The Potter Twins and the Chamber of Secrets {2}

17. He Knows Nothing *

"Tell me what your best friend knows" ~ Keep The Change, You Filthy Animal, All Time Low

At last, the term has ended and snow is now covering the castle grounds. Tay and Asher have returned to their family for Christmas (along with many other students) leaving the Gryffindor Common room entirely to Harry, Hermione, the Weasleys' and I.

Hermione and I wake up early on Christmas morning and quickly exchange gifts, before hurrying down to the girls' bathroom to check on the simmering Polyjuice Potion.

"Hayles, it just needs a few more ingredients and then it's ready," Hermione tells me as she hovers over the boiling cauldron.

"How much longer?"

"Less than an hour," she replies, beginning to add the final ingredients.

She soon finishes and we return to Gryffindor Tower to wake the boys.

We enter their dormitory to see them both still laying in bed;

"Rise and shine," I say loudly as Hermione opens the curtains.

"Hermione, Haylee - you're not supposed to be in here," Ron says, shielding his eyes from the light.

"Merry Christmas to you too," Hermione says, throwing him our presents. "We've been up for nearly an hour, adding more lacewings to the potion. It's ready."

"Are you sure?" Harry asks, shooting up in his bed.

"Positive," Hermione replies, as we both sit down on the edge of his bed.

"If we're going to do it, I say it should be tonight," I add, as Hedwig swoops into the room carrying a tiny package.

She lands on Harry's bed and nibbles his ear affectionately.

The tiny package is from the Dursley's, who sent us two toothpicks and a note asking if we can stay at school in the summer holidays too.

*~*

"You still need a bit of the people you're changing into," Hermione tells us as we leave the Great Hall, following the Christmas feast.
"And we also need to make sure that the real Crabbe, Goyal and Pansy don't burst in on us while we're interrogating him."

"I've got it all worked out," she continues smoothly, holding up two plump chocolate cakes. "I've filled these with simple Sleeping Draught. All you have to do is make sure Crabbe and Goyal 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 cupboard."

"Hermione, I don't think-"
"This could go seriously wrong-"

"The potion will be useless without Crabbe and Goyal's hair," she says sternly. "You do want to investigate Malfoy, don't you?"

"Oh, alright, alright," Harry says. "But what about you two?"

"Yeah, what about us?" I question.

"I've already got ours!" Mione says brightly, pulling our two bottles from her pocket, both with single strands of hair inside. "Remember when Millicent Bulstrode wrestling with me at the Duelling Club? She left this on my robes when she was trying to strangle me!"

"And mine?"

"Oh, this is Tay's doing. On the train back from Hogwarts she purposely bumped into Pansy, and she managed to pull a strand of hair out. Tay sent it to me this morning. Both Millicent and Pansy have gone home - so all we have to do is tell the Slytherin's we've come back."

With that, Hermione and I return to the bathrooms to check on the Polyjuice potion, and Ron and Harry set off to collect their hair strands.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" I ask her as she begins checking the potion.