With his wand pointed directly at Blaise, he looked cool, calm and utterly in control. But he’d reckoned without his wife.
“Lower your wand, Jonah,” she said calmly from the top of the stairs. “Now that Blaise has returned, I’m sure this can all be resolved.”
“All what?” Blaise replied. He winced as he tried to stand up then gave up. Instead, he leant into Lavender allowing her to smooth his shaggy, black curls from his face.
It had been nine months since Parvati had seen Blaise. At school, despite being a Slytherin and a loner, he was very much noticeable because of his undeniable good looks. He’d always had the smartest robes “ not flashy but well cut. Obviously being trapped inside the cabinet had changed things, but not half as much as his time abroad with Lavender. Sporting much longer hair and a beard, he was unrecognisable as the cool boy from school. One thing hadn’t changed, though. Blaise Zabini’s look of contempt as he surveyed everyone, except Lavender, was straight out of Hogwarts.
Jonah lowered his wand. “I want the diamonds back, Zabini.”
“Karis, what is he talking about now?” Blaise asked. He seemed to gain strength from Lavender’s ministrations, and with her help, he stood up.
“I would like my diamonds back,” Karis replied succinctly. “If you don’t return them, then he’ll have you prosecuted. Be a good boy, darling. The scandal will be frightful if you don’t.”
“You know all about scandal,” Blaise muttered. Closing his eyes, he started to sway. Lavender pulled him towards her, but it was Dean who steadied him.
“Mrs Flint,” Dean said. “If your son has the diamonds, then I could search him, but I can’t see why he’d steal them and then lock himself in that cabinet.”
“It makes a very good hiding place,” Jonah snarled. “He probably threw them in there as soon as he knew the theft had been discovered.”
“But the real Cordalis diamonds have been swapped with the fakes haven’t they?” Seamus asked. “Surely that means the thief had to have some time to get the copy together.” He paused and looked at the assembled group. “I’ve examined that string of beads. They’re not diamonds, but it’s not a Geminio’d copy, either. Whoever had the fake diamonds made needed time to get it done, and they needed to know what they looked like.”
“There have been articles in the press for weeks,” Jonah said. “He could have seen a picture long before he returned to this country.”
“Not in the Amazon, you prat,” shouted Lavender. Any semblance of calm she’d been holding onto since Blaise’s disappearance was rapidly evaporating now he’d been discovered. “We don’t exactly scan the social pages out there, you know?”
Blaise smiled at her and pulled her close. “I think Flint’s just annoyed we’ve discovered his hiding place. Look, I don’t care. You can search me all you want. You’ll find nothing that doesn’t belong to me.”
“What does that mean?” Karis asked, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.
“I found my painting,” Blaise replied, and reaching into his robe, he pulled out a rolled up scroll of canvas. “Quite a decent store cupboard down there, Mother.”
“You know what will happen if you take that painting, don’t you, Blaise,” Karis said, the threat implicit in her voice.
“Yeah, well, being shut up overnight in a dark place clears the mind,” he murmured, shooting his mother a dark, brooding look. “You spill the beans and it affects you, too.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Karis replied calmly, “but if you really want the painting so badly, I’m sure Jonah won’t miss it too much.” She turned towards Parvati. “Your arm is bleeding. I’m afraid my guard is a touch vicious. Perhaps you should call into St. Mungo’s on your way out.”
Parvati exchanged looks with Dean and Seamus, hearing the dismissal in Karis Flint’s voice. This was not going to be their case after all, it seemed.
“Mrs Flint,” Dean murmured. “We did find your son, which was part of the remit for this case. If you do not require us to find the diamonds then that is your prerogative, but we will be submitting a bill for services rendered.”
Making a show of examining the bite in her arm, Parvati grinned at Seamus, both of them amused at Deans’ business-like voice.
“Yes, yes,” Karis replied. “You will get your money. Just send me the bill. Now, then, Jonah, darling, shall you call the Law Enforcers, or shall I?”
“Er ... hold on.” Jonah stared at his wife. He started to shuffle on his feet looking very flustered. “Look ... Karis, darling. Don’t you think this is a touch awkward? We have the Malfoys here, and Gordon Davis. We can’t very well accuse them of theft.”
