Chapter 33
Dinner, with the Malfoys, followed by cocktail hour. That was Lexie's next step in becoming a Death Eater. The purpose of this little outing was 'social' by definition; a chance for Lucius, the Dark Lord's right hand man, to get to know Lexie on a more personal, relaxed level.
As Lexie prepared for her next task, she reflected on just how much she had been enjoying having her own room. It was quiet, and the drama level had decreased dramatically. The rumor, which Snape had instructed Lexie to start, was that she had been 'moved to another dorm room'. Yes, it was vague. Ridiculously vague. Almost… unbelievably vague. However, Natasha and Dru seemed to have bought it. Natasha didn't care where Lexie had gone… she only cared that she was gone. It didn't matter that no one seemed to know exactly where she was rooming now, or who her roommates were. Not having roommates made it much easier to prepare for Malfoy's dinner party and slip out to meet her teacher.
Lexie had dressed in a simple, 'little black dress'. It had a spaghetti-strapped halter top, fastening behind her neck. It was form fitting in the upper torso, then flowed out gracefully and reached just above her knees. On the breastbone, it had a small, delicate silver brooch in the shape of a serpent. (Which, she had candidly received from the nun at the church she'd visited that night, not so long ago, with Snape. It was a 'family heirloom' according to the nun; but that was all she knew about it.) She wore strappy black, open-toed shoes, even though it was still winter.
She approached the door, hanging on Snape's arm ever so gently. Her loosely curled hair was draping down over her shoulders. Snape moved behind her as she rang the bell. He ran his hands down her arms and took hold of her, pulling her closer to him. He placed a strategic kiss on the nape of her neck and whispered into her ear.
"Why do you want to do this? You are an angel." he breathed.
"Hmm." Lexie laughed dryly. "I'm no angel." she said simply, not turning into him, instead, she stared straight ahead at the white, French door.
Snape sniffed with disapproval and released her, shaking his head.
The truth was, she'd been assigned a specific task for tonight. One not to be taken lightly.
She'd seen Sophie the week before at her office. Getting away hadn't been easy, for Snape had wished to prep her for Malfoy's soiree. He definitely wasn't happy when she had to tell him she had other plans and wouldn't tell him what they were. She paid dearly for it through three consecutive nights of how to act and what to say at a formal dinner party. Even if was supposed to be 'casual'.
Lexie remembered thinking to herself, "Now there's an oxymoron if I've ever heard one… a 'casual-formal dinner party.'…"
This is how the meeting had gone…
"Sophie… I need more time. Snape's clean. I can't get anything on him. Other than the fact that he's rubbing elbows with Malfoy, I can't find anything else incriminating about him!" Lexie told her boss.
Sophie sighed. "But you're sure he is a Death Eater?" she asked frowning.
"No." Lexie said, biting her lip. "Actually… I'd rather like to think that he's not. He's definitely no Gandhi… but I haven't seen him do anything illegal yet."
"You mean he's no Gandhi aside from the fact that he's rubbing elbows with a self-proclaimed faithful servant of You-Know-Who, recruiting you to join the Death Eaters, taking you out-of-bounds, letting you drink champagne and physically assaulting you in his office? That's what you mean by, 'no Gandhi…?" Sophie asked sarcastically.
Lexie smirked. She couldn't help but think that she certainly didn't mind drinking champagne, or that being ehem 'physically assaulted' by Snape had been rather enjoyable. But she didn't mention that.
"Lexie… you know I like you. Otherwise, you would've been fired, months ago. If you hadn't put so much time into this mission, Scrimgeour would've seen that you'd been taken off the case at very least. But the fact remains… your word, alone, isn't going to be enough for a conviction on either Snape or Malfoy at this point. We need something solid." Sophie said pensively.
"What exactly do you mean by solid?" Lexie asked before she could stop herself.
"Physical evidence." Sophie replied, sitting forward in her chair to lean onto her desk. She folded her hands casually and watched her young Auror.
"Physical evidence…" Lexie repeated. "What do you want me to do? Take a camera!" she asked, exasperated.
