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Unstoppable	By : Thunderbird Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 14476 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any affiliated characters. I make no profit from this story.

Chapter List
- 17
- 18
- 19
A/N: Wow, so... sorry I had to take about three months off there. RL got to be a bit of a bear around the holidays, but mostly it was that I had a script due to my director at the end of Feb and, seeing as how it was something I was actually getting paid for, I had to make that my priority. And it nearly killed me. But a writer's gotta eat, right?
But it's done now and I can get back to fun things, like this fic. I hope there are folks out there who are still looking to follow it. I can promise there are a lot of exciting, sexy, and maybe even surprising things in the chapters to come. So let's get to it!
And, as always, massive thanks to my reviewers. I loved your thoughtful and opinionated responses to the last chapter. And an extra-special thanks to goddess-of_dragons for her most recent review. It made a big difference to me and how I was feeling about this fic :)
Chapter 18: Confetti
(Vesper)

Vesper was restless. She always was at these sort of events, just anxious to get it over with. Sitting still had never been her strong suit, nor had listening to speeches that rambled on for a long time.
Gawain Robards, Head Auror, was talking a lot about duty, honor, sacrifice, and hard work. It’s not that Vesper was against those things. She had become an Auror, after all, and that required at least some sense of duty and honor and all that. It’s just that she knew it all already. Robards really didn’t have to keep going on about it, not when Vesper and her fellow graduates were practically bouncing in their seats, anxious to get their certificates and be able to officially call themselves Aurors.
Although, there might be some among them that could do with a talking to about honor and hard work. Vesper glanced at Dempsey out of the corner of her eye and had to suppress a scowl. The bastard was graduating, just like her, though she couldn’t figure out how that had happened. Apparently his scores were actually decent, and after the dueling incident and the talking to from Ron, Dempsey had completely ignored her, meaning he couldn’t be booted for inappropriate behavior either.
What a crock of shit, she thought, crossing her arms. She bit back a sigh and kept looking around, hoping to get her mind off Dempsey and the injustice of it all.
There weren’t all that many people there besides the graduates. There were a few Aurors, attending out of curiosity, perhaps, about the newest members of their ranks. Ron was there, too, of course, in a chair on stage, ready to present the certificates once Robards had finally finished speaking. Vesper smirked as she saw the slightly glazed look in Ron’s eyes, and knew he was zoning out too.
Not many friends and family were in attendance. Vesper had told Harry, Draco, and the others who had asked about it not to bother to attend. She didn’t much care, and they all had busy lives. Aurelian was there, though. Her uncle had insisted on coming and Vesper had allowed it without much fuss. She didn’t see Aurelian all that much anymore, and this seemed as good an excuse as any to spend some time with him. He’d offered to take her to dinner afterward, somewhere nice, so they could catch up.
Robards finally stepped away from the podium and there was a smattering of polite applause before Ron stepped up to take his place.
“And now to present the certificates,” he said, cutting right to the chase, just how Vesper liked it. “When your name is called, approach the stage.”
They did, one by one, enjoying the applause and the wolf-whistling from their fellow graduates. Some of them glanced back at their friends after they accepted their certificate, making gestures of mild triumph. Vesper felt her lips curl into a sneer when she saw Dempsey put his fist in the air.
Fucking idiot.
When her name was called Vesper did as those before her had done, approaching Ron and shaking his hand. He clapped her on the shoulder and said in a low voice, “Well done, Ves.” She grinned at him.
On her way back to her chair she avoided Dempsey’s gaze and instead spotted Aurelian, who was clapping loudly, though he had remained in his seat, at least, she was relieved to see. Declan was eyeing her with a broad smile as she came to sit down next to him, and she gave his knee a little squeeze surreptitiously.
The ceremony wrapped up quickly, and the graduates were then encouraged to mill about, socialize, and enjoy some light refreshments. Vesper grabbed a glass of butterbeer and made her way over to her uncle.
“I told you it wouldn’t be a big thing,” she said to him, by way of greeting.
He embraced her and held her tightly for a moment before answering. “It may not have been an involved ceremony, but it certainly is big in terms of what it means for you.”
She pulled back to look at him. “You’re right,” she said after a moment of studying his face. “Things are really going to be different now, for me.”
“Yes,” he said simply, and from his expression Vesper had no way to know how he felt about that.
“Come on,” she said, hooking her arm through his. “I want you to meet some of my friends.”
She introduced him to Fischer, Green, and Abernathy, all of whom had heard of Aurelian Kemp and his dueling prowess, and were suitably pleased to meet him. She introduced him to Declan as well, of course, who shook his hand in a very boyfriend-meeting-a-parent sort of way that Vesper wondered if Aurelian picked up on. They chatted away for most of the reception, Declan asking Aurelian about his dueling and his time living in the States, and also telling him about his work as a cursebreaker when Aurelian had asked.
It was all very... well, boyfriend-y behavior, she thought. Which should have pleased her. It did please her, in a way, but it also felt presumptuous, a bit too fast for her liking.
You introduced him to your uncle, she chastised herself. Who Declan knows is a significant person in your life. What is he supposed to think?
