Chapter Sixteen

The Vault Trap

Lunette Vallid was not having a good month… scratch that… not a really good year. Well, perhaps waking up at the end of May to find out that Voldemort and Pettigrew were gone for good, that was nice... it was just that life ever since had been quite a headache. It didn't help that she already had a full schedule from juggling her magic and Muggle legal cases, for she had (sometimes reluctantly) achieved quite a bit of fame with both. But now, on top of that, two of the worst criminals she had ever put in jail were out; one on appeal, one on his own accord. It was the one who had escaped that worried her the most… Lorcan, as he was calling himself these days. He was without a doubt insane, and that the Muggle had made his way to Britain chilled her to the bone, for it was not other Muggles that he was after.

Her other concern, Lucius Malfoy, was proving to be more of a nuisance at this point than a threat, although she knew all too well that he would probably be the more dangerous of the two in the long run. He was cold, calculating, and careful, and had the money and resources for long term plotting. Right now, however, he was going to be playing it safe and keeping it legal… and that was whereVallid knew the Snitch was in her sights.

She met Jennifer at the Leaky Cauldron, and Jennifer came out of the fireplace more or less with a smile on her face. The two of them were getting their share of stares, whispers, and greetings as they traveled through Diagon Alley. Lunette Vallid, the most renowned Truth Seeker in the world was back in Britain! And once more, it seemed to involve Jennifer Craw. Speculation about what was going on was running rampant until they arrived at the bank, both sighing so loudly in relief that they grinned at each other in amusement. But the moment Vallid noticed they were starting to draw stares in the lobby, she strode over towards Griphook's desk, nodding as she approached. Griphook lit up immediately and came out from behind the desk to greet them, gallantly (well, as gallantly as a goblin could) ushering Jennifer into his office, Vallid following behind with a knowing chuckle, trying to get the goblin's attention.

"Mr. Griphook," Vallid started as he helped Jennifer into his best chair. "Mr. Griphook, we are not here for a loan!" The goblin glanced between them, looking quite disappointed. "We're here to see Mr. Bill Weasley, remember? We had an appointment."

"Oh, yes. He will be right with you. Please wait here, oh, and here are some pamphlets for you to look at," Griphook said, handing a stack over to Jennifer. "Just in case you change your mind," he grinned toothily as he walked out of his office.

"Hey, what's the maximum on the Firstborn loans these days, anyhow?" Vallid asked curiously looking over her shoulder. Jennifer immediately handed the papers over to Vallid.

"I am NOT interested in a Firstborn loan," Jennifer said indignantly. Vallid grinned at her, glancing over the paperwork.

"Wow, the limits have definitely gone up. You know, I started my first law office on one of these," Vallid admitted. "Of course, my husband wasn't so crazy about it, but fortunately I had enough success to pay it off before my son's fifth birthday," she said, thinking back thoughtfully. Jennifer studied Vallid carefully, and it was returned with a thin smile.

"Your husband was a Muggle? I didn't know that," Jennifer said, feeling a tad awkward.

"Frank was a good man," Vallid said with a nod. "A good lawyer too. I think you would have liked him. I'll never forget him. Well, not that I could; I see him every time I look at my children, and my grandchildren, and my great grandchildren," Vallid chuckled softly. Jennifer nodded and smiled gently, although she could tell Vallid missed him very much. The door opened, and a tall handsome redhead with long hair tied back in a tail and a deep tan entered, giving them a warm smile.

"Hello again, Counselor Vallid," he smiled.

"Hello, Bill. Jennifer Craw Snape, this is Mr. Bill Weasley," Vallid introduced. Jennifer got up and shook the man's hand.

"Mrs. Snape! Pleasure to meet you at last. I have been hearing some amazing things about you," Bill said, shaking her hand warmly. "And you're as beautiful as everyone says you are too!" Bill seemed to be much more impressed with the fact she married Snape rather than about her part in the Voldemort thing, and Jennifer quickly decided she really liked him, thanking him warmly and chuckling over the compliment. "Counselor, I have those lists ready for you. This is the full vault listing here, and the estimated value listing based on goblin appraisals."

"And by law you only have to provide the court the monetary value for a debt settlement, correct?" Vallid asked.

"Correct, Counselor, whether or not we release the full item list is entirely up to the current owner, which in this case would be Mrs. Snape and her father," Bill agreed.

"Jennifer, I want you and your father to go over this inventory list of your vault. I'm interested to see if we can find out just what exactly Malfoy is really after." Jennifer looked up at Vallid thoughtfully.

