Making Choices - Drarry Oneshot

Making Choices

Draco dropped into his seat with an exhausted sigh, on the other side of the office, Harry mirrored him.

It had been a stressful and eventful afternoon. It was supposed to be just a surveillance operation, they had even brought along a couple of rookies to show them the practical side of the job, but an unexpected turn of events had led to a furious fight and the final apprehension of the leaders of one of the biggest potions trafficking ring in England.

The gang, that the press had named Smoking Shadow, because of their habit of disappearing right before an Auror raid leaving behind only smoking empty cauldrons, had grown in the last years from a small circle of light drugs dealers, to a major organization with multiple bases and a long chain of command spread throughout the British islands.

The poorly brewed draughts had been replaced by innovative concoctions that ranged from hallucinogenic substances to barely safe sleeping draughts, some of which had sent several people into a coma, though there hadn't been any casualties, yet.

Normally, the case would have been handled by a couple of Senior Aurors, but after the media coverage that had heavily implied that the Ministry wasn't doing enough and had sent the public into panic and the Heads of the Departments into a tizzy, Gawain Robards, current Head Auror, had decided to assign the case to his two Deputy Heads.

Both Draco and Harry had been removed from the serial murders they had been investigating and had been ordered to focus entirely on the potions case. They had been a bit miffed about it, in their opinion, people getting killed should have the priority over illegal drugs, and removing both Deputy Head Aurors from an active case of that relevance didn't seem like a good move, but they couldn't contradict a direct order from their boss, so they had left their files to another pair of Aurors and had gotten to work.

They had done a good job too, Draco, being the resident potions expert, had provided quite a lot of insights on possible base locations and new treatments for the coma patients and Harry, always the most practical one, had led multiple successful raids, collecting substantial evidence and arresting a few minor dealers.

Seeing how much they'd hated each other in school, the ease with which they worked together was astounding. They complemented each other's skills brilliantly, where Draco was more knowledge and precision, Harry brought sheer power and determination, together they formed an unstoppable duo.

Though the road to reach that point hadn't been without bumps and stops, the first time they had been partnered together, straight out of training, had ended with both noses broken and bruises that lasted weeks. They'd had to learn how to work together eventually, since neither of their requests for a change of partner had been approved. Later they had discovered that everything had been one big plot to get rid of both of them, since the Heads didn't believe in Harry's real abilities they had partnered him with someone they thought he would never get along with, thus leading to an unstable work on the field. And although Draco had been acquitted of all crimes, the distrust against the former Death Eater had been clear as day during training and had progressed into active duty, the Heads had probably been hoping that one of his eventual missteps would either bring Harry to file a report on him, in which case they would be able to cling to Draco's past and milk it enough to put together an excuse for kicking him out, or would lead to something really bad happening to Harry or another Auror, thus giving them the opportunity to chuck him in Azkaban and throw away the key.

After the realization that they were both been used again as pawns in a power ploy, they had decided to push past their differences, try to start anew and make the Heads regret the day they had decided to screw them over.

In the ten years they had been partners, they had worked tirelessly on their cases, becoming the best team in the Department, their solve rate had been the highest in the last century and they had rapidly climbed the hierarchy from Junior Aurors to Seniors and eventually, since the quality of their work and the efficacy of their partnership had been indisputable, they had become Deputy Heads.