Chapter 38

Three weeks after Christmas Jezzy and Lucius were called to duty. Lucius was again sent out on a mission, while Jezzy was kept behind to speak privately with the Dark Lord. She stood off to the side while he received reports arid barked out orders, she even bore witness to a torture, which brought back more unpleasant memories. So lost in her own thoughts, she didn't hear him when he addressed her.

"Jezabel!"

She jumped nearly a foot and jerked her head up. "Forgive me, my Lord."

Though she would have thought it impossible, he smirked. "I have more potions for you to make, and it is imperative that these are done by the date specified." He poked a finger at the date on the paper,.

"But, my Lord. These will take much longer to be ready than the time you have given me."

"Not if you do them all at once. Severus will of course help when he can."

"Yes, my Lord."

Voldemort stared at her a moment. "What do you know of Harry Potter?"

"Only that he's a git." She said before she could stop herself.

He smiled. "I wonder, if perhaps you have any ideas as to how we could access him." He tilted his head to the side. "It is always nice to see things from a different perspective."

"Well, I would think it would be quite easy for someone he does not recognize to access him. May I ask for what, my Lord?"

"I wish to kill him, of course."

"Oh." She hung her head in thought. Suddenly she remembered something she had read in a Muggle newspaper, years before.

"What was that?" Voldemort inched closer to her and peered into her eyes.

She opened her mouth to speak, but found that she couldn't. He was delving into her mind to extract the information he needed. Jezzy had been around fifteen when she had been wandering the streets of London to kill some time. She had pick up a random magazine from a stand and started flipping through the pages when she saw something that caught her eye. A device, the name of which eluded her, was used to inject people with poisons without them being aware of it.

The device was small, compact, and very simple to use. Simply fill it with whatever you wish to inject a person with, get as close to them as you can, and simply brush up against them when you set it off. if you were lucky, the cat of brushing up against them would distract them from the tiny pin prick of pain at the injection site. Once you were finished, you walked away, leaving absolutely no evidence behind you.

Voldemort stood up straight, his lipless mouth twitching in delight. "Good thinking, Jezabel. Leave no trace of magic." He put his finger to his chin. "You have work to do." He said absently, dismissing her.

She left the small room they had been meeting in and Apparated home. Lucius was still getting ready when she ran up to their room. She burst through the door.

"I... I think I just helped!" She said, out of breath and not sure if she was proud of herself or ashamed that she had sentenced someone to death.

"What are you talking about?" Lucius asked, shutting to door behind her.

Jezzy told Lucius what had happened and he stood there a moment, not sure what to say to her. "You had best get started on those potions, my love."

She nodded. "Be safe." She said, kissing him soundly.

He smirked at her. "I always am."

Jezzy had been working nonstop for three days on the potions that were assigned to her. She had three left and was working on them simultaneously. She hadn't eaten, nor slept in she couldn't remember how long and her stomach protested loudly.

"Stir three times counter clockwise. Pause four seconds, then stir two times clockwise." She muttered to herself.

Once the potion was the right shade of pale blue, she poured to contents into a vial and capped it with a cork. She put the vial with the other finished ones and checked on the last two. She wiped her forehead with the back of her arm. One was almost finished, it needed twenty minutes at a hard boil. She checked the flame as she rubbed her stomach. She decided it would be a good idea to get off her feet for a moment and sat in the very hard chair off in the corner. The door opened and Severus walked in.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"I'm getting these done for the Dark Lord. I only have the two left." She yawned as her stomach growled again.

"Why don't you go get some rest?" He suggested, checking on the potions as he did so.

"What, and have the Dark Lord show up and you get all the credit?" She said sarcastically.

"I would never..."

"Merlin, Severus. Learn to take a joke." Jezzy shook her head as she placed her arm over her eyes.

It wouldn't hurt to rest her eyes for a moment. She sighed again. Just as her muscles were relaxing she heard a pop and jumped out of her chair, knocking it over in the process. She looked around the room wildly as Severus looked at her as if she were mad.

"I heard...I thought I heard someone Apparate."

Severus shook his head and stoppered the second to last vial. She must have been out longer than she had realized. Just as she was righting the chair she had knocked over there was another pop. This time, Severus heard it as well. Jezzy looked around the room and saw Lucius on the other side of the room. He was standing with his arms crossed, his face contorted. She stared at him a moment before she realized something was wrong. Very wrong.

"LUCIUS!" She screamed as he collapsed to the floor.

She ran over to him and rolled him over to see in face. His eyes were bloodshot and his skin was pale and clammy. He was still clutching his chest.

"Lucius, what happened?" She asked.

"He... he... he..."

"Are you hurt?" She asked, changing tactics.

He nodded and pointed to the front of his robes. Jezzy swallowed hard and looked up at Severus. She pulled the cloth away and her stomach rose as her heart fell. She let out a sob and covered him back up.

"Go get Carol!" Jezzy shouted at Severus,

He took off as she looked back down at Lucius's wound. There was a large gash on his chest. Large and deep. She pressed the skirt of her dress to the wound to staunch the flow of blood, but it was useless. It was pumping out faster than she could stop it. She was crying as she looked down at him. He was shivering and she laid her upper body over him to keep him warm.

"J... J... Jezz... y."

"Shh. Carol will be here to fix you up."

He shook his head, blood now showing on his teeth. "Love... love you."

She let out a deep guttural sob. "I love you." She touched his face as his eyes closed. "Damn it! You promised to be safe! Don't you leave me! DON"T YOU DARE LEAVE ME!"

Someone pulled her back and she watched as Carol set to work on Lucius. Jezzy refused to leave when Severus tried to drag her out of the room. She elbowed him in the stomach and fell beside Carol. When Carol looked up at Jezzy, her eyes were forlorn. Jezzy shook her head.

"No. No, no, no, no, no. NO!"