A/N Sorry for the massive delay but I've had absolutely no inspiration or motivation to write anything recently. Hopefully, it won't be so long next time, but updates will probably continue to be irregular because the chapters are so damn long. Still, I won't give up and do plan to do all seven books no matter how long it takes. Hope everyone is doing well.
THE POLYJUICE POTION
"You don't mean it actually works?" Neville gasped. Not that he wanted to underestimate Hermione, but they had said it was a sixth-year lesson.
"Or we're about to read about the consequences," Tonks said grimly. Hermione pulled a face.
They stepped off the stone staircase at the top, and Professor McGonagall rapped on the door. It opened silently and they entered. Professor McGonagall told Harry to wait and left him there, alone.
"Not even a single word of comfort or anything?" Sirius scowled at his former head of house. Minerva sighed. She had already apologised. It still stung how badly she had failed her student. All of her house.
Harry looked around and thought Dumbledore's office was the most interesting one he had visited.
"It is interesting, but it shouldn't be hard to beat Snape's and Lockhart's," Sirius muttered.
"That's true. Lockhart's office sounded vile," Emmeline agreed.
"And Severus' wouldn't interest those who don't like potions," Kingsley said fairly.
"It's also dark and creepy," Ron muttered quietly. Harry grinned.
If he hadn't been terrified, he would have been interested in looking around. Dumbledore's office is described.
Dumbledore smiled.
Harry warily looked at the sleeping paintings and wondered if it could hurt to try the hat on to see if it put him in the right house?
"Really? After everything you've done, you were questioning if you were a Gryffindor?" Draco scoffed.
"Of course you belong in Gryffindor, mate," Ron told him seriously.
"Well, Harry could have gone into any of the houses as far as I recall," Neville said.
"I was just worried about the whole parseltongue thing and maybe being related to Slytherin."
"And are you still worried?" Remus asked gently. Harry hesitated.
"Not really." He didn't sound convinced.
"Being able to speak to snakes doesn't make you a Slytherin," Sirius told him. "You asked to go into Gryffindor. Regardless of whatever abilities you were born with, you chose what house to go into. You can choose what kind of person you want to be." Harry smiled at him, leaning into his godfather's side.
He slipped the hat on, and it asked if he had a bee in his bonnet. Harry stammered out and the hat finished his question about being in the right house. The hat stated that he had been difficult to place but it stood by what it had said. Harry was momentarily thrilled before the hat clarified that he would have done well in Slytherin.
"Oh yes, it would have been so great having his own head of house outright bullying him, making his life miserable all the time instead of just in potions. Not to mention, he'd have already been expelled by Snape for the car fiasco and made to go and live with the Dursleys. Then, even if Dumbledore had stepped in and stopped him being expelled, the entire school would be hating on him even worse if this was all going down while he was in Slytherin," Sirius scoffed. "Slytherin would have been terrible for him."
"Yeah. If the whispers and stuff were bad before, it would have been so much worse if Harry Potter was in Slytherin," Charlie agreed.
"I see where the hat is coming from, you can be pretty cunning and would probably make a decent Slytherin but not as The-Boy-Who-Lived," Tonks said.
Harry yanked the hat off and put it back, feeling sick.
"It's hardly the end of the world that you'd do well in Slytherin," Draco complained. Harry shrugged.
"Absolutely none of my experiences with Slytherin made me feel that way. A Slytherin murdered my parents, Snape is head of Slytherin. You, Crabbe, Goyle, Parkinson, all in Slytherin. And now the Heir of Slytherin was petrifying people. I wasn't exactly a fan of anything Slytherin right then."
"Fair enough." Draco had to admit that, if he were in Harry's position at the time, he wouldn't have appreciated it either.
He told it that it was wrong and backed away only to hear a gagging noise. Turning around, he saw a decrepit bird resembling a half-plucked turkey.
"What? Is that Fawkes?" Charlie asked in concern.
"Yes, and I wouldn't advise letting him hear such a description," Dumbledore chuckled, "he is rather vain."
"What's wrong with him?" Bill wondered.
"It sounds like he's close to a burning day, when Phoenixes are reborn," Charlie mused. "Although, that's supposed to be a super private event."
"It is indeed," Dumbledore smiled.
As Harry watched, a couple more feathers fell out. He was just thinking the last thing he needed was for Dumbledore's bird to die while he was alone in the office with it, when it burst into flames.
"Woah! You actually saw a phoenix being reborn? You have the most incredible luck!" Charlie exclaimed enviously. "First the dragon being born and now a phoenix on a burning day. And you got to ride a centaur."
"I was very surprised to find that Fawkes had allowed Mr. Potter to see his rebirth," Dumbledore stated. "He must have sensed how trustworthy you are." Harry smiled slightly. He didn't really know how to feel about Dumbledore at the moment, but Fawkes had literally saved his life, he was pretty fond of the phoenix.
The office door opened. Dumbledore came in, looking very somber. Harry immediately began to apologise but Dumbledore smiled and stated it was about time. Then he explained about phoenixes, and they watched as a newborn bird poked it's head out of the ashes.
Charlie let out a groan of awe and longing.
Dumbledore said it was a shame to see him on a Burning day as he was quite handsome most of the time. He explains a little more about their powers. Harry had momentarily forgotten why he was in the office in the first place until Dumbledore sat in his chair and stared at Harry.
"I think you can be forgiven for forgetting for a bit," Remus laughed.
Then the office door flew open, and Hagrid burst in claiming that it wasn't Harry. He had been talking to him seconds before the kid was found.
"Oh, bless Hagrid," Emmeline smiled. He might be careless sometimes, but there was no doubting he cared for Harry, and that he was, generally, protective of the ones he cared about. Even if those he cared about were often monsters and sometimes his priorities were a little mixed up.
"It's very nice of him to do that, although being with him before the body was found doesn't necessarily rule him out as a suspect," Kingsley said. "Even if we know it wasn't Harry."
"Still, it was good of him to try," Remus put in with a smile.
Dumbledore tried to say something, but Hagrid went ranting on, waving the rooster around in his agitation, sending feathers everywhere. He said he would swear it in front of the Ministry of Magic.
"Impressive, considering Hagrid really isn't their biggest. Fan. Even more so now," Ron said.
"Especially when you consider the Ministry, well Fudge, put the blame on Hagrid later that year anyway. Hagrid offering to tell the Ministry it wasn't Harry would have put him under closer scrutiny given he'd already been blamed for it once," Hermione pointed out in an undertone. Harry's eyes went wide. He'd never considered how difficult that year must have been for Hagrid. Seeing it happening all over again, knowing he'd already been blamed once, and then seeing Harry being put in the same situation. No wonder he'd been desperate enough to send them to Aragog. Riddle had already gotten away with it once, why should Hagrid think he wouldn't get away with it this time, making him spend the rest of his life in Azkaban. And after the previous year, Harry had a much greater respect for Hagrid suffering in there.
