Chapter 60: Polyjuice Incident, Debt, and Diary

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Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Ivy Potter were planning an infiltration operation into the Slytherin house common room by employing the miraculous Polyjuice potion. The potion allowed a person to change their appearance to someone else's and all it took was a strand of their hair.

The four Gryffindor stood in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, gathered around the stall that issued thick black smoke while Hermione stirred the cauldron full of bubbling, glutinous potion.

"Does everyone have the hairs of their targets?" asked Hermione. When the other three nodded, Hermione continued, "Good, now we need to separate the potion into the four glasses and add the hairs."

While Hermione poured the Polyjuice potion into goblets, Ivy spoke up, "I sneaked these spare robes out of the laundry," throwing a sack on the floor, "We will need robes with Slytherin trims, so wear these before exiting here."

The four of them stared into the cauldron. Close up, the potion looked like thick, dark mud, bubbling sluggishly.

"I'm sure I've done everything right," said Hermione, nervously re-reading the splotched page of Moste Potente Potions. "It looks like the book says it should... once we've drunk it, we'll have exactly an hour before we change back into ourselves."

Hermione handed the goblets to her three friends and instructed, "Add your hairs to the goblets."

The four added the hair into the bubbling goblets and watched as the potion hissed loudly like a boiling kettle and frothed madly.

Harry Potter added Gregory Goyle's hair strand into his potion and watched as it turned into khaki color.

Ron Weasley added Vincent Crabbe's hair strand into his goblet and the potion frothed before turning a dark, murky brown.

Hermione Granger dropped a strand of hair from Tracy Davis into hers's and it turned into a lilac color.

At last, Ivy Potter inserted a blonde strand from the head of Daphne Greengrass and watched as an icy-blue color spread through the potion.

"Now, get into the stalls and down them," said Ivy, "Don't drink them out here and change before drinking because your clothes won't fit."

"Good call," commented Ron, picking a set of clothes from the sack, and the others followed.

Careful not to spill a drop of their Polyjuice potion, the golden squad slipped into their individual stalls.

"Ready?" called out Harry.

"Ready," came Ron's, Hermione's, and Ivy's reply.

"One - two - three -" Pinching their noses, the four chugged down their potion in two to three gulps.

There were groans and grunts from all four people before there was silence, followed by gasps of shock, and finally, the rustling of clothes could be heard at the end.

Three people came out at the same time and looked at each other with a stunned expression.

"This is unbelievable," said Ron, approaching the mirror and prodding

Crabbe's flat nose. "Unbelievable." His voice was exactly the same as Crabbe's, and it surprised Ron a lot.

"This is wicked and jarring at the same time," Goyle's low rasp of a voice issued from Harry's mouth.

The two transformed boys turned their heads to look at Ivy, who had altered into Daphne Greengrass, watching herself in a broken mirror with a complicated expression on her face.

Harry (Goyle) and Ron (Crabbe) watched with wide eyes as Ivy (Daphne) exhaled before an expressionless look took its place on Daphne Greengrass's face.

"Wow," exclaimed Ron, "She looks exactly like exactly like her." If Ron didn't know that the girl in front of her was Ivy, he would have bet his entire pocket money on Daphne Greengrass standing in front of him.

Harry silently watched his sister put on the same expression as Daphne. He could understand the complicated look before the expressionless face; his twin sister and Daphne Greengrass did have a complicated relationship.

"Are you sure that Greengrass and Davis won't walk in on us," asked Harry. While Harry and Ron had put Crabbe and Goyle to sleep with mild sleeping potions, Tracy and Daphne were still awake and in the castle.

Ivy stared at Daphne's face in the mirror for a while before replying, "At this time, Tracy and Daphne are in the library doing their homework. Those two follow this schedule without fail," she paused before continuing, "She is quite methodical about it."

She sighed before speaking, "We have plenty of time before those two will return to the Slytherin common room, so we don't have to worry about them."

Harry nodded before noticing that Hermione wasn't out of her stall, "Hermione, come one, we need to go," he called out while banging on Hermione's door.

