"The Polyjuice Potion," the voice read aloud.
"At last," Andromeda exhaled heavily.
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 and Hermione to wait and left them there.
"Just like that?" Sirius asked.
Hermione sniffed through her wet nose and took a deep breath. She lifted her head and squared her shoulders and looked around the office. Harry brought his hand back to his side but kept close to his sister, also looking around.
One thing was certain: of all the teachers' offices Harry and Hermione had visited so far this year and last, Dumbledore's was by far the most interesting. If they hadn't been scared out of their wits that they were about to be thrown out of school, they would have been very pleased to have a chance to look around it.
"Dumbledore's office is spectacular," Flitwick agreed.
"The twins would certainly not be thrown out of the school," Severus muttered bitterly.
It was a large and beautiful circular room, full of funny little noises. A number of curious silver instruments stood on spindle-legged tables, whirring and emitting little puffs of smoke. The walls were covered with portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses, all of whom were snoozing gently in their frames. There was also an enormous, claw-footed desk, and, sitting on a shelf behind it, a shabby, tattered wizard's hat - the Sorting Hat.
Harry hesitated. He cast a wary eye around the sleeping witches and wizards on the walls and Hermione (who was looking at the silver instruments curiously). Surely it couldn't hurt if he took the hat down and tried it on again? Just to see . . . just to make sure it had put him in the right House -
"It didn't make a mistake," Euphemia snorted. "Them arriving at school with a loud band proves it."
Fleamont laughed, agreeing with his wife.
He walked quietly around the desk, lifted the hat from its shelf, and lowered it slowly onto his head. It was much too large and slipped down over his eyes, just as it had done the last time he'd put it on. Harry stared at the black inside of the hat, waiting. Then a small voice said in his ear, "Bee in your bonnet, Harry Potter?"
"Er, yes," Harry muttered. "Er - sorry to bother you - I wanted to ask -"
"You've been wondering whether I put you in the right House," said the hat smartly. "Yes . . . you and your sister were particularly difficult to place. But I stand by what I said before" - Harry's heart leapt - "you two would have done well in Slytherin -"
"His heart leapt?" Lily repeated. "If Cassiopeia would have been there, she would have been giving Harry a very long lecture about house traits."
"I'm not saying that she would be wrong," James butted in, "but Harry and Hermione have heard and read bad things about Slytherin from the start. I can't blame them. If anyone would have told me that, and assuming that my mother wasn't a Slytherin herself, I would have believed them too. And it's not like Malfoy and Snape had helped any better in further proving that theory. They might not be dark, but they are bullies."
"Bully?" Severus drawled, then snorted sarcastically. "That's rich coming from you."
"Well, I am rich," James smirked at the outraged expression on Severus' face. "I, unlike you, don't bully anyone. Especially not eleven year olds who have inferiority complex because of their family." He threw an apologetic glance at Frank, who, tilted his head, motioning that he didn't mind James'accusation at his family? He knew how his family was.
"So, what? Do I cradle him in my arms and tell him that he did best when he can't even boil water." Severus sneered. "It's not my fault what his family has made him to be."
"It's not." James agreed. "And no one asked you to hug him," he made a revolted expression. "The least you could do is to not to breathe down his neck when he is making a mistake. Correct him, the way Slughorn or any other teacher corrects us when we are wrong, and then move on. Encourage him to do more good when he makes a presentable potion. Don't humiliate him. He is a child; he will grow up to be scared and timid and not able to speak for himself if you continue to be like what you are."
"If you're so good in teaching, then why don't you do it, instead?" Severus remarked, thinking triumphantly that James would back out. But he was proven wrong.
"I would if I was alive," James said. "Teaching at Hogwarts is something I want to do after Auror."
Severus, who didn't have anything to say, chose to glare at the Slytherin table.
Harry's stomach plummeted. He grabbed the point of the hat and pulled it off. It hung limply in his hand, grubby and faded. Harry pushed it back onto its shelf, feeling sick.
"You're wrong," he said aloud to the still and silent hat. It didn't move.
"Who's wrong, Harry?"
"The Hat," Barty immediately answered.
Harry flinched at the voice and turned around. Hermione was looking at him with a curious expression standing near a decrepit-looking bird that resembled a half-plucked turkey.
"Fawkes the Pheonix," Fleamont said, cocking his head to the side.
Harry didn't answer his sister's question and instead stared at the bird and it looked balefully back, making a gagging noise. He thought it looked very ill. Its eyes were dull and, even as Harry watched, a couple more feathers fell out of its tail.
"Pity they had to meet him when he is going to die," Dumbledore said.
Harry yelled in shock when the bird suddenly burst into flames and backed away into the desk. He looked feverishly around in case there was a glass of water somewhere but couldn't see one; the bird, meanwhile, had become a fireball; it gave one loud shriek and next second there was nothing but a smoldering pile of ash on the floor.
People, who didn't know about Pheonixes, gasped in shock.
Hermione watched Harry with supressed amusement while the Pheonix burned so that it can arise again in a better state. Harry would've known that if he read more.
"I should read more too," a Ravenclaw said glumly.
The office door opened. Dumbledore came in, looking very somber.
"Professor," Harry gasped. "Your bird - I couldn't do anything - he just caught fire -"
Dumbledore shook his head in amusement.
"That was a Pheonix, Harry," Hermione informed him with a smile. "Pheonixes burst into flame when it is time for them to die and are reborn from the ashes."
Dumbledore chuckled at Harry's stunned expression and then pointed for the twins to look at the ashes. "Watch him..."
Harry and Hermione looked down in time to see a tiny, wrinkled, newborn bird poke its head out of the ashes. It was quite as ugly as the old one.
"Fawkes' beauty is very much unappreciated," Dumbledore said sadly.
"All the teachers appreciate his beauty," Professor Sprout consoled the old Headmaster. "Don't they?" She looked at her fellow staff with a warning in her eyes that clearly said, 'Deny and see what happens to you'.
The look made all the Professors nod in agreement. Even McGonagall.
Dumbledore beamed.
