37. Archaic [399]

Mundungus Fletcher picked up a gold box with the Malfoy crest and shook it; there was the distinctive tinkle indicative of breaking glass. Draco's flinch nearly took him out of his chair.

Ginny laid a comforting hand on his arm. "It's all right," she murmured. "Just a few high-price items and I'm sure we can balance your checkbooks again. An auction doesn't mean it's all got to go."

Draco curled his lips round his teeth in what might have been a smile if not for the snarl. "Sure," he said, staring fixedly at Mundungus. Bile rose in his throat when a piece of the man's robes actually fell off onto the shag rug.

"I know this is… important to you," Ginny said slowly, "but it's not like you have to actually be here for the appraisal."

"If I'm not," Draco muttered back, "he will destroy everything."

Ginny bit her lip. "No, he'd probably just steal it. I do wonder how he got this sort of job; for the Ministry no less…"

"Does it matter?" Draco asked. "The House-Elfs are sobbing in the sheets, I'll have you know. And – don't touch that!"

Mundungus, startled, yanked his (dirty, grubby) fingers away from a golden chalice, but too late – it had already started to bubble and dissolve.

"If anyone not of Malfoy blood handles it, it melts so no thieves can steal our wealth," Draco said mournfully, staring at the gook pooling on the desk. "That's been in the family for nine and a half generations."

"Um…" Ginny took Draco's shoulder and began to edge him away. "Come on, let's just take a walk, okay? I'll cheer you up."

Shoulders drooping, steps lagging, Draco followed her from the room.

Two hours later, she returned, sweaty, disheveled and triumphant. "Here," she said and handed a bust to Mundungus. "It's ages old, it should be more than enough. Now get lost before he figures it out – even for someone with no idea of the state of his finances, that went a bit too easily."

Lying in his bed, an equally sweaty, disheveled, and triumphant Draco commended himself on his acting skill. As if he would be so easily taken in – no, Fletcher would be the one regretting things soon, when all Ginny gave him ended up returning in a few hours, as per the Portus Draco had set this morning.