When one individual panics in the spring of 1992, he triggers a cascade of changes to the events of Harry Potter's second year. The results are tragic for Magical Britain.
DISCLAIMER! This Harry Potter story was written for fun. All rights belong to the wonderful lady (JK Rowling) who gave the world Harry Potter to read and enjoy.
~~~*** Author's Note: Children are dying in the Middle East. The world has moments of great pain. I think that's where the darkness in this story originated.
~~~*** CHANGE SCENE
Molly WeasleyWhile brewing a pepper up potion in her still room, Molly Weasley suddenly thought about her family clock – the one that tracked her husband and each of their children with their day, their travels.
"I haven't thought about the clock in months. I must have put it away because I was tired of seeing Bill and Charlie's clock hands always pointing at 'in danger," she said out loud. But after searching the closets and cabinets, she could not find the clock and cast a spell to locate it. Strangely, the clock was hidden in the back of a locked cabinet in Ginny's room.
'I haven't thought about the clock since last summer,' she remembered as she opened the cabinet. 'The day after Arthur took the children to purchase their supplies for school.'
With a wave of her wand, the cabinet was unlocked. Molly reached in and pulled out the clock and stared, not understanding what she was seeing.
While she watched, the hands on the clock for Ronald and Ginevra turned black and fell off to land on Molly's robes. The hands for Arthur, Percy, Fred, and George pointed first to 'Danger', then to 'Travelling', and finally stopped at 'Hospital.'
Molly's mind could not process what her eyes saw – black hands for her two youngest babies. Her husband and three middle children had just travelled to Saint Mungo's. The house witch placed the clock on the table beside Ginny's bed. Then she sat on the bed with the coverlet she'd sewn with her own hands and magic to keep her little girl warm at night. Glancing down at her robes, she gathered and stared at the two black clock hands – Ginny and Ron.
She stared and could not move.
'How? What?' she wondered, lost in her mind and unwilling to process what this meant.
~~~*** CHANGE SCENE
Augusta LongbottomStanding with Minister Fudge and his Senior Undersecretary Dolores Umbridge in his office, Augusta Longbottom listened quietly as the first rumours of a catastrophe somewhere in Magical Britain filtered into the room. Then a ward was activated by DMLE Director Bones that recalled the minister's protective squad and locked the minister inside his office for the next two days. The two witches were expelled by the wards but not harmed in any way.
"Bones is trying to take over!" shouted Umbridge. The unpleasant witch turned to order the Aurors to arrest Bones and free 'poor Corny,' but the wizards had already run back to the DMLE offices for orders.
Lady Longbottom stepped close to Umbridge, standing several inches taller and doing her best to intimidate the woman. "Secretary Umbridge, return to your office and prepare to offer your services as required during this emergency. Minister Fudge is safe inside his office until the DMLE has the situation…"
"No!" Umbridge argued. "Bones wants to become minister! This is a coup!"
"Madam, I fear you are distraught," Augusta said, waving her wand at the witch and pushing her back toward her office. "Drink some tea and take a calming potion before you say something that will get you arrested and thrown into a cell."
"How dare you threaten me!" shouted Dolores. The witch's position in the ministry was based on her slavish devotion to the wants and needs of Cornelius Fudge, and the blackmail she gathered on her co-workers.
Before the two witches could continue their conversation, a Patronus arrived with message for Augusta.
"Lady Longbottom, there's a mass casualty event at Hogwarts! Call the governors! Call Dumbledore!" shouted the voice of Amos Diggory, another undersecretary.
Shocked, Augusta turned to leave but she felt Umbridge raise her wand at her back. Whipping around, the furious Lady Longbottom banished Umbridge back through the door of her office, then magicked the door shut and locked.
A surprised (but pleased secretary) nodded and said nothing as Augusta turned once again, heading toward the floos in the atrium, her only thoughts were about Neville and the other children at the school.
The crowd of witches and wizards in the Atrium of the Ministry for Magic was too thick to push her way through. The floos had stopped working – by order from Amelia or from too much demand, she wasn't certain but a glance toward the DMLE offices told her the Aurors were absent.
Augusta moved toward the apparition points in the Atrium and decided, 'I'll go to Saint Mungo's. I can be of use there with triage. I did work as a healer during the muggle war and saved lives when our boys fought Grindelwald.'
Pressed into service immediately, Augusta didn't worry about her robes – there were bleeding children who needed immediate attention. The formidable witch worked on a small boy with a crushed leg, and she kept him talking until the healers came for him.
