Paper Trails

29th October 2000

 Pansy was late to lunch again, and Theo was just contemplating taking his sandwich down to eat at his desk when three familiar people slid into the booth behind him. Theo hovered in his seat for a second before sitting back down, shrinking into the booth to make sure he was not seen. As curious as he was as to what the self named Golden Trio would talk about, he didn't want to be seen and accused of spying on them.

"Why can't we eat at the Grand Star again, I hate this ministry slop" Weasley complained from behind him, his voice easily loud enough to carry over the weak sound dampening spells the booths had cast over them.

"We don't have time Ron, the meeting between the DCMC and the DIMC starts in an hour and I still need to collect my notes" Granger snapped, sounding stressed. Theo snorted to himself, those meetings were infamously tedious, filled with time wasters who had nothing better to do. Trust Granger to get stressed over something so inconsequential.

"Harry get us reservations for dinner yeah mate" Weasley said cheerily, ignoring his girlfriends mood. Theo snorted, it usually took months to get a seat at the Grand Star. It wasn't a surprise that Potter could just turn up on the day and get gifted a table.

"But I promised Ginny we would go on a date tonight" Potter said, quietly enough that Theo had to strain to hear him.

Oh yes, the youngest She-Weasel. The gold-digging blood-traitor. Potter was stupid to still be involved with her and Theo would have almost thought that the bint had used a potion and was attempting line theft. But knowing Potter, he was just happy having a pretty girl on his arm. It completed his image. A perfect Gryffindor girlfriend to go with his Saviour lifestyle.

"I can speak to Ginny, just get us the seats yeah" Ron said, his voice muffled by a mouthful of food.

Ron was being strangely insistent. Theo didn't know how Potter put up with him. But that was pureblood society. It didn't matter whether you liked the person or not, it was who you were seen with. Even blood-traitors like the Potter's and Weasley's couldn't get away from it.

Though from what he remembered of Hogwarts, Potter actually enjoyed their company, this was likely a normal interaction between them.

"If you are sure. I can ask, but I can't guarantee it. They will probably charge extra too." Harry said, sounding a little worried.

"No problem mate. Not like you can't afford it." Ron laughed causing Theo to wince at the poor taste, he couldn't imagine any of his acquaintances even considering the use of such phrasing. "Seven should be good yeah."

"Make it eight. I have a meeting with Denmark at six and they always run late." Hermione cut in absent-mindedly. Theo wondered if she had even heard the conversation properly. The mud-blood always seemed to be stuck in her books, never quite paying attention to the world around her.

"Okay." Potter muttered sounding resigned. "I need to get back to work."

"You really don't." Weasley sneered, "I dunno how you can stand those dusty rooms. Can't you get back to afternoon training again?"

"I was given a really important project. I need the full day to keep on track." Theo almost snorted into his cup of tea. Potter was never there, there was no way the higher ups had given him anything more than the standard paperwork to complete. Why would he lie about that?

"Well get it finished soon yeah mate, it can't be anything important you literally just translate old books. I don't understand why they took you off full time Auror training, its not like you're qualified for anything else."

"You know what Robard's said. I had talents that were more suited to the archives." Potter said his voice wavering slightly. Theo blinked, he almost sounded uncertain. What could he suddenly have to be so unconfident about? Unless he truly didn't know why he had been sent to the archives. But surely they would have told him when they completed the evaluations. Theo shrugged to himself, it wasn't really his business, just another piece of gossip that may come in useful at some point.

"You are the Saviour of the Wizarding world, your talents are best in the Auror department." Ron's voice cut back through Theo's thoughts. "You were meant to fight dark wizards. But no, fucking Robard's decides he is just going to shut you away with that Slytherin git."

"Nott isn't a git, he was really welcoming." Harry protested weakly, "And don't speak about Robard's like that either, he was really decent letting me continue the training sessions with you."

"What? You've been speaking to Nott?" Weasley hissed with venom. "I though we warned you about that."

"It's just work related things." Potter quickly replied. Theo snorted to himself, even saying that was a stretch. Potter barely looked at him, in what world did he think they had actual conversations. The idiot truly did believe the world revolved around himself.

"Well you can't be too careful," Granger chimed in, her voice taking on the lecture mode that plagued Theo on a weekly basis. "You have an image you need to keep. You can't be seen with people like that."

Former death eaters. The words were unspoken, but Theo heard the implied meaning loud and clear.

Theo had heard enough, he gathered his things and stood to leave, not caring if they noticed him. As he walked towards the exit he glanced towards their table and saw Potter's startled expression, sending Theo an apologetic look with his eyes.

Theo ignored him, even though Potter had not said any of those things, he didn't make an effort to stop his friends, worse he couldn't even admit he shared the same views as them.

Bastard deserves to feel guilty.

Over an hour later the office door opened and Theo looked up to see the familiar shuffle of Potter entering and moving to his desk. He rolled his eyes, not even surprised that Potter took two hours instead of the mandated one.

"Uh, Nott?" Potter whispered uncertainly, causing Theo to startle in his seat. Potter never initiated conversation. Had barely even spoken to him after their first week working together.

"What Potter?" Theo tried to sound abrasive, still hurt over the comments at lunch, but he was too intrigued by the sudden conversation for it to have too much sting.

"I know you heard at lunch. I'm sorry." Potter's voice had that stupid wavering uncertainty about it again. No doubt it was put on in an effort to gain sympathy.

"You're sorry I heard." Theo spat, anger replacing his curiosity. "Thank you for telling me. I'm sure it has eased your conscience."

"No.. I..." Potter trailed off and Theo risked glancing up in time to see him deflate into himself before grabbing a stack of parchment and walking off into the stacks.

Coward.

There was no trace of the brash Gryffindor everyone claimed Potter was. The true face of the Saviour was a coward, too afraid and ashamed to even stand up to his own friends when he knew they were wrong.

Fed up with the drama of Potter, Theo turned back to the latest version of the proposal that the Italian ministry had sent through. They had included a draft of the proposed laws to regulate the brewing and selling of love potions and other similar items, but required further evidence to support the proposal. Quite helpfully, attached to the back of the draft was an old report that detailed occurrences of line theft and other similar crimes that had been perpetrated using mood altering potions, something that the British Ministry would no doubt find interesting. Unfortunately the report did not contain any data on the long term health of those affected by such potions.

It was of little matter. Theo preferred to start these sorts of projects without any preconceived ideas. It helped him to be more objective as he read through his many sources. Once he had a solid idea of the data, he could then look to others work and see how his conclusions fit in with the wider world view.

With a sigh, he pulled the latest stack of scrolls towards him and started sifting through, scanning for mentions of mood altering potions. The familiar rhythm of research pulled him into a peaceful state, soon forgetting about anything but piecing together the many clues that hid in the mass of old parchment.