That actually made her feel better, because she realized that Declan was simply doing what was expected of him. He was always good about that kind of thing. It wasn’t like he was inviting himself to Aurelian’s for Christmas or talking about the next step in their relationship - or really talking about their relationship at all. He was simply being gracious, enjoying Aurelian’s company, and putting her uncle at ease in a place where he didn’t know many people.
He was being perfect, as usual.
So she should be glad, and stop overanalyzing everything, she decided.
Ron came by eventually, joining the conversation and congratulating Vesper and Declan again on their achievement. Declan excused himself after a few minutes, bidding farewell to Vesper with nothing more than a simple squeeze of her arm. Subtle, tempered, perfect.
She smiled at him, hoping her gratitude for him and for the graceful way he always handled himself shone through in her eyes. Based on the small smile he gave her in return, she thought it had.
It was finally time for dinner, and Vesper was glad. She was hungry (although… wasn’t she always?), but mostly she simply wanted to leave the fairly stuffy reception and spend some real time with her uncle.
Aurelian took her to the Silver Swan, one of those high end restaurants that kept popping up all over wizarding London. Each new one would be trendy for a few months, doing a great business, and then fall off when the next one opened, touting some new magical gimmick that had everyone all aflutter and clambering for tables. Vesper appreciated fine food, but it was never the kind of place she tended to gravitate to. Aurelian, however, relished the novelty of it, and it was clear he felt he was doing something special by bringing her there, so she went along happily.
While certainly serving red meat and vegetarian dishes as well, the Silver Swan was best known for their magic with poultry. And it was quite literally magic, creating dishes that would be impossible for any Muggle to achieve. Vesper looked at the long list of chicken, quail, duck, goose, pheasant, grouse, partridge, and guinea fowl with a sense of dizzying overwhelm, and decided to just order something randomly and hope for the best. Aurelian ordered quail and a bottle of wine in the way he ordered everything, with authority and a slightly haughty edge, which Vesper always found amusing.
As they waited for their meal Aurelian asked after Vesper’s friends (he would never admit it, but Vesper was confident that he was continuously curious, perhaps even invested, in how Harry especially was doing, and just never wanted to admit it that he actually liked the man). She told him all that she knew, how Ron and Hermione’s wedding was coming along, how much Pansy and Theo’s daughter had grown already, and the fact that Harry and Draco had taken in Teddy as their own now that Andromeda was sick.
Their wine came, and eventually their food, and conversation turned to how delicious everything was. Vesper was actually very delighted, and quite impressed, with her choice: Brussels sprouts, dauphinoise potatoes, and duck breast that transfigured in the mouth when you took a bite, bursting forth with a savory sweet sauce that flooded the mouth with flavor.
Vesper was contemplating what sort of charm work was required to achieve the effect when her uncle spoke.
“I am proud of you, you know.”
Vesper smiled at that. She did know, of course. She could read it in her uncle’s face. But it was nice to hear it nonetheless, especially after Aurelian had initially reacted with confusion when she told him of her choice to join the Aurors. She couldn’t blame him. Everyone who knew her was confused. Why would a duelist at the very peak of her career suddenly leave?
She’d never had the heart to tell any of them the truth. But that was all right. It wasn’t any of their business anyway.
Although perhaps it was Aurelian’s, a little, only because he loved her like his own child, and she owed him so much for her success and for bringing her to the UK in the first place. Even so, he didn’t know either, not really.
“I didn’t know what to make of it at first, I’ll be honest,” he went on.
Vesper chuckled. “I know.”
“But the more I’ve thought about it, the more sense it makes. You have to have a challenge, a next mountain to climb, to conquer. I think competition was getting too easy for you.”
Vesper snorted. “I wouldn’t say that. There were a lot of duelists that gave me a challenge… Remember Peterson in the International Open last year?”
“He nearly won on a technicality, is all,” Aurelian said, brushing that off. “You had him, in the end.”
Vesper nodded. That was true. “It’s not just that though. I have this skill, this gift, and I wanted to really use it, you know?”
Aurelian gave a small grunt at that. He knew what she meant. She meant use it to do good. Aurelian was not opposed to doing good, of course, but he was not an idealist by any stretch. Vesper knew he would scoff at her if she started talking to him about having some higher purpose to serve humanity, calling them “romantic notions.” That didn’t bother her, not really. Aurelian was Aurelian. He had seen what he had seen and lived what he had lived. He had to no reason to believe in a higher power or purpose, not when so much of what made his life good had been taken from him. He was not interested in romance in any of its many forms, and Vesper could not find it in her to blame him for it.
“So, what happens now, then? You begin work right away, or is there more training?”
“There is more training,” Vesper said. “We can’t expect to learn everything there is to learn in just nine weeks. But it’s all on the job, and specific to what department you’re assigned. I’m only a Junior Auror, which means I’ve got at least a couple of years where I’m essentially shadowing my partner and learning from him or her. I get to work cases, of course, but they likely won’t be very hard ones, and all of my work is directly supervised. The longer I stick with it the less that’s true, as I understand it, until eventually I get promoted to Senior Auror and I am more in charge of my case load and the lines of inquiry, that sort of thing.”
