Guess what? I'm back! Poor you…
Because I'm fun like that, I'm going to say summer break rocks!
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A week later, there was still no news on the whereabouts of Karissa. Ginny was growing impatient, as was Draco. But they had stopped talking to each other. If anyone noticed anything, they didn't mention it. They all knew better.
Draco was sitting in his office, filing the paperwork he had promised Arthur he would do. Even though he wasn't at home, he still had to do work.
Just then, Starr, the agent that had been assigned to the "Moody Malfoy Case" ("the poor girl," as the other agents had stated) walked in the room. Her black robes matched her black hair and black eyes perfectly,
"Mr. Malfoy." Starr said quietly.
"Yes?" He asked angrily. The past week he had been in a constant bad mood, and poor Starr had had to be in between the Dream Couple as they were fighting. Like the other Agents said: poor Starr.
"We have received new information on the kidnapping. We have reason to believe it is the work of -Maskichaleklldi-." She informed him. Although she hated dealing with the ever-moody Malfoys, Starr knew that this case would bring untold advancement to her as soon as they found Karissa.
"Maskichaleklldi?" Draco asked. Although he hated looking clueless, he was genuinely interested in this. Starr was relieved that he was actually behaving like a true person.
"Yes. Maskichaleklldi. It is an organization that has been growing over the past few years. They kidnap many well-off Wizarding children." Starr explained. Any hopes of a good mood out of Draco were ruined as his inquiring expression was turned into a scowl. Damn it all. Starr thought, Maybe I don't want to be in this business at all. Especially if I have to deal with this kind of people on a regular basis.
"Have you learned who is running this yet?" He asked snappishly.
"No." Starr answered slowly. She didn't want to be on the receiving end of another of Draco's rages. True, he wasn't as bad as his wife when she was in a mood, but he was still a pain.
"And why, exactly, haven't you caught him?" Draco asked menacingly.
"Because, Mr. Malfoy, there is more to this organization than just learning who is running it. My God, if that were the case, we would have figured out who is running it by now. But this situation is much more complex, and I am not at liberty to discuss it with civilians." She replied haughtily, glad to finally have something to hold over him. She couldn't deal with both of the high-and-mighty Malfoys for much longer if they both thought they could control her. She had to show them this wasn't the case.
"I am Draco Malfoy. I am not some ordinary civilian." Draco said angrily. How dare this lowly American witch treat him as though he were just another person! He, Draco Malfoy, would have to show her how wrong she was.
"But you are. And not an American, either. So, even if you were an Agent, then since you're British, it would be none of your business!" Starr replied hotly. Really, though, Mr. Malfoy was getting annoying.
"So you admit that this organization is an American thing? Then I can sue you." Draco said. If he were anyone else, you would have been able to imagine his nose being stuck in the air after he said this. But this was the Draco Malfoy. He was too dignified.
"No, you can't. Because this is an international organization. But the information we have about it is strictly ours." She replied importantly. Starr knew this would annoy him. After only dealing with him for a week, she could already tell that he hated being looked down on or being left out.
"Agent Bright…" a voice started from the fireplace.
"Yes?" She asked, turning to it. She recognized the form of Agent Stevens.
"We have received intelligence that there is no doubt that Karissa is in the hands of the Maskichaleklldi." He informed her. Starr barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Of course there was "no doubt" that Karissa Malfoy was in the clutches of Maskichaleklldi.
"Thank you, Agent Stevens. And-" She started, but just then an owl flew through the open window.
"Don't touch that letter, Mr. Malfoy!" Starr ordered. Draco reluctantly followed her advice. She grabbed the letter and read through it several times before she said slowly,
"It's a ransom. But Maskichaleklldi doesn't do ransoms!" she said, confused.
"Maybe you're wrong. Maybe someone else has her." Draco suggested nastily. Starr refused to acknowledge this slight to her country's intelligence agencies, or to her country as a whole.
"It is impossible. Our intelligence reports…" Starr began, only to be interrupted.
"Intelligence can be wrong."
"Not ours." Agent Stevens said indignantly from the fire. Draco just glared at him.
"What does the note say?" Ginny asked from the doorway. Anyone who saw her could see that she had been crying. But this was not new. She had been crying for days.
Starr looked to her superior, Agent Stevens, whose head was floating in the fire. He shook his head, and she said,
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Malfoy, but I cannot tell you right now. We cannot risk rash action from either yourself or your husband right now. We must find Maskichaleklldi, and your daughter."
Ginny angrily glared at her.
