anx·i·e·ty (noun)
a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome

merry belated christmas to those who celebrate<3

Seven hours.

It had been seven hours since Harry had written Kingsley, and still no response. He was debating finding an Apparation point and Apparating straight to his office, but he knew how Kingsley reacted to people coming in when they weren't called.

Harry had been pacing for a half hour. Before that, he had read the file. He was certain he had it memorized now. Before that, he watched Malfoy's chest rise and fall. Before that, he stared at Theo's name on the board. Before that, he studied the file again.

Malfoy was still asleep. Harry was bored and hungry.

He glanced at the boy, still facedown on the bed, and shrugged. He could grab them breakfast. Malfoy would probably be a pretentious bitch about it and claim that it wasn't good enough, but he would definitely also bitch if he found out Harry had breakfast without him, so Harry would risk him not liking the food.

He opened and shut the door as quietly as he could and tried his best to not think about why he cared whether he woke Malfoy or not. He took the lift down to the lobby and approached the secretary, who appeared to be the same woman as yesterday.

"Hi," he said softly, and she looked up, surprised, and smiled.

"Hello, Mr. Evans! How can I help you today?"

"Do you know any good breakfast areas around here?"

She nodded, still smiling. "Are we thinking somewhere for a breakfast date for you and your husband, or something quick?"

Husband. Harry burned at the thought. He was certain his cheeks were red. "I'm just grabbing something to bring back. He's still asleep."

She nodded, giving him a knowing grin. "Of course." She grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled something down, before handing it over. "This one-" she pointed at the one at the top, "-is my favorite place to grab something quick to bring back. "This-" her finger dropped to point at the words in the middle, "-is a nice sit-down diner that my girlfriend and I are quite a fan of. And this-" she pointed at the bottom one, "is a nice lunch place should you decide to walk around town later today."

Harry gave her a warm smile. "Thank you so much. I appreciate you a lot."

She nodded, her ears turning red as she returned to her computer.

Harry followed the directions to a small stand of sorts, selling all kinds of pastries and drinks. He stared at the sign for a moment and chose to order a lemon croissant and a green tea for Malfoy, and a chocolate chip muffin and black coffee for himself. The man behind the stand eyed him for a long moment before he handed over the bag and drink holder, and Harry had a distinctly unsettled feeling as he departed and returned to his room.

When he opened the door, Malfoy was pacing the room, hands in his hair and anxiety etched on his face. At the sound of the door, he jumped and pointed his wand at Harry, who froze immediately.

Malfoy's face became both relaxed and horrified, and he lowered his wand at once. "Potter," he breathed. "I thought you had been taken, where have you been?"

"I just went to get breakfast," Harry said, surprised. "I didn't realize you would be up, and I certainly didn't realize you'd care if I was gone."

Malfoy let out a shuddering breath and grabbed a cup, taking a drink before immediately making a face. "God, Potter, that's fucking awful."

"That's because this one is yours," Harry replied, nodding to the green tea still in the drink holder. Malfoy switched out his drinks and sighed in relief at the first sip of the tea.

"I got you a lemon croissant as well," Harry said, setting down the bag on the table. "And I don't want to hear anything about your stupid posh taste in food, I just grabbed it from a stand that the secretary recommended. Eat it and shut up."

Malfoy. still seeming shaken, nodded and took another sip of his tea before grabbing the croissant. "Thank you."

Harry paused. He had never heard those words from Malfoy. He didn't know how to react, so he settled for a stiff nod and took a bite of his muffin.

"Don't do that again," Malfoy said after they had finished their breakfast. "Leave a note at the very least, for fuck's sake."

Harry was saved from responding by tapping on the window. He turned to see a black Ministry owl outside, and threw open the window to let it in. It dropped a letter onto their empty breakfast wrappers and sat on the bedpost.

Malfoy eyed it. "It better not shit on the pillows."

Harry snorted, opening the letter.

MINISTRY OF MAGIC
DEPARTMENT OF MAGICAL LAW ENFORCEMENT
AUROR HEADQUARTERS

Mr Potter,

Please format your letters correctly with your credentials and identity, or you will not receive another response.

Kingsley G. Shacklebolt
Head Auror

Department of Magical Law Enforcement
London
United Kingdom

Harry stared at it. Malfoy gestured for him to hand the letter over, and when Harry remained frozen, he made an impatient noise and snatched it out of Harry's hand, reading over it.

"That's it?" he asked in disbelief. "We don't even know if he warned them!"