“And it takes two years, you say, to become a Senior Auror?”
“It varies from Auror to Auror,” Vesper replied. “It will depend on how well I do. If I prove myself useful, talented, and disciplined, then yeah, it could happen in as little as two years.” That’s what Ron had told her anyway. He would know. It only took him two to make Senior Auror. But then, Ron Weasley was exceptional.
“So, only two years for you, then,” Aurelian said with a wink.
Vesper blushed, taking pleasure in her uncle’s confidence in her. “We’ll see,” she said. “Anyway, enough about me for now. How’s the school going?” Last year Aurelian had decided to expand his coaching business by employing some junior instructors, mainly former students of his who were now professional duelists, who would work with his beginning students while Aurelian still instructed his more advanced students. He’d had magical renovators and engineers come to his estate and transform his training room into an entire training center, with two dueling arenas and a conditioning room, allowing multiple students to be seen at once. Vesper thought it an ambitious adjustment, but could also see that it was a natural direction for things to take, as dueling instruction by Aurelian Kemp was in too high demand for it to be met with him merely taking students one on one anymore.
“It’s going remarkably well,” Aurelian said. “Managing the junior instructors was an adjustment, but after working with your Mr. Potter, I was more prepared for it. I know better how to train teachers than I did when he was with us.”
Vesper smiled nostalgically. That had been a fun time, back when she and Harry were both training with Aurelian. A simpler time, before striking out on her own, before Blaise, before… everything. A part of her missed it.
“You know, if you do ever tire of the Auror life, you can always come back,” her uncle continued. “There is always a place for you at my school.”
“That’s sweet, Uncle Aurie,” Vesper said. “It would be wonderful to work with you again. But I…” She considered her next words carefully. “I think it would feel like it was a step backwards for me, too much like where I’ve already been, you know?”
He smiled at her honesty. “I understand. It is natural to feel that way. I hope you know, of course, that I wouldn’t simply be making you a junior instructor. I could never think of you that way, not with all your experience. You would be my partner. You would share in the business.”
Vesper blinked at him. She hadn’t expected that. “That’s very generous,” she managed.
“Yes,” Aurelian said, his onyx eyes twinkling. “But you deserve it. You earned my complete faith in you a long time ago.”
Vesper fought another smile. “Stop, Aurie. You’re going to make me cry.” She half meant it, which he probably knew.
“New topic, then,” he said. “That man you introduced me to today. Ross. I take it you two are seeing each other?”
So Aurelian had picked up on that, apparently. Vesper took another bite of duck before answering, washing it down with a gulp of wine. “It’s not serious,” she said. “Early stages, you know.”
Aurelian nodded. “Yes, I got that impression. Although he seems quite smitten with you.”
Vesper blushed again. “How could you possibly know that? You two barely talked about me at all.”
“Ah, but you see, it’s all about subtext, and body language. It wasn’t what he said; it was the way he behaved.”
Vesper shrugged, not sure what to say. Aurelian did know a lot about body language. “We’ll see how it goes. I’m taking it day by day.”
“You must at least like him, I suppose.”
“Are you really going to talk to me about my love life?” she asked him, incredulous. “You never used to want to hear about my love life.”
“I don’t particularly fancy the idea of you having a love life at all, I’ll admit,” he said, amused. “You know I don’t think any man will ever deserve you. But, as you constantly remind me, you are essentially my surrogate daughter, and so it is my duty, as your surrogate father, to ask you about these things, make sure that you’re happy.”
Vesper caught herself smiling again. Aurelian was being very sweet today. She knew he likely only meant that, with Vesper’s own father still back in the US, Aurelian was filling in for him for the time being. But the truth of it, though Vesper had never said this aloud, was that Aurelian was in many ways more like a father to her than her own father was. It wasn’t that Sebastian Kemp was a bad father, per se, but more that he never knew quite what to do with his only daughter. It was as if he had no frame of reference for her. Aurelian had always understood her: her nature, her ambitions, her interests, much more than her father ever had.
“I am happy,” Vesper said. “But there are a lot of reasons. It’s not just Declan.”
Aurelian nodded again. “And I suppose that… Zabini, he’s out of the picture?”
Vesper tilted her head and looked at her uncle. She had never been able to figure out how Aurelian felt about Blaise. They were both Slytherins, and they had quite a bit in common. It was obvious that Blaise respected the man, and treated him as such. And Aurelian was always polite. But he never asked after Blaise, never mentioned him, and that always made Vesper wonder. As she sat there, she realized how silly that was, all that wondering. She should have just asked him.
“Did you like Blaise or didn’t you?” she said bluntly now. “I could never tell.”
Aurelian laughed. “I thought him a fine man. Your choice of him surprised me, and I spent a lot of time wondering what tied you to him, what you had in common. But he was a fine man. A fine choice.”
“But you never told me that.”
“Well, I didn’t really think it was any of my business. It became clear early on that you two were serious. I thought…” He paused, his eyes suddenly cautious.
“Go on,” Vesper encouraged him. “What did you think?”