"No. Of course not." Sophie corrected her. "He'll have wards or some sort of magical protection that would ruin the film anyway…" she said, sounding a little crestfallen. "If he really is a Death Eater… he'll have dark magical objects in his house. Find one… and bring it back. One solid piece of evidence, will be enough to detain him long enough to get a warrant to search his house, and then take all of the other evidence we find there to send put him away in Azkaban for the rest of his life." She said certainly.
Lexie pursed her lips and frowned, deep in thought. It wouldn't be easy to steal something from Malfoy's house. But she'd have to have a go at this… if for no other reason, to keep her job. Besides, Malfoy was a slime ball. And on top of that – it would buy her some time to figure out what side Snape was really on. She had to find something… anything…
End Flashback
Dinner at the Malfoy residence would have been a happy task under any other circumstances. Lucius complained about the new Ministry restrictions on broomsticks versus magic carpets. His wife, Narcissa robotically agreed with everything he said. Their son, Draco, who was home from school for winter break, recalled the ridiculousness of the occasion on which their year's resident klutz and screw-up, Neville Longbottom, had turned a boggart into Snape, dressed in his grandmothers clothing during their Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson at the beginning of the term. Snape sneered into his wine glass and made no comment. It was clear to Lexie, who had to hide her smile and suppress a giggle that he was still bitter about being turned into a woman.
Other than this one rather amusing moment, for Lexie, it was an hour and a half of nervousness, hidden behind a forced smile.
The whole thing was just plain uncomfortable. First, she was sitting there with two possible Death Eaters. That was off-putting enough, without Malfoy's snotty wife glaring at her from across the table. Then there was Draco… Lexie knew him by reputation from school. And he knew her. They certainly weren't chummy by any stretch of the imagination, but they had an understanding. Lexie understood that his father was one of the top Death Eaters… and Draco, reciprocally understood that Lexie was on some sort of a date with their Potionsmaster. Oh yes, and that she was the newest Death Eater candidate.
Malfoy senior made it perfectly clear that he didn't keep secrets from his son. Draco was well aware of what went on at their house and Lucius kept it that way, probably in hopes that Draco would, one day, become a Death Eater as well.
This didn't exactly put Lexie's mind at ease. She wondered how good Malfoy's word was, when he told her that Draco would keep their 'little secret'; meaning her fraternizing with their Potionsmaster outside of school. One more addition to her nervousness.
After dinner, the servants came in to collect the dishes. Lucius slipped his fingers around the neck of his wine glass and gestured to the study where they were to have after dinner cocktails. He clapped Draco on the shoulder and sent him off to finish his Potions essay. Narcissa accompanied him, promising to return once she'd seen Draco off to bed.
Lexie followed Snape and Malfoy into a cozy little sitting room complete with a fireplace. There was an enormous desk next to the full-length windows and a comfy looking leather chair and love seat. What drew her attention were the books.
Malfoy was pouring drinks from a cabinet next to the desk. "Could I interest the lovely lady in a cocktail?" he asked politely, swirling around some red wine in a beautiful, crystal goblet and waggling his eyebrows suggestively.
"Yes, please." She said with a sideways glance at Snape, who was scowling. Malfoy brought her drink to her and stood behind her while she perused his shelves.
"Miss Bane is quite the bookworm as I understand." Snape said and without looking, Lexie could hear him speak a sneer into his sentence.
"Oh Severus…" Malfoy said, exasperated. "Are we still using her surname? Merlin's sake, aren't we beyond that by now?" he asked.
Snape paused and Lexie turned to face him, wondering how he'd react to that suggestion. She folded one arm over her ribs and rested her elbow on her forearm.
Snape put his glass down on the mantle over the fireplace and sighed. "As she is still my student, I feel it is only appropriate for me to refer to her by her proper name."
Malfoy shook his head and his blonde hair swished from side-to-side. "Very well then." He replied, sounding as though he'd rather avoid a disagreement. "Severus, if you wouldn't mind, there's a small matter I need to discuss with you in private… if you'd just come with me…" he gestured toward the door.
