Author's Notes: I have wanted to send Ron down the wrong path for quite
some time. I think he's got the potential to be very jealous of people who
have what he doesn't have: Popularity, wealth, athletic skill, academic
skill, etc.Remember in Goblet of Fire, when he was making such a big deal
about money, especially the leprechaun gold and gifts? And his reaction to
Hermione and Krum at the Yule Ball? I figured he would be the perfect
catalyst to set the next major plot twist into motion.
Special note to my friend, Miss E.: No, not quite the idea you gave me regarding the whole Lucius plot twist. But I think this is ever so much more mind-fucky in a subtle way. If you can't guess, I'm not telling, you'll have to wait like everybody else.
Disclaimers: None of the characters or concepts recognized from the books or movies belongs to me.
Chapter 36: Money is the Root of all Evil
Later that evening, Narcissa Malfoy returned home to inform her husband of the good news. The Weasley boy had taken the bait, and he would be acquiring the controlled potions ingredients for her.
Lucius invited his wife into his study, where he had been working at his ornate mahogany desk. On a large white sheet of parchment sat an inexpensive muggle style hairbrush with black elastic bands wrapped around the handle, and a raggedy quill. Next to those two items was a pair of tweezers and two little piles of hair. A larger pile of curly dark red hairs and a smaller pile of straight black hairs.
"Narcissa my love, I do believe your lovely little housemaid has more than earned her keep this month."
Narcissa leaned in and gingerly picked up the little pile of black hairs and examined them closely under the lantern and set them back on the parchment.
"Lucius. You don't think?"
Malfoy looked up with a malicious grin on his face.
"Whose else could they be?"
"Oh, Lucius. Don't tell me you're seriously considering what I think you're considering."
"Why not? What better way to blow their weak little minds and let them know that they're not safe anywhere, anytime?"
"Lucius, I don't know. I mean, what we discussed this morning was one thing, but this.This is entirely different!"
Lucius leaned forward across the desk and gripped her tightly around the forearm.
"Listen woman. I have already indulged you once concerning this matter. It will play out exactly as I say it will. Now, I suggest you send an owl to your little thief and tell him to get one of the bastard's quills while he's at it."
Narcissa made a little whimpering noise and wrenched her arm free. She turned and fled the study, rubbing her arm, tears welling up in her eyes. She stormed up the stairs to her private bedchamber, and slapped Cassie viciously across the face for laying the wrong nightgown out for her. After the maid replaced the nightgown with the proper one for Saturdays, she fled the room to tend to her face. Narcissa sat at her fancy little writing desk, and pulled a roll of plain parchment from the bottom drawer. She wrote a simple message: "Get one of his personal quills while you're at it for an extra ten Galleons." She wrote the boy's name on the outside of the parchment and rang for the butler to send it off in the morning to Hogwarts School.
Sunday morning after breakfast, the trio were lingering in the great hall, playing a game of cards when a handful of owls came flitting in, depositing mail and parcels to the students. An unfamiliar owl swooped down and dropped a small parchment in front of Ron. He looked at it strangely, didn't recognize the writing and opened it. He bit his lip and folded it up and quickly stashed it in his robe.
Hermione looked over at him. "Who's sending you mail on a Sunday, Ron?"
"Er. Um. It's nothing. Just a note from Mr. Boone at the Ministry, thanking me for working as an errand boy. That I performed an invaluable service during a rough time and so on."
Harry looked at Ron with a confused look. "Ron, all you did was run messages back and forth between Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley after the fighting was over."
Ron looked at Harry dejectedly. "Yeah, but it was a job. It paid well, and I earned tips."
Harry shrugged his shoulders and Hermione suggested a hand of exploding snap to lighten the mood. The owl message forgotten, the friends spent a leisurely Sunday on the school grounds.
Potions class the following week was a breeze. Ron noticed that McGonagall didn't thoroughly secure the supply cabinets, even the small one in the back laboratory from which she distributed the more dangerous ingredients. She was simply too trusting. It would be a piece of cake to sneak in after hours and swipe the items he needed.
