Chapter Ten
Disruption of Peace
Months had passed since Lex first started working at the Ministry and it was now September, a time with got Lex down because while she should be heading off to teach she was instead stuck in the office. But her job wasn't that bad. Sure there were times when Matt would come out screaming at Lex for not having something done, but she just shrugged it off, got it done and gave it to him as soon as she could. She had also come to enjoy the normal routine she had developed of seeing her old friends everyday. She found that working at the ministry caused you to meet all sorts of new people, and she enjoyed it.
One cool late September afternoon she was sitting at her desk, reading over a paper that Matt had handed her. Apparently he had come to realize she was smart enough that if he needed help she could give it to him. The paper was talking about the activity of Death Eaters. Mind you they weren't those from Voldemort's time, they were all dead and gone. But their children had stepped up to take on the 'noble work' their parents had left for them.
Lex flipped through the report and when she looked up Matt was looking down at her.
"Yes?" she asked.
"Have you finished reading it yet?" he asked, sounding rushed.
Lex looked down at the paper and shook her head.
"I've gotten through most of it," she said, continuing to read the paper, "But I'm not quite finished. I should be in about an hour."
She looked up quickly and Matt had a pained look on his face.
"Do you need it quicker than that?" asked Lex.
"I need it now," he said, "The Minister is going to be coming to see me any minute now and he wants updated results on what is going on with this."
Lex looked back down and sighed.
"You've read it haven't you?" she asked.
Matt nodded and she shrugged.
"Then maybe if we put our heads together we can think of something," she said.
They talked quickly as Matt tapped his fingers anxiously on the desk.
"The activity is spread too thin for it to mean anything serious," said Matt.
But Lex shook her head and he frowned slightly.
"What now?" he asked.
"It never means nothing," she said, "There is always something behind Death Eater activities. Every attack, every disappearance, everything that points back to them means something."
Matt froze for a moment and narrowed his eyes at her.
"My Dad told me that growing up," she said, "He used to work in this department when I was a kid."
"Brent Malfoy," said Matt, "He was your Dad?"
Lex snapped her attention to him when she heard her Father's name.
"Yeah, how did you know?" she asked.
Matt grinned.
"He was a hero when he worked here. He always knew what to do, who to turn to, what to say . . . he is what we're all compared to now. He was a good man." Said Matt, "Shame me had to lose him."
Lex looked at Matt, and forced herself to look at the paper again. She pretended to search the paper but her mind froze. The memory of her Father pushed back into her mind and she felt small tears forming again.
Don't let him see you weak like that. She thought as she put the paper back down.
"So there is definitely something behind the Death Eater activities?" asked Matt, resuming the subject.
Lex nodded.
"The best idea would be to start putting out under cover people," she said, "Course it's all up to you."
Matt watched her for a moment and she shrugged.
"Thank you," he said, "I really don't know where I would be if I didn't have your help."
He leaned over and hugged her. Lex felt herself blush as his lips touched her cheek softly. She smiled slightly and he grabbed the papers and ran off, his cloak flapping behind him.
Lex was stuck at her desk until around midnight that night, going over the comments the ministry had made on Matt's report. He was in his own office, looking up for more information, sending out owls, and trying to find anything else they could. Lex removed her glasses at one point and rubbed her tired eyes. She needed to go home and sleep.
She got up from her chair and left the office, disapparating from that very sport rather than going into the Atrium. She arrived home and stumbled upstairs, collapsing on her bed moments later and drifting off to sleep.
She woke up the next morning to find she had overslept and was due back at the office over three hours ago. She dashed through the house to get ready and reached into her pocket for her wand. Much to her surprise there was nothing there. She searched her robes and everything, but her wand had gone missing. She sighed and figured she could just use floo powder instead.
With a roar of flames she was at the ministry and she walked to the lifts. The place was surprisingly empty considering it was near noon. The elevator reached the 9th floor without stopping and Lex crept over to her desk. As she sat down a voice screamed in her ear.
"You're over three hours later, Malfoy!" the voice roared.
She turned and saw William standing behind her. She bit her lower lip.
"I'm sorry sir," she said, "Matt and I were here late last night and I overslept, I'm sorry, it'll never happen again, I swear sir."
William looked down at her.
"It better not happen again," he snarled and Lex shook her head.
"It won't sir, I promise," she said quickly as he walked away.
Shortly after that, once she had consumed a few cup of coffee, Matt showed up at her desk.
"When did you leave?" he asked, "I had a lot of work let for you when you left."
"I had to get some sleep," she said, "Sorry..."
