Pansy yawned and watched as her expensive muggle coffee-brewing device did its job. Aside from making certain there were enough coffee beans inside, she merely had to press a button and the device would brew a cup of coffee for her over the course of a few minutes. It was even easier than using her wand to conjure coffee from elsewhere, and who knows where it would have come from. The waiting did make her slightly restless, however.

Pansy wasn't usually this dependent on her morning coffee. But she hadn't slept well for the last couple of nights. Every time Pansy had been close to nodding off, she had remembered that it could be the night Hermione and her comrades would raid the muggleborn orphanage they had been staking out for the last week. If that happened, the Dark Mark on her forearm would burn painfully and Pansy would be thrown into a similar situation to what had happened a few weeks ago in Diagon Alley. It was enough to make certain that any sleep that Pansy had gotten was constantly interrupted by her own nerves.

The muggle device chimed, and Pansy watched as the steaming coffee drained into the porcelain cup she had placed beneath it. An impressive muggle invention, all things considered. Pansy had long since realized that the propaganda that spewed from the Daily Prophet about muggles having low intelligence and a brutish nature was not to be trusted. Muggles were quite capable of creating many beautiful and impressive machines, this coffee-making device being one of them. The catch, however, was that you needed money to access them. Pansy knew that if you didn't have the money to buy machines like these, or the exotic coffee beans Pansy had supplied, or the tastefully appointed apartment she was standing in now, then the muggle experience lost a lot of its charm.

Pansy sipped her coffee and took a moment to check her appearance in the hand mirror she kept in her purse. Successive nights with little sleep had caused the beginning of dark circles to form beneath her eyes, but it was nothing that a little concealer couldn't fix. Hopefully, the Resistance's plan would go off without a hitch, and Pansy could get a decent night of sleep soon.

But Pansy's concern for her own comfort paled in comparison to her concern for her girlfriend. Hermione had come up with the plan for liberating the muggleborn orphanage they were targeting. If Pansy knew anything about Hermione, it was that her girlfriend hated having other people take risks while she did nothing. Hermione would make it so that she would be the first one to enter the orphanage, and probably the last to leave. And Pansy would likely be unable to offer any assistance.

Pansy sighed and checked the clock on the wall of her kitchen. She was going to be a few minutes late for work at the Ministry, but that wasn't a big deal. A certain indifference to time clocks was expected out of an entitled young pureblood like her. Meeting the expectations of others was always useful for allaying suspicion, and Pansy was happy to fulfill this particular stereotype. She could take the time to finish her coffee and put off another day of being a cog in the machine that oppressed Wizarding Society. For a few more minutes, at least.

With a loud crack, Pansy Apparated into what was usually a fairly empty hallway close by her office in Security Services. That was not the case today. A dozen or so people were sitting on wooden chairs along the sides of the hall. Most wore black cloaks similar to her own cloak and had expressions ranging from annoyance to nervousness. Pansy recognized some of them as Death Eaters, though none of them worked in Security. She didn't know why they were here, but it probably wasn't good for her. Pansy met the few looks she got with a guarded expression of her own as she ducked into the office in which she worked. The first thing Pansy saw upon entering was that Bellatrix was standing in the middle of the room, apparently speaking to the other Death Eaters who had been on time.

"Parkinson! Not a good day to be late." Bellatrix announced tersely as soon as she entered.

Bellatrix was wearing her usual black cloak (which managed to be a shade or two darker than ones most every other Death Eater wore) and was carrying a bound folder in her hand. Pansy frowned but didn't otherwise react. There were times in which answering Bellatrix in a similarly grouchy tone was the way to go, but this probably wasn't one of them. Pansy made her way to her desk, which was unfortunately on the other side of the room, when Bellatrix raised a hand to stop her.

"Don't bother going to your desk. You're coming with me." Bellatrix ordered in a nettled tone, already turning to leave from the door Pansy had come in from.

Hermione's past assistance with keeping Pansy's emotions from showing on her face was useful once more, as Pansy was able to hide the burst of unease she suddenly felt. Where were they going? Bellatrix had never done anything like this before. Pansy had no choice but to follow her boss, however, and quickly caught up with Bellatrix as she got to the door.

