Another story popped into my mind as I was writing another one. They have nothing to do with eachother...oh how I love ADD!!!
Please review!
As usual...JK Rowling owning everything...Me owning nothing...
In the dark steamy purple of a London night, a lone shadow scuttled across the wet stones. Each step it took echoed damply across the deserted alley and each foggy breath puffed away quickly.
An unsteady heartbeat of wheels in puddles came from the next street over breaking the soggy silence and causing the black shape to freeze with every vehicles passing. The shadow would hop gently from stone to stone in complete silence between cars, its shoes the only noise.
A burst of song tumbled toward the figure and it leapt with surprised grace to the nearest doorway. An obese man, heavy with drink, swayed down the alley, caressing the moldy walls for support. He sang of a lost love, huge lungs stopping only to hiccup or burp, which he would excuse himself of to no one.
The man faded as did his song, and a white cloud of air escaped from the doorframe. The figure wanted to sag with relief but it moved on.
Its hood quivered as the head hidden beneath the fabric searched for something. The figure paused, head tiled upward towards a sign one building down. It was an eye, with a rectangle boxing it in, with a small star in the top left corner. Having found what it was looking for, the body let itself into the corresponding entrance below.
In the darkness, the figure halted, scared for the first time that night. It had felt the presence of another being in the same room. Pain slammed into its neck as the cloaked figure was lifted from the ground.
"Business?" A thick, stupid voice grumbled at the figure out of the blackness. Unable to answer, the pain came again as the thing doing the choking decided to shake the answer out of its captor. The hood fell back, revealing a blonde and very red man. "Business!" The voice demanded, louder. Light soaked the room then, blinding the man's sight.
A silky woman's voice came towards the pair. "Moth, let him go please, he's just a customer, aren't you?" The man felt a new pain as he landed on the ground. Gasping, the man rubbed his neck and tried to adjust to the light.
The woman's voice came again. "You should have knocked. And put your hood back on, I don't want to see your face." Hastily doing what she said, the man scrambled to his feet and inched towards the light filled door, taking the path farthest away from his attacker as possible. Looking back just as the woman shut the door, the man could make out a huge shape with…
Fur? Wings? What is that thing?
"Come on," the woman said sharply. "You're late."
"My apologies-" he started to stammer out.
"Shove it," snapped the dangerous looking woman. "I don't care." The man was taken aback, but he followed her quickly anyway. She stopped abruptly at a door on their left and placed her hand on the handle then turned to the man, but kept her eyes downcast.
"Rule One: I do not want to know who you are, so don't talk to me or show me your face. Rule Two: Do not touch anything; you will have to do more any pay for the thing you touch. Rule Three: Do not cheat me. I know when I'm being played and so does my bodyguard you met already and I don't think you want another run in with him. I'm going to open this door, you are going to look at the middle table and nothing else and you are going to point to the ones you want. You will then wait patiently outside while I pack them up for you. Do not think about going anywhere, Moth will be outside with you."
The man gulped, and the woman smiled. "When I give you your envelope, I will shut the door. Moth will take you back to the lobby and you will pay him. Understand?" The man nodded. "Ready?" The man nodded again. The woman opened the door and snapped it shut so quickly, that it clipped the heels of the man walking into the room.
Two days earlier:
Draco Malfoy did not look good. Poverty did not suit him at all, especially not his clothes. But he was a great pretender and of course still had his wand. However, money was what he really wanted, what he needed.
Sitting at a muggle coffee shop was what he was reduced to and he hated it completely. But the exchange rate was in the wizards favor and Draco was in no position to pass up food or drink of any kind.
Already he had sucked down two plain coffees and was busy shoving his face full of a sloppily buttered scone. Remembering himself as he neared the end of his pathetic breakfast, he tried to retain some dignity by wiping his mouth distinguishably on his paper napkin and haughtily dropping the muggle banknotes on the table before strolling confidently out of the shop.
But he didn't feel confident, in fact he felt like shit. Bloody awful, he thought to himself as he stopped at a street corner to light a cigarette with magic, shielding his wand with a bulky trench coat and a hunch of his shoulder.
Inhaling a dose of nerve calming bliss, Draco relaxed for a moment, letting his back sag against the lamppost and breathing the smoke out his nose.
"Hey mister, you got a light?" A syrupy voice floated out of the alley, a voice that Draco didn't recognize.
Coughing furiously, the tall blonde whipped around to face a tall wizard, the handsome face holding a smirk that could put even Draco's famed sneers to shame. His heart flipped from surprise.
"What the hell do you want?" Draco thought he recognized him from somewhere but he wasn't sure. A Death Eater circle maybe? He wracked his brains trying to look composed. A Malfoy family party? He was at a loss.
"Why, Mr. Malfoy, I want you." The young man drawled with a voice of someone much older. "Or rather, we want you, that is, my employers and I are in want of your potential services.
Draco snorted at this. "Potential services…"
The man's grin dropped off his face. "We have a job for you Malfoy, a job that will pay you well, and considering your…" he gave Draco a once-over. "Your…circumstances, it seems as if you need us just a s much as we need you."
Draco inhaled more smoke and smelled the chance of money in addition to a purpose. Sighing, Draco relented. "What am I going to…do?"
The man smiled, a dark reptilian grin sliding across his finely angled face.