“Hello there, have I missed something?” she asked. Her eyes were lit from within with knowledge she was obviously longing to share.
“My sister found the diamonds in Draco’s room, but your associates believe I stole the diamonds,” Jonah replied haughtily. “Why not join in the fun, Miss Patil? You could accuse my wife, perhaps, or my aunt.”
As Lavender moved to one side, Parvati sat on the arm of her chair. “I’ll ... um ... wait,” she replied. “Although that is rather surprising, the diamonds happening to turn up like that,” she stole a glance at Dean and then Seamus, “don’t you think?”
“Miss Flint. Where did you find the necklace?” Seamus spoke quietly from his chair, not sounding at all confident but as if he were trying to make sense of something.
“I told you,” Tabitha declared. “I found it in Draco’s bedroom. In his wardrobe.”
Seamus shifted in his seat slightly. “Coincidence, that. You happen to be in his room, and happen to look in his wardrobe.”
“I have told you why I was in his room,” she said, casting Draco a venomous look. “And I looked in the wardrobe because I noticed it was open.”
“Bollocks,” Draco growled. “The wardrobe was locked. I didn’t want anyone sneaking around amongst my things.”
“Why not?” Seamus asked mildly. His hand was shaking slightly as he spoke, yet he didn’t stop. “We’d already been through your room once, so what was the problem with someone else peeking in your wardrobe?” He turned back to Tabitha and bestowed one of his cheeky smiles on her, flirting slightly. “Miss Flint, sure if I was with a man like this, I’d always be worried about what he was hiding from me. I’m not at all surprised you wanted a peek in yer man’s wardrobe.”
She sniffed and then tried out a wobbly smile on Seamus. “The wardrobe was locked, but the key was in the pocket of his cloak. I wanted to see what he was hiding, so I unlocked it.”
“And were the diamonds there, or did you plant them?” Seamus whispered kindly. “Did you find the diamonds in someone else’s room and decide to frame Draco? Can’t say I blame you if you did do that. He’s not been the greatest of boyfriends.”
“The diamonds were in his wardrobe,” she said firmly. There was a steel glint in her icy blue eyes, and although no one could be sure without Veritaserum, Seamus was convinced she was telling the truth.
“Which lands this right back in Malfoy’s lap!” Jonah said, smirking. “I’m calling the Law Enforcers.”
“You have the diamonds back,” Lucius interrupted. “And I’ll pay you compensation. Just don’t call the Ministry, please.”
“Why would I have got the colour wrong?” Draco protested. “I’m not stupid.”
“You wouldn’t,” Parvati agreed. “No one would have got the colour wrong on purpose. Draco Malfoy isn’t stupid. He is, however, resourceful. Are you going to tell us where you found the diamonds?”
“I was framed,” Draco insisted. “How many times do I have to tell you that? Tabitha has it in for me because I don’t want to marry her, so she must have put them in my wardrobe.”
“Your locked wardrobe!” Parvati said, her eyes glimmering. “No, you found the diamonds in someone else’s room and decided to steal them yourself. You knew your room had been searched, so you locked them in your wardrobe. What you didn’t take into account was Tabitha’s curiosity.”
“Where did he find them, then?” asked Gordon Davis. It had been the first time he’d reacted to anything in that room. All through this debate, he’d puffed on a large cigar whilst ogling Lavender from across the room.
Parvati ignored him and looked at Tracey. “I’ve just been to see Padma,” she said. “She works at St Mungo’s, like you, but she’s in the research department. For the past year, they’ve been looking at genetics and in particular at the increasing incidence of Muggle conditions in wizards and witches. It’s all very interesting, you know.”
Karis yawned. “I’m sure it is, dear, but what does this have to do with my diamonds?”
