After McGonagall's class, Ron and Harry were convinced that Draco is the heir of Slytherin, me and Hermione, however…
Not so much.
I mean, doesn't it all seem - I don't know - too perfect? Too easy? I don't know. Anyway, we are in the library. I sit with Ron and Harry as Hermione comes back with the book.
"Here it is: 'The Polyjuice Potion. Properly brewed, the Polyjuice Potion allows the drinker to transform himself temporarily into the physical form of another...'"
"You mean, Harry and I drink some of this stuff and we turn into Crabbe and Goyle?" Ron inquires.
"No. She means if you drink it, you'll turn into a fucking alligator." I reply sarcastically.
"Yes." Hermione says after a second, "To you, Ron, not Sammy."
"Wicked! Malfoy'll tell us anything!"
"Exactly. But it's tricky. I've never seen a more complicated potion. Lacewing flies, leeches, fluxweed. And, of course, we'll need a bit of whoever we want to change into too."
"Hang on now. I'm drinking nothing with Crabbe's toenails in it." Ron objects.
"How long will it take to make?" Harry asks.
"A month." Hermione answers, frowning.
"A month? But if Malfoy is the heir of Slytherin... he could attack half the Muggleborns in the school by then."
"Glasses, she's aware of what it entails. She's Hermione." I say, "If it works like she says it will, I'm willing to wait a month." Hermione nods at me and I nod back.
"Bold of you to say, you don't have to drink it." Ron replies. I shrug.
It's finally the day of the season's first Quidditch game, and I'm excited beyond belief. I stand to the left of Hermione. Opposite me stands Hagrid and to his left stands Ron. When the ref blows the whistle, I learn absolutely nothing as students fly after a big red ball and a couple others attack a smaller black ball. while Harry stays static.
"Anyone know what's going on?" Nothing. "Well shit." Ron takes Hagrid's binoculars to look at the spectators' box. Soon Slytherin has a ninety to thirty lead, and I'm completely lost. The black ball is chasing Harry, and I think it takes out a Gryffindor, I can't really tell because they're just dots in the distance.
"Blimey, Harry's got 'imself a Rogue Bludger!" Hagrid grunts.
"A rogue Bludger?" Ron asks.
"Look fer yerself! It's bin' tampered with!"
"I'll stop it!"
Ron lifts his wand as if to do something but Hermione blocks it, "You're joking, right? Even with a proper wand, it's too risky. You could hit Harry." She looks directly at me.
"Jokes on you, my aim is practically perfect." Now Harry's chasing something going head to head with Draco, …and they're underneath the arena. Brilliant.
"You don't look like you're having much fun." Hermione notes.
"I'm not." I admit, "I'd rather stick to baseball."
She smiles just as Draco is launched into the air and onto the field. Harry flies up and out, chases something again, reaches out to grab it as the- I guess it's called a bludger- smashes into his arm, forcing him to change hands and after a few more seconds, he joins Draco on the ground. "Let's go!" Me, Ron, Hermione and Hagrid rush to the field as the announcer calls out Gryffindor as winners… for some reason and the ball continues trying to kill Harry, narrowly missing him three times before Hermione pulls out her wand, "Finite Incantatem!" The ball explodes as we rush over Harry, Lockhart joining us on the field.
"Not to worry, Harry. I'll fix that arm of yours straight away." Lockhart exclaims.
"No... no… not you." Harry groans.
"Poor boy doesn't know what he's saying. This won't hurt a bit…" He does a movement with his wand, "Brackium Emendo!" and Harry's arm goes limp, like it were made out of rubber. A look of horror crosses my face. "Ah. Yes. Well, that can sometimes happen. The point is, the bones are no longer broken."
"Broken?! There aren't any at all!" I shout, he looks down, "Are you even a real wizard?!"
