Author's Note:

Another new chapter!

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Chapter Twenty

"Merry Christmas!"

I couldn't stop myself from laughing as Harry let out a loud groan rolling over in his bed. Hermione pulled back the curtains letting light into the buys dormitory.

"Wake up!" Hermione said throwing Ron and Harry presents.

"Hermione- you're not supposed to be in here." Ron mumbled and I just rolled my eyes.

"You've never had a problem with me in here, remember?" I sat on the edge of Harry's empty bed watching as the boys grumbled.

"We've been up for nearly an hour. The potion is ready I finished it this morning." Hermione said and Harry shot up, his green eyes wide.

"Are you sure?"

"We added the last of the lacewings this morning. Tonight will be the best night to do it- so you guys have got to get your last ingredients." I cut in and the boys looked wide awake.

Hedwig swooped through the window carrying a package in her beak. She dropped it in Harry's lap before hopping over to his shoulder nibbling on his ear.

Harry unwrapped his package and saw a toothpick and a rather rude letter asking if he could stay at Hogwarts over Christmas. I made a face at that shoving my gift to him into his hands trying to distract him from the awful muggles he called family.

I had gotten Harry a few new nicer sweaters- it sounded rather boring but I knew that the muggle's only really gave him hand me downs and as a guy he didn't like to shop much for his own things. He seemed rather pleased about them which was a plus.

Christmas at Hogwarts was as wonderful as it was last year. The Great Hall was covered in Christmas tree and holly. Dumbledore had led all of us in some carols while Hagrid became louder and louder as the dinner went on. Even Percy Wealsey was in a good mood.

Hermione pulled us from the dinner too soon.

"We still need a bit of the people you're changing into." She said as we rushed to a darker corner. "And obviously it'll be best if you can get something of Crabbe's and Goyle's. We need to make sure that the real Crabbe and Goyle can't burst in on us while we're interrogating him."

"We've got it all figured out though." I cut in holding up two chocolate cupcakes. I knew that they were their favorites. Put them in an empty classroom or something. You'll only need a few hairs not much."

Both boys looked nervous.

"I don't think-"

"This could go really-"

"The potion will be useless without Crabbe's or Goyle's hair." Hermione snapped causing both the boys to shut up. "You do want to investigate Malfoy, don't you?"

"Oh alright, alright." Harry sighed running a hand through his hair. "But what about you? Whose hair are you guys ripping out?"

I crossed my arms nervously glancing over to Hermione who had pulled a tiny bottle out of her pocket/

"I've already got mine! Remember Millicent Bulstrode wrestling with me at dueling club? She left this on my robes when she was trying to strangle me! And she's gone him for Christmas- so I'll just have to tell the Slytherins I've decided to come back."

Both of them looked over at me and Hermione rushed off to go look at the potion. I couldn't stop myself from glaring after her. Of course she was going to leave me to tell the boys.

"I'm not taking it. I'm going to be making sure that the potion doesn't get compromised. We… Hermione and I don't think that it'd be a good idea for me to go with you…"

Both boys just nodded before Ron looked over at Harry, his expression dark.

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

I joined Hermione and the boys in the bathroom an hour later, a bag of the Slytherin's laundry thrown over my shoulder. It was easier than it should have been to get it.

"You guys ready for this?" I asked and the boys looked pale but nodded.

"I'm sure we've done everything right." Hermione said nervously looking at the battered old book. "It looks like the book says it should… once we've drunk it we'll have exactly an hour before we change back into ourselves." She glanced nervously at the gross looking bubbling potion and I made a face nodding.

"You guys will probably want to do transform in separate stalls. I've got the clothes and everything but your clothes won't fit. And I really don't want to see Crabbe and Goyle in their knickers."

Despite my attempt to lighten the humor none of them looked too pleased. Hermione ladled the potion into three glasses and with trembling hands she put Bulstrode's hair into the first glass. I watched disgusted as it turned into a gross yellow. Ron grumbled about how he was sure it tasted disgusting and then the boys dropped their hairs into their goblets. Goyle's turned into a thick boogery color and Crabbe's a dark mud brown. I was so happy that I wasn't in their shoes right now…

All of them gave me skeptical looks before going into separate stalls. I lent on the sink behind me waiting.

"Ready?" Harry called.

"Ready." Both Harry and Hermione called.

"One- two- three."

Almost immediately the air filled with gags and grunting. I shuffled through the laundry and tossed the spare robes over the stalls to them. I heard some rustling before Goyle's voice called out from behind one of the stalls.

"Are you two okay?"

"Yeah." Crabbe's voice responded.

One of the doors unlocked and where Harry just was, was a copy of Goyle. My mouth fell open as I stared at them. It was scary how similar they looked to the real ones.

"This is unbelievable." Ron mumbled and a pale Crabbe emerged from the stall next to him. His eyes widened even more when he saw himself in the mirror and began to poke his nose. "Unbelievable."

