apples and scented candles • h.potter ✓

• nine •

Harry arrived at the Ministry early, so much so that even the mechanical voice greeting him inside the lift sounded drowsy. Three paper planes flew above him, flapping their wings miserably. When he reached his floor, he dropped his cloak and bag inside his office, then headed to the Auror department, which was empty save for Jacob who was thoughtfully scrutinising the posters of the wanted criminals hung on the wall.

"Good morning, Jacob," he greeted him quietly, sitting down on one of the chairs scattered across the room. Jacob turned and greeted him with a slow nod.

Jacob was the head of the Auror department. He was tall, tough and looked completely worn out from the years he had spent fighting Dark wizards. Deep wrinkles decorated his forehead and the sides of his eyes, but his demeanor was as determined as it could get.

Harry remained seated on the chair silently, elbows resting over the table and the tips of his fingers touching. His mind whirred with thoughts – he was definitely worried about the conversation he would be having today – but he was interrupted by Jacob, who beckoned for him.

He stood up and went over. The people's faces plastered on the posters looked up at him haughtily as he neared them, and he realised with a jolt who those faces belonged to – the notorious Afrodille Zabini. Corben's face flashed before him, but he quickly pushed the image to the back of his mind.

"You know, we are getting closer to catching her," Jacob told him. "Our plan is working and it shouldn't be long before Afrodille Zabini is chained and shipped off to Azkaban." He gave Harry a meaningful look. "You do know why I am telling you this, don't you?"

He nodded, biting his lip. "Do I have to be the one to break the news to him?"

"If don't want to, we won't force you."

He nodded once again, feeling grateful. He wasn't sure how Corben would take the news. If he hadn't spoken about it to him the other day, he would have easily assumed that he wouldn't be much bothered by his mother's downfall. As far as the rumours went, she was a stunningly beautiful woman whose only intention in life was to seduce men and lure them into her trap, and then murder them in such mysterious ways that not a bit of evidence would remain of her crimes, consequently leaving her with mounds of gold to enjoy. She didn't seem like the kind who would care much for children.

But rumours were rumours, and having himself been victims of it a fair number of times in the past, Harry knew not to trust them. Who was he to judge what kind of a mother Afrodille Zabini was?

"A few of them have suggested," Jacob spoke, looking like he was measuring his words carefully, "that you could, you know, get the Zabini boy to help you –"

"Arrest his own mother?" Harry interrupted him, perhaps a little too sharply than he had intended. But he had no intention to apologise. "You know, I have wanted to be an Auror since I was fifteen, but the way the Ministry works sometimes makes me want rethink my decision. I have never liked the Ministry procedures, and I thought I could help change it. And now you are suggesting that I use a boy to get information about his mother so that we can arrest her easily? Every time I think I can make a difference, something like this happens and –"

"He is not a boy," Jacob interrupted him this time. "It's a silly idea, I know. I was merely saying that some of the others thought it might be a good idea –"

"Well, if you thought it was a silly idea, then you shouldn't have spoken about it at all."

Jacob's jaws tightened. Maybe he would have spoken further, but the door of the office opened and a few more people walked in. Harry glanced briefly at the posters. Afrodille Zabini was indeed as beautiful as the rumours described her as, and he could see how men driven by lust could easily fall prey to her charms. Corben's face flashed before him once again, and he quickly looked away.