Hey y'all! I updated all of my other stories over Christmas break and now I am going to use my extra day of break to start this. Funny story about that actually. Ya see, I thought I was going back to school on tuesday (1/7/14) because all our other breaks include monday. So I assumed I had monday (1/6/14), which is today, off. But then a few days ago, I found out we were going back on monday. However, sunday night, my school called off classes on monday because of the coming snow and single digit temperatures (which is super-duper rare in Tennessee). When the announcement came out, I was jumping around my house yelling "I knew I was not going to school on monday! Some way or another, I knew I was not going back until tuedsay!" Sorry, just felt like telling you why I was close to on time with this update. And now I'm working more on this and it's my 17th birthday (1/28/14)...and I'm out of school for ANOTHER snow day! And thanks to aslit for adding this story to their alert list. I can't even begin to describe how happy that made me!

Disclaimer: the rights to this story would be the awesomest birthday present ever, but unless JK Rowling walks into my house today, on January 28, carrying a gift box with the rights to the Harry Potter series in it, that's probably not gonna happen

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Holiday break finally arrived and because of the recent attacks, barely any of the students stayed at Hogwarts. Sydney stared out the window of her and Nicki's empty dorm room as she watched the horse-drawn carriages pull dozens of students across the frozen lake.

"Come on, Syd!" Nicki yelled from downstairs, interrupting Sydney's train of thought. "The feast is about to start!"

"Coming!" Sydney hollered back. She threw on her Gryffindor robe and grabbed a few things off her nightstand: two chocolate cupcakes with Slytherin green frosting and white sprinkles, a small vial, and a little gift box wrapped in silvery paper with metallic green ribbon.

"Sydney?!" Nicki shouted impatiently

"Hold your horses, I'm coming!" Sydney snapped. She rushed down the stairs to find Nicki with her arms crossed, her foot tapping, and her face frowning.

"The boys left like ten minutes ago! If we don't hurry, Ron'll eat everything!"

"Alright let's go then!" The girls left the common room and headed toward the Great Hall.

After a few minutes, Nicki broke the silence. "What were you even doing up there?!"

"Just checking to make sure our plan was set. You wouldn't want anything to go wrong."

Another minute of awkward silence passed.

"It's so weird having the dorm so empty and quiet, you know?" Nicki pointed out. "Normally it's so noisy with Lavender and Parvati and - oh, what's her name?! Kay?! No! May?! No! Ugh what is it?!"

"Fay," Sydney supplied.

"That's it! Fay. Fay, um...Dunbar! Yeah, Fay Dunbar! Fun girl."

Sydney chuckled. "You'd think that you'd remember her name better, considering that she loves quidditch as much or maybe more than you do."

"Well it's still so much quieter in our room without them gossiping nonstop. Frankly, I couldn't care less about which member of The Weird Sisters got caught cheating on his girlfriend with insert-witch's-name-here!"

"Now, now, be nice," Sydney chided as they entered the Great Hall. "It's a holiday. We're supposed to be merry."

"Okay," Nicki agreed. "I'll start by being merry to that lemon cake over there that's calling my name. It's saying, 'Nicki, Nicki, eat me. Savor my deliciousness!'"

"Down, girl! It'll still be there in five minutes."

By this time, the twins had reached the Gryffindor table. They found Justin watching in shock as Ron devoured the pile of food on his plate. The Hall was decorated beautifully. There were at least four fully-decorated Christmas trees and the ceiling was enchanted to snow softly.

The girls grabbed their plates and loaded up on the holiday treats. As they passed by Fred and George, the redheaded twins loudly announced, "Make way for the Heirs of Slytherin, seriously evil witches coming through!"

"It is not a laughing matter," Percy scolded in an icy voice.

"Oh, get outta the way, Percy!" Fred replied. "Sydney and Nicki are in a hurry."

"Yeah, they're off the the Chamber of Secrets for a cup of tea with their fanged servant!" George added.

Both of the Weasley twins busted into laughter.

"Oh, don't!" Ginny argued.

But the Potter twins didn't mind the mockery. Sydney was glad that Fred and George thought the idea of her being Slytherin's heir was ridiculous. Nicki was just enjoying watching Draco get more and more angry.

"It's because he's bursting to say it's really him," Ron insisted. "You know how he hates anyone beating him at anything, and you two are getting all the credit for his dirty work."

"Not for long," Sydney said with a side glance at Draco and Cynthia. "The Polyjuice Potion's ready. We'll be getting the truth out of him tonight. We just need a bit of who you're changing into."

