Chapter 6

Draco and Calista Flooed right into the main entrance and reception area of The Fraternity office. They greeted the receptionist, Heidi, before heading into the elevator and took it down to the basement of the building. They strode into the large room, and split up in silent agreement.

Draco immediately headed for a large, mirror-fronted closet on the east wall of the room, the mirror panels sliding open silently with a wave of his wand. Draco took a navy blue suitcase from a nearby shelf and began to summon items from the closet, which housed rows and rows of clothing. A couple of Disillusionment Cloaks, protective dragon-hide boots and gloves, Shield Hats, cloaks and gloves packed themselves neatly into the suitcase.

Meanwhile, on the opposite end of the room, Calista was standing by a long, metal counter. She had pulled down a leather briefcase from the wall storage and opened it, checking its contents. It was a standard kit that most Fraternity members took along on overseas trips.

Small, glass vials of potions were held in place by leather straps on the inside cover of the briefcase, and Calista ran her eyes over each label, going through a mental checklist in her mind.

Polyjuice potion, Essence of Dittany, Skele-Gro, Veritaserum, Draught of Living Death and Pepper-up Potion...good, they're all here.

Calista seized a couple of spare wands, enchanted mouth and ear pieces, a box of Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, some Decoy Detonaters and a box of Bezoars, and threw them into the briefcase, before zipping it up and locking it with a complicated charm.

"That should be everything we need," she said, as Draco appeared next to her.

"We should drop these off back to my place or yours before going back to the office," Draco said.

"I'll take them to my place. The Portkey leaves from there anyway," Calista said. She took the suitcase from Draco and headed for the elevator with Draco just a few steps behind her.

They entered the elevator and stopped at the main entrance where Calista exited before giving Draco a wink, Draco replying with his signature smirk. Just before the elevator door closed again, a hand stopped it. Draco looked up and saw Heidi smiling brightly at him. "Draco, S just ordered me to tell you that he would like to see you in his office, now."

"Thank you," Draco said, without returning the bright smile that was still plastered all over Heidi's face.

"No problem." With that she removed her hand and the elevator doors closed.

Draco pressed the button at the top and was instantly transported to the 11th floor. He walked through a short hallway and opened the double doors of S's office. S was, as usual, sitting at his desk, going through a mountain of papers.

"Draco, come in," S said.

"I'm already in," Draco joked before sitting on the sofa in front of S. "Why did you call for me?"

S folded his hands in front of him before speaking calmly, "Draco, are you still helping your friend Blaise Zabini in assassinating his grandfather Oreste Zabini?"

Draco automatically looked confused, he was after all, a well trained assassin, one of the requirements in his field was to be an excellent liar.

"No, I'm not, after you refused to approve the case, I dropped it."

"Just as easily as that? Your friend didn't have any problems with your decision?"

"Your decision, not mine. Well, there was a little screaming and throwing of expensive wine bottles, but it's all good now," Draco lied easily.

"Then how do you explain the Portkey you reserved to Marseilles two days from now?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Mr. Zabini will be attending an annual meeting in Marseille approximately a week from now. Now, I've given Calista my consent on this trip, but that's before I knew this fact. Do you have an explanation for this, Draco?"

"S, I assure you the reason Calista and I are going to France has nothing to do with the Zabinis," Draco replied.

S glanced down at Draco through his glasses. "I'm sorry, but what case are you investigating in France?"

Draco knew he had to tell the truth. "It's an unsolved case from a while ago, regarding both Calista and myself. I'm sure you remember the assassination attempt that was made on my life three months ago?"

S nodded, and Draco continued. "Well, after some research, we have reason to believe that the assassin can be traced back to Alberte Mouraient, therefore we are heading to his birth country to try to find out more."

"I see. And what exactly does Calista have to do with all this?" S asked.

"Well, sir, we didn't want to worry you, but two weeks ago, Calista was also targeted by an assassin that seems to have come from the same organisation as the one that tried to kill me."

S raised his eyebrows, then nodded. "All right, I see this trip has nothing to do with Mr Zabini. But Draco, I told Calista I'd give you two only a week off, and that still holds true. You have many other cases to take care of when you return."

"Yes, sir," Draco answered, and stood up to leave.

