Back at Grimmauld Place, Snape was just finishing informing the members of the order of what Lucius Malfoy had told him.
"That's all there was." He finished off to the listening table. "Well, there was something else but I'm not sure that it is worth consideration."
"We might as well hear it." Lupin offered.
"Anything that could help bring down the slimy git." Sirius growled.
"Alright." Snape took a deep breath. "It seems that Lucius Malfoy has a new, er," he struggled to find the right word, "plaything." He gave a cruel smile to the assembled order members.
"How do you know?" Kingsley asked.
"Well, I didn't see much, but there was definitely someone else there this afternoon."
"What did you see?" Tonks asked curiously.
"A leg."
"A leg!" Sirius snorted. "Hardly enough to label a leg as his new toy."
"I saw enough to see that her outfit, whoever she was, left little to the imagination." A collective shudder went round the group at the thought of anyone who would want to spend time with a Death Eater. "I saw her face too."
"And?" Lupin pressed him to continue.
"I couldn't see much. She had long dark hair, but she was partly in shadow so that could have been the light, and she looked," he wasn't sure how to phrase this, "well bred I suppose; quite polished features, high cheekbones." He explained. "I suppose that she is how most Purebloods, especially those like Lucius Malfoy, like their women; tall, slender, very beautiful and, of course, Pureblood. You could say," he looked straight at Harry, "that they are almost like your sister except that they are bred for that sole purpose." Hermione gave a small gasp.
"That's horrible."
"It has been that way for a very long time," Snape shrugged, "generations of young women were born and bred to be beautiful and catch the most eligible man they could. They are also very well trained in sniffing out money and they are largely unattainable save for those with preposterously large Gringotts vaults."
"And what is your personal opinion." Arthur Weasley asked from the end of the table.
"About whom? Malfoy or this mystery woman?"
"About the mystery woman, although your opinion of Malfoy would be interesting to hear."
"I'll start with Malfoy first then." Snape paused, as if unsure where to start. "I have known him since I was in school and he was one of the main persuasive forces that made me join the Death Eaters. In terms of his eligibility, well, he had women practically queuing up to marry him. He could very well have been a playboy and chosen to have as many women as he could, but he only had eyes for Narcissa."
"Why?"
"She was the best. Descended from a very wealthy, very influential, very pure line; in effect, he married her because he considered her his equal." Snape explained. "True, they grew distant over the years but they still kept up the front of the happy, perfect Pureblood family for the sake of their public image. Narcissa was very much attached to him but he rarely gave very overt displays of affection in public. He was very aware of things that people could exploit against him."
"Anything else?"
"They always presented a united front; Narcissa always firmly behind her husband but never getting involved in the politics. She was, in a sense, the perfect Pureblood wife."
"What about after her death?" Lupin asked curiously. "How did that affect him?"
"He was quite shocked," Snape explained patiently, "shocked that this constant in his life was gone I think, but there was no massive outpouring of grief. Of course, since then, he has had an array of young beautiful women vying for his attentions but he hasn't really paid them any mind." Snape, like everyone else in the room, found this hard to accept as fact. "I know that such a thing is hard to believe, but I don't think he is at all interested in them. It is almost as if he wants something more than a pretty face. I think that any woman that attracts his attention now will have to be intelligent; in a sense have something more than other women that throw themselves at him."
"Or it is maybe that he already has someone." Sirius added.
"Yes. Regarding to his eligibility now, well, it is the same as ever; Death Eater or not. He is, at last count, the wealthiest private landowner in wizarding Britain. There are others, tradesmen for example, who have fortunes but there are none comparable to his. It is all old money, accumulated over the generations and it continues to climb due to careful investment. Of course, that sum does not include the value of his Wiltshire manor and grounds. He is the prize of prizes for any Pureblood woman who is looking to make a good match and secure her future."
"What about the woman then?"
"Well there are three options aren't there." Snape told them as if it was plainly obvious. "This woman, whoever she is, is either genuinely attracted to him, in it for the money or," he took small satisfaction at the looks on their faces, they were hanging on his every word, "or he is paying her."
"Disgusting." Molly Weasley muttered under her breath.
"We do not know for sure." Snape continued. "All we know is that she is either a kept mistress, some pureblood who would rather remain anonymous or a whore." His face contorted into a vicious smirk. "Of course, any respectable Pureblood girl would not keep her relationship with Lucius Malfoy a secret; he is too much of a catch for that sort of behaviour. As for her being a mistress, well, it is true that there was little love lost between Lucius and Narcissa but he still saw fit to, ahem, entertain her," his smirk widened at the thought, "and I believe that, somewhere within him, he did feel something for her."
"So, what?" Sirius asked impatiently. "Do you think that she is his mistress then?"
