Hey everybody! This is one more entry in my Hogwarts arsenal! It's for the Mythology assignment. This one was quite a bit different than most. Usually we have maybe three choices of topics for our assignments. This one has a total of thirteen to choose from, going with prompts for the twelve Olympian gods and Hades. I decided to go with the Poseidon task, which was to write a story that takes place on or near a body of water. This is very vague as to guidelines, so I can basically do anything I want as long as it's happening on or near a lake, river, pond, or ocean. Lets get on with it, shall we my lovelies?

Word Count: 743 words

Draco Malfoy was standing before the Vanishing Cabinet in the Room of Requirement, making checks and double checks on the progress of it's repair. Today was when he would complete the final part of the repairs, or so he hoped. He really hoped it would. It was already almost Christmas and he still hadn't managed to even come close to finishing the cabinet, allowing his fellow Death Eaters entry into Hogwarts and saving his family.

Of course, he had a couple of other ways to complete the task, but they would all be difficult. The necklace was with him, but he didn't want to use that until he knew the cabinet wouldn't work, and the poison was a simple one to make, easily snuck into a bottle of butterbeer or mead, but he didn't want to be caught with illegal potions ingredients. With Filch around, poking anyone suspicious with his Probity Prod, those options would be much more difficult. It had been hard enough getting the necklace and ingredients past the tightened security, and he didn't want to blow his one chance.

This was the moment. The Spell of Repairing had to work, or everything would be for nothing. Draco closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he continued.

"Harmonia Nectere Passus," Draco whispered. As expected, nothing happened that was immediately obvious. Looking around, Draco grabbed the nearest object to him. It was a stone bust of a man. Someone had stuck a tiara on his head at some time.

Opening the gigantic cabinet, Draco placed it inside. With feelings of hope and dread, Draco closed the door. After about ten seconds, he figured it was plenty of time to know if the spell had worked.

Wrenching it open, Draco saw… the bust was gone. His heart soared with relief at the sight. He had done it! He could contact the Dark Lord and tell him the plan was underway. His hopes were quickly dashed, however, when he saw a large chunk of the stone missing. It wasn't immediately obvious, being sort of to the back of the statue, but once you saw it you couldn't miss it.

Draco's heart went stone cold at the sight. The spell had failed… again. He had started this task hopeful, back in October. Every subsequent attempt had disheartened him even more than the last, and this was the final straw.

Surprising himself, tears came to Draco's eyes. He was not a crybaby, never had been (except for when he had overplayed an injury in third year). Draco took the bust out and quickly replaced it on the table, slamming it shut and bursting out of the Room of Requirement.

Not paying attention to where his feet were taking him, Draco quickly found himself standing by the Black Lake. He had always liked the place, one of the very few things enjoyable about Hogwarts in his opinion. He knew that there was a giant squid somewhere in the waters, but he'd never seen hide nor tail of it since his first year.

Why isn't it working! Draco thought to himself frustratedly. He had done everything Borgin had told him to do to fix the cabinet, and nothing had worked. Something had to be missing, but what? What was the puzzle piece that would make the Cabinet work and the plan succeed?

Blindly, Draco picked up a rock from the sandy shore of the lake and flung it across the surface, where it skipped several times before sinking to the bottom. Draco felt his prospects of surviving the Dark Lord's wrath sinking along with it,

Draco could not give up, or everyone he cared about would be murdered, ending with himself. Flinging another rock, he realized that there was no other option. There was a Hogsmeade weekend coming up. He could have Rosmerta give it to someone, since he had detention that day with McGonagall. They could manage to get it to Dumbledore pretty easily, since no one would check students coming back from Hogsmeade.

His plan set, Draco flung one more rock before realizing he would soon be late for his next class and hurrying back up to the castle, not wanting another detention for tardiness for fear of being considered suspicious. It was bad enough that Potter was on what seemed like 24/7 watch to find out what he was up to.

Draco could not wait when he put all the pieces together.