A Dark Time For The Light

57

In the taxi on the way home, Draco outlined it. Actually it was quite a lot of a problem. Severus was running out of Wolfsbane. In fact he had one dose left for the upcoming full moon, the last of the supplies that he had had stashed at the Three Broomsticks. After that, the change would cause Remus agonies, not to mention make him wild afterwards once more. Over the years that Severus had taken care of him, they had got the Potion just right. Remus would change, but would stay asleep the whole time he was lupine, curled up on their bed, needing only a dish of water and meat and a pole to cock his leg against. He always woke up human in the morning. Severus still bore faint scars across his back that attested to the Wolf’s wildness in his altered state, before Severus had perfected the Potion for him.

“He’s tried phoning suppliers, even Chinese herbalists and is getting nowhere. He’s given me a list of suppliers to try here in London, although he doesn’t hold out much hope. It appears that the Wizarding world holds the lock on both production and supply. We need to get to Knockturn Alley for supplies”.

This was indeed, a ‘bugger’ as Harry had so eloquently described it. Harry was quiet and reflective all the way back to their flat. Draco was worried. He knew what Harry was like. He was going to try and find a way of fixing this. He was right. Harry was on the phone to Hermione. There was a conference called at the House the next evening after work.

Harry was pacing about restlessly, “None of us can go. If they nabbed our wands after the Battle, then the wards around the place will be charged to detect us. They will have been re-set with the power of our wands, I’m sure they would love to get their hands on Sev, too, for betraying the cause and running, but we can’t let Sev and Remus suffer with this. Oh fuck, I’ve no idea what to do”, he subsided into a chair as nine minds thought about it.

As usual in a situation like this, it was Hermione who spoke up first, “The only way I can see this working is if we send a demi-magique in. Someone the wards won’t recognise except for their magical status. They can only be set to keep particular people out, not recognise everybody in the Magical world”.

Harry was horrified, “They have no training. No ability”. Draco begged to differ, “Actually. I think that Alice may be ideal for this. I saw her library, she’s evidently studied, even without our levels of training, and she’s an outlaw, sells illegal drugs and has done for many years, so she has bottle, erm, nerve”, he clarified. This cast them all back into thought. Dean sobered them all, “She’d be risking her life”. Draco and Harry nodded, “We know”, they chorused. But no-one could think of a better idea.

The next Friday, Harry and Draco called at her house after work and outlined the plan. She secretly thrilled whilst maintaining a cool demeanour, “I need maps and guides”, then she stilled looking off into space, “You know this could be easier if I was disguised. Draco, you said these, erm, whaddyacallem, Death-Eater folk go about masked. What if I was to disguise as one of them?”

The boys glanced at each other and let the question hang between them. Then Draco had the spark of an idea. He asked Alice to stand and compared their heights. She was tall, standing a bare two inches under his six foot one and in shoes, she reached his own Father’s height of six feet, he couldn’t believe the ideas that were flitting through his mind. He was thinking like a Gryffindor and a Slytherin. “With the right costuming, she could pass for my Father. That will get her in anywhere. Cloaks hide a multitude of sins after all”. The woman looked a tad miffed, “Sins?”. Draco giggled and apologised. “You’re a woman and we need to disguise your girlie shape. Cloaks tend to be made generously. I meant no insult”.

She grinned, “None taken. I will do this for you all, but there is one condition?”. Harry nodded for her to continue. “I wear a wire, connected to my mobile, that you all can hear, I’ll leave the line open, and at the first sign of trouble, you come in and get me out, okay? And I want a wheel-man. You may be Wizards but I rely on the technology. I’m not going without a wire”. There was no argument and both boys nodded their agreement.

The House were all astonished when Harry related the news, not to mention his two ex-teachers. “Is the woman an idiot?. Deluded?”. Severus. Harry sighed, “No, she’s a Magical. Highly intelligent, with a library that you wouldn’t believe and willing to help out her Magical brethren and sistren”. Severus backed down, humbled.

