The Mystimorph Chronicles

Lucius pored over the many papers on his mahogany desk, trying hard to concentrate, but failing. He had been under a lot of stress lately because the Wizarding World was at a crucial point in the Second War, and the Death Eaters were feeling the brunt of this. They were devising a plan on the offensive, but every day that the mystimorphs weren't found, Voldemort grew more terrifying. The longer it took them to find the two mystimorphs, the higher the chance that the Light Side would beat them to it. Voldemort knew quite well the prophecy, despite the attempts of the Ministry to hide it from him, and it was obvious that the war would never come to an end unless the mystimorphs were found and the prophecy fulfilled. He was bent on finding them before Dumbledore and those other fools did, and he made sure his Death Eaters knew this and paid for it when they returned with no results.

The click of heels in his hallway caught Lucius's attention, and he smoothly muttered a spell to clear the papers off of his desk. Lucius stood up and moved forward to meet whomever his visitor was, one hand loosely placed on his wand just in case. When the door swung open to reveal its opener, Lucius smirked and removed his hand from the wand, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Miss Parkinson," Lucius drawled. "To what do I owe the pleasure, especially at so late an hour?" He was irritated that the girl had interrupted him, but she was nevertheless easier to handle than the papers of mostly useless mystimorph information that the Death Eaters had compiled.

"Well, sir..." Pansy shifted her weight between her feet, uneasy in Lucius's presence. She took pride in the fact that she was mostly always composed, but in the company of such a commanding and daunting figure as Lucius Malfoy, she couldn't help but grow uncomfortable. Trying to calm herself, Pansy swallowed and started over, this time more sure of herself. "Sir, I think I have some information about the Light Side. I come to you because I know you are powerful and high in the Death Eater ranks."

"Yes?" Lucius asked, raising his eyebrow quizzically. He was almost sure that anything Miss Parkinson had to say was pointless, but he might as well hear it out, considering she attended Dumbledore's school. The ego stroking part was nice, too.

"Well, I was looking out my window earlier tonight because I couldn't sleep. I was just sort of staring, but then something caught my eyes, and it was a phoenix! There was a phoenix flying low into the Forbidden Forest! So I thought that Dumbledore might be trying to get the phoenixes on his side in the War!"

Suddenly Lucius raised his right arm and slammed the back of his hand against Pansy's cheek. Pansy's head flew to her left with the force of the blow, but then she turned around to face Lucius again with wide, blue eyes that held a mix of defiance and surrender.

"Foolish girl! What you saw was most likely Dumbledore's ridiculous pet, Fawkes. Don't waste my time." His lips formed a sick smile, satisfied by the pain he'd so obviously just caused the girl. A red mark was burning on her cheek, and her hand was gently placed on it as if to confirm its existence and relieve the pain.

"I-" Pansy began, trying to figure out how to say what else she'd seen without sounding like she was talking back to Lucius. She decided to just come out and say it directly. "I saw Ginny Weasley transform into a phoenix! She was the phoenix I saw!"

When Lucius had heard Pansy begin to speak in lieu of leaving in shame like he'd expected, he had raised his arm to strike once more, but paused it in the air when she'd finished her sentence. "What?" he said, narrowing his eyes accusedly.

"I kept a look out to see if I could find out anything more, and a few minutes later Ginny Weasley walked out of the Forbidden Forest, and the next second she was a phoenix flying up into her room! She was wearing some sort of large jewel around her neck, too. I think Dumbledore might be using some secret, ancient magic that can turn people into phoenixes!" Pansy blathered, voicing her wild theory.

Lucius smiled slightly with this news, ecstasy filling his entire body to the point where couldn't keep a smile completely hidden. Mistaking the small smile as another slap soon to be, Pansy covered her face with her hands in self defense. Lucius laughed cruelly, amused by the girl's actions. "Be gone with you, Miss Parkinson. Your information is very valuable, and I will make sure that you are highly rewarded for it."

Pansy removed her arms from her face, a smile shining under them. "Thank you, sir! You're too gracious!" Goodness, she hated speaking in such a way to people, but it was the only way to ensure that she ended up a highly ranked Death Eater when she grew older.

