Hermione Granger and the Chamber of Secrets (Completed)

Chapter 11 - The Polyjuice Potion

Harry seemed to have decided to explain to Justin what really happened during the duelling club next time they had Herbology. Unfortunately for him, there was a blizzard the next day so Herbology was cancelled. As Ron spent the free period thrashing Hermione at chess, Harry paced up and down the common room complaining about it
"For heaven's sake, Harry" sighed Hermione "Go and find Justin if it's so important to you"

Harry disappeared through the portrait hole and didn't come back for an hour. Ron won the chess game (obviously) and the two of them decided that they would probably meet up with Harry on the way to Transfiguration so, again ignoring the wolf whistles from other Gryffindor's , the two of them left the common room together

As her and Ron walked down the corridor, Hermione noticed that it was oddly quiet. The only noise that she could hear was the hissing of the pipes. She then remembered that most of the school was in lessons, but for some reason she had the odd feeling that she was being watched.

"It feels kind of creepy, don't you think?" Ron whispered. Hermione could understand what he meant. Now the hissing had stopped, an eerie silence had fallen over the corridor and Hermione subconsciously moved closer to Ron

Suddenly, the silence was broken by Peeves bellowing nearby
"ATTACK! ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK! NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ATTAAAACK!"
Ron and Hermione exchanged troubled glances before following several classes up the corridor and round the corner

There had been another attack. Justin Finch-Fletchley was lying on the ground, his wide eyes glazed over and his whole body completely frozen. However, something even odder had happened to Nearly Headless Nick. He was black, smoking and almost solid, lying about a metre above the floor. He looked just as shocked as Justin. A large group of students were staring at the two newest victims and standing next to them was, of course, Harry

A loud bang erupted out of Professor McGonagall's wand, calming the students. She then got everyone back into their classes and Ron and Hermione were forced to leave
"Harry'll be alright, won't he?" Hermione asked quickly
"Yes, I think so" Ron said uncertainly "I mean, surely the Heir of Slytherin would be in Slytherin. They must realise that"
Hermione nodded, but she couldn't help but wonder

***

Thankfully, Harry didn't receive any punishment for being at the wrong place at the wrong time
"Hagrid vouched for me" he said cheerfully "he was in the castle to get permission to protect the rooster pen from whatever's killing them"
Unfortunately, everyone else in the school seemed to be scared of him. The Hufflepuffs in their year were going out of their way to avoid them and Ginny would go white whenever she ran into him. Ginny had been acting very oddly recently. She constantly looked ill and she kept crying. Whenever Hermione asked her about it, she would just burst into tears and say that she couldn't remember anything

Soon the Christmas holidays arrived, which Hermione was glad about. She was rather tired of people backing away from her as if she had caught a contagious illness. As nearly everyone had gone home, she found it a lot easier to sneak into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and work on the Polyjuice Potion.

Hermione decided that it would probably be best to drink the Polyjuice Potion on Christmas Day, as Malfoy would probably be in high spirits after the feast, and would be more likely to spill secrets. She spent most of Christmas Eve with Moaning Myrtle, adding leeches to the simmering cauldron. She also used her own cauldron to produce a simple sleeping potion and put it in two cupcakes. Her plan was that Harry and Ron would trick Crabbe and Goyle into eating them so that they could steal their hair

On Christmas Day Hermione got up at around 6 o' clock. Her and Ginny had been sharing a dormitory, so she had to be extra careful not to wake her up. She raced to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, and started adding lacewings to the potion. An hour later the potion resembled black mud, bubbling slowly and billowing gray smoke, just as the book said it should. Grinning with pride, Hermione ran back to the common room