Drop in the Ocean

“CELENI!”

Joyce screamed. Both in shock as she saw her friend, floating in mid air towards a darkened lair.

“Oliver, you have to drop me here. Or I’ll never make it. Take the dive.”

Oliver took a fifty feet dive. He never had done it before, but he knew that Harry was very controlled in these things. They could go out of control and crash. However, he remembered the presence of Joyce could help his mind focus. She was a very good flyer.

They swished into the dark sky and into the cave. It was dark. They both got their wands and whispered “Lumos”. At the same time, a faint “Imperio” came from the other side of the cave.

“… stop playing with her Crabbe… ask her the question.”

“Let me play with the Imperius Curse for awhile. OK, OK fine… get that … Truth Potion… what’s that… the Veritaserum.” Goyle said to his mate.

“Alright, alright…” Crabbe walked away and mumbled something under his breath.

Joyce was shocked. What do they need to know about Celeni’s Owl? She knew that it was a rare breed, but don’t doesn’t mean anything. She got it from that pet shop last summer before they went for France and Ireland at the Diagon Alley and she was with her. Anyway, Oliver was obviously whispering to her a plan.

“OK, Joyce, I will follow Crabbe and will grab the Veritaserum before he does, I’ll stun him like Lockhart taught us… hold on, he didn’t… anyway, I’ll conjure some ropes and tie him up. Then, I’ll be interrogating him. I’ll also try to cause a distraction along the way so that the other dude will follow him and you’ll set Celeni free. Do you know your countercurses?

“Of course I do. Go now, Crabbe just took that path.” She wanted to say more but instead, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek. He turned red and was speechlessly numb for awhile.

“Good Luck,” they both said at the same time.

After about a minute, Joyce heard a faint rattle of bottles, which gives her the signal when she heard the other man, Goyle say “Sheesh Crabbe! Can’t you do anything without me??? I’m coming!”

When Joyce heard the footsteps disappear, she saw Celeni, under the bad influnce of the Imperius curse. They controlled her and all that and obviously made her do acrobatics which explains the bruises on her arms and legs. Joyce was facing a problem. There was NO countercurses for this damn Imperius curse. But she was at an advantage. Slowly, Celeni was gaining consciousness as the one cursing her disappeared.

“Celeni! Are you OK?”

“Oh Joyce. Thank you for saving me.”

“Shhh… not too loud. Let’s go outside. We need to escape now.”

Oliver came rushing through the cave’s mouth.

“Those two were dummies! I placed a drop of Veritaserum and they told me everything about their plan to gain the secret knowledge on Celeni’s owl, how they were under the influence of Lucius Malfoy. They couldn’t tell me anything more, as dumb as they are to their children, I heard they’re also Slytherins. So I got another potion from the cabinet that made them sleep. Gee…”

“Oliver that’s brilliant. Oh no… how are we going to go back in this broom?”

Celeni smiled, seeing how much change occurred and her friend was now accepting (or is it more than) the Gryffindor Keeper.

“Hm… I can conjure cushioned seats for the three of us, so the broom could all support us. And I apparently learned a spell that could retrace the point of origin of the broom where it was last motionless.” Celeni said, with a matching ouch in the end when she realized that she was heavily bruised.

“Alright Cel, you’re a genius.” Oliver said.

Celeni exclaimed some incantations. Eventually, no apparent change in the appearance of the broom happened but when the three of them sat on it, it was like riding a Porsche 5x in the air. And soon, the broom was moving with a mind of its own.

“Brilliant Celeni! Can you do this on the Quidditch field?” Joyce said.

“Of course not, the field has enchantments so you couldn’t use spells that will control your broom to fly.”

Eventually, they landed on Hogwarts’ Quidditch field, unaware of the trouble awaiting them.