Salazar's Secret Weapon

Standard disclaimer: I own nothing; I am merely borrowing and returning the characters in their original condition. And people please remember, Feedback is the coin of the realms. Read and Review!

It was 4:33am on Tuesday the 3rd of March and the Order of the Phoenix had just been called for an emergency meeting. Albus Dumbledore watched as the members yawned and stumbled toward the coffee pot. He waited until the majority of the members were coherent and began with the important news of the hour.

"My trusted friends and allies, I'm afraid I have some very grave news. As of 4am this morning, some of Salazar Slytherine's personal papers were obtained by Voldemort. What's worse is that we have great reason to believe that these papers contained one of Slytherine's most secret and most powerful potions. It was said to bring the most powerful wizards to their knees. Unfortunately since we've no idea of what type of magic this might be we've no idea of how to counter it." Nymphodora Tonks spoke up.

"Albus, how exactly did Voldemort get his hands on this? If these papers were so important, why weren't we holding onto them?"

Albus sighed and launched into a story "well, it all began last Thursday…"

Flashback

A red eyed gaze was sweeping over the very back of the Daily Prophet, barely paying attention when a small notice caught his eye.

Gringots announces the annual auction of liquidated vaults. The auction will take place on Friday; all bids must be paid within 1 hour of the final sale, all that do not will be 'dealt with'.

Voldemort's breath caught in his throat and he smirked, "finally, the time has come for me to gain the final piece of my inheritance!" He ended his brief monologue with a bout of hysterical laughter. A passing death eater head the laughter and quickened his pace, if his Lord was happy then someone must be in pain or soon would be and he'd just as rather it wouldn't be him.

Friday morning, Gringott

Henry Dobbins was sweating despite the early morning chill and for two very good reasons. Number one, the Dark Lord had personally instructed him to bid and win a certain lot offered up for auction, and number two, he was really afraid of what the Dark Lord would do if he failed. Henry swallowed hard as the goblins suddenly appeared on the platform. He cleared his throat before speaking.

"Today's auction has begun. Lot #1 consists of 12 used handkerchiefs, 3 socks, and 1 rusty lock. The bidding will start at 3 Knuts. Do I hear 3 knuts…?"

The lots moved on and on until finally the lot Henry had been waiting for came up.

"Lot #172 consists of 1 black blank book, 3 bundles of water damaged hay, 2 essays of divination (both graded F), and 13 pairs of black hair ties. The bidding will start at 10 Knuts. Do I hear 10 Knuts?" Henry waved his paddle. "11 Knuts, do I hear 12?" An elderly wizard waved his paddle and the battle began. Henry and the elderly wizard bid back and forth other the lot until finally Henry was declared the winner with a bid of 1 galleon, 5 sickles, and 1 Knut. Henry paid for the items, grabbed his new purchases and left to present them to the Dark Lord.

To late, a pair of suspicious eyes peered at Henry Dobbins retreating form.

End of Flashback

"while O'Pueblo tried to follow him, Dobbins had already departed. Had we known the nature of the mission Dobbins was on we would have stopped him; however, we must be grateful that at least one of our people were able to observe and notify us of this." Albus finished.

Sirius broke in "but why, if everything you say is true, then all we can really do is twiddle our thumbs while Voldemort goes about his evil dastardly plan!"

"Oh really Black," Snape sneered "calm down before you cause a puddle on the floor. I doubt that right at this moment the Dark Lord is going about his," here Snape made quotient marks with his fingers "'evil dastardly plans'."

O

Voldemort sneered as he prepared to open the supposedly blank book and go about his evil dastardly plan. He had at his finger tips one of Salazar's greatest potion recipes. It was rumored to bring even the strongest man to his knees. He couldn't wait to try it. He carefully measured out the odd assortment of ingredients, wrinkling his forehead over some of them, 'sugar' and 'brandy'? Oh well, trust the recipe.

For hours he labored until finally he set the mixture to a simmer and went off to fetch the container needed for the final cooling. He carefully poured in the mixture and consulted the text. 'Well, everything looked right…' he set the timer and went off to plan the latest scheme till the mixture was ready.

6 stupid schemes and 2 hours later, the potion was finally ready for testing. Voldemort called his strongest and most loyal death eaters to him. They crowded into the small room and each was presented with a hardened chunk of the mixture. Voldemort carefully watched as they began to consume the mixture. When nothing apparent happened he looked back to the book and carefully looked over the recipe.

The death eaters watched as the Dark Lord, currently the most feared man in the wizarding world, suddenly screamed in anger, threw the Salazar's work book against the wall, and stormed out screaming obscenities.

The death eaters exchanged a few glances and some actually started talking "whoa, what's up with him?"

"I don't know," one of the younger one said, all the while munching on his chunk " great brownies though!"