"Ready?" - Scorpius Malfoy
"Finished." Laetitia Patil sang.
Eleonora walked over to where she was sat in front of three computer screens in Astoria Malfoy's London townhouse drawing room.
"In three minutes? Come on Laetitia, stop fucking around." Elle chided.
"Look," Patil smirked spinning the screen around to show Elle. "A million galleons from Draco Malfoy's account straight into his sons, a list of all current Unspeakables and the location of every undercover agent that the Law Enforcement has currently out in the field. Oh and I also updated my twitter and facebook with a video of that fat Chinese kid dancing. You seen it? It's soooo fucking funny."
And with that Laetitia leant back in her chair and looked around casually. Elle was impressed, but there was something nagging at her. Malfoy wasn't helping matters either. He had barely said a word to either when they had arrived, just curtly explaining his test to Laetitia before disappearing into the corner with a pack of cigarettes.
"Oi, Malfoy!" Elle shouted across the room at him. "You sure you made this hard enough? She's done it already."
"Well then, she has passed." he replied without looking up, going back to his brooding.
"Is he always like that?" Laetitia whispered conspiratorially.
"Miserable fucker you mean? Not always, but a good chunk of the time."
"It's kind of hot don't you think?" Laetitia breathed back. "So dark and mysterious…."
"We're here to work Laetitia. Stop acting your age." Elle snapped back.
"Calm down, calm down. I'm not into stealing other peoples boyfriends anyway."
"He's not my boyfriend." Elle said wearily.
"No? I just assumed. Anyway as you said we're here to work. So am I in?" Laetitia asked hopefully.
"Me and Scorpius will have a talk now and decide. Go back to the computer, steal some more virtual money or whatever it is you do for fun and we'll be back in a minute."
"Make sure you discuss my fee as well!" Laetitia called to her retreating figure.
Elle walked over to Scorpius, grabbed him by the arm, hoisting him up, and dragged him to the massive kitchen which was still full of empty bottles and drug paraphernalia from the summer. Ah, easier times. She hopped up onto a clean space of kitchen counter and looked at her friend in front of her.
"Right, what the fuck is wrong?" she questioned. "100% focus, that's what you've been drilling into me for the last week, and now you're miles away at a crucial time in the plan."
"I'm right here," Scorpius responded, running a hand through his hair. "I'm fine."
"No, you're not. Is it your mum?"
"My mum?" Scorpius asked, confused.
"Yeah, did she say something when she picked you up today?"
Scorpius continued to look at her with a confused, slightly glazed expression for a couple of seconds before he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"My mother, yes," he replied, sounding more alert. "You know how she can be."
"Unfortunately I've had more than enough dealings with your mother to know she is a grade A bitch." Elle said, angrier than she had meant to sound.
Her and Astoria had never got along, the woman was always going on to Scorpius about 'that awful muggle girl' he spent all his time with. Draco Malfoy was better, he seemed to tolerate her and she could have sworn she had occasionally seen a hint of a smirk on his face whenever she'd sent some veiled barbs in his wife's direction.
"She may well be, but she's still my mother Elle." Scorpius sighed.
"What did she say that's got to you then?"
"Nothing, don't worry about it…" Scorpius trailed off
"Malfoy…"
"It's nothing, really. Just drop it Elle. I'm sorry, you're right I need to focus. You say she just passed those tests in three minutes?" he questioned, his tone brisk and businesslike all of a sudden.
Elle was reluctant to let the matter of why he was acting so strange die, but she knew they had to get on with this.
"Yeah, she breezed them. You sure they were difficult enough?"
"I'm sure. Looks like you were right then. The girls a fucking protégé."
"Yeah, she is." Elle frowned slightly.
"Something wrong?"
"I dunno," Elle lowered her voice in preparation to tell what had been bothering her about the Patil girl. "It's not just that she's a potential liability or anything, I mean she obviously is but we can't do anything about that. It's just… It was too easy you know? Getting her to come with I mean. One minute she was all defensive and uncooperative, the next she was all eager fucking beaver. Might just be what she's like I suppose, but it just didn't sit right and it still doesn't."
"She just changed her mind like that?" Scorpius clicked his fingers.
"Pretty much, well no, she asked me….."
"I asked you how old you are," Laetitia interrupted and both Elle and Scorpius spun around to see her standing in the doorway. "That's what changed my mind. Well, that and I recognized you. It took me a while, I wasn't even sure when I came with you, you've changed your hair colour, but now I'm here, I'm sure."
"What are you talking about?" Elle asked, confused.
