Chapter 170: Disgusting Polyjuice Potion
Christmas.
The weather grew colder, and thick white snow covered the entire Hogwarts Castle.
Due to successive attacks causing panic among many students, the list of those staying at school was much shorter than last year.
Most chose to go home for Christmas, except for students who were confident in their bloodline, believing that the Heir of Slytherin had no reason to harm them.
When Aaron woke up in the morning, he went to collect his parcels, Christmas gifts from family and friends.
He brought all the parcels back to his dormitory and eagerly opened the gifts from his parents.
Two postcards, one with colorful aurora borealis, and one with a magnificent sea, accompanied by a message: "We hope you can visit these beautiful places someday."
"Beautiful! I really shouldn't have any expectations of them, but at least it shows they haven't forgotten they have a son like me." Aaron smiled helplessly, then opened the large parcel sent by Gines.
Inside the parcel were several gift boxes of varying sizes, which he had asked Gines to specifically prepare as gifts for his friends.
But a silver-glowing longsword tightly drew Aaron's attention, making him subconsciously ignore the existence of those gift boxes.
This sword ranked among the top three in the family's armory. It was Algol Gaius's most satisfying work, taking a full two months to forge.
Made of Mithril, the sword body was inscribed with runes that enhanced sharpness, and the hilt was inlaid with three black magic crystals.
Aaron hadn't forgotten that one of his missions was to slay the Basilisk, but powerful magical creatures weren't so easy to kill; they could even, to some extent, be immune to spells of limited power.
He was currently a junior Magician, not particularly weak, but relying solely on magic to deal with a Basilisk that had lived for over a thousand years was indeed somewhat presumptuous.
Unless he used all his accumulated magic points to increase his strength, reaching a level close to that of a Archmagemight give him some confidence, but killing it would still be quite difficult.
Although Aaron planned to find the Chamber of Secretsand then bring a group of Professors to launch a dimensionality reduction attack, he still needed some means of self-preservation just in case.
Aaron excitedly picked up the longsword. The erosion of time had left almost no trace on it; it was still sharp and exuded a chilling aura.
Clang!
With a casual swing, a crisp sword cry rang out, and a sword mark was carved into the ground.
"As expected of a legendary sword that has slain dragons." Aaron couldn't help but exclaim. Ordinary sword energy alone could cut through rock; if infused with magic, who knew how many times its power would increase.
"I don't like it." Abey snorted unhappily. What could be more malicious than pulling out a dragon-slaying weapon in front of a dragon?
"Why are you panicking?" Aaron laughed, "This sword has only killed ordinary dragons. You're a Holy Dragon, don't you know how thick-skinned you are?"
Abey clawed at the ground with his four paws and said somewhat aggrieved, "That's for later. I'm still a baby now; I need to evolve a few more times before I become invulnerable."
Aaron rolled his eyes and said earnestly, "You're almost two years old; you're not a baby anymore.
Also, I won't use this sword to hurt you, otherwise, if Vicoand the others found out, who knows how they'd deal with me!"
Abey nodded, then flew to Aaron's head, "I'm hungry."
"Alright, I'll take you to the Great Hall once I put this away.
And I'll bring the Christmas gifts to a few people."
Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.
Thick black smoke billowed from the cauldron. Harry and Ron watched nervously as Hermione portioned out the Polyjuice Potion.
The viscous Potion was poured into three glass cups, looking like bubbling mud.
"This is disgusting." Ron said, his face pale.
"It's not the most disgusting yet." Harry swallowed, his gaze fixed on the three glass test tubes on the sink, "We still need to add Malfoy's hair, Crabbe's hair, and Goyle's hair."
Ugh... Ron instinctively covered his mouth, feeling sick and wanting to throw up.
"I have to admit, drinking this stuff requires a lot of courage, though Gryffindor is never short on courage."
Hermione put the last ingredients into the glass cups. The Potion boiled, turning into yellow, brown, and reddish-brown solutions respectively.
"It should be fine; the reaction is just as the book described." Hermione said confidently, "After drinking it, we'll have an hour to look like the three of them."
"Should we act now?" Harry asked Hermione.
"Of course not; we still need to make final preparations."
"Still waiting?" Ron asked, utterly puzzled, "We've waited over a month; we can't back down at the last step!"
"Exactly, Hermione, I know you don't want to suspect him, but I'm ninety-nine percent sure Aaron is the Heir of Slytherin." Harry said urgently, "He appeared at every crime scene, even I, who can hear that strange voice, wasn't that precise.
