10. …baths are taken, and Forbidden Swamps of Death visited
Hermione had just finished telling Snape a very implausible story about wanting to use
kappa venom to dissolve Ron's socks as a joke. Harry gawked at her, silently admiring
her lying skills and yet wondering why she couldn't have come up with a better story.
"And the essence of Brimstone?" Snape said quietly, raising one perfectly shaped
eyebrow.
"We were going to…make his shoes explode?" Hermione offered weakly. "Ron is…"
"…such a slut" the earring finished.
Snape's eyes literally bugged out. "On second thought," he spat and stalked across the
room, folding his cloak and arms close to his body. "I don't even want to know. I'm
taking 100 points from Gryffindor. You will carry out your punishments tomorrow. You
should just be glad that I have an emergency store of Brimstone, or the two of you would
be trekking across Britain in search of active volcanoes right now!" He stomped out of
the room, slamming the door behind him. Hermione and Harry sighed with relief. All
things considered, it could have been much worse. The door banged open again and they
jumped. Snape poked his head in and yelled one more sentence: "And clean up this
room!!!!!!!" He slammed the door one more time, loudly.
Hermione groaned and slid to the floor. Harry picked up the earring and examined it
suspiciously. He held it to his ear and could faintly hear somebody muttering something
that sounded like "girls…don't understand them…provolone cheese…no sense of
gratitude…." Harry tried to fathom what could be going on in the council room of Malfoy
Manor that involved gratitude and provolone cheese.
"Hermione," he began, "what are we going to do?"
"Well," she answered, "the way I see it, very little. We listen until we figure out what the
Malfoys are up to, and then we destroy the earring like we planned. Hopefully the other
one will be destroyed as well, unless we screwed up that part, too." She wrinkled her
nose in concentration.
Another knock sounded on the door, but because this one was quiet instead of angry and
pounding, Harry and Hermione were fairly sure that it wasn't Professor Snape. Hermione
yelled, "Come in!" and Ginny Weasley, her ginger-colored hair lightly dusted with snow,
entered the room.
"It's snowing!" she announced, looking around. "Umm…where's Ron?"
Ron felt quite sure that one of the greatest pleasures life offered was a bath, especially
one in a round, five-foot deep marble bathtub filled with bubbles that smelled like
sandalwood and honey. He sighed happily, watching enchanted rose petals fall from the
ceiling and land in the water. His dirty clothes had been whisked away by a house elf and
a clean silk robe and marabou slippers were waiting for him after he got out. Not that he
planned on doing so anytime soon. He sunk deeper into the water, black hair floating
around him like a fishing net. Blaise had a lot of hair, and he found that he wasn't quite
sure how girls managed the problem of washing it. He had gone through almost a whole
bottle of shampoo.
Eyes closed, he listened happily to the sound of a fountain, forgetting for the moment his
responsibilities and his unfortunate attraction to Draco. He had already decided not to
ever think again about his stay at Malfoy Manor, and blame all unpleasantness on the
unfamiliar hormones running wild through Blaise's body.
Ron heard a soft footfall and ignored it, figuring that it was a house elf bringing more
soap or something. That is, until…
"Having a good time, my dear?" a masculine voice asked. Ron opened his eyes and
gasped, swallowing a mouthful of soapy water, when he saw Lucius Malfoy, clad in
nothing more than a short black robe that was open almost to the waist. He spat out the
water and coughed. Lucius chuckled.
"Get out!" Ron shrieked.
"Oh, I don't think so…" Lucius drawled in a very Draco-like manner. (Or maybe Draco
drawls in a Lucius-like manner? Ron's brain sometimes followed very strange tangents.)
He shed his robe in one quick motion and stepped into the tub, totally naked. Ron
scrunched his eyes shut, trying to avoid the sight of Nude Lucius. He was also still rather
angry about the Monopoly game. He opened one eye and saw Lucius advancing towards
him, a sensual smile on his lips. Ron raised a hand to slap him away but Lucius caught
Ron's arm in a vice grip and then slowly began licking each of his fingers lovingly. Ron
thrashed around wildly, but his struggles only pressed him up closer to Lucius' wet,
soapy body. Ron gasped as an arm encircled his waist and lifted him against the wall of
the tub.
