Chapter Text
Harry tossed down the handful of parchment that comes with having a partner reassigned, on his desk before tearing off his robe. He’d just gotten out of a travesty of a meeting with Robards, how they could keep assigning him such half-wits as partners, was beyond him.
He poked his head out of the office door, “Helena?”
“What?” she replied, snapping her gum as she flipped the page of her magazine that she was reading while she filled out case notes. She was the most disrespectful secretary he’d ever had, always snapping her gum, and sassing Harry, telling him he was an idiot, and she was terrible at taking his messages. But she didn’t think that Harry shit gold bricks. So.
He loved her.
“Hold my owls, please.”
She looked up from the notes she was transcribing onto the official form, “Who is it, then?” she asked, sounding a bit put out.
“I don’t know yet, but you’ll be the first to know when I do.”
“You always do this," she grumbled. "Better not be some wanker,” she muttered under her breath. Then she frowned up at him, “I liked Henry,” she whinged.
“Oi,” Harry muttered, correcting her language, but his heart wasn’t in it, they both knew it. “Language. The new Auror joining us in this office may not like your snarkiness, and they will be as much your boss as I am.”
“So, not very much at all then,” she said with a smirk.
“Bloody cheeky,” Harry said, shaking his head.
“You love it,” she replied.
He didn’t bother denying it, “Well, my new partner might not.”
An interdepartmental memo zipped into the office and Harry took the opportunity to close the door between the two of them. He took a deep breath and tried smoothing down his hair nervously. He hadn’t intended to get Henry reassigned. He was a nice enough bloke but he had been more concerned with Harry’s safety on a case than on the task ahead of them and that wouldn’t do.
He’d tried to tell the powers that be repeatedly that he needed someone who didn’t see him as "the savior" to work with him. It was a danger to him and to everyone around them otherwise.
Shaking his head, he glanced over to the window and startled to see a lovely white cat lying out in the sun.
“Well, hello there, beautiful boy,” he said as he wandered over to the cat who stood up warily as he approached. He crouched down in front of the cat and held out his hand, “It’s alright,” he soothed.
The cat stuck its nose up at the offering of Harry’s hand but rubbed against his right shin before twisting around to rub against Harry’s left thigh. This time, he allowed Harry to scratch between his ears before stretching then gracefully jumping up on Harry’s desk.
“Careful, lovely,” Harry murmured to the cat as it flopped gracefully over onto the pile of papers he’d tossed down on the way in.
“Harry?” Helena called, she sounded vaguely nervous which did not bode well. “You need to see this interdepartmental memo.”
“I told you to hold them,” he said, scratching the cat’s chest while the cat rolled on his papers and purred.
“Yeah, you’re going to want to read this.”
Harry huffed a sigh and turned away from the cat, who jumped down from the desk, pushing the papers onto the floor.
“I told you to be careful,” Harry tsked softly at the cat, who ignored him in favor of rubbing against the chair.
He bent down to pick up the papers as Helena called, “Seriously, this shouldn’t wait.”
With a sigh, he tossed the papers back on his desk and opened the door again. The cat followed him out into the waiting room outside his office and rubbed against the corner of the desk before sitting and delicately licking its paw.
Harry snatched the memo from her hand and read the brisk lines.
AUROR POTTER,
PLEASE ENSURE THE SECOND DESK IN YOUR OFFICE IS READY FOR YOUR NEW PARTNER TODAY.
AUROR MALFOY WILL BE MOVING HIS THINGS IN SHORTLY.
HA ROBARDS
“Are you punking me, Helena?” he asked because that was the only logical explanation for this missive. There was no way anyone in their right mind would have paired him and Malfoy together.
They’d kill each other in the first week.
“No,” she said softly, more seriously than he had ever heard her.
He stared blankly ahead for a moment, “Fuck me,” he grunted. At Helena’s startled laugh, he came back to himself. He shook his head ruefully, “Sorry.”
