Drarry Soulmates AU

Moste Potente Potions

That night the four friends choose seats as far away from Percy as possible, Ron blotching his homework constantly. Ron soon slams his The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 book shut, Hermione following suit "Who can it be, though? Who'd want to frighten all the Squibs and Muggle-borns out of Hogwarts?" she asks quietly. "Let's think. Who do we know who thinks Muggle-borns are scum?" Ron asks sarcastically. "If you're talking about Nott-" Hermione starts. "Of course I am! You heard him 'You'll be next, Mudbloods!' come on, you've only got to look at his foul rat face to know it's him." Ron cuts in. "Nott, the Heir of Slytherin?" Hermione asks skeptically. "Look at his family. The whole lot of them have been in Slytherin; he's always boasting about it. They could easily be Slytherin's descendants. His father's definitely evil enough." Harry pipes up, agreeing with Ron. "They could've had the key to the Chamber of Secrets for centuries! Handing it down, father to son." Draco adds. "Well, I suppose it's possible..." Hermione trails off.

"But how do we prove it?" Harry asks. "There might be a way. Of course, it would be difficult. And dangerous, very dangerous. We'd be breaking about fifty school rules, I expect-" Hermione starts. "If, in a month or so, you feel like explaining, you will let us know, won't you?" Ron cuts in. "All right. What we'd need to do is to get inside the Slytherin common room and ask Nott a few questions without him realizing it's us." Hermione tells them. "But that's impossible." Harry says as Ron laughs slightly. "No, it's not. All we'd need would be some Polyjuice Potion." Draco tells them, realising what Hermione is getting at. "What's that?" Ron and Harry ask simultaneously. "Snape mentioned it in class a few weeks ago." Hermione sighs. "D'you think we've got nothing better to do in Potions than listen to Snape?" Ron asks. "It transforms you into somebody else. Think about it! We could change into three of the Slytherins. No one would know it was us. Nott would probably tell us anything. He's probably boasting about it in the Slytherin common room right now, if only we could hear him." Hermione explains.

"This Polyjuice stuff sounds a bit dodgy to me. What if we were stuck looking like three of the Slytherins forever?" Ron asks. "It wears off after a while. But getting hold of the recipe will be very difficult. Snape said it was in a book called Moste Potente Potions and it's bound to be in the Restricted Section of the library." Draco frowns. "Hard to see why we'd want the book, really, if we weren't going to try and make one of the potions." Ron points out. "I think, that if we made it sound as though we were just interested in the theory, we might stand a chance..." Hermione trails off. "Oh, come on, no teacher's going to fall for that. They'd have to be really thick..." Ron trails off. The three boys look at each other "Lockhart." they say simultaneously.

Since the disaster out class with the pixies, Lockhart had not brought any creatures into the class. Instead he read passages from his books, sometimes reenacting some of them. He usually picked Harry to help him, Harry being forced to play different people from the passages. Harry clenches his jaw as he's forced to stand in front of the class being made to be the 'Wagga Wagga Werewolf' "Nice loud howl, Harry—exactly—and then, if you'll believe it, I pounced—like this—slammed him to the floor—thus with one hand, I managed to hold him down—with my other, I put my wand to his throat—I then screwed up my remaining strength and performed the immensely complex Homorphus Charm—he let out a piteous moan—go on, Harry—higher than that—good—the fur vanished—the fangs shrank—and he turned back into a man. Simple, yet effective—and another village will remember me forever as the hero who delivered them from the monthly terror of werewolf attacks." Lockhart says. The bell finally rings, Harry going back over to Draco, Ron and Hermione as Lockhart gets to his feet. "Homework: compose a poem about my defeat of the Wagga Wagga Werewolf! Signed copies of Magical Me to the author of the best one!" he tells the class.

The rest of the class begins to leave making the four friends look at each other "Ready?" Harry asks. "Wait till everyone's gone. All right..." Hermione says, walking too the front of the class with a piece of paper in her hand. The three boys follow behind her "Er, Professor Lockhart?" Hermione stammered. "I wanted to-to get this book out of the library. Just for background reading. But the thing is, it's in the Restricted Section of the library, so I need a teacher to sign for it. I'm sure it would help me understand what you say in Gadding with Ghouls about slow acting venoms..." Hermione trails off. "Ah, Gadding with Ghouls! Possibly my very favorite book. You enjoyed it?" Lockhart asks. "Oh, yes. So clever, the way you trapped that last one with the tea strainer." Hermione smiles eagerly. "Well, I'm sure no one will mind me giving the best student of the year a little extra help. Yes, nice, isn't it? I usually save it for book signings." Lockhart smiles, pulling out a peacock feather quill and signing the paper.