Hermione, once she’d figured out this class of demi-magiques, decided that before the woman could truly accept the challenge, she had to know if the woman was indeed Magical and devised a couple of tests for her.

Alice submitted gracefully to the tests, to see if she could detect Magical locations. Hermione took her across town one day, to a tiny rundown street of terraced houses and asked her to read off the numbers on the house doors, “2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16”, she had passed the first test. She could see 12 Grimmauld Place. She was led next to a tired looking window display of a long closed-down department store and spotted the ornate building behind it, She pointed to the cupolas rising behind the long-closed store, “What are those?”, and Hermione grinned, “It’s the Magical Hospital, St Mungo’s. You can really see. I’m convinced. You really are a Magical. I’m sorry we had to test you”. They grinned at each other before parting.

She was stunned. These Magicals accepted her and she was exultant as she headed home. She had been tested by the Psychical Research Institute in her late teens for her detection abilities in locating ghosts, plus a truly horrifying psychic attack that her and two flatmates had undergone at the behest of a nasty poltergeist, not to mention a terrifying seance that her and three pre-adolescent friends had held, calling up the very malevolent spirit that their mothers had brought home with them one night after a seance of their own. Then there was the evil attached to a staircase in a castle that only she and the dogs who lived there could divine, they’d all avoided the spot, preferring the worn servants stairs instead. And then here was the sheer horror of walking into a bedroom in a stately home and having it’s gruesome history slam into your chest, sending you running, shaking and whimpering, Being found an hour away, in a remote part of the mansion, cowering in a corner, hands clamped over ears and shaking, teeth chattering, mind a mess, weeing herself in fear.

He knew Alice was a business woman, so Draco put a proposition her way. Harry and the other Gryffindors rolled their eyes. They were in the boys’ flat and Alice had acquiesced to go to Diagon Alley, thence to Knockturn and buy Severus’ potion ingredients, mainly the Dark wolfsbane, but her eyes lit up at Draco’s proposition. This wasn’t Magic, this was money. And she understood money in any language.

“We’ll need a wand for her”, Hermione stated. “She has to look the part”. George grinned and showed her the piece of wood he had been worrying with knife and sand-paper. A switch of young pliant hazel, a core already dug. A day later and Harry lent his phoenix feather. The wand was sealed with a small bung of wood. There was a fully fledged wand lying on the kitchen table and all marvelled at it, none of the trained Magicals wanted to pick it up.

She came around the next evening to be fitted for robes. There were lots of descriptions but not a picture she could work from. She took control of the meeting, demanding graphic descriptions until she had the robes she needed on paper, the others marvelling at her thoroughness. She would be perfect. Draco was in awe as he realised, he was going to ask her to perform what amounted to a bank robbery.

Measurements were carefully taken. Alice’s eyes shone. She was following her destiny, of that fact she had no doubt. She held her arms out and let the girls continue measuring her.

Within a week she was being fitted again, her robes settling around her. Hermione said, amidst giggles, “You need to bind your breasts. You’re not exactly tiny”. With a bit of adjustment and the girls’ help, she was bound flat. They fitted the wig they had bought for her on her head. Terry had provided the piece of aluminium that had been pressed into a mask for her and sprayed white with cellulose car paint, then she stood before them, pushing her flattened chest out for them, two thick strands of pale blond hair visible. She had taken a little coaching to get the voice right, and now she had the Malfoy drawl down pat. Draco was impressed, despite himself.

“I was once an actor in my youth”, she explained.. “You do realise what you’re doing. I mean, you could die for this?!”. She simply nodded, “You need me”, was explanation enough.

She was led to the Leaky Cauldron in a cab, suiting up as she went. She was dropped outside. She knew her wheels were in place. Steffie waited around the corner for her in a hired car. She had a microphone clipped inside her clothes and her mobile turned on as promised. She pulled up her hood, her metal mask in place, the wig showing two thick strands of white gold hair, the colour unmistakeable.

