Draco hadn't shaken the annoyance that has sprung up at seeing Potter again. Draco's weekend of aggressive Quidditch and weeding hadn't gotten him anywhere but a distraught mother. How was he supposed to know that some of those had been planted intentionally? Besides asking, of course. After a few charms they didn't seem worse for wear, even if she insisted they were sensitive. Given what he had heard from Luna and occasionally Neville, it might even have been true. Not that he was going to start playing classical music for his mother's plants as an apology or anything.
Though, once he got to work, he actually had a really interesting case involving the local Veela population. Apparently several of them had been approached about selling various potion ingredients. Technically legal, although none of them were public about their Veela hertiage. It was interesting because it was potentially dangerous. But also potentially a good example to support Granger's bid to keep registration completely voluntary. He sent a memo to her once the idea came to him.
He was in the midst of a consuming brainstorm for protecting his Veelas when Granger interupted him. She knocked on his office door before entering his office. The office he had because she successfully argued each of her liaisons needed a space to cater to their liaises.
"Yes, boss?" he asked in a drawl. He had started off calling her that as a reminder to himself of their respective circumstances. A reminder that he owed her the second chance that came with being interviewed, let alone hired. A chance to try to protect the people he had once held in contempt. Now it had the added benefit of reminding Granger that she did hold a position of authority and that she had the right to wield it.
She smiled briefly at his greeting before biting her lip. "Hey, Draco. Thanks for your memo."
Reading her anxiety, Draco stiffened and then waved her to sit down while he waited for the other shoe to drop.
"It's not anything bad," she said. "Or anything more bad than you already know. I actually got a few memos like yours this morning. I need you to work on an interdepartment team to address these reports."
Draco winced, not excited about what kind of reception he might have with Aurors. Especially those still caught up in their glory days of fighting against his parents and other supporters of Tom Riddle. "Why don't you ask one of the other liaisons?" he asked, trying not to sound like he was whingeing.
Hermione pressed her lips together. "The Veelas and Vampires are the most targeted right now and you know how Darlene's schedule is. I know this won't be the most pleasant situation, but I've hand-picked the Auror representative. He will be someone who will not be prejudiced about you being a Veela or ex-Death Eater."
Draco was overcome with an unpleasant certainty. "It's Potter, isn't it."
She sighed. "Really, Draco? It's been over a decade. I don't see why both of you can barely be in the same room without one of you acting like we are still in Hogwarts."
Draco straightened indignantly. "I was all politeness. You can ask Darlene. She was right next to me in the greeting line."
Granger looked a little skeptical, but seemed unwilling to push it, given that Draco was calling on witnesses now. Not that Darlene had all her wits about her by that time, but that didn't really matter for his purposes.
"You didn't even warn him that I was part of your department," Draco said.
Granger looked away guiltily, confirming Draco's suspicions. "I did try. I also thought that if he saw you could work with me that you two wouldn't have issues." She looked back, again full of the determination she had when she was taking on a cause. "Why don't you two get along still?"
Draco shrugged. "I know he has done a lot for my family. More than I could have asked. But that doesn't change the fact he has done little to engender himself to me personality-wise. I still don't take to people who treat me like dragon dung."
She nodded, as if expecting this response.
He could see the gears running in her head, but he didn't think there was anything she could do that would fix it.
His initial dislike for Granger had lasted several months into working here. He had seen a good political and work opportunity and had taken it, regardless of personal feelings. His resentment over being shown up by a muggleborn had only started to wane later. When she had started regularly recognizing his talents and contribution to the department. He had tried to reciprocate and she had seemed to warm up to him in turn. Granger and he and been united in a cause that they both had cared about that motivated them to work beyond their past.
Potter hadn't try to do any of that and wouldn't be likely to want to try to do any of that. Draco also didn't want to voice any of this in case it offended her or inspired one of her more mad plans.
"You don't have to fix this, Granger. I can keep a civil tongue in my head during an investigation." Then he added begrudgingly, "and you are right that Potter is the best choice when it comes to protecting the interests of Magical Beings."
Granger made a pleased noise. "I'll talk to Harry. Just do your best around him. Also, could you talk to Darlene once she comes in? Compare notes and see if there are any more similarities beyond the surface ones? I'll send out a memo to get people to talk to you about any reports that have a similar profile." Already she had pulled out a pad of memos and was scribbling with a Duplicating Quill.