“Everything,” Parvati stated. She crossed the room and stood by the hearth, then, when she was sure all eyes were on her, she continued, “The one thing I really didn’t understand at the start of this case was why the diamonds had been exchanged for a necklace that was the wrong colour. It was a good copy, too, not cheap glass, so why go to that expense and then mess it up? Of course, as I’m sure my colleagues have already explained, a Geminio’d copy isn’t permanent. This better copy was supposed to last. The thief didn’t want any link between this night and the theft, when the fake was eventually discovered. That was why they made a substitution of such fine quality.”
She paused for breath, sure of herself, but unsure exactly what the reaction would be when she revealed the knowledge she’d gleaned from Padma.
“Daltonism,” she said, after taking another breath, “is a Muggle condition affecting approximately one percent of their population. It is even rarer in the magical world, but there are still cases of it, especially where there is a Muggle ancestor. Daltonism affects the eyes. It causes colour blindness, and the sufferer has particular difficulty in distinguishing between different shades of blues, purples, violets and ... lavender.”
Lavender gasped. “Oh, of course. That silly song.”
“Exactly,” Parvati replied, and smiled at her friend. The rest of the room looked at her in bewilderment, except for two people, who suddenly looked rather wary.
“Draco Malfoy found the Cordalis Diamonds in Tracey Davis’ room,” said Parvati clearly. “I don’t know where exactly, but I’d hazard a guess it was her wardrobe.”
“Why was Draco in Tracey’s room?” Marcus demanded. “Really, you’re talking as much crap as Thomas was earlier. You don’t have a bloody clue.” Reaching out to grab some sandwiches, he upset the platter causing them to spill on the carpet, but did nothing to assist Esther in picking them up. “If this Dalton thing affects people with a Muggle relative, then Brown is once again the chief suspect and you can stop impugning my fiancée.”
“Oh, for Circe’s sake, Marcus, shut up!” Tracey said wearily. “Look, it’s true. I stole the diamonds, and yes, I am colour blind.” She stared at Parvati, daring her to speak. “We have some Muggle blood somewhere in our family tree, and I’m a half-blood.” She shrugged. “It never bothered me, but for reasons of self preservation I kept it quiet from my housemates.”
“Don’t say anymore!” Gordon ordered his daughter. “They’re not sending you to Azkaban. I’ll make sure of that.”
“Well, I’m not letting Marcus marry her now,” Jonah exclaimed. “Half-blood and a thief “ not in the Flint family.”
“Thank Merlin for that,” Tracey drawled. “If I’d had to put up with much more of Marcus’ pathetic attempts in bed, I think I’d have hexed myself. Even Draco was a step up after that.”
Parvati heard Lavender giggle, and was hard pushed to stop herself from breaking out into laughter, too. The identical looks on both Draco and Marcus’ face, as Tracey mocked them, were something special. Marcus seemed in shock, unable to even string together a swear word to hurl at Draco. Despite her earlier scorn of Lavender, Parvati couldn’t stop a small flicker of respect and liking for Tracey flaring inside of her, for the way she’d played both men.
Jonah sat back in his armchair, and signalled for Esther to pour him more tea. Taking a sip, he carefully placed the cup back down on the side table and looked at Gordon. “You will still employ Marcus at The Prophet, and Karis and I wish you to buy our figurines. In fact, you like them so much, you will buy them at twice the market price.”
Gordon gulped but nodded his head in agreement.
“And you can buy my son’s painting,” Karis chipped in.
“Anything else?”
Karis looked from Blaise, to Jonah and then back to Gordon. “That is all. But I would like you both to leave now. If I have to suffer any more of your insufferable letching, then I think I’ll be forced to reconsider.”
As one, the two Davises rose and left the room, now stunned into silence.
"B-but," protested Lavender. "No, Tracey -"
Parvati hushed her with a look.“Come with me,” she murmured. “I think you’ll like this bit.”
"She knew that dress was blue," Lavender hissed, but Parvati merely nodded. Together they mounted the stairs until Parvati found Tracey’s room. She knocked before going in, waiting for Tracey to say ‘enter.’
Tracey was pulling her few clothes out of the wardrobe and levitating them into a small trunk. She smiled when she saw Parvati.
