Chapter Forty-Three: Into Slytherin
Christmas banquet, the auditorium looks magnificent.
A dozen or so silver frost-covered Christmas trees mingled with thick friezes of mistletoe and holly crisscrossing the ceiling, and the auditorium was enchanted, with warm, dry snowflakes gently falling from the ceiling.
Everyone had eaten their hearts and minds, and when Evan and Harry had finished their third pudding, Hermione led them out of the Great Hall to fulfill their plans for the night.
The first thing to do is Crabbe and Goyle, which isn't too difficult.
All it takes is two pieces of cake with a sleeping potion to leave these two tall guys at their mercy.
It took great difficulty for Evan and Harry to hide them in the cupboard at the end of the foyer to make sure they wouldn't be discovered, pluck out a few hairs, and bring out their shoes, for their own shoes couldn't fit Crabbe and Goyle's big feet.
The trouble was Hermione, and Evan insisted that the black hair she was holding in her hand wasn't Millison Bossed's hair, but a cat hair.
"No way, Aven!" Hermione said stubbornly, "this is what I got from Millicent's suit at the fight club. ”
"But she also has a cat, and the hair in your hand is almost exactly the same as the fur on that cat's body, so we better be careful. ”
In the end, at Aven's insistence, the three had to return to the auditorium to look for an opportunity.
They wandered around the Slytherin table for a long time, and when Pansy Parkinson stood up and walked towards Snape, Hermione hurriedly went up and hit her hard, plucking a hair from her head before the other man could get angry.
As Hermione apologized to Pansy, Evan and Harry saw Snape looking at them with a malicious sneer, causing them to stand upside down.
They hurried back to the bathroom, which delayed them for a long time.
"I think Snape seems to have discovered something?" said Harry, uncertainly, "maybe we should look for another chance." ”
"No, tonight is the best chance to start returning to school after Christmas. ”
Hermione pulled out the brewed polyjuice potion and nervously read the smudged page of the Potion of Power.
"It looks like the book says, and after we drink it, we have a full hour to turn back into ourselves. My plan was foolproof, Snape wouldn't have discovered us, he saw just Crabbe, Goyle, and Parkinson. ”
She scooped up a large ball of decoction with a long-handled spoon and poured it into three glasses.
Then, with trembling hands, she poured Parkinson's hair from the bottle into the first glass.
The decoction rattled loudly, like a pot of boiling water, and was foaming vigorously. After a second, it turns an unsightly brownish-black color.
"It's your turn, add something in. Hermione said.
Harry hurriedly tossed Goyle's hair into the cup in the middle, and Evan sent Crabbe's hair into the last cup.
Both cups hissed and bubbled. Gower's turned a tank-like earthy yellow, and Crabbe's turned a dark brown.
"Okay, what do we do now?" asked Harry.
"Needless to say, of course, drink it. Hermione said nervously.
"Hopefully it doesn't taste too bad, cheers. Evan picked up the last cup of the potion, tilted his head and swallowed it, turning and running to the nearest cubicle.
The polyjuice decoction tasted like overcooked cabbage, and as soon as Evan swallowed it, a burning sensation spread rapidly from his stomach to his fingers and toes, and he had a feeling that it was melting.
It was as if his skin was bubbling like hot wax, which made him prostrate on the ground and gasp, and he watched as his hands began to grow larger, his fingers thickened, his nails widened, and his knuckles bulged out like bolts.
Aven's shoulders began to stretch, causing him excruciating pain.
The pinprick pain in his forehead told him that hair was spreading toward his eyebrows, that his robes were torn like a bucket breaking iron hoops as his chest swelled, and that his feet were clenched in pain in his size four shoes.
Things come and go suddenly. All of a sudden, everything stopped.
Although he had read it countless times in the book, it turned out to be like this feeling when he became Crabbe, and Evan laboriously took off his school uniform, which was several sizes smaller, and put on Crabbe's clothes. Then, he heard a shout from outside, it was Goyle's voice.
"Are you two alright?"
"It's alright!" replied Evan in Crabbe's voice.
He walked out, and in the mirror he looked exactly like Crabbe, with a short pot-bottom hairstyle, long orangutan-like arms, and only a slightly pale face.
Harry and Hermione also became Goyle and Parkinson, as Hermione was about to become Millicent, and now Pansy, and her clothes were much wider.
"Alright, you two look no further, five minutes have passed since the precious time!" Hermione said, "We'd better hurry to the common room in Slytherin, and hopefully Malfoy will be able to stay there." ”
They carefully opened the door to the bathroom, saw that there was no one around, and set off.
They imitated the movements of Crabbe, Goyle, and Parkinson's as they descended the marble staircase.
Led by Hermione, the three of them entered the entrance of the underground classroom in turn. But they stopped at once, and Evan saw Snape standing in front of them, with a smile on his face, as if he had been waiting for them here.
"Good evening, Parkinson, Gower, Crabbe. Snape asked in his slow, soft, deep voice, "What are you doing here?"
"I, We"
Evan and Harry looked at each other, not knowing what to answer, who knows what Goyle and Crabbe would say when they met Snape.
But normal Goyle and Crabbe seemed to be like this, and after Snape glanced at them, he didn't look at the two of them again, and looked at Hermione standing at the front with interest.
"Professor, we're going back to the common room. Hermione said cautiously.
"Oh, yes?!" said Snape softly, "Miss Parkinson, I would like you to come to my office before that, and I think it is necessary to discuss the topic at the banquet in depth. ”
"But, Professor," Harry said at once, he had no reason to stop Snape from taking Pansy Parkinson.
What's more, Hermione had been gesturing behind her to leave the two of them alone with her.
With that, Evan and Harry watched as Hermione was taken away by Snape.
"Is that foolproof?!" Harry said anxiously, "Snape must have discovered something, and I wonder what will happen to Hermione?"
"I think we'd better go with the original plan and wait until we're done with Malfoy before we can find a way to save Hermione. Evan said.
"Easy to say, do you know where the Slytherin break room is?"
Evan shook his head, and he realized the question.
The empty underground corridor was like a labyrinth, and two people walked around it like headless flies, constantly looking at their watches and calculating how much time they had left. After a full quarter of an hour, they found themselves back where they were.
It is a fork in the road with three roads, leading up to the auditorium on the first floor of the school, and directly facing the foyer is a large mirror.
The hallway to the right of the mirror was Snape's office and Potions classroom, where Nick had held his birthday party last time when he almost lost his head, and to the left was a wide stone corridor where Harry and Evan had never been, but Evan saw a picture of a silver bowl full of fruit, which was supposed to be a secret passage leading to the Hogwarts kitchen, and further on was the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room.
"Not here, I remember this mirror, we just saw it. Harry said uncertainly, "We should probably go to the left." ”
"No, that direction leads to the Hufflepuff common room. ”
Just as the two men were beginning to rush to despair, they saw Draco Malfoy leisurely walking towards them, and for the first time in his life, Evan was glad to see him.
"What are you two doing standing here, I thought you would have gone back a long time ago. ”
Evan and Harry nodded stupidly, and Malfoy led them to a right stop beside an empty, wet stone wall.
"What's the new password?" he said to Harry.
"Huh?" said Harry.
"Oh, yes, purebreds!" Malfoy said to himself.
As he finished speaking, a stone door hidden in the stone wall slowly opened, and Malfoy strode inside, followed by Evan and Harry.