A CHANGE IN THE WIND
When Vera walked into her office next morning she was suspicious to find the two boys who loathed her give her a curt nod and wish her good morning.
Though she replied with pleasantries of her own she was definitely not accustomed to them being polite.
They did everything that was asked of them with little argument, held doors open for her and made her feel increasingly uncomfortable.
They had to choose and pick the content for the issue and the discussion went by smoothly.
Although they did offer reasonable inputs they didn't oppose her. It wasn't a battle like it always was with them.
Vera didn't know what to make of their changed personalities.
So she took it to the man who might be able to clear the air for her.
Draco Malfoy glanced up when Vera peeked into his room "May I enter?"
He smiled "Of course, what's going on up there?"
She sat down "Sir, they're being nice to me"
He leaned forward intrigued "But you told me that they positively hate you"
She nodded sighing "That's what I don't get, they were perfectly cooperative today"
He grinned "It's a ploy my dear, they want to give you a false sense of security"
She said "I know nobody changes out of the blue like that, it's too fishy"
"Whatever you do don't let your guard down, push them to breaking point. If they're being nice you be smarter and get more work done. Don't trust those two"
She looked at him "I won't, by the way we did choose the content and the cover's ready"
He nodded "Good good…..you just keep working like you are and those two won't stand a chance"
Al and Scorp were in his office with their newest version of the extendable ears.
Scorpius gasped "She has us under her thumb"
Al grinned "Well we'll see who'll fool who"
Scorpius said to him "Somehow I feel like we're going to do something really wrong"
Scorpius then looked at Al with an evil glint in his grey eyes "I did some finding out and guess what?'
Al looked at him waiting and Scorpius said "She's an orphan she lives alone and she worked for Daily Prophet as a student writer from the age of fourteen but she stayed under the radar, the articles she wrote had no name of the reporter she's been digging up dirt since she was really young"
Al nodded his mind processing the information while Scorpius continued standing behind his desk "She doesn't associate with wizards too much. Nobody knows if she's a pure-blood, half-blood or muggle. I guess she's never had much of an identity. We knew almost every student at Hogwarts, even if we didn't bother them we knew them but we had no clue who she was"
It was interesting, Scorpius was correct. They didn't know she existed a week ago, but how could they have not? It was almost like a joke.
Al hated when he missed something and if she had to stay so hidden from them she must have to be very intelligent because Al didn't believe in luck.
Their competition it seemed was of their caliber.
Vera stepped back to her floor and called the attention of every one present in the office, work was halted while Vera told the crowd with clasped hands "Sorry to interrupt your work but there has been an announcement from Draco Malfoy"
Scorpius and Al exchanged looks, they hadn't heard anything of the sort through the extendable ears.
She said looking at the crowd that had gathered "Our dead line for the first issue has been moved up to Saturday next week and this means we really have to move fast. We already have a lot done, we just have to get all our hands together and make this happen. Bring your best. Back to work!"
The crowd dispersed engaging in whispered conversations about the sudden change in plans.
Scorpius burst into Vera's office a few minutes later and slammed the table with his hand "What…..the…hell are you trying to do? How much is Dad paying you?"
She looked calmly up at him "Mr. Malfoy I must ask you to maintain decorum, sit down"
He shook with fury "Quit the act, you don't care about the magazine you care about the money you're getting for sabotaging our magazine"
She looked out her window "I do care about the magazine, it definitely has potential but we're going to have to pull out all the stops"
He asked trying to maintain his temper "What are you playing at what has my father conspired? We had a plan, you're doing everything in your power to ruin us"
She said sharply "Your idea of ruination is skewed, I'm paving the path of greatness for you. Mary Higgins Mr. Malfoy is your creation and I will never take the credit for it but don't you think it's a little silly to be relying on a customer base of teenage school girls to make sales? Isn't it reasonable to make a magazine that will move the entire England if not the world with some of the best reveals?"
He closed his eyes and let out a breath "We'll end up closing down, we'll get one issue out and then shut down do you think it's easy to make numerous reveals at once? After all you were a student reporter for Daily Prophet you made some astonishing reveals, you've put a few people in jail you tell me how hard it is"
She was shell shocked he knew, he knew it all. Scorpius Malfoy knew how to pull a trigger and when.
His ambitions were not going down the drain because of her.
She ignored him and continued "I was hoping we could scrap the plan for a daily issue and make a monthly issue instead. Offer lifetime subscriptions. And then impromptu reveals could be made through the month, the ones that are small through a simple newsletter to keep the readers hooked. We work separately nobody will know who we are. Make everyone here sign a secrecy contract which will keep them anonymous writers and even we will be anonymous. This is my offer"
Scorpius stared at her, how could she be so undeterred when he knew about her identity?
Was this her façade?
He told her "I'm not going to say that's a bad idea but this magazine was our idea, our creation"
She stood up and walked towards him "But don't you think it could be improved?"
He shook his head "This magazine was supposed to be temporary and if I told you more I'd have to kill you"
She smirked just as evilly as the boys "If you told me I could help you but right now you both are the ones with the lower hand"
Scorpius' jaw clenched "Just because my father has put you in charge it doesn't mean that you can top Al and me. You couldn't reveal our dealings in school, all of it was illegal and you know it. And you won't be able to now. Why don't you pass on the message to the old man?"
She smiled "I didn't have the resources I have now and now I have you two in chains"
He scoffed "I love your false sense of power. You can put the tiger in the cage darling but can't tame it"
She smiled holding a finger up then pointed at herself "But you forget that I have the keys to your cage, so my advice is….behave"
He turned to go "Don't get too cocky"
She smiled "I won't don't worry"
He walked out leaving her there wondering how much these two knew about her. They'd use everything against her.
If she let down her guard even once they'd rip her into bits.