"You think he's in it for the items too?" Jennifer asked.

"He's not in it for the money," Vallid replied, handing Jennifer the value list. Jennifer sat back down. It was a lot more than she had thought. "For although that means quite a bit to you, it's a drop in the bucket to a corporation the size of Malfoy Enterprises. Oh, I'm quite positive it's the items he wants, perhaps even a specific item for all we know. I'd have to see his face to be sure of that."

"Well, I don't suppose you've considered the possibility of giving him what he wants?" Bill suggested with a smile. Vallid looked at him for a long time and then grinned at him.

"Bill Weasley, I like your way of thinking. Let's head to the Ministry and see your father, eh? And while I'm there, I have a law or two to look up," Vallid said cheerfully as Jennifer looked at her curiously.

Jennifer had never made more than a cursory inspection of the vault when she had been searching for the entrance to Salazar's Tomb. Now that she saw it on paper it was even more overwhelming than when she had first entered it, for there were so many items, and ninety percent of them fell into the "cursed heirloom" category. It wasn't surprising, really, with the dark history that the Craws had, that they would have collected so many over the years. And since so many of them would have been conditioned so that only a member of the Craw family could use them safely, why would Malfoy be interested in any of those? Still, outside of the vault, Jennifer knew that many of them would be highly dangerous, especially in the wrong hands. Hopefully her father would be able to remember enough of them that he might spot any items that were particularly dangerous they may need to be wary of.

Thomas Craw, as it turned out, was more concerned about Thurspire, wanting to know if anything more had been found out about the case. He grew increasingly angry when he realized that even Jennifer seemed doubtful that it was Thurspire who had done it. It wasn't until Jennifer had gone over the entire conversation with Minister Brown and explaining the problem that he began to calm down.

"I know what I saw. Even if he wasn't the only person involved in this, Jen-girl, Thurspire was involved," he insisted, his eyes flashing dangerously.

"Thomas, Jennifer and I both know you saw what you saw," Vallid assured him, "but it is my personal belief that Thurspire would not do something like that of his own free will, nor did he have motive to. All right, so you forced his family into total financial ruin on Voldemort's orders. It's quite clear from both of your faces that it happened, and just as clear that Malfoy had tried to do the same to you, which is why you had Audi prepare this vault in the first place, if I'm not mistaken. But I have a feeling that this entire little scheme to make you "escape" was less about you and more about Jennifer. Perhaps it was someone trying to lure her away from the school," Vallid proposed. Jennifer looked at her in surprise. "For what reason, I have yet to guess. But considering that whoever caused this event did you little true harm, nor were they even willing or capable of taking you out of Azkaban, perhaps we should be looking for someone a bit closer to home. Only someone who had free access to the prison... such as a guard, investigator, or another prisoner would have been able to accomplish something like this without detection."

Jennifer and her father glanced at each other thoughtfully. Both had considered guards a great possibility, but neither of them had thought of other prisoners. With Death Eaters being convicted every day, there was no doubt that many of Craw's prison mates had little love for him.

"Right now, I want you to look at the vault list, Thomas. Arthur, his son Bill, and I have an idea on how to get out of this mess, but I can't risk it unless I know if any specific things in here would interest Malfoy," Vallid said. She gave Boltin the list, who handed it to Thomas.

Jennifer suddenly found that procedure a trifle annoying. Oh, she understood why the magical force field was there, but after the incident in the crypt, she discovered how much she truly disliked it. Then she noticed that Vallid was watching her thoughtfully, and Jennifer quickly turned her focus back on her father, who was scanning down the list, muttering to himself as he went. Suddenly he frowned, a frown that was mirrored in Vallid's face as she nodded to herself in sudden confirmation.

"There's a chest missing that should be here. It is one of the few things we put in here of your mother's to safeguard it. In fact, I myself put it in there that night…" Thomas looked up at Jennifer with an even more serious face than usual, "the night I killed your grandparents, Jen-girl." Jennifer reached out and met the magic field, then put her hand down.

"I know. At least, I had guessed already," Jennifer said softly. "The Purge; the cleansing initiation, to purify imperfections in the family."

