"The Mudblood" One-Shots

A Taste of the Future

Year: January 18, 2007

Canonicity: not canon to anything, just a chaotic lil crossover

Point-of-view: first person, Lainey Fitzroy

Notes: (spoiler) This is a crossover between The Mudblood and my original book, Glitter and Gore, which was published last week! It's not necessary to read G&G first, there won't really be any major spoilers (unless you'd like to start the series knowing absolutely nothing about it). In G&G, this would probably take place after chapters 5/6 (and this kinda changes the trajectory of the G&G plot, so it won't really reveal too much about the actual G&G plot).

*If you have read Glitter & Gore, please avoid putting spoilers in the comments :)

"Can you do that somewhere else?"

Across the room, lounging on the sofa like a kid in detention, Carl Vaisey continued tossing a miniature crystal ball in the air and catching it, his juvenile behavior matching his sixteen-year-old appearance. "No. Your office has the comfiest sofa in the whole Ministry. Trust me, I've tested them all."

Sighing, I tapped my quill on the piles of paperwork I'd neglected. Every time I entered the Orb of Sight I was supposed to fill out a form, but...I hadn't done that for most of 2006. So now I scrambled to transfer all my notes from the journal Ginny gave me into forms that some stodgy Ministry workers would check at the end of this month. Exhilarating times.

"Shouldn't you be working?" I tried again, unable to stand the sight of him in my periphery.

"I should, but spying on vampires is so boring. They're all brain dead."

"Aren't you used to that after working with Bletchley for years?"

Vaisey started spinning the crystal ball on his pointer finger with uncanny dexterity. "At least he can hold a conversation without getting distracted by the heartbeat of every living creature."

"Can you even—"

"Fitzroy!" a painfully familiar voice shouted from outside my office, accompanied with fists banging on the door. "Open up."

Dropping my quill, I slumped back in my chair, only half peeved. Part of me had prayed for a reprieve from the tedium. "How did you get into the Department of Mysteries?" I called back.

"The lift?"

"Dammit," I grumbled to myself, "Brian must've taken down the wards because I ate the rest of Teddy's homemade cookies last night."

"You have wards specifically against Malfoy?" Vaisey asked with a snicker.

"Open the door, Fitzroy." Draco banged again, more urgent this time. "We're at war."

My stomach lurched, brain plummeting to my worst memories—flashing spells, guttural screams, vacant eyes of those I loved. I staggered from my chair to the door in a panic, envisioning the horror awaiting us beyond this room. "Voldemort's back?" I demanded as soon as I yanked open the door.

In the corridor stood all three Malfoys—er, crawled, in Scorpius's case. Somewhere in this Department, the ten-month-old had found a pocket watch that could probably unravel the space-time continuum, but Astoria didn't seem to notice, too busy fussing over an imperfection in her cheetah patterned scarf.

Planted only a few centimeters from where I now stood, Draco scowled like a formidable businessman in his forest green suit. Clearly he'd come here straight from his job at Gringotts, which only heightened my alarm. Teddy was at school today. Would I have enough time to fetch him, or—