The wards at Malfoy's manor had been changed to allow guests to Apparate within a receiving area. It was considered poor etiquette to require guests to walk up your drive for a formal reception. She stared at the door, knowing that she didn't need to waste any time knocking since Malfoy undoubtedly knew someone had arrived.
When the door opened, a house-elf bowed at her. "Welcome, my lady. Master is waiting in the library."
Library, she thought. That's very odd. Since she knew the way, she headed for the library without waiting for the elf. She found Lucius sitting at his desk, going through a stack of parchment.
He looked up when he heard the door open and rose from his chair to greet his guest. "Ah, Wendy. I'm so glad you decided to come." He swept her into his arms for a passionate kiss.
She pushed herself away. "What about Narcissa?"
He pulled her back. "She's preparing for dinner and won't be down for a while. And before you ask, the others won't be here for half an hour. Might I say that you look absolutely delectable?"
"You had me come early on purpose?"
He flashed a knowing grin and gently caressed her. "Of course I did. I thought we could have some time to ourselves, since you have been so busy lately. It seems that we just haven't been able to make time for each other. You have missed me, haven't you?" He nibbled on her neck, knowing it drove her wild.
She lied, "Of course I have."
"Good. Then how about a quick shag before everyone else arrives?" He reached his hand between her legs.
She tried to behave as though she was going against her desires. "As much as I would like to, I don't want to take the risk. What if someone comes early or Narcissa comes downstairs? You know I've never felt comfortable with her here."
"Well then, we will have to find time once everyone is here and otherwise occupied. I'm sure the opportunity will arise." He pulled her tight against his body, letting her know how he felt.
"Of course," she answered evasively.
Realizing that his urges would have to wait until later to be fulfilled, Lucius poured Wendy a drink. "In addition to Andrew and Simon, there are a couple of others you might be interested in."
"Oh? Who might they be?" She knew that Lucius was trying to set her up with one of his society associates so that he could spend more time with her.
He gave her a sly smile. "I think I'll leave that as a surprise."
"You know I don't really like surprises." Perhaps in her younger days she had, but after being an Auror for more than a decade, surprises were likely to be met with a hex or two.
"Don't worry. This isn't a dangerous surprise. I just thought you might appreciate not knowing whom to expect this evening." He slid next to her on the sofa and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Are you sure you want to wait until later?"
She resisted the urge to demonstrate a rather painful hex on him and replied, "It's not that I want to wait, it's that we should wait. I don't want to do anything to ruin my welcome."
"I wish you would believe me when I tell you that Narcissa will not be down until later. We have plenty of time," he replied insistently.
She could tell that he was very randy. "Lucius, please. Perhaps later in the evening, but it would be too obvious now. I think Narcissa might recognize that satisfied grin. It would be best if we moved out into the drawing room to wait for the others."
While he was disappointed, he tried not to let it show. "Of course. I will find a way to steal you away later." He nibbled at her neck, letting her know how much he desired her.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Wendy was glad she had begged him off. Narcissa joined them shortly after they arrived in the drawing room. "Wendy! So nice to see you again," Narcissa said warmly.
"Narcissa, it's been far too long." Wendy forced a fake smile on her face. She really hated society events.
"When Lucius said you would be coming, I was ecstatic. I don't know if he's told you, but we've invited several eligible bachelors. It would be nice to see you more often."
"Yes, Lucius mentioned that Simon and Andrew would be here."
"And a few others," Lucius added. "But I've kept them a surprise." He placed his hand on Narcissa's back, playing the game he knew so well. All evening, he would appear to be the perfectly attentive husband.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Wendy was thankful that she didn't have to make small talk too long with Narcissa. While they had been good friends growing up, they really didn't have much in common anymore. In fact, Wendy had little in common with the other wives. Her work as an Auror had taken her away from the normal pursuits of a society lady.
The others arrived within about ten minutes. A quick count of the others showed there were about thirty guests. Almost all of them she recognized. She still wasn't sure who the surprise guests were. She had been almost positive that Lucius would make a big deal of introducing her to all her potential suitors, not just Simon and Andrew, but he had introduced her to no one else.
The two of them were competing for her attention. She found the behavior particularly disgraceful from Simon, who was old enough to be her father. Andrew was only a few years older than she, but his behavior was still better suited to someone much younger.
She did notice that she was not the only single woman there, though none of the others was receiving as much attention from members of the opposite sex. Of course, propriety dictated there be equal numbers of men and women. Even though she hadn't seen the seating arrangement, she was positive that she would be placed between Simon and Andrew. Lucius seemed to have chosen them as the two most acceptable for her. This whole process reminded her of her youth, and how her father had arranged her marriage.
Dinner was excellent, though the conversation seemed to be the same tired topics she remembered from the past. There was naturally a good deal of gossip about those that were not present, most notably her brother. It seemed that Lucius was right about Timor losing face. She learned of several bad business arrangements he had made and shuddered at the thought the he was on the verge of losing companies that had been their family for centuries. This was good information for her to have, though. She could probably expect him to try to do something to take control of some of her holdings to pay off his debts. Perhaps she could act first and move into position to wrest control from him.
As dinner wound down, they filtered back to the drawing room. Wendy found herself with quite the audience since she had let it slip that she was taking an interest in product development for the new Nimbus. She figured this would be the best way to ensure that Lucius would not have a chance to get close to her. Every now and then, she could see him glaring at her, but he could nothing overt to get her alone without drawing the wrong sort of attention.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Remus sat in the drawing room, staring at the fire. He didn't like Wendy being around Malfoy, especially since he had found a way to circumvent her rational mind, but he was even more nervous than usual. When she had left, she had seemed far too confident. He tried to determine why he felt so uncomfortable tonight, but he couldn't say.
