FHB: Chapter 8

As quickly as her words left her lips, as quickly Lucius made up his mind. No, he was not going to fail his potion’s test. Especially when a goody-two-shoes was involved. Did Tanya really think a Malfoy would give in? Lucius could not blame her ignorance. Her morality, however, was starting to bother him.

When Professor Slughorn shook his little golden bell to start the test, Lucius turned to Tanya and smiled. He nodded his head gently and Tanya misunderstood immediately, just as how he wanted her to.

Lucius had to admit that it was rather fun playing her. He also did not feel a single pinch of guilt and wondered if he ever would. He had feelings after all, just not enough to move him.

As the test carried on, Lucius did everything he memorized from Professor Slughorn’s special instructions. He did not miss a single ingredient, and his steps were almost flawless. That would have been a dead giveaway that he cheated, but Professor Slughorn never saw past Lucius’ false gratitude.

You see, he had a habit of thanking Professor Slughorn whenever he did well. Those praises not only made Professor Slughorn blush but extremely proud. And Lucius knew his weakness all too well to use it to his advantage.

When the bell on the table rang for the second time, everyone pulled their hands away from the cauldron and waited. There was a strange smell in the air as the different coloured brews evaporated above their heads. Professor Slughorn scrunched his nose as he went from one cauldron to another. His words were simple, and those who have had him before would know exactly how he judged random tests as such.

“Fail. Fail. Not bad, ten points for Slytherin. Fail. Fail. What is this? Ah, good job, ten points for Slytherin. Terrible. Could have been better, 5 points for Slytherin. Fail,” Professor Slughorn went on.

No one found it suspicious that the only students scoring points were the Slytherins, as the common misconception that Slytherins are naturally good at potions have been around for ages. Tanya however, thought it strange and decided to bring it up.

“Professor, can I say something?” Tanya asked.

“Sure. Your potion is not too bad, but I’m afraid it’s not worthy of points,” Professor Slughorn replied.

“No, that was not what I wanted to say. I’m just wondering, why are all the Slytherins doing so well?”

Immediately, the Slytherins in the classroom turned to her and demanded an explanation for her statement. Professor Slughorn had to quiet them down by saying, “Ms. Lovegood, that is a very rude thing to say. My students always do well.”

“But-“

“It is not their fault that you are not prepared,” Professor Slughorn cut her off. “Ten points from Ravenclaw. You may be clever, but that attitude of yours is unacceptable.”

Tanya was dumbstruck and Professor Slughorn left her as she was. He then headed up to Lucius and his frown immediately turned into a wide smile.

“My boy! You did it!”

“I did?” Lucius tried to sound clueless.

“Yes, you did! Twenty-five points for Slytherin!”

“Thank you, sir. You’re a good teacher,” Lucius said.

Professor Slughorn blushed as he gave Lucius a squeeze on the shoulder. Just then, Lucius caught Tanya looking at him in a look he had not expected. She didn’t look angry or shock, she looked worried. The strangeness of her reaction made Lucius rather curious, so he decided to find out after class.

It was not easy though, as Tanya left the class the quickest. Lucius had to gently excuse himself from Professor Slughorn, and when he finally managed to leave, he saw Tanya turning a corner.

“Tanya, wait up!” Lucius shouted.

Tanya did not respond, so he chased after her. When Lucius finally caught her, he asked, “Didn’t you hear me?”

“Yes, I did,” Tanya replied.

“Why didn’t you stop?”

“Is something wrong with Professor Slughorn?” Tanya asked worriedly, ignoring his question.

“What?” Lucius was honestly confused.

“He doesn’t seem right,” Tanya said thoughtfully.

Was she for real? Lucius was starting to wonder if there was something wrong with Tanya instead. Can someone be that straightforward?

“He’s alright. Don’t worry,” Lucius responded after a few minutes of hesitation.

Tanya was not convinced but she nodded her head anyways.

“Professor Slughorn is a special kind of teacher. If he likes you, he’ll help you,” Lucius added.

If Tanya could not catch what Lucius was saying, he knew she was definitely one of a kind. True enough, she was.

“I don’t… understand.”

“Do you want him to help you? Well, obviously, you need his help. O.W.Ls won’t be easy. I can help you make it right with Professor Slughorn if you like?”

No, he was not genuinely helping her. To Lucius, Tanya was a toy that just upgraded with her innocence.

“I don’t trust you, Lucius. You lied to me, you used me, and you cheated,” Tanya said.

“Hey, nobody’s perfect. I just want to make it up to you,” Lucius simply replied.

Tanya thought for a while before she asked, “What do you have in mind?”