"Although, wouldn't Hagrid have known that Myrtle was the one who was killed? Come to think of it, wouldn't the professors have known? Why did none of them ask her where the monster came from? Ok, none of them speak parseltongue, but they would have known exactly where the Chamber was and could have taken precautions," Ron put in, equally quietly. Hermione frowned.
"Maybe she wouldn't tell them. You know what Myrtle's like. If they asked in just the wrong way, she'd ignore them out of spite."
Harry noticed that everyone was looking at the three of them, having their quiet conversation, with interest. He nudged the other two and they turned back to continue the reading.
Hagrid kept going until Dumbledore loudly interjected that he didn't think Harry had attacked anyone.
"About time someone said it where Harry could actually hear," Sirius muttered.
Hagrid said he'd wait outside and stomped out, looking embarrassed.
"No reason to be embarrassed. He was looking out for a friend. And he has experience with people being falsely accused," Harry said, glaring at the floor.
"I'm just surprised Hagrid actually thought Dumbledore was going to accuse Harry," Bill frowned.
"He probably just heard about the attack, and that Harry was being taken to Dumbledore's office and reacted without thinking," Charlie suggested.
Harry hopefully asked if Dumbledore didn't think it was him. The headmaster agreed he didn't, but he still wanted to talk to him.
"Again, with the timing," Ted sighed. "He's just been led to the headmaster's office directly after finding two of the victims that people think he is attacking. That's going to cement even more in people's minds that it was Harry."
He asked Harry if there was anything he wanted to tell him. Harry didn't know what to say.
"I'd start with the hearing voices," Remus said conversationally.
"That seems like a good option.," Sirius agreed, nodding vigorously.
"It's Harry. He's not going to say anything," Tonks sighed. "Why would he? He's got absolutely no evidence that Dumbledore would believe him."
Harry considered Malfoy shouting that Mudbloods would be next,
Everyone shot Draco a glare.
the Polyjuice Potion,
"I wouldn't mention that," Fred laughed.
"Especially not considering how you got the ingredients," George agreed. Snape scowled angrily.
Then he thought of the disembodied voice he had heard twice, but recalled Ron saying it wasn't a good sign, even in the wizarding world.
"In fairness, I doubt Harry would have mentioned it, even if Ron hadn't said that," Bill defended his brother.
"Yeah, I probably wouldn't," Harry agreed. "It still sounded too crazy."
He thought, too, about what everyone was saying about him, and his growing dread that he was somehow connected with Salazar Slytherin before stating there wasn't anything.
Several people sighed, but having read about Harry's life so far, they understood why he hadn't even if it upset them.
The double attack on Justin and Nearly Headless Nick turned nervousness into real panic. Nick's fate worried people the most as they wondered what could possibly petrify a ghost.
"Now I wish I didn't know the answer," Tonks muttered.
"It is incredible that nobody died," Minerva said quietly.
There was almost a stampede to book seats on the Hogwarts Express so that students could go home for Christmas. Ron said they would be the only ones left at that rate, them, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. Harry was glad most people were leaving as they kept skirting around him as though he were about to sprout fangs, and hissing as he passed.
Sirius scowled.
Fred and George found it funny.
"Course we did," Fred grinned.
"It was painfully obvious it wasn't you," George agreed.
"Given you're best friends with Hermione and all," Fred added.
"And the fact that you're the nicest kid ever."
"Yet people were still stupid enough to believe - "
" – that you could be ruthlessly attacking muggleborns."
went out of their way to march ahead of Harry down the corridors, shouting, "Make way for the Heir of Slytherin, seriously evil wizard coming through…"
A few people chuckled at that.
Percy was deeply disapproving of this behaviour.
"Of course you were," Bill chuckled slightly.
"I didn't think it should be treated as a laughing matter," Percy stated primly. "Ginny and the other first years were terrified, and they weren't helping!"
Percy stated it wasn't a laughing matter and Fred told him to get out of the way as Harry was in a hurry. George agreed he was off to the Chamber for a cup of tea with his fanged servant."
Tonks laughed.
Ginny didn't find it amusing either.
The twins shot apologetic looks at their sister. She waved this away. Typically, she would have found this hilarious.
"It's fine guys. You couldn't have known and normally it would have made me feel better."
This made all of the Ministry officials sit up. They had already suspected Ginny's involvement somehow and this just confirmed it. Amelia honestly suspected that the Weasley's felt they couldn't hear what was going on. She wasn't sure if whatever mystical force had brought them hear was letting them know what was going on, or if they just weren't as subtle as they though they were, but it still baffled her. How had Arthur Weasley's daughter been involved with a basilisk? As far as she knew, the girl wasn't a parselmouth.
She wailed at them to stop when Fred asked Harry who he was planning to attack next or when George pretended to ward him off with garlic. Harry didn't mind though, finding that it made him feel better that at least the twins thought t was ridiculous that he was the heir.
"Of course we knew it was ridiculous," Fred scoffed. Harry offered him a smile which was returned.
Their antics seemed to be aggravating Draco Malfoy, who looked increasingly sour each time he saw them at it.
Draco scowled. They had been making a mockery of Salazar Slytherin's heir. Of course, he had been aggravated. But in the future, he would have to do better at concealing his emotions.
Ron said that it was because Draco wished to say it was him and that he hated anyone beating him so he hated that Harry was getting credit for his dirty work.
"I mean, if it was me, I wouldn't be pleased by you getting the credit," Draco admitted. Harry grinned.
"We know."
Hermione told them the potion was nearly ready and they would get the truth out of him any day. At last the term ended, and a silence deep as the snow on the grounds descended on the castle. Harry found it peaceful, rather than gloomy, and enjoyed the fact that he, Hermione, and the Weasleys had the run of Gryffindor Tower, which meant they could play Exploding Snap loudly without bothering anyone, and practice duelling in private.
Several adults shot all of the Gryffindors stern looks.
"We made sure to take precautions," George assured the room at large.
"Nobody was seriously injured or anything." Ron added.
"George is pretty good at healing spells," Harry put in. "Definitely better than anyone else in Gryffindor. George blushed slightly.
"Well, given everything, one of us had to be," he said.
"Thank goodness it was you, I'm hopeless at healing," Fred stated with a wicked grin.
Fred, George, and Ginny had chosen to stay at school rather than visit Bill in Egypt with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Percy, who disapproved of what he termed their childish behaviour, didn't spend much time in the Gryffindor common room. He had already told them pompously that he was only staying over Christmas because it was his duty as a prefect to support the teachers during this troubled time.
Several people rolled their eyes at Percy's behaviour and even Percy himself had winced.
"Dunno what you think you're going to be able to do against a monster that even the teacher's hadn't caught yet," Tonks muttered. Percy flushed.
"I'm just glad you weren't hurt," Bill muttered. He knew Ginny had some involvement, but to what degree he wasn't sure. But to have his brother involved as well, well, he'd hate to think his family had kept it a secret that Percy had been attacked as well as Ginny.
