A/N: HELLO! I'm almost late again... no excuses this time. Sorry. But it's still Monday, so I hope it's fine.

The Polyjuice Potion

On the next day, in D.A.D.A Lockhart was reading Wanderings with Werewolves out loud for the class, making Harry act like a werewolf for a reenactment of the scene where Lockhart claimed to have pinned the werewolf down with one hand and using a spell to change them back to human form.

"Professor, how come this spell is not used more often to cure people of lycanthropy?" Said Lily, raising her hand.

"I can see you have never met with a werewolf, Miss Boyd….

"Prewett," Lily corrected.

"Miss Prewett. If you had known werewolves as I do, you would know that they love being werewolves, and would attack anyone who came to them offering a cure," he said. Lily felt her face grow red in rage. The man didn't have a clue of what he was talking about! But she couldn't really tell him that she actually knew a werewolf very well.

Lily just kept staring at the man as he reenacted the book passages, waiting for the class to be over.

"Homework - compose a poem about my defeat of the Wagga Wagga Werewolf! Signed copies of Magical Me to the author of the best one!"

As she was placing everything back into her bag, Lily noticed that Harry, Ron and Hermione had stayed behind. Hermione was trying to get Lockhart to sign a permission for her to take a book from the restricted section, and Lily's instinct told her to stay back and wait for them. She waited as Lockhart offered Harry some help with nothing less than Quidditch, which obviously offended the boy. In fact, it offended Lily too. Who was that man to offer to train Harry Potter at quidditch? But she kept quiet. Once they left the classroom, Lily followed them. They were talking about how surprised they were about their achievement and how little resistance Lockhart had put up… apparently he didn't even look at the book they were taking.

"What was that about?"

"Oh, hi Lily!" said Ron. "This is a bit of a long story."

"We can explain to you if you come with us," said Harry. "As long as you don't tell Snape about it."

"Don't say you think Snape is the heir of Slytherin, please, we went through it last year already."

Harry stopped in his tracks and turned to face Lily. It seemed that he hadn't thought of it yet, and Lily had just given him the idea. But Hermione quickly intervened.

"It can't be Snape. Otherwise he would have opened the chamber ages ago."

"Uhm, yeah, probably," said Harry.

They dropped their voices as they entered the muffled stillness of the library. Madam Pince eyed them irritably.

"Moste Potente Potions?" she repeated suspiciously, trying to take the note from Hermione; but Hermione wouldn't let go.

"I was wondering if I could keep it," she said breathlessly.

"Oh, come on," said Ron, wrenching it from her grasp and thrusting it at Madam Pince. "We'll get you another autograph. Lockhart'll sign anything if it stands still long enough."

Madam Pince held the note up to the light, as though determined to detect a forgery, but it passed the test. She stalked away between the lofty shelves and returned several minutes later carrying a large and moldy-looking book. Hermione put it carefully into her bag and they left.

"What is it?" Lily tried again, but the trio only told her to stay quiet and follow them until they were barricaded in an out-of-order bathroom which was in the same corridor where Mrs. Norris had been attacked. "Why are we here?"

"Look, Lily, you really can't tell this to anyone, ok? Not Snape, not even Hector. Can you promise that?"

"But Hector is my brother!"

"I'm not going to tell any of my siblings," said Ron.

"Well, alright. What is it?"

"We think Malfoy might be the heir of Slytherin and that he unleashed the monster inside the Chamber of Secrets on , and might attack again."

"I talked to Hector about this. We don't think Malfoy has the nerve to actually kill anyone, but I personally don't think he would mind torturing a cat or two."

"Well, maybe. But I don't think Malfoy is above using the monster to attack others."

"Oh, so it actually is a monster?"

"Yes. Professor Binns told us in History of Magic class. He doesn't think there is a chamber at all, but at least he knows old legends," Hermione explained.

"Right, so your theory is that Malfoy has unleashed a monster that will attack muggle borns. So, how do you expect to confirm it? I don't suppose you will just go and ask."

