Owl Post Secret Term XXVI Activity 2: Master of Disguise VOTING

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Activity: Master of Disguise
Points: 1st/2nd/3rd/Participation Only: 50/40/30/10 points.
Deadline: May 28, 2013 at 4 PM UTC (12 noon EDT) Voting until May 31 at 4 PM UTC (12 noon EDT).
Details: Drabble contest involving Polyjuice potion.

It's time to vote for our favorite drabbles! You'll find nine great entries below the cut.



1. 'I need to be very careful," He thinks to himself, standing as tall as the git himself would. The fact that he's willing to stoop to this level is surprising enough -- but for love?

"Alright James." He murmurs, walking out into the sunshine and huddling within the clothing that he's not used to wearing. He looks around the front entrance and smiles (no, don't smile, he doesn't smile!) and walks over, the warmth of her smile making his insides squirm (and Merlin Christ, he's even sounding like the git now!).

"Lily," He says, looking down, praying this doesn't get messed up.

"Severus," She says, smiling and holding out her hand. James takes it before walking.

"We need to talk, Severus," James looks down, shaking his leg. He's afraid to find out what about, feeling bad.

"What about?"

"I'm in love with -- Severus--?" He hears Lily question as he rushes back, running back to school. He can't hear Lily say she's in love with Snape. Lily's behind him, shouting his name, gaining ground.

"Severus!" She shouts, clasping her fingers around her wrist and turning him around. But he knows that he's changed -- can feel his glasses on his nose. He's not surprised, hearing Lily gasp and let go before suddenly,

"JAMES POTTER HOW DARE YOU. WHERE DID YOU PUT SEVERUS JAMES? WHY WOULD YOU DO SUCH A THING YOU VAPID, NARCISSISTIC --" She shouts before James swoops in for a kiss! They last for a few minutes, James feeling like a fool, before he backs off and walks away.

"I'm in love with you," Lily finishes, looking down and planning on telling James somehow. She'll just have to change into one of his friends instead!


2. Really, Fred wasn't all that curious. He was sure the girls' dormitory was almost identical to the boys. He was sure he wouldn't find Angelina and Katie having a pillow fit in their bed clothes. He wasn't all that interested in what was actually up there. It was just that he wasn't allowed up there that caused the whole mess. It took forever to track down ingredients for a polyjuice potion to begin with. And it buying those ingredients was more expensive than the stupid idea was worth. Then he had to bribe George and Lee to help him brew the thing because while Fred was pretty good at spellwork, potions wasn't his strong suit at all. It's a surprise things didn't go badly even sooner. But that's where the trouble really came from. George and Lee wanted in on the adventure. (He was sure their intentions were less honorable than his.) They each grabbed a hair from Angelina, Katie and Alicia. It was Angelina Johnson they ran into on the way into the Common Room after the polyjuice transformation. She stared wide-eyed at herself (Fred) and the two girls she was going to meet in the Great Hall (George and Lee). Then she pinched Fred (herself) unnecessarily hard in the soft flesh of her (his) armpit. "You three better go nowhere dressed up like this," she hissed at them. All three boys were too scared to carry out their original plan and instead hid in their room until the potion wore off.


3. “Why are we doing this again?” asked Ron, looking in the mirror. The face of Justin Finch-Fletchley stared back.

“Because we’ve seen the Slytherin common room and I want to see what the other common rooms are like,” Ernie Macmillan said…except it was really Harry.

Ron was unsure, but he followed Harry out of the bathroom. They saw a young Hufflepuff walking by at that very moment and followed him downstairs to where a bunch of barrels stood stacked. The Hufflepuff pulled out his wand and tapped a rhythm onto one of the barrels, which then opened. Harry and Ron exchanged pleased grins; that had been easier than they thought.

“Wait for us!” called a voice. Moments later Susan and Hannah came running up right behind them.

“I thought you two were going to be in the library all night?” Hannah said.

“Oh…uh…we finished early,” Harry said.

“Good! Then you can help us like you promised.”

“Help you?” Ron asked.