Lucius' hands were doing things to him that made it hard to think, and so Ron did the
only thing that he could think of at the moment: he wrapped his hands behind Lucius'
neck and guided their lips together. He could feel Lucius' grin against his mouth. Once
again Ron wondered about the extended holiday his conscience seemed to be taking, but
soon ceased all thought entirely.
Harry had been in the Forbidden Forest before, but had been unaware that beyond the
forest lay a Forbidden Quicksand Pit and then the Forbidden Swamp of Death. He glared
at Professor Snape, who had what looked like a butterfly nut slung over his shoulder and
was whistling merrily to himself. Snape had seemed to be in his element dodging
horseflies and swinging by a vine over the Quicksand Pit. Harry felt like his nerves had
been ripped apart, danced on, and then run through a juicer.
"Here we are!" Snape announced happily. "The Forbidden Swamp of DEATH!"
Harry's glasses were fogging up from the sulfur-scented steam that was rising from large
cracks in the ground. Green and orange gases hung menacingly over brackish water, and
an occasional scream could be heard from the distance. Suddenly, something exploded
into a fireball. Snape giggled. Harry grimaced.
"Normally, of course, the kappa only lives in Japan," Snape explained unnecessarily. "I
started a colony of them here in the Swamp just for such an occasion. I think Filch hangs
out here sometimes, too."
Harry remembered what Hagrid had told them about the kappa during a Care of Magical
Creatures lesson: "Nasty little blighters, kappa. They can shoot venom or fire and they
smell like fresh tar!" Hagrid had gestured towards a drawing of a small green creature
with cruel eyes, long teeth, and an incongruous tuft of hair.
Something grabbed Harry around the neck and he screamed. Snape pulled out his wand
and shouted a spell that caused green light to shoot out of his wand and vaporize the plant
that had seized hold of Harry's head. Harry collapsed to the ground, coughing. Snape
threw back his head and laughed, and Harry had to physically restrain himself from biting
his ankle.
Hermione had just finished telling Snape a very implausible story about wanting to use
kappa venom to dissolve Ron's socks as a joke. Harry gawked at her, silently admiring
her lying skills and yet wondering why she couldn't have come up with a better story.
"And the essence of Brimstone?" Snape said quietly, raising one perfectly shaped
eyebrow.
"We were going to…make his shoes explode?" Hermione offered weakly. "Ron is…"
"…such a slut" the earring finished.
Snape's eyes literally bugged out. "On second thought," he spat and stalked across the
room, folding his cloak and arms close to his body. "I don't even want to know. I'm
taking 100 points from Gryffindor. You will carry out your punishments tomorrow. You
should just be glad that I have an emergency store of Brimstone, or the two of you would
be trekking across Britain in search of active volcanoes right now!" He stomped out of
the room, slamming the door behind him. Hermione and Harry sighed with relief. All
things considered, it could have been much worse. The door banged open again and they
jumped. Snape poked his head in and yelled one more sentence: "And clean up this
room!!!!!!!" He slammed the door one more time, loudly.
Hermione groaned and slid to the floor. Harry picked up the earring and examined it
suspiciously. He held it to his ear and could faintly hear somebody muttering something
that sounded like "girls…don't understand them…provolone cheese…no sense of
gratitude…." Harry tried to fathom what could be going on in the council room of Malfoy
Manor that involved gratitude and provolone cheese.
"Hermione," he began, "what are we going to do?"
"Well," she answered, "the way I see it, very little. We listen until we figure out what the
Malfoys are up to, and then we destroy the earring like we planned. Hopefully the other
one will be destroyed as well, unless we screwed up that part, too." She wrinkled her
nose in concentration.
Another knock sounded on the door, but because this one was quiet instead of angry and
pounding, Harry and Hermione were fairly sure that it wasn't Professor Snape. Hermione
yelled, "Come in!" and Ginny Weasley, her ginger-colored hair lightly dusted with snow,
entered the room.
"It's snowing!" she announced, looking around. "Umm…where's Ron?"
