A/N: Hey guys! Thanks for the reviews and follows. They really perk up my day! I hope you continue to enjoy this story and this extra-long chapter! Lyrics from "How to Be a Heartbreaker" – Marina and the Diamonds.
"This is how to be a heartbreaker. Boys they like a little danger. We'll get him falling for a stranger, a player."
~o0o~
"Well, that was interesting," Lucius sighed. He and his wife had just entered their large manor and one of their house elves was talking his coat and her wrap.
"Indeed," Narcissa managed. She had seen Lacey and Lucius dancing, but then suddenly Lacey was walking away from him as if her life depended on it and she hadn't seen nor heard from her since, "Draco and Astoria seemed to be having a nice time. I am so looking forward to the wedding."
"Mhmm," Lucius mumbled in reply as the pair walked slowly up the black marble staircase leading from the grand foyer to the second floor rooms. Draco and his fiancée, Astoria Greengrass, were to be married in the summer. It was a smart match, and Lucius was happy for his son, even if it meant he was seeing him less and less; he had other things on his mind that required much more attention anyway. When they reached the landing, Lucius hesitated, "Well, I'm going to bed. Will you be joining me?"
Narcissa looked rather taken-aback. Since he had been without a mistress, there were a few times in the last month that Lucius had taken her to bed—those were times Remus knew nothing about-but he had never asked her like this-never this nicely.
"I was actually going to read for a bit. I'm not very tired," Narcissa lied smoothly and he only curtly nodded in reply before hastening to his bedroom. She began walking slowly towards the library, but when she had heard the click of his door closing and a quick glance over her shoulder confirmed he was gone from the hallway, she changed directions and slowly crept downstairs. With only one, thankfully quiet, interruption from Mipsy asking if she needed anything, Narcissa managed to make it out to the lawn. She silently cursed what a complete mess it was to escape the house now that their floo was being monitored by Lucius, but she couldn't go tonight with seeing Remus.
She apparated to the front of Grimmauld place as Sirius' wards prevented direct apparition, and gently knocked on the door, fairly certain she would look odd to anyone observing as she was still dressed in her pale blue gown and it was just past midnight.
To her surprise, her cousin answered the door, his mouth full of at least a handful of biscuits and he wordlessly motioned for her to come in. When he had swallowed up the crumbs, he pointed up the old staircase, "Remus' in his room…"
"Thanks. By any chance, did you ever find out where Lacey went?"
"No clue. It's like she disappeared," Sirius shrugged, not nearly as concerned as she was.
"And Ginny?" she asked as an afterthought. When in the confines of Grimmauld, the pair was usually attached at the hip, or the mouth.
"I think I wore her out," he winked salaciously and she pretended to be disgusted as she 'tsked' him and started to walk up the stairs, although she had less than innocent thoughts about what she was going to do when she reached her lovers' room.
The door was ajar and when she slowly pushed it open, she saw Remus lying on his side, bare-chested, only his waist under the duvet. His eyes opened and flicked to her silhouette immediately, and he sleepily sat up, "How was it?" he asked, his voice tired.
"As interesting as any Ministry function can be," she replied lightly, sitting down on the edge of the bed and leaning over to kiss him. She noticed a definite resistance and stood abruptly to unzip and take off her uncomfortable gown. She didn't know if he was watching her, but she folded it nicely on the chair, set her heels to the side, and slipped into the other side of the bed in just her underwear, wrapping one arm around his waist.
"Ginny and Sirius were home hours ago."
"Well, you know how it is with Lucius. And it's so hard to sneak out…"
"Is it?" Remus snapped and turned around to face her. She abruptly removed her arm from him, sitting up and was wide-eyed from his accusation. He immediately softened at her shocked expression and kissed her forehead, "Merlin, Cissa, I'm sorry. I just don't like that this isn't real."
"But of course it's real Remus."
"But it doesn't feel real. I keep thinking these last few months have been a dream, and one day I am going to wake up and you won't come to me anymore. I never know when I am going to see you, and for how long, and you are always gone before I wake up. I don't like lying and I hate being the other man," Remus admitted evenly. His words weren't angry, but there was a definite prepared quality to them, as if he had been wanting to say this to her for a while.
"I know," she sighed guiltily, looking at his slightly scarred face lit only by the moonlight, "I don't like it either. I promise that very soon it won't be like this and you are an amazing man for putting up with this…"
"Narcissa I love you, I am not going anywhere, it's just a hard situation," Remus relaxed his posture and laid back down onto the bed, taking Narcissa's hand and coaxing her to lay next to him. She moved into his embrace, her back facing his stomach and he ran the faintly calloused pads of his fingers up and down her arm.