"Well, he'll be much more flexible." Lockhart says, as he practically fold's Harry's hand back, prompting a wretch from me. We follow Hagrid as he takes Harry to the infirmary. Malfoy's already there, groaning as if he'd been shot.
"Oh Mr. Malfoy quit making such a fuss, you can go!" Madam Pomfrey says. Then she gives me a smile, I am a familiar face around these parts, after all. "He should have been brought straight to me! I can mend bones in a heartbeat - but growing them back -"
"You'll be able to do it, won't you?" Hermione asks, I feel her hand grip mine as if for security.
"I'll be able to, certainly, but it will be painful. You're in for a rough night, Potter. Regrowing bones is nasty business." She gives Harry a cup of liquid which he drinks and spits out almost immediately. "Well, what did you expect - pumpkin juice?" Suddenly there's a flash and I look at Colin. I'm starting to see why Ron doesn't like him. Hermione looks down at our hands and quickly lets go. "Out! All of you! This boy's got thirty-three bones to regrow!"
I put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Good luck." I say. He nods.
The next day, we sit in one of the girls' bathrooms. The one with Moaning Myrtle. The only reliably empty place in the school. As Hermione adds stuff into the cauldron, Harry tells us of what he heard last night.
"Again? You mean, the Chamber of Secrets has been opened before?"
"Of course! Don't you see? Lucius Malfoy must've opened it when he was at school here, and now he's told Draco how to do it." Ron explains. No. Draco's motives are domination, not murderous. Yet at least.
"Maybe. We'll have to wait for the Polyjuice Potion to know for sure." She nods at me as if to say that she's got my back.
"Enlighten me. Why are we brewing this potion in broad daylight, in the middle of a girls' lavatory? Don't you think we'll get caught?" Ron asks
"No. Me and Golden put a lot of thought into this. This, statistically speaking, is the best place to break the rules."
"Why?" Ron asks.
"Moaning Myrtle." Me and Hermione say at the same time.
"Who's Moaning Myrtle?" Ron asks, more confused. Out of nowhere, Myrtle wails and comes out of the wall, meeting face-to-face with Ron.
"I'm Moaning Myrtle. I wouldn't expect you to know me. Who would ever talk about fat, ugly, miserable, moping, moaning Myrtle?" She wails before flying into the air and into her toilet.
"I think she likes you." I note.
"Sorry, she's a little… sensitive." Hermione smiles weakly.
Dueling club with Mr. Lockhart…
Do you see the issue here? We're forced to see the most incompetent teacher I ever witnessed (and that includes America) teach us how to duel other wizards. Me and Hermione sit together and she swoons over him, which of course makes me jealous, but I can tell that something's off. She sighs, but not that 'I want you' sigh I usually hear, instead it's a much more annoyed one. With me? I hope not. Come on, dude, she's your friend. Get your head in the game!
"Gather round! Gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent. In light of the dark events of recent weeks, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little Dueling Club, to train you all up in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions - for full details, see my published works." I groan. "Let me introduce my assistant Professor Snape. He has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration. Now I don't want any of you youngsters to worry. You'll still have your Potions Master when I'm through with him, never fear!"
"Oh, I can't wait for Snape to school this idiot." I close my fist around the watch he gave me, it's a habit I've picked up since he gifted it to me. He comes onto the stage, makes eye contact with me and nods. Hermione looks at me. She smiles a bit. Is it just me or does she have the same look as she had when… no it's gotta be me. She notices I've caught her staring and stares longer to assert dominance, just like I do. I smile before Lockhart speaks once more.
"As you can see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position. On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course." He takes a stance, "One-two-three -"
"Expelliarmus!" A scarlet light explodes out of Snape's wand, launching Lockhart across the room and his wand through the air.
"HA!" I practically shout.
"Do you think he's okay?" Hermione asks, with a strange lack of real emotional investment.
"Who cares?" Ron replies.
"An excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy…"
"Perhaps it would be prudent to first teach the students to block unfriendly spells, Professor." Snape replies lamely as if he doesn't want to be there.