"I was a Craw, a dark wizard… they disowned your mother, you know, the moment they heard we were married. A Craw in the family, as if it were the supreme insult. At least Craws didn't thin the blood. At any rate, they had held back her own birthright because of it, an ornate chest that had passed through the Ravenclaw line, and I knew had I not taken it before the initiation, it would fall into Voldemort's hands. But the deaths themselves… they had done nothing to deserve it except defy the one man I strove from that point on to defy myself. It's something that I have regretted every day since. Nor have I forgotten the look in Alice's eyes when I had returned that night." Thomas said, his face turning dark and brooding.

"Thomas, Alice had the chest shipped to her house in Paris when she and Jennifer moved there," Vallid said quietly, bringing Thomas and Jennifer back to the present. "From the reports, it sounds as if it went missing at the same time as she had. Do you know what was in it?"

"No, Alice never spoke of anything but the chest itself. I only knew it was supposed to go to her upon marriage and her mother attempted keep it from her because of me," Thomas said. "But if it is missing, Malfoy probably already has it and whatever treasures lie inside it."

"Not necessarily. Considering that we all know Malfoy would never have gotten his hands dirty, whoever he hired to do the job might have taken it instead," Vallid conjectured, opening a law book.

Jennifer couldn't help but notice the surprised look on Lucius Malfoy's face to see Head Magistrate Archimedes Muse as the acting judge in such a routine hearing. The look was also reflected on the faces of the two counselors he had brought, Jeffers and Blake, who were also not pleased (although not really surprised) to see that Counselor Vallid was working for the defense. It was also slightly unnerving that Boltin, Dumbledore, Bill and Ron Weasley, Minister Weasley, and Minister Peasegood were sitting behind the three at the table, while only a bored looking goblin accountant and a rather disgruntled Ederick Thurspire sat behind theirs.

"Let's see, what do we have here," Magistrate Muse said casually as he sat down. "Malfoy vs. Craw… that sounds familiar," he said musingly as he looked over the records then up at the two litigates. "This case is to determine the ownership of a rather sizable estate vault of the incarcerated Thomas Craw esquire, whom the plaintiff claims to have breached a contract of business partnership which led to a sizable loss, and therefore entitles you to compensation, correct?"

"That's correct, Magistrate," Blake nodded. "Although the valued amount of the vault does come to less than the debt, my client is willing to settle for the attainment of the vault as full payment."

Jennifer snorted softly to herself. As if he could ever get more now that her father was in Azkaban.

"Counselor Vallid, you are here to contest the contract then?" The Magistrate asked.

"No, Head Magistrate. We contest the circumstances surrounding the contract itself. First and foremost is the fact that at the time that this case was filed, the vault in question had already been passed to a new owner…"

"Your Wisdom, sir, before this line of argument goes any further, I would like to point out that the reason that this matter has not come to light in the past has been due to the deceptions surrounding Thomas Craw himself. First, by fleeing the country to escape his debtors," Severus quickly put a hand on Jennifer's arm before she could jump up in protest. She consoled herself by glaring murderously at the counselor. "Then, after he was discovered, he faked his own death. For the record, the matter of this debt was brought to probate in the United States, but it was not known to any party at that time that Craw still had holdings in Britain."

"Sounds like somebody didn't do their homework very well, did they?" Vallid taunted. Magistrate Muse gave her a stern frown.

"Counselor Vallid, considering that Thomas Craw himself did confess to the premeditative arrangement of his own false death, as well as his efforts to remain 'unfound' during much of the time between the contract breech and the present, I must agree with the Counselor Blake in this matter. The vault will be considered, for the time being at least, as belonging to the former estate holdings of Thomas Craw." Muse answered. Vallid nodded.

"In that case, your Wisdom, our clients will choose to plead no contest. However, since the vault contains not only coin but also cursed family heirlooms and property of a sensitive nature, the family of the defendant does by law have a right to make a bid on those items. Therefore, Jennifer Craw would like to bid for the valued amount of the items." Blake excused himself to talk to his client a moment, while Vallid watched them calmly.

"Very well, our client will counter-bid for 15,000 galleons."

"Twenty-five thousand," Vallid said evenly. Blake blinked at Vallid and Jennifer before looking back at his client a moment.

"Thirty-five thousand," he said.

"Fifty thousand," Vallid countered, starting to smile slightly.

"Magistrate Muse, this is ridiculous! My client and I have serious doubts as to how a secondary Professor who earns less than a thousand galleons a year could possibly come up with that sort of money legally. We demand proof that she has this sort of capital before this continues," Blake said.