"Remus, what about Hermione?"
"What about her?"
"I saw how you were the other day when she was in the house and I…" she was glad she wasn't facing him, or else he would have seen the flush of embarrassment rise up her neck. Jealousy wasn't becoming on her, and she knew it, although it happened so rarely that she didn't know how to contain it.
"I feel nothing for her. Of course it stung a bit though…how could it not? She moved on quickly and on top of the jealousy I feel over Lucius, it was just hard to stomach the fact that I don't truly have anything that's mine," the last word was laced with a hint of sexy possessiveness. It was weaker than how it usually manifested itself when he was on top of her, driving himself into her, but it was there.
"I am yours Remus, I promise you. There is no place I would rather be than right here," she assured him and meant it. She truly hated that she made him worry, that she had come along and interrupted his life and put him in this morally ambiguous position not meant for a man as good as he, but she had fallen for him so quickly, she couldn't willingly leave him. She rolled over in his arms and kissed his neck gently, starting to leave small love bites until he was worked up enough that he didn't fight when she maneuvered him so she had both of his wrists pinned down on the bed with her hands. She slithered on top of him and ground her hips against his, but he was having no trouble waking up.
"And I am going to show you exactly how much I mean that," she murmured into his ear and moved her lips back to his mouth, and this time, he kissed her back passionately.
~o0o~
Lacey found a bit of spare parchment the second she walked into her apartment and quickly scribbled down:
Didn't get very far. Being Sirius' date was a MISTAKE. Sorry Sirius, not your fault. Lucius'.
She underlined 'mistake' a half-dozen times just to make sure the point was driven home before folding it and moving swiftly towards the window overlooking Diagon Alley. When she opened it, she gave a whispered call for her owl, Nikki, who came swooping down from the top of the building and took the note from her, but it wasn't without an annoyed glare before she flew away into the darkness towards Grimmauld place as Lacey had instructed.
With a heavy sigh, Lacey closed the window and turned around. When she saw Oliver Wood leaning against the doorframe to her bedroom, she yelped in surprise.
"Relax, Lace," he said in his thick accent. He was shirtless and in only low-slung plaid pyjama pants, "Expecting someone else?"
"No, just wasn't expecting you," she retorted coldly, "You missed our date…"
"Game ran long."
"Yeah, uhuh."
"Lace, don't be like that, you know what this is between us," Oliver sighed, walking over to her but she took a step back. It was the wrong move and her ankle twisted in her tall heel and she stumbled, barely grabbing the edge of her small breakfast table in time to keep from fully going down. He moved to help her but she brushed him away.
"No, I actually don't know what this is between us Oliver. Some days it's like you are my boyfriend, and other days I feel like I don't even exist to you. I know you fuck other girls - those dim slags that follow you around like little kittens. I get it Oliver, you are famous. I know we don't want anything committed but I would like to be able to count on you!" Lacey raised her voice, flushed in the cheeks from the shot of firewhiskey she had downed before leaving the ball.
"But that would be commitment," he challenged, "But I'm here now aren't I?"
"Great, just bloody great. Thank you Oliver, for gracing me with your presence," she said with biting sarcasm, more so than what usually came out of her mouth towards him. Normally, she was a jumble of hormones in his presence, wooed by anything and everything he had to say, but lately she was getting annoyed, and was tired of being used. She really cared about him, and it was starting to hurt more than she was willing to put up with.
He was silent for a moment as he finally really noticed the form-fitting black dress she was wearing, and that she actually had makeup on, "Where the hell have you been?"
"You know, you have always been so observant," she continued, rolling her eyes. She was pretty sure the guy though only about himself, "Ministry Ball."
"Ministry Ball? And you didn't think to ask me?"
"Well, after you didn't show up the other night, I didn't really know what to think. So no, I went with someone else," Lacey said, reaching down and taking her shoes off, throwing them haphazardly on the floor.
"Someone else? Who else could you possibly go with?"
That comment made Lacey madder than she had been in a long time. She knew she wasn't the best looking girl out there, but she knew she definitely deserved higher praise from a man she had been sleeping with.
"Sirius Black," she said smugly. She could care less about Sirius, but judging from Lucius' reaction, being his date was something that could easily piss another man off.