Checking the clock on the mantle, he saw that it was past midnight, long past when Wendy should have returned home. Scenarios kept running through his mind. Unfortunately, the best was that she was secreted away with Malfoy. He wasn't sure what the worst was. It was either her being tortured by the Death Eaters or being forced to join them.
Finally, he heard the crack of Apparition and he walked toward the foyer. "Wendy?" he asked to get her attention.
She spun around, wand at the ready. "Oh, Remus, it's you."
"Who did you expect it to be?" he asked cautiously.
"I… Nobody."
He was on edge now. She didn't seem to be acting normally. "Are you all right?"
She put her wand away, but still seemed on edge. "I'm fine."
"What happened?"
"Death Eaters," she said quietly.
"What about Death Eaters?"
She opened her mouth answer, but closed it again when she heard the clock chime. "I have change and go, or I'll be late." She started to leave the room.
He grabbed her arm to stop her. "Wendy, go where?"
She pulled away and looked irritated. "A meeting. I have to get back to the meeting."
"I'm not letting you leave this house until you give me an explanation."
"I don't owe you anything. I know what I'm doing."
He grabbed her left arm and pushed up her sleeve.
"What are you doing?" she asked defensively as she tried to pull her arm back.
"Just checking. What's wrong with you?" She had not taken the Dark Mark, but something was causing her odd behavior.
"I could ask you the same thing," she replied snidely.
"Nothing's wrong with me. I'm worried about you. You were going to a dinner with a bunch of known Death Eaters, ones that have a strong interest in recruiting you. Now, you come home and you aren't acting at all like yourself. How do I know you aren't under the Imperius Curse or something? Talk to me," he pleaded.
Looking at the concern in his eyes, she returned to reality. "I'm not under a curse. They are gathering tonight. I didn't get told that in as many words, but I was able to figure it out. When he wants to be, Lucius can be very open-minded. Though I will admit this is the easiest I have been able to read his mind, that's how excited he was at the prospect of finally having me on his side.
"We talked after dinner. First, it started off as business discussion, which more or less encouraged the women to go to another room. As the evening wore on, and those that are not members of the inner circle left, it turned to…other things.
"They didn't speak in specifics, but generalities. In the end, I must have said the right things, because I've been invited to a gathering tonight. I have to change quickly and meet back at the manor."
This was not a completely unexpected turn of events. He had known that only her position as an Auror had protected her from being officially recruited. "Let me notify the Order and we can follow along."
"How can you do that? You won't be able to get on the manor grounds and I have no idea where we are going from there."
He handed her a necklace. "This is something I've been working on. I found information about complex tracking spells in your library and I've been working on creating some sort of talisman that members of the Order could use to keep track of each other. It's by no means perfect yet. So far, I've only been able to track just one object, and only the spell caster can use the tracking. Take it and we'll come to you."
"It's too dangerous." She knew they would be facing at least a dozen Death Eaters. On such short notice, he would be lucky to get three more people to come with him.
"How can it be too dangerous? You there alone is too dangerous." When this was over, he would insist that she not see Malfoy any more. Any advantage they could gain was far outweighed by the risks, no matter what Albus might think.
"You don't understand. I have to do this alone."
He began to suspect something was wrong and grabbed her shoulders, attempting to return her to reality. "Why do you have to do this alone?"
"Don't ask me to explain. Just believe me that I'm telling the truth."
He looked down at her hands and had a sinking suspicion about why she was acting so odd. "Are you wearing the ring?" He didn't see it, but he knew she could have charmed it look like one of the rings she was wearing.
She yanked her hands out of his and refused to meet his gaze.
She was wearing the ring. This was not good. "From what you told me about that ring, no one should wear it. That's why you're acting odd, isn't it? Take it off," he ordered.
"I can't. If I go before them without the ring, I'll be defenseless." She was adamant she was right.
"Don't go at all, then. You said they never spoke in specifics. You don't need to do this. Or if you do go, take the necklace, and we will know where you are. We can attack and keep you safe. Now, give me the ring." He watched the turmoil on her face and said softly, "Wendy, please, give me the ring. It's changing you."
She looked down at her hand. Part of her mind knew he was right, that she should not wear the ring. The other part of her mind knew how vulnerable she was without it. Lucius could easily control her since she had not found an antidote to the potion he was using against her. With it, she had the power to bring down most of the prominent Death Eaters. She could end her relationship with Lucius once and for all. She held onto the ring, but did not take it off. "There will be more than a dozen of them there. You could not assemble a force to defeat them in the short amount of time you will have. With this ring, I could subdue them all. I could remove the Dark Lord's financial support. Power only goes so far without money behind it."
"Wendy, please. It's not good for you. You don't need that ring. We can cause enough commotion to capture a few of them and provide the opportunity for you to escape."
She looked up into his eyes, the fire of determination in her expression. "But don't you see? I can put an end to so much of it. All with this ring."
"But at what cost? I assure you, it's not necessary. Give me the ring. I know the woman I love is listening to me. Hear the truth in my words. You can't use the ring. You know what it will do to you if you do. Please, take it off. See reason." He brushed her cheek with his fingers, hoping to get through to her.
A/N: Yay! I can finally upload chapters. Not sure what happened. Anyway, the story is winding down and I hope to be able to upload a new chapter every couple of days. We'll see how the system behaves.