Inflecto

Unknown Location, 21 July, 1990

Crack!

He Apparated easily into her home, far easier than expected, for he was sure she would have some wards placed to keep intruders out, and found himself standing right behind her. Pleased with his handiwork, Lucius smiled as the woman--his target--poured the contents from one smoking test tube into another, calm as you please. He opened his mouth to speak, but then realized the spectacle of a room around him, and no sound came out.

This woman had converted her cellar into a laboratory of which the likes he had never seen! Shelves holding all sorts of paraphernalia--flasks, Potions ingredients, scales, and more lined three of the walls, while the fourth was entirely obscured by a massive bookcase holding hundreds of books. Both Muggle and Magical Periodic Tables were crammed into whatever space was left on the walls, and in the center of it all stood the main laboratory, a mass of tubes, chemicals, Magical microscopes, and other equipment surrounded an enormous silver cauldron. A purple solution inside the cauldron simmered dutifully, once in a while sending a small shower of sparks into the air.

But there were a few things that seemed not to belong; a plush Hippogriff sat between a jar of bezoars and a sieve, a few magazines were in a stack near the door, and a box of chocolate chip cookies sat unopened on the bookshelf, .

"Lucius," the woman greeted lightly without turning around, and Lucius almost jumped, having been completely distracted by her laboratory. Cursing to himself, he recalled why he came for this visit in the first place and turned his attention to his target. She was still standing calmly in her long, sky-blue lab coat, examining the green liquid in the vial she held aloft. She wasn't easily startled; Lucius remembered that much from his school days. She had always been odd...

"So you've been expecting me?" Lucius asked, sneering, and removed the hood that obscured his face. Ah, he could see now; she had allowed him entry. He had to admit, she had some nerve--not many would be willing to go one-on-one with Lucius Malfoy...

"Of course," the woman answered, with the tiniest hint of a laugh in her voice. "And even if I had not, I could smell that atrocious product you've always had in your hair. You're not a true blonde, Lucius." The woman placed the test tube onto a rack and faced the visitor unblinkingly, folding her arms across her chest.

"Then you already know your fate," replied Lucius with a sickening smile, ignoring that last remark. His hair was not of her concern, and he was not here to quibble.

He was here to kill.

"Perhaps," the woman said, smirking now, "but I won't go quietly." She withdrew her wand from its place behind an ear, brushing back the long blonde locks, and pointed it directly at his heart. "And you will never find them, either. They will not be used for your purposes."

"Foolish woman," he replied in a hoarse whisper, gripping his wand at the ready. "Death shall be your savior."

His cold gray eyes locked onto icy blue. They were disturbingly familiar.

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Protego Potentium!"

The green jet of light fired from Lucius' wand met the golden barrier the woman had conjured to protect herself and splintered into smaller beams that instantly annihilated anything they came into contact with. Chunks of glass from various instruments along the walls, among chunks of rock and dust from the room itself, were blasted everywhere.

"What?" Lucius' eyes scanned the smoky room to and fro. He hadn't been expecting such a powerful Shield Charm--Gods, he'd never even heard of such a spell. Not one that could block Avada Kedavra. He had underestimated her, but his mission would still be completed no matter what the odds.

"Expelliarmus!" Before Lucius had even uttered his next spell, the woman had already disarmed him, causing his wand to fly out of his hand and his body to be thrown hard against the wall. He crashed into several shelves of supplies. A shower of broken glass fell atop Lucius' head, as well as a dark, red liquid from a broken container that poured down and burned him instantly. He howled in pain, clutching at his arm; the liquid had burned a hole right through his sleeve, sporting the new wound.

"Leave here now and I will have no grudge against you, Lucius!" the woman called, giving him a way out, but as expected, Lucius was less than willing to comply. He threw a chunk of glass at her head and glanced about for his wand--Where the hell was it?

The woman dodged the glass easily with a flick of her wand and immediately advanced on him. Lucius dived quickly to avoid a large ring of magenta light headed his way, grinding bits and pieces of glass into his hands and face as he landed and heard the resounding explosion behind him as the woman's spell collided with the wall. "Damnit," he cursed, struggling to his feet. If only he could get to his wand!

The woman raised her wand again--

"Mummy?" Despite herself the woman turned to the sound. A young girl's voice was calling from somewhere in the stairwell that lead down to the room, and small feet hurriedly clattered down the wooden stairs, picking up more speed. "What's all that noise?"

The woman was distracted, if only for a moment, but in this time Lucius had located his wand, only a few feet away in a pile of rubble. Curiously eyeing the main laboratory in the center of the room, he couldn't help but be surprised how it had somehow remained unharmed thus far; all of the instruments, Potions, and chemicals were intact...

"Luna!" Losing all regard for the fight at hand, the woman rushed to block the door, and Lucius went for his wand.

Only one succeeded.

The door burst open, presenting a little girl in a rainbow ballet costume, and the second or so was all Lucius needed. Two for the price of one. No survivors, no successors, and he would be a couple notches closer to his goal.

"Incendio!" he shouted, his normally cold voice filled with maniac glee, sending a wave of fire right into the central lab.

"Protego Potentium!"

"Mummy?"

Crack!

The lab exploded in a mass of flames, and the boy named Draco Malfoy awoke with a start.