A new broom sweeps clean, but an old broom knows all the corners. (Irish Proverb)
"Gods, what a mess," exclaimed Eleanor probably for the fourth or fifth time now. She knelt on the floor turning over the black-clad stiffened form of yet another Death Eater. Lucius crouched next to her with a roll of duct tape.
"Who's this?" she asked. "Seth Avery," he told her with a slight mumble, as he was just busy notching the tape with his teeth in order to tear off another strip. Eleanor pulled the black leather mask from the man's face. "Ugh, and he almost made me…" she trailed off, again feeling very grateful for her new-found abilities to dodge curses. She caught herself. "Not exactly a handsome fellow," she declared, observing a heavy mono-brow, low forehead and jowly chin.
"That's why he typically needs to resort to the imperius to get any." Lucius deftly placed the tape over the man's mouth. "Any reasonable witch would have to be blind drunk or on vorax to let him closer than five paces," he told her. She next resolved the petrificus enough to allow them to bind the Death Eater's hands and feet together. Avery struggled feebly against the remaining magic, but could not use his mouth to curse his captors, or completely break the spell. Finally Lucius smoothed the last piece of tape down over the man's ankles and placed the roll on the very wobbly coffee table beside him.
"Tell me again, why we are this considerate, particularly to him?" he asked her as Eleanor pulled out her wand. "Wingardium leviosa!" she commanded, and Mr. Avery slowly floated over to join the bound bodies of his colleagues at the far side of the living-room. "Because I want us to come off as the good guys. We want you rehabilitated, right? So I don't want us to be accused of grievous bodily harm. That's why I'm replacing the spells with tape. You know how a day in a body-bind wrecks your circulation. We are going to hand these folks over to the aurors as pretty as they've come to us. And I think we have to do that soon. I don't like Bellatrix at all."
She sat down on the sofa, sheathing her wand. Lucius stood and lightly tapped the coffee table with his foot, causing the whole thing to finally collapse in a pile of matchsticks. "Well, I never much liked her," he declared, shaking his head and sitting down next to her. Eleanor flashed him a sympathetic smile.
"No, I mean she still hasn't come round yet. Her face is too grey and there's blood seeping out of her right ear. I think you may have cracked her skull." Lucius picked up his cane that leant against the side of the sofa. He casually flicked a piece of skin and hair off one of the snake's fangs. Then his hands trailed lovingly over the curve of the serpent's head. "Good," he declared. "She had it coming for a long time now."
"Well, she needs to get to St. Mungo's. I could try empathicura, but if she's in a coma, it would knock me out before I could either help her or myself." The wizard faced her now. "Don't even think about it," he told her sharply. "She deserves what she's got. She would have tortured you to death without giving it a second thought, and she would have enjoyed every minute of it."
Eleanor regarded him, wondering if his objection was born from hatred or some newfound protectiveness. It still felt strange being around him after his confession to her earlier. She had not expected him to reciprocate and his declaration had stunned her. At the time she had only had the energy to smile at him and hope he would understand how happy he had made her. In fact they had both been so exhausted they had slept through most of the morning afterwards.
Later, as they had got washed and dressed, and she had tried to talk about it, he had interrupted her with a kiss. "We both know, now," he said. "But what we felt existed before we said it. So nothing changes. As long as you understand the door is open now. What has been said cannot be unmade." She had been more than content to leave it at that.
And in truth on the surface little had changed. After weeks of separation she was simply happy to be around him again, and they had enough immediate concerns to keep them occupied and distracted. Just occasionally she would look at him, when she thought he wouldn't catch her at it. And a little voice inside her said: 'He loves me. He always will.' Having an owlery in your stomach didn't even begin to describe it.
Just then, some feathers softly brushed her ear as Hermes, who had observed their efforts from the top of the bookshelf swooped down and landed gracefully on Lucius' knee. The wizard stretched out a hand and gently ruffled the soft feathers below the bird's formidable beak. The owl tilted his head and closed his large eyes, enjoying the attention.
"We need to get Tethering out here, before we call the aurors," said Eleanor regarding the eagle owl, and wondering if he had recovered sufficiently to serve as their messenger. "We need his advice, and if someone like Moody shows up, I really want him as backup, too." She compressed her lips and made up her mind.
"How about I write Tethering? He'll freak if he sees any message from you, and in the meantime you could ring Marvin, let him know we're okay. I'm sure he wasn't happy to leave you to fend for yourself last night." Lucius remembered with a smirk. "No, he wasn't, but when Hermes started dive-attacks on him, he realized we meant business." He fondly looked at his owl, but then glanced over at Eleanor. "So you want me to use this telephone-contraption?" he asked.