"Quite so. Now BE GONE."

Pansy hurried out of the room, running to the living room and its fireplace, flooing herself back to the Slytherin common room. It was very handy that the Slytherin fireplace was in the Floo network, and of course it had been of Lucius's doing. He had his ways when it came to all sorts of things, and he used his connections to make sure that he could easily travel to the Slytherin common room secretly. Dumbledore himself didn't even know about this connection, or if he did, he just turned a blind eye to it.

Back in his study, Lucius was extremely joyous. Everything Miss Parkinson had said fit the pieces--Ginny was the correct age, she had the transformation jewelry, and she had turned into a mystical creature. He was sure that this meant she was one of the mystimorphs, and she could lead him to the other. Miss Parkinson obviously had no idea of the discovery she had made, as the Death Eaters had chosen not to tell their offspring of the mystimorphs in case that fool Dumbledore were to use a Veritaserum on the students.

Having this information would surely mean that Lucius would be moved up to the highest Death Eater ranks, even higher than that cursed Pettigrew. Finding the mystimorphs would guarantee the win in the Second War, as had been prophesized, and capturing the mystimorphs would be quite easy; Ginny Weasley, as he remembered from five years ago, was quite the pushover.

Lucius sat back down at his desk, trying to decide what to do. Should he go straight to Voldemort and tell him of the knowledge that he possessed? No, then Voldemort might send another to capture the Weasley girl, therefore less credit would be given to himself. Though, if Lucius went and took the girl on his own, things could more easily go wrong, and Voldemort might grow angry that Lucius didn't reveal the information as soon as he'd found it out. Just telling him could set Voldemort off as well, however, if he thought that Lucius should have acted firstly so that the Light Side couldn't beat them to it.

Finally, Lucius decided on the latter. Even if Voldemort were displeased with Lucius's choice of action, then he would still have the mystimorph in his clutches, so he would surely have to forget about anything Lucius had done beforehand.

Now, how should he go about doing this? He couldn't very well just walk into Hogwarts and take the Weasley, but did he have a choice? It had to get done immediately, and this didn't exactly give him a while to come up with an ingenious, foolproof plan, no matter how brilliant he was. Choosing to go ahead with a short, simple plan, Lucius grabbed his wand and apparated out of the study.

The next second, Lucius was standing in a dimly lit room, full of numerous old books, a ratty couch with stuffing coming out of the sides, and a desk, at which sat a short, balding man in a dark cloak. The man turned around in his chair at the resounding crack that Lucius's coming had created and asked, "Malfoy, why have you come at this hour?"

Lucius held back a sneer at the man before him. He didn't like Thomas Fisk at all, but he feigned companionship with the fellow Death Eater due to his employment on the Floo Regulation Panel. "I have a favor to ask you, Fisk."

"Oh?" Fisk questioned, placing the quill that he held in his hand onto his lips. "And that would be?"

"I need you to connect the Gryffindor common room's fireplace to the Floo network, just for tonight."

"Really? Do you now? And what would your reason for this be?"

Lucius glared, annoyed by all of the questions that were characteristic of Fisk. It was obvious that neither trusted the other, but this was common amongst Death Eater "friendships." "I don't really think my motives are of any interest to you, Fisk."

"It's not as if I owe you any more favors, Malfoy. The fact that I privately keep the Slytherin fireplace connected to the Floo network is enough."

Smirking, Lucius replied, "It's not about what one of us owes the other; it's about the fact that you should simply comply with my demands because of my rank with the Dark Lord."

"You had better not be wanting this so you can go kill Potter in his sleep. That would be absolutely ludicrous, even for you, besides the fact that it's been thought of before and there are many reasons why it wouldn't work."

"Of course that's not what I plan to do, Fisk! Do you take me for a fool?! No, I have other plans, and it doesn't involve murdering anyone. Now..." Lucius pulled out his wand, pointing it at Fisk. "Do as I say and CONNECT THE FIREPLACE TO THE NETWORK." Lucius's eyes were full of fire, angry that the man was putting up such a fight and accusing Lucius of such ridiculous motives.

