The Adventure That Lies Ahead | PJO x HP

CHAPTER 53

No one, not even someone dreading taking Polyjuice Potion later, could fail to enjoy Christmas dinner at Hogwarts.

The Great Hall looked magnificent. Not only were there a dozen frost-covered Christmas trees and thick streamers of holly and mistletoe crisscrossing the ceiling, but enchanted snow was falling, warm and dry, from the ceiling. Dumbledore led them in a few of his favorite carols, Hagrid booming more and more loudly with every goblet of eggnog he consumed. Percy, who hadn't noticed that Fred had bewitched his prefect badge so that it now reads "Pinhead," kept asking them all what they were sniggering at. Harry didn't even care that Draco Malfoy was making loud, snide remarks about his new sweater from the Slytherin table. With a bit of luck, Malfoy would be getting his comeuppance in a few hours' time. Isa just rolled her eyes at his bragging. No matter how expensive his sweater is, the traditional Weasley sweater would beat it any day. Harry, Ron, and Isa had barely finished their third helpings⎼fifth for Isa⎼of Christmas pudding when Hermione ushered them out of the hall to finalize their plans for the evening.

"We still need a bit of the people you're changing into," Hermione said matter-of-factly, as though she were a mom sending her children to the supermarket for laundry detergent. "And obviously, it'll be best if you can get something of Crabbe and Goyle's; they're Malfoy's best friends, he'll tell them anything. You, Isa, can change into Pansy Parkinson. She's quite close to him, literally. And we also need to make sure the real Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy can't burst in on us while we're interrogating him."

"I've got it all worked out," she went on smoothly, ignoring Harry's and Ron's stupefied faces, and Isa's face who seemed as if it was the most normal thing. She held up three plump chocolate cakes. "I've filled these with a simple Sleeping Draught. All you have to do is make sure Crabbe and Goyle 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 closet. Pansy may be a bit trickier. I don't think she'll be with Crabbe and Goyle, so you three will have to separate. You can trick her into eating this and once she's asleep, you know what to do."

Harry and Ron looked incredulously at each other.

"Hermione, I don't think⎼"

"That could go seriously wrong⎼"

But Hermione had a steely glint in her eye, not unlike the one Professor McGonagall sometimes had. "The potion will be useless without Crabbe's and Goyle's hair," she said sternly. "You do want to investigate Malfoy, don't you?"

"Oh, all right, all right," Harry said. "But what about you? Whose hair are you ripping out?"

"I've already got mine!" Hermione said brightly, pulling a tiny bottle out of her pocket and showing them the single hair inside it. "Remember Millicent Bulstrode wrestling with me at the Dueling Club? She left this on my robes when she was trying to strangle me! And she's gone home for Christmas⎼so I'll just have to tell the Slytherins I've decided to come back."

"Who won?" Isa asked all of them looking at her like she grew two heads. "Who won the wrestling match?"

Hermione just shook her head and decided to ignore that question.

'So she lost,' Isa thought.

When Hermione had bustled off to check on the Polyjuice Potion again, Ron turned to Harry with a doom-laden expression.

"Have you ever heard of a plan where so many things could go wrong?"

Ron, Harry, and Isa split up. They knew Crabbe and Goyle would be together, but not with Pansy.

Isa was hiding behind a tapestry when found the Slytherin girl lurking around one of the hallways back towards the Slytherin common room in the dungeons. Isa decided to completely ditch the cupcake plan of Hermione because she had absolutely no idea how to slip that in. Pansy wasn't as stupid as Crabbe and Goyle, so she decided to do it the Muggle way.