[Chapter Nine] Unlucky Revenge
"Would you mind telling me what good a Polyjuice Potion is going to do? It will take at least 26 more days to brew. It takes a full moon cycle, Yavari," Astoria snapped bitterly from the chair, her feet resting on top of the desk.
"Well, don't you have a benevolent demeanor this morning..." Lena droned sarcastically, pulling on her shirt. "Who said we're making Polyjuice Potion?" Astoria didn't answer, so Lena continued. "It's Unctuous serum, actually."
"Sounds noisome."
"It is. And it needs our hair as well. It will make Parkinson and your sister think we're their best friends for exactly one hour, if everything goes correctly. Which will give you time to extract your blackmail, or exact your revenge, whichever you choose. It's similar to Imperio, really. The legal form of Imperio, and then a quick memory charm and we're good to go."
Astoria smiled and stood up as Lena crouched down to the potion's level. Lena gave it three counter-clockwise stirs as the cloak's hand ticked toward seven am.
"What are you planning for your revenge?" Astoria asked cautiously, glancing at Lena out of the corner of her eye as she walked toward the fireplace; Rumors didn't die out, Astoria knew Lena was scary, knew Lena was a Death Eater.
"Your brilliant mind is out of ideas already, Greengrass? Have to steal them from lil' old me?"
"Didn't realize it was a secret..." Astoria muttered, heading toward the door.
"Until I can trust you," Lena mused, but the door was closing and she wasn't sure if Astoria had heard.
The weekend had finally arrived. Lena sat kneed in front of the potion, knowing it was minutes away from being perfect. The door opened and Lena glanced up, knowing it had to be Astoria. Millicent was in Ancient Runes until four o'clock.
"Everything is ready? Where are Parkinson and your sister?" Lena inquired hastily as the potion gurgled to an uncanny shade of gray.
"Still getting ready to go to the Great Hall. We don't have much time though. We need to get the kitchens before they get to the Great Hall."
Pouring the potion into two separate vials, Lena handed one to Astoria and grabbed Parkinson's hair from the table.
"Wait!" Astoria said suddenly. "Don't you think it's a bit obvious that you wouldn't be around Parkinson and I wouldn't be around my sister?"
Lena groaned and rolled her eyes, "No. Try a memory charm, Greengrass, and stop wasting our time."
Sprinkling Parkinson's hair into her own potion, it changed rapidly to a green color, and as Astoria added her hairs, her vial turned blue. Plucking a hair from her own head, Lena added it to the vial, and the color surged emerald green. Astoria was now holding a purple vial. Passing the girl a cork, Lena corked her own vial and gestured for Astoria to follow her.
Lena popped her trunk open in a hurry, "Accio Felix Felicis." It jumped from its box, into her hand, and her closed and locked her trunk with a flick of her wand.
She chugged the potion down, and a glimmer glazed over her eyes.
The two rushed to the kitchens, and found the house elves hard at work. Lena pulled one aside when the two remained unnoticed and began speaking quickly, "Excuse me, I have a special dish I made for my best friend's birthday, do you think I could send it with her meal?" The house elf nodded and rushed back to his work station.
The two waited for about five minutes until the house elf returned, holding a plate. Lena looked around the kitchen, taking the plate from the elf hesitantly. She noticed a chalkboard, that was continually writing and erasing near the back, she rushed toward it, stringing Astoria along, dropping the plate with a clang on the marble counters.
It was scribbling the orders from the Great Hall. Lena grabbed two goblets from the cabinet by the chalkboard and placed them on the "ready" shelf. Then waved her wand at the chalkboard, changing the orders of Daphne Greengrass and Pansy Parkinson. As the goblets disappeared, Lena rushed up to the Great Hall, Astoria following quickly behind.
The four girls were in the bathroom on the second floor, ignoring Moaning Myrtle. Parkinson and Daphne seemed unaware that they were about to have revenge exacted upon them. Astoria approached Daphne, and began the long incantation to remove her sister's hair.
As Lena approached Parkinson, still facing the mirror, her eyes glinted toward Lena.
Fear.