Christmas morning dawned, cold and white. Harry and Ron, the only ones left in their dormitory, were woken very early by Hermione, who burst in, fully dressed and carrying presents for them both.
"Miss Granger!" McGonagall scolded. Hermione flushed.
"I wanted to tell them that the Polyjuice was ready," she stated in a small voice.
"I'm sure it could have waited until they came down from their dormitory," Charlie chuckled.
"I don't know. By the time Ron got up, it might have been too late," Fred smirked.
She loudly told the boys to wake up and Ron told her she wasn't supposed to be in their room as he shielded his eyes. She threw him a present and informed them the potion was ready. Harry suddenly felt wide awake.
"You'll be less excited once you've tried Polyjuice. It's awful," Sirius laughed.
"When have you had Polyjuice?" Minerva asked with a raised eyebrow. He winked, smirking, and gave no answer.
He asked if she was sure, and Hermione agreed as she sat on the end of Ron's bed. She suggested they do it that night.
Draco frowned, desperately trying to recall if his friends had been acting strangely that night. None of the girls had joined them, so Granger obviously hadn't gotten in. Crabbe and Goyle had left pretty suddenly, but they often ended up with stomach aches after feasts. Plus, hadn't that been the night the article about the Weasleys came out? No way the Weasel had listening to that and not given himself away.
At that moment, Hedwig swooped into the room, carrying a very small package in her beak. Harry asked if she was speaking to him again and she nibbled his ear affectionately.
"Wow. It took her until Christmas to forgive you?" Tonks whistled.
She had a present from the Dursleys which contained a toothpick and a note telling him to find out whether he'd be able to stay at Hogwarts for the summer vacation, too.
Sirius, and several other adults, snarled at that. The rest simply sighed in resigned exasperation.
"Oh please, like Harry would need to be told to see if he could stay over the summer," Fred scoffed. "If it was possible, he'd have stayed their after first year." Harry nodded.
Dumbledore frowned at this. He was unaware that Petunia had asked Harry to stay at Hogwarts over the summer. She was well aware of the requirements of Harry's protection.
The rest of Harry's Christmas presents were far more satisfactory. Hagrid had sent him a large tin of treacle fudge, which Harry decided to soften by the fire before eating; Ron had given him a book called Flying with the Cannons, a book of interesting facts about his favourite Quidditch team.
"You gave him a book about your favourite Quidditch team?" Draco scoffed. Ron flushed.
"I hadn't followed Quidditch outside of Hogwarts enough to have my own favourite team," Harry stated firmly. "Still don't really. I know that Oliver Wood was being scouted by Puddlemere, so if he gets on the team I'll probably support them, but other than that I don't really have the time to be doing things like choosing favourite teams."
"Sure you do. Loads of people at Hogwarts listen to matches on wizarding radio. I'm sure you have the time to spend a couple of hours listening to a game once in a while," George pointed out. "I know Lee does. Next time there's a game on I'm sure he wouldn't mind you listening in."
"Thanks. That would be pretty cool," Harry said. He'd never really thought about it. Quidditch was something he did at school and, while he vaguely knew about a Quidditch league through Ron, he'd never considered finding out much about it. Were there other wizarding sports? Or other things like wizarding music.
"Good time to get into it, the World Cup is this summer," Bill grinned.
Hermione had bought him a luxury eagle feather quill. Harry opened the last present to find a new, hand knitted sweater from Mrs. Weasley and a large plum cake. He read her card with a fresh surge of guilt, thinking about Mr. Weasley's car (which hadn't been seen since its crash with the Whomping Willow), and about of rule breaking he and Ron were planning next.
"In both situations you felt like you had no other choice. You did, of course, but you made those choices for the right reasons," Remus reminded him gently. "The point of this is to learn from it, so maybe just, think a little more next time."
"And don't forget you guys don't have to do this alone. You can owl me and Remus, once my name is cleared anyway, we'll always try to help. Or at least offer alternatives you probably haven't considered," Sirius added.
"I'm not sure that's comforting," Minerva said with a fond smile. "I dread to think what Mr. Potter might end up doing if he adds your suggestions into the mix." Sirius grinned widely.
No one, not even someone dreading taking Polyjuice Potion later, could fail to enjoy Christmas dinner at Hogwarts. The Great Hall was decorated with a dozen frost covered Christmas trees and thick streamers of holly and mistletoe crisscrossing the ceiling. Enchanted snow was falling, warm and dry, from the ceiling. Dumbledore led them in a few of his favourite carols, Hagrid booming more and more loudly with every goblet of eggnog he consumed.
All of the Hogwarts staff members, except Dumbledore, winced. The headmaster simply smiled happily.
Percy, who hadn't noticed that Fred had bewitched his prefect badge so that it now read "Pinhead," kept asking them all what they were sniggering at.
Percy glared at Fred. Fred pouted at Harry.
"It's not my fault I can tell you guys apart," he shrugged with a grin.
Harry didn't even care that Draco Malfoy was making loud, snide remarks about his new sweater from the Slytherin table. With a bit of luck, Malfoy would be getting his comeuppance in a few hours' time.
Molly frowned at the Malfoy boy making rude remarks about her sweaters.
Harry and Ron had barely finished their third helpings of Christmas pudding when Hermione ushered them out of the hall to finalize their plans for the evening.
"Harry ate three helpings? Are you sure he wasn't the one who had been Polyjuiced?" Neville teased.
"It was good pudding," Harry said.
"You did eat something other that Christmas pudding I hope?" Remus asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Of course."
Hermione stated they still needed something from those they would be changing into. She suggested Crabbe and Goyle, and then said they would need to make sure the real Crabbe and Goyle couldn't interrupt.
Moody nodded. "At least you thought about that."
"And how, precisely, did you plan on incapacitating two of my students?" Severus demanded. He'd already heard about Miss Granger setting someone (him) on fire, and Mr. Potter throwing a firework into a potion. Safety was hardly that high on their priority list.
"Sleeping draught," Hermione admitted.
"You also brewed a sleeping draught?" Andromeda added. "That's also a difficult potion, though not on the level of Polyjuice I suppose."
"It was only the simple version that lasts for an hour or so."
She continued that she already had it sorted.
"Of course you did," George grinned. "You're brilliant." Hermione beamed at him.
She held up two plump chocolate cakes, saying she'd filled them with a simple Sleeping Draught. They just had to make sure Crabbe and Goyle ate them.
"That's probably the easiest part of your plan," Draco muttered. He was becoming increasingly worried that their plan had actually worked. His mother was going to be furious about him being careless enough to say some of the things he had said and not notice his supposed best friends were not themselves.
"It really was," Ron agreed.
Hermione continued that once Crabbe and Goyle were asleep the boys should pull out a few hairs and hide them in a broom closet.
Snape and Draco both scowled.
"Not the worst solution in the world. You did think at least some of this plan through properly," Fred noted.
