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Bloody hell she was high. In the pit of her stomach she felt a terrifying fear of flying starting to well up. But, she thought to herself, I’m not afraid of flying. The feeling, however, wouldn’t go away. She looked down and realized she was flying miles above a large body of water, but she wasn’t on a broom. No, whatever she was flying on was alive, and big. It was then she realized she wasn’t alone on this thing either. He arms were wrapped so tightly around the body in front of her, they hurt. She kept getting pieces of red hair stuck in her mouth, and was sure it was hers until a chunk freed itself from the band tying it back. It wasn’t red; it was brown. The red hair in her face was from the person in front of her. Before she had time to puzzle about her miss-colored hair and the stranger in front of her, the beast they were on turned sharply. She caught a glimpse of its head. A dragon?! What in the world… Than a voice yelled over the whipping wind, “Ok NOW!” suddenly she was free falling towards the black water…
Rose awoke with her a terrible pain in her neck. As she opened her eyes wider, she realized she had fallen asleep in the Department of Experimental Charms. She looked to the desk across from her. Lily had also fallen asleep at her desk. As the haze of sleep lifted and her frustration with all these stupid dreams she was having was subsiding, memories of the events of the night before came flooding back. She sat up with a start, recollecting the plan Lily and her had come up with after they heard Malfoy.
“Lily,” Rose nudged her cousin. Lily grunted and shifted the arm under her head, “Lily!” she grabbed a book and threw it at Lily’s head.
“Ow!” Lily jumped, “What the…” she took in her surroundings with confusion, “Did I fall asleep at my desk?” her eyes landed on Rose, “What are you doing here?”
In an instant, the wave of recollection crashed over her. Rose simply raised her eyebrows and tilted her head towards the elevators. At the exact same moment, the two of them darted from their seats and ran to the lifts. They anxiously rode down one floor, “Level Two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters, and Wizengamot Administration Services*,” As soon as the doors opened, the two of them sprinted out and down the corridor, pushing drowsy workers out of their way. They weaved through the chaos that was the outer Auror Office until they reached the door at the far end. Harry Potter: Head Auror, was engraved on the plaque on the door. Lily’s hand got to the handle first and she shoved it open, both of them stumbled into the room out of breath.
“Dad!” Lily gasped, “You’ll never believe what we heard…” she trailed off when she realized her father was not alone in his office.
There standing in front of them was exactly who they had come to accuse. Draco Malfoy stood in front of Harry’s desk, his blonde hair slicked back and a sly smirk dancing on his pale face. He turned and looked at the two disheveled red heads at the door.
“Well isn’t it the carrot top twins,” his smirk widened as Rose and Lily just glared at him, “You’re in an awful hurry for so early in the morning. Something wrong?”
“Nothing that concerns you Mister Malfoy,” Rose shot at him. Although she was thinking that this concerned him more than anyone in the room.
“Ah, I heard that you were back,” his silky drawl was exactly the voice they had heard the night before, “I’m sorry to hear about your mother. Terrible, terrible,” he shook his head in what was meant to be disgust, but the sneer was still at his lips, “Give your father my condolences, won’t you Ruth,”
“My name is Rose,” she spat at him.
“Of course, of course,” he dismissed her correction and turned to Harry, “We’ll finish this later Potter. It would seem you have urgent business to attend to,” he turned and looked at the girls and stalked out.
“What in the name of Merlin is the matter with you two?” Harry got up from behind his desk and closed the door. “That was actually a very important meeting,”
“But Dad,” Lily cried, “It was him, it was Malfoy,”
“What was Malfoy?” Harry looked at his daughter in suspicion.
“He attacked my mom,” Rose answered for her, “Well, I don’t think he himself attacked her, but he was behind it,”
“And what would make you so sure of that that you would come bursting into my office like a couple of animals?”
Rose and Lily recounted the whole story of the night before to Harry.
He glanced back and forth between them skeptically, “I don’t know girls. We’ve looked into the Malfoys, all of them,” he gave Rose a pointed glance, “There’s just no evidence,”
“No evidence!” Rose cried, “We heard him say it!”
“Did he actually mention your mom Rose?”
Rose looked up at the ceiling trying to remember. She was sure he had, well pretty sure, “Um, maybe not exactly, but he was talking about killing people Uncle Harry!”
“Malfoy’s all talk. Probably trying to impress someone,”
“IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!” this came out a little angrier than Rose had intended, but she as getting frustrated.
