An Unpleasant Transformation
Hermione, who had remained in the girls' bathroom waiting for the boys, didn't have to wait long, since they arrived only a few minutes later with what they had been asked to bring.
The hairs of the people they were going to imitate, along with their robes.
The smoke rising from the cauldron made it difficult to see inside the bathroom, while Hermione stood there giving the potion one final stir after letting it rest for long enough.
"You finished rather quickly. Wasn't it difficult?" she asked as she watched them arrive.
Harry and Ron looked at each other for a moment after hearing the question, both remembering what had happened only a few minutes earlier.
...
"Aaaaah! Get them off me, get them off me!" Flint screamed while, for some reason, his stomach moved as though it were full of something alive.
Then, when his robes suddenly burst open, everyone saw what it was.
Dozens of pixies flew out.
For a moment, everyone remained frozen in surprise, until that turned into complete panic when the creatures began causing chaos throughout the Great Hall.
"Aaaaah!" Pansy Parkinson screamed as she ran.
Several pixies were pulling on her hair and had begun using her as some kind of mount.
Theodore Nott discovered just how fast his legs could move the moment he saw the creatures, because without hesitating, he spun around and shot through the entrance at a speed that was rather impressive for a wizard.
Flint wore an expression of complete disbelief and confusion over why those things had come out of his stomach as he stared at the torn robes around the centre of his abdomen.
"Aah!" Millicent Bulstrode screamed as the pixies grabbed the meat pies from the table and began using them as projectiles.
Then they started a food fight, smearing food all over the students' faces.
"Food fight!" Fred shouted for the entire Great Hall to hear.
And if what came before had already been chaos...
What followed was on another level.
Even the pixies, annoyed that someone was stealing their job of being the source of chaos, began causing an even greater commotion, turning the entire Great Hall upside down while some students had no choice but to hide beneath their tables to protect themselves from the projectiles.
Among them were Harry and Ron, who stared open-mouthed at the chaos the Weasley twins had managed to create in only a few minutes.
Fred and George, responsible for the entire disaster, were crouched right beside them, proudly admiring the two enormous gold coins Harry had given them.
"Well, great lord, I hope you'll remember us the next time you have one of these jobs," Fred said with a broad smile.
"We'll even give you a discount if it's just as interesting," George added.
Then, without waiting much longer, both of them rushed off to join the battle before a professor arrived to put an end to it.
"Come on, Ron. Let's use this chance to kidnap—... to let Crabbe and Goyle take a little break," Harry said, changing his words halfway through.
...
Back in the present, Harry and Ron stopped looking at each other and turned their attention back to Hermione.
"Oh, yeah. It wasn't difficult. They simply ate the cakes and fell asleep," Harry said with a smile. "What about you, Percy?" he asked, looking toward his brother, who was already carrying Ernie Macmillan's Hufflepuff robes and a large clump of hair that looked as though he'd simply torn it out.
"Oh, yeah. Tyson reminded me to make him eat the cake after I knocked him out," Percy said proudly, while Tyson nodded beside him.
Harry looked at Percy with slight confusion over the way he'd arranged those words.
But perhaps that was just Percy's dyslexia at work, so he didn't give it much thought.
"Good," Hermione said as she took out four prepared glasses and began pouring the potion into them with a ladle.
Even after being served, the potion continued bubbling inside the glasses, with a consistency similar to mud.
"Remember, after drinking it, we'll have one hour before we turn back into ourselves," she added as she handed each of them a glass filled with the thoroughly unappetising brew.
She filled every glass right to the brim, proving that Hermione had been rather generous with the portions.
But that only made the disgusted expressions on all four of their faces grow worse.
Thankfully, Tyson didn't have to drink the potion.
But even he, despite having practically lived in a rubbish dump, thought it looked truly horrible.
"Add the hairs," Hermione said as she picked up one of the glasses and took out the sample she had obtained from Bulstrode.
Then she dropped it into her own drink.
The moment the hair touched the potion, it released a powerful hiss, like a pressure cooker, and its muddy colour changed into a more yellowish shade.
Though it looked just as disgusting.
Harry, Ron, and Percy followed her example and dropped in the hairs.
