DISCLAIMER: Okay, I won't deny it, I am Rowling, but I do not have the manuscript of book7 with me! Petunia stole it! So I am trying to remember the whole story all over again!
Author's notes: I am sorry for the late update. Next chapter will be for Christmas, and for those who read Old Ways, I'll start on the next chapter soon. Please be patient, and review.
-Chapter Twenty-Three-
It's troubling times when friends turn foes.
Unexpected Meetings
Draco stepped inside the familiar shop and looked around. It looked almost the same as the last time he had been here. There was a lurid skull in one of the display shelves, a hangman's coil in another, a diamond necklace had replaced the opal one that had nearly killed Katie Bell and a spiky, whip-like thing instead of the Hand of Glory. Borgins was nowhere to be seen. He rang the bell. Borgins came out from the back of the shop, looking as oily and shrewd as ever.
"Master Malfoy!" he explained, rubbing his palms, " Welcome back! We've just received some new supplies, and there are some exquisite pieces to interest you, the Coil of Death, for instance," he pointed to the whip, "is quite a gem. A very rare piece and the most reasonable price you will…"
Draco glanced indifferently at the 'Do Not Touch' sign and turned back to Borgins.
"I want some morblometiserum." He said.
"Morblometiserum?" the man repeated softly, "A very rare poison, and very deadly too, and hardly any antidote…"
"I don't have all day, Borgins."
"My apologies, sir." He disappeared through the back door and returned in a minute with a small crystal bottle with a silver stopper.
"I hope you know the precautions, sir? Morblometiserum melts any metal other than silver."
"I am aware of it. Name your price."
"All right, sir. That will be two-hundred galleons."
Draco searched into his pocket and pulled out a little dragon-skin cover writing pad and a golden eagle-feathered quill. For the first time in his life, he was short of money. Not that he was less rich than he had been, but an escaped deatheater like him could hardly walk into Gringotts to get some gold. Potter, of course, had wanted to pay for this, insisting that the poison was for his use, but it was beneath a Malfoy to let another pay for something he buys.
He wrote out the amount, Borgin's name and his bank account number on a page, and signed his name. He then tore it off and handed it to Borgins.
The man read it carefully over his pince-nez.
"Sir, we don't sell without ready money. If you will leave your address I could get it owled to you…"
Draco scooped up the bottle from the counter and slipped it into his pocket.
"Come, Borgins, you can bend a little rule like that for an old customer. A Malfoy won't cheat you for a couple of hundred pieces of gold. Or perhaps Greyback can teach you to be a little more trusting?" his lips curled into a smile that did not reach his eyes.
Borgin's face became hard and pale. He muttered an indistinct "Good day to you" and left through the backdoor again, slamming it behind him. Draco turned to leave.
The door of the shop opened, and Aunt Bella entered, followed by Alecto and a third deatheater whose face was hooded. Both sides stopped dead at this unexpected encounter. It was the new entrants who recovered first.
"Draco, dear boy, who would have thought of to find you here!"
"Pleasant surprise, aunt, but I must leave now."
"Wait, Draco." Bellatrix placed a hand firmly on his shoulder, stopping him. She flicked her wand towards the back door and smirked satisfactorily as a jet of silver light sealed the door. "I thought we could keep this private, " she said, turning back to Draco, " We shall need Borgins, of course, I've got a muggle village selected for his new merchandise; but that can wait. Since we've got an opportunity to see you after such a long time, we might as well have a little talk. Does Master know you are here?"
"I am here on his behalf, to further his cause." Draco replied evasively.
"But did you tell him you would be coming here?" she insisted, "Do you inform him of the particulars of your whereabouts when you are supposed to be watching the steps of Harry Potter?"
"I tell him what I feel is my duty to tell him. I see no reason why I should share them with you. I say that I am here on his work and that should be enough for you." He said stonily.
"But I don't find that to be enough for me." Bellatrix hissed, "I clearly remember that Master was angry about the your antics with the poisoned mead and the necklace last year. I think he gave specific orders for you to stay out of Knockturn Alley this time."
Draco was beginning to panic now. Neville and the Lovegood girl were in Diagon Alley to buy a cauldron and some other ingredients. He was supposed to meet them at the corner joining the two streets. What if they strayed into Knockturn Alley to find him? What if they came in right here?
"You look worried." Spoke Alecto sarcastically, " I hope our questions are not unsettling you?"
"I am worried, yes." Draco retorted defiantly, "I am supposed to return to headquarters and you are wasting my time."
