Authors notes
Hi everyone, thank you so much for bearing with me on this rather late chapter! I'm going to have to drop to posting this story every other week for a while, just because I have a few things going on in real life at the moment, and I don't have as much writing time as I would like. Posting day will stay Mondays, it will just drop to bi-weekly instead.
Please, please, please, pretty please do mind the warnings on this chapter! If you are in any way squeamish about using sex to gather information, or a woman using her sexuality for her own gains, please read this instalment very carefully or give it a miss. I would really hate to trigger anyone.
Having said that, consent is absolutely clear throughout, and the actual scene itself fades to black before any detail is given. Pansy is in full control of her actions and although she is confused about her feelings, in no way is she coerced into what she does here.
Anyway... now I've almost talked myself out of posting it... here goes! I hope you are still enjoying the story so far, see you in two weeks! Love Claire, (phoenix.) XXxxx
Beyond the Sea
Chapter 6 - Subterfuge. (Pansy.)
Pansy landed heavily. She stumbled, then quickly regained her composure as Theo landed beside her, and three more fizzes of Apparation announced the arrival of Bellatrix Lestrange, Amycus Carrow, and Antonin Dolohov, all of whom joined her and Theo in forming an immediate, outward facing circle around Blaise.
Pansy glanced at each one of her companions in turn, quickly sizing them up as she tried to get a feel for the mood of the raid. She knew that this was a fake lead, but, she reminded herself, the others didn't. She drew her wand, quickly glancing around as if it were an actual raid, and she was expecting an ambush.
Blaise stood in the center of the circle with his wand drawn until a suitable amount of time had passed. He lowered his wand, then beckoned everyone in closer. He quietly instructed Bellatrix and Theo to search the property's left side and Pansy and Antonin to check the right side while he stayed to guard and magically sweep the middle section with Amycus.
Pansy said nothing as she listened. This had all been prearranged. Blaise knew that she was comfortable with Antonin and that Theo could handle Bellatrix, the woman might be evil incarnate, but she was at least reasonably predictable in her madness. The one Blaise trusted the least of the three was Amycus Carrow. The man was as stupid as he was slippery, so Blaise was always careful to keep a close eye on him.
Antonin nodded in greeting as Pansy reached his side and he led the way forwards. Although she couldn't see him, Pansy knew Harry was also there somewhere, following her under the invisibility cloak. She let out a slow, quiet breath as she relaxed. She felt fine now that she was actually here. As always, the anticipation of going out had been the worst part of the evening. She paused pointlessly in the doorway with her wand drawn, Antonin, ever the gentleman, stepped through before her and cast a human revealing spell into the empty room.
He didn't notice the extra shield that Pansy threw behind her to double up Harry's cover.
They moved from room to room together, and it quickly became apparent that the house was deserted. "Nothing here at all," Antonin said softly, and Pansy thought she heard a hint of relief in his strongly accented voice. "Let's give it a minute to be sure, but I think we're clear. Who's tip-off was this again?"
"I don't know," Pansy lied. "I've had a week off. Remember, I only came back to work today."
"I noticed. I missed you," Antonin admitted.
Since he couldn't see her face under the mask, Pansy made a slight noise in her throat to let him know she had heard what he said. Harry also made a tiny noise as he moved behind her, and she frowned. Damn that boy, couldn't he ever manage to be subtle? Both she and Antonin spun in his direction with their wands raised. "Mouse," Pansy said, giving a fake squeak of fear, "I saw its tail disappear under there. I think this place really is deserted."
"Looks like it," Antonin agreed, relaxing his pose slightly again. "What did you do last week then? Apart from nursing Blaise?"
"Oh, you know, lounged around in the sunshine, worked on my tan, that sort of thing." She tipped her head back as if uncomfortable in her robes, "It's coming on quite nicely. You'd be able to see it if not for these infernal robes."
"I'll have to use my imagination then," Antonin nodded, and Pansy pulled a disgruntled face under her mask. Merlin, the man was difficult to flirt subtly with. Anyone else would be pushing to get into her knickers after that last statement. Thorfinn Rowle would have probably jumped her for saying less than that, but Antonin was nothing if not controlled.
Pansy's following comment was cut off by a shrill shriek from the other end of the house. She could have sworn she heard Antonin sigh quietly to himself as they stepped through to answer Bellatrix's excited call.