Harry and Ron looked incredulously at each other. They both tried to express doubts, but Hermione sternly pointed out the potion would be useless with the hair and asked if they wanted to investigate Malfoy. Harry asked whose hair she was ripping out. She told them she already had hers, as Millicent Bulstrode had left a hair on her robes at the duelling club.
"You used a random hair left on your robes? How could you possibly be sure it was hers and not a pet? Or someone else's hair that got on her robes during the day?" Andromeda shook her head in disbelief.
"A cat hair then," Minerva sighed.
"But Millicent went home for the holidays?" Draco pointed out. "I think we'd notice if she had come back for less than an hour one evening and vanished again for the rest of the holidays."
"That is a good point," George acknowledged.
She added that Millicent had gone home so she would just have to tell the Slytherins she had decided to come back.
It amazes me how you can think through some parts of a plan so carefully and in other cases, this is what you come up with," Sirius said in bemusement.
"Because you were always known for your careful planning, Padfoot," Remus snorted.
"Well, no, but it was well know I don't plan well. These three seem to simultaneously plan really well and completely abysmally…as part of the same plan!"
"Well, they've always been fairly poor at excuses," Fred pointed out fairly. "Hermione planned the sleeping draught well, but a complete fail, for the reason Millicent would be present. It would make more sense for Hermione to just not take the potion and for only Harry and Ron to go."
"Yeah, you don't even know if Millicent hangs out with Draco and the other two. Just like you guys would probably find it weird if, I don't know, Parvati or Lavender suddenly came to sit and talk with you one evening," George agreed.
"We get it. It was a bad plan," Harry sighed.
"It's all good learning for the future," Sirius assured him with a grin.
"Don't be encouraging him to come up with plans like this in the future. He shouldn't be breaking into other house common rooms," Molly scowled.
"Stealth and infiltration techniques are a part of auror training through," Tonks put in. "It's useful stuff to know." Moody nodded.
"They aren't aurors," Molly replied stiffly.
When Hermione had bustled off to check on the Polyjuice Potion again, Ron turned to Harry with a doom-laden expression. He asked if Harry had ever heard of a plan where so many things could go wrong.
"Your plan to go after the stone?" Bill stated. Ron winced. That hadn't been a good plan either.
"To be fair, that wasn't really a plan," Emmeline muttered.
"I definitely don't recall much of a plan being made," Kingsley agreed with a slight chuckle. "Except to keep watch before they decided to go down and that went horribly."
But to Harry's and Ron's utter amazement, stage one of the operation went just as smoothly as Hermione had said.
Hermione smiled smugly.
They lurked in the deserted entrance hall after Christmas tea, waiting for Crabbe and Goyle who had remained alone at the Slytherin table, shovelling down fourth helpings of trifle. Harry had perched the chocolate cakes on the end of the banisters. When they spotted Crabbe and Goyle coming out of the Great Hall, Harry and Ron hid quickly behind a suit of armour next to the front door. The two boys ate and then keeled over backwards.
Draco's eyes went wide while Severus glared.
Moody snorted and shook his head in disapproval at them eating food when they had no idea who had put it there.
By far the hardest part was hiding them in the closet across the hall. Once they were safely stowed among the buckets and mops, Harry yanked out a couple of the bristles that covered Goyle's forehead and Ron pulled out several of Crabbe's hairs. They also stole their shoes, because their own were far too small for Crabbe and Goyle-size feet.
"Good thinking," Fred nodded approvingly.
Draco was wondering how his friends hadn't mentioned this. When he'd asked Crabbe about his stomach-ache the next day, the boy had just shrugged and said he'd fallen asleep. But they'd been in a cupboard without their shoes and didn't bring it up? That was weird, even for those two. Maybe they'd just been embarrassed because someone had been able to shove them both in a cupboard?
Then, still stunned at what they had just done, they sprinted up to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. They could hardly see for the thick black smoke issuing from the stall in which Hermione was stirring the cauldron.
"A good sign," Andromeda stated to those who were looking a little worried.
Pulling their robes up over their faces, Harry and Ron knocked softly on the door. Hermione opened the door, shiny-faced and looking anxious. Behind her they heard the gloop gloop of the bubbling, glutinous potion. Three glass tumblers stood ready on the toilet seat. She asked if they got the hairs and Harry showed her Goyle's. Hermione produced spare robes as they would need bigger sizes.
"They'll also need Slytherin ones. I think someone would notice Crabbe and Goyle in Gryffindor robes," Tonks chuckled.
"Sleeping draught, spare robes and taking their shoes. You guys are good with the small important details, I guess it's just the big details that escape you," Bill said in amusement.
"Like using a hair that could have come from literally anywhere and planning on pretending a Slytherin has come back from home only for them to disappear again shortly after," Charlie grinned. The trio exchanged sheepish looks.
The three of them stared into the cauldron. Close up, the potion looked like thick, dark mud, bubbling sluggishly. Hermione stated it looked like the book said it should and they will have exactly an hour before they change back. She ladled the potion into three glasses and put Millicent Bulstrode's hair into one of them. It turned a sick sort of yellow.
"Lovely," Emmeline wrinkled her nose.
Ron commented it was the essence of Millicent Bulstrode and that it probably tasted disgusting. Hermione told the boys to add theirs. Goyle's potion turned into a khaki colour similar to a bogey and Crabbe's became a dark, murky brown.
"What's with the colours?" Neville wondered.
"It changes depending on the nature or personality of the person," Andromeda explained. "No two potions will be the exact same colour, though some will only have minute differences."
As Ron and Hermione reached for the glasses, Harry suggested they each move to their own cubicle, or they won't fit.
"Good thinking," George nodded.
Harry slipped into a different stall in the middle of the other two. They all drank. Harry's tasted like overcooked cabbage.
"Hang on, you went to all the trouble to get new robes and shoes because yours won't fit, and you didn't think to change before you drank?" Tonks asked.
"Er, no," Harry admitted, going red. Several people snorted.
Immediately, his insides started writhing as though he'd just swallowed live snakes. He doubled over, feeling sick. Then a burning sensation spread rapidly from his stomach to the very ends of his fingers and toes—next, bringing him gasping to all fours, came a horrible melting feeling, as the skin all over his body bubbled like hot wax—and before his eyes, his hands began to grow, the fingers thickened, the nails broadened, the knuckles were bulging like bolts—his shoulders stretched painfully and a prickling on his forehead told him that hair was creeping down toward his eyebrows—his robes ripped as his chest expanded like a barrel bursting its hoops—his feet were agony in shoes four sizes too small.
Several people shook their heads at this.
"It's incredible hearing the transformation described like this though," Andromeda noted. "Harry is incredibly descriptive."
"Yeah. I hope to never drink that stuff. Ever," Neville muttered.