“Yes, don’t you remember? You and Ernie promised to be our models while Hannah and I practiced our stitching. We’re trying to make our own dress robes for the Yule Ball.”

Ron and Harry looked horrified. “M-models?” Harry said.

“Dress robes!” Ron exclaimed.

“You promised,” Susan said, leveling them with a gaze.

“Oh…uh…I think I left my books in the library,” Harry muttered, running off.

“Yeah, me too,” Ron said, following behind him.

Once the boys were out of sight, Susan and Hannah giggled. “Good thing we overheard Ron and Harry talking,” Susan said. “You’d think they’d be smarter about discussing their plans right out in the open.”

“It’s that Gryffindor bravado,” Hannah said with a snort. “As though a little Polyjuice potion was going to fool us.”

Once again the Hufflepuffs common room was safe from prying eyes.


4. He should have been ashamed. He knew that this was ten different kinds of wrong and a bit creepy, but he'd always admired Potter's flying skills. Dressed like Madam Hooch after stealing her officiating robes to find a hair off of it, Draco sat in the stands incognito. He knew that he probably could have just sat there and Potter never would have noticed him, but the fact of the matter was that he didn't want to risk anyone seeing him watching Potter practice Quiddich. Instead, he hid behind the guise of their Quiddich coach and sat there watching Potter like a coward. Draco wouldn't even begin to think about the numerous ways in which he was a coward, but instead just sat and watched Potter soar around the pitch so effortlessly.

Even as he flew around the pitch, seemingly relaxed, Potter still always looked conflicted and worrisome. Perhaps it was the daunting thought that the Dark Lord was out to get him, or maybe it was the stress of schooling because he obviously wasn't a genius at anything except potions (and come on, there had to be some reason why he suddenly became so smart aside from studying). Draco mused all the different reasons for his expression as he watched Potter fly, but one thing was for sure - Draco only wished he could just approach Potter again and talk to him. He needed to know that Potter would answer him, and wouldn't treat him poorly. Maybe there was still hope that Draco could leave his family's legacy behind and fight on the right side of something for once.


5. Harry, Ron and Hermione were charged with looking after Buckbeak while Hagrid was away one day. The adventure wasn't going very well - Buckbeak, having worked himself into a temper was stomping around the pumpkin patch with disregard for the plants. Every time one of them tried to get closer, Buckbeak shrieked in their direction and fixed them with a daring stare. It was Ron's idea to use Polyjuice Potion, and luckily there was some (although Hermione was strangely shifty about where she had managed to get it from). Searching Hagrid's hut gave them a beard hair (they all made a face) and after several furious rounds of rock, paper, scissors, Ron had the honour of transforming. As Hagrid, he shuffled awkwardly into the pumpkin patch, but he needn't have worried, since upon seeing Hagrid, Buckbeak trotted up to him and started cooing unexpectedly. Ron gave Buckbeak an awkward pat and some food. It was then that Hagrid reappeared, shouting at the intruder who looked like him. Harry and Hermione tried to stop him from roaring, but Buckbeak, seeing the two Hagrid, immediately started pecking Ron, who was forced to flee back into the hut. Sitting in the hut with two Hagrids was terribly cramped, but as Ron started to change back into himself, Hagrid cheered up and thanked them for their hard work. "But all you needed to do was sing him a song," he said. "Didn't you think of that?"


6. The sound of Severus laughing was never a good sign, Lily reflected inwardly as she looked over at her friend. Or rather, it was - she liked seeing him happy, but seeing as he was sat across from her with the biggest smirk on his face she had ever seen, this only meant that he had done something she wouldn't (outwardly) approve of.

"All right, out with it," she said, leaning in conspiratorially. "What've you done now?"

"You remember that... special interests project I was doing last month?" Severus asked calmly, leaning back in his seat as he started rolling up his sleeves.

"Oh, you mean the polyjuice potion that is basically illegal for us lowly fourth years to brew?" Lily said in a pointedly innocent tone.

"That's the one." Severus looked up at her, eyes dancing with rare mischief, and he grinned widely. "Potter won't know what hit him."

