 
Chapter 2-12 The Polyjuice Potion
- Harry is left in Dumbledore's office. He's alone.
He sees the Sorting Hat and tries it on
to get some answers about it's decision to put him in Gryffindor House.
It reads Harry's thoughts about him wondering and says the dicision
was hard, Harry would have done well in Slytherin. Harry sees
that he's not alone, there's a bird on a golden perch which suddenly
bursts into flames. Dumbledore, who comes in, explains it's a Phoenix.
Its name is Fawkes. Bursting into flames means
it's their time to die and be reborn from the ashes. He also says it's
a shame Harry is seeing it on a Burning Day,
normally it's a beautiful creature.
- Hagrid bursts in, trying to
explain that it couldn't have been Harry who did the harm to Justin
and Nearly Headless Nick, since he saw him a few moments before. Dumbledore
never thought it was Harry and Harry is allowed to leave.
- Term has ended. Most students have gone home for holiday, so now they
can play Exploding Snap without bothering
anyone. On Christmas morning Hermione comes into Ron and Harry's dormitory,
telling them the Polyjuice Potion is ready and bringing
them presents. Hedwig flies in, bringing a
'present' (a tooth pick) from the Dursleys. From Hagrid Harry got Treacle
Fudge, from Ron a book called Flying with the Cannons,
from Hermione a quill and from Mrs. Weasley a hand-knitted sweater and
a plum cake.
- Christmas dinner is in the Great Hall.
It looks magnificent, decorated with Christmas trees, holly and mistletoe.
Enchanted snow is falling, warm and
dry, from the ceiling. Hagrid is drinking goblets of eggnog. To get
bit's of the people to change into for the Polyjuice Potion, Hermione
made some plump chocolate cakes, filled with Sleeping
Draught. They know that Crabbe and Goyle will take them and then they will be
able to get a hair from both of them. Hermione already got hers from
Millicent Bullstrode while wrestling
during the Dueling Club.
- Getting the hairs goes as planned. Ron and Harry also take their shoes
and then they go to Moaning Myrtle's
bathroom. Hermione finishes the Polyjuice
Potion and they take it. Ron changes into Crabbe and Harry into Goyle.
Hermione refuses to come out of the bathroom stall and Ron and Harry
go alone, only having one hour before the Potion's effect will wear
off.
- Searching for a Slytherin student to get
them into their House, they are found by Draco Malfoy. He takes them to
the Slytherin's common room, passing through a concealed stone door
with the password "Pure-blood". Malfoy
shows them an article from the Daily Prophet. It's about Ron's father
Arthur Weasley who has been fined for
bewitching a Muggle car. Draco's father Lucius Malfoy, who is a governor of Hogwarts,
has called for his resignation from the Ministry of Magic, quoting "unable
to draw up laws and his Muggle Protection Act should
be scrapped immediately". Draco mentions he wishes he knew who the Heir
of Slytherin is, which means it's not him. Harry asks if they caught
the person who opened the Chamber
of Secrets the last time. Draco tells him he presumes they did and
that that person is probably still in Azkaban, the wizard prison. Ron starts changing
back to his normal form and he and Harry quickly depart for Moaning
Myrtle's bathroom. Getting back they find out that the hair from Millicent
Bullstrode was in fact a cat hair, giving Hermione the appearance of
a cat. They take her to the Hospital wing.
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