She strode through the pub with a noble step and everyone stood back. So far so good. She got to the wall at the back of the pub and Harry directed her through the combination and she was in Diagon Alley, trying very hard not to be amazed.

There was Harry’s voice in her ear. “You need to walk down until an alley joins on the right hand side”. She tried to ignore the shops and was soon there, “Okay, I’m here, what now?”. She was directed into Knockturn Alley, the window displays alone, piquing her interest, but Harry’s insistent voice stopped her spending too much time here, however fascinating the sojourn may be.

In her new guise she entered the shop and imperiously laid down the list of Potion ingredients. The man behind the counter was a sycophant, he saw nothing but the mask and humbly obeyed. So far so good. He laid the ingredients on the counter. Alice said, “These will be added to the Malfoy account”. As she took the bag into her black-gloved hands, her sleeve rode up revealing a little of the faded India ink ‘Mark’, that Draco had applied with painstaking care. The man nearly genuflected and nodded. “Yes, Mr Malfoy. Sir”. She exited.

Next stop the imposing bank building. Gringott’s. In her disguise, Alice marched up to the counter and the Goblin politely enquired, “Is there something you forgot, sir?, and Alice’s heart sank. Draco muttered, “He was probably here a short while ago”, into Alice’s headset, “Which probably means he’s still about somewhere. Be careful”. She simply glared at the goblin through her mask and held up the tiny key that Draco had given her. In moments she was being whisked to the vault in a cart. The goblin climbed out with a short bow and held out a hand. Alice handed him the key. She allowed herself some amazement as the creature’s back was turned, especially the intricacy of the locks as they whirled and clicked. “Christ, they couldn’t pull a Brinks-Mat in this place”, she murmured. She heard Harry giggle in her ear.

She stepped out of the cart once the doors were open and brushed past the goblin and into the vault, taking the leather sack offered. “I won’t get much in here”, she muttered, “Just keep filling it, it Magically holds everything. The size won’t change but the weight will. Just the gold coins”. Draco.

As instructed, she filled the bag until the weight was almost too much and she stepped back into the cart trying not to stagger. She was led back to the main banking floor and dismissed the goblin with a curt nod of thanks. “Now look to your left, there’ll be a goblin on his own with an array of signs changing over his head, like pounds dollars and yen”. “Got it”, she murmured without moving her mouth. She was mighty glad of the mask. She stepped up and placed the bag on the counter. “Pounds Sterling, please, my man, and quick about it, if you don’t mind”. Draco snorted, “Worthy of a Malfoy”. The transaction took a few moments and Alice paced imperiously, tapping the head of the cane into a gloved hand. The goblin coughed and drew her attention, pushing a Muggle briefcase across the desk, plus a chit in duplicate, that she signed. She leaned over the counter and drawled in a low voice, “I trust that the duplicate will be sent to the Ministry and not the Manor”, she purred in clipped tones. The goblin’s eyes widened, “C-c-certainly, sir. As you wish. Good day to you, sir”. She left the bank in a swirl of robes although she looked about very carefully as she exited. Wouldn’t do to meet the real Lucius Malfoy right now.

She was almost at the Leaky Cauldron, when she heard someone shout and feet running towards her. “Sir, Mr Malfoy, sir?”. She froze, “Oh fuck!”, she whispered. “And who dares to interrupt me on vital business for our Lord?”. She didn’t turn around. “ ‘Tis I sir, Percy Weasley. The Minister knew you would be here and it’s urgent”. She whirled around, and the young man before her dropped to his knees, kissing the hem of her robe when he realised who he thought it was had on his mask, “I’m sorry, sir, but Mr Fudge wishes to organise a raiding party of Death-Eaters to Southern Scotland, sir, there has been some unregistered Magic usage, erm, sir”. The young man dropped his eyes. Alice lifted the boy’s face with the tip of her cane and with her voice dripping with scorn, she said. “Kindly inform the Minister”, she spat, “That I will be with him in one hour, after I have taken care of business with the one he serves. Do I make myself clear?”. The boy nodded and blushed, then bowed and Apparated away. Alice had to try hard not to squeak as the boy disappeared.

