Canary Creams and New Yellow Paint - (DRARRY)

Chapter Fifteen

They meet the next day around Draco's dining table, all eight of them.

Draco asks Potter if Weasley and Granger plan to show, but Potter says, "'Mione's been working all night and day lately, and Ron's watching Hugo. I'm supposed to keep minutes."

Potter gestures to a Quick-Quotes Quill scribbling furiously on some parchment.

Draco peers closer to get a look at what it's writing. "Hey, I do not have a mournful look in my eyes at the thought of being 'abandoned by my dearest friends.'"

Harry shrugs, smiling mischievously. "Looks pretty mournful to me.'"

Scorpius bangs an open palm on the table. "If everyone could focus, please. I'd like to call your attention to the meeting."

Luna looks on very studiously. Rolf seems faintly amused by the young man bossing him about, and Parvati and Lavender appear disconcerted. Teddy, who is used to this kind of behaviour by now, is still fiddling with his pocket watch.

"It's time to get started on a plan," Scorpius says. "Everyone has ideas for how we can fix this, so let's hear 'em."

"Shouldn't we consolidate our efforts and work together towards a single solution?" Lavender interrupts. "We need to help each other as much as possible."

"Of course we do," Scorpius agrees. "But we have to explore every potential avenue, at least until we find a solution we know will work."

No one protests. They understand that they don't have nearly enough time. Working on just one thing and hoping it will be successful can't possibly end well for them.

"All right, Teddy first, so the others know what we're up against," Scorpius says. "What did you find in your sample?"

Teddy grimaces. "It's worse than I thought it would be. In just that little sample, there was more magical energy per millilitre than you'd get in your average Blood-Replenishing Potion. It was weird, though. I nearly got hit with a Stunner just trying to put a few drops under a magnifier."

"Would there be a way to filter the water?" Potter asks. "You know, like a Brita, but on a larger scale."

They all look at him blankly.

His eyes track across their faces one by one. "I'm the only one here raised by Muggles, aren't I?"

They all nod with varying degrees of confusion.

"Perfect, well, I think Mr Weasley's got one we could borrow. I'll ask him."

"Good," says Scorpius. "Now, Ms Patil, you're working on a way to neutralise the curses once they're in the Wallygaggler's systems already, right?"

"That's what I was thinking. Have you got a list of everything you found in your sample?" she asks Teddy.

He slides her a slip of parchment.

"Thanks. I'll get started on that, then. Say, Draco, I've been having trouble finding books about multi-use potions. I'm not even sure there are any, at this point, but you've got quite a library in your office — are any of those books potion-related?"

He tries to picture the shelves in his study, about half of which had been recovered from Snape's office after his passing.

He's probably got one of the best collections on rare potions in the world, and he's never even used it.

"There must be. I'll pull any that sound promising out for you, or you could have a look yourself if you'd like. I'm sure we'll find something. I can't promise anything on multi-purpose potions specifically, though."