Indecent Transactions

Brin slowly awoke. She did not open her eyes or move, but she could feel she was sitting in a chair, with no perceivable ropes, and she could hear the breathing and movements of at least two others in the room, maybe three. After a few minutes she decided that they knew she would wake any moment and would not say anything of importance in her presence. Blinking her eyes a few times very slowly she saw she was in a small, candlelit room, probably still in the dungeons of the Malfoy Mansion. Lucius was sitting behind a desk, looking rather smug, and she was sitting in a cushioned, wooden chair with two people standing on either side of her, although she could not see who they were. She was careful not to show any emotion on her face, but her mind ran rampant.

Lucius watched Brin from behind his desk as she awoke and took in her surroundings. Her dark hair cascaded past her shoulders, her porcelain skin free of blemishes. Her lips were a pale pink, but looked inviting, and her eyes a teasing blue, perfectly formed and set beneath a smooth forehead.

Brin turned to glance at the dark figures on either side of her; the first she recognized as one of the men Jacob had introduced her to that evening, Julius Regent, but the other was standing almost behind the chair and she could not turn enough to see his face.

\"Good morning,\" beamed Julius, holding back a chuckle. \"I hope you slept well enough.\"

Something caught Brin\'s arm when she tried to move. Merlin\'s Beard, she thought to herself, a binding charm!

Lucius, observing her momentary struggle with the chair, explained, \"Just a little precaution we decided to take, you understand of course\"

\"No I do not understand, I demand to be released at once,\" asserted Brin, acting as offended as she could, \"...like some common goblin, really!\"

An awkward moment passed, and Brin, not sure of what to do next, simply nodded slowly at Julius. Julius looked over to Lucius, who gave a little nod of approval. Julius raised his wand and muttered something unintelligible. Brin, feeling the invisible bonds slacken, quickly stood up.

\"Remove your wand,\" commanded Lucius.

Brin did not move or reply. She stared into the empty wall behind Lucius; could she give up her only sure means of protection? But even with her wand, did she stand a chance against three wizards?

From behind her, the still unseen wizard grabbed her right arm at the elbow and, wrapping his other hand around her left side, he drew the wand from the pocket of her robes. She looked down at the hand, the light skin, black robe...she could not turn to see his face while he held her.

Lucius stood and walked slowly over in front of Brin, close enough so that she could feel his warm breath on her cheek. He brushed a tendril of hair away from her face and drew a single finger along her jaw line. She closed her eyes turned her face away. Brin felt the man behind her breath out sharply; he hastily held her wand out to Lucius.

Lucius looked down from Brin\'s face to the wand. He grabbed it and walked towards the desk, testing the wand\'s weight in his hand. \"Rosewood...curious,\" he said almost to himself.

\"...a Jobberknoll feather,\" said Brin softly, using a similar tone. Lucius spun around, a puzzled look on his face. Brin raised her eyes and met his, \"A Jobberknoll, it\'s a little, blue speckled bird...\"

He cut her off, \"Tell me of your potion.\"

\"Ah, you want get to straight to it I see.\" He did not respond, so she pressed on, \"Well it a quite ingenious potion if I don\'t say so myself, the formula for which I began to piece together almost seven years ago. Only the most powerful of wizards could hope to understand it, much less achieve it. You see, there are so few of us who can truly understand the fragile beauty of a potion as it shifts and sharpens and casts its flickering light. The images that float within my skull can no more be placed within your limited scopes than the sun might fit within the moon. I am afraid,” she looked down at the floor, “that I could never explain it to you.\"

The unseen man behind her relaxed his grip on her arm and shifted his weight so that his chest pressed right up against her back. \"Ignis virga,\" growled a bitter voice in her ear. Immediately, she tried to dive away, but Julius was already standing in front of her. She felt something cool brush her upper arm, within seconds it was warm, then hot, then hotter, burning through the sleeve of her robe and searing the delicate flesh. Involuntarily, the slightest cry escaped her lips, but she did not flinch after that. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity the pain began to diminish.

Silence. Julius and the other wizard stepped over to Lucius. Brin smiled as Severus returned his wand to his pocket, glaring at the three wizards with icy composure.

\"Oh, yes, you\'re so terribly noble,\" the blonde murmured smoothly. His voice started out in no more than a soft whisper, but steadily grew more cold and sharp, \"almost a Gryffindor.\"

Walking to the desk, he pulled a small glass vial from a drawer. He moved back over to Brin, uncapping the vial and handing the plug to Julius as he passed by, eyes never leaving Brin. Severus\' fathomless onyx eyes were fixed in a bleak glare somewhere over her shoulder, thin mouth clenched firm.

