Chapter 7

Harry entered the early-morning meeting with his second cup of coffee and Riddle's cup of tea when everyone was already seated. There were twelve high-backed office chairs in a large table and one smaller extra chair wedged beside Riddle and Draco Malfoy for him. He took his seat next to Riddle and placed the cup of tea in front of him. Draco reached over and took his coffee. "Thank you for the cup, Potter."

Harry sighed mournfully but let Malfoy have it without complaint. He wasn't going to be unprofessional at a meeting because Malfoy was an infant. Malfoy gave him a smug look as he sipped Harry's coffee mockingly. Harry settled on his seat with his notebook and quill and pretended to look marginally interested as the meeting started.

Malfoy's good mood quickly evaporated because for the entirety of the meeting Riddle relentlessly punished and berated him. It got to the point were Draco stopped reporting and let another person report because if Draco reported it, the job had to be done again. And Draco knew exactly who to blame if the glares he sent Harry were any indication.

"What did you get from the meeting?" Riddle asked when they were alone at the office.

"That you are savagely petty?" Harry responded without missing a beat. Riddle turned, surprised, and his face seemed to ask "really, Potter? really?" but his bad mood dissolved marginally and he smiled slightly.

"That's not exactly news for you," Riddle parried.

"It's not," Harry gave him a quicksilver smile but then frowned, "Mr. Fudge was looking particularly stressed. I wonder if someone leaked our investigation. Have you talked with someone about it?"

Riddle nodded. "This morning with the heads of Auror department and the bank so that they would get the ball rolling."

"You should up your security."

Riddle raised his eyebrows. "You think someone would attack me?"

Harry nodded. "With the information we have? For sure. It carries a maximum of twenty years in Azkaban. Desperate men do desperate things. A very regrettable accident might befall you."

"And what about you?"

"I'll also take preventive measures," Harry assured the man.

"I'll think about it. Anything else?"

"Yes," Harry smiled wickedly, "the esteemed Minister Scrimgeor is having an affair."

That seemed to take Riddle off-course. Harry hoped Riddle hadn't meant the highlights of the meeting because Harry had blacked out for a while there. His notes were full of doodles from the second half on.

"Scrimgeor is having an affair?" Riddle asked baffled. "How could you possibly tell from that meeting?"

"He passed by me on his way out. He smelled like one of my previous girlfriends. It's a pink floral smell that younger women prefer and decidedly not what Mrs. Scrimgeor would use."

That seemed to take Riddle even more off balance. "You had girlfriends?" he asked with surprise.

"Of course."

Riddle frowned. "I thought you liked men?"

"I do like men. But also women. Are we going for lunch now?"

"I have a lunch meeting at a restaurant. Do you want to come? It's a free lunch."

"Tempting, but no. I need to not work for an hour more than good food. Besides, it's Tuesday."

This time Riddle did smile. "What's on Tuesday's?" he asked.

"Treacle Tart of course. I'll see you at one to continue with the budget."

Riddle made a vague sounding noise and still seemed preoccupied with the meeting. Harry left him to his thoughts.

Harry managed to get chicken and two pieces of treacle tart so he was feeling extra excited when he put his lunch down.

"How's the new work going?" Pike asked immediately.

"Love it. Already made my first archenemy."

"Who?" Martinez asked with a worried frown.

Harry smiled. "Draco Malfoy. We are rekindling our hate. He really adds a bit of necessary spicy to my life, you know? Also, I may need to stay in your house for a while. Only until an investigation blows over. People may or may not try to kill me for a while."

"So, back to normal?" Martinez asked with a chuckle.

"It's wonderful," Harry trilled.

"I'm glad you are happy...I guess?" Pike looked nervously at Martinez for some social cue. Martinez nodded and Pike smiled at Harry with more confidence.

"How was the date with the lovely Miss Liliana?" Harry asked Martinez. Martinez turned pink and started eating with more concentration than his sad salad deserved.

"He nailed it!" Pike crooned, slapping a hand to Martinez back. To Harry, he said, "She was glowing today. They couldn't stop smiling at each other. It was stupidly sweet."

"Stop it you two!" Martinez growled at them but couldn't stop his smile for more than half a second.

Harry turned to Pike, "I'm staying at your house. No need to bother Martinez." Pike nodded excitedly over Martinez's protests.

Draco was adorable. Harry had no other words for it. His eyes sought Riddle to impart this important knowledge. Riddle's severe frown seemed to disagree. Undeterred Harry's eyes went back to Draco's adorableness. Riddle barked at Malfoy to leave already. Harry did his best not to coo at the red flush.

Since lunch, Draco had been trying his best to one-up Harry. But since he had no idea what Riddle had Harry doing he's been stumbling along in the dark trying to be "more" helpful than Harry. The results were hilarious (for him; Riddle had no sense of humor).

Draco had come to the office and interrupted them no less than five times. Each time with a more feeble excuse and berating Harry for not having done it before. Draco had this idea that it was Harry's job to fetch things or organize meetings and granted that was a reasonable assumption when Harry's title was 'personal assistant'. But the work Riddle had him doing mandated that each time the door opened he had to cover everything. So Draco had made it increasingly difficult to do any work. Harry would be more annoyed if Draco wasn't like a petulant piranha that had smelled blood and wanted to destroy Harry but was trapped in a small bowl and could only gnaw at the crystal.