Fisk smirked at Lucius, undaunted by the wand pointed at his chest. "As you wish, Malfoy, but keep me out of it; if you go down, I don't want to be pulled down with you."

Lucius pocketed his wand, smiling cruelly. "Of course," he answered, knowing that Fisk would regret his request once he found out what Lucius was up to.

"Give me a minute," Fisk told him, quickly apparating out of the room with a crack, then reappearing in the room a minute later. "It's done. Whatever business you have going to the Gryffindor common room, I suggest that you get it done immediately, because I'll disconnect the fireplace again in one hour."

"Good," Lucius said, then disappeared from the room.

Back at Malfoy Manor, Lucius went straight to his bedroom and to the place where he kept his invisibility cloak stored. He had acquired two of these precious items at one point, but his pathetic wife threatened him if he didn't give one to their son as a *birthday* present. Reaching into his immense closet, his fingers felt the cool folds of the invisibility cloak beneath them, and Lucius pulled his arm back triumphantly.

After pulling the entirety of the cloak over his head, Lucius then headed straight towards one of the many fireplaces in the mansion, this one conveniently located inside his bedroom. He grabbed a fistful of Floo powder, pocketed it to use for getting back to the manor, then grabbed another fistful. Tossing the glittery contents of his hand into the fire, Lucius watched as the now glowing green fire reflected in his silvery grey eyes, and he gracefully stepped into the flames and ordered, "Gryffindor common room!"

A minute later, Lucius found himself located inside the disgustingly decorated Gryffindor common room, which was empty except for a few loose papers lying around on various tables and chairs. He was glad that it was the beginning of the year, for if students had been hanging around the common room doing homework, it would have made things much more difficult for himself.

Turning his head to the dorm room doors, Lucius concluded that the stairs led to the girls' dorms, just as they always had in the Slytherin common room that he had occupied so many years before. Smirking to himself, he whispered the incantation for a simple hover charm and was lifted a few feet in the air, just as it had always happened back in his school days. Using his wand to guide him, Lucius found his way to the top of the stairs and searched the signs on the doors for one that read "Sixth Years."

Once he'd found the object of his search, he quietly turned the doorknob and pushed the door open halfway so that he could slip his body through the crack. Now he would have to check all of the beds to find the Weasley girl's--how annoying. Floating himself over to each individual bed, he cracked open the hangings to pore over the sleeping girls inside. No, this one was a blonde, and this one seemed to be brown-haired and tan. At the third bed and final bed, Lucius couldn't help but sneer at the red-headed girl sprawled out across the mattress; her pajamas were obvious hand-me-downs, with patches and rips apparent on the green cloth.

The condescending sneer transformed into a malicious grin as he pointed his wand at Weasley's chest, whispering, "Stupefy." Except for the flash from the wand, nothing appeared to have happened to Ginny, but Lucius knew that this was because all he had done was ensure that she stayed unconscious while he took her to Malfoy Manor. Next, he muttered, "Mobilicorpus," and before him Ginny's body raised high into the air. As she rose, his eyes caught the glittering of a red jewel on her chest, and he immediately moved a hand under the cloth of the invisibility cloak so that he could rip the precious transformation amulet off her neck and place it inside a pocket in his robes.

Lucius then guided the red-haired girl so that she was hovering inches in front of him. He grabbed the edge of his cloak in one hand and threw it over the sleeping girl, on the off chance that someone would wake up and notice that the Weasley was floating around in midair. Again Lucius used his wand to guide himself and his prize out of the room, closing the door behind them and flying back down the staircase.

Once at the bottom of the steps, Lucius whispered the reverse spell to the hover charm and felt his body lower back down to the ground. At the feel of the floor beneath his feet, Lucius walked back over to the fireplace and grabbed the Floo powder in his pocket, moving his arm around the cloak to cast the powder into the fire. When the flames had turned an emerald green, he moved himself, along with the Weasley girl, into the fire and spoke clearly, "Malfoy Manor."