Chapter 74: Polyjuice Potion

When Harry came to the library with his books, his heart was still in a mess. Zhang Qiu asked him what was wrong with concern. Harry hesitated for a moment but still told her.

"I am currently worried about two things," Harry said. "The first thing is, because I spoke Parseltongue at the Dueling Club, many people treat me as the opener of the Chamber of Secrets. The second thing is, Neville told me that pure-blood families are untrustworthy, and it is very difficult for us to find allies to fight against Voldemort in the Wizarding World."

"As long as you didn't really open the Chamber of Secrets," Zhang Qiu comforted him. "At least I will support you, and there is the Magical Communist International; we will not allow Voldemort to engage in fascism here."

"This counts as half a piece of good news," Harry suddenly remembered something and asked: "By the way, did your master's divination say who the opener of the Chamber of Secrets is?"

"Because Quirrell doesn't seem to be able to match the two-faced man, I feel that divination is not necessarily so accurate, so I didn't tell you," Zhang Qiu said hesitantly. "And this year's Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is not the 'Pit-and-Cheat Story King'; you weren't caught by Dobby the night you were injured by the Bludger, so I think it's better to forget about divination."

"Tell me, having a reference is fine," Harry said.

"Alright, there are two openers of the Chamber of Secrets," Zhang Qiu sighed. "The one who caused the Chamber of Secrets attack is a girl Harry would never think to suspect, and a boy who has provided him with a lot of help."

As soon as this divination result came out, Harry only felt more uncomfortable. If the girl he would never think to suspect was something he couldn't necessarily think of, the boy who provided a lot of help was undoubtedly Ma Erfu. He once believed that Ma Erfu would recognize the situation in the face of right and wrong, and believed that Ma Erfu's purpose and starting point for organizing the self-inspection meeting were good.

But now, Harry realized that Ma Erfu's self-inspection meeting was just to move Harry's eyes away from the real suspect. Every self-inspection meeting Ma Erfu organized invited Harry to listen in, but the eight people participating in the self-inspection meeting were all innocent, so Harry naturally couldn't find anything. He didn't need to deceive those who used the notebook; from beginning to end, he only needed to deceive Harry.

And the real opener of the Chamber of Secrets was undoubtedly a Slytherin girl who was instructed by Ma Erfu to do it after he obtained key information from the diary. Harry might not know that person at all, so naturally, he would never think of suspecting her.

Then, tomorrow night's self-inspection meeting would appear a bit self-deceiving. If Ma Erfu really suspected Harry, he would definitely warn Ivy and Jin Ni's group of Gryffindors not to let it slip. But the real situation was that Ivy almost couldn't wait to let it slip, just to let Harry listen in tomorrow. By then, he would definitely analyze that Harry was the opener of the Chamber of Secrets in a pretentious way. No matter whether the rest of the people believed it or not, Harry would never think that Ma Erfu, who was anxious to find the opener of the Chamber of Secrets, was the mastermind behind everything.

If this were the case, Harry thought, he actually had a chance to expose Ma Erfu. The key to the matter lay in Polyjuice Potion. If Ma Erfu discovered Harry listening in tomorrow, he would definitely be very proud, thinking he had deceived Harry. In this way, when he was proud and relaxed, if "Crabbe" and "Gao Er" talked to him, it would be very likely to obtain the truth of the matter.

Of course, Harry also considered a trace of a weak possibility. If Ma Erfu was really as innocent as he appeared on the surface, then the eavesdropping would make the relationship between Harry, Ivy, and Ma Erfu very stiff. It was precisely because of this that Harry decided to come up with a new plan.

"Luo En, Neville, I have a plan," after returning to the bedroom, Harry began to explain his train of thought. "Tomorrow night we will do two things at once. Neville and I will use Polyjuice Potion to turn into Crabbe and Gao Er to probe for news by Ma Erfu's side. And Luo En will hide in the classroom with the Invisibility Cloak to listen in, because if Ma Erfu's purpose in organizing the meeting is to paralyze me, you doing this can make him relax his vigilance."

"Then why isn't it you and Neville transforming, and I listen in like before?" Luo En asked.

"Because if Ma Erfu is really innocent, then he actually doesn't want me to listen in," Harry explained. "When he finds an invisible person, either he will continue the meeting as if no one is there, or he will come to expose you. If it is me who is exposed on the spot, it will be very embarrassing, and if it is you who is found by lifting the Invisibility Cloak, then you can still leave a bit of face for the future."

"Why do you want to leave face for Ma Erfu?" Luo En said dissatisfiedly. "And what if I am exposed? What should I say?"

