A Scoundrel's Staycation Ch. 23 (Harry Potter AU)

(Every character depicted in the story below is a consenting legal adult over the age of 18)

A/N: Harry gets his first client and case~

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As anticipated, renovating the office and getting everything set up isn’t all that difficult in the end. Especially not with magic. Then again, Fleur does look mighty impressed as Harry waves the Elder Wand too and fro, transforming the rundown interior of what had once been an ice cream shop into a somewhat stately but still wizard-like interior of a Private Investigator’s Agency.

Truthfully, as he’s doing so, part of Harry does feel a bit of regret. Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour was a place he would always have fond memories of, from across more than one of his multiple lifetimes and universes. He almost wonders if he should have just pivoted and reopened the store as an ice cream parlour in Florean’s honor as soon as he found out what shop space he was buying… but no. It was much too late for that.

And so the regret is ruthlessly shifted to the wayside as the space is transformed, taking on the vision in Harry’s head. There’s a foyer doubling as a waiting area for people to come in and talk to the receptionist, who will of course be Fleur, before taking a seat.

When Harry is ready for them, Fleur will escort them back to his office, which is neither too small nor too large, just the right amount of space without having too much empty space in it. Harry has given himself a large mahogany desk though… it’s always been one of his favorite types of wood for such things.

Not everything is finished in just a few hours of course. The bookshelves lining his office walls for instance will remain empty of tomes for the time being, mostly because Harry doesn’t care enough to conjure a bunch of blanks just to fill the space and he’s not trying to pop back home to the Family Library to pilfer that today either.

Likewise, the wards aren’t completely done either in just a few hours. While Harry does go out of his way to make the agency’s wards stronger than the original manor wards, they aren’t as strong as the upgrade he’d done to the manor wards after his first assassination attempt.

It’s not that big of a deal though in his mind, ultimately he just wants to make sure the agency isn’t blown up or something and that Fleur is safe more than anything. The more esoteric warding can wait for another day and so long as his hidden enemy keeps going after only him, Harry won’t worry about it too much.

No, instead once everything is ready in a preliminary sense of the word… Harry goes ahead and opens up the agency for the first time. He considers waiting in his office to see if Fleur snags anyone, but in the end that sounds dreadfully boring. Instead, he just hangs out up front with the part veela and exchanges chit chat with her while they see if anyone is going to show up in the final hour of the day before they go home for the night.

In fact, Harry and Fleur are talking about her visit to her family in France and the things she got to experience at home that she’d missed while in service to Gringotts when the door suddenly opens with a distinctly musical chime, admitting a curious witch who looks around with a furrowed brow.

Turning to regard her from where he’d been leaning on Fleur’s desk, Harry eyes the new arrival up and down… admittedly not recognizing her at first glance. There’s something vaguely familiar about her maybe, but honestly… he just can’t put a name to her face.

She has straight black hair and brown eyes, and she stands there looking around curiously for a long moment before focusing on him. At which point, a determined glint appears in those brown eyes of hers as she moves forward.

“You’re Lord Hallows then?”

Harry smiles blandly as he pushes off of Fleur’s desk and straightens to his full height.

“Not right now. I’m Lord Hallows at home, at Gringotts, and at the Ministry. However, here and now I’m at work… so I prefer Investigator Hallows if you please.”

Her eyes narrow at that, her lips pursing as she seems to mull that over for a long moment. Maybe she thinks he’s fucking with her? The title ‘Investigator’ wasn’t something that even the Auror Department used, to be fair. When the silence drags on though, Harry raises a brow and leans forward.

“And you are…?”

Jolting, the witch flushes a bit even as she blushes.

“… Tracey Davis.”

Ah… now things become a bit clearer. Harry might not have recognized her by face, but he recognizes the name at least. Tracey Davis was one of his year mates after all, a Half-Blood Slytherin Witch. Admittedly, Harry didn’t know much about her beyond those two factoids. Though the Half-Blood part did at least explain her reaction. As she makes clear with her next words, in fact.

