“Actually, yes,” he snapped, making his impatience clear. “Why are we here?”
Percy paused as if unsure how to answer, and then cleared his throat. “Well,” he said, “I’ve already told you that a very serious threat has been posed towards the Ministry and m-”
“Yes, I know.” Draco cut in with an icy voice. “That explains fully why at least one Magi or even freelance bodyguard should have gotten put on this. What I want to know is why two Aurors like us have been assigned to baby sitting work!”
There was a long silence, where beside the desk Harry sighed, wishing that Draco had just left well enough alone. He’d already made it a point to show Percy how pissed he was, why did he need to press it further by adding tension to a room that was already so thick with the stuff it was hard to breathe? But instead of yelling, or simply blowing Draco off, Percy’s shoulders noticeably sagged, and for the first time Harry ventured to wonder why the Minister looked so tired. Ministry jobs that high up were supposed to be nothing but luxury with the Dark Lord out of the way and all of the rebuilding being done by the lower downs. “I guess you have a right to know,” Percy said, shuffling through some papers on his desk, “even though they didn’t want you to.”
This time Harry spoke up, just to make sure that Draco wouldn’t respond with something even more antagonizing. “Who is ‘they’?” he asked.
“Well...” said Percy, trailing off until he found the paper he was looking for, and handed it to Harry. “A few days ago the Ministry got a threatening letter, which isn’t really uncommon. It stated that they wanted Longbottom to be guarding a certain store on Diagon Alley, or that they would attack it. Of course we didn’t comply, and we send one of the Magi instead...”
“And?” Draco pressed him as he trailed off again.
“And the Magi disappeared,” Percy finished, drawing startled reactions from both men. As much as they disliked the Magis, as was the popular opinion through out all of the Branch of Aurors, but they’d seen some of the wizards prowess in the wars against the Dark Lord. It would take a band of powerful wizards to even disarm one, but to kill or even to kidnap? “Then,” he continued, “we got that.”
Harry looked down at the letter in his hands, and then with a frown showed it to Draco, who read it over quickly. It was written on basic parchment, in a thick red ink.
“On the ides of June the Minister of Magic will be taken, as was the young Magi you foolishly sent to oppose our will. However, we will try to appeal to your lacking wisdom one final time, and give you once again a way to save his fate.”
Draco blinked, shot Harry a confused look, and then read the last line.
“Have him guarded by the two Aurors, Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter.”
Authors Note: Oh man... Im really sorry for the delay in writing, but being as Im still not fit for typing and Falcon just arrived here on Friday, this was as soon as we could get it out. Were nearing the end of the story, boys and girls, and well try to get as much done this weekend as possible.