"Of course." Snape agreed, pausing to look at Lexie.
"Alexandra… if you'll excuse us for one moment." Malfoy excused them, "Feel free to leaf through any book you wish." He said graciously.
"Thank you sir."
"Lucius…" he corrected her.
She smiled weakly, "Lucius…"
He smiled. Snape did not. And with that they were out the door, leaving it open a crack behind them.
Lexie bit her lip. She listened to their footsteps fade away down the hall. She set her wine glass down and tip-toed over to Malfoy's desk. Without wasting any time, she began wrenching out drawers and rummaging through them. Paperwork, quills, inkwells, documents from the ministry, letters from his wife, pictures of Draco, various harmless looking Potions, nothing "dark" so far. Some of the drawers had charms on them, sealing them shut. She committed these to memory for some time when she wasn't in such a rush. She couldn't mess around in one place for too long. This might be the only chance she got this evening to come up with something incriminating on Malfoy. Time was of the essence. She stood up and began going through some of the shelves near the books. She shuffled books aside, looked behind them, lifted up papers, overturned strange looking statues. She opened a glass case that looked like it had some dark artifact potential and struck gold. There were several "dark" looking things. Some shrunken heads, very old looking jewelry, his Death Eater mask and…
"What's this?" Lexie asked aloud, picking up a beautiful dagger. She held it up to the firelight. It had a short, shiny, silver, double-sided blade and a long black and silver handle. Engraved on each side of the handle was a jade serpent, encrusted with what looked like diamonds. Despite the newness of the blade, (which, by the way was still sharp, she nearly drew blood as she ran her finger along it) she could tell it was old… very old. The design of the snake was almost ancient.
Lexie was just pondering how she could somehow slip it into her cloak when a voice from behind her made her jump.
"Looking for something? Lucius Malfoy asked from the doorway.
Lexie whirled around, the dagger still in her hand. In the few moments that passed where the two started at each other, Lexie wondered wildly if this was obvious evidence of her snooping.
"Oh… I was just… admiring this dagger." She said, holding it out to him.
Malfoy arched an eyebrow, perhaps in disbelief. He then crossed the room.
"It's lovely…" Lexie said looking at the blade, shining dangerously in the firelight.
"Ahh…" Malfoy breathed as he reached her. "You have excellent taste." He said, taking it from her gently.
Lexie smiled nervously and hugged her arms around herself, waiting to see what he would do next. When he immediately said nothing, she spoke.
"I'd love to hear about it…" she said, moving in next to Malfoy who was admiring the dagger almost lovingly.
"This," Malfoy began, "Is the Serpent' Blade." He said reverently. "It is a very old artifact… very valuable; not only for its worth, but for its sentimental value as well as for its powers."
Lexie remained quiet, making mental notes and cueing him to go on with her eyes which were alight with rapt attention.
"No one knows its exact origin, but according to legend, at one point it belonged to Salazar Slytherin himself. From him, it passed down through several generations before fading into history… forgotten by all who should have remembered." He said, his eyes glazing over as though he was drifting back to another place in time.
"My great-great grandfather was lucky enough to run across it and recognize it for more than just a pretty heirloom. It passed to my grandfather, father and to me. One day it will pass to Draco and he will keep it, as I have, until the hour of need."
"What exactly does it do?" Lexie asked eagerly, feeling her pupils dilating at the sheer beauty of it as her eyes passed, blade to jewel-encrusted handle.
"This dagger has the ability to capture a witch or wizard's powers and hold them within it." He told her, carefully fingering the blade.
"Capture their powers?" Lexie asked incredulously.
"Once the powers are stored, they can be… redistributed." He explained vaguely.
"What exactly do you mean by 'redistributed'? You mean someone else could… steal their powers and use them himself?" Lexie asked.
"Theoretically, yes." Malfoy agreed. "However, it's been painfully under used in recent years."
"Why is that sir?" Lexie asked, almost afraid to hear his answer.
"No one has yet figured out exactly how to use it. Powers have been stolen… oh yes. However, they have not yet been redistributed successfully…" he said, sounding crestfallen.