"Something's wrong, Astoria." Lena began. Parkinson continued to stare in the mirror blantantly ignoring the conversation behind her.
"What do you mean?" Astoria asked.
"Parkinson..." Her fingers grasped her wand as the words slipped out. "...knows."
Suddenly Astoria and Lena flew back, Parkinson and Daphne spun around and started toward them.
"You filthy blood traitor, Lena. And Astoria, I never would have expected this from you, my very own sister..." Daphne spat harshly.
Lena's limbs locked as she tried to move, under a spell from Parkinson's sudden swish. Astoria glanced at Lena fearfully and dropped limply as well.
Everything suddenly felt wrong, dark. The potion had failed. Felix had let her down.
"You two messed with the wrong person." Parkinson said, walking gracefully toward them.
Suddenly, their clothes disappeared, and their wands flew into Daphne's outstretched hand.
"Good Luck."
As the door closed behind them, the spell released, and they were left on the disgusting second floor bathroom with no clothes.
Lena immediately stood up and began to look around the bathroom for anything they could use to cover themselves. But everyone knew that nobody used this bathroom. So the toiletries were hardly ever restocked. After a few minutes of futile searching for the two of them, they gave up, and were back at the circular ring of vanities and sinks.
"So..um..what are we going to do?" Astoria asked after a moment.
Lena didn't even look at her. This had to be her fault. Somehow. This was Astoria's fault. The potion was perfect. The plan was perfect. How else would Daphne have figured it out? Unless the bad batch of Felix had something to do with it.
The clock above the exit seemed accurate, and if it was, then they had ten minutes before any classes released. But could they make it two floors to the basement in that time or were the two of them doomed to stay in this bathroom until that night?
"Lena? What are we going to do?" Astoria repeated.
"The question is, what did you do? How did your sister find out?"
"It wasn't me, Lena, I swear, I would never do that!"
Lena rolled her eyes and prepared to make a run for it, praying the cloak in the bathroom was at least semi correct.
Opening the door and taking a quick peak, Lena made a run for it, leaving Astoria, the traitor, in the dust. As she turned the corner for the staircase, at the worst possible moment for this to happen, the bell rang, and she knew that in seconds, every single hallway would be filled with students, and she was in the center of it all with no clothes...no wand. And Astoria had stayed in the bathroom, which proved that little traitors worth.
Lena continued down the stairs, praying that the regulars were running a little late this afternoon, but everyone exited, and a few people stopped to stare at her, and for some reason all of Lena's muscles froze up. She couldn't move. Once again, at the worst possible time. Draco Malfoy exited the potions room, just in sight, and he glanced down the corridor at the commotion.
The shocked silence erupted in laughter and Lena's entire complexion would have went red from the heat of her face if it was possible. She couldn't even look at Draco. Of course he would be laughing. Lena felt the tears running down her face, and as she tried to go through the crowd, they blocked her, and she felt a spell stab her in the back, literally, and her entire body literally froze, she collapsed onto her side and she knew the worst was yet to come.
When suddenly, some from of cloth was placed over her and she felt a warm chest caress her as he picked her up. Her heart swooned for a second as she knew who it was.
Draco.
She couldn't see him, but she wanted nothing more than to turn her face around and kiss him in front of all this people. He pushed through the crowd of prying eyes and as they moved out of sight, she heard him mutter the counter-curse.
Gently setting her feet to the ground, Lena spun around, ready to hug and kiss him all over. But as her arms launched around his neck for a hug, she realized it wasn't Draco.
"Um-" Lena stuttered, pulling the jacket back over her shoulders, having falling from reaching up to hug him. "Thank you," She whispered quietly, looking into his eyes.
Why didn't she know his name? His face looked so familiar.
"Any decent person would have done it," he muttered.
"I'm Lena, by the way."
"I know," He smirked, but did not return his own name until Lena gave him an odd look. "I'm Louis. Louis Flint."
As Lena entered her dormitory, she found her wand sitting on the bed. In her anger, she channelled her magic silently in her head, Accio! The wand flew into her hand.
Magic was stronger when spoken aloud, but emotions fueled magic.