"You guys have to make sure that you act like Crabbe and Goyle. It's going to be suspicious if you act like yourselves and try and interrogate Draco. Neither of them say much to be honest so you have to be careful. Don't sound… too smart if you get what I mean." I said stepping forwards and pulled Harry's glasses off of his face while he loosened his watch.

"We'd better get going. We've still got to find out where the Slytherin common room is. I only hope we can find someone to follow…" Harry mumbled and Ron looked like he was going to make a comment when I cut in knowing that we were wasting precious time.

"It's going to be in the dungeons. It's pretty deep in and password activated. They change theirs as often as we change ours so you will have to find someone to help you with that. Just pretend you two are too daft to remember it. You're going to want to go pretty deep in the dungeons though. Look for a blank stone wall. It'll be a bit hard to find but if you don't see it just go deeper. Theo- Nott told me it's kinda hard to find."

Both boys nodded before Ron banged on Hermione's door. That's when I realized that she hadn't even come out yet.

"C'mon, we need to go-" Ron started but a high pitched voice answered.

"I-I don't think I'm going to come after all. You go on without me." My stomach sank. There was something wrong.

"Hermione, we know Millicent Bulstrode's ugly-"

"We don't have time for this!" I hissed and then pulled both boys by their wrists towards the door. "You guys need to hurry I'll make sure that she's okay- alright? Just go I've got it."

Checking that the coast was clear I shoved the boys out of the bathroom before turning back to the stall that was still closed. Taking in a deep breath to try and calm my nerves, I walked up to it and knocked on the door.

"'Mione- What's going on?"

She let out a choked sob before the door opened suddenly. My eyes went wide as I took in her appearance. I knew it wasn't right to smile but she actually looked kind of adorable.

Her whole body was covered in black fur. Her eyes had turned a rather shocking yellow and long pointed ear poked through her hair. I was pretty sure I had even spotted a tail.

"It was a c-cat hair!" She sobbed and I noticed that she did indeed have pointed teeth. "She must have a cat and the potion isn't for animal transformations and- I can't be stuck like this forever!"

I pulled Hermione out of the stall.

"Madam Pomfrey will be able to help us. It's happened before according to the book and while it might be a bit harder to turn back- I'm sure that she'll find a way."

It took about half an hour for me to convince her that we needed to go down to the Hospital Wing and by the time she agreed, she had me lead her down while she held a robe over her face so nobody could see what she looked like.

Of course Pomfrey didn't look too pleased when she saw that it was Hermione and I that came in. She immediately dropped the sheets she was changing and rushed over to us, ushering Hermione into one of the beds.

"What on earth happened here?" She demanded thrusting some hospital pajamas into Hermione's arms before turning towards me. I tried to ignore the panic on Hermione's face as the Healer pulled the curtain shut.

"We were experimenting with some potions- we didn't know what we were doing and she just… it was an accident." I said and the Matron gave me the eye not really believing me but accepting it. Hermione pulled the curtain back now changed into the clothes.

"Potions are not something to be playing around with. Unless you know the ingredients and how they interact with each other then you have to be careful." Pomfrey said shuffling through her cabinet. "Next time do it with Severus' permission. You girls got lucky today. It may take a while but we'll get you sorted out love."

I sat on the edge of Hermione's bed as Pomfrey tried to figure out what to give her. Hermione seemed to be in better spirits now that we knew she could be fixed.

"The boy should be getting back soon." Hermione mumbled and I looked down at my watch. Taking in a deep breath I stood up before looking back at her.

"Do you think you'll be okay?" I asked and she nodded, her ears flapping a bit while she did so. I couldn't stop the smile that grew on my face.

"Just bring them here so we can talk."

Nodding I quickly rushed back to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Both Ron and Harry were in the bathroom already looking sweaty and a bit nervous in the over sized Slytherin robes.

"Cassie!" Harry exclaimed seeing me. "What happened to Hermione-"

"I took her to the Hospital Wing. It was cat fur not human." I said and both boys paled. "She'll be okay though! Pomfrey is going to fix it. Did you guys-"

"It's not him." Ron said going back into the stall that he was in originally. Harry glanced at me before doing the same.

"Apparently your father knows but won't tell him. He's told your brother to let the heir do his job." Harry continued and I let out a breath. It was selfish but I felt a weight lift from my chest. Just knowing that it wasn't Draco made me feel one thousand times better. "Apparently a muggleborn died last time."

My palms felt sweaty. We needed to stop this before it got any worse.

Harry emerged first and gave me a small squeeze on the shoulder. Ron came out and gave me small smile.

"Let's see if we can fill 'Mione in on any of this. Pomfrey wasn't happy with me but we'll see what we can do." I said and both boys nodded. We all excited the bathroom and I felt less nervous than I had this whole year. It was stupid but just knowing that my twin wasn't doing this put me at ease… even if my Father knew what was going on.

He was and always will be scum.