Corban Yaxley stared in disbelief at the Ford Anglia which had just CRASHED through the lobby ceiling of the Ministry of Magic. He blinked slowly as he realized there was a pair of pink shoes sticking out from under it. 'Were those-? No, they couldn't be! Surely, he wouldn't have gotten that lucky! He'd been trying every way in the world to get RID of her! Surely, his prayers had just been unexpectedly answered! Merlin had taken mercy on him and gotten rid of that blasted pink toad, Dolores Umbridge!' He slowly lifted his eyes to find out exactly who his savior had been.
Antonin's knuckles whitened as he clutched the dashboard. 'Why, oh, why, had he agreed to let HER drive? She was going to bloody kill them!' He watched as the trees swooped crazily in and out of his line of sight. When he had set out to steal a car, he'd not intended it to be a magical car. All he'd wanted was some way to get from Ottery St Catchpole to Wiltshire and report to the Dark Lord!
He looked at the woman behind the wheel. He also hadn't bargained on a traveling companion. But here he was, accompanied by a woman who had long been missing in the Wizarding world. Everyone thought she'd been killed during the first war. Instead, Mary MacDonald was alive and well and trying to give him heart failure as she took them through loop-de-loos in Arthur Weasley's Ford Anglia! She was having entirely too much fun as she whooped with delight.
"What's the matter, Antonin? I thought you loved to fly! This is much more fun than a boring old broomstick, aye?" Mary almost cackled at the look of sheer fear that flashed across his face a moment before she took them completely upside down in the car. He never made a sound, but his white knuckles did the talking for him. He swore to himself that IF they survived this trip, he was never, ever letting her drive anymore! He conveniently disregarded the fact that he'd just made plans to keep in touch or keep her with him after their adventure.
He finally saw the familiar outline of Malfoy Manor ahead of them. He knew there was an Anti-Apparition ward up to keep people out, but it did allow the Death Eaters to still come in at will. He concentrated and took them in. He winced as Mary sat the car down dead center in the middle of Narcissa's prizewinning roses. 'Yep, he'd be hearing about THAT one later on!' He opened the door and nearly fell out of the car as his legs didn't seem capable of moving for a few seconds. He could see Rowle walking towards them, already laughing.
"Not one word, Finn! Not a single word!" He warned the young Viking. Rowle chuckled merrily as he helped Antonin to his feet and steered him towards the house. Mary was on his other side. Suddenly, he wasn't sure how he was going to explain her presence. Just before they went into the ballroom where the Dark Lord had his throne set up, he stopped. "You can't go in there, Mary. You're a Muggleborn and I don't want to see you tortured. Bellatrix is in there and as soon as she figured out, you're a Muggleborn, she'd be wanting to 'interrogate' you, giving her the perfect excuse to torture you." He turned to Rowle. "You stay here with her, just until I put in my report." Rowle nodded willingly as he leaned against the wall.
Antonin took a deep breath and cleared all thoughts of Mary out of his head. All he needed to do was put in his report on the group of redheads and then he'd be out of there. He walked into the room wearing his usual emotionless expression. The Dark Lord waited for his approach. "Ah, Antonin. I wasn't expecting you back yet. Has something happened?" It was the start of the new school year, and the Dark Lord was trying to find a way to get to a certain department of the Ministry of Magic. Why, Antonin wasn't sure, but for some reason, he was determined to get into the Department of Mysteries. He had set different Death Eaters watching different Ministry workers. Lucky duck Antonin had pulled the name of one Arthur Weasley. It wasn't until he saw the man's redheaded wife, Molly, that he realized he had a connection to this family. He'd helped kill Molly's brothers in the first war.
While on watch one day, he'd noticed the man pulling the car out of the shed and flying it around his property. He hadn't noticed until today that he had an audience. Mary Macdonald had popped up beside him as Arthur left for work. He'd been so startled he'd almost shot his famous purple flames at her. "Who are you and what are you doing hanging around outside my shop? You never come in, you never buy anything, so you're not a customer. So, what business do you have here?"
Instead of trying to come up with a story when he needed to be following Weasley, he grabbed her arm and pulled her into the door. "You're coming with me! I have no time to answer your questions. Let's go!"
"Why are you going to the Floo? I already know where he's going. His first stop will be the Leaky Cauldron. Then he'll stop by the ice cream shop. Then he'll go on to work." Antonin stared at her with narrowed eyes as she reeled off Arthur's schedule, wondering seeing how she knew it. "I have tea with Molly when she comes in to do her shopping." She gave him a cheeky grin. "I also know how you can catch up to him." Antonin knew he'd never find the man on his own, so he agreed to let her take charge. A decision he regretted mere moments later. She led him to Arthur's building and showed him the car. He had no clue how to drive a muggle vehicle, so he had to let her drive.
Now he bowed his head as he answered the question. "The ginger has been working nights, which I'm told is unusual for him. He normally works days. He hoes to work but not to his office. He goes to the Department of Mysteries. As yet, I've been unable to follow him inside."
"No worries, Antonin. You did confirm that he is indeed going to the Department of Mysteries. That's good enough to move to the next phase. Now you must go to the Ministry and contact Yaxley. His part will be coming up soon. You may go." Voldemort lazily waved his hand, dismissing Antonin. The Russian turned and left quickly before he changed his mind. He let out a small sigh of relief that he'd escaped the Crucio.
He exited and grabbed Mary's arm. "C'mon. We're going to London. Since you're the only one who knows how to operate the death trap, you're driving. Again. Merlin help us all!" Mary grinned mischievously as she struggled to keep up with his long strides. Rowle popped up on his other side, giving him his biggest, widest puppy dog eyes. "All right, all right, Finn. If you're really willing to risk your life, you can come with us!" Rowle whooped happily. He'd been positively bored stupid, cooped up in the confines of the Malfoy estate.
Antonin crawled back into the front seat of the death trap. Rowle dived through the open back window where he took up the entire back seat. Mary cranked it up and lifted them off just as a furiously angry Narcissa Malfoy came dashing out, yelling and shaking her fist at Antonin. He shrugged as they flew away. Finn was completely enthralled with the car, leaning over the seat as he watched Mary operate it. "Oi, Mary, you're going to teach ME how to drive this thing, aye?"
"Of course, Finn. Right after I teach Antonin. I don't think he really enjoys my driving." She told him happily. They both sniggered at the white knuckled grip Antonin had on the dashboard. He rolled his eyes in exasperation. Mary was bad enough at driving, there was no bloody way in hell he was going to ride with Finn! Mary wasn't even trying to scare him; Finn would be TRYING to make him die of a heart attack! Again, he conveniently forgot that the vehicle they were in didn't belong to them.
They were in the skies of London in no time at all. He found the street next to the phone booth and pointed it out to Mary. But disaster struck as she was angling down. The car ran out of gas and CRASHED into the building below. Now they were sitting in the lobby of the Ministry of Magic as ministry workers came rushing from every direction. Antonin facepalmed as he saw the wide-eyed look of disbelief on the face of Corban Yaxley. Mary Macdonald smiled innocently at Yaxley as she waved at him.