"Well, that's exactly what we are going to do," Hermione said proudly, showing the index of the book to Lily.

Lily's brain took a good minute to process the plan after she read the name of the potion Hermione was pointing.

"The polyjuice potion? Are you mad?"

"It's the only way."

"Hermione, it's literally illegal! And it can go horribly wrong."

But Hermione didn't answer. Instead, she opened Moste Potente Potions carefully, and the four of them bent over the damp-spotted pages. It was clear from a glance why it belonged in the Restricted Section. Some of the potions had effects almost too gruesome to think about, and there were some very unpleasant illustrations, which included a man who seemed to have been turned inside out and a witch sprouting several extra pairs of arms out of her head.

"Here it is," said Hermione excitedly as she found the page headed The Polyjuice Potion. It was decorated with drawings of people halfway through transforming into other people, and they all looked like they were going through a terrible pain.

"This is the most complicated potion I've ever seen," said Hermione as they scanned the recipe. "Lacewing flies, leeches, fluxweed, and knotgrass," she murmured, running her finger down the list of ingredients. "Well, they're easy enough, they're in the student store- cupboard, we can help ourselves ... Oooh, look, powdered horn of a bicorn - don't know where we're going to get that - shredded skin of a boomslang -. that'll be tricky, too and of course a bit of whoever we want to change into."

"Excuse me?" said Ron sharply. "What do you mean, a bit of whoever we're changing into? I'm drinking nothing with Crabbe's toenails in it –"

Hermione continued as though she hadn't heard him.

"We don't have to worry about that yet, though, because we add those bits last."

"D'you realize how much we're going to have to steal, Hermione? Shredded skin of a boomslang, that's definitely not in the students' cupboard. What're we going to do, break into Snape's private stores? I don't know if this is a good idea ...

Hermione shut the book in a snap.

"Well, if you are going to chicken out, fine," she said. There were bright pink patches on her cheeks and her eyes were brighter than usual. "I don't want to break rules, you know. I think threatening Muggle-borns is far worse than brewing up a difficult potion. But if you don't want to find out if it's Malfoy, I'll go straight to Madam Pince now and hand the book back in."

"I never thought I'd see the day when you'd be persuading us to break rules," said Ron.

"She is right, though. It's worth it," said Lily, Hector's face popping into her thoughts.

"How long will it take to make, anyway?" said Harry as Hermione, looking happier, opened the book again.

"Well, since the fluxweed has got to be picked at the full moon and the lacewings have got to be stewed for twenty-one days ... I'd say it'd be ready in about a month, if we can get all the ingredients."

"I'll get them," Lily said. "I know Snape's cupboard, I've cleaned it last year. And he trusts me." It broke her heart to say that. She didn't want to betray Snape's trust, but Hermione was right. And, besides, she was the only one able to hide the information in her mind. Ron, on the other hand, was more worried about the time.

"A month?" He said. "Malfoy could have attacked half the Muggle- borns in the school by then!" But Hermione's eyes narrowed dangerously again, and he added swiftly, "But it's the best plan we've got, so full steam ahead, I say."

However, while Hermione was checking that the coast was clear for them to leave the bathroom, Ron muttered to Harry, "It'll be a lot less hassle if you can just knock Malfoy off his broom on Saturday."

Lily had completely forgotten there would be a Quidditch match on the weekend – Slytherin against Gryffindor –. Indeed, she thought, it would be great if Harry managed to knock Malfoy out of his broom, and maybe the rest of the team too.

As the days went by, Lily regretted more and more offering herself to steal from Snape's cupboard. She hated the idea, and she knew it would hurt Snape too, but it was as Hermione said, it was the only way. The only thing Lily could do was to apologize later. But maybe Snape wouldn't forgive her, said a small voice in the back of her head.

She hadn't yet written home asking about the Chamber of Secrets, and neither had Hector. They both had agreed not to say anything unless something else happened. And Violet hadn't answered her letter yet. So, besides a letter written by Remus asking Lily to be patient because Violet was working on an answer, Lily hadn't much contact to her mother nor to her godfather in the past weeks, and for the first time ever since she had gotten to Hogwarts, she missed home.

