Chapter Two: The Mix Up
Dobby appeared with a quiet 'pop' in the dungeons where the Slytherin common room was located. It was awfully dark as someone had extinguished the torches. This was a common happening in the dungeons; whether the Slytherin students preferred the darkness, or whether they were hoping someone would lose their way or trip Dobby did not know. However this time, in the dank and inky blackness, Dobby, excited and in quite a rush, entered the wrong house elf entrance. There were several of these entrances within the dungeons; all were concealed by particularly mossy stones in the walls. When Dobby had entered the room beyond the entrance, he found himself within the potions classroom and received a fright when he found, despite the fact that it was late at night, the potions master Horace Slughorn pouring over a potion that was splashing cheerfully in a large cauldron. The scent wafting past Dobby's large nose was absolutely divine and, although house elves were usually not to be seen or heard, Dobby could not help slumping against the stone wall to relish the aroma. It was then that Slughorn noticed his presence.
"Ohoho, what have we here?" he said jovially before hiccupping richly, a bottle of Madam Rosmerta's finest mulled mead in his hand.
Dobby jumped to his feet at once and stared up in terror at Slughorn, who's round, velvet covered belly was considerably intimidating to a house elf of Dobby's size.
"Do..Dobby is very sorry Professor Sir! Dobby was meaning to enter the Slytherin common room to clean!"
"Now, now elf," said Slughorn, picking Dobby up with one hand by the tip of his woollen hat and placing him roughly on his desk. "Professor Slughorn doesn't mind visitors! Now, how would you like it if I told you about what I am making here at this time of night?"
Dobby, who was on the brink of speechlessness nodded stiffly. He thought it rude to refuse the professor's offer and furthermore, he was extremely curious regarding the deliciously scented substance.
"Ha! Even a house elf recognizes the irresistible… hiccup! ...smell of my Amortentia potion when he comes across it! You know what elf? I think that you…hiccup! …deserve some of my potion for you and your little friends! How about it, a nice vial of this lovely potion? Oho yes, it is lovely!" Slughorn chuckled drunkenly at is own joke. "But you do not know why it is such a special batch of Amortentia! You see, the essence of Belladonna regulates the length of time that the potion affects the user! I added the essence of a further two Belladonna leaves and the result is a curious little potion that last for a complete week!"
Before Dobby could even reply, Slughorn had filled a fine crystal vial with the strengthened Amortentia, forced it into Dobby's hands and pushed him out of the house elf entrance. In the dungeon passageway once more, a bewildered Dobby squinted down and the bottle he was holding. Forgetting about talking to a Slytherin student, he headed back towards the kitchens, stumbling in the darkness. He returned to find Tatia, a female elf, preparing some special cakes for a delegation of guests that Professor Dumbledore was meeting with. Dobby did not know what the effects of Amtent were, or whatever the name of the potion was; but judging by the aroma, it was sure to have positive effects on the user!
"Excuse Dobby Tatia; but would you mind if Dobby borrowed three of your cakes?"
"Tatia does not mind Dobby; there are too many! Please take three from this tray," Tatia replied.
Dobby took three of the small cakes and decided to add a drop of Amortentia to each of them but found that by the time he had doused the potion over one of the cakes, there wasn't enough for the other two. He had been planning to give one each to Harry's bickering friends and one to Draco Malfoy. At that moment, Winky scampered up to Dobby and asked for his help in scrubbing a particularly stubborn patch of grime from one of the stoves. As Dobby left the cakes, Kreacher, who had been spying on Dobby keenly from a corner, scampered up to the cake doused in potion and swiftly stored it under his dirty Hogwarts tea towel. He was going to give that cake to Mr. Malfoy. Maybe Mr. Malfoy would be able to do something about the blood traitors and mudbloods at this horrible place if he was not so unhappy, thought Kreacher as he left the kitchens.
Previous to his current delivery mission; Kreacher had begrudgingly cleaned the Gryffindor sixth year female dormitory. He was assigned to clean this particular dormitory every evening and constantly came across a hairbrush that never ceased to be in need of a clean. The wiry brown hair remained strewn over Kreacher's towel as he travelled towards the Slytherin common rooms. A few pieces dislodged from the towelling material and stuck to the sticky cake doused in potion. Under Kreacher's cloth, the cake suddenly warmed, before cooling once more.
