Chapter 22

Operation: Body Snatchers

Chamber of Secrets

Over the holidays, there was perhaps no one more infected with seasonal spirit than Professor Flitwick, the charming man seldom not humming a festive tune while using the levitation spell to decorate the giant Christmas tree in the Great Hall.

This year some things were different – mainly the fact that both quartet girls remained in Hogwarts for the entire holiday period. For Hermione it was as easy as asking kindly for permission, using busywork and studying as a clever storefront. In her response letter Lorraine had even sent greetings to Marley, which the girl very much enjoyed.

The Slytherin of the group being allowed to stay was a much different beast, a strain of luck more so saving the entire Polyjuice scheme by allowing the girl to remain with her friends for what many would consider the most wonderful time of the year. It... did come with a downside, though.

At yet another gag that felt like it announced puking, Marley relieved herself with a gruesome exhale instead, clenching onto a bucket that Hagrid lovingly (and ironically) borrowed her.

"Should I go take a look in the common room?", Hermione eventually suggested. Her idea of course did not exist in a vacuum, instead stemming from the simple fact that only three out of four friends were seated at one of the ridiculously long tables, Marley alone on one side while the other two shared the bench opposite.

"I recon he's in their special room.", Ron theorized as he gave Marley a provocative look. The witch, of course, did not take kindly to this.

"Don't be jealous that Harry and-", she gagged briefly in a fake-out, her voice a feeble imitation of the girl's usual bravado, "...Harry and I found it all on our own. Now we finally have somewhere to practice alone."

Ron snickered at her phrasing and for the first time Marley caught on to his attentiveness, scolding him with a grimace as he shamefully stared down at the empty table.

"I still think you should tell McGonagall or Dumbledore about it.", Ms. Granger added in a more constructive fashion, "A room suddenly appearing from thin air could be useful when the school's trying to find the Chamber of Secrets."

"Sorry Hermione but I'm not telling anyone anything.", Marley very clearly answered. Finding no footing with her argument, the Gryffindor girl sought some reassurance from Ronald, who merely rolled his eyes at the whole thing.

"Sorry I'm late.", Mr. Potter finally announced, seating himself down swiftly next to the Slytherin of the group, Ron withholding an intrusive question which, at this point, he wanted to ask more often than not.

"Where were you?", Hermione interrogated the boy as he was still arriving, him and Marley seated way closer to each other than Ms. Granger and the oaf.

"Oh, I just...", he rambled, the girl next to him smirking, "I just... wanted to try out a spell I couldn't manage last night. Sorry again."

Semi-ignoring his other friends and the heist about to go down, he briefly turned to a sick Marley with whom he was practically cuddling with.

"You're feeling any better?", he asked in a pretty soft tone.

"No.", she gave back in a feverish voice, "I would've stayed in bed if it wasn't so important."

"At least you being sick means you don't have to endure your parents this year, Marles.", the Weasley boy added. On most other people this comment would've caused offense, though from his Slytherin friend he got a shrug communicating approval.

"I'll miss Finley but I'm-", yet another gagging noise followed, the longest pause this time. Thankfully no material followed.

"You're right. I'm bloody glad."

"What is it with you and getting sick all the time?", Hermione asked in a mixture of criticism and compassion, "This is the third time this year. And we haven't even passed Christmas."

"Well, the first two were hexes.", Marley surmised, Harry gently rubbing her back for a few seconds being of great help, "But you're right. I'm not very happy about it."

"It's a kind of... running gag.", Ron thought out loud, quietly chuckling to himself as Hermione tried getting them all back on track.

"Either way...", she began as the Weasley's giggling persisted, "...everything is set up in the lavatory. All we need now is-"

"Is seriously no one catching onto how funny that was?", Ronald finally interrupted, drawing all annoyed eyes towards himself, "Running gag? Get it? Because..."

The boy proceeded to point at the sick Slytherin seated across from him, Marley staring him down silently with her pale face and a mean look attached. Seeing as no one was interested in his comedic chops for now, Ron eventually quieted down in defeat.

"The only thing we need now is a bit of whomever you're changing into.", Hermione explained further as if nothing else had happened.

"Crabbe and Goyle.", Harry spoke, somewhat redundantly.

"We also need to make sure the real Crabbe and Goyle can't burst into the room while we're busy interrogating Pansy.", the overachiever elaborated further.

