CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
MALFOY AMISS
The next few weeks seemed to fly by with abandon. Harry had been uneasy since that day in the room of requirement. He had promised Dumbledore that he wouldn't attempt a rescue of Sirius through the cave because it was too early for him to face Voldemort. Harry wasn't too pleased but understood and agreed with his headmaster's request. If that wasn't enough, everyone had mounds of extra homework assigned by their professors before the Christmas holidays began.
"Three essays in potions, two from transfiguration, history of magic has only one but it's four feet?!" Ron was staring at his holiday assignments as if they were some sort of new torture technique laid out in graphic step-by-step detail before him.
"Ron, it's not that bad." Hermione huffed from her side of the table. "Did you expect advanced classes to be easier than previous years'?"
Harry suppressed a grin from behind his book, Dark Arts: Unbound! Defenses and Counter-Curses. With his new-found efficiency to finish his homework he'd started doing extra reading.
Anything that can help me against Voldemort. He thought grimly.
"Why is it that you seem to not have any homework recently, Harry?" Ron asked his best friend dejectedly in an attempt to change the target from him to Harry. "I mean, we're in the same classes and everything."
"Oh, don't bring me into this." Harry said seriously. "I've been making time to finish it early so that I have more time to research or practice." He glanced at Hermione briefly hoping that she wouldn't be too irritated that he was still finishing assignments before she did.
Ron sighed and looked at his assignments again.
"Where are your parents taking you for Christmas, Hermione?" Harry asked, trying to change the subject from homework.
"We're supposed to be heading to America." She said with a smile. "They're going to a convention and wanted me along. I haven't spent Christmas with them the past couple of years." She looked at her boyfriend, searching his face for something.
Harry smiled at her. "It has been a couple of years, hasn't it? We pulled you from them last time, sorry about that." He put his hand on hers and squeezed it gently.
"Oh, no, it's perfectly fine." She said quickly. "You don't have to apologize for that. There was a lot going on at the time."
Harry nodded as he thought back to that dream he had. Mr. Weasley was asleep in the hall and Harry had slithered up to him like a snake and began to attack him. He woke up in much the same state he was when Ron and Hermione had found him in the room of requirement. It was pure luck that they made it out of the school before Umbridge could catch them. It was a rather surreal Christmas from that moment on.
"When do you head out?" Ron asked as he started his history of magic essay, trying to write as large as he could without being totally obnoxious.
Harry snapped from his revelry and looked to his girlfriend.
"I leave Monday morning." She said. "I'm taking the Knight Bus and we leave by plane that evening."
"Well, at least we can all go to Hogsmeade before you go." Harry said with a wide smile on his face.
The last Hogsmeade trip of the term was the Saturday before the holiday started. Harry had made plans for the four of them to spend some time at the Three Broomsticks and to do some final Christmas shopping while they were there. Ron was staying at the castle as he had for the majority of their holidays; it was somewhat of a tradition now. Harry, of course, was staying as well. The Dursleys wouldn't want him to come back and Harry wasn't sure if they were even back at Privet Drive yet or not.
I'm sure they're ok, it's been a couple of months and Uncle Vernon needs to work after all. He thought to himself.
"We're going to be late for Potions!" Hermione said. All three hurriedly packed for class.
They had barely made it to the dungeons in time. Just as they sat down, Snape strode into the room with the characteristic swoop of his cloak as if he were a large bat. He whipped out his wand and waved it in the air before the blackboard. A potion, its ingredients, and instructions to brew it appeared with a faint pop.
"Begin." He said tersely and sat at his desk rifling through paperwork.
The students all got out their cauldrons and pulled out rolls of parchment to write down the instructions.
"This is a pretty complicated potion." Hermione whispered excitedly as her quill scratched feverishly across the yellowed parchment.
Harry and Ron both rolled their eyes. Potions wasn't their favorite class, and they never tried to hide that fact. Snape would always find something wrong with their finished product, take points from Gryffindor, or humiliate one of them in some form or another. Today wasn't any different.
Harry was dutifully slicing his iguana tail, chopping his knotgrass, and then started grinding the correct amount of moonstone with his pestle and mortar. He was following the instructions to the letter and had a cauldron full of water simmering by time the ingredients had to be added.
