Draco nodded curtly. “I was told. I’m assuming you read the attached files Robards gave us, then?”
“Really? What on earth have you been doing for the past thirty minutes? I saw you reading the files, Potter-”
Harry was most definitely not going to admit he had been complaining about the other for half an hour.
“I was getting to it, alright!”
Malfoy’s lip curled upwards. “Oh, I almost forgot. You can’t read, can you?”
Harry’s mouth almost fell open.
“I can bloody read!” Harry exclaimed, annoyed for even taking the bait. So much for not arguing. Fuck’s sake. Stupid Malfoy, getting him up the wall like that.
“Highly questionable, you always did have trouble with the instructions in Potions.” Draco scoffed. “I’m under the impression that you’re more competent these days, so I suggest you try and screw your head on and show me that.”
“I’d be happy to hex you, if you want to see how competent I am.”
Draco’s eyes narrowed. “Is that a threat, Potter?” He took a step toward Harry, closing the small distance between them and lowering his voice. “You’re not the only one who can cast a nasty hex, you know.”
The two continued to stare at one another - the tension between them was truly blistering.
“Read the full case, I’ll owl you details for the 5th.”
With that, Draco strode off, leaving Harry stood there scowling after him.
The first day of the investigation, Draco was already stood outside the building when Harry had apparated there, rather intently examining the shabby house before them.
“Why the fuck-” Harry panted. “Didn’t you wait for me?!”
Draco looked back at him and shrugged his skinny shoulders, completely indifferent. “You were taking too long. You haven’t missed much, I’ve just been checking the outside.”
“I was doing up my boots!”
Unsurprisingly, Draco completely ignored him. “Ugly thing, isn’t it?”
Harry took a look at the building. It didn’t look all too out of place, considering the street was fairly run-down.
“Suppose so,” He grumbled, still pissed off at Malfoy for bloody apparating there without him.
Draco reached into his jacket, pulling out the wand that Harry knew so intimately. The familiarity of it made him feel all sorts of peculiar.
With that the door flew open. Draco turned to Harry expectantly.
“Well? Are you coming?” He tucked his wand away before straightening to his full height. “Or are you going to stand there like an utter moron for a little bit longer?”
Scowling, Harry made his way over. “You don’t have to be an arse, you know. Just a heads up.”
The two of them, however, barely made it past the front door.
Whilst Harry was focused on the fucking row of whips along the wall, Malfoy was looking at the floor, his brows furrowed. “Why on earth is there glitter everywhere?”
Harry’s gaze dropped to the floor. Merlin, he hadn’t seen anything like it.
“Bloody hell, and petals...”
Draco looked just as surprised as Harry. “What the fuck is this place?”
“Well, have a look at the walls-”
“My- interesting things he got up to.” Draco snorted.
“Brilliant, so we’re in Pennington’s love nest, then?” This really was just his luck.
Harry looked from Draco to the glitter covering the floors and vaguely wondered how he had gotten to such a point in his life. When he imagined becoming an Auror, it didn’t quite look like this in his head.
“Right,” Harry took a great step forward. “Let’s check these out-”
Malfoy hastily grabbed hold of Harry’s wrist, just as he had gone to approach a strange looking rope. “Careful!” He hissed. “There’s dark magic everywhere, you blundering idiot. You’ll be no use to this case if you’re in St Mungo's for the next three weeks of it, rendered unconscious from being hexed by a piece of fucking rope.”
Harry, startled from the contact, looked from Malfoy’s hand to his face. “Christ, don’t get your knickers in a twist. I know what I’m doing, alright?”
Malfoy dropped Harry’s hand immediately, his upper lip curling. The tops of his ears had flushed bright pink.
“Just try and think before you act, would you?” He sneered. “Ever the Gryffindor, I suppose.”
And for the second time yet, he stalked away from Harry.
“How is the case going then, mate?”
Harry was sat in Hermione and Ron’s living room, clasping a hot cup of tea.
He briefly filled the two of them in on him and Malfoy’s meetings - that more often than not, ended up with them arguing - as well as their first day out in field. He left out the part where he had gotten stuck in some sort of kinky chair that had bound his hands to the armrests and began vibrating (which had probably been the most mortifying thing that had ever happened to him). Malfoy had thought it was a right laugh though, which was brilliant of course.
