We watch people leave from a balcony, they avoid us. Of course they do. They think one of us is the heir of Slytherin and the rest of us are nuts to trust him. Who knows, maybe they're right. No, don't think like that, Sam. Even if Harry were the heir, he couldn't be doing this, could he? No. No he couldn't. It has to be someone else. I sigh as people pass, the four of us are halves again. Me and Hermione. Harry and Ron. I just realized that I don't really know either Ron or Harry. I mean, I know them, but I don't know them. Maybe that's by my own choice. Hemione, on the other hand, I know her better than almost anyone. I clutch Snape's watch and close my eyes.
It's funny, I don't know who knows me better, the girl of my dreams or the most hated man in the school.
The post came and called me and Hermione's book the best-selling of the last decade, outnumbering a lot of Lockhart's books in sales and staying in the number one spot for sixteen weeks, number two being Magical Me.
Ironically Lockhart's jealous of me. He has the one one thing I wish I had, Hermione's heart, to have it, I'd give everything I have up. I'd even give up my magic. Dad thinks she wants to be with me. Of course he does. He's never found trouble getting girls to like him. Call me what you wll, I don't find any other girl on Earth attractive. I don't feel this warm and fuzzy around anyone else, yet…
I like you a lot, Sammy.
I fumbled it.
"Make way for the Heir of Slytherin! Seriously evil wizard coming through!" Ron's brother Fred (or George?) teases. I frown and Harry wears a look of outrage.
"Oh, c'mon, Harry. Fred's just having a laugh." Ron explains.
"He's the only one." Harry spits.
"Okay, so half the school thinks you're nipping off to the Chamber of Secrets every night. Who cares?" Ron protests.
"Maybe they're right." Harry whispers.
"Harry!" Hermione scolds.
"I didn't know I could speak Parseltongue. What else don't I know about myself? Maybe you can do something... even something horrible... and not know you did it."
"Harry, I'm supposed to be the crazy one." I grunt, "You didn't do it, and you don't believe you did either.."
"If it makes you feel better, I just heard Malfoy's staying over for holiday, too." Hermione tries.
"Why would that make anyone feel better?" Ron demands.
"I second that." I decree.
"Because, in a few days, the Polyjuice Potion will be ready. In a few days... we may truly know who is the Heir of Slytherin." Hermione states. I can tell that she doesn't really believe this, she's saying it to cheer Harry up, which I respect. We walk back inside and Ron and Harry separate. I get a chance to look at Hermione. Snow in her hair,the Gryffindor scarf tied around her neck, the gloves that are a size too big. "Let me guess, you like this?"
"...Maybe." My face heats up.
"Take a picture, it lasts longer." She teases. "You've been acting kinda weird, Sammy, what's up?"
"Nothing." I say, "Just… I've got a lot on my mind. Christmas is coming."
She grabs me by the tie and pulls me in for a kiss on the cheek. "You're strong, but you can always talk to me, okay?"
"...Yeah. I'm sorry, I need to help Snape with something." I rush off. How did it just get so hard to be near her so fast? Why does my heart feel like it's doing jumping jacks, my mind is racing at a thousand miles an hour. I can't think about anything else. I walk into Snape's classroom and slam the door shut.
"Who the he- oh, Sammy. Have a seat." I do. He locks the door. "Sammy, you don't look so good."
"Snape, I think-"
"Yes?"
"I'm in love with Hermione."
"Okay… now that you've admitted it to yourself, she obviously likes you, so you ask her out and tell her how you feel."
"I screwed it up. I told her that I only liked her as a friend. Besides, she likes Lockhart."
"Aren't you the smartest person alive? A crush and a romance are two different things, Sammy." Snape shrugs, "Do you think Lockhart really has her heart after endangering student after student? Even if he did, we know that the admiration is superficial." He shrugs, "But you, I could tell from the moment you stood up to me for her that you two were destined to be together. Then you almost gave your life to keep her safe, twice. If she says she doesn't like you, Sammy, she's lying."
"Thanks Snape." I say.
