Albus Potter and the Cursed Legacy | Scorbus

10. In the Office

The longer Harry stared down at the words on the parchment in front of him, the more the letters seemed to dance around as if the ink was bleeding all over and turning everything into a muddled mess that couldn't be interpreted. Harry took off his glasses to rub his weary eyes. When he had decided to become an Auror and follow a path of magical law enforcement, he didn't realise how much paperwork would be involved. While he did get to spend time out in the field chasing dark wizards, he often felt like he spent most of his time at his desk looking over case files.

Sitting back in his desk chair, he decided to close his eyes, just for a moment. But whilst that gave his eyes a break, his thoughts still jumbled around his head, overwhelming him with information and memories of what had taken place over the past week. 

The recent murders had made headlines, pressuring his department to work harder and faster to get answers out to the public. But leads were hard to come by and the investigation could only move so quickly. If they were going to be thorough, they needed to take their time. Harry, too, wished he had answers but, unlike most magical things, he couldn't just poof them into existence. Even in the wizarding world, law enforcement wasn't any more easy or instantaneous. So in the meantime, every minute of the workday had been occupied with paperwork, interviews, and following leads. 

On top of his usual work-related stress, Harry had his own life to think about. As much as he wanted to be seen like he lived a problem-free lifestyle after Voldemort's defeat, nothing ever seemed to get easier for Harry Potter. Sure, he may have defeated the Dark Lord and saved the world but now he had new challenges to deal with: his own family. More specifically, his youngest son.

Memories of the most recent events with his son swarmed Harry's head. The heartbroken and hurt expression on Albus' face after their fight in his room, that had ended so horribly, burned into his mind. The feeling of cold dread in the pit of Harry's stomach when he realised Albus' room was empty. Finding his son on the platform, only to get into another argument with him. Things hadn't gone how Harry had wanted them to at all. He wished he'd behaved differently on the platform, scooping his son into a hug instead of going to battle with him. Sometimes Harry questioned his parenting abilities--not just sometimes, but all the time.

Sitting upright again, Harry's eyes shot open as he reached in one of his desk drawers and pulled out a piece of parchment. Dipping his quill into his pot of ink, he began to write at the top of the parchment.

'Dear Albus,'

Harry's hand hovered over the parchment, trying to figure out how to begin. How do you apologize for so many things in just one letter? How can you express your love with just parchment and ink? 

A knock on his office door caused Harry to jump. A drop of ink fell from his quill, spilling onto the parchment in a blob that sprung tendrils that leaked across the page forming twisting spider's legs. 

"Come in," Harry spoke, resting his quill back in the ink pot and attempting to blot the spilt ink. 

The heavy door creaked open as a familiar face stepped in. Expecting one of the Aurors to come in and give him more work to do, Harry was relieved by the sight of one of his closest friends instead.

"Minister, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Harry greeted, teasing with formality.

"Hello, Harry," Hermione slipped him a smile, "Just wanted to see how you were getting on with the cases."

Harry picked up a heavy stack of papers and files from the side of his desk and dropping them down in front of him with a loud thud, emphasizing his workload.

"You're welcome to come give me a hand if you want to speed up the process"

Hermione let out a single laugh of disbelief, "Right after I finish the pile on my desk that's three times as big." She said with a playful roll of her eyes. "I'm afraid this isn't Hogwarts anymore, and I can't let you copy my notes."