"It's a shame you two had to see him on a Burning Day," said Dumbledore, seating himself behind his desk. "He's really very handsome most of the time, wonderful red and gold plumage. Fascinating creatures, phoenixes. They can carry immensely heavy loads, their tears have healing powers, and they make highly faithful pets."
"You. Are. Not. Getting. A. Pheonix. James. Fleamont. Potter," Euphemia ground out as James turned to whine to her. James pouted and sulked in his seat
They had had this conversation many times before and every single time, the answer was same: No.
Harry and Hermione, for a moment, had forgot what they were there for,
"What were they there for?" Regulus said with a confused look.
Barty and Rosier chuckled, thinking that he was mocking the Potters, but Regulus said, "No, no, no, really. I forgot what they are doing in Dumbledore's office. Of course, it was not to see the Pheonix die, right?"
Barty and Evan, blinked owlishly at their friend in unison, looked at each other, back to Regulus, then again at each other and then shrugged. Barty then informed Regulus about the ending of the last chapter.
"Poor Potters," Regulus tutted, shaking his head. "But I, for a fact, know that they won't be expelled."
"Not until Dumbledore is the headmaster," Lucius added under his breath.
but it all came back to them as Dumbledore settled himself in the high chair behind the desk and fixed them with his penetrating, light-blue stare.
The twins exchanged grave looks, swallowing audibly because of anticipation.
Before Dumbledore could speak another word, however, the door of the office flew open with an almighty bang and Hagrid burst in, a wild look in his eyes, his balaclava perched on top of his shaggy black head and the dead rooster still swinging from his hand.
"It wasn' Harry and Hermione, Professor Dumbledore!" said Hagrid urgently. "I was talkin' ter Harry seconds before that kid was found, he never had time, sir - an' Hermione was comin' out of the library right when I passed there. She couldn've - Please, sir -"
Dumbledore tried to say something, but Hagrid went ranting on, waving the rooster around in his agitation, sending feathers everywhere.
Andromeda made a distressed sound at the back of her throat.
"Clean freak," Ted hissed playfully.
"- it can't've bin them, I'll swear it in front o' the Ministry o' Magic if I have to -"
"Hagrid, I -"
"- yeh've got the wrong children, sir, I know they never -"
"Hagrid!" said Dumbledore loudly. "I do not think that the twins attacked those people."
"Knew it!" Regulus and Severus shouted together.
Severus growled at the younger Black boy, intimidating him.
"Hey!" Sirius protested loudly from the Gryffindor table, noticing the exchange. "Reggie did nothing wrong! Don't growl at him."
Regulus felt his heart flutter in his chest at his brother's defense.
"He copied me," Severus argued.
"If he copied you, he would have said it right after you, not with you and that too at the same time," Sirius countered, raising a smug eyebrow and smirking at the sour look on his rival's face.
Well, Regulus sniffed, it felt good to be protected by his older brother again.
"Oh," said Hagrid, the rooster falling limply at his side. "Right. I'll wait outside then, Headmaster."
And he stomped out looking embarrassed.
"I am feeling second-hand embarassment here," a Ravenclaw mumbled, biting her lip.
"You don't think it was us, Professor?" Harry repeated hopefully as Dumbledore brushed rooster feathers off his desk.
"No, Harry, I don't," said Dumbledore, though his face was somber again. "But I still want to talk to you two."
"What does he want to talk about now?" Andromeda muttered. "How much is Lockhart annoying the hell out of everyone?"
"The wordings would be different," Ted told her. "Dumbledore is the type of man to make you move in circles for the answer."
"He was a Gryffindor, right?" No one else was listening to their conversation as the others were taking amongst themselves about - whatever.
Ted nodded as an answer to Andromeda's question.
"The Hat made a wrong choice, then." Andromeda concluded confidently. "There is no way such a sly man couldn't be a Slytherin."
Ted shrugged. "He could have asked the Hat to put him in Gryffindor the way Harry and Hermione did."
Andromeda nodded slowly in consideration.
Hermione continued to stare at Dumbledore, waiting.
"Is there anything you two would like to tell me," Dumbledore said gently. "Anything at all."
"No, Professor," Hermione said instantly. "Nothing at all."
Dumbledore quirked up an eyebrow in shock.
"There could be a reason," Lily said meekly when she saw Dumbledore's expression. The old man quickly smiled at one of his star students.
"There could be," he said slowly.
Harry didn't know what to say. He thought of Malfoy shouting, "You'll be next, Mudbloods!" and of the Polyjuice Potion simmering away in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Then he thought of the disembodied voice he and Hermione had heard twice and remembered what Ron had said: "Hearing voices no one else can hear isn't a good sign, even in the Wizarding world." He thought, too, about what everyone was saying about them, and his growing dread that he and his twin was somehow connected with Salazar Slytherin. . . . Plus, Hermione had already said her piece.
"No," agreed Harry. "There isn't anything, Professor. . . ."
"They are ashamed of being related to Salazar Slytherin himself," Lucius said with disdain. "I would have been proud of that if I were them."
"It's a pity that you aren't," Lily said with mock sympathy.
The double attack on Justin and Nearly Headless Nick turned what had hitherto been nervousness into real panic. Curiously, it was Nearly Headless Nick's fate that seemed to worry people most. 'What could possibly do that to a ghost?' people asked each other; 'what terrible power could harm someone who was already dead?'
"The power of the heir of Slytherin," Barty said, chuckling.
There was almost a stampede to book seats on the Hogwarts Express so that students could go home for Christmas.
"At this rate, we'll be the only ones left," Ron told Harry, Hermione and Cassiopeia. "Us, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. What a jolly holiday it's going to be."
"So, who are Hermione and Cassiopeia going to turn into? Because there's no way that these two are turning into boys." Sirius stated.
"That certainly proves to be a problem," James agreed.
"Mrs Tonks' invisibility cloak idea seems far better," Lily said.
"It is,' Andromeda said.
Crabbe and Goyle, who always did whatever Malfoy did, had signed up to stay over the holidays, too. But Harry was glad that most people were leaving. He was tired of people skirting around him and Hermione in the corridors, as though they were about to sprout fangs or spit poison; tired of all the muttering, pointing, and hissing as they passed.