He went back into his office before she could say anything else and looked around. The second desk was clear, Henry had cleared his things out the evening before and Harry had decided to try to tidy up some of his things as well, first impressions and all that.
Not that there was anything that could fix the past decade worth of impressions they'd had on one another at this point, he thought glumly.
It was only a few minutes later when he could feel Malfoy enter the room. He’d always had a strong magical signature, Harry just hadn’t learned to recognize it until he’d become an Auror. He took a steadying breath, “Malfoy,” he said by way of greeting.
“Potter,” came the terse reply.
Harry turned around and they stood staring at one another for a long moment, there was tension there, a lifetime of anger and resentment broiling between them. He clenched his fists and slowly relaxed them. “I don’t know how this is going to work.”
“Oh, for Merlin’s sake, Potter,” Malfoy snapped, as he pushed in past him, all of his boxes levitating behind him. “Don’t be such a child. Am I to assume this is my desk?” he asked, waving an irritatingly graceful hand at the desk that didn’t belong to Harry.
Harry was frankly surprised that he hadn’t tried to move to his desk just to be contrary instead. “Yes,” he said.
Malfoy started spelling his possessions out of his boxes and into the drawers and filing cabinet.
“Why are you unpacking?” Harry asked.
Malfoy didn’t even pause in directing his files to the correct drawers. “I was under the impression that I now have the distinct honor of being assigned as your new partner,” he drawled.
“We’ll never pass the compatibility test,” Harry said.
“Finally admitting how hard you are to work with, Potter?” Malfoy asked with a smirk.
Harry glared at Malfoy, “Oddly it wasn’t me I was worried about.”
“Ah,” Malfoy said, “Still struggling under the weight of your massive ego, then?”
“That’s rich coming from you,” Harry all but snarled at him.
“How many partners have you had?” Malfoy asked, his voice irritatingly collected as he leaned his hip against his desk and folded his arms over his chest.
“What does that have to do-”
“How. many,” he interrupted calmly.
“Six,” Harry spat.
“So, that makes me lucky number seven,” Malfoy said, “Do you know how many partners I’ve had, Potter?”
“No.”
“One. I have been with my last partner for the past four years; he retired a few days ago and that is the only reason I need a new partner. What was your longest stint with a partner? Ten months?”
“That isn’t my fault.”
“Of course not,” Malfoy said placatingly, and Harry hated how calm he sounded. “It couldn’t possibly be that the Savior of the Wizarding World is hard to work with.”
“I’m not hard to work with!” Harry protested.
“No?”
“No!” Harry snapped. “I am great at teamwork.”
“Sure,” Malfoy replied with that haughty, trademark Malfoy smirk that had always driven Harry round the twist.
Harry was about to reply, something scathing, he was certain when Helena interrupted them. “Harry? Auror Malfoy?” she asked, a touch more timid than Harry had ever heard her.
“Draco, please,” Malfoy corrected her, but his voice was warm and open in a way Harry found exceedingly suspicious.
“Draco,” she corrected and gave him a tiny half-smile.
Bloody Malfoy charm was already winning over his favorite secretary. “Did you have something you needed to say?” Harry snapped at her.
“Yes, I can see how easy you are to work with,” Draco commented dryly.
Helena snorted at this and Harry glared at her, betrayal burning in his gut. She glanced at him and smoothed her face into some semblance of seriousness. “Head Auror Robards would like to see you in his office.”
“Good. The sooner we get the compatibility tests out of the way the better,” Harry said. “Then we can forget about this farce.”
He started out down the hall, Malfoy at his left, “Potter, have you ever failed a compatibility test?”
“No,” Harry replied, “Because I am easy to work with.”
“Right,” Malfoy said again. “What do you imagine happens when you fail a compatibility test?”
“Your partner gets reassigned,” Harry said. The ministry would never make you work with someone who was dangerous for your well being. Partners had to be able to trust one another, if they couldn’t there was no hope of them being able to work out in the field.
