Caerphilly Catapults - Beater 2 -

Prompts:

Beater 2: Write about someone two-faced.

(word) Greed

(theme) Isolation

Word Count - 1715 (wordcounter .net)

Beta's - Puddlemerekid, NevilleGonnaGiveYouUp, CupCakeyyy

CW: for implied animal death, manipulative relationships and drugging

Draco smiled at Harry. "I'm sure they were just a bit busy this week and forgot to owl. Maybe you should send them another letter in a few days and wait for a reply."

He watched as a small frown graced Harry's face. Draco's smile widened as Harry nodded in agreement. "Yeah, they must've just been busy. They wouldn't have meant to leave me out, would they?"

"No, of course not. Just give it a few days and I'm sure everything will be fine," Draco replied as Harry once again nodded back and left the room, presumably to start writing the letter that would be sent in one of the upcoming days.

Once Harry had left the room, Draco let his smile drop. A sneer tarnished his face and lines appeared on his forehead. Obviously Harry wouldn't receive the letter as I threw it out as soon as it had arrived.

He hated this perfect little life Harry thought they were building for themselves. Harry hadn't changed from their school days. The man was still a presumptuous moron who didn't know his place in the world. The only reason Draco could stand him was for the payout if he managed to hold on just a little bit longer.

If he could just last until the wedding, then it would all be done and dusted. Draco would be entitled to half of the Potter and Black fortune legally, and Harry wouldn't be able to stop a thing.

Upon hearing footsteps coming back into the room, Draco wiped the sneer off his face and reapplied his perfect, loving smile.

"Are you writing it now?" Draco questioned, knowing full well the answer would be yes.

"Yeah, figured I'd write it now, then it can go out with the rest of the Monday morning post." Harry smiled, not quite happy but nonetheless pleased with his plan.

"I'm heading out now to meet a few friends, I expect I'll be back early this morning as we have a lot to catch up on. So, don't wait up." Draco tried to make his exit. He just wanted to be able to relax for a few hours without having to keep up this tiring facade with Harry.

"What? You didn't mention this earlier? Who are you meeting with? Do I need to come?" Harry was suddenly alert, and all his attention was now focused on Draco rather than the letter that only Draco knew would never be posted but burnt to ashes and never read.

Draco sighed. "I told you the other day, Harry. Don't you remember?" He hadn't, but Harry didn't need to know that. "Anyway, it's just a few friends from school, a small catch-up as I haven't seen them in months." Another lie; he had seen them last week, but that time, they had been 'work friends'. "Write your letter, and I'll see you later."

Draco hoped Harry would be asleep by the time he got back so he wouldn't have to continue the whole charade, at least for a few hours.

He waved goodbye at his fiance, who was still frowning, before he pulled on his jacket and left, not waiting for an argument on why he should stay.

"He's absolutely awful. 'Draco, can you help me with this?' or 'Draco, come and tidy up that work!' I never get a moment's rest, and what's worse is that I have to like him. He's nothing without his fame and fortune. Plus the Weasel and the Mudblood keep sending all these letters that I keep having to burn before he sees them. Can't have them sticking their noses in places they don't belong. Do you know how difficult it was to get rid of that bird that can miraculously survive anything you threw at it? Sold it to some person at Borgin and Burkes, and it still came back! I ended up just killing the thing to keep it out of my way. And now, he keeps making all these comments about how the pigeon is not herself — of course, it wouldn't be! I have to keep transfiguring the owl to keep it looking the same!" Draco ranted to his friends as he swirled the amber firewhiskey around in the glass in front of him.

What had once been a full bottle of Odgen's Finest stood in the centre of the table that was now draining rapidly as Draco, Blaise, and Pansy drank from it.

Blaise and Pansy exchanged glances from across the table before Blaise tried to soothe Draco. "Just remember... A few more weeks, and all of it will have been worth it. All that money, the titles, the houses, the gems. All of it will be yours."

