Chapter 21: Laws are such a drag…

Draco sat in his chair fidgeting hopelessly he was waiting for Carwin to arrive with his report. He glanced at the clock, 11:58 am. He said he'd be here at noon and it seemed as if Time was conspiring against him because he'd sworn the clock had read 11:58 last time he'd looked at it and it had been at least ten minutes. He pulled towards him some reports and tried to concentrate. He'd started to lose his patience when Cassandra announced, "Mr. Carwin's here." Draco set aside the report hastily and stood to greet him.

Carwin entered with a bounce in his step and Draco walked up to him his hand stretched out hoping to make a better impression than the last time they'd met, "Carwin I'm so glad to see you." Finally.

"Hello, Mr. Malfoy," he smiled and shook Draco's hand vigorously. "I have some dreadful news to report."

Draco was startled to hear him state this so bluntly and with such glee, "Take uh- take a seat, please" Draco said returning to his own chair after the investigator had sat down.

"I have interviewed everyone and I can tell you that someone is lying. All the House-Elves are telling the same story, how good a master you are and that they were paid, but if the report is true then one of them is lying. As for the humans, I would like to give them Veritaserum imme-"

"Pardon me, you'd like to give them what?"

"Veritaserum" Carwin said dismissively, "I would need to-"

"Isn't that illegal?" Draco asked flabbergasted.

"Only if the Ministry finds out."

"No. I think I'm in enough trouble."

Carwin chuckled and Draco wondered if Blaise hadn't been having him on when he recommended the Investigator.

"You can just go to the Ministry and get a license, if it bothers you. They will even sell you the Veritaserum so you do not have to make it yourself." Carwin smiled, "While you're at the Ministry, I'm going to need the actual report from the inspection."

Draco looked at Carwin. "You're kidding right?"

"No."

"Malfoy is one of the Ministry's least favourite names and you want me to go waltzing in there asking permission to feed Veritaserum to my employees?"

"Yes."

"Wonderful! Anything else you might want to tell me?" He asked quickly losing the battle to make a good impression.

"These are the employees I would like to give the Veritaserum to," he said handing over a sheaf of parchments to Draco.

"Right, well, keep up the good work. I'll contact you as soon as I have those permits." Draco said standing to accompany the man out of the office.

"Goodbye Mr. Malfoy," he said as they shook hands at the door, he bowed to Cassandra and walked to the fireplace.

The minute he had disappeared into the flames he turned to Cassandra, "did he return the employee's files?"

"All but ten, although it seems as if, well, the files were copied." She said timidly.

"Didn't John put the Anti-Duplication Spell on them?" Draco asked annoyed.

"He did, I checked them myself before I placed them on your desk last week, but somehow it seems a Duplication Spell has been cast, although they still bear an Anti-Duplication Spell." She said looking for all the world as if she had been asked to hand feed a dragon.

Maybe Blaise knew what he was doing after all, Draco mused startling Cassandra by smiling and walking calmly into his office.

Draco moved walked to his desk and picked up the parchments. On the first page there were ten names listed, as he only about sixty employees not counting the House-Elves it upset him to find so many names on this list. The first, in a blinding shade of red was Danielle Harris, Research and Development.

Draco laughed out loud; Of course she's hiding something. She never takes these things seriously. She probably told him she's a Japanese Masseuse. He looked at the next sheet where a brief report of her investigation could be found. She'd claimed to be a House-Elf descended from the line that had served King Arthur his morning toast. He shook his head and banished the paper to the wastebasket and once again looked at the list:

John Darwin, Copy boy

Michael Norton, Speller

Daniel Buckey, Speller

James Cunningham, Speller

Andrew Groton, Shipping and Receiving

Ursula Johnson, Marketing

Lewis Mullin, Accounting

Samantha Alden, House-Elf Rights Manager

Frederic Hill, International Manager, not available for questioning

He knew that John Darwin wasn't capable of the kind of deviousness necessary for what had happened and knew what the seventeen year old was hiding was probably the fact that he used the company's parchment to draw. He looked at his report and saw that Carwin had noted that although he had been unable to discover anything concrete the boy definitely had the air of someone guilty. Draco also crumpled the parchment up and sent it to keep Dan's company.

The three Spellers soon joined them as Draco knew them very well. Groton, however Draco didn't know very well and Draco had never trusted him, there was something about him that made him uncomfortable and he placed the brief on his desk to examine later. Ursula Johnson he sent to the wastebasket as she was completely anti-social and nervous around everyone who wasn't her kneazle whom she brought to work with her. Being in anyone's presence, even someone as friendly as Carwin made the woman practically hysterical.