Fred and George, however, found all this very funny. They went out of their way to march ahead of Harry and Hermione down the corridors, shouting, "Make way for the Heirs of Slytherin, seriously evil people coming through. . . ."
"They will spit poison at you if you come in their way," Peter said, chuckling.
Percy was deeply disapproving of this behavior.
"Spoilsport," Tristan pouted.
"It is not a laughing matter," he said coldly.
"Oh, get out of the way, Percy," said Fred. "The Potters are in a hurry."
"Yeah, they're off to the Chamber of Secrets for a cup of tea with their fanged servant," said George, chortling. "And some light reading too." He winked at Hermione when she opened her mouth to protest.
"Where the hell is the Chamber of Secrets?" Remus asked in frustration. He looked to be in the mood of killing someone.
Ginny didn't find it amusing either.
"Oh, don't," she wailed every time Fred asked Harry and Hermione loudly who they were planning to attack next, or when George pretended to ward them off with a large clove of garlic when they met.
Ginny's wailings had frustrated Cassiopeia and she had shouted on Fred and George one evening.
"Can't you see she is distressed? Your idea of joke is scaring your little sister! If I see either of you doing this in front of her again, then I will personally hex you two!"
"I haven't even seen her talking to Ginny," Molly said.
"The story is from the perspective of the Potter's," Andromeda said. "If they don't see Cassiopeia and Ginny interacting, then we would surely not know."
Fred and George had look deeply ashamed of themselves
Molly's eyes grew dramatically wide and she put her hands over her mouth to hide her gasp.
(a look that was new) only for a moment, but then their expressions had changed as Cassiopeia had stomped her way to Ginny and had sat down with her, huffing as she did so.
Harry didn't mind; it made him feel better that Fred and George, at least, thought the idea of his being Slytherin's heir was quite ludicrous.
"But still they should stop if their little sister is getting afraid because of it," Sirius insisted. "Or if they want to continue to do that, they shouldn't do it in front of her."
But their antics seemed to be aggravating Draco Malfoy, who looked increasingly sour each time he saw them at it.
"It's because he's bursting to say it's really him," said Ron knowingly. "You know how he hates anyone beating him at anything, and you're getting all the credit for his dirty work."
"Not for long," said Hermione in a satisfied tone. "The Polyjuice Potion's nearly ready. We'll be getting the truth out of him any day now."
"I still think that the idea of Malfoy being the heir of Slytherin is as ludicrous as Harry and Hermione being the heirs," James said, rolling his eyes.
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, Cassiopeia and the Weasleys had the run of Gryffindor Tower, which meant they could play Exploding Snap loudly without bothering anyone, and practice dueling in private. 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 behavior, 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.
"I am sure that the teachers could handle it themselves, thank you very much," McGonagall said, sniffing haughtily.
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.
"Presents!" Barty squealed.
"Wake up," she said loudly, pulling back the curtains at the window.
"Hermione - you're not supposed to be in here -" said Ron, shielding his eyes against the light.
"Merry Christmas to you, too," said Hermione, throwing him his present. "I've been up for nearly an hour, adding more lacewings to the potion. It's ready."
"Where's my little teddy bear?" Ted demanded.
"Who?" Regulus asked, eyebrows scrunched up.
"My little Andromeda," Ted said. "Cassiopeia Tonks."
"Sleeping," Sirius answered in a bored drawl.
Harry sat up, suddenly wide awake.
"Are you sure?"
"Positive," said Hermione, sitting down on the end of Ron's four-poster.
James growled, fisting his hands so tightly that you could see the veins. Lily rolled her eyes, deeming her future husband's reaction as over-dramatic.
"If we're going to do it, I say it should be tonight."
At that moment, Hedwig swooped into the room, carrying a very small package in her beak.
"Very good friends they are," Sirius scoffed. "They didn't even ask where the fourth member of their group is."
"Hello," said Harry happily as she landed on his bed. "Are you speaking to me again?"
She nibbled his ear in an affectionate sort of way, which was a far better present than the one that she had brought him, which turned out to be from the Dursleys. They had sent Harry and Hermione two toothpicks
"Why do they even send presents if they are going to give them things like - like those?" James said, pointing his finger at the book.
"Atleast they get presents," Barty muttered under his breath.
and a note telling them to find out whether they'd be able to stay at Hogwarts for the summer vacation, too.
"Wish they could," Marlene said, sighing wistfully.
"I wish," Hermione said mournfully.
The rest of twins' Christmas presents were far more satisfactory. Hagrid had sent them two large tins of treacle toffee, which Harry decided to soften by the fire before eating; Ron had given them a book called Flying with the Cannons, a book of interesting facts about his favorite Quidditch team, and Cassiopeia had bought him a luxury eagle-feather quill and Hermione something called a sugar quill.
Lily pulled out a sugar quill from her bag and put it in her mouth. She closed her eyes in contentment at the taste. An outrageous gasp pulled her out of her reverie.
"You - you - you - you can't do that, Evans!" James cried, looking like a wild owl. "That's illegal!"
Lily narrowed her eyes at him, ignored his cries and continued sucking on her favourite sweet.
Hermione being Hermione, had bought him a book of riddles. Harry had brought his twin a book on 'The best Seekers in the Wizarding World'. The twins opened the last present to find two new, hand-knitted sweaters from Mrs. Weasley and a large plum cake. They 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 the bout of rule-breaking they were going to do.
"Where is the firecracker?" Ron asked, clutching his own Weasley sweater in his hands.
"Firecrakers," Sirius squealed. "Was someone ordering them?"
Firecracker was a term that Fred and George had started referring to Cassiopeia after her explosion in the Gryffindor common room a few nights ago.
"Hospital wing," Hermione sighed. "She got ill last night." Please don't ask what kind of illness it is.
"Why?" Remus questioned curiously.
She hoped that Ron and Harry wouldn't ask further. She didn't think it would b -
"You didn't think it was good to inform us about it?" Ron said, interrupting Hermione's thoughts.
"No," Peter said. "I assume she didn't want to tell both of you as, maybe," his expression turned thoughtful, "she didn't want to explain you about it. Though, I wonder why."
