Bedknobs and Broomsticks [HP fanfic; BNB Book 1]

Driven to Distraction

Geoff was sitting cross-legged on the floor of the girls' lavatory, feverishly stirring the cauldron in front of him. He was going to kill Sirius if this potion wasn't right because of him. It had been harder and harder to get away to check on the potion and add the necessary ingredients the past couple of days because of Sirius's insistence on safety in numbers. He had managed to slip away while Sirius was ranting incoherently to James about something or other, and was now trying to get the potion back to the grey it had been the week before from the pale lavender it had recently turned.

He looked down at the parchment beside him and frowned. Well, that was the problem. He hadn't added the knotgrass yet. He turned to pick it up from the bathroom floor and saw that it was missing. All of his ingredients were missing. There was the ominous sound of flushing from one of the stalls.

"Myrtle!"

The ghostly girl poked her head through the door of a stall. "Yes?"

"Did you flush all of my ingredients? Do you know how hard it is to get unsucculated leeches around here?"

"You never talk to me any more," she said with a sniff. "Not since Jiggery Jaeger's been showing up in here. You're using my bathroom, the least you could do is talk to me."

"That's no reason to throw out my supplies!"

Myrtle gave a disdainful sniff and drifted away, leaving Geoffrey fuming. He sighed. Well, he was going down to the store room, anyway -- it wouldn't kill him to have to replace his ingredients. Scowling to himself, he stood and picked up his bag from the floor. The inside of it had had an expansion charm cast on it to ensure all the ingredients would fit -- Mariah's list of items had been quite extensive, and now Geoff had to grab additional things for himself. He gave Myrtle a final spiteful glance as he left and began making his way down to the dungeons.

A small tin of crystallized pineapple laced with a sleeping potion was in his pocket, just in case their plan went awry and Slughorn returned to his office before they expected him to. Not that that was particularly likely -- Slughorn tended to go for long strolls across the grounds after dinner to help with his digestion. They had perhaps an hour and a half -- plenty of time for Geoff to get what they needed and get out. Reaching the potions dungeon, he rapped on the door four times -- the agreed upon signal -- and waited. Presently, it was opened by Mariah, and she ushered him in. She directed him to Slughorn's office as she returned to the desk where she was working.

"So what's Slughorn having you do, exactly?" Geoff asked, eying the pile of glass vials in front of her.

"Make all of these impervious," she said, picking one up and tapping it with her wand. "And when I'm done here, I get to make those impervious--" She pointed to another tableful of vials. "--and after that, those over there."

"Well, you have fun with that. You don't happen to know where he keeps the knotgrass, do you?"

"Knotgrass? It's over there in the cabinet where he keeps all his herbs. I thought you had some of that already."

"I did. Myrtle flushed all my supplies out of spite. Evidently I don't pay enough attention to her." He rolled his eyes. "Oh, here it is. What all did you need? Aconite, dittany..."

"Venomous Tentacula leaves that haven't been -- hide." As the handle of the heavy dungeon door turned, she seized him by the back of his robes and hauled him down behind a cauldron. Filch's head poked in through the doorway, his eyes darting around the dungeon suspiciously.

"Talking to yourself, Jaeger? Just can't keep your mouth shut, can you? There's a reason we put you in here by yourself. Now keep it quiet. This ispunishment!" He scowled at her and withdrew his head from the doorway, shutting the door with an ominous thud.

"Sorry about that. He's been dropping in periodically to make sure I haven't wrecked anything. Really, he should be more worried about Bagman setting something on fire." She rolled her eyes and picked up another vial as Geoffrey straightened and headed back toward the cabinet.

"Bagman's down here?"

"Yeah, he and Lockhart are in the next dungeon over, scouring cauldrons. If Bagman doesn't burn something, Lockhart'll break it trying to get a better look at his reflection." She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, probably. So what all did you need, again?"

She thought for a moment. "Venomous Tentacula leaves that haven't been dried, a handful of Doxy eggs, and... some Snakeweed. I gave you a list."

"Yes, well, Myrtle flushed that along with my ingredients."

"She didn't flush the actual potions did she?"

"No, thank God for--"

"Quick, get into that cauldron!"

Geoff looked dubious but as the handle of the heavy door opened again, he grimaced and climbed into the large cauldron, trying not to think about the slimy something his foot had landed in at the bottom.

"At least you're a hard worker, Jaeger, I'll give you that much," Filch said, shuffling into the dungeon and picking up one of the vials to inspect her work. "Lockhart can't stop looking at himself long enough to scrub a cauldron, and Bagman's broken four vases already." His customary scowl deepened. "They ought to bring back the old ways. What I'd give for a good flogging... God, I miss the screaming. Mark my words, Jaeger, if they brought back the old punishments, there'd be no disciplinary problems." He trailed off, muttering to himself, and shuffled back out of the dungeon.

Mariah glanced over at Geoff's hiding place. "All right in there?"

"I'd be much better if I wasn't covered in bubotuber pus residue," he said, clambering out.

She gave an offhand shrug as he opened the door of the supply cabinet and began dropping their needed items into the expanded bag. Just as he was scooping in some Doxy eggs, the handle of the door turned a third time. Before Mariah had the chance to hiss "into that cabinet" or "quick, under the table," he dove behind her, trusting that Filch would stay in the doorway as he had on the previous two visits.

Filch, however, was not their concern.

Emilie Delacroix had entered the dungeon and seemed to be debating with herself whether or not to say something. "Mariah."

Mariah tossed her head in greeting. "Emilie."

Emilie shifted uncomfortably and swept past the table where Mariah was working, heading straight for Slughorn's desk and rifling through the papers on top until she found a book that had been buried under a stack of parchment. She drummed her fingers on the cover for a moment, and then turned back to Mariah. "Hey, listen, I was wondering--" She caught sight of Geoff crouching behind the Gryffindor girl and broke off. "What areyou doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," he said defensively, standing.

She slid the book off the desk and held it up. "Slughorn's letting me borrow this to study for my N.E.W.T.s Now what are you doing sneaking around in here?"

"I'm not sneaking," he said. "And isn't it a bit early for N.E.W.T.s?"

"Not sneaking, right. That's why you hid when I came in the door," she said, eyeing him suspiciously. She gave him a quick smile, then turned and headed toward the door. "See you around, Mariah, Geoff."

"See you, Emilie," Mariah said. Her eyes slid over to Geoff, but he had already turned back to the supply cabinet and was scooping Doxy eggs into the bag.

"I'm going to start heading back upstairs, then," he said. "Before Filch comes back again, you know. Lots of work to do." He gave Mariah a smile and a short wave before exiting the dungeon and heading back up to the second floor.