“Why do you do this, Tracey?” Parvati asked gently, as she took her hand and led her to the bed.
“Steal, you mean?” She pulled a face. “Perhaps it’s a compulsion, like Draco’s gambling. Or maybe I just like pretty things. Sorry, I have no idea.”
“No, I mean why did you cover up for your father?”
“I didn’t,” Tracey said gruffly. She stared at her feet, no longer looking at Parvati.
“Daltonism only occurs in males,” said Parvati. “You know that, though, don’t you? It’s why you sang that nursery rhyme. Your father can’t distinguish between blue and purple, so pale blue would look like lavender to him.”
“Very clever,” Tracey sighed. She stood up and resumed packing her trunk, not bothering to fold anything now.
“But why take the blame? And why were the diamonds in your room?” Lavender asked, puzzled.
“Oh, Lavender blue. You may have found your king, but Marcus is way short of being mine. I didn’t want to marry him, but the only way I could get out of it was if Marcus called it off. Dad wanted me to marry into this horrible family, but he can’t force me, now. I found the diamonds in his trunk. He always uses the same hiding place, and I removed them. I was going to return them, you have to believe that, but Draco discovered them first.” She paused and closed the lid on the trunk. “This works out very well for me. Dad being the culprit might still have meant I was left with Marcus.”
“Why did he steal them?”
“Who knows,” Tracey replied dryly. “It could be a compulsion; we certainly don’t need the money. But personally I think he’s bored, so he devises these elaborate schemes. At least when he’s doing that, he’s not chasing after witches my age.”
Levitating the trunk to the door, she twisted her head around and smiled at them both. “I was rude to you earlier, Lavender, and I’m sorry, but I was on edge. I thought Dad might make a play for the figurines, as well.” Then, with a wave of her wand, she opened the bedroom door. As an afterthought “ just as she was leaving “ she spoke again. “Dad likes you, Lavender, not just because you’re female, but he likes your writing. If you ever decide to return to England, then I’m sure he’d find a job for you at The Prophet.” She smirked at the expression on Lavender’s face. “You look horrified, but if you tell him you know the truth, then the job will definitely come with no strings attached.”
Out of the bedroom window, Parvati and Lavender watched the Davises leave. Tracey turned at the gate, and raised her hand in salute to them. She was laughing as she left, but Gordon looked haggard.
“Would you take up a job at his paper, if he offered you one?” Parvati asked as Gordon Apparated away.
“I’d think about it,” Lavender replied. “We won’t live abroad forever, but for now it suits us both.” She linked arms with Parvati, and rested her head on her shoulder. “Thank you for coming and sorting this out. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
“We’re friends Lavender, all of us,” Parvati whispered. “There’s no way we wouldn’t have come.”
“I haven’t been much of a friend this past year, though,” Lavender stated. “I’m sorry. I just wanted to escape for a while, forget about the bloody war.”
“I know, and I’m fine. I have Dean and Seamus.” She smiled warmly. “It’s not the same as having my best friend around, but they try their best.”
Whatever Lavender was about to say next was interrupted by the sound of a strong argument coming from the dining room.
“Merlin, that’s Blaise!” Lavender yelped, and started to run to the stairs. “He never loses his temper.”
“Uh, you were saying,” Parvati commented, aghast at the sight that met their eyes.
A wandless Blaise was holding Marcus by his lapels up against the wall. “I want an apology!”
“It didn’t bother you before,” Marcus cried. For a big man he was surprisingly whiney, but then that could have been because he hadn’t expected Blaise to react.
“Before, I was going to take all your money, you bastard. But now you’re broke, and I have Davis’ Galleons, I’m going to take great pleasure in hurting you.”
“Karis, can’t you control your son?”
“As your brother called Lavender a ‘brainless half-blood tart’, I’m really not surprised he wants to hit him.” She glanced up at Lavender. “Sorry, Lavender, darling, Marcus can be so stupid about people.”
“Blaise,” Lavender said softly, “he’s really not worth it.”
