The Polyjuice Potion in the second-floor girls' bathroom was finally nearing completion. To avoid disrupting the holidays of students who had gone home, the grand Christmas dinner was scheduled for the evening after everyone had returned to the castle.
At the feast, Aiden was, as usual, wolfing down his food.
"My dear Aiden," Edmund couldn't help but complain, "could you possibly eat with a shred of decorum? One might think the school was starving you." The huge contrast between his friend's elegant appearance and his ravenous eating was almost too much to bear.
"It's for efficiency, dear Edmund," Aiden replied after swallowing a massive bite of chicken. "I need to save time. All that nonsense about 'elegant dining' is just something you see in picture books to fool children."
"You're not suited for high-society dinners, then," Ethan chimed in.
"Honestly," Oliver said, finding a way to save face for his friend, "the 'high-society' people in the wizarding world right now aren't really the sort of people one should associate with anyway."
'Well done,' Aiden thought, casting a grateful look at Oliver.
Listening to the heated discussion at the Ravenclaw table, Harry glanced over at his friends. "So," he whispered, "our Polyjuice Potion should be ready by now."
"Everything is prepared," Hermione confirmed. "We just need to add a part of who we're turning into. But we also need to make sure Crabbe and Goyle don't show up while we're gathering information." As she spoke, she pulled out a small bottle and shook it. Inside were a few strands of Millicent Bulstrode's hair.
"So what do we do?" Ron inquired.
"Well, I've prepared something for you." Hermione placed two chocolate cakes in front of Harry and Ron. "These have a simple Sleeping Draught added to them. As long as you can find a way to get Crabbe and Goyle to eat them, the rest will be simple."
The two boys left the Great Hall with the cakes and went to ambush their targets on their usual path.
"Hurry up, Harry, they're coming," Ron whispered, pulling out his broken, Spellotaped wand.
"Whoa, Ron, let me do it," Harry said, stopping him. "And why aren't you using the ring?" He lightly tapped the cakes with his own wand, chanting the incantation to make them float in the air.
"This blasted thing," Ron grumbled, looking at the ring on his finger. "Aiden never told me that using it for simple spells is actually harder than wandless casting. I'll never get the hang of it." His face was a mask of frustration.
There wasn't time to comfort him, because Crabbe and Goyle were already lumbering over.
"Look, Crabbe! Chocolate cake! Someone just left it here," Goyle said eagerly, grabbing the cake floating in the air and stuffing it into his mouth. Crabbe followed his lead without a second thought. A moment later, the two of them collapsed into a deep, peaceful sleep.
"They really are that stupid," Ron scoffed.
Harry and Ron dragged the two unconscious Slytherins into a nearby broom cupboard and pulled a few hairs from their heads. Ron, lacking experience, accidentally pulled out an entire tuft of hair, leaving a noticeable bald spot on Goyle's head.
"Hurry up, Ron, what are you waiting for?" Harry urged.
"Coming."
The two of them jogged all the way to the second-floor girls' bathroom, where Hermione was already waiting for them.
"Alright, did you get the hair?" she asked.
"We got it," Ron confirmed. "What's that?" he asked, pointing to a set of green-trimmed robes.
"Slytherin uniforms," Hermione replied. "I stole them from the laundry room."
The potion was finally ready. Hermione poured the thick, bubbling liquid into three separate cups. "Alright," she instructed, "add the hair, and then just drink it."
The three of them dropped the hairs into their respective cups.
"Cheers," they all said, clinking their glasses together before downing the potion.
"Oh, my goodness, that's disgusting," Ron choked and was the first to run into a toilet stall. The essence of Crabbe, it seemed, tasted like boiled, rotten cabbage. Hermione did the same, her transformation going wrong, and she hid in another stall.
Harry, thankfully, was in the best condition. Goyle's Polyjuice Potion had an earthy, unpleasant smell, but it wasn't enough to make him sick. He watched in the mirror as his features bubbled and reshaped themselves.
"Ron?" Harry, who had completely transformed into Goyle, asked, looking at the "Crabbe" standing in front of him.
"It's me," 'Crabbe' replied, his voice a low grunt.
"Hermione, did you succeed?" 'Goyle' asked.
"You two go on without me!" Hermione's panicked voice came from inside the stall. "I can't go!"
"Are you alright?" 'Crabbe' asked.
"Just go! You're wasting time!" she shouted.
So 'Crabbe' and 'Goyle' walked out of the bathroom. Unfortunately, they were almost immediately discovered by Percy, who was on patrol. Before he could deduct points, however, they were rescued by Draco, who had been looking for his two cronies. After a brief confrontation with Percy, Draco led them away.
Arriving at the entrance to the Slytherin common room, 'Crabbe' and 'Goyle' were once again stopped, unable to remember the password.
"What are you two standing there for like idiots?" Draco snapped. He spoke the password, and the stone door slid open, revealing the dungeons' common room.
Inside, a certain dragon who had eaten too much and come out to digest was sitting on one of the sofas. The people around him seemed to be actively ignoring him, their eyes sliding right past his location.
Draco went to sit next to him, but as he did, he seemed to shift strangely to the left, as if sliding off an invisible surface. This made 'Crabbe' and 'Goyle' feel very uneasy.
"Sit down, you two," Draco ordered. "What are you standing around for?"
The two of them cautiously sat on the sofa opposite him.
"I really can't believe the Weasleys are pure-bloods," Draco began, now on his home turf and feeling relaxed enough to gossip. "They're a disgrace to the wizarding world."
'Crabbe' clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white.
"What's wrong with you, Crabbe?" Draco asked, looking at his friend's ashen face.
'Goyle' nudged him with his elbow and added, "He has a stomachache."
"Then you'd best go to the Hospital Wing," Draco said with a look of understanding. "And remember to give those petrified students a good few kicks for me." He then continued, "I'm very curious as to why the Daily Prophet hasn't reported the attacks at the school. Dumbledore must have suppressed it. And that annoying Prewett, too." He gloated for a moment, but what he didn't know was that a pair of beautiful, heterochromatic eyes were staring at him from the sofa beside him.
Feeling a sudden chill, Draco shivered and quickly changed the subject. "And Dumbledore! No wonder my father says he's the biggest menace Hogwarts has ever had."
"You're wrong," 'Goyle' couldn't help but say, unable to bear hearing Dumbledore insulted.
Draco stood up, glared at him, and demanded, "You think someone is more annoying than Dumbledore? Speak up! Is there, or isn't there?"
'Goyle' had a flash of inspiration. "Harry Potter," he grunted.
Draco's face broke into a satisfied smile. "The saintly Potter. Well said. Do people actually still think he's the Heir of Slytherin?" He turned and walked toward a table, but a foot suddenly shot out and tripped him.
Draco fell heavily to the ground. Not seeing anything, he just assumed he'd slipped. He struggled to get up, but every time he did, he was tripped again. Finally, he gave up. "Help me up," he whined, asking his two lackeys for help.
'Goyle' quickly stepped forward and helped Draco up, using the opportunity to start extracting information. Finally, he learned from Draco's own mouth that while the Chamber of Secrets had indeed been opened, Draco knew nothing about who the heir was.
Just as the Polyjuice Potion was about to wear off, the two of them quickly fled from the Slytherin common room.
Having had their fun, Aiden and Arsesi slipped out of the common room silently, their prank buried in the darkness of the mysterious, ancient castle.
(End of Chapter)
***
[Check Out My Patreon For More Chapters On All
Of My Fanfics!!] [www. [email protected]/meowthtl]
[+500 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]
[Thank You For Your Support!]