"I've been here before," Laetitia began, idly strolling around the room, occasionally picking things up to look at as she continued. "This house, last summer. This muggle me and a few other hackers had been working, my first job actually, kid of a rich investment banker in the City, he told me about this place. 'Wild stuff kid, wild stuff' he used to say. Fucking twat even talked like a prick. But the score was so sweet and this kid was so close to just literally giving me everything I needed. I called him one night to close the net and he said he was here so I came. Knew it was a Wizarding house the second I walked in but man was he right. Wild. A fourteen year old walking into that?"
"You came to one of those parties when you were fourteen?" Scorpius asked tensely.
"Yeah," Laetitia laughed. "As soon as I walked in, I knew it wasn't my scene. I'm more of a stay home with the wifi on a Friday night type. Yeah I didn't stay long, the score went bad anyway. But I remember turning to leave and then I saw you two. Obviously wizards to anyone who knew. You were sat on that couch over there, draped over each other, couldn't tell who's limbs were who's. I watched you for about five minutes. You were ignoring everyone around you, communicating with laughs, mumbled shouts, your own language. It was so strange you know? Two people surrounded by people but so alone together. So close. I've never had that you see…"
Elle glanced at Scorpius, slightly embarrassed.
"Well, it left an impression on me so I asked around. Soon got the name Malfoy. You're quite a celebrity in certain circles you know? The things you can do, they say. I have a brother at Hogwarts who's pretty in awe of you you know? And then when you came in my cell tonight Eleonora you did magic. At sixteen. Muggle prisons are the most heavily magic monitored places by the Ministry in the country. You must be the only two people alive who have figured out a way to completely and totally beat The Trace. And then I knew. Knew it was you I saw that night. You just stuck with me. And that's why I want in. I'm a fucking squib. I'll never be able to do what you can, but I want to be the best at what I can do. And this is clearly the place to be to achieve that, because I think you two want the same thing."
Laetitia turned round, eyes downcast as she faced back to them.
"It's like you said Elle. I just want to feel like I'm needed. Like I belong somewhere. So I want in."
There was silence around the room. Elle felt a wave of affection for the younger girl who now looked so small. Gone was the brash demeanour, the arrogance of before. She was just a lost kid and Elle knew how that felt. Every single day. She looked over at Scorpius who was as inscrutable as ever. He was rarely moved by things such as this. He had no friends outside of Elle, no family he could tolerate for more than five minutes. He didn't like people. Therefore she was surprised when he walked over to Laetitia and raised her chin with his forefinger, looking straight at her.
"You're in Laetitia," he smiled. "Just do me a favour and cut the emotional shit out."
Laetitia let out a laugh and saluted him.
"Right, you're the boss."
"Okay then," Scorpius clapped his hands together. "We have a lot to do."
And all of a sudden, there was three.
Of course, it was soon Monday night, sooner than any of them wanted it to be. Tomorrow was the day. The three of them were sat in the lounge, each lost in their own thoughts. Elle had been going over the plan out loud for the thousandth before Scorpius and Laetitia had begged her to stop, pointing out that if they didn't know it by now then there was no way they would get it by tomorrow night. Elle glanced up from her thoughts to see Laetitia nervously shuffling a deck of cards. All in all she had fit in nicely. There had been a bit of an issue when she had gone with Scorpius, leaving Elle behind, to place a tracker on the Ministry's off site server and had almost been caught by a security guard, but it was nothing a memory charm couldn't fix. And if all went to plan, Laetitia would not set foot anywhere near the Ministry, all her work could be done remotely.
Elle sighed and lit a cigarette. Had thought about a spliff but when she had suggested it to Malfoy he had said something about keeping a clear mind. Boring fucker. He was currently sat cross legged in front of the far wall, eyes closed, occasionally muttering incomprehensible things under his breath. It was magic that was far beyond Elle's capabilities but she could recognize it all the same. The most advanced wards and concealments. He still didn't seem right to her though, but she was putting it down to the stress of what they were about to do. Hopefully, if it went right then it would put an end to their problems, because although it remained unspoken, both her and Scorpius believed that they would get all their answers tomorrow, whether they found anything in the Ministry or not.
"Shit," Laetitia exclaimed, cards scattered on the floor all around her. "I can't stand this waiting. Come on, let's go out and do something."
"I am not going to see Les Miserables with you." Elle sneered. Laetitia had indeed attempted to persuade her to go the other day.
"Why not?" Laetitia pouted. "It'll take our mind off things, cheer us up."
