From Wiltshire, With Love

Chapter 12

"Fancy seeing you here, Draco."

Alexandra Wexler, executive assistant in the office of the Deputy of the Minister, landed at the far end of the Quidditch pitch where he sat wrapping his ankle with tape. She looked very different in her Quidditch gear from the professional business robes he was used to seeing her in. Her shoulder length brown hair was tied back in a ponytail. For an older woman of roughly fifty years old, she wasn't unattractive and kept herself fit.

"Don't you have a pitch at the Manor?"

Draco sat on a bench to the side of the pitch, wrapping his ankle and glanced up at the flyers in the air. They were occupied with Bludgers and Quaffles. None were paying them any attention at all.

"Yeah, but the grounds are being reseeded and prepped for the winter. You had mentioned Berkley was a good Quidditch club." He glanced up at her from his ankle wrap. "Plenty of pop-up games, always looking for spare players."

She leaned on her broom, slightly out of breath and red in the face from flying. "A good Seeker is hard to find. You could probably replace Bill up there," she motioned upwards with her head. "He'd happily act as Chaser."

Draco bent over more, wincing, pretending to have difficulty with the ankle wrap. "Would you mind giving me a hand with this?"

"Sure thing." Alexandra leaned over, inspecting the bandage on his foot. "You can go to the first aid closet, get some salve for that." She crouched down next to his leg. "Here let me-"

"Imperio!"

Immediately she stilled.

He finished wrapping his ankle and turned his attention to direct her under the curse. She slowly stood up and faced him. The sharp, intelligent features he was used to were gone, she was now slack jawed and glassy eyed, gazing back at him. The heady sense of power and control that he remembered from cursing Madame Rosmerta and Katie Bell in sixth year surged through him. He would be holding Wexler for months, as long as was needed.

Draco stared directly into her brown eyes. It was unsettling how Alexandra was seeing but unseeing.

"You're going to support Thicknesse, Shacklebolt and Johnson in their efforts towards dissolving the Auror Office."

Her throat constricted, and she made a croaking noise. For a brief moment Draco panicked when he saw the fire return to her eyes. She was fighting it. Draco knew she was adamantly opposed to getting rid of the Aurors. He gritted his teeth as he strengthened the curse. She tensed and trembled slightly under his onslaught before finally relaxing.

Draco sighed in relief.

He had her.

"We'll meet every week to discuss your progress."

She nodded, mouth partly open.

"You won't remember this conversation."

She nodded again and a bit of drool leaked down her chin. It was disconcerting, watching Alexandra's transformation from a passionate, intelligent witch to a mindless puppet. He lessened his control and Confounded her for good measure before sitting down on the bench again. Alexandra shook her head slightly, confused, and blinked down at him, wiping her mouth.

"Thanks for helping, Alexandra, I'll get that salve after the game." He finished tying his Quidditch boot and stood up. "Let's see if Bill will let a real Seeker take his place 'eh?" He winked at her and she mounted her broom with a smile.

"See you up there, Draco." She kicked off to join the other flyers, completely unsuspecting that anything untoward had happened.

Draco didn't understand why his parents were so adamant against using the Imperius Curse. It wasn't as if he was hurting anyone like with the Cruciatus or the Killing Curse. These were just political games and neither one seemed to care about the fact that he was taking away Alexandra's free will.