Hogwarts in our second year was even emptier than usual. Those who remained were all students with their own reasons, like me, Harry Potter, and the exchange student Saya.
The news that Mrs. Norris had been petrified on Halloween, that Colin Creevey had met the same fate the day after the Quidditch match, and then, as if to accelerate the situation, that Justin Finch-Fletchley and "Nearly Headless Nick" had also been turned to stone, only plunged Hogwarts into even greater chaos.
And with rumors of some unidentified monster roaming the school, it was only natural that people fled home as if escaping. Unsurprisingly, Hogwarts had fallen so silent it felt like a funeral.
Strangely enough, among those staying behind were Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and for some reason, Elaina as well.
"Malfoy I get, but why Elaina?"
In Malfoy's case, apparently Ron's father had arranged a surprise inspection, so Malfoy was stuck staying behind along with Crabbe and Goyle.
"I heard she's teaching magic to a first-year named Saya," Ron said. "Ginny told me."
"The one Hermione sometimes helps with studying?" I asked.
"Yeah, that's the one."
At Hogwarts, students with East Asian features were a bit rare to begin with. Add to that a strange girl who muttered things like "I'm definitely getting a scholarship, definitely getting a scholarship" over and over in the common room even during breaks, and you tended to remember her face and name even if she was in a different year.
Apparently she had forced the issue to attend Hogwarts, and I had seen her more than once on holidays being tutored by Elaina and Hermione.
Seeing the usually cool-headed Elaina go so far out of her way to look after someone else felt unexpectedly revealing. Maybe she was the type who couldn't refuse when someone relied on her so earnestly.
In any case, Elaina staying at Hogwarts was extremely lucky for our plan.
"So, let's confirm everything," Hermione said.
Standing in front of Ron and me, she began going over the final details of tonight's plan. We would use Polyjuice Potion to transform into Slytherins, infiltrate the Slytherin common room, and get Malfoy to reveal who the real Heir of Slytherin was.
"Polyjuice Potion requires a part of the other person's body," Hermione said.
She said it as casually as if she were asking us to pick up detergent from the shop.
"I'll go first. I'll turn into Elaina. I've already managed to get some of her hair."
Ron's eyes widened as he stared at the gray hairs sealed inside a Ziploc bag.
"Hermione, you didn't get that through some shady route, right…?"
"It was perfectly legal. A first-year, Saya, gave it to me discreetly as thanks for tutoring."
"That sounds pretty illegal to me…"
As for why Saya had Elaina's hair in the first place, Hermione explained, "Apparently there was an occasion when Saya ended up very close to Elaina during magic practice," which somehow only made the situation harder to picture.
"Anyway, let's put the Elaina issue aside for now. More importantly, I want you two to pull out some hairs from Crabbe and Goyle."
"You're kidding, right?" Ron said.
"No. I'm completely serious."
Ignoring Ron's stunned expression, Hermione produced two plump, chocolate-flavored cupcakes.
"I slipped a mild sleeping potion into them. With those two and their appetites, they're guaranteed to eat them. Once they're asleep, pull out their hair, then just hide them somewhere like a storage closet. Perfect."
Ron and I exchanged looks, both of us clearly thinking the same thing.
"Wow. I can't believe Hermione would come up with something this half-baked."
"At this rate, spears will start raining from the sky tomorrow."
Hermione allowed no objections and forcibly shoved us out of the room.
"Harry, I'm betting one Sickle that this goes wrong," Ron whispered.
He said it while watching Crabbe and Goyle, who were still lingering in the Great Hall.
"There's no way a plan this sloppy is going to work…"
＊＊
"It worked, didn't it."
About thirty minutes later, Ron muttered a self-directed retort as he looked at the two of them collapsed in the corridor after devouring the magically levitated cupcakes whole.
"…Guess I win the bet."
"I hate myself for underestimating just how stupid they are."
Urging along Ron, who was staring down at the two with half-lidded eyes, we yanked out Crabbe's and Goyle's hairs and dumped them into a storage closet. When we reached the bathroom we were using as our base, the one haunted by the ghost Moaning Myrtle, Hermione was inside, brewing a thick, sludgy potion in a cauldron.
"Did you get them?" she asked.
"Take a look. Fresh Crabbe hair."
"And here's some just-plucked Goyle hair too."
"Lovely."
Hermione set out three glasses and poured in the thick Polyjuice Potion. This was no gentle, gloppy liquid. It was a sticky, semi-solid mass that looked genuinely unhealthy, making me grimace on sight.
When Hermione dropped Elaina's hair into her glass first, it made a boiling sound and transformed into a smooth, silvery liquid.
Encouraged by that, Ron and I added Goyle's and Crabbe's hairs to ours, but unfortunately, they turned into a snot-like khaki color and a murky dark brown.
Ron and I looked at each other. We were definitely thinking the same thing.
"Hey, Hermione," Ron said.
"If you'd like, we could swap with mine," I added.
"Absolutely not," she snapped.
No sooner had she said it than Hermione downed her Polyjuice Potion in one gulp. Ron stared enviously at his own glass and muttered,
"Man, Elaina essence sounds nice…"
Ron, that is a really questionable way to put it.
