Polyjuice Potion
"Okay," said Hermione, pacing the bathroom. Alice stifled a yawn behind her hand.
It was five in the morning. The rain was pounding the windows and yet, Hermione had gathered them in a toilet. Particularly a haunted toilet. Moaning Myrtle made private business very unpleasant.
"This is what we know" she said, "fifty years ago, someone opened the Chamber of Secrets. We don't know who it is, and if they were ever caught, because the whole thing was hushed up. But now, everyone thinks that Harry is the heir, just because he can speak Parseltongue. But I have a feeling that it might be Malfoy. His family's blood is as pure as anything, and he hates muggles."
"Do you know," said Harry slowly, "that although I told the snake to get away from Justin, it continued to advance on Justin because someone else was commanding it?"
Ron's mouth dropped open. "What?"
"Well, I told it not to attack Justin, but at the same time, there was another voice saying attack him, kill him, rip him into shreds!"
"So you mean that there was someone else in the room that could speak Parseltongue?"
"Yes."
"Definitely Malfoy, he was the one who conjured up the snake."
"Hey!" said Alice, "all this is very nice supposing, but how are you going to spy on him? I'm not doing it."
"Easy," said Hermione plainly, "we're going to turn into Malfoy's best pals. I'm going to be Millicent; Harry's going to be Goyle, Ron's going to be Crabbe and Alice, you're going to be Pansy, Pansy Parkinson."
Alice's eyes bugged out. "You've got to be kidding me!" she almost screamed.
"No, Alice," said Hermione, "we're NOT kidding you."
"Then make me wake up!" Alice groaned, "Turning me into Pansy Parkinson is the last thing I'll ever do! I will die! Really!"
Harry sighed. "Please, Alice, Ron and I don't want to do it either, but it's the only thing we've got. We think Malfoy's behind all this, but we can't prove it!"
Hermione grinned suddenly.
"Alice, think of it as…dressing up."
That got her. "Yay! I love clothes!"
---
The potion bubbled in front of Alice's eyes. She eyed it with distaste.
"I still can't believe you went into all that trouble just to turn into Crabbe and Goyle," she moaned.
"Come on, Alice, you promised," said Hermione cheerfully. Alice gulped.
"How many Slytherins are staying here for Christmas?"
"Just about all, so we'll need to be careful. Ready?"
Alice dropped Pansy's hair into the polyjuice potion. It started to bubble and froth and turned a disgusting yellow. "I'm ready."
"Wait," said Harry, as they all tilted back their heads to drink, "once we transform, we won't fit. Come on, let's all go into the cubicles… "
The instant Alice tasted it, she wanted to spit it back out.
The potion tasted like overcooked carrots. Almost instantly, her insides began to wither like worms. Then a burning sensation started to spread from her stomach and straight to her the ends of her fingers and toes. Then she experienced an even more horrible feeling as her whole body began to bubble like wax. She stared at her fingers; they had begun to thicken and grow. Alice could feel her backside taking on new weight; so had her front side. She reached up to her face and met a new layer of blubber that she had never before dreamt to touch.
And then everything stopped. And in the mirror was—
"Pansy Parkinson?"
Her voice was now a low rasp. Pansy Parkinson resembled a boy more than a girl. Her face was all squashed up like she had just run at a wall. With trembling fingers, she slipped out of her robes, which were now in shreds, hanging at least three feet above her ankles. And then she laced up her shoes, where the toes had now burst through, and hastily stuffed her scarf into her robes.
"Alice?" came Goyle's voice from the next stall.
"Harry?" she unlocked the door and found herself face-to-face with Goyle. He smiled—an expression that didn't seem quite nice on him.
"Ron?" she asked. Crabbe stepped out from behind her. She jumped in fright.
"It's only me," said Ron hastily. He pounded on Hermione's door.
"Hermione! Are you ready?"
"You go first!" she squeaked.
They looked at each other. "Hermione," said Alice, "I know that Millicent Bulstrode is not pretty, so come out! I'm no better!"
"No! Just go…you're wasting time!"
Harry shrugged. "Let's go."
As soon as they reached the Great Hall, they realized that they were hopelessly lost.
"I think that the Slytherins come from here…" Harry suggested, pointing. And then their saviour came.