"Got it, boss," Draco drawled, glad to be off the subject of Potter. It was past eleven so there was a chance Darlene might be in. He got up, might as well check with her now that his work flow was interrupted. "I'll let you know what she says."
With that, he left Hermione in his office to finish up with her memos. Then he was knocking at an office that looked similar to his but with the window blacked out.
"Come in," Darlene's cheerful voice called from inside.
Draco entered and his eyes struggled to adjust to the barely lit room. He could still make out Darlene though, clutching at a cup of tea.
"Hey Darlene, you are in early."
"Yes, well. More like I decided it was too late to go to bed," she answered, self consciously touching the bags under her eyes. "Could you grab one of my potions from the shelf?"
He took the little vial of HRT potion that she took every morning and handed it over. That had been an education the first time she had mentioned them. Apparently the potion was based off of some work that the Muggles had been doing for centuries. It replaced the cruder options that the magical community had before that.
Draco had another flash of anger about the worship of tradition that he was raised with. Even more so that it had very rarely been challenged in his education in Hogwarts. It was frustrating how it had left him in the dark about so much of the magical world, let alone the vastness and depth of the Muggle world. He had had only an inkling about anyone who had lived outside of the idealized inbred pureblood. It had forced him to piece together his own sexuality, for magic's sake, let alone have the framework to conceive of anything like the gender of his transgender coworker.
In any case, he was grateful that they had been able to become friends despite how awkward he had been about everything at first. She was alright and her chatty nature often made it easier to glosss over his more awkward or ignorant gaffs.
She drank down the potion, licking at the last drops, before placing it in the bin with the others to be reused. "Now, what is this about?"
"Granger told me some of your vampires have got people sniffing around for their blood?"
Darlene grimaced. "Yeah, and these are ones who are trying to be day-walkers. Scared the bejeezus out of them to clocked as Vampires in the daylight."
"You got any descriptions? They've been doing it to the Veelas too."
"From the descriptions it sounds like they used a glamour with a notice-me-not. Not so much that they couldn't follow the conversation, but enough that it was hard to concentrate on their face."
"Yeah, all the Veelas reported that they couldn't remember much. General sense was an average-height white male. Incredibly boring business robes."
Darlene seemed to wake up the more they talked. "I'll see if I can ask them about those sorts of details. The probable glamour means it won't be much, though."
"But we might be able to identify glamoured suspects if they approach anyone else. Send out a warning to the community. Granger is going to have me working with someone from the Aurors on this case. It might help with any of the field work."
She grimaced in sympathy. Her experience with the Aurors wasn't any better than his was.
Their back and forth continued as they discussed dates, locations, times, and other methods that might link their reports together. Gradually the artifical light increased and Draco's stomach rumbled. So they decided to go out for Darlene's breakfast and Draco's lunch.
When they returned, Potter was waiting outside Draco's office. When Potter noticed them he looked up and tried to smile but it looked distinctly pained.
Darlene made a surprised little noise, and darted a worried look at Draco. "Well, I'll just grab that paperwork we've been talking about," she said, quickly making for her own office.
Draco sighed. He wasn't sure whether it would be worse to deal with Potter alone or in front of someone else. "Well, come in, Potter," he said coolly. It was the closest to friendly he could manage.
Potter nodded grimly and followed him in. Instead of sitting when Draco did, Potter stared at the distinctively Veela decorations on the walls.
"I take it Granger told you about my Veela heritage?" Draco asked sharply. Might as well get whatever Potter had to say out of the way.
Potter's jaw muscles clenched. Then he turned away from the decorative wand holder on the wall from which several Veela feathers hung. Potter's gaze was as infuriatingly self-righteous as it ever had been. "Guess that came as a shock," Potter said smugly.
"Indeed," Draco said dryly. It had been the last straw when it came to accepting any ideology he had been raised with. Not that Potter had any right to know that. "Probably as much as a shock as it was to your past girlfriends when you came out as gay. Or maybe not so much a shock, given your performance issues?"
