By the third month of Draco’s agreement with Hermione, work was bing unbearable. One Wednesday afternoon, he found himself sprinting up from the labs to Harry’s office.

‘Potter! POTTER!’ He yelled, banging of Harry’s office door. Harry’s secretary wasn’t at her desk and Draco couldn’t afford to waste any more time. The door was yanked open and a furious looking Harry stared back at him. Draco knew he must’ve interrupted something important because Harry’s jaw was doing that tell-tale twitching.

‘This better be fucking good Malfoy.’ Harry said angrily. He had been more than annoyed at Draco’s behaviour on his birthday and had done everything in his power to make sure Draco saw him everywhere he went in the Ministry. Draco was even starting to see him in his sleep. ‘I’m in the middle of a department head meeting.’

‘I know what’s causing the magic core issues.’ He said with urgency. He searched Harry’s eyes, begging he would understand this was important enough to disrupt his meeting and important enough to not fight Draco on this one.

‘Oh wow. Ok. Give me five minutes to get everyone out of here. Try to contact the Minister for me, please?’ Draco appreciated Harry’s attempt at civility and he dashed off to speak to Kingsley’s secretary.

‘I’m sorry Mr. Malfoy, the Minister is fully booked all afternoon. Perhaps you should try asking for an appointment further in advance?’ Kingsley’s bitch of a secretary told Draco with an oversweet voice and a derogatory look.

‘Listen to me.’ Draco said slowly, placing his arms on her desk and leaning over her menacingly. ‘I can see we have a problem here and you can look at me like shit on the bottom of your shoe if you want to, but I’m here on top priority business and I’d appreciate it if you would speak to the Minister immediately.’ She swallowed audibly, and Draco could see his tactics were working. ‘I’m working on the Runcorn case.’ Her eyes widened, and she scrabbled around to find her wand which was buried under piles of poorlyanised paperwork. Amateur.

‘I’m very sorry Mr. Malfoy, I will send the Minister to you immediately. Where will he be able to find you?’ Better.

‘Thank you. Send him to the Head Auror’s office as quickly as possible. We’ve no time to lose.’ He was back downstairs in Harry’s office as quickly as the Ministry lifts could take him.

‘What does this mean Draco?’ Harry asked him as they waited for Kingsley.

‘Well, if I can isolate thepound then I’ll be able to trace it should the aurors find any more potential sites, and it means that we should be able to reverse the effects on the patients currently stuck in St Mungo’s. I’m sure their loved ones miss them dearly.’ Draco kicked himself when he realised what he’d said. He was trying very hard not to give anything away when he was near Harry.

‘Listen, Draco, about my birthday. I—’

‘Good afternoon gentlemen. I hear we finally have some good news!’ Kingsley cut Harry off when he entered with a beaming smile, dressed in his favourite purple robes which reminded Draco a little too much of Dumbledore.

‘Yes, Minister. I was just explaining to Head Auror Potter that we should be able to revive the patients in St Mungo’s.’ Draco said, although his mind was still with whatever it was that Harry was trying to say to him before they were interrupted. Did he regret the kiss? Was he about to ive Draco for running off?

‘Excellent. What can you tell us then?’ Kingsley said, taking a seat next to Draco in front of Harry’s desk. It was weirdly reminiscent of the first meeting they’d had when the Minister had offered Draco the contract.

‘The patients have been exposed to a high level done of Aconite Violaceum.’ He announced.

‘Wolfsbane? But surely—’

‘Potter. Don’t profess to understand the minutiae of wolfsbane. Your potion’s grades were atrocious and your Herbology mediocre at best.’ Draco snapped. Kingsley raised his eyebrows and Draco realised he’d failed the professionalism he’d been demanding from Harry. He cleared his throat awkwardly.

‘Aconite Violaceum Mr. Malfoy.’ Kingsley prompted.

‘Yes. This particular variety of wolfsbane is incredibly rare and is only found in the Himalayas. Whoever it is who’s involved in it must have a class-A import license to get the product into the country. Even for crooks there’s no way to get through import wards. It must mean there’s someone else involved on the inside.’ Draco explained. He watched as Harry began scribbling on his memo pad.

‘We can use that. It gives us new avenues to explore.’ He said as he wrote.

‘This variety is untraceable in the bloodstream by diagnostic magic ifbined with the right ingredients. Someone was definitely keen to cover their tracks. I have the magical signature on file, so it will be traceable if anyonees across it again. I’ll need to consult with the healer overseeing the patients in order to reverse engineer a cure.’

‘This is great Malfoy. I really appreciate your support on this. I’ll have St Mungo’s contact you directly. I think in the future, you could apany the aurors on any fieldwork concerning the case. The signature may be on file, but I’d be happier knowing someone with intimate knowledge of the issue is on hand at any given time.’

