Harvest Moon

Sorry this has taken so long. Once again, real life interferes with my surreal life. *sigh* Hope everyone enjoys.



***



Tazura opened one eye and glared balefully at her fiancé. “What in the name of all the long forgotten gods is all that noise about?” she grumbled, glancing at the door.



Andrew smiled a little. “That would be Lord Malfoy and Harry Potter being completely uncivilized about who gets to grill you first, Mistress.”



“Gods! Men! Get me to the door, I’ll deal with this idiocy,” Taz said.



“As always, Mistress, Your wish is my command,” Andrew said, picking her up carefully and carrying her to the door.



When she opened the door, Harry and Lucius were practically nose to nose and she had the distinct feeling that if something wasn’t done in short order wands would be drawn. Hermione was looking thoroughly harassed by the whole thing while Draco only seemed to be amused. Luna, in typical form, was sitting on one of the nearby hospital benches and reading the Quibbler upside down.



“She’s a key witness in this case, Malfoy,” Harry snarled.



“I don’t give a tinker’s damn if she witnessed Amelia Earhart having tea with Guy Fawkes. She’s my friend and business partner,” Lucius shot back. “That is vastly more important to me than you mucking up an investigation Hermione and Draco were perfectly capable of handling.”



“That case was handed to me because it was deemed Draco was too close to certain aspects of the case. You were and as far as I’m concerned, still are the prime suspect in these murders. You have absolutely no right to . . .”



The argument, and consequently St. Mungoes’ staff calling for security, was cut short by Taz shouting. “Boys!”



Both men turned to look at her.



“Put me down, Andrew,” she said. He eased her carefully onto her feet, she leaned on him and the door frame for support for a moment before pulling herself fully upright.



Lucius elbowed Harry aside and went to very carefully hug Taz. “How are you?” he asked, looking her over worriedly.



“As well as can be expected considering someone thought I was a painting yesterday,” Taz said, giving him an extra squeeze before letting go. “The healers here really are marvelous in their abilities.” She turned to Harry. “Really, I don’t have much information for you. The person who did this used polyjuice to pretend he was Andrew,” she said, nodding to her fiancé. “I was blindfolded most of the time and the only thing I can tell you is that I could hear and smell water.”



Lucius frowned. “What do you mean by that, Taz?”



She shrugged. “Easy, a lot of water. Sounded almost like the surf on a beach or something of that nature.”



Lucius frowned slightly, mulling over where it could be that she’d been taken when Taz snapped him out of his thoughts. “Looks like you’re going to have to run the party tomorrow night, Luc.”



“Tazura, surely you can’t mean for the party to go on while you’re like this,” Lucius said, eyeing her strangely.



“I do. The little bastard isn’t going to get away with murdering my girls, torturing me, impersonating someone I love AND ruining my party,” Taz said icily. “Andrew will just have to carry me around in the throne chair and everyone can pay tribute to me while I sit.”



Lucius chuckled. “As though that doesn’t happen at every party anyway.”



“What party exactly?” Harry asked, glowering at Lucius then turning a questioning look to Hermione.



Taz answered before anyone else could. “It’s a party I’ve had planned for some time now. A last hurrah if you will until a certain someone who has managed to kill off some of my staff is caught,” she said, looking pointedly at Harry before glancing at Hermione and Draco. “No, Mr. Potter. I’ll not be allowing anyone in aside from my own security force, so don’t even ask.”



“You are aware that I can easily make this a legal matter,” Harry said, glowering at her.



“I’m aware. As I’m aware that I can just as easily sue you for harassment. Now, if you wish to attend, I can see to it that you have an invitation providing you are willing to sign all of the waivers and legal documents involved with entering the house,” Taz said, waiting politely for him to process what she’d just said.



“Fine,” Harry said, stalking off.



Luna sighed and shook her head. She caught Draco’s eye and nodded in the direction Harry had gone. Draco shrugged and watched her stand then follow in the wake of his long time nemesis.



Hermione frowned after her and looked at Draco oddly.



“Leave it, Granger,” he said. “If anyone can talk some sense into Potter right now, it’s Luna. Gods only know why but he seems to listen to her every once in a while. At least when she’s not rambling on about something like Mucky Pups.”



“Dare I ask what a Mucky Pup is?” Hermione said, eyeing him warily.



Draco sighed and rolled his eyes. “According to Luna, they’re invisible things that rub across newly polished shoes right before you have to be somewhere important.”



Hermione stared at him blankly before she, Lucius and everyone else in earshot started laughing.



“That’s . . . very . . . Luna. Well, this should turn out to be one of the more interesting parties we’ve thrown,” Lucius said, smiling down at Taz.



“It certainly should be,” she said. “They’re not releasing me until the morning though, Luc. I’m afraid I’m going to have to depend on you to make sure all the arrangements go smoothly.”



“No trouble at all,” he said, smirking. “I’ll make certain all the paddles are buffed and waxed properly.”



***



Liren waved a hand over the scrying mirror, causing it to go dark again. “Hmm. To party or not to party, that is the question,” he mused aloud.



He stood up and wandered over to the glass case containing jars of body parts. Leaning forward for a better view he smiled maliciously at one in particular. He opened the case and carefully removed the large glass jar. His smile widened as he carefully set it on the table and ran one finger across the name inscribed there.