Thursday night, he decided to make his move. After a rough Quidditch practice, Harry was sound asleep and never noticed Ron charm his school trunk open to borrow Harry's invisibility cloak. Ron put the cloak on and sneaked down to the dungeons, where he found the door to the Potions classroom unlocked. With a simple spell he picked up from Hermione, he managed to get into the laboratory and the smaller supply cabinet located behind the professor's workbench. He transferred small amounts of several ingredients into labeled vials he had prepared the night before. He bundled up the vials in a cloth, shut and re-locked the cabinet and headed for the door. On his way through the classroom, he spotted the tip of a feather quill poking out from a crack in a drawer of the professor's desk. He gently tugged it through the crack, and pocketed it as well. He sneaked out of the Potions classroom, and back up to the Gryffindor dormitories, where he replaced Harry's cloak and hid the bundle of potion ingredients and quill in the bottom of his own trunk. He went to bed with a smug smile on his face, thinking of how clever he was.
"Not bad, not bad at all. Sixty gold Galleons for a mere errand."
Saturday, the trio all made the trip to Hogsmeade. It was getting close to the holiday season, some of the shops already had gift displays up in the windows. Ron had the bundle of potion vials and quill stuffed into an inner pocket of his over-robe. They sampled the holiday goodies at Honeydukes and went down the street to buy some magical greeting cards at the general store. On their way back to the school, Ron made the excuse that he had to tie his shoe, and told Hermione and Harry to go on without him. He peered down the alley next to the inn and saw a dark figure standing near the back. A pale white hand beckoned him forward, and he tentatively stepped out of the light.
"Did you get it all?"
"Yeah, everything on the list, and the quill."
Ron reached into his robes and pulled out the bundle and handed it to the hooded woman. She unwrapped it and checked the vials to make sure everything was as requested.
"Excellent! You have done very well. Now, here is the rest of your pay, fifty Galleons. Remember, you must tell no one about this little transaction, do you understand me?"
"Yeah, well right. A pleasure doing business with you! Hope whatever you're brewing up comes out fine."
Ron backed out of the alley, pocketing the coins and hurried back to the school. After everybody was in bed, he put the coins with the rest of his little money stash, and counted them over and over again.
"Sixty-six gold Galleons!"
He secured the coins in a pouch and hid them in the bottom corner of his school trunk and dozed off, pleased that he would be able to buy Hermione an impressive gift.
Sunday afternoon, Dumbledore and Professor Snape returned to the school from the conference they had attended abroad. Dumbledore had decided to start a formal organization of wizarding educators after the fiasco at the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Every six months, administrators and professors from various wizarding schools would come together and share knowledge and ideas. This particular event focused on potions.
Snape returned to his laboratory to put the samples of exotic ingredients acquired from the other Potion Masters away in his personal stores. He immediately noticed that the cabinet had been tampered with. Bottles were out of order, and some had noticeable amounts missing from them, ingredients not needed for the list of potions he had left for McGonagall to teach his students.
"I don't bloody fucking believe this!"
He sorted through the bottles and jars, making notes of what exactly was missing, and then swept out of the dungeons and up to Dumbledore's chambers. The correct password given, he slammed the door open and stormed into the headmaster's office. Dumbledore and McGonagall were sitting in front of the fire, sharing a pot of tea. Snape glowered above them, the hand holding the list of missing items shaking.
McGonagall turned in her chair and looked at him with a disapproving glare.
"What on Earth is the matter with you, storming in here and disrupting the headmaster's tea time!"
Snape thrust the parchment at her. She took it from his hand, put her glasses on, and read with pursed lips.
"This is the matter Minerva. The items on that list have mysteriously gone missing from my personal potions stores. I noticed right away that the cabinet had been tampered with and the jars re-arranged. As you were in charge of my classes and my laboratory this past week, I thought that you might have a clue as to how and when they were taken."
McGonagall read and re-read the list of items missing from the potions supply cabinet, and handed it to Headmaster Dumbledore. The headmaster took the parchment and read the list, a questioning look on his face.
"What exactly are these ingredients used for?"
"They have many uses, headmaster. But all are more advanced than anything I teach here at the school."
"Is it possible that you used them yourself and forgot to replenish the supply?
