Marcus entered Gregor’s practice knowing that he would be leaving here after donating his semen to his long-time friend. It had been less than a day since he had been given his mission by the Dark Lord and Prince. Marcus had to admit that he was not a hundred percent comfortable with having the Weasley bitch be the mother to his child but she couldn’t be any worse than Mathilda.
‘Marcus Flint, I have an appointment at 3:40 with Healer Whitehead,’ Marcus instructed the receptionist.
‘Please take a seat,’ the receptionist said. ‘Healer Whitehead’s apprentice will call you presently.’
A couple of minutes later Gregor's Apprentice Jason Smith appeared from out of Gregor's office. The annoyance on his youthful face even more than apparent his perfectly bleached blonde hair was. Marcus could not help but compare him to Lockhart who had thought he could duel but failed so spectacularly at it that a first-year Mudblood would be able to beat him.
‘Marcus Flint,’ the young Smith boy called.
Marcus followed the young dark haired apprentice through the bleached white corridors knowing that should everything go to plan he would be out of a job in by tomorrow morning. Marcus would have felt more guilty had it not been for the fact that it was only due to his family ranking that he had not been asked to leave before. They had apparently tried before only for Lord Smith to kick up a fuss about his nephew being sacked and threatening to withdraw funding.
Marcus was lead into Gregor’s office where the Healer himself was already seated behind his desk. Both Marcus and Gregor already knew what was going to happen in this meeting. This whole appointment was solely for Jason Smith’s benefit or rather detriment considering they were laying a trap for him which would end up with the young man out of a job.
‘Ah Lord Flint,’ greeted Gregor. ‘What seems to be the problem?’
‘I have been recently trying to conceive a spare with a willing surrogate,’ Marcus began. ‘But we’ve been having troubles. The same happened when Mathilda and I were trying to conceive our first. It took us twelve years to do so with Mathilda taking many fertility potions. I had always thought it was all her fault but now I fear some blame may be attributed to myself.’
‘Are you sure it is not the surrogate?’ asked Gregor.
‘She is getting checked out by her Healer,’ Marcus replied.
‘Good,’ Gregor said. ‘Well I can’t say more until I have a sample of your semen.’
‘I expected as much,’ Marcus said.
Marcus produced a small vial of his semen hoping he was not making a huge mistake in going along with the Dark Prince's plan as he handed his semen over to the Healer. Such a small thing that could destroy the good name of his line far more completely than even his son could do. Or raise it up to new heights that Marcus knew his son could not do.
‘Thank you, Lord Flint,’ nodded Gregor. ‘You shall be informed when more is known. Speak to the receptionist about payment options.’
Marcus nodded getting up from his chair and leaving the small office behind him. Marcus spotted the Dark Lord and the young Prince entering the Healer’s office as he left. He nodded to the Slytherins who were careful to conceal their emotions. Everything had gone to plan so far. Marcus would just hope that things would remain doing so because he really feared for his child’s life should it not do so. He would not let any child of his remain in the Light sided clutches for long!
- - -
Severus was unsurprised to be once again called to the Dark Lord’s sider where he found the Dark Lord, the Slytherin boy, Lord Flint and Healer Whitehead. There was a small vial of white substance on the table which Severus took to mean that everything had gone according to plan. Now Severus had to just convince Dumbledore he had done as ordered.
‘Is this it?’ Snape asked.
‘Yes,’ Whitehead said grimly. ‘The wards are done and the door has been left open by an unlocking spell.’
‘Yours?’ asked the Dark Lord.
‘Yes, my Lord,’ Whitehead agreed. ‘I masked my signature so that no one can connect it with me.’
‘They’ll be able to tell that the signature was masked,’ warned the Dark Lord. ‘Not that it was you but that the signature is masked. That will not be surprising considering what was stolen it will not be expected to be your usual brand of lower class criminal otherwise potions would have been stolen.
‘Smith will likely be believed to have been bribed to leave the wards down. Possibly even have sold Marcus’ sperm. However, it will be hard to be proven especially without the victim coming forward,’ the Dark Lord continued. ‘Severus, take the vial. I am confident in your abilities to make it believable to Dumbledore.’
‘Lord Flint,’ the young Slytherin said gravely. ‘This is your last chance to back out. After Severus hands the semen over there will be no way to go back. Are you sure you want to do this?’
‘Yes, my prince,’ Marcus replied immediately.
‘Severus, you are dismissed,’ the Dark Lord said.