The seated Death Eaters in the hall blanched at the sight of Bellatrix, but that wasn't terribly unusual. Her boss's temper was legendary, and Bellatrix had been known to curse people for simply being too slow to get out of her way. Some of Pansy's colleagues in Security had told her what Bellatrix had done to a halfblood courier who had been in such a rush that he had accidentally trod on the toes of Bellatrix's heels while he was trying to deliver a sealed folder. Supposedly, Bellatrix had simultaneously lit his shoes on fire while applying a Sticking Charm to keep them on his feet. It was a sickening story, and may not have been true, but it had served to always provide Bellatrix with a wide berth no matter how crowded the room was.

Bellatrix strode past the seated Death Eaters and made her way down the hall with Pansy behind her. Pansy was reminded of a similar experience half a year ago, when Severus Snape had ordered her to follow him down into the deepest part of the dungeons at Hogwarts. Pansy had been nervous then, of course, and she was nervous now. Much more nervous now, actually, as Pansy realized what Bellatrix was holding. It wasn't just any folder. It was bound with delicate black threads. Pansy couldn't see the binding, but it seemed to be one of the dossiers Bellatrix kept in her office.

Pansy swallowed slightly and was thankful that Bellatrix was facing away from her. About a month ago, Pansy had stolen a dossier on members of the Order of the Phoenix from Bellatrix's office. She had managed to return the dossier to her boss's office a day later and disposed of the fake copy she had put in its place without Bellatrix being the wiser. Or so Pansy had thought. Had she screwed up somehow?

Bellatrix finally stopped at a door that Pansy had never been to before. It was marked "Interrogation". Seeing this, Pansy barely managed to keep herself from reaching into her cloak to grab her wand. The impulse to protect herself was strong, but Pansy knew better. She didn't have a ghost of a chance against Bellatrix in a duel. Talking her way out of this was, by far, a better bet. Besides, Bellatrix would not have done things this way if she had any particular suspicion about Pansy. At least, Pansy told herself that as she followed Bellatrix into the room.

The Interrogation room consisted of a wooden table, three wooden chairs, (two on one side, with one on the other) and a bright, low-hanging light that was placed above the singular chair. All that was on the table was a quill and an inkwell. Bellatrix turned to face her, and then shoved the folder she was carrying into Pansy's chest none too gently.

"Wait for my signal before saying anything. When I give it, I want you to ask the questions on the page and write down the answers." Bellatrix ordered dismissively, sitting down on one of the chairs on the other side of the table.

Pansy stood rather gormlessly for a moment, trying to figure out what exactly was going on, when Bellatrix looked at Pansy like she was an idiot before making an irritable gesture to the chair beside her. Pansy got the message and sat down on the indicated chair. Pansy glanced over at Bellatrix, but her boss had simply crossed her arms and appeared to be waiting for something. If it had anything to do with Pansy, she couldn't tell. Bellatrix was looking straight ahead at the door they had entered from.

Pansy sat the folder down onto the table and placed her palm on it. Just as they had before, when Pansy had opened the dossier for Hermione, the black threads unwound themselves in response to her Dark Mark. Inside the folder, on the left-hand side, was a piece of parchment with five questions printed on it. Pansy recognized Bellatrix's jagged handwriting at once. On the right side were blank pages. This was definitely not the dossier that Pansy had stolen. That knowledge made Pansy's stomach unwind itself a little, though she was far from relaxed.

The door opened and a man wearing a black cloak walked in. Pansy thought she recognized him from the hall. He was one of the more nervous looking ones, and his expression hadn't altered a bit. The man shut the door behind him and stood in place. As there was only one chair unoccupied, it seemed pretty obvious to Pansy where he should sit, but the man hesitated nevertheless.

"Sit down, Ogden. We don't have all day." Bellatrix ordered tersely, fixing the man with her stare.

