Harvest Moon
folder
Harry Potter › Het - Male/Female › Lucius/Hermione
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
77
Views:
46,568
Reviews:
414
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
Harry Potter › Het - Male/Female › Lucius/Hermione
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
77
Views:
46,568
Reviews:
414
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Harry Potter that is J.K. Rowling's honor. Making no money, just enjoying writing.
Dark Moon Rising
A/N
Voracious Reader: Glad you liked the Rocky Horror elves. Couldn\'t resist I was educating my nephew in B movies. Had to be done.
margaritama: There will be more glimpses of the murderer and more clues along the way.
slytheringgriffindor21, Heidi191976, Lady Serpentina, I\'m very happy you\'re enjoying the story so far.
Ah Zets, you know the lovely Lucius is always up to something. Thank you for the compliment, coming from you it is truly an honor.
Lex, if the elves poison their master there wouldn\'t be much of a plot. Unless it failed . . . hmmm.
To everyone else reading I hope you enjoy.
***
“Both of them?!” Hermione said in disbelief.
“Yes. Their names were Michela Ross and Karen Whitby.”
Hermioned nodded while Draco wrote down the names on a small piece of parchment. “Was there anything else that might be helpful, Luna?”
She shrugged. “Not particularly. Although,” she said, smiling mysteriously for a moment. “Arabella Smythe did say she’d like to have lunch with you sometime soon, Hermione.”
“Really? Why?”
“I’ve no idea really. Though I suppose it’s because you have an interest in a certain Malfoy in common,” Luna said, turning to walk out of the office. She swung back around and looked at Draco. “And I expect you to pick me up at eight sharp.” She then went out the door whistling a little to herself.
“Well, we’d better get to the Gilded Lily and ask Taz a few questions,” Draco said, grabbing his jacket and heading out the door of the office.
Hermione smiled a little at his back, knowing he was trying to avoid the subject of just how he and Luna had ended up going the Malfoy’s annual Samhain party together.
***
The drive to the Gilded Lily was somewhat pleasant as the weather had held off raining and it was a clear, mildly warm fall day. Hermione kept glancing at Draco from the corner of her eye before finally breaking down and just asking what had happened between him and Luna.
“It was fairly simple, really. If not decidedly odd. Of course, it’s Luna so it couldn’t be anything but odd. Anyway, she marched up to me after I’d left the loo and stated she’d gotten an invitation to the Samhain party at the manor and she expected me to pick her up at eight. Then she turned around and left.”
“Well, that certainly sounds like Luna. Direct and to the point, if you can ever figure out what the point actually is. What did you say to it?”
“I think I recall saying “er, okay” before staring after her as she walked away.”
***
Draco didn’t bother with the carriage ride but drove directly to the front door. It was early afternoon so no one would have a problem with it since the house didn’t officially open until after six in the evening. As it happened, Lady Tazura met them at the door. This time there wasn’t the air of mystery about her, she was wearing simple jeans and a pullover sweater, though the sweater was cashmere. She also looked extremely worried.
“Draco, I just heard. Come inside you two and we can put our heads together on this,” she said, then motioned them up the stairs and they followed her to her office once again.
“Sit,” she said, waving them again into the chairs by the fireplace.
“How did you hear about this, Taz?” Draco said, being far less formal since they were not on operating hours for the house.
“Ara told me about it not more than twenty minutes ago. Gods, this is a nightmare! What do you need from me?”
“Why are you being so cooperative all of a sudden?” Hermione asked suspiciously.
Tazura huffed and glared at her. “Look, sweetie, I don’t have time or inclination to play head games with you right now so I’ll cut to the chase. This fucker is targeting my people and it pisses me off. They come here because it’s a safer environment for them than any other place. We have a reputation for high quality and safety both for our clients and employees. If word gets out about this, I’ll lose a nice chunk of my staff. I do not want that to happen. I want to know who is doing this and why. You two are the investigators on Dawn’s case and I’m sure you’ll be put on these too.”
“Possibly not. They were considered muggle murders so Scotland Yard has jurisdiction over them,” Hermione said.
