Chapter Seven:
Treachery Masked
Saturday night came slowly, more slowly then Aleasia would have liked. She stood before a full-length mirror and felt the determination and thrill build inside of her, settling against her stomach, as she admired her new appearance.
She had used a charm to straighten her hair, another to darken the gold locks until they were almost black as the night. Her eyes had been spelled to appear the color of the sea and her skin was toned a thicker shade of ivory. Yes, she would be quite unrecognizable tonight.
She had a spring in her step as she walked to the headmaster's office due, in no small amount, to the heady feeling of once again being tossed into the throes of danger.
Her enthusiasm was short lived.
There, waiting for her in the headmaster's office, was Severus Snape. He was not the only one of course, Remus was there, Moody, Molly Weasley, but he was the only one that made any move to deter the excitement the night had once held in store.
Albus Dumbledore opened his arms wide, a wide smile on his face as Aleasia walked into his office. "Ah, yes, you look magnificent, my dear!"
"You shall blend in beautifully in Knockturn Alley." Remus offered, placing a hand beneath her elbow in blatant approval. Such friendly gestures had become a source of uncompromising comfort to Aleasia in the past several weeks, as they had once been to her so many years ago.
"Indeed." Came a graveled voice from behind. "However, shall your plan not go, accordingly, I shall be there to offer the assistance you shall most assuredly need."
"Severus!" It was not a greeting, not even an acknowledgement. Instead, the name fell from Aleasia's mouth as an accusation, as the smile she had worn collapsed into a frown.
"Now, now, my dear." Soothed the headmaster in an effort to prevent another heated exchange of words. "Severus is quite right. Plans do have a way of running awry when you least expect them to. And should this be the case tonight, Severus shall be there to distract Lucius or, worse come to worse, offer you another allied wand to assist in your escape."
Aleasia's mouth dropped wide in preparation to launch into a tirade of protestations, but Albus' hand came up to silence her words before they even began. He glanced over his half-moon spectacles, locking eyes with the young woman standing before him, an angry flush covering her cheeks.
"You have both wronged each other. Fine. But for tonight, you shall let none of your anger come between the two of you and the tasks you have each been assigned. You, Aleasia, shall enact a seduction. You shall get Lucius off alone, dispense veritaserum to him and come back with the answers we need. Severus, meanwhile, will stay close to the shadows. He is only there to protect you should anything go wrong. I expect you to return the favor should circumstance warrant. Understood?"
Aleasia had clenched her fists at her side, her dark hair falling around her face as she nodded her head in assent.
Minutes later found Severus and Aleasia striding out into the night, heading past the lake and the forbidden forest in order to breech the anti-apparation wards that reached for miles in each direction, protecting the school from unwanted intruders.
Staring straight ahead, but ever aware of Severus' long strides stretching out beside her, Aleasia hissed into the night. "You did this on purpose you insufferable dick!"
Her companion grinned into the night, though it was not a thing of beauty. "Indeed."
Aleasia whipped around, halting her progress in mid-stride. It was a moment before Severus missed the sounds of movement beside him, then he too turned around, crossing his arms against his chest in an exaggerated display of his impatience.
Aleasia walked towards him purposefully, and though Severus could not make out her face in the dark of the night, he was familiar enough with her body language to know that she was enraged. He stood his ground as she came within inches of his own person.
"Why, Dammit?" She demanded. She was standing so close now that he could feel her warm breath brushing against his face. He ignored the sensation.
"You always get yourself too far in, that's why! I cannot even count the number of times you screwed up just such an assignment in a fit of temper. Nearly getting yourself killed in the process!" His eyes had narrowed in anger, his arms dropping to his sides with hands that itched to slap this woman before him who had dared to cause him so much pain.
"Why, Severus, I didn't know you cared." Her voice was leaking with barely restrained sarcasm, but before Severus could give voice to any of the hundreds of cutting remarks he had building behind his tongue, she continued her walking.
"I don't, dammit!" He hissed, though if she had heard him she gave no indication.
They quickly found the edge of Hogwarts grounds, and apparated simultaneously to Knockturn alley. When they reappeared, they were standing not three feet away from each other, lingering in the shadows cast by an old, three-story building.
"Where are you going to be?" Aleasia demanded.
"I will follow you."
Aleasia sighed, her shoulders sloping in obvious resignation. "Fine. Be sure to keep to the shadows, I shudder to think what would happen to you if your cover is blown."
Mocking the words she had used against him only moments before, Severus spat. "Why, Aleasia, I didn't know you cared." Only he was not treated to the reaction he had anticipated. She turned her body to face his own, her hand stealing out to brush cold fingertips along his tough jaw.
"I have always cared for you Severus. I always will."
Then she was gone, her agile frame creeping from the shadows, into the light of the moon. She crossed the street, and entered into the dimly lit pub, known for its dark contenders.
She found Lucius Malfoy immediately, her eyes raking in his solitary figure seated in a corner, high backed booth. He looked as though he had just rid himself of company. The table he sat behind was littered with half-full beer bottles and alcohol decanters of various forms.
