The Polyjuice Plot

Updated

Overview

Declan boasts that someone in Gryffindor managed to brew a real Polyjuice Potion and used it to buy beer in Hogsmeade while disguised as an adult. He invites the players to join the next trip. If the players refuse, they can alert a professor—but without proof, Declan and the others still go. The party may choose to follow or investigate on their own.

Player Options

  • Investigate: Insight or Sleight of Hand (DC 14) to find an empty vial of Polyjuice
  • Join the Next Trip: Deception (DC 15) to successfully pass as an adult
  • Tell Elias: He uses the information to blackmail Declan

Overheard Dialogue in the Three Broomsticks

Elderly wizard (muttering to his partner):
“First it was pamphlets. Now it’s wand-breaking ceremonies in Diagon Alley. I saw one with my own eyes—she lit her own wand on fire. Like it was noble.”

Witch in traveling robes (sharpening a quill):
“They’re not fringe anymore. My niece’s school banned dueling club. Said it was ‘provocative.’ Provocative? It’s curriculum.”

Wizard with ink-stained fingers (to the bartender):
“I’ve been through two wars. And let me tell you—this has the same stink. Young people preaching purity and sacrifice. Always starts quiet.”

Middle-aged Ministry worker (speaking into his drink):
“You think it’s just Squibs and cranks? They’ve got witches with full marks from Hogwarts. Magical parents. It’s not envy—it’s ideology.”

Two wizards in gray cloaks (speaking low but clear):

  • Wizard 1: “They want to ban magical marriage, did you hear that? Want the bloodlines to ‘fade naturally over time.’”
  • Wizard 2: “That's not politics—that’s soft genocide.”

Young couple near the back (one glancing nervously):
“Someone left a letter on our doorstep. No threats. Just the symbol—snapped wand in a black circle. No words. Just that.”

Elderly witch, bitter tone:
“Every wand they snap is a vote for fear. My granddaughter still flinches when she hears Lumos.”

Bartender to a delivery owl perched near the bar:
“Watch yourself in Knockturn. They’re hexing shop windows just for displaying enchanted items. One bloke lost his license over a floating teacup.”

Pair of off-duty professors, murmuring over firewhisky:

  • Professor 1: “Wickens gave a whole lecture on the Wandless Rebellion and didn’t once call it a cautionary tale.”
  • Professor 2: “She’s always had odd sympathies. I caught her copying banned texts for the archive once. Said it was for ‘balance.’”

Bonus Detail (Optional Clue)

As the players leave or head toward the lavatory, they spot a discarded pamphlet under the bench:

“Magic is a privilege. The world deserves better.” — The Sable Wand
(Beneath, a wand snapped clean across a family tree)

Rewards & Consequences

  • Use Polyjuice: Access to forbidden shops, receive a contraband item
  • Get Caught: -10 House Points, detention with Grimbella
  • Tell a Professor: +5 House Points, gain safe favor with Wizzlethorpe