In moments, she stormed back through the Leaky Cauldron in a manner that brooked no further interruptions and was back in Muggle London in a trice. She was round the corner and piling into the rented car immediately, ripping off the mask and wig, “Drive!”, she barked and the car eased into traffic. She spent a moment playing at her face. Harry and Draco stayed silent, although they longed to ask questions. “Hold your hand out, Harry”, she requested and dropped the contact lenses into them, then blinked rapidly, her eyes watering. Harry examined them and laughed.

“A little detail of my own”, Alice laughed. “I figured that one of your parents had to have given you their eye colour Draco, and my guess was on your Father, since he has the hair too”. Harry passed the lenses to his lover who turned them over, the same slate-grey as his own. “You may also noticed that I bleached my lashes. When all you can see of someone in a mask is their eyes, it helps to have some verisimilitude. I think I’ve well and truly earned my share of this”, she patted the briefcase. “Well, Draco, I just robbed your family of just under half a million pounds sterling, and I have the Wolfsbane. I just hope to Christ, it’s enough for a while, ‘cos I’m fucked if I’m doing that again in a rush. I wish I could have got a better look at it all though, gone into a few more of the shops”, her tone was wistful.

She lapsed into silence as Steffie drove, then said, “Do Ginny and George and Ron know that their brother is a toadying sycophant who has....?”, she tapped her left wrist eloquently. Harry winced, “Probably not, although he always was an arse-kisser, so it doesn’t surprise me he’s taken the path of least resistance”.

Draco was thoughtful in the passenger seat, “Half a million, eh?. Merlin. That was brilliant, Alice. What a star”, he turned with a grin facing Alice and Harry. She leaned in and gripped Draco’s chin, looking into his eyes. He flinched and Harry tensed beside her, “I hope you are going to keep to your side of the bargain, young Master Malfoy?”, she purred in his Father’s voice and the blond swallowed hard, “Because I am very nasty to people who fuck me around and play games. I could have died in there. This was no game and it’s quite likely that my existence is now known to the Magical community, not to mention the hue and cry that losing half a million quid is going to cause”. She held his face a moment longer and saw the glimmering of fear in his eyes then relinquished him with a smile. “Just so’s you know”.

Draco’s heart was hammering in his chest as he faced front again. Steffie glanced at him and grinned in the rear-view mirror at her friend, “Relax, Al. Shall we just tip them into the road and head off?”. Alice laughed at the scared looks on the boys’ faces, “You know, Muggles can be damned dangerous, too. Never underestimate us”. Harry and Draco shared a nervous look. Alice reached out to both of them and ruffled their hair, “Don’t worry. We won’t rip you off or anything. Relax. I just don’t want you to think that I’m some kind of besotted pushover is all. I’ve lived on the wrong side of the law most of my life. I can assess risk and I’m most emphatically not stupid”. The boys couldn’t help but agree.

“I don’t know who else would have been in your year at school, Alice, but it must have been a bloody strong year for you not to be selected. I think you would have made a fine Witch”, Harry said in a low voice to ease the tension. Alice laughed aloud, “Flattery will get you everywhere”. Draco added, “You did a brilliant job of being my Father. Those things you said to Weasley and the way you did it was perfect”. She rolled her eyes, “Behave. A complete friggin’ stranger shouts at me from behind?, I couldn’t have done it any other way convincingly. If I’d turned around, then I would be expected to recognise him. Fuck, Draco, your Father has folk literally falling at his feet. It gave me quite a turn when the lad disappeared before my eyes. I tried desperately hard not to squeak”, they all laughed.

