The Perfect Plan

The official "Plan" had started as a simple scheme during Fiona's second year. During one late night talk session; she had let it slip about her obsession with Malfoy. The other girls were stunned at first, as they had not expected this from their quiet friend. Giggling, they set up a complex schedule in order to get maximum exposure to the blonde Slytherin. The four girls knew his schedule back and forth and began to show up in the hallways between classes. The group also signed on to assist with patrolling for spies from other houses at the Quidditch pitch during the Slytherin practices.

After a few weeks, Dara declared that showing up between classes was getting old and declined to continue the routine. Jillian and Grace agreed as they had set their sights on two older boys, claiming that the second and third year ones were too immature. Fiona was left on her own and continued the complex routine with one exception - she merely watched Draco rather than putting herself in his path continuously.

All of the planning and scheming did not make witty conversation roll from Fiona's tongue whenever he was around. Dara would drag her over to where her brother sat with Malfoy and his friends and while she talked with them all, Fiona was lucky to get a coherent statement out of her mouth.

Periodically over the years, Dara would jump back into the Plan for a short time, only to be bored easily when nothing came of it. So Fiona resorted to developing her own. By the end of her fifth year, it was complete. Now she needed her friends more than ever, to help her put the Plan in action.

The cauldron sat in the corner of the room in between Fiona and Dara's beds. There was a blue fire flaming underneath and the contents bubbled violently, threatening to go over the top. Dara, being the best of their group at Charms, had put a Fireproof charm on the floor and Concealment charms on the area. To anyone who happened to wander through their room, it looked like Dara had simply flung half of her wardrobe over her desk.

Fiona sat on the floor with her legs crossed under her. She stirred the bubbling liquid five times clockwise before consulting the parchment on the floor next to her. Boil for seven minutes. Add one teaspoonful of crushed Bishop's weed seeds. She set a timing charm and got out the small envelope of seeds. She poured the contents into her mortar and quickly crushed them to a fine powder.

Her face had a look of peaceful concentration. Whether it was from natural talent or all of the years she spent growing up at her father's side, one thing was certain - Fiona had the makings to be a Potions Master. Her ability at this age outperformed her father's and even rivaled Professor Snape's ability (something that he would never admit, even about a member of his own House). Marcus Austin owned a small apothecary in Dewsbury just south of Leeds and was the premier Potions Master in the area. A Ravenclaw when he was at Hogwarts, Fiona's father had the intelligence but lacked any driving ambition. He was perfectly content with his small shop, servicing the needs of the nearby wizarding community. He allowed the IOUs to stack up and was even known to come home with chickens and other items that had been bartered for his wares.

Fiona had spent the past five summers as his apprentice and had wasted a lot of time on her father's disorganized accounting system. At least she had been there that day that Mr. Seawell had attempted to give her father a goat in exchange for over 300 galleons worth of potion ingredients. She stopped that trade faster than one could say Expelliarmus. Like her family needed a goat.

Her strong marks in Potions helped to balance the mediocre ones she received in her other classes, outside of Herbology. At least with Herbology, Fiona could relate the information to her potion making which made it easier for her to remember the information. Her father was disappointed that her marks were not higher overall, but was very proud of her accomplishments in Potions. Her mother was simply waiting for her to bring home potential marriage material. Each letter from home revolved around the same theme - her father would ask about her classes and her mother would ask about her social life.

Following the instructions, Fiona stirred carefully and added the ginseng. She whispered quietly and extinguished the blue flames as Grace entered the room wrapped in a lavender silk robe, a towel draped over her arm.

"Oh, are you done?" she asked with a hushed voice as she walked over to the corner where Fiona sat.

"No, not yet. It needs to cool and then I have to add the last ingredient. Then it steeps overnight." Fiona looked behind Grace at the door of the room. "Just waiting on Jillian and Dara. I hope they didn't run into any trouble. If we don't add that ingredient tonight, then the whole potion will be ruined."

"Not to worry. They'll be back any moment. And you will be one step closer to belonging to the Prince of Slytherin."

"Pardon me. You have that backwards. He will belong to me." The two girls grinned at each other.

It was after midnight and the dungeons were as quiet as a tomb. The shadows in the corridor lengthened as Jillian whispered softly and half of the lights went out. She turned and gestured to Dara who was around the corner. The two girls were on a mission. Only one ingredient was missing from the lengthy list Fiona had shown them at the beginning of the term. Unfortunately, it was one that was not standard for student use and closely regulated in most shops. Fiona had spent the summer gathering the ingredients and needed this last one before brewing the potion. Her father hadn't missed the small amounts of the other ingredients that she had borrowed, but this was one that he definitely would have missed.

As the girls crept along the wall, they suddenly heard footsteps headed in their direction. They quickly stepped back into a small alcove and tried to make themselves invisible.