"How would one 'redistribute' the stolen powers Mr. Malfoy?" Lexie asked before she could stop herself.
"Lucius." He corrected her, jerking her roughly from her daze.
"Lucius." She repeated. "Sorry."
Malfoy paused. "You're terribly inquisitive about this dagger." He said suspiciously. "You're not thinking of robbing me… are you Alexandra?"
"No! Of course not!" Lexie lied quickly. Perhaps too quickly.
Malfoy arched his blonde eyebrow again. "This guy might be as bad as Snape!" she thought to herself as she measured his suspicion.
"I was just… curious… I guess…" she said, stumbling around. "You were saying about why no one's used it?" she reminded him, trying to turn the attention back to the dagger and away from her.
"Yes… once the powers are trapped… to redistribute them one must take the dagger into himself for the powers to be transferred." Seeing the confusion in her face, he went on.
"He must stab himself." He said bluntly.
Lexie's eyes snapped wide open. "That seems like an awful lot of agony to go through just to get someone else's powers." Lexie said cynically.
"Let me ask you something Alexandra…" he said, prowling around behind her and resting one cold hand on her bare shoulder. She looked down at it and felt her skin crawl and tingle at the same time.
He took the blade and used it to pull her hair away from the left side of her neck. She could feel its sharp tip dragging gently across her neck, leaving goosebumps on her skin as it made its way, painfully slowly, over her shoulder. She shivered.
He brought his mouth down next to her ear. "If you could have any power… anything in the world… what would it be?" he whispered, his breath warm on her neck.
She swallowed and tried to form coherent thoughts despite his free hand running down her arm and coming to rest on her hip. "To fly." She said simply.
"Without a broomstick… I assume." He didn't wait for an answer. "Imagine that you found someone who had the ability to fly. All it would take would be two simple thrusts of this dagger. With the proper medical attention, you could have what you'd been longing for. The power to fly…
"However, for unknown reasons," Malfoy said, his voice returning back to its regular tone as he moved away from her. "No one has ever survived a stab wound from the Serpent's Blade."
There was a deafening silence in which Lexie tried to imagine how many people had tried to use this power-stealing device and failed… forfeiting their life in exchange for the prospective of power. This was something that undoubtedly interested Malfoy. In fact, it inhibited all that was Malfoy. The insatiable desire for power.
"Drink?" he asked jovially, quite in contrast to the somberness of the legend he'd just told her.
He handed her the dagger for her to further examine, then picked up her empty glass and moved back over to the liquor cabinet. He was hidden behind one of the doors.
"Have you ever tried to use it Mr.…. Lucius?" she corrected herself.
"Me?" he asked. "No… but the thought is certainly there." He said, still behind the door of the liquor cabinet.
The clinking of glass on glass finally drew her attention away from the dagger. Malfoy reemerged, holding two glasses of red wine. He offered her one, while holding one close to himself. She accepted gratefully.
She crossed her arms and continued to think about the dagger and how she could smuggle it out of the house.
"Well… it's probably too late now… he already knows that I'm interested in it. Hell, he flat out asked me if I was planning to steal it." Lexie thought wryly. "No… there's definitely no way I can take it now… shit!"
"Drink up!" Malfoy urged, smiling slyly. "To the newest Death Eater… here's hoping." Malfoy toasted and tapped his glass gently against hers.
Lexie smiled weakly and took a sip.
"Drink up, drink up!" he insisted again, "Lets finish these before your dear Potionsmaster returns. I know how he feels about you drinking." He said significantly.
Lexie laughed. This was both ironic and true. Lexie drank deeply of the dry red wine. Snape was willing to help her become a member of the most despicable organization known to wizard kind, yet he was opposed "underage" drinking. Even more ironic was the fact that she was not "underage" at all. She drained her cup.
Malfoy gestured to the love seat in the sitting area. She sat and relaxed into the soft black leather. Merlin, but it was comfortable.
Malfoy himself took the matching armchair across from her.