"Well, I didn't think that you and Harry would like to know her periods cramps," Hermione said absent-mindedly.
"About her -what?" Regulus cried.
"She is only twelve," Ted whined.
"I didn't need to hear that," Sirius said, face scrunched up in disgust.
"Hey," Alice threw a strawberry at him, which Sirius expertly dodged. "Menstruation is not disgusting. You were covered up in the same blood and linen when you were born."
"That's why," Sirius said, "it's disgusting."
"But she's only twelve," Andromeda patted her distressed husband on back. "She is too young to bleed."
"Poor girl," McGonagall tutted.
"A very good Christmas gift she got from nature," the Divination teacher said.
"What if Hermione gets her period when she is with the Durselys?" Lily asked in horror. Oh the pain her poor daughter would go through. I hope Petunia would woman up and help her in that atleast.
"No," James whispered, eyes wide. He put his hands over his ear and scrunched his eyes shut. "No, no, no, no, lord, don't let that happen. Please." He joined his hands and pleaded up at the heaven.
She soon realised the slip of her tongue and put her hands over her mouth, eyes wide, looking between Harry and Ron, who both seemed horrified and disgusted.
"We seriously didn't need to hear that," Ron agreed, making a face.
"Um, so," Harry said awkwardly, "Are we going to ask Malfoy without Cass?"
"She was the one who insisted we do this today," Hermione told the boys. "She woke me up in the morning so that I can take her to the Hospital Wing. The poor girl can't even walk without support."
Ted pulled at his hair. Cassiopeia was only twelve for Merlin's sake! Menstruation doesn't start till thirteen!
Hermione grimaced as she remembered Cassiopeia putting her fisted hands over her stomach and bending down from her waist. It had took them a lot of time to reach to the Hospital Wing.
"I wish I could reach the hospital wing without walking," Cassiopeia had grunted out when they had reached the fifth floor. "Why doesn't Hogwarts has lifts? I could have curled up in a ball while we reached."
"It would be easier to go from the topmost floor to the lowest like that," Flitwick said thoughtfully.
"She could have called up on a house-elf," Lucius said. "There are many of them at Hogwarts."
"She didn't know," Andromeda said. "Most of the people don't." She moved her eyes around the hall, pointedly looking at the people those who had looked shocked at Malfoy's revelation and then turned back to Malfoy, eyebrow raised with a haughty smirk plastered on her face.
"That's their loss," Lucius said, dusting away some imaginary dust from his robes.
"She doesn't want to meet anyone," Hermione told them.
No one, not even someone dreading taking Polyjuice Potion later, could fail to enjoy Christmas dinner at Hogwarts.
"One of the best dinners," Andromeda said, smiling serenely.
"Which one's the best?" Regulus asked.
"The graduation dinner," Andromeda sighed in rememberance of the graduation feast.
The Great Hall looked magnificent. Not only were there a dozen frost-covered Christmas trees and thick streamers of holly and mistletoe crisscrossing the ceiling, but enchanted snow was falling, warm and dry, from the ceiling. Dumbledore led them in a few of his favorite carols, Hagrid booming more and more loudly with every goblet of eggnog he consumed. 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. 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.
"I didn't know that I would ever say this," James sighed tiredly, shaking his head, "but I'm tired of Harry's obsession with Malfoy this year."
"What if Harry has a crush on him?" Lily wondered aloud, then shook her head rapidly, trying to remove the disgusting thought from her mind. Her child having a crush on Malfoy? No. Not acceptable! Her children were sensible! "Shoo! Shoo!" She waved her hands in the empty air in front of her. "Bad thoughts, Lily."
Alice put a hand on her friend's shoulder, thinking of her to finally going insane.
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.
"We still need a bit of the people you're changing into," said Hermione matter-of-factly, as though she were sending them to the supermarket for laundry detergent. "And obviously, it'll be best if you can get something of Crabbe's and Goyle's; they're Malfoy's best friends, he'll tell them anything. And we also need to make sure the real Crabbe and Goyle can't burst in on us while we're interrogating him.
"I've got it all worked out," she went on smoothly, ignoring Harry's and Ron's stupefied faces. She held up two plump chocolate cakes. She had made the Sleeping Draught last night. "I've filled these with a simple Sleeping Draught. All you have to do is make sure Crabbe and Goyle find them. You know how greedy they are, they're bound to eat them. Once they're asleep, pull out a few of their hairs and hide them in a broom closet."
Sirius clapped slowly, his eyes glinting with awe. "She is a bloody mastermind. She has thought all of it. Bloody brilliant your daughter is, Prongsie. Can I adopt her?"
"No!" James and Lily simultaneously shouted.
"No," James repeated lightly, moving his eyes away from Lily. "You can have your own."
"Come on, Jamie boy," Sirius teased in a light-hearted tone, "What's mine is yours too; you can meet her from time to time."
"You cando the same thing too," Lily argued, narrowing her eyes at the Black heir, whose grin had widened as she had spoke.
"Calm down, Evans." he continued in the same tone as before. His grin, if possible, widened more as he thought of something. "It's a pity I don't have a son in the future. Hermione could have been practically my daughter when my son would have swept her off her feet."
With each words Sirius spoke, James' irritation and horror rose. By the end of Sirius' heinous fantasy of making Hermione his daughter-in-law, the future father had enough.
"You're joking," James breathed out. "You — you can't be —" serious. He wanted to say. But Sirius certainly would not take those words seriously so he changed his words. "It was a joke, right?"
"Of course, it was a joke," Sirius chuckled. "You should have seen your face! You looked as if someone had forced you to drink tea!" His chuckles were now turned into full-blown laugh.
James light-heartedly chuckled back, wiping the sweat gathered on his forehead with his thumb.
Lily narrowed her eyes at Sirius who had stopped laughing, but was chuckling to himself. Wonder what he is thinking about. I hope he seriously doesn't want Hermione to be his daughter.
Harry and Ron looked incredulously at each other.
"Hermione, I don't think -"
"That could go seriously wrong -"
But Hermione had a steely glint in her eye not unlike the one Professor McGonagall sometimes had.
