De Die In Diem: From Day To Day

The Hunted

A couple of minutes passed after Lucius knocked on the door, some of the longest minutes of his life. He knocked again. Several more minutes passed. Lucius knocked a third time. Finally the door opened. He saw Adriana and a smile came over his face as relief flooded through his body.

"Adriana, I can't believe I finally f---"

"Whatever it is you're selling, I'm not interested," interrupted Adriana, who then slammed the door in his face.

Amazement and frustration showed on Lucius' face. "This is going to be much harder than I thought," he said to himself.

Adriana stood against the door and sighed deeply. She had known this moment was coming, yet was not as prepared as she felt she would have been. Taking a slow, deep breath, she turned around and slowly opened the door again. "Yes, can I help you?" Adriana asked Lucius.

"Adriana, I---" Lucius began before being cut off once again.

"I'm sorry do I know you?" Adriana looked at him questioningly.

"You know damn well who I am," Lucius snarled.

"I'm afraid I don't, maybe you could tell me your name and it'll spark a memory," Adriana went on.

"Lucius Malfoy," he responded with clenched teeth.

"Hmm...Malfoy, the name does sound familiar, but I'm afraid I can't place your face from anywhere. Where have we met?"

I don't believe this! You know who I am!"

"I know who you are, but do you know who you are? That's the real question."

Trying to calm himself down, Lucius stood silently for a moment, taking in the sight of Adriana. He had never seen a woman dressed like her before. She wore a simple low-cut white tank top and very short cut-off jeans shorts that frayed at the ends. She was barefoot and had pearly pink painted toenails. He liked that look on her a lot.

With her hands on her hips, Adriana tapped her foot on the ground, impatiently awaiting what he would say next. Her eyes glared at him and her mouth was drawn tightly. Lucius felt an impulse to lean forward and tickle Adriana to put a smile on her face, yet thought better of it and kept his hands to himself.

"Well, don't just stand there letting the cold air in, come inside," Adriana said huffily, ushering Lucius inside her home. Lucius stood by the coat rack, taking off his cape and taking in his surroundings. The house was warm and open and lightly coloured. An off-white carpet met his feet and extended from the front hallway into the extensive living room. A large open kitchen loomed at the far end of the house. Closed doors led to more rooms. He wondered which one was the bedroom. Large windows on every wall let in light from the outside. Adriana's house was everything that Malfoy Manor was not: cozy, homey, giving off an aura of goodwill. Lucius was immediately filled with a sense of homecoming.

Lucius walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. Adriana followed him into the room and watched as he made himself at home. "Oh, by all means, please sit down," Adriana said smartly. She stood at the far end of the couch with her arms folded, staring at Lucius. "Well I must say you found me sooner than I expected," She said.

Lucius looked at her with surprise on his face. "What do you mean?" He asked.

Adriana unfolded her arms, walked to a desk, opened a drawer and pulled something out. Walking to Lucius's side, she unfolded what she'd taken from the desk and dropped it in his lap. Lucius picked up a familiar piece of material that turned out to be the scarf he'd taken. "Saxby," He began, "I'm going to kill him!"

Adriana smiled and spoke, "Well now, don't kill him, he was just doing what I told him to."

Lucius looked blankly at her.

"I caught him prowling around here a few weeks ago. I was able to convince him to help me to help you. I thought it might be fun," Adriana grinned evilly.

"So all those places I went to, you gave Saxby the addresses?" An angry look began to creep up on Lucius' face.

Sitting down on the other side of the couch, Adriana continued, "I did. And I for one have had a great time imagining what you've been going through. Did you go to all the addresses?"

"No, there was one more," Lucius said slowly.

"Did you get to the swamp?" Adriana asked eagerly.

Lucius shook his head, anger overcoming him.

"Oh, I was hoping you'd go there first. Too bad," Adriana purred at him. She saw the look of anger and confusion on Lucius's face and explained, "I knew you'd be looking for me. It was really only a matter of time, so I figured, why not have some fun with it?" The confused expression on Lucius's face remained as strong as ever. "All right, obviously you don't get it. Let me explain step by step for you. Step one, I drop my scarf for you to pick up. Step two, you get frustrated with no luck searching for me and hire somebody to do it for you. Step three, I lead you on a wild goose chase. Step four, I have loads of fun watching you go on a wild goose chase. Step five, if you're lucky, you actually find me. And I must say that you did very well," Adriana said, her smile remaining very strong. She sat back and watched Lucius as he took in all she had said. He was still holding her scarf which he held in his fists that clenched ever more tightly with each of her words. His knuckles were white, as well as his face.