As suddenly as it had started, everything stopped. Harry lay facedown on the stone cold floor, listening to Myrtle gurgling morosely in the end toilet. With difficulty, he kicked off his shoes and stood up. So, this was what it felt like, being Goyle. His large hand trembling, he pulled off his old robes, which were hanging a foot above his ankles, pulled on the spare ones, and laced up Goyle's boat-like shoes.
"At least you didn't leave the spare robes in the other stall," Kingsley chuckled.
"That might have been a little awkward, depending where yours ripped," Tonks grinned.
"Although surely, it's not only the robes that would be too small now. Wouldn't his trousers and shirt rip too. Not to mention underwear," Sirius mused.
"Yeah. If the robes are hanging a foot above the ankle, the trousers will be too," Charlie agreed.
"Hermione had brought spare clothes too," Harry told them. "Slytherin ties included. The underwear, we, ah, just made do. I was not going to wear Goyle's underwear."
"Fair enough," Sirius chuckled.
He reached up to brush his hair out of his eyes and met only the short growth of wiry bristles, low on his forehead. Then he realized that his glasses were clouding his eyes because Goyle obviously didn't need them. He took them off before asking the other two if they were alright. Ron, in Crabbe's voice, confirmed he was ok in the stall to Harry's right. Hermione gave no answer as Harry stepped out of the stall and in front of a cracked mirror. Goyle stared back. Ron emerged, as Crabbe.
"It was really weird," Ron said, wrinkling his nose.
"Yeah. Not in a hurry to repeat the experience," Harry agreed.
"I should hope not," Severus drawled with a stern expression.
Ron stated it was unbelievable as he approached the mirror and prodded his nose. Harry said they should get going as they still had to find where the Slytherin common room was.
"You didn't even know where the common room was?" Moody barked in disapproval.
"That's a pretty big detail to miss out," Kingsley stated. "Especially when you knew you'd only have an hour."
"It would have been pretty difficult to just follow a Slytherin to their common room," Harry pointed out. "They would have noticed."
"You have an invisibility cloak," Sirius reminded him incredulously. "It would have been easy." Harry flushed.
"Honestly. You three are something," Tonks laughed.
"We were twelve," Ron grumbled.
Ron commented it was strange to see Goyle thinking before calling for Hermione. She called out for them to go on without her. Ron pointed out they knew Bulstrode was ugly but no one would know it was Hermione.
"Really, Ron?" Percy rolled his eyes.
"Well, the potion had worked for Harry and me, I didn't see why it wouldn't have worked for her," Ron shrugged.
She urged them on without her. The boys were bewildered, and Ron said Harry looked more like how Goyle looked whenever he was asked a question. Harry asked if Hermione was ok and she stated she was fine but they should go. Harry looked at his watch and saw five of their precious sixty minutes had already passed.
"Fifty-five minutes to find the common room, convince Draco to confess and get out before you change back? Cutting it a bit tight there," Ted noted.
He said they'd meet her back there and the two left the bathroom, checking the coast was clear. Harry told Ron not to swing his arms as Crabbe holds his arms stiffly.
"Good eye for details," Moody nodded approvingly.
"Harry is pretty observant. Just can't plan to save his life," Tonks laughed.
"He can, but only when he's in the middle of a crisis," Ron said.
They went down the marble staircase. All they needed now was a Slytherin that they could follow to the Slytherin common room, but there was nobody around. Ron stated the Slytherins come to breakfast from the dungeons. The words had barely left his mouth when a girl with long, curly hair emerged from the entrance.
Percy fought back a chuckle, realising that would be Penny. She wouldn't know where the Slytherin common room was.
Ron hurried up to her and said they'd forgotten the way to their common room.
"Forgotten the way to the common room? At Christmas of second year?" Sirius scoffed.
"We figured that as Crabbe and Goyle, that excuse might work," Harry shrugged.
"Even they aren't that stupid," Draco rolled his eyes.
She stiffly stated that she was a Ravenclaw before walking away, looking suspicious.
"You didn't even check her house first?" Bill put his face in his hands.
"We were in a hurry," Ron defended himself. "And she didn't have a tie or robes on. She was in regular clothes."
Harry and Ron hurried down the stone steps into the darkness, their footsteps echoing particularly loudly as Crabbe's and Goyle's huge feet hit the floor, feeling that this wasn't going to be as easy as they had hoped.
Several people shook their heads. They might have only been twelve, but this was some pretty poor planning, especially when they did have an easy way of gaining this information.
The labyrinthine passages were deserted. They walked deeper and deeper under the school, constantly checking their watches to see how much time they had left. After a quarter of an hour, just when they were getting desperate, they heard a sudden movement ahead. The figure was emerging from a side room. As they hurried nearer, however, their hearts sank. It wasn't a Slytherin, it was Percy.
"What were you doing down in the dungeons?" Fred asked his brother with a wicked grin.
"I was meeting Penny," Percy admitted stiffly. The twins both smirked. Bill clapped his brother on the shoulder, pleased Percy had loosened up, if only slightly.
Ron asked what he was doing down there. Percy stated it was none of his business before asking if he was Crabbe. Ron agreed and Percy told them to head off to their dormitories as it wasn't safe to wander around dark corridors. Ron pointed out he was doing it.
"You both have a point," Charlie put in as the two glared at each other. "Ron, you knew full well it was dangerous but Percy, prefects are supposed to patrol in pairs for a reason. It wasn't safe for you either. I know you were meeting your girlfriend, but that doesn't mean you wouldn't be attacked."
Percy stated that nothing was going to attack him as he was a prefect.
"Being a prefect doesn't make you invincible," Fred scoffed. "The thing petrified a ghost. I don't think a stupid prefect badge is going to stop it." Percy flushed in both anger and embarrassment.
"Fred, your brother's badge isn't stupid. Percy, Fred has a point. You still should have been careful," Bill cut in. Both of them nodded reluctantly.
A voice suddenly echoed behind Harry and Ron. Draco Malfoy was strolling toward them, and for the first time in his life, Harry was pleased to see him.
Draco winced and shrank down in his seat. This wasn't going to go well. At all. He saw Harry glaring at him and frowned. Harry's eyes darted to Hermione and Draco suddenly recalled what he'd said about Granger. His eyes widened in horror. They were going to kill him. He wondered what he should do. Should he apologise to Granger now? His mother would certainly want him to. Draco thought about it, he didn't really want Granger dead. He didn't know how he would have reacted if anyone had actually died during that year. Probably happily, if it was a muggleborn, as he assumed his father would want. He still didn't know how he felt about his father after the talks he'd had with his mother during this reading.
Acting the way, he'd been raised to act wouldn't win him points here, in fact it was likely to do the opposite. But it was all he knew. What did he, Draco Malfoy, actually want underneath everything he'd been taught to believe he wanted? He didn't know. His whole world was upside down and had been for days, he'd had no real time to assess how he felt about the changes and what that meant going forwards.