"You're welcome." He stands, "Before you so rudely interrupted, I was in the middle of making some hot chocolate and watching Rankin and Bass films." He says, "Would you like to watch these with me?"
"No. If Malfoy bursts in, it'll be harder to explain. You've gotta keep the rep."
"I suppose…" Snape mutters, then he shrugs. "This is some homemade peppermint hot chocolate for you to share with her." He holds out a metal thermos, "Don't worry, I just use that to pour my drinks." I nod and take it before I think another random thought that my dumbass blurts out.
"Why don't you like Harry?" I ask.
He looks at me sadly for a moment. "It's a long story that I'll tell you some other time." He whispers, before sighing.
"Okay."
"Don't forget that you're always welcome in my classroom."
"Thank you, Professor." I close the door. I find Hermione in the courtyard, sitting on a bench, shivering. "Hey, Golden. You okay?"
"I thought you had to help Snape."
I sit next to her and pull her into a tight hug. "Yeah, I finished fast again." I offer her the thermos. "It's mint cocoa." I offer. She opens it and drinks a long sip.
"That's really good."
"Yeah?" I take the bottle from her hands for a moment and take a drink myself, before handing it back to Hermione. Say what you will about Snape, he makes some damn good cocoa. "Shit, it's fucking great!" Hermione smiles and shakes her head.
"You curse a lot." She notes.
I smile, "Yeah."
"I like it." She takes another drink as the snow falls over us. "I love Winter."
"I prefer Fall." I shrug.
Soon, it's Christmas Eve. I wake up feeling awful. After rubbing the back of my head and doing hygiene, I leave The Gryffindor Dorm. My hands are numb. I walk about halfway down the hall before a searing pain shoots through my head and I stumble, ending up on my hands and knees. Memories of Mom flood in. No, no, Come on Sam, not now!
She's been gone for a year.
I try to hold back my emotion, but with one sob, it's all released. There I am, on my hands and knees in the hall, bawling my eyes out. Someone else comes out of Gryffindor and I hear footsteps coming towards me and feel a small hand place itself on the small of my back. Hermione. I don't want her to see me like this, like a scared little pup who's been kicked one too many times. Why do I feel like this now? I've been like this twice before... I feel myself burning up.
Why do the best people have to suffer?
Why did He kill Mom in the worst way possible?
Why can't I stop being miserable?
"Come on, Sammy, you'll be okay. Shh, shh, shh, I'm right here. Let it all out." I'm still too vulnerable for a relationship. I'll just drag her down with me. Eventually, my body ceases shaking and the sobs soften. I get onto my knees and she pulls me into a warm hug. "Are you okay?"
Am I?
"I don't know."
She smiles sadly at me. "That's fine."
After that, we spend the day together, we even start brainstorming ideas for a new book. The Fallen Empire. It's going to be a post-apocalyptic thriller with, as per Hermione's terms, romance. Romance just makes me want her more. But now it's feast time. A feast I missed last year. We sit at the table, me and Hermione across from Harry and Ron.
"Everything's set. We just need a bit of who you're changing into." Hermione says after a while.
"Crabbe and Goyle." Harry nods.
"And we also need to make sure that the real Crabbe and Goyle can't burst in on us while we're interrogating Malfoy."
"How?" Ron asks.
"We've got that covered." I say as Hermione pulls out the cakes. "Hermione made a sleeping draught that I mixed into the batter. Shit's strong enough to knock out an elephant."
We look at the two boys who are about to be fooled "You know how greedy Crabbe and Goyle are. They won't leave the Christmas Feast until every last drop of trifle is gone." We focus back on our table, "Now, once they're asleep, hide them in a broom cupboard and pull out a few of their hairs."
"And whose hair are you ripping out?" Ron asks.
"I've already got mine." Hermione says, showing off a phial with a small hair in it. "Millicent Bulstrode. She's in Slytherin. I got this off her robes." She stands proudly. "Alright then... I'm going to check on the Polyjuice Potion. Remember. Just make sure Crabbe and Goyle find these." She walks off.
