Heart of Stone: HPHM Year 6

Borgin and Burke's

Sarah tripped into the owlery over robes currently too long, aware that these were the last steps she'd take with her quick, springy stride for the next couple hours. She hoped they wouldn't be her last. 

"Tonks? Jae?" she half-called out, half-whispered, but she appeared to have been the first to arrive for once. 

"At last." 

Sarah jumped and spun around, fumbling for her wand as a witch with scraggly white hair and moth-eaten black robes stepped out from the shadows. "You've fallen right into my trap, Sarah Spellman!"

Sarah brought her wand in the air, before the woman hunched over in a fit of laughter.

"Tonks!" she squealed. "That is so not funny! What if I 'd hexed you?"

Another fit of laughter reached her ears, and standing next to Tonks, Jae appeared from beneath the invisibility cloak. 

"Oh come on, it was a little funny. Your face--" But he couldn't finish the sentence, as he doubled over with laughter again. 

Sighing, Sarah stuffed her wand in her pocket, feeling the embarrassment welling in her cheeks. 

"Yes, carry on acting like children. We're only about to break into a cabal of murderous dark wizards. Nothing serious or anything."

Tonks straightened up, though she was still grinning. Her dark witch persona had long, yellowing teeth. 

"Sorry, mate. It was all Jae's idea." 

Jae beamed at them. Sarah rolled her eyes. She wasn't really angry with them; she was just rather more nervous about their endeavor than she wanted to let on.

"Nice one, you looked just like her there," said Jae, pulling the invisibility cloak back up onto his shoulders. 

That did make her a little angry. She supposed it should be taken as a compliment, but being compared to your best friend's murderer was never something to smile about. 

Their plan had taken over a month to prepare and enact. Convincing Penny to make the polyjuice potion for her, convincing her friends to help her gather ingredients and practice acting like Patricia Rakepick, convincing Barnaby, and more frustratingly, Ben, to let her out of their sight at all. 

She frowned as she pulled out the clear vial Penny had just given her. Inside bubbled a murky black liquid. 

"That looks delicious," said Tonks, her face twisted in a disgusted expression so familiar that for a moment, Sarah saw through the disguise. 

"Well, here we go, I guess," she said, unstoppering it. 

"Wait!" said Jae. "Where's Talbott?" 

"He'll be there. He wanted to get a bird's eye view, so to speak." 

Jae appeared puzzled, but nodded. 

Sarah pulled the bottle up to her lips and poured it down her throat, trying to swallow it in one gulp. It ended up taking two, and it was horrible. The liquid didn't have much of a flavor, exactly, but it burned going down her throat like acid. 

She put her hands on her knees as she coughed and spluttered, the bottle pressed in her left hand. Grimacing, she felt her body convulse and twist. She shut her eyes, repulsed by the sight of her skin bubbling and stretching out. She felt herself grow taller. When the sickening sensation finally halted, she took a few deep breaths before standing up and opening her eyes. 

Jae and Tonks stared at her, eyes wide. Sarah looked down at her arms. The dark, dragon-scaled robes now fit her perfectly, and her hands were paler than before, the fingers and nails longer. She reached up and pulled a lock of hair forward. The strand was shorter and a bright, Rakepick red.