Hermione fumbles with the paper as she puts it into her bag "So, Harry. Tomorrow's the first Quidditch match of the season, I believe? Gryffindor against Slytherin, is it not? I hear you're a useful player. I was a Seeker, too. I was asked to try for the National Squad, but preferred to dedicate my life to the eradication of the Dark Forces. Still, if ever you feel the need for a little private training, don't hesitate to ask. Always happy to pass on my expertise to less able players." Lockhart tells Harry, who makes a noise before hurrying off with the others. As they walk along the corridor they see Lily and James "Hello you four, what's wrong Harry? You look like you want to scream." James smiles. "Lockhart. He keeps pulling me up in front of the class to sit out his books. He also just told me that he was an amazing Seeker and would be 'happy to pass on my expertise to less able players'." Harry explains. James shakes his head with a chuckle "Just try to get through the classes for now. As for the Quidditch thing, he wasn't the youngest player in a Century, was he?" he tells his son. Harry smiles "You four go enjoy your break, we need to go sort out the stuff for the next class." Lily tells them. "Bye." the four of them smile before walking off together.

As they head to the library, Hermione pulls the signature out "I don't believe it. He didn't even look at the book we wanted." Harry remarks."That's because he's a brainless git. But who cares, we've got what we needed." Ron responds. "He is not a brainless git." Hermione glares. "Just because he said you were the best student of the year." Ron playfully teases. They all drop their voices as they enter the library, going over to Madam Pince the librarian. Hermione hand her the note "Moste Potente Potions?" she asks, trying to take the note from Hermione. "I was wondering if I could keep it." Hermione mumbles. "Oh, come on. We'll get you another autograph. Lockhart'll sign anything if it stands still long enough." Ron tells her, taking the note from her and giving it to t he librarian. Madam Pince holds the note up to the light before walking into the restricted section, coming back with a large and moldy looking book. Hermione carefully puts it into her bag before they all leave, trying not to look too guilty about what they did "Back to Moaning Myrtle's?" Draco asks. "Yeah." Harry nods.

The four of them get back to the bathroom and barricade the door, Hermione opening the book and flicking through it to find the right page "Here it is. This is the most complicated potion I've ever seen. Lacewing flies, leeches, fluxweed, and knotgrass," she murmured, running her finger down the list of ingredients. "Well, they're easy enough, they're in the student storecupboard, we can help ourselves... Oooh, look, powdered horn of a Bicorn, don't know where we're going to get that, shredded skin of a Boomslang, that'll be tricky, too and of course a bit of whoever we want to change into." Hermione explains. Draco takes the book and looks through the recipe himself "Excuse me? What d'you mean, a bit of whoever we're changing into? I'm drinking nothing with Crabbe's toenails in it." Ron grimaces. "We don't have to worry about that yet, though, because we add those bits last." Hermione tells him. "D'you realize how much we're going to have to steal, Hermione? Shredded skin of a boomslang, that's definitely not in the students' cupboard. What're we going to do, break into Snape's private stores? I don't know if this is a good idea..." Harry trails off. "I-" Draco starts.

"Well, if you three are going to chicken out, fine. I don't want to break rules, you know. I think threatening Muggle-borns is far worse than brewing up a difficult potion. But if you don't want to find out if it's Malfoy, I'll go straight to Madam Pince now and hand the book back in." Hermione cuts him off. "I never thought I'd see the day when you'd be persuading us to break rules. All right, we'll do it. But not toenails, okay?" Ron tells her. "If I can say what I was going to say, I have this stuff in my private potioneering kit that my mum gave me last year." Draco tells them. "You do?" Hermione asks. "Yeah." Draco nods. "How long will it take to make, anyway?" Harry asks. "Well, since the fluxweed has got to be picked at the full moon and the lacewings have got to be stewed for twenty one days. I'd say it'd be ready in about a month." Hermione responds. "A month? Nott could have attacked half the Muggleborns in the school by then! But it's the best plan we've got, so full steam ahead, I say." Ron sighs. "It'll be a lot less hassle if you can just knock Nott off his broom tomorrow." Draco tells Harry, who chuckles as Ron nods in agreement.