There was a long pause. Blaise stared down at Marcus and then with heavy deliberation released him. “Let’s go, Lavender. We can stay at your mum’s, can’t we?”
“Or ours,” Parvati piped up. “We can make room.”
“Perfect,” Blaise replied. He walked over to his mum, and kissed her on the cheek. “Sorry, Karis, I don’t like the company here.” Then, clasping Lavender’s hand, he strode out of the room.
Parvati nudged Dean. “Have they paid us?” she whispered.
“Yup,” he replied, tapping his cloak robe pocket. She heard the very satisfactory sound of Galleons clanking together. The money would keep them going for another few weeks, even if they didn’t have another case.
“We should buy a new sign,” she said.
“We can’t until we’ve decided on the name,” Seamus muttered. “Although Finnigan and Associates has a classy ring to it, I think.”
Dean and Parvati snorted. Then the three of them walked to the hallway after bidding goodbye to the Flints and their guests and waited for Blaise and Lavender.
“Why did you say they could stay with us?” Dean complained. “I was looking forward to just being the three of us tonight."
“I thought it was about time we got to know Blaise,” Parvati replied. “After all, it’s thanks to Lavender we were hired. We owe her something.”
“A Muggle pub,” Blaise murmured. His eyes widened, and for a second Dean thought it was in horror, but then he started to laugh. “This is brilliant.”
“It’s an Irish pub,” Seamus hollered over the noise. “They have them all over London. We’ll stay here for one or two, pick up some food and then get back to the flat.”
“Won’t Parvati mind you staying out?”
Seamus and Dean shook their heads. “Nope,” Dean replied. “She likes her space and, besides, she wants to catch up with Lavender.”
“Cool,” Blaise murmured. He looked at both of them curiously. “Which one of you is Parvati seeing? It’s hard to tell.”
“That, Zab ... uh ... Blaise, would be telling,” Seamus replied, and with a smile on his face, he approached the bar. “Three pints of Guinness and three whisky chasers, please.”
“Looks like Parvati and Lavender are going to have a lot of space and time to chat,” Dean called. “Hope Lavender doesn’t mind what state we return you in.”
Lavender didn’t mind at all. Sitting next to Parvati on the sofa as they drank large gin and tonics, and munched through bowls of crisps, she was enjoying the luxury of being able to kick off her shoes and relax without having to check the floor for spiders, or worry she was messing up Karis’ place settings.
“Are you ever going to choose?” Lavender asked as she contemplated her friend.
“Between them?” Parvati replied, and shook her head.
“Must be complicated, though,” Lavender said, taking another swig of her drink. “Living together. Working together. And ...”
“It’s surprisingly easy once you’re in the situation,” Parvati remarked. “Especially when they realised that me living with the both of them didn’t mean they’d acquired a house-elf.” She paused and started to pleat the fabric of her robe. “That last year at Hogwarts taught me to grab at life and every chance offered, like you did with Blaise. Making a choice would cause far more problems than it solves “ especially when the problems are only ones of convention.”
“You have to get a new sign,” Lavender said after a while. “‘Very Defect v Ag n y’ doesn’t sound at all professional. We should think of a name, before the men get back. ‘Patil’s Private Eyes’, or ‘Parvati’s Personal Serv’ -- oops, that makes you sound like a hooker.”
Parvati laughed and stretched out on the sofa. “I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you, too,” Lavender sighed. “Blaise gets so involved with his sodding potion ingredients that he sometimes forgets I’m there. And he’s a moody git at times.”
Parvati snorted. “You’re not exactly mild-mannered yourself, Lavender, especially when you haven’t had your chocolate fix at certain times of the month. How on earth did you manage in the rainforest without Honeydukes?”
“I was fine!” Lavender declared mock-haughtily. “Hermione was the worst in our room.”
“Only when Ron had wound her up “”
“Which was most of the time.” Lavender started to giggle. Picking up the bottle of gin, she poured two measures and added some tonic. “This is good. Sitting here, relaxing. Being us.”