"Crabbe! Goyle! Have you two been pigging out in the hall all this time?" then his eyes slid over to Alice, "oh, Pansy, you'd better come as well. I've got something funny to show you." It occurred to Alice that Malfoy liked Pansy, but she said nothing.
They came to a stretch of damp stone. "Pure blood," said Malfoy, and they entered.
The Slytherin common room was exactly the opposite of the Gryffindor common room. The ceiling was very low, and most of the room was in shadow. Alice looked around automatically for Jasper, and sure enough, he was there, asleep with his head in his arms on a spell book. Malfoy smirked.
"Watch this," he whispered, "I learnt this yesterday." He took out his wand.
"Accio wand!"
Jasper's wand, which was lying beside his spell book, suddenly flew across the room into Malfoy's hand. He caught it, smiling in triumph. But the movement had disturbed Jasper. He sat up and saw his wand in Malfoy's hands.
"Give me back my wand!"
Malfoy smirked. "Not so fast, I think." And he snapped it right in half.
There was no telling if Alice would've went right up to Malfoy and slapped him if it weren't for Harry, who stopped her at the last moment. She forced Pansy's face into an awful smirk. Malfoy snapped the wand again and again, until it looked like it had been through the Whomping Willow. And then he threw it into the fireplace.
"That'll teach you not refuse when I want to copy your homework." He smirked again and mentioned for them to follow him into the dormitories. However, he stopped Alice.
"Pansy, I've already told you that you can't come in here." The way he said that was plain sick; Alice never thought she'd see the day when Malfoy would simper at her. Alice went back to the Slytherin common room alone, where Jasper was still trying to retrieve his wand from the fireplace. When he saw her, however, his face pulled into an awful snarl.
"Come to gloat again? Is Malfoy still not satisfied with my loss?" he hissed at her.
Alice didn't know what to do. "Um, no."
Pansy Bulstrode obviously didn't stutter, because he looked at her curiously, but didn't say anything. Then he gave up on his wand and slumped back to his table.
"What are you doing?" asked Alice, watching him scribble on a piece of parchment. That gave her away. Jasper raised an eyebrow.
"What do I look like I'm doing? Writing for a new wand," then he added, "Alice."
Alice stared. "Excuse me?"
"Well, you're not very good at spying, and it's only a matter of time before you're going to be caught if you continue wearing a Gryffindor scarf."
Alice blushed and looked down to see the end of her Gryffindor scarf poking out of her robes. "Oops."
"You're lucky that Malfoy didn't see that. But what are you doing here?"
Alice sat back down. "Spying, like you guessed. Harry thinks that Malfoy's the heir of Slytherin." As soon as she said it, she blushed again—it sounded so funny in the context.
Jasper's expression was amused. "Malfoy, the heir of Slytherin? What a disappointment, having such a disgusting piece of filth for an heir. I'm surprised. Malfoy's not the type."
Alice thought for a moment. Jasper burst into laughter. Alice frowned.
"What?" she had never seen him laugh that hard before.
"You have no idea how funny Pansy looks when she's thinking," he said, still laughing.
Alice reached into her robes and grabbed a mirror. "Oh my gosh, I do look comical," she gasped.
Jasper straightened up. "Well, you're going to have to try again, because the heir of Slytherin is definitely not Malfoy." Then his expression changed into horror.
"Alice, you'd better go. You're changing back."
Just then, Harry and Ron came running out. Alice gasped—Ron's hair was now turning back to red and Harry's scar was beginning to show again. She realized that she must've started shrinking.
"Go. I'll cover for you," Jasper hissed, throwing open the door and letting them out. Alice could hear Malfoy bellowing behind them before the slab of stone slid shut again.
-
Alice was not really expecting it.
This was probably the worst thing that could possibly happen, as she stepped back into the common room. Bella was sitting in front of the now dimly lit fireplace.
"Hi, Bella!" Alice said wearily. Harry and Ron both said goodnight. Alice sat beside her friend.
"Bella?" Alice started to shake her friend. And then she screamed.
"BELLA? BELLA? BELLA, NO, IT CAN'T BE! BELLA! NO! IS THIS A JOKE?"
But the silence and stiffness of Bella's cold and frozen body told Alice that no, no, this was not a joke.
AN
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear...
Please REVIEW!!!