Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

You'll Lie and I'll Believe	By : EloiseAtThePlaza Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female Views: 8401 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns all Harry Potter characters, locations, aspects, etc. I do not make money from this fanfic.

Chapter List
- 10
- 11
"We can't leave her, Dad! There has to be another way. There has got to be way to get in touch with Alice! Do you know how to use a Muggle telephone? Then we could alert her parents! Dad? Are you even listening to me?"

Duncan stopped walking, planting his feet firmly on the ground and wrestling his hand from his father's grasp. Mr. Potage whipped around, his eyes burning daggers into Duncan's.

"Stop this. Right now. You're causing a scene. You've landed yourself in enough trouble to last a lifetime. I cannot even fathom how you expect me to worry about Alex when Cora is in greater danger. She's missing, Duncan! Your own sister!" he seethed.

It was Duncan's turn to glare at his father. "Alex will die in Azkaban. She's too naïve, too innocent, too happy. The Dementors will feed off of her until she's nothing but a shell of her former self. I can't just stand around here and allow that to happen. I won't!"

Mr. Potage grabbed his son's upper arm, tightening his hold until Duncan winced. "You listen to me. If you think that I will jeopardize our family's already deteriorating safety just to save your Mudblood girlfriend," he spat the word 'Mudblood', and Duncan reeled back as if slapped, "then you might as well stay here and hitch a ride to Azkaban yourself. Cora's missing, the Snatcher has gone after her, and I must find her before he does."

Duncan stared up at his father, his nostrils flaring in anger, wondering how he could have ever admired such an uncaring man. He was cold, unfeeling, prejudice, and blatantly favored Cora. Duncan grappled to understand his father's point of view, but he just couldn't.

Cora's an adult; she can take care of herself. Alex is just a child. She needs our help. He tried to form these words, but nothing came out of his mouth. Instead he pried his father's hand from his arm and turned around to stalk in the opposite direction. Back to the Ministry. Back to Alex.

He refused to look back, even when Mr. Potage called after him. He waited until he was lost in the crowd to wipe away the angry tears that were streaming down his face.

Scabior stood outside the door to Alice Winthrop's flat. Someone was in there, of that he was certain. He didn't need a human revealing spell to ascertain this. There was a reason he'd been Head Snatcher; his instincts were incredibly accurate, his hearing impeccable. He could hear someone in there scurrying around.

He placed his ear against the front door and listened. The occupant hadn't cast a muffling spell. Hmm. Muggle, Squib or foolhardy wizard? All three were possible. This wasn't the safest area of London, which meant that squatters (wizards and Muggles alike) were common inhabitants of residential areas.

What do to? He couldn't just barge in to the flat. A disillusionment charm, then? No, too obvious. The intruder would be able hear the telltale sound of the door unlocking. He needed a disguise of some kind. Then he would be able to knock on the door, inquiring about Alice Winthrop's whereabouts. It was innocent enough. He'd masquerade as one of Alice's Muggle neighbors.

He shoved his hands into his pockets, searching for the Polyjuice Potion. He'd only used this brew once in his life. There had been a particularly clever group of Muggleborns that had evaded capture several times. The Snatchers were finally able to catch them thanks to the Polyjuice. It had tasted like shit, but it had been worth it when Umbridge had rewarded him with a sack full of Galleons for the completed job.

Vial in hand, Scabior looked up and down the hallway. He needed human hair to complete the potion, and he essentially had the entire apartment building's worth of inhabitants to choose from. He smiled to himself, thinking that this could turn out to be very fun, indeed. He needed a bit of amusement after the series of events he'd been through today.

After Cora finished cleaning the mountain of dishes in the sink, she spent the rest of her day reading Alice's unopened letters. Most were from friends. She was disheartened to discover that the last letter had been sent a few days prior to Alice's departure. No mail had arrived since (excluding her own letter, but she'd hadn't arrived at the apartment in time to intercept the owl). She was desperate for an owl to arrive; everyone, especially her mother, deserved a letter full of explanations.

She knew it was highly improbable that she could see her family anytime soon, but she didn't want them to think that she was in danger. Because she wasn't. Cora felt relatively safe in Alice's apartment. It was an obscure, one bedroom flat. No one had bothered her yet, although admittedly she'd been hiding for only one day.

Cora nearly jumped out of her skin as someone pounded on the apartment's front door. She felt her heart drop to the pit of her stomach. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. All she could do was focus on the rhythmic pounding of someone's fist (a Muggle? A neighbor? Worst case scenario…him?) against the wooden door.

She ran to the bedroom and grabbed her wand from the nightstand, tucking it into an inner pocket of her jumper. Better safe than sorry. The door was magically locked, but if it was him, or any other wizard for that matter, she was armed. She edged to the front door on tiptoe, calming herself by inhaling deep breaths of air through her nose.

"Alice! Are you there? ALICE! Why haven't you answered the door? Look, if it's about last Wednesday, I'm sorry, okay?"

Cora breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't him. Thank God it wasn't him. It was definitely a male but this man's voice was smoother and more refined than the Snatcher's. Plus, he knew Alice. Or did he? Was this a trap? Another Snatcher, sent to collect her?

She craned her neck to look through the door's peephole. The man was pacing, intermittently checking his watch…his very Muggle-like watch. Cora spied on him for a minute, taking in his appearance and mannerisms. He certainly dressed and behaved like a Muggle. He sported a khaki colored pair of slacks and a green cardigan. He looked like he had just arrived home from a long day at work. His eyes were tired and his sandy blond hair was slightly mussed, as if he had worked his fingers through it several times.

"Alice…" the man mumbled half-heartedly, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. He let out a dejected sigh and glanced at his watch once more.

