The Pearl of Passion

Chapter 2: The Pearl of Passion

Biff decided to drown his problems in prose.

“We’ve located the Pearl of Passion,” said Narcissa.

Shacklebolt was sitting in the front parlor looking like a groundhog surrounded by coyotes.

“It sounds like a keeper,” said Antonia.

“It’s passion in the classical sense,” said Shacklebolt, trying to regain control. “The person under its influence pursues his destiny in life while exhibiting a desire for excellence in all he does.”

He paused for effect. “You can imagine the deleterious effect that would have on our world.”

“The end of civilization as we know it,” remarked Astoria.

“If this jewel is as you describe it, I have a modest proposal,” said Lucius. “We send in Hermione Granger. We’ll hardly notice any difference.”

“Of course we will, my love,” said Narcissa. “Don’t be cruel. The poor dear will spend the next six months ensconced in the library.”

“We won’t be cruel, mum,” said Draco. “We’ll bring her food. And additional volumes.”

“This is no time for levity,” said Shacklebolt.

“Right, only serious proposals,” agreed Antonia. “And along those lines, I say we stop fooling around and dispatch a troop of zombies.”

“Zombies?” asked Shacklebolt.

“Being undead, the Pearl of Passion will waste its substance on them, and when it is depleted, anyone can walk in with a hammer and smash it,” said Antonia.

“But what about the zombies?” asked Shacklebolt.

“The standard solution,” said Lucius, “is to send in a squad of vampires to wipe them out.”

Lucius looked at Shacklebolt quizzically. “Don’t you ever watch Reality TV?”

“And don’t worry about the vampires,” said Antonia. “Send in your SWAT team of Gryffindors with AK-47s and wood bullets.”

Back in his office, Shacklebolt was fuming. A bunch of fugitives from justice had been making fun of him. But wait, what if they were serious? He wasn’t dealing with the most balanced group of people in the Western Hemisphere. What if they did conjure up zombies and vampires?

“I don’t have a SWAT team,” he yelled.

“Sir?” asked his assistant, appearing in the door.

“Nothing,” said Shacklebolt.

The editor wasn’t certain that, at this point, any of the narrative could be saved.

What pearls lie within us, and having brought these to fruition will not the pearls that lie about us not respond in resonate harmony for they are not merely attracted to the shining finality of accomplishment but to the deeper fire and determination that produced the shiny objects that do but mark the striving that makes us most human and, with this in mind, should not a talented writer not be put off by superficial obstacles that stand between him and one who admires him with all her being but continue striving with the understanding that surely the power lies within him to open the hard shell that life has formed around her soul and thereupon polish that which she wishes to give wholeheartedly to her desired one and thus become the one and only centerpiece for the necklace of his life.

Theo was thinking Biff had left him with no lead-ins whatsoever and, whatever was going on between Biff and the editor, he hoped they resolved it before it affected the whole office.

“What’s that sludge?”

“Infected Chesapeake Bay water,” said Draco. “It’s destroying their oyster beds.”

“Will it destroy pearls, too?”

“We enhanced it,” said Draco.

“Enhanced sludge? Is that what you brought me?” asked Lucius.

The group had had a serious discussion after Shacklebolt had left. Someone would have to approach the Pearl and neutralize it. This person would have to have more than a brave heart. He would have to have a spirit devoid of the higher sentiments that the jewel affected: someone calculating, ruthless, and lacking empathy.

“Why are you looking at me?” Lucius had asked.

They had replied that they would equip him for all eventualities: a gas mask in case the Pearl’s essence was airborne, earplugs if it was by sound, solar eclipse goggles if it was by sight, and, over all of that, a hazmat suit. When Lucius had protested that he would be deaf and blind, they had told him not to worry since they would supply him with a seeking-wand made from a Mulberry twig with the core a feather from a homing pigeon.

On the chosen night, they deposited Lucius a safe distance from the Pearl of Passion and let its silk threads of enticement draw the wand toward it – with Lucius firmly attached.

As the wand approached, the power of the Pearl worked its magic, and the twig sprouted leaves and flowers – and fruit that ripened and dropped in his path.

He could feel the mulberries squishing underfoot. I’ll never get these stains out of my shoes, he thought.

Then, even through the protective gear, the jewel reached Lucius. He realized he had been a sluggard and a slacker. The wizard world needed more of his kind. More heirs. Narcissa was still young enough. And even more heirs. Pansy wasn’t being used. And he needed to provide for them. The Malfoy fortune needed more active management. He would increase it many fold.

As Lucius was glorying in his new ambition and insight, the seeking-wand reached the jewel. It bumped it, and the vial in its cleft dumped its contents onto the smooth sphere.

The full force of the Pearl of Passion invigorated the virus in the sludge, and it outdid all other viruses in the galaxy. It mutated into its full destructive glory. The pearl dissolved in its own apotheosis.

The office lights were going out, and Theo was about to take his empty mind home to his empty evening when he noticed Cho standing in the doorway.

Her eyes twinkled with literary insight. “You destroyed the Pearl by letting it be consumed by its own power.”

“A resolution only you could imagine,” said Cho with a ghost of a smile. “Brilliant. Poetic. Heartless.”

“I don’t deserve that,” said Theo to the empty doorway.