A Thief to Catch a Thief; a Death Eater to Catch a

A lead to an end.



Hermione was glad Arthur had learnt to charm electricity into muggle items – mainly her small stereo that was working its way through a compilation CD of all the random cheesy tracks she needed to keep her going while she waded through the sea of paperwork. Today it was the random 80s music and film tracks; she was prancing around the large store room to ‘Lady Marmalade’ while she checked for low supplies.



“Oh My God! I love this track!” Jess said as she started to join in with Hermione’s dance.



Lucius came to the door with a frown on his face, and watched the two women as they danced while stock-taking. “Is there a particular reason why the storeroom is saying French obscenities?” he asked, leaning against the doorframe, and filling the opening in the process. Several years as an aurora and the constant physical training had bulked him up and his build now matched his height, he’d lost the slim silhouette for something much more muscular, but not overly so.



Hermione hit the pause button and smiled at her colleague – she respected Lucius Malfoy as a brilliant auror, she’d been shocked to discover he was actually a very quiet and calm man, with a wicked sense of humour underlying the cool exterior. They had calmly shaken hands and called a truce on Hermione’s first day and had become friends – actually, everyone in the department were friends, it made work easier, but losses were painful. Lucius was good enough to be head himself, but had found his niche as department “money-master” and kept the department within budget – a first for the aurors in decades.



“I know a lot of French naughty words, Lucius, doesn’t bothe me.” Hermione said with a chuckle.



“Ah, I did wonder what you did in that villa in the French alps over Christmas – or should I say who?” he said, winking at Jess.



“There’s a really nice waiter in the resort, he’s a good friend, with good benefits…” Hermione said with a glint in her eye – she’d learnt the little spell that Dumbledore used to keep the twinkle in her eye and its simplicity amused her no end.



“You what!?” Jess screeched, unaware of Hermione’s like of no-strings sex.



“No strings, just good sex.” She shrugged, Hermione was no slut, but a boyfriend wasn’t practical for her, especially as there was a chance that she wouldn’t come home from work one day. “Anyway, what are you after, Lucius? As long as its not the healing potion for hex burns, we’re out of that.”



“I have a lead on Laverock – the only Death Eater we haven’t caught – I think I’ve managed to locate him, Joe put a tracker on him at the last duel and it’s gone active at last – he’s somewhere that the ministry have access to.” Lucius said with a smug grin, he’d been tracking Laverock for five years.



“Where is he?” Hermione asked, scribbling a paper plane and sending it zooming around the office to call an emergency briefing.



“At the Leaky Caldron.” Lucius said with a frown, a Death Eater in public wasn’t a good plan.



“Right, lets nip this in the bud, once and for all – you’re leading the briefing, Lucius, you know more about this pain in the arse than we do.” Hermione said as they left the room, the door locked and warded itself as the aurors left it.



***

Ten minutes later, nine aurors crept silently up the stairs to the room a ‘nice polite chap and a lady friend’ had rented from the landlord. It looked like Laverock had picked up a lady of horizontal pleasure and was disguised, his picture was on wanted posters all over the wizarding world, not that you could miss his facial features – mainly his huge nose.



“This door. Stun first, questions later.” Lucius said, silently unlocking the door, not that it needed much work to unlock, Laverock had done a sloppy job.



“Petrificus Totalus” cried six aurors, as they moved into the room, wand first.



“Oh.” Squeaked Jess, as she looked at the scene before her; a man who was not Laverock was frozen, as was the random woman he’d been shagging at the time. “You sure its him?” she said to her partner.



Lucius whispered the tracker’s spell, and the aurors watched as a streak of the man’s hair turned luminous yellow. “Yes, that’s him. I’m going to nullify the charms he has on his appearance.” Lucius looked at the woman, her eyes wide in fear, “I’m ever so sorry about this, you’ll be released when we release him, the spell won’t cause any damage, and you’ll receive compensation for your inconvenience.”



After twenty minutes, Laverock looked like the man they recongnised; but Lucius looked troubled, “There is something not right about this – I’m missing something, there are other spells masking his appearance…” Lucius walked around the bed and began saying more and more complex counter curses.



“Oh. Shit.” Said Jess as the last appearance masking charm was lifted.



“Narcissa?” Lucius said, eyes wide in shock.



***



Lucius partially lifted the stunning spell so the blonde woman could speak.



“Its not…”



“If you say ‘its not what it looks like’ then can you please tell me where my vision is incorrect?” Lucius briefly lifted the sheets, peering under before replacing them again, “It looks like you are doing a quite spectacular job of violating our marriage vows – a Malfoy does not commit infidelity, thus you are no longer a Malfoy.” He said, removing one glove with his teeth and removing his wedding ring – his wand still trained on the naked people in the bed.



“But! But you can’t!” she said, angry eyes boring into him.



“I believe I just did.” He said, gently throwing the platinum band so it landed on the pillow next to her. “You’ll have six hours to collect your possessions, and after that the wards around the Manor will refuse you access.”



“Can we arrest Laverock now?” Harry said, wanting to get on with why they were actually there, though he was the first person they’d be taking to Azkaban who wore only a sheet.



“Sure.” Lucius turned to Hermione, “I’m afraid I’m going to have to take the afternoon off work, I’ll have to make up for it at some point. I need to escort Ms. Black to Malfoy manor and then speak with my solicitor.”



“Sure, you’re owed lieu time anyway – you even get paid for it.” Hermione said before leaving the room and following the Azkaban-bound party down the stairs.



“Are you ok, Lucius?” Jess asked, rubbing his arm before going over and picking up his wedding ring, “You need to look after this, Draco will need it if he ever stops working long enough to ask someone out.” She put it in his hand before leaving the room.



“You complain of my infidelity!” Narcissa screeched, holding the sheet to her chest now she could move.



“You were being unfaithful, I, on the other hand, never have been since we began courting when we were eighteen… how long has this been going on?” he asked, not sure he wanted to know the answer.



“Six months.” She said curtly.



“Remind me to get myself checked by a healer for intimate diseases.” Lucius said, throwing the discarded robes at Narcissa. “The meetings weren’t always here – we’d have found the tracker sooner – where have you been having this affair?”



“Right under your nose.” She spat. Lucius had commented that the sheets smelt of pine, when his own cologne was cedarwood. He’d commented to Narcissa, and she’d come up with the story that the clean sheets didn’t smell like him so she’d sprinkled some of ‘his’ aftershave onto them – the one in the drawer. The one in the drawer had been a gift, but he didn’t like the scent and never used it, but he did notice the seal had been broken.



“Your six hours began fifteen minutes ago.” Lucius said, raising one eyebrow in his ex-wife’s direction; the second he’d removed his wedding ring and thrown it the spell on it binding them had broken.



Only one thought went through his head: what was he going to tell Draco?