The one who finally brought her mind off the subject was Megan on Friday night when the two were the last ones in the common room, trying to compose a poem about Gilderoy Lockhart's adventures with werewolves. Megan had managed to write the first line, but Lily couldn't get through the first letter, which for some reason was a large D.

"Why did you change your name?" Megan finally broke the silence. "I know we are not supposed to ask, but..."

"It's fine," Lily said. "I changed it because I am sick of the thought of hiding behind my father's name. My muggle father, I mean. I'm not registered as Boyd in the wizarding world, because my mother never married him in the wizarding world, or had him adopt me. She never told him about being a witch at all. And so, when she registered me – and I think it must have been after the war, because she was in hiding when I was born – she did only under her name."

"Didn't your mother like your father?" Megan asked.

"Yes, but as a friend. They were great friends. Dad was an artist, and he loved flowers. That was why they called me Lily. And my mother liked him because of that… I think being with a man who loved to paint beautiful things made her world a little less ugly."

"You like painting too, don't you?"

"I love painting. My father took me out to paint often. He always had watercolour with him, just in case he saw something beautiful on his way. And then he would sit down and paint it, even if it was in the middle of the street. He would let me sit with him and draw on a sketchbook I used to carry around, and then we would go back home and have a cup of ginger tea."

"He sounds like a lovely person. What happened to him? You don't have to answer if I'm going too far."

"He died," Lily said, turning her eyes away from Megan to look at the fireplace. "Two years ago. We were going back home from one of these painting trips. We just had to cross the avenue and we would be home… but a bus hit him." It was really hard to push her voice out of her throat.

"I'm so sorry," Megan said.

"It's fine."

"Thank you for sharing this with me," said Megan. Then, she probably sensed that Lily wanted to change the subject. "Anyway, so your mother is a Prewett?"

"Yes, why?"

"The Prewetts are one of the sacred twenty-eight families."

"What does it mean?"

"It's a list of twenty-eight wizarding families that were still pure-blood in the 1930's. It's a bit stupid. But it's a sort of fun-fact about your family."

"Well, maybe now people will think I'm the heir of Slytherin."

Megan giggled. "You? The heir of Slytherin? Please… Anyway, Hannah's family is in the list too."

"Hannah's half blood, though," Lily said.

"Aren't you?"

Lily shook her head. "I guess it doesn't help that I'm Snape's favorite teacher too, does it?" She joked, and Megan laughed.

"Yeah, that's hard to explain… he is pretty awful to everyone outside of Slytherin, except for you."

"I know. I try to tell him that. He is really nice to me, though. He and my mother used to be friends, when they were young."

"No way! You have to write to her and ask how he was! I absolutely need to know the gossip from Snape's teenage years!"

"Oh, I wish! My mother is a really hard person to get information from," Lily joked, but it was the most absolute truth.

"You don't think he is your father, do you?"

"Merlin, no!" Lily shivered at the horrifying thought of her mother and Snape being a couple.

"Yeah, there isn't any resemblance. But, I don't know, he looked pretty concerned when your pendant bit you during the Halloween feast."

"I really don't know why, but he takes care of me. Not in a creepy way. In a caretaker way. And I really don't know exactly why."

Lily sighed and looked back at the parchment in front of her. "Well, I don't think this will go anywhere."

"Yeah, me neither," said Megan. "Come on, let's go to sleep. I want to be awake for the match tomorrow."

They went upstairs to their dorm, changed to their pajamas and laid on their beds. Lily, however, remained awake for a long time, thinking of what she was going to do to Snape.

On the next morning, she was taken out of her sleep by something brushing against her face. She opened her eyes and took a confused minute to understand it was Helga's beak. Tied to her legs, there was a letter from her mother, but there was no time to read it. There was no one else in the dormitory, and Lily jumped from her bed and got dressed, afraid she was late for the game, but she relaxed when she ran downstairs.