Each of their potions also began foaming and making noise as they changed colour and even smell.
At this point, they would've preferred to drink the potion as it had been before, which now seemed far more appetising by comparison.
"Ugggh... essence of Crabbe," Ron complained.
"I'm starting to reconsider a lot of my life choices," Percy muttered as he stared at his potion.
Harry couldn't help pulling a face.
"Come on, let's get this over with. The faster we drink it, the faster we'll return to our original forms," Hermione said immediately.
She wasn't exactly thrilled by the idea of turning into Millicent Bulstrode either.
"Cheers," Harry said, making the four of them clink their glasses together.
They pinched their noses and drank at the same time.
The moment the potion touched their tongues, all four of them opened their eyes in horror. Hermione even gagged, but none of them stopped until their glasses were completely empty.
"I'm going to be sick," Ron announced before rushing into the nearest cubicle.
"Me too," Hermione said, following him into another.
Harry and Percy looked at each other with pale faces and, without needing to say anything, ran into the other two cubicles.
Tyson was left alone in front of the cauldron, staring curiously at the four closed doors.
Several groans began coming from inside the cubicles, making Tyson approach with concern.
"Are you alright?" Tyson asked.
"No, we're not alright," Ron answered between retches.
For several seconds, only groans, hurried movements, and the cracking of bones changing shape could be heard from inside.
Then a loud tearing sound came from Ron's cubicle.
A second later, the same sound came from Harry's.
"Oh, no... Mum's going to be angry," Ron murmured.
"Uh, Tyson, could you pass us the robes we left over there? Oh, and the shoes," Harry asked, though his voice no longer sounded like his own.
"Yeah," Tyson replied quickly, passing the robes to Ron, Harry, and Percy as well.
Hermione, for some reason, didn't ask for hers.
Harry stepped out of the cubicle.
Or rather...
Goyle stepped out of the cubicle, adjusting the Slytherin robes with a slight grimace of discomfort.
Crabbe emerged from the other cubicle, his face pale and frightened as he stared at his gorilla-like fingers.
"This is incredible," Ron said, looking at Harry.
Then he walked over to a mirror and curiously touched Crabbe's flat nose.
Percy was the next to come out, frowning as he examined his arms and felt his muscles.
"Ugh... I've been nerfed for the plot," he said, feeling as though he didn't even have ten percent of his usual strength right now.
"You think you've got it bad? I'm carrying an extra ten or twenty kilos now. I feel heavy and hungry. Much more than usual," Ron complained as he examined his new body.
"This isn't the time to talk about that. We don't have any time to waste," Harry interrupted as he checked his watch.
Then he knocked on the door of Hermione's cubicle.
"Come on, Hermione. We have to go."
"I... I'm afraid I won't be able to. Go without me," she replied in a voice that no longer sounded completely like her own.
"Hermione, what's wrong?" Harry asked seriously.
"Go! Don't waste time!" she shouted, refusing to explain anything else.
Harry frowned.
But after checking the time, he realised they had already wasted five of their precious sixty minutes.
"Alright. We'll do what you said. Wait here until we come back, and we'll fix whatever problem you've had," Harry told her gently through the door.
"Alright," Hermione replied.
Harry turned back towards the boys.
"Let's go. You know what we have to do. Don't waste time," Harry said, though that last part seemed to be aimed more at Percy.
Or rather...
at Ernie Macmillan now.
"Don't worry. I've got everything under control," Percy said with a slightly arrogant smile.
"And remember to act like the people you're disguised as so you don't raise suspicion," Harry added after recognising the arrogant expression on his brother's face, even though it now belonged to Ernie Macmillan.
"Oh, right. Well... I know how he talks... but I never paid attention to how he acts," Percy said, realising he didn't actually know him well enough to imitate him.
"Don't worry, Percy. I'll help you," Tyson told him confidently.
"Good. We'll meet back here in an hour," Percy said immediately.
Then, at last, the four of them split into two groups.
Crabbe and Goyle headed towards Slytherin.
Tyson and Ernie headed towards Hufflepuff.
It was finally time to search for information about who the Heir could be:
Cedric Diggory...
Or Draco Malfoy.