Revenge of a Slytherin

Chapter 7

Nichol had been bathed and put into clean nightclothes and tucked into a bed in the Hogwarts Infirmary. Once she was settled and sound asleep Professor's Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape and Madame Pomfrey stood near the doors of the Infirmary talking.

Prof. McGonagall: 'Albus, the poor girl is covered in bruises and what look like bite marks'.

Prof. Dumbledore: 'Bite marks?'

Prof. McGonagall: 'Yes, and I do not mean animal bites, although whoever did this is the worst kind of animal'.

Prof. Dumbledore: 'Do we have any indication of how this happened?'

Prof. Snape: 'I spoke with Ni … Professor Reynard a while ago, she had been experiencing bad dreams, nightmares even, I advised her to see Madame Pomfrey…'

Mdme. Pomfrey: 'Yes she came to me a while ago, and I gave her something to assist her in getting a good night's sleep. But the poor girl is exhausted, looks like she has not slept in days, along with this she is quite badly injured, half starved and dehydrated'.

Prof. McGonagall: 'And not to mention terrified out of her poor mind.'

Prof. Snape:'I have checked with the house elves and it would appear that although she said she would be taking her meals in her room she had actually not been eating at all, every tray has gone back untouched and she has not moved from her bedroom in days'.

Prof. McGonagall:'What has happened to her and who could have done such things?'

Prof. Dumbledore:'I have a feeling that Miss Reynard has been attacked in her dreams, and whoever did this needed to be very powerful, I think that he has been manipulating her dreams and assaulting her in them'.

No one present spoke the name they suspected but they all looked at each other with the same name in mind.

Prof. Dumbledore: 'I will contact the Ministry right away, someone needs to stay with her, she must not be left alone!'

Prof. Snape: 'I will stay with her'.

Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall gave each other knowing looks.

Prof. Dumbledore:'Good, keep your wand ready at all times Severus, I think once the Minister and Myself pay Mr Malfoy a visit he may be none too happy'.

Sitting in the chair by the Snape was alone with Nichol, he looked over at her pale face and was furious with Lucius 'you sick bastard!' he muttered.

Stirring in her sleep Nichol whimpered slightly, Severus stood and climbed onto the bed next to her, sitting upright leaning against the head of the bed he held Nichol to him and gently stroked her hair 'shhhh' he whispered ' you are safe now, he can't hurt you now'.

Professor Dumbledore contacted the Ministry of magic and reported what had happened at Hogwarts as a result Cornelius Fudge came to Hogwarts to meet with the Headmaster in person.

Fudge: 'I can understand your concerns Albus, but how can you be sure that this was Lucius Malfoy?'

Dumbledore: 'Professor Reynard had a rather nasty experience with Lucius Malfoy in Hogsmeade, since then she has suffered nightmares, all of which contained Lucius. In these dreams she was physically and mentally tortured and assaulted. He also came to me himself to demand she be removed from Hogwarts. I do believe that this is Malfoy.'

Fudge: 'Do you feel we need to speak with Malfoy regarding this matter?'

Dumbledore: 'Most certainly, I believe that left unchecked Professor Reynard is in extreme danger, I believe that unless we step in now she will be hurt until she leaves Hogwarts or she will be killed.'

Fudge: 'Do you think it could be this dangerous for her?'

Dumbledore: 'Yes, I am afraid I do.'

Fudge: 'But surely Malfoy will not listen to us, you know him Albus, the man does not listen to reason when he his mind is set on a course of action.'

Dumbledore: 'Yes, I am inclined to agree Cornelius, however, the one thing he does care about is his reputation and the reputation of the Malfoy name. I am quite prepared to stand up to him on this issue, and if anything else happens to Professor Reynard whilst at Hogwarts I will ensure he acquires some very unfavourable publicity.'

The two wizards spoke for a while before deciding it was better for them to pay Lucius Malfoy an unannounced visit to catch him off guard.

Lucius was in his study; he was trying to see Nichol but had been unable and had been for the past day or so. He could see her rooms but she was not there, and he had not been able to see into her dreams and he was annoyed.

When the house elf came to his study and announced the arrival of Cornelius Fudge and Professor Dumbledore Lucius suddenly understood the lack of communication with Nichol. Turning to the elf he hissed 'show them in.'

He was sitting casually behind his desk, leaning back with his legs crossed and feet on the desk when his visitors were shown in. 'Fudge, Dumbledore, to what do I owe please of this visit?' Professor Dumbledore was unshaken by the arrogant wizard the same could not be said however for Cornelius Fudge, he as always was nervous around Lucius Malfoy and Lucius knew this.

Professor Dumbledore was the first to speak 'this is not a social call Lucius.'

'Where you are concerned it rarely is Dumbledore' Lucius replied smoothly 'so do tell, what has Draco done this time?'

'This is not about your son Lucius' said Fudge looking anywhere but directly at Lucius.

'Really?' said Lucius raising one eyebrow.

Dumbledore: 'It is rather more serious than that Lucius. There has been an attack on one of the Professor's at Hogwarts.'

Lucius: 'Oh?'

Dumbledore: 'Professor Reynard has been assaulted, but unusually this happened while she was sleeping, someone has been using her dreams to assault her.'

Lucius: 'and this brings you to my door why exactly?'

Dumbledore: 'Because Lucius, the person who has been causing harm to her in her dreams is you.'

Lucius: 'Whaaat?' he spat 'how dare you come into my home and accuse me of something like this based on the fact that a woman I have never met is having dreams of me.'

Dumbledore: 'But you have met Professor Reynard Lucius, you met her in Hogsmeade the very same day you came to Hogwarts to demand I remove her.'

Lucius: 'Ahh, so I did, I had forgotten, so this Professor with the problem is the muggle then?'

Dumbledore: 'Yes Lucius, and you knew this already'

Lucius: 'ridiculous! Just what are you basing this pathetic accusation on might I ask?'

Dumbledore: 'you are the one she saw, you threatened her in Hogsmeade, you are able to apparate into and out of Hogwarts and you would have the power and knowledge to carry out dark magic of this kind.'

Dumbledore's eyes fell on the crystal ball on Lucius' desk and Lucius saw this.

Lucius: 'I have no idea what you are talking about!'

Dumbledore: 'Lucius, I have come here to warn you, and Cornelius is here to witness this. If anything else untoward happens to Professor Reynard during her time at Hogwarts we will come back to see you. I am quite prepared to speak with the media on this matter and ensure you receive a lot of unwanted attention from them.'

Lucius: 'How dare you!'

Dumbledore held up his hand 'furthermore Lucius, Professor Reynard is not alone now and will not be during her time with us.'

Lucius: 'So Cornelius, I take you are in agreement with Dumbledore?'

Looking uncomfortable Fudge replied 'I am afraid so Lucius, Professor Dumbledore has the full backing of the Ministry.'

With that the visiting wizards excused themselves and left. Lucius standing by his desk finished his scotch in one large gulp and threw the crystal glass at the fireplace causing it to shatter into tiny pieces.

Lucius paced around his study. He was furious at the Ministry of Magic, 'how dare those idiots take the word of a damn muggle against mine? I am a pure born son of Slytherin!' he raged bringing his cane down with an ear splitting crash onto his desk.

Still pacing his study he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and smirked, she would pay, and he would make damn sure of that. Turning on his heel he stalked over to the window, he could feel a familiar ache in his groin, 'oh that bitch is going to regret fucking with me!' he said 'but I am going to enjoy fucking with her!'