The Plan

The Plan

"Meowr."

Narcissa flicked her wand.

"I hope you didn't do permanent damage," said Jack.

"I'm not dumb. I'm not a dumb blonde. And when did you become a cat lover?"

"Okay, I'm nervous. I've never burgled a flat before. Let's find where Miss Granger hides her drugs, get a sample, and get out of here. Are you sure Bellatrix will keep watch?"

"Bella will do fine," said Narcissa. "She went through a wayward period, but she's recovering."

"You're telling me the Dark Lord was a bad influence on her," said Jack.

"That's one way of putting it." Narcissa looked around. "This flat is something of a mess."

Narcissa was standing in the middle of the room, watching Jack.

"Are you trying to reason through where she might have hid it?" he asked.

"I'm thinking Miss Granger is young, intelligent, and good looking," she said. "She has a scar, but after a while, a lover wouldn't notice it."

Jack was annoyed she was wasting time instead of searching. "Are you trying to be jealous?"

"Should I be?" she asked.

"Miss Granger is an over-achiever with her head full of what's right and wrong," said Jack. "Miss Granger has no time for romance ... unless some paragon of virtue and industriousness should appear."

"Do you observe her that closely, think about her that much?"

"Others have observed her closely, I've talked to them, she's the enemy, and I think about everything," said Jack.

He wished Narcissa would stop talking about Miss Granger. He wanted to get in her drugs, not recall getting in her knickers.

"Wait, there's something out of place. Most of this stuff is duff, but that's a fancy wine rack," he said.

He went over the collection. "I bet this is it. It's an inefficient method of delivery, but it's safe and usually unnoticed. Let's get a small sample from each bottle."

He had brought various types of containers to hold whatever they might find.

"I'm glad you're standing calmly in the middle of the room and not helping," said Jack. "I'm a middle-class twit committing a felony, and my hands are shaking enough that I'm going to break something."

He bit back the rest of his thought that she was calm because she was an aristocrat who robbed people every day.

He heard her say, "I'm not a dumb blonde."

He filled the vials and turned to her. She was very close. It sent him over the edge and he said, "What are you on about?"

'I can't do it,' he thought. 'I can't risk loving her and losing her again. The first time nearly killed me.'

A mean spirit rose in him as he fought her tempting him with her proximity, teasing him with her sexuality, taunting him with the desperate remnants of his hopeless love and passion. His images of what he could do to her in the exciting privacy of a crime scene shamed him and reminded him he was a toad, a divorced toad deprived of the love of his life. He clamped down on his thoughts.

"Let's get out of here," he said. "And resurrect that dumb cat."

* * *

Jack was sitting at his desk, surrounded by student essays and preoccupied by the problem of the Black sisters, when Harry knocked and entered. Maybe Harry could reciprocate and offer some good ideas. Too bad he couldn't ask. Then he noticed that Harry looked devastated.

"The Ministry sent me a restraining order," said Harry. "I'm not to enter Patil Potions and Apothecary."

Jack nodded for him to continue.

"It declared me a public nuisance, and then it stuck itself to my office wall. I tried peeling it off, but it resisted. I left before I went into a rage and blew a hole in the wall."

"Someone is very angry at you, angry enough to want to embarrass you," said Jack.

"Paddy and Parvy wouldn't ...," began Harry. He stopped, realizing he had let slip his pet names for them. What would Jack think?

"If they're still 'Paddy' and 'Parvy' to you, they probably didn't," said Jack. "In fact," he said, going over to a window and opening it.

In flew two owls, each dropping a letter in Harry's lap. Harry tore them open before Jack could politely leave the room.

"It's okay," said Harry. "Everything's okay."

Jack noticed the neat and curly handwriting on the two envelopes and concluded that 'Paddy' and 'Parvy' had expressed their feelings about the matter ... and about Harry, who was enjoying rereading the letters.

Jack picked up his wand. "Let's go get that insulting piece of junk off your wall."

* * *

'Let them think I'm guilty of nepotism,' he thought. 'Let the lesser crime hide the greater.'

Beatrice LaGrange, one of Jack's relatives from Canada, had received a position in the Department of Mysteries. She would help Jack in the Potions Lab as he edited, revised, and published the old manuscripts: 'Principles of Potions' and 'Analytical Potions.'

