Let me respond to haylee's comment about Apparition, first:
Have an internet cookie for being the first one to notice! I thought it was hilarious how Hermione was so frustrated that nobody read Hogwarts, A History so I decided to add Apparition into the story to see who would notice. Congrats!
The regular author's note:
So, I'm going to stop telling you about future chapters because I don't even know when some chapters are going to be uploaded. Enjoy some Yule Ball hype.
…..
Chapter 9: Preparation For A Disaster
Stage 1 of the Yule Ball Blizzard: Insanity
It was Tuesday, December 2nd, when the scroll was pinned onto the notice board.
Dear students,
The Yule Ball shall take place on Christmas Day, from eight o'clock in the evening to midnight. The event will be held in the Great Hall. Everyone, from first-years to fourth-years, is permitted and encouraged to attend the ball. You may also bring a date. The champions' presence is mandatory.
Sincerely,
Headmaster Fu, Headmaster Freeburrow, and the staff of Hogwarts
Needless to say, all forms of peace disappeared completely.
That was the first stage of what was known as the Blizzard, the twenty-odd days leading up to the Yule Ball.
The first stage was named Insanity, and rightly so.
For an entire day, nothing, nothing, could escape the Blizzard's grasp.
The teenagers of Hogwarts and Ramhorns didn't really care about the personal details of the Yule Ball (for now).
Nobody mentioned dates, dancing, or clothes.
Just the simple thought that the Yule Ball existed and was actually going to happen excited them.
The professors gave up all hope of possibly tranquilizing the students and let them talk during the school day.
"Can you believe it?! The party of the year! Man, this is gonna be sick! I'm going to ask Headmaster Fu if I can DJ for an hour," Nino grinned.
"I heard that Jagged Stone's going to play at the Yule Ball," Marinette added.
"If he's playing, he's going to have to crash the party. Chloe's father, no surprise there, is paying for the whole Yule Ball, and you know what that means," Alya said.
"XY's going to be there and I won't get to DJ," Nino sighed.
"Since you're a Slytherin, Adrien, you could probably convince Chloe to choose Jagged Stone over XY. Hint, hint," Alya whispered.
"I'll try," Adrien hastily said.
He walked over to Chloe.
"So, uhhhhh, about the music for the Yule Ball-"
"I know, Adrikins, your girlfriend already has everything figured out! I'm going to ask my daddy to hire XY!" Chloe smiled.
"Oh...okay….uhhhhh," Adrien blankly said.
"Don't be a pushover!" Nino mouthed.
"Maybe you could hire Jagged Stone instead ?" Adrien said. "I mean, I would love it if you did that. And maybe let Nino DJ for an hour, too?"
Chloe thought it over for a second. "Anything to make my Adrikins happy! And take your time with your date proposal. I'm sure your going to make your profession of love for me very romantic and public!"
The last word came out in a slightly hostile way.
"Good luck. You're officially DJing at the Yule Ball," Adrien grinned.
"Thanks, buddy," Nino said. "And, speaking of which, it's time for round three of the Triwizard Tournament bets."
"There are rounds? As in rounds, plural?" Marinette asked.
"Of course!" Alya said. "I still don't know how Alix and Kim managed to set up the official betting rounds so quickly, but I won't question them. There's the champion bets, the first task bets, the Yule Ball date bets, the riddle bets, the second task bets, the combined score bets, and the bets on who's gonna win the whole shebang."
"I don't think it's right to bet on who's going to ask who to the dance. Most people are going to go as friends, anyway," Adrien said.
"Rule number one of the Blizzard is that you don't mention the other stages before they happen. This is stage one. Don't skip to stages three and four yet, or else it's going to be a disaster," Nino said.
"Yeah, e-especially since it's you, A-Adrien," Marinette stammered.
Adrien blinked. "Stages? Did I miss something?"
"According to Max's calculations, school parties have five stages, the first one being Insanity," Alya explained. "He told us just an hour ago in Potions. Don't you remember?"