"No difference today between pure, half, or muggleborn," Augusta demanded more than once. "If every child isn't treated properly, I'll demand we change Saint Mungo's policies or shut the place down!"
In a moment between helping the injured, Augusta saw her grandson come through the green flames of the floo with a dark-haired boy. They looked lost for a moment, but she rushed forward to grab her grandson and hug him tightly. Glancing at the other boy, her maternal instincts demanded she care for the poorly dressed boy as well, so her hug grew to include him as well.
"Neville! You're alive! Thank Merlin…Thank God!" Augusta said, dropping back into her muggleborn mother's expressions.
Moving the boys out of the path of the floo arrivals, she led them to the spot where other ambulatory children waited. Seeing everyone rushing around, Augusta summoned the Longbottom elves to provide blankets, hot chocolate and snacks for every child.
In another corner of the room, she noticed Arthur Weasley holding onto his son, Percival while the twins hung onto their father.
"Gran, this is my friend, Harry Potter," Neville said.
Taking her eyes off Arthur, Augusta smiled at her grandson and his friend. "Hello, Mr Potter."
Her glance went back to the Weasleys, and she heard Harry say, "Ron and Ginny were both dead. There was a giant snake thing in the Great Hall that killed them and everyone else."
"How do you know this?"
"I went with Percy to find Ron and Ginny," Harry explained. "We found them…their bodies just beside the Gryffindor table."
Neville wrapped one arm around the shoulders of slight figure of Harry Potter to support his friend.
Augusta began organizing the surviving children to find a way for them to contact their parents. When she saw the petrified students, the witch swore in English and surprised her grandson.
"That wrinkled whiskered warlock is going to get a kick in his posterior that his brother will feel!" she promised.
An Unspeakable was working with a healer about sourcing the needed potion to reverse the petrification but Saint Mungo's didn't have any available.
Augusta spoke up and said, "The Algerian wizards will have the potion available. They raise basilisks in the magical jungles underneath the Sahara Desert and have workers petrified every week."
She paused as her mind connected the pieces of evidence. Then Augusta looked back at Harry and asked, "Didn't you said it was a giant snake that killed everyone?"
The boy nodded and Augusta had to sit down on a nearby bench. "A basilisk…giant size…Slytherin's monster."
Her only other comment was, "How did anyone survive?"
~~~*** CHANGE SCENE
Cornelius FudgeLocked in his office with the floo shut down, Cornelius Fudge indulged in Fire Whiskey that whole afternoon. The house elves in the ministry were slow to arrive with the items he wanted but they supplied him with drink and eats. He pulled out magazines and when bored napped.
'Whatever the emergency was…is, I'll use it to look good or blame Bones. Oh Merlin, if I could just lay the blame on Dumbledore some way,' he thought in a fanciful daydream.
'I suppose I should write a speech. But I don't have Lucius to help me,' Fudge groused. Then he sighed with relief that he was locked in with Dolores. The times she managed to get him behind a locked and silenced door had not been fun. He shivered remembering those two events.
~~~*** CHANGE SCENE
Bartemius Crouch, SrSitting in a secure cell, stripped to his small clothes like a common criminal, Bartemius wondered why no had been in to interview him. He'd been in the Atrium with everyone else waiting for news about the catastrophe – no one from the DMLE would share information while they ran by on their way in or out of the Ministry for Magic.
Then Alastor Moody and Rufus Scrimgeour appeared at the apparition points, stunned him at point blank range, and he'd woken up in the cell naturally. He could hear nothing in here.
'I've been here for at least 24 hours – the rules require food be provided. And clothes! Even one of those horrible jumpsuits would be better than sitting here in the cold.'
'Why hasn't Fudge been here, demanding my release?' he wondered. 'What would silence Fudge?'
Crouch reviewed DMLE operating procedures, and he froze when he remembered the powers of martial law available for the Director of the DMLE for 48 hours when a senior government official declared a Level 5 attack.
'If that idiot Dark Lord Voldiesnot ever launched a Level 5, I could have confined Bagnold and Dumbledore while the Aurors killed every Death Eater and their stupid leader,' Bartemius mused. 'Then, I'd be Minister for Magic.'
The man sat and thought until a meal did appear on a temporary table. After eating he found one of the orange jump suits on the cot. He slipped into it but didn't understand how to operate the muggle zipper.
'Bones wouldn't pull a coup. Moody would never be a part of a takeover,' Crouch decided. 'And what did I do to piss them off enough to get locked up?'