Karis Flint was a tall woman, and pulling herself up to her full height, she was at least half a head taller than her husband. “And yet you were perfectly happy to let my son take the fall for this.”
“No, that’s not what I meant-” he blustered. “Karis ... darling ... listen to reason.”
“Do what you want,” she said coldly. “But I want to wear those diamonds, Jonah. You promised they’d be mine, so find them, or I will call the Ministry.” Her eyes flicked towards Blaise, warming slightly as she studied him. “Get some rest, darling. Esther can bring your food to your room.”
“And the painting?” Blaise asked evenly. He shifted away from Dean, but not from Lavender, perhaps sensing that she needed him close by.
“As you said, it’s yours,” she replied succinctly, and, after a withering look at her husband, she sashayed away, down the stairs and to her houseguests.
“You heard my wife,” Jonah muttered gruffly. “Get those diamonds back. You can start by searching the house “ discreetly, though, and if you find anything, you come to me before you do anything. Understood?”
“Implicitly,” Parvati replied, when Dean didn’t say anything. She smiled lopsidedly at Seamus. “Discretion is our watchword, after all.”
They all watched Jonah stomp off, no one saying a word until he was out of sight. Then Lavender started giggling, the sound dragging Parvati straight back to their school days when Lavender had been unable to keep herself together at moments of tension. She cast a glance at Blaise, wondering if he’d be amused or irritated, but he only looked weary, the night’s incarceration taking its toll.
He caught Parvati’s eye and half smiled. “You should get that bite seen to. Tracey’s training to be a Healer, I’m sure she won’t mind taking a look,” he said and running one hand through his dusty hair, he yawned. “For a Slytherin, she’s not all bad.”
“Shouldn’t you go as well?” Parvati queried.
“That thing didn’t get a chance to bite me,” Blaise replied, and after giving Lavender a kiss, he turned back and grinned wickedly at them. “That’s the thing about us snakes, you never know if we’ll bite back.”
“Can we talk to you, Zab ... er ... Blaise?” Dean asked, correcting himself. “We need your version of events.”
“Not now,” Lavender said firmly, leading him back to their room. “He’s going to rest.” As she opened the door of the bedroom, she turned back and smiled at Parvati. “We’ll talk later, okay?”
Parvati nodded. A part of her, a small petty part, resented Lavender leaving her now. But they were no longer the same girls who swapped make-up and cherished dreams. The year fighting and the months apart had seen to that.
Seamus squeezed her gently on the shoulder. “C’mon, petal, let’s find Davis. She can patch you up.” He lowered his voice, “You know Lavender’ll come good; she just has her head in the clouds where Zabini’s concerned.”
Grateful for his understanding, Parvati reached up and with her good hand, ruffled his sandy hair. “I think her thoughts are elsewhere,” she replied dryly, “but I know we’ll talk later.”
Dean was watching them both thoughtfully. “Let’s split up, search the rooms faster. Parvati, you should take Davis, I’ll search her dad’s room. Seamus ... fancy searching Malfoy’s?”
Seamus grinned. “You have to ask? Dean, mate, is it my birthday, or something?”
The door to Tracey Davis’ bedroom was closed when Parvati arrived. She gave a cursory knock and, thinking no one was there was about to go in, but then a voice cried out.
“Who is it?”
“Parvati Patil,” she replied. “I’ve been hired by the Flints to find the Cordalis “”
“Yes, I know,” interrupted Tracey. “Uh ... give me a minute. I was sleeping and ... um ... just need to ...” Parvati could sense the hesitation in the woman’s voice, “... okay, you can come in now.”
Taking a breath, Parvati fixed a smile on her face and entered the room. It was bigger than the room Lavender and Blaise were sharing by some margin. Tracey appeared to be a favoured guest, although, as she was engaged to Marcus, that was understandable. The carpet underneath her feet was thick and pure white. Parvati clasped her injured arm close to her chest, desperate not to leave any blood in such a perfect room.
