Away Childish Things

Chapter 6

June 2003
Harry Potter: 22 years
Draco Malfoy: 23 years

The first time Harry saw Malfoy after the trials was two weeks after Harry became an Auror, and it happened because the Auror Department didn't have a lab with people who did potions research. Instead it had a little room called Records and Filing, where an old man called Kirkley Zidwidley would look up the origin of an old spell if you asked nicely (and loudly).

When Harry asked Savage-because Savage knew everything-why they didn't have a lab, or at the very least a potions consultant, Savage said-in typical Savage fashion-"Ask the gaffer." When in response Harry headed toward Head Auror Robards' office, she waved her hands frantically and said, "I didn't mean actually ask!" This was also typical Savage, and Harry hadn't learned yet that just because Savage knew everything didn't mean she always gave the best advice.

When Harry asked Robards-because Robards was Head Auror-why they didn't have a lab, Robards frowned, stirred his tea, and said, "Did Savage put you up to this?" Harry also hadn't known at the time that Robards had it out for Savage. In fact, Harry hadn't known at the time that the entire Auror Department was a tangle of petty squabbles, one-upmanship, and red tape, but over the years Robards made it fairly clear with his frowns and his tea and his, Did Savage put your up to this?

Harry came out of Head Auror Robards' office disappointed in life, the Aurors, and most of all in this stupid case he couldn't solve because the one extra potions class he'd taken at Auror Academy was hardly enough to determine the use of this particular potion. The Department of Mysteries was too busy for Auror problems, Harry had learned. He would have to do the research himself, which wouldn't be a problem except that he'd be stuck at his desk trying to figure it out while Muggles were dying on the streets.

Savage took pity, and then took Harry to Slug and Jiggers in Diagon Alley. "This is what good Aurors do for a lab," Savage told him. What Savage meant was that good Aurors bribed Diagon Alley apothecary merchants to do their research for them.

"But how can they charge you?" Harry had asked later. "Can't you just say you're an Auror? Isn't it the law?"

"You're cute." Savage had sat on the edge of Proudfoot's desk and turned to look at Proudfoot, the only other Auror who had worked there as long as she had. "He's cute."

"Dreamy," Proudfoot agreed.

Savage turned back to Harry. "Sure," she said. "It's the law. And it'll take them two months, and they'll apologize, and just have so many orders-even though half those apothecaries are dead empty, most of the time. And you'll ask what you can do to expedite the process and they'll say they couldn't possibly go any faster, and then you'll wave those sweet Galleons under their noses. All the sudden, boom. Done Friday."

"That's not right," Harry had said.

"Neither is Labour," Savage had said.

The proprietor of Slug and Jiggers was an awful little man named Abel Alby, who was so delighted to meet Harry he almost fell over. Savage had already witnessed at least three dozen encounters like these, but still seemed incredulous that anyone could be delighted to know Harry. "Alby," she said, waving a bottle of silvery liquid in Alby's face. "The potion."

Alby's delighted demeanour dropped completely. Turning to her, he said shrewdly, "It'll cost you."

The brew was called Dream Dram, and Harry had linked it to a string of Muggle deaths. What he was trying to find out was what exactly the potion did, as arresting his current suspect without that detail was likely to backfire. While Savage haggled about the bribe, Harry saw a man in back trying to slink off behind the shelves.