‘I agree with the Minister, Draco. I need you out there.’ Harry said as he sent his memo to the department. Draco flushed at his choice of words. He needs your knowledge Draco, he doesn’t need you. An unwee voice in his mind told him.

A small quirk of Harry’s lips told Draco his embarrassment hadn’t gone unnoticed.

‘Of course. Anything I can do to help.’ Draco said cordially.

Harry had to take that literally.

The next morning a case file landed on Draco’s desk with aplete list of all the locations Runcorn and Hopkirk had been spotted at since they’d begun tailing them.

‘Why am I getting this?’ Draco asked the intern who brought the file to him.

‘Auror Macmillan wants you to look through the file and tell him if any of the locations are suitable for growing aconite. He also wants to know if there are any wards or magical residues the aurors should look of for in the field.’ The intern sounded as if she was parroting the exact words Macmillan had said to her and despite Draco’s irritation, he knew there was no point in taking it out on an intern.

‘Ok. Tell Macmillan toe down and see me when he has the chance please.’

The intern nodded and scampered away. They always walked around the department like deer caught in the headlights and Draco wondered whether Harry purposefully put the fear of God into them. Harry seemed to know everyone and everything that went on in his department, unlike other department heads. Draco hadn’t realised just how much responsibility Harry was shouldering here. He’d been made Head Auror a year into their marriage and if Draco was honest, it really had put a strain on things.

Harry had instructed the aurors to move Draco into a small office in the main department now that he had solved the medical aspect of the case. Apparently, he was still needed to decipher the lab reports from downstairs when the aurors brought in samples from the raids and was given updated files on every turn of events in the hopes he could offer some insight. Draco was slightly worried about his position in the Ministry now that the potions aspect was through.

The new line of work was much more playing on his knowledge of the dark arts. He was tracking magical signatures of any known Death Eater associates or sympathises. Analysing reports for any kinds of dark magic too advanced for the auror training. His father had often taken him into the basement of the manor to show him some of the dark artefacts the family owned or had collected. When he was older, his father had begun to tell him what some of the artefacts did and what Draco should do with them should the manor be raided, or should the family be threatened.

Draco hoped that his presence in the department wouldn’t knock too main noses out of joint. He wasn’t about to apologise for being there, not when the Minister had requested him specifically, but he didn’t want to cause a stir when he was only there temporarily.

He was disrupted from his perusal of the file by a knock on his office door. It still felt a bit strange to have his own office, but it was a lot warmer up here and he wasn’t about toplain. Not with his circulatory issues.

‘Yes?’ He called distractedly as he tried to finish the last line. He was always terrible at finding his place when he was reading.

‘Draco? Have you got a minute?’ Harry’s head popped around the edge of the door. Draco was disappointed to see he’d finally shaved. He’d gotten used to the way his stubble had made his jawline look so sharp it could cut glass.

‘Oh. Yes, absolutely. How can I help?’ He said awkwardly, straightening his already perfectly straight tie.

‘I see you have the file Macmillan was talking about. Great.’ He entered the room properly and sat on the edge of Draco’s desk. He was momentarily shocked at the familiarity of the gesture.

‘Yes! I was just looking at it. Most of it doesn’t seem of any use.’ He told him. Harry’s frame deflated.

‘Oh. I was really hoping you’d find something. We’re running out of avenues to explore.’

‘I think there’s something funny about this place,’ Draco said absently as he scanned the second page. ‘They’ve both been seen at a private healing clinic. Wouldn’t have been unusual but their appointments seem to have been one after the other every single time they’ve been. They’re obviously not regular appointments, which means they’ve made either emergency appointments or one of those on-the-day appointments they’re trialling from the muggle NHS.’ Harry leaned across the desk and looked over his shoulder to read the same passage Draco had just read.

Draco could feel the warmth of his breath across his cheek and could smell the same aftershave he’d been wearing on his birthday, this time mixed with the oversweet tea Harry liked to drink. Draco told himself it didn’t affect him, but the fuzzy feeling in his stomach and the slight wobble in his breath said otherwise.

‘I see what you mean. It would make sense too. It’d be the kind of place where people might expect to see aconite, so that wouldn’t raise too much suspicion. It’ll also have the broadest demographic possible, which explains why none of the victims relate to each other.’ Harry said. Draco flushed at the methodical way Harry dealt with the case. He’d never seen Harry in his professional sphere and it was quite maddening.

‘I see your point, and absolutely that makes sense, but it doesn’t explain why none of the patients have been to the clinic within a week of their symptoms. In fact, the young girl hasn’t been a patient at this clinic at all.’ Draco explained. He got the feeling he was missing something.

‘Do you know if any of them were checked for memory interference when they were revived?’ Harry asked him. Ah.

‘No, because they all remembered exactly what they were doi

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