"How?", Ron muttered quietly as he reclaimed the guts to speak up.

"I've got it all figured out.", the girl claimed victory with a smirk, presenting a set of two identical cupcakes which looked genuinely delicious, Harry briefly feeling bad for Marley insofar that she hasn't been able to enjoy any Christmas sweets for the past few days.

"I filled these with a simple Sleeping Draught. Simple, but strong."

The Potions Master of the group briefly thought of asking details on the concoction, though she ultimately figured that with her stealing all the Polyjuice spotlight she'd let Hermione have her moment.

"Now...", the Gryffindor witch continued with perhaps a bit too much glee concerning her words, "...once they're asleep, hide them in the closest broomstick cupboard and rip out some of their hair."

"Make sure you don't mix 'em up either.", Marley added, battling through her nausea to add some extra intel, "As far as uniforms are concerned, I got you covered."

"Whose hair are you ripping out?", Ron asked in his usual, blunt manner, directing it towards Hermione. In response, the girl to his left very proudly presented a small vial filled with thin, greasy-looking hair.

"I've already got mine. Millicent Bulstrode. Real nasty one from what Marley told me. And she apparently has a crush on Goyle, so including her in the group will mostly be inconspicuous."

"Hermione and I had to brush her robe twice.", Marley snickered, the girl sat opposite coming off as rather embarrassed by this anecdote, "She took some strains of hair from Jareth first. That's Millicent's cat."

"What would've happened if you took Polyjuice Potion with cat hair?", Harry asked, curiously interested in this hypothetical. Hermione, who, in contrast, seemed very appalled by the idea, put away her vial again as she scoffed.

"Cat-human-hybrid, most likely.", Marley explained, pausing shortly as a much weaker gagging sound luckily became a false alarm. In addition, a few more backrubs from Harry helped also.

"I read up on it and there's actually plenty of weaker variations on Polyjuice. Did you know there's one that transforms your sex for a full 24 hours?"

"While that is fascinating...", Hermione scolded her friend just slightly, "...it is probably best for Marley and I to check on the Polyjuice now. We already dealt with Millicent earlier."

A sentence that frightened the boys somewhat, Marley bouncing up her brows provocatively as she held up her wand and blew away non-existent gunfire smoke. Harry found the gesture humorous while Ron found himself visibly intimidated.

"You two work on Crabbe and Goyle. Got it?"

The Gryffindor received a duo of nods from the boys as the sick Slytherin got up hugging her ridiculous bucket.

"I'll head into the common room after you three transformed, it's best you arrive sometime after. Hopefully that way no one suspects anything.", the girl explained with some dizziness in her voice, "I'll have an alibi lying in bed, while you three can squeeze out Pansypark."

"You can also finally get some rest.", Harry added, a third backrub almost causing Ron to boil over in frustration.

"That's the other positive.", she gave back as a sigh, her and Harry walking ahead all the while Ron actually acted as the smart one, making sure to pick up the poison cupcakes before leaving.

"For the record...", Hermione began, trying to come off as supportive towards her Weasley friend, "...I did think your joke was hilarious before."

"Then why didn't you laugh?", the boy complained rather than taking the compliment.

"Time and place, Ronald.", Hermione reprimanded him, "Time and place."

"Are you sure you don't want any help with that?", Marley suggested, her offer of assistance a sharp contrast to a state of viral misery, a pale, sweaty face with a flat piece of unkempt hair on top. It was during her friend's illness that Hermione noticed for the first time just how much more hair Marley really possessed, and how her usual greaser look hid this fact successfully.

"No, it's okay. Get some rest.", the Gryffindor girl gave back with a smile, Ms. Verpe showing off a tired nod as she redirected her attention back towards the newspaper in her lap. Not even a good old crossword puzzle lifted her mood.

Just as Ms. Granger carefully prepared three wide glasses and the finished Polyjuice, she briefly kept her stare fixated onto Marley until the Slytherin finally noticed.

"What's wrong?"

"It's just...", she sighed as she stirred the cauldron some more, Ms. Verpe beginning to grow nervous.

"Ron has been bothering me a bit lately.", Hermione continued quietly, letting go of the ladle, "He thinks that...", the girl scoffed nervously as Marley began hugging her newspaper, "...he's upset because he thinks you and Harry are girlfriend and boyfriend and that you're keeping it a secret."

