Chapter 11

Christmas Break

It took quite a bit of persuasion, but I did convince my aunt and uncle to let me stay at Hogwarts over the break. Fortunately, they have enough faith in Dumbledore. I just could not leave. I knew Lenora would stay and I did not want her to be alone with the monster roaming the castle. I planned for us to stay together as much as possible. I would not even get on a staircase without her.

Unfortunately at this moment, she had detention and I did not. I decided to go meet up with me so we can walk back to the common room together. It was still relatively early in the evening and more people hung out in the main hall for Christmas treats so I seriously doubted the monster would attack tonight. At this moment, I strolled down an empty hall and heard absolutely nothing from the monster.

"Melanie," a drawled tone called from behind me.

I turned around and saw Draco walking towards me.

"Hey," I greeted without much enthusiasm. "Have you seen Lenora?"

He shrugged. "I heard she already went back to the common room."

"Oh," I sighed. "I guess I must have missed her."

"Have you seen Crabbe and Goyle?" Draco asked. "They seemed to have vanished entirely."

I shook my head. "I don't know. My guess would be in the Great Hall since there are a ton of extra treats."

Draco rolled his eyes. "They went there three hours ago! How much pigging out can they do?"

I lifted my shoulders and sighed. "It's Crabbe and Goyle. You know how they are."

"Well, help me find them, will you?" Draco insisted. "There is something funny I want to show you all."

I let out a breath and followed Draco down the hall. I figured I would just find Lenora later in the Slytherin common room.

We walked down several hallways, but still not sight of either of them. The hall was still lit up with candles. Most of the portraits we passed did not seem to acknowledge our presence.

My ears caught sound of a familiar and I turned my head and glanced down the crossing hallway.

"There they are," I said, tapping Draco's shoulder and pointing down that hall. "I think they got in trouble with that prefect, Weasley."

Draco rolled his eyes and started down that hallway. I followed.

"Crabbe, Goyle," Draco drawled rather loudly. "There you are! Have you two been pigging out in the Great Hall all this time?"

His head turned to red-haired prefect, and he rudely remarked, "What are you doing down here, Weasley?"

Weasley lifted his chin up. "Mind your attitude, Malfoy. You need to show more respect to a school prefect."

Draco just snorted and motioned for us to follow him away.

I noticed Draco roll his eyes as he snorted, "That Peter Weasley…"

"It's Percy," Crabbe corrected.

As Draco went on about his theory of Weasley trying to catch the heir himself, I looked at Crabbe suspiciously.

Did Crabbe just correct Draco on something? I wondered, thinking that has never happened before.

Just as I decided to shrug it off, I noticed Goyle appeared different.

"Goyle, why are you wearing glasses?" I asked, giving him an odd look.

"Oh, er…" he quickly shoved the glasses in his robes as he finally spat out, "reading."

"Reading?" Draco looked at him, curiously, and chuckled. "I didn't know you could read."

We followed him to the stone we use to get in our common room.

"What's the new password again?" Draco asked Goyle.

"Er…" Goyle glanced at Crabbe, who only shrugged.

I rolled my eyes and muttered, "It's pureblood."

As I uttered this dreadful word, the stone opened and we entered the common room. I followed Draco and shot Crabbe and Goyle a sideways glance. They both seemed rather nervous and twitchy as they followed Draco to the sofas. I did not think too much on it and just assumed those two just ate too much sugar.

I passed the sofas and started to head towards the stairs to the girl's dormitories.

"Melanie, where are you going?" Draco demanded. "Don't you remember? I have something funny to show you."

"I was going to go see if Lenora's up there?" I replied. "You can show me later."

As Draco muttered 'fine, whatever' I started back up but then Goyle called out, "Melanie, wait… er, you should stay."

I frowned, looking at him oddly. Crabbe and Goyle usually did not care whether I hung out with them or not. Something seemed different about the two of them but I could not put my finger on it.

Draco let out dull sigh. "Just stay for a minute, Mel. You'll want to see this anyway."

I sat down on the black leather couch, across from Crabbe and Goyle. Draco sat down in a chair on my left and held up the newspaper. The three of us leaned in more closely too read. It was some article about Arthur Weasley getting in trouble by the Ministry with some muggle artifact. I only skimmed since it did not interest me much. I forced a laugh on Draco's behalf. Crabbe and Goyle stared at the paper blankly for several long passing moment before they finally managed a laugh. This kind of slow reaction did not seem too unusual for them.

Draco went on, smugly, about how the Weasleys were an embarrassment to the wizarding world for being pureblood. Crabbe glared at Draco, looking rather furious.

"Are you alright, Crabbe?" I asked him, cocking my head in concern.

"Yeah, what's the matter with you, Crabbe?" Draco demanded.

As Goyle nudged him, Crabbe grunted, "Stomachache."

Draco rolled his eyes and went on, "Anyway, I'm surprised there is nothing about all the attacks in the paper. I suppose Dumbledore is trying to hush it all up." He let out a disgusted huff. "Father always did say he was the worst thing that ever happened at the school."

Goyle sat up on the edge of the sofa and blurted out, "You're wrong!"