She curved her lips in what she hoped was a sweet and innocent smile. "You wouldn't mind? It's described in chapter 8 of 'Live Like a Muggle.'" "Yes, I know, where it's described," said Lucius, rather short-spoken. "I've read it. So where's Marvin's telephone number?" He pronounced the last two words like an insult. "There's a list of numbers pinned by the phone in the hallway. His is under Oswald."
The wizard offered his arm to his owl, got up and handed Hermes to Eleanor. He seemed unhappy with the assignment. "Bloody muggle inventions," she head him mumble as he left. With a quick spell she vanished the ruined coffee table, cast a glance over at the bound Death Eaters, who with the exception of Bellatrix glared at her in open hatred and located some paper and a pen. Hermes watched her as she scribbled a quick message to the advocatus.
From the hallway she could hear Lucius' voice. "What do you mean, wrong number? This is the right number! ... Are you implying I made a mistake? … Don't you dare take that tone with me, you miserable muggle! ... Never you mind what's a muggle … Yes, and the same to you, too!" She grinned and rolled up her note. He would figure it out eventually.
The owl did not object when she fastened the scroll to his leg. Eleanor stepped over the broken pieces of the garden door to release the bird from the patio and then looked around. "What a mess," she mumbled once more and pointed her wand at the floor. "Verrum repairo," she intoned, but the door was too blasted to be fixed. Eventually she gave up with a sigh. One could get obviously get too good at reducto spells.
"Verrum evanesca!" Glass flared all around her and then evaporated with little puffs of smoke and soft hissing noises. She would need to get some muggle workmen in eventually. Thankfully it was summer and warm enough to live without a door for a few days. With Death Eaters on the prowl magical wards were going to be more important than physical barriers anyway.
Lucius was talking again, but this time it seemed he was not bent on insulting some innocent muggle who had the misfortune to pick up on a wizard with an attitude. Eleanor felt an insistent growl in her stomach. With all the running around and the rescue it had been about 24 hours since she'd last eaten. She decided to fix an early lunch while they were waiting for an answer from the advocatus.
She poked her head round from the living-room into the hallway and had to suppress a smirk at the unlikely sight. Lucius Malfoy, elegantly dressed in green and black robes, leaned casually against the wall next to the coat rack where her parents' old cream colored phone hung, held the receiver to his ear and talked quite affably with a muggle. "Yes, there were four of them, and I tell you, she ran circles around them … It's a new technique we've discovered, that will revolutionize magical dueling … She has been practicing, and she was absolutely marvelous … These guys will still be wondering what hit them."
Eleanor stepped back into the living-room to wipe the grin from her face. Thankfully he hadn't noticed her. So she had impressed him with her fighting technique. It was so like him not to mention it to her face with even one word. Of course, if you were associated with the Malfoys you were supposed to be the best as a matter of course. She wondered fleetingly how that worked out for Draco, who probably never got an ounce of verbal appreciation from his father.
She sighed, composed herself and made her way to the kitchen. If she was honest with herself, she actually felt very proud of Lucius, too. He was more adaptable than he gave himself credit for, and his Slytherin spirit allowed him to work to his advantage with what he had, even if it meant using muggle technology.
As she passed him, he held out the phone to her. "Here, Marvin would like a word," he said. She took the receiver from him, suspecting he was relieved at being rid of his chore. As she greeted her old friend she felt Lucius lean in to her and whisper into her other ear with a soft growl. "Don't think I'll let you off easily for this, my dear." She shivered and it took at least one alarmed "Are you sure you are all right," from Mr. Oswald to bring her back. "Yes, yes I'm fine," she mumbled and watched the wizard walk off in the direction of the kitchen. He had way too much of a spring in his step for her liking.
A little while later Lucius and Eleanor had settled in on the patio with a selection of food. "Ah, nothing like a good Saturday brunch. I've missed that," she said and reached for some sliced cold roast beef. Lucius blew over his teacup. "What's 'brunch'?" he asked. "What we're having right now. Not breakfast any more, but not quite lunch, either. Muggles do this a lot over the weekend."
Predictably his lips curled in a disdainful sneer. "Barbaric," he declared. "I thought it was merely a case of good manners having to suffer to accommodate an emergency. But of course muggles would have a name for it." Still, she noticed with amusement that the incivility of the meal did not dampen his appetite. She suspected that he had not exactly made leaps of progress in learning how to cook in muggle fashion. After all, he didn't even have to bother about preparing his own food in the wizarding world. So the last few weeks had probably made for rather slim pickings.
