Chapter 708: The End of the Polyjuice Potion After regrouping, Pansy and the others returned together to Draco’s Prefect’s room.By the time night fell, they were no longe |
In fact, the Memory Charm was not some advanced spell.
However, the wizards allowed to use it were strictly regulated. Aside from Ministry of Magic wizards specifically responsible for erasing Muggles’ memories, ordinary wizards were not permitted to use the Memory Charm at will.
Because from a certain perspective, this spell was actually rather dangerous.
Simply learning the spell was not especially difficult, but truly mastering it was nowhere near as easy as one might imagine.
That was because this spell involved the human brain.
Although the spell mainly altered memories, the brain itself was fragile.
If someone cast this spell on another person without sufficient skill, even the slightest mistake carried a high chance of causing irreversible damage to the brain.
It could even cause the permanent loss of part of that person’s memory.
And that was not even the most serious consequence.
Put simply, when using the Memory Charm to erase someone’s memories, one careless mistake could very well turn the target into an idiot.
And just as Pansy had guessed, Draco had cast the Memory Charm on the blond-haired wizards lying at his feet.
Of course, he was only erasing a short, relatively unimportant stretch of memory. Added to that, these blond-haired wizards were hardly masters of Occlumency, so Draco’s casting of the Memory Charm went quite smoothly.
After slipping his wand back beneath his robes, Draco withdrew his gaze from the wizards who had fancied themselves big bad wolves. In that case, these people would not remember what had just happened.
Once they woke up, they would only think they had been sleeping on the floor.
Although everything had gone smoothly, taking care of these people without making a sound, while also doing delicate work on their minds, had still taken Draco a fair bit of effort and time.
He patted down his robes.
“I wonder how things are going on Pansy’s side.”
After murmuring to himself, Draco looked up toward the corner of the common room.
At that moment, Pansy had indeed already taken the Marauder’s Map from Harry Potter.
...
From this distance, there was no way Draco could clearly hear the conversation between Pansy and Harry Potter.
In other words, he would have to move closer.
Just as Draco was considering whether to do that.
His ears twitched.
Sensing movement behind him, Draco suddenly turned his head.
“Someone’s here?!”
As the entrance opened, the first thing to appear was a pair of cute little feet, followed by a pretty little face.
Surprisingly, the newcomer was not wearing the standard Gryffindor robes, but Ravenclaw robes trimmed in blue.
Clearly, she was not a Gryffindor wizard.
It turned out that the wizard who had appeared in the common room was Luna Lovegood from Ravenclaw.
Judging from this, she had probably come to look for Ginny Weasley.
Sure enough.
The moment she saw Ginny Weasley’s back, Luna did not hesitate at all and walked straight in her direction.
It was worth mentioning that as she looked around for the person she wanted, she naturally also saw Neville Longbottom standing there, along with the “corpses” lying at his feet.
Faced with such a strange scene, even Luna, who was usually expressionless and seemed indifferent to everything, could not help showing a flicker of surprise. Her gaze even paused there for several seconds.
Normally, anyone who saw this would immediately question it and become wary. Some might even run away or report it to a professor at once.
But Luna Lovegood’s reaction was beyond Draco’s expectations. She merely tilted her little head in confusion, then quietly looked away.
As if the wizards lying on the floor really were only sleeping.
Perhaps, deep down, she simply did not believe Neville Longbottom could have done it.
Seeing Luna appear, Draco formed a guess. So it was Luna... Did she arrange to meet Ginny Weasley?
Luna’s appearance both surprised Draco and made him relax slightly.
But in the next second.
Wait!
She was here to find Ginny Weasley?!
Others might not know, but Draco knew very well that the current Ginny Weasley was not really Ginny Weasley at all. It was Pansy in disguise after drinking Polyjuice Potion.
In other words, if Luna Lovegood, who knew Ginny Weasley very well, were allowed to approach her, it would not be long before Pansy’s identity was exposed.
At that thought, Draco, who immediately realized the problem, lifted his foot without hesitation and stepped directly into Luna’s path.
She stopped.
Naturally unable to simply crash into him, Luna had no choice but to halt and look at the wizard in front of her in confusion. “...Longbottom?”
Although they were not in the same year and had never interacted, she still knew who Neville Longbottom was.
