"Mulciber, we have a problem."

Mulciber looked up from his 56 fruit flies — whom he was impaling with sharp needles on a small brown coffee table — to view a sweaty and enraged-looking Avery, bursting into the Slytherin common room with great gusto.

So far, nothing much out of the ordinary.

"If this is about the flies-" Mulciber began.

"It's not about the flies," Avery said, waving away the notion impatiently. "Snape has done something foolish and humiliating."

"What else is new?" Mulciber asked, looking back down toward his fruit flies. 48 of the flies were impaled thus far, and the remaining 8 flies were magically paralyzed and would make for easy targets.

"This time it affects us," Avery continued, stomping over to the lounge chair directly across from Mulciber and sitting down with a dramatic huff. "James Potter and his gang of halfbreeds attacked Snape near the Black Lake. In front of practically the entire school."

Mulciber frowned slightly. This did sound somewhat concerning. He looked up as Avery continued relaying the news.

"Now, I wasn't directly present, but I've heard rumblings that the redheaded Gryffindor mudblood bitch even got a few jibes in. Spectators report they saw Snape crying. Crying, Mulciber. Like some sort of woman."

"Mudblood?" Mulciber growled, dropping his needle and forgetting about his flies...for now. "A mudblood mocking a Slytherin? In public? This is bad, Avery."

Avery jerked up and slammed his fists down on the coffee table. "That's precisely my point, Mulciber. Our house is the laughingstock of Hogwarts at the moment. Even the Hufflepuffs are making wisecracks about us. If we don't respond to this soon, I fear our reputation shall never recover."

Mulciber reflected on these implications. Could it be possible that Slytherin's reputation would decline below Hufflepuff's?! The mere question sent a shiver down his spine.

Inspecting Mulciber's features, Avery gave a satisfied sneer at what he saw. "Ah, yes. It appears you finally realize the gravity of the situation. We must act swiftly."

"But how?" Mulciber pondered, leaning back into his chair. "Murder of mudbloods remains a criminal offense — against all reason and common wisdom, mind you. Should I again ask my father to lobby the Ministry for a change of law?"

"Too lengthy of an appeal process," Avery replied, shaking his head. "No, it is imperative that we mount a response today, or I fear we shall lose the faith and respect of our peers. Forever."

The weight of Avery's words sank in as the two silently racked their brains for a solution. After a moment, a flash of pride lit up Avery's eyes as he snapped his fingers.

"I have just the remedy! Propaganda."

"Propaganda?"

"Yes, propaganda. We will produce and distribute pamphlets and leaflets documenting the humiliating proclivities of our debased Gryffindor rivals," Avery explained, sitting back with a supremely satisfied smirk as he folded his arms over his chest.

"Proclivities, such as?" Mulciber asked, as usual having little clue what his friend was rambling on about.

"Such as Lily Evans' crippling drinking problem. Or Mary Macdonald's sexual dalliances with house elves. Or Sirius Black's passionate homosexual yearnings for none other than one Horace Slughorn."

Mulciber furrowed his brow as the gears in his head turned. "I don't recall hearing any of this, Avery."

Avery groaned in frustration. "That's because it's not true, you nitwit. I'm suggesting we spread false rumors about Gryffindor students in order to damage their house's already-precarious reputation."

Finally catching on, Mulciber barked out a laugh. "Oh, a splendid plan indeed! Why, we could even write that James Potter and Severus Snape are lovers."

Confusion overtook Avery's features as he tried to parse his friend's words. "Well...well, no. Snape is one of ours. That would hurt Slytherin's reputation too."

Mulciber slumped in his chair, puzzled yet again. "So...so, should our propaganda include my love of torturing insects and small animals?"

"What? No. Ok, wait...let's start over, I think there's been a miscommunication here."

And so it went that, by the time Mulciber has successfully grasped Avery's plot (several hours later), most of the Hogwarts student body had already forgotten the shameful incident at the Black Lake.

Nevertheless, the duo's conversation sparked a lifelong interest in propaganda among the young Avery, and, upon graduation, he soon became the Head of Public Relations among the Death Eater senior leadership.