"Oh, Draco?" S called as Draco was stepping out of the office. "Be careful in France, both of you. I'd hate to lose two of my best assassins."

Draco looked back with a smirk. "Of course, S."

Draco took the elevator back down to the 10th floor, and found Calista already back in her office.

"What did S want?" she asked without looking up.

"Reasons why we're going to France. He thought we were going to murder Oreste Zabini," Draco said, collapsing into a chair. "So I told him the real reason."

Calista sighed, setting down her quill. "I suppose it won't hurt if he knew."

Draco nodded in agreement.

"Oh, by the way, I was wondering why you packed all those extra dragon-hide boots, cloaks and other apparel. We're only investigating for a week you know, not a month."

"Just precaution. Especially with my mother in France, you never know what's going to happen." Draco shrugged.

"Yeah, but what you did was raid the office supply."

Again Draco just shrugged. Calista rolled her eyes and gave up getting a real answer from Draco.

"Cali."

"Hmm?"

"Let's get lunch."

"But we already ate and it's just past breakfast time," Calista replied in confusion.

"Then let's have a long brunch." With that he pulled Calista's hand and exited her office and the office building.

Draco Apparated them away instantly as soon as they were outside the protection wards of the building. They appeared shortly at Draco's apartment.

"I thought we were having brunch," Calista said.

"Actually, I have to tell you something. I've kind of been contemplating this for some time now," Draco said seriously and Calista automatically sat down on his couch.

"I'm going to help Blaise," Draco stated with finality, showing that nothing Calista said could change his mind.

"What? You heard S, he personally and specifically told you NO."

"I have to do it Cali, or not he's going to ask some incompetent fool to do the job and it won't be clean."

"Oh, Draco. This is a bad idea," Calista said, shaking her head. "You'll be fired, or worse, killed or put in Azkaban, if S ever finds out, and you know he will!"

"I'm willing to risk that," Draco said, eyes fixed to a spot on the carpet.

"Risk everything you have, everything you've spent so long building? Your whole life could vanish, just like that! Listen to me! There are other assassination agencies, yes, they may not be as good as us, but I'm sure you'll be able to find one that is competent enough to do a clean job!" Calista exclaimed.

Draco raised his head and looked at her. "Perhaps. But I've made up my mind."

Calista sighed. "Then you've made your choice. But I hope you remember that I've warned you."

She got up from the couch, and headed for the fireplace. Without looking back at Draco, she said "The Portkey leaves from my apartment the day after tomorrow, at 9am sharp. I'll see you then."

And with that, she disappeared into the flames.

Two days later, Calista was waiting for Draco to arrive. All their luggage had been shrunk to fit into one simple, nondescript black case, which was now waiting by the coffee table, on where the Portkey to France, an old purple quill, sat.

Calista checked her reflection in the mirror. For the trip, they had decided to wear semi-permanent charms that would last for the entire week, without the need for renewals.

Her raven hair was charmed into a rich, dark shade of red, her navy blue eyes into hazel. She had also added a height charm, to make herself a little taller, added a few freckles onto her otherwise perfect complexion, and gave herself a rather prominent scar below her ear.

The Floo suddenly glowed brightly and Draco climbed out.

Instead of meeting Draco's signature silver blond hair and piercing grey eyes, Calista came face to face with a brunette Draco with dark brown eyes. His face was no longer pointy, his lean, fit body had become more bulky and his pale skin had turned a light shade of olive.

"Well, you look different," Calista stated.

"Isn't that the point?" Draco replied.

"How do I look?" Calista asked Draco, regarding her appearance, but all Draco did was lift one eyebrow in an inquiring manner. "I know it doesn't matter since I'm not myself anyway, nonetheless I want to look pretty."

"Well, you look pretty then," Draco stated nonchalantly

"Thanks. Shall we go...Mr. Vartan?" Calista said before handing Draco his new fake id.

"? We're married?"

"It makes it easier for us to travel together. We just got married and decided to spend our honeymoon travelling around France."

"Great! I've spent these past years trying to avoid marriage and then suddenly I'm already married."

"It's just pretence Draco, and I'm not going to take that comment personally. Now let's go before we're late."

Calista grabbed the suitcase and placed her hand on the Portkey as it glowed; Draco did the same and less than a second later they vanished into thin air.

End chp 6.