"Crabbe," Ron stated.

"Goyle," Justin added.

"And Pansy," Nicki finished.

Sydney nodded. "We also need to make sure that the real ones can't burst in on us while we're interrogating Malfoy and Cynthia."

"How?" Ron asked.

"I've got it all worked out," the blonde assured them. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small cardboard box with the two cupcakes from her room inside. "I filled these with a simple sleeping draught. Simple, but powerful."

"What about Pansy?" Nicki questioned. "I'm pretty sure she's not stupid enough to eat a cupcake she just found lying around. Besides, she wouldn't go near something with that many calories."

"I thought of that, too," Sydney responded. She pulled another little box out of her pocket, this time a gift-wrapped one. "This box has a perfume bottle in it that is filled with the same sleeping potion that I put in the cupcakes, only it'll take effect as soon as Pansy sprays it on herself."

"But how will we get her to open the present?" Justin inquired.

"I wrote 'to Pansy Parkinson, from your secret admirer' on the label," Sydney answered. "Trust me, she'll open it."

Ron, Justin, and Nicki nodded in understanding and Sydney proceeded to explain the rest of her plan.

"Now, once they're asleep, pull out a few of their hairs and hide them in a broom closet."

"Who's hair are you ripping out, then?!" Ron exclaimed.

"I've already got mine," Sydney dismissed, pulling out the glass vial, which had a few dark brown hairs inside it. "Millicent Bulstrode, Slytherin. I got these off her robes while she was trying to strangle me at Dueling Club. She's gone home for vacation, so I'll just have to tell the Slytherins I've decided to come back. Now, I'm going to go grab some spare Slytherin uniforms out of the laundry. Meet me up in the girls bathroom as soon as you get the hairs." Sydney stood up from the table and exited the Great Hall.

"Have you ever heard of a plan where so many things could go wrong?!" Ron questioned.

But the others ignored him.

"So," Justin exclaimed. "How are we gonna get this stuff to our victims?"

"I know exactly how we're gonna do it," Nicki grinned mischeviously.

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For once, Nicki's plan worked smoothly. First, Nicki waited outside the Great Hall for Pansy to finish eating. As soon as the pug-faced girl stepped into view, Nicki charmed a green balloon to float the gift box right over to Pansy. She hid behind an oversized urn and watched as Pansy giggled in glee at the card. Pansy ripped open the present and squealed in delight at the perfume. Nicki had to admit that the flask was rather beautiful, but it was probably just a plastic bottle that Sydney transfigured into a perfume container. Nicki struggled to hold in her laughter as Pansy spritzed herself and immediately passed out. Nicki rushed out from her hiding place, pulled the girl up over her shoulder, and dragged her toward the designated broom closet. As she passed by the Hogwarts statue, she nodded to Justin and Ron.

Once they received the signal, the two boys prepared for Malfoy's cronies to come out. Ron cleared his throat and opened his mouth as he lifted his wand, ready to perform the levitation spell, but he was stopped by Justin.

"Ron, maybe I should do it," Justin suggested.

Ron looked at his spellotaped wand before nodding and mumbling, "Yeah, right." The ginger pocketed his wand.

Justin pulled his wand out and whispered, "Wingardium leviosa."

The two chocolate cupcakes floated into the air just as Crabbe and Goyle shuffled out of the Great Hall, their arms overflowing with cookies, cakes, and other pastries. But the desserts floating right in front of their faces were more delicious looking than any of the ones they had. They grabbed the spiked cupcakes, ignoring the fact that the cupcakes had just been hanging around in the air, and stuffed them into their crumby mouths.

Crabbe and Goyle grinned at each other as they gobbled the pastries. Suddenly, they stopped chewing their eyes rolled back in their heads as they fainted.

"How thick could you get?!" Ron exclaimed in disbelief.

"Come on. Let's get 'em," Justin reminded him.

After dropping Crabbe and Goyle in the broom closet, where they found an unconscious Pansy, Ron and Justin grabbed a few of the Slytherins' hairs, swiped their shoes, and headed up to the abandoned girls bathroom.

Inside, Sydney and Nicki were already in Slytherin uniforms. Sydney's was at least four sizes too big since Millicent was a large girl but Sydney was very petite. Nicki's robes, on the other hand, fit perfectly since she and Pansy were about the same size.

Sydney was filling four glasses with a disgusting potion that looked like it was a mix of mud, sewage water, and vomit. Ron and Justin gulped at the sight of what they would be drinking in a matter of minutes.

"Hurry, put these on," Sydney ordered, handing the boys a pile of clothes.

