Written for Round 7 of QLFC- Write about your given potion.

Thank you Raybe and Firefly81 for betaing.

Polyjuice and Why Not To Use It

Astoria stared at the blank piece of parchment before her. Her sea green orbs bored into the creamy white paper, and she felt the strong urge to rip it up – so she did. Ripped it up into many pieces until there was nothing left but a boring pile of white paper. A growl of frustration left her lips and she rested her head on the desk, letting her sable curls cover her face.

How was she supposed to confess her love in a letter? One word was hard enough to write down when it came to it but a whole letter? That was an impossible task. She felt like an old hag was cursing her so that she could only write in stupid childish sentences that made absolutely no sense to a normal human being. Why couldn't she say that she loved him? Or whatever she felt whenever she was around him. The feeling was warm, like a hot cup of hot cocoa in the winter and comforting like her mother's hugs. Was it admiration?

Her brain buzzing with questions that she didn't have the energy to answer, the second-year Slytherin rose from her seat in the library and rushed to put back a book. She had been using it to shield her letter from any passing students. Unfortunately, Astoria had picked the heaviest and biggest book and was struggling with balancing the book in her small arms. Just as she got her balance right, a passing student bumped into her, causing her to fall straight onto the ground.

"Looks like you need a hand, Miss Greengrass," said a voice above her. Looking up, her eyes meet the golden brown irises of Professor Lupin. Instantly her embarrassment of falling straight onto her face in a public library was magnified, and she felt heat rising in her round cheeks.

"P-Professor Lupin! Um, thank you," Astoria managed to squeak out, taking the hand of the kind faced Professor.

"It's quite all right. What are you doing with such a big book, might I ask?" Professor Lupin picked up the fallen book and eyed it warily. "'The History Of Ancient Greece and the Wizards who made it' seems like an interesting read."

Astoria's blush deepened with Professor Lupin's words, but she realised that he wasn't mocking her as he seemed genuinely interested in the book he was currently holding. Shaking her head slightly, the Pureblood regained some of the poise her mother taught her when she was younger and answered his question.

"It just looked... interesting I suppose."

"Well, I ensure you that reading these texts will enrich your mind." He offered her a small smile which melts her heart in a second. "Now I suggest you go head to your common room as it will be any minute before–"

"All students should head back to their respective Common Rooms immediately. The library is closed for the evening," Miss Pince's voice ringed out in the library, resulting in a hum of grumbles and rustling of papers.

"Have a good night, Miss Greengrass," Professor Lupin said before turning on his heel to find the bookshelf for her book.

"Night, Sir," Astoria whispers into the air, though it reached nobody's ears. She had to give him the letter. The only thing was: how?

(***)

"So you can do it? You can make me turn into someone else?"

"Course we can, right, Forge?"

"Absolutely, Gred."

Astoria raised a curious eyebrow but dug into her pocket for galleons anyway. She didn't want to buy anything from the mysterious duo, but she had no choice. There was no spell or potion that she could brew to give her the confidence boost to hand over the envelope that contained her heart to Professor Lupin. It wasn't like she was going to put her name in the letter, but it still contained her words of admiration and flattery. Essentially, she needed a person with an abundance of confidence to deliver her message.

"This is called Polyjuice potion, my friend." Gred (or was it Forge?) handed her a vial that looked sluggy in texture and horrible in taste. "It will make you change your appearance into someone else's for an hour."

"And who will I be?"

"Me, of course. Fred Weasley." Fred held up a single red hair.

Astoria's mouth opened in shock. "You!" she spluttered in a rude manner, causing Fred to frown. "I don't want to be walking around as a Gryffindor! I thought you could turn me McGonagall or someone of–"

"Ha! You thought we would be able to get a hair off of McGonagall's head without her noticing! We're good, but not that good," George exclaimed, a wide grin plastered on his face.

"And I thought you guys were the best of the best!" Astoria threw her head back in frustration and placed her galleons back into her pocket. If she couldn't do it properly, she wouldn't do it at all.

The stubborn girl was about to turn on her heel, when she felt a hand tug on her robes.

"We are the best of the best," Fred said, face only inches from hers. "If you want McGonagall, we can get McGonagall."

"But Fred–"

"Thank you, Weasley." Astoria smiled in a sickly sweet way, passing her galleons to him. "And I will take this; once you get the hair give it to me as soon as possible, okay?" She didn't wait for the reply but just took the vial of Polyjuice potion from George, who looked slightly gobsmacked, and headed to her common room.

Two days later a tiny package arrived by owl in the morning. A small smile crossed her lips as her eyes met Fred's across the Hall. It might be going against every Slytherin bone in her body, but it was worth it.

Professor McGonagall didn't taste nice at all, not that Astoria thought McGonagall was going to be as sweet as butterbeer. The second year had been staring into the mirror in the girls' bathroom for a good half an hour before downing the potion.

The concoction was thick and 'sluggy' to drink down; Astoria felt like throwing up halfway through when the taste of it got too much. Her eyes found her reflection in the dirty mirror, and she watched as her chubby cheeks became slim andher smooth skin became slightly wrinkled with age. She quickly ran into a toilet stall and change into some teachers robes she paid a seventh year to transfigure for her.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," she muttered to herself, but the voice that left her lips was old and held authority. She was taller now and her once soft, brown curls were now jet black (with a few threads of silver) and contained in a tight bun.

Astoria stayed in the bathroom for another fifteen minutes practicing her McGonagall stance and getting comfortable in the heavy robes she now wore. Confident that she could at least get past Mrs. Norris, Astoria left the bathroom and turned left towards the library.

(***)

She should have known that it would be harder to pretend to be McGonagall. Even though she had the exterior of the Deputy Headmistress, she sure didn't have the interior. She was stuttering like a first year when Professor Flitwick bumped into her and even worse when she crossed paths with her Potions' Master.