All in all, they’d made good progress, though it had required a fair few late nights at the office and more research than Harry would have liked. Theory wasn’t exactly Harry’s strongest area. Luckily, Malfoy was more than proficient in that that sort of thing.
“Oh, Harry…Make sure you rest.” Hermione frowned.
“I’m alright, really.” Harry stressed, reaching up to scratch his head. “Well, we are doing quite good on the case actually. We’ve cleared out the - building. Inspected another place downtown, spoke to some people he was involved with. At this rate, we’ll have tracked Pennington in the next two weeks.”
“Blimey, that’s bloody fantastic.” Ron said, shaking his head in awe. “Bet Malfoy is a pain, though-”
In fact, Harry had been truly horrified to find that he was actually enjoying Draco’s company.
“A bit, yeah.” He laughed quietly. “Same old Malfoy,”
Malfoy definitely was a pain, and in more ways than one.
Harry took a swig of his beer, watching as Draco leaned over a piece of parchment, annotating things as he went. Every now and then he’d take a sip of his drink, a peculiar looking thing that looked too fancy for Harry’s taste.
They were in the back booth of a pub, sat doing work. Most of their evenings had ended this way, pouring over details of the case and planning the next week.
Today they had been especially busy, considering they were so close to cracking the case.
“This is weird, isn’t it?”
Draco lifted his head, a pale brow raised.
“This,” Harry continued, gesturing between them. “Hanging out together.”
“This is hardly hanging out, Potter.” Malfoy said curtly, turning his attention back to his work. “We’re here on business.”
This wasn’t just about the case, but Harry wasn’t going to admit it and Draco certainly wasn’t going to either.
“Can’t we stop talking about the case for a bit?”
Draco clenched his jaw. “That’s what we are supposed to be doing, isn’t it?
“I mean., yeah, but I didn’t think we’d be talking about the case for hours straight!”
Draco looked at him then - really looked at him. It made Harry want to squirm. “And what did you want to talk about then, Potter?”
“I figured we’d sort of - Merlin, I don’t know, talk about our lives-”
“Our lives?” Draco scoffed, sitting backwards. “Oh, of course. Let’s talk about our lives then, shall we?” He crossed his arms. “Tell me - how is fame treating you, Potter? Having fun dating the little Weasley?”
“That’s unfair.” Harry frowned, having thought Malfoy was over all that Chosen One crap. It shouldn’t have upset him, because really, he was more than used to hearing those sorts of comments from the other. But hell, things were different, weren’t they?
Harry put down his beer. “And I’m not with Ginny anymore.”
“Oh,” Draco looked at Harry rather intently then. “That’s...unfortunate. I’m sorry about that.”
He didn’t probe the topic any further, something Harry was really quite grateful for.
The awkwardness didn’t last. A few rounds later, they had ended up discussing much more pleasant affairs. Mostly, Harry was happy to be done with Pennington and his kink house (for one night, at least).
“So you’re telling me you’re into muggle culture?” Harry asked incredulously, staring at Malfoy as though he’d grown a second head. Or maybe that was just the alcohol…
At this point, his was in his fourth pint, and he’d found things to be going a great deal smoother with him slightly merry.
Draco, who wasn’t nearly as tipsy as Harry, watched Harry squint at him in amusement.
“Is that so hard to believe?” He asked, his lips twitching as he took another leisurely sip of his drink. “It wouldn’t be the first thing to have changed about me.”
“Yeah,” Harry murmured, preoccupied with watching the way Draco’s adam’s apple bobbed in this throat. He looked up at Malfoy and grinned boyishly. “You’re still a bit pretentious, though. A real pain in the ass, too.”
Draco scoffed, though he didn’t look offended. In fact, the corner of his lips quirked. “Sometimes. And you’re incredibly and painfully idiotic. Are we even, then?”
“Only Sometimes.’ Harry interrupted, earning a (really quite charming) laugh from Malfoy.
“Sometimes.” Draco agreed, and it somehow managed to get Harry’s heart thumping in his chest.