Ron and Justin stepped into the stalls and did as they were told, emerging moments later wearing billowing Slytherin uniforms.

"Once we drink this, we'll have exactly an hour until we change back into ourselves," Sydney informed the group. She handed each person a glass. "Add the hairs," she instructed. Each kid dropped the hairs into their potion.

Sydney's potion turned a sick yellow color, Nicki's into a faded weed green, Justin's into a light brown snot color, and Ron's into a dark muddy brown.

"Ugh! Essence of Goyle!" Justin groaned.

"Cheers," Sydney toasted unenthusiastically.

All four students clinked their glasses together before drinking. After one sip, each kid made a face that made it clear that they wanted to puke.

"I think I'm gonna be sick!" Ron announced before he dropped his glass and ran into a stall, slamming the door behind him.

Sydney tried to take a deep breath to keep it down, but couldn't hold back. "Me too!" Her glass shattered as she scrambled into another stall.

Nicki nodded slowly before she dropped her potion, too. As she sprinted into a stall, she hollered. "Make room! Mama's 'bout to hurl!"

Justin stumbled around, holding his stomach as he let go of his cup. He grabbed on to the sink for stability. As Justin panted, he looked into the mirror, his reflection showed his face starting to bubble like the potion. He had never seen anything more disgusting in his life. Before he knew it, Justin was taller, bulkier, and paler. His spiky dirty blonde hair had shortened and darkened into a slightly curly brown haircut and his brown eyes had lightened into a pale blue-green color.

Justin heard footsteps behind him and turned around to see Ron shuffling out of his stall looking exactly like Crabbe. Ron had gotten shorter, but also wider. His shaggy red hair had changed into a dark brown buzzcut, his face had broadened, and his bright blue eyes were now beady brown.

"J-Justin?!" Ron stuttered.

"Ron?!" Justin said breathily.

Ron nodded in confirmation. "This is bloody unbelievable!"

"We still sound like ourselves," Justin pointed out.

"Brilliant observation, genius," came Pansy's nasal, snarky voice from one of the stalls.

Ron and Justin whirled around in confusion. They saw Pansy Parkinson standing a few meters behind them, leaning casually against the wall.

"Pansy?! How did you get in here?!" Ron exclaimed.

Pansy smirked. "Fooled ya!" she cried out, this time in Nicki's voice.

Both Justin and Ron stared at Nicki in bewilderment as she strutted up to them, walking exactly like the real Pansy.

"Great clueless minion facials!" Nicki congratulated. "Now you need to sound like a bear," Nicki said as she pointed one of Pansy's perfectly manicured nails at Justin, "And you need to sound like a gorilla," she said as she pointed at Ron.

"How did you do that voice thing?!" Justin asked.

"I'm a mimic!" Nicki chirped proudly. "It's what I do!"

Nicki's skin had paled slightly, her eyes had changed from blue to hazel, and her scar had disappeared from her forehead. Her medium-length messy brown hair was now styled into a chin-length black bob with bangs just above her eyebrows. Her shoulders were now smaller and her legs were not as strong, but at least Nicki had stayed about the same height.

"Where's Sydney?" Justin inquired.

"I-I don't think I'm going," Sydney echoed from her stall. "You three go on without me!"

"Sydney, are you okay?" Justin worried.

"Just go! You're wasting time!"

"Sis, we know Millicent Bulstrode's ugly, but nobody's going to know it's you!" Nicki joked.

"I'm fine, GO!"

"Come on," Justin surrendered, grabbing the other two and pulling them out of the bathroom.

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Three heads popped out from behind the corridor. In perfect sync, they looked left and right before they stepped out into the hallway.

"I think the Slytherin common room's this way," Nicki guessed as she gestured to the left.

Nicki, Ron, and Justin walked down the corridor unsurely. Nicki gasped as she spotted an older Ravenclaw girl with long curly strawberry blonde hair coming out from an empty classroom.

Nicki pulled the boys against the wall. "That's Penelope Clearwater! She's a Ravenclaw prefect!"

"How do you know that?" Ron questioned.

"Your brothers and I know the names, houses, and appearances of every prefect," Nicki answered. "That way we know when to hide or run away if we're breaking the rules." Nicki looked out from behind the wall. "Okay, she's gone. Let's go."

The lions in snake clothing had only taken a few steps before Percy stepped out of the same classroom. Unfortunately, he caught sight of the three students.

"Excuse me!" Percy called out.

