Leda

Leda froze at this command. Malfoy had just ordered her to remove her clothes. She thought it was business time again. So Leda was utterly shocked, pleasantly shocked, but utterly shocked by this abrupt shift into pleasure.

“Your Muggle clothes are there,” Malfoy said, gesturing to one of the sofas as he strode to one of his armchairs and sat down with a scroll of parchment. Leda followed his glance to where the outfit she had been wearing when she arrived two days ago was setting, clean and neatly folded, waiting for her.

That man, she thought, is going to be the death of me. This had now ceased to be teasing and had officially become torture. He wasn’t trying to get her naked. He was just making her change her clothes before she went on this stupid errand of his.

Fine, she decided now royally pissed off, two can play this game.

Leda gathered up her clothes and saw that her Muggle boots were on the floor next to the sofa. Malfoy wasn’t even looking at her anymore. She could change that.

Leda stomped over to where Malfoy was sitting. She stood directly in front of his chair and pulled her robe off letting it drop to the floor. The office apparently wasn’t enchanted with the same spell as Malfoy’s bedchamber so her robe fell to her feet in a soft pile. Still, Malfoy didn’t look up.

She stepped closer.

Leda unbuttoned her shirt slowly, taking her time with each button and each cuff. She slid it provocatively off her arms and threw it at Malfoy’s feet. Nothing.

That bastard must be made of ice.

Leda’s skirt was next and now she was standing in nothing but her bra and panties. Her camisole was constructed so she didn’t have to wear a bra with it. So that went next.

“Leda. . .” Finally, a flicker from him.

“Yes, Sir?” she asked pulling her camisole on with deliberate slowness.

“Do you have any idea how many times I have had women attempt to seduce me in my life?”

Millions, she guessed. Although she didn’t say that out loud. She wasn’t in the mood to stroke his ego. Not just his ego anyway.

“Enlighten me, please.” And, she added, tell me what worked. Please.

But Malfoy said nothing else. So Leda went back to work. She pulled on her skirt and tied her sweater around her waist. Time for the big guns.

Leda kicked off her shoes and pulled her boots on, tugging them up to her knees. They were riding style boots with laces running up the front from her ankle to her knee.

“Excuse me, Sir,” she said as she planted one booted foot firmly on the seat of the armchair right between Malfoy’s legs. That should at least get his attention. With exaggerated dexterity, Leda began pulling the laces as tight as a corset as she worked her way from the bottom to the top of her boot. She thought she had failed again. Malfoy still seemed infuriatingly unmoved.

But she was committed to this line of attack so she repeated the maneuver with her other foot. This time, however, when she put her foot between his legs Malfoy suddenly sat his scroll aside and began working on her laces himself. Leda crossed her arms over her thigh and watched his fingers as they deftly and quickly worked their way up her leg. She felt her body temperature rise a degree every time he yanked back on the laces to tighten the leather. When he reached the top he finished with a perfect bow. Leda remembered yesterday and caught his hand as he was lowering it. She was amazed that he didn’t pull away. But he only flashed amused eyes at her as she brought his wrist to her lips and kissed his skin.

“So have I seduced you?” she asked lightly as she brought her foot down and stood up.

“You never had to, Leda.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“Problem?” Malfoy stood and strode toward his desk. She was struck again by his casual authority and his sharp, excruciating beauty.

“Yeah, if you’re trying to seduce me, well, congratulations.” Leda followed him as he walked. “You’ve succeeded. I’m yours.”

“Of course you are.”

“That’s not what I mean. You could have had me last night. Actually, you probably could have had me the first night. Are you afraid you’re going to break me or something? I see the all-black, the leather,” she continued attempting to taunt him into further reaction. “I may be a virgin, but I’m not totally naïve. You’re into the rough stuff right? Whips and chains? I can take it.” Leda smiled and reached out to touch his chest but gasped when Malfoy seized her by the wrist and gripped her with his powerful hand. Pain radiated from her wrist throughout her whole body. This was a bit more reaction from him than she had bargained for.

“Whips and chains, Leda,” Malfoy hissed softly as he tightened his hold on her until she thought her wrist might snap, “are for the amateurs who lack the stomach to do it with their bare hands.”

Leda nearly buckled, panting and recoiling, under the pain. But something within her held firm, and she breathed through the agony until she was able to meet his eyes with a steady gaze of her own.