The appearance of Lewis Mullin on the list made Draco nervous as he was obviously most closely related to the money and as he had been recently hired Draco didn't know much about him.

Samantha Alden's appearance on the list did not surprise him, she's probably hiding the fact that she does as little work as possible, as soon as this fiasco's over I'll fire her.

Draco stretched in his chair and looked despairingly at the various reports on his desk. He'd have to read them, but not today, he stood up and grabbing the interview briefs and the report he made his way out of the office. He would normally have sent Cassandra to fetch the files he needed but that would mean having to read all the reports on his desk. If this mess was ever sorted out he was going to promote someone to Vice-President, it was too much work for one person, especially one who doesn't want to do it.

He went down to the third floor and walked into the Archives room. He might have been there two seconds when an elderly woman made her way towards him. She had a tiny pointed pinched nose that seemed as if skin was barely covering its bones, the rest of her face was similarly thin skinned and her lips pouted in a shrivelled way. Had her skin been green she would have looked exactly as Muggles imagined witches to look. She was around a hundred and twenty and was wore mustard yellow robes that were about fifty years out of date.

She smiled her skin stretching in an unpleasant way and Draco stopped himself from flinching. "Hello, Draco, how can I help you?"

"Hello, Mrs. Ollerton," Draco smiled at the witch who had been working at the company for almost a hundred years and Draco supposed knew more about it than anyone.

"How can I help you child?" She asked walking down one of the many isles of file cabinets that filled the room.

"I came to look up the files for a few of my employees." He said following her.

"Why? Cassandra just returned the copies that Johnny made a couple of weeks ago." She said turning into a different isle. "Ten are missing."

"I know, it's a few of those ten that I need." He said hurrying after her as the woman walked surprisingly quickly for someone of her age. She had opened a drawer and pulled it out as far as it would go.

"Who do you need?"

"Groton, Mullin, Alden and Hill" He said quickly glancing at the list.

"Hill?" She asked pulling out the other three.

"Frederic," He said remembering that his wife, Cliodna, worked in Accounting.

"Frederic is a very nice boy," she said pulling out his file and giving him a disapproving glare.

"I also wanted to see the whole House-Elf Rights Code." He said ignoring her. She closed the drawer and walked away. He glanced at the drawer and saw printed neatly on it: Employees, Draco Malfoy. The drawer above read: Employees, Lucius Malfoy and the one about it: Employees, Abraxas Malfoy. He could not read the labels on the drawers above those but he imagined that they probably traced all of his ancestors for the last few hundred years. He turned his attention to the old woman when he noticed she wasn't anywhere to be seen. He ran down the isle and walked quickly down glancing on either side of him for the woman he noticed her three isles over walking slowly. He caught up with her in time to see her open a drawer.

"Here you are," she handed him a very thick roll of parchment.

"How long is this thing?" He asked shocked.

"A little over a hundred feet," she said closing the drawer.

"Thank you Mrs. Ollerton." He said, "I really appreciate your help."

"Just glad to see you taking after your grandfather Draco," she said and walked off towards her office.

"Thank you," he called after her and turned around wondering exactly which way was the door.

He'd finally found his way out of the large room and was waiting as patiently as he could for the lift. When it arrived, a little note stopped in front of him he grabbed it out of the air and read it.

Mr. Malfoy,

Ms. Weasley is awaiting you in your office.

-Cassandra

Draco smiled and walked into the lift quickly and was about to state the floor when a little note flew into the lift. He plucked it out of the air and wrenched it open to see a summons for help from the Bulgarian branch. Growling he pulled Cassandra's note out of his pocket and using the self-inking quill he always carried he scribbled a quick message letting her know he'd be there as soon as possible after he dealt with the Bulgarians.

He stepped out of the lift and moved down the corridor to the Floo room. He stepped inside and moved towards the fireplace that had BULGARIA printed above it completely ignoring the hello he received from Gita Merai who'd just stepped out of the fireplace that announced INDIA. He grabbed a pinch of floor powder from the mantel and threw it in. As it was a direct connection he didn't need to say anything and was soon stepping out of the fireplace in the stockroom of the Bulgarian branch of Maleficent Merchandise. He nodded approvingly at the neat organized way all of the merchandise was stored and walked out to the stockroom and into the store. The store was equally neat and clean although much darker, giving it a gloomy feel. He nodded approvingly.

