By Any Means - Golden Trio Era

34. An Offer They Can't Refuse

"Fuck you." The Italian man spat as soon as Sep lifted the silencing charm.

"I will forgive this one insult, as an olive branch to our new friendship." Rio said, calmly, keeping her hand pointed towards the man. It was so much easier to remain calm when she wasn't the one with a wand in her face. "More insults will be punished though."

"From what my sister has told me, it seems that your operation in Britain is in shambles. It just so happens that we are always looking for new sources of income." Sep said.

"We're not picky. Galleons are galleons." Rio added.

"We will buy product from you and build a new operation. We are independant though. Do not expect us to kiss your feet. The Gaunts kneel to no one." Sep said. He understood what she was aiming for. Perfect. She gave a smile to her brother, he winked back.

The Italian man and Gregory shared a look. Gregory gave a slight nod. The other man clearly wasn't happy.

"And if we refuse?" The man asked.

"We kill you." Rio said simply. "Then we pay a visit to each of your families and kill them."

"Yes, Gregory, Milli too." Sep said with a smirk. She was so proud of him right now. He was playing his part perfectly. Whether Sep could kill Milli or not, they had to make the men believe that they would.

The colour drained from the mens' faces. Rio had already used one unforgivable curse effortlessly, it stood to reason that she could again.

"We'll play fair. We wont ask for a low rate. I mean it when I say I want us to be friends." Rio said. She stoop up and walked over to them. "So, what do you say?" She held out a hand for them to shake.

"Friends." Gregory said, shaking her hand.

"Friends." The other man said, much more reluctantly.

"Good." She picked up their wands and held them out. "Try anything and powers much greater than us will come down on you. We have other, higher purposes and this... side business is simply a means to an end."

The men seemed uncertain. Normally they'd take such comments as idle boasting and grandstanding but something in Rio's voice and her actions thus far convinced them that she was earnest.

The two men took their wands. Gregory chuckled suddenly.

"You know... We just wanted to scare you tonight and test you." He said.

"We were going to offer you a similar deal... If you impressed us." The other man said, clearly humiliated and frustrated at being cruciated. He would get over it. Surely it wasn't unheard of in their line of work. She even watched him torture someone for hours. He was a hypocrite if he claimed it was uncalled for.

"We clearly underestimated you." Gregory said. "You have exactly the temperment we hoped for. When Nicolo told me that you'd joined him, and how you seemed completely unaffected by the display, we suspected you would be perfect."

"A little too perfect..." The man, she now realised was named Nicolo muttered.

"But one warning. If you harm a hair on Millicent's head, I do not care what fresh hell your supposed allies unleash, I will make sure that you both suffer." Gregory said, his whole demeanor darkening.

"We stay friends and none of us have to worry about our mutually assured destruction." Sep said with a disarming smile. "Now, lets discuss logistics..." He said, gesturing for them to take seats. The twins sat on the end of their bed while the men took the armchairs.

They agreed the details of their agreement. Nicolo's people would handle the smuggling and they would exchange goods and money in a house a short distance outside of Hogwarts. The twins would be responsible for everything from their end, from building networks and selling their new products. They originally weren't going to provide any protection or any of their remaining contacts that had evaded the Ministry's crackdown on them. Sep managed to negotiate that they would pay a bonus sum now and take over the salaries of these people once they saw profit. They were still in school afterall and had much more to deal with. They couldn't set aside the time to micromanage a fledgling business. They wanted to inherit as much of the existing infrastructure as possible.

It turned out that the business was less of a formal arrangement and more of a network of international contacts. There were two aspects of the business. The first was to simply offer not-so-legal goods for sale in either secret shops or through word-of-mouth selling. The second was more interesting. They had people who would be approached by a client looking for something specific. They would then find the requested goods for the client, using the web of contacts. There were agreements in place to make sure that no one spread into each others sphere of influence. They would have free reign over all contracts in Britain.

Overall it seemed much more interesting than what Rio initially expected. She thought it was simply a drug empire. Sure they would make money from that but it didn't exactly excite her. This, however, opened doors for them. With their new contacts, they could pick out some of the most spectacular pieces that pass through their stock for themselves. This was perfect.

By the time the sun was rising, none of them had slept. They drew up contracts and made unbreakable promises not to cheat or betray each other. Gregory agreed to be their primary contact, Nicolo clearly was still sour about being tortured. They now had a business. Their plans for success were coming together.

AN: Originally, I was going to make this a cocaine empire but frankly, I prefer this black market 'fixer' vibe instead. I hope you all agree. It is also easier to tie in with the rest of the story instead of being an awkward bolted on side story.