Half of the knotgrass plus three quarters of the powdered moonstone mixed and separated into ten equal portions. Harry went over the instructions in his mind. Place one slice of iguana tail into the simmering water followed by one portion of the knotgrass moonstone mixture ... stir five times anticlockwise then twice clockwise.
The potion began to turn a sickly green. After adding the next batch, it changed to a violent red with purple flecks. By time he added the last of the knotgrass mixture, he had to filter the potion through eight grams of nettles in fine cheesecloth, which was provided. The potion was now a clear, crystalline green that seemed to give off its own light. He checked the instructions again.
Consistency, check. Color, check. Harry went down the list of what the qualities of the next to final product should be and all of them matched. He finished by turning off the flames and letting it sit for one half hour to cool.
"Time is up. You will turn in a sample to me and clean your areas." Snape said with indifference from his desk.
"Final result?" Harry whispered to himself then nodded with satisfaction. The potion was now a faint blue with flecks of green in it and had the consistency of dog drool.
Not wanting to take any chances, Harry filled two vials, stoppered and marked both of them and brought them to his professor's desk.
"Five points from Gryffindor." Snape said without looking up.
"What? Why?" Harry asked taken aback.
"I only require one vial, Mr. Potter." Snape replied, again, without looking up. "Leave both."
Harry put the vials in their places and returned to his table as a scowl grew rapidly across his face. He didn't say anything else while he cleaned his equipment and got ready to leave.
What is this potion used for anyway? There was no name or application instructions with it! He thought furiously.
There was a loud clatter from across the room that startled everyone. Harry turned to see Crabbe and Goyle standing on either side of Malfoy who was covered in blue slime with green flecks. Malfoy looked horror stricken and the two Slytherin beaters had malicious grins on their faces.
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" Snape roared from his desk. He hurried to Malfoy's side but the potion had already sunk into the pale boy's skin. "CRABBE! GOYLE! OFFICE!" Snape barked.
The two large boys smirked and waddled off to the potions master's office. Snape began to check Draco's eyes and asking him questions. "Was the potion exactly the right consistency and color?"
Draco couldn't answer verbally so he nodded instead.
"Your eyes look ok, open your mouth."
Draco did as he was told.
Snape shook his head then looked around the room. "POTTER! TAKE MALFOY TO THE HOSPITAL WING! NOW!"
Harry looked at the head of Slytherin house incredulously.
"MOVE!"
He moved slowly, but took hold of Draco's robes and started to pull him towards the door. Malfoy didn't move. He seemed petrified like someone cast a petrificus totalus on him.
"Use mobilicorpus, Potter!" Snape scowled darkly. "The rest of you will finish clean up! You are dismissed afterwards." He pointed his wand at the floor. "SCOURGIFY!" With that, he spun on his heel and stormed to his office.
Harry muttered the mobilicorpus spell and Malfoy began bobbing in the air next to him. He pulled the young wizard behind him. "Could you take my books with you?" He asked Ron as he walked by.
"Sure, Harry." Ron replied and shot him an apologetic look.
Hermione gave him the same look but smiled reassuringly as he passed her. "I'll see you at lunch, ok?"
Harry nodded and smiled weakly at her.
It didn't take him long to get Malfoy to the hospital wing and when he entered the room with the immobilized and levitating Slytherin Madam Pomfrey became frantic.
"What on earth happened?" She asked rushing over to guide his floating parcel to the end bed.
"Crabbe and Goyle dumped a potion on him." Harry explained. "I'm not sure what it is supposed to do or what it was called, all we had were the instructions on how to brew it."
"Brewing a potion that you don't know the effects of?!" Madam Pomfrey was in hysterics. "Wait until I get a hold of Professor Snape!" She stormed around the bed casting diagnostic spells over the petrified boy. "What was its color and consistency?"
"It ended up being faint blue with green specks and had the consistency of dog drool." Harry replied.
Madam Pomfrey stood up quickly. She glanced at the wide-eyed Malfoy and then to Harry. "How long ago?"