"Sirius fucking Black, you have got to be kidding Lacey!"
"Not kidding," she smiled, "We had a nice time."
"I am sure you did," he snarked through gritted teeth, "And you say you want commitment but you go around with the likes of him?"
Lacey placed her hand on her hip. She was not only insulted, but insulted for her best friend. That was Ginny's boyfriend, and if he treated her right, which as she had seen so far, he did; what did it matter? She had never known Sirius to be anything other than nice, and although he could be immature, he was harmless. It was infuriating to her that his long-since-passed reputation of being a womanizer had followed him to the age of 44 and had now ruined both her encounter with Lucius and with Oliver.
"Get the hell out of my house," she said flatly.
"You are being ridiculous!"
"Out, take your shit, and get the fuck out Oliver. We're done with whatever this is," she used her fingers to quote it sarcastically and he huffed, disappeared into her room, reappeared with his shirt and left without another word.
After a few moments, Lacey took off her dress so quickly she nearly ripped it and ran, jumping onto her bed and spreading her arms out dramatically. As she looked up at her ceiling and felt the indent of where Oliver had obviously been lying before she had walked in, she sighed out, "Fuck men."
~o0o~
"So, baby sister, word on the street is that you are dating someone," Fred asked Ginny. Mrs. Weasley's ears perked up from across the table.
"Yeah, I am," she said coolly, giving a glance at her best friend across from her. Sirius, who was sitting at the end of the table next to Mr. Weasley, kept his head down.
"So who's the tosser?" George continued.
"Shut up, both of you, mind your own business," Lacey interrupted before going back to cutting up a piece of the delicious roast Mrs. Weasley had made for Easter supper. The table was lively aside for those tuning into that particular conversation, and Hermione and Charlie's presence was hardly missed. It was clear from the moment Lacey had walked into the Burrow that Mrs. Weasley wasn't fond of the fact that they weren't home for the holiday, and kept asking Remus prying questions about the mysterious break-up.
"Calm down Lacey, if Ginny wants to tell us who she is dating, let her!" Sirius inserted himself perfectly. She realized she didn't give the man enough credit for being such a genius. No one would ever expect the pair of them, especially since they hadn't once given each other an inappropriate glance the entire day. Although Harry was in conversation with Bill and Fleur, Lacey noticed he kept glancing towards their end of the table, surely waiting to see if she would give anything away.
"In due time. I mean, it's fairly new, nothing really serious," she emphasized the last word and although Lacey gave a minor choke on her pumpkin juice that got her a harsh glare from Ginny, no one noticed anything.
"Well dear, I would like to meet him soon…it's been so long since…" Mrs. Weasley looked helplessly between Harry and Ginny and sighed, focusing her attention back on her plate.
Since they had been in mixed company the whole day, Lacey hadn't been able to ask if any of them had gotten the letter, but by the apologetic look Sirius gave her when he first saw her, she assumed they had. She was glad the conversation wasn't focused on her, except for when Ron asked if she was looking forward to starting at the Ministry in the morning and she quickly had to appease the twins and promise she would still be at work in the evening, because it gave her time to think about her next move.
She was hoping she could sneak around the Ministry a bit, try and find Lucius and strike up a conversation. But the thought of casually striking up a conversation with that man made her want to laugh, as she doubted he was capable of relaxing enough to have a conversation about the weather. But she had to try, for Remus' sake if nothing else, because even if he didn't take the bait and flirt back, anytime with her was time not with Narcissa.
~o0o~
"Great Lacey, thanks. Now this one needs to be hand-delivered to the Improper Use of Magic office because Collins gets on my arse if the paperwork is even a second late, and then while you are out can you drop this off at the Department of International Magical Cooperation? Thanks!" Ron said brightly, taking the new Auror training schedule she had just completed for him and replacing it with some papers and a small parcel. As he walked out of the spacious office, Lacey heard his voice join Harry's as they started talking to the small group of new Aurors in front of them, looking around wide-eyed. Lacey's desk was small but nice in a little room right outside of Ron and Harry's offices. They shared the title of Head Auror and Lacey had found it immediately amusing since she had shown up for work how the pair of best friends ran the Auror office with a casual but efficient manner.
