Malignant ••• George Weasley

Chapter 1 - The Shop

He could feel her behind him. He couldn't see her, but he could damn well feel her.
His breathing was laboured as he sprinted through the dark, empty streets, ducking through alleys, desperate to throw her off his tail.
A cat screeched somewhere in the distance, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.
She was getting closer.

He pushed the thoughts of what she might do to him out of his mind, focusing on out-running her or finding a good hiding place.
But nobody could ever truely run or hide from her.

His footsteps echoed loudly around him in the darkness making him curse his heavy footwear.
A flash came from beside his head making him yelp like an injured dog.
She was close enough to hex him.
He swore under his breath at his careless fumbling hands which caused him to drop his wand earlier at the mere sight of her.
He could have disapparated by now if he still had it.

He spotted a large rubbish bin up ahead.
Glancing back over his shoulder for any sign on of her, he noted the coast seemed clear and leapt into the putrid muggle contraption.

Rotten food and plastic wrappings greeted him from his fall, making him want to retch.
He gently closed the lid and settled quickly to stop the rustling of the surrounding rubbish.
He held his breath.

Footsteps approached, quick and confident before slowing and finally coming to a stop.
Beads of sweat rolled down his face, stinging his eyes. His lungs were screaming for air and his hand was encased in a brown sludge that used to be food.
But he dare not move or make a sound.

The footsteps started echoing again. He couldn't figure out if they were coming closer or moving away.
Time seemed to slow to a stop as he waited, his ears searching for a sound and panic making bile rise in his throat.

The bin lid was thrown open.
A smirking face peered down at him, a wand pointed inches from his face.
He let out his breath, despair washing over his body as desperate tears leaked silently from his eyes with the probability of what was to come.

Her smooth voice penetrated his distress.
"Your tears are what I live for."

Then darkness.

••••

She picked up a large colourful box and carefully examined the outside. 'Skiving Snackbox' was the name boldly printed on the front, in large black letters. Turning the box over in her hands to read the back she saw more of an explanation;

'A range of sweets to make you ill!'

The back of the box also boasted small pictures of the contained sweets and the effects each one has. She wrinkled her forehead slightly in confusion over why people would be willing to swallow these and cause themselves sickness, as short lived as the symptoms may be.
It's funny! it is... and she should enjoy it, this was in a joke shop after all. 

She had walked past this particular store more times than she could count. On this particular day on her way back from Gringotts Wizarding Bank, she had time to kill and decided to venture in. It was a quiet Thursday afternoon after all, the usual bustle of children and even adults pouring in and out of the doors would be otherwise occupied by work or school.

As she was trying to convince herself to find these products amusing - she felt eyes on her, someone was approaching her from behind.
She placed the box casually back on the shelf and touched the wand hidden at her side.

"Hello! Welcome to Weasley's Wizard Wheezer's! Is there anything I can help with today?"
A peppy, deep voice came from behind her.

Taking half a second to glance over her shoulder not even looking at the man, she indicated she was not interested in his help.
"No thank you."

She felt the man falter slightly. She was good at feeling what she couldn't see. She could feel that his eyes were raking over her and his demeanour was questioning.
With a sigh she turned slowly to face this person who hadn't taken her prompt to leave her alone.
Keeping a straight face, she was almost surprised at who she found to be looking at her.
A tall, red headed man who's freckles were scattered over his handsome features, he had an easy but curious look in his hazel eyes. He was toned and the muscles under his shirt flexed slightly as he lifted an arm to give her a cautious wave.

She said nothing and stood with a steady, smouldering, yet menacing gaze into this mans eyes. This never failed to scare away most people she did not feel like interacting with.

However much to her surprise, he only smiled and gave a small chortle of laughter, pushing his flaming hair away from his eyes.
"I'm one of the owners of this store, my name is George Weasley. If you need anything, I will be over there by the counter."
He smiled widely and trotted off to where he had just gestured to, humming to himself.

Weasley. She knew that name. A family of Pure-bloods, lots of children. He must be one of them.
True Pure-bloods were hard to come by these days and usually extremely full of themselves. George Weasley over there was clearly a pleasant person, at least on the outside. Who knows what goes on behind closed doors.

Curiosity took over. Grabbing the closest item - which she noticed was a box of fireworks, she walked confidently to the counter where George was leaning.
"I'll take these... George." She pulled a smile onto her face.

If she was being honest, it wasn't hard to muster a smile when she looked at him. His grin was contagious, he oozed charm.

"I'm Cove." She imitated the little wave he had given her earlier, at which he looked absolutely besotted and thrilled. He smiled back even bigger and began chatting away about the types of fireworks they had in store and how to get the most out of them.

Now, it wasn't really a lie she had just told. One of her names was Cove. She had two names. Her real name and her cover name. However, she often just used her cover name everywhere she went, in fear of unveiling her real name to the wrong person and having an undesirable figure work out her true identity. Her personal life was her own, in which she preferred to keep private and away from the dealings she found herself surrounded in.

She had not picked the name Cove for herself, she didn't much like it. The name was given to her by the people she worked for.
Her real name was Juna Trigwell and she worked for the Magical Intelligence Unit.