Ogden did indeed sit down on the other side of the table, squinting as he did so. The bright, low-hanging light over his head had to be distracting, and that was obviously intentional. Pansy sympathy for this other Death Eater was limited, however. If Pansy had to choose which of them would be subjected to Bellatrix's interrogation style, then she knew who she'd rather have in that chair.

"Alright, Ogden. I think you know why you're here." Bellatrix stated archly, still fixing the man with her penetrating stare.

"I didn't have nothing to do with those wands. That's not my area." Ogden protested swiftly as he began to sweat.

"You filter all internal correspondence within your department, Ogden! So it was very much your area!" Bellatrix shouted suddenly, standing up from her chair in a flash in order to loom over the seated man.

"Them envelopes are all sealed! I don't know what-" Ogden began hurriedly, leaning away Bellatrix in his chair.

"But you do know who the memos come from. And if you wanted to open one and reseal it, you could." Bellatrix interrupted in a quieter tone, now walking slowly around Ogden so that he kept having to twist his neck around to keep her in view.

Now Pansy understood. This Ogden must work inside the Ministry's Financial Office. It was the same office that Pansy had infiltrated earlier in the guise of Draco Malfoy. It had been the only place to get access to when and where wands would be transported, and it seemed that Bellatrix had figured that out without any trouble.

Even though Pansy knew now what was going on, some of her previous unease returned. Pansy was the one who had stolen the information, and this Ogden had nothing to do with it. The same was not true for Draco Malfoy, however. Would he be interrogated as well? Considering that Pansy had gotten the info directly out of his office, then it seemed almost certain that he would be. Would Hermione's Confundus Charm hold under Bellatrix's harsh interrogation? Pansy didn't know.

"But I didn't! I swear I didn't!" Ogden said in a rush, the sweat on his face now much more apparent than before.

"Then you won't have any trouble answering our questions." Bellatrix growled before giving Pansy a small nod over the man's shoulder.

Pansy blinked and looked down at the first question Bellatrix had written on the page. She picked up the quill from the inkwell on the table and cleared her throat before speaking.

"Ahem. Account for your whereabouts on Friday the 18th, starting from when you clocked in, please." Pansy asked in a polite, neutral tone.

Pansy had an idea about why she, in particular, was here. It appeared to be a very simple game of "good cop, bad cop". Bellatrix would intimidate and unsettle the interviewees first, and only then would Pansy ask the questions they wanted to know. Pansy might have had doubts about her ability to be an effective "good cop", but she didn't need to be. As compared to Bellatrix, even Pansy at her rudest and most hostile would probably be a welcome reprieve.

"Well, I got to my desk first. There was a pile of letters there like there always is, and I..." Ogden said in a rush, detailing what Pansy knew to be his irrelevant day as she wrote down what he said.

Pansy listened to Ogden go into excruciating detail about what turned out to be his very boring job. It was generally Pansy's practice to tune out conversations that she had deemed to be unworthy of her time, but with Bellatrix standing there, Pansy had to copy down, word for word, Ogden's day. And that was just the first of the questions she had to ask. But Pansy knew that she couldn't complain. It was far, far better than having to come up with a fake record of her own much more treasonous activities on Friday the 18th.

"Very well, Goldstein. Your answers will be verified, and if anything is amiss, you'll be back here to explain. Now go." Bellatrix ordered in a voice that hadn't lost its edge, even hours later.

Goldstein got up from the chair across the table and headed out the door quickly. Pansy dropped the quill on the table and rubbed her wrist. She had been writing for the last two hours with only a minute or two of rest between interviews. Pansy knew better than to complain or ask for a break from Bellatrix, though. The woman seemed tireless when it came to hunting down possible traitors. Even after hours of keeping her baleful presence turned up to 11 in the course of interrogating her fellow Death Eaters, Bellatrix showed no signs of slowing down.

Bellatrix had pulled out every trick in the book. From simple tactics like slamming her hands on the table, getting in the faces of interviewees, and accusing them of outrageous crimes just to see their reactions, to more sophisticated things like claiming that others who were interviewed previously had contradicted their information. Pansy had done her part by pretending to read aloud from past notes, when in reality she was simply contradicting whatever claim Bellatrix had signaled for her to challenge.

