Charmolypi

Chapter 68

The scene changed showing Ron and Harry sleeping in their dormitory. The door swung open revealing an excited looking Hermione, fully dressed, carrying presents for both boys. She placed the presents down on one of the tables and drew the curtains open.

"Wake up!" She said loudly, startling the boys.

"Hermione – you're not supposed to be here!" Ron said startled, covering his eyes from the incoming light.

"Merry Christmas to you, too," Hermione said, throwing him his present. "Thea and I have been up for nearly an hour. She's been adding more lacewings to the potion, but, it's ready."

"It still baffles me how a second year student can make a successful Polyjuice potion," Regulus told his friends.

Harry instantly sat up. "Are you sure?"

"Positive," Hermione said as she moved Ron's rat so that she could sit down on the redhead's bed. "Thea says we better do it tonight, if we're insisting on going through with this."

In that moment, Hedwig swooped in, carrying two small packages. She landed on Harry's bed, to which he seemed excited about.

"Hello," he said happily. "Are you speaking to me again?"

She nibbled his ear in an affectionate way, which made Harry happy. He opened the first present, which was a toothpick from the Dursleys. They had asked him if he would stay at Hogwarts for summer vacation. When he opened the other gift, it was a newly knitted stag. Instantly, he knew that this was a gift from his sister.

Everyone looked at the sweet scene before them, happy for the love Harry had been receiving from his loving family at Hogwarts.

As if his thoughts had summoned her, Thea along with the Weasley twins, burst into the boys' dormitory, singing Christmas carols at the top of their lungs. Surprisingly, they sounded really good. Athie swooped in and perched itself beside Hedwig, while Nyx cruelly started playing with Scabbers, which annoyed Ron.

"They're going to start a band," Marlene whispered to Alice, who nodded in agreement.

The scene changed, showing the decorated Great Hall. Just like the previous year, everyone was sitting together, despite their different houses. Thea, Matteo, and the Weasley twins had been playing small pranks on everyone, while Ron and Harry were stuffing their faces. Hermione, who looked impatient, couldn't help but look slightly disgusted at what she was witnessing.

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 the real Crabbe and Goyle can't burst in on us while we're interrogating him." She said as the boys gaped at her. "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. "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."

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, identical to the one Thea had whenever she was going to do something mischievous that she knew would be successful.