Aurors

Harry was walking down the hallway on the fifth floor unable to sleep for what felt like the hundredth time that week alone. His invisibility cloak was securely in his pocket as he had been thinking about what the Auror had told him the other night. It was true he thought to himself, he was old enough to walk wherever he pleased and therefore decided to walk without it, but even so, had grabbed it at the last second before leaving the Gryffindor tower just in case. The castle was quiet which was no surprise as it was closer to one in the morning.

As Harry walked he found himself humming a tune as he studied the paintings as he walked. His thoughts wandered back to the previous day after the Defence class they had with the Aurors. Of course, he would never hurt one of his friends on purpose but even he knew that had not Auror Blackmoore stopped him he probably would have done something he would have regretted. Once again the witch had told him the straight hard truth, that he didn't have control, and he had first become angry by the idea of needing help but it had quickly turned to embarrassment when he thought about who was in the room with him. While using Legilimency she had dug deep into his memories which he had no way to stop in time as it had taken him by surprise. Even though he had gotten better at it after being taught by Snape he had forgotten some of the Occlumency techniques after the war. She had seen the way he had grown up when he locked Dudley in the cage with the snake when he Inflated his Aunt and so much more. It was humiliating but necessary he reasoned.

However, getting to help the Slytherins to make their own Patronuses was the least he could do in return for them helping him. The more time he spent with them the more he found out that they had more in common than he first thought. Zabini, Nott and he had actually taken a trip down to the Quidditch field after they had left the classroom even though Harry had just used that as an excuse to leave the pair alone.

As it turned out Nott gave him just as much of a fight in the air as Malfoy did and Zabini made for a better Beater than Chaser in Harry's personal opinion. Turned out that the younger Zabini actually had wanted the position but he had refused to cheat during a game against Ravenclaw and was pushed to play as Chaser instead. When the ravenhead had asked Nott why he never joined the Quidditch team as he was such a good flyer the boy had just shrugged and said that he preferred books instead.

For once Harry looked at the paintings one after the other and started to notice things he had never seen before as he walked lost in thought. Suddenly, he noticed a painting of a simple bowl of apples hanging next to a witch who looked like she was from the early eighteen-hundreds. Under the painting was no date, however, there was a name.

"Meria Brighthill." Harry thought he had said it softly so as not to be heard but the witch in the painting stirred and looked down at him slightly confused.

"Hello, young man. How rare for someone to speak my name." The young wizard smiled at the painting.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up." The witch looked around then and noticed her neighbouring paintings being fast asleep.

"Heavens, what is the time?" Harry grinned sheepishly while he scratched the back of his head.

"A little past one in the morning." She huffed a little before she smiled softly at him.

"Well, no matter. Did you have any business with me, young man?" The ravenhead blushed slightly while looking at the painting in what he hoped was an apologetic matter.

"Sorry, I was just looking at the paintings while I walked and I noticed the painting next to you and found it funny that it is just a bowl of apples. Then I noticed your painting and said your name a little too loud. Sorry again." From what Harry could tell she looked amused back at him while she walked over to the painting with the apples.

"I am to believe that these apples are the most precious in the whole world." Confused, Harry watched as she picked one up and immediately a new apple appeared in the bowl.

"Wow, I didn't know that could happen in a painting." With wide eyes, he stepped closer to the painting to confirm that she did really have an apple in her left hand and there was still the same amount of apples in the bowl as it was previously. The painting laughed softly as she took another one and the same thing happened again.

"My precious husband, Mordechai, was a Master Painter and he knew my love for bright red apples so he painted me this painting and put some sort of spell on it so the bowl would never empty." The woman looked saddened as she went back into her own frame while Harry took a look around. There was no nameplate nearby that he could see that had the name 'Mordechai' on it.

"Where is your husband now?" She sighed sadly at him and Harry swore he saw her eyes turn glossy with unshed tears.

"Sadly, young man I do not know where his painting is. However, I do know it is in the castle somewhere so I will not give up on my quest to find him. Someday we will meet again." Harry felt his adrenaline shoot through him when he heard it. It was unfair he thought to split up a wife and a husband this way and he immediately knew what to do.