Potter's eyes flashed and Draco felt vindicated like he always did when he managed to get a rise out of Potter. "Not that it is any of your business Malfoy, but I came out as bisexual, not gay. It was just that the press and everyone who reads their drivel is too illiterate to understand the difference."
At the time the article came out, Draco had been too ignorant and homosexual to understand that anyone was capable of something other than straight or gay. Not that he was telling Potter that either. Draco just made a little disbelieving sound and picked up his paperwork.
Potter growled under his breath just as Darlene opened the door. She had her heavy sunglasses on, which made it harder to read her expressions, but she seemed to be sending nervous glances between Potter and Draco. "Er... got all our notes," she said cheerily. "Auror Potter, did Liaison Malfoy catch you up on all of our theories? We haven't had much time to put anything together yet, especially since we've only gotten a few extra reports from the other Liaisons. We'll have to reach out to our contacts to see if there have been more incidences that just haven't been reported." She pulled the more decorative chair away from the wall, and then gestured towards the high-backed one. "I'll take the one meant for winged people. I usually sit at the edge of my chair anyway. Also, it is nice to meet you again. We saw each other at the gala over the weekend. Darlene Begum, Vampire Liaison."
Potter looked taken back by the onslaught of words, but took the offered chair nonetheless. "Er, thanks. Nice to meet you, Liaison Begum. We actually haven't been able to talk about the case yet so I'd appreciate your perspective.
Darlene beamed and launched into explanations of what she and Draco had worked out so far. Her chatter eased the tension that still hung in the room. Draco actually felt a little guilty for thinking Darlene was overly-chatty during the gala. She was probably just trying to smooth things over just like she was also doing at the moment. It did make it easier to handle working with Potter because Draco rarely had to address any of his comments directly to Potter and vice versa.
Other than a general profile for the glamour, the reports tended to be on workdays after the targeted Being got off work. This suggested a certain amount of stalking of the individuals. It would take work to know where the Beings worked and their hours in addition to knowing of their Magical Being status. It wasn't a lot but there were at least some charges the Aurors could use from that. They also agreed that polyjuicing as one of the Beings that had already been targeted would be the most effective way to learn more about the suspect.
Draco stated that he should be one the one who polyjuiced as one of the Veelas who contacted them. It made sense as it would be more stable to use the potion on the same species. It might also fool any detection spells that were looking for deception at least on a species scale.
Potter looked pained as Draco talked. Draco wasn't sure if it was because Draco would have so much control of the sting operation or some other reason Draco wasn't good enough. In any case, it spured Draco to include his last point in as snide a tone as he could manage and still be professional. "Of course, it will also increase their likelihood to agree to this plan if they are entrusting their hair to a Liaison like me. They are much more likely to trust someone whose job it is to engender good will. Rather than trust someone from the Auror Department who, sorry to say, still has quite the reputation among Magical Beings."
The look of stymied rage on Potter's face was delicious. As Granger said, Potter was aware of the continued prejudice to her department. Potter couldn't argue with what Draco said without looking like a tool himself.
By the look on her face, Darlene seemed to know exactly what Draco was trying to do and how effective it was. She coughed delicately into her hand. "We do appreciate your efforts to change that, Auror Potter."
Potter nodded with gritted teeth. "Thank you, Darlene. Do you have any other suggestions?"
"Well, we probably can't give them a fake feather, but have you considered what the suspect might do with it? Even if we use yours Draco, isn't there the possibility that they could use it as a tag to hurt you?"
Draco knew it was a valid point but hated being put on the spot in front of Potter. "As far as I know there are no magics that can use a feather any differently than any other taglock. I'll consult with my sources about any potential dangers, though."
By the end of the day, the general outline for the sting had been hammered out. Darlene agreed to sort through the additional reports that came in from the other Liaisons. Draco was to reach out about hair for the polyjuice and the dangers of giving away a feather. Potter was to get warrants the spells and potions that were used in sting operations like this.
They actually didn't reconvene until that Friday. That was how long it took for Potter to square everything away with the Auror department. Draco had managed to convince one of his Veela contacts to allow him to polyjuice as her. Both she and his other Veela lore contacts had discouraged him from actually giving away one of his own feathers. However, none of them could give him a good reason beyond the fact that it was frowned upon.
