The next morning, Harry stepped out of one of the many floos set along the wall of the atrium. He brushed ash off his robes as he headed toward the reception desk. A clerk was already waiting for him by the time he reached the semi-circular counter. "Good morning, Mr Potter," said a bright-faced young lady who looked around his age though he didn't recognise her from school. Then again, he had trouble remembering anyone outside his year. Ron and Hermione were always sighing at him not knowing who someone was.

"Err, Morning," Harry said, "I was looking for the....the Liars Department."

The young lady, she was wearing a name tag that said Florence, flashed him a bright smile, "Oh, the new department! You're the first to ask," she turned and pointed to one of the narrow hallways that started behind the reception desk, "If you go down this hallway, it's about five doors down, you can't miss it."

Harry stared down the way she had pointed, "You're sure? I didn't think there was anything back there."

Florence quickly nodded, "It's- I- Yes. I wouldn't lie to you, sir. It's...a bit strange, but it's probably only temporary, the department only just being set up and everything."

"Alright, thanks," Harry said with a wave.

The light grew dimmer as he headed down the hallway, the lumos charms on the ceiling seemed further apart, and the stone walls were unpanelled unlike most of the upper floors. There was a plaque beside the first door. It read Stationary Supply. The next one read, Cleaning Supply, then there was Furniture. Harry pulled that door open, finding scuffed old desks and chairs that wobbled precariously in stacks up to the ceiling. Harry had thought the desks and cubicles in the Auror's offices were bad, but he'd never complain again if these were the alternative.

He didn't look into the next room. It was labelled Owl Supplies, and Harry was certain he could hear squeaking coming from inside. The next door was just labelled Storage. It was filled with filing cabinets. It was nice to know they'd never run out, Harry mused as he shut the door behind him.

Just as he was starting to think this was a joke after all, he found it. The next door had a piece of paper spellotaped to the wall on which someone had written The Liars Department. Harry flicked the paper up. The plaque underneath read Storage Overflow. His eyebrows rose, and he carefully rapped his knuckles against the door expecting... nothing to be honest.

"Enter," Malfoy's voice called imperiously through the wood.

Harry pushed the door open, only for it to thunk to a halt halfway. He squeezed through the gap and into the room and saw that it had run into a desk. A desk that took up most of the small storage sized room. Malfoy was sitting behind it, still wearing that flashy white suit or perhaps another that just looked remarkably identical.

"Auror Potter," Malfoy grinned, looking far too amused. He pushed his chair back, and it made it six inches before running into the wall behind, somehow managing to rest his feet on the desktop at a sort of kitty-corner angle that looked precarious, to say the least. "Welcome to my office. I'd offer you a chair, but I'm afraid I only have the one."

Malfoy's trouser leg had risen up an inch revealing a pair of florescent blue socks covered in small, equally bright yellow ducks. Despite his best effort, Harry couldn't help staring at them.

"Good, aren't they?" Malfoy said. He dropped his feet back on the floor, "I didn't think I'd get to see you again. The Auror uniform is a much better look on you, the dishevelment almost looks intentional."

Harry blinked and frowned at Malfoy, remembering why he was there in the first place. "I don't have time to mess about, Malfoy."

Malfoy leaned back into his chair and bumped his head against the wall.

Harry winced as he dragged the chair forward, wood scraping across the floor. "I have some questions for you."

Malfoy leaned back in his chair properly this time and waved at Harry to get on with it, "Ask away, Auror Potter. It's a delight to be centre of your attention again after so long."

Harry didn't react, he forced himself not to. They had worked on interview techniques for months during training. Harry wasn't the best at it, but he could do alright if he put his mind to it.

"Yesterday, you alluded to not having this job for very long, I need you to explain what you meant," Harry said.

"I need you," Malfoy repeated in a low voice, that cat-like smile on his face.

"Malfoy, answer the question," Harry said sternly.

"So impatient," Malfoy said, rolling his eyes, "Can't I enjoy the moment? Besides they aren't going to do anything to you, not their darling Auror Potter."

"Malfoy," Harry prompted, feeling his temper rise and trying to swallow it down.

Malfoy sighed, and held his arms out, gesturing to the whole room.

