A/N: Sorry that I'm a day late, but this chapter is much longer than usual so I hope that helps make up for it! There's only 2 more chapters left so enjoy!

Also to the Guest who reviewed after last chapter, thank you for the review! Everyone wants to create a story that's completely original but with so many fics out there, it's hard to do! I really do just write for me and my sister but it's always good to hear that other people enjoy it! Thank you!

-Casper

Kat walked into the office after lunch feeling more upbeat than she had in days. She could go for days, even weeks, without talking to Harry, Hermione or the twins; however, since she had met Ginny she hadn't gone more than a few days without some sort of communication.

As soon as she walked into the room Padma called her over.

"Kat. Good you're here. We think that we have another artifact."

Malfoy, who had been lounging in one of the chairs, gracefully stood up.

"And you didn't mention it to me earlier?" He said in his usual drawl.

Padma tossed an incredulous look Malfoy's way.

"You would've stalked Kat down and taken her from her lunch. It wasn't going to hurt anyone to wait a few hours."

Ernie must have noticed that Draco was going to start a petty argument because he quickly interjected.

"On to the artifact. This is it." He then opened up a file and I peered at the photograph.

"It's a candle."

Padma and Ernie looked at each other triumphantly.

"It's not just any candle." Padma started to explain. "Once lit, this candle becomes irresistible to any person that can see the light. It attracts people and once someone looks at the candle directly, it draws them close to the candle. When someone is near enough to the candle, it begins to absorb their life essence while the person remains helpless. This process continues until the person dies."

Kat then exclaimed "It's just like the legend of the Candle of Life."

Malfoy scoffed "the Candle of Life. I never understood the name. It only gives life to itself correct?"

Ernie took over from Padma at this point. "According to the story, yes. However, according to our research, no. It really does give life. From what we can tell, if you add your blood to the candle before it is lit, then the candle ceases to have an effect on you. We also think there must be some sort of spell that goes along with putting the candle out because we think that the essence the candle absorbs can be then transferred to whomever has that spell."

Padma must have seen that Kat and Draco were having a hard time believing it because she quickly took over.

"I know it sounds crazy. But while researching we found a guy who had this candle for over 200 years. He had different names, and he passed himself off as his son. But it doesn't add up. Our only explanation is that it was the same man."

Malfoy still didn't look convinced. "If this is the case, then why didn't the Dark Lord," he amended his statement, albeit with an eye roll, when Ernie and Padma looked distinctly uncomfortable. "fine, Voldemort. Why didn't he ever search for this. Despite not being a permanent situation, he still attempted to use the philosopher's stone."

Padma looked upset that she didn't have an answer. Seeing this Kat hesitantly began to speak.

"Well, I don't know but maybe it has to do with reliance. The philosopher's stone was an object. Voldemort wouldn't have needed to use anything other than the stone. I think he would have hated to have to rely on other people, even if he was able to force them, in order to stay immortal."

Ernie looked frustrated that his briefing had gone off tangent. "It is beside the point. Whether or not it gives life or not, it definitely kills people and thus it should be the target of our mission."

Kat nodded her head. "Agreed. What's the plan?"

"Please tell me you both speak French." Kat answered Padma's question with a quick nod.

"Thank Merlin. As prominent purebloods from families that love tradition I assumed as much but it would've made this more difficult had you not. Currently the Dubois family owns the candle."

Draco interjected "The Dubois family?"

Padma nodded and Draco sighed "Well that will make things slightly more difficult. They are well known for their love of the dark arts. Their wards will be almost as good as the ones at Malfoy Manor."

Kat rolled her eyes at Draco's persistent narcissism but gestured that Padma should continue.

"We thought as much. In order to avoid you having to break down complex wards that would undoubtedly be detected, we came up with an alternative approach. They are hosting a party next week to showcase their private collection. It will be a whole week and we managed to get you an invite to the party and you will be staying on Dubois property."

Kat raised an eyebrow. "How did you manage to get us an invite?"

Ernie puffed out his chest and looked incredibly smug.

"I created a background for you both. You are Monsieur and Madame Leveque. A newly married couple from Paris with well-hidden connections to the dark arts. The Dubois family discovered these connections and are interested in the wealthy family that will be in Paris for the foreseeable future."

"We're well recognized. There's no way the Dubois family won't know at least one of us."

Padma grinned. "Next to your polyjuice potion you will find bottled hair for both of you. Between your supply and some that we managed to persuade the minister to give us, you both have about 4 days' worth of potion. You'll need to find the candle in that time and get back to England. I've heard Paris is beautiful this time of year, have fun!"

Kat nodded impressed with the amount of detail that she had just been given about the mission.