"What are you doing down-" Ron started to ask in his regular voice before he was cut off by Nicki and Justin elbowing him in the ribs. "I mean, what are you doing down here?!" Ron finished in a Crabbe-like voice.

Percy raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "I happen to be a school prefect. You, on the other hand, have no business wandering the corridors at this time of night. What are your names again?"

"I'm, uh...he's, uh..." Justin blubbered, pointing at himself then at Ron.

"Crabbe! Goyle!" Malfoy snapped as he approached from behind them. "Where've you two been?! Pigging out in the Great Hall all this time?!"

Ron and Justin nodded quickly.

Malfoy had just reached where they were standing when he noticed Nicki, or rather Pansy, standing between them.

"Pansy?! Cynthia said you were supposed to have returned to the common room an hour ago. She's waiting for you there."

"Thanks Draco," Nicki said with a perfectly Pansy-like giggle.

Malfoy smirked before he turned to address the Weasley prefect. "And what are you doing down here, Weasley?"

"Mind your attitude, Malfoy," Percy responded in a tight voice.

Malfoy cocked an eyebrow smugly before he and his pretend posse walked away.

"That Peter Weasley-"

"Percy," Ron corrected.

"Whatever," Malfoy dismissed. "I've noticed him sneaking around a lot lately. And I bet I know what he's up to. He thinks he's going to catch Slytherin's heir single-handed." Malfoy scoffed at the idea.

"Or maybe he's meeting up with a secret girlfriend Penelope Clearwater," Nicki pondered mentally. "I'll have to discuss this with Syd later."

She was pulled out of her thoughts when Malfoy stopped in front of a damp stone wall and loudly stated, "Pureblood."

A hidden door appeared in the wall and slid open. Nicki, Ron, and Justin stepped into what looked like an underwater dungeon. The common room must have been under the lake. The furniture was either silver or some other high quality material and the seats were expensive-looking black leather.

"Pansy! There you are!" Cynthia called out in a stereotypical rich-girl's voice. "I've been waiting for you for, like, an hour!" The platinum blonde girl ran over and did the whole side-to-side-air-kiss thing. It took every ounce of will in Nicki's body not to slap her.

"Sorry, Cynthia," Nicki apologized in Pansy's exact sickeningly-sweet-kiss-up voice. "I was on my way over here when I saw the juiciest piece of gossip!"

"Ooh! Spill!" Cynthia demanded.

"Cynthia! Wasn't there something in the Daily Prophet that you wanted to show us?" Malfoy interrupted.

"Oh, Draco, you're no fun! But, fine!" Cynthia ran up the stairs to her dorm to get the newpaper clipping.

Malfoy looked forward to see Ron and Justin awkwardly standing in front of the opposite couch. "Well sit down."

Ron and Justin obediently sat down on the leather couch. Nicki sat on the arm of their couch.

"You'd never think the Weasley's were purebloods the way they behave! They're an embarassment to the wizarding world, all of them!"

Ron's expression tightened as he began to clench his fists.

"What's wrong with you, Crabbe?!" Malfoy interrogated.

Justin elbowed Ron.

"Stomachache," Ron muttered.

Malfoy seemed to accept that answer. "Well, go up to the hospital wing and give all those mudbloods a kick from me!" Malfoy joked. "You know, I'm surprised the Daily Prophet hasn't reported all these attacks yet. I suppose Dumbledore's trying to hush it all up. Father always said Dumbledore was the worst thing that ever happened to this place!"

"You're wrong!" Nicki snapped, unable to hold it in any longer.

Malfoy remained silent for a moment before he stood up to confront the Slytherin girl. "What?! You think there's someone here who's worse than Dumbledore?!"

Nicki looked down, trying to figure out what to say without blowing her cover.

"Well?! Do you?!"

"The Potter Twins?" Nicki answered as confidently as she could.

Malfoy furrowed his brow at the girl for another moment before he scoffed in agreement. "Good one, Pansy. You're absolutely right."

Malfoy turned towards the fireplace, giving Nicki a moment to sigh in relief.

"Saint Sydney!" Malfoy spat out in disgust. "And people think that she's an Heir of Slytherin?! I mean, Nicole could definitely pass as one, but Sydney?!"

"But then you must have some idea who's behind it all," Justin insisted.

"You know I haven't, Goyle! I told you yesterday! How many times do I have to tell you?!" Malfoy picked up an unlabeled little present that looked like it had jewelry inside and shook it next to his ear. "Is this your's?" Malfoy asked.

Nicki and Justin both shook their heads.