“You’re hurt!” Tracey exclaimed, and in a flash had Summoned a small bag from her chest of drawers. “I’m training to be a Healer. Let me look.”
“Mm, I was told that, actually. It’s part of the reason I’ve come to you, Miss Davis.”
Tracey looked up sharply, perhaps hearing something in Parvati’s voice. “You can call me Tracey, if you want, unless your profession forbids it, but we were at school together.”
“We didn’t move in the same circles,” Parvati said mildly, but she held out her arm and yielded to Tracey’s examination.
“No, but I knew your sister quite well. The Ravenclaws didn’t seem to mind us,” Tracey replied. “This is nasty, what happened?”
Heaving a sigh, Parvati began to tell her the story of the Kappa guard in Karis’ cabinet. As she talked, Tracey pulled out a wad of lint, and began to clean the wound. Then she smoothed a tincture on the puncture marks.
“So Blaise Zabini lives to fight another day,” Tracey remarked ironically. “He always manages to avoid trouble. Of course, it helps having an influential parent.”
“He didn’t steal the diamonds,” Parvati replied. “He wouldn’t have had time to make the copy.”
“And you think I did?”
Parvati examined her arm; the wounds were healing now, and the pain had lessened considerably. “I need to search your room, Tracey. We are searching all the rooms, but I’ll do you the courtesy of letting you stay as you’ve healed me.”
Tracey pulled a face. “Could you possibly ‘do me the courtesy’ of coming back later? Only, I really am rather tired, and I was trying to get some rest.”
“Uh ...” Parvati stood up. “I could come back in about “” she stopped speaking, hearing a thud in the wardrobe from the far corner of the room. “What was that?”
“NOTHING!” yelped Tracey. “Uh... probably a Boggart. You know what these old houses are like.”
Whipping out her wand, Parvati leapt towards the cupboard. “I can deal with Boggarts. Don’t you remember our lesson with Professor Lupin?”
Before Tracey could speak, Parvati had cast ‘Alohamora’ on the door and stood brandishing her wand, ready to face her deepest fear.
She shrieked in shock when the figure tumbled to the floor. Parvati wasn’t quite sure what her deepest fear was these days, but it sure as hell wasn’t a cringing and naked Draco Malfoy. Despite thinking that this was highly inappropriate, Parvati started to giggle. “Oh, my word, what is going on here?”
“Nothing!” Tracey exclaimed. “Draco just ... um ... needed to use my bathroom. No need to mention that to anyone, though.”
Biting her upper lip in an attempt to stop laughing as Draco tried unsuccessfully to cover himself up in one of Tracey’s skirts, Parvati stepped away from the wardrobe. “I’ll ... um ... come back later,” she said walking to the door, but as she opened it, she faltered. “I don’t want to worry you, but Marcus is out there.”
“Shit!” Tracey hissed. Leaping from the bed, she unceremoniously bundled Draco back into the wardrobe.
“Can’t you just Disillusion me?” he whispered.
“No time!” Tracey muttered as she locked the wardrobe door. She winked at Parvati. “Plus it’s much more fun knowing he’s locked up in there.”
“Tracey, are you in there?” Marcus called and thumped on the door.
“Yes, darling,” she trilled girlishly. “I’m just helping Patil with her enquiries.”
Marcus entered, a glowering look on his face as he faced Parvati. “What are you doing in here? My fiancée specifically asked to be left alone this morning. We all had a dreadful night last night, and she can hardly help you with your enquiries; none of us have any idea where that bastard Zabini is.”
“Blaise Zabini has been cleared,” Tracey drawled, reclining on her bed. “He was found in that hideous cabinet on the first floor. Although ...” her brow furrowed, “I don’t see why he couldn’t have just Vanished the diamonds, or Transfigured them into something else.”
“Do you ever listen to anything I tell you?” Marcus demanded. “The Cordalis Diamonds cannot be Transfigured or Vanished. It’s part of the reason they’re so valuable, you stupid witch.”
Expecting Tracey to react to Marcus’ harsh tone, Parvati was surprised when she merely shrugged and closed her eyes. “I’m still awfully tired, Marcus. Would you leave me to sleep? Patil has said she’ll return later.”
