Chapter eleven
The four crusaders were sitting at the Gryffindor table eating breakfast when Ginny was pelted by what seemed to be a spitball. When she reached back to pick it out of her hair, her hand was bitten by a pair of razor sharp teeth, and when she pulled her hand away, the spitball was holding onto her finger for dear life while Ginny screamed in pain. As if that weren't bad enough, ten minutes later Ginny looked down to see purple, itchy spots spreading from her fingertip all the way up her arm. She had to see Madame Pomfrey, and ended up spending the next two days in the hospital ward.
They had had enough. They unanimously decided to seek revenge. Now all they needed was a plan.
They had decided that, to obtain the best and most successful results, they had to thoroughly plan this out. Hermione and Harry spent lunch periods in the library researching old and exotic potions, while Ron sent letters home asking if they would mind sending him a little extra money for Christmas presents (and besides, it wasn't like he was lying--the results of their ultimate revenge would be Christmas presents enough for everyone). Then Ron sent a letter to Fred and George asking for a few prank toys. They visited Ginny in the hospital several times a day and gave her the update of thier progress. When she finally got out, she too asked for a little spare money. Ginny and Ron knew that, even though their parents would most likely be reluctant to send them more money, it would completely be worth it in the long run. In the meanwhile, Malfoy didn't bother letting up on the pranks, but no matter how frustrated or aggravated the four of them were, they knew that their time would come.
The four of them gathered in the common room late Friday night. Since tomorrow was the weekend, it would be the perfect time to organize a plan of action. Hermione and Harry had found as many complex and strange potions as they could, most of which would be unrecognizable by any Hogwarts student, and even some teachers. The books they had found were so intricate and absurd, some of the potions could make you grow an extra head, give you six fingers, make you glow green or smell strangely of cabbage stew for days on end. Despite the high danger and difficulty factors, Hermione had convinced the rest of them that they could do it. Ron and Ginny had received a surprisingly large amount of money from their parents; Mrs. Weasley refused to reveal the reasoning, but ensured them that they had quite a surprise waiting for them when they returned for the summer holiday. Fred and George had also pulled through quite nicely, sending them hair-sprouting gumballs(they made hair grow randomly around your mouth and hands), fizzy-lifting drinks (*idea courtesy of Mr. Willy Wonka*) and of course, their famous Ton-Tongue Toffees, among other items, along with a letter wishing them luck on whatever prank it was that they were planning. That weekend, they planned to go to Hogsmeade and pick up as many items as they could, and also to see if they could find some of the potion ingredients. They knew it would be absolutely necessary to break into Snape's store of ingredients, but with Harry's cloak and a good alibi that wouldn't be a problem.
Saturday afternoon, they returned from Hogsmeade loaded with ingredients and items. It was surprisingly impressive how many of the ingredients they could find, especially the more rare ones they thought would be damn near impossible to locate. This meant they only had to steal a few items from Snape's cabinet, so it would be even less of a risk.
They met again late that night in the common room, after everyone else had gone upstairs. They opened the potion book and set aside each potion's ingredients. They were planning to prepare six potions, and they had all the ingredients for one of them; they were only missing five total, one from each of the others. They decided that it would be best if Ron and Hermione went, so that, if there ever was any suspicion that the four of them were involved, Harry, the most likely and accused target, would be safe in the common room with Ginny, who would be his alibi. Plus, Hermione knew what each of the ingredients looked like, so she would be able to locate them easily and quickly. Ron would go because, well, Hermione couldn't carry everything, but also, and he hadn't told anyone this until now, he had obtained the Maurauder's Map. He had planned on giving it to Harry as one of his Christmas gifts, but it couldn't really wait till then and Harry was still surprised and delighted nonetheless. When Harry asked how he had gotten it after all these years (you know how two years can feel like forever), Ron simply shrugged and smiled.
They planned to set out that night, after the corridors had been abandoned and the teachers had gone off to bed. Finally, at one in the morning, Ron and Hermione pulled on the cloak, waved gooodbye to Harry and Ginny, and climbed through the portrait hole.