In this chapter, our heroes will drink Polyjuice Potion.

It's time to see if they can solve the mystery.

Will they solve it?

The Muggle-borns are requesting a hero. So hopefully they can solve the mystery.

Chapter 23: Polyjuice It Up

It was currently Christmas at Hogwarts, which was ironic considering that Mary, Ron, and Hermione were planning to catch someone that had been very naughty.

They imagined that Draco Malfoy would be written on bold on Santa's naughty list, even with the possibility that he wasn't the heir. (If they were wrong about him commanding the monster to attack Muggle-borns (and Nearly Headless Nick, on account of being the Gryffindor house ghost), they were wrong.)

It had taken some time to gather the ingredients, but the job was done.

Ron Weasley had received a pumpkin pie for Christmas.

"Mmm!" exclaimed the boy.

However, there was a letter baked inside of it.

He wondered if his mother had decided to do so.

Well, might as well read what it said.

"Have you seen the car? I seriously hope you didn't steal it again." read the letter. From your dad.

He didn't want to have him removed from Hogwarts. But he might not have a say so in the matter considering his rebellious streak.

Ron wrote back that he did not. In fact, he had not seen the car since his first day of school.

Hermione received a candy bar.

She munched on it happily.

Mary received a letter.

"Come back home! Don't you know there's a monster at Hogwarts? From Petunia Dursley."

Of course, Petunia didn't realize that was actually true. She just decided to play along with her husband's story about there being a monster at Hogwarts to scare Mary away from the school.

Mary replied back by saying that she was working on finding a way to stop it. As tempting as it was to run from the monster, she was worried what would happen if it was allowed to wander free.

Dobby said that the monster would target her eventually, but for the time being, it seemed to be asleep. There had been no reports of any more attacks, which was very relieving.

Pomana Sprout would still need some more time to complete the potions though. The mandrakes were juvenile but they had not yet reached adulthood.

However, when they were about to make the last touches to the potion, they realized that there was one small problem.

In order to finish the potion, they needed strands of hair so they could impersonate Draco's friends.

It was on the fence as to how they were going to get them. Pretend to be barbers? That probably wouldn't work.

Luckily, Hermione had a plan.

She would trick Crabbe and Goyle into eating cupcakes that had been mixed with Sleeping Draught.

The two of them had a sweet tooth, so it worked surprisingly well.

In just a few seconds, the two were taking an afternoon nap.

Now all Ron and Mary needed to do was to take a piece of hair for the two of them.

The latter had some scissors.

"May I ask you why you had scissors on you?" asked Ron.

It was pretty convenient, but also fairly curious.

"I was planning on making paper owls in my dorm." noted Mary.

She figured Hedwig might like them.

Hermione locked Crabbe and Goyle in a cupboard, so that Malfoy would not know that there were imposters in the Slytherin common room.

"Does Polyjuice Potion always taste unpleasant?" asked Mary as she drank the potion.

She figured that she might need to disguise herself again someday.

"The flavor varies from person to person." explained Hermione.

"So, if I drank a polyjuice potion of Mary, it would be the sweetest thing ever?" asked Ron.

Though she was a Gryffindor, Mary Potter reminded people of a Hufflepuff. Because she had a big heart.

"Pretty much. I'm pretty sure people would like to drink polyjuice potions of her even if it didn't taste sweet though." noted the brunette girl. Who wouldn't want to transform into the girl who lived?

Well, there was Draco Malfoy obviously, but that was about it.

Mary transformed into Crabbe and Ron transformed into Goyle.

It was an interesting experience for Mary not having to wear glasses.

Perhaps she should enjoy it while it lasted…for one hour.

It was a bit weird to be in a boy's body, but considering she was a boy in a different reality she decided she could live with it.

She would respect Crabbe's privacy and keep his shirt on though. She didn't find him to be very attractive anyway, on account of his ugly personality. People said that it matched his face.

Due to limited ingredients, it wouldn't last long. Hermione imagined it would be enough though.

Hermione would keep an eye on Crabbe and Goyle in case they woke up and broke out from the closet.

It didn't take them long to find Malfoy, fortunately.