Cora held her breath for a minute before speaking. "She's not here. Alice isn't here!"

The man lifted his head, his blue eyes growing wide with concern. "How long has she been gone? I've been so worried. We had a row last week and I haven't been able to contact her since. Do you know if she's changed her telephone number?"

She slowly felt her heartbeat return to normal; she was no longer convinced that this man was an imposter. He was most definitely a Muggle. Only Muggle-born wizards and witches knew how to operate such a useless and confusing communication device; the Snatcher, or any pureblooded wizard for that matter, had probably never heard of a telephone before.

"I don't know," Cora admitted, observing the man as closely as she could through the tiny peephole. He closed his eyes and massaged his temples. His clothes were a bit bizarre (to a witch, anyway), but he was very good looking. Alice had dated a few Muggles off and on throughout the years; was he the current love interest? From the way he had described their fight, it'd sounded like a domestic quarrel. Alice had mentioned relationship problems the last time Cora had visited…

Cora felt her wand through the fabric of her sweater. This man knew Alice. Everything seemed to fit. And to top it off, he was a Muggle. She had her wand; she would be able to cast a spell the moment anything went awry. He looked tired, upset, and in the need of some tea. It would be common courtesy to invite him in…right? Even if this was technically Alice's flat?

She unbolted the door and cast Alohomora. The lock quietly clicked into place and Cora grabbed hold of the doorknob, slowly opening the door until she was face to face with the blond-haired stranger.

"Um…would you like to come in? I don't think Alice has left any contact information, but I'm guessing you're more familiar with the interior of this flat than I am."

The man gave her a small smile and blushed. Cora felt her breath hitch, but it wasn't out of fear. Get it together; this is Alice's boyfriend, for goodness sake! Don't behave like a bloody schoolgirl!

"Sorry. Yeah, that'd be great. I don't think we've met? I'm Sebastian- Seb for short. Has Alice mentioned me at all?"

He held out his hand for her to shake. After a moment's hesitation she grabbed hold of it with her own. His palms were warm and slightly callused to the touch. Cora tried to recall if she'd ever shaken hands with a man before. She'd been called "Ice Princess" at Hogwarts for a reason. Everyone, even some of the teachers, had labeled her as frigid. All of the boys had ignored her.

Seb cleared his throat, and Cora blushed herself, realizing that she'd been holding his hand for a few seconds longer than was necessary. "I'm Cora. I think she might have mentioned something. Said you two were 'on the outs'?"

Seb chuckled to himself and shook his head. "Yeah, that's about right. She has a bit of a temper. I annoyed her one night during a dinner date, and well…she ended up pouring wine down the front of my shirt."

Cora wasn't sure whether to laugh or offer her apologies on Alice's behalf. "Admittedly, she's always been headstrong…"

"Understatement of the century, Cora. She's a nightmare sometimes. And so mercurial. One minute she's snogging me and then next she's snapping for me to leave her alone! Sometimes I wonder what I see in her, but she's a lovely person…eighty percent of the time."

She watched as Seb made his way around the kitchen of the flat, easily finding Earl Grey tea in one of the cabinets. He glanced over his shoulder and displayed two mugs, a silent question as to whether she wanted some tea, as well.

"Thank you, I'd love some." Cora answered, following him into the kitchen. She sat down at the table and fiddled with the salt and pepper shakers, watching him move about from the corner of her eye. "How long have you been dating Alice?"

"Not too long. A month, perhaps? Well, less than that. Like I said, I haven't talked to her since our fight. For all I know, we've split up."

Cora felt a strange stirring of emotions at the mention of his deteriorating relationship with Alice. It almost felt like…satisfaction. She slowly sipped the tea that Seb gave her, too disturbed to offer any sort of reply.

"You're a quiet one, aren't you?" he asked, pulling back a chair from the table before sitting down. He stretched out his long legs and then crossed one over the other, kneading his ankle.

She blinked for a few moments before responding. He had his eyes closed and his head thrown back, a goofy grin plastered on his face as he smoothed the joints in his feet. "I…um…I'm shy, I suppose," she answered lamely. She sincerely hoped that her cheeks weren't betraying her embarrassment.

He opened his eyes and relaxed in his chair a bit. "No need to feel shy. We share a mutual friend, after all. That gives us at least one subject to talk about, correct?"

She looked away and cracked a small smile. Her mind was racing with possible questions that she could ask him: Where do you work? What's it like, driving a car? Alice showed me a thing called a computer, once…do you own one, as well?

Instead she sat there, drinking her tea. The silence stretched on but it wasn't awkward in the slightest. He was at ease and seemed friendly enough. But she was simply too nervous to initiate further conversation.

He eyed her over his cup of tea. She was even more gorgeous in the light of day. Painfully shy, though. She had plenty of spirit and bravery, but all of that seemed to evaporate once a pretty boy entered the room.

He'd had the breath knocked out of him when he'd recognized her voice through the door, but had quickly composed himself and played the part beautifully. Despite her intellect she seemed to believe his story completely. A handsome, worrisome Muggle. And not just any Muggle. The ex-boyfriend of her Mudblood friend, Alice.

He bit his lip, fighting the urge to smirk. Well, Cora, my disguise may fool you, but underneath the surface I'm furious. I hate you, I resent you, but above all: I desire you. I've tasted you, memorized the surface of your skin. Be prepared for a repeat performance. The ball is in your court, now.

Checkmate.

Holy crap, it's been awhile! I really have no excuse for this, haha. I was severely lacking in motivation to finish this story, but I'm on a second wind! Thanks to everyone who has reviewed!

Chapter Title is from "Pulling Our Weight" by The Radio Dept.
- 10
- 11
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You'll Lie and I'll Believe