Harry glanced from corner to short corner of the old storage room, the faint shadowed lines of where shelves had been still marked the walls. "I'm sure the room is temporary until you can be moved into a new office."

Malfoy raised an eyebrow, "We're wizards, they can make room wherever and whenever they like."

He might have a point, Harry conceded reluctantly.

"And even if I hadn't been shoved back in the closet," Malfoy smirked to himself. "I would think it's obvious I was going to be fired almost immediately."

"Why?" Harry pressed.

Malfoy gave him a funny look, when Harry didn't respond to it, he went on, "They hired me, Auror Potter."

"Yeah? So, you got a new job-"

Malfoy sighed at him again, "I have been applying, well, my mother has been applying for me for every single job that's come up in the last four years. This is the only job that's every responded. Honestly, I should have suspected it from the start when they hired me without an interview, but I got my hopes up."

"Wait, your mother's been applying for-" Harry stopped, cursing to himself, why did Malfoy keep distracting him like this?

"It keeps her busy," Malfoy said. "I applied for work myself the first year before I realised it was a waste of my time. My mother seems to think if I get a good job, it will fix everything. It won't of course, life isn't that simple, but she's persistent."

Harry took a deep breath, chiding himself to stay focused, he had a goal, and not long to see it through. At least, Malfoy was being a lot more helpful than Harry had anticipated. "Why did you take a job you knew you would be fired from?"

"I didn't know for sure until I was shown my beautiful office and-" Malfoy picked up a stack of papers that looked mostly blank. The top sheet was covered in doodles. The only other things on the desk were muggle magazines, with glossy, motionless covers.

"-was given this," Malfoy passed Harry a piece of paper before he could read any of the magazine covers.

The paper was, well, calling it instructions would be generous, it was more like a memo. It read: 'The purpose of the Liars Department is to provide an alternative to Obliviation without the use of magic. You may accomplish this in any way you see fit.

The Department will be receiving dispatches from the Auror's to assist in place of the Obliviators and should be responded to with all possible haste.'

It was signed, Sir Suirup

Harry frowned at it and put it back into Malfoy's outstretched hand, "Okay, that answers why you think you'll be fired, so why are you still here? What's the point of even coming in?"

"Novelty?" Malfoy said with a shrug, "I've never had a job before. It might be fun, or at least funny. It's already been very amusing. This alone has made my day."

Harry didn't get it.

"I asked for a desk yesterday and came back to this," Malfoy said, his smile growing, "Absolutely ludicrous. I mean, look at it. It's just utter nonsense."

"Why don't you just shrink it?" Harry asked.

"No wand, remember?" Malfoy said.

"Oh, right," Harry said, feeling weirdly guilty. "I could shrink it for you."

"Don't worry your pretty little head over it, Auror Potter," Malfoy said, "Besides, aren't you meant to be at work right now?"

Harry's eyes widened, and he fumbled out his pocket watch, "fuck," he hissed, snapping the watch closed. He could hear Malfoy laughing as he squeezed through the door

"Delightful talking with you," Malfoy called after him.

-

-

Harry hurried down the hallway, so focused on getting to work; he almost didn't notice the narrow man coming down the hall towards him. He probably would have ignored the man altogether, but he recognised the robes, the dark purple robes of the Wizengamont.

Most members only wore their official robes when the Wizengamont was called to session. They were gaudy things made of heavy velvet hemmed with gold filigree. The design probably hadn't changed since the Ministry was established. Harry always instinctively distrusted the robes, they always reminded him of the trial he went through before fifth year.

Harry stopped walking, waiting for the man to reach him. He was not particularly short or tall but stood like a small person straining to be seen. He had close trimmed grey hair to go with a neat moustache that had been waxed to a point on either side.

"Harry Potter. What brings you down here to the supply area?" the man asked, looking at Harry over the top of his little round glasses.

Harry had a suspicion who he was talking to and asked, "Salas Suirup?"

"It's Sir. And you're pronouncing it wrong, it's Salas Suirup."

Fart taster, Harry heard in the slippery, hissing Sss sounds of the way Suirup pronounced his own name. Not Eater, Taster. Truly, a man of refinement, Harry thought.

