Ineffable | Harry Potter - George Weasley // COMPLETED

12 | Polyjuice Potion

By the time Hermione's Polyjuice Potion was ready, snow had begun to fall from the sky and it was nearing the holidays again. I had no clue how my time at Hogwarts kept passing me by so quickly, but when you and your friends are constantly trying to solve one mystery after another, you don't really pay attention to the time.

Spotting Hermione as she walked into the Great Hall, I waved her over. "Everything's set." she kept her voice low and sat down with us. "We just need a bit of who you're changing into."

"Crabbe and Goyle." Harry nodded. I was planning on changing into one of the Slytherin girls, Pansy Parkinson, but it hadn't been hard for me to snatch a bit of her hair while walking to class in the hallway. All I needed was one strand, and that was easy enough.

"We also need to make sure that the real Crabbe and Goyle can't burst in on us while we're interrogating Malfoy," Hermione added.

Ron cocked a brow. "How?"

"I've got it all worked out." Hermione reached into her bag and pulled out two pastries. "I filled these with a simple Sleeping Draught. Simple, but powerful. Now, once they're asleep, hide them in the broomstick cupboard and pull out a few of their hairs and put on their uniforms."

"Whose hair are you ripping out, then?" Ron asked.

"We've already got ours." Hermione pulled out two small tubes, each with a single hair in it. "Millicent Bulstrode and Pansy Parkinson. Slytherin. I got mine off her robes and Yavana snatched the other in the hall. We're going to go check on the Polyjuice Potion. Make sure that Crabbe and Goyle find these."

After handing the tainted pastries to Harry and Ron, Hermione and I headed back to the girls' lavatory where we could finish up the potion. As Hermione started dividing the potion into four separate glasses, Harry and Ron returned with the required materials.

"We'll have exactly one hour before we change back into ourselves." I read from the potions book as Hermione handed us each a glass.

Putting the book down, I stared at the disgusting looking potion and began to dread having to drink it. "Add the hairs," Hermione said, and we did as told.

"Essence of Crabbe." Ron groaned as we clinked our glasses together and downed the lumpy liquid.

It didn't take long after the drink hit my taste buds to realize that that was the most disgusting thing I had ever tasted. Bringing the cup away from my lips, I placed it down before leaning over the sink, prepared in case the potion decided to make its way back up again.

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Ron dropped the glass to the floor and ran for one of the toilets.

"Me too." Hermione followed Ron's lead.

Staring into the mirror above the sink, I watched in slight horror as the skin on my hands began to bubble, slowly changing into the shape and dark colour of Pansy's hands. Soon after my face changed as well, and it was truly terrifying to have the reflection in the mirror not belong to me.

Turning to Harry, I almost screamed when it was Goyle instead. "Harry? Yavana?" Ron walked out of the stall, sounding like Ron but looking like Crabbe. "Bloody hell!"

"We still sound like ourselves," Harry said. "You need to sound more like Crabbe."

"Bloody hell," Ron repeated, making his voice slightly deeper.

I nodded and gave a thumbs up. "Excellent. You sound perfect. B-but where's Hermione?"

"I...I don't think I'm going." Hermione called from the bathroom stall. "You go on without me."

"Hermione, are you okay?" Harry asked, worried.

"Just go. You're wasting time."

Turning, the three of us ran off and headed in the direction that we thought the Slytherin common room was. However, we didn't get very far when the Gryffindor prefect, Ron's older brother Percy, spotted us. "Excuse me." he walked over to us.

"What are you doing d-" Ron started talking to his brother before realizing that in that very moment, they weren't brothers. "I mean, what are you doing down here?"

"I happen to be a school prefect," Percy answered. "You, on the other hand, have no business wandering the corridors at night. What are your names again?"

We looked at each other. "I'm...we're-"

"Crabbe, Goyle, where have you two been?" Draco rounded the corner and headed right for us, completely ignoring that I was there as well. However, I didn't really know if Pansy and Draco were friends. "Pigging out in the Great Hall all this time? Why are you wearing glasses?"

Realizing that he still had his glasses on, Harry quickly ripped them off of his face. "Reading."

"Reading? I didn't know you could read." Draco eyed him before turning to Percy. "And what are you doing down here, Weasley?"

"Mind your attitude, Malfoy." Percy seethed.

With that, Draco walked off with us following quickly behind. Harry and Ron went with him inside the common room while I stayed outside, making sure none of the real people we were impersonating tried to ruin our plan.

As I leaned against the wall, ready to make a mad dash for it at any second, I looked down at my hands and still felt weird. Pansy's skin was much darker than mine was, so just the hands alone made me remember that I wasn't me.

Hearing footsteps, my head snapped up, slightly surprised to hear someone walking around at this time of night. However, if it happened to be a teacher or another prefect, I could be in some serious trouble. But no, it wasn't anyone of that sort. It was George Weasley, sneaking through the halls after undoubtedly pulling another prank on some poor, helpless student.

"Hi George!" I waved, but just as quickly as the words slipped out, I remembered that I wasn't myself.

George paused for a moment and looked to me, eyebrows furrowed as he wondered why Pansy Parkinson from Slytherin house was talking to him. "Never mind." I folded my arms over my chest, attempting to act like the rude girl I was currently disguised as. "Thought you were a different George. Now, get lost!"

George just shook his head in confusion before disappearing around the corner. Sighing in relief, I relaxed after almost blowing the whole plan. Seconds later, Ron and Harry ran out, slowly turning back into themselves as they grabbed my sleeve and dragged me back to the bathroom.

By the time we ran into the tile-floored lavatory, we had all completely changed back into ourselves, which was a very good feeling to say the least. "That was close." Harry huffed. "Hermione, come out. We've got loads to tell you."

"Go away," Hermione yelled back.

"Wait till you see." Moaning Myrtle floated out of the stall. "It's awful."

Reaching out, I slowly started to push the door open. "Hermione? Are you okay?"

"Do you remember me telling you that the Polyjuice Potion was only for human transformations? It was cat hair I plucked off Millicent Bulstrode's robes." Hermione spun around, her face furry like a cat's with large ears emerging from her frizzy hair. "Look at my face."

"Look at your tail." Ron chuckled as Moaning Myrtle began to laugh hysterically.

After finding out that Hermione had accidentally turned herself half-cat, I took her down to the hospital wing, which seemed to be a place that we were visiting more and more frequently. The only person yet to be in the hospital was me, but knowing that we were far from uncovering the mystery of the Chamber of Secrets, I didn't exactly have my hopes up.

I stayed with Hermione most days as she slowly recovered, bit by bit becoming fully human again, while Ron and Harry kept searching for clues. Somehow, I could feel it in my bones that we were close to something, but I wasn't exactly sure what.