Terror suddenly gripped the man. 'Have they found Junior? Damn me for every agreeing to get that idiot out of Azkaban! Damn!'
He tried to call Winky, his dead wife's loyal house elf but the wards on the cell prevented any elf from entering. Bartemius convinced himself that no one had found Junior.
'And no one ever will," Crouch decided. 'I'll take care of him when I get out of here. Ten years late but better late than never.'
The wizard sat back and revised the spells he knew to destroy evidence and hide all traces.
~~~*** CHANGE SCENE
Lucius and Narcissa MalfoyThe flames in the floo turned green and a voice called out, "Mr and Mrs Malfoy! Attention! Lucius Malfoy! Narcissa Malfoy!"
Seated in the library with their separate reading for the afternoon, Narcissa and Lucius looked up from their business correspondence before they rose.
"Bother," Lucius muttered. "What now?"
Narcissa didn't comment but led the way down the hallway to the receiving room. Keeping her opinion to herself, Narcissa missed the days when the house elves managed visitors politely. Of course, the elves were treated properly then. The Dark Lord Voldemort's influence turned too many of his followers into bullies and sadists with every house elf the first victim of his followers.
The face of a well-known Auror hung in the flames – Alois Proudfoot, a wizard from a neutral family. Lucius asked, "Why have you interrupted our afternoon, Auror?"
The Auror grimaced and replied, "I bear bad news. Please allow me to come through."
Observing the face in the flames, Narcissa immediately felt that 'bad' meant 'terrible'. Lucius frowned and began to ask, "What bad…"
However, Narcissa stepped around her husband and waved her wand at the flames, "Come through Auror Proudfoot."
The man in his official robes, stepped through and didn't bother to cast a charm to dispense with the soot. He bowed to the couple, took a deep breath, and then destroyed Narcissa Malfoy's life.
"Per orders of Director Amelia Bones, it is my duty to report that your son, Draconis Lucius Malfoy was killed at Hogwarts this afternoon. Your son was one of three hundred students killed when Slytherin's Monster – a giant basilisk – burst through the doors of the Great Hall during lunch. The children were killed by the deadly gaze of the basilisk."
Lucius froze but Narcissa fainted. Loyal house elves caught 'Missy Cissy' to prevent her hitting the floor and they placed a sofa behind her. They remained invisible and didn't dare appear while Lucius Malfoy was in the room.
Auror Proudfoot remained silent, watching everything to be able to report back to Head Auror Alastor Moody. Lucius ignored his wife and appeared confused. A moment later, the news seemed to reach deeper – his son and heir was dead, killed by Slytherin's Monster.
'But the creature was supposed to kill the muddy students! Purebloods were to be passed over! The Dark Lord promised,' Lucius remembered.
"My son…" Lucius stumbled. He took breath and brought his training forward, "When can we have our son's…son's body."
"It will be at least two days. Director Bones declared a state of emergency," Proudfoot replied. "The law gives the director 48 hours to investigate and deal with the catastrophe before she reports to the Minister and the Wizengamot."
The Auror expressed his sympathy and then used the flames to return to the ministry. Only after he returned would he be given the next floo address to call. The unusual situation – unique situation – meant unusual procedures. Alastor Moody dictated that no Auror travelled from one residence to another directly. No family was to be made aware of another family's loss or made to feel superior.
~~~*** CHANGE SCENE
Kreacher Black ElfIt was the next day that Narcissa Malfoy sat at the window in her dressing room, staring but not seeing the lovely garden laid out before her. A statue of a wizard lifting a chalice toward the heavens was unseen. All she could see was the smiling face of her little boy at five. Draco's laugh at eight. The determination on the face of her little dragon at eleven when he left for Hogwarts.
There was a pop that broke the witch's mourning and she frowned, turned to chastise whichever elf had interrupted her solitude, but stopped when she recognized Kreacher, the primary elf for the entire Black family.
"Kreacher?"
"Missy Sissy forgives this elf for interrupting her memoires but there's be news that youse must hear, learn, and think."
"How can any news be important, Kreacher? My son is dead."
The Black family does not allows any wizard to kill our children! Youse must make two wizards screams as youse kills them for killing your son, Dragon.
"It was a basilisk that killed Draco," replied Narcissa.
The elf bowed his head and continued, "The Beast of Slytherin was tools…only weapons that wizards set loose on childrens. Three hundred childrens died and dead because two wizards pushing back and forth over who is best wizard to leads."