A high-pitched voice answered him.

"I-I don't think I'm going to come after all. You go on without me."

"Hermione, we know Tracy Davis differs greatly from you, but no one's going to know it's you -"

"No, really, I don't think I'll come. You three hurry up; you are wasting time -" said Hermione in a weirdly high-pitched voice.

Harry looked at Ron, bewildered.

"That looks more like Goyle," said Ron. "That's how he looks every time a teacher asks him a question."

"Hermione, are you okay?" asked Ivy through the door.

"Fine, I'm fine. Go on," came Hermione's response.

Ivy looked at her watch. Five of their precious sixty minutes had already passed.

"We will meet you back here, all right?" she said.

And, so Harry (Goyle), Ron (Crabbe), and Ivy (Daphne) were off to the Slytherin house common room.

- (Scene Break) -

Harry (Goyle) and Ron (Crabbe) walked ahead while Ivy (Daphne) walked a distance behind them because Daphne Greengrass wouldn't hang out, much less walk with the dumb duo of Slytherin.

The three went down the marble staircase, all they needed now was a Slytherin that they could follow to the Slytherin common room, but there was nobody around.

"Any ideas?" muttered Harry.

Harry and Ron didn't know where the Slytherin common room was located in the dungeons.

"The Slytherins always come up to breakfast from over there," said Ron, nodding at the entrance to the dungeons. The words had barely left his mouth when a boy with black hair emerged from the entrance.

"Excuse me," said Ron, hurrying up to her. "We've forgotten the way to our common room."

Ivy (Daphne) who, just turned the bend, looked at the duo and frowned, 'What in the world are those two doing?' She heard the last part of the sentence and had the urge to slap her forehead and then beat the two with a beater's bat.

'They didn't know the location of Slytherin common room?!' thought Ivy, 'Of course, they didn't! Ugh, these idiots!'

The Ravenclaw boy looked at them with interest and chuckled, "I beg your pardon?" He pointed at his tie and trims on his robes, "Our common room? I'm a Ravenclaw."

"You guys must be really dumb," the Ravenclaw boy laughed till tears were coming out of his eyes. He looked them straight in their eyes and said, "Don't get lost, alright?"

Ivy felt embarrassed at her twin brother and their friend, not only because they jumped into the plan without knowing the first part and because the person who was laughing at them was the one person who she didn't want them to be embarrassed in front of.

The Ravenclaw with black hair had stone-grey eyes, and there was only one Ravenclaw with those features.

'Quinn West,' groaned Ivy.

She watched as Harry and Ron hurried down the stone steps into the darkness, their footsteps echoing particularly loudly as Crabbe's and Goyle's huge feet hit the floor.

Quinn chuckled as he watched the two climb down to the dungeon and turned back to see Daphne standing there, and his eyes flashed.

"Greengrass," he waved and smiled, "Fancy meeting you here."

Ivy (Daphne) froze when she saw Quinn walked towards her but quickly gathered herself and spoke in a Daphne-esque fashion, "Quinn."

"Where is Tracy," asked Quinn, looking behind her, "You two are usually together."

"She is in the library. She was behind on her homework," replied Ivy (Daphne).

"Oh, is that so," said Quinn. He thought of something and looked worried, "Is it because of the Duro transfiguration spell? Did she spend time too much time practicing the spell?" Quinn sounded apologetic and continued, "We have been practicing it a lot together. Maybe we should pull back a little."

Ivy, who didn't know about what Quinn was speaking, just nodded.

"How about you?" asked Quinn, "Are you comfortable transfiguring various materials into stone?"

"Of course," spoke Ivy, imitating Daphne, "It wasn't that difficult after I understood it." She replied such that even though her expression remained unchanged, her voice portrayed pride.

Quinn smiled and then seemed to recall something, "Before I forget. I got the thing that you wanted," he put his hands in his robes, and the thing that came out was his wand.

Ivy's (Daphne's) eyes widened as she felt ropes conjure around her and tightened around her body. The ropes pulled her back, and she was slammed against the wall. The next second, the wall behind her transfigured into a liquid form, covered her entire body, and hardened to trap her inside.

