Harry Potter stumbled into the Ministry café, with scruffy hair and a tired look on his face. Harry had spent the previous few weeks investigating leads for a boring case and had faced many dead ends alongside his best friend and partner, Ron Weasley. At long last, they had traced the culprit to a town in northern England. When the time was finally right, Harry had arrested the culprit and brought him to justice at the Ministry earlier that morning.

Although Harry Potter was 22 years old and only a novice Auror, he was inevitably on his way to greatness. In this line of work, Harry's instincts and eagerness to be courageous worked in his favour.

Now that his last assigned case was over, Harry wanted nothing more than to enjoy a nice cup of coffee with Ron and Hermione Weasley.

The Ministry of Magic café Harry had just entered was one of his favourite places to unwind. The café, named the Holly Leaf, reminded Harry of his old Gryffindor common room. The café had exposed brickwork and a monumental black paned window, enchanted to mimic the London skyline. The Leaf was crammed full with round wooden tables and assorted red chairs. Red corner sofas were occupied by happily chatting friends, sipping coffee together. Magical coffee makers lined a counter made of dark oak, charming coffee to appear out of nowhere. The Leaf was lively, welcoming, and always bustling.

Harry took in the café's happy atmosphere, smiling to himself. He scanned the room, trying to spot his two friends. However, something unwelcome caught his eye and caused his smile to fade.

Harry had spotted Draco Malfoy.

Malfoy was leaning against a wall in the café, speaking to a very pretty witch. Malfoy's sly grin kept creeping onto his face. His hands and head moved gracefully as he made the witch laugh. Since leaving Hogwarts, Malfoy had not managed to grow any taller than Harry; he remained slightly shorter but made up for it with conceited confidence. Draco was a bit gaunt and pale but still donned that striking white blonde hair well. In the Holly Leaf, Malfoy looked like lonely piercing snow in a red autumn field. Draco knew he was chillingly handsome and impressive at his job in the Department of Accounts. Using these attributes, his phenomenal wealth and witty sense of humour, Malfoy had managed to climb into the Ministry's high seats where he sat proudly, boasting about his wages and how excellent he was.

Draco was well respected throughout the Ministry. His newly found reputation had surprised many, given his family's controversial past.

Harry narrowed his eyes as he stared at Malfoy. Harry could not stand how rapidly Malfoy had manufactured himself into a success. It felt as though the tables had turned since Hogwarts. Malfoy was finally in the centre of attention whereas Harry was quietly working on boring cases. There was no favouritism in Kingsley's Auror Department. Harry was eager to prove himself the right way but the way Malfoy sauntered around, basking in his own success, was pretty unbearable. Although Harry would deny it if anyone asked, he was jealous.

The witch Malfoy was talking to gave a particularly loud laugh at one of Malfoy's jokes. Harry scoffed to himself. As though Malfoy had heard this small response over the noise in the café, Malfoy eyes shot up, looking straight into Harry's eyes. Ignoring the woman's babbling, Malfoy smiled at Harry from across the café and held his gaze.

With a heavy gulp, Harry awkwardly inclined his head.

Thankfully, a loud shriek from the corner of the café caused both Harry and Malfoy to jump and break their silent exchange.

It was always easier for Harry to hear his best friends before he could see them.

Looking at the furthest corner of the café, sitting on a table was Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Harry started to make his way towards them. After edging around tables and ignoring the tickling feeling that he was being watched, the Weasley's argument was becoming louder and clearer: something about Ron's chocolate frogs.

"I don't give a flaming hippogriff what Vicky has to say about what I eat, I'm not going to stop eating them!" said Ron, rather angrily, pulling an open box of chocolate frogs towards him possessively.

An extraordinarily pregnant Hermione turned her head to scowl at Ron. When she was in this frightening state of mind, Harry did not understand why Ron would insist on arguing with her.

"Victor, okay, Victor is an expert herbologist and dietician," argued Hermione. "He has helped me keep healthy for the last eight months!"

"You know full well he will always be in love with you!" snapped Ron, clutching at a chocolate frog that was trying to squirm out of his hands. "I'll never forget how he stared at you all mopey at our wedding!"

Harry smirked, wondering if Ron would ever drop that.

"Oh come on, Ronald!" said Hermione, shaking her head at her husband. "Even your mother agrees that he's fantastic at what he does. And she also agrees that it's about time you started caring about your physique!"

There was a long pause before Ron asked an unwise question. "...Are you trying to say I'm getting tubby?" asked Ron, angrily, arms now folded, hiding the chocolate frog.

Harry sighed as he tucked in his chair. Harry took a deep breath in, held his breath, and braced himself for the explosion. Naturally, it came.