Her attention captured, Narcissa felt her Black family teachings and magic surging forward. The Malfoy family was nothing compared to the Black family – the country manor house where Lucius preened and entertained had been part of her dowry when she married the wizard eighteen years ago.
"Who are the wizards who allowed…killed my son?"
There was another pop as Dobby Elf, dressed in his filthy tea towel appeared and lowered himself onto the floor. Kreacher waved at the second elf and said, "Dobby be following Mr Draconis Malfoy at Hogwarts in secrets. Black family magic allows Dobby to avoid Lemon Whiskers eyes and wards at school be easy peasy to slips through."
Dobby sat up on his knees and explained, "Two wizards killeded Missy Cissy's boy. Headmaster Lemon Whiskers knows that there be most evil evil book with soul of Dark Lord Flees from Death in school. He knows stupid girl-witch writing in books and losing her soul to evil Dark Flees from Death, but he does nothing."
Cissy stared – she could believe that Albus Dumbledore allowed her son to die. But for him to allow 300 children to be killed was unimaginable. She thought about the complaints she heard from the Board of Governors and realized those fools were complicit – they knew the wards were in shambles and did nothing.
Imagining her husband addressing the Wizengamot with this information, Narcissa knew she could get the wives on board with pressing for Dumbledore to be dismissed – dismembered for his role in the death of her son.
"Missy Cissy, you must hear hardest most horrible news."
"Worse than Dumbledore?" she asked, and sat back, unable to imagine what the elves had left to tell her.
Dobby sobbed and left it to Kreacher to explain, "Missy…it be youse wizard husband who sent soul jar diary of Dark Lord Flees from Death to Hoggiewarts. Dark Lord Flees from Death ordered him to send books to Hoggiewarts after years of him being gone dead but not dead."
Now Dobby joined the story. "Dobby sees Evil Stupid White Hair…Malfoy slips diary into cauldron of stupid little girl. She takes to Hoggiewarts and looses Monster of Slytherins on childrens – all childrens pure and muddy."
Her wand in her hand, Narcissa threatened both elves, "Show me! If you lie, I shall turn you into trinkets for the nifflers to carry off and bury in their burrows!"
Dobby nodded his head and lowered his mental shields to allow the witch into his mind. She saw the diary hidden here in their home, felt the evil magic radiating from it, and saw her husband carry it with him – and Draco – to Diagon Alley when they went to purchase their son's supplies for school. Lucius slipped it into the cauldron of the youngest Weasley child – an eleven-year-old girl. She saw her husband sitting in his office planning the moment he learned the 'creature' was free in the castle – killing mudbloods.
In her own memories, she remembered Lucius approaching her about trying for another child. He courted her that fall and winter like they were young and unmarried again. His ardour had been overwhelming on several occasions and she'd welcomed him to her bed.
Then a moment of sadness overwhelmed Narcissa remembering her baby girl stillborn five years before.
'The poor child,' Narcissa sympathised thinking of the Weasley girl. 'The Dark Lord's magic overwhelmed her that first day. Merlin, that could have been Draco.'
Narcissa also spent many minutes examining the elf's memories of Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom, both distant cousins of the Black family and possible candidates to inherit the mantle of Lord Black if none of the more immediate members of the family produced a son.
'What imbecile placed the son of the Potters with muggle relatives?' she wondered. Longbottom had been ignored but not physically abused very much.
Kreacher popped away and returned with a small table that he levitated to stand beside the witch who stared outside the window again. This time she saw the statue of the wizard with the chalice – her ancestor Betelgeuse Black, the wizard who invented Veritaserum, the potion that forced every wizard to confess their sins.
Looking back at the table, Narcissa saw a decanter that held brandy surrounded by small empty glasses – she remembered her father always called them 'thimbles.'
The witch's mind began considering her actions and she said, "Tea, I think. Not spirits, Kreacher."
The witch turned to Dobby and said, "Dobby, go and protect Mr Potter and Neville Longbottom with every bit of magic in your elf-self. Remain invisible and don't let any magical or muggle see you, but don't let any harm fall on either boy."
Dobby nodded popped away just as Kreacher returned with a tea tray. As the elf levitated the teapot to fill a teacup for the Black witch, she said, "Kreacher, you are to talk to every elf in this manor house, the fields, barns and warehouses. None of them are to ever respond to my husband…the call or command of Lucius Malfoy again."