“But you’re investigating them anyway because they’re connected or you wouldn’t be here,” Tazura pointed out.
“That’s true enough.”
“Okay, Taz, what can you make happen without breaking client confidentiality?” Draco asked.
“I’ll re-run the background checks. Make sure they dig a little deeper than surface problems this time.”
“You have your clientele checked?” Hermione asked, somewhat in disbelief.
“Of course,” Tazura said. “Some of the things we do here are dangerous. At times life threatening if done wrong. It’s why everyone who works as a Dom/me is trained extensively before they’re allowed to work with any of the clients. We don’t allow untrained clients access to certain scene rooms either. Even though we keep careful tabs, we can’t watch all of the people all of the time here. I’ll go through the videos to see if I spot any red flags and let you know if I find something that looks suspicious.”
“Videotapes?” Hermione questioned. “That’s illegal.”
“Hardly,” Tazura snorted. “Everyone signs a waiver stating that they are perfectly well aware they are being videoed and that those images will not be released to the general public. They also know the DVDs can be handed over to law enforcement and charges filed if they go beyond what has been contracted. Muggle technology is occasionally useful.”
“That’s very thorough of you,” Draco said.
“It wasn’t me that implemented that, it was my working partner and the owner of the business who insisted on it. I’m glad he did now. I’ll make sure the employees work in pairs from now on and tell them to be on their guard for anything out of the normal range of things. I’ll also make sure security is informed and tells me if there are any oddities.”
“Thank you, Taz,” Draco said, standing up.
“What I’d like to know is who this partner/owner of the business is,” Hermione said slowly.
“I’ll ask him if he’s interested in speaking to you. Otherwise, you can find the corporate and legal documents in the Ministry’s hall of records. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a lot to do before the house opens,” she said. “I trust you can find your own way out.” She walked out the door of her office, effectively dismissing them.
“This is certainly odd, Malfoy,” Hermione said. “Why is she agreeing to do this much for us all of a sudden?”
“It’s as she said, Granger. No one will want to work in a place where they’d be in danger of being killed. Also, no one would want to come to a place where they might be considered a suspect for murder.”
“Yes. I can understand that. But there’s just something that doesn’t feel quite right about this whole thing.”
Voracious Reader: Glad you liked the Rocky Horror elves. Couldn\'t resist I was educating my nephew in B movies. Had to be done.
margaritama: There will be more glimpses of the murderer and more clues along the way.
slytheringgriffindor21, Heidi191976, Lady Serpentina, I\'m very happy you\'re enjoying the story so far.
Ah Zets, you know the lovely Lucius is always up to something. Thank you for the compliment, coming from you it is truly an honor.
Lex, if the elves poison their master there wouldn\'t be much of a plot. Unless it failed . . . hmmm.
To everyone else reading I hope you enjoy.
***
“Both of them?!” Hermione said in disbelief.
“Yes. Their names were Michela Ross and Karen Whitby.”
Hermioned nodded while Draco wrote down the names on a small piece of parchment. “Was there anything else that might be helpful, Luna?”
She shrugged. “Not particularly. Although,” she said, smiling mysteriously for a moment. “Arabella Smythe did say she’d like to have lunch with you sometime soon, Hermione.”
“Really? Why?”
“I’ve no idea really. Though I suppose it’s because you have an interest in a certain Malfoy in common,” Luna said, turning to walk out of the office. She swung back around and looked at Draco. “And I expect you to pick me up at eight sharp.” She then went out the door whistling a little to herself.
“Well, we’d better get to the Gilded Lily and ask Taz a few questions,” Draco said, grabbing his jacket and heading out the door of the office.
Hermione smiled a little at his back, knowing he was trying to avoid the subject of just how he and Luna had ended up going the Malfoy’s annual Samhain party together.
***
The drive to the Gilded Lily was somewhat pleasant as the weather had held off raining and it was a clear, mildly warm fall day. Hermione kept glancing at Draco from the corner of her eye before finally breaking down and just asking what had happened between him and Luna.