"What's that?" he suddenly asked her. She craned her neck and looked behind her only to see the handle of her brand new Firebolt stick out from behind a few tall flower-pots. "Oh, new broom," she said dismissively. "Bought it yesterday in Diagon Alley." Lucius put down his cutlery. "That's a brand-new Firebolt if I'm not mistaken," he said.
He got up and retrieved the broom, weighing it in his hands. "Fully outfitted for quiddich, by the looks of it, even with foot-pegs." She leaned back. "Why, you do know your brooms, Mr. Malfoy." He gave her a long-suffering look. "Comes with the territory if your son is a seeker," he said and sat back down, laying the broom across is knees for a closer inspection. "Did you ever play quiddich?" he asked her.
She poured them both some more tea. "No, I just bought it as it came out of the box as I was in a bit of a hurry last night. I never really was into sports when I was a teen, preferred potions and mischief. Actually I almost killed myself riding that thing last night. It accelerates quite a bit." Lucius sighed. "I know, up to 150 mph in 10 seconds. I heard Draco tell me often enough when he wanted one. Actually, you should ask him for some pointers if you want to continue to use it. He's become rather good at riding it. I guess occasionally investments in him do pay off."
Eleanor gave him a quizzical look. "Only occasionally?" Lucius carefully leaned the broom against an empty chair. "Well, he made me buy a set of 14 Firebolts for the entire Slytherin team in his second year, so they would take him on as a seeker. Just to get back at Potter. Then, first match, I had to watch him fall off his broom in front of the entire school, staff and invited parents, much to my embarrassment. Talk about throwing 3500 galleons out of the window. Of course Potter fell off, too, eventually, after a bludger broke his arm, but not until he had caught the snitch and got a win for Gryffindor." She bit her lip. It seemed the incident still rankled with Draco's father.
Just as she thought of a reply, she heard a short cough behind her. She whirled around, wand at the ready and stared at Advocatus Tethering holding a broom, a large eagle owl perched on his shoulder. "Good morning," he said. "Mr. Malfoy, Professor Sartorius, so glad to see you alive." Eleanor sheathed her wand. "'Course you are," she said curtly. "We're still around to pay your fee. Have a seat."
Tethering seemed unfazed by her accusatory tone and rubbed his hands together as he saw the food laid out before him. "Nothing like a good brunch," he declared and helped himself before anyone could even invite him. Lucius lifted a brow at his advocatus. It seemed the man's knowledge of muggle mealtimes surprised him.
With the lawyer vacuuming up most of the reminder of their meal Lucius and Eleanor briefed him on the latest developments. Finally the wizard swallowed down a last piece of cold meat sandwich and indicated the gaping hole to the living-room. "So the four Death Eaters are in there, secured and ready for the aurors," he stated. "Yes," Eleanor nodded. "We need to get one of them to St. Mungo's, but the others are unharmed."
Tethering got up, all action now. "I'll handle this. I'll go to the Ministry and bring in some friendly aurors, someone on your payroll, Mr. Malfoy, or black-booked ones. They will take you both in, too, I suspect, but we'll make bail. We need to keep you both out of Azkaban, until your review comes up in a few days."
Tethering considered. "Actually this is the best thing that could have happened." Lucius glared at him. "The best thing? Marcellus, you've got to be joking. We almost got ourselves killed last night!" Tethering pulled absentmindedly at his goatee. "Exactly! Remember all the drivel about separation from the wizarding world as a prerequisite for exile? Well, they didn't separate you at all. They just squibbed you and threw you to the wolves. They really passed a horrible death sentence by cruciatus or any other sick means the Dark Lord was going to use to finish you. They just have to revoke now. Splendid! Couldn't have planned it better myself."
Eleanor put a calming hand on her lover's sleeve, as Lucius had turned a rather angry shade of crimson and still didn't seem to agree with the advocatus' assessment. "What do you need us to do?" she asked. Tethering shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever you like. Enjoy the sunshine in the garden, have some more tea. I'll be by with the aurors in a little while and take you all in. Actually, Professor, you could write me a power-of-attorney, so I can get the bail money for both of you from Gringotts. I guess the new Mrs. Black is sitting on all the Malfoy money for now."
Blissfully unaware of the fact that by now one of his clients was ready to explode, Marcellus Tethering waved to them, mounted his broom, spoke an invisibility spell and disappeared.