Disclaimer: All belong to J.K. Rowling

Rating: T

Theme: Friendship

Written for:

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry: Muggle History: Terrible Muggles in History

Task 2 - Write about someone infecting their cooking with something dangerous or poisonous

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry: The 365 Prompts Challenge

Genre - Friendship

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry: March Event: Creative Collection - Spooky Dialogue Level

"I have a plan." / "No murder." / "I do not have a plan."

Pairing: Lucius Malfoy & Severus Snape

Word count: 2189

What is A Friend for?

The wind picked up its speed rather quickly in the past two hours. On the telly, the weather channel was reporting multiple strange phenomenons that came along with a storm. Something had effected the weather and created such a strong wind that would likely to become a hurricane if they did not treat the matter right.

Severus Snape leaned against his door's frame and watched his small telly played the warning of the coming storm. He took another sip from the glass. The red liquid slowly left the glass, passed his lips, and finally went down his throat. The sweet but bitter flavor from one of his wines was making his body shivering. So cold! Anything he ate or drank was like a piece of ice pushed down his throat. Nagini left behind not only a big scar on one side of his neck but also something else that made his normal digest system changed. It was an unknown condition that the Healers from St. Mungo could not able to detect. But after two years dealing with such change in his body, the icy sensation was much more bearable.

From the corner of his eyes, Snape noticed a green color brightened up from his fireplace. Soon a figure stepped out and dusted away the remain powder on the robe. Lucius Malfoy. Snape watched the man rearranged his clothes, fixed his hair, and finally noticed his friend, who was still leaned against the door's frame.

"Ah! My friend, Severus!" Lucius smiled but the coldness remained on his face. It was almost like the smile he gave to everyone, his social smile.

"What are you doing here, Lucius?" Snape did not move as he kept his gaze on his friend. "You never come to this hellhole before, why now?"

Snape could see the little twitching on Lucius's face and almost laughed out loud. Lucius hated when people questioned his action or assumed of what he would and would not do.

"Visiting you is not an enough reason?" Lucius sneered. He was very annoying now.

"No," Snape shook his head and walked to where he left his bottle of wine because he wanted another glass. "If you really want to visit me, you could have came to my shop or worst you can just owl me and ask me to come to your manor. So if you decide to come to my house, then you clearly have something that can't discuss in public place or even in your house."

Lucius laughed out loud as he heard his friend's analyzing the situation. Snape was right when he said he came here because he had something important to discuss. He walked over to one of the armchairs and took his seat. Setting his cane aside, Lucius leaned back comfortably and moved his attention back to Snape.

"Fine, you win," Lucius chuckled. "It has nothing to do with me, but my house currently is under the Aurors' watch. We could not even go to the bathroom in a peaceful manner."

"They guard your bathroom?" Snape almost choked on his wine.

"Unfortunately, yes," Lucius sighed annoyingly. Two years. Yes, it had been two years and the Ministry still put his family in the dangerous list. Both his wife and son could not deal with such humiliation so they moved to one of their family's houses in France. They would not be back until the Ministry withdrew their order. He wished he could move with them. Unfortunately, he was the Death-eater. There would be no way the Ministry allowed him to leave England.

"It seems that the Ministry does not drop our cases that easily," Snape sighed, putting his glass on the table. "So tell me, Lucius, why are you here?"

"I found a way to heal your condition, but…" Lucius paused, trying to phrase his words more careful. It was something he believed Snape would not happy to know. "Its requirement may not favor your interest."

"Does it stand anywhere between drinking blood and eating human flesh?" Snape irritatedly asked.

"Well, congratulation, Severus, you got one answer right," Lucius rolled his eyes and replied sarcasmly.

"Great! Please tell me at least it's the blood part," Snape pinched the bridge of his nose and wanted nothing more than to pour another bottle of wine into his throat.

"Sorry, it's the human flesh one," Lucius shrugged but smirked evilly at Snape. "But don't worry. I have a plan."

"No murder," Snape crossed his arms and shook his head. Whatever plan that Lucius had would definitely involved in killing someone and he would not let it happened. His condition was his problem, even if he needed to live with its effect for the rest of his life.

"I don't have a plan," Lucius sighed but it did not sound very convincible.

"You said I got one answer right, what is the other one?" Snape reminded Lucius. The man did sound like he had a second plan.

"Fortunately for you, Severus, I found another solution for you," Lucius smirked to see Snape's eyes opened widely. "Here is the second one."

Snape took the parchments from Lucius's hand and read them carefully. Based on the information Lucius provided, Nagini was originally risen to use in a potion called, "Crudelis" [1], using the special pearl inside its heart. However, the item was not an easy to collect when the animal's venom had no antidote. Normally, the animal's venom was enough to kill its victims and the toxic in the pearl would not need to release. Unfortunately for Snape, during the attack of Nagini, something triggered the poison in the pearl and let it ran along with the venom. According to the research, the poison from the pearl had a similar effect as Crudelis such as reducing the victim's feeling, emotions, and eventually turned everything into a cold sensation, including eating and drinking. In the end the victim would either kill themselves from starvation or insanity due to their thrust after human flesh.

Though, there was a second solution, not many people was able to do. To cure a Crudelis, they needed a Fraglantia [2]. Yet, the main ingredient in this potion was a poisonous flower that took fifty years to grow, fifty years to bloom, and only last for an hour.

