Merry Christmas from the Albus Potter series! This is a one-shot using the characters and plot from my series. To understand this fully, you'll have to have read at least up to Chapter 7 of Albus Potter and the Global Revelation, the first of my 7-book Albus Potter series. There may also be some references to later chapters or foreshadowing for future books, and there are some characters who prematurely appear, but there won't be any spoilers past Book 1, Chapter 7. This one-shot focuses on Harry Potter's thoughts and the thoughts of his fellow Aurors when Helio Wilcox brings Dizzy the mulunctapol in for examination after Albus caught Dizzy roaming around the Forbidden Forest.
-DIZZY DAZE-
"Dizzy?" said Harry, an eyebrow vaulting.
Helio chuckled. "Yes, that's what your son has apparently named him."
"Are you sure it's a him and not a her?" queried Ron.
"No, I'm not," replied Helio. "I sent the letter to Percy as soon as we collected the creature, and brought it here as soon as I was issued the response. I know about as much as you do. For the time that we were keeping it, we just focused on keeping it contained."
"Why Dizzy?" asked Harry.
"He said that the creature was fond of chasing its tail around until it became dizzy and collapsed."
"Cute," snorted Ron. "So why isn't it running around now?"
The mulunctapol, still in the guise of a little Pomeranian, was lying on its side, breathing slowly and deeply. It gazed listlessly at a wall and paid no attention to the people outside of its enchanted cage, a clear cube with a small locked window.
"Are Geri and Lidija coming?" asked Helio, just as the door opened.
Geri Stenet was the oldest Auror in their ranks, but still a powerful asset. He gave off a Dumbledore-like impression in the way that he strolled slowly into the room as if he had all the time in the world, but if he needed to act, he could duel any wizard into submission. His life experience gave him much respect and seniority amongst the Aurors; he was widely considered the second-in-command. Lidija Rocksbone was more of the informational authority in the Auror Office, and not as much of a combatant. She was a family friend of the Potters and Weasleys through Luna Lovegood; her husband ran the Magical Menagerie on Diagon Alley.
"Not good," said Lidija, her eyes falling upon the lethargic creature.
"Not good, the whole thing, or extra not good that it's not very energetic?" asked Ron.
"The extra," she answered, and she strode up to the cage. Peering inside, she scrunched up her face and pursed her lips. "I will require closer contact. If you could sedate the creature again, please."
Helio nodded and took a half-empty vial of Sleeping Draught from an inner pocket of his robes. He passed a cautious hand through the cage and administered the rest of the potion to the already drowsy beast. It returned to sleep within a minute, covering itself in blossoms as it slept until it exactly resembled a patch of flowers.
With a wave of his wand, Geri dispelled the enchanted cage, and the group surrounded the mulunctapol warily. Helio plucked the blossoms from the creature, revealing its dog disguise again; it continued to doze.
Lidija took out a bag of equipment that was labeled "St. Mungo's." She pursed her lips to the left and took out a small instrument that looked like a tiny paint roller without the handle; it was just a tube with a blue substance sloshing around inside, and two bent wires ending in two needles sticking out of either end. She stuck these two needles carefully into the arm of the mulunctapol, and it twitched and bared its teeth a little; the five adults readied their wands in case a quick Revulsion Jinx was necessary.
The liquid in the tube rippled and faded to red.
"Damn," whispered Lidija, taking the needles out. "It's critically low."
"Critically low… what?" asked Ron concernedly.
"Blood count," grunted Geri. "It's got very little blood left, that's why it's acting so sluggish."
"Oh," said Ron. "Was it attacked?"
Lidija took another instrument from the bag that looked like a metal detector. She ran it over the little body until the machine beeped just above the thigh. She put the detector back and sifted through the hair on the thigh until she apparently felt something interesting, and she parted the hair at that point to reveal a little red dot.
"No," said Lidija ominously. "The blood was harvested. Recently, too. Very recently, that's why the blood count is so low."
There was dead silence.
"Extra not good," said Ron.
"The Marionette's Medicine," muttered Geri worriedly.
"But how can someone have collected its blood recently?" inquired Helio. "Albus had been seeing this thing for several months."
"Are you sure it's the same one?" asked Lidija.
Helio slowly shook his head.
"This is some pretty awful news," said Harry, "but I'd rather be aware of the fact that there's more than one, rather than get caught off-guard by the appearance of another."
"Same goes for the fact that apparently, someone is extracting the blood of at least this one," said Helio. "We'll have to be ready in case MM makes a comeback."
"Assuming it really is more than one mulunctapol," noted Ron. "Of course, the only other explanation is that Dizzy escaped wherever they were keeping him, and then they found him, extracted more blood, and let him go again, which is rather unlikely."
"Could there be a reason for letting Dizzy roam free?" asked Geri, looking around to the others. "Could there be some other factor for which we're not accounting? Do mulunctapoli fail to survive in captivity, did it need to be in the wild?"
Helio cleared his throat and reached into his robes again. He extracted a book, and opened it to a bookmarked page. He placed the book down on the table and placed a finger at the start of the short paragraph at the end of the chapter. Harry leaned forward to read.