He tried to imagine what it would be like without Granger at Hogwarts, and he simply couldn't. The concept of someone being killed was one he'd never really taken seriously. Muggleborns shouldn't be at Hogwarts was a fact he'd been taught his whole life. Therefore, if one died, it was one less at Hogwarts where they shouldn't be anyway. Simple. It was anything but simple.
"Can I borrow Granger for a second. I need a word before we keep reading," he said before he could second guess himself. Several people, including his mother and godfather stared at him suspiciously. Hermione had narrowed her eyes.
"What is it, Malfoy?"
"Uh…" He got up and gestured to the nearest door. She glanced at Harry, who nodded, before following him into the kitchen.
"What's this about?"
"I, uh, well…I need to apologise for something."
"Something you're about to say in the book, I assume?" He nodded, still not looking at her. He could do this.
"I may, sort of, well, I kind of said that I hoped the next victim would die instead of being petrified. And that it would be you." She was silent for several moments.
Hermione stared at the boy standing awkwardly across from her, open-mouthed. She had known he'd disliked her, disliked all of the three of them really. But to know he had actually wished she had died? Her own classmate wanted her dead. Why had Harry and Ron never told her? How could Harry even think of becoming friends with someone who had wished she died?
"I didn't really mean it. I don't really want anyone dead," he said quietly.
"Really, you were quite happy for Buckbeak to be murdered for no reason," she snapped.
"A hippogriff isn't human," Draco pointed out, genuinely looking confused. "And it attacked me."
"It attacked you because you were a stupid prat who insulted it even when Hagrid told you not to," she glowered furiously. They were stupid to have thought he could change. "Why are you even bothering to apologize in private? We both know you're only doing it because your mother made you play nice." Draco glared.
"I…don't know," he admitted eventually. "Yes, my mother wants this truce to work in case we do find out the Dark Lord comes back so she can protect me from him."
"Well, you don't need to pretend to be Harry's friend for that. I'm sure Dumbledore will try to protect you if you want to switch sides."
"The way he 'protected' Harry by leaving him with his muggle relatives? After reading these books I don't want my safety left to him either." Hermione bit her lip at that. Plus, he did truly want to be Harry's friend, he'd wanted that since the first train ride. And he wanted more since being here. He actually liked Harry, and had enjoyed teaching him about chess the night before. It was a completely different experience to all of his other friends. Not that he was going to say that. He didn't need Granger going back and telling Harry how desperate and pathetic he was.
"Look, Granger, I am sorry for what I said. You might not believe me, but I am. This reading has turned pretty much my entire world on its head, and I don't know what's true and what isn't anymore. But I do want this truce to work, and I understand that my behaviour was unacceptable," he said as calmly as he could manage. She studied him intensely for several long seconds before she nodded slowly.
"We aren't supposed to punish people for things they've already done or said. I've done things I'm not proud of, not on the level of wishing my classmates dead, mind, but I can agree to a clean slate while we're in here," she told him slowly. While it was a terrible thing, he had apologised, under duress or not. He did seem sincere. But being angry about it wasn't going to solve anything. Should he ever say anything like that in here or going forwards after they left the room, then all bets were off. She told him this and he nodded, absently rubbing his cheek where she had slapped him. She grinned to herself. Then held out his hand.
"I'm Draco. Draco Malfoy." A slight smile curled at the corner of her lips. She took his hand and shook it.
"Hermione Granger."
The two of them went back to the main room where everyone stared at them.
"Please continue," Hermione said after a few seconds where nobody spoke.
Draco asked if they had been pigging out in the Great Hall the whole time and that he'd been looking for them to show them something funny. Then he looked at Percy and asked what he was doing in the dungeons. Percy angrily told him to show more respect for a prefect and that he didn't like his attitude.
"Nobody likes his attitude," Ron muttered. He was eyeing Hermione anxiously. He could well imagine what Malfoy had wanted to confess to before it was read out and he hoped Hermione hadn't done something stupid like forgiven him. The git had wanted her dead.
Malfoy motioned for the two to follow him. As they left, Harry had to stop himself from saying something apologetic to Percy.
Percy shot Harry a grateful smile.
"That's alright. You didn't even say anything," Percy pointed out. Harry shrugged, he'd felt bad for the way Malfoy had sneered at him.
He and Ron hurried after Malfoy, who said as they turned into the next passage. Malfoy got Percy's name wrong, and Ron corrected him without thinking.
"Way to blow your cover," Tonks said, shaking her head.
Malfoy dismissed this, saying he's noticed him sneaking around a lot lately.
Percy blushed at being caught by Malfoy Junior of all people.
"We're sorry, Perc," George said suddenly. "I guess you went to all this trouble to hide you and Penny because you thought we'd make fun of you for it. And you shouldn't have to go to such lengths just for us not to tease you."
"Thanks George."
He thinks Percy believes he will catch Slytherin's heir single handed.
Percy snorted.
"Well, after the attitude earlier, I'm not completely surprised he thought that," Charlie pointed out fairly.
He gave a short, derisive laugh. Harry and Ron exchanged excited looks. Malfoy paused by a stretch of bare, damp stone wall. He asked Harry what the password was but before he could give himself away, Malfoy recalled that it was 'pureblood'.
"Creative," George snorted.
"Yeah, nobody could ever guess that password. At least ours is completely random," Fred agreed.
"It is poor security to have such a password," Andromeda noted. "However, this is an exceptional circumstance. Not many people would brew Polyjuice Potion to gain access to another common room and if someone not from Slytherin entered, it would be obvious immediately normally."
A stone door concealed in the wall slid open. Malfoy marched through it, and Harry and Ron followed him.
Fred and George exchanged smirks. Now they knew where the entrance was, they could prank the room.
"If you pull any pranks within the Slytherin common room I will know that it was you," Severus warned them, spotting the looks on their faces. "The only students with that knowledge outside of Slytherin are in this room." They both gave him innocent looks nobody bought for a second.
The Slytherin common room was a long, low underground room with rough stone walls and ceiling from which round, greenish lamps were hanging on chains. A fire was crackling under an elaborately carved mantelpiece ahead of them, and several Slytherins were silhouetted around it in high backed chairs.
"Sounds nice enough," Tonks said. "I prefer the Hufflepuff room though."
"You would. It was actually pretty cool in there," Harry admitted.
Malfoy motioned to a pair on empty chairs and told them to wait there. Harry and Ron sat down, doing their best to look at home.
Several people snickered.
"How awkward did they look?" Tonks asked Draco.
"Unfortunately, not much more awkward than Crabbe and Goyle usually look. But 'at home' is not how I would have described them," he admitted.
Malfoy came back a minute later, holding what looked like a newspaper clipping. He thrust it under Ron's nose saying it would give them a laugh. Ron read the clipping quickly, gave a very forced laugh, and handed it to Harry. It was an article from the Daily Prophet stating that Arthur Weasley had been fined fifty galleons for bewitching the muggle car. Lucius Malfoy called for him to lose his job and for the Muggle Protection Act to be scrapped.