"We'll need some sort of safe house with an international floo connection. It will need to be within easy apparating distance. Just in case."

"Already taken care of. That's where you'll be flooing to before the mission. You might have heard of it. Shell Cottage."

"Bill Weasley's old place? I had forgotten about that place."

Padma smiled. "You leave tomorrow morning. You'd best start packing."

The next morning Draco and Kat found themselves standing in Shell Cottage. Despite being small, it was well furnished and pleasant. They would be there for a little over a day before going to the party the next night.

Although Kat had decided to see where the relationship between her and Draco went, she was not prepared to pretend to be his wife for a whole week. As a result, other than when absolutely necessary, Kat avoided speaking to Draco before the party.

Kat double checked her overnight bag one final time before shrinking it down and placing it in her handbag. She fixed her makeup and adjusted her emerald green dress one final time before making her way downstairs to meet up with Draco. She tried not to be too pleased when she saw Draco glance up and down her outfit in obvious appreciation. As usual, Draco was wearing a brand new pair of dress robes and Kat tried her best to not stare.

"Do you have your polyjuice?" Kat asked Draco.

"Of course, you?"

"Yes. I'm glad that Padma grabbed hairs off of people roughly the same size as us. It makes this much simpler. Shall we?"

With a quick nod of affirmation, they both downed their first dose. A few moments later they had both transformed into someone else. Kat simply grabbed Draco's arm and a second later he apparated them both to the Dubois Estate.

The next night Kat sighed in relief when she felt her body morph back into her own. They were in their room in the Dubois estate; they had up a wide variety of shield charms surrounding their rooms. To Kat this was a god send, not only could they extend their polyjuice potion to last the entire week, but they could relax in their own bodies at night.

The previous day had been a flurry of introductions and constant conversation and despite the fact that they could not search for the candle, they both fell asleep almost immediately. When they woke up, took their polyjuice and got dressed before heading out to do some subtle investigating. Despite their best efforts the end of the day came and they were no closer to discovering if the candle was even in the house.

Kat glanced over from the mirror where she was washing her face to see Draco lying on the bed. She realized that falling asleep that night would be much more difficult now that she was fully conscious of the fact that they were sharing a bed together.

She walked over to the bed and sat down.

"Draco? Are you awake?"

"Yes." Draco mumbled without opening his eyes.

"We need to talk about our plan for tomorrow."

"What plan? We go in and continue to do what we've been doing."

Kat shook her head exasperatedly "Ah yes, because today was so successful."

Draco sat up at Kat's statement. "And I suppose you have a better suggestion?" He replied venomously.

"As a matter of fact I do." Kat sniped back.

"Well then be my guest."

"We've met every single guest in this house. No one other than the Dubois family knows about the candle. Our best bet is to try and become friendly with one of them."

Draco shook his head. "No chance. Monsieur and Madame Dubois are too smart for that."

Kat smirked "I wasn't talking about those two. They have a son. His wife was very much preoccupied with you earlier. We've given off the impression of a classic pureblood marriage and I think she's looking to capitalize upon the well-known custom of pureblood men sleeping with other women."

Draco looked astonished "You want me to sleep with her?"

Kat laughed to cover up her dismay at the thought.

"I'm talking about being friendly to her. Lead her on a bit. Maybe she'll bite. It's a better plan than we had today."

Kat stood near the drink table watching Draco across the room. It was taking all of her willpower to not crush the glass she was currently holding. True to their plan, Draco had sought out the young Madame Dubois and was being very friendly to her. He had been doing this all day and the young woman was definitely charmed. She kept touching his arm and laughing at everything he said.

Deciding that watching this would only infuriate her further she decided to wander around the room and people watch everybody else. She glanced at the time and realized that they needed to take their polyjuice in a little over 10 minutes. She looked around for Draco in order to inform him of the time. When she didn't see him she began to panic a bit and she began searching the room more intently. A few moments later she saw Draco with Dubois in a dark corner. She began to walk over and upon seeing how close the two were she narrowed her eyes in anger. She walked over, plastered the most fake smile on her face and spoke in the most sickeningly sweet voice she could muster.

"Excuse me, I must simply borrow my husband for a moment."

Then before Draco could protest she drug him away and into the hallway.

"Let go of my arm woman!" Draco angrily muttered as he pulled away from Kat.

"What the bloody hell is wrong with you."

"I needed to tell you that you're almost out of time on your polyjuice. We don't need you transforming in the middle of the ballroom."

Draco raised his eyebrows "I still have about 10 minutes and I know you know that."

"Fine then, excuse me for caring."

Kat turned on her heel and went to leave when her arm was caught by Draco's hand.