Severus pocketed the small vial of semen going over the ways that he would tell Dumbledore he had got the semen. Before realising that it was better to just stick to the truth. It would come out soon enough that a vial of semen had been stolen from Whitehead Healing Practice so if he told the truth that he had stolen it from there then it would be believable.
Severus marched into Dumbledore’s office and deposited the small vial on Dumbledore’s desk. Dumbledore looked between the vial and Severus and then back again a smile growing on his face. For the first time in what seemed like months something was going right for the old man or so he thought at least not realising the Light were once again being manipulated.
‘Is this?’ asked Dumbledore.
‘Yes,’ Severus said grimly.
‘How did you acquire it?’ asked Dumbledore.
Severus snorted a sneer on his face, ‘seems like the brat can’t keep it in his pants. Apparently he’s been having unprotected sex. The Dark Lord wanted him checked for sexually transmitted diseases so dragged him to Whitehead’s for a test who asked for a sample of semen much to the brat’s horror.’
‘Where did you hear this?’ asked Dumbledore.
‘Overheard the argument when I was called yesterday,’ replied Severus quickly. ‘Potter was mortified and convinced it was unnecessary. Maybe this will convince him to keep out of young witch’s beds.’
‘It would be useful for us if he were to have a reputation as it would not be totally unexpected if he were to have a child turn up,’ Dumbledore said.
‘No, I suppose not,’ agreed Severus.
‘So how did you get the vial?’ asked Dumbledore. ‘Were you caught?’
Severus looked offended, ‘of course not. It was easy enough to Imperio Jason Smith into setting the wards down wrong. All I had to do with my signature masked was use an unlocking charm to get in and steal the vial from the cold store. And I masked my presence the whole time.’
‘Good,’ Dumbledore said. ‘We cannot afford to lose you. Now it is too late to discretely get Mrs and Miss Weasley up here. However, I will leave letters asking them to meet at half nine tomorrow.’
‘Do you want me there?’ asked Severus.
‘No, Molly, was a Healer, she’ll be more than up to standards for what needs doing,’ Dumbledore said. ‘Ad you are likely to just make the girl nervous.’
- - -
Gregor walked into work from the Apparation point the next day unsurprised to find the rest of his colleagues in complete and utter disarray. Just as he had expected them to be after everything Gregor had set into motion last night. After all Gregor returned at ten to eleven several hours after the last of those working in the lab had gone home for the night.
There Gregor had carefully made it look like one of the ward stones had been knocked out of place making the rest of the wards unstable. One overpowered unlocking charm cast with a stolen wand and masking his magical signature brought down the flimsy wards in place. This allowed Gregor to enter his own practice and pocket Marcus’ vial of semen and leaving without anyone being any the wiser.
Gregor made sure to wear a confused frown on his face as he took in the “closed for training” sign on the surgery door. Thankfully, they were a private practice so could do so without approval of the Ministry. Still they would have to report the theft to S.H.A.M. (Society for Healers and Mediwizards) which could cause problems but Marcus trusted the Dark Lord not to allow S.H.A.M. to close his personal healer’s medical practice down.
‘What’s going on?’ Gregory asked a mediwitch.
Mediwitch Wood scowled, ‘your Apprentice happened.’
Gregor knew that it was not Smith’s fault at all but in fact was Gregor's. Still someone had to take the fall for the theft and if it had to be someone it would not be him, his practice, or his able staff. All Gregor could hope was that Smith was not charged with conspiracy to commit line theft as he would get the Kiss the same as the Weasley bitch would get in nine under a year's time.
‘What has that foolish boy done this time,’ scowled Gregor.
Avery blinked at him, ‘you do not like him, then?’
Gregor snorted, ‘if it wasn’t for his Uncle threatening to withdraw his funding and complaining to the Board I would have asked him to leave a long time ago. So what has he done, now?’ Gregor said not having to act long suffering where Jason Smith was involved.
‘He did not set the ward stones properly when closing up,’ Avery said darkly.
Gregor hissed in shock and anger, ‘that stupid boy. Has anything been stolen?’
‘That’s what we’re trying to figure out,’ Avery said grimly. ‘It’s why we’ve closed for the day so that we can take a stock check of everything. Hopefully, if nothing has been stolen we can keep this quiet without the Aurors or S.H.A.M. having to be involved.’
‘We will still have to file an incident report,’ Gregor said grimly. ‘Hopefully, it won’t affect the audit in March. Has anything been found missing?’
‘No,’ Avery said.
‘What has been checked so far?’ asked Gregor.
‘Potions class I – IV,’ replied Avery.