"About five minutes, give or take." Harry answered.
The school nurse quickly ran around the bed pulling the curtains around it. "Thank you for bringing him, Harry. You can leave now." She said as she shooed him out of the hospital wing. "You may head back down to class."
Harry was standing in the hall with a confused expression on his face. "Ok." He said quietly to himself. What is that potion supposed to do?
He made his way to the Gryffindor common room. Potions was cancelled for the rest of the morning and lunch wouldn't be ready for another few hours. He figured that Hermione and Ron would be back in the common room. He made his way up the stairs and down the hall that lead to the tower.
"Treacle Pie" he said quietly and the portrait opened to allow him entrance. Hermione was in her customary seat on the couch in front of the hearth and Ron was sitting across from her in one of the armchairs.
"Harry! How'd it go?" Hermione said with a smile as she waved for him to join her on the couch.
"It went. Madam Pomfrey kicked me out after a few minutes. What was that potion anyway?" He replied as he sat down and put his arm around his girlfriend.
"That's what I was trying to figure out." Hermione went back to looking through her potions book. "I haven't found anything yet."
Harry finally looked up at Ron. "What's the matter, Ron?"
The red-head seemed to be in shock.
"Ron?" Harry said more forcefully.
Ron shook his head and looked over at his best friends. "Oh, you're back. I was wondering what happened with Crabbe and Goyle. Usually it's Malfoy that messes with us, not his protection messing with him."
Harry nodded. "It was a surprise."
"Malfoy's been pretty quiet since that day in the Great Hall." Hermione said after a few moments. "Maybe there was a falling out or something?"
"I don't know." Harry said as he reached for Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts. "Madam Pomfrey freaked when I described the potion to her. I didn't think to ask her what it was." He opened the book where he had left off previously and started reading.
"It's not in any of our course books." Hermione said after an hour of looking. "It's almost time for lunch. Maybe we can hit the library after classes?"
Harry nodded and collected his books. "This afternoon is the reschedule of Defense." He reminded them. Professor Durkell was absent from class that day and there had been no explanation given. Instead Care of Magical Creatures was moved up and Defense Against the Dark Arts was rescheduled to today.
The trio made their way to the Great Hall for lunch. Harry glanced at the Slytherin table to find that Crabbe and Goyle weren't there. Malfoy was obviously still in the hospital wing. Snape was also not at the instructors table at the front of the room.
"I wonder if those two got expelled." Harry wondered aloud.
"I don't know. Snape was pretty angry though." Ron replied.
Hermione, who had opened another book on potions ignored the commentary and continued to scan through the pages in the book.
Lunch ended with the ringing of the bell and everyone set off to their afternoon classes. Ron had started towards Care of Magical creatures, but Harry grabbed his robes and turned him to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.
"Reschedule, remember?" Harry reminded his friend.
Ron blinked. "Oh, yeah." He said; the tips of his ears turning red.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "You'd think that you could listen when people talk to you."
"I was still in shock over potions." Ron complained.
Harry just smiled and continued walking with his friends.
They made their way to their class, the last of the term. Everyone was eagerly awaiting the next class, they were ready to continue astral projection and the meditations that they were all practicing had them ready.
Professor Durkell entered the room from his office and immediately went to his desk and waved his wand. The four identical black boxes appeared on his desk and he looked around and smiled at the class.
"Good afternoon." He said with that same smile. "We've only got two periods today so I'm imposing a time limit on each attempt. You will each have three minutes to project yourself and discover the contents of the boxes. You will each find in front of you a slip of parchment with a number on it. This is the turn that you'll take. You will also write your answers on the back.
"Next term, after the holidays, we will be focusing on other aspects of the dark arts, which I will not go into at this time." He continued talking for a few more moments, his eyes meeting everyone in the class. "Now, when I call your number, I want you to come down to the front of the class and have a seat at the empty desk in the front row. You are to drop into your meditative state and try to discern the contents of the box. Remember to concentrate and guide yourself with your thoughts. I will be right here as an anchor and at the end of three minutes I will cast the charm to return you to your body. Right then? Number one."
