Catherine's POV

The next day in Transfigurations, we were changing animals into water goblets, and though Sevy was happy to be out of the dungeons, she was upset to have been woken and brought to class to be used for magic. That was after I was told that McGonagall knew how to reverse the affects and make sure nothing went wrong in the process.

Ron failed miserably, but that was probably because his wand was broken, and has been for most of the year. Then Hermione asked the question on everyone's mind.

"Professor I was wondering if you could tell us about Chamber of Secrets?" And thus the explanation began. Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founding witch and wizards of Hogwarts, wanted only purebloods to come to the school, when the other three weren't swayed to agree, he left the school, after making a chamber that contained a monster that could only be opened by the heir, as the monster was only controlled by the heir. I chewed my lip as I listened, feeling a little woozy over it all.

"You alright Smith?" Draco asked as we left the classroom, being my 'babysitter' today. I shook my head.

"No. This year had turned into a lot of rubbish and is quite frankly ticking me off." I answered honestly. I hugged myself a little. "And to be honest, I'm kind of scared."

"You have nothing to be scared of, it's only those mu...ggleborns that have anything to worry about."

"Nice save." I giggled. But then sighed. "But I don't fully believe that. If the heir can control the monster, and I make them mad, then what. I'm dead." Draco put his arm around my shoulder.

"You'll be fine, Smith." I blushed lightly, but smiled.

"Being nice to me Draco. Someone might think you have a heart." He shoved me slightly then, causing me to laugh. Later in the day, when I was spending time with Hermione, she asked me if I knew who the heir was. I shrugged.

"No clue. If I did, I'd have turned them in by now." I saw her start to worry her lip a little.

"Do you think it could be Malfoy?" She asked. My eyes narrowed.

"If he knows what's good for him, he bloody better not be. But I'll ask, but I can't promise you much, we're friends, but not as close as you and I are." She gave me a warm smile, but noticed how I was still glaring. "And if you're wrong, I demand you, Ron, and Harry apologize to him immediately for it. I'm working with him, and he isn't saying that filthy word in my presence as of late. I'm hoping to get him to apologize to you for calling you it." Hermione nodded and I went to talk to Draco.

"I'm not the bloody heir of Slytherin." He said as we walked. "Granger asked you to ask me, didn't she." I nodded.

"I'm not happy with it either, Draco. But she is still my friend, and if I can get her to NOT bother you, I'd rather take the chance. I'll let her know as soon as I can." I said as we continued heading to the Quidditch pitch. I smiled as we got to the Slytherin locker room. "Good luck. Kick arse, and for Merlin's sake, don't cheat. I don't care if your father is here and expects it of you. I expect you to be a decent wizard." He rolled his eyes.

"Whatever Smith." Draco said, sounding completely tired of me. I smiled wider.

"Yes, but if you beat Harry on fair terms, he can't complain about losing because you cheated, but losing because you're better than him." That seemed to catch Draco's interest, and he nodded. "Knock em dead." I said before heading to the Slytherin side, to the front with Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy, Daphne, and Blaise.

"What took you so long?" Daphne asked.

"Giving Draco a pep talk, that's all." I said.

"As well as a good luck kiss?" Blaise teased. I turned a glare on him, leaning past Pansy to give him a shove.

"Sod off." I said before turning to watch the game. I was cheering for Draco and Harry (a little more for Draco though, because he is my housemate and a closer friend than Harry is) and wouldn't you know it, a bludger went after Harry. And I scowled. That better not have been a Slytherin. That thing could kill Harry, and I would NOT be happy then.

And then it seemed that after flying away from the bludger for a bit, Harry found the Snitch and went after it, Draco quickly behind him. I held my breath as the bludger also followed Draco.

"If that bloody thing hurts either of them, there'll be trouble." I said firmly.

"You are such a mother hen, Cat." Pansy said. I turned to her.

"I never noticed." I said with a monotone. I turned back to the game to see that Draco was ahead of Harry, but then the Snitch went under the stadium, between the stands and the pitch, and the bludger was right at the end of Harry's broom. not long after, Draco must have ran into something because he was flung out of the in between and onto the pitch. I flinched slightly, considering he landed in a split, and I can only imagine the pain he must be feeling, considering the boys groaned, a few covering themselves with their hands.

Harry reached out for the Snitch, and the Bludger came and broke his arm. Harry grabbed the Snitch with the other hand, fell to the ground, and had to continue to dodge the bludger until Hermione, brilliant Hermione, came down and blew it up. I let out the breath I had been holding. After the game, I went to the Hospital Wing, and there was Draco, groaning in pain, as Madam Pomfrey gave something to grow Harry's arm bones back because Lockheart's an idiot.