After all, Neville Longbottom’s absent-mindedness and poor grades had, in another way, made him rather famous.
“Um... Weasley asked me to tell you to wait here. She and Harry seem to have something important to discuss.” Draco deliberately imitated Neville Longbottom’s tone.
“I see.”
Luna blinked. With some confusion in her eyes, she glanced toward Ginny Weasley, then looked over the “Neville Longbottom” standing in front of her.
She was a little puzzled. He did not seem quite the same as the Neville Longbottom in her memory.
She did not see any lack of confidence on his face, nor did she sense any weakness in him. After all, the wizards sprawled across the floor already explained everything.
Her ethereal eyes could not help lingering on Neville Longbottom’s eyes for a few seconds. For some reason, a certain person’s figure flashed through her mind.
Even though the person in front of her had his waist bent low, wore a hesitant expression, and kept letting his gaze drift uncertainly, Luna still found it strange. She could sense a trace of incongruity from him.
As if... the person in front of her should not be called Neville Longbottom at all.
...
Draco’s powers of observation were quite sharp. He quickly noticed that there seemed to be something unusual in the way Luna was looking at him.
The main reason Draco did not speak up to explain himself, aside from the fact that the more he said, the more likely he was to slip up, was that Luna did not seem inclined to investigate further. She simply sat down as if she had noticed nothing.
She even nudged one of the blond-haired wizards lying on the floor with her foot.
As for that.
Although Draco was not entirely sure whether Luna had noticed anything, and although he could not read anything from her calm expression, his instincts told him that Luna would not say anything. Only then did he turn his gaze back to Pansy.
To be precise, to the map in her hand.
...
Luna Lovegood’s appearance did not catch Pansy’s attention.
Partly because of the distance between them, and partly because Pansy’s attention had been completely drawn in by what Harry Potter had just said.
Although her little head was not as sharp or clear as Hermione’s, her instincts were telling her just how much information Harry Potter’s words contained, and how important it was.
That information was even more crucial than the Marauder's Map currently in her hands.
After checking the time and confirming that there was still a while before the Polyjuice Potion wore off, Pansy narrowed her eyes at Harry Potter across from her. “Even if that’s what you think, Dumbledore shouldn’t be that foolish... I mean, there’s no way he would trust a spy. He’s Dumbledore.”
“I know what you’re trying to say, but Snape is a master of Occlumency. There’s no way to be completely sure he isn’t hiding something. I’m even certain Snape is planning some terrible conspiracy!”
“What conspiracy?”
“...”
Seeing Harry Potter falter, his expression turning stiff, Pansy almost laughed out loud.
The scheming Pansy had asked that on purpose.
Although she did not know whether Snape was one of Voldemort’s people, nor whether he was a spy planted right under Dumbledore’s nose.
What Pansy was certain of, however, was that Snape was Draco’s godfather.
And when anything involved Draco, Pansy was unwilling to hear even the slightest bad word about it.
After raising her brows smugly, Pansy cleared her throat. “So, what have you decided?”
“I’ve decided to go with Dumbledore.”
“When?”
“Soon. After that, I’ll set off with my Invisibility Cloak, and when the time comes... I need you to help me keep an eye on Snape. That’s what I need from you.”
“You want me to monitor Snape?”
As Harry Potter spoke, he tapped the Marauder's Map in Pansy’s hand with his finger. “That’s right. You have to watch Snape. Use everyone you can trust, but aside from Ron, you’re the only person I can trust right now.”
“...”
“Remember, what I said earlier is how to activate the Marauder's Map. Now I’ll tell you how to close it. Listen carefully... Mischief Managed.”
“...”
The moment those last words fell, Pansy watched with her own eyes as the map, which had just been covered in all sorts of secret passages and rooms, turned blank again at an incredible speed.
As if none of it had ever appeared.
But compared to the magical scene before her, Pansy’s gaze was fixed on Harry Potter across from her.
Because she understood what Harry Potter meant. He actually wanted her to use the Marauder's Map to monitor Snape?
At that, Pansy’s expression turned rather strange.
It was not a sign that the Polyjuice Potion was about to wear off. It was simply that Pansy had never imagined things would go this smoothly.
She had done practically nothing, yet the objective of this mission had been completed so easily?