Draco gawked at him, taken aback. I don't think I could recall either Crabbe or Goyle talking back to him, ever.

"Do you think there is someone here worse than Dumbledore?" I asked calmly, hoping to ease the tension.

Crabbed looked at him, horrified as Goyle thought. "Uh… Harry Potter?"

Draco smirked and let out another disgusted snort. "You are absolutely right, Goyle. And people actually believe that he's the heir of Slytherin?"

"You must have some idea who it is?" Goyle said, looking at him eagerly.

Draco rolled his eyes. "You know I don't, Goyle. How many times do I have to tell you? I wish I knew who it was so I could help him…" he shot me a sideways glance, "or her."

I briefly glared at him before commenting, "I don't think we should completely rule out the theory of Harry Potter being the heir. I mean he can talk to snakes, which he's kept a secret until now. Also, he's always around whenever someone is found attacked."

"So are you," Goyle shot back.

Draco gave Goyle an odd look before commenting, "I can see why the real heir would want people to believe Potter is the heir. It's a good cover-up."

I looked at him, sharply. "What are you implying, Draco?"

He stood up, throwing his arms in the air as he went on, "Oh, come on, Melanie, you're the possible heir that makes the most sense. You come from a long generation of purebloods and you have the ability to talk to snakes. Also, Goyle's got a point. You are always nearby the attacks. "

I arose too, in fury. "I've told you before, it's not me, Draco!"

"Oh really?" Draco raised his eyebrow. "Then explain to me why you've been acting so secretive since this whole thing started. I can tell you're hiding something, Melanie!"

"I am not the heir!" I roared, making Crabbe jump in his seat. "I'm sick of people here thinking its me!"

"You sound pretty defensive, Melanie," Goyle pointed out.

"Shut up, Goyle!" I snapped.

"I don't see why you won't tell me, Melanie," Draco went on, his face growing a reddish tint. "I thought I was your friend! Like I said, I would help you."

"Yeah, Melanie," Goyle pressed on. "You can tell us."

I ignored him and glared at Draco. I could feel my own cheeks burning as I spoke, "If you were really my friend, Draco, you would believe me when I say I am not the heir!"

I turned to storm off, but then Draco added, "You know what, Pansy's probably right. You're too embarrassed to tell anyone because you've been doing a terrible job actually killing mudbloods so far."

Just when I thought I could not feel any more fury, my veins began to boil. I whirled around and shouted, "You've been gossiping about me being the heir with Pansy!"

"Tell me she's wrong!" Draco demanded.

"You know what, Draco," I fumed back, "if you truly believe I am the Heir of Slytherin, maybe you should try a bit harder not to set me off. I might just decide to come after you next!"

As I started up the steps to the girl's dormitories, Draco bellowed back, "You can't get me, Melanie! I'm PUREBLOOD!"

I ignored him and continued up the stairs. Just as I reached the top, I heard Draco demand, "Hey, where are you two going?"

I turned my head to see Crabbe and Goyle running out of the common room as fast of their thick legs could carry them. Crabbe had his hands over his head and Goyle's hand was covering his forehead.

Did I scare them? I wondered briefly before continuing onto my bed. I plopped on my stomach, burying my face in the pillow in hopes of dissolving my anger. I could not believe Draco would listen to Pansy of all people. She would spread false rumors all the time and he knew she hated me.

As I continued to lie there, I heard a familiar laugh coming closer. I lifted my head up to see Lenora.

"What happened to Crabbe?" she asked, still chuckling. "Did a potion explode on his head?"

I sat up and looked at her curiously. "What do you mean?"

"He and Goyle were running out of the common room and his hair had turned bright red," Lenora explained. "He was trying to hide it with his hands and they both really freaked out when they saw me. It was really funny!"

I shrugged and forced a chuckle. "I don't know. He seemed fine a moment ago."

Lenora then seemed to pick up on my discomfort and asked, "Are you alright?"

I sighed. "Draco and I got into a fight. It sort of ended with me threatening to come after him with the monster."

"Nice," Lenora laughed as she sat down on the bed beside me. "Wait, are you saying…"

"No," I interjected quickly, trying not to get worked up all over again. "Apparently Draco has been discussing with Pansy the possibility of me being the heir. She's the one that convinced him. I should go threaten her."

Lenora shrugged. "Why don't you? I can go with you if you like."

I laughed, intrigued by the idea of that, but said, "No, I really want this rumor that I'm the heir to just go away."

"I think most people have let that theory go by now," Lenora said, giving me a sympathetic glance. "Now, the hit theory is Potter. Next week, it will probably be someone else."

I smiled at her, wishing that were true. I knew she was just saying that to be a good friend. The truth was half the school thought it was Potter, while the other half still believed it to be me. I could just tell. I then realized that this whole time, Lenora stuck with me, even when she temporarily thought I might be the heir, she stood by my side. Considering that she may not even be pureblood, that meant a lot. I began to wonder, would she still display this loyalty if she knew I was muggleborn? Growing tired of carrying this burdensome secret on my own, I decided now was the time to unleash the truth and see what would become of it.

I took in a deep breath, before saying, "Lenora, there is something I need to tell you."