"So, where were you yesterday, Malfoy?" grunted Crabbe, not even looking at him.
"Yeah, what got you so dirty? Did you have a fight with Potter?" Goyle said between mouthfuls of breakfast. He began to choke, spraying Malfoy's freshly cleaned robes with porridge.
"Finished?" Goyle decided that the best way to stop himself choking was to pour more porridge down his throat. "If you used your brain, Goyle, you might work out that having a fight does not last one day. I was, in fact, down a hole." As the two idiots licked their bowls clean, Malfoy recounted the whole story, with a few minor adjustments. The whole Slytherin table took it in, laughing whenever Malfoy described in vivid detail Potter's manic terror at what had just been the sound of the clumsy groundskeeper treading on his dog's foot.
Harry, Ron and Hermione glanced up at the Slytherin table, which was deliberately making its laughter loud enough for them to hear.
"Malfoy's probably telling them how he nearly wet himself with fear whilst down in the pit," muttered Harry. "I think not."
"We were all frightened, Harry," said Hermione sensibly, as always.
"So, you didn't find out what Malfoy was up to, then?" asked Ron, disappointedly.
"We could have caught him in the act, if he hadn't turned around and spotted us. I suppose he was so edgy in the woods, he suspected there to be some kind of monster hiding in every shadow, instead he found us." Harry said.
"We were so close, though!" Hermione cursed. "Just a little further and we wouldn't need any more proof that he was making the Phantasm potion."
"Phantasm what?" Fred and George Weasley were listening in on the conversation, suspecting something going on after their brother's two best friends had mysteriously disappeared for a day.
It had all started in Professor Snape's Potion class, about a week ago. Snape had mentioned the Phantasm potion, describing it as something that made whoever drank it have almost real illusions appear all around them. They would, eventually, become so convinced by the illusions, they would loose their grip on reality, and slip into madness. Snape had not intentionally started describing it, he had just warned the pupils not to get a far more boring potion they were making confused with it, but Malfoy had seemed very interested in the potion, and it appeared suspicious to Harry and his friends. All that lesson Malfoy had been whispering conspiratorially with Crabbe and Goyle, and kept glancing over at Harry. Hermione had immediately decided that Malfoy was planning to use the potion on Harry and, presumably, Ron and Hermione as well. They had gone to the library, taken out The Modern Encyclopedia of Madness Potions, and looked at the ingredients of the Phantasm potion. Most items were available from the student-store cupboard, apart from one strange thing mentioned at the bottom of the list. "One petal from the Mirage Plant". This had led them back to the library, where they found out from "1001 Types of Plant in the Wizarding World" that the Mirage Plant was a pretty blue flower, common in overgrown areas ("That must mean it's in the forest!"), and once its strong aroma was inhaled, it could project deceptive images in the mind of the victim, rendering them confused. It was a powerful defence, unless whoever went near had their nose protected. Now, all they had do was keep a close eye on Malfoy, and see if he really was attempting to make up the Phantasm potion. They overheard Malfoy about six days later, mentioning going back into the forest in the night, during Potions. They hadn't known what Malfoy meant by "back into the forest", but had assumed he was mentioning the time he had once gone on detention with Hagrid. Ron had become a little too excited with this news, and accidentally smashed a phile of Flobbery Gas, making huge lumps appear on the skin of everybody. A furious Snape gave him a detention, sweeping the halls. Ron would probably be on detention for the next month or so. Therefore, that night, Harry and Hermione had tracked Malfoy to the forest, foolishly taking the risk of leaving the Invisibility Cloak behind. Malfoy had been looking around, when he spotted Harry and Hermione, a scuffle ensued and all of a sudden the ground gave way, and into the pit they tumbled.
"Go away, you two," said Ron. The twins would not be put off, however, and the three friends decided to leave and talk on the way to the Gryffindor common room to collect their books.
"Do you think Malfoy will continue looking for the Mirage Plant?" asked Ron.
"It's not like him to just give up…" Hermione said. "But he'll be a bit more careful now that he knows we're onto him. Oh yes, and he won't be going back into the forest for a long time, that's for sure. Me, Harry and him have got a solid month of cleaning the toilets with Filch watching over us. I only wish we could find out what he's going to do with that potion!" Harry shrugged.
"Well, he was almost prepared to tell us whilst in the pit. And if cleaning out all the toilets in Hogwarts isn't a situation as bad as being down in a pit with no way out, I don't know what is."
"I'm not up to anything," grunted Malfoy, squeezing another dose of bleach into a toilet. Filch the caretaker had gone to check Ron wasn't delaying his sweeping, and he had left Mrs. Norris watching over them. At least Harry and Hermione had a chance to get some answers out of Malfoy. "You'd think they'd be glad we weren't dead!" he said, raising his voice. "What do we get? A month of this." He chucked the empty bottle on the floor for effect.
"It's not us who should be getting this dirty job, it's you," snarled Harry. "We know you're looking for the Mirage Plant, so you can finish off the Phantasm Potion. What we don't know is why you want to make it." Malfoy stopped his cleaning, and put on a look of mock disbelief.