"An excellent suggestion, Professor Snape. Let's have a volunteer pair. Potter, Weasley, how about you?"
They are both about to climb on stage when Snape speaks again, "Weasley's wand causes devastation with the simplest spells. We'll be sending Potter to the hospital wing in a matchbox. Might I suggest someone from my own house. Malfoy, perhaps." Malfoy climbs onstage as Snape and Lockhart leave the battle area. The two young wizards bow begrudgingly, and trash talk a bit on their way down.
"Wands at the ready! When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponent - only to disarm. We don't want any accidents. One, two -" Malfoy attacks early as a burst of white light knocks Harry off of his feet.
Harry grits his teeth and jumps back to his feet. "Rictusempra!" He shouts as a burst of silver light knocks Draco back even further.
"I said disarm only!" Lockhart shouts.
"Serpensortia!" Draco hisses and from his wand shoots a long black snake.
"Don't move, Potter. I'll get rid of it for you." Snape grunts.
"Allow me, Professor Snape!" Lockhart cheers. "Olate Ascendere!" The snake flies into the air and in front of a kid, I'm about to make a move when Harry speaks, in parseltongue. I freeze.
"Evara Evenestra." Snape says before flicking his wand at the snake, that disintegrates almost immediately.
The boy has a terrified look on his face, "What are you playing at?" He asks, backing away. Everyone is silent.
"Come on Glasses." I grunt, getting him off the stage. We all walk back to the dorms together.
"You're a Parselmouth?! Why didn't you tell us?" Ron demands.
"I'm a what?"
"You can talk to snakes." Hermione explains.
"I know. I mean, I accidentally set a python on my cousin Dudley at the zoo once. But so what? I bet loads of people here can do it." Harry waves off.
"No. They can't. It's not a very common gift, Harry. This is bad."
Harry looks dumbfounded, "What's bad? If I hadn't told that snake not to attack Justin -"
"Oh!" Ron cuts him off, "That's what you said."
"You were there, you heard me!"
I sigh, "No we didn't, Glasses. We heard you speaking parseltongue." He makes a confused face, "In latent terms, you were speaking snake."
"I spoke a different language? But I didn't realize - how can I speak a language without knowing I can?"
"I don't know, Harry. But it sounded like you were egging the snake on or something. It was... creepy." The other Gryffindors come in and pass in silence. Hermione grows even more serious, "Harry, listen out me. There's a reason the symbol of Slytherin house is a serpent. Salazar Slytherin was a Parselmouth. He could talk to snakes too."
"Exactly. And now the whole school's going to think you're his great-great-great grandson or something." Ron adds.
"But I'm not. I... can't be."
Hermione sighs and puts a hand on his shoulder, "He lived a thousand years ago. For all we know... you could be."
I spent the night awake without so much as a wink of sleep. I sit on the couch, scratching Shakespeare behind her ears as I catch up on wrestling, namely Shawn Michaels' and Triple H's feud leading up to that point. I feel drained. Soon I feel a pair of hands on my shoulders, followed by a whisper that sends shivers down my spine.
"What are you doing up so early?"
"I couldn't sleep." I say. Hermione joins me on the couch, then grabs her wand.
"Expergiscere Somnolentus." She flicks the wand at me and the drowsiness disappears. "It's not good to rely on that, because your brain needs sleep, so make sure you sleep tonight, okay?" I nod. "Why couldn't you sleep?"
"I'm… stressed. About Harry. He's in trouble, Hermione. Real trouble."
"I know." She nods, I look at the snow raining down outside and frown, knowing that Mom's anniversary is nearing. "I know that Christmas will be hard for you, especially after last year, but I want to make your Christmas better."
"You will. All you need to do is be there." She nods and I hug her. "I don't know how many times I've said this, Golden, but you're awesome."
She looks me in the eyes, "You are too."