More importantly, he personally admitted to Professor Dumbledore that he was hiding something from him, and said it was beneficial and harmless to Hogwarts.
I bet Salazar had the same thought when he planned to eliminate Muggle-born Wizards."
"But..." Hermione opened her mouth, hesitating, "Alright! I didn't say I was backing down, it's just... we need to make sure the real Malfoy trio doesn't show up when we question Aaron, and we also need to change our clothes."
Harry and Ron exchanged glances; they hadn't thought of that.
If they encountered the real Malfoy, Crabbe, or Goyle in the Slytherin common room, they wouldn't be able to avoid being exposed. Slytherin wouldn't consider it a prank.
And their clothes were indeed unsuitable; putting aside the size, the Gryffindor emblem alone would attract a lot of attention.
"Alright!" Ron shrugged, "Since you brought it up, I guess you must have a solution!"
Hermione raised an eyebrow and pulled out three chocolate cakes. "I put enough sleeping Potion in them to make them sleep for a few hours. We can just hide them in the broom cupboard then."
"What about clothes?" Harry asked, "Do we just strip them? Wouldn't that be too..."
"That's actually an option." Ron rubbed his hands excitedly, "If you can't do it, let me."
"Ew!" Hermione gave him a disgusted look, "Just the shoes will do. Their clothes can be found in the laundry room; there are usually spares there."
"Okay, it's settled then. We'll act tonight." Harry looked at the two, a shrewd light flashing in his eyes, "Hermione, I'll leave the clothes to you.
Ron, you and I will figure out how to get them to eat these cakes.
We'll meet back here after we succeed."
...As night fell, the teachers and students who chose to stay at school gathered in the Great Hall for dinner.
Compared to last year, this Christmas was a bit quieter, but only in terms of fewer people.
The Great Hall was still decorated grandly, with a dozen Christmas trees covered in silver frost, and the ceiling was enchanted to constantly drop warm, dry snowflakes, regulating the indoor temperature.
Everyone ate with relish, even some with ulterior motives.
While eating, Aaron noticed the Harry trio whispering, their eyes occasionally glancing at Draco, which made him curious. So, he walked towards the Gryffindor table.
"Merry Christmas, you three look a bit strange."
"Do we?" Harry forced a smile.
"I wouldn't be mistaken." Aaron asked meaningfully, "If I may ask, did Malfoy and his friends do something to displease you?"
"That's not it." Ron immediately helped change the subject, "We were just wondering why Crabbe and Goyle have such good appetites.
They've devoured four servings of treacle tart and are now on their fifth."
"Uh..." Aaron paused, then chuckled, "Their appetites have always been good, but I have a feeling that's not the main point. I vaguely heard you talking about Draco."
"Alright!" Harry shrugged, "We were just wondering who the Heir of Slytherin really is?"
Aaron raised an eyebrow; they weren't suspecting Draco, were they? If so, it would be a futile effort.
"Do you have any clues then?"
"Not yet." Harry tried his best not to let Aaron see his eyes. Before the plan officially began, all potential problematic steps had to be eliminated.
"That's a shame.
But trust me, the truth won't be too far from us." Aaron said half-jokingly. Hogwarts has hundreds of students, and he had eliminated over ninety percent using the most laborious method.
Although it was tiring, it greatly narrowed the scope, and he would soon have results.
"Aaron." Hermione hesitated for a moment before asking, "Who do you think the Heir of Slytherin might be?
Many people say it's Harry, and some say it's you."
"I know that, but the truth is often only held by a few, isn't it?" Aaron said indifferently, "Professor Dumbledore doesn't believe we are the Heirs."
"By the way, where were you today?
I prepared Christmas gifts for you, but when I went to deliver them, I couldn't find anyone, so I asked Percy to help deliver them to the Gryffindor common room."
Hearing this, the three couldn't help but exchange glances, feeling a certain amount of guilt.
"We..." Harry stammered, unable to come up with a suitable excuse for the moment.
"We went to Hagrid's." Hermione immediately said, "He seems to be in a bad mood lately."
"Is that so?" Aaron didn't suspect much either. Chickens in the coop had been inexplicably dying, and Hagrid was naturally frustrated because he couldn't find the culprit.
"Do you need anything else?" There was a hint of urgency and impatience in Harry's voice. If Aaron lingered here, and the Draco trio left the Great Hall, their plan would have to be postponed.
"Nothing else, just reminding you not to forget to collect them.
Although only Hermione gave me a book, and it was one I'd already read."
"Sorry." Hermione's face flushed slightly, "I should have thought of that; your reading volume is much greater than mine."