"Headquarters?" Bellatrix repeated in a tone of mock-surprise. "May I ask which headquarters you are referring to? Where do you report nowadays?"
"I have no idea of what you are implying, aunt." Draco spoke calmly, " I report, of course, to the Dark Lord. But I was talking about returning to the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, where the Dark Lord has stationed me, before my absence is noticed there."
"How thoughtful, Draco!" Alecto mocked, " But you seem to forget the fact that you have already left your post against the Dark Lord's orders. And as for being missed by the Order, some of us are beginning to miss you, to wonder what you are up to."
"I thought I said that I need not offer my explanations to you." Draco replied, his temper rising.
"Perhaps you give your explanations to someone else these days." Sneered Bellatrix.
Draco suddenly realized that both women had their wands pointed to his chest.
"What are you suggesting?" he asked, trying to keep his voice steady.
"There is nothing to suggest, Draco. You did not obey the Dark Lord's order to kill that old fool Dumbledore." Alecto said softly, " You had him cornered, and you did nothing. Every information you have given us so far has proved either useless or has brought trouble for us. Potter and is friends always escape in time, or help comes for them, and it is our side that concedes losses whenever we act on your information."
"Potter and his friends have escaped the Dark Lord before I came into the picture," Draco spoke grimly, "and on one occasion, I believe, (he turned to face Bellatrix) he slipped right through your fingers, dear aunt."
"That was your father's fault," she hissed, "which reminds me of the little indignant speech you gave when dear Cissy landed herself in a cell through sheer stupidity."
"Don't you insult my mother!" Draco snarled, and took out his wand. Before he had time to think of a single spell, Alecto had disarmed him. He was trapped, and unable to defend himself. Cornered and wandless – he thought to himself, and a vision of an old man leaning against the rampart atop a dark tower flashed through his mind.
"It won't be the first time that I purify my family of a bad egg," Bellatrix said, her eyes glinting wildly, " nor will it be the first time that I finish of a traitor. I am a loyal servant and I will kill all those who defy or betray him." She was looking thoroughly mad now.
The shop-door opened with a sudden blast, knocking the third deatheater who had been standing silently near it off his feet. He landed facedown on the floor, and did not get up. Neville and Luna rushed in with their wands out.
"Oh, look, Draco, your little friends have come to help you." Bellatrix said in a horribly singsong voice.
"You know what?" Luna said, her large, pale blue eyes looking straight into Bellatrix's, "You shouldn't speak in such a high voice. According to the latest researches in sylphology, high-pitched voices may awaken the zyphyrabingites who infest the air in dark, musty places like this. And they can get very violent if their sleep is interrupted."
Draco closed his eyes in horror and opened them again as he heard Alecto and Bellatrix breaking into malicious laughter. Luna was still staring calmly at them.
"Oooh, she will be fun!" Alecto said, licking her lips as she raised her wand.
In a split fraction of a second, something happened. Neville had moved nearer to Draco, and thereby the showcases, while Luna was talking. He raised his wand, and in one swift movement, sent the Coil of Death flying towards Bellatrix. She screamed, but the coil, which was now flaming, had already wound its way round her body. Alecto started forward, but Luna put her feet in and she tripped. Not wasting time, Draco scooped up his wand and yelled-"Stupefy!"
Neville looked out in the street and quickly shut the door again.
"Aurors." He said, looking at Draco.
"To headquarters." Draco replied, "Luna, you can go with Neville."
The sounds of their disapparation had barely died down when the third, silent deatheater stood up. He looked at the fallen forms of the two women who had brought him to carry their shopping bags. He had heard that the aurors were coming. Well, he couldn't help them. But he could help himself by escaping. He could tell the Dark Lord what he had seen and heard. Smiling in an odd, twisted manner, Peter Pettigrew disapparated just at the moment the door to the shop was blasted open a second time.
-XXX-
Back in the kitchen of Twelve, Grimauld Place, Draco and Neville were recounting their tale while Luna was busy transfiguring her teacup and saucer into earrings shaped like various vegetables and back.
"So you got Lestrange?" Harry asked Neville, "I would have liked to get her myself, but I'm happy for you, and proud too."
Neville went very pink and muttered something indistinct.
"Er…Luna?" Ron spoke uncertainly, "I probably shouldn't ask you this, but what on earth are zyphyrabingites?"
"Don't be ridiculous, Ronald." Luna replied dreamily, as she turned the cup and plate into a pair of miniature cauliflowers, "There are no such things as zyphyrabingites. I made that up to buy time."
P.S: "There are really no such things as zyphyrabingites. I made that up to buy time."