The whole thing was both physically and mentally exhausting to Pansy. She wasn't used to working at Bellatrix's practically inhuman pace. But the worst part was the knowledge that Draco Malfoy had yet to be summoned. Pansy was completely prepared to deal with the embarrassment of confirming that she had supposedly slept with Malfoy that night, as Pansy doubted that Malfoy would be able to hold anything back under pressure from Bellatrix. But she had no idea whether Hermione's Confundus Charm would hold under the strain.

"How many do we have left?" Pansy ventured, stretching her arms.

"A couple more. Draco should have been in here by now. My nephew doesn't set any more store by punctuality than you do, it seems." Bellatrix answered with annoyance, rising from her chair.

Before Bellatrix could get to her feet, the door opened. In strode a man with long, pale blonde hair. Pansy had met Draco's father, Lucius, many times at various dinners at each other's residences, but never at the Ministry. Pansy had no idea why he was here instead of Draco.

"Bella. Miss Parkinson." Lucius said, greeting both of them smoothly.

"Not the Malfoy that I was expecting. What is this?" Bellatrix asked in a quiet, yet still dangerous voice.

"I understand that you're investigating members of the Financial Office. So I took it upon myself to ask my son about his activities during the day in question. I have his answers here for you to look through." Lucius answered in a slightly tighter tone than before.

Lucius Malfoy produced a piece of parchment from inside his cloak and held it out to Bellatrix, who did not take it. A few seconds passed in silence before Lucius placed the parchment on the table and turned as if to leave.

"That is not sufficient, Lucius! I want to speak with Draco myself." Bellatrix stated angrily, once again rising from her chair.

"And I want to spare my son from your theatrics. You have everything you need on that parchment. If you're dissatisfied, you may take it up with the Dark Lord, but I wouldn't waste my time. I spoke with him earlier." Lucius said with a cool air, turning back toward the door.

Pansy watched Bellatrix's hands clench into fists, but her boss did nothing to prevent Lucius Malfoy from leaving. As a Death Eater, Draco's father was too high-ranking for Bellatrix to bull her way through him, and it seemed that the man knew it. But Pansy rather doubted that Bellatrix would forget about this slight, and wondered what exactly Lucius had bought for himself down the line.

Not that it was Pansy's problem. All the worrying she had done about whether Draco would crack under pressure was for nothing. His overprotective parents had covered for him, as they had done many times before. It was enough to make Pansy want to smile, except that she didn't dare with Bellatrix standing next to her. Pansy contented herself with retrieving the parchment Lucius had dropped and began copying the words down, this time with much more enthusiasm than she had before.

Bellatrix had ended up taking out her frustrations on the very last person to be interviewed, which turned out to be Draco's boss at the Financial Office. The man happened to be Millicent Bulstrode's father, and he was not quite as highly ranked a Death Eater as Lucius. That fact was all that Bellatrix needed to unleash herself upon him, and the man had left the room looking no less frightened than he would have had he been locked in a room with a manticore.

Pansy didn't feel particularly bad for him, however. Martin Bulstrode was a thoroughly greedy, rude, and unpleasant man who made life worse for everyone around him, including his wife and daughter. Millicent had complained about him many times in the pureblood common room at Hogwarts. Pansy had been far too self-absorbed and empathy-challenged back then to care, unfortunately. Now, though, Pansy felt as though it would be good to try to strike up a friendship with Millicent if they should meet again.

With the interrogations finished and Bellatrix in a worse mood than usual, Pansy had been quick to make herself scarce after that. As tempting as it was to leave work early, Pansy hadn't done so. Making a habit of strolling in a few minutes late was one thing, but blowing off work would draw attention. So it was that Pansy had gone back to her desk to plow through some of the forms that had been building up there for the last couple of days.

The work was mind-numbing, and Pansy struggled to make much progress. It was easy to get distracted, and seeing a member of Magical Law Enforcement nervously enter the room was enough to get Pansy to lift her head. Seeing him then knock on the door to Bellatrix's private office had her full attention. Of course, there wasn't any answer. Bellatrix had yet to return. On an impulse, Pansy decided to field whatever this man was going to report. Pansy stood up from her desk and quickly walked over to where the man was nervously standing.