"Just say you saw Jin Ni go out at night and suspected she was dating, so you came to see," Harry gave a reasonable reason. "As for face, you don't want to be mocked for no reason in the corridor, or get a curse on the playground if you are not careful, right?"

"Using Polyjuice Potion to impersonate other students and sneaking into the common room," Neville added. "Being caught is very likely to be expelled, and following your sister with an Invisibility Cloak is at most losing five points."

Luo En, who originally intended to agree, was unhappy immediately. He shouted: "This won't work; a knight cannot trap the King in danger."

"Don't say that, Luo En," Harry sighed. "If you treat yourself as Percival, then please don't think I am King Arthur; I want to get along with everyone as Merlin."

Luo En didn't speak, and a confused expression appeared on his face, as if he was thinking.

"Merlin's beard, Merlin actually doesn't have a beard," perhaps because he felt he said the wrong thing just now, Neville made a joke to try to liven up the atmosphere.

Luo En couldn't help laughing, and Harry also laughed. Finally, Luo En patted him on the shoulder and said, "Then listen to you, Merlin without a beard."

The next day, just after lunch, Hermione took them to the second floor; she was secretly brewing Polyjuice Potion in the abandoned girls' bathroom where Moaning Myrtle was.

"Because Tang Tang Nade gave me a lot of pointers enthusiastically," Hermione said. "The quality of this potion is better than I imagined; drinking a mouthful can maintain the transformation for three hours, and the amount is not small. If the duration is long, I suggest you find an opportunity to drink a bit more halfway."

"I think three hours is enough, but it's better to be prepared," Harry said. "We will pour the extra potion into the pumpkin juice bottle, which can cover it up."

"Good idea," Neville said. "Now let's confirm, Neville and I will impersonate Crabbe and Gao Er to investigate Ma Erfu's suspicious points after dinner, and you will impersonate Millicent to wander in the common room after lunch to find whether Slytherin left any clues in his own House."

"The plan has changed," Hermione said. "I originally planned to drug Millicent, but the risk of doing so is too great. I heard that Greengrass went home early, so I will impersonate her; if anyone asks, just say I came back to find something."

"Then, we will act separately next," Hermione said while dividing the potion into one large and two small portions, and added a hair into it herself. "If you see Greengrass in the common room, it must be me. But if I see Crabbe and Gao Er, I can't determine your identity. So you remember not to talk to me; this way I will know. Once Crabbe and Gao Er talk to me, it means they are the original Crabbe and Gao Er."

"You expect to act after dinner, so if I find Crabbe and Gao Er talking to me after dinner, it means they woke up early; I will try my best to help you delay," Hermione handed the potion to Harry and Neville, and she went to find a place to transform herself.

"I am curious," Harry said. "How did you know Greengrass would go home early, and how did you get her hair?"

"It's Trig," Hermione said. "Tang Tang Nade said I can find him for help if I have things, and he just happens to be in Slytherin."

"You and Professor Fontroy look very familiar," Harry muttered.

"That's right, he is a very..." Hermione couldn't find a word to describe it for a while, and only said after a while, "He is a very loving person; I like him very much."

"Alright, then let's act separately; find a place to transform," Neville pulled Harry away.

"About how to get Crabbe and Gao Er's hair, did you mention 'drug' just now?" Harry asked.

"I have already prepared, two chocolate cakes with sleeping pills," Neville said. "You know how greedy these two are; as long as they find cakes on the dining table, they will definitely eat them. Then take advantage of the time they are drugged by sleeping pills, we pull out a hair, and then hide them in the broom closet."

"But, Crabbe and Gao Er will remember to attend the meeting tonight," Harry said. "After they wake up and find that they missed the meeting, they will definitely go to apologize to Ma Erfu, and then we will be exposed."

"Even if they know, there is no way," Neville said. "The person who impersonated me on Halloween hasn't been caught until now, and it looks like there is no way to check. That is to say, the person who impersonated Crabbe and Gao Er on Christmas will also be very difficult to find their true identity."

"I think that person is also a student," Harry said helplessly. "This is the only information we have, because Snape's ingredients were lost."

"But this time, Tang Tang Nade promised to keep the mail-order potion ingredients secret," Neville said. "Then in the case that Snape didn't lose potion ingredients, it is impossible to check who configured the potion; it is completely possible that it is a wizard from outside the school."

At this time, Harry realized that there was also a configuration process for the potion. If it was a student, he could go to Madam Pince in the library to see who else had borrowed that book "Most Potent Potions."