He sighed, threw a large stack of papers down on her desk, and then left. She began to work when suddenly Lorelei rushed up to her desk. Lex looked up and saw a look of terror on her face.
"Lex, where were you last night?" she said, sounding rushed.
"At home, why?" asked Lex.
"A bunch of ministry officials are coming here, right now," she said, "They're coming for you, they said..."
Lorelei paused over the words as they heard someone ask where Lex was. She ducked into a different desk and Lorelei looked at her.
"They have witnesses who saw you enter and leave, they even have your wand, Lex," she stammered, "You need to get out of here."
Lex froze for a moment. She didn't know what to do.
"What did they say I've done?" asked Lex, and Lorelei seemed to struggling on the words. It was something bad, Lex could tell, "Lorelei?"
"They said...they said you killed Gavin," Lorelei choked out. "They found him dead this morning at their house, along with your wand and everything."
Lex didn't wait another second. She ducked down a hallway and through the lifts. She jammed the button for the Atrium and as the door opened she went to rush forward, but found herself running into the arms of a tall man, who looked very threatening.
"Alexia Malfoy, you are under arrested by the Ministry of Magic for the murder of Gavin Malfoy, on September 28th," he said in almost a robotic tone.
"No...no!" she yelled as she stumbled backwards, "I didn't...I wouldn't!"
She fell back on another man, who chained her arms together and searched her. They took her to a courtroom down in the depths of the ministry and she sat in a chair as others stared down on her. She shook as they spoke to her. She could not see their faces, but could hear their words loud and clear.
"Alexia, where were you between the hours of twelve midnight and five am this morning," one spat at her.
"I was at my home, sleeping," Lex said.
"Do you have anyone who can verify that?" asked a witch sharply.
Lex looked down. No one had seen her exit the ministry and no one knew where she lived. She slowly shook her head.
"We have witnesses who verified that they saw you enter and leave the deceased residence early this morning," said a man, "They also found your wand there, the last spell being cast from it was the killing curse. The evidence is obviously against you, Ms. Malfoy."
"I didn't do it!" yelled Lex, "I would never kill my brother, if any of you knew me, you'd know I'm telling the truth! He means too much to me. I swear I didn't do it."
"Jillian Malfoy told us she heard you kill him, that you even threatened her," said another woman. Lex looked down and sunk into the chair. There was too much against her.
"We have no choice," said a man, his voice booming through the court room, "Alexia Malfoy, we hereby sentence you to spend the rest of your days in Azkaban."
Everyone in the Atrium was watching as Lex was taken from the Ministry. She held her hands in front of her face as she heard others talking about her.
"She killed her brother, can you imagine?"
"Right in front of his wife, the heartless bitch."
She glanced through her fingers and saw Lorelei, Venefica and Verity all watching her, their eyes full of disbelief; all accept Lorelei, who looked terrified. A moment later a man dragged her into the fireplace and threw down a pinch of floo powder.
"AZKABAN!" he bellowed.
Within an instance the ministry had disappeared and Lex felt herself spinning out of control. Suddenly she landed flat on her face, the chain restricting her hands, and her glasses slid across the floor. A guard threw them back at her and she suddenly felt cold, empty and scared.
Lex was pulled to her feet and pushed roughly into a room just off where she had entered Azkaban. It had only a small window near the ceiling and for a moment Lex feared this would be her cell. A second later the guard at the prison threw a pair of large, ugly, play and white striped robes at her.
"Put them on," he said, leaning against the wall.
She watched him for a moment as he watched her. He wasn't going to watch, was he?
"C'mon, Malfoy, we don't got all day," he said, starting to sound pissed off.
Lex nodded slowly and began to remove her clothes. It was humiliating and she felt as though she didn't deserve to live. It took moments and the guard's eyes never left her. Once she was done, the guard led her out of the room and into another.
This time the room was square with a table in the middle. They gave her a board and shoved her in front of a camera. They took pictures of her with her prisoner number, 112017, from all sides. They then took down all of her physical information, height, weight, eye color, and hair color, everything you could imagine.
After what seemed like hours they took Lex to her cell. It was a small cramped little room that had a small bed, which was just a mattress on the floor, a toilet and a sink. It was barely 5 feet wide and maybe about six long and the walls were made completely of large stones. She looked out the small window at the other end of the cell and saw nothing but the same gray stones all around her.
She moved back to her bed, slumped down on it, pulled her legs up to her chest and began to cry. She has been in Azkaban less than a day and the only thing she could ask herself was why was this happening to her. What had she done to deserve this?