"The potion will be useless without Crabbe's and Goyle's hair," she said sternly. "You do want to investigate Malfoy, don't you?"
"Oh, all right, all right," said Harry. "But what about you? Whose hair are you ripping out?"
Marlene snorted. The wording was funny.
"I've already got mine!" said Hermione brightly, pulling a tiny bottle out of her pocket and showing them the single hair inside it. "Remember Millicent Bulstrode wrestling with me at the Dueling Club? She left this on my robes when she was trying to strangle me! And she's gone home for Christmas - so I'll just have to tell the Slytherins I've decided to come back — I'll go and check on the Potion."
"I think it's a good thing that Cass isn't there with them," Andromeda said. "Two Slytherins coming back together would be suspicious for someone as cunning as a Malfoy."
Lucius smirked at the compliment, making Narcissa and Andromeda roll their eyes.
Harry stared incredulously at Hermione's retreating back. This girl was certainly not his sister. The plan she has single-handedly made was mind-bogglinly -
"Have you ever heard of a plan where so many things could go wrong?" Ron turned to Harry with a doom-laden expression.
"The plan is the best," Molly said. "If you have any problems with it, you can make another one yourself, Ronald."
But to Harry's and Ron's utter amazement, stage one of the operation went just as smoothly as Hermione had said. They lurked in the deserted entrance hall after Christmas tea, waiting for Crabbe and Goyle who had remained alone at the Slytherin table, shoveling 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 armor next to the front door.
"How thick can you get?" Ron whispered ecstatically as Crabbe gleefully pointed out the cakes to Goyle and grabbed them. Grinning stupidly, they stuffed the cakes whole into their large mouths. For a moment, both of them chewed greedily, looks of triumph on their faces. Then, without the smallest change of expression, they both keeled over backward onto the floor.
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. Then, still stunned at what they had just done, they sprinted up to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.
Everyone looked at Sirius as he sniffed very loudly. There were tears pouring out of his eyes to his cheeks and his nose was red. A very visible sign that he was crying.
"They're continuing our legacy!" He wailed suddenly, loud sobs racking from his body. "My godchildren and their friend — they — they —" he continued sobbing in his handkerchief.
Peter rubbed his hand on Sirius' back in comfort, trying to control his own tears.
There were tears gathered in James' eyes as he continued staring at the book in pride.
Remus rolled his eyes at his friends' (were they friends anymore?) antics.
They could hardly see for the thick black smoke issuing from the stall in which Hermione was stirring the cauldron. Pulling their robes up over their faces, Harry and Ron knocked softly on the door.
"Hermione?"
They heard the scrape of the lock and Hermione emerged, 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.
"Did you get them?" Hermione asked breathlessly.
"Can't we just skip to them interrogating Draco?" Regulus asked, eyes eager.
Harry showed her Goyle's hair.
"Good. And Cassiopeia had sneaked these spare robes out of the laundry," Hermione said, holding up a small sack. "Or that's what she had told me." She frowned at the robes then shrugged quickly, going back to her 'leader' mode. "You'll need bigger sizes once you're Crabbe and Goyle."
The three of them stared into the cauldron. Close up, the potion looked like thick, dark mud, bubbling sluggishly.
"Perfect," Barty purred.
"I'm sure I've done everything right," said Hermione, nervously rereading the splotched page of Moste Potente Potions. "It looks like the book says it should . . . once we've drunk it, we'll have exactly an hour before we change back into ourselves."
"Now what?" Ron whispered.
"You two change into Malfoy's guards," Frank said.
"We separate it into three glasses and add the hairs."
Hermione ladled large dollops of the potion into each of the glasses. Then, her hand trembling, she shook Millicent Bulstrode's hair out of its bottle into the first glass.
The potion hissed loudly like a boiling kettle and frothed madly. A second later, it had turned a sick sort of yellow.
"Ewwwwwwww!"
Half the Hall protested in disgust while the other half protested internally.
"Urgh - essence of Millicent Bulstrode," said Ron, eyeing it with loathing. "Bet it tastes disgusting."
"It certainly would," Ophelia grimaced.
"Add yours, then," said Hermione.
Harry dropped Goyle's hair into the middle glass and Ron put Crabbe's into the last one. Both glasses hissed and frothed: Goyle's turned the khaki color of a booger, Crabbe's a dark, murky brown.
"Hang on," said Harry as Ron and Hermione reached for their glasses. "We'd better not all drink them in here. . . . Once we turn into Crabbe and Goyle we won't fit. And Millicent Bulstrode's no pixie."
Severus snorted. "The thought of Millicent Bulstrode being a pixie js the funniest thing."
"Didn't imagine that Snivellus knew what funny means," Sirius whispered to James. Both the boys chuckled.
"Good thinking," said Ron, unlocking the door. "We'll take separate stalls."
"No, no," Lily shook her head. "Harry was suggesting to go into one stall." She said sarcastically.
Careful not to spill a drop of his Polyjuice Potion, Harry slipped into the middle stall.
"Ready?" he called.
"Never," Rosier said.
"Ready," came Ron's and Hermione's voices.
"One - two - three -"
Pinching his nose, Harry drank the potion down in two large gulps. It tasted like overcooked cabbage.
Immediately, his insides started writhing as though he'd just swallowed live snakes - doubled up, he wondered whether he was going to be 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 -
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 boatlike shoes. 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 and called, "Are you two okay?" Goyle's low rasp of a voice issued from his mouth.
"Yeah," came the deep grunt of Crabbe from his right.
"Hermione?" Lily asked, eyebrows scrunched together in worry.
Harry unlocked his door and stepped in front of the cracked mirror. Goyle stared back at him out of dull, deepset eyes. Harry scratched his ear. So did Goyle.
Ron's door opened. They stared at each other. Except that he looked pale and shocked, Ron was indistinguishable from Crabbe, from the pudding-bowl haircut to the long, gorilla arms.
"This is unbelievable," said Ron, approaching the mirror and prodding Crabbe's flat nose. "Unbelievable."