"I….errrrr….I fell asleep for a minute or two," Adrien sheepishly admitted.
"Dude, you were out like a light for the whole lesson. You're lucky that Professor Mendeleiev actually likes you. If I dozed off, I would've gotten a month's worth of detentions," Nino said.
"Insomnia?" Marinette guessed.
"I wish," Adrien exasperatedly said. "The Slytherin boys' dorm is torture. Kim's snoring broke the Silencing Charm we put on him. Broke it. You'd think an Erumpent got loose. And Kim drags the Quidditch team to the pitch at the crack of dawn, three days a week. I haven't slept for two days."
"You should take a nap," Marinette suggested.
"Alright," Adrien yawned.
Within a minute, he was out cold.
"Poor guy," Marinette lamented.
"I say we draw a mustache on him," Nino piped up.
Alya rolled her eyes. "I say we don't."
…
The Next Day
Nobody knew who first came up with the idea.
Somebody thought it would be cool if it happened.
So, what did they do?
They whispered the idea of it to their friends, and their friends whispered it to their friends.
By the time the last lesson of the day ended, everyone in Hogwarts wanted it to happen.
It, an idea in the morning, had become a demand in the afternoon, in a short span of seven hours.
It was whispered about, talked about, but it wasn't really official.
So, what did Alya do?
She, by all means, made it official by pinning a note underneath the notice for the Yule Ball right after dinner.
Dear Ladybug and Cat Noir,
Could you please, please, please make a guest appearance at the Yule Ball? You could even dance beside the champions! Your fans would love to meet you!
From, Alya Cesaire (devoted editor of The Ladybulletin)
Similar notes appeared during the next twenty-four hours.
Before everyone knew it, pieces of parchment requesting the superheroes' presence spread across the entire notice board, burying posters for the chess club and schedules for future Quidditch practices and games.
(Ravenclaw had one win, Gryffindor had two wins, as did Slytherin, and Hufflepuff was stuck with a grand total of zero wins.)
Argus Filch was not pleased with the fact that he had to remove two hundred seven scrolls from the notice board.
So, what did the students do?
They rewrote their pleas to meet Ladybug and Cat Noir and stuck them around the Yule Ball notice again.
But this time, they used Sticking Charms.
Some had even used Permanent Sticking Charms.
Mr. Filch scavenged the classrooms until he found the largest scroll possible.
An hour afterward, a new banner with shaky red uppercase letters covered the notice board.
DEAR HEADMASTER FU,
WE NEED A NEW NOTICE BOARD. I ALSO NEED A RAISE.
SINCERELY,
ARGUS FILCH
Later that day, Headmaster Fu answered Filch's petition with a raise and two new notice boards, which were both plastered with letters not even four hours later.
…..
Stage 2 of the Yule Ball Blizzard: Awkward Waltzes
During Herbology, Max sent a note to his classmates announcing the start of stage two.
Kim was the last one to receive the piece of paper.
He crumpled it up and tossed it to his Whomping Willow, which the sapling immediately burned.
Kim's sullen attitude (and Adrien's noticeable lack of sleep) was most likely the result of Slytherin's loss in the Slytherin vs Ravenclaw game on the previous Saturday.
"You're doing great!" Professor Whipwind smiled. "The laughblossoms are in full bloom. Well done!"
After class, she ushered the students to Professor Bustier's classroom.
All of the desks and chairs were missing.
"Since the Yule Ball is in nineteen days, I volunteered to teach you the beautiful art of ballroom dancing," the Charms teacher grinned.
Now that the burden of romantic tension hung in the air, the students felt rather uncomfortable, to say the least.
The girls were blushing messes and the boys tried to look away.
Adrien feverishly scratched the nape of his neck and pretended to be extremely interested in a dark stain on the ceiling.
"Doesn't that one look like a duck?" he mumbled.
"No, I see a four-leaf clover," Nino murmured.