"I will find him! I walk around the castle at night all the time and when I find him I will tell him where you are and even get his frame moved next to yours. I promise!" Surprised, the witch studied him for a long while before she laughed.

"My my, what a courageous boy you are to take on such a quest. Very well, I will wish you luck on your journey. May I ask your name?" Embarrassed, Harry blushed slightly before introducing himself to the painting.

"Now I have never, the Saviour of the whole wizarding world been willing to help a painting on an old castle wall. Now I have seen everything there is to see in this life." The ravenhead blushed harder at the compliments he got from her before shaking his head.

"It's nothing, really! I will look for him. You have my word!" She laughed again before letting out a slight yawn.

"I wish you much luck yet again, Mr Potter. However, I will go back to sleep and I suggest you soon return to your tower. Good night. young man." Harry didn't get the time to say anything before the witch was asleep again in front of him and he walked softly away from her. Finally, he had a quest he could use some time to work on he thought and helping the painting was the least he could do.

He continued to study the paintings as he walked with more purpose now and almost missed the fact that Peeves came flying towards him at high speed. Remembering what Auror Blackmoore had told him the last time he froze and didn't move a muscle. For a second he believed it had worked as the ghost flew straight past him only to appear right in front of his face with a huge grin.

"If it isn't Potty out of bed! What are you doing out and about this late, Mr Hero?" Harry frowned at the ghost slightly confused as the trick didn't work as he shrugged.

"None of your business, Peeves." The ghost cackled loudly while he did his normal dance in the air.

"Weeeell, that is where you are wrong my alive friend. You are a student out of bed!" Rolling his eyes at him the ravenhead only shrugged again.

"So? I am a grown-up you know. I'm nineteen." Peeves just cackled louder at his logic while he spun around the wizard.

"Oh, I am sooooo sorry. My mistake o' great Hero." The ghost bowed so low that his head disappeared through the floor making Harry make a disgusted face at him.

"Something that you want other than to bother me?" Peeves huffed in pretended annoyance before his standard wide grin was back in place.

"I will have you know that I am on a big mission for the almighty demon prince!" It was Harry's turn to huff at the ghost as he crossed his arms.

"Demon prince? There is no such thing as demons, Peeves." For once in his life, he saw Peeves turn serious as his characteristic grin fell off his face and was replaced with a cold smile.

"You simply don't know the truth, Potty. I will give you some advice as you are oh so naïve about the world you are in. If you ever see one, don't show fear. They feast on it!" Harry jumped as the ghost screamed the last part right in his ear and the ghost laughed loudly in joy. Some of the paintings around them started to hush them in frustration and the wizard bowed his head in apology to them.

"Fine, I guess I am the naïve one. What is your mission then?" Peeves grinned widely at him again as he shook his head.

"I cannot tell you. It is top secret!" The Gryffindor smirked in return now as he crossed his arms again.

"I guess you are lying then. You don't have a mission at all, you are just trying to fool me as usual. But I won't bite on it this time. Have a nice night, Peeves." He started to walk away as he counted softly to himself and sure enough before he had gotten to five the ghost appeared before him again with a big grin.

"It is the truth! I am been sent to find the Defence classroom that is missing!" As he said it out loud the ravenhead could tell that he was not too supposed to say that as he quickly danced around Harry again while cackling loudly like he was trying to hide what he just said.

"Find the Defence classroom? Why?" Peeves rolled his eyes at him.

"Are your ears broken, o' Hero? It is on the orders of the Prince of Demons and you always listen to her. 'Specially when a deal is made." Harry was even more confused now as the ghost had said 'her' and not 'him'. He stopped to think for a second when it suddenly hit him that Burns had given Auror Blackmoore the job of finding the classroom the day before but so far the witch had no luck. She did have a good tone with Peeves earlier so getting the ghost to help must have been an obvious tactic on her part but why was he calling her a 'Demon Prince'? Sighing, he looked up at the ghost that was floating near the roof.

"So that is why you are on this floor so early? You are looking through all the rooms. No luck yet then?" Floating downwards he shook his head.

