Title: A Spot of Trouble
Name: rainpuddle13 (rainpuddle13 at gmail dot com)
Website: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/littleyellowduck/
Journal: http://rainpuddle13.livejournal.com/
Rating: Mature/R/Naughty
Characters/Ships: Draco/Ginny
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various
publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc.
No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Notes: This story is not related to my Tangled Web story arc in any way, shape or form. I
took a little break from my normal fare (and apparently my senses) to write some total crackfic. Thanks to nokomis305
for the beta and suggestions as always. This one is for you girl! Thanks to dragonsangel68 for even more suggestions,
and for actually liking it. Originally inspired by the song "Take the Money and Run" by the Steve Miller Band
and the hurricane season.
Summary: Bill discovers that his little sister is in a spot more trouble than he could have ever imagined.
A Spot of Trouble - Chapter 3
~*~
They just had to have brain between the two of them, didn't they?
Bill viciously balled up another police report, this time from Boston, Massachusetts, detailing a bank robbery where there were no witnesses, and no evidence, besides a few seconds on a grainy security feed of a man with light colored hair, who seems to be able to appear out of thin air in the vault. He was no closer to them now than he was three months ago, when the first report had crossed his desk.
This made bank number five. All told, they had managed to take $25,000 American dollars without leaving so much as a fingerprint.
They were getting bolder, taking more money with each previous success, and never the newly printed money in bundles, but older money not in sequential order. Someone had obviously done their homework. He was just thankful that it was always Malfoy, and never his baby sister, who seemed to be doing the all the dirty work.
Bill had sat back and waited for them to try to exchange the funds. And waited. It had never occurred to him before that Malfoy would take to living like Muggle, but then again Ginny was with him. She was definitely the brains of this operation. It was the only explanation in Bill's opinion. There was no way that Malfoy could survive among the Muggles alone. None. Zero. Zip. Nada.
Apparently, he'd been underestimating them from day one.
He uncorked a glass phial full of a thick pink potion and drank deeply; he just knew he was going to have ulcers by the time all was said and done. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and got back to the business at hand. He was due in Leland Thornbury's office in ten minutes to discuss the plan for meeting with the Yank Auror assigned to assist them with the case. The Yank didn't seem keen to be working with a loss prevention officer and a curse breaker from Gringotts.
As if it needed to be anymore unpleasant than it already was.
Bill just wanted to put a stop this before his sister got herself into more trouble than she was already in. He could still help her at this point, but he didn't know how much longer the window of opportunity would be open. Thornbury understood that time was the essence, but this Yank - Ms. Kingston - didn't seem all that concerned about Ginny. She just wanted the case closed. She was going to a thorn in his side, he could just feel it. It was enough to make him contemplate downing the entire phial of antacid potion.
The door to his office flew open, rattling loudly against the stone wall as his secretary fell through, followed by a tall, imposing looking witch. "I'm sorry, Bill, but she wouldn't take no for an answer."
"Mrs. Malfoy," Bill said, trying to keep his voice even. "What do I owe this pleasure?"
Narcissa Malfoy, the epitome of cool elegance with her upswept blond hair and tailored deep blue robes, strode purposefully into his cluttered office. Her icy blue eyes strayed neither right nor left as she took the only other seat in the room across from his desk. She had returned to England just about the time her husband went on trial for being a Death Eater.
"I think you know why I'm here," she all but hissed at him, while looking at him as if he were something unpleasant on the sole of her shoe. "I understand you have some information on the whereabouts of my son and that little redheaded hussy he ran off with."
Bill pinched the bridge of his nose hard while reminding himself that it wasn't polite to murder wealthy b- witches. Not to mention his employers really frowned upon the untimely death of one of their best customers at the hands of one of their employees. He simply did not need deal with her holier-than-thou attitude first thing in the morning, especially when his mind was otherwise occupied with how to save his sister from an all but certain prison term.
"That is my sister you're speaking of," he said quietly, feeling the need to defend Ginny. She was the victim here, even if he was the only one could see it.
