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"It's of good quality isn't it?" Asked Ron Weasley in an anxious tone. "It isn't going to explode us in the face when we try to drink it?"
Every member of the Golden Trio grimaced lengthily at the reminder of their pet project's failure. Stealing the ingredients they needed from Snape's stores had been an easy thing. Making the Polyjuice Potion had been anything but. Aside from its dangerous potential when used in illegal activities, there was a reason why the Polyjuice instructions had been in the Forbidden Section of the Library. It was terribly hard to brew. The creation of Polyjuice required at least the level of a fifth year student at Hogwarts, and an excellent student in Potions with average grades of Exceeding Expectations at that.
Neither Ron nor Leo and Neville had that level of skills or anywhere the tenth of it in Potions. Their first attempts had melted the cauldron and the floor in the toilets of Moaning Myrtle in less than a day when something went wrong with the fluxweed. The second had been rendered inactive by a fault in their timing when it had been the moment to add a few leaves of knotgrass. The third had exploded when they were in detention with Snape. The less said about the fourth and fifth, the better. None of their five attempts had lasted more than three days and the Potion was supposed to last a month. Considering Potions was by far their worst class, thanks to the rivalry between Slytherins and Gryffindors as well as the dark presence of Professor Severus 'Snivellus' Snape, and the odds of obtaining a passable Potion this way went to insurmountable. Searching other Gryffindors with the brewing required abilities had gotten nowhere. Lavender Brown was worst than them in this academic field. Fay Dunbar scored regularly Dreadful or Poor on her class assignments. Thelma Holmes was strong in non-practical courses, but weak when it came to put this knowledge in the cauldron. Dean Thomas had managed to complete one Potion correctly since the beginning of this year, and it had been in all likelihood an accident. The pairing of the Muggle-born football-addict with Seamus Finnigan, a boy who happened to create magical accidents as soon as his wand was free to act, usually left the container with ashes in it by the end of the hour. The two best students of the Gryffindor second-years, Hermione Granger and Nigel Wolpert, were partnered together in the dungeons and did not speak a word to the New Marauders anymore; they probably would prefer to vomit in their cauldron than help them brew Polyjuice. An unfortunate effect of the motions they had pushed against the "beaver" and the "coward", the nicknames they had given to the least popular Lions.
The door of their fellow second -years being closed, the Golden Trio had gone to the upper years but there too they had met deception after deception. Except Percy Weasley, who was in love with the rules and commandments of Hogwarts and thus totally unsuitable as an accomplice, the number of Gryffindors currently continuing Potions after their OWLS was null. Between third-year and fifth, the only competent candidates were the Weasley Twins, but who knew what the Twin Terrors would do with a cauldron full of Polyjuice? Better not to think about it. As for the others sixth and seventh years, they were generally too busy with their classes and studies to add such a monumental charge of Potions on their busy schedule.
"Relax, Ron." Affirmed smoothly Leo Black. "I used some of the old contacts of my father with retired Hit-Wizards to buy this Potion. This brew is the best quality you can buy without going to the Ministry and officially hiring a Potion Master to do it."
Technically it was not the only means to procure yourself Polyjuice, but it was one of the safest. Polyjuice, like a lot of magical artefacts, heirlooms, knowledge and other materials, could be ordered in Knockturn Alley and the other shadier and less respectable magical places of England, Wales and Scotland. Unfortunately, you could never be sure of the Potions quality norms which had been bought. The majority of the wizard and witches in Wizarding Britain having a tiny piece of Potions knowledge knew Polyjuice was a Ministry-controlled substance, thus suing somebody when the potion failed to change a single nail or an eyebrow of your normal appearance was impossible. On the other hand, there were always some persons in the Ministry who were corrupt enough to agree to a fast bargain for a few galleons. The Heir of House Black had just used the knowledge he had of this situation for their latest scheme.
"Okay, okay." The red-haired boy was calmer than he had been a moment ago. "How many doses do you have?"
"Five."
"That's not a lot." Said thoughtfully Neville. "I had hoped we would have more, enough to interrogate Malfoy, Nott and all the Slytherins who have spoken against the Muggle-borns when the Heir of Slytherin attacked. With five doses, we will have barely enough for Malfoy and his group."
"I propose we use four on the Slytherins." Suggested Leo. "Ron and I take the place of Crabbe and Goyle to ask Malfoy if he's the Heir of Slytherin or not. Neville, you take the place of Vaisey, he's always following Nott so it should not be difficult to convince him to talk."
"And the fourth?" Asked Neville in a neutral voice, not openly disagreeing with the plan.
"Convince Lavender to impersonate Millicent Bulstrode."
"How I am supposed to do that?" Neville demanded, before taking an uncomfortable expression under the smirks of Ron and Leo. "Oh, right. Gossip material. Who will she spy on?"
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