"Are you blind? It's obviously a muffin," Max whispered.
Kim shook his head. "Looks like a guitar to-"
"And now, the boys will perform the step sequence I just taught to the class," Professor Bustier interrupted. "Five, six, seven, eight!"
Adrien, Nino, Kim, Max, Nathaniel, and Ivan attempted to do some kind of flamenco-ballet-foxtrot fusion while the girls laughed uncontrollably.
Felix, who had actually been listening, stood perfectly still.
"It's nice to know that you haven't been paying attention," Professor Bustier said. "I was merely telling you that you can choose your partners for this lesson."
Mylene and Ivan clung together.
"Adrikins, we can practice our slow dancing!" Chloe cooed.
"I'd rather not," Adrien muttered.
"Hmmm, I wonder who could possibly be his partner," Alya said.
"Don't you-" Marinette yelped, but it was too late.
The Ravenclaw pushed her into Adrien's arms.
"Oh...uhhh…...hi?" Marinette squeaked.
Professor Bustier played a waltz on an old phonograph.
"I guess we're partners," Adrien grinned.
"Put a hand on your partner's waist and hold their other hand," Professor Bustier instructed.
Argh, why are my palms so sweaty? Marinette thought as she grasped Adrien's right hand with her left hand.
"One partner steps to the right and the other steps to the left," Professor Bustier continued.
"Quit stomping on my feet, peasant!" Chloe shrieked at Lila.
"It's not like I even wanted to be your partner in the first place," Lila snarled.
"Girls!" Professor Bustier scolded.
Chloe and Lila continued to bicker.
"Errr...am I doing this correctly?" Marinette asked. "You seem like you know what you're doing. I mean, you do know what you're doing. My parents cater at Mr. Bourgeois's parties, and you're at most of them. I've seen you dance with some girls on the dance floor."
Merlin's beard, that made me sound like a stalker! Marinette internally cringed.
"You're doing great!" Adrien said. "My ballroom dancing lessons really paid off, then, if you're impressed. Can I twirl you?"
"Sure!" Marinette smiled.
She spun as gracefully as a ballerina.
"Are you sure that you haven't had lessons?" Adrien mused.
"I'm only using what I learned from those snobby aristocrats," Marinette said. "It's just a simple one-two-three pattern. There's not much to it."
"It took me years to stop tripping on people's toes. You're a natural," Adrien complimented her.
Yeah, a natural at losing the ability to function properly around you, Marinette thought.
She shifted her gaze over to Chloe and Lila.
Luckily, they were on the other side of the classroom.
"Are you really going to ask Chloe out to the Yule Ball?" Marinette nervously whispered.
"I'm certainly not planning to," Adrien said. "It's becoming increasingly difficult to tell her that I'm not romantically interested in her. We've been friends all of our lives, and I'd like to keep it that way. Asking people to the Yule Ball is hard, but rejecting them is twice as hard. Every guy in Hogwarts thinks about who and how they're going to ask day and night, but I don't mind going single. Or with a friend. Or maybe-"
He thought about Ladybug for a split second, and how she probably had a hundred really hot, handsome guys throwing themselves at her, each begging to be her date.
His eye twitched.
"-never mind."
Marinette felt like a burden had been lifted off of her shoulders.
Adrien was considering the thought of bringing a friend.
She qualified as a friend.
"But enough about my daring dilemma. Since you're a prefect, you're in charge of the one of the committees. Which one did you sign up for?" Adrien asked.
"Decorating," Marinette responded as he twirled her again. "A bunch of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff girls signed up, and they've been super helpful with the whole thing. But there are two Ravenclaw girls who keep on arguing about the theme of the Yule Ball. Is the Yule Ball even supposed to have a theme?"
"As long as we don't end up dressing like horseboys, my father will be glad with whatever they pick," Adrien said.
"Cowboys," Marinette giggled. "You need to take Muggle Studies."
"No I-"
"Listen to the prefect, for crying out loud," Alya said, gently rocking to the monotonous song with Nino.
