Chapter 2
It turned out, he was. Because the next morning after eating breakfast, Fred and George grabbed Harry and Ron and pulled them out to the hallway.
"Rumour has it that you two know how to brew Polyjuice potion." Fred said in a flattery way.
"We know you and Hermione made it in your second year." George continued. "It's time to let your two favourite guys in on the secret how you did that."
"Ehm, I don't know you guys," Harry hesitated. "It's a very complicated potion and I don't know if I should…"
"Oh, come on, Harry," Fred interrupted. "You can tell us!"
"Well, Hermione found it in a book in the restricted section; it's called 'The Moste Impossible Potions Ever' or something. You have to ask her." Ron explained.
Fred groaned. "But she will never tell us, you know that. Can't you ask her? She's your girlfriend."
"Hermione is not my girlfriend." Ron answered in a panicky way.
"Whatever," George rolled his eyes. "So will you ask her?"
"At least get the title of the book, Ron. Even you can manage that much." Fred mocked him.
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But Ron was unsuccessful in his mission. Hermione refused to tell him when she found out who really wanted to get their hands on the book.
After dinner, the twins sat at the table still discussing what to do. They were so caught up in their own conversation they didn't notice that Sirius Black had re-entered the dining room.
"So, what are you two whispering about?" he asked the twins, grabbing a chair and settled himself next to them with a mischievous grin on his face.
The twins reacted in unison. "Nothing."
"Right…" Sirius chuckled. "Come on. Let me in on the good stuff. I'm going crazy here, locked up in this awful house, I need some fun."
The twins looked at each other, but hesitated.
"Maybe he can help, Fred." George said. "We could use with some outside help."
Fred hesitated for a while before he finally went for it. "Do you know anything about making Polyjuice potion?"
"Well, Potions was never my strongest subject and I have never tried to make it myself..."
The twins sighed.
"…but there are probably some Potions books in my brother Regulus' room." Sirius continued.
The twins' faces lit up.
"He was more of a Potions geek than me. Probably a Slytherin thing, I bet Snivellus rubbed off on him. I can picture the two of them brewing dark, illegal potions in their common room." Sirius shrugged at the thought. "But you can just take the books. The room is on the third floor. Knock yourself out."
He didn't even get to ask what they were doing with the potion before the twins were halfway up the stairs to Regulus' room.
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"Whoa," said Fred. "This must be what the Slytherin common room looks like." He turned to his brother who stood gasping in the doorway. "Look at all this stuff. He must really have been into the Dark Arts."
The twins walked into the room looking at all the Slytherin banners and strange objects placed across the room. They walked up to the bookshelf and started looking for Potions books.
After a couple of minutes they had found none less than three books, none of which they had been using at Hogwarts. They sat down on the floor flipping through the pages looking for the Polyjuice potion.
"Ew, this is disgusting," George said with a sceptical frown on his face. "There is a potion here that makes your intestines come out of your ears if you don't take a bath at the exact time each day for a week. Who comes up with this stuff?"
"Maybe that's the potion we should make for Snape, he wouldn't last a day." Fred joked, but was not met with appreciation.
"That's not funny, Fred. This is really creepy magic. No wonder they don't use these books at school." George was really worried.
"Yes, he was kind of creepy, my brother." Sirius was standing in the doorway looking at his brother's room. He hadn't been in there for years. He walked in and sat down on the floor next to the bewildered looking twins. He picked up the third book, Moste Potente Potions, and started flipping through the pages.
"So, what are you planning on doing with this Polyjuice Potion exactly?" Sirius asked.
"Sorry, but we can't tell you." George said apologetic.
"I heard you mentioning Snape when I came up here. Does this have anything to do with him by any chance?" Sirius didn't want the twins to get away too easily.
Fred and George looked at each other. "No!" both said, quite unconvincingly.
Sirius laughed. "I knew it! You guys are planning something and it involves Snape. Please, let me be a part of it!" He was practically begging them now.
"I'm sorry, Sirius, but we can't." Fred answered.
The twins went back to flipping through the books when Sirius suddenly jumped to his feet and started laughing. "Well, if you don't let me in on your little secret, you won't get the recipe for the potion." He said gripping the book tightly to his chest, sporting a mischievous smile that the twins could only dream of.
They got to their feet quickly. "You found it?" Fred asked in disbelief. Sirius grinned even harder and nodded.
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Half an hour later, the twins had unwillingly let Sirius in on their plan. He came with suggestions to how they could collect hair or other parts of people they would turn into, how to get the ingredients and even how to get clothes. He seemed almost a bit too much into the idea. But at least now they had help.
The following days was used to make lists and plans over their upcoming prank. The twins had stocked up on all their Weasley's Wizard Wheezes candy like Fever Fudge, Nosebleed Nougat and Puking Pastilles. These were perfect for making sure that the "Polyjuice victims" didn't come strolling into the room by accident.
The biggest problem was where and when to brew the potion. They couldn't start brewing it in Grimmauld Place, because school was starting in a week, and they hadn't been able to get all the ingredients yet. They needed more help. Help from someone that wasn't going to Hogwarts and someone that wasn't supposed to be in jail. Of course Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were out of the question, Mad Eye would probably blow up if they mentioned anything, even if he didn't trust Snape one bit, and Mundungus shouldn't be trusted with anything this important.
"And don't tell Remus either!" Sirius warned. "He's just too much into rules and such. He would probably go tell Molly and stop this whole thing. And he's strangely way too protective of Snivellus."
"I got it!" Fred said after the three of them had been turning their brains inside out for ideas. "Tonks!"
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The morning on the first of September Number 12 Grimmauld Place was in utter chaos. The house had never been calm, but ever since Harry's hearing, the Boggart, and the fact that Ickle Ronnie had become Prefect, Molly Weasley hadn't stopped fussing over everything.
On their way out of the door, Fred and George made sure they were the last ones to leave so none of the others could see that Tonks slipped a tiny parcel into Fred's bag.
"Good luck," Tonks whispered. "I'll owl you the rest of the stuff as soon as I can get my hands on them."
"And we demand reports," Sirius chuckled lightly.
"We will," Fred promised before he and George joined the rest of the group and headed towards King's Cross.