\"Silly boy, Severus,\" Lucius drawled teasingly as he poured some of the vial\'s contents into his own palm. \"Should be more polite.\"

Severus turned and glared ferociously at Lucius. They stared at each other; Lucius\' silver eyes were wild, white fringe falling haphazardly into them, and Severus shook ever so slightly with each breath he took. Finally, Severus spun about with liquid grace, unhindered by the shadows that obscured his sense of sight as he found a candle and lit it. The newly born flame danced playfully with a gentle draft from the window as Lucius took Brin\'s hand. He gently dribbled the cool fluid over the long, red burn on her arm. Almost at once the stinging vanished, and the fresh smell of mint rose to her nose.

\"You\'ve never studied the Dark Arts, have you, Brin?\" continued Lucius, calmly.

She cocked an eyebrow. \"That\'s a very personal question.\"

\"I\'m a very personal fellow,\" he replied unhurriedly, that brilliant, perfect smile made the whitewashed walls look dull.

Brin glanced up at Julius, toying with the cork vial cap in his hands. She stepped passed Lucius and put her hand on the other wizard\'s shoulder, \"Julius, what is the biggest problem one is faced with when using an unforgivable curse?\"

Julius, caught quite off guard, paused for only a moment before responding with a grin, \"There\'s a problem?\"

Brin inched closer to Julius, speaking so softly that all three wizards unconsciously leaned towards her, \"Surely there must be something wrong if so many of your dear friends have ended up in Azkaban simply for making use of these simple spells. ...Julius,\" she leaned down and casually whispered something into his ear.

He turned towards her and looked anxiously into her eyes. \"Make an untraceable Unforgivable potion?\" said Julius, open-mouthed, an odd note of panic buried in his voice.

She wiped away a few beads of sweat that were beginning to form along the top of his forehead. It was a calculated move she only ever used to punctuate an approved behavior, or to reward information given well.

Something glass crashed on the stones, the vial Lucius had been holding; shards of glass scattered. Severus and Brin automatically covered their faces as the vial\'s contents reacted with the floor\'s moisture and thick, red smoke began to rise. There was a collective shout and a rush of feet. Brin quickly reached out and felt around on the desk until she found her wand, placing it safely back in her pocket.

Julius squeaked. \"Oh my god,\" he whispered hoarsely.

\"What is this?\" hissed Lucius. He paused to choke as he covered his nose with his silk sleeve, violently waving his other arm in an attempt to clear the smoke.

Severus narrowed his burning eyes, the corners of his mouth curling. After a few moments he pulled out his wand and cast a basic Freezing Charm to halt the output of energy. No energy, no chemical reaction. Smoke still hung thick and bloodlike, but at least there wouldn\'t be any more.

\"Why didn\'t you do that sooner?\" Julius whined.

\"Just giving Lucius a chance to clean up his own mess,\" Severus snarled in his general direction. The window creaked open a few more inches, a hollow pulse to fill the deadly silence.

\"Someone going to cast a Sedimentation Spell?\" muttered Brin, muffled by her robe.

Severus covered his mouth with his hand and mumbled a quick Sedimentation Spell. The smoke started to settle. Lucius still stood motionless, arm covering his face, a fine cloak of crimson silt doing nothing to protect him from Severus\' judgment. His hair was in disarray, wispy strands of spilt silver cutting across an alabaster brow, and his shining grey eyes were wide and almost haunted as they stared into the darkness.

Severus shook his head. Turning to Julius he said, \"Go find some of those blasted house elves, tell them we need something to clean this up.\"

Glass crackled beneath Julius\' feet as he ambled out. Severus waited for the door to close. There was no point in trying a cleaning charm; mixed goliath beetle extract and gillyfruit juice had a nasty habit of sticking permanently if hit with a spell once settled. Lucius lowered his arm from his face but did not move. \"Isn\'t there someone you should be contacting?\" Severus smirked at Lucius. \"I\'ll take care of this.\"

Lucius took several small steps towards Severus. \"That is enough!\" he growled, his hand lingering near enough to strike before he tensely put it behind his back. Brin, fascinated by this intense power-play between Lucius and Severus, did not move. Severus’ wand hand twitched. \"Ahh. Tell me, Severus Snape, why won’t you just be a good little wizard?\" Lucius reached up and slowly entwined his fingers in the long, black hair. He suddenly gave a sharp tug and Severus filched.

The Head of Slytherin house glared down unsympathetically. \"Don\'t you dare,\" he growled shakily. Lucius smiled fiercely, turned, and left the room.