A/N I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! /giggle/wicked grin/ Aren't y'all glad to see me again?

Disclaimer: See previous five disclaimers.

Chapter the Sixth

Harry lay on his back with his arms folded behind his head, staring at the ceiling. For some reason that he could not explain, he was restless and unable to sleep. He sighed and rolled over, now staring at the wall, and decided that since he couldn't get to sleep, he'd walk around the house.

He stood up and located his glasses on the floor beside the pile of blankets he had been sleeping on, shoving them onto his nose. Even though a pair of bed slippers were beside his glasses as well, he didn't bother putting them on, because Dee kept her house warm—she did not like the cold.

Harry silently padded across the floor and out into the hallway. Dee's room was dark, but the bathroom light was on; a habit, he had found out, from Dee's days and nights baby-sitting her nieces and nephews.

He turned toward the stairs, figuring he'd go downstairs to the kitchen and have a midnight snack. Halfway down the stairs, he realized that the kitchen light was also on, and there were voices coming from inside, one of which was Dee's, and the other of which belonged to…

"Damn it, Lucius, if you can't do your job right then I damn well won't pay you!"

Dee's voice sounded extremely frustrated, and extremely angry. Lucius Malfoy's voice sounded the same.

"Well, I can't exactly do my job right if you don't tell me what you want, now can I?" he snarled back.

Harry slowly walked the rest of the way down the stairs and stopped just beyond the doorway, closing his eyes and just listening.

"And if I tell you what I want, you'll give me only that information and nothing else," Dee snapped. "And I want the whole cake, not just a slice."

"I've told you all I know!"

"The hell you have!"

There was a long moment of silence in the kitchen.

"I've told you all I know," Lucius repeated in a low, calmer voice.

"And I've called you a liar," Dee replied in a voice just as calm. "You've told me no more than what I already know. Tell me something new. Tell me something new, and maybe I'll reconsider my offer."

Lucius hesitated. "What do you mean?"

Dee sighed. "Alright. Let's say I'll double my price."

"If the Dark Lord finds out I'm doing this—"

"That's your problem, not mine."

There was another long pause, and then Lucius began speaking, in a low, harsh whisper. Harry opened his eyes and leaned closer, straining his ears to hear every word.

"The Dark Lord plans to resurrect Black in a secured area and use a dementor to administer the Kiss." He took a deep breath. "Then he's going to get a Summoner, Derrick Thurston, to Summon a relatively minor demon, and then imbue Black with the demon." Lucius' voice dropped even lower then, so that Harry couldn't hear what he said. After a moment though, he could hear Dee's voice, coming closer then going away again, so that Harry figured she was pacing the length of the kitchen. All the while she was repeating the same phrase over and over again.

"Sonovabitch, sonovabitch, sonovabitch, sonovabitch…"

The tirade continued for many minutes, but finally Dee spoke again.

"All right. All right. Get out of my house now. You'll find the money where I told you it can be found, tomorrow morning between twelve and one. The other half will be same place the next day, same time. Miss either of those times and you don't get half your money. All clear?"

"Yes, of course." There was the sound of a chair being scraped across the floor.

"I'll be calling on you again."

"You won't be if I get killed over this," he replied.

Harry could imagine Dee shrugging. "Then I'll just have to find someone better to use, won't I?"

Harry didn't hear anything else until the backdoor shut, rather sharply. He leaned back against the wall, staring up at the ceiling and figuring that he'd better go back upstairs before Dee came out, but unable to find the strength in his legs. Just as he was turning away, he heard Dee's voice again.

"Come on in, Harry. I expect you have questions, don't you?"

A/N Mwahahahahhaha! Howzat for making it go somewhere, Sic? /evil grin/