Neville grimaced when he looked at his parchment and found that he was, indeed, the first student to participate in today's lesson. He got up nervously and made his way to the front of the class. After a few moments, he was still and at his time limit, Professor Durkell called him back. Neville looked around with a confused look and when he got sight of his surroundings, he made his way back to his desk shaking like a leaf in a hurricane.
"Number two." Professor Durkell called.
"What number do you have, Harry?" Ron asked.
"It looks like I'm close to the end of the class." He replied. "Thirty. You? Hermione?"
Ron replied. "I've got nine."
Hermione smiled. "I'm number three!" She looked rather excited. "Oh, I hope I do well!"
Parvati was called back and she took her seat. She was shaking, but far less that Neville had.
"Number three."
"I'm up! Wish me luck!" Hermione said happily.
"Good luck!" Ron and Harry said together.
Hermione seemed to be in her trance for about a minute and came out of it without having to be called back by the professor. She got back to her seat and scribbled down her answers.
"Number four."
"What did you see?" Ron asked with a twinkle in his eyes.
"I'm not going to tell you, Ron! No cheating!" She huffed and hid her answer sheet.
Several more students tried their best when it was Ron's turn. He walked down to the front of the room with a face as red as his hair and sat down in the appointed spot. He seemed to concentrate then, as had been happening for most of the class, Professor Durkell called him back. He walked shakily up to his desk and scribbled down his answers.
"I couldn't do it." He said under his breath. "I sort of felt light headed, but after that, I couldn't move or think. It was kind of freaky."
"Number twelve!" It was Seamus' turn.
"You were almost there, Ron!" Hermione said with a smile. "All you needed to do was concentrate and you could have moved around a bit!"
"It was hard to concentrate with that kind of dizzy feeling going on!" Ron hissed.
Hermione shook her head with a smile and Harry joined her.
"It'll be alright, Ron." Harry said a few moments later.
"Number twenty-four." A Slytherin boy went down to the front of the room. He seemed to concentrate for a few seconds. His shoulders slumped and he walked back to his desk.
"Twenty-nine" Called Durkell. Lavender Brown went to the front of the room. She fell into the trance and a few seconds later began to scream.
Professor Durkell called her back to her body. "Miss Brown, what's wrong?!"
"S-S-S-S" She stuttered and pointed to the corner of the classroom behind Harry. Fear and horror were evident on her face.
"What? What is it?" The professor asked urgently.
"S-Sirius Black!" She wailed in fear. "He's standing behind Harry!"
The class turned around to look where she was pointing. Harry spun around so fast that he nearly fell off his chair.
"Where?" Harry asked urgently. "I don't see anything!"
"On-on the astral plane!" Lavender cried. "I-I found myself outside my body so I decided to take a quick look around and I saw him s-standing right behind you!"
Professor Durkell's eyes went wide. "Wait right here." He quickly closed his eyes and went into the familiar trance. After a few agonizing minutes, his eyes snapped open and he looked around the room. "I'm sorry, Miss Brown, but there is nobody there, at least now." He put his hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "Why don't you go to the hospital wing?" He scribbled a quick note. "Give this to Madam Pomfrey. Miss Patil? I believe you're her friend?"
Parvati nodded.
"Please escort Miss Brown to the hospital wing. I'll have someone give you your holiday homework after class."
"Miss Brown? Please let me remind you that beings on the astral plane cannot harm you on the material plane. You'll be alright, everything will be fine."
Lavender nodded, gathered her things and left the room with Parvati. Despite the words of assurance, she ran quickly by the spot where she saw the escaped prisoner.
"Ok, we have one more person, number thirty. I guess that'd be you, Mr. Potter." Professor Durkell said finally.
Harry went to the front of the class and sat in the seat provided. He closed his eyes and fell into his occlumency trance then worked his way into the path of astral projection. He saw a bright light then felt himself floating upward. He scanned the room and saw everyone watching his seated body below him.
This is weird, almost like when Hermione and I used the time-turner. He thought. Concentrating, he floated to the four boxes. In the first box on the left, there was a stack of fifteen galleons. In the second box there was a picture of Professor Durkell at a picnic. The third stood a miniature model of the Statue of Liberty. And in the final box was the book Moste Potente Potions. He looked around again then floated to his body and sat down.