"Kari is my daughter. We don't need you here to mess up us looking for her!"
"You wouldn't be able to find her anyway! Don't-"
"Agent Bright!" Agent Stevens said warningly.
"I'm telling the truth!"She replied angrily. If her superior wasn't watching, she would really give these I'm-better-than-you Malfoys a big piece of her mind.
"Watch it. Or Code 86003 will apply to you." He ordered. She gasped: Code 86003 was a code that would probably get her fired along with jail time. It was a code that usually only applied to spies and traitors.
"I'm backing off, sir." She said, beaten. The Malfoys glanced at her in amazement. Though they had only known her a few days, they knew that Starr didn't give up easily. Both wondered what the code meant.
"Agent Bright, Apparate here and we'll go over the ransom. Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, stay where you are." Agent Stevens ordered. Boy did he seem to do a lot of ordering. But he was one of those that when he ordered, everyone listened. And that made him an excellent leader. He would probably be the American Council's next President.
"Yes, sir." Agent Starr Bright replied. And she Apparated.
"I wonder what it said?" Draco asked himself. He completely forgot Ginny was in the room, and he didn't really care. They had been fighting whenever they were in the same room for the past week, and he was tired of the fighting. So, like he always did with anything he disagreed with, he ignored her.
-Later that day-
"My supervisor has decided that it is all right to disclose the contents of the note to you." Starr informed them. They both sat watching her, their attention focused on her.
"And?" Draco asked impatiently. He wanted to get Kari back as quickly as possible.
"It states that they have Karissa and wish thirty thousand Galleons to return her."
"Thirty thousand?" Ginny asked, horrified. That was such a large amount of money! Of course, this was the Malfoy family that they stole from, so of course they'd have the money.
"Yes. Thirty thousand. They say that if you want her back, you must take the money to Oahe Dam at five thirty tomorrow evening." Starr informed them. She said this only reluctantly, because she knew that this was most likely a fake. But if it wasn't, and they actually had Karissa, she couldn't allow them to not take this opportunity to get their daughter back.
"Oahe Dam?" Draco asked. "Where is that?"
"It's a Muggle creation on the Missouri River. Quite ingenious, actually." Ginny informed him. Like her father, she was quite interested in Muggles, but not quite to the extent that Arthur Weasley was. But the Muggle way to get "hydroelectricity" amazed her.
Starr just stared at Ginny.
"We must petition Father to give us the money, then." Draco said simply. Ginny raised her eyebrows menacingly, but Draco refused to acknowledge her.
"Fine." Ginny said nastily, but her attitude was completely lost on Draco. He refused to accept her attitude, and therefore ignored her.
And so Draco sent a letter by Portkey owl to his father. They waited a scant hour before it was returned with a glittering sum of money attached to its leg.
"Then tomorrow we will go?" Draco asked.
"No. Tomorrow I will take it." Starr said. He thought she was being sarcastic, but before he said something foolish, he saw that she was dead serious.
"I will go to get her. And that is it." She said with finality.
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I really enjoyed my trip to Europe. We stopped in six countries, and stayed in five different ones. And I'm going to give you a rundown of my trip: Germany-awesome; Austria (didn't stay very long)- okay; Italy- awesome food, rude people (I got cussed out in Italian… kind of funny); Switzerland-eh, no opinion; France- can be summed up with the phrase "France is nice, but the people…" aren't (not quite the phrase, but we'll leave it at that); England-awesome. I'm not sure if England would have been so cool if we had gone there at the beginning of our trip, but the fact that we had gone two weeks without having stuff in English probably made England a lot cooler (more awesome? awesomer?- sorry, rambling). Speaking of which, while we where in England, we saw funky zigzag lines on the streets. Does anyone know what those are for? If they do, I'm dying of curiosity and would like to know. So they should review and tell me.
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-pronounced Mask-a-chale-kill-lid-dee. (I was bored talking to my friend one day and made up a new name…) (sorry about the -- thing. this "quick edit" thing likes to screw with my head and take all the stars out)
On Emode's 'Past Life' quiz: "Are you a lover fighter I just sleep" And, apparently in my past life, I was a dog from Allamakee, Iowa. And I say, an Iwegan? You've got to be kidding me!
Fun quote: "One wheat beer is Bavarian. Two is alcoholic…" short pause, "and four is vacationing American."
Have a nice day, and I'm going to go do more laundry, since it appears that I ran out of clothes while in Europe… (whoa… I did buy some too).
Talk to you all later!
-Lili