“Leda, have you never heard of tempting fate?” he asked gently, apparently taken aback by her show of strength.

Leda took another breath and laid her free hand on his chest. Finally, she found her voice again.

“Are you fate?”

She saw a flicker of something that might have been wonder, might have been fear, in Malfoy’s eyes. But he only smiled and released her wrist. Leda looked down and saw her wrist turn from white to red as the blood rushed back to her skin.

Malfoy stepped away from her and moved to stand behind his desk.

“Leda, I assure you,” he said evenly as he sifted through a pile of parchment, “there are sides of me you do not want to see.”

“There’s one side of you I know I really do want to see,” she replied with a faint smile, deeply shaken but not undeterred by her glimpse into his darker side. The pain was quickly receding leaving behind only a dull ache.

“Not tonight, Leda. It isn’t time yet.”

“And when will it be time, if I may ask?” Leda was now looking up at Malfoy after turning around to drape herself impudently across the desk.

“Certainly not when you’re wearing those--”

“Appalling Muggle clothes. . .” she finished with an exasperated sigh as she rolled up off the desk to her feet again.

“Exactly.”

“Oh, please,” she said sarcastically as she flipped the back of her skirt up to flash him, “you know I turn you on.”

“And to think,” he sighed, “it was but a few minutes ago that I questioned your powers of subtlety . . .”

“It’s your own fault for being so gorgeous. You really are just asking for it. No jury would ever convict me.” Leda spun to face him again.

“Leda.”

“Yes, Master Malfoy,” she said with a twinkling grin.

“Work.”

“Oh, fine. Work, work, work. What am I doing?”

“Other than giving me cause to repent the day of my birth, you are going into London where an associate of mine will be waiting with a package. You will simply take the package, give him this,” he said handing her the envelope, “and bring it back to me.”

“Sounds easy enough. What’s the catch? You said this required some delicacy.”

“The wizard you are meeting is named Ulysses. He works in both the Magic and Muggle worlds.”

“Ulysses. Swings both ways. Gotcha.”

“And he is not a man to be trifled with.”

“Check. Ix-nay on the ifling-tray.”

“Leda, he will not be nearly as forgiving toward your antics as I have been.”

Leda felt a quick rush of fear at the icy warning in Malfoy’s voice.

“Am I in danger here?” she asked in a rare moment of good sense.

“There are very few wizards in the world more dangerous than Ulysses,” Malfoy said as he sat the desk again. Leda noticed he had a thick, sealed envelope in his hands. He gave her a vaguely reassuring smile. “I happen to be one of them.”

Leda heard nothing in his assertion that could be called boasting. She had no doubt at that moment that Malfoy was simply stating the simple fact of the matter.

“Comforting,” Leda nodded trying to dispel a slight case of the shivers. “But if you’re so worried about me behaving myself, why don’t you just send Aquila or another one of your worshipers.”

“Aquila is not familiar with Muggle London, Leda. And even if he was,” Malfoy paused meaningfully, “he hasn’t quite recovered yet.”

“Recovered?” Leda asked coming around the desk to sit next to Malfoy on the edge. She just realized that it had been two days since she’d seen Malfoy’s gray-robed servant. “Did he catch the Wizard Flu?”

“He raised his wand to you, Leda. And I while I sympathize with the impulse,” Malfoy explained with an ironic tilt of his eyebrow at her, “I will not tolerate any harm coming to you. I am quite certain he knows that now.”

“What did you do to him?” Leda asked, stunned by this vicious and unexpected protective streak in Malfoy. Why the hell was she so important to him? It didn’t make any sense.

“No permanent damage was done, Leda, I assure you. Ulysses will arrive at nine o’clock sharply at Chelsea___. Do you know it?”

“Yeah, quite well actually.”

“Ulysses will be waiting there with something for you. Give him this and bring what he gives you back to me.”

“Cool. Wait, nine? That’s in less than half an hour. How am I getting there?”

“Did Hestia explain port keys to you?”

“Yes. Reluctantly.”

Malfoy finished detailing his instructions to her. Leda listened intently. Despite her earlier flippant attitude, she was determined to succeed at this errand of his. She was still totally frustrated with him but only because she was totally enamored of him.

“So, where’s my port key?” she asked after he had finished his explanation.

Malfoy pointed his finger to indicate a chair behind her. She turned and saw her small battered backpack now sitting there. It was something else she hadn’t seen since the night she arrived. But since it contained nothing of value, she hadn’t worried about its disappearance.