"No, those items are very rare, and I would remember having needed any of them."
"Well then. I take it that they are controlled substances, are they not?"
"Controlled and dangerous, headmaster. I cannot think of any legitimate use that a student would need them for."
"Do they have a resale value, on the black market?"
"I never thought of that, but I would assume that they would be worth a pretty penny. They are not available to the general public, and even to licensed users, they are hard to come by. The actual price paid for them from a supplier is not tremendous, but they would be priceless to somebody who was unable to procure them through legitimate channels."
McGonagall sat forward in her chair, nostrils flaring, and quite agitated.
"Are you suggesting that one of our students stole those ingredients to sell on the black market for a profit? Why, that's absurd!"
Dumbledore reached over and patted her on the hand.
"There, there Minerva. I am merely exploring the possibilities."
Dumbledore looked up at Snape, who was standing between them, arms crossed over his chest.
"And do you have any theories as to who might have taken them and why?"
"I have no idea. Maybe a student is getting in over their head, dabbling with advanced potions that they have no business messing about with? Maybe they were stolen for the black market after all. Maybe it was just a prank to get one over on me? All I know is that if the thief doesn't know what they're doing; those ingredients can be very dangerous. It's a pity the cabinet wasn't properly secured after its last use. Had the proper wards been cast over it, as I left instructions for, this never would have happened."
Snape turned to McGonagall and the two squared off in a stare-down. He shot dagger-eyes in her direction while she countered with a pursed look, as if she smelled something foul. Dumbledore, sensing the potential for a nasty argument to erupt at any moment, rose and swiftly escorted the Potions Master to the door.
"Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Severus. I will make a point to advise Mr. Filch to be on the lookout for students out of bed after curfew. In the meanwhile, I suggest you try and not let it worry you too much. I am sure it was nothing more than a prank. If you wish, you may compile a list of effects from potions made from these items, and symptoms from misuse of the ingredients and send it over to Madame Pomfrey so that she can keep an eye out for signs of accidental exposure."
After politely being shown the door, Snape stalked back down the corridors and staircases to his laboratory. He pulled a large reference book off of a shelf, and spent the rest of the afternoon compiling a list of potions that used the missing ingredients. None of them were anything remotely within the skill level of Hogwarts students. To attempt any of them was both foolish and dangerous. To his further dismay, a few items on the list were potent poisons. He felt the same nagging tightness in the pit of his stomach, something was not right. This was not a mere prank, a student out to get one over on the old Potions Master. These ingredients were carefully chosen. Chosen by or for somebody who most certainly did not have the purest of intentions.
The list for Pomfrey compiled, he noticed the time, and went to his chambers to change for dinner. He spied a stack of parchment rolls on the table in his sitting room. The house-elves had been collecting and delivering his owl post in his absence. After he cleaned himself up and dressed for dinner, he sat and briefly sorted through the letters. He noticed one written in familiar handwriting and tied with scrap of silver ribbon. He pocketed it, and deposited the rest into a box to be dealt with later.
He arrived in the great hall quite early, there were only a handful of students at their house tables, and the only other occupants of the head table were Professor Sprout and Madame Hooch. He took his seat, removed the parchment from his pocket and began to read.
"Hope your conference went well and you made it back to Hogwarts safely. I missed you this weekend. I've started counting the days mid-week in anticipation of your Saturday evening visits. Susan and Albert came to check up on the store and make sure I had the holiday preparations under control. Purely business, they didn't even offer to take me to dinner. Albert still blames me for getting Susan dragged into that mess with the Death Eaters. Well, at least I'll get to see Tricia over the holidays. I've got permission to take her into muggle London for a shopping trip. Speaking of the holidays, next Saturday is the village winter fest. Now, I know you don't go in for special events and social occasions very much, but maybe we can escape the crowds and go to the tavern for a drink. I'll need it after dealing with the holiday shopping crowds. Albert wants me to stay open until at least eight o' clock, as the festival runs until ten. Send me an owl sometime this week and let me know if you can make it. Yours, as always, Mira."