Cedric and Heidi were sitting on one of the sofas, talking excitedly about the match to come. It would be a chance to see the Slytherins' Nimbus 2001 in action, and it would give them a clue of how to beat them.

The three of them were going up to breakfast, while still talking about the brooms and the players. It was a little late, so the great hall was already crowded, and the rest of the Hufflepuff team had already gone to the field to save nice spots for them all. Cedric said, between gulps of milk, that it would be decided by the abilities of the seekers, because the Gryffindor chasers didn't stand a chance against the speed of the Slytherins on those brooms. Heidi thought there was still a chance if the Gryffindor had the presence of heart to stay calm and confound the Slytherins, but every move would have to be anticipated and practiced many times, so they could do everything while hanging upside down on their brooms if needed. Lily said that, even if they had that kind of practice, the Slytherins would catch up just by the fact that they could move much faster. She agreed with Cedric: it would be down to Harry to catch the snitch as soon as he could and end the game quickly.

As eleven o'clock approached, they left to the field and sat down near the rest of the team. There was a sort of electric charge in the air, announcing the imminence of a storm. Lily looked around to see if she spotted Hector. He was at the Ravenclaw stand, on the opposite side of the pitch. She waved at him and he waved back. Then, a hand started to mess her hair, and she looked back to see the smiling face of Anthony Rickett, the other beater of the Hufflepuff team. Anthony was a tall, blond boy who was in his fourth year. His muscles were visible through his robes, even though he was slender rather than stocky. He was way taller and stronger than Lily, which made them look like cartoon characters when playing together. Of course Lily had a lot of strength on her arms too – she was able to hit the Bludger as hard as Anthony – but her muscles weren't so evident.

"Hey, Lils!" He said cheerfully.

"Hey, Anthony!"

"I haven't seen you off practice in a while. How have you been?"

"A bit busy. Studying a lot for potions," she said. It wasn't an absolute lie, after all.

"Oh yeah, you are the only Hufflepuff who gets points from Snape. Will you be the one to help our house finally win the cup this year?"

"Well, that depends on if we will be able to beat the Slytherins on those Nimbus 2001, but I hope so!"

"Don't worry, Lils. They have the coin, but we have the heart."

"Anthony is right Lily!" Said Herbert Fleet, their seventh year keeper.

"I know!" Lily said. "Hey, Herbert! It will be on you too, when we play against the Slytherins. I mean, Cedric will have to catch the snitch while Heidi, Tamsin and Malcolm try to hold their chasers, but the keeper doesn't depend on speed as much as the chasers, right?"

"Well, you're right! We should discuss this afterwards. If you were in third year we could talk at some pub in Hogsmeade."

"Well, maybe next year, then," she was obviously joking, because Herbert would graduate that year.

Herbert opened his mouth to answer, but his words were cut by a sudden roar of noise around them. The Gryffindor team was walking into the pit. Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were cheering along with Gryffindors, because they all despised the idea of having Slytherin win the house cup again.

Madam Hooch made Oliver Wood and Marcus Flint shake hands, which they did while staring at each other. Then, Madam Hooch blew her whistle and the players started to rise with roars from the crowd. Lily watched Harry fly higher than any of the other players, while Malfoy remained at the same level as the others.

"See this, that's what I'm talking about! Slytherin's seeker doesn't have a clue of what he's doing!"

"Why?" Said a voice from behind Lily. She looked back to see that Susan and Megan were sitting right behind her. Megan was clearly trying to explain a little more about quidditch to Susan, who didn't understand much about the sport.

"Oh, hey! I hadn't seen you there," Lily smiled.

"Oh, hello! Well, see where Potter is? That is the position of a seeker. He can see the entire pitch from where he is, and he is high enough to dive as fast as a hawk towards the snitch. Malfoy is just looking around from the same level as the other players. If the snitch is higher than he is, it will be slower to rise than to dive. And the chasers and beaters will be on his way too." Cedric explained.