"What are you doing?!" shrieked Ivy (Daphne), looking angry and furious.

"You are not Daphne Greengrass," Quinn looked at her. She felt his eyes were looking right through her, "So, who are you?"

"What bloody nonsense are you talking about?!" she screamed, feeling panic bubbling inside her.

Quinn peered at her and said, "You see, when I called you Greengrass, you didn't show any reaction."

Ivy felt confused at the statement, but Quinn cleared it for her.

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"Recently, I switched the way I address her. I call her Daphne now," Quinn explained, "She would roll her eyes at the start, but now she doesn't even bat an eye. With her personality, she would definitely quip at me reverting back to her family name."

"Next, we never practiced the Duro spell, so that gave you away," said, "That was the second strike."

Ivy was the full force of panic and couldn't think of anything to speak or rebuke.

"And, the last strike is this," Quinn raised his hand to reveal a wand in his hand, "This isn't Daphne's wand."

Ivy's eyes almost popped out, and she nearly screamed at Quinn to return her wand back.

'When did he take it from me?' thought Ivy.

"So, you clearly not Daphne Greengrass. Which prompts the question, if you are not Daphne, then who are you?" Quinn spoke as he looked at the wand in his hand.

"Hmm..." a sound came out of him as he narrowed his eyes and then looked up at Daphne look alike.

"You know, now that I remember. There was a break-in in professor Snape's potion ingredient storage. Now that I see you in the form of Daphne, the stolen ingredients were of the Polyjuice potion, weren't they?"

A wide smirk formed on his face as he said, "Professor Snape would be delighted if he found who stole his things."

Ivy, in the form of Daphne, paled.

The charges on her would be stealing from a professor, impersonating another student without their permission, intent-to-infiltrate another house's common room.

This could very well end up in expulsion.

She could clearly imagine how her mother and father would feel if this got out.

But it seemed that her capturer wasn't done as he dropped another bombshell on her.

"Plus, I am now sure that Crabbe and Goyle I just saw now weren't the real one," said Quinn, "Those two are dumb, but not enough to forget the location of a place they have been living in for one and half year."

He stared into her eyes and raise the wand, "So, Ms. Ivy Potter, tell me what should I do with you?"

Ivy was beyond the point of shock and panic, and a strange clarity filled her, "How did you know it is me?"

Quinn pointed at her wand, "I remember this wand. I remember it from the Duelling club," he pointed at his temple and smirked, "You see, I have an excellent memory."

He raised his hand to point in behind towards the dungeon entrance, "I am willing to bet good money that those two were Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley." His smirk widened, "Now, imagine what would happen if I alert professor Snape that two Gryffindors are inside the Slytherin common room. After the flying car incident, this would definitely kick those two out of the school."

Ivy was once again back to feeling massive panic. Her father had faced a lot of criticism because of Harry's action at the start of the year. James Potter was an Auror, and one of their responsibilities was to maintain the International Statute of Secrecy.

It did not look good when one of his children was caught breaking the same code that could reveal the existence of magic to the world.

"I am willing to forget all of this if you owe me a huge favor," he tapped her nose before continuing, " I am willing to spare your brother's reputation by letting all of this go. He is already suffering because of the whole Heir of Slytherin, and if he gets expelled, no matter what the reason, people would believe they sacked him for all the petrifications."

Ivy was sure that she was about to die from shock.

Harry's reputation was already at rock bottom because of the ridiculous rumor. She was sure that if the situation was given time, then Harry's reputation would improve. But right now, it would ruin Harry Potter, and in turn Potter family's reputation.

Quinn stood straighter and spoke in a deeper voice, "So, what is your decision, Potter princess?"

Ivy gulped before nodding. She had no choice but to agree.

"Alright, I will do whatever you want. So don't reveal any of this."

Quinn hummed with a bright smile before turning stern, "Don't try to refuse this later because it will not go the way you want to. Do. You. Understand?"

Ivy nodded with a hard expression.

"Say that you understand."

"I understand," she spat out.