"It's your lucky day. She's not here right now. You can report whatever it is to me, though." Pansy said to the man in an offhand manner.

Relief showed on the man's face. Speaking to Bellatrix was a dicey proposition even to fellow Death Eaters, and halfblood Ministry workers had been hexed before whenever reporting unwelcome news coincided with her being in a foul mood. Pansy herself was not particularly afraid of reporting bad news to Bellatrix anymore. She was quite used to being in the lion's den, so to speak, and it amused Pansy that this was another circumstance in which she looked brave, when the truth was far less glamorous.

"There was an owl sent to Magical Law Enforcement earlier, Ma'am. It was from the person in charge of a mudblood orphanage up north. Apparently, some people there absconded with a group of mudbloods. The woman in charge wasn't really clear how, though." The man stated gingerly.

Pansy's pulse quickened at the news. So it had happened. Hermione and her comrades in the Resistance had liberated the muggleborns in the orphanage in Manchester. There didn't seem to be any general alarm, however. Maybe the Ministry was underestimating the situation. If that was the case, then Pansy would play along.

"So? We're supposed to care if a few mudbloods are missing?" Pansy asked skeptically as she inwardly winced at using the slur.

"It's more than a few, Ma'am. From what the letter claimed, it sounded like half the orphanage was taken." The man said with a slight gulp.

Inwardly, Pansy was delighted to hear the news. Outwardly though, Pansy did her best to look taken aback. She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest, thinking. This report had gone to her and no one else here. Could Pansy possibly bury it? No, that was stupid. It would be found out soon enough, and Pansy would look awfully suspicious if Bellatrix or anyone else in Security Services figured out that she had tried to hide it. Pansy would have to inform Bellatrix. There was no getting around it. But she could give Hermione a little extra time, at least.

"Alright, I understand. I'll inform my superior. You can go now." Pansy said briskly.

The man nodded and hurried out of the room. Pansy let out a breath and slowly walked over to her desk. Having taken as much time as she reasonably could to cross the room, Pansy picked up a quill and wrote a note to Bellatrix explaining what she knew about the situation. With a quick tap of her wand, the note folded itself into a paper airplane and became one of the Interdepartmental Memos that flew around the various offices of the Ministry. They were an easy but not terribly secure way of transmitting information between departments. Their usage was frowned upon, but Pansy didn't particularly care if she got chewed out by Bellatrix. She had already cultivated a reputation for laziness, after all.

Before Pansy let the memo escape, however, she grabbed it and bent one of its wings before releasing it. The damaged memo fluttered away crookedly, barely maintaining altitude. Hopefully, it's sluggishness would make it take a few extra minutes to find Bellatrix, thereby giving Hermione and her friends a little more time to escape.

Pansy was sorely tempted to Disapparate from the Security offices right now. She could be the first to arrive at the muggleborn orphanage and make certain that nobody from the Resistance was still there by the time Bellatrix showed up. But if she did so, Pansy would again bring suspicion on herself. Bellatrix was ridiculously paranoid. If Pansy made a habit of working alone, secretively, in situations that just happened to involve the Resistance...well, Pansy couldn't afford to draw that kind of attention.

Feeling very small, Pansy sat down at her desk and resolved to wait. It was the smart thing to do. It was also the cowardly thing to do, and Pansy was unable to convince herself that cowardice wasn't the real motivation behind her decision. But Pansy had good reason to be nervous. Bellatrix would not have interrogated her fellow Death Eaters so forcefully if she didn't have the Dark Lord's permission. Which meant that he thought there might be a traitor among his followers. It wouldn't take long for this knowledge to trickle down to Pansy's fellow Death Eaters. From now on, everyone would be watching each other.

Pansy had to be as careful as possible. She wouldn't be of any use to Hermione and her friends in the Resistance if she was dead.

I decided to continue this with some plot. Apologies that there was no interaction between Pansy and Hermione. I'll do my best to ensure that there will be next time!