The thought that had been lingering at the back of his head shot forward immediately. But even so, he wondered. Should he invite Tanya to Professor Slughorn’s Slug Club dinner? This was not an easy decision.

To Be Continued…

(Leave a comment below or vote on whether Lucius should invite Tanya to the dinner or not!)

Advertisement

FHB: Chapter 7

“Hey boy, what did I say about lurking around the Gryffindor table?” Lucius called out to Severus.

Tanya narrowed her eyes at Lucius before taking a quick glimpse behind her.

Severus, who had no idea what was going on, nervously walked up to the two of them.

“I didn’t ask you to come here. Get back to your seat,” Lucius shot.

The look on Severus’ face was rather pitiful, and as expected, Tanya stood up for him.

“You shouldn’t treat first years like that,” Tanya said.

“I’m only following the rules,” Lucius replied with a shrug.

“There is no such rule.”

“You have to read the rule book again, Tanya,” Lucius casually said as he reached for Severus and pulled him towards him.

Before Tanya could defend Severus once more, Lucius quickly whispered in his ear, “Get the parchment and run.”

“Let go of him!” Tanya demanded as she gently pulled Severus away from him.

Then turning to Severus she said in a gentle voice, “Go back to your seat. You’ll be safe there.”

Lucius wanted to laugh. He could not take her seriously, and her mother duck gesture tickled his funny bone.

“Tanya, please. I was not going to hurt him,” Lucius said with a chuckle.

“You don’t need to pretend anymore, Lucius. I know what kind of a person you are. My friends told me about you.”

“Your friends? I was your only friend when you arrived. Is this how you treat friends?”

Lucius had a guilty pleasure of making people feel bad about themselves.

“I thought so too, until I realized you were just using me,” Tanya pointed out.

Enough talk. Get a move on it boy, Lucius thought as he made eye contact with Severus.

“Friends help each other. If you don’t want to help me, you can just say so,” Lucius replied, hoping to buy more time for Severus to act.

Unfortunately, Severus was going back and forth with his decision. It was agonizing to watch this first year struggle with such a simple instruction.

Unable to take anymore of Severus’ hesitation, Lucius turned to him and asked, “Didn’t we tell you to get a move on it?”

That question must have set off the ‘go’ switch in his brain and immediately, Severus snatched the parchment from Tanya’s hand and ran out of the great hall.

Tanya watched in shock as Lucius shrugged and said, “See, I told you he was trouble.”

Lucius did not wait for her reply as he walked back to his seat. He noticed Tanya contemplating on going after Severus, but she soon made up her mind to return to her newfound friends.

The bunch of giggling girls stopped when they saw her and quickly got the juicy story out of her. Lucius noticed that after Tanya was done, three of them turned to his direction and gave him a glare.

Ignoring their obvious finger pointing and dissatisfied expressions, Lucius went back to his meal. He knew they could not do anything about it, but he also knew Tanya was no longer useable. Well, at least there was still that first year, right?

After dinner, Lucius decided to head back to the common room. He had rounds to make, but the parchment was much more important. Upon arrival, he asked the head boy for the room list before asking if he could do his rounds for him. Of course, the head boy had no objections to either request.

Once he had learned of Severus’ room, Lucius got his hands on the parchment almost immediately. Thankfully, Severus had safely returned to their common room, and when he handed the parchment to Lucius he did not ask what it was but pulled his blanket over his head.

From the look on his face, Lucius know he was still hungry. Strangely, he felt sorry for the boy. So he pulled out a chocolate bar and placed it on the side table.

“Eat this,” Lucius merely said before he left.

That night, Lucius spent a few hours memorizing Professor Slughorn’s instructions. By the time the clock stroke 12, Lucius went to bed.

The following days went rather well, and Lucius did short revisions on the potion before bed every night. It was until the night before his next potion class that he gathered his classmates.

About thirty-five of them stayed up in the common room after everyone else had gone to bed. Lucius was sitting near the fireplace when he told them that the potion’s test would be a Polyjuice Potion. No one bothered asking where he had gotten the information from, but they thanked him instead.

It was a common practice for Lucius to share last minute tips with his classmates. He knew none of them could outdo him and most of them would barely pass. But even so, that would mean more house points.

When Potions Class was in session the next day, Lucius was confident in acing the test. That was until Tanya came up to him.

“I’ll give you the chance to do it right, Lucius,” Tanya whispered.

“Do what right?”

“You cannot cheat,” Tanya replied.

“I’m not. In fact, you’re cheating. You stole the parchment after all.”

“I know you have the parchment. I’m not stupid.”

“So, what are you saying? You want me to fail?”