"Mirage Plant? Phantasm Potion? I don't know what you're talking about." He looked in disgust at the brush in his hand. His face suddenly became sneering again. "What's it to you, eh, Potter? Just because you don't like me, that doesn't mean everything I do has to be some kind of plot against you and your goody-goody friends. It's for a special project Professor Snape set me. It'll gain me fifty extra points for Slytherin. I mean it, Potter!" Harry was totally unconvinced, as was Hermione.
"Not even Snape would be spiteful enough to send a pupil all alone into the forest to find a special plant, just for a project. And anyway, you know he'd give you fifty points even if you didn't do this made-up project. It's like he gives you points just for opening your mouth." Malfoy smiled smugly.
"Just because you don't get along well with the dear Professor. My, you'll have to get over these childish whims someday Potter," he grinned. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a toilet to clean." He closed his eyes, then timidly started brushing around inside the lavatory. Harry and Hermione left him alone, deciding that it would be a waste of time trying to get any more information.
"Well, what do we do now?" asked Harry.
"We're overlooking one thing. What has he told the teachers?" Harry knew there was something he had forgotten. He doubted Dumbledore, who had been notified as soon as Hagrid found them, and lifted them out of the pit with a simple wave of his wand, would have bought Malfoy's school project story. Harry was about to turn back to Malfoy again, but Hermione stopped him. "Don't bother with Malfoy, Harry. We'll see if Hagrid overheard anything, tomorrow." At that moment, the door was flung open and in stepped Filch, looking instantly suspicious. He bent down to Mrs. Norris.
"Have they been chatting, my beauty? Have they?" The cat arched its back, and purred loudly. "Oh dear…" Filch looked up at them menacingly. "We'll just have to give them a few more toilets to clean, won't we?" Malfoy groaned.
"It was those two! Not me!" he said, pointing to Harry and Hermione.
"Shut up, or I'll have you doing it all over again!" Filch shouted. Mrs. Norris began cleaning herself.
The weeks went by more slowly than ever. Harry, Ron and Hermione had decided that they would just have to be patient, and wait until their month of detention was over. Hagrid hadn't been much of a help. He eventually explained that Malfoy had told Dumbledore he was following Harry and Hermione into the forest, apparently suspicious that they were up to something. That had been almost exactly Harry and Hermione's story, except the other way round. Eventually, the teachers decided to give them all a month of detention for going into the forest, letting them off two months due to being stuck in a pit for a day or two. That was all they needed to know, thankfully, because Hagrid was not best pleased with them going into the forbidden forest on their own. After the final detention session with Filch, Harry and Hermione met up with Ron and decided what to do.
"How are we going to keep an eye on Malfoy?" said Hermione. "He won't mention what he's doing so easily now."
"I say it's a simple case of getting up in the night and watching the Slytherin door. How about one at a time?" suggested Ron. It sounded simple enough; one night Harry would watch, the next Ron would watch, then Hermione, and so on.
"But what do we do if he does sneak out? Just follow him?" Harry didn't want things going pear-shaped like last time. He had already unpacked the Invisibility Cloak, ready for use.
"If one of us follows him, all we need to do is…er…" Hermione was for once not sure what to do. She considered informing a master (apart from Snape) about it in the morning, but Malfoy would no doubt have the ingredients hidden under some kind of spell. The teachers rarely believed them anyway.
In the end, they agreed that this whole matter could hopefully be solved without a single teacher knowing. All they had to do was catch Malfoy in the act, and make sure he knew that they would inform a teacher if they even suspected he was planning to use that Phantasm Potion. At least that would make Malfoy realise that they wouldn't be fooled into drinking anything offered by him. The first night would be Harry's watch. He sneaked out of the Gryffindor common room, under the Invisibility Cloak, thankfully not running into Filch and Mrs. Norris, and positioned himself as comfortably as he could against the wall outside the Slytherin common room. He had to stifle a yawn several times, and prevent his heavy eyes from closing. He hadn't got any decent sleep for what seemed like years. The toilet-cleaning was always at night, which was, he admitted grudgingly, what you got for going where you've been told not to. He decided to stay wake by thinking about the Phantasm potion. According to Hermione who had spent ages in the library doing research on it, no-one had ever recovered from a draft of the potion, so no-one could really describe its effects. Eye-witness accounts described how victims had wandered around as if in an imaginary world, bumping into walls, almost bumping themselves to death. It wasn't a pleasant prospect, being surrounded by apparently real objects. After taking the potion (accidentally usually), the victim would black out, then wake up again believing they were in some kind of new world. They would talk to imaginary people who appeared to them as real as themselves. The would stick their hands in mincing machines, which appeared to them to be lucky dips, and they wouldn't realise all the damage they were doing to their body. Hermione had started to vividly describe the photos she had seen of victims of the Phantasm potion, and Harry and Ron had had to stop her, having just eaten.