This served several purposes. Beatrice could mingle instead of being confined to the Manor. They could use an existing lab instead of installing one at the Manor. If Miss Granger were to raid the Manor, a lab would be difficult to hide from her. If Miss Granger were to conduct a raid, it would explain why three people were living at the Manor since Miss LaGrange may as well use the spacious mansion and help Jack watch Mrs. Malfoy.

The Ministry, highly budget conscious, was content it was getting double-duty from Miss LaGrange. They had explained the situation to her. She had been reluctant to spy on an acquaintance who might be Jack's friend, but she had finally agreed that Mrs. Lestrange should be caught.

Jack had been honest with the Ministry about one thing. He could not face working in the lab alone. His partner, Edwin Fisher, had been by his side in the battle when they surrounded the Dark Lord. Edwin had vanished in a white, searing bolt. He hadn't intended to mention that to Beatrice, but she had watched him enter the lab and meander through it in remembrance.

"He was a good friend, wasn't he," she had stated.

Jack had always thought it was against the rules for a villainess to be perceptive and sympathetic.

They would begin by practicing with the lab equipment, reviewing the manuscripts, and trying versions of the stasis spell. They were certain Severus had protected his potion from mundane analytical chemistry...he would not want his clients to produce their own version of his product. Jack and Beatrice would need spells to keep the compounds from disintegrating while they analyzed them. They hoped Severus had not had enough time while developing his potion to give it protection from spell-chemistry.

* * *

Jack, like Harry, had protested spending all his time watching Mrs. Malfoy. The three reached an agreement with the Ministry. Jack would spend his mornings in the lab, his afternoons at school, and his nights guarding the suspect. Beatrice would spend her days in the lab and her nights helping Jack. Narcissa would confine herself to the school during the day and be escorted by Jack or Beatrice otherwise.

And dutifully escorted she was: to the masked ball on Fridays and on trips of well-mannered frivolity on Saturdays. Very dutiful were her escorts.

* * *

"There are Professors Higgins and Malfoy," said Harry, pointing out a pair walking to lunch. "These days, they're civil to each other at least."

Hermione was visiting the school. She told others it was to check on Mrs. Malfoy. She told herself it was to visit Harry. A chance meeting with Jack didn't figure in her plans at all.

Hermione watched the pair stroll casually through the corridor with Professor Malfoy chatting and looking at Professor Higgins. She remembered chatting and looking at Jack that way. She blushed as she remembered more. A sharp sensation stabbed through her as she watched Narcissa. 'She's fawning over him,' thought Hermione. Harry seemed not to notice. 'How thick can you get?' thought Hermione.

"Let's go to the village. It's my treat," said Hermione, suddenly aware that she could not endure the sight of Jack having lunch with that purebred feline in heat.

Halfway through his corned beef sandwich, Harry said, "What are you brooding about?"

Hermione had been thinking about Jack and Narcissa, and this had led to other thoughts. "I'm thinking that witches and wizards can't stay away from wizard society or their relatives forever. Eventually, if Bellatrix is still alive, she'll come to Malfoy Manor to be with her sister. We can catch her."

Harry shrugged.

"She killed your godfather," said Hermione.

"I haven't forgotten that," he said. "She killed and tortured a lot of people. I'm not going to live my life for revenge."

"This is justice," said Hermione.

"What's justice?" asked Harry. "Revenge by a third party? Revenge by the state, by divine intervention?"

Hermione fought off feelings of despair. Everybody was spending too much time around Ravenclaws and thinking everything to death. Harry, who she once counted on, was obviously letting himself be influenced by the Patil sisters, who didn't want to look beyond their cash register.

'Jack Higgins is hopeless, too,' she thought. 'And I expended all that effort on him, thinking he would help capture Bellatrix.' It was obvious that Jack was in the clutches of a lady without morals and no decent woman could compete. It was up to her, and her alone, to put things right. She changed the topic and asked Harry about his Defense courses.

* * *

Jack was afraid breakfast would be awkward, and he paid extra attention to his attire and grooming as he braced himself to play the self-possessed gentleman. He found the two women on the patio having coffee. First Bellatrix and then Narcissa caught his eye. "Good morning, Trixie. Good morning, Narcy."

They rose, embraced him, and whispered, "Good morning, dear," in his ear. They had him sit between them.

Narcissa placed her hand on his shoulder and looked content as she sipped her coffee and remembered how considerate he had been to her early last evening. When she had wrapped herself around him and pulled him close, he had asked her to make love to him. She still felt peaceful even though he had left her to spend the rest of the night with her sister. Tonight, the roles would be reversed...except she didn't want to wait until tonight. Perhaps after lunch he would be kind, and they could revisit the part of her life she had thought gone forever. She would be happy with being cuddled.