They reconvened in the lounge again. Pansy positioned herself close to Antonin as he and Bellatrix gave Blaise their respective reports. She had deliberately worn the perfume she'd used on the previous occasions she had seduced him, and she smiled as she heard his subtle intake of breath. "We're all agreed then, this is a negative lead?" Blaise asked, watching everyone nod in reply. Pansy smothered a giggle as she heard a minute, further hitch in Antonin's breathing, followed by the sound of a heavy swallow. "Fine." Blaise continued, "let's check the grounds, then burn it down.
Pansy rolled her eyes as Bellatrix cackled gleefully. Gods, the woman was infuriating. Pansy's wand arm twitched with the desire to hex her. She stepped back, an unconscious move that caused her back to brush against Antonin's chest. He put a hand on her arm as if to steady her, and she stepped back into line again. "Sorry," she whispered.
"No problem at all." She smiled with satisfaction as he took half a step closer to her. She saw Blaise catch the movement then turn to look in her direction. He gave the merest hint of a nod as she moved a millimeter closer to Antonin. All thoughts of Ron were banished from her mind, she focused instead on the job she was now determined to complete. To hell with Harry and Ron's moral objections to it all. They'd just have to deal with her actions later.
When Blaise gave the signal, they moved outside to check the grounds. It was still stiflingly hot, even this late in the evening, although Pansy knew her current claustrophobic feelings were made worse by the hated robes and mask she wore. She flirted as brazenly as she dared with Antonin while they made their pointless search, and by the time they reconvened again, she knew she had won. He was definitely more than interested in being with her tonight.
"Go ahead then, Bella," Blaise said. Pansy forced herself not to flinch as a stream of cursed fire spewed from Bellatrix's wand. Instantly the once pretty little house was engulfed in a towering, roaring inferno of flames. "Antonin?" Blaise asked, and Dolohov nodded before pointing his wand into the sky and letting the Dark Mark fly loose above their heads.
Pansy poked her tongue out at the eerie green skull then turned as she felt Antonin's fingers brush her arm gently. "Is there somewhere you need to be after this?" he asked.
She feigned stifling a yawn, "only home to bed, which sounds a little dull. Have you got a better suggestion?"
"I could offer you a nightcap back at mine?"
This time Pansy's smile was genuine. Triumph made her exhale slowly. "Well, that sounds just lovely. Thank you very much." She nodded as she stepped back against him, and he ran his fingers down her arm once more. She shivered in response, and as usual when she was with him, it was a real, honest shiver of arousal that passed through her.
Tamping down the deeply rooted feeling that there was something very wrong with her, she caught his fingers and squeezed them gently as he moved discreetly away.
Once the building was razed to the ground, Blaise dismissed them all. Pansy turned to face Antonin, "can you apparate me to yours please? I can't remember exactly where you live," she asked, keeping her voice as husky as possible.
He nodded. "Of course." To buy Theo and Harry a slight bit more time to switch places, Pansy bent down on the pretense of retying her boot. She missed precisely how they did it as Bellatrix and Amycus distracted her by apparating away, but when she stood up, she felt what could only be an invisible Theo take her hand.
She glanced around the still smoldering wreckage of what had once been a beautiful cottage and sighed. Blaise was standing apparently alone, although she knew Harry must now be beside him, hidden under a powerful disillusionment spell.
"Nothing to see here, Zabini!" she said, giving a throaty laugh as she reached for Antonin's hand.
Blaise nodded curtly in reply. "On your way then," he said. "Have a good night."
"Night!" Pansy answered cheerfully, and she stepped into Antonin's waiting embrace, discreetly keeping a very tight hold on Theo as well.
Hermione
It was a little after one in the morning when Blaise finally returned home from the raid. Hermione had waited up with Ron, Ginny, and Draco until Harry had apparated home shortly after midnight. Harry and Ginny had gone straight to bed, but Hermione had opted to fall asleep on the sofa beside Ron until the specific swirl and fizz that accompanied Death Eater apparition had woken her an hour later. "What time did the raid finish?" Draco asked as Blaise sank down next to him with a large glass of firewhisky in his hand.
Blaise closed his eyes, sipped his drink then looked down at the floor with a sigh. "It barely lasted an hour. The place was deserted as we knew it would be. Bellatrix torched it. Antonin shot the Dark Mark up, and that was it. I debriefed him at the Manor, then I came straight home."
"So where the hell is Pansy?" Ron demanded, glaring accusingly at Blaise. Hermione watched Ron carefully. He seemed to have given up feigning indifference now, the evening's events and everyone's apparent acceptance of his feelings for the raven-haired witch seemed to have been enough for him to finally admit them out loud.