"So, you two want to hang out with me? Sure, why not?" asked Draco.

Mary and Ron nodded.

He escorted the two of them to the Slytherin common room.

The password was pure blood.

Why did it not surprise them?

"So, what do you want to talk about?" questioned Malfoy. He would prefer talking about ways to bully Muggle-born wizards and witches. But considering that they were currently being petrified, he wouldn't mind saving that for another day.

He hoped that they wouldn't talk about Mary humiliating him at Quidditch.

That girl was a pain in his caboose.

"No, I'm not. Though it would be cool if I were. I'd be able to scare every Muggle-born at this school." noted Draco Malfoy. "I can imagine the tears on their faces."

Mary was tempted to roll her eyes, but she didn't.

"So, you're not responsible for the attacks?" asked the girl.

"I don't want to risk getting expelled from Hogwarts. I happen to like it here. Though perhaps I would like it better at Durmstrang. They don't accept mudbloods." remarked Draco.

Ron wondered if Durmstrang had students that were like Malfoy. He didn't say that they didn't accept halfbloods, however. So perhaps the headmaster there wasn't a total snob.

"If you're not the heir, does this mean you do not know anything about the Chamber of Secrets?" questioned Mary.

"I might not be the heir, but I do. This actually isn't the first time the chamber was opened." noted Draco.

"Really?" asked Ron.

"Yes. The chamber was opened 50 years ago. Luckily for the school, they found the culprit and they didn't have to shut Hogwarts down. That's why we're learning here today. But before the culprit was found, somebody died." explained Draco.

"Thank you for telling us all this, Draco." thanked Mary.

She was grateful for his help.

"By the way Crabbe, you seem to have a faint scar on your forehead. Did you cut yourself?" asked Malfoy.

Considering Vincent Crabbe wasn't the brightest student around, it wouldn't surprise him much. Though he did care for his friends, believe it or not.

It was then that Mary realized the potion was starting to wear off.

Mary and Ron decided it would be best to leave before their cover was blown.

Besides, they had gotten a wealth of information from Malfoy.

And that was good enough for them. Though they weren't quite sure where they would go from there.

"It was nice talking to you!" shouted the girl in disguise.

"My friends are in such a hurry tonight." noted Draco Malfoy.

Were they planning to dunk people's heads in the toilets? That was always worth a laugh. Though he obviously wouldn't do it to other purebloods, so long as he didn't consider them to be blood traitors,

It might be fun to join them in the bullying. He didn't like getting wet though. And it might be hard to find Muggle-borns, seeing as several of them were currently hiding in their dorms.

Unfortunately, the two of them were caught by Snape.

He recognized the scent of polyjuice potion on their breath. He had brewed it himself in his younger years, and had managed to pull it off in an earlier year that his teachers had anticipated.

And he also realized that the two of them were impersonating Slytherin students, seeing how close they were to the Slytherin Dungeon.

Were they trying to write graffiti on the walls?

He didn't suspect it from Mary...but he suspected it from Ron, seeing as he stole his father's car.

"I'm disappointed in you, Mary...though I've been disappointed with Ron Weasley already for some time now." noted Snape.

"I hope you can forgive us..." spoke the girl who lived.

"Albus Dumbledore will want to hear about this." noted Snape.

So off to the headmaster's office they went.

Fortunately, Dumbledore was willing to forgive them.

He understood why they did what they did. Every Muggle-born was feeling worried, even though the attacks had ceased for some time now.

"That's an interesting bird you've got there." noted Ron.

"It's a phoenix." explained Dumbledore.

Suddenly, the phoenix exploded into a flurry of feathers.

Mary gasped.

"No worries. Fawkes will come back." noted Dumbledore.

There was now an egg where the phoenix was.

"Is it true? Was the Chamber of Secrets opened 50 years ago?" asked Mary.

She wasn't exactly sure whether it was the same person or not, given the large time intervals between each opening of the chamber.

"Yes, it was. I prefer not to openly discuss it though." nodded Dumbledore.