“Yes. You’re not supposed to know about the potion before the test. It’s not fair.”

“I’m not going to fail. Instead, I’ll do so well that Slytherin will take the lead in house points again,” Lucius replied with a smile.

“Then I’ll have to tell Professor Slughorn,” Tanya said.

Was that a threat? It sure sounded like one. Lucius thought about it and it became a little worrying. If Tanya told Professor Slughorn, it could go two ways.

One, he would brush it off because he did tell Lucius about it to begin with. But, he might no longer give Lucius hints. Two, he would ask Lucius about the missing parchment and stop trusting Lucius all together.

Lucius wondered if he should actually fail this time, or just wiggle his way out of Tanya’s blabbering words later.

To Be Continued…

(Leave a comment below or vote on whether Lucius should ace the test or fail it!)

FHB: Chapter 4

“Hey, why don’t we ditch the crowd and I’ll show you around?” Lucius suggested.

“I can’t do that!” Tanya answered with an expression of shock.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot you’re a mudblood,” Lucius replied, hoping it would change her mind.

“If a mudblood means doing the right thing, then I would rather be a mudblood,” Tanya stated, before she turned on her heels and went back to her duty.

Lucius was left standing with an eyebrow raised. He concluded that she was a goody two-shoes despite being almost completely ignorant. Lucius convinced himself that that little failed attempt was not entirely a failure as he had learned Tanya’s weakness. This made him rather sure that the next time he acted, it would not be a failure.

As he slumped onto the sofa in the Slytherin common room that night, he heard a couple of fellow 5th year Slytherins murmuring about a surprise potions test. Lucius had not heard of it, so he eavesdropped a little.

The test was supposedly happening within the next few classes and those 5th years were terrified. According to their source, which Lucius doubted was at all reliable, the test would determine if they were required to take extra classes. Well, that made Lucius shrug and turn his attention else where.

Lucius was rather good at potions and Professor Slughorn always complimented him. He had never failed a test, but that was because Slughorn often whispered tips in Lucius’ ear when other students weren’t around. That was a perk of being in the Slug Club and a teacher’s pet. The test would be a piece of cake, as long as he continued being Slughorn’s favourite.

The next morning, classes commenced. Slytherin and Ravenclaw had potions as their first class together, and Lucius was determined to hear a tip before the class ended. As he and his so called friends waited outside the classroom, Tanya came up to them with a wide smile.

“Good day!” Tanya greeted.

She was carrying a few thick books in her hand that were completely unrelated to their first subject.

“Ready for class? I’m so excited!” Tanya added.

“I’m always ready,” Lucius replied as he casually slid his hands into his pockets.

None of the other Slytherins said a word as they gave Tanya expressionless stares.

“Your friends are not very friendly are they?” Tanya leaned in and whispered.

“Where are YOUR friends?” Lucius asked in reply.

Lucius had noticed Tanya alone during breakfast and she was also alone now. Had she not made any friends yesterday?

“Friends? I’ll make friends today,” Tanya answered with a smile.

Tanya started looking around her, as though looking for someone to befriend, when she pointed at a Gryffindor girl standing alone.

“I could be her friend,” Tanya told herself out loud.

“Are you sure?” Lucius asked, as an ingenious idea came to mind.

“Yup, why not?” Tanya innocently asked.

“Are you sure you want to pass your mudblood curse to her?”

“Mudblood curse?” Tanya sounded confused.

“Yea. Whoever you talk to is at risk of getting it. It’s dangerous you know,” Lucius said seriously. This immediately caught the attention of his fellow Slytherins around him.

“But I’m talking to you!” Tanya gasped.

“Well…” Lucius had not thought of a reply for that. Thankfully, Tanya added, “You are such a good friend!”

“Er, yea, I am,” Lucius said with a shrug.

“And I don’t even know your name!” Tanya said in such an alarming tone that heads turned to their direction.

“It’s Lucius,” Lucius simply replied as he took a few steps away from her.

It did not help that all eyes were now on them and no matter how many steps he took backwards, she took the same number of steps forward.

“You are such a good friend Lucius! You said you knew a cure for mudbloods, would you help me?”

“Sure, after class,” Lucius quickly answered.

Professor Slughorn had just arrived and Lucius quickly hurried into class leaving Tanya behind.

Class went pretty well despite Tanya smiling at him every time he looked at her direction. Just as he had expected, Slughorn did spill the beans on the surprise test while everyone was gathering ingredients for the day’s potion. The test was unsurprisingly a polyjuice potion, which would only be taught in his 6th year. Professor Slughorn loved ‘challenging’ his students, or at least that was what he said.