"We'd better get going," said Harry, loosening the watch that was cutting into Goyle's thick wrist. "We've still got to find out where the Slytherin common room is. I only hope we can find someone to follow . . ."
Ron, who had been gazing at Harry, said, "You don't know how bizarre it is to see Goyle thinking."
Regulus coughed to hide his chuckle.
He banged on Hermione's door. "C'mon, we need to go -"
A high-pitched voice answered him.
"I - I don't think I'm going to come after all. You go on without me."
"Hermione, we know Millicent Bulstrode's ugly,
"Rude," Molly and Arthur frowned.
no one's going to know it's you -"
"No - really - I don't think I'll come. You two hurry up, you're wasting time -"
Harry looked at Ron, bewildered.
"That looks more like Goyle," said Ron. "That's how he looks every time a teacher asks him a question."
This time, Regulus didn't bother to hide his chuckle.
"Hermione, are you okay?" said Harry through the door.
"Fine - I'm fine - go on -"
Harry looked at his watch. Five of their precious sixty minutes had already passed.
"We'll meet you back here, all right?" he said.
"You don't leave your sister like that," Ophelia said.
Harry and Ron opened the door of the bathroom carefully, checked that the coast was clear, and set off.
"Don't swing your arms like that," Harry muttered to Ron.
"Eh?"
"Crabbe holds them sort of stiff. . . ."
"How's this?"
"Yeah, that's better. . . ."
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.
"What a luck they have," Slughorn sighed. "They need Liquid Luck right now."
"Any ideas?" muttered Harry.
"The Slytherins always come up to breakfast from over there," said Ron, nodding at the entrance to the dungeons. The words had barely left his mouth when a girl with long, curly hair emerged from the entrance.
"Seems like they don't need it now," Flitwick liked up.
"Excuse me," said Ron, hurrying up to her. "We've forgotten the way to our common room."
"I beg your pardon?" said the girl stiffly. "Our common room? I'm a Ravenclaw."
She walked away, looking suspiciously back at them.
"Spoke too fast," Flitwick muttered sheepishly.
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.
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.
"Ha!" said Ron excitedly. "There's one of them now!"
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. A. Luck." Sirius laughed, slapping his thighs.
"What're you doing down here?" said Ron in surprise.
"You're not Ron right now," Arthur reminded with a roll of his eyes.
Percy looked affronted.
"That," he said stiffly, "is none of your business. It's Crabbe, isn't it?"
"Wh - oh, yeah," said Ron.
"Well, get off to your dormitories," said Percy sternly. "It's not safe to go wandering around dark corridors these days."
"You are," Ron pointed out.
"I," said Percy, drawing himself up, "am a prefect. Nothing's about to attack me."
"The creature will attack you even if you're Merlin himself," Tristan said.
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.
"There you are," he drawled, looking at them. "Have you two been pigging out in the Great Hall all this time? I've been looking for you; I want to show you something really funny."
"But," Peter said, looking confused, "they are already looking at your face. What other funny thing would you want to show them?"
Lily flashed a grin at Peter, who was busy blushing as he recieved compliments from other people. The small boy's pleased smile vanished when he caught Euphemia's disappointed gaze and he ducked his head to not to see it anymore.
Malfoy looked at Harry's (Goyle for him) face, his eyes sticking on the glasses that Harry now realised that he had absent-mindedly put on when he and Ron had left the toilet.
"This, ladies, gentlemen and Sirius ("Hey!" Sirius protested)," Remus said, pointing to the book with a poker face, "Is called digging your own grave."
"Why are you wearing glasses?" Malfoy asked.
"Er, I — I was reading," Harry let out awkwardly. Ron gulped on his side. Harry had to give Malfoy a bit of credit; he was observant.
"Goyle could read?" Lucius drawled, raising an eyebrow in mild shock.
"Of course, he could." Narcissa said. "He passed his first year, after all."
"I didn't know you could read," Malfoy said, amused,
"Like father like son," Regulus rolled his eyes.
then glanced witheringly at Percy. "And what're you doing down here, Weasley?" he sneered.
"Boasting about his perfect prefect status," Molly sighed and rolled her eyes in exasperation.
Percy looked outraged.
"You want to show a bit more respect to a school prefect!" he said.
"Who does that?" Sirius asked, looking around curiously.
"I don't like your attitude!"
"He gets that many times," Narcissa said.
Malfoy sneered and motioned for Harry and Ron to follow him. Harry almost said something apologetic to Percy but caught himself just in time. He and Ron hurried after Malfoy, who said as they turned into the next passage, "That Peter Weasley -"
"Percy," Ron corrected him automatically.
"Boys," Marlene rolled her eyes. "They both are unintentionally hell-bent on blowing up this mission. Goyle — or Crabbe — or whatever form Ron had taken, could never correct Malfoy."
"Crabbe doesn't have a mind for correcting," Regulus agreed.
"Whatever," said Malfoy. "I've noticed him sneaking around a lot lately. And I bet I know what he's up to. He thinks he's going to catch Slytherin's heir single-handed."
"Seriously, Percy?" Arthur said, sighing tiredly.
He gave a short, derisive laugh. Harry and Ron exchanged excited looks.
Malfoy paused by a stretch of bare, damp stone wall.
Every Slytherins' face soured. None of them wanted others, especially those Marauders, to know the way to their Common Room.
"The dungeons have innumerable bare, damp, stone walls," Slughorn pointed out. Some of the Slytherins visibly sagged in relief after hearing this. "It would be difficult for others toto find it."
"Oh, but we found it in our third year," James whispered, smirking.
"What's the new password again?" he said to Harry.
"Er -" said Harry.
"Oh, yeah - pure-blood!" said Malfoy, not listening, and a stone door concealed in the wall slid open. Malfoy marched through it, and Harry and Ron followed him.
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.
"It seems to be a good place," a Hufflepuff said thoughtfully.
"Wait here," said Malfoy to Harry and Ron, motioning them to a pair of empty chairs set back from the fire. "I'll go and get it - my father's just sent it to me -"
Wondering what Malfoy was going to show them, Harry and Ron sat down, doing their best to look at home.
