Enclosed

Chapter Twelve: Manipulation

Rose hadn't left her office in 4 days (besides an occasional bathroom and food break) she was on lockdown. She'd resorted to charming the office door to prevent unwanted guests from pestering her during the day. With Hugo as the latest victim, she pushed herself into high gear and couldn't afford the distraction. Even if the distraction came in the form of Malfoy's complaints of boredom. 

He bugged her for the first day, but he must have sensed how important this was to her. He stopped knocking on her door and sending origami animals to dance on her desk. He left her alone to work which in her eyes was the kindest thing he could offer.

With a new extraction victim, Rose needed to prepare for an interview. The questions were prepped and ready to go. After two successful interviews, Rose trusted Malfoy to complete an interview. This one was different though. She was dying to be there and today she planned to plead her case. 

Rose spent the last few hours putting together an outline of her argument which highlighted all the benefits that would amount from her doing the interview herself. She identified the counterarguments, Malfoy was sure to come up with, and even put together pictures of who she could use polyjuice potion to turn into. Every loophole was covered and Rose was confident Malfoy would see her side of things and let her go.

Reviewing it once more, Rose found no mistakes and gathered all her supplies into her arms to look for Malfoy. She went out into the kitchen, blinking rapidly at the sudden change in light. 

She checked the sitting room and even went up to his bedroom to find it empty. For someone that complained about her leaving the safe house, he sure went out of his way never to be inside.

Rose ventured outside, drinking in the sunlight that bathed her pale skin. One of the many side effects of her job was that she didn't get to be outside as much as she'd liked. This meant her pale complexion suffered heavily from the lack of sun. It was lucky that her sunblock potion was readily stocked in her trunk. 

The sea was calm today, splashing gently against the stony rocks. The July air was dry and humid, causing Rose's hair to poof out more than usual. Normally, she took great care in managing her hair. Sleekeazy was her best friend and helped her control her hair into a professional bun or sleek ponytail. 

No matter how busy Rose was she always made it a point to fix her hair. Her Granger curls were the result of many taunts and bullying during her time at Hogwarts (Malfoy was one of the main instigators behind these taunts) When Rose wrote home to her Mum for advice she responded something about loving yourself. 

While Rose was all for loving herself as a person, she wasn't ashamed to admit that there were things about herself she wanted to change. Her hair was at the top of that list. 

When her Mum refused to help, Rose took it upon herself to fix the problem. She became one of Sleekeazy's number one customers and asked Victoire to teach her some tricks. In a matter of a week, Rose was great at braiding her hair and styling her curls. 

She ran out of her remaining potion last night. Rose meant to purchase more before packing for the safe house, but it slipped her mind and her hair was suffering for it. She tried braiding her hair, but the curls were unagreeable this morning.

Malfoy was going to get a hoot out of her hair. Rose was not looking forward to his taunts.

Seeing as Rose didn't see him around the house, she assumed he was taking a break at his spot. Last week Malfoy insisted on mapping out his patrol route for her in case of emergencies. He raved about this spot by the boat. He claimed it gave him the best view of the sea and he liked to spend his breaks down there. 

Remembering her last encounter with the shore, Rose proceeded down the stone pathway, using the rocks as a railing. 

She reached the bottom step and glanced around until she spotted Malfoy's pale blonde hair hidden in an alcove. She approached him slowly, making sure not to make any noise as she approached.