"Counselor Blake, considering the penalty for lying in court, and in such a court as this bids are held as a matter of record…"

"It's quite all right, Magistrate Muse, my client and I have no objections to proving her capital," Vallid said bemusedly. She walked over to Jennifer with a reassuring smile. Jennifer handed her the envelope, grinning nervously. Vallid then returned it to the judge's desk.

"I have here a certified cheque from Gringotts Bank for seventy thousand galleons," Muse said thoughtfully. "For a Firstborn loan, with an extended maximum credit line on the merits of a cosigning loan guarantor, Albus Dumbledore," the Magistrate said, handing it over to the counselor to look at. Blake frowned at it and then headed back over to Lucius, talking to him a moment before turning back around.

"Seventy-five thousand!" Blake said, looking a bit shaky on his feet. The goblin accountant was pulling out his hair, trying to get Lucius Malfoy's attention, but Malfoy was too angry at that moment to be paying much attention.

"Counselor Blake, I feel it is my duty to remind you and your client of something you might have overlooked. You have now bid over coin value of the vault…summarily, since any value over the owed debt goes to the indebted and he is incarcerated, that money would then go to his family, namely the same person you are bidding against," the Magistrate said. "You are in essence allowing her to keep the coin and take only the items for the payment of the debt."

"Yes sir, but as you know, by law any bidders must have the money up front prior to the final litigation. So unless the defendant has further income to declare, I suggest we close the bidding." Blake said.

"We have no further bids, your Wisdom," Vallid said.

"Very well then, I award the vault in question to Lucius Malfoy. Case closed," said the Magistrate, standing up. Malfoy smiled in pure satisfaction for a moment as he stood and accepted the key, so at first didn't notice Arthur Weasley, Arnie Peasegood, and several others from the Ministry as they walked up to him.

"Lucius Malfoy, I am afraid I have to place you under arrest," Arthur said cheerfully. "I'm sure you know the drill by now, don't you? Your counselors may accompany you if you like of course while we draw up charges."

"What are you talking about, Weasley? Have you completely lost your mind? What could you possibly be charging me with?" Lucius demanded, his face getting red with anger.

"Why, ninety-eight charges of possession of illegal cursed items, of course," Arthur said with a smile. "Since the cursed items in the vault are no longer in the hands of the Craws, they are no longer protected by the Heirloom Act. And since you bought them, you are accountable for them coming into your possession. Oh, and I'm afraid we'll have to confiscate them, too. We can't have them getting back out into society, you know."

"But that is entrapment! You tricked my client into buying those items! There was no way my client would have known they were illegal!" Blake growled at Arthur, his eyes flashing at Vallid who had walked up on beside them, accompanied by Magistrate Muse.

"I do recall specifically stating that some of the items in there were cursed heirlooms, Blake, and ignorance of a law is no excuse. It's his fault for having a pair of counselors not capable of informing him of it. My client made a genuine offer to take them off his hands. It was his choice to counter-bid it, and no one forced him to do anything. Now, if you'll just pay my client, I'll be on my way," Vallid smiled angelically.

"I am not paying her for something I can't even have!" Malfoy shouted.

"Sir, you made the bid and offer in a court of law, you have no choice but to follow through or you may face contempt and probably a counter lawsuit," Jeffers reminded him.

"They can not charge me with something I did not pay for!"

"Not true, Mr. Malfoy, the court awarded you the key, therefore it is in your possession prior to payment," Magistrate Muse said. "Although if I were you, I would reconsider refuting payment. If you do not follow through, I would see that as a plaintiff's incompletion of a court order with grounds to absolve the complaint in favor of the defense."

"Fine," Lucius snarled, throwing the key across the table where Vallid snatched it up. "Absolve it. Jeffers, Blake, you're sacked," he snapped, walking up to Vallid. "You haven't heard the last of me, Vallid."

"Oh, I have no doubt of that. I'm just getting started myself," Vallid decided with a challenging smile. "One thing is certain; you are not going to find what you're looking for, Malfoy. If I have to go to my grave to prevent it, I will." Lucius stared at her a moment then swiftly turned around, bumping into Arthur who was standing behind him.

"Out of my way, Weasley! The case is absolved, that means I haven't possession of anything!" Lucius snapped.

"Ah, yes. Well, we can't have everything, can we?" Arthur said, stepping out of the way. Behind him stood Jennifer, Severus, and Dumbledore; Jennifer and Severus regarding Malfoy with unmasked hatred.

Without saying another word, he stormed out of the room. Behind him a cheer arose, audible from down the corridor.