"Oh no. You did not drag me out here for that. I want the truth."
"The truth?! Now you're calling me a liar?!"

"Absolutely. You know what. We're not having this conversation here." Before he had even finished uttering that statement Draco had grabbed Kat by the arm and began to drag her to their room.

When they entered the room Kat jerked her arm away and stood angrily across the room. Draco proceeded to stare at her as if expecting her to say something. Kat just raised her right eyebrow in response.

"Seriously. You're not going to speak now?" Draco exclaimed.

When Kat's response was to glare he threw his hands up. "Bloody impossible witch. I suppose you don't care now that I found out that they have a secret wing for artifacts."

Kat was immensely happy to hear that but she was so angry that she ignored that part of his statement in favor of remaining silent.

A few minutes later the polyjuice wore off and Draco stalked over to a chair and threw himself into it.

"I'm going to sit here until you tell me what the problem is." He said stubbornly.

"The problem! The problem was that you were all over that woman in the middle of a bloody ballroom. It was completely inappropriate!"

"All over her! She was all over me! And if I recall correctly, this was your plan!"
"The plan was to be friendly. Not look like you were about to shag in the middle of the ballroom!"

Draco paused at that. A strange look came across his face and he stood up from the chair and walked over to Kat.

"Aha. You're jealous."

"Jealous. Ha. In your dreams Malfoy."

By this point he had backed Kat up to a wall and was standing exceptionally close to her.

"Look me in the eyes and tell me it's not true then."

She glared defiantly at him. "It's not true."

He smirked and leaned to whisper in her ear. "You see, I don't believe you."

The next thing Kat knew, Draco had placed his lips on her jaw just below her ear. She failed to hold back a slight shiver as he did so. Smirking he moved to the other side of her face and did the same thing. Then he moved to her mouth and gently pressed his lips to the corners of her mouth.

At this point Kat threw caution to the wind and quickly reversed their position. Draco looked moderately confused but that look quickly faded when Kat placed her lips on his pulse point. Empowered by the light moan that he let out she then began to kiss her way up his neck and up to his mouth. When she reached his mouth she paused and looked Draco in the eyes. Upon seeing the darkening of his eyes that she knew represented lust, she kissed him. As soon as that barrier had been broken Draco reversed their position and pushed her into the wall. The gentle kisses had been replaced by a frenzied passion that Kat had not ever felt. She felt as if every kiss from Draco was setting her on fire. She threaded her fingers through his hair and when he moaned into her mouth, she began to pull on his hair. He responded by moving his arms from her back to the zipper on her dress and he slowly pulled her dress off of her body before placing his hands underneath her thighs and picking her up. While moving towards the bed she began attempting to unbutton his shirt. She was having difficulty so she ended up just pulling the shirt off, ripping it in the process.

He laid her on the bed before pulling off his trousers and joining her. She took full advantage of his now free torso and began to run her hands all over his body. He then began to move his mouth down across her breasts down to her thighs. By the time that he reached there she was panting and he knew it. He began to kiss on each thigh but never moving closer to where she wanted him to go.

"Tease."

"Complaining?"

She went to reply but he moved a bit closer and her only response was a moan. She grabbed his head and pulled him back up to her face. She then pulled off his boxers and guided his hardened length into her. They began to rock back and forth and eventually found a steady rhythm.

Draco knew that he wasn't going to be able to last much longer and he wanted to ensure that Kat came as well so he moved his hand down to help her out. He smirked when he heard her whimper when he touched her folds. Their pace sped up and when he pressed hard against her clit she came apart around him. With one final thrust he let himself come and he collapsed on top of her.

A few minutes later Kat had enough strength to move and she shifted to look at Draco. She looked up to see him looking at her with a softness in his grey eyes. She opened her mouth, but didn't know what to say so she closed it a moment later. She went to glare at him when she heard him chuckle. However, when she turned he just pulled her into his chest and they lay there for a while. Eventually he leans down and leisurely kisses her. When he pulls away he just looks at her.

"What are you looking at me like that for?" She asked.

"I've been wanting to do that for ages."

"Kiss me?"

"No. Just lie here with you."

"That's awfully sappy for you Malfoy."

"Oh I'm Malfoy again am I?"

Kat laughed. "Always."

It was almost dinner time when the two of them finally got out of bed and dressed. What had happened obviously needed to be talked about, but this was neither the time nor the place.

"Alright. So you'll go to dinner, make excuses for me about how I'm feeling unwell. During dinner I'll go search for the artifact and I'll meet you here later?"
"Works for me."

She nodded and continued getting dressed.

"Oh and Katherine."
"What?" She answered distractedly.

He turned her head with his hand and kissed her. "Good luck." With a final wink he walked out of the room.