"Your point being?" Narcissa Malfoy challenged.
"She's my sister."
"It doesn't change the fact that she somehow convinced my son to raid the family vaults and go on a world tour," she said icily. "She's a harlot and a thief."
Bill snorted in disbelief. It amused him to no end that she apparently was under some sort of delusion that her son was the innocent victim in this matter. "Your son made off with my sister not the other way around."
She settled back in the chair, making herself right at home in his office. Bill's eyes were immediately drawn to a flash of creamy flesh when she crossed her legs. "What on earth could she possibly have to offer for him to abscond with her?"
"I'm not sure, but if I were to hazard a guess I would think love and affection?" Oh god, did he really just admit that Ginny might actually love Malfoy? The world really was going to hell. "After all, his mother did abandon him to save her own hide, and left him to suffer at the mercy of the Ministry alone."
If his words had had any affect on Narcissa Malfoy, she certainly didn't show it. "I want my son home, now. He has family duties that can no longer be neglected."
"I'm sorry," Bill said smugly. "There's nothing I can do to help you."
She smiled one of those slow, deliberate smiles of someone who knew something he didn't and was about to hand him his arse on a silver patter. "That isn't what Connlach told me yesterday when he informed me you had been quietly looking into this matter for some time."
There was no way in bloody hell he was going to divulge the first bit of information to the likes of her. She was just trying to tip his hand anyway. "I have nothing concrete. I know where they've been, but I've never gotten close to them."
"That isn't true," Mrs. Malfoy drawled slowly. "Your dolt of a youngest brother and the Potter boy caught up to them in Algiers a year ago. Does no one in your little group know how to cast a simple Anti-Disapparition Jinx?"
"How did you know about that?" Deep down Bill knew it was wrong to hate a person, but the witch sitting across from him was making it exceedingly difficult to adhere to the virtues his mother had spent his entire childhood trying to instill in him. Surely there was a loophole for special cases…
"I retained the services of a private investigator immediately upon discovering my son was missing." She pulled a small package from her handbag, and with a tap of her wand, it expanded into an overstuffed folder she held onto tightly.
"Was this before or after you discovered he had raided the family vault?" Bill asked bitterly, suddenly feeling the urge to defend his sister's husband.
"Mr. Marlow made some interesting discoveries-"
The office door slammed open just then, his secretary stumbling through, followed by a very impatient wizard. "Good Merlin, man, you were supposed to meet me twenty minutes ago! Are you too busy swilling that pink stuff-"
"Sorry, Bill," the young witch stammered. "I tried to tell him you were in a meeting."
"It's all right, Kate. It's just as well he's here for this."
The handsome, dark-haired wizard made his way straight to Narcissa, right after giving Kate a wink and a promise to Floo her later, and took her hand. "I do believe my colleague here has been trying to keep all the lovely witches all to himself. Bill, didn't your mother teach you to share?"
She snatched her hand away and shot Bill a scathing look.
"Leland Thornbury, I'd like to introduce you to Mrs. Lucius Malfoy," Bill said dryly, a small smile ghosting at the corners of his mouth.
Thornbury looked thoroughly horrified, and took an immediate step back, before regaining his composure. "That's the Mum of the bloke that made off with your sister!"
"Yes, that is correct," Bill confirmed.
"I do believe it was your tarty sister that duped my son," Narcissa sniffed indignantly.
"Well, isn't this just a bit unpleasant," Thornbury observed pithily.
"You don't say?" Bill snapped, not even bothering to hide his irritation any longer. "She was about to give me a file that was compiled by her private investigator."
"You don't say?" echoed the other wizard, making himself a seat on the corner of the desk. "Anything that could prove helpful when we leap across the pond? I want have a leg up on that Auror."
"She hasn't given it to me yet."
Narcissa regarded them both with narrow, suspicious eyes. "Leap across the pond? Auror? You mean to tell me you know where Draco is in America?"