"Yes, Missy Cissy," Kreacher replied. "Cans Kreacher trip nasty wizard down three flights of stairs? Or maybes poison his drinks?"
"Not yet. I must give my son last rights and then I shall think about the fate that awaits Lucius Malfoy," the woman replied.
~~~*** CHANGE SCENE
Albus DumbledoreWhen he awoke, Albus Dumbledore realized he was lying on the carpet that covered the floor of his office. For a moment, he wondered why he was on the floor. Then he remembered the monster bursting through the doors of the Great Hall.
'Why did Tom bring the basilisk to the Great Hall in the middle of the day?' Albus wondered. 'It isn't the end of the school year and Potter was supposed to face the diary in the chamber of secrets. If that version of Tom can kill the Boy-Who-Lived, then I can kill Tom.'
Then thinking more about the event in the Great Hall, he decided, 'My escape was a close thing.'
He struggled for a moment to rise from the floor, the heavy robes made the movements difficult – he had to hike his robes up to his waist to get up on his knees and the stand.
'Flitwick always said that full robes were a disadvantage in a duel if you got knocked down and know I understand why he believes that.'
Once he was on his feet again, Albus searched for his wand – the elder wand. The powerful magical focus had been in his hand when he used the portkey cast on the large wooden bead that decorated his beard. When the wizard was certain the wand was not on his person, he stepped back to check the floor around the spot where he'd landed. Then he looked underneath the chairs and even got back on his knees to look underneath the desk.
'Where's my wand?' he wondered and then glanced around again. The portrait frames were all empty. Several of the frames were gone completely. He looked closely at the bookshelves and cabinets – artefacts, doodads, and tomes of great magics were missing from his private collection.
Disturbed, Dumbledore reached for his backup wand in his left pocket, then for the backup-backup strapped to his upper left arm. Both wands and the two other emergency portkeys were missing as well.
'Bugger!' he swore. 'Where are my magic wands?'
Whipping his head around, Dumbledore realized the stand for his phoenix was empty. The runes carved in the stand ensured the magical bird's loyalty to him.
"Fawkes! Come here! Fawkes!" he shouted though nothing happened – the signature ball of flame didn't appear with the bird singing a sweet song of comfort.
Now, Dumbledore grew concerned – the floo was cold. There were no flames or fuel there for a fire. He glanced at the mantle and dish of floo powder was missing.
"Elf! I need…I require an elf to help me!" he demanded. "Now!"
When five minutes passed without an elf appearing, Dumbledore reached what he thought was the only logical conclusion. 'I hit my head too hard when I landed. I'm unconscious! This is a dream! That explains what's happening!'
Albus made his way up the stairs to his bedchamber, changed robes into something less eye searing and dug his original wand out of the table beside his bed. Leaving the robes from lunch on the floor, he returned to his office, sat on the throne like chair and mediated, trying to find the path back to consciousness.
Dumbledore never thought about the Great Hall, children, professors he had deserted, or the monster that had attacked. Perhaps, he was in denial of the terrible facts like so many other persons in Magical Britain that afternoon. Perhaps…
~~~*** CHANGE SCENE
Aberforth DumbledoreThe first morning following the catastrophe, the Hogs Head Tavern had been quiet. The few customers spent their time reading the Daily Prophet again and throwing down a few tankards. Everyone was getting pissed (drunk) to forget and Aberforth gave away more beer than he collected coins.
The second morning arrived with the photos collected from Filius Flitwick's mind – he'd been conscious for almost the entire battle against the basilisk, and Cedric Diggory's mind – he'd been staring at the staff table when the doors had been broken open and he'd seen the headmaster startled by the noise but then watched as Albus Dumbledore vanished in the swirl of magic that was a portkey.
The Daily Prophet operated under a new editor who printed the truth and photos of the catastrophe. The article reported that Cedric Diggory had seen the first bombards thrown by Professor Snape and the steel javelins transfigured by Professor McGonagall to banish at the monster. Then, he'd been knocked out shortly after by flying debris or bodies and only recovered consciousness after he was in Saint Mungo's Hospital.
Professor Flitwick's memory was much longer – he'd seen Professor Trelawny sacrifice herself to distract the basilisk while giving Snape a better target. He'd seen Severus Snape fall while still firing spells at the monster.
His memory included Professor McGonagall's incredible transfiguration of the long, magical, staff table into a steel spear, and the witch's command for Flitwick and Silvestri to unite magic and levitate Rubeus Hagrid into the magical ceiling with the spear in his hands. Hagrid had begun the plunge down when the others fell dead from the gaze of the basilisk and knocked Filius under the chairs and their bodies.
