"Cave floors, the middle of the desert, hell, the middle of a storm. I can sleep through any of those, but apparently, I can't sleep here."

Thea started and looked over at Jax as he swung his legs over the side of the couch and rested his elbows on his knees as he looked over at her. She winced. Apparently, her pacing had woken him up. "Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

Jax sighed, running his hands over his eyes. "Thea, you can do this. Liam's an idiot. He's always been an idiot and will always be an idiot, just as you've always been brilliant. He won't figure out what you're up to."

Thea glanced over at him. "Are you reading my mind?"

Jax ran a hand over his face. "Thea, I couldn't read your mind even if I wanted to. You know that."

Thea looked over at him. He was telling the truth. "I thought maybe I was just that off that you had been able to."

"You are that off," Jax pointed out, fixing his eyes on her. "That's why I don't need to. Now, go find out what this stupid expo is so we can have Liam arrested already."

Thea nodded. "Thanks." She headed outside. As she headed down the street, the sun was just rising, casting a dim light over her path. She turned down an alleyway and disapparated, reappearing outside the ministry.

For a moment, Thea could only stare at the entryway. She didn't want to go in. She took a deep breath. Let it out. It didn't work. The butterflies in her stomach had butterflies she was so nervous.

She waited a few seconds more and then forced herself to walk to the employee entrance. After a moment, she entered through one of the fireplaces and began heading for the lifts. The lifts were crowded as usual, and Thea squeezed in, taking a few deep breaths as she did.

Being squeezed into the lift with other employees like a bunch of sardines was not her idea of fun, but today it was worse. She was already anxious about facing Liam and adding claustrophobia to that mix just made her want to run away screaming. The lifts clanged as they headed down to level nine and the Department of Mysteries.

When Thea reached the revolving door of her department, she pointed her wand at the wall opposite her and uttered, "Mors revelare." A door swung open, and Thea headed inside.

Liam was standing in the middle of the room, his back facing her, speaking to what she presumed was another house-elf. Today, he wore denim from head to toe, including wearing a denim fishing hat. Thea could only shake her head at his fashion choices. "Liam?"

As expected, he ignored her, focusing on another house-elf. This one appeared to be older-and likely male judging by the hair coming out of his ears.

"Now elf," said Liam, "you will apparate into the water, where you will stay for precisely ten minutes and then apparate out. Do you understand me?"

Thea looked and saw that beside the house-elf was a tank full of water, much like what muggles would use to keep fish.

"Yes, master," croaked the old elf. He didn't have as much fight in him as the elf from the day before-Zelda-had had. The elf disapparated and reappeared in the tank.

Thea looked away, but not before she caught a glimpse of the elf floating in the fish tank. How many more house-elves would she have to watch be tortured before this was over?

"Now what is it, Thea?" Liam asked, with an exasperated sigh.

"Oh, I just have an investor for you," said Thea, trying to ignore the elf.

Liam's eyes lit up, and Thea could all but see galleons in them. "Why didn't you say so? The expo is tomorrow night-eight o'clock." He fumbled with his coat pockets and pulled out two laminated cards. "Make sure you have those with you-you'll need them to get in-both you and your investor. We're working on bringing the dead back to life. Can you imagine? No one has to die anymore-or rather, they don't have to stay dead."

He continued rambling on until Thea was finally able to pull away. Her head was spinning by the end of their conversation. Liam really was crazy-life and death weren't things to be messed with...the implications...and she wasn't just thinking about the positives that Liam seemed to be focusing on-she was thinking of the damage they could do.

Thea headed back into the love room. This time she headed for the fountain of amortentia, staring into its ebullient depths. She wasn't going to be getting much work done today; she would be too busy thinking about that poor elf in the fish tank and on how to stop Liam.

The following night, Thea stood before the mirror on her closet door. She wore a long black dress that had been in her closet forever, but that she had rarely worn. The thin fabric clung to every curve, and the top of the dress showed far more cleavage than she would have liked. Her hair was in a sleek updo aided by the application of Sleekeazy hair potion, and the come-hither makeup had her feeling like she was looking into the reflection of a stranger. "Are you sure about this?"

Ginny looked up from where she was collecting her makeup. "Definitely. Harry said that he wants you to be 'distracting', so George and Jax can poke around a bit. Plus, no one is ever going to take you seriously in that dress."

"Gee thanks."

Hermione shook her head. "That's not what she means. She just means that no one will be expecting you to be up to anything-they'll underestimate you, which is a good thing."

"People already seem to underestimate me," Thea muttered. And she wasn't just talking about Liam.

There was a knock on the bedroom door, and Thea, being the closest, took the few steps to the door to open it. Jax was standing on the other side, and he froze, eyes wide when he saw her. "Wow, you look...you don't look like you."

Thea shook her head. "I'm gonna take this off." She grabbed for a tissue.

Ginny and Hermione moved to stop her, but Jax got there first, gently pushing her hands down from her face and holding onto them to keep them there. "I didn't say you looked bad," he said, rolling his eyes.

Thea tried to pull her hands out of his grasp, but he held fast. "Let go."

"Only if you promise not to mess with it."

Thea glared at him.

Jax sighed impatiently. "Just hear me out first. You still want to wipe it off after that, then go ahead-I won't stop you."

"Fine."

Jax released her hands. "I just meant that you're not really the femme fatale type, but you are smart enough to know the power you hold if you go in like this."

He had a point there.

"It's not right," Jax continued. "It's not fair, but the way a woman looks can be used as a weapon. You're just not used to utilizing it. Between you in this dress and George wanting his brother back, Liam isn't going to pay the slightest bit of attention to me. I know you're used to being the one behind the scenes while someone else is the distraction, but you can do this."

Thea nodded. "Thank you." Then she grinned. "You really think I look like a femme fatale?"

Jax laughed. "Most definitely. If I didn't think of you like a sister, I'd probably be attracted to you right now." He frowned at that. "Which is disturbing on so many levels. Maybe you should change."

It was meant as a joke-mostly-so Thea just laughed.

"Anyway," said Jax, "I just wanted to let you know that I'm heading out. I'll probably see you there, but I was thinking that it would be better if we didn't really interact much-I don't think Liam remembers me from back then, and we might be able to find out more if we kept it that way."

Thea narrowed her eyes, considering that. "You may be right. He could be faking though-that he doesn't remember you, I mean. If he's forgotten, then that could benefit us, but we can't count on it."

"Yeah, I know. But I just wanted to let you know because I probably won't be back tonight." He made a face. "I'm getting a hotel for now just in case this whole operation goes on past tonight."

Thea couldn't help a chuckle at that. "And we both know how you hate hotels."

"I spend most nights at a hotel or camping." Jax shoved his hands into the pockets of his robes, which were the same shade of blue as his eyes. "I don't want to stay in a hotel when I'm back in London."

Thea gave him a quick hug. "Well, hopefully, we'll get everything we need tonight, and you'll be able to come back here."

"I'll see you...when I see you, I guess," he said awkwardly, before heading out, and Thea turned to Ginny who had finished packing up the makeup and was holding out a pair of black stilettos.

Thea cringed. High heels were not fun.