"Of course that's what he wanted. That's why everything happened," Arthur snarled furiously to himself. Molly was equally angry.
When Harry didn't laugh, Malfoy asked if he thought it was funny, causing Harry to fake one. Malfoy continued that Mr. Weasley loved muggles so much he should snap his wand and go and join them.
"It could be quite interesting, trying to live as a muggle for a period of time," Arthur mused.
"No, Arthur, dear," Molly told him firmly. She generally turned a blind eye to his hobbies, unless it could get him into serious trouble such as the car, but even then, she didn't have the heart to stop him, but she would not be living as a muggle. There was far too much to do around the house to be doing without magic.
He continued that you'd never know the Weasleys were pure bloods, the way they behave. Ron's face contorted with fury and Malfoy asked what was wrong with you.
"I know he's annoying, but don't give yourself away," Bill warned.
Ron said he had a stomach-ache.
"Not the worst excuse," Fred nodded approvingly. "Especially after the amount the real Crabbe did eat anyway."
"As long as Malfoy can't tell the difference between his friend being angry and his friend being in pain," Charlie said.
"It didn't look all that different on Crabbe's face," Harry shrugged.
Malfoy told him to go up to the hospital wing and give the mudbloods a kick from him.
"Draco!"
"Malfoy!"
"Mr. Malfoy!" Several people yelled at once and Draco winced.
"I was just joking."
"Language like that is not a joke, Mr. Malfoy," Minerva told him sternly. He nodded.
Narcissa sighed. Her son really did have too much of his father in him, but even Lucius knew better than to use language like that in public. Especially repeatedly. Not even in the Slytherin common room. The pair of them had worked hard to maintain an image and her son was too foolish to realise that. Not that it mattered in this room, she knew nobody hear believed the Malfoy public image, but Draco would have to do quite a lot of growing up in a short amount of time. She knew this was the past and that things had already changed here, but she would have to make sure her son understood. Mudblood was not a word to be used, even in private. Muggleborns were as magical as purebloods, it was the pure muggles that needed to be removed from the wizarding world. Before the wrong ones discovered magic and wiped them out.
He continued that he was surprised the Daily Prophet hadn't done a report on all the attacks. He supposed Dumbledore was hushing it all up, but that he would be sacked if they didn't stop soon. His father thought that Dumbledore was the worst thing to happen to Hogwarts.
"Maybe not the worst, but I'm not so sure he's the best thing to have happened to it either," Amelia muttered to Kingsley, who nodded, looking thoughtful. "It made people feel like their children were in safe hands, but how safe have they really been in the last few years? And that's just the things we're finding out about now." Kingsley nodded again.
Malfoy added that Dumbledore loves Muggleborns and a decent headmaster would never've let slime like that Creevey in. He performed a cruel, yet accurate, impression of Colin.
"To be honest, it'd probably be funny if he hadn't just said that about muggleborns and if Colin hadn't been petrified," Fred muttered to his twin. "It does kinda sound like Colin." George nodded in agreement. It sounded like something they would have done to tease Harry. They had said similar things to tease Ginny, though not quite as cruel.
He dropped his hands and looked at Harry and Ron, wondering what was the matter with them. Far too late, Harry and Ron forced themselves to laugh, but Malfoy seemed satisfied; perhaps Crabbe and Goyle were always slow on the uptake.
A few people chuckled and Draco face-palmed.
Malfoy continued that 'Saint Potter, the Mudbloods' friend' was another one with no proper wizard feeling or he wouldn't go around with the jumped up Mudblood Granger.
Several people shot Draco angry looks for his continued used of 'mudblood'.
"Well, in all fairness, I was raised muggle, and it was a wizard who murdered my parents and another wizard who left me with the Dursleys," Harry pointed out.
"But I'm a wizard!" Sirius pouted.
"I rest my case," Harry grinned.
"He has a point," Remus agreed.
"Hey!" Sirius complained.
Then he scoffed that people thought Potter was the heir of Slytherin. Harry and Ron waited with bated breath: Malfoy was surely seconds away from telling them it was him except he then said he wished he knew who it was so he could help them.
"And now you know this whole venture was pointless," Tonks sighed.
Ron's jaw dropped so that Crabbe looked even more clueless than usual. Fortunately, Malfoy didn't notice, and Harry asked if he had any idea who was behind it all. Malfoy said he didn't, as he'd already said. He added that his father wouldn't tell him anything about the last time the Chamber was opened fifty years ago, before Lucius' time although he knew about it. It was kept quite so would look suspicious if Draco knew about it.
Narcissa sighed, at least her husband had some sense and had not told Draco. The problem was, if he knew someone had died last time, why had he unleashed it with their son in the school and not told her? There was no way he would have been able to control what happened, and no way to guarantee their son would not be collateral damage.
Draco continued that he knew one thing—last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened, a Mudblood died. He added that he thought it was a matter of time before someone died this time and he hoped it was Granger.
There was a stunned silence.
Ron clenched his fists and stood up. He hadn't been able to make Malfoy pay for that at the time, but now he could. Harry grabbed his arm. He knew Narcissa and Snape would never let Ron actually get close to Draco.
"How dare you!?" Emmeline asked in disbelief.
"You actually hoped a fellow classmate would die?" Tonks demanded. "What is wrong with you?"
Narcissa wanted to bury her face in her hands at her son's behaviour. She couldn't believe he had said something like that out loud! Even in the common room. She also knew it was the right decision to get her son away from Lucius' influence. Narcissa knew Draco. Her son would not truly as dark hearted as he pretended to be, wanting his father's approval. If it came down to it, he would not be able to take a life the way Lucius did in service to the Dark Lord. He said these things so easily without understanding the weight behind it. But, even said in jest, or in fake bravado, it did not give a good image and Draco was old enough to understand that. Yes, he was talking in the common room with his friends, but he should know some thoughts should not be given voice. If he still had such thoughts now, or when he was older in the books she would grow concerned, but for now, her twelve-year-old son was talking a big game.
She stood and moved in front of her son. "He was a foolish twelve-year-old trying to seem impressive to his friends. I am certain Draco did not truly wish for Miss Granger to die," she stated.
"I didn't mean it and I have apologised to Hermione," Draco agreed. Everyone turned to Hermione.
"Draco has indeed apologised. I have agreed to start fresh during this reading. As long as he says nothing similar in here or going forwards then I have forgiven him," she informed the room.
"Hermione! How can you forgive him? He wanted you dead?" Ron spat.
"Because it is my choice whether to forgive him or not, Ronald, not yours. I am well aware of what he said, and he has apologised for it."
"An apology can hardly make up for that!"
"True, nothing really can. But as long as he has truly changed then I see no reason not to continue to be civil while we are here." Ron scowled furiously.
"I still find it troubling that a twelve-year-old would wish his classmate dead, and that his friends would find such a statement 'impressive'," Pomona said with a frown.