“I thought you were going to marry him. It seemed… quite settled for a while there, didn’t it? I figured, if you were sure, then what say did I have in it either way?”
Vesper considered that, realizing he was right. His opinion mattered to her, of course, but on the subject of Blaise, on any man really, his thoughts would not have swayed her. That sort of decision was hers alone to make.
“He wrote to me recently,” she found herself saying. “Saying he wanted to get back together.”
She hadn’t told anyone else about the letter, any of her friends. But they were invested in a different way than her uncle was. They wanted happiness for her and Blaise both. They would likely have opinions about what she should do or how she had handled things so far. She didn’t want anyone to have to take sides. Aurelian, though, wouldn’t care what decision she made, except that it was the one that felt right to her.
“And how did you respond?”
“I didn’t,” she said. “The letter is still sitting in a drawer in my desk. I never wrote him back.”
“Well, that’s an answer in and of itself, in a way, isn’t it?”
“I don’t know,” she replied. “Because he said…” She licked her lips, staring into her wine as she twisted the stem of the glass between her fingers. “He said he would wait… for me. To make a decision, I mean. It makes me feel like I should write back, to tell him I’m seeing someone and that… that he should move on.”
“So, why haven’t you?” Aurelian asked.
She met her uncle’s eyes finally. “I can’t bring myself to.”
“Why not?”
“Because it feels so permanent. It feels like cutting off the possibility…” She sighed, not really able to believe what she was saying. “It’s horrible, but a part of me doesn’t want him to move on. But I also don’t think I can… be with him. Right now.” She glanced at her uncle again, to find that he was looking at her with an expression she’d always liked, because it was considering, thoughtful, but free of judgment. When it came to most things (that weren’t dueling, of course), Aurelian was always very good about not being judgmental.
“You want to remain attached to him,” Aurelian ventured, “even if it’s not in the same way as before.”
Vesper sighed, and realized it was in relief. “Yeah. That sounds about right.”
“I imagine that is something that might be achievable,” he said. “But only if Zabini agrees. He cannot know what you want unless you tell him.”
Vesper moved the sprouts around on her plate and considered that. “You’re right,” she said. “But I think I have to figure out exactly what I want from him first, I think, before I talk to him. I want to go into the conversation with… with clarity.”
Aurelian nodded slowly. “That seems fair.”
Vesper nodded too, looking off into the distance for a moment, where she could see a man at another table sampling his wine impassively.
It did seem fair, actually. Maybe there was a solution, after all.
***
Vesper came into work the following Monday feeling jittery and excited. She was officially an Auror! Well, a Junior Auror, but still. It was something.
She would be receiving her department assignment today. All the new graduates would. Apparently there were spots available in nearly all the departments, so it was a toss-up where she would be placed at this point. She could only hope to be placed somewhere where the work was interesting and with a partner she got along with.
She bounced on the balls of her feet compulsively as the Ministry elevator made its way to her floor, making the other occupants give her odd or amused looks. She merely smiled at them, unperturbed.
Once in the corridor it was clear where the assignments had been posted, for there was already a crowd of Junior Aurors, her former classmates, gathered around looking at it. Declan spotted her and made his way over. He squeezed her hand in greeting but nothing more, since they’d agreed they wouldn’t show too much affection at work. They didn’t want to be a source of gossip to others in the office.
“Have you looked yet?” she asked him.
“Yes, I have,” said Declan.
“And? Where did they put you?”
“Unlicensed and Experimental Magic,” he replied. “I think because of my cursebreaker background. I did have to deal with some experimental stuff in my old job.”
“All right,” Vesper said, nodding. “Are you happy?”
He grinned and ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, I’d say I am. I think it’s a good place to start, anyway.”
“Good,” she said, smiling up at him.
“I know where you are, too, by the way.”
“You checked?”
“Of course. I…” He bit his lip. “I wanted to see if we were together.” He looked a little sheepish.
She eyed him. “I’m guessing from the look on your face that we’re not.”
“You guessed right. You landed in Contraband and Dark Artifacts.”
Vesper absorbed that. “Interesting.” It meant she would mostly be dealing with smuggling cases. It involved a lot of investigation, but also a lot of time out of the office, too, to go on raids and such. Which might mean she would actually get to utilize her dueling skills. All in all, not a bad placement. “I think I could like that.”
“I think you could too. And you know, our departments do sometimes overlap, so we may end up on the occasional case together.”
She grinned. “I’d like that as well.” She glanced over at the board where the assignments were posted. The crowd was thinning now. “Come on,” she said. “I want to take a look at what everyone else got.”
She sidled up to the board with Declan not far behind and looked at the list. It included nineteen names, since there was only one trainee from their class who didn’t graduate (a record, apparently, and even he had to leave for personal reasons, not because he wasn’t doing well in the class). It meant most departments were taking on more new graduates than usual, and Vesper was sure that she and Declan both would be sharing placements with at least one other graduate. She ran a finger down the parchment, checking the departments and who Declan got placed with.
“You’re with Green,” she told him, then saw another name with “Unlicensed and Experimental Magic” next to it and paused there. “And Morgan.”
Declan made a face. “Green will be great. But Morgan’s a right prick.”