“Are you seriously setting up a P.I. Agency here in Diagon Alley?”

As a Half-Blood with a muggle parent, Tracey would know more about the muggle world than most witches. In this case, she understands exactly what Harry is doing. Where most Purebloods would just be confused because of their ignorance of the idea of a private citizen taking investigating crimes and such into their own hands, Tracey is confused because she knows what’s going on but doesn’t understand why Harry is doing it.

“That is correct Ms. Davis. I’m here to solve any case that the denizens of Magical Britain have for me, big or small. Not to worry, the Ministry of Magic has already certified me. I hold a Mastery in Defense, Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology, and Potions with them. Despite the… relatively unique nature of my business at least as it pertains to the Wizarding World, the Ministry fully believes I am capable of holding my own.”

Narrowing her eyes at that information, Tracey looks around the agency’s waiting room again. Her eyes linger on Fleur for a moment, the part veela still seated at her desk and giving her a bland smile that matches Harry’s energy almost perfectly.

Finally, Tracey looks back to him with something incredulous in her eyes.

“… Are you trying to get yourself killed? You know about the curse, right? You have to, they would have told you at the Ministry. This… why do this? Why present yourself as some massive target for the curse to latch onto?”

Harry tilts his head to the side at that. He has to admit, the way she’s talking has him… curious.

“You speak of a curse in one breath and then talk like I can pull its ‘attention’ in the next, Ms. Davis. However, if there was a curse killing every magical male, then no amount of hiding or peacocking in general would be able to protect me from it, no? I’m already in its proximity… just by being on the British Isles, it would have already latched onto me by this point.”

Tracey’s mouth opens and closes a few times, prompting Harry to lean in a bit more and grin.

“Unless that is… you know something that tells you this is no curse at all but something else entirely?”

The Half-Blood Witch’s mouth clicks shut and she just stares at him for a long moment with a wooden expression on her face. Finally, she gives him a slow nod, respect glimmering in her eyes.

“I see that you aren’t just playing games, Investigator. That right there was a deduction worthy of Sherlock Holmes himself.”

… Harry didn’t agree, it was honestly a pretty basic deduction. But Tracey was clearly trying to find common ground with him and perhaps test whether he was a Half-Blood like herself. Which to be fair, he was. In the end, while her words have made him a little suspicious… he decides to throw her a bone, flashing her a wolfish smile.

“Yes Ms. Davis, I am in fact a Half-Blood like yourself. So while I know who Sherlock Holmes is… I can’t quite agree that I measure up to him based solely on the conversation we’ve had so far.”

Tracey flushes at being caught out in her own little ‘investigating’. Still, she offers him a tight-lipped smile all the same.

“Agree to disagree. Well what are your rates then, Investigator Hallows?”

Harry is a little surprised by the sudden turn towards talking business. After all, he’d gotten the impression that Tracey was really just here out of curiosity, not because she had a case for him.

Still, he goes ahead and rattles off an hourly number that’s not too expensive. Not like he’s doing this for the money anyways, though he should at least try to make the business break even regardless of whether it’s actually profitable, he figures.

Tracey just hums and nods.

“That’s not bad at all. Sure, I’ll hire you.”

She sounds like she’s making this up on the spot. Harry can’t help but be a little suspicious, so he preempts her just in case.

“I should clarify, Ms. Davis, if you wish to hire me for anything pertaining to the mysterious deaths of all wizards on the British Isles, I cannot accept the case. Not because I’m avoiding it… but because I’m already investigating that on my own time as is. Charging you or anyone else for something I’m already doing for free wouldn’t be right.”

He watches her reaction to the knowledge that he’s already looking into things carefully, curious to see if she might give away something. However, Tracey just dryly snorts, shaking her head in wry amusement.

“Huh. Well, I guess looking into it yourself probably won’t get you killed any faster. Your head is already on the chopping block anyways. But you already know that. No, I wasn’t going to try to hire you for anything pertaining to that. What I want you to find for me… is a book.”

Harry blinks.

“A… book.”

Nodding, Tracey smiles.

