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HARRY POTTER
Potion’s nearly ready. We’ll be getting the truth out of him any
day now.’
*
At last the term ended, and a silence deep as the snow on the
grounds descended on the castle. Harry found it peaceful, rather
than gloomy, and enjoyed the fact that he, Hermione and the
Weasleys had the run of Gryffindor Tower, which meant they
could play Exploding Snap loudly without bothering anyone, and
practise duelling in private. Fred, George and Ginny had chosen
to stay at school rather than visit Bill in Egypt with Mr and Mrs
Weasley. Percy, who disapproved of what he termed their childish
behaviour, didn’t spend much time in the Gryffindor common
room. He had already told them pompously that he was only staying over Christmas because it was his duty as a Prefect to support
the teachers during this troubled time.
Christmas morning dawned, cold and white. Harry and Ron,
the only ones left in their dormitory, were woken very early by
Hermione, who burst in, fully dressed and carrying presents for
them both.
‘Wake up,’ she said loudly, pulling back the curtains at the window.
‘Hermione – you’re not supposed to be in here,’ said Ron,
shielding his eyes against the light.
‘Merry Christmas to you, too,’ said Hermione, throwing him his
present. ‘I’ve been up for nearly an hour, adding more lacewings
to the Potion. It’s ready.’
Harry sat up, suddenly wide awake.
‘Are you sure?’
‘Positive,’ said Hermione, shifting Scabbers the rat so that she
could sit down on the end of his four-poster. ‘If we’re going to do
it, I say it should be tonight.’
At that moment, Hedwig swooped into the room, carrying a
very small package in her beak.
‘Hello,’ said Harry happily, as she landed on his bed, ‘are you
speaking to me again?’
She nibbled his ear in an affectionate sort of way, which was a
far better present than the one which she had brought him, which
turned out to be from the Dursleys. They had sent Harry a toothpick and a note telling him to find out whether he’d be able to
stay at Hogwarts for the summer holidays, too.
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THE POLYJUICE POTION
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The rest of Harry’s Christmas presents were far more satisfactory. Hagrid had sent him a large tin of treacle fudge, which Harry
decided to soften by the fire before eating; Ron had given him a
book called Flying with the Cannons, a book of interesting facts
about his favourite Quidditch team; and Hermione had bought
him a luxury eagle-feather quill. Harry opened the last present to
find a new, hand-knitted jumper from Mrs Weasley, and a large
plum cake. He put up her card with a fresh surge of guilt, thinking about Mr Weasley’s car, which hadn’t been seen since its crash
with the Whomping Willow, and the bout of rule-breaking he and
Ron were planning next.
*
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 criss-crossing the ceiling, but enchanted snow was
falling, warm and dry, from the ceiling. Dumbledore led them in a
few of his favourite 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
read ‘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 jumper from the Slytherin table. With a bit
of luck, Malfoy would be getting his come-uppance in a few
hours’ time.
Harry and Ron had barely finished their third helpings of
Christmas pudding when Hermione ushered them out of the Hall
to finalise their plans for the evening.
‘We still need a bit of the people you’re changing into,’ said
Hermione matter-of-factly, as though she was sending them to the
supermarket for washing-powder. ‘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. And we also need to make sure
the real Crabbe and Goyle can’t burst in on us while we’re interrogating him.
‘I’ve got it all worked out,’ she went on smoothly, ignoring
Harry and Ron’s stupefied faces. She held up two 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
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HARRY POTTER
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 cupboard.’
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 and Goyle’s hair,’
she said sternly. ‘You do want to investigate Malfoy, don’t you?’
‘Oh, all right, all right,’ said Harry. ‘But what about you? Whose
hair are you ripping out?’
‘I’ve already got mine!’ said Hermione 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
Duelling 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.’
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?’
*
But to Harry and Ron’s utter amazement, stage one of the operation went just as smoothly as Hermione had said. They lurked in
the deserted Entrance Hall after Christmas tea, waiting for Crabbe
and Goyle, who had remained alone at the Slytherin table, shovelling down fourth helpings of trifle. Harry had perched the chocolate cakes on the end of the banisters. When they spotted Crabbe
and Goyle coming out of the Great Hall, Harry and Ron hid
quickly behind a suit of armour next to the front door.
‘How thick can you get?’ Ron whispered ecstatically, as Crabbe
gleefully pointed out the cakes to Goyle and grabbed them.
Grinning stupidly, they stuffed the cakes whole into their large
mouths. For a moment, both of them chewed greedily, looks of
triumph on their faces. Then, without the smallest change of
expression, they both keeled over backwards onto the floor.
Much the most difficult bit was hiding them in the cupboard
across the hall. Once they were safely stowed amongst the buckets
and mops, Harry yanked out a couple of the bristles that covered