Alice reminded them, “You should call your friends in Scotland, warn them of what Percy said to me, you know”. Harry gasped and was straight on the phone warning Neville. He was assured that no-one had cast Magic even in anger. Harry’s brow furrowed, then he warned him of the possibility of a raid by Nott and his cohorts if they were free. With an exhortation to take care, he closed the phone, frowning.

Steffie drove them straight to Alice’s. They opened the briefcase on her kitchen table and they all gasped. Between them they counted it, £485,657.58. Alice got out her calculator and estimated her and Steffie’s share. Ten percent for the wheel-woman and thirty five for Alice per the agreement. She giggled as she fished a hand into her pocket and withdrew three coins. A Galleon, a Sickle and a Knut. “These are for my coin collection”, she grinned. “I have coins from every corner of the globe and now the Wizarding world”, she scooped her share of the haul up and placed it in a safe beneath the kitchen floor, “Most of this will go to your buddies in Scotland anyway”, she smirked wryly.

Harry called Sev, “We’ve got it, Sev. The Wolfsbane”. There were exclamations that the others could hear, “Yes. We went into Knockturn Alley, well, Alice did. She was brilliant, Sev. We could hear everything. She went in wired”, the sounds on the other end louder. Harry mouthed, “He’s calling you all kinds of idiot and he wants to kiss your feet in gratitude”. Alice rolled her eyes, “I’ve had enough of genuflecting sycophants for one day, a simple thank you will suffice”. Harry handed her the phone and she spoke to him, “Hi, Severus. No, dear, don’t carry on. I was the only man, so to speak, for the job, and no, foot-kissing is not necessary, though I may allow you to suck my toes sometime in gratitude”, her expression was evil and the other occupants of the room were falling about laughing. Steffie was almost weeping with laughter, she knew what a wicked mind her friend had, “Al”, she pleaded, “Behave, you evil woman”. She desisted and handed the phone back to Harry who finished the call and hung up.

“This calls for a little celebration. I think”, Alice rose and went to the fridge snagging several beers and handed them out. Then dug around in her freezer withdrawing a small parcel which she carefully unwrapped, making sure no ice fell into the contents. From a drawer, she extracted a mirror and blade and proceeded to expertly chop out eight lines, then rolled a twenty into a tube. She bunched up her long hair and tucked it into the neckline of her shirt then dipped and vacuumed up one line in each nostril, then handed the lot to Steffie, who followed. Harry took a polite single line until Alice enquired wryly, “Only got one nostril, then?”, with a raised brow and a smirk that would have done Severus proud. Draco shouted a laugh, “You would have made an ideal Slytherin”. Harry, dabbing at his nose after the second line remarked, “Yeah, but she showed Gryffindor balls”. Draco couldn’t help but agree as he tipped his head to the mirror.

Back in their flat, Harry and Draco riffled their hands through the money in the briefcase, then Harry suddenly grabbed a handful and showered his lover in it, giggling. This precipitated a veritable snowstorm as twenties rained all over the room as they threw it high in the air, the money raining down on them as Draco threw Harry to their living room floor and made love to him on the pile of cash as random notes continued to flutter about them and stick to them as they rolled about in it locked together from mouth to groin. They eventually came to rest in each other’s arms, gasping. As their breathing stilled, Harry grabbed a note and the lighter, then, licking his lips, he set light to it. “I’ve always wanted to do this”. They both watched, mesmerised, as the note burned.

There was a sudden scramble for phones as first one rang then the other. Hermione calling Harry, Ginny, Draco, “It worked”, two simple words and both of them heard the exultant screams from members of the House. Harry called Ginny to his phone and he told her about her brother now wearing a Dark Mark and kissing robe-hems. He could hear the shame and disappointment in her tone, but no surprise.

They were all invited round the following night, then Harry and Draco switched their phones off for the night and Harry took his devious Dragon to bed and fucked him to oblivion, leaving the living room floor awash with their ill-gotten gains, the Potions ingredients tucked into the fridge.