Vesper laughed. “Cheer up, at least it’s not…” But she had to trail off, because her finger had stopped at another name. Chadwick Dempsey… Contraband and Dark Artifacts.
Her department.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me.”
“What?”
Vesper turned to look at him. “See for yourself.”
Declan did, looking at where her finger was resting on the parchment. He went still, taking it in, then he took a deep breath and glanced at her. “Bad luck.”
Bad luck?! She wanted to shout at him. This was so beyond bad luck. This was a travesty. She was actually going to have to work closely with Dempsey for the foreseeable future, and there was nothing she could do about it.
“I don’t understand,” she said. “How could… of all the people… Why would Ron…?”
Ron. Why hadn’t he stepped in about this? Why hadn’t he done something?
Unless he’s trying to get you to learn some kind of lesson in all of this.
But no, she didn’t think that was it. Ron wasn’t that cruel.
But still, how could he let this happen?
“Like hell,” she heard herself say aloud. She wasn’t going to stand for this.
“What?” Declan asked her. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to talk to Ron,” she said.
Declan raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment.
“What else can I do, Declan?” she asked him. “I can’t work with him. I just… I just can’t.”
Declan watched her a moment, then nodded slowly. She grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze.
“You go on,” she told him. “I’ll find you for lunch, ok?”
“Yeah, all right,” he said, squeezing back. “Just…” He trailed off.
“Just what?”
“Nothing,” he said. “Just be… careful.”
She wasn’t sure what to say to that. Why would she need to be careful? But she didn’t have time to ask. She had to take care of this now.
She found Ron in his office, but there was another Auror there, one she hadn’t met yet, though by the look of him he was Senior just like Ron. Though her anger and frustration was still coursing through her, Vesper recognized the need for discretion. Ron would not thank her if she made a scene in front of one of their colleagues. People were aware that they were friends outside of work, but she understood that Ron never wanted to give the impression of favoring her. It would make neither of them look good.
“Excuse me, Auror Weasley,” she said, standing in the doorway with the two Aurors looking at her. “I didn’t mean to interrupt. I’d like a quick word with you, when you have the chance.” She thought that sounded reasonable enough.
“No problem, Auror Kemp,” Ron replied easily. “Just give me a few minutes.”
Vesper nodded and turned, placing herself against the wall just outside Ron’s office, so as not to stand awkwardly in the doorway while he finished up whatever conversation he was having. A few other Aurors passed by as she waited, a couple of them waving to her when they recognized her. She smiled back, though it felt brittle on her lips. She would not be happy until she had this issue settled.
Finally the other Auror left and Ron called her inside, closing the door behind her. They both stood there a moment, looking at each other, until Ron raised an eyebrow.
“Go on,” he said. “Let it out. There’s a strong Silencing Charm on this office. No one will hear you.”
Vesper stared at him. “What?”
“You’re cross about being put in the same department as Dempsey, I’m well aware. I knew you would be. Rant and rave all you like. Get it out of your system.”
“Cross?” Vesper asked him incredulously. “I’m not fucking ‘cross.’ I’m livid.”
“Fair enough,” Ron said.
She gaped at him. “How can you just stand there and-“ She shook her head, disbelieving. “How could you let this happen? How could you do this to me?”
Ron raised his eyebrow again and gave her a slow, no-nonsense look. “This is not my doing, Vesper, and you know it. I don’t decide what departments the graduates go into. Robards does, based on your scores in training, your final exam, your post-training interview, and specific department requests. The only thing I can do is provide thoughts and feedback when I’m asked for them.”
Vesper paced back and forth, incensed. She wanted to be able to blame someone, but she couldn’t exactly go and chew out the Head Auror, could she? “I just can’t believe my luck,” she said finally. “This is just the worst.”
“Yes, it’s unfortunate,” Ron said, which Vesper thought might be the understatement of the year. “The problem is, really, that you and Dempsey have quite similar profiles.”
That made Vesper stop and stare at him. “What do you mean, similar profiles?”
“To someone who didn’t know either of you, who was only reading about you on paper, you would seem similar. You are both talented duelists,” Ron said, starting to tick the reasons off on his fingers and effectively cutting off Vesper’s protests. “You have strong investigative skills, you both expressed an interest in a department with a lot of field work… like it or not, you and Dempsey have a lot in common.”
Vesper huffed. “Great. This is just fucking great.”
“There is some good news, you know. For one thing, I think you were very well placed. You’ll like the Contraband office. It’s very active and you’ll be able to get out of the office some, especially after the first few months. I told Robards to put you with McInerney specifically. He has loads of experience with dark artifacts, been on the job going on fifteen years now, I think. You’ll learn a lot from him, and he’ll show you respect and let you get in on the good stuff, the juicy work, early.”
“So Robards did consult you about me,” Vesper accused. “Why didn’t you tell him that I shouldn’t be put in the same department as Dempsey?”