"Dolohov's flat," Blaise admitted quietly. "With Theo."
Ron looked horrified as he levelled his stare at Blaise. "Antonin Dolohov? The Antonin Dolohov? Isn't he about fourth in command or something?"
"He's equal to me," Draco corrected. "Myself, Bella, and he are equivalent in rank."
Ron's glare only intensified at this news. "Why is Theo with her?"
"He's disillusioned and under the cloak. He'll keep an eye on things and make sure she's okay," Blaise answered.
"Malfoy," Ron demanded, although from the ashen shade of his complexion, Hermione figured that he already knew the answer, "that's too vague. What's she really doing?"
Draco gazed at Ron for a long time, then finally turned to look helplessly at Blaise. Ron spread his hands in a silent question, and finally, Blaise spoke. "She's not going to tell him herself."
"I figured that," Draco said softly. "Alright, Ron. I'll tell you, but you're not going to like it. Pansy's our best spy. Most of the high ranking Death Eaters are impossible to use Legilimency on because their Occlumency is just too good. There is one time that they are all, without fail, completely vulnerable, though. No one can keep their Occlumency walls intact through an orgasm, especially if they're not focusing on blocking their mind at the time. If you time a Legilimens spell right, you have about thirty seconds to find out anything you want to know."
"We have a suspicion about Dolohov," Blaise added. "We think that he might be doing something similar to us. We can't just ask him about it outright, so we need to find out another way. Antonin fancies Pansy and she finds him attractive too. They've done this before a handful of times, so it's not completely inconceivable that it could happen again tonight because we want the intel."
Draco frowned at Ron's look of disgust. "You can't tell me you didn't at least suspect that was what was going on. You've been here too long to be completely naive to our tactics," he said with a raised eyebrow.
"And you think this is okay, do you?" Ron shifted his glare from Draco to Blaise as Hermione put a steadying hand on his arm.
Draco sighed. "As a matter of fact, I don't like it at all. But Pansy is a grown woman, and she's fully capable of making her own decisions. Also, her information has been invaluable, particularly when it came to rescuing Hermione. She is always protected by one of us when she does this, it's usually Theo because he's the most comfortable with it, and there's a routine. Pansy does what she does, and at the right moment, whichever one of us is with her performs the necessary Legilimency. After that, it's a quick partial Obliviate to knock any trace of our presence out of the victim's mind, Pansy finishes up, and we leave. Our targets have no recollection of their minds being read nor can any trace of it be tortured out of them at a later date."
"Ron, I know you hate this," Blaise said, "but I'm afraid we've all had to make sacrifices, and this is the one Pansy chooses to make. To be honest, she's usually quite happy doing it, she and Antonin have hooked up several times in the past completely of their own accord, and of course, there are only certain people we would use this method on."
"Who?" Ron demanded. "Dolohov and who else? Some of them? Any of them? All of them?"
Draco simply raised an eyebrow at Ron's fury. "Of course, it's not all of them. Any more information on this has to come from Pansy now. We've told you more than we should have already. Now. Let's get some sleep. Come on, Blaise. It's an early start tomorrow. Let's go."
Ron refused to go to bed when Draco and Blaise did. Instead he sat brooding on the sofa, and feeling that he needed the moral support Hermione chose to wait beside him. A few minutes passed before he spoke rather hesitantly, "'Mione," he began, then stopped for a moment, "was I a terrible boyfriend?"
Hermione shut the book she was reading in surprise then turned sideways to watch him. "No. Why do you ask that?"
"You once told me I had the emotional range of a teaspoon," he admitted in a small voice.
She sighed as regret flooded her mind. "That was a long time ago."
"Yes," Ron agreed, "it was. But you still said it. What's more you were right at the time. What about now?"
Hermione smiled softly. She reached out a hand and stroked his arm. "I've upgraded you now."
"Oh? To what?"
"A dessert spoon on a bad day, a tablespoon on a good one. You've grown up Ron, that's all." She smiled, "also, I think we were maybe 15 when I said that, and I was very cross with you at the time. A lot has changed since then. Is this really the first you've known about this thing Pansy does?"
Ron shook his head looking forlorn again. "Yes and no. I've had a suspicion that it was something along those lines, maybe flirting, leading them on a bit, you know, I never thought she'd actually be sleeping with them. It's the first raid she's been on in a while, too, so it hasn't come up much lately." He sighed. "I do know she uh, well," he blushed, "she doesn't stick with one person much. She usually sleeps with Draco or Theo overnight, but sometimes she goes to Blaise instead. Please don't think I'm stalking her or anything, it's a small house, and it's hard not to notice. And there have been plenty of nights when she hasn't come home at all, so I think they're right, she does, I don't know how to put it kindly."
