The Liars Department || Drarry

Chapter 4

Robards stared at the paper in his hand.

Harry shifted his weight on the uncomfortable chair in front of Robards desk. There was a clock in the room somewhere. Harry had never been able to figure out where it was, but he could always hear the soft tick-tick in the office when things got quiet.

Aside from the wall with the door, the Head Auror's office walls were entirely built-in bookshelves. Harry could have imagined that once they would be filled with books, there still were some on the shelves up by the ceiling, but the lower shelves had been repurposed for other uses. There were stacks of newspapers, piles of loose paper and several shelves were filled with file folders. On different shelves, pushed behind various detritus, Harry also spotted seven different mugs, two pairs of shoes, a couple award plaques and a sock.

"What is this?" Robards asked, setting the paper down on his desk.

Harry managed to pull himself away from the chaotic interest of the walls, "Its for a one week transfer to The Liar's Department."

"I can read, Potter," Robards said, his patience already sounding strained, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Going to work for the Liar's Department for a week," Harry said, unfazed. He had been too worked up last night to sleep, so the sun was starting to rise by the time he finally drifted off. The lack of sleep was seriously hampering his ability to care.

"Think about how this will look," Robards said.

"It will look like the Aurors are helping a new department they are going to be working with regularly get on their feet. After all, we all want to do a good job," Harry said.

"Your...dedication to the aurors is commendable, Potter, but I'm going to have to reject the transfer," Robards said.

"You can't, actually," Harry said, "This is just a formality so that you know I haven't skipped work. I've already filed a copy with Interdepartmental Services."

"You're needed here-"

"I'm not. We aren't working on any urgent cases right now, and you have plenty of Aurors to take the strain if any new ones show up," Harry said.

Robards' jaw twitched as he clenched his teeth, "You can't be playing around like this. Your career-"

"Is doing great," Harry said with a smile fake as aspartame, "I'm the youngest Auror in the history of the department. Can't imagine what I did to earn it but the pay raise is nice."

"You've done plenty, you're a hero, a credit to the uniform," Robards said.

"Is that so," Harry said.

"This isn't like you, Potter. You're solid, dependable. You don't fly off the handle like this," Robards said.

Harry wanted to laugh, Robards really didn't know him very well. Then again, Harry really had been a model auror for the last couple years. He stood up, "I need to get going, or I'll be late for my new job. I'll be back in seven working days, sir."

Harry headed down to the back hallway but Malfoy's 'office' was just a storage closet again, filled with filing cabinets and no Malfoy to be found. He asked reception, but they also had no idea where the Liar's Department had been relocated to. Apparently, they hadn't been notified.

If Fart-taster thought he could hide the department, he was dead wrong. Harry went back down the narrow hallways, past the line of storage rooms and stopped in front of the door at the very end, knocking lightly and waiting until it was hesitantly opened and a house elf peeked out nervously.