Order Only Private message to Rachel

[alt_daphne]

When you have a moment, I was wondering -

I think I could use your advice, actually. How did you end up spying on Lucius for Ridley? Was it an assignment you were given, or was it an opportunity that sort of fell into your lap, and you took it upon yourself to get closer to him?

And as for the spying, how did it actually work? Did you just keep your eyes and ears open, or was it more involved than that?

Comments

[alt_rachel]

Lucius wasn't the first. It wasn't Ridley's idea. The opportunity presented itself, and Ridley was pleased with anything I could supply, so long as I didn't risk my cover.

Mostly I just kept my eyes and ears open. If I'd tried to pump Lucius for useful information he'd have been suspicious very quickly.

I had a couple of rules, for what it's worth. I never slept with anyone I didn't find attractive -- I mean, I suppose if Voldemort had taken a fancy to me and I'd thought I might have an actual opportunity to kill him, I could have tried closing my eyes and thinking of England, but that never came up. I was selective about the lies I told -- that's just good sense, though, it's much easier to keep your story straight if you lie as little as possible.

[alt_daphne]

I lie as little as possible in general, and if I have no other choice, I always embed it in a bit of the truth.

Lucius really is quite attractive, for a man of his years. Like an older Draco. But does Bill know that you were actually attracted to Lucius?

[alt_rachel]

Embedding it in some truth is a good strategy in general.

And yes, Lucius looks quite a bit like an older Draco. Bill, well, I don't lie about these things but he knows better than to ask me things unless he wants to know the answer. He hasn't ever asked me how many men I've slept with, either. And it's not something I would volunteer.

[alt_daphne]

I agree!

Oh. Well, I've only slept with two. I always assumed I would be at three by the time I was eighteen, though I'm not really sure where I came up with that particular notion or number. I conjured it up back when I had less serious things to contemplate, I think.

[alt_rachel]

Three does not sound like a lot to me. I'm sure it would to some men, though.

[alt_daphne]

Well of course it doesn't! You're not a man.

[alt_rachel]

If you're thinking about seducing Crouch, I don't recommend it.

[alt_daphne]

Well, thank you, but I wasn't asking for encouragement. Or discouragement, for that matter.

[alt_daphne]

And besides, Crouch is far too cunning to fall for something as deliberate and calculating as "seduction."

[alt_rachel]

Crouch is extremely cunning.

Cunning enough that there are quite a few Aurors in the department convinced he's a legilimens. He is smart, fast, and extremely dangerous.

[alt_daphne]

I know that all very well.

Which is why I won't try to fish around for information, or do anything out of the ordinary at all, other than allowing nature to take its course.

The opportunity came by chance, for the most part. At Sophia Novello's party, just before the school term began. Blaise escorted me, but it was one of those parties where you're meant to leave with someone other than who you arrived with. Sophia passed out these crystal flutes filled with aphrodisiac potions, and men went around and offered them to the women they believed (or hoped) had been trying to bewitch them. Thomas Evan tried to offer me his flute despite the fact that I was radiating disinterest, and Barty intervened. I was quite bewildered.

And then he escorted me home to my parents, and kissed me on their doorstep.

All sorts of people end up snogging at these types of parties. No one cares or bothers to remember. But he and I - we seemed to keep bumping into each other somehow, after that.

[alt_rachel]

Didn't he send you red roses once? When you were well underage? Though I heard he claimed he had no idea what that meant. (Auror gossip. Everyone in the department found the whole thing rather amusing.)

[alt_daphne]

He did, when I was thirteen. I had just played the part of his younger counterpart in a school play about the Liberation of the Ministry, written by none other than Karoline Baddock, née Moon. He found the whole thing terribly distasteful, but apparently felt bad (hard to imagine, from him?) that he might have hurt my feelings with his response.

But no, he didn't know what red roses meant. Not terribly cunning, that.

[alt_rachel]

Clearly, it had never come up in an Auror investigation before.

[alt_daphne]

Clearly.

But he's been a regular in Witch Weekly's "most eligible bachelors" list for what, decades?

If you're on a list, though, you're probably not used to having to try.

[alt_rachel]

No, I imagine that if he's in the mood for that sort of thing he mostly just refrains from dodging.