"Hello, Mr. Malfoy," a clerk said rushing at him and bowing reminding Draco of a large House-Elf, "how may I be of service?"

"Where's Atanasov?" He barked.

"In his office, the clerk said leading Draco to a door behind the counter.

Draco walked into the room without knocking to find Atanasov sitting at his desk writing something the man looked up startled and at Draco's appearance stood quickly.

"Mr. Malfoy, I'm so happy that you have come. I'm so sorry to disturb you but without Mr. Hill I had no idea who else to contact."

"What's the problem?" Draco said gruffly.

"The Bulgarian Ministry has banned the sale of The Devil's Will and are demanding its removal in less than twenty four hours. I do not know what to do. We have," he paused and looked down at the sheet in which he'd been writing and said, "37 bottles of it."

"It's a small enough package owl it to Russia, they still let us sell them there!" Draco snapped at the incompetent manager. When Hill got back from vacation he was going to flail him alive for allowing such an idiot run of his store. "I do not know why you couldn't put that in the note!"

"I'm sorry sir, it did not occur to me, Mr. Hill-"

"Just make sure you file all of the appropriate papers," he barked.

"Yes, s-sir."

Draco left the office and stomped off startling a beautiful young woman in the potions section causing her to drop a potion and having it shatter on the floor, however Draco didn't notice this.

He made his way back to Britain and after reaching the lift without further interruption he said, "Fifth Floor." There he turned left and entered the accounting office. He walked past a desk bearing a very startled matron and walked to the back where Cliodna Hill looked up from the papers she had been working on.

"Sir?" She said nervously.

"I want Frederic here tomorrow." He said and turned around without waiting for a response.

He attempted to calm down on his way to his office eager to speak to Ginny. He walked quickly past Cassandra and burst into his office but Ginny wasn't there. He was about to go and ask Cassandra if she'd left when he saw that the area behind his desk was illuminated in silver light. He closed his office door and walked into the room noticing that Ginny was bent over the bottom drawer of his desk and lost the battle to calm down.

He walked to the desk dropping the roll of parchment and files he was still clutching on the desk and went around and pushed her back into the chair, her hand pulling out of the pensive.

He saw the dazed look leave her face and her grimace as she realized where she was.

"So, you're spying on me now?" He asked.

"You wanted me to care," she said turning around avoiding him. "Liars don't deserve privacy." She suddenly said coldly.

"What exactly did I lie to you about? You yourself just saw every major moment in my life just as I'd told it to you." He said smug in his certainty.

"The store. You still have opened ones and they still sell Dark Arts objects." She said handing him the reports that he'd been avoiding.

"Well, at least you were thorough in your search." He said placing them back down on the desk dismissively. "I meant in Britain; it's illegal in Britain."

"But you didn't say that." She said harshly. "You knew I would assume it meant everywhere."

"It's not my fault what you assume Ginny."

"Of course not, because you Slytherins are all about manipulation and half truths." She spit out as if the words were to bitter to contain.

"There you go again with the damn Slytherin thing!" He leaned over the chair his face close to hers, his grey eyes boring into her own, "We are not in Hogwarts, you are not a goody-two-shoes Gryffindor and I'm not an evil, death eater Slytherin. Grow up Ginevra! Let go of all those silly fears and dreams and grow up!" He straightened and leaned against the desk, rubbing his temple, he could not believe the headache this witch always caused him.

He felt a movement and opened his eyes to see her walking towards the door. "Come on Ginny, I'm sorry. Don't leave like this." He pleaded, why couldn't I control myself, why did I have to speak without thinking.

"Bye, Draco." She said and walked out of the office letting the door close behind her.

"Ginny!" He ran after her and opened the door in time to see her leaving the waiting room he ran all the way to the lift only to have it close on his face.

This didn't seem like the fight last week, this felt permanent and as he felt his heart break he thought he'd kill Inez for turning down his marriage proposal, if she'd only said yes this all would've been avoided.

A/N: Monday, May 16, 2004. The Devil's Will is the common name for a potion, Suggerero. It acts like an Imperius curse but it has a weaker effect. It makes the drinker vulnerable to the suggestion (they're easier to convince of things) of the person whose blood is in the potion. It was originally developed in Roman times, it was called Dialectica Vincetis, and was used a way to clear the mind of judges to make them impartial and more logical when they heard the cases. Just as soon as it was common knowledge another politician changed the formula and made Suggerero.