The picture of the basilisk with its head pinned to the stone wall by the spear with Hagrid's body holding it in place was the main pictures on the first page.
Aberforth stared at the picture from Diggory the longest – his brother ran! Albus deserted the children and staff to fight and die without his help. He gave away beer and spirits to everyone who asked though fewer wizards and witches ventured out that day.
~~~*** CHANGE SCENE
Rita SkeeterThe reporter chortled with glee. Her articles graced the front page of the Daily Prophet for the last two days. The speculation for blame, the tearful confession of guilt from the 'private' diary of Minerva McGonagall, and the revelation of a fortune in galleons to be distributed between Hogwarts and the Ministry had generated great sales of the paper as well as a parliament of owls flying into the editor's office with letters. Skeeter ignored the dead children and professors who killed the basilisk.
'I'll demand a raise before the end of the week,' she decided as she walked from the floo toward her desk. Rita never saw the first spell fired at her from a co-worker. Jenny Brown's younger sister had died at the Gryffindor table that day. The spell threw Rita against chair where Edmund Greengrass waited to speak to Barnabas Cuffe, the editor.
Understanding exactly what he was doing, Greengrass levitated Rita off the ground and banished her to strike the far wall. His eldest daughter died, and his youngest daughter remained traumatized and catatonic, continually reliving the attack in the Great Hall. For this witch to make light of the trauma experienced by the children was despicable.
Cuffe had his own problems this morning, so he didn't pay any attention to the sounds coming from the bullpen. Lord McMillian and Lady Marchbanks had united their shares, and, in some way, they'd gotten hold of the proxy for the Potter shares. They held 70 percent of the votes and after two days of Rita's wild speculation, they'd just come through the flames to relieve him of his position.
"Don't bother to clean out your desk!" McMillian growled. "Just leave before my daughter-in-law comes through the flames and dismembers you while leaving you alive! My grandson was killed by that monster and the articles you've published sensationalize the catastrophe!"
There was a single scream from the bullpen as Rita Skeeter lost her hair. Cuffe ran from his office, tripped over Rita's left leg as it flew through the air in one direction while the rest of her flew in another direction.
Barnabas picked up the leg and grabbed Rita near the door before running away. He'd drop her at the Casualty doors at Saint Mungo's but then keep running.
The door of the editor's office, Marchbanks called, "Greengrass! Come here!"
In short order, Edmund was made editor and given one order – make certain the Daily Prophet only printed the truth. The catastrophe was crippling Magical Britain and the only way they might survive is if the truth was told.
~~~*** CHANGE SCENE
Fawkes PhoenixClinging to the top of the turrets above the Astronomy Tower, Fawkes sang her mournful tune. The sadness and grief permeated the stones of Hogwarts. The castle's magical portraits, ghosts and house elves mourned and spent every moment searching for a way to move forward. And they all worked together to keep Albus Dumbledore confined to the office he had used when headmaster.
The phoenix endorsed the castle's decision regarding Albus Dumbledore – she'd broken her connection to the wizard and planned to explore the world once his fate was decided.
She would visit and live in the past – the years when the first wizards worked together to construct the pyramids in Egypt always appealed to her. Men offered so much promise in those years.
~~~*** CHANGE SCENE
Dobby Elf's DutyAdding a colourless and odourless potion to the liquor bottle ('Blowing Winds' had been created by Fred and George Weasley), Dobby made certain that the private office of Lucius Malfoy was spotless.
The glasses on the bar were all coated with treats for the evil wizard. Inside the glass, was a dried potion to make the drinker sleepy. On the outside of the glass was a natural sap from an American plant – poison ivy. The sap would make the person's skin itch.
After Lucius drank his nightcap, he'd have terrible winds and itch everywhere he touched but he'd sleep soundly. Tomorrow morning, his bedsheets and bedroom would stink, his face and any other body part he touched would be red and scaly.
Dobby grinned manically, imagining Lucius Malfoy spending the whole morning in the shower trying to remove the smell, and then taking multiple potions and rubbing salve on the itchy skin.
Missy Cissy would not ask any questions if the man who killed her son suffered pain and embarrassment each day until she took revenge. Dobby had been raised as a traditional Black family elf – he was proficient with poisons, itchy sheets, knives, and charms.
~~~*** CHANGE SCENE