“Is that true?” Parvati asked Marcus. “Mrs Flint didn’t tell us the diamonds couldn’t be Vanished.”
“Yes, it’s true!” Marcus said witheringly . “I doubt Karis knows, though. She’s not interested in the family history, only how to accessorise her bloody outfit.”
She could feel her hackles rise and wondered why Tracey put up with him. It certainly explained why she was fooling around with Draco, although in Parvati’s mind there was little to choose between the pair of them. “I will search your room, then, Flint.”
“What?” Marcus tried to grab her arm but she whipped away. “Why would I want to steal my own family’s diamonds?”
“You don’t appear to like your sister-in-law much. Perhaps you’d rather your fiancée wore them,” Parvati suggested.
“Go ahead. Search my room,” Marcus ordered. “It’s utterly preposterous, of course. Jonah is the heir, so unless you’re suggesting that I’m about to murder him as well ...” He smirked at Parvati, and sat on the bed next to Tracey, patting her thigh.
She removed his hand. “I think you should go with her, darling. I wouldn’t put it past her to try and frame you.”
Annoyingly, the diamonds were not in Marcus’ bedroom. If anyone ever deserved to go to Azkaban it was him, Parvati told the other two. Seamus and Dean were equally glum, as nothing had turned up in any of the rooms.
“Malfoy’s room was clean,” muttered Seamus. “I was really hoping we’d get something on him, the ferret-faced bastard. I know he needs money.”
“They don’t know we’re looking for them, either,” Dean said. “As far as they’re concerned, Zabini took the diamonds, so they’re not on their guards.”
“Ah.” Parvati stopped fiddling with her hair. “I ... um ... sort of let it slip that we’d found him to Tracey. She’s very nice, and I can’t see her pinching the diamonds.”
Dean tightened his mouth and she knew he was biting back a retort.
“Sorry,” she murmured. “But she was cleaning my arm, and I told her about the cupboard.”
“It’s only her,” put in Seamus, “I doubt it matters.”
“Um, well, actually,” Parvati stammered. “Marcus knows because she told him “ but that’s okay because I then searched his room “ and-” She giggled. “- Tracey is carrying on with Draco. He fell out of her wardrobe “ stark naked.”
Even Dean, for whom any mention of Draco was anathema, grinned at that. “Okay, so those three know, but as we’ve searched their rooms, then it’s not a problem,” he said.
“I haven’t searched Tracey’s yet,” Parvati admitted. “Marcus interrupted us and I thought it was better to search his room first.”
“Okay,” Dean sighed. He looked tired, and Parvati knew why. He’d been working on the accounts late into the night and although hadn’t said much, it was clear the money situation was dire. “I checked over Draco’s parent’s room as well. Clean as a whistle.”
“Just the aunt left, then?” Seamus said.
“What about Tabitha?” Parvati asked as a thought occurred to her. If Marcus Flint hadn’t liked Karis’ possession of the diamonds, Tabitha must have been apoplectic. She might have had hysterics when they’d gone, but remembering her easy tears whenever a teacher came close to reprimanding her, Parvati knew she was a consummate actress.
“Done,” Dean murmured, avoiding Parvati’s eye. “Nothing there except ... um ... girl things. Embarrassing, actually, she stood over me and insisted I search through her knicker drawer.”
“Surprised she didn’t ask you to frisk her.”
“Meow!” Seamus’ face split into a grin at Parvati’s arch tone. Then he started laughing. “She did, didn’t she, Dean? Oh, man, you’ve got an admirer.”
Dean shuddered. “I told her I’d send Parvati in for that.”
Parvati raised one eyebrow as she looked up at him. “Good.”
“You getting jealous, Parvati?”
Shaking her head, Parvati smiled slightly, not knowing quite what to say. Jealousy wasn’t an option between the three of them. “Knowing Tabitha Flint, she’d scream sexual assault once you’d finished,” she replied lightly.
Aurelia Savage was in her room sitting at a writing desk when they arrived at her room. A stately looking woman in her sixties, she gave them the merest glance down her pince-nez before returning to her letter.