Harry managed to keep his expression blank, but it was a near thing, "Yes, Sir."

"I imagine you're here about our newest Department. I was just going to see to him myself after yesterdays terrible performance," Suirup said.

Harry narrowed his eyes, "Funny, I didn't see you there. I was the auror who assisted Mal- Draco Malfoy in the execution of his duty yesterday."

Suirup startled, "Ah. So...you were there. I just heard a- a rumour."

"I was." Since lying was apparently fine, Harry decided to do some lying of his own, "In fact, I came down here to see if he was getting the support he needed. Yesterday, Malfoy didn't have the supplies and information he should have been given. His office seemed, well, almost like an insult."

Suirup blinked rapidly, his moustache twitching as he tried to recover, "I- I agree."

"That's good. Malfoy did remarkably well considering his limitations," Harry said, "Do you know who's overseeing the department? I'd like to talk to them."

"I- No- No, I don't. I plan to look into that myself," Suirup lied.

Harry nodded, "Send me a memo when you find out. I plan on keeping an eye on the department, seeing as they will be working closely with the Aurors in the future."

Suirup's eyes narrowed, and Harry wondered what the dismal slip of a man was thinking.

"I... will," Suirup said.

Harry gave the man a curt nod, "Good to meet you, Sir. Now I've got to be getting to work."

He brushed past Suirup, bumping the man's shoulder as he headed back out to the atrium.

-

-

Harry nearly ran out of the lift when it stopped on the second level.

"Good morning!" A clerk- Lewis was it?, said with an excited wave.

Harry belatedly waved back at Lewis before heading down the hall to his desk.

"Harry! You're never late," Ron said, leaning back to see around the cubicle wall, "Thought you might be sick or something."

"No, I was... distracted," Harry said, "Did you see who I was assigned under today?"

"Still Shunter. With how often she requests you on assignments, she either hates you or loves you," Ron said.

"Neither of those are good," Harry said

Ron grinned, "Better you than me."

Harry sighed and headed for Shunter's office.

"Morning, sir," Harry said, stopping in front of her desk.

"You're late, Potter," Shunter said, looking up from the stack of paperwork on her desk.

"Yes, sorry, sir," Harry said.

"Don't make a habit of it. I'm going to make something of you if it kills me, Potter," Shunter said, looking tired.

Harry's brow furrowed, "Uh, thank you? I guess."

Shunter pressed her fingers into her temple, "Try to take this seriously. There's a lot riding on you."

Harry frowned, there weren't any big investigations going on that he knew of, "Sir?"

"Yesterday's suspect is being transferred to St Mungo's," Shunter said, pulling out a file and passing it over, "Take a free Junior Auror along and escort the suspect to the Janus Thickly Ward."

"Really? He's not going to jail then?" Harry said.

"He didn't actually manage to do anything, just cause trouble," Shunter said.

"He bit me."

Shunter pointed her quill at him, "Exactly. He needs help, not jail time. Besides we don't have much room in the Ministry cells, I'm not sending him to Azkaban for minor muggle exposure, and there's no way he could afford to pay the fine the Wizengamont would give him considering how he was arrested."

"Make sense," Harry said.

Shunter nodded, "The system isn't fair, it isn't built to be fair, so you have to learn where you can bend things, find cracks, make it work the best we can."

"Why don't you change the system?" Harry asked.

"You ever hear about snap-back?" Shunter asked.

Harry shook his head.

"When things change a lot all at once like they did after the war, there's usually a reactionary force in the opposite direction," Shunter said, putting her quill back in its stand, "People don't like change, it makes them nervous. We're in the snap-back right now. There's a lot of heel-dragging, a lot of trying to get rid of new laws and rules to make things go back to how it was."

"How it was before was Voldemort and Death eaters and corruption!" Harry said in dismay.

Shunter shrugged, "It doesn't make sense to us, but it does to them. The best thing we can do is try and keep things the same until they calm down."

"I think we should keep trying to change them. How things were hurt people, and that's not okay, should never be okay," Harry said.

"You've got a lot of hope in you, Potter," Shunter said, "Don't forget to take a transfer form along with you to Mungo's and make sure you get a healer to sign it, not a mediwizard. Got it?"

