𝐎𝐟𝐟 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬 | | 𝕝𝕦𝕔𝕚𝕦𝕤 𝕞𝕒𝕝𝕗𝕠𝕪

𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬

And don't you, don't you, don't you know?
There's nothing more cruel than to be loved by everybody
There's nothing more cruel than to be loved by everybody but you

Nothing ever came of the Rita Skeeter scandal, much to everyone's relief. They either weren't caught or Rita simply didn't remember anything. While Lucius most definitely wanted to show up at Victor's house and teach him a lesson, Katherine begged him not to. "There will come a time, don't worry. We'll get our revenge at some point."

While the scandal was out of her mind, something else wasn't. Lucius was acting suspicious, disappearing for days at a time, being silent at mealtimes. She made it her mission to figure out why. The Third Triwizard task was coming up, and while he had promised they would attend the last task she had heard no word on when that was, what she should wear, how they were even getting to Hogwarts, nothing.

Snooping around was one of Katherine's specialties, however, and she was determined to get to the bottom of what Lucius was up to. She laid on her bed on her back, her bare feet pressed against the cold wall as she reviewed what she knew in her head:
1) Lucius was involved in the wizarding war and plead innocent by use of imperious curse
2) Lucius acted suspicious whenever she brought up the war
3) Lucius acted suspicious when she asked if there was anything suspicious going on
4) Lucius was speaking to a lot of weird, suspicious looking people at the masquerade ball
5) Lucius was suspicious.
Suspicion alone wasn't a enough, however. Katherine needed proof, concrete evidence that Lucius was involved with something.

Abernathy.
If anyone were to know anything it would be him, the old silent butler who hears everything. So one afternoon when Lucius and Narcissa were out, she decided to have an interrogation of her own. Luckily, she found him in the library dusting the shelves, the small man surrounded by dozens and dozens of discarded books. He bowed to Katherine when she entered, which was returned by a smile. Katherine leaned against one of the pillars, watching him intently.

"Good afternoon, Abernathy."

He stopped for a moment, bowing again. "Good afternoon. How can I help the mistress of the manor on this lovely day?"
"Mr. Malfoy told me to gather some of his letters and notes for when he and Mrs. Malfoy get back, that's all. Do you know where they are?" Katherine asked, stepping away from the wall to move to the desk.
"They're in the drawer, miss. I don't know if Mr. Malfoy would want you in his personal drawers." Abernathy nervously responded, stopping his dusting to look at Katherine with a watchful eye.

"Nonsense, Abernathy. I'm his assistant, I'm allowed to gather his things. I can't read them, but I can grab them for him. He did give me free reign over the house." She responded coldly, opening up the drawers digging through them. One drawer was locked shut. She cursed to herself, searching for a key. No luck. Her head turned to the bookshelf and she noticed a book that was not covered in dust like the others.
Perfect.

She grabbed the book and shook it, a small key falling out of the pages. Jamming the key into the lock, she opened the drawer to find a few loose pieces of parchment. Notes, all scribbled in faded ink. She quickly grabbed the notes, stuffing them into the inside of a random book. Abernathy was still watching her carefully, and she hummed before locking the drawer.

"Find what you were looking for, miss?" Abernathy asked, and she nodded before leaning against the wall again. Now it was time for some questions to be asked and answers to be heard.
"Abernathy, how long have you been working for the Malfoys?" She asked, her hands still clutching the book.
"30 years. I started when I was a teenager, Mr. Malfoy graciously offered me employment as a favor to the ministry. See, my parents were both wonderful magic folk who worked for the Ministry of Magic, and so were my siblings. But alas, I did not inherit magic, despite be raised in a wizarding household. My parents asked Mr. Malfoy to take me in so I wasn't cast out into the Muggle world."