Harry was disturbed from his thoughts as the secret stone door that Malfoy had unwittingly lead Harry and Ron to some while back slid open, and out stepped Malfoy himself. Harry suddenly felt too obvious, and began to slink into the shadows. Malfoy whispered the password so that Harry couldn't hear it, then stalked off along the corridor, eyes darting around on the look out for Filch. Harry also hoped the caretaker didn't discover Malfoy. That would mean another long wait as Malfoy spent the nights on detention. There was one moment of tension when there were strange sounds coming from one of the classrooms, which turned out to be Peeves the Poltergeist treading pieces of chalk into the carpet to annoy Filch. Malfoy managed to sneak past the doorway without being seen, and Harry followed him. He was lead outside again, and there was no mistake that Malfoy was heading towards the forbidden forest. It was a reasonably cool night, with only a faint breeze blowing. Harry decided he would have to stay closely behind Malfoy he wasn't going to loose him in the confusing maze of trees and bushes. As they entered the forest, Harry noted how confident Malfoy was of where he was going, as if he had made the journey several times before. Maybe he had been down here more often then Harry had thought…However, he didn't have time to think about that, because within minutes, they had reached the small clearing where they had fallen down the pit.
Harry took cover behind a bush, making sure he could see clearly what was happening. Malfoy looked around him, as if expecting to see Harry spying on him from behind a tree or bush. Once satisfied nobody was watching, Malfoy started brushing some thick foliage aside, and heaved out a pewter cauldron. So, he had been down here more often. He must have been planning to make the potion in the forest, where nobody could catch him. The ingredients were inside the cauldron, apart from the Mirage Plant petal. Malfoy reached behind a tree, and then stood up holding a fragile blue petal in the palm of his hand. Harry realised that last time, when Malfoy spotted him and Hermione, he must have been on the verge of picking the petal. He took out his wand, whispered the spell to make the water inside the cauldron begin to boil, and watched it began to bubble and spit. Harry watched intensely. As soon as the potion appeared to be ready, he would leap out and confront Malfoy. Unfortunately for Harry, it seemed to take for ages for the potion to get ready. Malfoy threw in the petal, then watched the mixture take on its blue colour. Once it was finished, he waved the wand again, and the bubbling and frothing settled down. He replaced the wand back in his robes, and reached down to pick up the cauldron.
At that moment, Harry leapt out of the bushes, careful to leave behind the Invisibility Cloak. Malfoy had fortunately not picked up the cauldron, otherwise he'd have dropped it and the evidence would be lost. He stared at Harry for a few vital seconds, during which Harry and knocked him to the ground, careful to avoid the edge of the pit. Malfoy brought out his wand, but Harry wrenched it out of his hand and send it flying away into the foliage. The two boys struggled for a moment, but Harry eventually had Malfoy pinned down.
"Get off me, Potter!" Malfoy snarled.
"Not on your life, Malfoy. Right, you can't hide the evidence - that potion you've just mixed is the Phantasm potion. Who were you going to use it on? Me?"
"I don't know what you're on about. Just a little background work for Professor Snape…"
"Don't give me that! What's it for?" Harry was prepared to stay here all night until he got some answers off Malfoy. Suddenly, Malfoy lashed out with his legs and Harry was caught off his guard. Malfoy dashed over the cauldron, carrying it single-handedly by the handle over to where Harry was. He placed the cauldron on the ground for a few seconds, then launched himself on Harry. He managed to hold down Harry's arms with his legs, and he began to grab his nose. Harry suddenly realised what he was trying to do. Malfoy picked up the cauldron unsteadily, sloshing blue potion everywhere, and began to lower it towards Harry's mouth.
"Hold still Potter…" he grinned. At first a little sliver of the potion dripped into his mouth, which he managed to spit out, then, as he jerked Malfoy upwards, almost the whole cauldron came sloshing over his face. Malfoy chucked the almost-empty cauldron away, and began to try and clamp Harry's mouth shut whilst still holding his nose. Harry couldn't see, some of the blue stuff had gone over his eyes. He couldn't breath with Malfoy blocking off both his mouth and nose, he had to swallow, had to swallow. At that moment, because his life was at stake, he didn't care about the effects of the potion, his primary objective survival. He swallowed a lot of the Phantasm potion in one gulp, then the remains of it in another. Malfoy removed both his hands from Harry's face, and grinned. "There, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Harry gasped for air for a few minutes, until he properly realised what he had done. He raised a feeble fist at the leering Malfoy, then his vision slipped into darkness…
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I hadn't actually planned to write a second part to "The Pit". Malfoy being up to "something" was just a way of getting the three of them into the pit, but seeing as a lot of the reviewers wanted a sequel, I wrote this. I personally don't think it's as good. However, I've got a good idea on what to do for the third part. Watch out for it. This is called The Pit - part 2, but it hasn't really got much to do with a pit, I just wanted to make it easy for people to find it.
DISCLAIMER: Don't be fooled! J.K. Rowling made up every single character in this story, not I. I'm just simply borrowing them. All debts are owed to her.