He walked up to Robard’s assistant, “Hello, Matthew.”
“Hello Auror Potter,” he replied, then peeked around Harry, “Auror Malfoy.”
“Head Auror Robards summoned us,” Harry told him even as Malfoy tried to greet him.
“Yes,” he said, “He’s ready for you.”
Harry stomped toward the door, but Malfoy stopped at his desk, “It’s Draco,” he told him and Harry heard Matthew laugh. “How’s that new crup pup?”
Matthew all but squealed with delight, “He’s perfect,” he gushed. “Well, mostly,” he said with a laugh. “We're still working on house training.”
Draco laughed, “Good. I’m glad.”
“Thank you for the recommendation,” he said.
Harry cleared his throat, “If you’re ready, Malfoy?”
“Sorry, Matt,” Draco said, nodding toward Harry. “Best be off. Say hi to Laurence for me.”
“Will do,” the other man replied easily.
They walked through the door that let them into the hallway leading to Robard’s office. “What are you playing at?”
“Pardon?” Malfoy asked, in the most bored tone Harry’d ever heard.
“Oh, Matt, tell me about your puppy. Say hi to your husband for me. Kisses, kisses,” Harry mocked.
“I wouldn’t expect you to understand, Potter,” he replied.
“Oh, no? Did you get him the crup from the black market or something?”
“You can’t be serious,” Malfoy said as they stopped outside of the door into Robard’s office. “You are serious. Circe. Can you even hear yourself? Is it even possible for someone as stupid as you clearly are to become an Auror?”
“Is it even possible for someone as slimy and malicious as you to be an Auror?” Harry countered.
Malfoy inhaled deeply through his nose, “Listen, Potter. I know it will be difficult for you to understand, but I’ll try to use small words. Not all of us are still stuck in their Glory Days at Hogwarts. Some of us have grown and changed.”
“Like I can even believe a word-”
The door in front of them opened and Robards looked the two of them up and down, “If you’re quite through,” he drawled. “I haven’t got all day to wait for you two to have your spat.”
“It’s his fault,” Harry accused even as Malfoy said, “My apologies, Head Auror.”
Harry seethed, now Malfoy was just trying to make him look bad.
“Inside,” Robards said as he turned from them and went back into the office.
“I know what you’re trying to do,” Harry hissed.
“What? Keep my job?” Draco asked, voice equally soft but hard.
“Not another word,” Robards said.
“But, Sir,” Harry started as the two of them sat down in front of his desk, “You can’t honestly expect us to work together. We have nothing in common and we’ll probably end up killing one another.”
“I was under the impression that you’d spoken at Auror Malfoy’s hearing after the war.”
“Yes, but-”
“And that you’d pushed for him to be released,”
“Yes, but-”
“And encouraged them to rule him innocent of all crimes.”
“Yes, but-”
“So, what are your objections?”
“He’s,” Harry started before realizing ‘a massive git’ probably wouldn’t do. “Malfoy,” he finished lamely. “We’ve never gotten on a day in our lives. We have nothing in common.”
Robards turned to Malfoy, “Auror Malfoy, do you have the same reservations?”
Harry whipped his head to look over at Malfoy next to him. Malfoy didn’t even glance at him but looked straight at Robards. He cleared his throat, “Sir, we had a childhood rivalry.”
“A childhood rivalry?!” Harry exclaimed, that hardly seemed to do their antagonism justice.
Robards turned to glare at Harry, “Auror Malfoy didn’t interrupt you while you were speaking, could you please manage to offer him the same courtesy?”
Harry fell back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest.
“Perhaps it sounds understated when I say childhood rivalry,” Malfoy said, then he added, “We openly antagonized one another. I said cruel things about him and his friends, he returned the favor.”
“More than cruel,” Harry muttered.