Malfoy came back a minute later, holding what looked like a newspaper clipping. He thrust it under Ron's nose.
"That'll give you a laugh," he said.
Harry saw Ron's eyes widen in shock. He read the clipping quickly, gave a very forced laugh, and handed it to Harry.
"No suspense, Harry," Remus warned.
It had been clipped out of the Daily Prophet, and it said:
INQUIRY AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC
Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, was today fined fifty Galleons for bewitching a Muggle car.
"Oh no," Arthur muttered. "Now Harry will restart on his guilt trip."
Mr. Lucius Malfoy, a governor of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where the enchanted car crashed earlier this year, called today for Mr. Weasley's resignation.
"Weasley has brought the Ministry into disrepute," Mr. Malfoy told our reporter. "He is clearly unfit to draw up our laws and his ridiculous Muggle Protection Act should be scrapped immediately."
"R – ridiculous?" Arthur sputtered. "The laws aren't ridiculous, Malfoy! They are for our safety as well as for Muggles!"
Mr. Weasley was unavailable for comment, although his wife told reporters to clear off or she'd set the family ghoul on them.
"Don't underestimate her," Molly advised, smirking devilishly. "She will do that if you don't follow what she says."
"Well?" said Malfoy impatiently as Harry handed the clipping back to him. "Don't you think it's funny?"
"Ha, ha," said Harry bleakly.
"No one is going to fall for that, stupid," Sirius shook his head, gravely disappointed.
"Arthur Weasley loves Muggles so much he should snap his wand in half and go and join them," said Malfoy scornfully. "You'd never know the Weasleys were purebloods, the way they behave."
"They behave very well," Ted said, looking offended.
Ron's - or rather, Crabbe's - face was contorted with fury.
"What's up with you, Crabbe?" snapped Malfoy.
"Stomachache," Ron grunted.
"Well, go up to the hospital wing and give all those Mudbloods a kick from me," said Malfoy, snickering.
"I want to kick you right now," Tristan said, punching his own palm.
"You know, I'm surprised the Daily Prophet hasn't reported all these attacks yet," he went on thoughtfully. "I suppose Dumbledore's trying to hush it all up. He'll be sacked if it doesn't stop soon. Father's always said old Dumbledore's the worst thing that's ever happened to this place. He loves Muggle-borns. A decent headmaster would never've let slime like that Creevey in."
"Well, he did let you and your father in." James said, then laughed.
Malfoy started taking pictures with an imaginary camera and did a cruel but accurate impression of Colin: "'Potters, can I have your picture, Potters? Can I have your both's autographs? Can I lick your shoes, please, Potters?'"
James extended his leg forward, one end of his lips lifted up in a smirk. "You are welcome to lick them clean, Malfoy. But then," he brought back his leg to his side, "you aren't actually worthy of even looking at them."
"You —" Lucius made to lunge forward, but was forced back down by an invisible shield. "Bloody, I dare you!" He shouted up at the ceiling. "I dare you to come here and meet me like a man!"
Just then, a letter dropped on his head. Lucius picked up with a huff, jerked it open and read, his face turning even more furious.
"What is it?" Narcissa asked worriedly. She took the letter from her husband's hands and read it aloud.
"First of all, Draco Malfoy certainly was a little shit when he was younger.
"Does it mean he changed later?" Ted interrupted. Narcissa and Andromeda threw him an annoyed glance.
"But still, he doesn't deserve to be badmouthed. We are on a strict policy of not giving any spoilers so I'm not telling you anything. My previous counterparts, who had been watching you all, had informed me about your provokings. Yes, you all are being watched. Did you really think we would leave you unsupervised?
Mr Malfoy isn't the only one we can silent or push back down. The same would happen to others if they turn violent.
And, Mr Malfoy, it's a pity that I am not yet a man and our time turner has stopped working so that I can't meet and duel you. Maybe, one day in the future, you could meet me. You can take your revenge then.
Until then,
S. L. M."
"Brat," Lucius hissed.
He dropped his hands and looked at Harry and Ron.
"What's the matter with you two?"
Far too late, Harry and Ron forced themselves to laugh, but Malfoy seemed satisfied; perhaps Crabbe and Goyle were always slow on the uptake.
"Potter twins," said Malfoy slowly. "They're another one with no proper wizard feeling, or they wouldn't go around with that Creepy Creevey following them. And people think they're Slytherin's heirs!"
"Now comes the interesting bit," Sirius said, wiggling his eyebrows. "For the boys," he added when James looked at him weirdly.
Harry and Ron waited with bated breath: Malfoy was surely seconds away from telling them it was him - but then -
"I wish I knew who it is," said Malfoy petulantly. "I could help them."
Narcissa's jaw dropped and she blinked repeatedly like an owl.
"Cissy —" Lucius started, reaching out a hand to touch her, but Narcissa recoiled.
"He's twelve, Lucius." Narcissa whispered quietly. "Twelve! He shouldn't be thinking — wishing death on someone."
"Well," Lucius, never the one to admit his mistake, because seriously, Malfoys didn't make mistakes, started hesitantly, "You should have been there —"
"Can't I do my job?" Narcissa's voice rose lightly and Lucius winced. "Can't I expect my husband to raise my — our son? Do you remember when we had tried for a child for the first time and you had agreed that I can live with your parents and you can take care of our child? Do you remember the promise you had made me to keep our child away from darkness and your Dark Lord? I do." She pointed a finger toward herself, her hand trembling in rage. "I might not be the best mother out there, Lucius, but you are also not the best father. Wishing death upon someone is something no one should do! Even a Death Eater's son!"
Lucius flinched violently at that. He looked around in panic, but all he saw was knowing and disappointed (from his teachers) looks. He didn't know why they were disappointed. Lucius was doing the right thing, after all.
Yes, he admitted that Draco wishing death upon someone at such a young age was wrong, but Lucius was doing the right thing by eradicating the world of Mudbloods and Muggles! There was nothing wrong in it! Merlin's pants, he would even make sure that Draco joined his cause when he is older. Over seventeen, preferably.
And it's not like Narcissa had Blood-Traitor thoughts. She too thought of those classless beasts beneath her. You should have seen how she had treated Ted Tonks when she had found about her sister's and his marriage.