"Back already?" Professor Durkell asked.
"What?" Harry replied. "I was almost sure that you were going to call me back so I hurried back to my body."
Professor Durkell laughed. "I see. You should remember that time is different on the astral plane than it is on the material. To us, you've only been in your trance for about thirty seconds."
"Only thirty seconds?" Harry said with his mouth agape.
The professor laughed again. "Did you find what you needed to finish the assignment?"
Harry nodded. He stood up and went to his seat then wrote down his answers.
"Did you do it?" Hermione asked excitedly. "You came out of the trance in less time than I did!"
Harry nodded. He was about to show her what he'd seen when the professor spoke up again.
"Alright, now turn your papers in to me. Make sure your name is on them!" He smiled and walked around his desk for a small box. The class filed to the front of the room and put their papers in the box before returning to their seats.
"Very well. Now let's show you what you should have seen." He lifted the first box.
"Fifteen gold galleons!"
The second box left the desk.
"A picture of me at a picnic."
The third box was removed.
"Ah, the Statue of Liberty! I miss that lady!" He smiled.
The last box was set on the floor.
"The library's book: Moste Potente Potions!"
The class broke out in smiles and laughter. Students whispered excitedly amongst themselves for a few minutes before Durkell got them into order again. "I see that some of you were successful!" He started sorting the parchment into four piles. "For Gryffindor, it seems that all but one of you got the answers correct! Hufflepuff, I'm afraid that there were only three of eight correct. Slytherin has one correct, and Ravenclaw has all but one!" He bent over his desk, apparently working on some calculations. "Based on my math, it looks like Ravenclaw and Gryffindor have tied, Hufflepuff second and Slytherin is last. Since there were so many correct answers, I'm going to award twenty points to both Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, fifteen to Hufflepuff, and ten to Slytherin!"
Everyone clapped and congratulated their respective house mates. Professor Durkell sat patiently at the front of the room until the noise subsided.
"Alright, congratulations go to everyone! For homework over the holidays, I would like you to read the next chapter in Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts, also I want a two foot essay on that material, it can be any aspect as long as it pertains to the chapter."
The class let out a collective groan as they noted their assignments.
"Ugh! More homework?!" Ron said disgustedly as he scribbled down the notes.
"I know you don't want homework over the holidays, so I'm giving a week extension for the due date. I also happen to be taking an extended holiday to America so you can thank my trip for your reprieve!" The professor said with a laugh. "We have one half hour left of class, but as a treat, you are dismissed! Enjoy your holiday!"
"I'll be right back! Meet you in the common room?" Hermione said this very quickly as she scrambled down to the front of the classroom. Harry and Ron nodded and left the room.
"So, it looks like Snuffles is watching over you, Harry." Ron said with a grin. "Poor Lavender though, she still thinks he's a bad guy."
"Just about everyone does, Ron!" Harry snapped back unintentionally. "Sorry. I just wish I could have seen him. I wish I had captured Wormtail when I had the chance!"
"No use beating yourself up about it, Harry. True, it would have stopped a lot of things, but no need to dwell on the past."
Hermione ran up to her two friends excitedly a few minutes after they had sat down in their normal seats in the common room. "I found out what the potion was!" She said gasping for breath. "It's the Virmuliervir Vicissitudo potion! Professor Durkell let me take a few notes on it from Moste Potente Potions."
"What's it do?" Harry and Ron asked at the same time as they set their books on the floor.
"It's quite a powerful potion, similar to the Polyjuice potion." She said with a grin. "It has no known antidote, which is bad, but it has a very interesting effect. I'm glad that it wasn't spilled on any of us. Malfoy is going to be furious!"
"What's it do?" Ron hissed impatiently.
"Well, it transforms men into women and visa versa. Everything is transformed, from thoughts and instincts to pure physical characteristics!" She said very quickly.
"Wait! Don't tell me that Draco Malfoy ..." Harry said with wide eyes.
Hermione nodded. "That's right! If he completed his potion properly that is."
"Malfoy has been transformed into a girl?" Ron said with a wide grin on his face.