"YOU ARE TUBBY?! LOOK AT ME, RONALD. I'M A BALLOON! A PLANET! A WHOLE OTHER UNIVERSE! I'M HUNGRY AND MISERABLE ALL THE TIME! I AM SO, SO SORRY THAT I TRY TO HAVE SOME CONCERN FOR MY HUSBAND'S WELL-BEING BECAUSE ALL THIS-" Hermione reached across the table, mid-rant. With great difficulty, she yanked a chocolate frog from the box. She threw the frog at Ron, who ducked and swore to himself. "-WILL MAKE YOU SICK!"

Hermione scrambled out of her chair. She was particularly angry that morning, judging by the way she snatched her cup of decaffeinated tea and had not set a word to Harry.

"And for the record, I would appreciate it if you did not swear at me like I'm some common witch you hardly know," said Hermione as she leaned in close to Ronald's face, who was now quivering slightly. "I'M HAVING YOUR BABY."

Harry snickered.

Hermione then performed a horrible new habit: hitting Ron sharply on the forehead with the hardest part of the palm of her hand. This forced a pained "AAAAAAAAAH!" out of Ron.

With that, she was gone.

Ignoring the scraping of chairs and yelps as people tried to avoid a collision with the giant Hermione, stomping through the cafe, Ron rubbed his forehead.

"Annoying woman," murmured Ron. Ron then looked at the chocolate frog still clutched in his hands and bit its head off, ignoring the chocolate legs kicking against his face.

Harry grinned and helped himself to a chocolate frog. "Seriously Ron, you might as well have said you killed a House Elf, calling yourself fat. Your wife is pregnant!"

"I would've got the same ruddy reaction if I had killed an elf, mate," said Ron. Ron had finished his frog and was now licking chocolate off his fingers. He then dragged a steaming cup of coffee from across the table, which Harry had overlooked. "Got you your usual, mate."

"Fanks, Ronnie," squeaked Harry, mockingly, as he took a generous sip.

Ron rolled his eyes. "So anyway, about this case you just closed, when did...a...time w-..."

Ron's voice faded into nothing, blending in easily with the clanks of cups and chit-chat from magic folk around them. People were laughing at dirty jokes, tapping their tables, and sipping on hot drinks. It all blended into white noise, barely audible to Harry. Harry had focused on the wizard in the distance, behind Ron's head, who was staring at him.

Malfoy smiled at Harry and lazily dragged a pointy tongue out his mouth to caress the left of his upper lip.

Harry felt undignified when blood rapidly dropped from his face and trailed coldly down his spine.

Malfoy did it again, only slower, his eyes invading Harry's, as though locked on prey. Harry's blood fell south, gathering uncomfortably in the middle of his thighs. Harry twitched slightly, knowing his expression was rigid, and ridiculous. Malfoy's wet tongue did the lewd swiping a third time.

"Harry...you've got some froth on your lip," said a concerned voice from somewhere.

"Huh...what?" Harry asked stupidly, not looking at Ron.

Ron yanked Harry's shoulder, stealing Harry's gaze away from Malfoy. Ron looked at Harry cautiously before tapping his own freckled face, right on the left side of his lip.

Harry's face burned with embarrassment when he realised what Ron was insinuating. Harry slowly reached up and touched his lips. Looking at his fingers, Harry saw thick milk froth sat on the tip of one of his fingers.

Harry's face burnt a thousand times hotter when he heard a sharp chuckle over the crowd.

Ron had heard it too. Ron looked over his shoulder and noticed a flash of bright blonde hair move towards the café exit. As he turned back to the table, Ron grinned at Harry. "Oh, right," chuckled Ron knowingly.

That remark earned Ron another famous Hermione-style-thwack on the forehead, this time delivered by Harry. Unphased, Ron kept chuckling. Harry then lunged at Ron and wrestled him violently, while Ron just continued laughed in Harry's bright-red face.

Kingsley, head Auror, was sat in front of Harry's desk, waiting for Ron and Harry to return to their little office. He was becoming very impatient.

As Harry and Ron walked into their office, laughing merrily, they cut their joke short when they saw the look on Kingsley's face. Apologising profusely, the pair sat down at their respective desks.

Kingsley tossed a binder towards Harry, who caught it and turned to the first page. Three little words were scrawled in the middle of the first page:'The Vault Case.'

'This must be a code to refer to a new investigation,' Harry thought to himself, trying to contain his excitement. Harry peeked over the binder to look at his boss, who was watching him carefully with a serious expression. '…this must be an important case if Kingsley is delivering it himself.'