“It was fairly simple, really. If not decidedly odd. Of course, it’s Luna so it couldn’t be anything but odd. Anyway, she marched up to me after I’d left the loo and stated she’d gotten an invitation to the Samhain party at the manor and she expected me to pick her up at eight. Then she turned around and left.”
“Well, that certainly sounds like Luna. Direct and to the point, if you can ever figure out what the point actually is. What did you say to it?”
“I think I recall saying “er, okay” before staring after her as she walked away.”
***
Draco didn’t bother with the carriage ride but drove directly to the front door. It was early afternoon so no one would have a problem with it since the house didn’t officially open until after six in the evening. As it happened, Lady Tazura met them at the door. This time there wasn’t the air of mystery about her, she was wearing simple jeans and a pullover sweater, though the sweater was cashmere. She also looked extremely worried.
“Draco, I just heard. Come inside you two and we can put our heads together on this,” she said, then motioned them up the stairs and they followed her to her office once again.
“Sit,” she said, waving them again into the chairs by the fireplace.
“How did you hear about this, Taz?” Draco said, being far less formal since they were not on operating hours for the house.
“Ara told me about it not more than twenty minutes ago. Gods, this is a nightmare! What do you need from me?”
“Why are you being so cooperative all of a sudden?” Hermione asked suspiciously.
Tazura huffed and glared at her. “Look, sweetie, I don’t have time or inclination to play head games with you right now so I’ll cut to the chase. This fucker is targeting my people and it pisses me off. They come here because it’s a safer environment for them than any other place. We have a reputation for high quality and safety both for our clients and employees. If word gets out about this, I’ll lose a nice chunk of my staff. I do not want that to happen. I want to know who is doing this and why. You two are the investigators on Dawn’s case and I’m sure you’ll be put on these too.”
“Possibly not. They were considered muggle murders so Scotland Yard has jurisdiction over them,” Hermione said.
“But you’re investigating them anyway because they’re connected or you wouldn’t be here,” Tazura pointed out.
“That’s true enough.”
“Okay, Taz, what can you make happen without breaking client confidentiality?” Draco asked.
“I’ll re-run the background checks. Make sure they dig a little deeper than surface problems this time.”
“You have your clientele checked?” Hermione asked, somewhat in disbelief.
“Of course,” Tazura said. “Some of the things we do here are dangerous. At times life threatening if done wrong. It’s why everyone who works as a Dom/me is trained extensively before they’re allowed to work with any of the clients. We don’t allow untrained clients access to certain scene rooms either. Even though we keep careful tabs, we can’t watch all of the people all of the time here. I’ll go through the videos to see if I spot any red flags and let you know if I find something that looks suspicious.”
“Videotapes?” Hermione questioned. “That’s illegal.”
“Hardly,” Tazura snorted. “Everyone signs a waiver stating that they are perfectly well aware they are being videoed and that those images will not be released to the general public. They also know the DVDs can be handed over to law enforcement and charges filed if they go beyond what has been contracted. Muggle technology is occasionally useful.”
“That’s very thorough of you,” Draco said.
“It wasn’t me that implemented that, it was my working partner and the owner of the business who insisted on it. I’m glad he did now. I’ll make sure the employees work in pairs from now on and tell them to be on their guard for anything out of the normal range of things. I’ll also make sure security is informed and tells me if there are any oddities.”
“Thank you, Taz,” Draco said, standing up.
“What I’d like to know is who this partner/owner of the business is,” Hermione said slowly.
“I’ll ask him if he’s interested in speaking to you. Otherwise, you can find the corporate and legal documents in the Ministry’s hall of records. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a lot to do before the house opens,” she said. “I trust you can find your own way out.” She walked out the door of her office, effectively dismissing them.
“This is certainly odd, Malfoy,” Hermione said. “Why is she agreeing to do this much for us all of a sudden?”
“It’s as she said, Granger. No one will want to work in a place where they’d be in danger of being killed. Also, no one would want to come to a place where they might be considered a suspect for murder.”
“Yes. I can understand that. But there’s just something that doesn’t feel quite right about this whole thing.”