Harry could tell when he was being dismissed and gave a quick, "Yes, sir," and went to find an unlucky Junior Auror to assist in transferring the suspect.

-

-

Harry returned after noon, the transfer taking far too long, as they always did, and then the Junior insisting they stop off for lunch while they were outside.

The lunch itself had been nice enough, but there had been enough awkward silence to drown a moose in. Once a Junior ran out of hero worship to gush at Harry with, they often didn't have any real conversation left in them. It was almost like they had trouble talking to him as if he were a real person, like they couldn't relate to him. And Harry didn't have the social skills to make up the difference.

He let the Junior finish the paperwork, and went back to his cubicle, resting his forehead on the desk for just a second.

"Went that well, huh?" Ron said.

Harry leaned back in his chair. Ron's desk was still covered in ledgers and pages of maths, "You look like you're having fun."

"Can be. Sometimes," Ron said, "It's weird. At school, I always felt a bit dull, but here I feel pretty clever."

"Hermione's so smart everyone looks stupid in comparison," Harry said, "And you've always been good at chess, and being a good keeper requires a lot of thinking ahead very quickly."

Ron cuffed him on the arm, "Trying to butter me up, are you? Well, it worked. What do you want?"

"To distract me before I have to go report to Shunter again," Harry said.

Ron grinned, "Easy enough. Jack- he's a Junior, since you never remember their names, we all call him Jack'willin because he does whatever anyone asks him to- He's only been out of training a few months and just a few hours ago he exploded all the papers on his desk."

"What? How? Was he secretly brewing something?" Harry asked.

Ron shook his head, "Nah. Robard sent him to the medi-witch, and Sally heard from Leon who heard from Mallaidh that the medi-witch diagnosed him with a metal-breakdown."

"And that caused the explosion?" Harry asked.

"Magic's funny like that, it builds up and explodes for all sorts of reasons," Ron said, "All I know for sure was that he was muttering about 'bloody paperwork' all the way to the lift. Took an hour to collect all the scraps of paper and spell them back together."

"That's pretty exciting," Harry asked.

"And a muggle exposure just happened, some kid did accidental magic," Ron said, "But that's it really."

"Muggle exposure?" Harry asked.

"Yeah?"

"So they called the Obliviators?"

Ron frowned at him, "Yeah, or the Liars Department, I guess. Why?"

Harry didn't answer, already on his feet and hurrying to the duty roster hanging on the wall.

Like Mrs Weasley's family clock, the duty roster showed where everyone in the department was, except instead of a clock it was a chalkboard. The first row was if an auror was on duty or not, not on duty aurors showed no other information, there had been a big lawsuit about it ages ago. The second row showed auror location, most of them were at the office, but there were two at a park in north London.

Harry jotted the address down and headed to the apparition zone.

-

-

Harry stepped out of the little copse of trees that had been designated for apparition and hurried for the playground a little way away. Malfoy was standing in the centre like a small beacon of light, the kind that blinded you and made you run into street lights. As he got close, Harry could see that Malfoy was wearing his sunglasses and a scowl beneath them with his arms crossed over his chest. Harry walked even faster. He had been right to come, things weren't going well.

"You honestly expect us to believe," the first Auror said, "that there's a department called, 'the liar's department? Do I look stupid?"

Malfoy raised an eyebrow, "Obviously."

The second Auror shifted her weight uneasily, "I should go back and check with Leopold, he's the Senior-"

"We should arrest him and take him back to the Ministry and send the Obliviators back here," the first Auror said.

Harry was close enough to recognise them as the Juniors he had worked with yesterday and close enough that Malfoy saw him approaching over their shoulders.

Malfoy's mouth twitched, and he lifted his sunglasses up on top of his head, "Auror Potter."

The Juniors startled and spun around their eyes wide.

"Mr Harry Potter, sir!" The- Harry had seen her name on the roster right before he came, it was... Kalya, he was pretty sure.

"It's Auror Potter," Harry said and shot Malfoy a glare which didn't stop his smug grin.

"A-Auror Potter," Kalya said nervously.

The first Junior, a rather bland looking bloke who might have been named... Jake? Jack? Jacob? Might've been Jacob, was looking like he might have a go at passing out.

