p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"When Hogwarts gets festive it really gets festive. I remember Halloween at the orphanage, the LongLove kids got bags of sweets sent from generous sponsors and a lot of the young Deathlings tried stealing from them. This stopped after a while, sanctions were too harsh to risk being caught. In those days I was a scrawny magical kid with no magical training, still attending the local muggle school. I was full of anger and resentment, and I kept letting it loose through my suppressed powers, which earned me a reputation as a trouble-maker. Starting at Hogwarts diffused all of that. When I got sorted out of Slytherin my horizons started to shimmer with hope, as a Ravenclaw I could distance myself from the associations of my past, I could pretend at times to be normal. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"I duck as a cloud of bats fly over my head and down the corridor just as I draw level to the painted slogan on the wall: /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"emThe Chamber of Secrets has been opened, enemies of the heir, beware/em/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"Oh how the tables have turned. For years emThe Dark Lord/em and his Death Eaters were feared beyond anything else, now what I fear is being unable to turn my life around from pushing illegitimate potions, to prescribing legitimate ones. I step into the cold bathroom and the torch brackets flare into life, a nice touch. I must ask who charmed them, it really does make the whole process of accessing the Chamber more cheerful. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"Halloween is one of my favourite festivals, the castle rings with laughter, tricks and treats and the knowledge that something wicked this way comes. I descend into the tunnel with a smile on my face, the feast will be magnificent as always, and the dance afterwards will be… probably very awkward since I told Tony about my Christmas plans. The first Quidditch match was ten days ago, and he's avoided me stoically ever since. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"I screw up my face in concentration as I try my best to not think about him, land in the tunnel, and begin the trek to the Chamber. I'm not expecting to see anyone, a large order went out the weekend just past and nothing much remains to be done apart from allowing new potions to brew and adding occasional ingredients. I might run into Vincent, as he croons over his Draught of Peace at twelve hourly intervals, but he's never much of a bother. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"My mission in the Chamber tonight is to secure supplies for this evening for myself and a select few friends. It's tradition for me, Eva, Beth, Ralph, and a couple of others who want in, to get high at the Halloween ball. Of course i'm not stupid enough to produce the stuff without any pre-amble. James sent an unknown owl with a small box three days ago and I hinted that it was from my external source. They still don't know I brew it, but coming from the orphanage it stands to reason that i'd know where to get it, and I don't disappoint. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"I enter the Chamber and pause as I take in the view. Before me is a sea of work benches, gently bubbling cauldrons, and shelves of ingredients. It's a beautiful sight. Never in all my years with the organisation has production been carried out on such a scale, or in such a magnificent setting. I take a moment to marvel at my latest achievements, and they're not bad. Production has been going at such a rate that we're able to pay our school fees and some, so that if things continue we'll actually have savings by the time we leave Hogwarts. This week is the second Hogsmead weekend, and the first i'll be able to actually go, last time we had to work overtime bottling potions and I stayed behind so that some younger kids could go. The privileges of power. This time I'll actually have some money to spend and I'm thinking of a new dress, it's a bit late for the Halloween ball but it will be in plenty of time for Christmas. I begin to cross the hall towards my secret stash and then realise that I won't be here for the Christmas ball this year. Oh well, there's always New Year. Hogwarts really does like a good party. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"Halfway to my own workbench I hear a clatter from the other side of the Chamber. I pause. That didn't sound intentional. I can hear scuffling and whimpering now and I frown as I squint through the fumes. I take my wand out and hold it loosely in my hand as I move towards the sounds, I'm pretty positive that it's an order member, but even so. I round one of the carved pillars and trip over a hunched figure sitting on the floor. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""Sh*t, sorry." I say quickly, steadying myself against the wall opposite. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""Astrid?" A small voice issues from the robes./p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""Yes?" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""You bitch. You stupid, stupid bitch." I realise with a jolt who this is and i'm relieved that I took out my wand. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""Alexis." I can see her now, shuddering with suppressed rage, or withdrawal, or maybe both./p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""You sent it all? You sent it all to James?" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""Of course I did." /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""And you knew?" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""About your stash down here? Of course." Stealing is a very common orphan trait, let alone addict-orphan. I'd seen Alexis slipping phials of emPeace/em up her sleeves many times, but I thought it would take longer than ten days for her to be in this state. "How many other stashes did you have?"/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""Just one." /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""And how much is left?"/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""None." She lifts her face as she says this and I recoil slightly. She looks dreadful, like she's been punched in both eyes, and she's very thin. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""Merlin's beard, Alexis, how much were you on?" If she's out now that means that her stash wasn't that large, but I saw her take enough to be on it for a while, if she's already out then that means she was taking far more than I thought she was. The stash she kept in here along with her ingredients was pitiful, just about twelve phials, roughly a weeks-worth for someone going heavy. When I ask the question she buries her face back into her robes and sobs softly, hugging her arms around her knees to disguise the shaking. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""Please!" I hear her moan through the sobs./p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""What are you talking about?" I honestly don't know what to do, i've never been faced with an addict this bad before and if i'm not careful she'll blow the whole operation. If she's as bad as I think she is she would tell Madam Bones everything just to be put on the recovery program at StMungo's. "Why haven't you ordered some from James?" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""He won't help me." She croaks. emF*ck him/em, I think as my mind races through my best available options. emIf he could see what i'm seeing, he'd help her, he'd have to. He'd know what it might cost us if he didn't/em./p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"I walk quickly across the Chamber and reach my own work bench. I hold my wand still against the lock, mutter emabsconsionem/em, the lock clicks and I pull it open. Inside is my party bundle all packaged ready for tonight, and a few phials for emergencies. I swiftly select some emSleep Euphoria/em for Alexis, and shove the bundle in my pocket. I head back across the chamber and hear a muffled wail from her huddled form. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""Shut up." I snap, dropping to a kneeling position next to her. She gulps and raises her head from her knees. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""What's that?" Her pupils dilate as her focus shifts to the glass bottle in my hand. I almost snarl at her in my frustration. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""Sleep." I say simply, she needs it. I hold the bottle to her dry lips and tilt it backwards, thinking bitterly that this is not the kind of first remedy as a healer I had envisaged. Her breathing becomes easier moments after swallowing the substance, her eyes droop, and she flops sideways onto the stone floor with a soft smile on her haggard face. Withdrawal is a terrible thing. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"Swiftly I push her into a more dignified sleeping position and point my wand at her inanimate form. emPetrificus Totalus/em I think and her body becomes more rigid. I need Marisa, she's in the same year in Slytherin and she's the only one there I know who might look after her. I get to my feet and run my manicured hands through my hair, earlier on Eva got artistic with my nails in preparation for tonight. When I turn towards the entrance I jump about a foot in the air, Vincent has been standing watching me and I can't tell for how long. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""Sh*t, Vincent." I say, catching myself. He gazes at Alexis and his face becomes an unattractive sneer. "That's what happens if you drink too much of that stuff you're brewing." I say, looking down at her myself. "Do you know where Marisa is?" He shakes his head once. "Ok, can you go to the Slytherin Common Room and ask her to come here? If she's not there, she'll be in the Library, but I expect she's in your Common Room." He nods once and leaves. I sigh, I could really do without this, the feast starts in just over an hour and I still have to get dressed. I look down at myself in my jeans and wooly jumper combination, hardly halloween ball material. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"Twenty minutes later, and just as i'm about to get frantic, Marisa and Vincent appear. I'm about to feel relieved when I see that Tony is with them and my stomach squirms uncomfortably. Vincent looks at none of us as he takes off through the vaporous Chamber to tend to his concoction and I turn my attention back to Alexis. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""Did you know how bad she was?" I ask simply. Marisa is in Alexis's year, so they must share dormitories and everything. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""I suspected." She grimaces at the sight on the floor. "I rarely saw her at meals, but then she's quiet… and she always went to bed early, but then she got up early too, and she always slept with her hangings drawn…" Marisa's excuses trail away and I put my face in my hands as I try to control a rising sense of panic. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""What are you going to do?" Tony asks, and I notice the 'you' as opposed to 'we'. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""I've given her some Sleep Euphoria to keep her relaxed for a while, and I suggest we put her to bed. I can put another phial in her hand for when she wakes up, and she'll certainly take it. With any luck she'll sleep until tomorrow when we can re-assess the situation." /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""Your plan is to keep her drugged-up until it's more convenient?" I can hear the sneer in Tony's voice and I almost snarl in response./p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""And what would you do in my place? She could barely stand, if she goes wandering around the castle in that state she could blow this whole thing and that would mean Azkaban for all of us. No more Healing for me, no more Quidditch for you. We're done." /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"He takes a step backwards at my ferocity. "What does James advise?" His tone is level, James is our natural leader even if he is off the premises. I shrug hopelessly. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""She asked him for help and he wouldn't give her anything. If you ask me he's not prepared to step in on a management issue that should have been dealt with. He's testing me." Vincent reappears now and hovers by the pillar looking down at Alexis as she sleeps. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""But if the operation is blown he'll go down with us. Surely he'll help?" Marisa voices a question that makes the knot in my stomach tighten further. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"Tony gives a hollow laugh, "if I know James, which I do, there won't be much evidence that he's connected to us in any way. He'll leave us to Azkaban and carry on without us." /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"There's a very uncomfortable silence after this pronouncement. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Baskerville; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""Come on." I say quietly. "Let's get her to her dormitory. We can only hope that we're not seen." /p