"Good," said Quinn, and the wall went back to normal, and the ropes restraining her also loosened before vanishing.

Quinn patted her cheek before saying, "Now, go hide until the effects of the potion wear off. Daphne is my friend, and I don't want a look-alike roaming around."

He pointed at the wall behind her, "Your wand is right there."

When Ivy looked back, she saw her wand stuck to the wall.

"It will come off in half a minute," said Quinn, "Now, while it was good profiting off you, I am busy person, so I would take my leave."

Quinn softly smiled before walking away, leaving Ivy stunned, looking between Quinn's retreating and her wand stuck to the wall.

Her thoughts were that this operation went nothing like she was expecting. Her's and Hermione's plan had been dismantled within minutes.

They had thought that it would be a fairly straightforward plan for them to get the information from Draco, but the plan had failed before it even started.

Hermione, for some reason, didn't come with them.

Quinn West had caught her, restrained her, and had revealed her identity. Plus, he had forced her into being under his debt.

She had didn't know how Ron and Harry were doing without her to guide them. Those two fools didn't even know the location of the Slytherin common room.

Quinn West came in like a cool breeze and left like a terrifying typhoon.

She would later find out that even though Harry and Ron had successfully gained entry to the Slytherin common room and had talked to Draco Malfoy, it turned out that Malfoy wasn't the one to open the Chamber of Secret.

So, they were back to square one.

And not to mention the accident Hermione had with the Polyjuice potion and had gained a... tail.

When Ivy Potter found all of this, she, without an ounce of doubt and hesitation, classified this mission as a big fat failure.

- (Scene Break) -

Harry Potter heavily sighed as he walked toward the bathroom.

He wasn't in a great mood. The entire school was literally against him and considered him the next dark lord. Everyone blamed him for the petrification of the muggleborn students. And because of it, he was being avoided like the plague.

Before, everyone would become noisy when he entered, but now? Now, they would quiet down and avert their eyes so that they wouldn't catch his eyes.

There were select few people he could spend time with, and now one of them was stuck in the Hospital wing because she added the wrong hair into her Polyjuice potion.

Harry and Hermione quarreled a lot, but Harry seriously considered her to be one of his closest friends because of all the help she was last year. And, people who faced a Troll and deadly obstacles together were bound to develop some comradery.

This year was the same. Hermione was the one to come up with the Polyjuice plan despite her love of rules and authority, showing that she treasured their friendship.

His twin sister as well was acting weird and looked stressed about something since the whole Polyjuice plan. She didn't join them inside the Slytherin common room because someone stopped her (she didn't specify who).

When he asked what was wrong, she said that nothing was wrong and she was just stressed about Hermione and the Chamber of Secrets, but Harry could tell that there was something else. He stopped push when she started to get irritated and had left the matter alone.

Finally, Ron was well... Ron. While he laughed at Hermione's furry appearance, Harry could tell that his best friend was worried about their friend.

Harry, somewhere in his heart, blamed himself for dragging them in all this mess, and now all of them were stressed and worried.

While Harry was brooding about his, depressing thoughts collided with someone and yelled, "Hey, watch it, man!"

But the other person didn't even look at him or say sorry and just ran off.

"Jerk," muttered Harry, and when he turned to walk, his foot kicked something.

He looked down to see a small thin book with a shabby black cover.

Harry picked it up and turned back to return it but, the person had already run off and out of his sight.

Lowering his eyes to examine the thin book. Harry saw at once that it was a diary, and the faded year on the cover told him it was fifty years old. He opened it, and on the first page of the diary, Harry could barely read out the name {T. M. Riddle} written in smudged ink. When he turned the pages, and there were no words written on the pages.

In the quiet and eerie corridor stood the lone figure of Harry Potter, staring at the black diary clutched in his hand with an unblinking gaze.

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Quinn West - MC - Out of character - Gained a significant debt.

Ivy Potter - Polyjuiced into Daphne Greengrass - In debt.

Harry Potter - Boy-who-lived - ... Diary, a black diary.....

Hermione Granger - Having furry problems - Her tail feels weird.

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