Brother in Arms

Lucius would forever be grateful to house elves, he had of course like most wixen from established wixen families, always regarded any house elf as a family member.  Deserving of respect, good conditions and ‘love’.  Although house elves bonded to families, to keep their magic steady and under control and to prolong their lives by years if not generations.  His family like other families he knew, would have done anything for them!  After all they had been playmates, ad visors, tutors to him and his cousins, and other wixen children.

While other most pupils in the other houses he knew had shameless at the least ignored the hard working elves.  Some he knew had played harmful and embarrassing pranks on them.  Some houses he had been told did not even try to keep their houses, including dormitories, common rooms and bathrooms clean and tidy.   No the tales that some of the rival house pupils had told the Slytherin’s, had made them angry, and sick that intelligent elves were treated so badly.

He could remember like everybody in Slytherin house, the first meeting on the first night when everybody had returned from the sorting and the welcoming feast.  Their head of house Sluggie, had met and lectured them about their house, it’s very noble history.  The house rules that protected them from the rest of Hogwarts

Sluggie had also made it clear that the house elves at Hogwarts School, all of them were to be treated with the utmost respect from all Slytherin house.  Part of their shared duties were to tidy and clean up after themselves, the house elves were only responsible in Slytherin house for collecting and completing their washing.  They were to do everything else!  

Of course that had never happened had it, they genuinely respected their elves, and the elves did most things for them.  There were rushed bed making in the morning, before the little devils beat you to it.  The knack they had found was to make their beds BEFORE they went to the bathroom to do their morning ambulations.   For everything else they had a schedule to follow.  Most weekends, Slytherin pupils cleaned and tidied part of the house from top to bottom.  Except for Severus of course, it was a month from when he and the rest of the first years had joined.  That somebody had exclaimed (complained really) that Severus was missing yet again for the joint ‘house’ cleaning.  

Lucius as a third year winced when their seventh year head prefect had gone to ‘find Severus’ and find out what he was doing

The prefect had returned soon after, dragging Severus behind him and told him to “go to his bedroom to get some sleep! You stupid blithering F***king idiot” and told them  it was alright, he had found Severus, who was brewing simple potions (with Sluggies permission of course) for the Hogwarts house elves.  Apparently he had like most Saturday mornings raised very early, made his bed (and it was so well made that even the house elves, were envious of how well his bed was made in the morning.  He had gone to breakfast like normal, but had just gone back to the potions lab he was allowed to use. To do a bit more brewing, and had of course lost himself in brewing the potions and forgotten the time of day.  This was where the prefect found him and dragged him back to the common room and made him go upstairs to sleep.   And that is why Severus had become the Slytherin unofficial brewer for them as well as the house elves.  Of course Sluggie had turned a blind eye towards Severus brewing, he wanted to assist Severus in any and every way to becoming a master potioneer.  But he also ensured that Severus was paid what was owed to to him by their housemates, either in coin or other things he needed.

Sluggie like Professor Flitwick and Sprout the other two of the three head of houses, were often overlooked especially by Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress as being magically weak and eager to please the headmaster.

Professor Flitwick was the House Head of Ravenclaw or the nick name Ravens.  Headmaster Dumbledore thought that Flitwick was a half-breed wixen, who was half Goblin.  This meant Dumbledore would have treated Professor Flitwick with destane just for this alone!  After all Dumbledore like certain populations of wixen, detested Goblins as sentient dark creatures, who would stab a decent wixen in the back and pointed to the Goblin Wars as proving their point.  Lucius like many other wixen including muggles and half-bloods never ever thought this.  Because a) If the Goblin Wars were still seen as being relevant centuries after they were fought, then the Goblins like the Vampires must be very fearsome and magically powerful foes.

b) Anybody who had read about Goblins culture, and personally knew Professor Flitwick realised that the Goblins as well as other magical races were a honourable race. Who normally could subdue mere wixen by very little magical or muggle fighting power

c) Who on earth as Lucius pa-pa had taught him, upsets the people looking after and investing your money, or were your families legal counsel.who was had just scraped though his of charms, and was interested in just pursing intellectual pursuits.  

Nothing of course was nearer the truth, Professor Flitwick had the contamination of wixen and goblin blood and the combination he said privately of both cultures.

He taught his subject well enough for Slytherin and Gryffindor combined house lessons.  The Slytherins had ot so many detentions with him, so that he could teach them to the same standard as the Puff and Ravens houses, in the end Sluggie had asked him to just come and teach each year his ‘alternative’ lesson in their Common room, when they had free time to do so!  Professor Flitwick was also a champion dueller as well! 

Professor Sprout was the head of House for the Hufflepuffs or badgers as their nick name was.  Sprout was viewed as a motherly figure who just taught the subject of ‘gardening’ according to Dumbledore.  He thought of her as a female wixen, who just got a mastery in a simple and easy subject, so she teach wixen to support her parents monetary.  Of course like everybody but most of the Gryffindors knew, Sprout knew her subject in and out.  She was the foremost master on her subject, and they knew from her that Horticulture as she named her subject was more than recognizing plants and planting them in pretty patterns.