"Next year, I'm going to steal your executive courses application and enroll you in Muggle Studies myself if you don't join," Nino joked.
The Hufflepuff boy and the Ravenclaw girl waltzed away (literally).
"Go with turquoise and cream for the decorations. That's my advice," Adrien said.
Marinette bit her bottom lip. "I'll see if I can convince them."
After fifteen more minutes of dancing, the lesson was over.
"How many more sessions like that do we have to go through? I might get blisters," Nino groaned.
"There are three left. You'll survive," Alya said.
"I'm going to do my homework now," Adrien declared.
"Homework? On a Friday?" Marinette gasped.
"For shame," Nino chided. "This is the time to let loose! It's almost Christmas, and it has to snow. I have to teach Adrien how to have a proper magical snowball fight."
"Snowball fights aren't proper if you shove snow down people's backs," Marinette giggled.
"That was one time!" Nino argued.
"If you shove snow down my back, just know that I'll put ice cubes in the place where the sun doesn't shine," Alya smirked.
"No thank you," Nino shuddered.
They sat down at their usual library table.
Adrien dumped a few blank scrolls, two quills, and an inkwell onto the table.
"Eh, I might as well get started on that Transfiguration essay, too," Nino said. "What do we have to write about, exactly?"
"We have to choose a Transfiguration professor from Hogwarts and explain how their discoveries impacted the Wizarding World," Adrien said. "I might do Albus Dumbledore. He's one of the greatest wizards that ever existed, after all."
"Dibs on Minerva McGonagall!" Marinette announced.
"That's not fair!" Nino protested. "We should at least draw str-"
"Who the bloody hell is Minerva McGonagall?" Alya asked.
Marinette and Nino's jaws dropped open.
"I did not just hear that," Adrien deadpanned.
"Professor McGonagall is only the greatest Transfiguration teacher overall. Hands down," Marinette stated. "She outlived most of her students and had the nerve to give detention to Harry Potter. And she was Head of Gryffindor, too."
A second-year Hufflepuff girl strolled into the library.
"Hey, Vivian! Did the owls deliver the enchanted streamers yet?" Marinette grinned.
"Nope. Headmaster Fu says that he wants to see you," Vivian said.
"I'll catch up with you guys later," Marinette promised.
She walked through the hallways and knocked on the door of Headmaster Fu's office.
"Hello, Marinette. Long time no see," Wayzz greeted her.
"Hi!" Tikki chirped.
"What do you need to talk about?" Marinette asked.
"I've already discussed this problem with Cat Noir, and he said that he'll wait to hear your opinion on the ordeal," Headmaster Fu said. "You're most likely aware of the fact that all of Hogwarts wants to see Ladybug and Cat Noir at the Yule Ball. However, you have to be there as Marinette and Cat Noir most also be there in civilian form for classified reasons. How are we going to tell the public that Ladybug and Cat Noir won't arrive?"
"I really want to be there for Alya. Everyone would be so disappointed! I can't not attend the Yule Ball as Ladybug. We'll come up with something, won't we, Tikki?" Marinette worriedly said.
"Marinette," Tikki softly began, "You don't have to say yes to everything. Your life is crazy enough. You're already struggling with your grades and the amount of sleep you get. Alya's your friend, she'll understand if you can't come."
"I'll talk to Cat Noir," Marinette decided. "I don't know if he's going, but I'm going. As Marinette and Ladybug."
"You don't have to do this to yourself!" Tikki objected.
"It's her choice," Wayzz calmly said.
"And I choose to go to the Yule Ball as Marinette and Ladybug," Marinette resolved.
"Very well," Headmaster Fu sighed. "Good luck fulfilling the positions of both personas at the same time. I'll post a letter on the notice board about a meeting between you and Cat Noir on top of the North Tower at 10:30 tonight. Does that suit your schedule?"
Marinette nodded. "Thank you. I'll only seek your help when there are no other options."