“Genius,” she said with a smile as she strolled over the chair and picked up her bag slinging it over her shoulder. “I wondered where it went. A girl needs her cherry-vanilla flavored lip-gloss. Well, not this girl, I suppose. It isn’t like anyone has been kissing on me or anything. So when do I leave?”

“In about five minutes, Leda,” Malfoy said coming out of his chair to walk calmly toward her.

“Five minutes. Enough time for another run through my instructions, do you think?”

“I trust you know what you are doing, Leda. And I had something else in mind to pass the time.”

“Another lecture on--” she started to ask but was abruptly interrupted when Malfoy raised his hand to the back of her head and pulled her mouth to his. Leda was too astonished at first to even kiss him back. She just stood there, awestruck and trembling, as Malfoy slowly delved into her mouth. He tasted like wine and fire and Leda moaned unabashedly into him. She felt like he was inside her again as waves of pleasure spiked and spiraled through her body. He brought his other hand around her and drew her effortlessly to him, trapping her against his body with his powerful arms. She thought she would faint when she felt his tongue slip into her mouth before he suddenly released her and took a step back.

Leda tried to catch her breath as she saw his eyes flit to the clock and back to her.

“Watch your back, Leda,” he said in a final warning.

She felt a smile the size of the English Channel spread across her flushed face.

“I’d rather watch yours.”

There was a sudden jerk, a rush of wind, and Leda was standing in a deserted London alley.

She checked her watch. She still had a few minutes until nine. So she allowed herself one minute of exultant, ecstatic dancing in celebration of the most absurdly incredible kiss she had ever experienced in her life. After one last exuberant pirouette, Leda forced herself to focus on the task at hand. She skipped out of the alley and onto the busy, evening street.

Her mood of erotic intoxication was immediately dispelled by the shock of banality as she gazed at the scene surrounding her. Leda felt very odd being thrust so suddenly back into the Muggle world. She knew it had only been two days since she left this world behind but as she looked around at the cars, the shops, the people and phone boxes, she felt as if she was walking around in someone else’s bad dream.

She had a new reality now--a tall, blond, devastatingly handsome new reality. It was a reality she left only two minutes ago, but she was already impatient to get back to it.

Her only complaint was how young and gauche Malfoy and all his worldly, magical sophistication made her feel. And with one tiny tilt of his ironic eyebrow, he could make her feel like a naughty 12 year old caught misbehaving.

Knowledge is power, she told herself. So what do I know that he doesn’t?

Well, he did need her to navigate through the Muggle world for him. Surely there were all sorts of Muggle things he knew nothing about. She tried listing them in her mind to bolster her confidence. By the time she got to the electric slide, how to program a VCR, and all the words to Supertramp’s “Goodbye Stranger” she had reached the corner that was her destination.

She paused, checked her watch again, and turned around scanning the street for anyone who looked like a dangerous wizard not to be trifled with.

“Don’t you look. . .” Leda spun on her heel at the sound of a voice she had never heard before. A man, about thirty and handsome but for his smarmy smirk, had appeared in the shadows outside the streetlamp. “. . .familiar,” he finished, smiling as if he had just made some marvelously clever joke.

“Excuse me?” she asked, astonished by his Wall Street attire and Hollywood smile. “And you are. . .?”

“Enchanted,” he said stepping toward her to offer his hand. She reached out to shake it but it brought her hand to his lips instead. She tried to pull her hand back but he flipped it over to glance at her palm before releasing it with a smile. “And Ulysses. This way please. Leda, isn’t it? ”

Leda nodded and followed him into a dingy looking storefront the appeared to be a defunct restaurant. Inside, however, she was astonished to find a palatial office suite, all white-walled and antiseptic. She hated it. She missed Malfoy’s office, the ebony wood and the ancient tapestries. And this Ulysses person, despite his charming façade, just made her feel a little sick to her stomach. He was like Tom Cruise, she decided, but without the expensive dental work.

She stood awkwardly in the middle of floor and waited for Ulysses to give her whatever it was she was supposed to take back to Malfoy. This was too easy, she thought. Malfoy could have so done this himself. Lazybones.

Ulysses was making idle and inane chitchat as he flipped through some manila file folders until he pulled out an antique looking envelope of his own.

He sauntered toward her and stood much too close for Leda’s comfort and she started digging in her backpack as a way of avoiding his crass gaze.