Their original plan to seize it, the operation to silence witnesses, the mission codename “Brain Destruction,” and so on had all become completely useless because Harry Potter had handed everything over of his own accord.
In any case.
Pansy could already imagine how surprised Hermione would be, and an irrepressibly happy smile appeared on her face. “Leave it to me. With this Marauder's Map, that won’t be too hard.”
“Then I’ll leave it to you. After all, I have to go with Dumbledore to search for that Horcrux.”
“...”
Stunned.
Pansy’s eyes suddenly widened.
What had she just heard?
Had she been discussing Horcruxes with Draco and the others so often lately that her brain had started making things up?
Surely it could not be that everything Harry Potter had just mentioned was related to Horcruxes...
...
Before Pansy could recover from this astonishing piece of information, Harry Potter did not give her a chance to ask any questions. He simply hurried out of the common room.
It was worth mentioning that when Harry Potter left, he also saw the blond-haired wizards who had been so arrogant earlier now lying in a heap in the corner.
Although he was a little puzzled about what they were doing, Harry Potter had more important business on his mind and had no intention of going over to check on them. Instead, he quickened his pace.
Of course, after leaving, Harry Potter would never know that in the very next second, the Ginny Weasley he trusted went straight over and sat down beside the person he saw as Neville Longbottom.
Compared with her earlier behavior, her relationship with Neville Longbottom seemed even closer.
But very quickly, Pansy pulled away again.
“How strange. I’ll wait until later to...”
“Ginny... you two?”
“Huh?! Luna, when did you get here?”
Fortunately, Draco was currently wearing Neville Longbottom’s face, so Pansy, who would usually have moved close to Draco out of habit, stopped herself. Otherwise, she really would not have known how to explain everything to Luna.
Was she supposed to say the person she liked was Neville Longbottom?
Pansy was not only unwilling to say that, she was also afraid it would cause her to slip up later in front of the real one.
Just as Pansy breathed a sigh of relief, Luna tilted her little head in confusion. “Weren’t you the one who asked me to come here?”
“Uh... well... Right! I did ask you to come!”
Having no idea what was going on, Pansy quickly cast a pleading look in Draco’s direction.
In response, Draco first checked the time, then slowly straightened up.
Although he felt Luna was probably not the kind of person who would go around talking, it was still better to avoid unnecessary trouble. Draco decided to keep up the roleplay.
“Before that, Ginny and I have something important to discuss. As for the arrangement between you two, you can postpone it for a little while.”
“Exactly, I was just about to tell you that. Luna, wait here for me for a bit. I’ll be back soon.”
As Draco and Pansy spoke, they headed toward the exit of the common room, giving Luna no chance to speak at all.
Fortunately, Luna was not the sort of girl with excessive curiosity, so she said nothing and simply watched the two of them behave in their rather strange way.
She seemed lost and puzzled, yet Luna’s ethereal eyes, tinged with a hint of wisdom, also seemed as if they had seen through everything.
...
After regrouping, Pansy and the others returned together to Draco’s Prefect’s room.
By the time night fell, they were no longer appearing as Neville Longbottom and Ginny Weasley, but had returned to their original appearances.
Just as the plan had gone smoothly, they did not run into anyone on the way back.
After the effects of the Polyjuice Potion ended, Draco and the others returned to their own bodies. As for that, Pansy had plenty to say.
“If there’s ever another plan like this, I am never drinking Polyjuice Potion again!”
“...”
Hermione looked wordlessly at Pansy, who had leaned against Draco the moment they got back, recharging what she called her “Draco energy.”
For once, Hermione did not snap back at her.
After all, Hermione had once drunk Polyjuice Potion herself, so she could actually sympathize with how Pansy felt right now. She knew exactly what it was like, because that taste was truly beyond words.
What Hermione did not mention was the target she had transformed into back then. In any case.
It was obvious that compared with getting close to Harry Potter, Pansy hated drinking that revolting potion far more. Especially when it had someone else’s hair in it, the discomfort was both mental and physical.
On top of that, Pansy had indeed brought back extremely useful news and information, so Hermione decided to turn a blind eye to the woman’s behavior for now.
“So, you mean Dumbledore is planning to take Harry Potter with him to find a Horcrux?”