Lucius had been so sure he had the upper hand in the search for Adriana that he was completely taken aback by her revelations. Thoughts of strangling her danced through his head. He was so angry he couldn't speak. She had actually rendered him speechless, and this time no magic had been involved! Lucius's brain began to thaw out from his anger and he thought about what she'd said. She knew he would be looking for her. She had dropped her scarf on purpose. That meant that she had wanted him to find her! He knew his irresistible charms would draw her in eventually.

Adriana sat at the other end of the couch with a smug look of triumph on her face. Lucius slid down closer to her. "I had to find you, there is so much I have to ask you. How does a young girl like yourself have such extraordinary powers? And why do you live in the Muggle world? And why do you consort with the likes of Dumbledore?" He asked, while a look of distaste crossed his face. With each question, he moved closer to Adriana until he sat with his leg touching hers. Placing his hands on her thighs, he leaned against her, Adriana leaned back until she reached the arm of the couch and couldn't move anymore. Trying out some of his more successful seductive moves on Adriana, he was disappointed at what she said.

"What makes you think I'm just going to tell you all of this? It really is none of your business you know," Adriana said, a look of amusement on her face, clearly ignoring all of his efforts.

Anger overtook Lucius once again. Sitting back up, and grabbing his walking stick, he detached the wand from it and held it against her chest. "Listen, girl. Answer my questions or you'll regret it," Lucius snarled at Adriana.

With the same look of amusement, Adriana chuckled softly and spoke, "You'll find that won't work here."

"What?" Lucius asked.

"Your wand. As long as you are here, it won't work," Adriana clarified.

"And why not?" Lucius questioned her.

"Because I don't want it to," She said simply.

Lucius felt like his head was about to explode. Tossing his wand aside, he lunged at Adriana, hoping to get his hands around her neck. He stopped in midair, unable to get a hold of her. Adriana looked disapprovingly at him before releasing him. Lucius had clearly gone mad with anger, for the first thing he did when he could move, was lunge at her again. This time, when he froze, he felt a slap across his face though she never raised her hand towards him. Adriana narrowed her eyes at him, waited for a full minute and released him. The third time Lucius lunged at her, he bent over in pain, and slid off the couch, coming to rest on the floor. He didn't know what she was doing, it wasn't a Cruciatus curse, it seemed to be Adriana's own personal blend of painful defensive spells. After several minutes, the pain subsided, yet Lucius remained on the floor.

Adriana saw that the third time was indeed the charm and slid off the couch next to him. Leaning forward, she made careful eye contact with him. "You have many things to count towards yourself, Mr. Malfoy, but clearly, intelligence isn't one of them," She said slowly and deliberately. "Do you yield?"

Unable to bring himself to say anything, Lucius slowly nodded his head, an air of defeat surrounded him. Looking up at her as she sat back down on the couch, he had a whole new respect for her. She was even more powerful than he had imagined. He couldn't wait to find out how she had gotten to be that way.

Adriana stood up from the floor and began walking towards the kitchen, "Would you like to stay for tea?" She called. Dragging himself to the side of the couch, Lucius slowly pulled himself up to a standing position and walked into the room several steps behind her. He found a seat at the kitchen table and sat, resting himself, while Adriana was busy fixing the tea.

After several minutes, Adriana stood at the kitchen table and poured the tea while Lucius gazed at her. Distracted by his intensity, she poured boiling hot water over her hand by accident. Gasping and setting the teapot down, Adriana stood there, looking at the red mark growing on her left hand. Alarmed, Lucius jumped up, grabbed her by the wrist and gently led her to the kitchen sink. Turning on the cold water, Lucius put her hand under the cool stream. He stood next to her, put his other hand around her waist and held her close to him. Adriana showed no signs of resistance, but only stood there silently, with her eyes closed. He slowly slid his hand up over her shirt, the length of her body and stopped when he reached her breasts. They were just perfect, fitting in his hand, soft yet firm. He ran his thumb over the wrist of her injured hand, and entwined his fingers in hers. Lucius bent down to her ear and nuzzled her for several moments. Overcome with curiosity, Lucius whispered, "You have such strong powers, you could heal this in a second, yet you don't. Why?"

Adriana's eyes opened wide. Looking up into Lucius' eyes, her heart fluttered. She pulled away from his embrace and walked back to the table, leaving Lucius standing at the sink, soaking his black leather glove in the water. The spell had been broken. "Why do you always wear gloves? Even indoors?" Adriana asked, hoping to change the subject.