She took her time, noticing how she drew the eyes of many lusty, inebriated men in her unfamiliar sultry disguise. She approached the bar slowly, bending over the counter to flirt with the bar tender as he fetched her drink order.
When the clear glass filled with amber liquid was secured in her hand, she turned purposefully towards Malfoy's table, relishing in the way his eyes raked over her figure, desire igniting behind his cold steel eyes.
She locked eyes with him, making sure he understood the silent request. May I sit with you?
With his usual amount of decorum and aristocracy, the elegantly garbed man inclined his head. Please. He said, though his mouth did not move.
So she pushed away from the bar, swaying her hips in a provocative fashion as she neared him. She gracefully folded herself into the booth, setting her glass silently atop the wood table that was sticky from spilled drinks.
"Lucius Malfoy, isn't it?" She dropped her voice into a husky whisper to better disguise herself and to make her false intentions known to the man.
His long, silver hair draped over his shoulders, his eyes raking her face with obvious pleasure.
"Indeed." He did not bother to ask how she knew his name, he was well enough known among wizarding society, especially by the specific clientele that attended this dim cavern.
"I would not have imagined you in a place so…common." It was not a statement; it was a question. The underlining message was clear. Were you meeting someone? Are you alone?
His gaze was calculating, assessing, utterly Slytherin. He chose his words carefully. "I had business to attend." It was not a polite meeting of friends.
They were reading underneath and in between the words they were speaking. Playing a game so intricate and deceiving as to ensure the both of them were aware of the rules.
"Hmm…" She put a finger to her mouth, tongue darting out to swiftly taste. Then she rested her arm back on the table, her wet finger circling the rim of her glass seductively.
Lucius' eyes followed her movements with the intensity of a hawk watching his prey.
"Not those fools belonging to the ministry, I hope. Something much more…dangerous."
In one quick movement, Lucius' hand darted underneath the table, reaching across the small distance between them and running the length of her thy. She tensed at first, such an obvious display of ill intentions so early in the game taking her completely off guard. But she relaxed, stretching a long leg onto the booth across from her, between Lucius' thighs. It was his turn to be taken by surprise.
"Indeed." He softly confirmed. Softly, he felt her foot press into his groin, and he had to bite his cheek to keep from groaning.
"I wonder; might we find a more comfortable apartment? Something more, private?" Her whisper seemed to ring across the distance.
Lucius raised his hand to signal for the bill, a blatant assent to Aleasia's invitation.
As the two of them were gathering their personal belongings, whispering a sexual banter into the other's ear when they thought no one would hear; Severus Snape was leaning against the wall, the hood of his black cloak pulled to darken shadows across his face and aid in his disguise, watching. Waiting for the moment when they would depart the pub, heading to a run down inn that would offer no luxury but instead a highly desired anonymity.
This was his moment.
Lucius casually placed a hand on the small of Aleasia's back, guiding her through the maze of tables and alcoholics. His eyes were glinting in anticipation. He had not come out tonight looking for a willing wench to bed, he had come to threaten and coerce a group of highly dangerous wizards into bending their wills to suit his own. Imagine his delight when this delectable little slut came sauntering in, offering her body to him as though she knew this night was one to be celebrated.
Once they were outside of the obnoxiously loud pub, Lucius steered her to the left. Further down Knockturn alley and into a run down house that, in its glory, may well have served the aristocratic society. Now, however, it was a common stop for men of all ranks. They would buy a room for a night and take their willing or unwilling tramps into the springy, uncomfortable beds and fuck them until you could hear the screams through the thin, adjoining walls.
And the woman he currently had his arm around was the most gorgeous slut he had been with in a very long time. Most likely, she wasn't a slut at all, more a woman of privilege who was planning her seduction accordingly. Most likely, she was married.
They stopped at the small desk in the entry hall. Aleasia noted that the owner was familiar enough with Lucius to call him by name.
The door closed behind them, and Aleasia was surprised to find a rather luxurious room with freshly painted walls, thick Persian carpets, and ornamental furniture that would surely have cost more then a years worth of incoming revenue had the owner been responsible.
Aleasia looked at him, an eyebrow raised in playful accusation. "Come here a lot?"
Lucius shrugged, sliding out of his soft wool cloak and tossing it over the back of an armchair.
"I long ago decided that it would be in my best interest to establish a, ah, meeting place such as this. Away from prying eyes."
Aleasia nodded. Lucius approached her, placing two hands on her shoulders to turn her back towards him. Slowly, seductively, and in a way that reminded Aleasia, suddenly, of her drawn out abstinence, he removed her own cloak from her shoulders. His face leaned into her hair, smelling, his breath tingling in her ear.
She gasped, allowing Lucius the impression that she was as eager for this encounter as he was. She turned into his arms, gave him a calculating look, and then turned back around, striding towards a side table that held a chest of cooled wine and crystal goblets.