"Sleep around?" Hermione asked, and Ron nodded. "But you still like her?"
"I do. I can't explain it, but I feel drawn to her. I can't work her out, though, which is why I was asking you about the spoons thing. I don't think she wants to be this way. I think she expects men to want sex from her, so that's what she gives them." Ron sighed. "Sometimes I feel rather lost and alone here if I'm honest. Harry and Ginny have each other, or had each other, no one really knows whats going wrong between them at the moment, but that's another story, and then there's me. I get on the best with Theo, but there's just a totally different mindset around here."
"I think you need to tell Pansy how you feel. I've seen the way she looks at you, Ron," Hermione said, squeezing his hand reassuringly, "your affection is not one-sided."
"You think?" Ron's blue eyes were cautious, his slightly too long hair was messy, and the streaks that had been bleached almost blonde from the sun shimmered in the soft candlelight. Hermione was reminded strongly of nights in the tent when they had been on the run for the first time. There had been many nights when she and Ron had sat up whispering, long into the early hours when they should have been sleeping, while Harry kept guard outside.
"I'm quite sure." Hermione startled as the now familiar fizzle, and swish began again. She glanced at the clock on the wall. Half-past two. Theo and Pansy appeared in the lounge, blinking and clearly surprised to see anyone waiting up.
Theo threw their robes and masks onto the sofa then attempted a brazen grin. "You're up late," he said, and Hermione felt suddenly awkward. Pansy was staring at the floor, her breathing a little uneven as her tanned face flushed red. Theo looked between her and Ron then took a step back.
"Are you okay?" Ron asked quietly.
There was a pause, then two determined breaths later, Pansy visibly pulled herself together enough to flash him a bright grin. "Yes. Perfect, thank you." She pointed to two large glass vials in Theo's hands. "We got exactly what we wanted. It was a very successful evening. Right. I'm off for a shower, then I'm going to bed. Night!"
Hermione frowned. Pansy's voice seemed just a fraction too high, her posture just slightly too rigid. Pansy spun around, marching out of the room as Theo closed his eyes and sighed. He put down the mysterious vials then sat opposite Ron and Hermione, stretching out his long legs to unlace his boots. "She's okay," he said quietly. "I made sure of that."
"You mean you stood by and watched, while she... while she-" Words suddenly seemed to fail Ron. "I can't say it. Mate, it's not right."
"No, I agree. It's not. But she'd have done it anyway. If I'd refused to take part, she'd have still gone ahead and done it herself, especially with Ant, she knows him, and he's an easy target for her. At least if I'm there, I can ensure she's safe. I can concentrate on the Legilimency while she looks after herself instead of trying to do both."
"Well, what was the result? Dolohov. Were you right about him, and what's in the vials?" Ron asked.
Theo shifted uneasily in his seat. "Duplicated memories. And we weren't exactly right, not about all of it anyway. We were right in thinking that he doesn't want to be a Death Eater. He doesn't want to harm anyone, but he hasn't defected, nor is he trying to bring the Dark Lord down. So we know what he's not up to. We're just not sure what he is doing yet, and why he's doing it. You only get a certain, uh, window of time to explore someone's mind under these conditions."
"So you mean Pansy's going to have to do this again?"
Theo sighed, "Ron, you really need to have this conversation with her. Not me."
"I know. Just tell me one thing, do you think this is right, what she's doing?"
To Hermione's astonishment, Theo dropped his eyes contritely. "Of course not. I know it's wrong. But sometimes, that's what we deal with here. I chopped a man's head off last week with a severing hex. Blaise killed the two Death Eaters that followed him back here with you, Hermione. Everything we do is wrong, and that's not even starting on what poor Draco has to do at times. You need to tell Pansy how you feel about her and see if she wants to stop doing this for that reason. She won't listen if we just tell her to stop. The information we pick up this way is just too valuable, and she knows it."
Ron nodded. Hermione watched him lean back onto the sofa looking pained as Theo stalked out of the room. As the sounds of the shower died, Hermione let him help her hobble painfully upstairs to bed. They paused halfway while she caught her breath, and neither of them missed the flash of long, flying black hair nor the not so subtle click of Theo's bedroom door closing.