“My nephew warned me you would be dropping by. I expect you want to interview me. Well, it will have to wait; I need to finish my correspondence.”
“Madam Savage,” Parvati said politely, “Jonah has asked us to conduct a search of all the rooms.” She flinched when Aurelia fixed her with a frosty look. “It is purely precautionary. The thief may have hidden the diamonds in your room, knowing that no one would dream of suspecting you.”
Aurelia stared at her then inclined her head. “You may continue, although I sincerely doubt whether a thief could have got in here. I am punctilious about locking my room. One never knows what unsavoury people characters my nephews will bring home.”
“Is this your home?” Parvati asked.
“Not now,” Aurelia replied. “I lived here after my brother’s wife died and helped raise the children.” Her mouth formed a thin hard line. “I moved out shortly after my nephew married.”
Parvati moved towards the bedside cabinet and started searching.
“Madam Savage,” Dean said, “Could you tell us a bit more about the Cordalis diamonds? You brought them from your house, I believe.”
The old woman looked him up and down. “Half-blood, are you?”
“Not sure,” Dean replied, “but probably Muggle-born.”
Pursing her lips into an even thinner line, Aurelia turned to Seamus. “And you?”
“Half-blood,” Seamus said non-commitally. “Is that important?”
“Merely that you have no understanding of family history, and the importance of our past,” she replied then turned her attention to Parvati, who, after conducting a search of the wardrobe, had now opened up the bedside cabinet. “What about you, girl? You don’t look as if you’re from this country.”
“Pure-blood,” Parvati murmured, “and I was born here.” She looked up from the drawer, and stared into her interrogator’s eyes. “We all have ‘history’, Madam Savage. Yours and mine might be better documented by the Ministry, but it doesn’t make us more important.”
“Touché!” Aurelia smiled slightly. “You are right, of course. These days it is money that counts. Why else would my nephew have married that woman?” She put down her quill, and turned her chair around, facing the three of them.
“The Cordalis diamonds have been in the Flint family for eight generations. Tradition demands that they are given to the head of the house’s wife. When Jonah’s mother died, I was given temporary custody of them.”
“Could you tell us when you last saw them?” Dean asked.
“I removed them from my Gringotts’ safe yesterday morning,” Aurelia stated. “I checked them myself “ those goblins are not at all trustworthy in my book. I have a certificate of authentication from the jeweller, Charles Castilian. I then handed them to Jonah when I arrived here. I offered to keep them in my room, but he wanted to show them to Gordon Davis.” Aurelia shook her head slightly. “Ghastly man. Highly influential, of course, which is why Jonah invited him.”
“You felt the authentication certificate was necessary?” Seamus said, pouncing on the slight hesitation in her statement.
“I did not want to be accused of a substitution,” Aurelia replied icily. “However, if I had orchestrated that switch, I would not have erred with the colour.”
Parvati frowned to herself. The mistake with the colour puzzled her because anyone who knew anything about the Cordalis diamonds would know they were purple and not blue.
Unless the switch was supposed to be discovered ... but why?
“Who do you think stole them, Madam Savage?” Dean’s voice brought Parvati back to the here and now.
“Well, if it’s not that son of Karis’ “ or that brazen girl he’s attached himself to “ then I can only assume it is Karis, herself.”
“Why?” Parvati broke the astonished silence. “Why would she steal them? They’re supposed to be hers.”
Aurelia waved her hand dismissively and returned to her letter. “All I know is that my nephew married a woman with the appearance of great wealth. She moved in with all her possessions, including an impressive amount of paintings. However, over the past few months, she has been redecorating and the paintings have been put ‘in storage’.”
“But if she’d stolen them, why call us in?” Seamus asked, more to himself than to Aurelia.
Aurelia Savage snorted. “Look at yourselves. The three of you are barely old enough to have left school. Obviously, Karis doesn’t think you can succeed.”
Dipping her quill in the pot of ink, she began to write again, so the three of them took that as their cue to leave.
“Of course,” Aurelia called, just before Parvati closed the door, “that doesn’t mean you cannot prove her wrong.”