It was a relief when she made it to the library and saw it was empty. Empty bar one, of course.

Professor Lupin was reading at a small table, seemingly engrossed in the book so much that he didn't hear the creak of the library door. A half moon hung in the sky, visible by the library window, and its moonlight lit up the library.

Astoria could stare at him all day. She admired the way his golden brown eyes scanned the text in front of him or how relaxed his face was when he was reading. In her entrance she left out a loud sigh, which made Professor Lupin look up at her.

Oh no.

"Minerva." He smiled, and Astoria was sure she had just died and gone to heaven. But she didn't. She was still in uncomfortable robes, and her hair was still in a painfully tight bun.

"I thought you said you were going to your chambers for the night," he said, closing his book.

"Um." Professor Lupin rose an eyebrow, and Astoria cursed at herself in her mind. McGonagall was never unsure. She always had an answer. "I wanted to quickly find a book for myself to read."

"Oh, well, don't let me stop you," he chuckled tiredly. Astoria frowned as the moonlight illuminated Professor Lupin's exhausted face. It looked like he hadn't slept in days.

"The full moon is soon," Remus remarked, making Astoria come out of her musings.

"Oh, yes it is," Astoria replied, uncertain to why Professor Lupin was bringing up something so unimportant as the moon. "You look tired; you should get some sleep."

"If only I could. It gets harder the closer it gets to the full moon."

"I see. You should come and pick me a book to read then, since you always have your head buried in one." Astoria made her-now- thin lips form a smile. Remus looked confused for a second but then returned the smile and got up from his desk.

"Okay, then. Something to keep my mind off things I suppose."

Time seemed to fly by with Remus by her side. Even though it was a bit weird –Remus calling her Minerva being a constant reminder that she had a face of an older woman– she liked that he didn't treat her like a mere second year, but as if she was wise and intelligent.

It was just as Lupin was laughing at a sarcastic comment Astoria said that she felt a strange twinge on her skin. A glance down at her hands told her all she needed to know: her hands started to shake and bubble; the tingling sensation intensifying.

"Are you okay, Minerva?"

"Quite fine, Remus." A croak instead of the sophisticated voice Astoria was starting to get used to came out of her mouth, and she quickly clapped it shut. "I... I should go now," Astoria stuttered, and she left the room in such a non-McGonagall style that she would have to pray for a miracle that Remus didn't suspect anything.

It was lucky that she left the library at the time that she did. She noisily ran down the corridors while the teacher' s robes became increasingly baggy, causing her to trip several times over the heavy fabric. Her brown hair was freely flowing now, and as she whipped around corners loose curls got caught in her mouth. She was spitting her hair out when she saw a dark figure walking around at a brisk pace, and its hooked nose and billowing robes were too recognisable.

Professor Snape was walking straight towards her.

Astoria's mind started to spin with panic. What would happen if Snape caught her? In oversized teacher's robes and square spectacles? An even more horrible thought came into her mind: Would he tell Father?

But she didn't have a moment to ponder on that thought because something grabbed her wrist and pulled her into a cupboard of some sort. The space was small– almost suffocating and Astoria felt a stronger urge to rush out of the cupboard, but a person still had a firm grip on her wrist.

"Keep quiet," hissed a voice into her ear and she stopped her struggling at once. It was the voice of her confident, but annoying potion dealer: Fred Weasley.

"Weasley? What are you–" but Fred put his hand over her mouth to shut her up. She found it surprising and odd that her heartbeat increased at this gesture, but she thought it was probably because her head of house was on the other side of the broom cupboard door. Professor Snape's footsteps became clearer and louder as they came closer to their hiding spot. And then they stopped. Astoria's breath hitched, but the sound was luckily muffled by Fred's hand.

Snape started to walk again after a couple of silent seconds, and the sound of his quieting footsteps brought relief to Astoria.

"Lumos." Fred's wand light illuminated the once dark broom cupboard, and Astoria for the first time was able to see her Fred Weasley's face; it had mischief sketched on it.

"Miss second-year Greengrass out of the Slytherin common room after curfew," he teased. "I see you drank the potion."

Astoria begrudging nodded. She didn't want to be caught in such a situation by the Weasley. It was deeply embarrassing.

"I did and ah!" A spider landed on Fred's hair, and the simple sight of the eight legged creature made Astoria take a few hurried steps back – not that there was a lot a room to be moving around in anyway.

"So you don't like spiders? I thought you Snakes loved them." Fred brushed the spider off his hair, and Astoria suppressed a shiver as she watched it scutter away. "You guys are both sneaky, slimy and–"

"–And you Gryffindors are a bunch of twits, but you don't see me shouting about it! Now, if you don't mind, I am going to my bed." Astoria pushed past the red head and exited the broom cupboard not caring if any witch, wizard, or elf saw her.

Why was Fred in there anyway? Just waiting to see if a Slytherin came close enough to insult him or her. Gryffindors are so pathetic.

Stuffing her hands into the deep, silk pockets of – wait a minute! She took out the now crumpled envelope out of her pocket and then let out an irritable sound. Her letter that should been in Professor Lupin's hands at the moment were in her small ones. "All of that effort... for nothing," she muttered darkly, taking her wand out of her pocket and setting the letter alight.

She didn't want to be in love if it was this risky. She was going to leave love alone until she was old enough to cope with all of the drama around it. Astoria had a Transfiguration essay for tomorrow anyway; she didn't have time for any more Polyjuice escapades.

Team: Montrose Magpies

Position: Beater (2)

Prompts:

(word) envelop

(creature) spider.

Word Count: 2385

Potion: Polyjuice