"I am not a whore, Lucius Malfoy. I shall not be treated as one." She started pouring the wine into two stemmed glasses, talking all the while so as to distract the man behind her from her hands work. Slowly, she pulled a small vial of veritaserum from a hidden pocket of her maroon gown.
"Indeed? Then how might I have the pleasure of treating you?" His voice was not teasing. It was not cold or cruel. It was more a voice of inquiry, willing to hear the proposition of which he was sure would be forthcoming.
She glanced over her shoulder briefly to offer him a provocative smile, then turned back to watch her hands' progress. She tipped the contents of the vial into a single goblet.
"I am a married woman, but you have deduced that already, I'm sure?" She turned around one final time, holding both goblets of burgundy liquid in either of her hands.
Lucius nodded.
"My husband is old, you understand, unable to satisfy me in the arts of love making." She grinned. "I would castrate the bastard if he dared to try." Closing the last few feet between them, she offered him a goblet, which he arrogantly accepted without protest.
He brought the wine glass to his lips, regarding the beautiful stranger before him with amounting lust. He swallowed. Aleasia let out a soft sigh of satisfaction having had no difficulty in persuading the cautious man before her to drink the wine. He misinterpreted the sound to mean she was anxious.
He grinned. He took another sip of wine before setting it down on a near table. "Tell me, how is it I do not already know you? You are of pureblooded assent, I take it?"
Aleasia nodded. "My husband's manor is located in Rome, we have spent the last few years living peacefully there."
"I see." Lucius enclosed the last step between them, grasping her arms in a firm grip and hauling her against his hard chest. "You are proposing we become—"
"Lovers." Aleasia hastily interrupted. She watched as his eyes lost any expression of emotion, losing the clouded mist of desire that had lingered behind them ever since she took a seat in the booth with him. She recognized the sign for what it was. The potion had begun to take effect. "I shall eagerly become your mistress, only I ask for something in return."
"And what is that, my sweet?" He was maneuvering her, ever so slowly, towards the bed. Aleasia had not even realized how close she was until she was being laid gently onto the down covers. His body stretched out above her own, his hands wandering her thighs to part them.
For a moment, Aleasia was so taken aback she did not remember to begin her questioning. She had thought that Lucius' lust would be somewhat hindered by the effects of the tonic she had delivered him. She had not anticipated that things would progress so far. She was not prepared for it.
Intellectually she knew that Lucius was a lethal character. He was her sworn enemy, a man who would kill her at a moment's notice. But it had been so long, far too long, since a man had caressed her this way. She could not prevent her body from responding.
But then the moment was over. She regained control of her senses. She would finish what she had come here to do. "I want to know where the dark lord is sending his death eaters to find the amulet?"
So strong was the potion that Lucius did not even pause in his one-sided foreplay to acknowledge the significance of that question. He answered. "He has been looking for the amulet for years." He kissed her eyes shut. "He has narrowed it down to just a few possible locations." He kissed her neck. His hands busy with the buttons along her bodice, unfastening them and baring her breasts.
Oh God, Aleasia thought, this is going too far. It wasn't supposed to go this far.
And just as she finished the thought, Lucius fell still, his entire weight finally pressing into her.
"Lucius?"
She tilted her head back to see his face and realized with a start that he had passed out. "Lucius?" She shook him, attempting to wake him. No response. Shit. She struggled under his weight for a minute before realizing the uselessness of her endeavors. He was a strong man, he far outweighed her. She could no more shove his slack body off of her then she could a rampaging hippogriff. So instead, she called for help.
"Severus?" She yelled, knowing that he would be just outside the door. "Sev—"
She did not even have to finish his name the second time before he came bursting through the door, a look of intense concern labeling his face.
"What the hell happened?" He asked, taking in the scene before him, while unwanted fingers of jealousy crept through his body to tangle around his heart.
"I think I might have overdosed him…just a bit."
Severus rolled his eyes, stalking forward to remove Lucius' prone body from atop her. He settled his hands underneath the man's arms, heaving him off the bed, then dropping him with no amount of ease unto the hard floors.
When next his eyes shifted towards Aleasia, he found her hastily drawing her bodice up, covering herself from his view. Now there were threads of anger entwining with those fingers of jealousy. "Just what the fuck did I walk in on!" He demanded.
Aleasia stood from the bed, anger already replacing the embarrassment she had felt when she had called Severus into the room, only to find her in such a state of undress. "You will not take that tone with me, Severus!" She yelled.
"Like hell I will! Were you planning on waiting until after he fucked you to interrogate him?"
Before he realized the line he had crossed, Aleasia's hand had met with the side of his face with enough force to send his head snapping back. But when she raised another hand to strike again, he was ready. He grasped her wrists in a painful hold, shaking her until he saw physical signs of her temper receding.
How many times had he been forced to show such familiar plays of strength when they were yet lovers and she had gone into another of her many passionate fits? The memory was enough to still him, his hands still wrapped around her wrists, holding her arms between them, his eyes locked into her own.
But then, that moment too passed. He released her with a furious shove, sending her sprawling back onto the bed. He reached down to revive Lucius so they could finish the interrogation and get the hell out of there.