De Die In Diem: From Day To Day

The Hunter

Lucius' voice had returned to him by the next morning. His loud bellows could be heard by the house elves in the hallway outside his bedroom. They hurried to bring him breakfast, which for once, he ate in bed. His mood soared as he thought about the previous night. He still had his clothes on from yesterday and Adriana's scarf was in his pocket. He could smell her scent on it. The only thing that would have made his experience perfect, was if he'd actually been with Adriana. He relived the events of the evening several times in his mind that day, and each time he felt his face flush with excitement and pleasure.

His mind was filled with Adriana over the next several days. He relived every moment he'd shared with her. He came to realize she was a very powerful witch. The day in the trinket shop, the Masque, the dinner party, Hogwarts, he realized with a shock that at none of those times had he seen her with a wand. She didn't use a wand? Unless she kept it well hidden. But she'd have to use it, right? He remembered what she'd worn at all their meetings. She'd worn the occasional necklace, but nothing magical stood out to him. No wand, or magic ring, or anything that could contain magic. He'd never known anybody who had ever performed magic without a wand.

She could talk to him in his mind. He was a strong Occlumens and Legilimens, and wasn't used to anybody, not even the Dark Lord, prying into his mind like that. On top of that, she could send him images, and didn't have to be present to do it either. Lucius thought of the New Year's Masque and how Dumbledore had come to her rescue so quickly. She must have summoned him. She didn't need to use words to produce a successful spell either. She had silenced him without opening her mouth.

She also seemed impervious to the cold. The night of the dinner party, on the veranda, he'd been freezing, yet she had not even seemed to notice the snow. And the clothes she wore at Hogwarts, were most definitely not winter wear.

Adriana seemed to have some of the strongest powers he had ever heard of and Lucius wondered how she did it and of course, how he could use them for his own purposes. All he had to do was to find her and figure out how she had developed them. Then she would help him to fulfill his greatest dreams. Lucius had always wanted to succeed Voldemort as the next Dark Lord. He saw that Adriana was the key to his success or failure. "Lord Lucius" The name sounded good as it rolled over his tongue. He imagined the things he'd do as Lord Lucius. It would make all he was doing with the Chamber of Secrets seem like child's play. And all the humiliation and suffering Adriana had put him through would be repaid ten fold, most likely more.

The only problem he had was not knowing where Adriana was. He had still not had any success searching for her with her full name, or at least the one she had given him. The little bitch had probably given him a false name. If he ever had the fortune of finding her, the first thing he was going to do was to wring her scrawny little neck.

Lucius had finally come to the realization that he was not going to be able to find her on his own. He had to get help, but it had to be discreet. He considered which of his contacts would be best suited for this job. Maybe it was time to call up a favour from one of them.

In the master bedroom, Lucius found a quill and parchment and began to write to the man who would help him. Harold Saxby, a man who had a reputation for finding anything that couldn't be found, was just the one to help. He had not needed him yet, but knew he was trustworthy, or at least would be if he wanted to remain alive and in business. Attaching the note to an owl, Lucius sent the letter to Saxby giving him an hour for later that day to meet by fireplace.

Lucius spent the rest of the day in his room planning on what to say to Saxby. All he had was a possible name, a physical description and the scarf he'd taken. He was wont to part with it, but if it helped find her, he would make that sacrifice.

That evening, Harold Saxby appeared in the fireplace of Lucius' bedroom at the appointed time. Wearing a black cape over a blue suit, Saxby walked into the room and shook Lucius' hand. Saxby had mousy brown hair, hazel eyes, and a thick handle-bar moustache. Lucius carefully explained his request of Saxby and the importance of keeping this as quiet as possible. He pulled the scarf out of his pocket and handed it to Saxby. Saxby folded it up and put it in his inner coat pocket. He told Lucius he would do everything in his power to help him find Adriana and returned to his office via the fireplace.