Harry stood right in front of Rose and looked her square in the eyes, putting his hands on her shoulders, “Rosie, look, I know this is all very hard. I want to find out who did this just as much as you do. We all do. But we’ve checked them out. Draco, Scorpius, and anyone that might be affiliated with them, they were all clean, they all had alibis.”
Rose gave a frustrated scream, whipped around, and stalked out of the room. Harry let out a knowing laugh and slightly nodded his head.
“What’s funny?” Lily asked.
“It’s just, she looked exactly like her mother right then,” he had a wistful smile on his face.
Lily rolled her eyes and shook her head, “Don’t tell her that,” she replied warningly and left the office.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rose had stormed her way through the Auror Office, onto the elevators, and down to the first floor of the Ministry. She was headed for her mother’s office, which ironically had come to feel like her only real sanctuary in this crazy and confusing time.
Upset and grumbling, she let her feet lead. She was so angry that she didn’t realize she wasn’t looking where she was going, and suddenly collided into something solid. The impact startled her. She pried her eyes from her feet and was met with the coldest set of grey eyes she had ever seen.
“We meet again little Weasely. I must say, with the determination you are walking with today, I would swear you were up to something,” Draco Malfoy sneered down at her for the second time in under an hour.
“What does it matter to you?” Rose glared back at him.
“Nothing, I imagine. But it’s fancy meeting you down here. Are we going to cry to Mommy about what Uncle Harry wouldn’t help us with,” he gave her a mock frown, “Oh wait, Mommy’s not in there, is she?” Rose continued to glare at him and gritted her teeth, “No, where is Mommy Rose?” her breath was coming heavier and heavier now and she began to clench her fists, “That’s right, she’s laying helpless in a hospital bed right now isn’t she? Poor, helpless Hermione, couldn’t even save herself…”
Rose snapped and pulled out her wand and pointed it at Malfoy, “Don’t you dare talk about my mother!”
Malfoy’s sneer just curled higher and he let out an evil chuckle, “You think I’m afraid of you. Hilarious,” he suddenly narrowed his eyes and looked at her so intently that she couldn’t have looked away if she wanted to, “Listen here Weasely,” he hissed, “I wouldn’t go snooping around in things you have no business in. I wouldn’t want to see the rest of your precious family suffer the same fate as the ‘Great Hermione Granger’,”
He pushed a stunned Rose’s wand out of the way and stalked off. Leaving her unable to move.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry sat as his desk reflecting on what Lily and Rose had told him. He had certainly looked into Malfoy when the attack happened. He knew Hermione and Malfoy had a long history of bad blood between them, which made Malfoy Harry’s prime suspect. But Draco had had an alibi. Harry had investigated the whole Malfoy family, including his son Scorpius, who he knew has always been at odds with Rose. But Scorpius had had an alibi as well. Harry spent two full days investigating anyone who had ever had contact with the Malfoy’s, and to his disappointment, they had all come back clean. He would love nothing more than to arrest Draco Malfoy and throw him in Azkaban. Harry was sure that Malfoy and his son were involved in illicit activities, but he could never find anything on him.
He leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head. This whole ordeal was really tearing him up. It was his job to appoint the Aurors to the Minister’s security team. He would be lying if he said he didn’t put slightly over qualified Aurors on Hermione’s detail. Every time he thought of that day he couldn’t help but blame himself.
He kicked the leg of his desk in frustration. Why couldn’t he figure this out? He had teams of Aurors searching everywhere for leads, but everyday they all came back empty. He hated everyday he had to go to the hospital and tell his best friend that he had nothing. In times like these Harry had grown to rely on Hermione to help him. She was always able to research and plan and find something he had missed. If only she could figure out who was behind her own attack (she had done it before).
He opened up the file on his desk for what seemed like the thousandth time. After looking through all its contents, he sighed and started to rub his temples. He knew there had to be something there. On the very top, there were pictures that were taken at the scene. Harry had examined them all to death, but he himself hadn’t been back to Hogsmeade since that day. He closed the file and left his office determined. He had a new plan.
As he stalked through the out Auror office, he spotted a familiar coif of black hair.
“Albus!” he cried across the room.
Al turned around and noticed his father. He sprang up from his desk and scurried over. “Yeah Dad?”