Lexie felt her body begin to go slack. She pushed herself up straight in her seat but she found her arms beginning to feel a bit like jell-o. Her eyes were growing hazy and the study became increasingly cloudy. She'd done her share of wine-drinking in her day… and two glasses of even the most potent wine wouldn't have been enough to reduce her to this state. Something was wrong…
Malfoy was watching her intensely. "How do you feel?" he asked.
"Sleepy." She replied before she even thought about it. "Listless and at the same time rather nervous."
Lexie blinked. She didn't even really realize that she was feeling all of those things.
"Why do you feel nervous?" he asked complacently.
"Because I don't feel right… and I feel like I'm being sat down for some kind of an interrogation." She blurted out.
Malfoy raised his eyebrows. "Perhaps you're right."
Then it dawned on her… "You drugged me!" she said, shocked.
He smiled in response, as though to say 'Yes I did… aren't I clever?'
"You put Veritaserum in my drink!" she added stupidly.
He nodded and continued to smile.
"Why?" she asked, appalled that she hadn't realized what he was doing while he was hidden in the liquor cabinet, out of her range of vision.
"I'll be asking the questions here this evening I think." He replied calmly. "Is there something about you that you don't want me to know?" he asked politely, sounding sickeningly like Snape.
"Yes. There are plenty of things about me I don't want you to know." Lexie made herself ready. Veritaserum was a very powerful truth potion; but it could be mastered; fooled… if one had a prepared mind. The problem was, she had no idea exactly how much she'd ingested. If he'd overdosed her, she may not be able to overpower it. Only a very powerful witch or wizard could do that.
"What exactly is it that you're hiding?" he asked.
"Lots of things. You'll have to be more specific." She said, hoping to nail him down to a more precise line of questioning. She'd dodged a deadly bullet with that one. If she hadn't mentally prepared herself, she might have told him everything… including her age, job and mission at Hogwarts. Inwardly, she wiped the sweat from her brow.
"What's your interest in the Serpent's Blade?" he asked, frowning. It was obvious that she had shut the door on his open-ended line of questioning and he was not happy about it.
"Well… it's obviously a very dark magical object… and I'm here to learn about being a Death Eater and all dark magical objects… am I not?" she turned the question on him. The best part was that she really was there to learn about being a Death Eater and dark magical objects… it was all in the wording.
"That is true." He agreed. "Did you plan on stealing it?" he asked.
"Yes." She admitted, seeing no harm in it. If nothing else it would distract him from the topic at hand… that being; what she was hiding from him.
"Did you plan on using it?"
"No."
"Then why take it?" he asked, leaning forward in his chair eagerly.
"You said its worth a lot of money." She pointed out.
"Are you in need of money?"
"Everyone's in need of money, Mr. Malfoy." She said smartly.
"Not everyone is in need of money." He said, meaning that he was in no need of money.
"Snarky bastard." She thought to herself.
"Should I worry about you slipping one of my valuable possessions into your bag every time I turn my back?" he asked, relaxing once again.
"No." she said, which wasn't a lie. Her job wasn't to rob the Malfoys blind. It was just to get enough evidence to send Malfoy on a permanent vacation to a lovely little island called Azkaban.
"That's good." He said approvingly. "You know in some places in the world," he said getting up to refill his glass, "They cut off the hands of thieves." He said somewhat pointlessly, for obviously he had no intentions of cutting off one of her hands.
"Lucky thing I didn't steal it then. Luckier that we don't live in one of those places I suppose." Lexie said sarcastically.
Malfoy laughed. "Lucky indeed." He said, returning to his seat. "Luckier," he continued, mocking her words, "That I like you… and it would be quite a shame to lose one of those beautiful hands."
"Where's Professor Snape?" she asked suddenly, ignoring his compliment.
"Don't you worry about him. He's just in the other room, helping Draco with a bit of school work."
"Blatant favoritism to boot." Lexie muttered, feeling impatient with him finding amusement in the situation.
"Ha!" Malfoy laughed loudly. "That's rich… coming from you, of all people." He said.
"I want to see him." Lexie demanded.