Over the next few days, Saxby followed a few leads he had but no more luck than Lucius had. Lucius checked in with Saxby every day. Upon reporting back to him after the third day, Lucius told Saxby he was not trying hard enough and that he'd better step up his efforts. Saxby carefully studied the scarf dropped by Adriana. There was a label on it bearing the name "Christian Dior" A little research showed this to be a Muggle clothing designer. Saxby widened his search to include the Muggle world and came up with several leads. After trying all of them, he found a few possibilities. Out of the ten or so leads, he came up with five that had actual Adriana sightings.

The next time Saxby met with Lucius he had planned on telling him this and explaining that the next step was to thoroughly explore each of those places to see which was really where Adriana lived. Lucius was impossible to deal with, yelling at Saxby for not knowing exactly where she was, and for taking such a long time to find her. Saxby was deliberately taking a long time so he would have to pay him more. Lucius resorted to name-calling and threats in order to inspire Saxby to work faster and harder. Saxby became fed up with this and threw the parchment with the possible addresses at Lucius and promptly quit on the spot, disappeared through the fireplace before Lucius had time to protest. The only choice Lucius had was to go to every address himself and check them out.

The things Lucius would do for power, he couldn't believe he was actually going to enter the Muggle world. More unbelievable to him though, was the fact that Adriana willingly lived there. She was perhaps the most powerful witch on the planet and living among those filthy, idiotic Muggles. He looked at the list of addresses: a store, a restaurant, and three homes. Lucius figured he'd get the store and restaurant out of the way first, since she most likely didn't live there. Perhaps she worked at one of these places.

The next morning, Lucius dressed in his most impressive black clothes, took up his walking stick, and set off for the first place on the list. Taking the jet black Bentley from the garage that Lucius kept in case of such emergencies as this, he put a spell on the car to drive for him, and take him to London.

By midmorning, he had found the first address on his list. After the car parked itself, Lucius stepped out and walked to the doorway of the store. "Adriana's Bridal Boutique" the sign above the door read. Taking a deep breath, Lucius opened the door and stepped in. A flood of white attacked his senses. White cloth, white flowers, white carpet, white walls, his eyes began to water at the brightness. Women were being fitted for dresses which felt reminiscent of Madam Malkin and her robe shop, only brighter. He wasn't used to electric lighting, how could Muggles stand it?

An overeager clerk approached Lucius. "How are you today, sir? How may I help you?" She was a young, red-haired girl with large green eyes, who looked to be no older than 18 or 19 years old. "Are you looking for something? Helping your fiance perhaps? I'm sure I can help you find what you're looking for"

Having been extremely careful through his life to stay as far away from Muggles as possible, being this close to one began to make him feel uncomfortable. Instinctively backing away from her, Lucius held his walking stick in front of him like a shield. "Does a woman named Adriana Orendes work here, by any chance?"

The girl stepped closer to him and looked into Lucius' eyes. "Hmm. No, the owner is named Adriana, but that's not her last name. Sorry."

Frustration welled in him as he turned to leave. Not paying attention to where he was walking, Lucius brushed against rack full of veils. Half a dozen veils fell off and entangled themselves around him. Buried in a mountain of white tulle, Lucius stopped walking to disentangle himself. The girl who had spoken to him came running up to help free him. Between the two, they soon unwound the veils from Lucius' body. "I'm terribly sorry sir." The girl said, sounding slightly amused. Lucius glared at her, willing himself not to do anything imprudent. Mustering up what dignity he could, Lucius departed from the boutique, and made his way back to the Bentley.

He would try the restaurant next, if she wasn't there, he was going back home. He couldn't take too much of this in one day. The restaurant was also in London, so Lucius didn't have to travel too far to find it. The Orendes Family Greek Restaurant stood out from the other stores around it due to the rather large pillars outside it that connected to the overhanging rooftop. Smells of strange foreign food filled the air as Lucius took a few steps forward towards the restaurant. Looking in the window, he saw many tables filled with Muggles. They had dark skin and hair like Adriana and his stomach gave a hopeful lurch at the thought of finally finding her.

