The New Wunderkind of Consulting

Katie Bell, famously known as the new face of consulting, has paved a new way for her company. Recently, she split from her former employer, Briggs and Associates, to start up her new firm, which has already gotten tons of attention-not to mention, tons of clients.

When she arrives for the interview, she unsurprisingly exudes confidence in every step she makes. She's dressed in a chic black pant suit and structural pumps, the high point of muggle business fashion. I am shocked to see her giving me a wide smile, laughing and making fun of me for carrying a clipboard. When I offer her a seat on a plush couch, she instead suggests we go for a walk.

"I know I'm young," she starts, linking her arm with mine. "Not even thirty. But I like to be taken seriously," she pauses, giggling, "every once in a while."

"How did you do it?" I ask her, amazed at her exuberance. "You said it yourself; you're not even thirty, and yet you've set up a very potentially successful firm in only two years."

"I don't really know, actually," she admits, laughing self-consciously. "I never thought I'd be able to pull this off. When I worked at Briggs, I decided to try and get a few investors for my own firm. One moment I'm putting all of my assets into my company, and the next I'm getting clients left and right."

"I've been told that it took hundreds of thousands of galleons to start up the firm. Who were your primary investors?"

"Well, we managed to get a few independent investors," she replies, "but my biggest supporter was my lovely fiancée, Pansy Parkinson."

"How adorable!" I say, and she smiles, looking radiantly happy. "You both chipped in to make the start up?"

"Pansy supported me all along the way," she sighs. "I couldn't have done it without her."

"When are you two getting married?" I ask, curious. Ever since Astoria and Draco Malfoy's tragic divorce, Pansy and Katie are the new, uncontested power couple of the business world-and undoubtedly the most attractive couple the wizarding world has seen since.

She opens her mouth to answer, and then shrugs. "We haven't set a date yet."

"That is just too cute," I squeal. When I worry that she must have work to do, she reassures me that she has a few minutes to continue our little chat. "I just have one more question," I tell her. "Did you always want to be a business woman?"

She tilts her head. "Well, when I was in school I wanted to be a professional Quidditch player. Rather ridiculous, yeah?"

"And what made you decide to go into consulting?"

She and I come to a halt in front of her building. "Well, in my sixth year I had an accident that put me in the hospital wing for several months. Unfortunately, I was told I'd never be able to play Quidditch again."

"How tragic!" I exclaim.

Katie ducks her head and smiles at me. "I realized very quickly that being a professional Quidditch player was a silly childhood dream. I found much more joy in working in the business world."

"A happy ending after all," I tell her, and she laughs along with me.

"Where were you the night that Lucius was murdered?" Harry asked, folding his arms in front of him and pacing forward.

Pansy had her hands bound behind her back, looking up at him with an expression of obvious defiance. "I told you that I was at dinner alone. Katie was working late at her office, and I went home, did some reading, and went to bed."

"And what did you have for breakfast that morning?"

She narrowed her eyes. "What, exactly, does that have to do with anything?"

Harry shrugged. "Making conversation."

"I believe I had eggs and a glass of orange juice," she said, and then paused, shaking her head. "No, that's wrong. I had an omelette."

"And what did you have for dinner?" he continued, standing in place and twirling a quill in his fingers.

"Um, I think I had lobster."

"Isn't that rather pricey during this time of year?" he asked. "Well, any time of year. Were you celebrating something?"

"No, I wasn't," she said deliberately. "I just felt like splurging a little."

"And what did you do when you went home?"

She scoffed. "I already told you, I went back home and did some reading. And then I went to bed."

"And you woke up at what point the next morning?"

"I really don't see how all of this is relevant," she said, swallowing and clenching her jaw.

Harry shrugged. "Oh, it's not. I was just wondering."

"I suppose I woke up at seven and went to work at eight."

He nodded and turned to walk out of the interrogation room, closing the door behind him. Draco and I were standing together, watching as Pansy stared straight into the window.

"From what I can tell, she's not lying. But if she were able to create a Dark curse like the one Narcissa had been affected by, she could have easily gotten around the Veritaserum issue. Skilled Death Eaters have been known to create spells making them immune to it."

"So look at body language," Draco said. We turned to look at him curiously. "You can tell if someone's lying by their body language. All we have to do is read her facial expressions."

"And how are you planning on doing this?" Harry demanded.

"I am very good at spotting lies," he said flatly. "Especially from Pansy. She's been my best friend for over fifteen years."

"Fine," he sighed. "Then ask the questions. We'll be back here."

Draco shrugged, opening the door to the room. Pansy raised an eyebrow when he entered, leaning forward in her chair. "Draco?" she asked. "You think I killed him?"

"Well, I don't know what I believe," he replied. "Did you know that Astoria was having an affair?"

"Of course not."

He nodded slightly. "But you had a relationship with her."

"I never had a relationship with her."

"She's lying," I told Harry. "She told Ginny and I that they had a relationship. She must not have remembered telling us because she was drunk."

Draco opened up a file on the table, pulling out a folded up piece of paper. "Is that Astoria's handwriting?"

She raised her eyebrow. "I wouldn't know."

"And did you have an affair with Astoria during our marriage?"

She sat back in her chair. "What?"

"Did you have an affair with her and then obliviate her?" he repeated, leaning forward and putting his hands on the table.

"You can't be serious. No, of course not!"

He straightened up and, without a word, walked out of the room. He closed the door behind him and shook his head. "She's lying."