"In due time." He took a sip of his wine and placed his glass on the end table. "That brings me to my next question." He said, sitting down once again.
Lexie felt dread mounting. Snape as a segway… fantastic.
"What is your relationship with Severus?" he asked.
"He's supposed to be my teacher, isn't he?" she replied, emphasizing the supposed, subtly turning it into a question, rather than answering it.
"Yes, certainly. However, I meant on a more… personal level." He said.
"I don't understand what you mean." She said honestly.
"Are you attracted to him?"
"Yes." Lexie answered automatically, as though she'd been programmed to answer as such.
"Do you wish to sleep with him?" he asked with great interest.
"What!" Lexie gasped, shocked at his boldness. His proper attitude had just flown out the window with that question. It was beyond inappropriate.
"You heard me." He said dangerously.
"I think that's a bit inappropriate, don't you?"
"Answer the question Alexandra." He said seriously. "Do you wish to sleep with Severus Snape?"
"I don't know… maybe… yes… I suppose I do." She answered as her thoughts formed.
"Really?" Malfoy looked nonplussed.
Lexie said nothing. She was too busy trying to wrap her brain around the cold hard fact that she apparently wanted to sleep with her mark… her teacher. "This is just fabulous." She thought.
"And what about me?" he asked with a dashing smile and Lexie was sure she saw his pearly white teeth sparkle in the firelight and thought there should've been a timely "ding", like on toothpaste commercials.
"What about you?"
"Do you find me attractive?"
"Yes." She answered, unable to stop herself.
"If I were to ask you to become my mistress… what would you say?" he looked anxious.
This was so typical, she thought. Here was a guy who'd been smart enough to give her a good dose of truth serum, but was so arrogant that he wasn't even using it to extract useful information. He seemed to have forgotten the fact that, earlier, he had been trying to extract her deep dark secrets. Now all he could think about was whether or not she would rather sleep with him or Snape.
"I would remind you that you're married, sir." She said significantly.
"And I would remind you… that married people have sex too… even if it isn't with each other."
No question had been asked, "No need to respond," she reminded herself.
They sat in silence for a few minutes. Lexie pleaded with Snape in her mind to come back and intervene. She figured Malfoy was planning his next round of questions.
"Severus has told me your reasons for wanting to become a Death Eater. What I would like to know is if you think you'll make it through your initiation tasks… because frankly, I don't feel that you've got what it takes. In fact, you don't seem to have a bad bone in your body… other than being somewhat of a thief."
"What exactly is the question?" Lexie asked, hoping that he'd get tired of questioning her, or that the potion would wear off.
"Do you think you could ever really use magic to take someone's life?" he summarized.
"I don't know." She answered and supposed it was true.
"Please! Please come back Professor!" she willed him to come through the door. But she couldn't stall any longer.
"I suppose… if he or she deserved to die… or put someone that I cared about in danger… yes, I think I could… if it came to it…"
"How would you define 'deserve'… who would deserve to die, in your opinion?"
Lexie's stomach dropped. "Bloody hell." She grumbled. These questions were getting tough to get around. These were good questions.
"Something wrong?" Malfoy asked innocently.
"Yes."
"What is it?"
"I'd rather not answer that question."
"Why not?"
But just then, the door swung open. It was Snape. Lexie had never been happier to see him, or anyone, for that matter, in her life.
"About time." She muttered as he came into the room.
"What's going on?" he asked, stopping just inside the doorway and looking between them, frowning.
"Nothing. Just getting to know your student a little better." Malfoy shrugged, not bothering to get up.
Snape looked skeptically at him. "What's wrong with her?" he asked, gesturing to Lexie, who had slid so far down on the couch that she was threatening to slide right off onto the floor.
When Malfoy didn't answer, he crossed the room and knelt down in front of Lexie.
"He drugged me. Veritaserum." She mumbled incoherently. But Snape understood.
"Is this true?" he snapped his head around so that he could see Malfoy.
Malfoy nodded casually.
"Why?" Snape asked.