Lily had her eyes on Fred and George. They seemed to have a sort of space division of the field, rather than a division between Bludger like she and Anthony would do at practice. The Slytherin beaters were great too, and they were really fast. But for some reason, neither of the twins were prepared to beat the Bludger that flew at full speed towards Harry. The ball missed the boy for no more than an inch! George quickly rose and knocked the Bludger at one of the Slytherin chasers, but then the ball changed direction and went back towards Harry, who dropped to avoid it, and once again George managed to hit it with his club, this time aiming at Malfoy. To everyone's dismay, the Bludger swerved like a boomerang and shot at Harry's head.

"Someone fixed that Bludger!" Lily said in alarm.

"How? It was locked in a box!" said Tamsin.

Harry was now accelerating towards the other end of the pitch, with the bludger following him closely.

"I don't know, but there's no other explanation for that."

"Bloody hell," said Herbert."You're right, there's something wrong with that Bludger. "

"But the Weasleys are neglecting the other bludger!" Said Anthony, as the ball hit Angelina Johnson in the stomach just as she was about to score a goal for Gryffindor.

Lily stood up and went to the edge of the stand, anxiously following Harry with her eyes. Fred was waiting for Harry, his club in hands. He hit the bludger off course, but the thing seemed to be magnetically attracted by Harry. What was going on?

It started to rain, and it got harder to see Harry through the drops. But soon after all seven red cloaked players went down for a time out. Lily hoped they would stop the match. The Gryffindors seemed to be having an argument. The rain was falling more heavily, and Cedric had casted a umbrella charm over the team, but Lily was too concerned to think about getting soaked. Finally, to Lily's despair, Madam Hooch blew her whistle again and the Gryffindors went back to the air.

"Well, if they had asked for an inquiry they would have to forfeit the match," said Heidi. "At least the Slytherins won't be given victory so easily."

Harry was now going up and down, zigzagging, spiraling and swooping, avoiding the Bludger's fierce attacks. He was doing a sort of roller-coaster ride around the edges of the stadium, and most of the crowd was laughing. Lily felt her heart pounding on her head. Cedric physically dragged her to sit under the umbrella charm.

"Keep calm, Lily, it will be fine. Potter knows how to move."

"He does, but-"

"What is it, Lils? Do you have a crush on Potter?" Anthony joked, trying to cheer her up. "Afraid the bludger will take away his looks?"

"That's not funny, Anthony," she said angrily. "And no, I don't have a crush on Harry!"

She kept watching Harry, who had stopped his broom close to the stand where she was. Malfoy was close too, and the Golden Snitch was flying close to his ear. Harry was very still on his broom, like a cat stalking a butterfly. But he remained still for a moment too long, and the bludger came crashing at his arm. Lily screamed and covered her mouth, Harry's arm was now dangling at his side, visibly broken. The bludger came back for a second attack, but miraculously Harry swerved out of the way and dropped toward Malfoy. The Slytherin seeker moved out of the way. Harry was holding his broom between his knees, and had remaining arm stretched out. His hand closed around the snitch… and the boy fell to the ground. Lily watched, frozen to her seat, as he landed on the mud and rolled out of his broom. Harry raised his good arm and showed the Snitch. Gryffindor was awarded one hundred and fifty points, and the commentator announced the end of the game. There was another roar of noise, the stands of Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor cheering loudly – the latter louder than any of the others.

Then, the teachers ran down the stands to help Harry, most of the students formed a circle around the boy to see if he was okay. Lockhart, of course, claimed that it would be fine, and he would easily fix Harry's arm.

"But, professor, wouldn't it be better to take him straight to the hospital wing?" Ron said, just as Harry opened his eyes. Lockhart ignored Ron and turned to face the boy on the ground with a white, shiny smile. Colin Creevey moved around frantically, taking photos of every angle.

"Oh, no, not you," Harry moaned.

"Doesn't know what he's saying," said Lockhart loudly to the anxious crowd around them. "Not to worry, Harry. I'm about to fix your arm."