Months had passed since Lex first started working at the Ministry and it was now September, a time with got Lex down because while she should be heading off to teach she was instead stuck in the office. But her job wasn't that bad. Sure there were times when Matt would come out screaming at Lex for not having something done, but she just shrugged it off, got it done and gave it to him as soon as she could. She had also come to enjoy the normal routine she had developed of seeing her old friends everyday. She found that working at the ministry caused you to meet all sorts of new people, and she enjoyed it.
One cool late September afternoon she was sitting at her desk, reading over a paper that Matt had handed her. Apparently he had come to realize she was smart enough that if he needed help she could give it to him. The paper was talking about the activity of Death Eaters. Mind you they weren't those from Voldemort's time, they were all dead and gone. But their children had stepped up to take on the 'noble work' their parents had left for them.
Lex flipped through the report and when she looked up Matt was looking down at her.
"Yes?" she asked.
"Have you finished reading it yet?" he asked, sounding rushed.
Lex looked down at the paper and shook her head.
"I've gotten through most of it," she said, continuing to read the paper, "But I'm not quite finished. I should be in about an hour."
She looked up quickly and Matt had a pained look on his face.
"Do you need it quicker than that?" asked Lex.
"I need it now," he said, "The Minister is going to be coming to see me any minute now and he wants updated results on what is going on with this."
Lex looked back down and sighed.
"You've read it haven't you?" she asked.
Matt nodded and she shrugged.
"Then maybe if we put our heads together we can think of something," she said.
They talked quickly as Matt tapped his fingers anxiously on the desk.
"The activity is spread too thin for it to mean anything serious," said Matt.
But Lex shook her head and he frowned slightly.
"What now?" he asked.
"It never means nothing," she said, "There is always something behind Death Eater activities. Every attack, every disappearance, everything that points back to them means something."
Matt froze for a moment and narrowed his eyes at her.
"My Dad told me that growing up," she said, "He used to work in this department when I was a kid."
"Brent Malfoy," said Matt, "He was your Dad?"
Lex snapped her attention to him when she heard her Father's name.
"Yeah, how did you know?" she asked.
Matt grinned.
"He was a hero when he worked here. He always knew what to do, who to turn to, what to say . . . he is what we're all compared to now. He was a good man." Said Matt, "Shame me had to lose him."
Lex looked at Matt, and forced herself to look at the paper again. She pretended to search the paper but her mind froze. The memory of her Father pushed back into her mind and she felt small tears forming again.
Don't let him see you weak like that. She thought as she put the paper back down.
"So there is definitely something behind the Death Eater activities?" asked Matt, resuming the subject.
Lex nodded.
"The best idea would be to start putting out under cover people," she said, "Course it's all up to you."
Matt watched her for a moment and she shrugged.
"Thank you," he said, "I really don't know where I would be if I didn't have your help."
He leaned over and hugged her. Lex felt herself blush as his lips touched her cheek softly. She smiled slightly and he grabbed the papers and ran off, his cloak flapping behind him.
Lex was stuck at her desk until around midnight that night, going over the comments the ministry had made on Matt's report. He was in his own office, looking up for more information, sending out owls, and trying to find anything else they could. Lex removed her glasses at one point and rubbed her tired eyes. She needed to go home and sleep.
She got up from her chair and left the office, disapparating from that very sport rather than going into the Atrium. She arrived home and stumbled upstairs, collapsing on her bed moments later and drifting off to sleep.
She woke up the next morning to find she had overslept and was due back at the office over three hours ago. She dashed through the house to get ready and reached into her pocket for her wand. Much to her surprise there was nothing there. She searched her robes and everything, but her wand had gone missing. She sighed and figured she could just use floo powder instead.
With a roar of flames she was at the ministry and she walked to the lifts. The place was surprisingly empty considering it was near noon. The elevator reached the 9th floor without stopping and Lex crept over to her desk. As she sat down a voice screamed in her ear.
"You're over three hours later, Malfoy!" the voice roared.
She turned and saw William standing behind her. She bit her lower lip.
"I'm sorry sir," she said, "Matt and I were here late last night and I overslept, I'm sorry, it'll never happen again, I swear sir."
William looked down at her.
"It better not happen again," he snarled and Lex shook her head.
"It won't sir, I promise," she said quickly as he walked away.
Shortly after that, once she had consumed a few cup of coffee, Matt showed up at her desk.
"When did you leave?" he asked, "I had a lot of work let for you when you left."
"I had to get some sleep," she said, "Sorry..."
