Draught of Living Death (Not Really)

Draught of Living Death (Not Really)

Severus looked at the cauldron in front of him. The deep purple would have been dreadfully wrong for the Draught of Living Death, but his calculations indicated that it would be appropriate for this new potion. He looked at his notes: one drop for each hour. At some point the effects would be irreversible, but not at the smallest dose. The rat, the frog, the owl and the cat had all acted as predicted. Taking a deep breath, he called to Draco, "Please come here."

Draco nearly ran in. "That's it?" he asked, staring at the cauldron. "How many will it affect and for how long?"

"We will have to determine that," Severus told him. "You remember what to do?"

"About that," Draco said. "If anything goes wrong, doesn't it make more sense for you to be the one able to work on an antidote? I'm good at Potions, but you're a Master."

"It is unethical to test something like this on anyone else, Draco," Severus said with a sigh. He couldn't deny the logic behind Draco's suggestion, but it felt wrong to endanger the youngster any more than necessary.

"How sure are you that it will work as you predicted?" Draco asked.

Severus pulled out his notes and calculations, shaking his head in exasperation. Draco would drag this out for as long as he could; he was terrified of anything happening to either of them. "Here--" he started, but then froze.

Draco was placing a drop on his tongue. Severus longed to scream at him, to shake him, but he was afraid of jostling Draco into taking a larger dose than intended.

The potion took effect almost immediately. One moment, Draco was standing before him refusing to look him in the eye, and the next . . . he was standing completely still, his grey eyes dead and lifeless.

Severus swallowed hard. "Draco?"

Draco didn't say anything but he did look in Severus's general direction. So far, so good.

"Bring me a knife... no, bring me a small spoon from the kitchen." A knife could be too dangerous.

Draco walked out to the kitchen. There was none of his usual grace; he appeared to be falling toward his goal, walking straight into any obstacles in his way and bouncing off them. At least one collision looked to Severus as if it must have hurt, but it didn't affect Draco in the least. Once in the kitchen, Draco grabbed the first spoon he saw. Here again, he was without his usual grace. He grabbed the object and held it in his closed fist. Then, he turned and walked back to Severus. He held the spoon out, but didn't actually give it to Severus; Severus had to take it from Draco's hand.

"Thank you, Draco," Severus said. "Why don't you sit down?"

Draco didn't move.

"Draco, sit down." Draco complied, dropping straight to the floor. Severus winced and checked the clock. Forty-nine minutes left. He sat in his chair, keeping an eye on Draco while he waited for the hour to end.

It was, perhaps, the longest hour of Severus's life. Finally, just over a minute before he expected it, Draco shuddered. The shudders lasted for almost two full minutes; Severus wasn't sure what he should do, so he just waited. Once the shudders stopped, Draco looked up at him with a grin. True, the grin was a shadow of Draco's normal one, but it was a grin, and his eyes were alive again. "That is the most horrible feeling I've ever endured," he said, not quite succeeding at the bright tone he was trying for. "It worked, though. I'd have done whatever you told me, no questions asked." With that he stood, rubbing his cheek where it had collided with the door. "No matter what."

"True," Severus said, giving Draco a stern look intended to inform the brat of the stupidity of his actions. It never worked. "However, there is no judgment, no discernment. You were unable to even avoid obstacles in your path and, instead of bringing me a small spoon, you brought the first one you saw. It can hardly be described as small," he said as he indicated the serving spoon Draco had chosen. "The Imperius Curse is more useful."

"But not everyone can cast it effectively," Draco said, nodding. "And some people can throw it off. This is better. Do you want to try for an antidote?"

"I think it would be sensible," Severus said, standing. "I still think the danger of overdose is too great to make the potion useful, but the Dark Lord will appreciate the gift. I will make certain he knows it was you who had the initial idea and that you helped create it."

"Thank you. Will you give the antidote only to the Order, or will you give it to the Dark Lord as well?"

"It will depend on exactly how - and how well - it works." Severus picked up the formula for the new potion and began to calculate the antidote. He hoped it wouldn't take too long to create the antidote. "I may decide to let him believe there isn't one." In the end, he decided to do so.

The Dark Lord was pleased with Severus's new creation. He seemed uninterested in Draco's contributions, but that surprised no one. He also didn't listen to any of Severus's caveats. He used what he called the Inferi Potion on a group of Order and Ministry wizards; then, he had them attack a Muggle village.

The attack could be called a success. Those who had been given the potion destroyed everything, and everyone, in their path. However, when Walden MacNair was killed ten minutes into the attack because he'd tripped over a branch and was in the path of a Ministry official who had orders only to kill, the Dark Lord asked Severus to administer the antidote.

Eighteen people died that night. Unlike most Death Eater attacks, these deaths had been quick. Unfortunately for the Dark Lord, only four were the Muggles who had been targeted. The rest had been Death Eaters, or sympathisers, who hadn't been given any warnings about their so-called allies.

Finding ways of subverting Death Eater attacks had always been difficult for Severus. Doing so while on the run from the Ministry was even more so. It had taken Draco's misreading of the title of a Muggle horror movie as Night of the Living Death to give him the inspiration to modify the Draught of Living Death to the Draught of Living Dead and throw a rather large spanner into the Dark Lord's plans.

"Severus, it isn't as brilliant as the last one," Draco said, as he left the television during the adverts late one night, "but this movie has Pod People in it. What kind of Pods do you think they are?"