"No!" said Harry, trying to sit up. "I'll keep it like this, thanks …. I don't want a photo of this, Colin," he said loudly, noticing the click of the camera.

"Lie back, Harry," said Lockhart soothingly. "It's a simple charm I've used countless times"

"Stop this! Take him to Madam Pomfrey!" Lily shouted, but was ignored as well, so she decided to leave before she lost her temper and attacked Lockhart.

A few yards from there, Fred and George were wrestling the rogue Bludger into a box, so Lily went to help.

"Somebody fixed this Bludger," said Fred.

"You should ask for an inquiry, Harry could have been killed," Lily said, pushing the ball down as hard as she could.

"I'll talk to Wood about this," George said. "Now, let's hold it together, one of us on each side, and when I count to three we will push it down. One.. Two… Three!" And the ball was finally in the box, and Fred quickly closed it.

Just as they finished the task, there was a collective sound of disgust coming from the crowd around Harry. Someone yelled "You deboned his arm!" and then Harry was being carried to the hospital wing by Hermione and Ron.

"I can't believe it!" Lily said. "He deboned Harry's arm!"

"I've never seen a deboned arm before, George, have you?" Fred asked.

"No, I haven't. But I know where we can see one. Relax, little cousin, Harry will be fine. I'm sure Madam Pomfrey will have something to grow Harry's bones back."

"I know there is a potion, my mom brewed it once. But, still…"

"Yeah, Lockhart is a pain in the neck. But he isn't a Snape!" Lily couldn't help but laugh. She was glad that Fred and George could get her to calm down with their jokes. "Well, cousin, if you want to go pay a visit to our amazing seeker, we will go get something for him to eat and make a celebration party at the hospital wing."

"I'll go later. First I'll go talk to the team about the match," she said, and turned to go find the Hufflepuffs.

The team was in the common room, waiting for Lily to start the meeting. The girl sat down, and Cedric started to speak.

"Well, it's like we had thought. When it comes to speed, no one can beat the Slytherins, but they clearly put all their faith on their brooms. The Gryffindors would have smashed them if their equipment matched. I think we should use the same strategy as the Gryffindors when we play against the Slytherins: you hold them back while I end the game as soon as I can."

"But the Slytherins might be expecting that," said Heidi. "And there isn't much the chasers can do against those brooms."

"I think it will be up to Lily and Anthony to delay the Slytherin chasers with the bludgers and buy us some time with the quaffles," said Tamsin.

"I'm pretty sure it can be done. I liked how Fred and George split their range of action on the field, rather than keep going after only one bludger like most beaters do. I think we should try this in our next practice."

"I agree with Lily," said Anthony. "We can split the field, or the area around the chasers, and have a defined distance we can go after a Bludger, instead of following them like crazy and spending energy. It will give us more time to build strategy."

"Well, it's decided then," said Herbert. "So, when it comes to the Gryffindors, what will be our strategy?"

"That will be a problem. They have a really strong team," said Tamsin. "Angelina Johnson is impossible to check!"

"And their hawkshead formation is unbeatable," said Malcolm. "Katie Bell is an expert at scoring while hanging upside down."

"We should practice our double beater defence, Lily," Anthony said.

"Yeah, and we all should think of a power play strategy," Lily said.

After the meeting was over, Lily went up to see how Hary was doing, but found the hospital wing to be closed. She wasn't the only one trying to visit the boy; Colin Creevey was there too, with his camera in hands. Madam Pomfrey told them to let the boy rest, and Lily did as she was told. Colin, however, didn't seem to have resigned on his quest to take a picture of Harry on a hospital bed, and told Lily he would try and sneak in later. The girl rolled her eyes and went back to her common room to finish her poem about Lockhart's experience with the Wagga Wagga Werewolf. She went to bed early, right after dinner, and thought of reading the letter from her mother, but didn't want to upset herself before going to sleep.

A/N: Sooooo what did you think? I remember that I really enjoyed writting this chapter, as well as the fourteenth chapter (which was probably my favorite) so I hope that you enjoy it as well.