"The castle is a crafty one this time and doesn't want to make it found for some reason." The wizard started to wonder why that was as rooms usually showed up pretty quickly on their own and usually on the same floor they were on, to begin with. Harry thought back to when the room had vanished and figured out that it had been gone for about four days.

"I'll keep an eye out for it I guess. Even though I like it better when it's the Aurors who are teaching us." Peeves cackled again but to the ravenhead's surprise didn't say anything and only bowed deeply again and flew off. Frowning, Harry was left in the hallway alone with his thoughts but soon shrugged and continued down the hall while sometimes opening some doors at random in hopes of being lucky.

The Gryffindor was on the fourth floor when he found himself in what had turned out to be a dead-end and was about to turn around to walk back the way he came when he thought he heard someone talking from another side of one of the doors. Two knights' armours were standing guard on either side of the door he thought he heard the sounds from and, carefully, he took out his wand and crept closer to the door and stopped to listen. He jumped when one of the knights then turned to look at him and he heard footsteps coming closer to the door. Hastily he got the cloak out of his pocket and threw it over himself and placed himself next to the other knight. Just as he threw his hand over his mouth to hide his breathing a person emerged from the room.

Luck would have it that the door opened to the right so he was hidden by it. The person took a few steps into the hallway before turning around in confusion and that's when he saw that it was Burns. She didn't look as put together as she usually did. The witch stopped in front of the knight that was on the other side of the door and he heard her tut at it almost in the same way Umbridge had a habit of doing.

"What is going on out there?" It was a man's voice and it sounded a little far away. Harry pushed himself as close to the wall as he could get to try and hear it more closely. To him, it didn't seem that the wizard was inside the room so if he were to have a guess it could come from a floo call.

"These statues are useless. It alerted me that there was someone here but there was no one! I swear this castle is mocking me." Burns was still on the other side of the door and Harry froze like a statue when she peeked her head around it to have a look at the other statue that was next to him. The wizard from inside the room laughed a sinister laugh.

"You think the castle itself is out to get you? Come on, that is just stupid." Harry was sure that the voice came from a floo call now as he could hear the familiar sound of the ash and logs moving around. Burns clicked her tongue in response before turning around and walking a little bit down the hall again. The Gryffindor saw his chance to get into the room as it was obvious something was not right with what was going on and quickly moved inside it.

~⚡︎~

The room was smaller than he first thought and he quickly scanned the room for places he could stand without being caught and decided to place himself between the wall and an empty bookshelf on the far right. If push came to shove he had a quick escape route out that way. Other than the empty bookshelf he was hiding behind the room was filled with old desks and chairs. He also spotted some old painting frames and cauldrons. Seemed like this was used as a storage room of some sort. It could have been an old office of a Professor back in the day as the room had a fireplace as Harry had guessed. In it was the face of a wizard he did not recognise but he could clearly see that he was annoyed.

"Burns! Stop this nonsense, I don't have much time before I need to report back. What other things have you figured out?" The usually sugar-sweet witch entered the room again and closed the door behind her before frowning at the wizard in the floo.

"They are keeping a close eye on the Malfoy kid annoyingly enough. I haven't had the opportunity to get him alone yet because of that stupid classroom vanishing." A huff came from the floo.

"They became more paranoid after you showed up so no wonder they are not leaving him alone anymore, and you risked too much with the stunt you pulled with Silver." Burns smiled sweetly again to the man.

"Oh, but I got so close to tasting that sweet nectar. If only Thompson didn't interfere I would have had him in my grasp already." The face in the ash became angry now Harry noticed.

"I told you to wait until after Blackmoore was in a coma. I spent weeks perfecting that spell and you almost ruined the whole damn plan! You should be glad the freak managed to splinch herself so that the spell got time to work properly." The ravenhead covered his mouth again to hide his shocked noise. So the whole thing about the Auror landing in a coma was a planned thing? But what did Malfoy have to do with any of this? He pushed himself closer to the wall as he could feel the sweat starting to run down his neck. Burns waved her hand in a nonchalant manner at the wizard.

