The Boy Who Survived
"Draco?"
This had been Draco Malfoy's worst nightmare since the day he left Hogwarts. He spun around in his squeaky office chair to see a man standing before him, small box in hand. Draco examined him closely, his hair still managed to stay constantly ruffled, and he was just as lanky as when they went to school together. His clothes seemed worn and well-loved, the beginnings of two holes barely visible on the elbows of his cardigan. Shoes worn in the front, with no sign of where the leather used to shine anymore. Being the boy who lived didn't seem to pay very well, even with him now being an Auror. He shifted the box in his hands as Draco stared him down, what seemed to be a potted plant shifted to one side and a few frames poked out the top ever so slightly.
"What do you want Potter?" Draco spat at the familiar man before him.
"We've been assigned to be each other's partners. You had to have gotten the memo by now." Harry replied.
Draco had indeed received the memo, it had followed him around for days before he actually opened it. He had heard that something happened to Harry's last partner and knew they would want to give him a replacement ASAP. And seeing as Draco's last partner quit after only a week of working with him, he knew they would stick Wonder Boy by his side. He hated his last partner the least out of the ones they had put with him in the past, she managed to work with him the longest out of anyone. Even still he wasn't sad to see her go and felt no remorse when he found out she had to see a therapist after their short stint of working together. He thought she was weak and only slowed him down. His last partner always went by the book, meticulously worked through all of the red tape, and got all of the proper permits in order before she proceeded with anything. But he liked to skip all of that and do whatever he wanted, and as long as they caught the person behind whatever was afoot, he was happy. After she found out how many partners Draco had gone through in the past she assured him she would be his last, her plucky attitude getting on his nerves at every turn. But in the end, he was able to drive her away from being his partner, so he sure as hell could make "the chosen one" run for the hills if he so pleased.
"Just sit down," Draco hissed motioning at the desk stationed in front of his own, "I think the last one may have left some of her things in the drawers, feel free to throw it all out."
"The last one?"
"My last partner."
"Her name was... The last one?"
"Don't be daft, what kind of a parent would name their child "The last one". He retorted with a huff.
"What kind of a person doesn't know their partner's name?"
"Shut up Potter."
Harry hadn't been hopeful that things would be different from how they were when they had gone to school together, but it was still a shock to see Draco hadn't changed at all. Harry had thought that after all they had been through together the last time they had seen each other maybe Draco would have become kinder or more open to working with him, but it seemed like the Battle of Hogwarts had changed almost nothing in his perspective. He set the box down on his new desk with a clunk, beginning to unpack his assorted items. As opposed to his old desk, there were no windows around for his already dying plant to sit by and get whatever small amount of light there could be in their dull office. Lastly, he took out the two small picture frames, featuring him and his wife Ginny, and set them up gingerly facing toward himself. He looked around his bleak desk admiring his shoddy decoration job, only to see Draco staring at him intently. There was something behind his gaze that Harry couldn't place, though he assumed it to be the hatred from his younger years bubbling back up to the surface.
Breaking eye contact Draco grabbed one of the files from the ever-growing pile on his desk. Ever since Voldemort was killed all those years ago, more and more of his followers have gone back into hiding or renounced the Dark Lord entirely. With fewer Death Eaters wreaking havoc around London, Aurors have been stuck solving smaller cases and tracking down those who went into hiding. This case, in particular, had been giving him trouble for some time. Alecto Carrow, who had been put in Azkaban after being taken down by Luna Lovegood and Professor McGonagall, managed to escape a few years after her initial capture and is now in hiding somewhere in London. The last that anyone had heard, she had been seen sneaking around Hogsmeade, but every time Draco had gone there to look around she was nowhere to be found.
"What's that?" Harry questioned, trying to brush his annoyance to the side and speak flatly, though his efforts were wasted.
"Have a look for yourself" Draco replied tossing the file down on his desk.
Harry flipped through the pages of the file, examining the picture on the front page, "She's on the loose again huh?".
"Glad you still know how to read," He sarcastically remarked kicking his feet up onto his desk and with his head lazily tilted back, a smirk sliding across his face.
Harry slammed the file down exasperatedly, "Listen Malfoy, if we're going to have to work together you have to at least be civil. If you keep that shit up I won't hold back anymore."
"Oh no, Potter's not going to hold back! I'm sooo scared." He replied rolling his eyes with a scoff.
Harry's hand rushed for his wand, but he stopped himself before he had the chance to hex Draco out of his robes, he couldn't risk getting another write-up. Taking a deep breath he sat back and reopened the file. Every time he had to hunt down an old Death Eater that he had fought in the past had been so surreal, almost as if he had been transported back to being a teenager, the fear ending up consuming him in one way or another. He grabbed his coat and got up, motioning Draco to do the same.
"What are you doing?" Draco questioned
"She was last seen in Hogsmeade, so lets go to Hogsmeade"
"I've been on this case for weeks, do you really think I never thought to check? She's not there. So what makes you so sure that you'll find her Potter?"
"I'm going with or without you," and with that, Harry marched out of the office.
"Ugh, fine," Draco groaned after him snatching his coat from behind his chair, "But if you don't end up finding her you owe me a fire whisky."
"Deal"