Chapter Two: Trickle Down Theory
Alan glanced around the common room. He and Blaise had laid claim to their usual table, which was tucked into an alcove and away from the fireplace that served as the rooms gathering point. No one was paying the pair any attention, he and Blaise were a frequent sight at their table. Still, Alan did not appreciate the prospect of being overheard.
Alan's wand was thirteen inches, maple, and contained a dragon heartstring. When he purchased it, he was told it was suited for tricky charm work. Over the five years he used the wand he discovered the truth of that pronouncement. One of his favorite spells was a Selective Privacy Charm. The charm would permit others outside the sphere of the spell to hear a conversation, but they would unable to distinguish individual words.
"Solitudo," he whispered. The air around the table seemed to glow green for a moment, then returned to normal.
He returned his attention to Blaise and picked up the conversation. "The featherheads follow Draco's every lead like a trio of marionettes. If we improve him, the results will filter down to their level."
Blaise considered this for a moment, mentally sorting through the possibilities and potential complications. "It might work, however we would still have the problem of how exactly to 'improve' Draco. Any ideas on how that might be accomplished?"
Alan stared off into the distance. "As with the tragic heroes of Greek literature, Draco's fatal flaw is hubris. We need to take him down a few pegs, give him a slice of humble pie, erode his pride. Publicly humiliate him, preferably in front of Granger, Potter, and Weasley."
"A little humiliation in full view of his enemies would do much him good." Blaise agreed. The idea appealed to her on more than one level. To Blaise the best Draco was an embarrassed Draco.
"Definitely."
"Of course, we might loose points for Slytherin in the process." Blaise pointed out, injecting a negative note in the discussion as she pushed past her initial excitement to don her usual academic persona.
Alan shrugged. "Sometimes you must suffer a minor defeat in order to achieve a great victory. In chess pawns are sacrificed, in our situation, points."
"Ah, lovely chess analogy. Well said. Besides, something must be done."
"No question of that."
"Besides," Blaise considered. "If we plan things just so, the quixotic Gryffindors we know and so love to spool up might take our fall. And the blame. I don't know about you, but I do not fancy having Draco after me seeking retribution."
"Blame must be deflected onto the Gryffindors. Excellent idea Blaise." Alan agreed. "It does not take much for a Gryffindor to charge, they'd charge at windmills if someone told them they were really dragons. Malfoy will not have difficulty believing they are responsible – even if things are out of character for Potter's friends."
Blaise smiled at the mental portrait Alan presented. "Muggle literary allusions aside – and I did appreciate the touch with the dragon – we still have not resolved our core problem with this plan. We have a goal and a general method, but what exactly do we do to Draco to humiliate him?"
"You have an idea?"
"Humiliate early…and often." Blaise responded promptly.
Alan leaned forward. "Specifics?"
Blaise summoned quills, ink and parchment. She handed a supply of each to Alan. Then she went to her dormitory to retrieve a thick folder with 'Draco Malfoy' scrawled across the front in her lacy script. She tapped the folder with her wand and whispered a password to remove the locking charm.
"You will want to take notes." Blaise instructed as she sat down and opened the folder.
Alan peered at the folder. "Your blackmail folder on Malfoy?"
Blaise nodded, flipping through the contents for inspiration. "We can use previous incidents as a spring board to lesson the out of character problem. We'll have to exclude anything that happened in the common room or dormitories as the Gryffindors could not have been privy to those and Slytherins do no share such things with other houses."
"Too bad," Alan sighed, running a hand through his dark hair and flashing Blaise a pearly smile. "The ribbon incident was a classic."
Blaise agreed wholeheartedly. Then she paused on one page. "What about the ferret incident? Remember last year when Moody turned him into a ferret?"
"Vividly," Alan sighed. "I just wish I was able to take a picture of that. Planning on a repeat?"
Blaise tucked a fancy blue fwooper quill behind her ear as she jotted down notes with a more practical eagle feather. Blaise found fancy quills annoying except as personal decoration, but people unsure what to give her as a gift kept resorting to fancy quills. "Don't be silly. Neither of us can perform human transfiguration yet. We want to improve Malfoy not damage him physically. He is our Seeker after all."
"Then what are you planning?"
"I want to begin our little campaign by reminding him of past humiliations, then built up to fresh new ones. As our opening salvo, I was thinking of sending him a live white ferret by owl post."
Alan laughed. "That will drive poncy git crazy."
Blaise nodded vigorously. "The best lessons are the ones we teach ourselves. I want to Draco so focused on his obsession that he will burn himself. The memory will be seared into his mind and guide his future actions."
"And by extension those of Crabbe, Goyle and Parkinson." Alan reminded her. "I assume that we will be sending him somethimg transfigured to be a ferret and not an actual live animal?"
"Of course."
"Then I have an idea on what we should use."
Blaise started to ask what he had in mind when Alan pulled out his wand.
"Accio Magazines!"
A small stack of magazines sailed through the Common Room to Alan. He leafed through them, searching for something in particular.
"Isn't that the subscription your Dad gave you last Christmas?"
Alan indicated that it was with a shrug. "Dad still thinks I collect Chocolate Frog cards."
Blaise raised an eyebrow. Alan's ideas usually were based in logic, but she really did not see why he would want to use a card to create the ferret. Of course he did share a dormitory with Malfoy and could be privy to some obscure but vital tidbit.
"Ah, here it is!" Alan pointed to a listing of cards. Blaise looked over his shoulder and followed his finger to a full size picture of one particular card. She allowed herself a snort of laughter.
"You are a genius!" Blaise exclaimed. "I did not know that a card of him existed!"
Alan ripped out the page he had just shown Blaise. "The Harry Potter Chocolate Frog card is no longer in print. We can glue this," he rapped a fingernail against the picture. The baby Potter in the picture squawked in silent outrage at this abuse. "Onto another card and transfigure this into a ferret."
"Too bad we can't use a real Potter card," Blaise sighed.
Alan laughed. "Actually it's a good thing we aren't. They are worth twenty galleons to a collector since they were a limited printing issued in 1981."
"When should we execute our plan? I suggest the next Hogsmeade weekend."
"Agreed."
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Next Chapter: The conspiracy begins and much butterbeer is consumed.
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Reviewers: Felis, celestinne (nli), Bryn, Kaylin, MartianHousecat, Ryven, orion
Bryn: I have never actually seen that movie! Believe it or not this entire story was inspired by Trickle Down economics! Its a theory which states that giving tax breaks to the rich will allow them to spend and invest their money and that will trickle down and benefit the rest of us.
Felis: It seemed logical. The Sorting Hat sees stuff no one else does and it seems wasteful to only use it once a year!