"Spoken like a true Ladybug," Wayzz remarked as Marinette left Headmaster Fu's office.
…..
Adrien slipped out of the Slytherin Common Room as quietly as a mouse.
Or a cat, in his case.
"Are you going to see your girlfriend?" Plagg teased.
"She's not my girlfriend," Adrien muttered. "Well, not yet. Plagg, claws out!"
"So, who's this girlfriend that Plagg, that cheese-loving little brat, was talking about?" Merlin whispered.
Cat Noir nearly had a heart attack.
"Why are you still awake?" he asked.
"I'm a painting. I sleep whenever I want. I'm awake whenever I want. Makes no difference to me," Merlin said. "And let me repeat my question. Which fair maiden do you wish to woo?"
"Ladybug!" Cat Noir blurted. "I'm keeping her waiting, so I have to go-"
"You remind me of the Cat Noir of my time," Merlin chuckled. "Lancelot loved his Ladybug, Guinevere, with all his heart, and they would meet in the gardens every other evening. They were a lovely couple-"
"We can chat later!" Cat Noir interrupted.
"May your meeting with Ladybug be full of romance! Remember, I also have the ability to legally seal your love with marriage-"
"Shhhhh!" Cat Noir hissed. "You're going to wake up the Ravenclaws, and they're on the other side of Hogwarts! Now, I really must be off!"
He scampered away from the warlock's portrait and climbed out of a window, only to see Ladybug swinging her legs from the top of the North Tower.
"There you are!" she impatiently said. "This is really important. We both want to be at the Yule Ball as our superhero selves, right?"
"Of course!" Cat Noir agreed.
"But I have to be there in my civilian form…..for…...reasons, and according to Headmaster Fu, you have to be at the ball in your civilian form too. How are we going to do this?" Ladybug questioned.
Cat Noir's face fell. "Oh…..I….I never thought about this. Crap, how are we going to do this?! I should've looked befur I leaped!"
"Even when we're serious, you still have to insert a pun into everything you say," Ladybug murmured.
"I'm going to run across the rooftops," Cat Noir said. "That's when I do my best thinking. Do you want to join me?"
"I'm not really up for-"
"It'll help me come up with an idea faster!" Cat Noir grinned.
"As if," Ladybug snorted.
Cat Noir grabbed her yo-yo and sprinted across the towers of Hogwarts.
"I need that!" Ladybug shouted, chasing her partner. "What you're doing is plain dangerous!"
"That's the point!" Cat Noir laughed, sprinting along the roof's ledge.
"Give it back!" Ladybug childishly whined.
"Make me!" Cat Noir responded.
"I never said yes to this!" Ladybug argued.
"Your eyes did," Cat Noir said.
Ladybug paused. "My eyes?"
"Yeah, your eyes," Cat Noir smiled. "They sparkle when you're happy, they get dark when you're angry, they glow in the moonlight, and they become dull when you're sad. Nobody could ever have your eyes, not your parents, not your children, not even someone who drank Polyjuice Potion. You- Wait! That's it!"
"That's what?" Ladybug asked.
"Polyjuice Potion!" Cat Noir cried out, shaking her shoulders.
"Why do you have a sudden obsession with Polyjuice Potion?" Ladybug demanded.
"That's how we're going to go to the Yule Ball as civilians and superheroes!" Cat Noir excitedly yelled.
"That's actually not a half-bad idea," Ladybug mused. "Well done, kitty."
"We'll need to find someone we trust, first. We'll tell them some believable excuse for why we can't go to the Yule Ball. Then, we'll convince them to drink the Polyjuice Potion, and there you have it! Ladybug, Cat Noir, and our civilian selves all in one room," Cat Noir concluded.
"It's not that simple," Ladybug said. "The Polyjuiced people have to resemble us so that if they begin to change back, no one will notice. They also have to be people that nobody will miss at the ball, people that don't have many friends. We also have to gather enough ingredients for four hours."