Lacey pushed out her chair and grabbed the papers and parcel, starting to walk out of the Auror department towards the adjacent office for the misuse of magic. She had tried to look as professional as she could, fixing her long brown hair up into a loose bun and wearing a crisp white shirt and a long black pencil skirt under her nicest robes. When she found Seamus Collin's office, she handed the gruff, balding man the paperwork detailing the use of an unregistered wand and then quickly found her way out to the lifts. The main atrium of the Ministry was busy, even though it was only half past eleven. Witches and wizards were hurrying in all directions and Lacey scrambled into the next lift before it took off. By the time they reached level five and the feminine but robotic voice of the lift announced the departments on the floor, Lacey remained with only one other tall witch who exited quickly. Lacey clutched the neatly wrapped parcel to her, unsure of which direction to walk, as Ron hadn't been very specific. She decided to walk towards the pretty secretary in front of a cluster of main offices. The girl reassured Lacey that she was in the right place and they chatted as she marked down the arrival of the package.
"Miss Delaney?"
Lacey whipped around and saw Lucius Malfoy walking down the hallway towards her, snake-headed walking stick in hand.
"Hello Mr. Malfoy."
"Are you some type of Seer?"
"Sorry, what?" Lacey asked, confused. She glanced at the secretary who offered her no help, and merely blushed at the presence of the blonde man who was now stopped before her.
"Well, at the Ball, before you walked away from me and so rudely ignored me, you said you hoped I would use your name if I ever saw you again. I hardly thought that was possible, and yet, here you are," he seemed amused and the left corner of his mouth upturned slightly, "Come, walk with me."
Lacey felt she had no choice, but couldn't help but silently rejoice that she didn't even have to go looking for him. She continued with him down the hallway before they stopped at a door titled: Lucius Malfoy, Office of International Magical Law. He opened the door and held it for her as she walked into his large office. Everything was clean and contemporary, black and white mostly with an accent of emerald, which she hardly found surprising. He moved and leaned his walking stick against his black varnished desk and sat down in the leather chair behind it.
"Miss Delaney, I wasn't aware that you worked here," he started, motioning for her to sit. She did so, crossing her legs, "You didn't mention it to me while we were dancing."
"It's a recent job, and I really didn't have time to, seeing as you were too busy chastising me about my date," she glared at him. She knew it wasn't exactly the friendliest gesture to start the conversation off with, but she was finding she couldn't help but have her guard up in his presence.
"I wasn't chastising my dear, just being curious. It's not every day you see the famed Black charm actually land him a pretty, young girl," Lucius remarked and Lacey sat up straighter, not knowing if it was a compliment. She was also a little angry at her body for the shiver it got when he said 'my dear'.
"Again, just friends, but thank you," she ended, looking around his office to avoid the intense appraisal of his blue eyes. There was hardly anything personal, not even a single picture of his son or his wife, "And once again, you called me a girl."
He laughed. It was a low laugh, just a bit more than a chuckle, and it made her stomach turn nervously, "Well, you have yet to prove me otherwise."
"But I've given you no indication of being a 'girl' other than the fact that I danced with you while already having a date, am I correct?" Lacey narrowed her eyes at him.
He cleared his throat, "Well, Miss Delaney…"
"Exactly, you can't think of another reason. Just like there is no reason for you to carry that bloody, gaudy walking stick around when you can clearly walk just fine right?"
Directly after Lacey had uttered the words, she wanted to curl up in a corner and die. She had a bad temper, but he was bringing out the worst of it, and she never liked to lose an argument. But for a moment, she had forgotten she was with Lucius Malfoy, man she had to seduce, and knew that Narcissa would probably murder her if he didn't first.
His eyes visibly darkened and he was silent for a moment and all he did was stare at her, tapping the fingers on his right hand in a very distinct pattern on the desk. That was the only noise in the room and Lacey was fairly certain he could hear her heart pummeling her rib cage.
"Have dinner with me," he said abruptly and it startled them both.
"Dinner, with you? But I just…" she was about to ramble on about how she had just insulted him but he nodded and cut her off.
"Tomorrow, meet me on the first floor in the middle of the atrium at 6 o'clock," he finished and stood. Lacey assumed he meant for her to do it as well and she shakily stood up, walking over to the door. She paused and turned back to look at him.
"Have a nice day," she said and immediately wanted to smack herself. That was the best you could come up with Lace, really? But it didn't matter as he was already focusing on some papers on his desk.
"See you tomorrow evening, Miss Delaney," was all he said, in a completely unreadable voice before she showed herself out of the office and headed back to the second floor in a complete daze.
