A/N: This chapter is for every single one of you, but especially for animagirlphoenix as a get well present!
The Dark Lord paced the dusty wooden floor of the sitting room in the Riddle House. His plan had worked perfectly, and he was in a rare good humour. He really couldn't wait to eat all his marshmallows.
"Lucius! Come on, what on earth is taking you so long? They're only marshmallows."
Lucius Malfoy entered the room, sweating and panting as he dragged a huge bag of marshmallows behind him.
"My Lord, I beg of you, could I not just levitate them?"
Voldemort eyed his follower with cold disdain.
"Lucius, both you and I know that it's funnier this way. Keep going."
As Lucius heaved and pulled the heavy marshmallows, Voldemort heard snatches of the cookie jar song. Looking out the window, the source of the noise was revealed.
"Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar?" sang Crabbe, twirling and clapping his hands.
"Who, me - " Goyle began.
"Enough!" screamed Voldemort. "How many times must I tell you, that song is not a toy! Use it on the enemy only!"
Crabbe and Goyle hung their heads. "Yes, my Lord."
Turning back towards the house, he spotted Malfoy struggling to bring another bag of stolen marshmallows inside.
"My Lord, I must ask, why are we using this house in such a prominent muggle area? Surely - "
"Lucius, how many times must this be explained? This house is the only one I have been mentioned in connection with thus far. If you want somewhere different, either write to Ms. Rowling, or get back to that blasted grave yard in book four. I, however, am remaining here. How do you expect me to make hot chocolate in a grave yard?"
"Forgive me, my Lord, I didn't think."
"You never do," the Dark Lord muttered. However, he was not really angry. 'Operation - Steal Potter's Marshmallows' had been successfully executed, and he had never felt happier.
Meanwhile, Harry was feeling far worse off. Remus did his best to keep his mind on other things, but with Snape eating marshmallows in his face everytime he had the chance, it wasn't getting any easier.
"Come on, Harry, concentrate! You're as bad now as you were with the Department of Mysteries corridor, at least you know what this is! Come on, don't be soft about it."
Harry's eyes filled with tears, and Remus realised too late that he had touched a nerve.
"Oh Harry, I am sorry. I shouldn't have mentioned that place."
"N-n-no," Harry sobbed, "-it's not that. It's just, you s-said s-s-soft, and ... and marshmallows are soft! Remus I miss them so much!"
"Y-es," Remus said slowly. This obsession was really getting out of hand, and it was only Tuesday! So many more training sessions to get through ... thought Remus wearily. "Well come on Harry, try to forget about those and concentrate, you were doing so well before."
And so, much to Harry's boredom and Remus's despair, they continued practising difficult dancing techniques throughout the day, and well into the night. Snape showed up every so often to laugh, and to willingly inform them that they were doing it wrong.
Later that evening, Harry received a surprise that made him forget about marshmallows for a record time of ten whole minutes. Ron and Hermione arrived in number twelve Grimmauld Place.
"Harry!" Hermione screamed, burying her bushy head in his shoulder, "we've wanted to come for so long!"
"How are you mate? You look bloody awful."
"Ron!"
"Well, he does. I'm sure he knows."
"Thanks, both of you, I'm fine. Why didn't you come earlier? Enjoying the summer, are you?"
Ron and Hermione looked at each other before turning as one to stare at Harry.
"Well, the summer was alright, mate, but school has been hectic. We couldn't come 'til now."
Harry was bewildered. (No change there then.) "What do you mean, school?"
"School started back ages ago, Harry. I guess Dumbledore wanted to keep you here to work on your marshmallow problem."
Marshmallows ...Harry thought dreamily. However, the unexpected news that the school had re-opened when he thought it was still the summer holidays was enough to drag him back into the conversation.
"Didn't you notice the summer holidays were a bit too long?" Hermione asked wisely.
"Well, they always are with the Dursleys. What time of year is it then?"
"I'm guessing it's Hallowe'en. We're on holidays for one thing, that's how we got the chance to visit you."
"Of course it's Hallowe'en, Ron. Don't you pay attention to any of the books?" said Hermione.
"Not really. What's your point?"
"There is an obvious pattern to the works of J.K. Rowling, as the seasoned reader will no doubt be aware..." Hermione began, in a lecture-like drawl from the opening of an extremely boring textbook. Ron had that glazed look in his eyes that showed he wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to Hermione's rant, and Harry was eyeing their bags suspiciously, making a mental note to raid them for marshmallows later.
"If you would care to look at any of Rowling's previous installments," Hermione continued, "you will see that it starts off with the introduction, it's the summer. Blah blah blah, a jump in time, next it's Hallowe'en. Same again, then it's Christmas ..."
"Oh yeah," Ron said, shaking out of his stupor when he heard the recognisable story structure.
"I've said it before, and I'll say it again - it's all in 'Hogwarts, a History'. Would at least one of you just read the bloody book, please!" said Hermione exasperatley.
That night Harry didn't sleep well. He had been informed by the headmaster that he was being sent back to Hogwarts tomorrow along with Ron and Hermione. Dumbledore's words rang in his head ...
"Get over the marshmallows already and go to school! You're constantly in the way here. This is Order Headquaters, for Merlin's sake!"
"It's easy for him," Harry thought, "he's not the one with the marshmallow addiction." He tried once more to get to sleep, but as he began to doze off, his scar seared with pain.
Harry looked down at his pallid hands from a great height, and watched Lucius Malfoy dragging hundreds of marshmallows towards him. His mouth watered, but he wasn't in control. He heard a high, cold voice issue forth from his throat, and watched helplessly as he put marshmallows into his mouth. He couldn't taste them, though he kept chewing. Harry wanted to scream out in agony at the injustice of it all.
Suddenly, Harry was back in his own body again, and Lord Voldemort turned around to face him, with bits of marshmallow plastered around his mouth, complete with a chocolate moustache.
"Want one, Potter?!" he cackled evilly, as he continued to shove marshmallows into his throat.
"NOOOOO!!!" Harry cried out, waking suddenly in a pool of sweat. He settled down onto his soft, fluffy pillow, but that only made things worse, as he sobbed into the night for fluffy marshmallows.
A/N: As I sat down to write this chapter, I was struck down with an unexpected, but severe case of writer's block, which hasn't happened to me before. I hope you'll forgive me if this chapter isn't up to par, as I struggled to write it. I promise I will edit it as soon as I've sorted myself out of this dilemma. It's strange, just before this I submitted chapter 4 of Vampyr, and that was fine ... Zetera