"I'm sure that the teachers won't mind if we raid the classrooms for ingredients," Cat Noir said. "I'll pay for the things we stole, anyway."
"How?" Ladybug retorted. "Some of those things are ridiculously expensive."
"Money's not an issue for me," Cat Noir quietly said.
"If you say so," Ladybug said. "Now that we've got the solution to our problem, we'll need to work out some details. I'll meet you on Thursday to gather the ingredients. Same place, same time. See you soon!"
She snatched her yo-yo from her partner's waist and swung into an open window.
"My lady!" Cat Noir shouted.
Ladybug's face appeared from the darkness of the tower's interior.
"Hmmmm?"
This is it, Cat Noir thought. There's no going back. I'll ask her to be my date to the Yule Ball. It's just one question, get on with it!
"I…..well….I've been w-wondering if….if… Do you have a pet owl?" he stuttered.
"Umm, yeah," Ladybug confusedly said. "Why are you asking?"
"No particular reason," Cat Noir sighed. "Good night, Bugaboo."
She deserves more than a simple question, he thought. I need to make it spectacular for her.
…
Alix's head popped down from the top bunk.
"What's up, Mari?" Alix asked. "You've been really stressed lately. Is it because of Quidditch? I know we lost the match against Ravenclaw over the weekend, but don't sweat it. We'll just have to work harder."
"No, it's not that," Marinette hesitantly said.
"Well, something's bothering you, and if you don't want to talk about it, that's fine. I'll be awake if you need-"
"Be quiet, I'm trying to sleep!" a nearby Gryffindor girl whined.
"Good night," Alix whispered.
Within five minutes, Marinette heard soft snoring from the bed above her.
Unlike her bunkmate, Marinette stayed awake for the whole night.
She had already memorized the ingredients she and Cat Noir needed to "borrow" for the Polyjuice Potion.
She just had to figure out who she could convince to drink it.
It can't be Alya, Marinette thought. Mylene and Ivan are going to go together, even if he hasn't asked her out yet. I'm almost sure that Alix will go with Kim because of some stupid dare. Rose and Juleka will be looking for each other. Sabrina, Chloe, and Lila are all out of the question. None of the girls from the Quidditch team will agree, either.
Who?
Who can I trust?
I'm forgetting someone.
I know I am…
Maybe…
I…
Should…
Sleep...
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
"Bridgette!" Marinette grinned.
"Huh?" Alix sleepily asked.
"Sorry, it's nothing. Go back to sleep," Marinette blushed.
"M'kay."
Alix dozed off again.
Bridgette, Marinette thought. It's perfect! She's fairly new, she hasn't got many friends, no one's going to notice she's not there, except for maybe Felix, but he won't get overly suspicious. She looks like me, too! But…..How am I going to ask her to go as me?!
…..
Stage 3 of the Yule Ball Blizzard: Advanced Potions
The aroma of different concoctions filled the hallways of Hogwarts.
They could cause all sorts of results, like utmost hatred or an unblemished face.
The potion that there was the most of created the most powerful force in the universe.
Love.
Yes, this was the start of stage three.
Weasleys' Wizard Weasley's love potions went out of stock as soon as they appeared on the shelves.
The poor maidens who didn't have W.W.W.'s high-end potions turned to the last resort, the deadliest choice of them all.
They made their own.
Now, student-made love potions only have two results.
They either work.
Or they don't.
The aftermath is always, always, disastrous in both situations.
When a love potion is brewed incorrectly, something much worse than fake romance happens.
There have been tentacles.
There have been long, beards that are impossible to shave off.
There have been eternally pimply chins.
There have been oddities so horrific that fourth-years have vowed to never utter a word about them.
Unfortunately, the aftermath of what happens when the love potion does work is usually twice as bad than when the potion doesn't work.
The love from a love potion isn't real love.
It's infatuation.
It's obsession.
It's dangerous.
Now, enough of this boring Potions lesson, and back to the main story, where our heroes must successfully brew a Polyjuice Potion.