Gregor nodded knowing that they would have wanted to check the potions first as there were many potions that could be sold on the black market for one reason or the other. Potions that needed a Healer’s prescription due to the potential side effects. It would take them time to realise that that was not what had been stolen and Gregor was not going to risk being implicated by pointing them in the right direction.
‘Hopefully none of the most dangerous potions have been taken then,’ Gregor said.
Potions as with magical creatures had a danger rating I to V just instead of varying amounts of x’s roman numbers were used. Potions with a classification I were potions like the colour change potion that were harmless and usually for non-medicinal use. Class II’s were harmless medicinal potions which were the types of potions non-potions masters were allowed to brew. Class III’s were potions with light side effects usually only medicinal. Class IV’s were potions that had heavy side effects such as addiction. Class V’s were potions that either could result in death or were Dark which were very few in number although they had a few.
‘Who was the last person here last night?’ asked Gregor.
‘Smith signed out at just after eight,’ Avery replied. ‘Since then there was no one until Apprentice Hipworth came back in at twenty to eight it must have been Smith who did not correctly place the ward stones.’
‘I am going to deal with Smith,’ Gregor said. ‘Let me know if anything is missing.’
‘Yes, Healer,’ Avery replied.
Gregor was unsurprised to find a very nervous soon to be ex-Apprentice wearing a hole in his office floor. The young man knew that he would be out of a job without any references which would make finding another Healer who would take him next to impossible even with his Uncle's influence. And that was if Gregor didn’t press any charges for negligence which would make it impossible to get a job anywhere.
‘When I left here I activated the wards properly,’ Smith said.
Gregor knew that much was true as when he had returned to practice the wards were in perfect working order. Still Gregor couldn’t let Smith know that as he had no wish to be found culpable even if it wasn't really line theft as Marcus had given permission but no one especially Dumbledore was to know that. No he had to plant self-doubt in the young man’s head which shouldn’t be too hard considering that he had already lost the cocky edge.
‘Someone must have come back and deactivated them making it look like it was me,’ Smith said stubbornly.
Gregor did not like how close Smith was getting to the truth even if it was quite by accident. Still he doubted anyone else would believe it as no one liked Jason Smith and would think that he was trying to shift the blame for his stupidity onto someone else. It wouldn't like it would be the first time he'd done that. All he had to do was make Smith seem as stupid as he knew he was.
‘And why should they do that?’ demanded Gregor.
‘To get me fired,’ Smith said.
‘You think someone would risk their job just to get you sacked,’ Gregor said raising his eyebrows.
Gregor did not know whether to be amused or ashamed at the size of the young man’s ego. If the Dark Lord himself had not requested Gregor to disrupt his wards there was no way he would have done so. Certainly he’d have never done it to get the Smith boy fired even if he did want the boy to go. He had been counting off the days until he could recommend to Lord Smith that the boy was suited for a specialising in a branch of healing not done in this small office and shoving him onto one of his competitors.
‘Nobody likes me here,’ muttered Smith.
‘Given what has happened I think there may be a reason for that,’ Gregor said darkly. ‘No one has signed in or out since you left last night. Did you know that, Smith? So do you know what I think?’ Gregor said sharply.
‘I think you made a mistake when re-setting the ward stones for the night and now you are trying to shift blame on someone else. This is the last straw and is hardly your first offence. Luckily for you none have endangered our practice but enough is enough!’
‘My Uncle-‘ began the boy.
‘Your Uncle may be powerful but not enough to prevent our powerful clients from pressing charges against you should they find out what has happened. If you are lucky then nothing will have been stolen. However, if I find so much as one vial missing I will do everything in power to sue you for everything you’ve got. Do we understand each other, Smith?’
‘Yes, sir,’ muttered the ex-apprentice.
‘And don’t expect any references after this latest incident,’ sneered Gregor. ‘And stay here until we’ve finished doing an inventory.’
‘Yes, Healer,’ the boy said much subdued.
Ten minutes later the youngest Healer and his former Apprentice who had actually got her position out of merit turned up in his office looking distressed. Clearly she had just found out about the missing vial of semen. Galena knew that should Marcus go public then their other patients would likely leave and they would be all out of a job not just Jason Smith.
‘What’s missing?’ demanded Gregor.
‘Lord Flint’s sample of semen,’ replied Galena.
Gregor groaned as though he realised what it meant for them that Lord Flint’s semen had been stolen. Smith went white as if just realising that even his Uncle could not protect him from Marcus Flint’s not inconsiderable wrath. Galena looked like she would have preferred it to be as simple as drug theft instead of line theft which if they were considered accomplices would all be condemned to the Kiss.