“C’mon,” Harry said in his no nonsense Auror tone as they continued to walk, “We’re going to Hogsmeade. You’re the new lead on the Minister case,”
Al looked at his father with wide eyes, “Wait, Aunt Hermione’s attack? That’s the biggest case we have going right now, I mean, Draper is the best we have…”
Harry interrupted him, “I need someone with a real involvement in whether we find these bastards or not. Not someone who is just doing his job,”
Al continued to looked concerned, “But Dad…”
Harry turned and looked him square in the eye as he had done to Rose earlier, “Albus, you can do this. You are a good Auror. It’s time for you to prove it,”
Albus took a large, deep breath, “Alright, what’s first,”
Harry smiled down at his son proudly, “To Hogsmeade,”
Rose awoke with her a terrible pain in her neck. As she opened her eyes wider, she realized she had fallen asleep in the Department of Experimental Charms. She looked to the desk across from her. Lily had also fallen asleep at her desk. As the haze of sleep lifted and her frustration with all these stupid dreams she was having was subsiding, memories of the events of the night before came flooding back. She sat up with a start, recollecting the plan Lily and her had come up with after they heard Malfoy.
“Lily,” Rose nudged her cousin. Lily grunted and shifted the arm under her head, “Lily!” she grabbed a book and threw it at Lily’s head.
“Ow!” Lily jumped, “What the…” she took in her surroundings with confusion, “Did I fall asleep at my desk?” her eyes landed on Rose, “What are you doing here?”
In an instant, the wave of recollection crashed over her. Rose simply raised her eyebrows and tilted her head towards the elevators. At the exact same moment, the two of them darted from their seats and ran to the lifts. They anxiously rode down one floor, “Level Two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters, and Wizengamot Administration Services*,” As soon as the doors opened, the two of them sprinted out and down the corridor, pushing drowsy workers out of their way. They weaved through the chaos that was the outer Auror Office until they reached the door at the far end. Harry Potter: Head Auror, was engraved on the plaque on the door. Lily’s hand got to the handle first and she shoved it open, both of them stumbled into the room out of breath.
“Dad!” Lily gasped, “You’ll never believe what we heard…” she trailed off when she realized her father was not alone in his office.
There standing in front of them was exactly who they had come to accuse. Draco Malfoy stood in front of Harry’s desk, his blonde hair slicked back and a sly smirk dancing on his pale face. He turned and looked at the two disheveled red heads at the door.
“Well isn’t it the carrot top twins,” his smirk widened as Rose and Lily just glared at him, “You’re in an awful hurry for so early in the morning. Something wrong?”
“Nothing that concerns you Mister Malfoy,” Rose shot at him. Although she was thinking that this concerned him more than anyone in the room.
“Ah, I heard that you were back,” his silky drawl was exactly the voice they had heard the night before, “I’m sorry to hear about your mother. Terrible, terrible,” he shook his head in what was meant to be disgust, but the sneer was still at his lips, “Give your father my condolences, won’t you Ruth,”
“My name is Rose,” she spat at him.
“Of course, of course,” he dismissed her correction and turned to Harry, “We’ll finish this later Potter. It would seem you have urgent business to attend to,” he turned and looked at the girls and stalked out.
“What in the name of Merlin is the matter with you two?” Harry got up from behind his desk and closed the door. “That was actually a very important meeting,”
“But Dad,” Lily cried, “It was him, it was Malfoy,”
“What was Malfoy?” Harry looked at his daughter in suspicion.
“He attacked my mom,” Rose answered for her, “Well, I don’t think he himself attacked her, but he was behind it,”
“And what would make you so sure of that that you would come bursting into my office like a couple of animals?”
Rose and Lily recounted the whole story of the night before to Harry.
He glanced back and forth between them skeptically, “I don’t know girls. We’ve looked into the Malfoys, all of them,” he gave Rose a pointed glance, “There’s just no evidence,”
“No evidence!” Rose cried, “We heard him say it!”
“Did he actually mention your mom Rose?”
Rose looked up at the ceiling trying to remember. She was sure he had, well pretty sure, “Um, maybe not exactly, but he was talking about killing people Uncle Harry!”
“Malfoy’s all talk. Probably trying to impress someone,”
“IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!” this came out a little angrier than Rose had intended, but she as getting frustrated.
Harry stood right in front of Rose and looked her square in the eyes, putting his hands on her shoulders, “Rosie, look, I know this is all very hard. I want to find out who did this just as much as you do. We all do. But we’ve checked them out. Draco, Scorpius, and anyone that might be affiliated with them, they were all clean, they all had alibis.”
Rose gave a frustrated scream, whipped around, and stalked out of the room. Harry let out a knowing laugh and slightly nodded his head.
“What’s funny?” Lily asked.
