Dazed and Dumbfounded 9

Harry gladly escaped from the confining Dining Room where he had been forced to endure an actual meal with the Malfoys. He had seen Hermoine and Draco disappear in the opposite direction, no doubt to go spend hours staring at each other dreamily. It was stupid really. Hermoine was supposed to be the most intelligent of all of them and here she was waltzing around a noted Death Eater's home without a care in the world! And the bloody reason for that sudden lack of brainpower was that she thought the blonde Slytherin was cute!

The Boy That Lived shook his head and absentmindedly ran his food-smeared palm over his forehead to push his drooping bangs out of his eyes. This left a wide smear of assorted food across the bridge of his nose, the lenses of his glasses, his forehead and through his hair; not that he noticed. "Cute! There's a madman that wants to kill me and Ferret-Boy sidetracks her because he's suddenly cute! It doesn't make any sense!"

Hermoine had always been the most sensible one of the three friends. She knew all the spells, had obscure information and always knew the right thing to do. "Well, this can't be the right thing to do. She's going to get me killed, that's what…having dinner with a family of Death Eaters…"

Still annoyed, Harry paused in some fancy room. He had no idea what sort of room it was but all the rooms in the Malfoy Manor to him looked alike. The walls were cream colored with brilliant red draperies hung by the windows. A fire crackled merrily in the fireplace even though no one around. The furniture was the same plush red as the drapes and had the fancy carved legs of antiques. The teenager moved closer to the wall and peered near the furniture looking for a wastebasket. "Sofa, foot stool, potted plant, paintings, knickknacks, more sofas, some odd thing with a bunch of thread hanging on it … if the Malfoys are so rich why don't they have a wastebasket?"

The assorted food from dinner that he had jammed sneakily into his pockets was beginning to get mushy and he needed to ditch it before it started to drip. He certainly wasn't going to eat the weird stuff. No, Lucius would be all to happily to poison him. Harry still remembered that day Second Year when he had used the Flu Power incorrectly and had accidentally ended up in Borgin and Burkes. He had hidden just in time as Draco and his father entered the store. Harry had heard how Lucius was selling dark wizard items so he wouldn't get caught with them and several poisons had been among the illegal loot. Feeling a slight wetness start to leak down the outer side of his left leg, Harry snapped out of his reverie. He needed to find that wastebasket and find it now!

He was passing through another room when an unusual looking plant in the corner caught his eye. Curious, Harry moved closer to get a slightly better look at it. It was as tall as he was and consisted of a huge white flower resting upon a thick main stalk. Several green leaves marbled with dark red stuck out from the stalk. A pleasant perfume wafted from the flower and Harry closed his eyes for a moment to enjoy the scent.

"I wouldn't get too close…" A voice said from somewhere behind him.

Hating himself for letting his guard down so low that someone had snuck up from behind him, Harry spun around and his intense green eyes flew open. Even if Draco's father had invited him to dinner and was apparently trying some new approach, that didn't mean he trusted them. Hadn't he been locked down in a dungeon a short time ago? In a short while he'll probably be handed over to Voldemort on one of the fancy silver platters.

Narcissa stood before him in a dark green evening gown, her long pale blonde hair cascading down her back. She pointed a graceful, manicured finger towards the plant. "That is my husband's carnivorous plant. If you get too close you may loose a limb, so do be careful."

"What would you care if I lost a limb?" Harry glared at her. Draco's mother always seemed to have a snooty expression pasted to her face just like her husband. He doubted if she ever really cared about anyone or anything, just herself. "Or are you worried I'd get blood on your precious carpet?"

If he were expecting Narcissa to get angry, he would be disappointed.

"You poor boy, being raised by those horrible Muggles! It's clear they didn't teach you any manners." Narcissa said to him as she shook her head sadly. "But you're here now and I expect you to show us the proper respect. You'll have a good future in front of you now that we've taken you in. Things will be explained to the Parkinson's; don't you worry. There will be a nice and proper Pureblood girl in your future…"

"But…" Harry started to protest, his green eyes widening in horror. He had thought it was only Lucius that was crazy. Now it was clear that his wife was, too! Raw panic bubbled in his stomach and he knew he had to try and talk some sense into someone! "But I'm not a Pureblood! My mother was a Muggle-born! The Parkinson's wouldn't want me to marry their daughter!"

"Nonsense!" Narcissa replied with a wave of her slender hand, expensive rings flashing on her fingers. "You're my son now and you'll have a proper betrothal as is suiting a Malfoy."

"But I'm NOT a Malfoy!" Harry shrieked. "Everyone in this house is MAD!"