“He’ll never be able to keep you. Not a thing like you anyway. He’s a fool to try,” Ulysses said cryptically as he continued his appraisal of Leda.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Sir,” she replied, slightly outraged. “And maybe I’ve only known Mr. Malfoy for a couple of days but I seriously doubt that he’s a fool in any way.”

“Oh, I suppose not,” he sighed but did not move away. “You must be the fool then.”

“That’s a distinct possibility,” she conceded.

“Look at you,” he said with a cold smile. “You’re half in love with him already.”

“My feelings for Mr. Malfoy are hardly any of your business. Now may I please have whatever you’re supposed to give me. I’d like to get home now.”

“So your prison has become your home, has it?” Leda breathed as a sigh of relief as Ulysses finally stepped away from her. He picked up the envelope off his desk and handed it to Leda. She dug in her bag for the one Malfoy had given her and warily gave it to Ulysses. He tossed it offhandedly onto his desk and turned cold eyes back to Leda. “Give Malfoy a message for me.”

“Fine. What’s the message?” Leda asked as she starting backing away from Ulysses. She really really did not like this guy.

“Tell him ten thousand for the blood. And one hundred thousand for the chance to take it myself.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“He’ll know. Just tell him.”

“Great. Sure. Not a problem. I’m outta here,” Leda gave a dismissive wave and turned to leave. She stopped when she heard Ulysses call out after her.

“Just a moment, Leda.”

She felt frozen in spot as he came to stand behind her. She could only move enough to cringe and shudder as she felt his hand slide over her stomach.

“After you leave him,” he whispered in her ear. Leda thought she would be sick as she felt his breath on her skin. “You can always come stay with me.”

“Let me go,” she ordered fighting off a wave of fear and nausea.

“Of course,” he said genially as stepped back away from her. Leda felt her body relax as whatever was holding her fell away. “No harm done.”

She entertained notions of turning and kicking him one of the more sensitive parts of his body. But she just wanted to get away from him. Without another word she ran from the office and tore down the street indifferent to the curious stares of the people she passed as she made her way back to her alley.

Leda checked her watch as she ran and saw it was only a minute until her portkey/backpack was to send her back to Malfoy Manor.

She stood pacing in the darkened alley. She was terrified that Ulysses had followed her. Leda tried to calm down and think about the cryptic remarks he had made. What did he mean by “a thing like you”? Oh, he was so vile she didn’t even want to think about it.

Leda felt a sudden tug and was grateful for the rush of wind that followed. She closed her eyes as she flew back knowing that when she opened them again she be back in Malfoy’s office.

She felt a soft thud as her feet hit the ground. Leda opened her eyes and saw Malfoy sitting at his desk thumbing through yet another book.

“Just so you know, Mr. Wizard,” Leda began as she stepped toward him and threw her backpack on the desk in front of him. Malfoy glanced down at her backpack and up to her livid, scared face. “I am never doing another errand for you again.”

After Leda had calmed down, she was able to relate the whole incident to Malfoy. He listened quietly and kissed her on the forehead before giving her leave to take a bath. Ulysses had only touched her stomach but she felt polluted by him. She told the whole story again to Sisyphus who was keeping watch over her as she soaked in her bath.

“And can you believe, Beans, that he told me I could come live with him after I left Mr. Wizard? How creepy and gross is that? Look at you,” she repeated in a mocking tone, “you’re half in love with already. What an oily tick! Blech.”

Leda dressed for bed after drying her hair and picked up Sisyphus. When she returned to Malfoy’s bedroom, she found he was already in bed. Even in her lingering agitation, she was nearly overwhelmed by the sight of his naked arms and long hair laying in such exquisite relief against the black sheets.

“What are you doing with Sisyphus, Leda?” Malfoy asked as he opened his eyes.

“Beans has had a very hard day,” she testily told Malfoy who was looking at her with bemused and amused eyes. “And despite his difficult day, he was given neither milk nor cookies. Nor was he told that he was a very good and lovely girl, um, cat. And he really doesn’t feel like sleeping alone tonight. So I told him he could sleep with me. Is that okay with you?”

“No, it isn’t.”

Oh, how rude, she thought. I do his dirty work and then I don’t even get to sleep with his cat.

“And why not?”

“Because Leda,” Malfoy said throwing back the covers in an invitation. “Sisyphus is not allowed in my bed.”