A Serpent's Heart

Chapter 23. Professor Flitwick's Fireplace.

As I entered the Owlery, I was welcomed by the hooting and screeching of owls. I picked up the cauldron with the now finished potion. Emma had gone to Flitwick's office to convince him to let us use his fireplace. Using the Floo Network would be the easiest way to enter Malfoy Manor. I poured the potion in two cups and left the Owlery.

***

"Ladies, I think I know what you're up to and I cannot allow it," Professor Flitwick muttered.

"But it's a matter of life and death!" Emma complained.

I walked up to the Professor and looked down on him, which I hoped would intimidate him. "The world isn't becoming a safer place. If we don't act now, no one ever will. Please, Professor, let us try to save a friend!" I pleaded.

Professor Flitwick let out a long sigh, scratched his chin and said assuredly: "If you would have asked any other teacher, you would've probably been suspended. But since I, too, am fond of Luna Lovegood, and we are living in uncertain times indeed, I will let you use my fireplace. We must save every innocent soul we can."

"Thank you, Professor!" Emma and I cheered.

"We must change into different clothes now, if we want the plan to work," I announced.

"Do whatever you have to do. Officially, I am not involved in this plan," the Professor winked.

"Naturally," I replied, and Professor Flitwick left the office.

I threw the content of my bag on the floor. A small tin containing Draco's and Pansy's hairs; a pile of clothes I'd see Pansy wear, taken from my own wardrobe; and a black suit, turtleneck and patent leathers, which I had managed to nick from the dressing room when Draco was playing Quidditch. 

I handed Emma a velvet top with a v-neck and a black skirt before putting on my own "costume". The trousers were too long and the patent leathers felt like clown's shoes on my feet.

I opened the tin and dropped the hairs in our cups. "Ready?" I asked.

Emma nodded. With a shaky hand, I gave her the potion. "Three, two, one..." Emma counted down. We raised the cups to our lips and drank. The stuff was revolting. I gagged and dropped the cup. Emma looked as if she was going to pass out.

A sharp pain flashed through my spine as I felt how I grew a few inches. I looked at my hands. They grew larger and my fingers longer. My feet filled up the space in my shoes properly now. Quickly, I searched for a mirror and I was just in time to see my long hair "grow back" and change colours to a very light blonde. My forehead seemed to grow and my chin became a bit pointier. I looked over my shoulder to watch Emma's hair darken and shorten, and her nose changed to Pansy's prominent one with a wide nasal tip. I looked at myself again (or what was left of it, anyways) and saw my facial expression had changed to a seemingly permanent look of self-righteous disdain. Impossible to ignore either, was the newly obtained thing in my trousers.

The transformation was complete. We had to hurry now, to make sure the effect lasted throughout the entirety of our mission.

"I'll go first," I said, and I stepped into the fireplace. Emma looked at me frightfully, but there was no way back now. "Malfoy Manor!" I called.

While my body was spinning rapidly, doubt filled my mind. Should we have waited? Should I have persuaded Draco to help me anyways? Did I really know Draco well enough to fool whoever we'd bump into? No time left to overthink all the doom scenarios: I had stopped spinning and rolled out of a strange fireplace. I was still dizzy and it took some effort to stand up, but by the time I was on my feet, Mrs. Malfoy stood in front of me.

I was slightly taller than her, and I gave her my most uninterested look.

"What are you doing here, Draco?" she asked suspiciously.

"I fled Hogwarts, because Dumbledore has risen from the dead," I replied with a faint grin on my face.

"And what's the real reason?" Narcissa asked.

There was a noise behind me and "Pansy" appeared in the fireplace. She brushed the ashes from her skirt and quickly positioned herself next to me.

"Ah, there you are, Pansy. My mother just asked what I'm doing here," I informed Emma.

"Well?" Narcissa asked impatiently.

"Just came to pick something up. Something personal." I put my arm around Pansy, who giggled and played with her hair, and we walked towards the large, black door, which was on the far end of the luxuriously furnished hall.

"And we couldn't send it to you by mail? And why did you bring Pansy? Why should I even let you walk through the house like that? First of all you should prove you are my son!" Narcissa demanded. 

"I brought Pansy, because the item I've come to pick up is actually hers," I bluffed. "And go ahead, mother, prove I'm not Draco Lucius Malfoy."

Narcissa looked at me intently, thought for a second and asked: "Where is your room?"

Without breaking eye-contact, I remembered Draco telling me he liked to watch the moon from his window. The moon rose in the east. I guessed that when you walked up the stairs, you'd be facing the north, meaning Draco's room would be on your right.

"Up the stairs on the right," I answered. "Can I go now?" I added an anticipating smile.

"Which door?" Narcissa asked. "Just to make sure." She was smiling faintly. My first answer had been correct!

I tried to set up an Arithmancic equation by heart, but when I found out I had no information to work with, I went with my favourite number.

"Third."

"Did Severus give you permission to go home?" Narcissa asked.

"I don't need permission to go home for five minutes. But before anyone notices I have left, I should get Pansy's, err- thing," I said impatiently. We marched out of the room. At the end of the corridor, I saw a barred door that led to a staircase.

"That probably goes down to the dungeons," I said.

"So I'll wait here to make sure no one notices you free Luna?" Emma asked softly.

I nodded and walked to the door. It didn't open, so after muttering 'alohomora' I opened the door and walked down the stairs.

I ended up in front of another barred door, which led to a cellar with a low ceiling. In the dim light, I saw an old man, who I immediately recognised as Ollivander. On the other side of the room sat a blonde girl with her eyes closed.

"Luna!"

Luna looked up and blinked in disbelief. "What do you want, Draco?"

"I'm not Draco," I said impatiently. "I've come to get you out. And you too, Mister Ollivander."

"I should have known! Your voice is a very good impression of Draco's, but the intonation is characteristic for Keira Tacendi. Is it you, Keira?" Luna asked, examining me.

"Yes, and now get up, we have to get out of here," I said. "On your feet!" I insisted on Ollivander, who was still sitting against the wall.

We raced up the stairs. "Thank Merlin you made it!" Emma sighed in relief.

Luna smiled at "Pansy" and guessed: "You're Emma, right? You look way too nervous to really be Pansy."

"Narcissa is in that room, so we can't use the Floo Network. We have to get out of the manor and apparate," I explained.

The four of us hurried to the door, but before we could open it, I heard footsteps on the stairs behind us.

"Draco?" Lucius Malfoy asked wonderingly.