“More than cruel,” Malfoy affirmed softly, looking down at his lap and for a moment Harry forgot to hate him and felt a little guilty. Then Malfoy looked up again, eyes clear and Harry’s stomach unclenched, “But I am not the boy I was at school,” he said, glancing at Harry. “And neither is Potter.” He paused, then added, “As much as he is trying to make himself seem like he is.”
Harry wanted to offer an angry retort but knew that would only serve to demonstrate what Malfoy was saying.
“I think,” Malfoy said carefully, “That working together will be a challenge, nonetheless. There’s a lot of history between us, not much of it good.”
“That seems like an understatement.”
“Look, Potter,” Robards said, “I’m going to be frank with you. You’re a damn good Auror,” he said and Harry preened at the compliment. “But you are a massive pain in my arse.”
Malfoy snorted and Robards glared at him. “Sorry,” Malfoy said, holding out a hand and smoothing out the smirk on his face.
Robards turned back to Harry, who still felt affronted at his comment. “I have never had an Auror go through as many partners as you have.”
“It’s not my fault,” Harry said, skin heating. “It’s not right for me to have a partner that thinks my life is more valuable than anyone else’s. It’s dangerous.”
“I hear you. I have heard you saying that for the past 4 years but you’re Harry Potter,” he said with a shrug. “It’s damn near impossible to find anyone who doesn’t have a bit of a hero-worship complex where you’re concerned.”
Harry frowned at that, “I never asked for that. And I have lots of friends who don’t see me that way.” None that were Aurors, Harry thought somewhat bitterly at Ron.
“Merlin, Potter,” he grunted as he took his glasses off to rub his eyes in a weary sort of gesture. “I’m not blaming you for that, I am just saying I heard you and as soon as Auror Malfoy’s partner retired, I knew I’d found a solution.”
There was a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as he realized exactly where this was going.
“Auror Malfoy is an outstanding Auror, he was at the top of his class and he’s done well here. He also doesn’t have the problem your past partners have of idolizing you.”
Harry opened his mouth, then closed it, unsure what he was meant to say because as much as he may not like it, Robards had a point.
Robards looked between the two of them and when neither of them said anything he continued, “Now. When you go to your compatibility testing and fail,” Harry wanted to bristle at that, but it was probably the truth, “you’re going to have a month to get your scores to passing.”
“Wait,” Harry said, “So if we fail, we aren’t automatically assigned a new partner?”
“No,” Robards replied, “I don’t have an endless supply of Aurors to pair you with Potter. As I was saying, when you fail, you’ll have a month to get your scores to passing. The ministry owns a property that is most commonly used as a safe house, but when you fail, the two of you are going to move into it together.”
“You want us to live together?” Malfoy spluttered and Harry couldn’t help but share the sentiment.
“Yes. You’ll come to work each day and work together, on office work not in the field, then you’ll have one hour from the end of the workday to run errands, pick up things you need from the store or your homes, and any other personal business you have. After that hour you’ll need to spend your evenings together.”
“What if I want to have dinner with my friends?” Harry asked.
“Then you’ll bring Auror Malfoy with you and vice versa. You’re both smart, you’ll figure it out.” Robards shuffled the papers on his desk into a neat pile and Harry could do nothing but stare incredulously at him. “You are dismissed to have your compatibility test. Once it’s finished you’re done for the day; you will have two hours to get what you’ll need to move in to this address,” he said as two slips of paper floated across the desk to Malfoy and Harry. “You’ll be keyed into the wards before you arrive.”
The clock on the wall struck three and Robards glanced at it. “I’ve got to go, I have an appointment with the Minister. Matthew can answer any questions you may have about the property.”
With that, he shooed them out of his office and Harry walked down the hall in a daze. He must be dreaming. It was the only explanation.
Malfoy stopped to talk to Matthew, presumably to ask questions about the safe house they were about to move into, but Harry couldn’t hear it. “I’m going to use the loo. I’ll meet you at Auror Higgins office,” he said vaguely.