Malfoy shrugged and slid the gift into his robe pocket. "But my father did say this: it's been fifty years since the chamber was opened. He wouldn't tell me who opened it, only that they were expelled. The last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened, a mudblood died. So it's only a matter of time before one of them's killed this time. As for me...I hope it's Granger! Or even better, if it's the half-blood Sydney Potter!"

Justin flew out of his seat and was about to tackle Malfoy for insulting him and his girlfriend, which he would have done if Ron and Nicki hadn't been there to hold him back.

"What's the matter with you three?! You're acting very...odd!"

"It's their stomachaches," Nicki lied. "Calm down," she whispered to the two boys.

Malfoy pulled the present out of his pocket and secretly started to open it when Cynthia came out of her dorm waving a clipping from the Daily Prophet.

"I found it!" she cheered in a sing-song voice.

As Cynthia came bouncing down the stairs, the three disguised students discovered that their hour was up.

"S-scar!" Ron whispered as he stared at Nicki's previously-flawless forehead, where a crescent moon was starting to reappear.

Nicki gasped as she felt her forehead with her hand. Then, looking between the two boys, she stammered, "H-hair!" pointing at both boys at the same time.

Ron and Justin each put their hands to their heads. Justin's hair was changing from curly to spiky while Ron's was turning back to red.

"Yeah, it's about the Weasley's getting an inquiry from the Ministry of Magic for that flying car incident!" Cynthia jeered.

Cynthia and Malfoy each looked up and saw Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy retreating from the common room.

"Hey! Where're you going?!" Malfoy hollered after them.

The three Gryffindors didn't stop running until they reached the safety of the girls bathroom. By then, they were back to looking like their normal selves.

"Syd?! Sydney, come out! We've got loads to tell you!" Nicki shouted.

"Go away!" Sydney ordered from inside her stall.

The other three looked at each other in confusion.

Moaning Myrtle floated out from behind the stall. "Wait 'til you see! It's awful!" the ghost said somewhat giddily before she moved to stand behind them. She continued to giggle.

"Sydney, are you okay?" Justin inquired in a concerned tone as he slowly pushed the stall door open.

"Remember me telling you the Polyjuice Potion was only for human transformations?" Sydney reminded them, keeping her back to her friends. "It was cat hair I plucked off Millicent Bulstrode's robes." Sydney slowly turned around so they could view the effects of the potion. "Look at my face."

Indeed, the potion had turned Sydney Potter into a cat. Her eyes were now bright green instead of violet, she had pointy ears poking out from the top of her hair, and her face and body were covered with golden yellow fur.

"Look at your tail!" Ron grinned.

Myrtle kept cackling in glee, but Justin and Nicki could only stare at Sydney.

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Christmas came and Sydney was still in the hospital wing. Luckily, Madame Pomfrey was not the nosy type and didn't ask too many questions about Sydney's, uh, condition. Also, the mediwitch allowed Nicki, Ron, and Justin to spend Christmas day in the hospital wing with Sydney. Fred, George, and Percy popped in later and were shocked to find Sydney as a half-witch, half-cat, but Sydney told them it was just a minor potions accident (which technically wasn't a lie).

Nicki pulled out her guitar and played Christmas songs as the others sang along as soon as she, Sydney, and Justin taught the Weasley's a few muggle Christmas carols. Nicki then played fun modern versions of classics like Let It Snow, Winter Wonderland, Deck the Halls, and Little Drummer Boy.

While the students were opening presents, Hedwig flew in with a tiny package from the Dursley's. The package had two toothpicks inside along with a note telling the twins to ask about staying at Hogwarts for summer vacation, too. But the girls' other presents made up for it. Justin got Sydney a golden S charm for her mother's charm bracelet and he got Nicki a new book of sheet music. Ron gave Sydney a book on unicorns, pegasai, and other magical horses and gave Nicki a book on the Chudley Cannons quidditch team. Hagrid gave the sisters a large box of treacle fudge and Mrs. Weasley sent the girls two new hand-knitted sweaters along with a huge plum cake.

Nicki and the others spent every day for the rest of break with Sydney in the hospital wing. Fortunately, Madame Pomfrey released her the night before school started back up, so Sydney didn't miss any classes and nobody except her close friends saw her as a cat.

However, there was something behind what Malfoy said that lingered in the back of Nicki's mind, giving her a sense of dread that she couldn't seem to shake.

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Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me! Happy birthday to littlegirlwarrior! Happy birthday to me! You know what would be almost as good as getting the rights to Harry Potter for my birthday? Getting reviews! So review! I'll see y'all probably by spring break if not sooner!