"Calm down! The plan went smoothly anyway, didn't it? Besides, I have destroyed the evidence of me ever doing anything so no matter what they try they can't pin anything on me." The wizard huffed again.

"What about Silver's memories?" Burns laughed a cold laugh that sent shivers down Harry's spine.

"Oh don't worry, he will not get anything out of it if he tries to put it in a Pensieve. I made sure of that." A sigh came from the fireplace as the face disappeared for a second before reappearing.

"I am being called. I will contact you later." Before Burns got to say anything in response the green flames turned red again. She huffed and mumbled something to herself before looking around the room sceptically. Harry froze like a statue again and tried his best to keep his breathing quiet. Luckily, the witch went towards the door, opened it and after one last look around the room left.

The ravenhead counted slowly to thirty before he dared to move and with the cloak still over his head, he moved to the door and listened. From what he could tell the corridor on the other side was empty but he decided not to take any chances and counted to thirty again before slowly opening the door. When he had enough room to squeeze through he stopped again and listened. Silence. Hastily he moved outside and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw nobody. He kept the cloak on just in case and walked as quietly as he could down the corridor to where the hallway split to left and right. There was not a soul in sight from what he could tell but decided to keep the cloak on for safety. He had to get down to the third floor to tell the Aurors what he had just seen.

~⚡︎~

Harry could feel his adrenaline surging through him as he finally saw the painting of Salazar Slytherin coming into view and he hurried his pace even more. He took a peek down the corridor both ways before taking the cloak off himself and tapped the frame with his wand waking the old wizard in the process.

"What is the meaning of this so late? You are not an Auror!" The ravenhead huffed.

"I need to talk to them, it's an emergency! Let me in!" Salazar looked at him like he had just threatened to burn his painting.

"Now, I have never seen such a rude wizard!" Harry stomped his feet in frustration before taking a deep breath.

"I'm sorry, Mr Slytherin but I need to talk to one of the Aurors. Please." The painting studied him for a minute before it finally nodded.

"Very well. Enter." As the frame moved the wizard was quick to enter before the painting somehow changed its mind.

The second he stepped foot into the office he felt the familiar tingle of passing through a ward and after a few seconds, Auror Zabini stood in the bedroom door with his wand raised. He had only thrown on a pair of his uniform pants but still looked like he was ready to take down a dragon. By sheer reflex, Harry raised his own against him and they stood at a standstill for a minute before Auror Zouch peeked his head from behind the darker wizard. He was dressed opposite of the taller wizard and had only thrown on a shirt. The shorter wizard patted the Auror on the shoulder while he yawned.

"Calm down, Queen. It is only Mr Potter." As if he snapped out of a trance the older Zabini looked at him for real for the first time before giving him a sheepish grin.

"Ah, sorry mate. Reflex." Harry willed himself to put his wand back in his pocket and nodded at them both. Auror Zouch was looking at him with intrigue now as the wizards walked towards him.

"Anything we can help you with, Mr Potter? It is quite late." The ravenhead looked desperately at the both of them while he told them what he had just witnessed.

"Fuck. We need to tell the others about this." Auror Zabini was about to go back into the bedroom but the other Auror stopped him.

"Send a Patronus to Cyril and tell him to rendezvous on the fourth floor. I spent an abundant amount of time to convince Orion to go down to the dungeons and watch Mr Malfoy in Artemis's stead. She needs rest." The two wizards eyed each other for a few seconds before Auror Zabini shook his head in what Harry assumed was surrender. He walked surprisingly quietly into the bedroom again while Auror Zouch kept looking at him. Swallowing, the ravenhead knew that the questions would be coming now that he was alone with him.

"Did you recognise the man, Mr Potter?" The Gryffindor shook his head.

"No, Sir. I didn't recognise the voice either." Clicking his tongue the Auror suddenly gave Harry a grave expression.

"You are to not tell anyone about this until we know what we are dealing with. Am I making myself clear, Mr Potter?" A threatening aura radiated off the man that only a Slytherin could manage. He didn't think that someone could send shivers down his spine by just asking a simple question after everything he had been through, but here he was, shuddering in slight fear.