Harry would deal with that if it happened "Juniors are not supposed to close out a scene without assistance from an Auror or Senior Auror," he told them.

Jacob wobbled.

"Um-uh-um," Kalya stammered.

"Calm down. It's not as if you assigned yourselves here, did you?"

Kalya quickly shook her head.

"Right," Harry said, "Let's get this cleaned up before too much time passes. People tend to get nervous when they lose too much time."

"R-right!" Kalya said and then immediately looked utterly at a loss again.

Jacob hadn't moved, he was dreadfully pale.

"Give the- Give Malfoy a rundown of what transpired," Harry told her.

Kalya spun around.

Malfoy was grinning, looking much more relaxed.

"Penelope Springwater, age six, was playing with muggle friends at approximately-"

"I don't need the novel, just the synopsis from the back of the book," Malfoy interrupted.

Kalya hesitated, "Um, she picked up a stick and accidentally shot sparks from it... it was elm, I think."

They all looked over at the young father nervously holding on the shoulders of his daughter, he looked exhausted. The eponymous Penelope was kicking a groove through the grass and into dirt underneath, bored out of her mind but adequately determined to express her displeasure at having to stand still for what must have felt like an eternity.

"Is that all?" Malfoy said in dismay, "We could have been done ages ago."

Harry tried not to glance around. There were at least a dozen muggles frozen in time around them, even the oblivators would take a half an hour with so many.

"Um..." Kalya said.

"Do you still have the stick?" Malfoy asked Penelope.

Penelope looked up from her digging and pointed to a broken branch right by their feet.

Malfoy snatched it up, "Transfigure this into a sparkler, would you?"

"A what?" Jacob said, finally coming to.

"I'm...not that good at transfiguration," Kalya said.

Malfoy turned to Harry.

Harry drew his wand and did his best to make McGonagall proud, transfiguring the stick into a sparkler. It might have been a little too big, but fine detail had never been his strong suit.

"Truly a hero of the people," Malfoy said.

Harry scowled at him.

Malfoy gave him a cheeky wink and motioned for the father and daughter to come over, "Take this," he gave Penelope the sparkler, "make sure you only hold onto the bottom here."

"Why?" Penelope asked petulantly.

"Because the rest will be on fire," Malfoy said.

Penelope cheered up at that.

"Wait, you're- On fire? You can't give my daughter that!" the father said with growing alarm.

Malfoy rolled his eyes, "Muggle children manage to hold sparklers all the time without spontaneously combusting."

"What if something goes wrong!" The father said.

"Then she will have learned an important lesson and will be more careful next time," Malfoy said.

Harry stepped in front of Malfoy, "Ignore him, sir-"

The father was starting to look red in the face, "You of all people can't allow this- this criminal to-"

"Sir," Harry interrupted him firmly, "You and Penelope will go to your locations at the time of the event when all the muggles were frozen. The sparkler will be lit, the spells will all be lifted, and then you can run over and take the sparkler away from your daughter."

Penelope huffed and kicked hard at the dirt.

"It will only be a moment," Harry reassured him, "We can- We can put a fireproofing charm over Penelope so she'll be perfectly fine. Do you understand and accept this scenario?"

"And what am I supposed to say? A- A firework just appeared out of nowhere?" the father said.

"You could say a stranger must have given it to her, which is nearly true, or she found it on the ground," Malfoy said, "Better to say nothing and just complain about how dangerous they are. Don't encourage anyone to think, people aren't good at it and it will only cause trouble."

The father looked ready to start another tirade, but Harry quickly sent him back to the bench he had been sitting on during the incident, Penelope went in front of the swings, three other kids were frozen around her, all holding sticks like swords.

"Go wait by the trees," Harry told the Juniors, "I'll light this and as soon as I reach you, release the spells."

Kalya and Jacob nodded, jogging off to the treeline. Malfoy lingered.

"What? Go join them," Harry said.

Malfoy leaned close, his soft words tickling Harry's ear, "You're still wearing your auror's uniform."

A shiver went down Harry's spine as he quickly covered his ear, scowling at Malfoy, "fuck off."

"Now now, no swearing in front of the children," Malfoy said with a grin.