"I think your girlfriend's gone mad Sam." Ron mutters.
"Not my girlfriend."
"Even still, have you ever heard of a plan where so many things could go wrong?"
"They won't if you stick to it." I grunt, "I'm going to catch up with her. Good luck." I walk through the school stealthily and join her in the bathroom. She's stirring up the cauldron. "God, that smells awful." She jumps before 'glaring' at me.
"You scared me half to death!" She hisses.
"Well, as the old saying goes, it's all fair in love and war." She deciphers it immediately so I shift onto another topic, "So, our book is still number one."
"That's good. Lockhart's is number two then?"
"Actually it's down to five right now."
"That's good."
"Did you just subtly insult your favorite teacher?"
"Maybe…"
"I thought you had a crush on him… or something."
"I did." She admits before looking at me, "But I realized that I like someone else way more than I like him." She turns as friends three and four join us, "Did you get it?" She asks. The boys hold up their tufts of hair. She points at the Slytherin robes on the ground. "I sneaked those out of the laundry." They nod and have a look at Hermione's concoction, both of them making faces. "I'm sure I've done everything right. It looks like the book said it should. Once we've drunk it, we'll have exactly one hour before we change back into ourselves."
"Now what?" Ron gulps.
"We separate it into three glasses and add the hairs." All three of them drink it and drop the glasses. Ron and Hermione run off to the toilets to throw up. Harry doesn't, he looks in the mirror as his skin starts to bubble and morph until he looks exactly like Goyle. Ron comes out looking like Crabbe.
"Harry?" 'Crabbe' asks.
"Ron?" 'Goyle' responds.
"Bloody hell." Ron says, amazed.
"We still sound like ourselves. You need to sound more like Crabbe."
Ron adjusts his voice, "Bloody hell."
"Excellent." Harry compliments.
"Hey... Where's Hermione?"
"I - I don't think I'm going. You go on without me." she calls.
"Hermione, are you okay?" Harry asks.
"Just go!" She snaps, "You're wasting time!"
The boys rush out leaving me and Hermione. Well I guess I'm a boy too now that I think on it, but whatever. "Hey Golden, you okay?"
"Do I sound okay, Sammy?"
"What happened?"
"I screwed up."
"We all screw up."
"Not like this."
"Golden, I have made lapses in judgement and miscommunications that have gotten people hurt, some killed, because of my thought experiments. You're the smartest person I know, how bad could a mistake be if you're the one making it?" Nothing. "Mistakes aren't a bad thing, they teach you to be more careful." She's silent. "Fine, you don't wanna show me. Okay." I shrug, "But I'm staying right here until you get out."
I sit down across from her stall and after about forty minutes, she speaks, "Do you promise not to laugh?"
"Scout's honor."
She slowly opens the door and reveals her transformation into a cat… thing with a disappointed look on her face. "Well?"
"Well… you did screw up." I shrug, "But it's not the end of the world. It'll still only last an hour, right?" She shrugs. "Well even if it doesn't, worst case scenario, I'll always have your back." She smiles. "Now come here." She reluctantly obliges and I hug her, stroking her hair… head… fur… whatever as she purrs into my ear. "Well, this Christmas kinda sucks, huh?" We laugh.
"I don't know, maybe it'll get better." she hums.
"This feels really good for you doesn't it?"
"What would you do if I said yes?"
"Do it more."
"…yeah."
I continue to softly caress her until I hear Ron and Harry and she pushes me away before returning to the stall and locking the door. "That was close." Harry gasps, then he sees my robe, "Oh, your cat did a number on you. I didn't even notice. Did you talk to her?"
"Yeah."
"Hermione!" Ron calls, "Come out, we've got loads to tell you!"
"Go away!" Hermione shouts. Wait, why hasn't she changed back yet?
Moaning Myrtle appears from the wall, "Ooh, wait till you see. It's awful!" She cheers gleefully.
"Charming, you were bullied so you become a bully yourself." She scowls at me before stepping aside. "Hermione, we're all friends, come on. It isn't even that bad." She sighs and unlocks the door, I push it open.
