With you in my Arms

89. Get that put back in a cell

Henri Shaw could smell when something wasn't right a mile of. Something wasn't right here. The lawyer before him was showing all the signs criminals were showing when they knew there game was up. Which was a bit odd as there shouldn't be anything Pilliard Snuggens had to fear here. Except, it was Lucius Malfoy he feared, for whatever reason.

Grims stepped next to his boss and whispered into his ear.

"He was about to make a runner. Suitcase was already packed and I just managed to get him before he could reach for a seemingly harmless piece of parchment."

He produced said piece.

"It's a portkey to somewhere in China. The Chinese seldom extradite to any country except Mongolia on rare occasions. If he had managed to get there..."

The head of the Auror Office glanced at the wizard now standing as far away from the again standing prisoner. Why did the lawyer want to make an impromptu exit? Was there something he tried to conceal? A nasty suspicion rose in his mind.

"Mr. Snuggens, could you please explain to me, why you felt the urge to suddenly leave the country? Knowing that your services would be required in order for this affair to be put to rest once and for all."

No answer was forthcoming.

"Grims, go back to the office. I want you to find Allerby. Have him go through the Malfoy papers. All of them! I don't care how long it takes him, I want to know every detail that is contained within them. Send Longbottom, I think it's time he had a little chat with Mr. Snuggens here."

The lawyer paled. He had been around enough criminals to have heard about the special interrogation talent of the young wizard. He knew the lad was only an auror in training, but his reputation was already preceding him. He had until now never had the good, or bad luck as it may be, to meet him and he most certainly didn't want to make this acquaintance right now.

"Please." he muttered.

The aurors turned.

"I tell you whatever it is you want to know."

Henri Shaw made a mental note to give Longbottom a pay rise. Mentioning him alone seemed to already do the trick.

"I'm listing."

"Mr. Malfoy has been to see me two and a half years ago. He said he needed to put his affairs in order."

"So, you were the one devising all these stipulations knowing that the rightful heir, young Mister Malfoy, would not be able to claim his inheritance should he not able to fulfil them. But you already knew he wouldn't be able to do that, don't you? His father told you exactly what he needed in that will in order for his son to not get a Knut and being the obliging wizard you are, you did oblige."

"It was in exchange for the life of my wife." the now shaken looking wizard murmured, "If I hadn't done as he told he, he and his fellow Death Eaters would have killed her. She's a Muggle born."

Grims and Shaw exchanged glanced. It didn't excuse the failings of the lawyer, but made them understandable. At least he hadn't done it for money.

"What else is in that will you haven't told us about? What else needs to be done?"

A shiver ran through the man before him. Years had been piled on him in the last minutes.

"His wife, Narcissa, she'll have to witness him being... punished."

"I doubt that she'll like watching it, but she'll be free afterwards. So that shouldn't be a problem."

"But she has to be with a wizard that truly loves her at the some time."

Grims looked at his boss. He could see that he was thinking the same thing, thank Merlin for James Mulligan never giving up on her.

"You are telling me that he," a finger was pointed at the shackled Malfoy, "wanted his wife to be with another man by the time his final pay day came?"

Mr. Snuggens nodded. It was clear that he thought it impossible for something like that to happen.

"Was that your idea, Mr. Snuggens?"

The addressed wizard only nodded again.

"Did you want to make sure that there was a back-up plan, just in case Draco managed to pass all the other tests put before him?"

Another nod.

"Hm... What else?"

"The mother of the child must not know its name until the official Naming Ceremony."

"Playing on human nature and the intimacy of a couple here?"

"Yes. Mr. Malfoy thought no witch was capable of waiting a month before being told what her child would be called. He thought that his son would be giving in long before that."

'Let's hope he hasn't already done so!'

"Anything else?"

Shuffling feet, averted eyes and the even paler face colour told Henri Shaw that the big clincher was about to be revealed.

"Well?"

"The mother to the child has to be a Muggle born..."

Stunned silence followed. Grims and Mulligan exchanged glances. That couldn't be right. Surely.

"You are telling me that he, the pureblood supremacist extraordinaire, wanted his son to father a child with a Muggle born? A..." he hesitated, "A mudblood in his eyes?"

"Yes. He was absolutely confident that Draco would never so much as look at any girl that wasn't pureblood."

"Blinded by prejudice to the last." Henri shook his head, "Okay, Grims, take Mr. Snuggens back to the office and make sure he's kept close to hand."

The auror nodded. He knew that that meant he was to take the lawyer and lock him into one of the holding cells adjacent to the Auror Office.

"Mulligan, get that put back in a cell. We'll need to have a chat with some people."