Resigned, the two of us swallowed ours. After a taste like overboiled cabbage filled my mouth, nausea and a burning sensation spread from my stomach throughout my body.
"Ugh…"
Unable to endure it, Hermione rushed into a toilet stall, and we followed suit. My breath caught as a sickening sensation washed over me, like my entire body was melting, and then I felt myself rapidly swelling.
"So this is what it feels like to become Goyle…"
I never wanted to do that again if I could help it. I took off my glasses, changed into Goyle's shoes, and called out to the other two.
"Are you both okay?"
The voice that came out was Goyle's low, raspy drawl.
"Yeah."
"Yes."
The replies were Crabbe's rumbling bass and Elaina's bright, pleasant voice.
"Wow, this is unbelievable."
Ron repeated it as he stepped closer to the mirror, poking at his flattened nose.
"I've turned into Crabbe. Ugh."
In contrast to Ron, who looked utterly disgusted, Hermione seemed anything but displeased.
"Oh wow, no way. My hair is so silky… and my skin is all soft and squishy. Even my nose bridge and eyes are way too perfectly shaped, aren't they?"
Watching Hermione admire herself in the mirror as if Elaina's soul had possessed her was unsettling in a different way. It was almost disturbing how natural she looked.
"Ah, wonderful… I might actually wish I'd been born as Elaina."
"Really? I'm thanking my mum from the bottom of my heart that I wasn't born as Crabbe," Ron shot back.
"More importantly, both of you should hurry," I said, glancing at the clock.
"Crabbe and Goyle are one thing, but if Elaina comes back, things will get complicated."
Apparently, at this hour, Elaina was spending most of her time in Lockhart's office. She seemed to admire Lockhart as an author, and the two of them were apparently doing something like a literary club together. Until she returned, this was our chance.
When we finally reached the entrance to the Slytherin common room, something occurred to me.
"What do we do? I don't know the Slytherin password."
"Realizing that now, Harry, you truly are a genius," Ron said dryly.
"Pureblood!"
The moment Hermione shouted it, the stone door hidden in the wall slid smoothly open.
"How do you know that?" I asked.
"Elaina told me."
Hermione answered casually that when she asked if it would be all right to visit the common room sometime, Elaina had told her without hesitation.
"That does sound like Elaina. She's never been particularly hung up on house loyalty," Ron said.
"Well, it is Elaina," Hermione agreed.
Like me, Elaina apparently had the aptitude for other houses as well. Unlike me, who felt a strong sense of belonging to Gryffindor, Elaina seemed largely indifferent toward Slytherin.
Rather than feeling "I was chosen by Slytherin," her attitude was more "I chose Slytherin." She kept a comfortable distance from the house's values and atmosphere and lived at her own pace.
The Slytherin common room, which I was entering for the first time, turned out to be a long, low-ceilinged underground chamber.
The walls and ceiling were made of rough-hewn stone, and round greenish lamps hung from chains overhead. A grand, intricately carved fireplace crackled with fire, and several Slytherin students lounged around it in lavish chairs.
However, Malfoy was nowhere to be seen.
"…I didn't expect this," Hermione muttered.
As she pressed a hand to her cheek, wondering what to do, a voice sounded behind us. We turned to see Draco Malfoy approaching.
"So you lot were here. You took forever to get back from the Great Hall, so I've been looking all over for you."
Then he noticed Hermione in Elaina's form and tilted his head slightly.
"Elaina, were you the one searching for me?"
"Well, something like that," Hermione replied.
"I appreciate it."
"Then one gold coin, please."
Hermione casually demanding payment was pure Elaina, and her performance was flawless. It must have been business as usual, because Malfoy merely shrugged with a resigned look.
"Before that, let me show you something interesting. If it's boring, I'll give you a Leprechaun gold coin. Wait here."
Seeing Malfoy interact with fellow Slytherins like this felt oddly fresh. He was surprisingly attentive, and he even seemed to have a sense of humor and a bit of showmanship. I was only just realizing it now.
After a short while, Malfoy returned holding a newspaper clipping from the Daily Prophet.
It was about Mr. Weasley being interrogated over the flying car incident. Since we were minors, the matter of us flying the car was dropped. However, the fact that the car had been magically modified without permission to fly, and that it had been left in a state usable by minors, was deemed a serious problem. Mr. Weasley was fined fifty Galleons for illegal modification and lack of supervision.
"Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office. Catching a thief only to find it's your own son…"
Malfoy widened his eyes theatrically as he read. I forced a low, hollow laugh in response. Beside me, Elaina, or rather Hermione, wore an exasperated expression while secretly twisting the side of Crabbe's massive torso, Ron in disguise, with the hand she'd moved behind her back.
For a while after that, Malfoy continued to mock Ron's family. Elaina, meaning Hermione, kept soothing him with a polite "now, now," and the three of us endured it with stiff, forced smiles.
Finally, Malfoy shifted the topic to the Heir.
"If only I knew who the Heir really was. If I did, I'd be happy to help."
(End of chapter)
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