It seemed Malfoy was indeed telling the truth. He wasn't the Heir of Slytherin, though he knew an aspect of Hogwarts history that he did not. It was ironic considering he didn't typically do well at school.

"I understand." nodded Ron.

"That was around the same time my friend Hagrid was expelled." noted the elderly man.

Hagrid was commonly known as the gamekeeper at Hogwarts, but to Dumbledore he was more than that.

"It was?" questioned Mary.

"His pet was accused of attacking students, and ultimately getting one of them killed." said Dumbledore.

"His pet?" asked Ron.

"It was an acromantula." explained the man.

After Hagrid was accused, his pet ran into the Forbidden Forest to avoid being exterminated.

The ginger boy gulped. Those creatures were his worst fear.

"I find that to be unusual, however. An acromantula is not known for petrifying his victims. And there was no sign of bite marks on the victim's body either." noted Dumbledore.

"Do you remember where they found the body?" asked Mary.

It might be irrelevant, but it could be useful. There was an off chance that her ghost was haunting Hogwarts.

"In the girl's restroom." explained Dumbledore.

From the looks of it, the victim was a girl.

"Do you know what her name was?" asked Ron.

"I wish I could remember, but as I said, it was 50 years ago." noted Albus. Your memory tended to be a bit fuzzy when you were recalling events that happened decades ago.

He found her death disheartening, however. The man with the long beard could say that much.

Albus could try drinking a memory potion, but the shipment for the ingredients was still on its way.

He seemed to recall the girl wearing glasses though.

Sadly, this reminded him a bit of Mary.

He sure hoped that the girl who lived wouldn't suffer a similar fate.

Besides, he was hoping she would able to defeat Voldemort someday.

When they left the office, Ginny approached the duo.

"I got something that will help you with your investigation!" exclaimed the redheaded girl.

"How'd you know about that?" asked Mary.

"I might have heard you from outside the girl's restroom." noted Ginny.

"Well, I suppose you can help. I don't like putting my sister in danger, especially after what happened on your first day, but I suppose if I refuse to let you into our group you'll whine and pout until we let you in." agreed Ron.

"You just know me too well." concurred the redheaded girl.

Ginny handed Ron Veritaserum.

"We appreciate the thought, but we already interrogated Draco Malfoy. And we're pretty sure he's not the heir." noted Mary.

Draco was a jerk, but he would never lie to his closest friends.

"I could have sworn it was him." remarked Ginny.

"It was a good guess." nodded Ron.

He handed the Veritaserum back to Ginny.

"You can keep it. It might come in handy some day." suggested the boy.

The Weasley girl nodded.

She wasn't sure who she was going to use it on though.

Since Hagrid was now the suspect, Ron and Mary decided to see if he was hiding something within his beard. They thought he was trustworthy, but it didn't hurt to make sure.

Quirrell had been hiding something behind his turban (which Ron and Hermione thankfully weren't there to see), so it was worth a try.

They offered to trim his beard and he accepted it.

As it turned out, he was hiding something, but it wasn't anything incriminating.

"What were ye doing in me beard?" asked Hagrid to a gnome that had been uncovered.

"It was warm and soft." noted the gnome.

"Are you the gnome that wanted to make cookies?" asked Mary.

The gnome nodded.

"Maybe I should call you Chip." noted the girl.

"Sounds good!" exclaimed the gnome.

Since he didn't seem to be a troublemaker, he was allowed to stay at Hagrid for the time being.

Though perhaps he would want to live elsewhere.

Would they mystery be solved?

One could only hope, though not even Dumbledore himself knew.

Huh. It looks like Draco isn't the heir after all.

But he still provided our heroes with valuable information.

They can cross one suspect off the list. Even if that suspect was the prime suspect.

However, now Hagrid is a suspect.

Is Hagrid really a dark wizard?

We'll have to find out. Maybe if they prove his innocence, Hagrid can use a wand again. That's a happy thought, right?

I decided not to have Hermione become a bipedal cat like in the book because of what happens to her later. You can probaly guess what that is.

You're probably wondering why the monster isn't attacking any more students.

Well, I suggest you don't take the peace for granted. Trust me. It's not a good idea.