"Really, Harry! Saying that your mother is mad … what a cruel thing to say! But you've been traumatized all these years." Narcissa frowned at the food smeared on his face, hair and hands. "You best clean up before my husband sees you like that. What were you ever thinking?"

"You're NOT my mother! Lily Potter was my mother!" Harry glared at her angrily, daring her to deny the truth again.

"You'll never get a wife by being dirty all the time."

"I DON'T WANT A WIFE!" Harry screamed as loudly as he could, not caring if everyone in the house heard him.

Narcissa's frown increased at his rude behavior. "Well! I'll be in the Lady's Parlor when you come to your senses and wish to apologize."

Harry watched her as she turned to leave the room. "You're just planning on handing me over to Voldemort!"

Breathing loudly, his thin chest heaving up and down rapidly with each breath, he turned to glare at the plant. The plant was proof that they were evil wizards! What sort of person kept a carnivorous plant anyway? "A Death Eater, that's who…"

Wetness dripping down his leg suddenly reminded him that his pockets were stuffed with poisoned food. He needed to ditch it and the plant was as good a place as any other. Sticking an already sticky hand into his pants pocket, he pulled out a squashed, unidentifiable thing. Holding his hand far out in front of him as if he were reaching for the Golden Snitch, Harry inched closer to the large flower. As if it sensed his presence, the flower's thick petals began to move with excitement. Opening its petals further, Harry could see a dark hole deep in the middle of the flower. A shudder of fear and disgust passed through him as he realized he was looking at the thing's throat. It just wasn't natural that flowers ate like this. No, flowers were supposed to grow in gardens and be pretty to look at. But this was the Wizarding World and what you didn't know could kill you.

Taking aim, Harry tossed the assorted food from his pockets into the big plant. He emptied pocket after pocket and then patted himself down with his food-smeared hands. Harry looked worse now than when Narcissa had last spoke to him. Food stains in the shape of handprints covered his nice black dinner suit, not that he cared. No, he wasn't going to stay here any longer! He had kept his promise to Draco and that was all that he owed him…

Feeling a hard bulge in one pocket, Harry reached inside and pulled out a handful of jellybeans. He had totally forgotten about them! They were the awful tasting ones he had had in his other clothes. Each piece of candy had a slight tooth mark from where he had carefully bit it to see if it had been edible or not. These had not been. Lifting his green eyes, he glanced from the candy to the plant. "Why not?"

Tossing the uneatable candy into the plant's mouth, he left the room to head upstairs to find his own clothes…

After Harry left, the plant shook as a tremor ran up its thick stalk. The pale flower turned slightly greenish and then it spitted the awful candy out all over the floor, some of the French food from dinner coming up with it. Deciding it had been fed enough for the moment, it curled its petals tightly shut.

Harry trudged up the grand staircase in a foul mood. He reached the top and paused, glancing down the hall first to the right and then to the left. Which direction had they come from before dinner? Normally he was good at remembering such things but this was just too much. And the stupid thing around his neck! It felt like it was strangling him! Stupid Malfoys and their outdated clothing style! Reaching up with a sticky hand, he tried to tear it off but the drat thing refused to budge. Grabbing it with both hands, Harry yanked on it as hard as he could. This caused him to loose his balance and he stumbled backward. His back collided into the hallway wall, his head striking an ornate brass candleholder.

CLICK

The brass candelabra moved upward and the section of the wall that Harry was leaning upon swung inward. With a loud yelp of surprise, Harry fell into the darkness behind the wall. The section of wall smoothly slid back into place and closed without a seam in sight.

Back down on the main floor, Lucius had just finished his little talk with Hermoine and Draco. Leaving the pair in his study, he went in search of Potter. He was strolling along when suddenly one of his boots slid out from underneath him. Loosing his balance, he fell backward and crashed to the floor with a loud thud. He winched in pain as his head hit the floor and he lay there for a moment, stunned. "What the …?"

Worse, there was an alarming wetness seeping into his clothes…

Sitting up, Lucius glanced at the floor near him only to spot what looked like discarded food from dinner! And horror upon horror, he was actually laying in it! Slowly he lifted one of his pale hands and grimaced in disgust at the liquid that slowly leaked down his wrist and dripped from his fingertips. And his sleeve, it was just coated with it! What slob had been through here? Who would dare throw food on his floor?

A soft cough drifted to his ears and he shifted his gaze to the right…

"My prize plant!" Lucius wailed in even more horror. The leaves were drooping and its normal gleaming white had shifted to a sickly mint green. "Someone tried to poison my plant!"

A bright stab of color on the floor caught his eye. There! A jellybean!

Lucius twisted his face up in anger. Someone had attempted to murder his prize plant with noxious jellybeans!

"POTTER!"

To be continued…