The professor smiled briefly and rolled the parchment back up and stashed it in his pocket. The great hall was starting to fill up with both students and faculty. Before the meal, Dumbledore made the announcement about the winter festival in Hogsmeade. All students with permission from their families would be allowed to attend. When the lower-level students realized that they would be allowed to go as well, a spontaneous cheer erupted throughout the hall.
Special note to my friend, Miss E.: No, not quite the idea you gave me regarding the whole Lucius plot twist. But I think this is ever so much more mind-fucky in a subtle way. If you can't guess, I'm not telling, you'll have to wait like everybody else.
Disclaimers: None of the characters or concepts recognized from the books or movies belongs to me.
Chapter 36: Money is the Root of all Evil
Later that evening, Narcissa Malfoy returned home to inform her husband of the good news. The Weasley boy had taken the bait, and he would be acquiring the controlled potions ingredients for her.
Lucius invited his wife into his study, where he had been working at his ornate mahogany desk. On a large white sheet of parchment sat an inexpensive muggle style hairbrush with black elastic bands wrapped around the handle, and a raggedy quill. Next to those two items was a pair of tweezers and two little piles of hair. A larger pile of curly dark red hairs and a smaller pile of straight black hairs.
"Narcissa my love, I do believe your lovely little housemaid has more than earned her keep this month."
Narcissa leaned in and gingerly picked up the little pile of black hairs and examined them closely under the lantern and set them back on the parchment.
"Lucius. You don't think?"
Malfoy looked up with a malicious grin on his face.
"Whose else could they be?"
"Oh, Lucius. Don't tell me you're seriously considering what I think you're considering."
"Why not? What better way to blow their weak little minds and let them know that they're not safe anywhere, anytime?"
"Lucius, I don't know. I mean, what we discussed this morning was one thing, but this.This is entirely different!"
Lucius leaned forward across the desk and gripped her tightly around the forearm.
"Listen woman. I have already indulged you once concerning this matter. It will play out exactly as I say it will. Now, I suggest you send an owl to your little thief and tell him to get one of the bastard's quills while he's at it."
Narcissa made a little whimpering noise and wrenched her arm free. She turned and fled the study, rubbing her arm, tears welling up in her eyes. She stormed up the stairs to her private bedchamber, and slapped Cassie viciously across the face for laying the wrong nightgown out for her. After the maid replaced the nightgown with the proper one for Saturdays, she fled the room to tend to her face. Narcissa sat at her fancy little writing desk, and pulled a roll of plain parchment from the bottom drawer. She wrote a simple message: "Get one of his personal quills while you're at it for an extra ten Galleons." She wrote the boy's name on the outside of the parchment and rang for the butler to send it off in the morning to Hogwarts School.
Sunday morning after breakfast, the trio were lingering in the great hall, playing a game of cards when a handful of owls came flitting in, depositing mail and parcels to the students. An unfamiliar owl swooped down and dropped a small parchment in front of Ron. He looked at it strangely, didn't recognize the writing and opened it. He bit his lip and folded it up and quickly stashed it in his robe.
Hermione looked over at him. "Who's sending you mail on a Sunday, Ron?"
"Er. Um. It's nothing. Just a note from Mr. Boone at the Ministry, thanking me for working as an errand boy. That I performed an invaluable service during a rough time and so on."
Harry looked at Ron with a confused look. "Ron, all you did was run messages back and forth between Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley after the fighting was over."
Ron looked at Harry dejectedly. "Yeah, but it was a job. It paid well, and I earned tips."
Harry shrugged his shoulders and Hermione suggested a hand of exploding snap to lighten the mood. The owl message forgotten, the friends spent a leisurely Sunday on the school grounds.
Potions class the following week was a breeze. Ron noticed that McGonagall didn't thoroughly secure the supply cabinets, even the small one in the back laboratory from which she distributed the more dangerous ingredients. She was simply too trusting. It would be a piece of cake to sneak in after hours and swipe the items he needed.