One of the few deserved detentions that Severus had got with Professor Sprout within the first couple of weeks, was when she correctly deduced that Severus had cultivated himself from saplings a Venomous Tentacula and Devils Snare.  The little snake even then was teaching the plants (called Queen Elizabeth and Duke of Edinburgh by him) to attack the four Gryffindors named the Marauders.  If that had been successful, well everybody had wanted with dread to know what plant he was eyeing up to kill Dumbledore.  Perhaps tame Mandrakes, a young Womping Willow tree! People even his pa-pa said that he loved and trained his albino peacocks, more than SOME people. But he had argued back to his parents, had he ever taught his peacocks to kill people!  Well of course due to Sprouts ‘Puff’ nature, she HAD ALLOWED SEVERUS TO KEEP HIS PLANTS IN THE COMMON ROOM! Well it was really meant to be his bedroom and their were 2 points against this the house meeting agreed:

His room mates, did not want to sleep with highly trained lethal, lets attack, kill and question the actions later plants!  They reasoned quite correctly against ‘someone protests’ that they had to get up at night and have access in and out their bedroom

Having highly trained and lethal plants in the main common room, meant that anybody who was not a) a legit past or present snake b) broke into their house, really deserved to be accidentally killed by their house plants.  But he just knew Severus had been eyeing up the Womping Willow (he named Charles) to cultivate a cutting for his budding collection!

So Sprout with Sluggie had commandeered Severus and his natural talents, when the ‘mother’ plants had communicated to her, who had nicked the cuttings in the first place.  Apparently she had said proudly, even she couldn’t pacify and get the agreement of the school mandrakes to corporate with her.  Severus managed to do it with almost naturally, and he and his classmates when alone didn’t need the dreaded muggle ear defenders to tend to them.  It was rumoured that Sprout had not spoken to Sluggie when Severus said it was his only ambition to become a potions master first class.  Flitty had managed through his negotiations skills (was he a quarter vampire perhaps) to get all five faculty members to work together to promote and guide Severus numerous talents.  Which included, Magical creatures, horticulture, charms and DADA and of course his first love potions.  And the ‘bloody’ fearsome tiger of the librarian just rolled over like a pampered puppy to do what her nice ‘Sevvie’ asked of her! Access to the restricted section no problem, even Professors had been known to get her ‘little Sevvie’ to obtain periodicals, books she WOULD never allow anybody access to!  

Lucius thought he was mind was rambling on, sitting here after running down the long corridors of Hogwarts to the infirmary.  The L estrange brothers had walked down to the infirmary, with Severus plants Elizabeth and Phillip being carried on a invisible Stretcher between them.  The plants were sitting there mournfully as everybody else around his bedside, but it had been the house elves that had initially saved Severus life.  They had overheard (perhaps Flitwick and Sluggie had said this either to the elves directly, or ensured they overheard their instructions), to ensure that Severus was never truly ‘alone’!  It had been the house elves combined magic connected they knew to Hogwarts herself that had miraculously ‘saved’ Severus.  He was still very gravely ill of course, and could die.  But hopefully Severus would, no he had to pull through, and then a timid fifth year called Rowan Jones Gryffindor had been brought in, deathly ill of a suicide attempt.  Apparently the house elves, had because of Severus (and maybe other historical cases) caught Rowan trying to hang himself in the Owlery.  

Gryffindor Frank Longbottom, had got a message to Heir Regulus Black (his older brother, Sirius a marauder) had been dis-inherited by the present Lord Black.  That the Prewett twins with the co-operation and planning of Arthur Weasley got a message out to Arthur’s Uncle who had been a Admiral in the Galactic Empire, and would as quickly as possibly contact and bring Severus parents here to Hogwarts.  

Then Regulus had informed Frank about his housemate Rowan, and Frank said they would ensure the message got to Rowans parents.  

They had overheard Headmaster’s Dumbledore conversation with Madame Pompey and Deputy McGonagall about the two boys suicide attempts (hopefully), one of Sluggie recent ‘guests’ Sangani had appeared and put a finger to his lips to quite them.  They then heard Dumbledore say seriously “Really Minivea and Poppy! The two boys are am afraid just unimportant in the Grand Scheme of things! Nobody of any importance will care about their deaths, and their deaths will of course be either deemed accidental in Jones case or a acute magical illness in Snape’s case.  You know I have most of the important ‘Individuals’ and even whole ‘departments in our ministry!  The aurors will not investigate closely and the pathologist will report what I say and needs to be reported”

“What about Brandon, you know Colonel Brandon, who apparently has a lot of power?  Won’t he cause trouble when the Weasley boy tells him in the Summer.  After all the little twerp will have graduated by then.  He has nothing to lose after all then spilling the beans to his Uncle!”

