Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Disclaimer: The above disclaimer was written by whoever wrote the disclaimers for FictionAlley fics.

Red Ants in the Ingredients Cabinet

Once upon a time, there was a Dark Lord. This Dark Lord was very lazy and needed other people to do things for him. He didn't like it when they failed, though, which was really rather hypocritical of him, because he himself failed to do a lot of things. But he was a Dark Lord, so no one could complain. Not to mention the fact that there was no one to issue a complaint to. The Dark Lord had no secretary. He did have Death Eaters, though.

'A potion, Antonin. In one week.' Antonin Dolohov was a Death Eater.

'Yes, my Lord.'

'The ingredients.' Antonin took the scroll. 'Do not fail me.'

'Never, my Lord.'

'The Rosiers have the less – common – ingredients. I have informed them of your coming. Go now.' Cassius Rosier was a Death Eater, too. He and Antonin were friends. Sort of.

'Yes, my Lord.'

And so commences our little tale of mystery, intrigue, and a chocolate cupcake.

'Well, this is certainly unexpected. What compels you to call at this hour?'

Antonin held up the scroll his Lord had given him. Cassius nodded, and stepped aside for him to come in.

'Do not disturb Mr Dolohov. He is in the middle of a very important project.'

'Yes, Father,' Evan said, nodding to reinforce his point.

His father eyed him distrustfully, but dismissed him with a wave. Evan left the study, bouncing slightly.

'Stop bouncing, Evan.'

'Yes, Father,' Evan said, stopping and closing the door quietly behind him.

'Good thing he's got a brother,' Cassius muttered to himself, and turned back to his desk, intending to continue with the letter requesting an appointment with a renowned, but discreet, psychiatrist for his eldest son.

Evan didn't know who Mr Dolohov was, but he must be coming soon to visit. Evan would keep his word and not disturb him, when he came.

In the meantime, though, he was free to roam the house. Evan started down the stairs, hopping each step and jumping the last five. Landing with a soft thud on the carpet, he bounced towards the kitchen.

'Iwantacupcake!'

'Yes, Master Evan!' the house-elf squeaked, immediately producing a chocolate sprinkle-covered chocolate chip cupcake. With chocolate icing, no less.

Evan left the kitchen chewing, but not bouncing, because then he would bite his tongue, and he didn't want that.

Let's hop down stairs a bit more, his brain suggested. Evan found he was quite agreeable to this suggestion, and so started for the stairs that went down to the basement.

'A snip of shredded parsley,' Antonin muttered to himself, carefully sprinkling in the required ingredient. 'Two measures of…ground stag antlers…'
Ooh, a door. Evan had never been down here before. Oh, and another door!

This door was a glass door. There was someone inside.

Evan opened the door, just a crack. When the someone inside showed no detectable reaction, he opened the door the rest of the way and stepped inside what seemed to be a Potions laboratory, quietly closing the door behind him.

Antonin looked up. 'Who're you?' he asked, slightly bewildered. He thought Cassius would have told his household not to disturb him. It was a delicate potion he was brewing, after all.

'I'm Evan,' said the child. He looked to be no more than seven or so, and had black hair. He bore something of a resemblance to Cassius. Must be his son, then.

'Hm,' he said dismissively, returning his attention to the cauldron.

Evan moved closer to the cauldron. He was tall enough to see inside it, he noted happily.

The man frowned, staring inside the cauldron and completely ignoring Evan. Evan realised that the man knew his name, but not vice versa.

Well, that wasn't fair.

'What's your name?' Evan asked.

The man muttered something and reached for a long wooden spoon behind him.

'…Sorry?'

'Antonin,' the man said, poking at the surface of the potion cautiously.

There was silence in the room.

Antonin accidentally dropped the spoon, and he swore rather viciously, causing Evan to giggle nervously. The spoon broke the surface tension of the potion and…it stayed there, stuck.

Antonin reached for a pair of tongs and carefully plucked the spoon out of the substance, setting both on a metal tray next to him.

Antonin continued to work. Evan continued to watch.

'…My name's Greek,' Evan said eventually into the silence. He didn't want his new friend to think he was boring.

Antonin got up. 'That's nice,' he said absently, moving over to the ingredients cabinet.

Evan took a bite of his cupcake to console himself at being ignored and promptly choked for no apparent reason. He coughed once, rather violently. A single, half-melted chocolate sprinkle flew from his mouth and into the potion. Evan stared as the sprinkle melted into the bubbling potion, giving no trace that it had been there at all.

Antonin returned to the cauldron with a small vial in hand.

Evan said nothing. Chocolate was a good thing. It could only do good, because chocolate was a very good thing. In fact, it might even improve the potion.

Better to be safe than to be sorry, though. Evan didn't want to be punished. He slowly backed away from Antonin and slipped silently out of the lab. Antonin didn't notice, leaning forward a bit more, nose almost touching the surface of the potion. Evan closed the door and set off at a brisk pace, intending to find some stairs.

'I swear, on my honour as a Dolohov, that I will finish this thing in time or I will – die.' The sudden, loud voice went quiet on the last word.

Evan froze.

The voice continued. 'You don't want to die, do you, Antonin? No, you don't. Okay. Okay. Right. Ask Cassius why there are red ants in his ingredients cabinet. Ask Cassius to get more linseed oil. He won't mind. That much. Okay. Right. Right.'

Evan finished the last of his chocolate cupcake and left the paper on the floor behind him at a dead run upstairs. A house-elf would pick it up when he left the corridor.

'Do not disturb Mr Dolohov.'

Evan didn't want to be punished.

Antonin leaned back and reached for the scroll of instructions. Scanning the parchment, he noticed something he hadn't seen before at the bottom.

'Adding sugar in any form to the concoction will cause very unpleasant side-effects,' he read. 'Well. It's a good thing I know not to eat around highly volatile potions, then.'

'Do you know what you have done, Antonin?'

'No, my Lord.'

'Do you have any idea how important that potion was, Antonin?'

'It must have been very important, my Lord.'

'Do not be impertinent!'

Silence.

'Do you know that you have single-handedly crushed any hope for this plan to succeed?'

'No, my Lord – '

'Well, now you do! Crucio!'

And that was the end of the friendship between Evan Rosier and Antonin Dolohov.

(A/N: Feedback would be much appreciated!)