Chapter 11: Letters

Kelria's feeling of freedom did not last long. The next day, James put them to work even harder on the assignment.

"I want weekly reports," he said in the meeting. "I want progress here, people! Exams are done, and this is our first priority. So get to work!"

Everyone left the cubicle grumbling darkly and muttering curses under their breath.

"Weekly reports?" Khyana exploded when she and Kelria reached Kelria's cubicle. "As if I don't already have enough crap to do!"

Kelria smiled. "Well, I'd hate to be him. He has to read all those weekly reports."

Khyana grinned mischievously. "Oho! Mine is going to be so long! I'll make it like twenty pages…he'll get every detail of my week."

Kelria laughed loudly. "I'm in!"

They went quietly to all the other cubicles of people from their squad, and everyone giggled and agreed to do the same, to put James off the idea of weekly reports. The only person they didn't go to was Lily, who would never have agreed.

Kelria and Khyana took the opportunity that day to go to Marty's again for lunch, figuring James was going to be keeping them quite busy over the next little while. They both took a quill, ink and parchment with them, to record everything that went on, for their weekly reports.

I went to Marty's with Kel for lunch on Friday. We figured James would be keeping us very busy for the next little while, so we took the opportunity while we could. Jonathan and Julie were both working, and we had a nice chat with them about some new muggle film that they highly recommend. Maybe I'll talk Sirius into taking me sometime. I ordered my usual Deluxe Burger with onion rings, and Kel ordered the Chicken Caesar Salad. She's been doing that a lot lately…I think she's on a diet. Oh, and to drink, I had a root beer, and Kel had coca-cola. That's her favourite. She buys it all the time, even though Remus tells her not to, because it's bad for her.

At any rate, we had a nice luncheon together. We talked about the case a little bit, but mostly we talked about exams. I rambled on for a bit about how stupid Case Studies was, and Kel pretended to listen, but I don't think she was really paying that much attention. Then she rambled on for a bit about how pointless Professor Philips' exam was. I rather enjoyed that exam. I found it easy, since most of the questions had to do with questions I asked in class. Is this pointless enough for you, James?

When Khyana readher report out loud to Kelria, Kelria nearly fell off her chair laughing.

"That's awesome, Yana!" she gasped. "I love it. James is going to KILL YOU!"

"I know," Khyana shrugged. "I don't care."

"Oh and by the way, I'm not on a diet, I just happen to like the Chicken Caesar Salad."

"Whatever."

On Saturday, Kelria and Khyana decided to do some joint research. They went to see Cam Jones, who worked every day of the week, to see what he had about the Lestrange and Malfoy families.

"Well, I haven't got anything new about the Lestranges, Yana," he said, while rummaging through a file drawer, "But I have something Kelria might find interesting."

He pulled out a thick folder and thumped it on the desk. It looked pretty heavy.

"That looks pretty heavy," Khyana said conversationally.

"Well, no one's come to me for information about the Malfoys yet, so I haven't given out any of the information in it. It's pretty heavy."

He rummaged through the file, finally pulling out three pieces of paper.

"This is the latest on Malfoy. He's hired three Hogwarts boys to do some work for him. So far, all they've done is-"

"Run simple errands, I know," Kelria said. "I've already been given all that information."

"Okay," Cam said, flipping to the last page. "This just came in yesterday. Malfoy had a meeting with Wilkes, and my informant was able to get a transcript of what went on."

Kelria's face lit up. "Are you serious?"

Cam nodded. "Here you go."

Kelria took the paper, her eyes glowing. "Thanks, Cam."

The two friends left the Ministry and apparated back to Kelria's house to look over the transcript.

"I'm so excited!"

"How's your French class going?"

Lezly shrugged. "It's kinda boring since Khyana dropped it."

Bobby's eyes widened. "What's Khyana's last name?"

"Um…Malfoy, I think. Why?"

Bobby looked like he was doing some quick thinking. "You know Khyana Malfoy?"

Lezly nodded, looking confused. "Yes. We're good friends. Why?"

"I need to get a message to her. Do you have an address for her? A phone number? Anything?"

Lezly nodded. "I have an address and phone number."