Draco had had enough of rules that were based in tradition. He tried really hard not to bump heads with his new social circle of Veelas, but he also just couldn't bring himself to mindlessly follow rules anymore. However, he also respected the Veela community and wished them to do the same. So he spent most of the rest of the week researching into anything that had been documented about Veela feathers or taglocks.
There wasn't much to find. Just some advice that reminded him of pureblood attitudes towards virginity. For example, a feather should rarely, if ever, be given to someone that wasn't that person's bondmate. If that person wasn't a bondmate then should only be given to someone the gifter trusted intimately. There were also some sources that said the feather should only be given after the gifter had bonded or intended to bond with the giftee.
Also, there were some sources that the person should wait until the feather had aged a certain amount before gifting it. This seemed less caught up in purity nonsense that Draco gave it more credence. However, the texts were conflicting about the aged feather information, especially on a time length. Still, Draco had never been in his bird form long enough to molt feathers so it was a bit of a moot point.
He had plucked one feather on Monday evening just in case the length of time did matter. However, since none of the research material had definitive timelines, let alone consequences, he wasn't about to put a halt on the sting operation just to let his feather age for some indefinite amount of time.
Darlene's outreach to the other Liaisons revealed that many other Magical Beings had been approached in similar fashion to their first reports. The werewolves had been asked for teeth or fur. The glamored mermaids for hair and scales. It seemed their suspect was just looking for potion ingredients that could be had from magical beings rather than ingredients for a specific potion. That did imply that their suspect (or group of similarly glamored suspects) was likely part of an underground potion supply group.
Thus Potter needed to have the warrants ready for undetectable tracking charms that would work through several Apparition jumps. As well, Potter had asked the department put several spells on Draco's feather to allow it to be tracked and protected from use in potions. Then he needed permission for the use of a polyjuice potion that would be potent enough to fly under most detection spells. Getting all of that was the reason Potter said it was taking so long to push through the red tape.
Really, it was probably impressive it only took a couple days to get the go-ahead for a sting that was mainly to protect Magical Beings. Draco couldn't help being annoyed at the continued favoritism Potter received, even if Draco was benefiting from it this time around.
Draco spent most of Friday using a normal-strength Polyjuice potion in order to practice walking around in Lya's ridiculous heels and flow-y Muggle top. He also had to work on using a different part of his throat as he talked so he could use Lya's breathy tones.
Shortly before he was supposed to meet Potter, Draco stopped by Darlene's office one last time.
Darlene watched him as he entered and gave a little nod of approval. "You are doing a lot better, Draco. I don't think anyone who isn't looking for it will notice."
"Thanks to your lessons," Draco said dryly. Darlene had had a field day with those. Then he grimaced and tugged to try and adjust the bra's wires. "She doesn't have any tits. Is this thing really necessary?"
Darlene laughed. "I don't think she would appreciate you subjecting her body to a nip slip. Just a few hours and you can go back to your oh-so comfortable wizard robes."
Draco rolled his eyes. "A little discomfort is expected for fashion but most of it can be spelled away. Have they not found some way to make these things more bearable?"
"You could ask Granger," Darlene said with a sly smile.
"Not on your life. And don't make me think about Granger's tits. That is disgusting."
Darlene laughed. "At least not on Ministry time."
Draco shoved his fingers in his ears. "What I don't know can't be dragged out of me. And don't sully Lya's ears." Then he glanced at the clock and took on a more professional air. "Anyway," he said. "Do you have anything that might help us last minute?"
Darlene shook her head. "Don't adjust your bra in public?"
"Oh my god."
Darlene grinned and then stood up. She looked over Draco's appearance, gently rearranging his Muggle clothing so that it hung better on his (or Lya's?) frame. Then she patted Draco's shoulder. "Good luck out there."
"Thanks. Oh, tell Granger happy anniversary from me if you see her. I tried earlier but I don't think she recognized me and she was really awkward about it."
Darlene grinned. "At least you know it can fool someone?"
"Ugh. Enjoy your weekend. Don't get too sloshed on blood."
"Hilarious, Draco," Darlene said as she escorted him out of her office.
...
Author's Note:
This is the easiest it has been to write in a long time and honestly that is so nice.
Please review. I would really love to hear your thoughts!