Harry breathed in and out slowly. "I'll just write back a better-formatted letter, and we'll get a better response. He's probably not saying anything because it's obvious that he would warn them."

Malfoy frowned at the paper. "He doesn't even call you Auror Potter."

Harry ignored him, grabbing a parchment and quill and scribbling his response.

MINISTRY OF MAGIC
DEPARTMENT OF MAGICAL LAW ENFORCEMENT
AUROR HEADQUARTERS

Head Auror Shacklebolt,

Apologies for the formatting error, it will not happen again.

May I ask for confirmation that the Improper Use of Magic Office had been appropriately warned about the danger threatening them and their department?

A response ASAP would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Harry J. Potter
Auror

Department of Magical Law Enforcement
London
United Kingdom

Malfoy took the letter, scanning over it.

"I would put a semicolon after the word error, not a comma," he said. A small smile crooked at the corner of his mouth. "And I would put "Boy Who Lived" as one of your credentials."

"He would kill me," Harry protested, but had to admit that the idea was funny and added it. he gave the letter to the Ministry owl and let it out the window.

"Why did he send it by owl?" Malfoy wondered aloud. "We have a working fireplace. He could have sent it via Floo like we did."

"I'm sure Kingsley has his reasons," Harry said, but he was almost certain Malfoy could hear the uncertainty in his voice.

*

301 hours to midnight

Malfoy sighed dramatically, as he had every ten minutes for the past three hours. "Can you recite the case file in your head yet, or is it just me?"

"Case 1446G: Semi-Classified Mission," Harry recited. "Allotted Personnel: Head Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister of Magic Arcturo Cresswood, Auror Gawain Robards, Auror Harry Potter, Head Curse-Breaker Rodney Letten, Curse-Breaker Draco Malfoy, redacted name, redacted name, redacted name."

"Case status: open, as of September sixth, 2002," Malfoy continued, staring at the ceiling from his spot on the floor. "Case contents: code 6b: Death Eater related activity. Priority level B."

"Why the fuck is it priority level B anyways?" Harry huffed. "People are missing. By Death Eaters. What's worse than that?"

"Potter, please don't ruin our game. It's your turn."

"Case subject: Death Eaters, referring to themselves as L'esercito di Voldemort, parentheses Voldemort's Army, close parentheses, are attacking and taking Ministry personnel. Three, parentheses, the number 3, close parentheses, personnel have been taken as of the time of this report."

"Unspeakable Michael Corner, age twenty-two," Malfoy said quietly, tossing a Conjured ball into the air and catching it gracefully. "Sex, male. Company years, three."

"Auror Theodore Nott," Harry said irritably, gritting out Theo's full name. "Age twenty-two. Sex." He sighed. "Male. Company years, two."

"Hit Wizard S-" Malfoy sighed sharply. "They use his wrong name in the file because he's not in the files as Silas yet, so I'm going to call him Silas. We both know what the files says."

"Sounds fine."

"Hit Wizard Silas Bones, age twenty-one. Sex-" Malfoy made a small noise of despair. "Female. Company years, three."

"Three deployment teams sent out. September 9, 2002. Team: redacted. Redacted. Redacted. September 26, 2002. Team: Redacted. Redacted. October 17, 2002. Team: Curse-Breaker Draco Malfoy. Auror Harry Potter."

"Cause of incidents, TBD."

"Motive for specific personnel, TBD."

"Persons involved, TBD."

Harry sighed, throwing his head back. "This fucking blows. Why are we even here? What could we do in Glasgow that we couldn't do in London?"

Malfoy turned to look at him tiredly, but his eyes widened and he sat up straighter just before the tapping rang against the window.

Harry jumped up, letting the black Ministry owl in and grabbing the letter. Malfoy rushed to stand behind him, eager for news.

MINISTRY OF MAGIC
DEPARTMENT OF MAGICAL LAW ENFORCEMENT
AUROR HEADQUARTERS

Mr. Potter,

Your status should only be listed by what is important, in order of importance. Your supposed 'title' you added on is not necessary, or approved of.

Kingsley G. Shacklebolt
Head Auror

Department of Magical Law Enforcement
London
United Kingdom

Malfoy made a noise of disbelief. Harry dropped his head.

"Unbelievable," he sighed.

"Why won't he just tell us!?" Malfoy snapped irritably. 

Harry wrote a copy of his previous letter, taking away only the "Boy Who Lived" portion and sending it out. He was breathing hard, tired of playing Kingsley's games.

"Fucking hell," he said tiredly, running his hands through his hair.

Malfoy studied him for a long moment before sighing. "C'mon. Let's get lunch."