Lucius waited a few moments, trying to steady his breathing. He had done a fair job, in his opinion, of keeping his emotions masked in front of this girl who had crashed into his life and seemed like a bad idea waiting to happen. But she was an attractive bad idea that he wouldn't mind happening to him. And an intriguing one as well. As he thought about her, he pushed a small button on the side of his desk and few moments later, the secretary from outside was poking her head into his office.
"Yes, Mr. Malfoy?"
"Lacey Delaney, she was just here? Do you know anything about her?"
"Just met her today, sir."
"By this time tomorrow, I want everything you can possibly find about her. School records, family history, everything," he ordered her and although she paled at the workload, she nodded chipperly and retreated.
~o0o~
"Ginny, what are you doing here?" Lacey looked up to see her best friend. She had been working so hard on a couple of memos that she hadn't notice the redhead sneak up on her.
"You get a lunch break right? I have a bunch of galleons burning a hole in my pocket from a special friend," Ginny reminded her cryptically and she remembered Narcissa's shopping offer. She had been planning on ignoring it, but now that she had a dinner date with Lucius, she knew she couldn't.
"Let me just tell your brother I'm leaving. It's only mornings right now, but I can squeeze in some shopping and lunch before I go work for your other brothers. Strange, isn't it?" Lacey laughed at the situation, disappearing into Ron's office for a second to tell him all the work was done. She came back out and grabbed her bag before heading out of the office with Ginny, who made very sure that Harry saw her leave, and saw how exceptionally pretty she looked.
After a quick lunch in a secluded table at the Leaky where Lacey spilled to Ginny the entire odd exchange between her and Lucius, the girls ended up in a clothing shop at the far end of Diagon Alley. It was a shop Ginny had only been in a few times and Lacey never. The clothes were beyond expensive, but they were given no trouble by the snotty salesgirls when they saw Ginny and recognized her immediately. When she bluntly told them they needed privacy, they were left alone to peruse the dark, trendy store.
"Gin, all of these things aren't me at all!"
"But they will look ridiculously hot on you, come on, let's try them on," she had an armful of clothes for her friend and they headed back to the changing rooms that were expansive and lined with black velvet couches and gauzy drapes. Ginny perched herself on one of the soft seats and Lacey began to try on the clothes. There were lots of dresses. Some were work appropriate, but much classier than anyone would wear at the Ministry on a normal day, and some were for evening wear, with low necklines and high hems. The blouses fit perfectly, the pants were like they were tailored to fit Lacey's body, and there was only one pair of denims in the whole pile-nearly black and slim cut.
"Come out in something already!" Ginny groaned, clearly annoyed, and Lacey stepped out in a sapphire blue dress that had a neckline that didn't go below her collar bone, but dipped deeply down her back, revealing a large amount of her pale skin and a few freckles.
"Holy fuck Lacey, look at you!" Ginny squealed, "He's going to lose it…he's going to absolutely lose it!"
Lacey shot her best friend daggers out of her eyes, "If you would have heard him today, you wouldn't be saying that. He may have asked me to dinner, but it was so weird, he acts completely disinterested in everything."
"He's totally going to lose it," Ginny crossed her arms, nodding at her friend in her dress, "And when he does, you need to be dressed appropriately, hold on…" she disappeared back out into the store and Lacey went and tried on the remainder of the clothes. It was a whole new wardrobe, but she guessed it was fitting. Now that her "breakup" with Oliver was official and she was tasked with seducing a man over twice her age, she was a whole new person-or at least she had to pretend to be.
"No, no, no way in hell," Lacey protested when Ginny returned with an armful of lacy, skimpy lingerie. She was perfectly contented with her comfy boy shorts.
"Narcissa insisted. You gotta look the part Lacey. You honestly aren't even enjoying this as much as you are supposed to!" Ginny shoved the lingerie into her arms, "Don't show me if you don't want, but at least make sure it fits, we're taking the lot."
As Ginny went back out into the store once again to peruse for accessories, Lacey slipped on the first thing in the pile. It was a black corset. She used a bit of wand work to get the back laced by herself and then looked in the mirror at her new identity.
No, it wasn't her comfortable sweats, but she did have to admit, she looked good and a lot more grown up. She felt different, standing there in naught but her underwear and the scandalous bit of lingerie. Maybe just a little dangerous, and definitely less worried. She turned to the side, looking in the mirror, she decided that maybe she could do this after all. Maybe, just maybe, she could break Lucius Malfoy's heart.
A/N: Hope you liked this chapter! Please review, they mean the world to me! And they will get you to the date faster ;)