Lucius returned to his seat in silence, not answering her question. Adriana put a cup of tea in front of him and kept herself busy looking around the kitchen for things she didn't need. "Do you want any sugar?" She asked him.

"Yes, if you don't mind," He said politely.

Going to a cupboard, Adriana took out a bowl of sugar and found a spoon. Pouring a couple of spoonfuls into the tea, she stirred it thoroughly before making her way to the sink and washing the spoon for a long time. Lucius put the cup to his lips and took a sip of the tea and nearly spat it out. Adriana had mistakenly put salt in the tea, not sugar. She stood at the sink with her back to him rambling on about the best way to make tea. "The key is to let the leaves steep for no longer than five minutes. And thoroughly strain the leaves afterwards. I hate it when the tea has leaves in it, don't you?"

Lucius was struggling to respond to her, he was busy trying to drink without gagging or throwing up. Grimacing as he swallowed another mouthful, Lucius in a strained voice responded, "Yes, I agree completely." Looking into his cup, he saw that he wasn't even halfway done yet, why did that cup have to be so large? Taking a deep breath, he took another mouthful of the horrid mixture and managed to swallow it. When he had finally finished it, Lucius thought he could do a victory dance, yet somehow managed to compliment her tea-making abilities instead.

Adriana turned around, leaning against the sink. She looked as though she was debating with herself before opening her mouth to speak. "Why did you come today?"

Clearing his throat, Lucius stood up and walked around the kitchen. Coming next to her at the sink, Lucius leaned back, standing side by side with her. "I just...wanted to see you again. I wanted to find out how you had gotten so powerful. I've never met anybody who could do magic without a wand."

"Well, it would take a lifetime for you to learn how I did that!" Adriana laughed airily.

"No, really, how did you do it?" Lucius looked at her earnestly.

"Practice," She responded simply.

At this time an owl flew to the kitchen window and fluttered outside it until Adriana reached to the latch and opened it to let the bird in. "Hitchcock, hello!" She cooed at the owl who was bringing her a message. After untying the rolled parchment from his leg, Hitchcock flew back outside and out of sight. Adriana unrolled the parchment and began to read. Chuckling, Adriana rolled it back up and stuck it in her back pocket.

"Who was that from?" Lucius asked nonchalantly.

"Severus," Adriana replied. "We've been corresponding since we met at Hogwarts. He's such a sweetie. He likes sending me recipes for potions I should try."

"Oh, really? Severus, eh? Well, don't let me stand here and interrupt your important letter from Sevvy." Lucius looked put out as he started walking to the main hall to leave. Reaching the coat rack, Lucius made a big show of putting his cape on and preparing to leave her house. Adriana walked up to him to see him out.

"Well it was good of you to stop by, Mr. Malfoy. Do come again if you're ever in the neighbourhood," Adriana said, acting the perfect hostess.

"Do you really mean that?" Lucius asked, looking slyly at her.

"Uh, I suppose so," Adriana said slowly. "But there are some ground rules that must be followed. If you agree to follow them, you are allowed to return, if not, then I will have enjoyed the one time you came to visit me."

"Ground rules?" Lucius asked cautiously.

"Your wand will never work while on my property. Also, I will assign you challenges which you must accomplish while you are here."

"What do you mean, challenges?"

"Well you don't expect to just sit around all the time when you're here do you?"

"What do I get if I do them?"

"I will answer one of your questions. If you do not want to ask a question then I'll think of some other type of reward."

"Like?"

"A kiss, perhaps?"

"I like that! Do I get a kiss today?"

"Well, you didn't do anything challenging, did you?"

Lucius remained silent for a moment, yet thought to himself, You didn't drink that tea, did you! Talk about a challenge!

Adriana opened the front door and the couple walked out onto the porch. Lucius walked to the first step and stepped down. Adriana walked up to him, now they were face-to-face. "I suppose you did pay me a kindness today that was worthy of some type of reward." Adriana placed her hands on Lucius' shoulders and drew her face closer to his. Smiling, she placed her lips on his cheek and gave him a very light, fluttery kiss, before pulling back to an arms-length width from him. "Well, good afternoon Mr. Malfoy, I'm sure we will meet again." Adriana turned and walked back into her house, shutting the door behind her.

"I'm sure we will," Lucius murmured to himself before turning and walking back down the lane to his car, grumbling about drinking awful tea and getting a mere brush on the cheek as payment, and driving away.