Harry swatted at him, missing as Malfoy stepped back out of the way and casually walked across the playground to join the Juniors.

Harry drew his wand from his sleeve, quickly tapping it on his badge to change his uniforms appearance.

"You ready?" Harry asked.

Penelope nodded, looking determined.

Harry put a charm over her to make her fireproof for about an hour. He then lit the end of the sparkler with a whispered incendio and legged it.

Kalya and Jacob quickly dispelled the charms around the playground once Harry was close.

"Penelope! Where did you get that!" Penelope's father said, rather unconvincingly.

Harry turned around just in time to see Penelope take off running in the opposite direction screaming in delight and defiance, sparkler held high above her head.

"Penelope!!" her father yelled, very convincingly, running faster to catch up with her. "Come back here!"

"NO!" Penelope swerved, ducking under a slide and through the swings as the other children started chasing after in a parade of pure chaos

"That's dangerous!!" Penelope's father said, sounding a bit winded.

"Fuck Off!" Penelope shouted to the sky and then laughed hysterically.

Harry winced.

Malfoy laughed so hard he nearly fell over. He grabbed Harry's shoulder to stay up and Harry couldn't bring himself to shake Malfoy off.

"Sir?" Kalya asked quietly.

Harry stared in dismay at the playground. Some other parents had joined the chase, mostly to try and pull their own children from the chase. Penelope didn't seem to be slowing down in the slightest. "You can finish the report and turn it in. I'll make sure Malfoy's form gets to Auror Leopold before the end of the day."

"O-Okay. If you're sure," Kalya said.

"I am," Harry added, "Just between you and me, Leopold likes to cut corners, and when he does, he's not the one that gets in trouble. Read up on the rules and watch out for yourself. If you tell- if you remind Auror Leopold of regulation and he refuses to comply, take it to Robards or Shunter."

"Okay, I will," Kalya said and then, as Jacob hurried into the trees, added, "Thanks."

Harry nodded.

Penelope's sparkler had finally burned out, and she stopped running, panting but happy as she raised it into the air, shouting at the top of her lungs, "I'm the greatest witch queen in the whole world!!!"

Harry groaned, desperately hoping her father wouldn't submit a complaint or he'd never hear the end of it.

Harry shrugged Malfoy off his shoulder. He was heavy for a bloke that could be mistaken for a piece of chalk.

"Good grief, Auror Potter, things are never boring when you're around, are they?" Malfoy said, still grinning hugely.

Harry sighed, it seemed like the opposite to him, Malfoy was the one who brought chaos in his wake wherever he went.

"I'm starting to think this job is only enjoyable when you're around," Malfoy said.

Harry turned a glare in Malfoy, only to find his expression wasn't as smug as Harry had been expecting. Harry's glare faltered, and he looked away, feeling off-balance again.

"Then again, you've always had a knack for making things more exciting," Malfoy went on, completely unaware of his own strangeness.

"How would you know, you've never had a job before," Harry said.

"Ah. So things are always just this exciting then? I had heard that most of an auror's work was keeping us all hidden," Malfoy said.

"It's mostly filling out reports, one of which I need from you," Harry said.

Malfoy sighed, "You're no fun, Auror Potter. I'll get you your form. I know where they are now." He spun his car keys it on his finger before catching them in his palm, "Well..." Malfoy hesitated, "Give you a lift back?"

For a split second, Harry could almost imagine what it would be like, sitting in the passenger seat of Malfoy's car, the wind whipping past, the radio on and- and... the vision in his head broke down when it came to the person driving. Would they talk? Would it be awkward? Would it end in a fight and Harry would get kicked to the curb? That seemed most likely.... didn't it? Then Malfoy's easy smile came to mind and pushed all the other images to the side-

"Auror Potter?" Malfoy asked.

Harry's mind went blank, and he scrambled to find something to say, "I, uh, what are you going to do if there's a call outside London? If something happens out in the country? They can't wait hours for you to get there."

"Someone can side-along me, and I can still use floos. I'm not helpless," Malfoy said, "Or useless."