"Eritque Arcus Flos [3]," Snape heard about the flower before. It was not a rare flower but a legendary one, almost like a myth. Many people had searched for their entire life and the only person ever came across it was a Heberlogy witch, who never disclosed its location. His eyes wandered back to Lucius who now took his wine and enjoyed it.

"It's not a common ingredient, Lucius," Snape shook his head. For a moment, he thought that his life could be back to normal. Now, it seemed that his only solution was to eat someone. Bloody hell!

"I know," Lucius did not sounded like he cared, but when his eyes met Snape's, the man smiled warmly. "The flower is in my possession. You don't need to worry about it." He ended his sentence as he put a small box on the coffee table. Snape did not need to ask because he knew exactly what it was.

Snape was surprise, for the second time in one day. "How?"

"This is what friend is for, Severus" Lucius patted Snape's shoulder as he walked back to the fireplace. "I will come back in three days to see the result. Let me know if you need anything else."

"Thank you," Snape spoke quickly as he saw his friend turned around and smiled, before he disappeared inside his fireplace.

After Lucius flooed back to his manor, Snape took the parchment and the box, quickly heading down to his lab. It was time to brew.

oOo

Three days later, Lucius found himself standing across the potion's table, watching Snape poured the liquid he collected from the flower into the bubbling cauldron. The moment the liquid touched the potion's surface, the color turned from purple to crimson and soon it maintained its vermilion color.

After Snape bottle the potion, they now sat nervously in the living room with the vial laid innocently on coffee table.

"Lucius…" Snape's voice trailed off as if he could not find the right words to say. "If anything happens, please just let me die."

Lucius looked intensely at Snape for a few minutes then nodded. He knew Snape did not want to survive the war, yet here he was. He also understood the dangerous of Fraglantia. It was a lost recipe to cure a myth illness. The last case of Crudelis was 400 years ago and even then, it was quoted as a mistreated illness. The possibility of Snape died during the effect of the potion was more likely to happen than to see Voldemort came back to life. Unfortunately, this was their only option and Snape clearly stated he would not eat any human flesh.

The men exchanged one last look before Snape opened the vial and drank the content. The vermilion liquid slowly ran down his throat. He closed his eyes and awaited for it to take its action. Burning was all he could remember when the potion spread insider his body. His nervous systems, his blood streams, his organs, even his skin were on fire. He could feel his body was melting under the extreme burning. His breathing was getting more difficult as the time went by. His vision was unfocus and soon he could not see anything else than the blurry image of some sorts.

Lucius was watching Snape from across the room. He saw his friend's body slowly shaking, then it quickly got more intense. Sweat came down on his face and the veins became more visible as the minute passed by. He wanted to cast a diagnostic spell to see what was happening, but he could only tighten his grip on the wand. He feared his magic would somehow interfered with the potion's process. Although, it looked more like he was dying with a very painfully death than healing from an illness. A small amount of blood slowly dripped from the corner of his lip, then there was more blood coming out from his mouth. He was vomiting violently. His body kept shaking through the entire process and fell on the floor.

Lucius rushed to Snape's side and tried to hold him off, but when his hands touched Snape's skin, he withdrew immediately. His whole body was literally on fire. Lucius found himself helplessly sat next to his friend, whose condition kept getting worse over time. For a moment, he wished he never gave the recipe to Snape. Yet, the image of an insanity Snape was any better than this.

Half an hour. One hour. One and half hours. Two hours.

Snape's condition did not subside, though, he had stopped vomiting blood. Then, suddenly everything went still. His body moved no more. Lucius crawled closer and slowly touched Snape's hand. The burning feeling disappeared but his body did not seem to be alive. He moved up and put his two fingers on Snape's neck, checking for a pulse. He held his breath and almost choked on his own saliva as he found nothing. No. It can be happening. Lucius quickly cast a spell on Snape to see if he was wrong, but the result was just another blow to his reality. Snape's heart stopped beating. His brain's activity was no longer visible. All of his organs destroyed badly. Lucius had failed. Again.. Like every other time he witnessed the Dark Lord tortured his friend and could not do a thing. He thought he could bring back a normal life for him but now his friend was laying there, motionless.

Lucius sat down next his friend's body like a dead man himself. A moment ago, they were still talking, but now, he was nothing more than a memory. His arms wrapped around his legs, drawing them in and holding himself from crying. Yet, the tears ran down without his permission. Yes, the high and mighty Lucius Malfoy was crying for a friend he thought he was lucky to have in this life. Now, he was the only one left behind.

The sky outside of the house was getting darker by days. The upcoming storm was still out of their horizon but somehow, it might pick up its speed. Rain was starting to fall. The whole country was preparing.

"It had never crossed my mind that I would witness Lucius Malfoy crying over my dead body one day."

A thunder streaked across the sky as the wind's speed increased. The rain's water slashed violently to windows' glass. They could feel the small house was shaking under the terrible weather. Even though, how crazy the weather was outside, inside that small house, two friends were laughing like two idiots over something they thought would never happen. Sometime, the most poisonous plant could cure a deadly illness as well as in the most desperate situation people could find a way out. And sometime, all people needed was a friend.

[1] Heartless (Google Translate)

[2] Passionate Love (Google Translate)

[3] Rainbow Flower (Google Translate)

A/N: This is the first chapter in a series of 15 chapters with Lucius Malfoy as the main character. I will try to update the story regularly as the due date is the end of this month. I hope I can finish this project in time. Enjoy and have fun. Love!