The Slytherin girl had always assumed that her reaction to being confronted about this would be more dramatic, though perhaps the mean old flu she was dealing with prevented that. That's not to say that her cheeks didn't turn a bit red as she clenched her newspaper even more tightly.

"Is he... how upset is he?"

"Upset is probably the wrong word for it. He's more so... frustrated because, according to him, both of you haven't told him yet. He hasn't had the courage to confront you either, so he's been complaining to me about it. A lot..."

Some clear anger came out with that last bit and Marely's stomach turned, thankfully only in an emotional fashion.

"He asked me about it the other night while Ginny was with us in the common room, which he didn't notice. When she heard about it, she completely lost it."

As if the shame of being asked wasn't bad enough already, now guilt piled on top, bringing the Slytherin girl close to the edge of tears.

"That... that sounds bad. Poor Ginny."

"I reassured her that it's nonsense and told Ron that he's a moron. But... yeah. It was a mess.", the girl finally stopped doing whatever she was doing with the cauldron, adjusting the Slytherin tie on her disguise as she knelt down next to her friend.

"I still don't believe it but... I did want to ask you-"

"We're not girlfriend and boyfriend.", Marley interrupted with her answer, sounding very cold and closed-off in the action.

"Okay.", the Gryffindor accepted her strange response, returning to the close by sink where a pretty nasty-looking paste was finally starting to cool down.

"But I want us to be."

For a brief moment the eerie girl's lavatory fell completely silent, only the quiet bubbling of their concoction and some water droplets audible.

"Hm.", Hermione assessed, briefly taking on the same body language as her mother, "I did suspect that."

"Are you... upset I didn't tell you?", Marley asked with quivering lips and eyeballs that looked like melting ice cubes.

"Of course not. Why should I?"

The girl sat down next to her uneasy friend, making sure that her palms didn't touch the dirty floor.

"Have you told him yet?", the Gryffindor went on.

"No. And I don't want to. I want to work through this myself", her mind briefly went to panic mode as she turned her full gaze towards Hermione, "Please don't tell him either."

"I won't, I promise.", a short backrub later and the nervous patient felt some weight dropping off her shoulders, "And I'll tell Ron to bugger off."

At that the Slytherin even chuckled, though she could definitely sense bed rest will be needed soon.

Roughly two minutes later Harry and Ron finally arrived, the former passing a smile at the tired Ms. Verpe before grabbing a set of Slytherin uniforms and changing in the closest bathroom stall.

"It was bloody easy.", the Weasley boasted to his female friends, "Whatever you put in those cupcakes worked like a charm, Hermione."

Ms. Granger took the compliment with a humble eyeroll whilst accepting the two separate vials, after which she began filling their glasses with proper Polyjuice, Ron meanwhile grabbing his own, stolen disguise and heading into a different stall. Marley, despite her disease, still showed a definitive sparkle in her eyes at the finished product.

"This would get me straight As for a year if Snape could see it.

"And he'd probably kick you out of Hogwarts straight away.", Harry added, now clad with the snake emblem and the silver-green tie.

"You look splendid.", Marley mumbled, a pronounced blush appearing as she averted her gaze. This time Hermione took note, smirking ever so slightly as she tried to ignore the exchange.

"It's not a bad look on me.", Harry scoffed, strangely growing to accept his possible tie to Slytherin a bit more in that moment. Again, he'd have seen Marley more often had he been sorted differently, which he certainly wouldn't mind.

"Besides the fact that they don't fit at all.", Ron nagged as he exited another stall, the uniform on his body way too short around the arms and way too wide everywhere else, "Why is it I have to be Crabbe?"

"You can be Goyle if you like.", Harry offered, "Don't see a big difference, though."

"You can switch with me.", Hermione suggested sheepishly.e

"And be Millicent Bulstrode?", Ron spoke, sounding appalled at the idea alone.

"I'd think you'd make a pretty girl, Ronald Sutherland."

"Very funny.", he shot back sharply, Hermione meanwhile adding the different vials of hair separately to each portion, "Be glad you're sick and not forced to do this, Marley..."

He tried coming up with a counter mock-name for the girl but couldn't think of any. As the exchange died down, a more serious tone started to overcome them all, Marley getting up and stepping aside, leaned against the wall as her three friends held up their disgusting, muddy potions that looked like sewage muck. For some odd reason Ron even smelled it.