It was almost six when Draco opened the door one more time, this time with Lucius on tow to corral Riddle into a dinner that Harry was decidedly not being invited. Draco was the picture of a peacock, puffed and proud that his family was close enough with Riddle to invite him to dinner. He kept giving superior looks at Harry. Harry wanted to pinch his cheeks and say "nice try, buddy".

"I can't gentlemen, I have plans for tonight," Riddle tried to excuse himself.

"I thought we could discuss our strategy for when the investigation inevitably reaches the press."

Riddle's eyes met Harry in silent resignation and apology. "Do you wish to accompany us?"

"I'm sorry I did not include Mr. Potter on the reservation," Lucius interrupted. Draco sent Harry a victorious smile. So adorable.

Riddle glared warningly at Lucius. "That is an easy thing to change."

"Of course," Lucius immediately amended.

Behind the Malfoys' backs, Harry mouthed at Riddle No fucking way with a brilliant smile. Riddle narrowed his eyes and tried to force him with just his eyes. It was a look that could have melted lead. Harry winked. When the Malfoys turned to hear his response he gave them his most benign smile, "Don't worry about it, Mr. Riddle. I'm feeling a bit tired and I still have the letters to send."

Riddle took out his key chain and slipped one key off. He threw it to Harry. "So you can pick your stuff from my apartment."

Draco's face drained of color and he looked a second away from fainting. Lucius looked like he swallowed a lemon. Riddle seemed to be fighting a tiny smirk. Probably aware of the shit-show he had unleashed.

"Sure," Harry responded with a laugh as he left the office. Best job ever.

"So let me see if I have this right. You've been to his house more than once and not had sex? Only honest to God worked?" Pike asked. They were walking side by side with still-warm churros from the corner store on their way to Pike's apartment. Harry had a bag of snacks they had bought for their impromptu movie night.

"That's correct," Harry said as he kicked a pebble with his trainers. It had rained an hour ago and the air was still fresh and humid. Harry had a windbreaker for the cold.

"Why?"

"I don't know man. He doesn't start anything, I don't start anything...We just work. And talk. We talk a lot."

"That's not like you. No offense Potter but you are kind of a hit and run."

"Offense taken. You know why I'm not doing relationships right now."

"Yeah yeah, I know. You want to travel as a Curse Breaker a year from now yada yada yada and long-distance relationships suck. So why aren't you doing your hit and run routine with Riddle?"

Harry sighed explosively. They turned a corner and headed towards Pike's apartment building. "That was the plan but now it's awkward. Well, more awkward. Before I had my office in the bowels of the ministry and we rarely crossed paths so it would have been a clean hit and run. Now it'd be messy as hell. And I'm liking my job. The pay is good. I might actually get to move to a half-way decent apartment."

"It was always going to be messy." Pike took his keys and opened the outer gate of the building. Pike lived on the fourth floor of a six-story building in a nice part of town. Not at all like Harry's fire-hazard of a building in the worst part of town. Last week someone had been killed on the street and it took twelve hours for someone to come take the body. And that was with Harry bitching about it.

"Probably. But now that I know him more, I kind of don't want to do that to him? He kind of seems to genuinely like me and I would feel kind of an ass for using him like that."

"He'd also be using you. You know, as normal people do. Adults use other willing adults for sex."

"I guess. But it is the same? He might think it's the start of a relationship when I know it's casual and never going anywhere. It would have been easier if I had picked him up at a bar. No one expects anything from a one-night stand from a seedy bar," Harry grouched.

"One: rude. I met my wife at a seedy bar. And two: are you sure it's never going anywhere? You seem to like him too."

"Honestly? Not enough. I trust him but I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop." For Riddle to betray that trust.

Pike huffed at that but he knew how hard it was for Harry to trust so he dropped it. "That hole in your face is for more than sucking dicks, you know. You can tell him it's casual and let him make the decision."

"How the fuck do you include that in conversation?" Harry complained as they climbed the stairs. "And do you say it before you start kissing or after? Because before is presumptuous. And stopping in the middle of a make-out to say 'oh, by the way, this is just sex right?' is fucking awkward. It's either a given and you made things awkward for no reason or the other person is devastated and trying to pretend not to be."

"Why do I fucking try? Don't have sex then. Let this opportunity pass you by."

"He gave me the key to his apartment so I could go while he's at dinner and pick up some books I left."

Pike gave him a wild-eyed look. "Wow."

"Yeah."

"Potter, forget what I said. Don't be a dick."

"It's even worse. I told him about the memory loss and the conversation ended with him offering all of his resources for any information I might want."

"Keep in your pants," Pike sang as he opened the front door of his apartment.

"At least Martinez is having luck," Harry said as he collapsed on the couch. Pike pushed him over to sit as he rummaged the bag for more churros.

"Martinez is ecstatic," Pike said around a big bite of the churro. "I cannot begin to explain how he is walking on clouds. I'm betting we are vacationing on the coast of Italy this winter to meet her parents and having a wedding next summer."

"I like Italy," Harry said as he finished his churro. A road trip along the coast of Italy with his best friends sounded a great way to spend Christmas. He'd probably be out of a job by then so he won't have to worry about vacations.

N/A

Thank you everyone that has reviewed to tell me you like the story! It makes my day and keeps me motivated. English is my second language so any mistakes you catch or tips to improve are also appreciated!