The next night and the nine were all in Harry and Draco’s flat. Draco pressed another 50k into his wife’s hands. He was certainly being honourable about his marriage obligations. Ginny kissed him, laughing, “This is for both of us now, me and Missy. We share our money”. Draco smiled, “Enjoy”. He had a bag with 100k in, that he gave to Hermione. “This is for the House and the London cadre, you know, to help anyone that needs it, anyone that turns up and yourselves. We’re going to give Sev and Remus a chunk to establish themselves down here again and the rest is ours”, he grinned. No-one was about to argue.

George grinned at his sister, “Weasleys with money, eh?, whatever is the world coming to?”. Ginny leaned over and kissed her brother, “Maybe you can take Caroline out somewhere really posh for dinner”. They all laughed. Hermione added a serious note, “You know we can’t put this in the bank, don’t you?. Muggle banks take a dim view of sudden large amounts being paid into accounts, money laundering and all that. This is a ‘keep-it-under-the-mattress’ kind of thing. Believe me, if these sorts of sums were paid into a bank without provenance, the police would be all over us like a rash”. They all sobered at this.

Draco enquired, “Alice took quite a chunk, surely she’d have to pay it into a bank?”. Harry laughed, “She’s got a safe. That money will never see the inside of a bank. She already told us that Kilmarnock will see most of it. Her kind of trade is cash only”. Draco was impressed, “She’s a very clever woman”, his tone carried nothing but admiration, “The way she did a perfect imitation of my Father and the way she thought on her feet...”. Harry nodded, “She really was brilliant, she acted the imperious git to the hilt. I’m sorry, but the way she dealt with Percy was nothing short of superb. We could hear every word. She would have made the quintessential Gryffindor or Slytherin for that matter. No Hufflepuff for that one!. Possibly a Ravenclaw for the use of technology. Such a damned shame. She should have been trained”.

Hermione absorbed all of this, fascinated. “Perhaps, she wouldn’t have been this good if she had been trained. Think about it. She acted in ways expected of at least three of the Houses, with brains, balls and cunning. Could any of us acted in the same way?”. This gave all of them pause for thought. And on that note, they all split up, Harry and Draco saw their guests out and nipped out to the pub for last orders.

Severus and Remus turned up that weekend and Remus kissed the bag of Wolfsbane. “Merlin!, this will keep me going for quite a while. Sorry, Draco, but she’s cost your family a pretty penny”. The boys laughed and related the rest of Alice’s trip to Diagon Alley. Their mouths were wide with shock, then Draco pressed 25k into their hands, “To help you get started here in London, but you mustn’t put it into a Muggle bank or so Hermione says and I trust her judgement”.

Remus smiled. “Alice is a powerful witch, isn’t she?”, both boys nodded slowly. Draco grinned, “She’s also a very astute businesswoman. She set the terms for the robbery and made all the plans. She was very thorough, and she took a sizeable portion for her pains. She was fucking brilliant this week”. He chortled, “That bastard of a Father of mine has robbed me of my inheritance. It felt good to get back at him. She knew the risks she took. She got a good old chunk of change from this. She nearly shat herself at one point but 100 points to her, she acted gracefully under pressure”.

Unfortunately, Severus and Remus had to get back that night, Sev needed to start brewing Remus’ potion. He was two days late as it was and the brewing was going to require two sleepless nights as he accelerated the process slightly. They kissed the boys and headed off into the late night, all of their eyes promising more fun and games in the future.

Somewhere north of Birmingham, Sev pulled over and stopped, then pulled Remus into his trembling arms. “Bloody Gryffindors. They still scare the shite out of me”. The shock was catching up to Remus, too, “Apparently it was partly her idea”. Severus shook his head. “She’s scary, bloody brilliant, but scary”. Remus could say nothing to this and they headed home.