Harry didn't know what to say to that. The Malfoy of the past, the one he used to know, was synonymous in his mind with being useless and annoying. This Malfoy felt different. Well, he was still annoying, and cocky, and rude- but... Harry wouldn't have been able to think up the gas leak excuse yesterday, and today he would have been entirely at a loss. But Malfoy had thought up a solution in a second, and it had been simple but so very effective.

Malfoy shook his head, "Never mind, I'm sure you're busy, running around, causing trouble."

Harry watched Malfoy, standing out like a sore thumb in his stupid white suit until he realised he was staring and hurried into the trees. There was still a faint muggle repelling charm on the area that would soon fade into nothing. He took a deep breath and apparated back to the Ministry, ready for the worst.

-

-

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND, POTTER?!?!" Shunter bellowed, slamming her hands on her desk as soon as Harry had shut the office door behind him.

Harry winced, "No, sir."

"FUCK-ING HELL-! I CAN'T BELIEVE-! YOU-!" Shunter took a deep breath. She pinched the bridge of her nose and took another deep breath, the flush of anger that had been flowing out of her abruptly shifted to ice cold and seemed far far more terrifying. "...You broke chain of command, interfered with another Aurors investigation, left duty without permission, assisted an outside case without permission, and gave orders to Juniors who were not under your command. These behaviours are completely unacceptable."

Harry waited. He had been through plenty of lectures in the summer after the final battle for rushing in, for being reckless, but he hadn't been in any real trouble since finishing his training. Harry knew what to expect though, from seeing the sort of punishments other Juniors were given and he would take it without complaint, he wouldn't have done any differently.

Shunter braced herself on her desk, leaning forward, "Explain yourself. And it better be good."

Harry straightened up, "I heard a muggle exposure happened and went to assist the new Liars Department."

"The new department can take care of itself," Shunter said.

"No, it can't, sir. They are extremely understaffed and underfunded. They have been set up to fail."

"It's not our department. We are not here to babysit them. If it's been set up to fail, then best to let it so we can get back to working with the Obliviators," Shunter said flatly.

Harry frowned, "There were nearly a dozen muggles at the site and a half an hour had already passed when I arrived. What would have happened if the spells released before things were settled? Or the muggles lost an hour of time, and there was an incident? Isn't our number one priority to avoid any and all detection by muggles?"

"Yes," Shunter said through clenched teeth, "by following the rules. Not breaking them. If you had come to me and requested to assistance-"

"There wasn't enough time!" Harry's voice rose, "The Juniors were talking about arresting Malfoy when I got there when they should have been assisting him!"

Shunter's eyes narrowed, and she slowly leaned back from her desk, "Malfoy? As in Draco Malfoy?"

Harry hesitated, suddenly aware of his misstep, "He's- He's done a good job so far-"

"If the department has been set up to fail, we'll let it," Shunter said.

"Sir! That's- what about the muggles?" Harry said.

"Potter-" Shunter said in a warning tone.

"Then what about the auror's? It will reflect badly on us if muggle exposures keep failing-"

"That is an order, Potter, not a suggestion. No more meddling with the Liars Department," Shunter said coldly.

They stared at one another until Harry knew Shunter wasn't going to budge. He drew back his shoulders, staring over her head at the far wall, "My punishment, sir?"

"Punish-?" Shunter sighed, and sat in her chair so heavily it rolled back a few inches, "No punishment, Potter."

"What?"

"Just... don't make it a habit," Shunter said.

Harry stared at her and then slowly shook his head, "That can't be right. I broke chain of command, ordered around Juniors, left duty-"

"I know what you did, Potter-"

"Ron got a week on night shift just for ignoring orders. Another Junior got a month of desk duty for forgetting protocol and almost using magic in front of a muggle. There's no way I shouldn't be punished," Harry said.

"You want desk duty?" Shunter asked, raising an eyebrow.

Harry's frown deepened, "I don't want special treatment. It's not right."

"It's practical," Shunter said, "You don't want this written up on your record."

"What? I don't care about that. No one has a perfect record."

"It will slow down your promotion to Senior Auror. Think about the future Potter, focus on that some more rather than what's right," Shunter said.

"Sir, I don't care about-" Harry protested.