"Ugh. Essence of Crabbe."

"Cheers.", Hermione sadly proclaimed, the trio dabbing their glasses together as it produced a muffled clank sound, Marley feeling her nausea returning as she watched her friends actually guzzle down that stuff. She did let them know beforehand that half of what they would fill the cups with was enough, the others delivering on that promise as they made sure to drink only as much as was necessary.

It seemed additionally dramatic when Ron was the first to drop his glass, the thing shattering on impact as the bottom part remained intact and some Polyjuice shot upwards.

"I think I'm going to be sick.", the Weasley boy exclaimed, hastily escaping into the same bathroom stall as before, Marley almost forgetting that this is the most common reaction to drinking Polyjuice, and that she did not in fact pass her own disease onto anyone.

"Me too...", Hermione then added, not even bothering to try and put down her drinking vessel despite having known perfectly well that this would happen. While the girl also chased into a bathroom stall further away, Marley flinched slightly as Harry joined the Glass-Dropping-Club of 2002, shattering it the least as the boy stumbled over to one of the many sinks fashioned with smudgy mirrors.

"Don't worry, Harry. Whatever you're feeling is perfectly normal.", she assured him as she stepped a little closer. The Boy who transformed couldn't even answer, frightened as he was, instead leaning against the white porcelain while staring down his right hand, the process of metamorphosis causing his skin to show gross bubbles much like the Polyjuice potion itself did.

"It's working.", the Slytherin exclaimed, sounding perhaps a tad too happy about the fact that her friend's face slowly morphed into a completely different person.

The process ate up some more seconds until it was complete. As Harry erected himself to full height and gazed at his new appearance in the mirror he stumbled a bit, uneasy to stand almost a head taller than what he usually measured.

"It... worked.", Marley surmised, looking "Goyle" up and down with much different eyes than she did Harry usually, far less desire and more so scientific fascination.

"Harry?", a familiar voice attached to an alien body spoke, "Crabbe" and "Millicent" stepping out of their respective stalls to admire each other.

"Ron?", Harry spoke with amusement. The Weasley in disguise meanwhile turned around to be baffled by, well, technically Ms. Granger.

"Hermione?!", he almost yelled.

"I think I'd have preferred the cat, to be honest.", the girl spoke somewhat mean-spirited.

"All of you still sound like yourselves.", Marley directed them as she stepped in the middle of the room, "Harry, Ron, lower your pitch. Hermione, talk a little less... fancy."

They nodded, combing their audio memories for how their respective victims sounded like.

"S'posse I can handle.", Hermione spoke strangely, coming off as convincing enough.

"Let's go find Pansy and gossip about Verpe.", Ron added in a comical pitch. Surprisingly, it was almost an exact match.

"Perfect.", Marley said as she nodded, finally grabbing her bucket and newspaper as she let out a weak sigh, "We have exactly an hour. I'll be leaving now, you'll do so in about two minutes. Hermione knows the way to the Slytherin common room. You two just...", one last gagging sound to pile on, thankfully another blank, "Just play dumb. It'll work."

They all shared a final round of nods as the seriousness of the situation finally dawned on them.

"Oh, and lose the glasses, Harry.", the girl added before leaving. As the boy took down his binoculars he exhaled in relief.

"I totally would've forgotten."

Thanks to Marley and Hermione having planned out the fastest route to the dungeons, the trio in disguise got there in time before anyone could notice them. They did almost run into Ron's brother Percy, Gryffindor's prefect, though managed to avoid his watchful gaze and any scolding very narrowly.

"It's this way.", "Millicent" explained as they walked down a spiral staircase leading them further below into the castle. Harry did bring his invisibility cloak just in case they'd need to make a quick escape. That one was Marley's idea, actually.

"Shouldn't you be walking closer to Goyle?", Ron suggested quietly, in case anyone was close by, "Cause... you know...", his next few words came out equally low in volume, though carried an audible coating of spite in them, "...she's into him."

The much taller Harry and the much shorter Hermione exchanged looks of unpleasantry, clearly communicating their distaste for this aspect of the plan. The Boy who lived also briefly thought about how he would've reacted if Marley had turned into Millicent. Though had the girl been fit she'd either be dragged back home over the holidays or would've turned into the much taller Sam, which might've made it even more confusing.