“Until they get back,” Parvati observed. “They must be getting along. I thought they’d be back by now.”
“Good,” Lavender breathed. “I want you all to like him, or at least understand why we’re together.”
About an hour later, after the three men stumbled through the door bearing curry in plastic boxes, the five of them sat around the kitchen table eating piping hot chicken tikka massala on top of spicy pilau rice.
“Blaise,” Seamus said, as he handed him a can of lager, “can I ask you something?”
“You can ask,” Blaise replied slowly. “I might not answer, though.”
Seamus took a swig from his can. “That painting. Lavender said your ma was adamant you weren’t getting your hands on it, but she caved in very quickly.”
A silence descended on the room. Blaise stared at Seamus; his gaze flicked to Dean and Parvati. All three had stopped eating, waiting for his response. By his side, Lavender reached across and squeezed his hand. “You don’t have to say a word,” she murmured.
“Do you have a confidentiality clause when someone hires you?” Blaise asked.
“We do, but if the client imparts some information that pertains to a serious crime, then we are duty bound to inform the Ministry,” Parvati replied solemnly. Then she grinned. “As long as it’s not murder, we’ll keep quiet.”
Blaise chewed his bottom lip as he pondered. “Thing is, I’m not sure this is a crime. Much depends on the actual wording and it’s been a long time since I’ve seen the document, but from what I can remember ....” He smiled at Lavender. “Sorry, I’m being obtuse. Lavender says it’s an infuriating habit of mine.”
“Forget I asked,” Seamus said. “I was just curious, that’s all.”
Taking a long drink from his can, Blaise studied the three of them again. Then something seemed to warm in his eyes. Placing the can on the table, he took Lavender’s hand in his, and leant forwards. “Chester Zabini was not my real father. My mum was already pregnant when she met him. She threatened to tell everyone, which could mean I’d lose any inheritance I had from him.” He paused and, with his other hand, stroked Lavender’s hair. “I don’t care about the painting, but I was left a house in Italy, which I don’t want to give up.”
Dean gave a long whistle. Although this could technically be fraud, Blaise was, to all intents and purposes, Chester Zabini’s son. It was only his mother’s word that could be called in to give lie to his inheritance. “Why did Karis back down?”
“From what I remember of the will, Chester named me as his beneficiary. He didn’t say ‘I leave my son the house in Italy’, but ‘I leave the house in Italy to Blaise Zabini.’ I think that’s good enough for a court of law, but I’m not sure. What I do know is that in my mother’s case, Chester wrote ‘I leave the rest of my estate to Karis Zabini, my wife and mother of my son.’ “
“Which means if you lose out, then so does she,” Parvati concluded. “Wow, that’s quite a good reason for her to cave.”
Blaise laughed. “Yeah, several thousand Galleons worth of reasons.” He drained his drink, and gave Lavender’s hand another squeeze as she stifled a yawn. “You look tired. Shall we go to bed and leave these three to celebrate their case-cracking skills?”
“Stay,” Dean demurred.
But Lavender stood up with Blaise and flashed a smile at her friends. “Blaise is right, I’m shattered. Besides, three, in your case, is company, but five is definitely a crowd.”
The three of them watched as Lavender and Blaise, threaded their arms around each other and meandered slowly out of the room to the lounge, where they were bedding down for the night.
“Three’s company,” mused Parvati. “Interesting ...”
“Huh?” Both Dean and Seamus looked at her inquisitively.
“Three’s Company Detective Agency,” she said slowly. “What do you think?”
“Brilliant!” Dean exclaimed as he planted a kiss on her cheek. “See, I knew there was a reason you’re my number one girl.”
Seamus poured her another drink. “You’re a star, Parvati.”
“To teamwork,” she replied.
“To us.” Dean returned the toast, smiling.
“To Three’s Company,” Seamus announced grandly. “And to Old Man Davis, a diamond in the rough, whose crime has kept us solvent!”