"Come on Draco, she said you could go." I said, helping him up and slapping away everyone else that tried. "You'll rest better in your bed then a cot anyhow." And we headed down to the dungeons. I smiled lightly. "I'm proud of you, by the way."

"Why? We lost." Draco said before groaning again. I smiled.

"You didn't cheat." I said proudly. "And you didn't lose because you're worse than Harry, but because some idiot had tampered with a bludger and it was chasing you as well as him. Any other Slytherin would have chickened out and flown as far away from Harry as possible, but you didn't. If it wasn't for the bludger, I have no doubt that you could have gotten the snitch. And therefor, I am proud of you for being so brave." I saw Draco's face turn red and stopped walking. "Are we moving too fast, do you need a break?" Draco quickly shook his head.

"N-No. I'm fine." He said quickly, before pulling away from me and walking on his own. I smiled as I caught up with him and walked back down to the dormitory together.

That night, I felt another burning sensation in my back, and nearly screamed in pain as it woke me. Sevy was watching as usual, but looked at me with what I would call worry. I sat up and pet her gently.

"I-I'll be okay girl. Just my ba-" And then I heard the voice. A whisper again, repeating the word kill over and over. It scared me and I couldn't help the whine that left my lips as tears filled my eyes. I hugged my pillow and was scared to fall back asleep, though I did eventually.

Within the next week, we had a 'dueling club'. Why, because people have been petrified and Dumbledore thought it was a good idea. Snape had come to help, and that made me rather pleased, especially when Snape knocked Lockheart flat on his back. Afterwards, Harry was up to dual Draco. Draco jumped the gun, obviously on purpose, and sent a spell at Harry before the countdown was finished, sending Harry flying and landing on his side. Harry responded by sending Draco flat on his arse, in which afterwards, Draco summoned a snake.

My breath hitched as I stared at it. Lockheart made everything worse, as he always does, and instead of going after Harry, it went after someone else. Harry began to speak to the snake, in a language only the snake and I could understand, and I was mesmerised to the point that my mouth moved on it's own, telling the snake to stand down. The Slytherin's around me stepped back, as did most of the students from Harry and the other student. Finally, Snape stepped in and destroyed the snake.

Harry snapped out of it first, and when I realized what had happened, I fell to my knees, grasping at the table, shaking and feeling tears run down my face.

Later, Hermione confronted me.

"Cat, why didn't you tell me you could speak parseltongue?" She asked. I bit my lip as I shivered.

"Because it's something I wish I never was able to do. It's more of a curse than a gift." I said. "It connects me to the man that killed my mother." Hermione was quiet for a moment.

"Your father is a parselmouth?" She asked. I nodded slowly.

"And I hate it. I hate it so much. I'm not afraid of snakes, I love them, hell, I love talking with them. But it scares me. When I'm angry, sometimes I slip into it. I've never seen my grandparents as scared as they are when I speak it. I'm not allowed to speak it at home, and it's not something people accept with open arms." Hermione hugged me.

"I still accept you, Cat." She said. It made me smile as I hugged her back.

"Thank you Hermione. I haven't been able to return to the dormitory all day because I've been to scared to talk to anyone." Hermione frowned.

"Well, you won't know if anyone else accepts you if you don't speak with them." She said, before seeing Daphne and approaching her. "Greengrass." She called. When Daphne saw me, she seemed to speed up her walking, and it just killed me. Hermione turned to say something, but didn't manage to get it out.

"Smith." We turned to see Draco headed over. "Come on, we have class with those bloody Hufflepuffs, and I believe you've agreed to carry my books to class for payment for help with Charms." He said, grabbing me by the wrist and dragging me across the courtyard.

"See you later Hermione." I called, seeing her give us a strange smile as she waved and then went off with Ron and Harry. We turned a corner and Draco pulled me into an alcove.

"You never told me you could speak parseltongue." Draco said, crossing his arms and glaring, though it seemed more like a pout. I sighed.

"Well, it's never come up in conversation." I said. "And I don't usually view it as a positive trait."

"Why not?" Draco asked. "It's a brilliant gift." I frowned.

"Not really." I said, grabbing Draco's books as we began walking to class.

"Why not? Salazar could speak it." I froze then. It couldn't be. "Come on, Smith. We'll be late for class." I nodded and followed. I needed to do some research.