Pansy then jumped in with her thoughts. "And if all of that isn't enough to remind you of why you're doing this, then I can offer a little bit of help in removing the spare bird, permanently, if you want?"

Draco sniffed haughtily before replying to them both, "Yes, I do agree that it is worth it. He is such an abomination, though, never a moment where his dirty blood doesn't taint the room we're in. Though if you are offering, Pansy, getting rid of that useless pigeon would be really helpful."

Pansy smiled. "Done. Just let me know when to slip by yours to help you with it, and that'll be sorted. Anything else I can help you with, or are you done complaining for the day?"

Blaise laughed and took another sip of the whiskey as Draco sniffed once more and muttered that he was done. "Just think. A few more months, and we can all be living it large once more. You get the money and we can leave for Bulgaria or maybe Austria? And then, we'll never have to look back. Just hold on for a little bit longer and make this plot worth it."

They all sat in silence for a moment, reminiscing of the work and effort that they had all put in to make this work.

First, they had had to get Draco to bump into Harry in a casual way that wouldn't spark any confusion or ill will to try and get them talking again — a busy highstreet on a summer's day had worked well for that purpose.

Then had come the need to start talking about common interests and goals. Draco and his friends had spent months researching things that might come up in conversation: Quidditch, laws and teaching. Anything and everything that could come up had been thoroughly looked at.

After that, keeping Harry interested had been where the difficulties had started to pile up. They'd needed him to actually be interested in a relationship. But luckily, Pansy was a deft hand at Potions and a quick, minor love potion solved that problem, and the following feelings that Harry had were all natural if he ever tried to claim that in court.

Then after the infatuation with Draco had grown, it had been the time for some restructuring of Harry's support system. In other words, the Weasel and the Mudblood had to go. It had taken many months, but isolating Harry had been simple in the end. They were already off making their own life together, so naturally, Harry had already been slightly cut out of the picture. All it had taken was a little extra work to make sure letters kept going missing and that the Floo had been blocked off to them.

With the Mudblood and the Weasel finally gone and Harry feeling more alone and betrayed than ever, who else better to comfort him than Draco?

The following months had just been a matter of ensuring that cutting off the Weasel and the Mudblood would have a permanent effect and that they wouldn't be able to suddenly reappear. Blaise had been most helpful to sort that; as a senior manager in the Ministry, it was simple to get a hold of both their schedules and to start piling up the work so they never even had a free moment to think about their friend.

And their plan had worked perfectly.

Harry had been isolated and alone for months now, the Weasel and the Mudblood hadn't visited in eons, and their wedding was only weeks away. With the marriage came access to the vaults and everything else with it, and then Draco and his friends could flee from England and live the glorious lives they had been destined for together.

Draco was the one to finally break the silence as he muttered a time checking spell. "I've got to go, but I'll see you all next week. And Pansy, bring along that potion next time, would you?"

He stood, swaying slightly from all the alcohol he had consumed. "A few more weeks and we'll all be out of this hovel."

Pansy smiled. "Next week, Draco."

Blasie raised a hand in goodbye, and with that, Draco Apparated away.

He stood in the kitchen staring at the letter Harry had written and left by the window to be posted in the morning. He picked it up, muttered a spell and watched in quiet pleasure as it burned away to nothing. No trace of it had ever been written.

In truth, he hadn't needed to burn as many letters now from the Weasel and the Mudblood. It turned out after months with no contact, they did give up on their friend.

Draco looked out the window at the sunrise now peaking just above the horizon, a beautiful new day that drew him ever nearer to what would be the day before the most glorious day in his life.

His wedding would happen, and then the next day, he would leave Harry Potter's life in ruins. Harry would be alone with no one to count on, with no money and no family.

Just like he had left Draco all those years ago after the war, when he hadn't helped Draco in any way, Harry had done just the bare minimum so he wasn't in Azkaban. But all his family fortunes were taken and his reputation was in tatters.

He wanted Harry, ruined. Just like he had been.

Because petty payback is sweet, but fully thought out revenge is sweeter.