Chapter 2

                                        

                                              
Published: 6/1/2025

One year later...

Auror Trainee Potter was handed a canvasing assignment by his Auror Trainer, John Dawlish. He'd been streamlined through the Auror program along with Ron, Dean, Seamus and several other members of the DA. The Aurors were dangerously understaffed after the war. 
"Just canvassing and checking vacant properties," Dawlish explained.
Harry sighed but accepted the files. It appeared to be more holdings of the Malfoy family.
"Haven't we checked all their properties already?" Harry asked.
"These are in Narcissa Malfoy's name as an inheritance from the Black family. With you as the designated Black heir, you might gain access more easily."
Harry nodded. They had actually been lucky checking the Malfoy estate holdings. They had caught Avery and Nott Senior at a property in York, Terence Higgs and his family at another, and, last month, Harry had captured Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy in their French Manor home. France had reluctantly agreed to a joint operation to capture the wanted fugitives.
However, their son was nowhere to be found. Even under Veritaserum, they both denied knowing the whereabouts of their only son. Their trials were nearly done. Lucius got life, and Narcissa was going to get a significant sentence.
Harry was still undecided on how he felt about Draco. He remembered that broken look in Draco's eyes sixth year, the recognition in his eyes when Harry and his friends were captured, and the desperation Draco had when he entrusted his only defense into Harry's hand at the Battle. He knew that Draco didn't have a choice in what happened. He also knew that Draco had lied for him and had given him his own wand to defeat the Elder Wand. It was the only reason Voldemort was defeated.
Draco had clearly wanted Voldemort to fall. He had even stunned Goyle in the Room of Requirement. Draco had willingly handed over his wand without Harry even asking for it. Harry wasn't sure why Draco had switched sides. They weren't exactly friends before the war. Lucius and Narcissa didn't seem very repentant.
Harry had ensured that Draco's assistance was noted in his file, but Draco was still a wanted fugitive. He was Marked. He had set up Dumbledore to die, Imperioed Madam Rosmerta and nearly killed Ron and Katie. Harry saw his wanted photo every time he walked down Diagon Alley. Even Malfoy's photo self-looked broken and defeated.
Ron was practically giddy with the idea of hauling that "bloody Death Eater ponce" in. He would go on and on about how he'd rub it in that prat's face and make sure he got what was coming to him.
Harry kept his opinions to himself for the most part. Initially, he had tried to explain to Ron what Malfoy had done at the Manor, in the Room of Requirement and after they escaped the Fiendfyre with their lives. But Ron didn't care. Malfoy was a Death Eater and a bastard in his eyes.
No one knew what happened to the git anyway. After the Battle, he vanished. The portraits at Hogwarts saw him floo out after Voldemort fell, minutes before Harry arrived to talk to Dumbledore. They said he went home. But two days later, when the Aurors seized Malfoy Manor, no trace was found. The portraits there said he walked out the front door, but they wouldn't divulge anything else.
Harry was surprised that Malfoy had eluded them this long. The git wasn't exactly raised to bear hardship. His parents were always protecting him or used to anyway. The schism of the Malfoy family was surprising. Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, had always promoted his family and their beliefs, but after and during the war, Malfoy, for all appearances, had abandoned both his family and his beliefs.
"Let's go. The floos are already disabled on all the properties," Dawlish ordered.
Harry hated Dawlish. He was a prick, but right now, he was Harry's boss. They Side-Apparated to the first location, searched, tagged and sealed it. The second and third were the same. However, the fourth property had wards. A lot more than normal for a closed home. They slowly broke each one and made entry. He didn't risk a Revelio, yet. They hadn't tripped any alarms, as far as they knew.
They split up. Dawlish swept the East Wing, and Harry took the west side. He crept through the halls, and as a loo door opened, he spat, "Expelliarmus!"
A wand flew out of the man's robes and down the hall. Harry pinned the person to the doorframe and put his wand to his throat. He met the wide, grey eyes of the missing Malfoy.
"Malfoy!" Harry gasped, almost relieved that he was alive.
"Potter?" Malfoy stammered and looked around, taken completely by surprise. 
"You're under arrest," he declared.
Fear filled his eyes. "No... please... please! Let me go!"
"I'm not going to let you go!" Harry scoffed.
"Please, Potter!" Malfoy begged, but then said the damning words. "You owe me!"
Harry's grip on Malfoy's shirt loosened. Then his eyes narrowed. "You gave me your wand after I saved your life!" Harry countered.
"I didn't ID you at the Manor. I let Dobby in to save you," Malfoy claimed, and Harry let go of him. It rang true.
Harry looked down the hall. "I... I can't. I'm not here alone, and the Anti-Apparation wards are up. There's nowhere to go."
"Just let me go into that room, Potter. Please. That's it... please... I'm begging you," he pleaded, desperately, nearly in tears.
Harry was shaking, and before he could figure out a solution, Dawlish called out, "Potter! Find anything?"
"Hit me," he whispered, and Draco looked confused. "Yeah! There's a...."
Malfoy clocked his defenseless jaw, and Harry fell to the floor. Malfoy disappeared into the room he wanted to go into.
"He's here!" Harry called, and Dawlish ran down the hall as he got up. "I disarmed Malfoy, but he punched me!"
"The Malfoy bitch punched you?" Dawlish sneered. "You're weaker than I thought."
Harry felt shame rising in him and couldn't believe he had let a wanted fugitive talk his way out of getting arrested. He let him escape.
Harry got in position, and Dawlish tried to breach the door. He failed. Harry tried, too, but Malfoy put a lot of wards on there. After a few minutes, they finally made entry... to an empty room. They searched the house and grounds but couldn't find Malfoy anywhere. Eventually, they did a more thorough search and found a hidden passageway with a gravity-powered cart that took Malfoy past the ward points. They searched the muggle town nearby for an hour before Dawlish called it off.
They reported back, and the Aurors were all laughing that the Great Potter had gotten sucker-punched by the branded coward, Draco Malfoy. Even Ron was howling and offering his condolences.
Harry grinned and bore it. He fretted about his lapse in judgment internally and was on desk duty for a month for the incident until the training review board evaluated him. He refused to tell anyone what happened, even Ron and Hermione. No one would let him be an Auror if they knew he let Malfoy escape.
He went through weeks... months of taunts, jokes and open scorn. It made him bitter and angry. A formal reprimand for failing to secure a fugitive, which resulted in an escape, was put in his permanent file. He wasn't going to mess up like that again.






The feels are coming.....