A Whole Lot Of Capitals - AKA The Potter Problem Project - Drarry

In Which Harry is Oblivious and Malfoy is Avoiding the Question

Back at the lab, Harry opened two beers and passed one to Malfoy.

"Cheers," he said.

"You were brilliant, by the way. I didn't know half of the things you were talking about."

"You were always rubbish at potions. Snape was five seconds from quitting every time you entered the classroom."

Harry rolled his eyes. Malfoy wasn't wrong. "Still. You could have convinced anyone it's what you're interested in."

Malfoy huffed but he seemed almost pleased. The DNA analysis was done.

"You have any preference?" Harry hadn't let himself starting comparing yet.

"Between who did it? It's the person who killed my father, hard to have a preference there. On the one hand, I'd hate this for Astoria. On the other, I interacted with Mrs. Fawley, she was nice if not senile and I can't imagine her killing anyone."

Harry looked over the results of the handkerchief first. It wasn't a genetic match to the killer. There were enough ties to prove the pureblood theory, but not enough for them to be father and daughter. Harry couldn't find it in himself to think Mrs. Fawley had done it either. The result came back, she hadn't. No match.

Malfoy's face was as shuttered as it had been back at Hogwarts and Harry startled at how easily he'd gotten used to it looking open and confident.

"So that's it then," Malfoy said.

"Not necessarily. We still have loads of people to check."

"We tested the most probable ones. What are we gonna do, go through every single person who was in the vicinity?"

"If we have to. We'll do whatever it takes to figure this out."

Malfoy put down his beer and stood up. "Save it for something that matters to you."

• • •

Harry scanned the list again. Almost everyone who hadn't been crossed out would be attending. The annual Valentine's Day Award Night at the ministry was an affair only high-class wizards bothered attending. It was only three weeks away.

Harry arrived at the bar Malfoy worked at and was told he wouldn't be in that night. Apparently, he only needed three nights a week to supplement his ministry salary and Thursdays weren't one. The barman was friendly enough, so Harry stayed for a pint and reviewed his notes.

There were over 100 guests invited to the event, not including plus ones, and 24 of the people on Malfoy's list had RSVP'd yes. It wasn't perfect but it was the easiest solution for batch processing.

Harry could now tell that the bar Malfoy worked at was a gay bar. During his first visit, he had been too focused on Malfoy to look more closely at the people around him, but it was clear this was the case. He wondered if this meant Malfoy was gay. He had been engaged to Astoria, though, right? Daphne said he loved her, but it was still possible he liked men. Had that been why Ron thought it was funny to set them up? He asked the barman if he knew and he laughed. "Yeah, good luck with that, mate."

That didn't answer Harry's question, but the man moved on to another customer.

He was waiting outside the bar the next day when Malfoy got off work. Harry had checked the times online.

"Potter? You alright?"

It was 3 a.m. and Harry hadn't warned Malfoy he was coming.

"I have some information."

Malfoy studied him and then nodded.

"Come on in." He lead Harry to the bar where he was busy cleaning up. Everyone was gone and he offered Harry a beer.