Oh, Great... Here We Go Again
The next day began with a blizzard that piled up so much snow it looked as though anyone who stepped outside for even a moment would freeze to the bone.
Because of that, their Herbology lesson with Professor Sprout was cancelled.
She was far more concerned with covering the mandrakes so they could survive the cold, a task she couldn't leave to the students, especially now that they were far too important if they wanted to restore Colin and Mrs. Norris from their petrified state.
As a result, the second-years who were supposed to have Herbology that afternoon suddenly had free time.
Among them were Harry and his group, who took the opportunity to check on the Polyjuice Potion, which was now very close to being completely finished.
"It should be ready by tomorrow afternoon. I'm sure it's already practically perfect," Hermione said proudly as she stirred the strange, thick, and thoroughly foul-smelling concoction inside the cauldron, making Percy, Harry, and Ron all pull disgusted faces at the same time.
The four of them were bundled up in warm clothes, but they were still shivering from the cold.
Ron even had a large red woollen hat pulled all the way down over his ears.
And, of course, it wasn't to hide his perfectly bald head.
Or at least, that's what he insisted.
Thankfully, his eyebrows had already grown back.
They had all come to make sure the fire beneath the cauldron hadn't gone out because of the cold, which fortunately hadn't happened.
"Are you sure? I think it needs a bit more water," Percy said, though in reality he had absolutely no desire to drink something that looked that horrible.
Hermione didn't answer.
She simply gave him a sidelong glance and kept stirring.
"To infiltrate them, we'll need the robes of the people we're going to disguise ourselves as, and a few strands of their hair," she explained seriously.
"Why hair?" Ron asked with an odd expression, unable to stop touching his hat awkwardly.
"Because we'll have to add it to the potion to transform into them," Hermione replied as she pulled out a small vial containing several hairs. "I've already got mine. I took them from Bulstrode... during the Dueling Club," she added.
Harry looked at her, knowing perfectly well how Hermione had obtained those samples.
If he hadn't stopped her...
She probably would've come back with a blood sample too.
Even so, Percy looked even more disgusted.
"So that disgusting soup is about to become even more disgusting," Percy said.
"If you don't like hair, you can always try getting fingernails, skin, saliva, or blood instead," Hermione told him in that same condescending tone as she looked straight at him.
"Mmm... yeah, I'll stick with hair," Percy said immediately.
"You're using Polyjuice too?" Ron asked in confusion.
"I'm infiltrating Hufflepuff," Percy replied as though it were obvious.
"Why Hufflepuff?" Ron asked again, making both Percy and Harry realise that Ron apparently didn't know this part of the plan.
Then again...
There were quite a few things Ron didn't know.
"Why do I always feel like you lot don't tell me everything?" Ron added, frowning for a moment.
He had realised quite a while ago that Harry and Percy kept a lot of things from him.
And the worst part was that Hermione always seemed to know them.
He didn't.
The three of them exchanged a glance after Ron's painfully accurate observation.
"Well... now isn't really the time. I still need to help Percy get the hair he needs. I'll explain everything later, alright?" Harry said as he gave Percy a shove to get him moving.
Naturally, Percy immediately played along.
Unable to think of anything clever to say, he simply went with:
"Bye."
Then the two of them walked out of the girls' bathroom.
They left Ron standing there with a deep frown, staring fixedly at Hermione.
She simply kept stirring the potion with an expression that practically said:
Don't ask me. I don't know anything.
A complete lie, of course.
So Ron could only stand there looking increasingly grumpy.
…
"We can't keep this up forever. Sooner or later, we'll have to tell Ron," Harry said, sounding a little guilty.
After all, Ron was his best friend.