About 20 minutes later, right in the middle of the first course Kat sneaked out of the room and into the wing that contained all of the family's rooms. She was currently under polyjuice that was not her cover, just to be on the safe side. Once in the correct wing, it did not take Kat very long to find the artifact room. Thankfully she was the charms expert out of the two of them, so she quickly sat down and began dismantling the wards. Soon enough she was in the room and searching for the candle. Once she found it, she placed it in a magic binding container and made her way back to her room, making sure she replaced the wards as best as she could. She had to hide a few times to escape the prying eyes of house elves but well before dessert she was back in the room.

Realizing that she still had an hour or so until Draco would be back, she began to pack up their items. When she started hearing people return from dinner, she dimmed her lights and sat waiting. There she sat until finally the clock chimed midnight. Draco had officially been missing for 3 hours. Though it pained her, she did the only thing that she could do. She shrunk the luggage and placed it in a handbag. Then she opened her window to the grounds, transformed into her animagus form, grabbed the bag and jumped out of the window. She snuck around the grounds, ensuring that she wasn't seen and once she was able to apparate, she went directly to Shell Cottage. She sent a message via floo to Padma and Ernie telling them that the item was in Shell Cottage. She quickly grabbed a few items and then disapperated to return to the Dubois Estate.

Kat snuck back into her room before sneaking out and searching for their dungeons. Once down there she quickly transformed again. Although her form was not innocuous, her senses were heightened and as such began to sniff around trying to track Draco. They had never been down there so as soon as she smelled Draco she knew she was on the right track. She blended into the darkness pretty well and as such was able to sneak into their main holding cells. The younger Dubois was sitting at a table obviously waiting for something. She heard a noise come from behind her and quickly hid. The elder Dubois came walking around the corner.

"I finally was able to get away from your mother without attracting suspicion. What is this all about? Wait, is that Draco Malfoy?"

"Monsieur Leveque had been pretty chummy with Vivienne all day. All throughout dinner she couldn't stop staring at him. I just wanted to give him a little friendly advice. I stunned him and left him down here. Imagine my surprise when I came down and this man was where I left Monsieur Leveque."

It took all of Kat's strength to hold back a laugh. Of course, it would be Malfoy's charm that got him into trouble. I'm never going to let him live this down.

"I woke him up and then had some fun trying to get him to speak. He held out much longer than I imagined before he passed out. He didn't even scream, it was incredibly disappointing."

That comment got Kat's blood boiling and when both men turned to look at Draco, Kat transformed back into her human form and quickly stunned both men.

She walked past their bodies and couldn't resist kicking the both of their unconscious bodies. This is better than they deserve.

Realizing that Draco probably needed her attention she refrained from doing anything other than tying them up. She unlocked the cell he was in before rushing over to his unconscious body. Despite knowing that the Cruciatus Curse shows very little physically damage on the outside of the body, she checked over his body anyways. Satisfied that she couldn't do anything for him there she levitated him and snuck up to the main entrance hall. Apparently Dubois had turned on the wards to the house and not just the grounds because she had to set Draco down in the hall while she worked on taking down the wards. They were excessively complicated and Kat decided that she didn't want to waste any time so she took a page out of Ginny's book.

She stood up, raised her wand and blasted the wards apart. It wasn't subtle and everyone in the estate would have felt the change, but it was quick. She turned around to grab Draco when she felt a change in energy around her. She dropped to the ground and just barely dodged a Conjunctivitis Curse. She rolled behind a pillar and peeked around. She saw four men that she recognized as business partners of Dubois. When one threw a Cruciatus curse her way she realized that they were more of the curse first, ask questions later sort. With Draco still in the open she tossed a nonverbal spell at the chain holding up the chandelier. She got lucky and it fell knocking out two of the four men. She was contemplating her chances against two when a shout grabbed her attention.

"Look. Isn't that Malfoy. From England?"

When she realized that they wouldn't hesitate to curse an unconscious man, she jumped out into the open in an attempt to distract them. They were quicker than she gave them credit for because they retaliated quickly and she was soon on the defensive. Deciding a little creativity was called for she used the Avis spell quickly followed by the Oppugno jinx. The birds flew at the men and that distracted them enough for a quick Reducto to one and a Stupefy to the other. Despite being exhausted from the sheer quantity of magic that she had done over the past 6 hours, she levitated Draco out of the house and across the grounds. She found the hole in the wards that she left earlier and snuck out and apparated to Shell Cottage.

As soon as she disapperated she knew that she was in trouble, she felt like the her right leg was on fire. She focused with every ounce of power she had left in following through with the apparation. When they arrived, Kat saw Ernie and Padma waiting for them. She managed a weak "hi" before she passed out.