"No." Snape answered rather definitely. "In all the years I have known the man; I have never seen or heard anything of a mistress. I believe that there would have been some evidence of her presence before his wife's death and not five months after said event."
"But, would Lucius Malfoy really pay someone?" Hermione asked of her professor, raising a quizzical eyebrow as she did so. Snape bit back a snappish remark as she continued. "I mean, really, think of what it could do to his reputation if it was exposed. I don't think he is a man to take that kind of a risk."
"There are many women, Miss Granger, who are prepared to do anything as long as the price is right. Men only have to look hard enough to find them." Snape spoke to her as if he were addressing a child. "And of course, men of Lucius Malfoy's station will pay dearly for pleasurable company." Mrs Weasley sniffed her disapproval again before Snape continued. "I don't know why that should shock you. For years prostitutes and other ladies of such repute have been invaluable to most Pureblood men of Lucius Malfoy's wealth."
"Only because of what they, well, prostitute." Hermione shot back.
"Oh no." Snape shook his head with a knowing smile. "They give the men what they want for sure, but there is more. That single, or multiple, payment for her services also removes the opportunity for her to lay claim to any of his fortune. Whores are used by men who wish to keep their riches well guarded."
"Do you think she's a prostitute?" Molly asked rather abruptly.
"I doubt it; I think Lucius would consider it beneath him to pay for something he can probably easily get. He has always wanted the best and, as far as I know, he has always had the best. He generally wants what he can't have too," Snape explained, "so it is possible that he concealed her because any relationship between them would otherwise be forbidden."
They did not explore this topic further as they heard the sound of someone coming through the front door. The door slammed and, inevitably, woke the portrait of Mrs Black. Her screeches filled the hallway as they rushed to see who it was. They emerged from the basement kitchen only to see Kathryn dashing up the stairs apparently clutching one side of her face.
She ignored Harry, Ron and Hermione's calls as she pelted up to her room and locked the doors securely behind her. Once in her bathroom she scrubbed the make up quickly off her face, flinching as she put pressure on her cheek. Her whole cheek was a deep shade of purple, the outline of the coiled serpent from his ring darker than the rest. Aiming her wand at her face she managed to remove most of the bruise, letting out a sigh of relief as the serpent disappeared entirely. All that was left was a tint of purple that would disappear in a few hours. She then set to work on her lip; mending it in a trice and leaving no evidence that it had ever been there.
She had just stepped out into her room when the three of them burst through her door.
"What was that all about?" Hermione asked, letting out a small yelp, however, when she saw Kathryn's cheek. "What happened?" she immediately rushed to Kathryn's side to examine the damage to her cheek.
"Oh nothing, I just walked into a door that's all." She laughed it off as a simple mistake. "I've fixed it so I should be fine."
"See, not looking where you're going again!" Ron shook his head in amusement.
"I thought you were going to stay in France for a while?" Harry asked, settling himself on a sofa.
"Couldn't be bothered. Most of my friends are staying in school for the holidays." She shrugged her shoulders. "Besides, I'd rather be here to listen to the Quidditch World Cup with you."
"It's a shame we couldn't get tickets this time." Ron shrugged. "It was OK last time because England was hosting it and dad knew Bagman."
"Where's it being held this year?" Hermione asked from her armchair.
"Australia." Harry replied, sprawling onto the same sofa as Ron.
"They're in the final too." Kathryn added. "They were really good when I saw them last year. I mean, they lost to England, but they were good all the same."
"I don't fancy Sweden's chances." Harry shook his head. "They were lucky with their other matches, the teams they played were pretty rubbish, but Australia has a far better line up."
"Well, at least you got to see the last one. I was going to go but Dumbledore said I couldn't because he didn't want me to run into you." Kathryn sounded thoroughly depressed by this.
"You'll get your chance no doubt." Ron said, trying to make her feel better. "Who knows, you might even be playing for England by the time the next one comes around." He was partially right; their week of training with the under-18 squad had been a sort of test for them to see if they had the stuff to be candidates for representing their country.
"I suppose so, but we'll just have to content ourselves with the radio for now." She sighed; looking whimsically out the window.
They also told her about what Snape had seen on his visit to the Malfoy Manor.
"Well bred was, I believe, the phrase he used," Hermione quoted, "polished features," she went on, "he was talking of her as if she is some kind of specimen of a rare animal."
"You forget that breeding, as it were, is of utmost importance to Pureblood families like the Malfoys." Ron reminded her in a voice that did not sound like his own. "They take nothing but the best."
"She, whoever she is, has more dignity than that; even if she is bending to the whims of Lucius Malfoy." Hermione snapped back.
"Well, if he has something new to play with then maybe he'll leave me alone." She said hopefully.
"I don't know how anyone can want to voluntarily be near that foul man, I mean, knowing what he's done…" Hermione said in a disgusted voice.
"Maybe she has her reasons." That was all Kathryn could come up with.