"Oh lord. What did you do?"

"Changed into Black, used the password you let slip last week to get into the tower, and then put itching powder in all of his clothes."

He said it with such matter-of-factedness that, for a moment, Lily didn't comprehend it. Then she burst out laughing. Of all the pranks he could have pulled, itching powder was the last thing she expected from him, but pairing it with Sirius Black's image made perfect sense.

"Okay, aside from the ridiculous idea of you brewing polyjuice just so you could pull some stupid prank... I cannot wait to see Potter's face when he finds out," she informed him, still giggling as she picked up her quill again, pointing it at him sternly. "And next time you decide to pull a prank on him, let me know. I want in."

"Done and done," Severus said, unable to hold back a smile.


7. Hidden Appearances

“Everyone is going to kill us when they find out, you know,” Hermione whispered, turning her head to look wistfully at the redheaded boy lying beside her. “They probably won’t ever forgive us.”

The boy smiled and took her hand. “We don’t have to worry about that just yet.”

“But how long can we keep this up? People have seen us!”

“You know they don’t suspect anything. We can keep this up as long as we need to.” The boy adjusted his position, moving in to snog Hermione gently on the lips, but she held up her hand.

“Stop. You know I can’t be with you when you look like that.”

The boy sighed. “But you snogged Ron all the time before!”

“That was different and you know it!”

“Hmmpphh,” said the boy, and the two fell into silence.

A while later, Hermione felt a soft hand press against her cheek.

“Better?” whispered the now-recognizable voice of Ginny Weasley.

Hermione sighed. The wait for the Polyjuice Potion to wear off seemed to be taking longer and longer, but always, it was the same result each time it finally did.

She turned her head to look at the girl next to her.

“Much,” she answered, and leaned in to snog the Weasley she really loved.


8. "Alice, are you sure you're alright?" Lily Evans asked. "You're looking ill."

But Alice just shook her head. "I'm fine, Lily, love, thanks," she whispered. "It's just-- goodness, but I'm feeling warm."

"Come now, to the dormitory with you," Lily said, tugging her friend to her feet.

"Oh, no, I don't think we should--" Alice said, and Merlin but the blood really has disappeared from her face! "Wouldn't want whatever this is spreading around the dorm, yeah?"

"The infirmary, then?"

"Maybe the common room," Alice said, before walking over to one of the big armchairs and plopping herself down on it.

"And it wouldn't affect the entire house if we stayed here?"

Alice waved her off. "I don't think so, not at all," she murmured, eyes scanning the crowd before it rested on a group of blokes in the corner. "My, but James Potter has gotten quite handsome over the summer hasn't he?"

Lily's eyebrow arched. "You fancy him now?"

"Oh, no, never, I wouldn't-- but I suppose I wouldn't blame any girl if they did decide that he'd gotten handsomer, and nicer, and a changed man... Do you know, I heard he'd spent the summer rescuing baby orphans from--"

Lily snapped her head around to James Potter once more. One, two, three-- she turned back to her friend, her glare icy and dangerous. "Peter Pettigrew, are you trying to con me into dating James by pretending to be Alice?"

'Alice' meeped, before turning tail and ducking, scurrying back toward the group of boys, the Marauders, as they called themselves, who first looked at him eagerly, before realization dawned and they looked up to where Lily had her wand held out.

"Told you it wouldn't work, Prongsy," was Remus Lupin's final words before they all ran, Lily at their heels.


9. "Do you have it Fred?"

"Yes, just barely! She almost caught me."

"Awesome! This is going to be wicked!"

"I know right, who knew Snape's lessons would come in handy?!"

"Are you sure its going to take a month?"

"Yes, definitely, don't you remember what Ron and Harry told us about the time they used Polyjuice."

"I know. That's okay though, it will be totally worth it. I can't wait to see the look on Percy's face, that will make the time go quicker just thinking about that."

"I hope Fleur doesn't get mad."

"She won't, she's a good sport."

"Be careful George! Don't put too much in."

"Relax, I've got it all under control."

"Yeah famous last words!"


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