He sighed, threw a large stack of papers down on her desk, and then left. She began to work when suddenly Lorelei rushed up to her desk. Lex looked up and saw a look of terror on her face.
"Lex, where were you last night?" she said, sounding rushed.
"At home, why?" asked Lex.
"A bunch of ministry officials are coming here, right now," she said, "They're coming for you, they said..."
Lorelei paused over the words as they heard someone ask where Lex was. She ducked into a different desk and Lorelei looked at her.
"They have witnesses who saw you enter and leave, they even have your wand, Lex," she stammered, "You need to get out of here."
Lex froze for a moment. She didn't know what to do.
"What did they say I've done?" asked Lex, and Lorelei seemed to struggling on the words. It was something bad, Lex could tell, "Lorelei?"
"They said...they said you killed Gavin," Lorelei choked out. "They found him dead this morning at their house, along with your wand and everything."
Lex didn't wait another second. She ducked down a hallway and through the lifts. She jammed the button for the Atrium and as the door opened she went to rush forward, but found herself running into the arms of a tall man, who looked very threatening.
"Alexia Malfoy, you are under arrested by the Ministry of Magic for the murder of Gavin Malfoy, on September 28th," he said in almost a robotic tone.
"No...no!" she yelled as she stumbled backwards, "I didn't...I wouldn't!"
She fell back on another man, who chained her arms together and searched her. They took her to a courtroom down in the depths of the ministry and she sat in a chair as others stared down on her. She shook as they spoke to her. She could not see their faces, but could hear their words loud and clear.
"Alexia, where were you between the hours of twelve midnight and five am this morning," one spat at her.
"I was at my home, sleeping," Lex said.
"Do you have anyone who can verify that?" asked a witch sharply.
Lex looked down. No one had seen her exit the ministry and no one knew where she lived. She slowly shook her head.
"We have witnesses who verified that they saw you enter and leave the deceased residence early this morning," said a man, "They also found your wand there, the last spell being cast from it was the killing curse. The evidence is obviously against you, Ms. Malfoy."
"I didn't do it!" yelled Lex, "I would never kill my brother, if any of you knew me, you'd know I'm telling the truth! He means too much to me. I swear I didn't do it."
"Jillian Malfoy told us she heard you kill him, that you even threatened her," said another woman. Lex looked down and sunk into the chair. There was too much against her.
"We have no choice," said a man, his voice booming through the court room, "Alexia Malfoy, we hereby sentence you to spend the rest of your days in Azkaban."
Everyone in the Atrium was watching as Lex was taken from the Ministry. She held her hands in front of her face as she heard others talking about her.
"She killed her brother, can you imagine?"
"Right in front of his wife, the heartless bitch."
She glanced through her fingers and saw Lorelei, Venefica and Verity all watching her, their eyes full of disbelief; all accept Lorelei, who looked terrified. A moment later a man dragged her into the fireplace and threw down a pinch of floo powder.
"AZKABAN!" he bellowed.
Within an instance the ministry had disappeared and Lex felt herself spinning out of control. Suddenly she landed flat on her face, the chain restricting her hands, and her glasses slid across the floor. A guard threw them back at her and she suddenly felt cold, empty and scared.
Lex was pulled to her feet and pushed roughly into a room just off where she had entered Azkaban. It had only a small window near the ceiling and for a moment Lex feared this would be her cell. A second later the guard at the prison threw a pair of large, ugly, play and white striped robes at her.
"Put them on," he said, leaning against the wall.
She watched him for a moment as he watched her. He wasn't going to watch, was he?
"C'mon, Malfoy, we don't got all day," he said, starting to sound pissed off.
Lex nodded slowly and began to remove her clothes. It was humiliating and she felt as though she didn't deserve to live. It took moments and the guard's eyes never left her. Once she was done, the guard led her out of the room and into another.
This time the room was square with a table in the middle. They gave her a board and shoved her in front of a camera. They took pictures of her with her prisoner number, 112017, from all sides. They then took down all of her physical information, height, weight, eye color, and hair color, everything you could imagine.
After what seemed like hours they took Lex to her cell. It was a small cramped little room that had a small bed, which was just a mattress on the floor, a toilet and a sink. It was barely 5 feet wide and maybe about six long and the walls were made completely of large stones. She looked out the small window at the other end of the cell and saw nothing but the same gray stones all around her.
She moved back to her bed, slumped down on it, pulled her legs up to her chest and began to cry. She has been in Azkaban less than a day and the only thing she could ask herself was why was this happening to her. What had she done to deserve this?