the sweetest con [d.m]

twelve

"I don't want you going in there."

Draco's voice is low, meant for only her to hear.

Mavi turns to face him, her eyes skating over his team assembled behind him — all on standby. "It's just Nezryn."

"What if Aumutage is in there?" Deiji steps up beside Draco, clad in Auror uniform like he is. "I still think it's best we go in first."

Mavi shakes her head. "Trust me. If she's working with him—which I still don't believe—she's not going to talk unless she thinks she has the upper hand. I know her."

Draco's jaw is tight, one hand curled around the wand holster at his hip. She can tell he doesn't like this.

"I'll be fine," she says, softly, more to him than Deiji. She lifts her wrist, showing him the thin silver bracelet wrapped around her wrist — a matching one to the one around his own. "If anything goes wrong, all I need to do is touch this."

"Remember," Deiji reminds her. "Ten seconds, no less — and you have to say his name. Otherwise, it won't activate."

Mavi nods, looking down at the bracelet. Draco had given it to her right before he'd Apparated her to her apartment building.

"I'll be fine," she says again, gently as Deiji turns to give out orders to her team, telling them to surround the perimeter. "Trust me."

His eyes flicker and a muscle in his jaw twitches. "If anything happens to you in there," he says, voice low, "I'll never forgive you."

She wants to wrap her arms around him and breathe in his cologne, more for her comfort than his — but the situation between them has been rocky for a while now and she knows it's her fault.

So all she does is step back, weaving between the cars to head for the entrance to her building.

It all looks the same — narrow corridors, the rickety elevator that has seemed to be on its last legs for years now, the thin walls doing nothing to shelter from the bass booming from someone's flat on the first floor as Mavi ascends up to the third.

It's all so familiar — but for once, Mavi doesn't know what she'll encounter up there. Her bracelet feels heavy around her wrist, a reminder that Draco is only one touch away.

She walks down the hallway after the elevator doors open with a creak, her keys dangling from her fingers. She can hear the television playing, can hear the coffee machine running inside.

With a deep breath, Mavi unlocks her door and pushes it open, keeping her free hand wrapped around her wand. She's not taking any chances — regardless of how sure she is that Nezryn could never be involved.

"Hey!" Nezryn is by the coffee machine, grinning at her. She's dressed in a neon orange sweater over blue jeans. "You're home early."

"Yeah," Mavi says, stepping in, leaving the door ajar.

"I'm not complaining. They're showing a rerun of Pride and Prejudice — and I was just mourning the fact that you wouldn't be here, seeing as it's your favourite movie. Also, Dad dropped some beignets on his way to work so—"

Nezryn suddenly stops short, blinking at Mavi, her hand freezing around her mug of coffee. "What's wrong?"

"Why would something be wrong?" In her quick scan of the flat, nothing seems out of place.

"You have your wand out," Nezryn says, slowly, leaving her mug and turning to face Mavi, fully. "Did something happen?"

Mavi looks straight at her best friend and says, "Nezryn, who did you tell?"