"Yes, Sir." Suddenly a German Shepherd Patronus ran past them and disappeared through the wall. No sooner had it left the owner stepped through the bedroom door fully dressed.

"I checked just to be sure but Prince is still asleep. Hurry up, Ace." The shorter wizard nodded and after one last look at Harry, he walked past the other Auror to get dressed.

~𓅃~

Orion was staring at the ceiling of the young Malfoy's room. He was seated in the chair next to the boy's desk and praying for something to do. Somehow, Septimus had managed to convince him earlier that day that he should take Artemis's place if the boy needed something and sure enough the woman had been asleep for a couple of hours when Peeves had shown up to everyone's surprise. It was then they figured out how she had managed to always be at the dungeon at the right time. The blond had to chuckle at the witch's genius to use every tool she had available.

When the older blond had ventured into the young Slytherin's room he had found him right where Peeves said he would be. In the bathroom retching. To say Malfoy was surprised to see Orion instead of Artemis was an understatement as the boy had looked like his soul had left him. However, it was soon forgotten when the boy started throwing up again.

The older Slytherin always felt a little helpless in these situations. He never knew what was the right thing to do and ended up just sitting there until he was sure there was nothing left in the boy's stomach before pulling him up on his feet. Malfoy was shaking violently and he was soaked in sweat but at the same time, Orion recognised the want to hide it all. It was flowing through him with the burden of being a Full-Blood and the blond knew it all too well.

Without conversing he had helped the younger wizard get out of the dirty clothes and into the shower. With a little help, Malfoy was soon clean enough to get into a new pair of pyjamas and only let out a grunt as thanks when Orion spelt the buttons on his shirt closed. He had seen the boy's Sectumsempra scar when he had pulled him up from the bathroom floor but hadn't really thought much about it then.

Now that the young wizard was fast asleep it drifted into Orion's mind again and it was easy to see that it was Snape that had healed it. It was a perfect copy of the spellwork that occupied Artemis's body. He closed his eyes and felt around the bond for a second. She was in a deep sleep just like he hoped she would be. The brunette had been through too much over the course of the last few weeks and at this point, Orion was not sure if she was going to survive it all. The event in the Room of Requirement the night before was proof that she was harbouring more negative emotions and memories than he had first believed.

He let his mind drift as he thought about everything else that had happened during their stay at the school so far. However, most of it only brought his rage to awaken, especially when he thought back to the event with Burns. He had tried to find the classroom in the hopes the castle would show him some mercy after what happened but luck had failed him so far. The muscle potion she had used was a no-brainer, it was a simple mix that most people could make without any trouble but for the life of him, he could not figure out what she had used to make it seem no time had passed. His theory so far was a mix between a potion and some sort of spell that she had put him under but it was nothing he could prove.

The Malfoy boy mumbled in his sleep and Orion turned his eyes in that direction. The younger blond tossed and turned a few times before he grew silent again. Orion sighed softly to himself. He had been angry and confused when Artemis had told him the truth about telling Malfoy. It felt unfair that he was just going to know everything when he had spent years of his life figuring out how the whole thing came together. Which made it obvious how much the witch had changed in front of him without him really noticing. Biting his lip he realised that Cyril had been right, he was a mess. If he shared his emotions clearly maybe they would not have ended up this way. The way she had spoken of perhaps getting the bond removed scared him more than anything else. He would not handle the silence once again and it was already proven that he was the only one that could control her completely.

Orion put his head in his hands in frustration as he looked at the floor in hopes that it would swallow him. Had he been any other place he would have screamed at the top of his lungs but he settled for biting his lip harder. Within seconds he got the taste of iron in his mouth but before he could do anything else Peeve's face came up from the floor making him jump back.

"Peeves! What do you want?" Forgetting for a second that Malfoy was sleeping in the room he had spoken loudly but luckily the boy only turned around in his sleep and Orion glared at the ghost who was grinning from ear to ear.

"I thought you would like to know that I found the classroom, Your Royal Slytherinness." His eyes widen at the information.

"Where?" The ghost floated up so that they were eye to eye and whispered.

"On the sixth floor. Behind a tapestry."