"Aside from the fact that I found her rummaging through my things…" he paused and waited for a reaction from Snape. "I feel that perhaps she's hiding something from us. And you know, as well as I, that we have no secrets among us." He said significantly.
But Lexie never heard him. In fact, she couldn't hear much of anything. Her ears were ringing and she could no longer hold her eyes open. With Snape in the room, she stopped fighting the effects of the drug. She was safe as long as he was with her… or so she hoped.
"Nonsense Malfoy." Snape argued. "You know, as well as I, that our entire organization is built on deception and secrets." He looked back at Lexie. "We all have skeletons in our closets." He said significantly.
Lexie's head lulled to the side. "How much did you give her?" he asked, cupping her face in his hand. She was unconscious.
"Just what was in the vial you gave me the last time you brewed it." Malfoy said in an offhand way, waving his hand around as though it was a throwaway question.
"You gave her all of it!" Snape asked in shock, looking over his shoulder at the blonde man.
He, again, nodded casually.
"Lucius, one drop would have sufficed for your purposes here!" Snape shouted, "You've poisoned her, she could die."
"Hm… pity. Such a pretty thing." Malfoy cooed with no real regret in his voice.
Snape abandoned trying to make Malfoy understand the seriousness of the situation. It was a lost cause.
"Miss Bane?" he asked. She didn't answer. "Miss Bane?" He asked again, a little louder. The color was draining quickly out of her fair face. "Alexandra?"
She stirred. He noted her response to her first name.
"Alexandra?" he asked, once more.
"Hmm?" she groaned, but couldn't force her eyes open.
"Get up." He ordered, grabbing her arm and pulling her away from the back of the couch. He yanked her roughly to her feet. Her legs instantly crumbled beneath her. he put his arm around her back and began to drag her across the room toward the door.
"Where are you going?" Malfoy piped up.
"Back to the school." Snape barked.
"Oh but why? The night is young." Malfoy argued, opening his arms.
"She might not live to see the night get old." Snape said as he reached the doorway. "I have to get her back to my office to give her the antidote."
"There's an antidote for an overdose of Veritaserum?" Malfoy asked, skeptically.
Lexie's body was as limp and lifeless as a rag doll as Snape continued to half drag, half carry her out of the study.
Snape paused, "No… but I'll find one."
A/N: HI THERE! remember me? i finally got a chance to post my latest chapter! i'd been working on this in my law & social policy notebook for like 2 months & never had the time to transfer it to my laptop! low & behold what summer break will do fora person! it's good to be back after, according to one of my favorite favorites, puddlemere, "long hiatus"- you crack me up! annnnnyyyyywayyyy... this was one of my favorite chapters to write so far... you get a little better feeling of how i envision malfoy... so freakin' smooth it's scary. almost snakelike... very slytherin of him! ha ha! plus snape gets to play hero & be snarky & irritable at the same time! its kinda fantastic! anyway, its nice & long... so hopefully it'll satisfy the taste of my avid readers! thanks to all... THREE OF YOU who reviewed the last chapter. that's why it took me so long to post since last time... not an abundance of reviews - if i get like 20 reviews for this chapter, i swear i'll have the next one up in 2 days! enjoy! AND REVIEW! please...
dedication: this chapter is hereby dedicated to my wonderful little cousin megan... or "writer-in-disguise" - it was thanks to your hounding... i mean, persistance... that i finally managed to get this chapter up. especially after a fresh dose of scolding at the beach meeting the other night! LOL! 19 DAYS! WE'RE UNDER 20! WOO HOO! 19 days from now i could be sitting w/ my feet in the waves & my laptop on my lap writing this story! hard to think about snape while the beach though... can't see him sitting out in the sun w/ us... can't see him putting on sunscreen either... yeah & can't really see him drinking beer w/ me & your mom & marty... or swimming in the ocean... and can you IMAGINE what would happen if billy let him have a 5 gallon bucket of water when he wasn't looking (or WAS looking)! "AVADA KEDAVRA!"lol... ok, so its lucky for us all that snape lives in foggy old london - it suits him! the OBX is for the fleegers! 19 days 19 days!