“Trust me, Vesper, you really wouldn’t have wanted me to tell him that. It doesn’t look good on either side if I tell him two new recruits can’t work well together. If I had, Robards would have gotten the impression that you’re difficult to work with all around, and you don’t want to appear that way, not early on. Better to just give it some time, stick it out. If you like you can transfer out later. Or perhaps Dempsey will transfer out instead. I did recommend for him to work with Moreau, you know, with very clear intentions in mind. She’s one of the toughest Aurors we have and she doesn’t take shit from anyone. She’ll put Dempsey in his place if he steps out of line.”
“I hope he does step out of line, then,” Vesper said, slightly mollified. She’d give anything to see Dempsey get ripped a new one.
Ron was quiet for a moment. “You’ve got to let this go, Vesper,” he said. “This rivalry with Dempsey. He hasn’t given you any trouble in the last few weeks, from what I’ve seen and what you’ve told me, and obsessing over him and whether or not he gets what’s coming to him is only going to distract you from the job. And trust me, you will need your wits about you.”
Vesper sighed. She knew he was right, but… “I just can’t stand the idea of him walking around here, getting to be an Auror, not having really learned his lesson, not understanding that he can’t treat people – women especially – the way he does. It just… it makes my blood boil. I don’t know what it is.”
“I understand,” said Ron. “We used to feel the same about Draco - Harry, Hermione, and I. It got so bad for Harry sixth year, wanting to catch him in the act of doing something wrong, that he stalked him practically the whole year. He got himself into some serious trouble, too. I don’t want the same thing to happen to you. So just… keep focused on the job, on learning as much as you can. You and Dempsey will mostly work different cases anyway. It’s not the end of the world. It really isn’t.”
Vesper sighed heavily. “I’m really stuck, aren’t I?”
“Yes,” he replied with a wry but sympathetic smile. “You really are.”
“Well, that’s a load of bollocks,” Vesper said, feeling that it was the phrase that fit best, even though it wasn’t one she used very often.
“Yeah,” Ron agreed, but resignedly. There was silence for a moment. “Look, why don’t I walk you down to the department? I’ll introduce you to McInerney and make sure you get settled.”
“Yeah,” Vesper said, liking the idea of having Ron’s company in order to deal with this. He had a reassuring way about him. “Ok.”
***
The Contraband and Dark Artifacts department turned out to be a cluster of offices at the end of a long, bleak hallway. They were a floor below the main floor that housed most of the Auror Corps, but Ron explained why.
“The evidence storeroom is down here,” he said. “And it’s your department that does the most to fill it up. You’ll likely be spending a lot of time in there, assessing and cataloguing and whatnot.”
Vesper nodded, but internally she was grimacing. It was not the part of the job she was looking forward to. She’d rather be out in the field than in a cramped, dingy room all day.
Especially if she was going to be stuck in that cramped, dingy room with Chadwick Dempsey.
Positive thinking, she chastised herself. Ron made it clear that there was nothing she could do about it now. She may as well make the best of it.
The offices themselves weren’t so bad, she noted when they entered. Perhaps a bit cramped, but it looked like she was going to have her own desk, right next to her partner’s, and there were those fake windows that let in magically recreated sunlight along two walls of the space, giving the illusion that there was more room than there actually was.
Dempsey was already there, Vesper saw with a sour twist to her mouth. He watched her with an impassive gaze as she and Ron entered the room. He was sitting across from a petite but muscular witch with a dark pixie cut and multiple piercings in her ears, who Vesper had to assume was his new partner.
“Dempsey, pay attention,” she said to him, her voice carrying just a hint of a French accent.
Dempsey started and turned his head away, to show he was listening. Vesper smirked to herself as she followed Ron around to the other side of the cluster of cubicles.
“All right there, Mac?” she heard Ron say as she rounded the corner. He was shaking hands with a stocky and gruff-looking wizard with hairy forearms and a prominent nose.
“Weasley,” he replied, his voice deep enough to match the rest of him. “This is a pleasant surprise. I haven’t seen you down here in ages.”
“I thought I’d take the time to introduce you to your new partner. Mac, this is Vesper Kemp. Vesper, this is Owen McInerney.”
“Pleasure to meet you,” Vesper said, taking his calloused hand and giving it a firm shake.
“Likewise.” He returned the steady grip but didn’t crush her hand, as some more muscular men always seemed prone to do.
He was certainly a bit rough around the edges, McInerney was. His dark, course hair was in need of a trim and his scarlet and black Auror robes looked wrinkled and strangely informal on him. But as she met his gaze she was struck by his sharp blue eyes, which seemed to take in everything about her in an instant. She understood immediately that he was not a man to be underestimated.
Ron and McInerney made small talk for a few minutes, reminiscing about some old case they had worked on together. Vesper stood there and listened, pretending she didn’t feel awkward. Ron met her eyes once and tossed her a wink, and she smiled at him.
“Well, I’ve got to get back upstairs,” Ron said finally.
“They have you on desk duty, now that training is over?” Mcinerney asked.
Ron rolled his eyes. “Yes, unfortunately. But what can I do? I don’t have clearance from my Healers yet.”
“I don’t envy you that one, mate,” the other wizard replied, clapping him on the shoulder. “It was a brave thing you did. I never got a chance to tell you that.”