She had to find out what their plans were, even if it meant getting in with them.
If only her unexpected twists would keep surprising them until she found out exactly what their deal was.
She'd failed when she was fifteen but this time it was so on.
Al and Scorp were losing every little bit of control they had to the nightmare of a woman.
Their tempers had reached boiling point.
They couldn't do anything to beat her soon enough. She was slowly pushing them far from their goals.
A temporary magazine was suddenly becoming a permanent thing.
Their plans were turning into dust.
It had seemed so easy in the beginning to take over every magazine and newspaper out there to create and empire of their own but it now felt like they were going to end up being a secret subsidiary for the rest of their lives with no credit to their name.
How were they to reach the top after signing a secrecy contract which would strip them of the limelight they had aimed for?
Anonymity was not something that appealed to either of them, they'd grown up in famous families they knew nothing but limelight.
Without it they wouldn't have any of the advantages they had.
They loved taking credit even if it was not theirs to take but they hated someone else stealing their credit.
They were a breed of hypocrites of the highest order.
The day at the office came to a hurried end but work needed to get done with the new deadline a few days away.
Vera had had a tough day.
She was leaving the building when Albus sidled up to her "I have to have a word with you"
She gave him an unimpressed glance "It can wait till tomorrow"
She tried walking away from him but he caught her hand bag and pulled her back "I said I had to talk to you"
She glared at him "Mr. Potter this is a work place and I will not tolerate this behavior. Now you're going to let my bag go and I'm going to go home and you will go wherever it is you loiter at this time. I will see you in my office tomorrow at ten"
He let her bag go and she left out the doors.
A little distance away from the building Albus stopped in front of her and she almost bumped into him, she stepped back away from him and his stern eyes "What the hell?! I told you to leave me alone"
He stepped closer to her "This isn't the office"
She said "Ok I'm listening what is it?"
He looked over her head at the building then said "Come with me"
She shook her head "No I'm not stupid enough to do that, I'm going home"
He warned her "Then I'm going to have to invite myself over for dinner"
She wanted to slap him "Look Potter I have had it up to here with you and your best friend. I'm going to get angry and then I might have to go to Azkaban for killing you so just save whatever you have to say for my office tomorrow"
He told her "You don't understand it's important"
She asked "Is it about the magazine?"
He answered "A little bit"
She rolled her eyes "A little bit isn't good enough so I'm sorry I can't help you right now"
He took hold of her hand and before she could protest said "I'm sorry that I have to do this"
He apparated them to an alley somewhere in the middle of nowhere and she would have hit the ground if he hadn't had her hand in his.
She furiously pulled her hand away "Are you planning to kill me? I wouldn't put it past you!"
He smirked amused by her temper "Unfortunately no"
She waited and he said "I like your plan better, I really do"
She laughed "Okay something is seriously wrong with you! You brought me here to tell me that?"
He continued ignoring her "Look I'm willing to work with you, because if I have to gamble on one of you that is you and Scorp I'd put my money on you"
She didn't trust him in the slightest "What do you take me for? I'm not buying it Potter, so you're going to feed me some bullshit and expect me to let you destroy me?"
He shook his head in shock "No! I'm saying the truth"
She smiled "I'm no stranger to lies. What do you want? It's better if you're straightforward, it suits you"
He looked at her and smiled back "I want you to rely on me to carry out the magazine like you want….no strings attached"
She looked at him "Rely on you? I know a double crosser when I see one"
He smirked "You do your reveals and whatever you want, whatever you want. But….."
She chuckled "I love the sound of a catch"
He ploughed on "But….I want you to let Scorpius and me to take credit for it, to let us communicate with the investors and call the shots. You do the magazine the way you want secrecy contracts and everything. The magazine is entirely yours we'll approve every decision you make we give you complete liberty. But we do the talking and we get to have the connections. We'll have a contract ready for tomorrow. We'll be call it…silent bosses. I assure you, you will still be communicating with Draco Malfoy. You'll be commanding the workforce. The only change is that you get a paycheck and not a percentage of profits. Think about it you'll have a magazine of your own kind with no one to stop you. We'll keep out of your way….."
She was amazed with his brain.
She couldn't see the little holes. She racked her mind but she couldn't see any hidden agenda.
She said "You basically just want to be at the top but I still get all the power? You get the limelight and I get the entire creative freedom and resources"
He nodded "Sounds about right, we can work out the finer points. I'm sure you'll do a great job without having to argue with us every day. We'll stay out of your way"
She said "I-I need to think about it"
He smiled "Of course….whatever you need"
She looked at him suspiciously and he told her "You don't have to trust me, but do I look like a man who goes back on his word?"
"No but you're a man who can twist anyone's words" She retorted.
He smirked "Ah you caught me"
She told him not amused at all "I'm leaving now"
"No one's stopping you"
She was about to apparate when he said "You like being invisible? Now you don't have to worry, you'll always be"
She paused and for the first time she didn't appreciate her invisibility, she wanted to be seen.
But then again she knew no other life.
When she left Albus felt relief, he'd been successful. If he couldn't get rid of her he could still overtake her.
She could have the magazine, he didn't give a shit about that but he needed to reach the top and no one could stop him from doing that.
Check mate, in this peculiar game of chess the Queen was the target and the King was the one with all the power and that's how it was supposed to be.
AN: I'm getting nothing as a reaction to this story.
So I'm going to have to ask seriously, should I continue it? Because I really don't want it to be a boring read.
You can always let me know in a simple PM if you don't feel like reviewing. But this is just a question. No offences taken whatever your answer will be because nobody has to like everything I write.
I don't want to disappoint anybody that's all. I know it's a bit serious but I guess my tastes are just a bit different, I'm a little bored of writing romantic comedies.
Thanks for reading!
Sahitya Poonacha :)