"I agree it is concerning, but there is very little we can currently do about it," Filius pointed out. "We will have to hope that his mother and Severus can correct his beliefs, as well as the others in the room. Clearly, Mr. Potter already knew of his statement and was willing to be civil with him. If Miss Granger has also agreed to forgive him for a such a thing, we can only hope they will be good for him instead."
"As long as he does not start brewing sixth year potions in bathrooms and other such shenanigans," Minerva muttered. Pomona and Filius both chuckled.
Fred began reading once more, while George shot Draco filthy looks that promised retribution in one form or another.
Ron was clenching Crabbe's gigantic fists. Feeling that it would be a bit of a giveaway if Ron punched Malfoy, Harry shot him a warning look.
"Just a bit of a giveaway," Charlie agreed tightly.
"He'd deserve it," George muttered. "And they already know it wasn't him who did open the Chamber."
Then he asked if the person who opened the Chamber previously was caught. Malfoy agreed that whoever it was, was expelled and were probably still in Azkaban. Harry was puzzled by this name.
Sirius shuddered violently.
"Oh dear, it's going to be suspicious that Goyle doesn't know about Azkaban. Basically all purebloods would," Bill said in concern.
"Thankfully, Goyle is stupid," Harry grinned.
Malfoy explained it was the wizard prison in disbelief. He commented that if Goyle were any slower he'd be going backwards.
Several people snorted in amusement at this.
"I can't believe you still didn't know they weren't your friends. Or that they were acting strangely at all," Ted noted. Draco turned red.
He shifted restlessly in his chair and said that his father told him to keep his head down and let the Heir of Slytherin get on with it. He says the school needs ridding of all the Mudblood filth, but not to get mixed up in it.
Several Ministry officials exchanged looks. They'd need more proof than this that Lucius Malfoy had been fully aware of what was happening at Hogwarts and had done nothing about it, not that he was the only one, but as a member of the school board aware of what was going on he was just as accountable as Dumbledore for not getting the appropriate people involved to fix the issue. By the sounds of it, there was a good chance he was somehow responsible.
He added that Lucius had a lot on his plate as the Ministry had raided their manor the week before. Harry faked a look of concern and Draco said it was lucky they didn't find much as his father has some valuable Dark Arts stuff in their secret chamber under the drawing room floor.
"Draconis Lucius Malfoy!" Narcissa scolded furiously. Draco winced and sank down in his chair once more. "How could you be so foolish as to reveal family secrets like that? Even to your supposed friends."
"Do tell us about these Dart Arts artefacts?" Amelia asked in a faux polite voice.
"They wouldn't be linked to the things that Lucius was trying to sell in Borgin and Burkes during the summer, would they?" Kingsley added.
Narcissa said nothing but shot another angry look at her son. She would be adding even more to the lecture she already had planned for that evening.
Ron let out an exclamation. Malfoy and Harry both looked at him in time to see him blushing. Even his hair began to turn red.
"Time's up!" Bill said.
"Time to make a rapid exit," Tonks agreed.
His nose was lengthening, and they both realised their time was up. They both jumped to their feet. Ron grunted about getting medicine for his stomach and they both sprinted out of the room and up the passage, hoping Malfoy hadn't noticed anything.
Draco cursed himself. He hadn't noticed a thing about them changing back. He'd thought the behaviour was strange, but when he'd asked Crabbe the next day, he'd just said he was fine and that they'd fallen asleep. Why he hadn't told Draco about the cupboard and shoes was beyond him, but then he'd put the incident out of his mind. How had he been so stupid?
Harry could feel his feet slipping around in Goyle's huge shoes and had to hoist up his robes as he shrank; they crashed up the steps into the dark entrance hall, which was full of a muffled pounding coming from the closet where they'd locked Crabbe and Goyle. Leaving their shoes outside the closet door, they sprinted in their socks up the marble staircase toward Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.
"At least you left them their shoes," Remus sighed.
"That was absolutely brilliant. It was incredibly ill-thought out but you pulled it off!" Sirius whistled in awe. "You infiltrated the Slytherin common room, got Malfoy Junior to tell you a family secret and got away with all of it." Draco winced as the twins stood up and began bowing in front of Harry and Ron exclaiming:
"We are not worthy!" Over and over again.
"That is enough!" Molly shouted after a few moments and the twins went back to their seats, grinning wildly.
"I can't believe you actually got away with that," Tonks laughed. "Brilliant."
"Not brilliant!" Severus snapped.
Fred picked up the book to continue reading once more. He wanted to hear about what else his little brother got up to, if this was the fun he had in his spare time.
As they arrived back at Myrtle's bathroom, Ron panted that it hadn't been a waste of time. He planned to write to his father and tell him to check the Malfoy's drawing room.
"A good idea, but you would have no way to explain how you came across the information," Kingsley said.
"Just said I heard Malfoy bragging about it," Ron shrugged.
"Except he would know he only bragged about it to his friends. He might not have noticed anything right then, but it could easily have given you away," Remus pointed out.
Harry checked his face in the cracked mirror. He was back to normal. He put his glasses on as Ron hammered on the door of Hermione's stall. She told them to go away. Ron asked what the matter was as she should be back to normal.
"Any negative effects of an incorrect hair would not be so easily reversed," Andromeda stated.
Then Moaning Myrtle glided suddenly through the stall door. Harry had never seen her looking so happy.
"That's not good," Charlie muttered. "She's only happy when someone else is miserable."
She said it was awful. Eventually, they heard the lock slide back and Hermione emerged, sobbing, her robes pulled up over her head. Ron asked if she still had Millicent's nose or something. Hermione let her robes fall and Ron backed into the sink.
"Thank you so much, Ronald," Hermione hissed.
"I'm sorry, but it was a pretty big shock to see you like that," he replied.
Her face was covered in black fur. Her eyes had turned yellow and there were long, pointed ears poking through her hair.
"Oh dear," Ted grimaced.
"That's not going to be a fun reversal process," Andromeda stated. "And will take at least a month, if not longer."
"So, that's why Hermione was in the hospital wing for so long," Neville muttered. He'd heard rumours about her having fur, but the curtains had been put up before anyone could confirm it. And obviously nobody knew exactly how she had gained fur.
She howled that it was a cat hair she had gotten hold of and the potion isn't supposed to be used for animal transformations.
"Perhaps that will teach you to be more careful in the future," Severus said without much hope.
Myrtle happily announced that she would be teased dreadfully. Harry suggested they go to the hospital wing as Madam Pomfrey never asks too many questions.
"If she did, students would try to correct such things themselves which would not end well at all," Minerva sighed.
"Yeah. Better to not ask questions and make sure they are cured properly," Pomona agreed.
It took a long time to persuade Hermione to leave the bathroom. Moaning Myrtle sped them on their way with a hearty guffaw.
"Done," Fred announced.
"Right, that's it for the evening," Minerva stated.
Molly bustled into the kitchen to start preparing dinner and the others slowly dispersed into smaller groups.