“Thanks,” said Ron, turning a bit pink. He glanced at Vesper. “I’d say take good care of my girl here,” he continued with a smirk, “but she takes plenty good care of herself.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” McInerney replied, smirking himself.
Ron took his leave, clasping Vesper’s shoulder briefly in goodbye. She gave him a brave smile and nodded. I’ll be fine.
“Have a seat,” McInerney told her when she turned back to him. “This desk is yours, technically speaking, although we’re so close together we usually end up sharing. Especially since we’ll work all the same cases. They talk to you about the department?”
“Yeah,” Vesper said with an eager nod. “You guys handle smuggling cases, mostly.”
“Sure,” he replied. “But there are ways in which we each specialize, and that determines what kind of cases we take on.”
“Ron said you know a lot about dark artifacts?”
McInerney gave her a lopsided smile. “Nice to know you pay attention. Yes. It’s been my specialty - some in the department might say my ‘obsession’ - for over a decade now. But I wouldn’t call it an obsession. Just an appreciation.”
Vesper watched him a moment. “You appreciate dark artifacts, yet you try to put a stop to people creating, buying, and selling them?”
The wizard’s smile widened. “In this job, there’s a fine line you’re walking most of the time. It’s possible to admire the magic, the craftsmanship, but not want it to fall into the hands of the wrong people.”
“The ‘wrong people’ being dark wizards?”
McInerney frowned, but thoughtfully. “An oversimplification, but sure.”
“Ok…”
“How much do you know about dark artifacts?” His tone was purely curious, rather than condescending.
“Not as much as I should, I’m sure,” she replied.
He raised his eyebrows. “It’s your first day. Of course that’s true.” He waved his hand in a conciliatory gesture. “The question wasn’t meant to be a test, merely a way for me to know where I should begin. I read your file, you know. You were a duelist, which means you were likely strong in Defense when you were a student, maybe even NEWT level. And Defense involves both mastering spells and understanding imbued magic. I thought maybe you’d already had some education in artifacts imbued with dark magic, and I wouldn’t want to spend an hour lecturing you on something you already know.”
Vesper nodded, taking that in. She appreciated that he had no interest in treating her like a complete neophyte, although part of her was tempted to tell him to assume she knew nothing and start at the beginning.
But she didn’t, perhaps out of a desire to prove she could be useful, or because there was something about the way McInerney had asked it, and explained his reasoning, that made her feel as though she ought to stretch herself.
“I remember…” she began, tilting her head. “We were taught detection spells, which we also touched on Auror training, so I’ve had some practice with those.”
McInerney nodded and gave her that lopsided smile again. “I’m glad to hear that. Instructors have skipped them in the past, assuming that you’ll learn on the job if you have to. It’s good to hear that Weasley knows better than that.”
Vesper nodded. “Yeah, he was thorough.”
“Not surprising.” He looked at her again. “What else?”
“Well… we learned the detection spells, but my NEWT professor also talked about ways to… intuitively detect dark magic, if that makes sense. There’s an energy around a dark artifact, kind of, and you can feel it if you’re paying attention.”
“Yes,” McInerney said. “Although it’s not just dark magic. Light and neutral magic leave traces as well. But dark magic does give off an energy… even a smell, I think – although some of my colleagues think I’m mental for believing so – that makes it distinctive. The skills for picking up on such things vary from person to person. How were you at it?”
“I was decent, I guess. I honestly don’t really remember.”
McInerney nodded. “Well, let’s find out, shall we?” He leaned over to open one of the drawers of his desk.
“Right now?”
“No time like the present.” He started pulling out objects from the drawer one at a time and placing it on the desk between them: a small statuette of a raven carved out of some kind of black stone, a bowl that appeared to be made of pieces of some dried animal hide that had been sewn together, and a silver ring with what looked like a moonstone in a rough claw setting. Vesper looked at each one closely as he presented it, but didn’t try to touch them.
“These are all dark artifacts?” she asked when he’d sat upright and faced her again.
“You tell me,” he replied, his blue eyes glinting.
Vesper bit her lip and reminded herself that this wasn’t really a test in the strictest sense. Her job wasn’t riding on it. McInerney just wanted to know how much he needed to teach her. While she was sure that he would need to teach her quite a lot, she hoped she could at least make a decent showing.
“They’re all safe to touch,” he said when she reached out her hands and looked at him with an unspoken question.
She picked up the statuette first, as it looked like the object most likely to hold some kind of dark magic. It was an inch or so longer than her hand, and cool to the touch. She couldn’t feel anything at first, save for the pulse of blood in her fingers against the stone.
“Close your eyes,” he said. “That helps.”
She did, and she tried her best to cut off her hearing, too, or at least ignore it. As the stimuli of the cramped office well away, she put her focus back on the statuette: the weight of it, the soft edges of the symbol carved into its base, the resin-like texture of the stone. After a moment she realized that it wasn’t the pulse of her fingers that she felt. It was too strong for that. The statuette had a pulse, no faster than her own heartbeat. She tried to get the flavor of it. Was it dark or light? She couldn’t really tell. It felt like neither. But it definitely had an energy. It had magic.