Thursday night, he decided to make his move. After a rough Quidditch practice, Harry was sound asleep and never noticed Ron charm his school trunk open to borrow Harry's invisibility cloak. Ron put the cloak on and sneaked down to the dungeons, where he found the door to the Potions classroom unlocked. With a simple spell he picked up from Hermione, he managed to get into the laboratory and the smaller supply cabinet located behind the professor's workbench. He transferred small amounts of several ingredients into labeled vials he had prepared the night before. He bundled up the vials in a cloth, shut and re-locked the cabinet and headed for the door. On his way through the classroom, he spotted the tip of a feather quill poking out from a crack in a drawer of the professor's desk. He gently tugged it through the crack, and pocketed it as well. He sneaked out of the Potions classroom, and back up to the Gryffindor dormitories, where he replaced Harry's cloak and hid the bundle of potion ingredients and quill in the bottom of his own trunk. He went to bed with a smug smile on his face, thinking of how clever he was.
"Not bad, not bad at all. Sixty gold Galleons for a mere errand."
Saturday, the trio all made the trip to Hogsmeade. It was getting close to the holiday season, some of the shops already had gift displays up in the windows. Ron had the bundle of potion vials and quill stuffed into an inner pocket of his over-robe. They sampled the holiday goodies at Honeydukes and went down the street to buy some magical greeting cards at the general store. On their way back to the school, Ron made the excuse that he had to tie his shoe, and told Hermione and Harry to go on without him. He peered down the alley next to the inn and saw a dark figure standing near the back. A pale white hand beckoned him forward, and he tentatively stepped out of the light.
"Did you get it all?"
"Yeah, everything on the list, and the quill."
Ron reached into his robes and pulled out the bundle and handed it to the hooded woman. She unwrapped it and checked the vials to make sure everything was as requested.
"Excellent! You have done very well. Now, here is the rest of your pay, fifty Galleons. Remember, you must tell no one about this little transaction, do you understand me?"
"Yeah, well right. A pleasure doing business with you! Hope whatever you're brewing up comes out fine."
Ron backed out of the alley, pocketing the coins and hurried back to the school. After everybody was in bed, he put the coins with the rest of his little money stash, and counted them over and over again.
"Sixty-six gold Galleons!"
He secured the coins in a pouch and hid them in the bottom corner of his school trunk and dozed off, pleased that he would be able to buy Hermione an impressive gift.
Sunday afternoon, Dumbledore and Professor Snape returned to the school from the conference they had attended abroad. Dumbledore had decided to start a formal organization of wizarding educators after the fiasco at the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Every six months, administrators and professors from various wizarding schools would come together and share knowledge and ideas. This particular event focused on potions.
Snape returned to his laboratory to put the samples of exotic ingredients acquired from the other Potion Masters away in his personal stores. He immediately noticed that the cabinet had been tampered with. Bottles were out of order, and some had noticeable amounts missing from them, ingredients not needed for the list of potions he had left for McGonagall to teach his students.
"I don't bloody fucking believe this!"
He sorted through the bottles and jars, making notes of what exactly was missing, and then swept out of the dungeons and up to Dumbledore's chambers. The correct password given, he slammed the door open and stormed into the headmaster's office. Dumbledore and McGonagall were sitting in front of the fire, sharing a pot of tea. Snape glowered above them, the hand holding the list of missing items shaking.
McGonagall turned in her chair and looked at him with a disapproving glare.
"What on Earth is the matter with you, storming in here and disrupting the headmaster's tea time!"
Snape thrust the parchment at her. She took it from his hand, put her glasses on, and read with pursed lips.
"This is the matter Minerva. The items on that list have mysteriously gone missing from my personal potions stores. I noticed right away that the cabinet had been tampered with and the jars re-arranged. As you were in charge of my classes and my laboratory this past week, I thought that you might have a clue as to how and when they were taken."
McGonagall read and re-read the list of items missing from the potions supply cabinet, and handed it to Headmaster Dumbledore. The headmaster took the parchment and read the list, a questioning look on his face.
"What exactly are these ingredients used for?"
"They have many uses, headmaster. But all are more advanced than anything I teach here at the school."
"Is it possible that you used them yourself and forgot to replenish the supply?
"No, those items are very rare, and I would remember having needed any of them."
"Well then. I take it that they are controlled substances, are they not?"
"Controlled and dangerous, headmaster. I cannot think of any legitimate use that a student would need them for."
"Do they have a resale value, on the black market?"