“Mm... That’s what it sounded like. At least, I can’t think of any reason Potter would lie to me... I mean, to Ginny Weasley. Potter shouldn’t have any reason to lie to Weasley, right?”
“That’s true. If Potter didn’t trust Ginny, he wouldn’t have handed you the Marauder’s Map.”
After nodding in agreement, Hermione frowned and looked at the Marauder’s Map, which was no longer blank after the command had been spoken.
Hearing about it from someone else had not made it clear enough, but after seeing the changes on the parchment with her own eyes, Hermione finally understood just how astonishing the thing called the Marauder’s Map truly was.
“So, Padfoot should refer to Sirius Black, and Wormtail... must be that rat.”
“And Moony is the Werewolf Lupin! In other words, the remaining Prongs is Potter’s father.”
The fact that Sirius Black was an Animagus was no longer a secret, and when Peter Pettigrew had been caught in the snow, Draco and the others had been hiding nearby and watching.
So, after combining that with the information Pansy provided, Hermione easily worked out these minor details.
However, this discovery did ignite Hermione’s competitive spirit and intense curiosity.
Because she had learned something from Pansy.
This Marauder’s Map seemed to have been personally created by Harry Potter’s father, Sirius Black, and the others while they were still students.
Faced with that kind of talent.
Hermione, who was also a Hogwarts student, certainly did not think she was any worse than them.
...
Draco had no intention of paying attention to Hermione’s newly stirred competitive spirit, nor did he have any intention of stopping her.
Compared with that small matter, Draco cared far more about the unknown Horcrux.
He looked at Pansy, who was still clinging close to him. “Did Potter say anything else about that Horcrux?”
“Mm... No.” Pansy hesitated, then shook her head.
“You didn’t try probing him with a few questions?”
“That’s easy for you to say, Granger. The situation wasn’t as simple as you think. I almost got exposed, and besides, he didn’t give me a chance to ask.”
Although Pansy did not think being discovered would have been impossible to handle, it had been hard not to feel nervous at the time. Especially when the Marauder’s Map showed both her and Draco’s names. Her heart had nearly leapt out of her chest.
Under that kind of pressure, it was only natural that she had not thought that far ahead.
Hermione, who had not been there at the time, could understand that.
Avoiding Pansy’s glare, Hermione looked at Draco. “Draco, which Horcrux do you think Dumbledore is targeting?”
“Mm... I’m not sure, but it’s not as if we can’t do anything. At the very least, we need to figure out where Dumbledore is going.”
Draco was not a Seer, nor was he someone who had been reborn. Naturally, he had no way of knowing Dumbledore’s target, or what the Horcrux he planned to find was.
However, if they could learn where Dumbledore was going, perhaps they could uncover some clues from that.
With that thought.
“Dobby.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
“Take this letter to my father. Remember, don’t let anyone except my father get it.”
“Leave it to Dobby! Dobby will protect this letter with his life!”
“...”
Crack!
Without giving Draco the chance to comment, or Hermione the chance to lecture him, Dobby vanished from the room in a flash.
It had to be said, every time Draco saw House-elves use magic, he became curious about the magical principles behind it.
If he could learn the magic unique to House-elves, then he would be able to use Charms without any restrictions.
...
As for the contents of that letter.
There was no need to read it. One could more or less guess what had been written inside.
It surely told Lucius Malfoy and the others to monitor Dumbledore’s next destination and movements.
And most importantly, it contained speculation about Voldemort’s Horcruxes.
After all, Dumbledore was not the only wizard who wanted to destroy Voldemort.
After Dobby left, Draco and the others turned their attention back to the Marauder’s Map on the table.
Hermione curiously used her fingers to zoom in on it.
“Incredible. It can actually zoom in this far... No, the most amazing part of this map is still its ability to show the locations of wizards.”
“And these secret passages no one knows about. Did Sirius Black and the others actually use all of them back then?”
“Not only that, there are even classrooms I didn’t know about?”
Hermione kept letting out startled exclamations, drawing Pansy, who had not been especially interested at first, over as well.
The two girls leaned in with their heads close together, discussing the magical Marauder’s Map.
Draco did not interrupt them. Instead, he thought of another matter Pansy had mentioned.
To be precise, a wizard.
Snape, whom Harry Potter suspected of being a spy.