“You did it!” Ron cheered, slapping a hand on Harry’s back. “I can’t believe it - Malfoy did a heck of a good job, I can’t lie. He’s still obnoxious tosser, though.”
“Harry, I’m so proud of you.” Hermione squeezed his hand. “And would you cut it out, Ronald. You can call him Draco, you know!”
“Speak of the devil.” Ron murmured, eyeing the other side of the pub.
Harry turned round, spying Malfoy sat with two of his other Auror friends. He was smashed too, by the looks of his flushed cheeks and the way that he was swaying.
He couldn’t concentrate for the rest of the evening (which had earned him a few strange looks from the others) especially not when he saw Draco get up and make his way to the toilet. Not sure what had taken over him, he found himself standing. “Uh, I have to go...sort something out.”
When he’d pushed open the bathroom door, Draco was in front of the mirror, pushing his hair from his face. Bloody hell. The sight was all too familiar. Spying Harry in the mirror, he leisurely turned around.
“Well, we’ve done it.” He drawled, appearing much more composed. “Excellent, fantastic, all the lot. Congratulations, should I add.”
“Surprised we didn’t end up killing one another. Sure you’re happy to be rid of me, ay, Potter?” He pushed himself off the counter and walked past Harry towards the door. “Well, it’s been truly grand-”
“Hey,” Harry frowned, taking hold of Draco’s wrist. It was a bit like how Draco had done on the first day of their case, though things were really quite different now. “What, so we’re not going to talk any more after this, is that it?
“Is that what you think this is?”
“Well, yeah. We become friends and suddenly you don’t want to know me.”
Draco stared at him incredulously, as though he had been slapped. “Friends?” He repeated, furrowing his pale brows.
Now it was Harry’s turn to feel offended. So, Harry was only a colleague? Or just someone he was forced to work with?
“Well, we have got closer, haven’t we?”
“Potter, you fool.” Draco hissed, ripping his hand away. “You’re so bloody oblivious it’s almost painful.”
Draco had suddenly gotten a lot closer, crowding Harry back against the sink. “Want to hear something else about me? One from back in Hogwarts?”
Harry swallowed. Hell, he had no clue where Draco was going with this.
“Remember that time we got into a fight? It was right after a match.” Harry remembered. He remembered it well. “I'd nudged - well - pushed you off your broom and gone and taken the snitch. You weren't pleased.” Draco let out a laugh, though it sounded cold and distant.
Harry could barely think straight at this point, hyper aware of Draco’s sturdy body pressed against his. Fuck, Harry wanted to lean in and kiss him. The thought made him feel slightly shaky.
“I remember,” Harry spoke slowly, still trying to process what Draco had said. “Third year, our first match of the year. You’d gotten rid of that middle parting-”
Draco scoffed. “Well you had the same scruffy hair as always.” He looked upwards, unable to help the way his lip curled. “Still do.”
He managed to lean in even closer, his eyes hard. You practically tackled me to the ground, pinned me there and shouted at me. You were bloody straddling me-” He paused, letting out an incredulous laugh. “I got a fucking hard on. I was mortified. I’d hope for it to have been just the once, but Merlin, I found myself thinking about you every night...Every day. It wasn’t just a sexual thing, either. I- I like you Potter, you fucking fool.” Draco gritted out, his eyes never leaving Harry’s.
Harry was overcome with a feeling he’d never felt in his entire life, and it was utterly intoxicating. I like Draco Malfoy, he thought, stunned. I really bloody like Draco Malfoy.
Draco clenched his hands by his sides, his jaw locked. “Don't look at me like that, Potter. Do not bloody do it.”
“Like what.” Harry breathed. His hands felt as though they were glued to his sides, but he wanted nothing more than to reach out and touch Draco.
“Like,” Draco’s chest was heaving. “Like you want me.”
“I do want you.” Harry whispered. “I really do.”
Draco opened and shit his mouth, but Harry spoke before he could try and say anything.
Draco stepped towards Harry with half lidded eyes. “Take me home, then, Potter. Let’s really celebrate.”
Harry could feel a huge smile break out on his face. Oh, he was not about to turn him down.