Usually, several Aurors collaborated on a single investigation. Giving code names to every Auror investigation was impractical. Harry had learned during his training that a coded case was one that could get lots of publicity, the type that was not good for the Ministry. A coded case also meant that the case was strictly classified, meaning no collaboration with other Aurors. Ron and Harry, having only been out of Auror training for one year, had never been assigned a coded case.

This was their moment to prove themselves.

After skim-reading the second page in the binder, Harry looked up and asked, "How much was stolen from the Ministry vaults?"

Ron looked at Harry then at Kingsley, waiting for an answer. Kingsley licked his lips and quietly said, "6 million galleons."

Ron dropped the box of chocolate frogs he was still holding, causing a dozen of them to be set free, allowing them to hop around the office. Ignoring the croaking of the chocolate frogs, Harry asked, "Why was so much money being held within the Ministry? And not Gringotts?"

"The Minister got back to me about that this morning," said Kingsley, his expression giving nothing away. "The Ministry had three outstanding loans that were due to be paid off. 1.5 million galleons owed to the Redknock family in Southampton, 2.5 million for the Harpies Quidditch team currently in Glasgow, and 2 million for the French Foreign Ambassador for International Magical Development, Mr. Justin Labro. All that money had been cleared for release and was being held here temporarily."

"Our number one guess is that Labro is involved," Kingsley continued. "He needed money and fast. Other countries owed him also…they obviously took advantage of his wealth and ambition."

"Ambition, sir?" Harry asked.

Kingsley raised his eyebrows. "Surely you know the Labro family?" Kingsley asked.

Harry shook his head, glancing at Ron to see if he was following the line of conversation. However, Ron was busy climbing a filing cabinet, trying to grab a bouncing chocolate frog.

Kingsley, ignoring Ron's antics, said, "The Labro family has been leading on magical innovation for centuries. No one has heard from Labro since the robbery yesterday evening. But this is a sensitive one. Labro has the power to influence muggles and wizards alike so-"

THUD!

A thunderous crashing sound nearly made Harry and Kingsley fall out of their chairs. The filing cabinet had smashed spectacularly to the floor from Ron's weight. Ron and a splat of chocolate were lying on the floor, motionless. Papers were flying through the air, swept up from the impact. Harry and Kingsley were both clutching at their chests, panting in shock.

Kingsley sighed angrily before getting up. The head Auror grabbed Ron's limp wrist and nodded to confirm that Ron was still alive. He then turned an angry questioning eye towards Harry.

Harry looked at his boss, embarrassed for Ron, and meekly said, "Maybe Ron does have too much sugar?"

Kingsley looked at Ron incredulously before moving to sit back down in front of Harry's desk. "That is all the intel I can tell you," Kingsley said, once seated.

Ron stirred, groaning to himself. He slowly got up and avoided eye contact with the two wizards. He stumbled towards his desk chair, staggering dangerously, before he sat down, clutching his forehead, embarrassed and in pain.

After a moment's deliberation, Harry asked, "Does anyone else know about this?"

"Me, you, half of Weasley's brain, the Minister and the Head of Accounts," Kingsley said.

At the last one, Ron fought passed the headache to turn his head and grin at Harry.

Harry, ignoring Ron, added, "I'll need full details on who has access, all security procedures, and transactions to the vault." Harry drew his wand from his trouser pocket and tapped the binder. The binder vanished with a pop.

Kingsley smiled at Harry's efficiency. "I hope they have the same level of initiative up in Accounts to know exactly what you need, Mr. Potter."

"I'm sure they do," Ron muttered suggestively, beaming at Harry still. Harry narrowed his eyes at his friend.

Kingsley, still ignoring Ron, nodded at Harry and excused himself.

As Kingsley left the room, Harry thought to himself. He knew this had to be a fast-moving case. A lot of money was missing and the public was not allowed to find out at any cost. The case file Kingsley had given Harry explained that if the wizarding world knew how much money the Ministry had to borrow to keep the government running, the backlash from the magical community would be unbelievable.

"I'm going to get a report from Accounts myself," Harry told Ron as he stood up. "Merlin knows how long they'll take otherwise."

Harry tucked in his chair and made for the door as he listened to Ron retort, "You sure are in a hurry to go running to the Head of Accounts, Harry." Harry turned to Ron who was tilting his head and fumbling with his quill, smirking at Harry. "Something you're not telling me?" Ron asked innocently, fighting back a grin.

Harry scowled at Ron and snapped, "Don't make me crush you with another filing cabinet."

Harry hastily left the room, leaving his chuckling friend to sit in their office alone.

Harry frowned as he walked up the corridor and turned a corner. 'Ron always acts this way when Accounts is involved,' Harry thought as he walked. 'It really pisses me off! There's nothing going on between me and-'

And there Malfoy was, in the corridor, as though right on queue.