“Really Minerva! 1) Colonel Brandon is a nothing, what has he been a Colonel of?  He has never risen in the Auror Corps!  He left them, to marry that whore of his bonded Lydia Bennet, quite the scandal at the time and caused I am proud to say a rift in that family.  After all I seduced and had Lydia’s Cherry as the muggle’s say when she visited her Aunt in a village that Brandon’s platoon was stationed!  He stepped up the fool and said he had SEDUCE her, they even try to elope to get bonded of our world! But were hunted down by her family and they had to bond here in a quiet ceremony, payments to debtors were paid by ‘someone’ and they slinked off somewhere to live in the muggle world before coming back here ‘to do their duty’ and look after her elderly parents! Of course they only did this to be able to live, they have no money!

2) Brandon has been disowned by the Darcy family!  He was almost adopted by Fitzwilliam Darcy father, but when he died Fitzwilliam and him had a argument of epic proportions regarding Darcy sister Georgina.  Really the idiot took the blame for seducing and ‘eloping’ Georgina for her money down at a Spa seaside town.  When of course it wasn’t him, but ME! I nearly had her money, status that the Darcy name would have given me!  But Brandon was there and ‘found’ out about my plan from the timid little ‘Bitch’.   He took the blame when Darcy arrived unexpected from a missive sent by the Family Matriarch she was staying with!  So close to the money, power I deserve my dear! So close! So to answer your question, no Brandon is a weak willed little buffoon of a man who can’t tell anybody in real power about what has happened here!”

Dumbledore sighed and continued “Of course, I will take the Weasley boy under my wing, in the next few days and point out a few facts of life!  Including him wanting to bond with the girl Mary Prewett, I will teach her to say no to me! Wanted to say true and pure for Arthur does she! I will ruin her and her family as I did Eileen Prince, when she bolted from her family when they reluctantly agreed to our bonding.  She run the whore, into the muggle world.  Which meant that her Father was able to disown her and their power and money was safe from my grasp!”

Sangani managed with the Le strange Brothers, to stop Severus green pets from fatally attacking the headmaster as he strode around the curtains surrounding Severus bed.  Lucius looked at each other, Sangani had secretly cloaked their group invisible.   

Dumbledore continued not noticing the group (how powerful was Sangani, to be able to cloak them from Dumbledore’s presence), of course such a waste in this mud-blood dying, and even if he survives…..he will be useless to me in my plans for his future…of course the Rowan boy….well he has less use to me than this mud-blood!   Really I do try and only allow the mud-bloods who either very magically powerful and can be used for my future plans!”

Madame Pomfrey was wringing her hands as she confronted Dumbledore with “But! Two more children committing suicide…..even if most of them are mud-bloods…..someone is bound to notice, and then there are the children coming from abusive homes…I am required by law to inform the ministry about their living conditions”

Dumbledore turned to her, and put a Grandfather arm around her and continued “Poppy! As I said before nobody cares about THESE children!.......and as a witch healer, the rules never affect you, or if they do….then I will handle it, like I have before…and you owe me…remember there are medical procedures that you have done, that would mean the kiss for you my dear….and I don’t mean the romantically one my dear!” and the vomiting spectacle of Dumbledore mock kissing Poppy was viewed by all.  Lucius looked on as Elizabeth the Venomous Tentacula managed to nick the deputy headmistress and squeeze some of it’s sap into her blood.  

When the three adults had left the infirmary, Sangani looked at the Tentacula and stated to it with disappointment “And what do you think you were thinking of? Exactly, luckily it was deputy headmistress you attacked! If you had got the old GIT,  then he would know we were here….and trouble would be the least of it”  Elizabeth looked as ashamed as a deadly plant could and started to rub gently Sangani with her leaves.  Sangani looked at the plant, and just shook his head at her.

Narcissa stated to Sangani, just as Sluggie entered around the curtains to Severus bed “Can Weasley Uncle contact Severus parents quickly enough, they live on a back water muggle world apparently?”

Sluggie came and patted her arm and responded softly “OH! Don’t worry my dear…..Dumbledore knows about the Prewetts plan……”

“But! Doesn't that mean, all is lost then….the only way information could only get out was by the Prewett twins plans….The headmaster has stop anything else after all!”

Sluggie and Sangani laughed as Sluggie continued after a few minutes “Really Lucius are you Slytherins or not?......Professor Sprout of course (cough..cough)...made sure Headmaster Dumbledore knew about their plans!....which meant I was able to contact Sangani my partner and he contacted Christopher Brandon himself to let him know about Rowan and Severus.  Lets say…(cough..cough!)...Christopher is letting Severus ‘Uncle’ know what has happened first….and the fireworks will be hopefully spectacular….and then there is Rowans father…..Salazar help Dumbledore if he gets he before Severus ‘Uncle’ does, but of course I supposed his can take his ire out of other certain members of this faculty”  Lucius really did not like vampiric smile that Sangani and Sluggie shared, he had been a student in Sluggie’s house for seven years, and he knew he was shocked as anyone to realise Sluggie was not only a potion master diamond level, but a bloody Vampire to boot