Bill tried to make a frantic, yet subtle, signal in an effort to get Thornbury to shut up. He didn't want Mrs. Malfoy getting involved until after the fact if he could help it. His family was bad enough, and he most certainly didn't need the high society Malfoys butting their noses into his investigation. The boy could hang for all he cared, but he was going to save his sister, even if it killed him in the process.
"We're going over this afternoon to follow up on some leads," Thornbury said, shifting into all-business mode. "What is in that file might prove useful enough that we'll be able to bring your son home to you."
"Is my son in some sort of trouble?" she demanded.
"No," Bill interceded quickly before his partner could even respond.
"Then why did you mention an Auror?"
"Just procedure, Mrs. Malfoy. We requested an Auror to help speed up the process and allow us access to information that might otherwise be unavailable to us."
She looked like she didn't want to believe them. "In my experiences, Aurors are never very helpful."
Bill had to bite his tongue to keep from responding to that. No, she wouldn't find Aurors very helpful at all, since they had a nasty habit of arresting her husband at every turn. He was sure the very idea of an Auror nosing around in her business was very unpleasant since her husband had recently beaten the charges against him. Although Bill was quite positive it was only a matter of time before he would be arrested again for something or another. And it couldn't happen to a nicer wizard as far as he was concerned.
"We need whatever help this Auror can provide us," he said, not feeling the slightest bit guilty for reveling in her obvious discomfort.
"Narcissa handed the thick file folder over to Thornbury before she rose from her seat. "I expect to be apprised of your findings weekly by owl while you are out of the country otherwise expect to see me in your office at nine o'clock every Monday morning for a full report."
"I'm under no obligation to share any information with you," Bill informed her.
"Connlach assured me that you'll be more than happy to share your findings with me. He is your superior, isn't he? I do understand that goblins can be rather nasty when their direct orders are not followed to the letter." She had said each and every word as if she was speaking to a naughty child in desperate need of a strong dose of discipline.
"Expect an owl from me sometime late next week," he ground out dryly. It was more than apparent that there was some higher deity out to get him. He was sure this was karmic payback for that little fling with the Egyptian Minister for Magic's daughter a few years ago. Honestly, how was he supposed to know she was about to be married if she didn't tell him?
"That was what I thought. I'll expect to hear from you next week then. Good day, gentlemen." She gave them a sneer of disapprove before taking her leave.
Bill scrubbed his face with his hands once he sat back down behind his desk. Things had just gone from bad to his worst nightmare in the span of fifteen minutes.
"What a witch!" Thornbury said in obvious enamored awe.
"Mmm," was all Bill could say without losing his job.
"And to think, I thought your Mum was a bit hairy," Thornbury said after a few moments to take everything in.
"At least with Mum you can see it coming."
"Yes, Mrs. Malfoy is quite the stealthily one isn't she? I must say the unveiled Connlach threat was nice form."
"Yes," Bill admitted begrudgingly. "I didn't see that one coming."
"So, do you think she wanted me? I definitely got that vibe." Thornbury looked expectantly at him.
"Wanted you dead maybe," Bill stated matter-of-factly, wanting to nip this business with Mrs. Malfoy in the bud. "She's the type of woman to off you in time for her tea."
Thornbury looked absolutely delighted at his prognosis of a potential relationship with the very married witch. "You have to admire that in a woman."
"It wasn't a challenge."
"What's a little threat of death? I'm sure I could've charmed her knickers off in a second if you hadn't been hanging about!"
"Need I remind you she's married to Voldemort's former right-hand man?"
"Isn't he in Azkaban? She must be terribly lonely, and I know just how to help alleviate that."
"For being the Head of Loss Prevention you certainly are oblivious nit. His solicitor had all charges dropped on a technicality a few months ago."
"Speaking of Azkaban, shouldn't be making our way to Heathrow?" Thornbury said, turning serious once more. "We have a date with Auror Kingston, and I know you're anxious to keep your sister from tacking on more years to her sentence."
Bill smiled weakly. "Ginny might prefer Azkaban to facing Mum."
~*~