Harry Potter: Lethal Injection

Chapter 1: A Poisonous Partnership (Part 3)

"-MERLIN'S SAGGY LEFT TESTICLE IS THAT, ALBUS?" Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody had been called many things in his life; crazy, paranoid, dangerous, one of the greatest dark-wizard catchers the world had ever known, but he had never been called polite. As a result, his outburst did not cause the wizened wizard seated behind the ornate headmaster's desk to so much as raise a single eyebrow as he peered at Moody over his steepled fingers. For once, neither Moody's small dark natural-or bulging blue magical-eye was scanning his surroundings, instead, both were focused intently on the object which floated between himself and his friend.

"I was rather hoping you could tell me, Alastor." Albus Dumbledore replied genially, eyes twinkling from behind his half-moon spectacles, seemingly unfazed by his old friend's profane outburst. "I take it, then, that this is not something you have ever before encountered on your travels?" As he spoke, Dumbledore indicated the writhing silver goo which floated within the stasis spell, a few feet above the surface of his desk. "Please, sit." Dumbledore drew his wand and waved it negligently, conjuring a high-backed chair similar to his own on the other side of his desk. Alastor Moody grudgingly seated himself in the chair, his magical eye spinning around in a quick check of his surroundings, usually, he would not place himself in so vulnerable a position, but Albus Dumbledore was the one man he trusted implicitly.

"Where the hell did you find this thing, Albus?" Moody asked, warily.

"Attached to a muggle, who entered the Hogwarts grounds via half a spaceship which had apparently fallen from orbit. At the time it was rather attempting to impale me with weapons it seemed to generate itself. According to the man-a mister John Jameson-'s memories, it is an alien-being discovered on an asteroid." Dumbledore spoke as if astronauts possessed by alien lifeforms regularly fell from orbit before attempting to stab him. "I thought together, perhaps, we would be able to unravel the mysteries behind this most fascinating creature."

Moody looked at his friend suspiciously, "If this... Thing, came from an asteroid, Albus, why would you ask if I had encountered it before? And why me, Albus? Wouldn't Hagrid be better suited for this? He's always had an affinity for murderous creatures, if I remember rightly."

"Alas, as much as I am sure Rubeus would delight in helping me to study this creature, he does not have the tightest of lips, and I am afraid this creature's existence is far too dangerous to risk exposure." Mad-Eye gave a small start at hearing Albus Dumbledore describe anything as 'far too dangerous,' the last time he had heard that phrase had been in reference to Lord Voldemort. "As for why I asked if you had encountered it's like before, although Mr. Jameson's memories indicated this creature to be of extra-terrestrial origin, something so far-fetched could easily be dismissed as a false memory. I dared not try to break through any falsehood for risk of causing irreparable damage to the psyche of an innocent man." Dumbledore's piercing gaze left no room for discussion on that point.

"This thing is really that dangerous, Albus?" Moody's voice carried more respect than the average person would expect for a potentially incredibly dangerous alien being.

"Well, it was able to use the body of a man who had just fallen from orbit, to whom it had only bonded ten minutes earlier, might I add, to manage to tear a line through my favourite robes, Alastor. Had I been a moment slower it would have sheared through my heart; and, speaking immodestly, I daresay had anyone other than myself or Lord Voldemort been the one to greet it, they would most certainly have been slain." Dumbledore's voice remained cheerful, but a steely glint had replaced the twinkle in his piercing blue eyes, and his steepled fingers were tensed before him. Moody had known Dumbledore long enough to recognise when he was concerned, and it had been a very long time since he had last seen Dumbledore this serious.

Turning his magical eye back toward the creature in the stasis spell, Mad-Eye squinted as he examined it through means both magical and mundane; "You say it was bonded to a muggle? Bonded how?"