Bellatrix was determined to act proper. She held her cup with one hand and her saucer with the other, her face was composed with a calmness she had never felt before, but her knees had a mind of their own, and they were pressing into his leg. Last night, her whole body had had a mind of its own. When she had been half way to mindlessness, he had asked her to make love to him. She had not been prepared for her response. She was looking forward to this evening when he would, once again, torment her with the piercing agony that led to ecstasy. But she didn't want to wait. Perhaps after breakfast he would be considerate enough to spend some more intimate time with her. He didn't have to be superhuman...just holding her would be sufficient. She didn't think she could wait until this evening to relive what she had believed to have died forever.

'There was no help for it,' thought Jack as he recalled yesterday afternoon. It had been Friday, and he and Narcissa had returned from school. Bellatrix had raged about being left all alone. Narcissa had raged about unruly kids and stupid faculty. Jack had wanted something stronger than tea for tea. Both sisters had complained about his unfeeling attitude. He had snapped and shouted that he would take care of their tender feelings as soon as he could feel something himself. He had braced himself for being hexed by both of them. But they had each taken one of his arms, had led him to the couch, and had sat on either side of him.

"We're asking a lot from you," Bellatrix had said.

He had immediately felt bad about shouting at them. He had taken their hands and said, "We have rough patches, but I'm glad I'm here with the two of you."

"We've been wondering," Narcissa had said. "Do you like both of us?"

"Very much," he had said. He groped for his feelings. What were they?

"I know I shouldn't feel this way, and I shouldn't say it, but I want both of you around." He had paused. "Life would be empty without the two of you."

"You could take care of us," Narcissa had said softly.

"Yes," Bellatrix had said. "But I don't know if I can. A lot of me is dead. I don't know if I can anymore."

It had gradually dawned on Jack what they were talking about: there had been tension and frustration. He had been keeping his growing attraction for the two hidden because he had assumed he was a crazy divorced male.

"I am very fond of both of you," he had said. He hadn't told them he was falling in love with them because it was weird to say it to two women at once. 'Perhaps when we're alone,' he had thought.

'I'm a mess, love," Bellatrix had said. "If you're going to care for us, it might be better to start with Cissy."

"We're not going to leave you out," Jack had said, surprising himself.

'I don't know if I can deliver on that promise or not,' he had thought.

It had been an important occasion, and they were adults, not twittering adolescents. Jack had remembered to treat them as ladies. They had had tea where they reaffirmed their social relationship. What was going to happen would be a normal part of their everyday lives. They had listened to Bellatrix and the day's adventures in spell-chemistry, to Narcissa and the dense faculty, and to Jack and the mountain of papers to grade. Jack and Narcissa had walked hand in hand to Jack's room. The three had had dinner. Jack and Bellatrix had walked hand in hand to Jack's room where Bellatrix had spent the night.

Jack was certain he was committing suicide: two women ... two sisters ... the two Black sisters. Lovely suicide, though.

* * *

Jack was in his office, thinking of the pit he was sliding into. 'I'm busy helping Trixie escape and Narcy recover the Malfoy fortune. I don't have any time to work for my own future well-being. The romance phase will wear off, and their gratitude will vanish. How long before they revert to type? How long before they want things I cannot afford? How long before they become their mother's daughters? My only hope is to make them no promises, give them no reason to believe I will stay with them, and leave as soon as I graciously can.'

* * *

Jack and Narcissa left school, arrived at the Manor gate, and stopped in alarm. Something was wrong. The wards had been breached. They looked at each other with the same question, "Is Bellatrix okay?"

They stood in a small clearing, Jack standing guard with his wands out and Narcissa casting for intruders and signs of her sister. Finally, Narcissa called out, "I think it's safe, Beatrice."

Bellatrix stepped out from behind a tree. They decided Jack should enter the house because he was not a fugitive. He would give it a quick once over and then return. He told the sisters to escape if they heard a commotion.

"Not a chance, love," they said.

He told them they were being foolish, but they gave him a disdainful look that said they weren't listening to any nonsense about abandoning him.

Jack made a tour and found nothing. Narcissa, more familiar with the Manor, made an inspection and found nothing. The three gave the mansion a thorough search and decided the intrusion had been an attempt to search the place without triggering any alarms. But they knew it was the first raid and more extensive raids would follow. Miss Granger was on the move. England was no longer safe.