Chapter 10
The Bigger They Are the Harder the Fall
The Writer was beginning to get a flair for this Almost-Being-Killed-But-Not-Quite stuff. She watched with interest as the security camera's picked up Lucius Malfoy, marching up the stairs – for crying out loud, were they wizards or not? Why didn't they just fix the lift, or at least find a more imaginative way of breaking in?
But that wasn't her problem, it just meant that in the end they were predictable, which made things easy.
Lucius was now on the right floor, the stairs only having slowed him down a little.
The Writer rubbed her hands together. All the pieces were simply falling into place!
The door burst open and Lucius swaggered into the room. But he took a step inside and a rope wrapped itself around his ankle, so he was left upside down, swinging from the ceiling. He struggled, but it just made him sway like a pendulum.
"Lucy!" the Writer cried, clapping her hands together, "it's so good to finally meet you at last! I believe you know I've already met your son...?"
"Yes, I do," Lucius spat, "you informed us of his...soiree the other night. By leaving us a fake owl message, which left us stranded in the middle of the Savoy Hotel in London. We had to pretend we were going to the theatre there to look normal."
"Not a nice evening?" the Writer pouted.
"It was Legally Blonde: The Musical," Lucius replied, "Narcissa loved it."
"Doesn't it give you a happy, jolly feeling inside, though?" the Writer grinned.
"Well...a little..." Lucius shook himself out of it, "that's not the point! Now let me down so I can kill you!"
"Actually, today I feel like playing a game," the Writer turned to her computer. Typing something in, a table with two vials on it appeared in front of Lucius.
"And what is this?" Lucius quirked an eyebrow.
"Your way out," the Writer nodded towards the vials, "or my next chapter. One contains a Transporting Potion, the other has Veritaserum in it. The one you pick is up to you."
"And if I don't pick?"
"Either I pick for you, or I leave you up there to rot until I'm sick of the sight of you," the Writer explained, "whichever takes my fancy at the time."
"Alright, I'll take that one!" Lucius pointed at the small purple vial on the right, "anything to get me down!"
"Ah!" the Writer nodded, "good choice."
She handed him the vial, giving him credit for being able to down it upside down. She wondered how he had learned to do it, but then shook her head, desperately attempting to rid her mind of the filthy images it produced of its own accord.
"Oh, did I say "good choice"?" the Writer pretended to think, "I meant to say "good choice if you want to become my next chapter"."
Lucius began to shake, whether because he was angry or because he was so determine to not share his secrets with anybody, the Writer couldn't tell.
"I like teddy bears!" he blurted, "I like teddy bear tea parties! I have them all the time with my bear collection!"
"Why does this actually not surprise me?" the Writer took his memory, quite proud of the collection she was mounting, "by the way, you know I said that one vial had Veritaserum in it?"
"Yes..."
"Well, actually, both had the Transporting Potion in it," the Writer paced in front of him as she explained, she glanced at her watch, "which, if my calculations are correct..."
Lucius began to fade. The Writer waved at him as he grew fainter and fainter.
"See you never!" she sang.
"I'll get you, you little-" Lucius vanished, leaving the rope dangling from the ceiling uselessly. The Writer hugged her arms gleefully.
"Oh, I am so going to enjoy this..."