White Heather for Protection

Bloody Catastrophe

The pear let out a burst of guffaws before letting the portrait swing open. As usual, a multitude of elves were scuttling around frantically in their meal preparations. From the fray, one of them broke rank to eagerly greet Heather, George and Fred as they stepped through the portrait hole.

"Mistress Heather! What be Mistress and her twinsies needing? Dobby is being happy to help!" The little elf's eyes were practically shining in excitement at the thought of an order.

Heather and Hadrian rarely enlisted the help of their bonded elf during the school term since students weren't allowed to bring their own help. Technically, Dobby was under the employ of Hogwarts while school was in session. It made Dobby happy to have so much to do even when no one was living in the Nest. However, this prank of theirs required special aid.

"Hello Dobby, how are you doing today?" Heather asked. Umbridge had been especially horrid to the elves as of late. Particularly because they couldn't and wouldn't clear the entire castle of all things feline. Though a part of it was purely because the toad was a bigoted shrew who thought all creatures were to be eradicated or, at least, denigrated to nothing more than slaves.

"Bitchy be shouting at all the elfs, Mistress, but Dobby not be taking it, no Dobby is not!" Dobby said irately. Then, with a sly smile, he added, "Dobby puts all of the kitty pictures in Bitchy's room. Bitchy is very scared of poor little kitties."

The three of them snickered at the Dobby's epithet for the toad as well as his payback. The elf, for his part, merely looked smug at getting back at Umbridge. Yes, Dobby would be perfect for this job.

"Yeah, that's kind of why we're here, Dobby. How would you feel about helping us prank Umbridge?" Heather asked, winking at the elf when he giggled evilly at the suggestion.

"We need you to help us put this," Fred said as George waved one of several large phials of orange liquid, "in the pudding for tonight's dinner."

There was a high-pitched squeak at that before another elf ran forwards. "Elfs not be allowed to put nasty potions in the food, Miss Heather!"

Heather noted with surprise that she recognised this elf. "Mipsy! It's been a while." She said that sentence with a slight bit of guilt. Between all that had been going on in recent years, she had rarely taken the time to come visit her friend. She resolved to correct that. It was the least she could do after Mipsy had helped her so much, after all.

Dobby turned to the newcomer with an inordinately large smile on his face, practically vibrating in his excitement. "Yous be the elf that helped Dobby's Mistress and Master? Dobby thanks pretty Mipsy a hundred, no, million times!"

Mipsy turned a dark shade, averting her eyes. "Mipsy was just doing her job, she was! Dobby is too nice!"

Fred and George both nudged her, waggling their eyebrows suggestively. Heather laughed a little at the interaction, but had to interrupt. They did sort of have a reason for coming here today.

"Anyway, Mipsy, you don't have to worry about the prank. I made sure that none of the people in the castle are allergic to anything in the potion and it has no harmful effects."

A year or two ago, Fred and George had actually accidentally triggered an allergic reaction in one of their targets with their Belching Mixture. Thankfully, the student had had their medicine on hand, otherwise it could have ended badly. Because of that, Heather had asked for a list of allergens for the whole student population from Madam Pomfrey on the pretext of the potions she brewed for the infirmary. It was much easier than the twins' idea of sneaking in and stealing it. Anyway, since then, they hadn't encountered such an incident again. So Heather was very certain that none of the students would come to harm in this prank.