"Well, from what I know...", Hermione began, "...Millicent likes Goyle but... doesn't want him to know."

She took a few steps forward and shot Ron the most obvious of glares as the Weasley scoffed. Thankfully Harry didn't really catch on to any of this.

"Ridiculous.", he grunted back, "She should just tell him and get it over with."

In response, the Gryffindor girl punched him in the arm as he cried out in pain.

"Ow!"

"You're a jerk.", she blasted, her voice naturally dropping lower.

"That he is."

As they heard the snarky tone of a certain, young lady leaned against the doorway, they all stopped, neither of them really exceeding at the acting thing but trying really hard, nonetheless.

"Crabbe. Goyle. You're late.", Pansy shot at them, arms crossed, though she didn't look particularly angered, "And why is Milli with you?"

Based on the inquisitive nature of the question, Millicent Bulstrode is apparently not as close to this friend group as the others had perceived it.

"Um...", "Millicent" began, "...well... I was..."

"I invited her to eat with us.", "Goyle" intercepted with a brilliant remark and a decent enough deeper voice, "We had dinner together. Th-the three of us."

A few awkward nods later and Pansy Parkinson was not just merely convinced but seemed rather excited.

"Oh... Milli... getting closer, are we?", the Slytherin lass implied, Hermione feeling a brief bit of empathy for the real Millicent Bulstrode, wondering how her life will change after tonight.

"Let's go inside already.", Parkinson finally declared, "Before one of the prefects bothers us."

The actual common room presented itself pretty much how Harry had pictured it based on some partially very detailed descriptions from Marley. It was, first and foremost, a lot more posh than its Gryffindor counterpart. Lots of design elements like tapestries, chandeliers, and ghoulish items, similar to what he saw in that one item shop in Knockturn Alley. It also felt a lot darker, in a literal sense, natural lighting absent and replaced by green lamps, and even some glass windows providing a view for the Great Lake, under which the common room was apparently directly built.

Marley had explained to him a while ago that the four houses, design-wise, represented the classical, Greek four elements – Gryffindor obviously being fire, Slytherin water, Hufflepuff earth with its plants and warm colours, and Ravenclaw air, being located very far above the ground in a tall tower. The boy scoffed – heights like that would've given Marley a hard time, had she been Ravenclaw.

His mind briefly occupied with the wrong thing, it very quickly switched back to their mission as they all sat down on black, leather couches, which, above anything, looked ridiculously expensive. And while the disguised trio shared one sofa, Pansy was more pleased with being seated on the nearby table, which was most likely as costly and ancient as everything else in there.

What neither of them had considered was the fifth person in the room.

"Draco, did you know that Milli and Goyle had dinner together?", Pansy teased the fake version of both people. Malfoy was seated on an armchair to their right, apparently, to the trio's surprise, doing crossword puzzles as well.

"No.", he gave back sharply before folding his Daily Prophet, "How should I?"

In their second term Harry had only ever seen Malfoy with slicked back hair during Quidditch games, the blonde boy carrying it rather loosely on all other occasions, tonight being no exception.

More importantly, and much to the dismay of "Crabbe", "Goyle", and "Millicent", Draco immediately stared at them with suspicion, an action that seemed to go right over Pansy's head.

"They would make a cute couple, wouldn't they?", Parkinson egged them on further, Hermione, on cue, coiling her arms around Harry's, much to the boy's dislike.

"He-he-he...", Hermione fake laughed, Malfoy raising his eyebrow even further.

"Adorable, you two.", Pansy kept going, making "Crabbe" feel sort of left out, "Much better match than Verpe and Potter, if you ask me."

If the situation wasn't uncomfortable enough already for Harry, this certainly made his blood boil, though why exactly he couldn't really say.

"I mean, it's a sad state of affairs, really. You should've seen Marlene just before. Looked dreadful. Not that she doesn't usually."

Despite the undercover nature of their current escapade, Harry still almost got up in a rush of anger, his fist balled and with Hermione needing to restrain the boy to keep him seated.

"What's up with you?", the Slytherin girl sliced at him.

"Oh... it's just uh...", oh, would Harry have loved to use some kind of mean hex on Pansy, "...stomach ache."

"From all the cupcakes we had.", Ron added, wanting desperately to be helpful. What only Hermione caught was Draco's strange, cold stare as he slowly folded his newspaper and put it on the same table Parkinson sat on.