As the footsteps grew closer, they peered out to see who approached. Seeing whom it was, Dara glanced at Jillian and smiled. As soon as the person had passed their location, Dara stepped out and grabbed him, clamping her hand over his mouth before he could scream.

"Shh, you don't want Filch to hear, do you?"

The boy nodded slowly, his eyes widening as he turned to face his attacker. "Dara, what in bloody hell do you think you are doing?"

"I could ask you the same, my dear brother."

Blaise Zabini glared at his sister. The tall dark-haired teen stood over her by a head, but the look in their eyes was identical. Dara was not one to be intimidated by her brother.

"I was..."

"Drop it, Blaise. Jill and I can see what you've been doing. By the way, that's a lovely shade of lipstick."

Blaise swore under his breath as he rubbed violently at his mouth. Dara and Jillian looked at each other and an understanding passed between them.

"We are out on a quest and since you ran into us, we now have all the help we need to accomplish our goal." Dara smiled innocently at Blaise as he processed her statement.

"I'm not helping, Dar. I've got to set back to the dorm. I'm not getting involved in any of your schemes."

"Oh, you will help us, my beloved sibling. Unless you want your girlfriend to know where you've been. Since she was in our room studying when we left the dorm, she may be interested in knowing why you've suddenly developed an urge to wear red lipstick." Blaise had been dating Grace for the past year.

Blaise's eyes narrowed. "Fine. What are we doing?"

"Just need a little ingredient for a Potion. You can run on into the Potions storeroom and pick it up for us. We'll stand guard."

The three students started down the hall and crept slowly toward the Potions classroom. Arriving outside, Dara quickly disarmed the wards surrounding the door. Professor Snape had warded it well, but not against the upper year Slytherins who were familiar with most of the basic warding spells that he used. After all, he would never expect his own House to need to break in. Most of them had their own outside sources for ingredients.

"No sign of Snape. Go on, Blaise. We will cover you. Just get three ounces of Damiana tonic." He felt a small bottle press into his hand. Slipping it into a pocket in his robe, Blaise held his wand loosely in his hand, opened the door and slowly entered.

Dara felt Jillian as she moved up next to her. "So, who do you think he was with?"

"Well, I bet it was that Ravenclaw, Lisa somebody. She's been flirting with him for years now. And I've heard other rumors about her as well. "

"What do we tell Grace?"

"We don't tell her anything. We will just need to make certain that she finds out somehow. No one is going to cheat on one of my best friends - not even my brother. Now, go check the end of the corridor and make sure no one is coming."

Jillian stepped quietly to the end of the corridor, using the shadows to hide her movements. Dara leaned into the classroom, her eyes searching out her older brother. She found him by Snape's desk, filing through the papers.

"What do you think you are doing?" She had moved silently across the room until she stood behind him. Blaise was so engrossed in the papers; he hadn't noticed her approach. As she spoke, he jumped into the air, barely holding in a scream.

"Bloody hell! Why'd you sneak up on me?"

"We don't have time for this, you prat. Did you get the tonic?"

"Yeah, it's right here." He held up the vial, now containing a bright blue liquid. She took the bottle from him, rolling it around in her hand before pocketing it in her robe.

"Then let's get out of here before someone finds us."

The Zabini's left the classroom, meeting up with Jillian outside the doorway. The threesome ran quietly through the hallways to the entrance to the Slytherin common room. Dara whispered the password and the students entered. Jillian took the vial from Dara and went down the stairs toward the girls' dormitory. Dara started to follow when Blaise grabbed her wrist and stopped her.

"You are going to keep this quiet, right?"

"Why my dearest brother, what are you so worried about?"

"You can't tell Grace that I was out."

Dara stared at her brother for a long moment. "Since you helped us, your secret is safe. For now. However, you better watch yourself, Blaise. There are other ways that she can find out." She smiled at her brother. "Night."

"Good night." Blaise scowled as he watched his sister leave the common room before sighing and heading to bed himself.

Jillian entered the dorm and sat down on the floor where Fiona sat measuring the temperature of the cauldron's contents. She sniffed the air, wrinkling her nose at the foul odor.

"That is awful, Fiona."

"It will smell better after I add the tonic. You did get it, right?"

Jillian passed the bottle to Fiona. "How much longer until it is ready?"

"It will be ready in the morning." Fiona rechecked the temperature and reviewed the last directions.

"Pario Nodus A Venenum!" Fiona chanted as she stirred the potion. Her roommates stood around her and watched as the potion changed to a pale pink liquid.

"Is that it?" Dara asked.

"It is finished. Now we just wait until the morning. We did it." Fiona placed the cauldron on her desk and stepped aside to allow Dara to recast the concealment charm.

Fiona smiled at her friends as they prepared for bed. This was going to work. She could feel it somehow. The girls climbed into their beds and said good night. One by one, they fell asleep until only Fiona was left.