"Could you give her a message for me?"

Lezly nodded again, still confused. "Sure. What's the message?"

"Here, I'll write it out. Can you mail it for me?"

"I'll do better than that. I'm going to her house for dinner tomorrow night. I'll take it to her then."

"That'll be perfect."

Bobby got a pen and a piece of paper and began to write.

Khyana,

I have valuable information for you, to solve your case. You will need it. Can you, James and Kelria meet me for lunch at noon on Monday at The Sultan's Cuisine? I'll give you the information then.

Many thanks,

Rob Marsden

At Kelria's, the two friends pored over the transcript for hours, not making any sense of it.

"Ugh!" Kelria cried. "This doesn't make sense."

"It's in code," Khyana replied. "I'll bet you anything. Lucius and Donovan must have a code that they use in case someone listens in on their conversations and does what Cam's informant did. Then whoever gets the transcript won't be able to read it anyway."

"Well that's just annoying and rude," Kelria said angrily.

Khyana shrugged. "That's Malfoy for ya."

"Yeah, I guess," Kelria replied.

Khyana glanced up at the clock and gasped. "Is that the time? I'm supposed to meet Sirius for dinner in ten minutes! I have to go, I'll see you Monday Kel, okay?"

"Yup. See you, have fun with Sirius."

After Khyana had left, Kelria sat with the transcript for another hour, trying to decipher Malfoy's code. She tried several different code cracking techniques Professor Donnelly had taught them, but none seemed to work. Malfoy, unfortunately, was too smart. She sighed, packed up the transcript and went to bed, frustrated.

On Sunday, Khyana allowed herself to sleep until noon, before rousing herself to get supper ready for when Lezly came.

She hadn't seen her friend since the day she'd dropped the French course, and was looking forward to catching up with her over dinner.

Five o'clock finally came, and Lezly was right on time.

"Hey!" Khyana said happily, giving her friend a big hug.

"Hey, Khyana, how are you?" Lezly asked, returning the hug.

"I'm great, how are you?"

"I'm doing really well actually."

"That's good. Come on in, supper's almost ready. We're just waiting for the chicken to finish."

Khyana had spent almost as much time making sure all her magical things were hidden as she had making dinner. She'd remembered at 2 00 that Lezly would probably think it odd to have a large cauldron in the middle of the living room, and had to hide it. Luckily, Ly had been to Khyana's before, so she wouldn't need a grand tour.

The timer on the chicken dinged, and Khyana pulled the large dish out of the oven, placing it carefully on the counter.

"Everything smells delicious, Khyana," Lezly said appreciatively.

"Thanks."

Once they were both seated and had their food, Lezly seemed to remember that she had important news.

"Oh! I almost forgot! The banquet for the night school classes at the university is two weeks from Saturday. I know you dropped the course, but Professor Laurent said that you're getting an award from last semester, so you should probably come."

"Okay. Yeah, that sounds like a plan," Khyana said, grinning. "I'll see if I can even talk Sirius into going with me."

Lezly grinned. "Good luck."

Khyana laughed. "Thanks."

Dinner passed in a pleasant catch-up period between the two friends. It wasn't until Lezly was almost out the door at ten o'clock that she pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket.

"Oh, here, I almost forgot. This is from my boyfriend, Bobby Masdem. He wanted me to give it to you."

Khyana took the note, puzzled, and thanked Lezly. Once her friend's car had disappeared around the corner, Khyana unfolded the note and read it. When she reached the end and saw who the letter was from, she collapsed into the chair in the front hall. It wasn't possible…

Khyana burst into James' cubicle early Monday morning, interrupting the meeting he was having with a very distraught Kelria.

"What, Khyana? I'm kind of busy."

"What are you two doing for lunch?"

"I'm going out with Lily…"

"No you're not."

"What?"

Khyana, eyes shining with excitement, pulled the note from Rob Marsden out of her pocket.

"The three of us are having lunch with Rob Marsden."

A/N: Yes, it's short, and yes, it's a cliffhanger. I love cliffhangers. My contacts are annoying...AND TORI'S COMING TOMORROW!!! Now I have to go clean my room...