分卷阅读5（2 / 2）

“Why would the Department of Mysteries be meeting with Malfoy?” Harry blurted.

Hermione’s eyes bulged. “Historical fact checking. The Malfoy archives go back for ages, Harry. If there is one thing Purebloods excel at more than anything, it’s detailed record keeping.”

“And Malfoy just let you rummage around in his family’s archives?” Harry frowned.

Ron snorted. “He doesn’t have much of a choice, does he?”

“Ron!” Hermione warned.

“Well, he doesn’t!” Ron protested. “If he says no to the Ministry, they’re bound to think he’s hiding something.”

Harry nodded in agreement. He took a sip of his pint and asked, “What were you even looking for, Hermione?”

“You know I can’t tell you that.” She considered it for a moment and then sighed. “But I did find some rather interesting documents about the family’s unicorn herd.”

“There are unicorns at Malfoy Manor?” Both Harry and Ron raised their eyebrows.

“There were before the Statute of Secrecy.”

Harry shook his head. “That was hundreds of years ago! What could you possibly need to know from that time?”

Hermione broke his gaze and looked down. “I found it incredibly fascinating, is all.”

“It’s a wonder how you get any work done in that place, but I guess we’d never know either way, would we?” Ron mused. He turned to Harry and started raving about the new beater for the Cannons, and they never discussed Malfoy again.

Harry could hardly believe that Malfoy had broken into his flat, even if Harry was undercover and frankly unrecognisable. What did Malfoy want with Archie Eversworn and what in Godric’s name was he talking about, ‘strange occurrences’? Why did he care about what happened in the penthouse?

While it was true that Harry had mostly been living a mundane, routine life, it was in a particular service to his actual job. While he could—maybe—have described it as having been boring the last few months (which he did in fact think that very thought only that morning before he left for the hotel), Harry certainly didn’t consider his actual life boring.

Incidentally, Edinburgh had been his first real case as an auror. He’d spent years doing one thing after another for the Ministry as their poster boy, all the while his personal life dissolved into weekly pub nights and random family gatherings. He’d been going through the motions with Ginny since the War ended and by the time she signed with the Holyhead Harpies, it was almost like nothing had changed when they ended up breaking things off.

So what if he often graciously refused to be set up with anyone? What if he told a few lies here and there to get Ron and Seamus off his back about dating? No one ever seemed to understand how difficult it was for him to find a person who could see Harry for who he was and not what he had done or what he could do for them. He wasn’t trying to be boring, boring just seemed to be the only thing available to him.

When Harry realized that everything Malfoy had said was basically the truth, he glanced up from the walk to quite unfamiliar surroundings. As he made his way back in the direction of Travertel, heavy raindrops started to fall and forced him to dash under an awning. He couldn’t remember if he had crossed into Muggle Edinburgh or not and didn’t want to chance casting an Umbrella Charm, not that he’d have much success. The weather turned torrential in a matter of moments. He settled against the wall and stared out into the bleak, grey haze.

How could Malfoy have been right? Harry thought. How did he know about the strange occurrences Harry had seen and the bizarre day he’d experienced? Once again, his thoughts flashed to the sight of himself on the fourteenth floor.