Chapter 4 - Betrayal

                                        

                                              
Published: 4/20/25

Draco sighed as he arrived at work the next morning and saw the internal memo in his inbox. He remembered with some satisfaction that two of his charges were released from probation yesterday evening, and both had thanked him profusely for helping them normalize their life. The four that were transferred were sad that he wouldn't be their mentor anymore, but Susan was a kind soul, kinder than him. They would do well with her. 
However, the fact that there was a memo in the inbox meant something bad had happened, and it probably had to do with Potter. Sure enough, the git had been arrested last night, at midnight, at a muggle pub. Supposedly, Potter had "sniffed a line" off the table and resisted arrest when the Aurors "found" him violating his probation. Draco let out another breath of exhaustion. He had not had the motivation to go back to Potter's cesspool last night and instead had finished Potter's post-war file. 
He hadn't been too surprised. He had had the inside scoop since Potter's first failed probation period with Wilkins. Draco had found plenty of interesting reports that he copied to his locked drawer, in case he needed leverage against Robards and his flock of Auror sycophants. He needed to handle it all carefully. He also got Potter's financial details and sent another letter to Gringotts, initializing the takeover process of Potter's assets. 
Gringotts did not like wizards meddling in their accounts, so it was a delicate matter. He needed to set up new vaults and have them transfer Potter's vast hoard of galleons to new vaults. Potter had three under his name: his mother's, the Potter's family vault and the Black family vault. His mother's had been the smallest, set up after she had left school and become a potion brewer. His father had inherited quite a bit when his parents died. The younger Potter had been using that account for the most part. The Black vaults were even larger, having accrued interest for decades with no deductions until Sirius Black had escaped Azkaban.
Now, they were under Draco's name, with Potter identified as the trust owner. He could revoke Potter's access at any time, which would most likely happen soon. Potter couldn't have access to his money if he was just going to spend it on drugs and alcohol. Draco also decided that since Potter had enough money, he, Draco, would probably be responsible for fixing his house for him. He started looking for reputable renovation companies.
Draco sent a few more letters out, one encouraging the Obliviator Headquarters to hurry the F up with the file requests he had already sent. Then, he sent the release request to the Auror office for Potter to be brought down. He contemplated on how the Aurors were always catching Potter in the act. Trace Spells were highly illegal without a warrant, and he couldn't believe that the darn Aurors would risk that. He perused the list of Aurors that he had written down and had, subconsciously, started to rank them.
The biggest harassers were Smith, Dawlish and Williamson. Of them, Smith probably was rich enough to own a house elf. House elves have their own way of doing things, including tracking people. If a house elf was following Potter around, it wasn't necessarily criminal, though as Aurors, they weren't supposed to be hounding people. There was no easy way to prove it, as house elf magic was hard to detect.
So, Draco had started to make lists and copies of the most egregious arrests and incidents. He needed leverage. He glanced at the clock and Potter still hadn't been brought down, though it had been an hour. Draco sighed and guessed that his comments yesterday had been brought higher and that they were purposely dragging out his requests. He got up and walked to the lift to the Auror department.
However, it opened upon arrival. Potter was being pressed bodily into the wall of the lift by his former best mate, who was against him and talking low into his ear. Potter's hands were bound tightly behind his back with Incarcerous. His face was smashed painfully into the wood-paneled wall. The Auror turned.