Obviously, besides Lockhart, there was no better candidate than him. As a result, after Hermione said a few kind words to Lockhart, Lockhart readily signed the note without even glancing at what book they wanted to borrow.
Consequently, they easily obtained the recipe, but two problems still loomed before them: they had no location and no materials.
Hermione chose the dilapidated bathroom of Moaning Myrtle as the location, because anyone with a normal brain wouldn't want to come here, ensuring the three of them wouldn't be discovered. Moaning Myrtle was wailing in her cubicle; they ignored her, and she ignored them.
Afterwards, they encountered the second difficulty: materials. General materials could be obtained from students' lockers, but some rare materials were too hard to get. Powdered Bicorn horn—didn't know where to find it. A piece of African tree snake skin—that was also hard to get. But they thought Snape's private store might have them.
Then, finally, they also needed something from the person they wanted to turn into.
"We can hardly find a chance to get in touch with her," Ron said helplessly.
"Opportunities can always be created," Harry encouraged him.
Saturday afternoon, Draco felt he had done something wrong and regretted it.
He had warned Dobby before the match not to interfere with the Quidditch match because he was afraid the out-of-control Bludger would hurt others. As a result, he seemed to have underestimated the power of someone's protagonist aura. Without the interference of the Bludger, Harry finished the match faster than people imagined.
Now Pansy was crying sadly in the lounge, feeling more and more self-blame. Their tactics had barely begun to be executed before the match ended, and she felt it was all her responsibility.
In fairness, Draco was still quite satisfied with their training, and their performance on the field was normal, but he couldn't overcome someone's overpowering luck.
So he comforted Pansy for almost an entire afternoon. By the evening, news of another petrified student arrived: Colin Creevey—Harry's follower. He wanted to visit Harry in the infirmary, but ended up petrified in the corridor.
Dobby could only listen to his master's family, so this time he didn't aim at the Bludger. Instead, when everyone was cheering for Harry and lifting him high, he cast a spell on those few people simultaneously. When Draco heard the news, he guessed it was a release of tension, so the Gryffindor team dropped their team's hero to the ground. History is always surprisingly similar; Lockhart cast a "perfect" spell that removed bones, so Harry had to be hospitalised.
Monday morning, the news that Colin Creevey had been attacked and was now lying in the infirmary like a dead person spread throughout the school. Suddenly, rumours flew through the school, and everyone was suspicious. First-year students now always huddled together in groups of three or five, as if afraid that if they acted alone, they would be attacked.
Then the Weasley twins' rooster howler letters were sold out again, and the two brothers made a fortune once more.
The second week of December, Professor McGonagall came as usual to collect the list of students staying for Christmas. Harry, Ron, and Hermione signed the list; they heard Draco was planning to stay and thought it was very suspicious. During the holidays would be the perfect time to use the Polyjuice Potion to get the truth out of Draco.
Of course, Draco was staying now to find the truth.
Harry and the others had almost everything ready, but they were still missing the Bicorn horn and the African tree snake skin. So, in Snape's Potion Class, Harry and Ron, holding the determination to sacrifice themselves, prepared to make trouble in class to buy time for Hermione to steal materials from Snape's private store.
The Potions class was held in a large underground classroom. Thursday afternoon's lesson started as usual. Twenty cauldrons stood between wooden tables, with copper scales and jars of ingredients on the tables. Snape patrolled back and forth in a cloud of smoke, rudely criticising the work of Gryffindor students, while Slytherin students snickered gleefully on the side.
Harry and Ron were about to use the Filibuster fireworks they got from Fred, but suddenly they heard a "cock-a-doodle-doo" sound. Almost all the students were startled by this sudden cry. Most students made more or less mistakes, potions splashed everywhere, the class was chaotic, and almost everyone started running around.
"Neville Longbottom!" Snape roared in his gloomy voice, then said, "Next time you bring this thing into the classroom, I will expel you!" He continued: "Twenty points from Gryffindor! Now, everyone is quiet! Quiet! Students splashed by the potion, come here to get the swelling solution from me."
"I think we should treat Neville to a meal," Ron said.
"Today is the only day I've been happy about us losing points." Although it felt bad, Harry felt genuinely happy.
After class, Hermione successfully obtained the new ingredients. They rushed to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and threw them into the cauldron.
"He knows it's me," Hermione said worriedly while stirring the potion.
"But he has no evidence, right?" Harry comforted her.
"He won't look for evidence, Harry," Ron poured cold water on them.
"Alright," Harry muttered, then said: "At worst, we'll go and admit our mistake together."
"Are you kidding?" Hermione's voice rose. "The only reason I went to steal it was that I have no prior record. Don't worry, without evidence, the most he can do is make things difficult for us." She stared at Harry and said, "Anyway, we're used to it, aren't we?"
"That's true," Harry rubbed his nose.
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