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The Free Potioneers, Part 1, H/D, PG13-R, 1330 words
x-posted from http://ebethfic.livejournal.com/7872.html

Title: The Free Potioneers, Part 1
Pairing: H/D
Word Count: 1330
Rating: PG13 here, R later
Disclaimer: I'm playing in JKR's sandbox for fun, not profit.
Notes: Written for awdt's prompt another one bites the dust and lotus_lizzy's wishlist request for Draco in stockings. This was supposed to be short, but it grew a plot.
Summary: While tracking down a group of wizards selling illegal potions to Muggles, Harry finds an unexpected ally.

Part 2



"Dum, dum, dum, another one bites the dust," Ron sang as he and Harry dumped Eddings in the holding cell and headed upstairs to make their report. "You know, mate, we might have the whole gang rounded up by the weekend."

"Maybe." Harry thought it more likely that the smarter, more dangerous members of the Free Potioneers would be better hidden than Eddings and his ilk.

Ron glanced at him. "You really should come to dinner this weekend. Hermione's parents like you, and her dad promised to play more of his old Queen albums."

Harry grimaced at the wall. "Sounds great. It's just...I don't want to barge in on a family dinner, you know?"

"Harry, you are family!"

***

Ron's assurances aside, Harry couldn't shake the feeling he was intruding until he walked into the Granger's house and saw the dining table set for six. "Is there another guest?" he asked Hermione.

"They invited their new receptionist at the student clinic."

"Why?" Harry narrowed his eyes. "Are you trying to set me up? You promised, after that last bloke---"

"No, no! It's nothing like that. They just thought it would be nice for him. They invite many of the student workers over. I think they want to make sure they eat properly once in a while." Hermione laughed. "Believe me, I would not suggest you date this man."

Exchanging a curious glance with Ron, Harry followed her into the kitchen, where Mr. and Mrs. Granger moved from counter to stove to oven in an intricate dance. As he accepted a glass of white wine, he mused that it wasn't his friends' trying to find him a new boyfriend that he minded, it was the frustration of trying to find someone who wasn't chasing his fame or intimidated by his so-called accomplishments. Though with Voldemort five years dead and the Free Potioneers case, his and Ron's first major investigation, at an impasse, his glory ought to be fading.

The doorbell rang and Hermione nearly dropped her wine. "Are you all right?" Ron asked her.

"Fine," she mumbled as she scurried away to answer the door.

Mrs. Granger smiled at them. "She's just nervous. It turns out our new receptionist is a former classmate of yours! At a non-magical college, imagine that. Isn't that a funny coincidence?"

Harry's stomach twisted as he stared after Hermione. Some Muggleborn students went to Muggle universities after Hogwarts, but not many. The only former Hogwarts students that Harry knew of who were living fully Muggle lives were former Death Eaters sentenced to a kind of probation. His fingers clenched around the stem of his glass.

Sure enough, Hermione returned trailed by none other than Draco Malfoy. He greeted Mr. and Mrs. Granger politely, presenting them with a small bouquet of carnations, and then met Harry's eyes with a level stare. "Potter, Weasley."

Ron laughed. "You're a receptionist?"

"Ronald!" Hermione scolded as Malfoy said, "I'm a chemistry student."

In the awkward silence that followed, Mr. Granger called them to sit down for dinner.

***

They managed to not talk about the War. The Grangers quizzed Malfoy about his courses, and Hermione drew him into a conversation about the parallels between chemistry and potions. Harry found himself trying to reconcile the arrogant Pureblood supremacist he'd once known to this animated man happily eating Muggle-cooked food. He supposed giving up his wand and living among Muggles had forced Malfoy to examine some of his beliefs for the first time, but Harry wouldn't have expected him to seem so happy.

Apparently the Chemistry department had a football team that played friendly matches against other departments. Malfoy gestured with his fork as he and Mr. Granger laughed about the latest game, against Chemistry's biggest rival, Biology. Malfoy's smile as he described skidding in the mud to score a goal was wide and friendly, more relaxed than Harry had ever seen it in school. He actually looked nice.

Harry set his fork down with a clunk, and Hermione turned to him. "You're quiet tonight. How's the case going?"

Harry and Ron both groaned. The worst of the Free Potioneers were still at large, and the Aurors were no closer to finding them. The Ministry's pressure to solve the case by Christmas wasn't helping. Two other teams were on the case as well, and the six Aurors had spent four hours the previous day going over evidence and trying to work out the identity of the gang's leaders.

"The best that could be said about it is that we have most of the illegal potions off the streets," Harry said.

"Are those like illegal drugs?" Mr. Granger asked.

Harry nodded. "In fact, they're being sold to Muggles. That's one of the worst thing about this gang; the Muggles don't have any way of fixing the potion's side effects. We've had to send teams of Healers and Obliviators into their hospitals."

Malfoy leaned back in his chair, swirling the wine in his glass. Harry let himself be distracted by watching those surprisingly attractive fingers, but Mrs. Granger soon drew his attention back to the conversation.

"Health Services sent a memo to all the clinic workers a few weeks ago," she said. "They wanted us to watch for and report students with certain symptoms. Unusually pale skin and hair, hallucinations, convulsions. They said it's a new drug. Ghost?"

"That's it," Ron said. "If you take enough of it, you become translucent like a ghost. And it allows the Muggles to see ghosts."

"That must be the hallucinations," Mrs. Granger said. "I haven't seen any signs of it, but I doubt it would send anyone running to the dentist."

They all laughed, and she added, "How are the---nonmagical people getting it?"

"I wish we knew," Harry said. "We raided the brewers this week, but we have no idea who's behind the scheme, and we don't know who their contacts are in the Muggle world." He sighed. "Of course that's the part of the case they gave to Ron and me."

***

When they'd eaten the last of the treacle tart, Hermione and her mother wandered off to discuss holiday plans, and Mr. Granger and Ron started talking music. Mr. Granger was telling a story about the song "Under Pressure" and an American rapper, and Harry drifted into the library, pretending to examine the bookshelves but really thinking about the case.

"I can help you."

Harry spun. Malfoy leaned in the doorway, arms crossed. "With what?" Harry asked.

"Think, Potter. I work in a health clinic, at a college---I don't know one of my friends who hasn't tried some illegal substance in the past few months. I've heard of Ghost. I can try to find out more about where they're getting it."

Harry stared at him. Having contacts among the Muggles would be helpful. The Grangers had said they'd keep their ears open, but if Malfoy really knew students who were into such things, he'd be more useful. "Why do you want to help?"

Malfoy eyed him up and down. Harry resisted squirming. "I thought we could make a deal."

"What sort of deal?" Harry didn't even try to keep suspicion out of his voice.

"The school's holding a Christmas ball. You can escort me."

"Er." Malfoy's grin was stunning, and Harry couldn't help running his own eyes over the other man's figure. Surely he hadn't been this attractive at Hogwarts. He swallowed. "You want me to take you to a dance."

"Yes, Potter."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Are you going to wear the dress, then?"

"If you want." Malfoy laughed and shoved himself off the doorway. He prowled towards Harry. Just before his lips grazed over Harry's cheek, he whispered, "I'll be in touch." Then he was gone, making his goodbyes to the Grangers and leaving Harry trying to force the image of Malfoy in a gown out of his mind before he had to return to his hosts.

The Free Potioneers, Part 2