But she had also went to her sister for a peace treaty.
Why?
Did Narcissa really didn't believe in blood purity anymore?
"Calm down, Cissy," Lucius implored, holding her arm. Narcissa's jaw tightened but she didn't react anymore. "Cissy —"
"Malfoy," Andromeda warned, her eyes traveling from her sister to her brother-in-law and his hand on her sister's arm. "Leave her."
When Lucius didn't budge, Regulus added, "Narcissa will come around if chose to. You can't force her, Malfoy."
Lucius locked his jaw tight, tightened his grip on his wife's arm on a second, before leaving her completely.
Ron's jaw dropped so that Crabbe looked even more clueless than usual. Fortunately, Malfoy didn't notice, and Harry, thinking fast, said, "You must have some idea who's behind it all. . . ."
"You know I haven't, Goyle, how many times do I have to tell you?" snapped Malfoy. "And Father won't tell me anything about the last time the Chamber was opened either. Of course, it was fifty years ago, so it was before his time, but he knows all about it, and he says that it was all kept quiet and it'll look suspicious if I know too much about it. But I know one thing - last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened, a Mudblood died. So I bet it's a matter of time before one of them's killed this time.....," he said with relish.
"I am disgusted by him," a Hufflepuff said, making a repulsed face.
Harry wondered if Malfoy would have been able to say these things in front of Cassiopeia. Well, not that it matters, the girl had stopped writing those stupid updates, saying: "Malfoy might act good in front of me but we all know he will change his colours as soon as I am out of sight. As my mother had said, 'He has too much of his father in him.'"
"Both Andromeda and Cassiopeia are right," Narcissa muttered bitterly.
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 and said, "D'you know if the person who opened the Chamber last time was caught?"
Hagrid glowered, earning a look from Dumbledore.
"Oh, yeah . . . whoever it was was expelled," said Malfoy. "They're probably still in Azkaban."
"Azkaban?" said Harry, puzzled.
"I don't think Goyle would be that dense," Tristan shook his head, sighing.
"Azkaban - the wizard prison, Goyle," said Malfoy, looking at him in disbelief. "Honestly, if you were any slower, you'd be going backward."
He shifted restlessly in his chair and said, "Father says to keep my 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. Of course, he's got a lot on his plate at the moment.
"Of course he did," Narcissa continued her bitter muttering, ignoring Lucius' wounded looks.
You know the Ministry of Magic raided our manor last week?"
Harry tried to force Goyle's dull face into a look of concern.
"Yeah . . ." said Malfoy. "Luckily, they didn't find much. Father's got some very valuable Dark Arts stuff. But luckily, we've got our own secret chamber under the drawing-room floor -"
Arthur smirked at Lucius. He tucked away that information in his mind for later.
"Ho!" said Ron.
Malfoy looked at him. So did Harry. Ron blushed. Even his hair was turning red. His nose was also slowly lengthening - their hour was up, Ron was turning back into himself, and from the look of horror he was suddenly giving Harry, he must be, too.
"Run." Frank urged.
They both jumped to their feet.
"Medicine for my stomach," Ron grunted, and without further ado they sprinted the length of the Slytherin common room, hurled themselves at the stone wall, and dashed up the passage, hoping against hope that Malfoy hadn't noticed anything.
"Not possible," Andromeda said.
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.
"Well, it wasn't a complete waste of time," Ron panted, closing the bathroom door behind them. "I know we still haven't found out who's doing the attacks, but I'm going to write to Dad tomorrow and tell him to check under the Malfoys' drawing room."
"And what are you going to say when he asks how do you know?" Arthur quirked up an eyebrow.
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.
"Hermione, come out, we've got loads to tell you -"
"Go away!" Hermione squeaked.
"Huh?" James said, face scrunched up in worry.
Harry and Ron looked at each other.
"What's the matter?" said Ron. "You must be back to normal by now, we are -"
But Moaning Myrtle glided suddenly through the stall door. Harry had never seen her looking so happy.
"Myrtle? Happy?" Sirius gasped dramatically. "What happened to Hermione?"
"Ooooooh, wait till you see," she said. "It's awful -"
"She's scaring me," Lily muttered, biting her lip.
They heard the lock slide back and Hermione emerged, sobbing, her robes pulled up over her head.
"What's up?" said Ron uncertainly. "Have you still got Millicent's nose or something?"
Hermione let her robes fall and Ron backed into the sink.
No one said anything as they were all eager to hear what had happened to Hermione.
Her face was covered in black fur. Her eyes had turned yellow and there were long, pointed ears poking through her hair.
"Catwoman?" Ted said.
"Was Bulstrode a secret Catwoman?" Lily wondered.
"It was a c-cat hair!" she howled. "M-Millicent Bulstrode m-must have a cat! And the p-potion isn't supposed to be used for animal transformations!"
"Uh-oh," Lily said.
"Uh-oh," said Harry.
"You'll be teased something dreadful," said Myrtle happily.
"It's okay, Hermione," said Harry quickly. Ever the supporting brother. "We'll take you up to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey never asks too many questions. . . ."
"Cass is going to go insane after seeing you," Ron muttered under his breath.
"It will hurt her stomach more if she laughs," Andromeda said worriedly.
"Does it really hurts that much?" Rosier asked curiously.
Andromeda nodded solemnly.
It took a long time to persuade Hermione to leave the bathroom. Moaning Myrtle sped them on their way with a hearty guffaw. "Wait till everyone finds out you've got a tail!"
Sirius laughed. "Sorry," he apologised with a smile to James and Lily. "It is funny."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First of all, apologies for the delay. The second half of May had proved to be dreadful. I don't think my family has experienced three deaths in a row.
For anyone who hasn't guessed it already, S. L. M is Scorpius Lucius Malfoy. The 'us' and 'our' in Scorpius' letter refers to the NextGen.
Hope you all liked it!
BTW, What do you all think about the kids coming during the third book's reading?
Since it's summer and my mother loves to wander, I'm going on a vacation from 15 June. Don't know when we will be back.