She opened her eyes and put the statuette back on the desk. She picked up the bowl next. It was light and dry, and quite unremarkable. Though she closed her eyes again and tried to feel, she got nothing from it.
The moonstone ring was last, and she knew the moment she touched it that it carried something powerful. A part of her wanted to drop it back on the desk immediately; the feeling it gave off wasn’t exactly pleasant. But she resisted, holding it in the center of her palm. There was something about it’s weight… not that it weighed more than it should, exactly, but rather that it’s mass somehow extended outside itself. She didn’t know how else to describe it. She didn’t need to close her eyes for this one, and she didn’t need long with it either. She put it back on the desk with the others.
“The ring is dark,” she said. “It has to be. The statuette… it has, something, but I think it might be neutral magic. And the bowl… I didn’t get anything.”
McInerney nodded. “The bowl was given to me as a gift by a shaman in Namibia. It was used to hold magical substances but has no magical properties itself. The ring carries a Curse of Endless Sleep, but it’s only activated if one puts it on while their outside, under moonlight, which is why it was safe for you to handle it here and now. But yes, it has dark magic. So you got two right. Not bad for your first time.”
“I was wrong about the statuette?” Vesper asked, disappointed.
“Half wrong. It has blood magic.”
“Oh.” Blood magic was definitely dark. So she’d gotten that wrong as well.
“But you picked out an important distinction between the magic of the ring and the magic of the carving. Blood magic is classified as dark, but it isn’t illegal, or even that uncommon. Blood magic is used to tie family magic to a place, like an ancestral home, or to heirloom objects. It’s used as a surrogate for a witch or wizard when they can’t be present, giving off magic that has a mild influence on the surrounding space. It can be used to emotionally link two people to each other over long distances. It has many uses, many of them perfectly legal, though frowned upon in some circles.
“The ring on the other hand…” He picked up the object in question and examined it. “Well, it just carries a curse. Plain and simple. It has no benefit to anyone. Its energy is purely malevolent. Which is not the same as being dark, although they sometimes go hand in hand.”
“So the magic in that ring is illegal.”
“Yes. It was recovered during a raid of an old wizarding estate about four years ago. I was allowed to keep it so long as I registered it and put protections on it so it can never leave this office. It’s tied here by strong magic that would take quite a lot of time and energy to undo.”
“Why do you keep it?”
“To remind myself of the distinction I just mentioned. Not all dark magic is evil. It’s important that we remember that. It’s important that we pay attention to the things that can really do damage, really hurt someone. Tracing back its long history, this ring has killed at least twelve people, probably more. No one wakes up from a Curse of Endless Sleep, not even if the ring is removed from the hand of the victim. The family we raided, they had a history of attacking their enemies and controlling their supposed allies through dark objects. By taking their weapons away, we saved lives. Instead of casting a wide net and saying all dark magic is bad and we should treat it all the same, we successfully focused on what was truly harmful, and it made all the difference. I’m proud of that raid. So I kept the ring. It reminds me of the good work we can do.”
He placed the ring back on the desk, and the two of them stared at it for a minute.
“Well,” he said finally. “Consider that your first lesson.”
“Thank you. It was a good one.”
“I’m glad. There’s plenty more where that came from. There’s a lot to know in this department.”
“Good,” Vesper said, meaning it. She liked McInerney already. She’d always been drawn to fervent, committed people, probably because she considered herself among their number. “I’ll take another lesson whenever you’re ready.”
Up Next: Hermione tracks down the wizard who put her parents in the hospital.
goddess-of_dragons: Thank you for your wonderful words in both reviews. The most recent review really inspired me to get back to this project! I’m glad you appreciate the dynamic between Harry, Draco, and Teddy. It was a tough one to pin down for me too, but I like the way it’s unfolding so far.
It means so much to hear that my work is still being sought out and enjoyed. Keeping up motivation can be tough sometimes! I hope this chapter helped make up for the long wait and that you will keep on reading!
Book_addict_89: You’re right that Harry wasn’t as hard on Draco as he could have been. But in the end he just wanted to be heard, and Draco figured out pretty quickly that he was in the wrong. They are definitely on their way to fixing things.
Yes, Hermione’s secret is slowly seeping out. She could use Draco and Hannah’s support for sure. The question is, will she accept it?
Haha you know me too well at this point. You know I had to keep Dempsey around, just for the sake of tension :) I don’t want to give anything away but you may find Dempsey’s role in the story unexpected. I guess we’ll just have to see what happens...
LadyShire: Draco was absolutely being an ass in that chapter (he does still have some remnants of his former self on occasion). But what really mattered to Harry was being listened to, and Draco was able to do that, which is what put them on the road to recovery without drastic measures having to be taken on Harry’s part. Draco gets now all that Harry has done and he will work to make it right.
Draco is bound by confidentiality, so he can’t tell Harry about Hermione’s parents. However, as is becoming clear, the secret is seeping out and Hermione is going to have to deal with it at some point. I’m just not telling you when :)
Thanks as always for reading and reviewing! I hope you will continue even though I’ve been on hiatus for a while. I promise that I will be getting back into this story regularly.
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