"I never thought of that, but I would assume that they would be worth a pretty penny. They are not available to the general public, and even to licensed users, they are hard to come by. The actual price paid for them from a supplier is not tremendous, but they would be priceless to somebody who was unable to procure them through legitimate channels."
McGonagall sat forward in her chair, nostrils flaring, and quite agitated.
"Are you suggesting that one of our students stole those ingredients to sell on the black market for a profit? Why, that's absurd!"
Dumbledore reached over and patted her on the hand.
"There, there Minerva. I am merely exploring the possibilities."
Dumbledore looked up at Snape, who was standing between them, arms crossed over his chest.
"And do you have any theories as to who might have taken them and why?"
"I have no idea. Maybe a student is getting in over their head, dabbling with advanced potions that they have no business messing about with? Maybe they were stolen for the black market after all. Maybe it was just a prank to get one over on me? All I know is that if the thief doesn't know what they're doing; those ingredients can be very dangerous. It's a pity the cabinet wasn't properly secured after its last use. Had the proper wards been cast over it, as I left instructions for, this never would have happened."
Snape turned to McGonagall and the two squared off in a stare-down. He shot dagger-eyes in her direction while she countered with a pursed look, as if she smelled something foul. Dumbledore, sensing the potential for a nasty argument to erupt at any moment, rose and swiftly escorted the Potions Master to the door.
"Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Severus. I will make a point to advise Mr. Filch to be on the lookout for students out of bed after curfew. In the meanwhile, I suggest you try and not let it worry you too much. I am sure it was nothing more than a prank. If you wish, you may compile a list of effects from potions made from these items, and symptoms from misuse of the ingredients and send it over to Madame Pomfrey so that she can keep an eye out for signs of accidental exposure."
After politely being shown the door, Snape stalked back down the corridors and staircases to his laboratory. He pulled a large reference book off of a shelf, and spent the rest of the afternoon compiling a list of potions that used the missing ingredients. None of them were anything remotely within the skill level of Hogwarts students. To attempt any of them was both foolish and dangerous. To his further dismay, a few items on the list were potent poisons. He felt the same nagging tightness in the pit of his stomach, something was not right. This was not a mere prank, a student out to get one over on the old Potions Master. These ingredients were carefully chosen. Chosen by or for somebody who most certainly did not have the purest of intentions.
The list for Pomfrey compiled, he noticed the time, and went to his chambers to change for dinner. He spied a stack of parchment rolls on the table in his sitting room. The house-elves had been collecting and delivering his owl post in his absence. After he cleaned himself up and dressed for dinner, he sat and briefly sorted through the letters. He noticed one written in familiar handwriting and tied with scrap of silver ribbon. He pocketed it, and deposited the rest into a box to be dealt with later.
He arrived in the great hall quite early, there were only a handful of students at their house tables, and the only other occupants of the head table were Professor Sprout and Madame Hooch. He took his seat, removed the parchment from his pocket and began to read.
"Hope your conference went well and you made it back to Hogwarts safely. I missed you this weekend. I've started counting the days mid-week in anticipation of your Saturday evening visits. Susan and Albert came to check up on the store and make sure I had the holiday preparations under control. Purely business, they didn't even offer to take me to dinner. Albert still blames me for getting Susan dragged into that mess with the Death Eaters. Well, at least I'll get to see Tricia over the holidays. I've got permission to take her into muggle London for a shopping trip. Speaking of the holidays, next Saturday is the village winter fest. Now, I know you don't go in for special events and social occasions very much, but maybe we can escape the crowds and go to the tavern for a drink. I'll need it after dealing with the holiday shopping crowds. Albert wants me to stay open until at least eight o' clock, as the festival runs until ten. Send me an owl sometime this week and let me know if you can make it. Yours, as always, Mira."
The professor smiled briefly and rolled the parchment back up and stashed it in his pocket. The great hall was starting to fill up with both students and faculty. Before the meal, Dumbledore made the announcement about the winter festival in Hogsmeade. All students with permission from their families would be allowed to attend. When the lower-level students realized that they would be allowed to go as well, a spontaneous cheer erupted throughout the hall.