"You think a musical where pretty much everyone dies and the police win in the end will take our minds off things and cheer us up?" Scorpius interjected dryly from across the room.
"Cats?" Laetitia changed tack hopefully.
"No fucking musicals." Elle groaned.
"It might be good to get out though," Scorpius said getting up. "We're not going to get anything constructive done at this late stage and sitting here isn't helping. Just caught myself second guessing on a detail that was absolutely fine to begin with."
"What do we do then?"
"Well what do you guys normally do for fun?" Laetitia asked.
Elle and Scorpius looked at each other.
"To be honest are main hobbies are stealing shit and getting fucked up."
"Okaaay," Laetitia drawled out. "Let's keep it PG tonight yeah?"
"There's a Gaudi exhibition opening tonight in Hammersmith," Scorpius mused, looking a his watch. "We can just about make it if we leave now."
Laetitia just looked a him.
"A Gaudi exhibition?," she said incredulous. "I asked what you did for fun."
"What's wrong with getting a bit of culture in your life?" Scorpius asked.
"Jesus Christ, no wonder you two don't have any friends. You want to spend possibly your last evening as a free man and woman at a fucking Gaudi exhibition?"
"When she puts it like that, it is a bit sad." Elle laughed.
"Too fucking right it is. Come on, it's nearly Christmas. I've got an idea." Laetitia said pushing Scorpius towards the front door.
As Elle fell down onto the ice painfully for the third time in a minute, she cursed herself for bring Laetitia Patil into their lives. Ice skating? This was meant to be fun? Admittedly it had been funny to see Malfoy's face of utter contempt when Laetitia, grinning like a kid a Christmas, had revealed where they were going to be spending their evening. An ice rink optimistically titled 'Winter Wonderland', what was so wonderful about it Elle had no idea. To be fair though, it had taken her mind of tomorrow, mainly due to the pain in her body after falling so many times. Probably wasn't a good idea to risk broken limbs they day before they most needed them but fuck it.
She gingerly skated to the exit and unstrapped her skates, settling down on a bench overlooking the rink. Scorpius, as elegant as ever, caught her eye and glided across the rink to settle down next to her. They were both quiet for a while, occasionally laughing as Laetitia crashed into some small children. The girl had clearly never done this before, but there was such childish enthusiasm in her actions that it couldn't help but bring a smile to the face.
"What's wrong Scorpius?" Elle asked quietly, breaking the silence. "I know there's something up with you."
Scorpius closed his eyes and tipped his head back, the silence continuing to the extent that Elle thought he was just going to ignore her.
"You're right," he said finally. "I will tell you Elle, one day I promise, but not right now. Can we please pretend that just for tonight we're ordinary fucking people. Not wizards or thieves or geniuses or Slytherin's. Just normal. Please."
Elle reached over and grasped his hand, squeezing gently.
"Ok," she said soothingly. "Just for tonight."
They stayed like that for a while, hand in hand, two ordinary people.
"OOOOO! Hand holding!" Laetitia's obnoxious voice interrupted after a while as she appeared from nowhere. "Elle and Scorpius sitting in a tree K.I.S…"
She was interrupted by having to duck as Elle threw one of her skates at her.
"Hey watch it," Laetitia laughed, throwing the skate back at Elle who strapped it back on. "Look if you two want some privacy, just tell me. You two are just so adorable…"
"Jesus. We're friends Patil." Elle scoffed.
"As in like friends with benefits?" she asked cheekily.
"That's it , one more comment and I'm gonna push you right across this rink." Elle said, trying to sound annoyed but given away by her slight smile.
"So you can get some alone time with Mr Lover Man?"
"You asked for it Patil."
Scorpius watched with a smile as the two girls participated in the most clumsy and slow chase of all time, eventually collapsing on top of each other in a heap on the ice, laughing all the way.
"It's time."
Laetitia nodded, nervously.
"You'll be fine." Elle said, pulling her into a brief hug. "It's all set up. When we're done, get out quickly. Get yourself onto the underground and wait for us at the apparition point okay?"
Laetitia nodded again, managing a brief smile that looked more like a grimace.
"Don't mess around with those ear pieces," she said to both Elle and Scorpius. "They fall out then you're blind."
"We won't." Scorpius affirmed.
"Well then. See you in Azkaban." Laetitia attempted to joke before leaving out the front door.
Silence befell the two friends remaining, and neither spoke for the half an hour that was left for them to wait.
The clock struck half past four and they looked at each other.
"Ready?"
"No."
"Let's do it."