Lucius knew it was not going to be an easy test, and it would take more than just showing up. He needed to get his hands on the instructions, not just any instruction but the one Slughorn wrote down himself. That was the only one that wouldn’t mess up, and he intended on memorizing it before an ugly cauldron is placed into his arms (Slughorn never allowed personal cauldrons during tests).

Now the tough question was, how was he going to get it? He was definitely not going to do the dirty work himself. Just then, Tanya walked past him and said, “Look! I’ve got porcupine quills!”

Lucius immediately knew it was either her or a scared first year.

To Be Continued…

(Leave a comment or vote on whether Lucius should get Tanya to do it, or find someone else more trustworthy!)

The Egyptians Will Have To Wait

During one summer, she met a handsome young man. His was kind and sweet, and he did things for her she never imagined any man would. Honestly, in her innocent mind, she thought he was the one. This young man, however, was years older than her, but in that state of infatuation she didn’t mind, because after all, his age came with maturity.

Sadly, her prince charming was going away to explore his love for potions after summer was over, and already  knowing that she might have to wait for him, she could not stand the thought. How long was she willing to wait? One year? Two years? Not wanting to have any distance between them, she decided that after her studies, she would join him where ever he was, and with that, they made future plans.

As their romance began to spark off, her parents started to take notice of her constant disappearance, and when her mother started snooping around, she had no choice but to tell her parents. Thinking that they would forbid her, she was surprised when they said they wanted to meet the boy she was so fond of. Without much of a choice, she brought this up to her beloved and being the gentleman she thought he was, he came over one night for dinner. That was one meal she will never forget, as even her strict, expressionless father seemed to have fallen in love with him.

A couple of weeks later, the man she adored told her over a random owl post that they needed to talk. His letter was scattered with words that made her confused and worried. Insisting that they should meet and talk, she met up with him that very same night. It was then that he told her he was not ready. He also mentioned a handful of reasons that she soon forgot after the tears fell.

As she cried herself to sleep that night, asking herself why that had to happen, oddly enough, she made up her mind to forgive him. She was, after all, the most understanding girl he has ever met, that was his words to be exact. Days passed and she soon told herself that it was alright. If he was not ready, then she should understand his situation, whatever it was.

Weeks after he had broke it off with her, he left for Germany, and the owl posts between them arrived slower as the days went by. Soon, school restarted, and she was quite certain she was almost completely over him. But then something happened. The man she still thought of as her friend decided to cut all connections from her. He didn’t reply to her last letter and he changed his address without telling her. When she asked around the people he worked with, they too pretended not to know. Immediately, she knew he was cutting her off and out of his life; that she couldn’t understand. She had given him all the space he needed, and she had never blamed him for what he had done to her, but now he chose to remove her from his life. What was he hoping to get out of his actions?

Hurt and angry, she found comfort in a friend, who managed to convince her that his actions did not deserve him the right to be her friend. Friends do not do that to friends; that was her rational. Since she could not deny the truth in those words, and she had to move on from the new pain he had caused her, she decided to listen to her advice.

One summer after that, she found a part-time job at Gringotts Wizarding Bank to improve her English. It was when she accidentally sent the account forms flying all over the place that she met another young man. The start of their friendship soon led her falling head over heels for him, but every time she wanted to tell him how she felt, she remembered the man who broke her heart. Though she had moved on, she couldn’t help but recall the good times and the bad times that shattered her heart into a million pieces. Was she ready to put herself at risk of getting hurt? All she had were questions with no answers.

Days passed and the questions began pilling up, just like the work load on her desk. Amazingly, among the countless times she tried to answer herself, just hearing his sweet voice cleared all her doubts.

“Do you need help?” he asked, peeking through the stacks of paper.

“No thanks. Iz o.k,” she said with a smile. She looked calm and composed but nobody knew she was struggling to calm her racing heart. Why waz he zo cute? she asked herself.

“Fleur, your English is fine, why are you still working here? Let me take you for dinner and discuss on how you can resign,” he said with a chuckle.

“You haz taken me for many meals, how can I repay you?” Fleur asked, as she gently placed the quill down.

“Be mine and mine only?”

Fleur didn’t try to hide her blushing cheeks this time.

“What if ze Egyptian curses call you one day?”

“The Egyptians will have to wait, for I cannot imagine a day without you.”

“Then I shall have dinner wiz you and discuss on how YOU can resign. Because dating a co-worker, Bill Weasley, iz not allowed.”

Chapter 11:

“Are you afraid of the dark?” Tom asked sarcastically.

“No.” Joanna narrowed her eyes at him before she stepped onto the edge of the pipe and slid down.