Ron felt quite sure that one of the greatest pleasures life offered was a bath, especially
one in a round, five-foot deep marble bathtub filled with bubbles that smelled like
sandalwood and honey. He sighed happily, watching enchanted rose petals fall from the
ceiling and land in the water. His dirty clothes had been whisked away by a house elf and
a clean silk robe and marabou slippers were waiting for him after he got out. Not that he
planned on doing so anytime soon. He sunk deeper into the water, black hair floating
around him like a fishing net. Blaise had a lot of hair, and he found that he wasn't quite
sure how girls managed the problem of washing it. He had gone through almost a whole
bottle of shampoo.
Eyes closed, he listened happily to the sound of a fountain, forgetting for the moment his
responsibilities and his unfortunate attraction to Draco. He had already decided not to
ever think again about his stay at Malfoy Manor, and blame all unpleasantness on the
unfamiliar hormones running wild through Blaise's body.
Ron heard a soft footfall and ignored it, figuring that it was a house elf bringing more
soap or something. That is, until…
"Having a good time, my dear?" a masculine voice asked. Ron opened his eyes and
gasped, swallowing a mouthful of soapy water, when he saw Lucius Malfoy, clad in
nothing more than a short black robe that was open almost to the waist. He spat out the
water and coughed. Lucius chuckled.
"Get out!" Ron shrieked.
"Oh, I don't think so…" Lucius drawled in a very Draco-like manner. (Or maybe Draco
drawls in a Lucius-like manner? Ron's brain sometimes followed very strange tangents.)
He shed his robe in one quick motion and stepped into the tub, totally naked. Ron
scrunched his eyes shut, trying to avoid the sight of Nude Lucius. He was also still rather
angry about the Monopoly game. He opened one eye and saw Lucius advancing towards
him, a sensual smile on his lips. Ron raised a hand to slap him away but Lucius caught
Ron's arm in a vice grip and then slowly began licking each of his fingers lovingly. Ron
thrashed around wildly, but his struggles only pressed him up closer to Lucius' wet,
soapy body. Ron gasped as an arm encircled his waist and lifted him against the wall of
the tub.
Lucius' hands were doing things to him that made it hard to think, and so Ron did the
only thing that he could think of at the moment: he wrapped his hands behind Lucius'
neck and guided their lips together. He could feel Lucius' grin against his mouth. Once
again Ron wondered about the extended holiday his conscience seemed to be taking, but
soon ceased all thought entirely.
Harry had been in the Forbidden Forest before, but had been unaware that beyond the
forest lay a Forbidden Quicksand Pit and then the Forbidden Swamp of Death. He glared
at Professor Snape, who had what looked like a butterfly nut slung over his shoulder and
was whistling merrily to himself. Snape had seemed to be in his element dodging
horseflies and swinging by a vine over the Quicksand Pit. Harry felt like his nerves had
been ripped apart, danced on, and then run through a juicer.
"Here we are!" Snape announced happily. "The Forbidden Swamp of DEATH!"
Harry's glasses were fogging up from the sulfur-scented steam that was rising from large
cracks in the ground. Green and orange gases hung menacingly over brackish water, and
an occasional scream could be heard from the distance. Suddenly, something exploded
into a fireball. Snape giggled. Harry grimaced.
"Normally, of course, the kappa only lives in Japan," Snape explained unnecessarily. "I
started a colony of them here in the Swamp just for such an occasion. I think Filch hangs
out here sometimes, too."
Harry remembered what Hagrid had told them about the kappa during a Care of Magical
Creatures lesson: "Nasty little blighters, kappa. They can shoot venom or fire and they
smell like fresh tar!" Hagrid had gestured towards a drawing of a small green creature
with cruel eyes, long teeth, and an incongruous tuft of hair.
Something grabbed Harry around the neck and he screamed. Snape pulled out his wand
and shouted a spell that caused green light to shoot out of his wand and vaporize the plant
that had seized hold of Harry's head. Harry collapsed to the ground, coughing. Snape
threw back his head and laughed, and Harry had to physically restrain himself from biting
his ankle.