𝐃𝐑𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐇/𝐃/𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐄 2008

Where We Meet Resistance (Or, Just Another Auror Fic)

Title: Where We Meet Resistance (Or, Just Another Auror Fic)
Author/Artist: [Name redacted at author's request]
Pairing/Threesome: Harry/Draco
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: The UST may serve a party of 20.
Word count: 8,308
Summary: 'And from this it follows that where we meet resistance, we must use only the force that is necessary and no more.' -- Albus Dumbledore, in a letter to Gellert Grindelwald, 1899.

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And from this it follows that where we meet resistance, we must use only the force that is necessary and no more.

-- Albus Dumbledore, in a letter to Gellert Grindelwald, 1899

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Where We Meet Resistance (Or, Just Another Auror Fic)

The door to the office Harry shared with Ron was thrown open, and a nearby coat rack wobbled perilously. Ron stood in the doorway looking thunderstruck, with lightning and other hazardous natural phenomena thrown in.

"Why," said Ron, rubbing his eyes furiously as if he was trying to remove them, "in the name of Merlin, is Snape up on Malfoy's wall?"

There was an ominous silence. Harry didn't think he had heard correctly. As far as he knew, Snape was resting snide as ever in his grave, necrophilia was illegal in England and the Inferi were well and long gone.

"What?"

"Harry. Have you not seen that new portrait in Malfoy's office?" Ron had the look of a man who had seen the risen dead - which, Harry considered, didn't seem to be too far from the truth. "It's enormous, as big as his desk. As big as his mouth, even. Which is big, as you know."

"Oh. Oh. Very," said Harry, turning back to his file with some relief. "It came in last week; you missed it when you were settling your travel documents downstairs." A few door frames had unfortunately been sacrificed in the process, dented by the portrait's massive size.

"Right." Ron looked slightly less distraught at having missed the introduction of Snape to the office décor. He swept everything on his desk into his cavernous briefcase grandly. "Well, anyway. I've got to go home and pack."

"Watch Hermione pack, you mean?"

Ron clicked his briefcase shut with a half-smile, soft on his face. "Yeah. But it's - it's sort of the same thing, isn't it?"

Harry smiled tentatively as his finger paused on the page. "Yeah. Sort of." Ron and Hermione were the two people closest to him in the entire world; they were also newly married and leaving for their honeymoon in Athens. Harry was happy for them.

He also half-hoped they wouldn't forget to come back.

Ron patted Harry on the shoulder. "All right?"

Harry nodded and looked away. "I - well - take care, yeah? Say bye to Hermione for me."

"I hate to interrupt this touching farewell," came a slow drawl from the doorway, "only not. Run along, Weasley, and do stay there for as long as you can - forever, if possible. Potter? My office."

Malfoy turned, and the door clicked shut.

Ron raised an eyebrow. "Bloody Malfoy, really. Anyway Harry, I'll get you - er, I dunno what yet. Maybe one of those Greek statues or something."

"... I don't think those are usually for sale," said Harry, as Ron headed for the door. "Bit hard to come by."

"Well, that's what a wand's for, isn't it? Not that Hermione would let me, upstanding young Auror and all that."