"Do you remember me telling you the Polyjuice Potion was only for human transformations?" You can see the fur and ears even in the dim light. She steps forward to reveal herself to us. "It was cat hair I plucked off Millicent Bulstrode's robes! Look at my face!"
"It isn't that bad."
"Look at your face? Look at your tail." I can see that he's about to laugh so I kick him in the shin. "Ow! Bloody hell, Sam, that hurt!"
I look at Hermione who smiles weakly. "Tell us your news and I'll take her to the nurse." She looks at me, "I doubt that you wanna parade around Gryffindor looking like that. Don't worry. I'll be with you the entire time." I grab her hand.
"Okay, we learned that it wasn't Malfoy, he doesn't have any idea who it could be." Harry says.
"Good. Ron?"
"He said more stuff about Hermione, and he called you an obnoxious twat."
I shrug, "The insults out here are weak. Come to New York, and you get fifty out the gate just for wearing a hat, all of them worse than 'twat.'" I laugh, "Well come on Hermione, let's try to salvage what's left of Christmas." I pull her out of the stall. "Do you want to… you know… cover your head?"
"Yeah." She whispers. I take off my robe and give it to her. She wears it over her head and after walking for a time, we run into someone. "Snape."
"Granger? Hedrich? What're you two doing out of your dorms? And what's that on your head?!" He takes my robe off of her head and looks dead at her. "Ah. Meddling in things you shouldn't?"
"It was my fault, I made a miscalculation and Shakespeare got hair in the cauldron. She agreed to be my test subject." I pin on myself.
"I can't take points away for curiosity and as this seems to be an emergency, I will only be taking two points away from Gryffindor. I assume you made a Polyjuice Potion?"
"Yes."
"Oh dear, how'd you get the ingredients?"
"Dad?"
"I'll be checking with him later. As for now, this will stay between us." And he walks off.
"That was weird." Hermione mutters, pulling the robe back over her head.
"That's life." I shrug. We find Madam Pomfrey just as she's about to leave. "Hey! Wait!" She turns and smiles at me. Hermione takes the robe off of her head and Pomfrey's jaw drops, "It was an accident. I was making a recipe, she agreed to try it, long story short, I messed up at some point and made a Polyjuice Potion, she tried it and this happened. Snape already got me."
"Well, let's take her in, then. I have a potion that will fix this, but I'm guessing that it's been over an hour?" We both nod. "Then there's no telling how long this will take." She sighs. "Follow me." She takes us into a room, and pulls up curtains around the bed. Suddenly something appears in my hand. It's Snape's thermos. There's even a note.
She'll be able to drink this, she only looks like a cat, she processes food like a human, still. I made this for you two to share in case it gets cold. Merry Christmas. -Snape
I put the note in my pocket and Hermione sighs, "I promised you a great Christmas. I'm sorry."
"Don't be." I whisper, pulling out my wand, "Put on: The Santa Clause." A screen comes on and I pull out my Nokia, "Hey Uncle Lancelot? It's Samuel."
"Like New York Samuel?"
"Yes. I was wondering if you still offer that thing of chocolate chip cookies?"
"Yeah! Want me to deliver to Hogwarts?"
"Yes, the infirmary. That girl dad's told you about is sick and I'm spending time with her."
"Oh, okay! Anything else?"
"Do you have two mugs?"
"You'd bet your ass I do! I'll be there in ten."
"Wait how much- and he's gone. Shit." I enlarge the screen when suddenly, in comes Lancelot Carpilla with a bucket of cookies in one hand and two mugs in the other. "How did you-"
"It's in the ad, ten seconds or less." I pull out a pouch of gold and he raises his hand as if to stop me, "It don't cost you nothing. You're family." He nods. "Anyway, see you, boss." And he's gone, the stuff left at the foot of the bed. I fill the mugs with cocoa and put the bucket between us. Soon, we're watching Tim Allen and chowing down while she's in the infirmary for turning into a cat. If that ain't the spirit of Christmas, I don't know what is.