An unconfirmed rumor, but more noteworthy than other rumors due to the mysterious magical ability of the mulunctapoli to control nature, is that the mulunctapoli are servants of Dismiusa (dizz-MYOO-zuh), the vengeful forest spirit/deity that was said to reside in the Forbidden Forest on the grounds of Hogwarts Castle.
"They could be trying to use it… to find Dismiusa," stated Helio, looking around at the others.
Harry laughed in spite of himself. "Preposterous," he said. "Dismiusa doesn't exist. It's one of the most far-fetched myths in Wizarding history."
"We may know that," said Helio, "but our little breeder friends might believe otherwise. We know that the Dismiusa legend was renewed in certain circles after the Dark Revival as a purported explanation for Ingot's power. The breeders could have decided to let mulunctapoli loose in the forest, in case these 'servants of Dismiusa' found their master there. I'm not saying it's likely, but neither is presuming that two of these creatures escaped their breeding facility within months of each other, and that neither was recaptured… or furthermore, that anyone could have had this breeding ground so close to Hogwarts without being noticed in the first place."
"That is a truly unsettling thought," said Geri. He straightened his back, and he looked all business. "First we must concern ourselves with the protection of the children. A search party should be sent out immediately into the Forbidden Forest; Helio, you should lead it, considering your extensive knowledge of the place. The rest of the surrounding areas should also be searched. And we should do this as soon as possible."
"Agreed," said Harry. "We should also get working on trying to study MM and develop a potion to counteract its effects. We should get as many potionmakers on the job as possible."
"And we'd better educate the general public on how to test someone for being under the influence of MM," said Ron. "Get safety information out there; we need to ensure the safety of as many people as we can."
Harry nodded. "Inform the Prophet," he said, turning to Geri. "This is a global crisis. We're going to need someone from the Prophet to come over here so we can explain what they need to write for their next issue, and we're going to need an international ambassador to—"
"What's going on in here?"
Harry turned with Helio and the other three Aurors to see Caradoc Slade, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, Ottovius Tulta, head of Public Information Services, and Obydin Auchland, head of the Auror Office. They were standing in the doorway; Slade and Auchland were glaring in at the group of five clustered around the mulunctapol. Ottovius looked nervous.
"Oby!" said Helio jovially, waving hello.
Auchland did not return any of the pleasure. He stared at the mulunctapol and the medical instruments scattered around it, and his nostrils flared like a bull's.
"Who authorized this?"
"I did," said Geri, standing tall against Auchland. "The Minister received a letter from dear Helio here, and he asked for a quick response. We provided it."
"I've heard about the letter," said Auchland. "I heard about it far too late, though, as it seems you've already started. A quick response, I'm sure, does not preclude the simple act of informing your superiors, as you should never fail to do. But that is behind us. Say what you have to say now."
Ron was clearly about to interpret that statement loosely and say more than what was advisable; Harry put a hand on his shoulder to hold him back.
"The mulunctapol here is almost certainly not alone," said Harry. "It was near Hogwarts castle. We are going to send out a search party for any companions it may have had, and for the facility, in case it is too close for comfort to Hogwarts castle. We will also need to distribute safety information to the public for a potential crisis on—"
"There is no crisis," said Auchland simply.
Harry's jaw dropped, and he didn't stop Ron this time as the angry man shouted, "Are you stark raving mad?"
"I am certainly not mad," said Auchland, apparently calmer now that he'd heard the foreboding facts. "The public need not be informed because there is no current threat to safety. What would be a clear and immediate threat to safety is a panic. We are going to avoid a panic at all costs. Of course we will send out your precious search party, but all that is necessary to include in the newspapers will be whatever the students at Hogwarts know of this, and no more: that one mulunctapol was found."
"We know that someone recently harvested its blood," said Harry patiently. "There is only one reason to do that. You know it as well as we know it. And it is absolutely a reason to be concerned for public safety."
"Our job is to ensure that the public is not in danger, yes," said Auchland. "So, if we do our job, then the public is not in danger. We will do our job and the public will not be in danger. I see no reason to make them think that they are."
"What has my brother said about this?" raged Ron, glancing from head to head.
"The Minister agrees with Auchland's analysis," said Slade, "and advises against a panic."
"Yeah?" demanded Ron, advancing on Slade. "And how far were you two up his ass to be talking out of his throat like that?"
"Ronald," said Geri sternly as Lidija twisted her mouth to bite back laughter.
"Ottovius," said Harry, appealing to the head of Public Information Services. "You have to realize the gravity of the situation."
"I defer to the Minister," said Tulta, defeated.
"And the Minister has determined that it is in everyone's best interest, in the long run, to avoid causing a panic, and to only inform the public of what they would find out anyway," said Slade. "Therefore that is what the Daily Prophet will be printing."
"Spread any word of the rest of this, and you will lose your job and all Ministry protection," said Auchland; he then turned with a swish of his robes and swiftly exited.
Ron glowered as they left. He turned to Harry, still fuming, and uttered the words that Harry was thinking.
"We should overthrow the Ministry."