oleander | harry x draco

Chapter 1

"Potter!"

Harry looked up to see the Head of the Auror Office knocking on the edge of his desk with a heavy-looking linen envelope in his hands.

"Assignment for you." Robards handed over the envelope with a bemused look, watching as Harry noticed the several departmental stamps depicting a story of a case that has been pushed from one desk to another, which usually indicated that this case was either nigh impossible to solve or no one wanted to take it for some reason.

The 'some reason' became pretty clear as he pulled out the first sheet

Incident Report AVXII_3758728

Location: Malfoy Manor

Harry looked back up at Robards, jabbing a finger at the collection of stamps on the front. "This seems like a case for almost literally any other department than ours". He could hazard a guess as to why no one wanted to take responsibility for the case; even though the Battle of Hogwarts happened over 5 years ago, the Malfoy's were pretty much recluse now since the media took to the papers to slander them after Lucius Malfoy was sent to Azkaban for life.

"Yes, well it seems that the case is quite complex, there are complaints both against the Malfoys and from them against others, so it got pushed around until Granger stepped in and recommended you be put on it." Robards crossed his arms and lent against the wall near his desk.

Gawaine Robards was a pretty no nonsense man. He rose to Head Auror after Scrimgeour was made Minister, and was one of the biggest supporters from top Ministry officials to advocate for Hermione's position as Deputy Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He was a surly bloke, tall and broad but surprisingly soft spoken even if he was a little gruff.

"Anyway" Robards continued, sensing Harry's bewilderment. "We figured that of all the people here, you'd be able to handle the case professionally without any personal disagreements with the Malfoy's history. I just want this case closed and off my desk yeah?" he clapped a hand onto Harry's shoulder and nodded a farewell as Harry filed his current paperwork away and whispered a quick spell to warm up the coffee he had left in his mug.

He separated the piles of incident reports into two piles; complaints made by the Malfoy's and complaints against them. There were far less complaints made by the Malfoy's even if the incidents were worse than the ones that were made against them. Prime example being an allegation made for 'suspicious behaviour due to loitering' where Draco Malfoy proved that he was just waiting for his lawyer by a café, compared to a St Mungo's discharge sheet describing an attack using several jinxes multiple times with the more notable ones being the Stinging, Pimple and Oppugno causing Ms Malfoy to require medical attention for a number of days.

After sorting through everything he arranged all the complaints in chronological order and began to transfer the major details to his working notebook via a very useful copying charm Hermione invented, an interdepartmental memo flew onto his desk to notify him that Robards had arranged a meeting at Malfoy Manor in a couple of hours, at 2:30pm that day. So Harry spend those few hours poring over the various incident reports, piecing together a story of a mother and son who are harassed whenever they appear in public together, and he had no doubts that it had something to do with the fact their they are due to face the Wizengamot in a trial to determine if they were free from innocence. A trial in which Harry is to be brought forward as a witness, yet again.

His alarm charm chimed sweetly in his ear so he gathered his notebook, Quik-Notes Quill and his leather satchel, threw on his Auror robe and made his way to the Apperation room, where moments later he found himself just inside the main gate to the Malfoy Manor.

The Malfoy Manor. Still looming, white, and oppressive as Harry could remember from that night that he, Hermione, and Ron were dragged here by the Snatchers to be interrogated. It was also here, he noted wryly, that Draco kept his identity secret from Bellatrix. A sharp rap on the heavy oak door was responded to by a portly house-elf, dressed in a crisp white shirt and pressed black trouser pants.

"Good Afternoon Auror Potter" the house-elf chirped, showing Harry inside and taking his heavy outer robe. "Madame Malfoy is expecting you in the drawing room."

The interior of Malfoy Manor was still the same grey green colour scheme as Harry remembered, although he could see signs of disarray in the dust accumulated in the high corners of the foyer, the fraying edges of the rug, and the dull sheen on the unpolished marble busts that lined the far wall. The drawing room itself was well kept with a warm fire crackling away in a polished wrought iron and marble fireplace, with several comfy chairs placed facing an ornate wooden coffee table.

"Auror Potter, Madame" the house-elf announced, and with a click of her fingers a silver tea tray appeared on the coffee table.

"Thank you, Pepper" the soft spoken dismissal came from Mrs Malfoy, who was sat on one of the larger loveseats in a simple but elegant sleeveless black dress, her hair pinned up so it was away from her face but flowed down her back. "Auror Potter, would you care for some tea?"

Harry nodded, and sat himself opposite the woman, accepting the offered tea cup with a smile. "How is your recovery going?"

Mrs Malfoy waved a hand airily, although Harry could see the way her jaw tightened at the movement. "Very well, thank you. I assume you're here over the reports that have been filed?"

Harry pulled out the envelope. "Yes, and thank you for agreeing to meet on such a short notice. I'd like to go ov-"

"Sorry I'm late Mother, Daring too forever... Oh, Potter." Draco burst through the door and pulled up short with a surprised look on his face as he noticed Harry sitting on the couch.

"Mr Malfoy. Glad you could join us" Harry stood up easily and held out his hand, the irony of a similar situation flashing through the back of his mind. Malfoy took his hand and shook firmly, before moving to the loveseat beside his mother to fix himself a cup of tea.

"I take it that this isn't a social call"

"Official business I'm afraid. I was assigned your case after the recent incident involving Mrs Malfoy and her, uh, hospitalisation. St Mungo's reached out to us specifically to investigate further as they believe charges can be pressed should you wish." Harry pulled out his notebook and his Quik-Notes Quill and waved his wand so it started floating just beside him, to which Malfoy scoffed.

"I seem to remember that was the weapon of choice for a certain beetle of a reporter."

Harry laughed. "Yes, well, this one isn't sickly green and the one your referring to had.. unfortunately, accidentally combusted as I recall." Harry gave Malfoy a somewhat pointed look. Malfoy only shrugged.

"Yes, and unfortunate accident" he replied loftily, before taking a sip of his tea. He nodded towards the linen envelope. "Shall we get on with business then?"

~~~~

Hello lovelies. Another story I'm working on when I get inspiration from it. Feel free to check out my other work in progress, The Space Between Us  --> It is a Harry x Cedric but there is a smidge of Drarry in it for you all.