"You're sure?" Harry asked.

"I'm sure. She knew Astoria was having an affair and she had a relationship with her. She recognized her handwriting." He paused. "There was something off, though."

"About what?" I asked.

"She was surprised when I asked her if she was having an affair with Astoria. She sat back in her chair and her jaw dropped. Classic signs of surprise."

"Maybe she was surprised that we knew about it," Harry said, shrugging. "You two can go home. I'll stay here and try to get more out of her."

"We already know she's lying," I interjected, confused. "Why do you need any more?"

"The Wizengamot will only hear a murder case if there's a full confession under Veritaserum," Harry said. "We just need her to crack."

"But we need her wand," I said. "That's the only way to make a counterspell for the curse on Narcissa."

"And create a cure for Alex," Draco added.

Harry shook his head. "She purchased a new wand four days ago. She claims she discarded the old one."

Draco laughed derisively. "Of course. She wanted to get rid of the only way we could save them."

"We'll try to find the wand," he said. "Wizards don't just throw wands away in the bin. She must have kept it somewhere."

"We'll find it," I said. "But for right now, we're leaving."

I managed to drag Draco with me out of the front of the door of the Auror department. I couldn't blame him for being shell-shocked; he'd just found out that his closest, and oldest, friend had betrayed him in almost every way possible. I was just amazed that Pansy was able to keep up the act for so long while simultaneously trying to ruin his life.

On the street, I paid for the new issue of Witch Weekly, hoping it would help take my mind of things, if only for a little while. On the cover was Katie's bright, shining face, wearing her signature red lipstick and a smile. I flipped open to the page with her interview, flinching at how happy she seemed.

"Sad, isn't it?" I asked. "She's so ecstatic to be marrying Pansy."

"Yes, it'll be terrible," he said flatly, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Maybe she'll get more out of Pansy than we can."

I shrugged. "I suppose we get to be the ones to tell her."

We linked arms as we apparated to Pansy's manor, hoping if we didn't say anything out loud, it wouldn't be real. Katie opened her door, greeting us with a grin. "What are you two doing here?"

We looked to each other and looked away. "We have something to tell you," Draco said, his voice quiet.

Her smile disappeared. "What's this about?"

"Pansy is at the Auror department," he explained. "She's been arrested for the murder for my father and poisoning Alex."

"That's…" she exhaled. "That's ridiculous."

"We found some notes under your bed addressed to Pansy. They were written by Astoria." I bit my lip. "It looks like they were having an affair."

She shook her head adamantly. "No, that's impossible. Pansy would never cheat on me."

"Katie," Draco said gently. "You both work long nights. She did it right under your nose."

"No. You know Pansy, she would never do something like this! She would never hurt anyone. She loves me. She would never have an affair, especially with your ex-wife."

He cleared his throat. "They were having an affair while we were still married."

She rolled her eyes. "That's even more ridiculous. They have nothing on her. I'm going to the Auror Department and getting her out of there."

"She is going to stay there until she confesses. If you go there, you won't be able to see her unless you agree to help get some answers out of her."

"Wrong," she said. "She doesn't have to say anything." She grabbed her coat and her wand. "I won't aid your case against her. So get off my porch so I can go see my fiancée."

She promptly disappeared on the spot. I sighed. I hadn't had much hope that she'd side with us against Pansy, but it was worth a try. I grabbed Draco's hand and apparated to his manor, knowing Ginny was probably going crazy. We'd left Narcissa in her care temporarily, and I knew from experience that watching her for more than a half hour was horrifying, not to mention she was getting progressively worse.

Ginny was frazzled as she opened the door. "Thank Merlin," she said, disappearing in front of us immediately. I sighed and entered the house, scanning the living room for Narcissa.

She was sitting in front of the fireplace, arms wrapped around her knees. Her eyes were wide and her pupils dilated. She was staring into the fire, the light casting unsettling shadows across her face. "You know," she said quietly. "Lucius was always so obsessed with fire."

"Mother, I think it's time for you to go to bed," Draco inserted firmly. He grabbed for her hand, but she yanked it away.

"Lucius knew all of the fire-starting spells," she said. "Used to light up important documents and just watch them burn."

Draco looked panicked. "Mother…"

"I remember that, one day, a fire-starting spell went very wrong. My son Draco got in front of it at the wrong time. Lucius refused to let me take him to St. Mungo's, and forced me to heal him. But I didn't do a very good job of it."

"Mother!" he shouted sharply. "I'm right here."

"I later took him to a Healer privately and paid him off so he wouldn't tell anyone. But I always remembered."

I looked to Draco, who had the plainest expression of shame I'd ever seen. How he could be ashamed of such a terrible event, I didn't understand. Then again, I had never really understood Draco at all.

"I'm so tired," she murmured. "I keep waiting for him to kill me. I keep waiting for a night when he comes into my room and curses me dead. But it's coming-I can feel it."

"Narcissa," I told her. "Let's get you to bed, alright?"

She flinched away from me and got up, padding her way up the stairs. Knowing she was probably taking herself to her room, I let her go.

The silence nearly suffocated us. I sensed that we weren't going to speak of this, weren't going to acknowledge she'd said what she said.

"I'm going to bed," he told me. "We'll work on this tomorrow morning, yeah?"

And I felt a kind of finality as he shut off the lights and I went back to my flat, knowing maybe, just maybe, we could save both Alex and Narcissa after all.