Amici ed Amanti

Disclamer: Everything belongs to JKR and her various publishing companies.

With Friends Like These...Who Needs Enemies? Part 1

"I really don't think she's going to fall for this."

"Trust me," said the perky redhead, snapping her silver compact closed after checking her lipstick. "She will say yes."

The brunette shook her head. "I don't know. She was your maid of honor..."
"Show a little faith, Mere. She'll do it."

"What if she's on to us? She has to know that Murphy is going to ask Liam to be his best man."

Stephie gave her other best friend a winsome smile. "She's distracted, she'll say yes before she realizes the consequences and she's too polite to bow out."

"Oh, I hope Lucy Ann doesn't end up hating us for this!"

"Trust me, she'll be thanking us when she's shagging Liam's brains out."

"Do you think that'll happen soon?" Mere asked, eyes going wide at the possibility. "I mean they haven't spoken in months."

"Of course I do," Stephie said with a sly smile. "All they need is to be trapped together and nature will take its course."

"What about Dmitri?" Mere asked, broaching the subject of the tall, dark haired wizard that Lucy Ann had been seeing for the past month. His easy smile and accent drove all the witches crazy.

"Aleksandrov? He's a passing phase."

"He seems rather taken with her," Mere reminded her friend, trying to be the voice of reason here. She really wasn't keen on meddling in someone else's love life. "And she seems to like him well enough."

"He's all wrong for her. He's a musician, for Circe's sake. She can do better than that! Besides, he'd want to take her back to St. Petersburg and that is too far away," Stephie pouted.

"But wouldn't Liam whisk her away to Italy?"

"Maybe, but they'd be in England all the time and we could visit anytime we wanted. And with Liam it's different - he's one of us. Besides, it's fate that they get together."

"How so? Fate has only kept them apart thus far."

"That's because fate hasn't had my help yet."

"Why does this frighten me?"

Stephie laughed heartily. "When have any of my plans ever failed?"

"There is a first time for everything, you know," Mere reminded her friend once again, before taking a sip of her lemonade.

"That is where Murphy comes in. He's still going to Australia isn't he?" Stephie asked, turning very serious. They'd plotted for weeks to send Mere's fiancé to Australia to ask Liam to stand up with him at the wedding. He was the best person to gage Liam's state of mind without arousing suspicion. Muphy's visit was imperative to knowing what they had to work with when they finally got the wayward Malfoy back on English soil.

"Yes, but he's not happy about it. He says an owl will do."

"Did you impress upon him how important this is?"

Mere sighed. "He said he didn't care and that he wasn't going to be part of scheming. He said he wanted Liam to remain his friend when everything goes to hell."

"He's going to do it right?"

"Of course," the brunette said slyly. "He'd do anything for me."

"Who'd do anything for you?" Lucy Ann asked, coming up behind her two friends and startling them.

"Murphy," Mere answered quickly, giving Stephie a wide-eyed look.

"You're so lucky," the third member of the party said wistfully as she took her seat.

"Ash needs a little work, but I can get him do anything I want."

Lucy Ann snorted. She knew exactly how her sister-in-law got her brother to do anything she wanted. "Work you don't mind."

"I never said I did," Stephie said saucily. "And how are you Miss-I-Never-Have-Time-Anymore-for-a-Girls'-Lunch?"

"I've been busy with work."

"You've been busy with Dmitri is more like it," Mere said with a grin.

She sighed. "I haven't seen him in a week. I just haven't had the time."

Her two friends exchanged knowing glances. Just last week she'd pitched a fit over a photo essay in the Qibbler entitled, "The Many Aussie Loves of Liam Malfoy," showing him at some of Sydney's hottest spots with a different lovely witch hanging on his arm. The red-headed twins had sent her around the bend. No matter how much she tried to deny it and no matter how handsome Dmitri was, Lucy Ann was still in love with Liam. This worked greatly in their favor - it would just make it all that much easier to get them together. Stephie was amused at just how easy this was going to be. They'd be happy and together before they even realized it.

"So, we've been discussing wedding plans," Mere said, shifting the subject to the matter at hand after Stephie kicked her under the table. "I think we've settled on colors - a deep forest green and ivory offset by fall flowers."

"Are you still having the wedding at Agecroft Hall?" Lucy Ann asked, trying to seem interested, but her heart just wasn't in it. Her mind was elsewhere - specifically on the Witch Weekly with Liam's picture on the cover that was lying on the table.

"Murphy wouldn't have it anywhere else."

"And I think Mere has something to ask you," Stephie butted in.

"Yes, Lucy Ann, would you do me the honor of being my best bridesmaid?" she asked cautiously.

"Yes, yes, of course, I'd love to," Lucy Ann responded absently as she reached for the magazine. She missed the I-told-you-so look her sister-in-law gave their friend.

Phase one of The Evil Plan was complete. They had her right where they wanted her now. She would be forced to deal with Liam one way or another soon, very soon. Everything was falling neatly into place, just as she planned it and Stephie could scarcely contain her glee. Dmitri would be a piece of cake to get rid of. Cart her sister off to Russia over her dead body...

Phase two would commence in a few days when Murphy left for Down Under.

Her triumphant glee was interrupted by a magazine being tossed disgustedly down on the table. It was open to a picture of Liam frolicking in the surf on a warm golden beach with an impossibly gorgeous blonde. It was apparent they were having more than a good time by the way they laughed and moved closer together over and over in the picture. Liam was going to require a bit more work than anticipated.

"For Merlin's sake, just how many more bints are there left in Australia?" Lucy Ann grumbled.

Well, maybe a lot more work.