"Strange.", the girl commented as she basically ignored the comment, "But, yeah. The only way I could see Verpe and Potter working out is if he was the Heir of Slytherin. I still can't believe so many buffoons in this school think he's the-"

"Pansy.", Draco shot sharply, his eyes fixated onto "Goyle", which made the boy rather uneasy.

"Draco?"

"Why don't you and Millicent go upstairs for a bit and have a little... girl talk. I'll chat with the lads here for a bit."

He gave her a wink which was honestly kind of smooth and, with a smirk, Parkinson obeyed, grabbing "Milli's" hand as she dragged her up to the girl's dormitories. Hermione's expression clearly told them all of panic, and as the common room lobby was empty minus three, that panic spread even further.

Malfoy took a few seconds to switch between "Crabbe" and "Goyle", neither disguised Gryffindor smart enough to improvise here.

"I assume... you're Potter... and you're Weasley."

For a brief moment Harry's insides felt as if they were all absorbed by a black hole.

"Uh...", Ron tried to safe them in his convincing Crabbe voice, "I don't know what you're talking about-"

"Admit it or I'll call back Pansy."

The blonde pest leaned back in his chair, calculating eyes admiring his counterparts as they crumbled ever so slightly.

"How'd you know?", Harry asked in his normal pitch.

"Your chivalry for Marley.", Draco gave back, surprisingly, smiling, "So what is it the three of you want?"

"We need to know who opened the Chamber of Secrets.", Harry answered bravely, putting all of his chips on the "trusting Malfoy" tile. It looked as though Draco briefly thought about it, pondered it over in his mind as the gears shifted and the motors rattled.

"This is pointless. We should get Hermione and leave.", Ron suggested in a panic.

"I suspected that's what you were after.", Draco gave back, Harry reassuring his uneasy friend to stay seated for now.

"So... do you know?", the Boy who gambled asked.

"I don't.", Malfoy gave back, "The real Goyle asked me that as well, just yesterday."

The Slytherin grabbed his newspaper again as Harry refused to surrender.

"Well... you must know something."

"And I would tell you why?"

"Because we'll make you.", Ron spoke through clenched teeth, though his counterpart once again held him back.

"Because surely you don't want any more students to be petrified... or worse."

That one, from the looks of things, did cause some kind of shift in Draco, what precisely moved him here Harry couldn't tell.

"My father told me this...", he began as "Crabbe" and "Goyle" leaned a bit more to the right. Seems as though the gambit paid off.

"It's been fifty years since the Chamber was opened. He didn't tell me who it was, only that they were expelled.", he paused briefly as he fiddled around with his fingers, "The last time the Chamber was opened, a muggleborn student died.", some horrified expressions followed, from all three, "It's only a matter of time till it happens again. For your sake, I'd find a solution fast. And if I was Granger, I'd stay at home for a while."

This did finally get Ron to jolt up, and while Harry tried stopping him, Malfoy chuckled mildly.

"I'd get out of here if I were you. Whatever magic you're using is wearing off."

Indeed, as Harry and Ron exchanged glances, they noticed hints of the potion losing its effect.

"Your... hair...", "Goyle" pointed at a bit of orange on his friend.

"Your scar...", came back from "Crabbe".

Just as the realization came about, a door was slammed open, "Millicent", who had inexplicably started to lose weight, racing down the stairs to her male friends.

"Let's go!", she simply shot, unaware of a close by Draco now full-on laughing at their misfortune. Luckily the trio had managed to escape by the time Pansy came back down.

"What was that? She was just telling me about all the things she liked about Goyle.", Parkinson spoke with crossed arms. At her words and the hidden implications only Malfoy was aware of, the Slytherin boy's howl became even more intense, the boy clenching his stomach as he cried tears of laughter.

"And what's up with you, Draco? Why is everyone acting strange tonight?!"

Angered and confused, the girl stormed back upstairs, Malfoy's fit of laughter subsiding after a minute or so, after which he finished his crossword puzzle in silence. And yes, he did start them because of Marley, only because he was curious if they're actually that addictive, which they were. Plus, he exceeded at them most of the time due to his formal upbringing.

As he wiped another tear from his face and solved Four letters, foul creature ruining laundry with G-I-L-B, he briefly paused, wondering if he'd done the right thing tonight.