Chapter 8 - Polyjuice Potion
Back from break, the young snakes were settling down for dinner.
“Why is it that Potter can never make a meal on time?” Blaise asked, spooning treacle tart onto his plate. “At least he can’t take all the tart today.”
Theo rolled his eyes, “I saw him in the dorm, he was muttering something about Hermione killing him, so maybe he’s hiding.” He shrugged, turning back to his potatoes.
Hermione’s head snapped up from her book. “Excuse me? Harry said what?”
“Oh, erm, -”
“Hermione I’m sure he’s just finding his last sock or something,” Pansy soothed, “no need to get upset.”
“I’m not upset, I’m-” she huffed, but was interrupted by the arrival of a very flustered Harry Potter, who threw himself down next to Daphne, reaching across the table to swipe the last of the treacle tart from Blaise.
“Oi you can at least say please!” Blaise yelped, his pumpkin juice dripping onto his robes from where it had fallen over.
“Where were you?” Hermione asked pointedly, waving her wand to clean up the spill. Harry shook his head warningly and she narrowed her eyes. Theo was watching them warily, and at least a few others had gone quiet enough for her to know they were listening discreetly.
She changed tactics. “Pansy, have you started on Transfiguration yet?” The witch groaned and quickly engaged Millie and Tracy on the best use of a new hair potion her mom had given her for Yule.
Hermione dragged Harry into an empty classroom after dinner, staring at him silently with her arms crossed, waiting for him to explain.
“It’s gone.”
“What?”
“It’s gone, Hermione, the diary is gone.”
“I’m sorry, I thought you just told me that an incredibly dangerous journal I leant to you was gone? I must have misheard.” She nearly hissed the words at him, her anger quickly bubbling to the surface.
There was a scrape at the door behind her, and she whirled to open it, finding Draco and Theo standing sheepishly behind it, clearly listening.
“Potter, you lost the journal?” Draco quickly recovered, and pivoted, “My father told me to be careful, not to even use it. I shouldn’t have taken it out of my trunk.”
Hermione gave him a sharp look, and he faltered slightly. “What happened?” Harry launched into the story. He had been at the library talking to Riddle. Over break, he had taken to talking daily to the diary, making sure his Occlumency shields were raised, and never spending too much time with it open. He had pulled together enough courage to ask about his parents, and why they had to die. Riddle had brushed off the death, hoping to bond with Harry further over his filthy muggle mother and her death. Harry had refused to open the journal again for the rest of break, until today in the library. He was still angry, but knowing he couldn’t very well yell at a book, had chosen to instead ask Riddle how many times he had to rearrange his letters in his name to come up with Voldemort and why he thought himself a Dark Lord when he was only a halfblood himself.
Hermione gasped at this, “Harry you didn’t!” Even Theo looked pale.
“You -” started Draco, “asked the-”
“Yep!” enunciated Harry, popping the P on the end. “Well he wasn’t happy about it, and I could feel something pushing at my walls, and it was strong. I slammed the diary shut and threw it in my bag. That’s the problem, I left my bag at the table to get a book for charms, I’m doing extra credit for Flitwick and he’s having me research-”
“Harry. I don’t care about your research. Where is the diary?” Hermione asked cooly, icing over the fire that was present only a few minutes ago.
Harry’s face fell, “Well that’s the thing. I just grabbed my bag on my way out, didn’t think to check everything was there, but when I got to the dormitory before dinner it was gone. Not in my bag anywhere. I was late because I emptied my bag, my trunk, my nightstand, everything that might have had a book, but it’s not there.”
“This is really bad.”
-
“Did you hear?” huffed Greg as he and Vince ran into the common room, interrupting Hermione showing Blaise a new curse she discovered.
“Hear what?” Blaise asked, distractedly.
“No it’s more of a flick.” Hermione explained, before turning to the new arrivals expectantly. “Hear what?” she repeated.
“There was another attack! This time a hufflepuff mud-” Vince stepped on his foot. “A hufflepuff muggleborn,” Greg finished, glancing sheepishly at Hermione.
“What? Are you serious? When?” She rapidly fired the questions, standing and packing up her things.
“Dunno, overheard a few of the puffs talking about it on the way back from dinner,” Vince shrugged. “Ask Theo, you know he always knows all the gossip.”
Luckily she didn’t have to wait long, after only about half an hour, Theo walked through the entrance with Daphne. They stopped short when they saw her pacing, but she crossed her arms and waited as he approached.
“Do you know?” He nodded.
“It was Justin Finchflecthly from Hufflepuff, our year and a muggleborn.”
“When?” she repeated her question to Theo.
“During dinner. They don’t have a culprit,” he sighed, “That’s all I know.” She stared at him for a moment longer before turning on her heel and heading to bed. Theo and Blaise exchanged a glance.
“Should we send Potter in to talk to her?” Blaise asked. Theo shook his head.
“No, I have a feeling he’s not someone she wants to see right now.”
-
The news of the attack was all over the school by breakfast the next morning.
“I’m telling you, no one leaves her alone,” Draco growled at his friends over porridge.
“I heard that, and I’m fine. I don’t think the heir would hurt me,” she said, giving him a look. Draco scowled.
“I don’t care if he was nice to you for one conversation, don't go anywhere alone.” She rolled her eyes as he glared at her, neither of them breaking eye contact, even as Theo coughed uncomfortably from next to him.
“Draco she’ll be fine, but you promised to help me go over charms!” Pansy squealed from down the table. Hermione wrenched her eyes from his, turning to Harry and asking him more follow ups on his experience with the diary, hoping to find some clue to trace it from the attack, oblivious to the way Draco’s eyes watched her speak with her friend.
“Ow,” he huffed, the breath knocked out of him as Theo elbowed him in the ribs.
“Sorry mate, you were drooling,” he sniggered. Daphne giggling behind her hands and she watched from across the table. Draco rolled his eyes and stood to join Pansy.
What not even Theo saw, was a second pair of eyes watching Hermione lean her head toward Harry's, speaking lowly so no one passing the table would hear. A small smile from Harry causing a murderous glint in that pair of brown eyes across the hall, so different from the ones in his best friend.
-
“I’ve been thinking,” started Hermione.
“Yes you’ve been known to do that,” finished Theo without missing a beat. She frowned at her friend, Daphne and Blaise holding back grins. Theo and Hermione were well matched in wit and could verbally spar for hours, and when they got going were much more interesting that the astronomy essay they were supposed to be working on.
“Anyway,” she exaggerated the word, “I think we need to infiltrate the staff to search for the diary.” They had decided to let a few of the others in on the basics of the diary. No one but the four of them knew it was a Horcrux or that it opened the Chamber of Secrets, but Daphne and Blaise knew enough to know it was a powerful dark object they wanted back.
‘Right,” Theo smirked at her. “And we should do that how exactly? Or are you better friends with Flitwick than you let on?” Hermione scowled at him. Her love for the little wizard was well known but she didn’t appreciate being the butt of such a crude joke.
“Well in this case I think you’d get to be Flitwick, so how close are we?”
Theo choked, glancing at Daphne, who’s face had gone carefully blank. “Excuse me?”
“Professor Snape recommended that I do additional reading on potions before he’d be willing to offer special classes, and I found one rather interesting.”
“You don’t actually mean,” he trailed off, looking helpless.
“Oh yes Theo, we’re going to brew Polyjuice Potion.”