“It’s just, she looked exactly like her mother right then,” he had a wistful smile on his face.
Lily rolled her eyes and shook her head, “Don’t tell her that,” she replied warningly and left the office.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rose had stormed her way through the Auror Office, onto the elevators, and down to the first floor of the Ministry. She was headed for her mother’s office, which ironically had come to feel like her only real sanctuary in this crazy and confusing time.
Upset and grumbling, she let her feet lead. She was so angry that she didn’t realize she wasn’t looking where she was going, and suddenly collided into something solid. The impact startled her. She pried her eyes from her feet and was met with the coldest set of grey eyes she had ever seen.
“We meet again little Weasely. I must say, with the determination you are walking with today, I would swear you were up to something,” Draco Malfoy sneered down at her for the second time in under an hour.
“What does it matter to you?” Rose glared back at him.
“Nothing, I imagine. But it’s fancy meeting you down here. Are we going to cry to Mommy about what Uncle Harry wouldn’t help us with,” he gave her a mock frown, “Oh wait, Mommy’s not in there, is she?” Rose continued to glare at him and gritted her teeth, “No, where is Mommy Rose?” her breath was coming heavier and heavier now and she began to clench her fists, “That’s right, she’s laying helpless in a hospital bed right now isn’t she? Poor, helpless Hermione, couldn’t even save herself…”
Rose snapped and pulled out her wand and pointed it at Malfoy, “Don’t you dare talk about my mother!”
Malfoy’s sneer just curled higher and he let out an evil chuckle, “You think I’m afraid of you. Hilarious,” he suddenly narrowed his eyes and looked at her so intently that she couldn’t have looked away if she wanted to, “Listen here Weasely,” he hissed, “I wouldn’t go snooping around in things you have no business in. I wouldn’t want to see the rest of your precious family suffer the same fate as the ‘Great Hermione Granger’,”
He pushed a stunned Rose’s wand out of the way and stalked off. Leaving her unable to move.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry sat as his desk reflecting on what Lily and Rose had told him. He had certainly looked into Malfoy when the attack happened. He knew Hermione and Malfoy had a long history of bad blood between them, which made Malfoy Harry’s prime suspect. But Draco had had an alibi. Harry had investigated the whole Malfoy family, including his son Scorpius, who he knew has always been at odds with Rose. But Scorpius had had an alibi as well. Harry spent two full days investigating anyone who had ever had contact with the Malfoy’s, and to his disappointment, they had all come back clean. He would love nothing more than to arrest Draco Malfoy and throw him in Azkaban. Harry was sure that Malfoy and his son were involved in illicit activities, but he could never find anything on him.
He leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head. This whole ordeal was really tearing him up. It was his job to appoint the Aurors to the Minister’s security team. He would be lying if he said he didn’t put slightly over qualified Aurors on Hermione’s detail. Every time he thought of that day he couldn’t help but blame himself.
He kicked the leg of his desk in frustration. Why couldn’t he figure this out? He had teams of Aurors searching everywhere for leads, but everyday they all came back empty. He hated everyday he had to go to the hospital and tell his best friend that he had nothing. In times like these Harry had grown to rely on Hermione to help him. She was always able to research and plan and find something he had missed. If only she could figure out who was behind her own attack (she had done it before).
He opened up the file on his desk for what seemed like the thousandth time. After looking through all its contents, he sighed and started to rub his temples. He knew there had to be something there. On the very top, there were pictures that were taken at the scene. Harry had examined them all to death, but he himself hadn’t been back to Hogsmeade since that day. He closed the file and left his office determined. He had a new plan.
As he stalked through the out Auror office, he spotted a familiar coif of black hair.
“Albus!” he cried across the room.
Al turned around and noticed his father. He sprang up from his desk and scurried over. “Yeah Dad?”
“C’mon,” Harry said in his no nonsense Auror tone as they continued to walk, “We’re going to Hogsmeade. You’re the new lead on the Minister case,”
Al looked at his father with wide eyes, “Wait, Aunt Hermione’s attack? That’s the biggest case we have going right now, I mean, Draper is the best we have…”
Harry interrupted him, “I need someone with a real involvement in whether we find these bastards or not. Not someone who is just doing his job,”
Al continued to looked concerned, “But Dad…”
Harry turned and looked him square in the eye as he had done to Rose earlier, “Albus, you can do this. You are a good Auror. It’s time for you to prove it,”
Albus took a large, deep breath, “Alright, what’s first,”
Harry smiled down at his son proudly, “To Hogsmeade,”