‘It would have been better if it had been drugs,’ muttered Galena.
‘Yes, it would have,’ agreed Gregor with a sigh.
‘Do you think it was line theft?’ asked Galena.
‘It certainly looks that way,’ agreed Gregor.
Smith whimpered at the word knowing that if he was blamed for it and thought to be complicit he would get the Kiss. Luckily no one wanted the boy to die when it was not needed no matter how annoying he may be. Or at least not most days but there had been days where had Gregor not been a healer and taken vows to preserve life he would have plunged the scalpel into Smith’s neck and left him to bleed out on the floor.
‘What happens now?’ asked Galena.
‘Are we going to contact the Aurors?’ asked Smith nervously.
‘Luckily for you as the only theft was the semen of a client patient confidentially prevents us from informing the Aurors of anything until we have spoken to Lord Flint,’ Gregor said.
Unsurprisingly this did not make Smith feel any form of relief. Marcus like many of the Inner Circle was never so much as suspected of being a Death Eater apart from those who thought all who disagreed with Dumbledore and agreed with Dark politics were Death Eaters. However, Marcus was well known and respected as a brilliant duellist even now he was retired. Add in his political power he was not someone you wanted to piss off.
‘Or maybe not so luckily,’ mused Gregor. ‘I am going to contact Lord Flint. It will be up to him how to proceed. I am sure you do not want to be around when he is here.’
‘Yes, Healer,’ murmured Smith.
After Smith and Galena had left his office Gregor contacted Marcus asking him to come in immediately. Gregor was sure that knowing how important this was that Marcus would not hesitate for longer than it needed to look uninvolved. Not that that was very long considering that Gregor had phrased his request so that it could be easily misconstrued that the results had come back with something chronic.
And sure enough ten minutes later Marcus turned up making Gregor suspect he had been waiting for Gregor’s call. Not that Gregor could blame him considering the Weasley brat would be bearing his heir soon enough. And if the Dark Prince’s plans went wrong then he would lose his child and possible the future of the Ancient and Noble House of Flint to the Light side.
‘Lord Flint I am afraid there has been a break-in last night,’ Gregor said gravely. ‘The vial of your semen has been stolen.’
Flint hissed, ‘where were the wards? Aren’t the wards on this place top class?’
‘Yes,’ agreed Gregor uncomfortably. ‘Unfortunately an Apprentice did not seal the wards properly last night.’
‘Where is this Apprentice?’ sneered Marcus.
‘He is currently with the junior Healer,’ Gregor said. ‘He has been sacked for negligence. If you wish to sue him for negligence then I will be happy to testify against him.’
‘No,’ Marcus said sharply. ‘Have you contacted the Aurors?’
‘Not yet,’ Gregor said. ‘We were unsure whether anything had been stolen. Until that point there would be no point contacting the Aurors for an open door. As your semen is the only thing that was stolen we had to contact you for how to proceed.’
‘But you are going to tell the Aurors?’ asked Marcus.
‘Yes,’ agreed Gregor. ‘We legally have to report the theft.’
‘But you do not need to mention my involvement,’ Marcus said.
Marcus did not say nor need to say that Dumbledore would presume the client to be the Dark Prince. That was, of course, what they wanted Dumbledore and the Weasleys to believe so they would leave the Dark Prince alone. It wouldn’t be until it was too late would the truth be revealed that it was Marcus Flint and not Hadrian Slytherin’s semen which had been taken.
‘No,’ agreed Gregor. ‘Without your permission it would be a breach of patient-healer confidentially and my vows would prevent me from saying anything.’
‘Is there any way that the Aurors would be able to make you reveal the truth?’ asked Marcus.
‘With a court order they could,’ Gregor admitted. ‘But they are unlikely to do so as you are the victim even if you wish to remain anonymous.’
Neither of them said that they would have people in the Auror department keeping a watch on the investigation and the Wizengamot. Any show of attempting to gain a court order would be met with greased palms and threats. The corruption in the Ministry of Magic was sometimes very useful for the Dark side even if Gregor wished there was no corruption.
‘I trust you will keep this incident quiet,’ Marcus said.
‘Yes,’ Gregor said.
‘And I hope to hear that the person responsible has been punished,’ Marcus said. ‘And if my investigator finds that you or your company were complicit I will make sure you never so much as put plasters on a werewolf again.’
‘Yes, of course, Lord Flint,’ Gregor said quickly as the Lord swept out of his office.