"Others do. I'm not going to be the one to come down on you, I worked hard to get where I am. I'm not getting demoted for you, Potter." Shunter said. She looked down at her desk as she spoke, and there was such bitterness and bile in her tone; it was a wonder her paperwork didn't turn black and melt from the acridness of it. "Get out, finish your paperwork and go home."

Harry quickly stepped outside, easing the door shut behind him, his mind racing. Who cared about him being promoted so badly they would demote an Auror as good as Shunter just for doing her job? And had they done it before?

Harry went back to his desk.

"You alright, mate?" Ron asked, "We could feel the walls shaking from out here. I mean, not literally, but Shunter has a set of lungs on her."

Harry sighed, pushing his hands through his hair, "Was I promoted quickly, do you think?"

Ron gave him a look, "Uh, yeah? Youngest promotion in Ministry history. The only person close was Kingsley, he made Auror in a year an' a half."

"Fuck," Harry muttered.

"It was in all the papers," Ron said, "Oh... right. You don't read the papers."

"I thought it was weird at the time that you weren't promoted with me," Harry said.

"Me?" Ron said.

"Yeah, we did everything together, if I deserved to get promoted so do you." Harry frowned, "Then again, I guess I didn't deserve it."

Ron shrugged a shoulder, "After the war and everything I just figured they wanted to give you something, or like, the hero can't stay a Junior Auror, can he?"

"Would've been nice if they thought to ask me about it," Harry said.

"Hey, it's good though, right?" Ron said.

It wasn't. Harry had been feeling lost and inexperienced, always scrambling to keep up for months now, and he just thought all Aurors must feel like that after going up a rank. He wished he had turned down the promotion. He wished he had more time to- to learn. And not be left behind.

And from what Shunter had hinted at, it was just going to happen again.

"Hey-"

"Auror Weasley," Hermione said, coming around the corner, "I have need of your very valuable expertise."

Ron had just enough time to spin his chair around before being engulfed in a hug.

"H-Hey there!" Ron said with a laugh, squeezing her tight, "Hey."

"Hello," Hermione said, sounding tired, "I desperately needed a recharge."

"I'm always available," Ron said, "Gonna work late tonight?

Hermione shook her head, "No. If that's alright."

"Fine by me," Ron said.

"Want to rent a movie and get pizza?" Hermione asked.

"And ice cream?" Ron asked.

Hermione nodded emphatically, "Merlin, yes."

Ron laughed and stood up, picking up Hermione as he did like she weighed nothing and making her gasp.

"Put me down!" Hermione said with fake outrage, smacking Ron's shoulder.

No doubt half the office was staring at them by now, but Ron didn't care. He set Hermione back on her toes with a smile.

"Hi, Harry," Hermione said, "Sorry, I'm just a bit stressed."

"Understandable," Harry said, giving her a smile.

Ron caught Hermione's eye, and they exchanged a look, "Oh...Would you like to come?" Hermione asked, "We could have a movie night together."

"And have to watch the two of you flirt all night, no thanks," Harry said, making a face.

"You sure, mate?" Ron asked, "It'd be fun. We promise to keep the flirting to the minimum."

"I doubt it. No really, go on. I have a lot to think on," Harry said.

"Alright, we'll talk some more tomorrow," Ron said.

"And we'll have to have dinner together again soon," Hermione said.

Harry rolled his eyes fondly, "Yeah, of course."

By the time Harry finished all his neglected paperwork, he was one of the last people leaving the office. His mind was still a mess of information that he was sure if he let sink in even a little would leave him furious.

"Have a good evening!" the clerk at the desk called as Harry headed for the lift.

Then stopped.

The clerk- Harry hurried over to the desk, "Lewis, right?"

Lewis nodded, looking startled, "Something I can help you with, sir?"

"You're here on a one week transfer right?"

Lewis nodded.

"What happens after the week?" Harry asked.

"I- well, I go back to my old department and decide whether to apply for a full transfer or, um, I'm probably going to do another," Lewis said.

"So you don't have to transfer at the end?"

"No, it's just a trial," Lewis said, "I'm just seeing if it's a good fit or not. I don't have to stay."

"Okay," Harry said, nodding to himself, "Just one more question, then."

"Sir?"

"Where can I find the forms?" Harry asked.

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