“A tome really. Its at least a couple hundred years old. The title is Crimson Sanguine. You might have heard of it?”

He has, actually. Crimson Sanguine is… well, it’s not necessarily a book of dark magic, but it’s definitely an edge case.

“Yes, I’ve heard of it. It’s a primer on Blood Magic, is it not?”

Tracey’s smile thins out as she nods.

“Yes it is. Is that a problem?”

Does she expect him to say it’s a problem? Perhaps this is some sort of test to see if he’ll tattle on her to the Ministry. Not that he ever would, just her mentioning the name of the tome is in no way a crime, after all.

And as previously mentioned, Crimson Sanguine is an edge case. It’s not outright banned by the Ministry as far as Harry is aware, or at least it wasn’t in his previous worlds. However, it contains some spells and rituals that, if you got caught trying to cast, would result in some legal trouble.

In the end though, Harry doesn’t consider it that big of a deal. And truth be told, his curiosity is piqued. Finding a copy of Crimson Sanguine for Tracey Davis won’t be at all difficult given that as mentioned, it’s a primer on Blood Magic, not anything exceptionally advanced. He might have to go outside of the British Isles for it… or he might find a copy of the tome in his own library back at the manor.

Either way, he simply smiles back and nods.

“No problem here Ms. Davis. I’ll be happy to locate the book for you. Do you have any leads or other information pertinent to the case for me?”

After getting over her surprise at him actually being so quick to take the case, Tracey just smirks.

“If you needed leads from me for something like this, I would doubt your capabilities, Investigator Hallows. As for other information… yes, I suppose I can let you know that if you do well with this first task, I might just have more work for you later on. What you show of your abilities here will inform upon whether or not you can assist me with more difficult tasks going forward.”

Well now, that made it all just a tad more interesting, didn’t it? Harry can’t help but be a little amused at being strung along by a witch he can barely even remember from his original life, but at the same time… it’s all rather entertaining and intriguing, isn’t it? What sort of things might the likes of Tracey Davis be up to in this universe? He might just find out…

“Well then, consider me very motivated, Ms. Davis. Alas, we opened rather late today and with the sun setting, it’s time to close up. Fleur here will show you out.”

Rising from her chair at long last, Fleur all but struts out from behind it. She’s definitely showing off a little bit as she gives Tracey a pristine yet faux smile and gestures to the door. Tracey isn’t bad looking by any means… but when she’s put next to a part veela like Fleur, she can’t help but come across as a little… plain.

Still, while Tracey does stiffen up a bit, she makes a strong effort at ignoring Fleur’s beauty as she’s escorted to the door. Once Fleur has seen her through it, the blonde closes and locks up behind her so that no one else can come in. Then, she looks to Harry with a furrowed brow.

“… That’s going to be your first case? A single book? You said it was a primer on Blood magic of all things… doesn’t that make it relatively common?”

Harry shrugs.

“It might be that the troubles facing the Magical World here in the British Isles have left it… difficult to acquire things from the mainland. Or it might be that this is a test from start to finish. She might already have her own copy of Crimson Sanguine; she’s just interested in seeing if I can secure one… and how fast I can do so.”

Fleur scowls at that.

“Being tested by a woman like that is beneath you, my Lord.”

Harry chuckles.

“The longer you stick around Fleur, the more you will learn that nothing is truly beneath me. In the end, it’s all about living life to the fullest and experiencing new things. Whatever game Tracey Davis is playing with me… is a new thing. I’m more than willing to see it through for now and find out what happens next.”

That draws a pout from Fleur, but she doesn’t make any further comments. In the end, the two of them head home without incident. Harry is a bit surprised by that… he’d been half-expecting another attempt on his life all day long, especially after the one the day before failed. But maybe whoever was behind the killings had more patience than that.

Maybe they were simply biding their time and waiting to see what would happen next…

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A/N: Remember to Vote, leave a Like, and let me know what you think!

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Google Doc Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oeCOFpFyFficUKonTeNyZVwRlkbZayavOIAbzaID8Ig/edit?tab=t.0