"And what exactly are you going to tell him? 'Oh yeah, Ron, last summer we found out Percy is Poseidon's son and I'm Hecate's grandson. Our lovely relative Zeus wanted to start a war with Percy's father, so he forced us to travel across half the United States to recover a lightning bolt powerful enough to destroy entire cities. Along the way we fought monsters, ended up in the Underworld, and discovered that Europe is so overrun with mythical creatures that demigods can't even live here normally. Oh, and by the way, Tyson's a Cyclops, but if you saw what he really looks like, you'd probably go insane. And all of that's hidden by a magical Mist that you can't see through, but we can...'"
"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Harry said, cutting off his brother's thoroughly sarcastic monologue.
"Even Hermione, who can see through the Mist, doesn't know everything. We've only told her part of it," Percy added.
"I know," Harry said with a sigh. "But maybe we don't have to tell him everything. Just part of it. Or at least more than he knows now, which is practically nothing."
"Well, I'll leave that decision to you. He's your friend. And if he goes mad, we'll just have to visit him at St Mungo's," Percy said with a shrug.
"Thanks for the support."
This time, it was Harry's turn to be sarcastic.
Then he changed the subject.
"So, who are you planning to disguise yourself as? It's not like we're especially close to the Hufflepuffs. Just Tyson and Grover, and the latter should be wandering around the world looking for Pan by now."
"There's still one person we've talked to a couple of times, remember? That boy, Justin. Since he's already friendly with Tyson, it wouldn't be strange for the two of them to be seen walking around Hufflepuff together. Besides, he seems to get along with just about everyone, so if I want to dig up a few secrets, it'll probably be easier. So he'd make a good disguise," Percy said proudly, clearly pleased with his own idea.
It wasn't a bad one.
Even Harry nodded.
"I just need to make sure Justin doesn't show up while I'm disguised as him. Maybe knock him out with a spell or something. Though I'll leave that part to you. If I try it, he'll probably end up asleep forever," Percy added with a strained smile.
Hearing that, Harry couldn't help smiling as he kept looking ahead.
Then he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.
"Well... although... maybe you won't have to knock him out after all," he said, slowly raising a hand and pointing ahead.
Percy followed the direction of his finger.
He froze too.
In an instant, both of them felt as though the world had just come crashing down on top of them.
Suddenly, Percy's plan to borrow Justin's face didn't seem like such a brilliant idea anymore.
Lying on the cold, hard floor, with a look of horror frozen on his face and his eyes rolled back toward the ceiling...
Was Justin Finch-Fletchley.
And that wasn't even the worst of it.
Beside him was another figure, one even stranger than anything they had seen so far.
At least within Hogwarts.
It was Nearly Headless Nick.
Except he was no longer transparent and pearly white.
Now he was a black, mist-like haze, floating motionless in mid-air, lying horizontally.
His head was still hanging by that tiny strip of skin Nick had always complained kept him from joining the Headless Hunt.
His face remained frozen in an expression of pure terror.
Both Harry and Percy felt a chill run down their spines at the sight of it.
Before either of them could react...
Before they could even think about what to do...
Peeves, Hogwarts' resident poltergeist, burst through one of the walls, wearing his brightly coloured outfit and the same wickedly amused grin he always had.
"Well, if it isn't Hogwarts' two strange boys. Very strange boys," Peeves said as he flipped through the air, as though trying to decide what kind of mischief to cause this time.
But as he ended up upside down, his eyes landed first on Justin...
Then on Nick.
For the first time, his grin disappeared.
His face filled with panic.
Before Harry or Percy could stop him, Peeves had already thrown his mouth wide open and screamed at the top of his lungs.
"Attack! Attack! Another attack! No mortal or ghost is safe! Run for your lives!" he shrieked before shooting straight back through the same wall he'd come through, as though he feared he would be next.
But the damage had already been done.
The moment Peeves' cries echoed through the corridor, the doors of several nearby classrooms burst open one after another.
Professors and students hurried out, and a few of them nearly stepped on Justin before realising he was lying on the floor.
For a few long seconds, everyone stood there in complete confusion.
Then, for the second time...
Every eye turned toward Harry and Percy.
Standing right beside yet another crime scene.
"Oh, great," Harry said this time...
Before Percy had the chance to.