What happened after the Trio used the Polyjuice Potion?

[silveroak_us <silveroak_us@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 49456

I am not sure if this has been discussed before (I checked the 
HPFGU Archives and did not see anything, but cannot be sure I 
looked everywhere).

This actually caught my attention the first time I read the second 
book, and I kind of filed it away to see if it would be mentioned 
again, and it wasn't, and I didn't remember that I had ever 
thought about it, until I saw TMTMNBN-Part Deux, and 
my daughter asked me...

"After Harry and Ron gave those boys the sleeping cupcake, 
didn't their friend Draco talk to them later and find out they were 
sleeping?"

In the second book, Chapter Twelve, "The Polyjuice Potion",  
Harry andRon give Crabbe and Goyle chocolate cakes with a 
Sleeping Draught. After C&G are asleep, H&R take them to the 
closet off the entrance hall. Once there, H&R take some hairs 
from C&G's heads and their shoes. After finishing the Potion, H&
R go off, find Draco, talk with Draco about the Heir of Slytherin, 
and the potion begins to wear off. H&R then run back to the 
entrance hall where C&G are pounding on the door (now awake 
from the spiked cakes) whereupon H&R leave the shoes and go 
back to meet Hermione in Myrtle's lavatory.

And then...nothing!

We never hear that C&G went back to Draco and said something 
along the lines of "You'd never believe what just happened to us! 
We fell asleep after eating some cakes, and then next thing you 
know we're in a closet and some git took our shoes! How weird 
is that, Draco?" Followed by Draco saying something like "I've 
got something even weirder. While you say you were in the 
closet I was having a strange conversation WITH YOU TWO in 
our Slytherin Common Room. HOW WEIRD IS THAT??" 

But we never read anything more about the mysterious affair of 
the puloined shoes and the bi-locating thuggish side-kicks.

HOW WEIRD IS THAT???

I can't for the life of me figure out how JKR managed to leave 
such a huge loose end just sitting there, hanging there, waiting 
to be wrapped up, somehow. It ought to have been worth an owl 
back to Chateau Malfoy, or a casual remark to Snape from his 
favorite student. (Whereupon Snape could have rummaged 
around his potions supplies and discovered the missing 
boomslang skin a full two books before CrouchJr!Moody started 
messing around with it.)

Just one of those random thoughts that won't quite go away.

  **  Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle  **