Walking to the door and entering, the lively sounds of Greek music filled his ears. He was hungry and the smells were quite enticing. But he didn't know if he could bring himself to eat Muggle-made food. The thought made him feel positively ill. Looking at the menu didn't help much, he didn't know what any of the words meant. Scanning the English translations, one word stuck out to him, "Oysters". Pan-fried oysters with a lemon-garlic sauce. If there was one culinary weakness for Lucius, it was oysters. He'd eat them raw, fried, baked, any way. He couldn't believe he was actually going to do this, he really didn't have any idea what had come over him lately. The hostess asked Lucius if he'd like to be seated, and before he knew what was happening, the word, "Yes," popped out of his mouth, and he found himself following her to a table and sitting down.

When the waitress came to his table, he ordered the oysters and sat back, taking in all his surroundings. He kept an eye out for Adriana, but didn't see her. The restaurant was clean, and dimly lit and filled with happy couples eating romantic dinners for two, or families with many loud children. Lucius was the only patron by himself.

Lucius's food came several minutes later. He'd never had Greek food before and took a moment to look carefully at what he was about to eat. The oysters smelled delicious and were served with sauteed vegetables and some type of rice dish. Picking up his fork, Lucius carefully tried the rice and vegetables. They had all sorts of herbs and spices he'd never tasted before. The oysters were flavourful and perfectly cooked. He actually enjoyed every bite of his meal. He even ventured to try the baklava for dessert and was not disappointed.

Two important things happened when the waitress came and brought him his bill. Lucius asked the waitress if Adriana worked there and was disappointed to find out that she didn't. He also realized that he had no Muggle money with him. He had been in such a hurry to find her that he hadn't thought everything out thoroughly. "Damn it," He thought to himself. Picking up his bill and looking over his shoulder, Lucius made his way to the bathroom and stepped inside. Walking into a stall, he made sure the room was empty before apparating to his car and driving away as quickly as possible.

Lucius drove back to Malfoy Manor, to prepare for another long day of searching for Adriana. The next morning, Lucius stopped by Gringott's and exchanged some of his money for Muggle currency, just in case, before leaving for the next address.

The last three addresses were for homes, so one of them had to be hers. Lucius drove to an area several hours further south than he had the day before. Houses were close together and all looked the same. He was almost there, as he found it, he looked for a place to park the car. As Lucius walked up to Number 4 Privet Drive, he hoped somebody was home, ideally Adriana. After rapping on the door with his walking stick, he met a person who was most definitely not Adriana. A woman with long, blonde, straight hair and a bony, horse-like face, stared at Lucius with large, alarmed eyes. The woman looked at the clothes he wore, screeched, and slammed the door in his face. Her screams continued as she called for somebody. Suddenly, silence emerged from the house and from the corner of his eye, Lucius could see two sets of eyes looking at him from behind the front window curtains. These Muggles obviously knew what Lucius was and weren't too keen to speak with him. Making eye contact with them, he lunged at the window, enjoying watching them pull back from the window and scream in unison. Chuckling to himself, he walked back to the car, realizing that after all this time with Muggles, he had finally found some who knew how to truly respect a wizard.

Driving away, Lucius looked at the next address, it was in the same general area as this last place, but closer to the coast. He drove for an hour or so, until he saw the countryside change. Houses were spaced further apart and farms dotted the land. The car drove to a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. It was obvious that the owner of this place was rather prosperous, as there was a lot of land fenced off around the house. Lucius parked across the lane from the house and got out of the car. The house was huge, one level, ranch-style, long and sprawling, with a large wrap-around porch. He could see a pond behind the house, along with a barn and corral on one side, and an orchard of some type of trees on the other.

Lucius slowly walked up to the house, taking in all the sights. As he came to the front door, he opened up the screen, raised his walking stick and rapped on the door.