Four doses of Polyjuice Potion, to be exact.
"Do you have the list?" Cat Noir asked.
"Yep," Ladybug answered, removing a scroll from her pocket. "We'll need lacewing flies, leeches, knotgrass, fluxweed, shredded boomslang skin, and laughblossom tendrils to replace the powdered bicorn horn. The tendrils reduce the brewing time to only two weeks. It's the 11th, so we have to start brewing it today."
"Most of those are in Professor Mendeleiev's storeroom," Cat Noir said. "We'll have to pluck the tendrils from my- errr, the first-years' laughblossom plants in Greenhouse Three. The tendrils regrow quickly. Let's pay a visit to Mendeleiev's storeroom first."
They crept through the halls until they reached a large closet in the dungeons.
"Let's tear the list in half. It'll be quicker," Ladybug insisted.
They rummaged through the shelves of strange ingredients.
"I found the fluxweed and lacewing flies!" Cat Noir grinned.
"That's a little high up-"
A cardboard box full of jars crashed to the ground.
SMASH!
Ladybug and Cat Noir froze for a few minutes.
"You have to be more careful!" Ladybug whispered.
They gathered the rest of the ingredients in total silence and cleaned up the mess of jars.
"To Greenhouse Three we go," Cat Noir said.
As soon as they stepped outside, they were hit with freezing gusts of wind.
"L-Let's just g-g-get this over w-with," Ladybug chattered.
"Maybe we can s-snuggle for warmth a-and-"
"In y-your dreams," Ladybug laughed.
"It w-was worth a tr-try," Cat Noir shivered.
They opened the door to Greenhouse Three and slammed it shut as soon as they entered.
"Much better," Ladybug sighed. "Which laughblossom flower looks the most healthy?"
"That one," Cat Noir responded, pointing to his and Nino's.
He would feel guilty if he messed up anyone else's Herbology grade.
Hopefully, the tendrils would grow back before Professor Whipwind noticed.
"These plants can scream, so we need to make it quick," Ladybug said.
She wrapped her yo-yo's string around the laughblossom flower's tendrils and pulled.
The tendrils came clean off.
Then the shrieking began.
The flower was wailing bloody murder.
"Make it stop!" Ladybug yelled.
"There's emergency salve in one of the cupboards!" Cat Noir shouted.
He thrust open the leftmost supplies cupboard and grabbed a container full of a blue pasty substance.
"Throw it here!" Ladybug yelled.
Cat Noir chucked the container at his partner and she rubbed the paste onto the laughblossom's severed stem.
The plant immediately stopped screaming.
"Thank goodness that the greenhouses are soundproof," Ladybug said.
"Now we have to brew the potion. I'll keep the cauldron in my clothes drawer and check it over the next two weeks. I don't think that the house elves will question it," Cat Noir said.
"Well, my bunkmate will probably notice if I have a cauldron in my drawer, so I guess you can have it," Ladybug shrugged.
"Let's brew the potion here," Cat Noir suggested.
He presented a copper cauldron that he had taken from Professor Mendeleiev's storeroom earlier.
They chopped, powdered, and juiced the ingredients and dropped them into the cauldron.
"Are you really that rich?" Ladybug asked.
"I'm the heir to my family's legacy. I have so much to inherit, but I… I just don't know what to do with any of it," Cat Noir confessed. "When I'm older, I'm going to donate some of the money to St. Mungo's. Other than that, I don't have a plan."
"So you aren't a stray," Ladybug smiled.
"Nope," Cat Noir said. "I'm an aristocat."
"Do you spend hours on end researching cat puns?" Ladybug demanded.
"I impurrvise," Cat Noir grinned.
Ladybug groaned.
They spent an hour concocting the Polyjuice Potion and talking about puns.
Both of them secretly wished that that hour could last forever.
…..
I feel so guilty about not updating. I'll have more time to write over the summer. Thanks for being patient!