The only light that shone down the winding tube finally disappeared when the opening of the sink closed after Tom. Joanna was uncertain on where it was taking her, and just as she was about to shout a question to Tom, the pipe ended and Joanna landed on a damp floor.

As she got up and examined the place, Tom pulled out his wand, brightening up their surroundings just enough to see a passageway in front of them. The damp and musty walls gave her a forboding feeling, making her immediately regret coming down with him.

Joanna had to hold on to the back of Tom’s robes as they walked down the dark passageway. There were times Joanna thought she felt something scurrying by her feet and she would jump in response, only to have Tom laugh at her.

They finally stopped in front of a big door. It looked like one of those vault doors you would see in Gringotts, but the only difference was that there were 2 snakes. Not real ones of course, but metallic snakes, which green glowing eyes, that formed a lock.

Tom whispered 2 syllables in parseltongue and the door started to unlock with a hissing sound.

“Now when we enter the chamber, you need to do something,” Tom said as he slid his wand under his sleeve.

“What?” Joanna asked, squinting at the hissing door.

“You have to close your eyes and open ONLY when I tell you to,” Tom instructed. “Understand?”

“Why?”

“No time to ask why, just do as I tell you.” Tom sounded stern and Joanna obeyed. There was something in his voice that made others obey him, and Joanna was no different.

The hissing sound from the door finally stopped. Joanna took it as her cue and shut her eyes. She felt Tom’s hand grabbing on to hers as he led her forward.

As she took a few steps, she heard the door closing with the same hissing. Right then, she knew she was in some kind of a room. And it was brightly lit. She could also smell water as a cool breeze swept through her hair.

Joanna strained her ears to hear for anything else that might explain why she had to keep her eyes close and she did.

It started off as a soft hiss. But then it grew louder, and louder, painting an image of a giant snake. The ground vibrated as the giant snake slithered pass her, and when part of its cold, scaly body brushed passed her legs, Joanna jumped immediately.

“DON’T open your eyes,” Tom said in response.

Joanna pressed her eye lids tighter as she felt for more of Tom than just his hand. Tom, knowingly sensed her fear, pulled her closer and was seemingly conversing with the snake.

A few minutes later, Tom whispered into her ear, “You can open your eyes now.”

Joanna slowly opened her eyes, peeking behind Tom as she examined her surroundings. She knew she looked stupid but she was not a fan of snakes, 5 inches long or 10 feet tall.

“It’s gone,” Tom brawled.

Joanna nodded and stepped away from him. “This is the chamber of secrets. It was built by Salazar Slytherin,” Tom said, as though giving a tour.

“As you can see, there’s a statue of him right up front,” Tom continued comically. “These pillars are also carefully designed with an artistic touch to resemble snakes.”

Joanna couldn’t help but laugh. Her previous expression must have been rather unpleasant to have Tom trying to crack her up.

Tom waved for her as he headed towards the foot of the statue of the monkey looking man, and knelt on the floor beside a cauldron. Which Joanna assumed he had prepared earlier.

“Is the snake coming back?” Joanna asked as she sat across him.

“No, I told her not to come in here for a while.”

Tom took no delay as he started laying out the ingredients.

“Tom, are you sure-“

“We’re just making the potion, its not like I’m going to make a horcrux now,” Tom interrupted.

“Right.” Joanna nodded and started helping him prepare.

Tom, who was exceptionally well in potions, finally completed the disembodiment potion before sunrise. Joanna who had barely helped, sat playing with the remaining ingredients. She constantly wondered why he asked her to follow along, being that she was rather useless the whole time. But by the time they left the chamber of secrets, Joanna just wanted to fall into the cushions of her bed.

Tom was kind enough to walk her back to her common room, and this time, he waited for her to disappear behind the painting before he left.

As she entered the quiet and deserted common room, Joanna tip toed up into her bedroom, careful not to wake anyone. She was ready to hit the sack without even changing, when a thin leather covered book fell from under her robes.

That was when she remembered Tom asking her to help him hold on to it while he closed the chamber. And she never gave it back. It must have slipped her mind.

Curious of its contents, Joanna flipped it open, but all she found were empty pages. Blank, clean pages, which did not resemble it’s dirty, overused looking cover.

It was at that very moment she remembered her cousin saying something about books with secrets. And if it was a book of secrets, it must be Tom’s diary. It’ll only take a while for her to figure out how to dig out everything in the book, as her cousin so conveniently showed her all the tricks in the book, but should she do it?

To Be Continued…

(Leave a comment below or vote on whether Joanna should attempt at seeking out the contents of Tom’s diary!)