It steadily got colder throughout the week. By the day that the duelling club was to begin, it seemed they were in for quite the storm.

Draco had not stopped going on about the Dueling Club in the Common Room since the sign up sheet had been put up. He had gone on and on about how he would be able to use the opportunity to "show Potter his place". At breakfast, he had slid into the seat beside her.

"Hey, Ev," he said in a wheedling tone that he had once used to get her to levitate some cookies off the shelf. "Any chance you could give me some pointers before Dueling Club? Father has always said you do so well in training sessions."

"How long will it take you to realize that I am not speaking to you?" Evanna said, methodically choosing pieces of fruit to place on her plate.

"C'mon," he wheedled. "I haven't told Father that you're still going around with that half-blood in your dorm. Nor have I told him that you're studying with the little Weasley in the library."

Evanna's eyes widened. "That's the half-blood Father was angry about? I didn't even realize her blood status until Creevey was Petrified!"

Draco gaped at her. "You didn't real-that girl is constantly talking about muggle this or that in the Common Room. How did you not realize?"

Evanna shrugged. "She's a Slytherin. That's good enough for me."

Draco shook his head and grabbed a muffin off her plate. She swatted at him. "If you didn't realize that Blishwick is a half-blood, who did you think Father was upset about?"

Green eyes flashed in Evanna's mind and she felt heat rush to her cheeks, but quickly quashed it. "No one. And I'm still not talking to you."

"Evie," he whined, prodding her side. She squirmed. "Please. Potter beat me in the Quidditch game-you gotta give me something. It would be unbearable to lose to him again."

Evanna glared at her brother. He did not know the true meaning of unbearable. He sighed heavily, pushing himself up from the table as though he was nursing some sort of wound. Evanna pursed her lips at the blatant attempt at manipulation.

"Alright," he said slowly. "I suppose I know when I'm unwanted…"

"Serpentsortia," Evanna muttered.

"What?"

"Serpentsortia," she said. "It summons a snake. I read about it in one of Father's books. Freaks most people out, but it's not technically Dark Magic, so you shouldn't get in trouble. And besides," she said with a smirk, "doesn't take overly much power to perform it."

Draco narrowed his eyes. "I'll ignore that last comment since it does sound like just the spell I need. Serpentsortia, you said?"

Evanna nodded and turned back to her breakfast. Draco was still standing beside her. She tried to ignore him. He began to sigh loudly again. Evanna ignored him. He tapped his foot. She grit her teeth and focused ever more carefully on her breakfast. Then he began all but stomping on the stone floor. She finally snapped.

"What, Draco?" she snapped.

"You didn't sign up for Dueling Club," he said. "And you didn't sign up to stay over break."

Evanna decided to ignore the second statement. "I don't need some school child's dueling club."

"Don't you at least want to come and watch your big brother cream everyone?"

"Do you want me to come and cream my big brother in front of everyone?"

Draco frowned. "I could give you a run for your money."

"I doubt it."

"I'd really like you to come-"

"You are pushing your luck, Draco," she said. "I'm still angry with you."

"That's what I don't get," he said.

"What?"

He took the seat next to her again, and she cringed away from him. "You're so angry with me for Father being upset with you and punishing you-and you still haven't told me what your punishment was-and yet you're still going home."

"I need to train," Evanna said uncomfortably, not looking at her brother.

"But you've never wanted to train before."

"Well, there's a bloody great monster on the loose, so-"

"The monster of Slytherin. And you're a Pureblood. We're as far away from the enemies of the Heir as you can get, Ev," Draco said reasonably. Evanna shifted.

"Mother said she would explain to me what happened on the train-"

"Mother told me before term that you should stay at Hogwarts as much as possible. That's why I was supposed to stay over holiday-so you would, too," Draco said softly. "So tell me, why are you going home? You know that Father's training will just be worse."

Evanna glanced about them. None of the students seemed overly awake, but one could never be too certain. She looked at her brother.

"I'm worried about Mother," she said in a low voice. "I want to see her."

I'm worried about you.

Evanna blinked at the strength and emotion behind the thought. She would never have thought her brother capable of such a thing, but then she remembered his previous comment-he had not reported anything else to their father. Did he know about her not having her wand, being submitted to the Cruciatus, having to have Professor Snape mop her up? She hated the thought of that. Though Draco was the older of the two, Evanna was most definitely the stronger and more powerful of the two. But, the thought of her brother knowing her lowest moment, well she wouldn't say it was embarrassing. It was much worse than that.

"Mother would say you need to look after yourself," Draco replied.

"Mother would say you need to quit trying to tell me what to do," Evanna shot back.

Draco shook his head and stood back up. "Fine, be stubborn. I do hope you'll change your mind about the Dueling Club, sister darling."

"Not a chance, brother dear," she responded. "But do let me know if our Head of House sends Professor Lockhart to the Hospital Wing. I expect reenactments if you expect me to forgive you within the next decade."

Draco laughed at the thought and left just as Eva and Elin walked in. Eva looked over her shoulder at the blonde leaving.

"You made up with your brother? Finally!" she exclaimed, throwing herself into the seat beside Evanna. Elin sat down across from them a little more dignifiedly.

"I wouldn't quite say that," Evanna said with her nose pointing in the air. "He's got a long way to go."

"Merlin, I wouldn't ever want to get on your bad side, Malfoy," Elin said as she bit into a crumpet smothered with jam.

"Probably a smart idea, Gamp," Evanna replied, though she smiled toothily.

"That," Eva said, pointing at Evanna's smile, "is a look that could Petrify."

All that anyone talked about throughout the school day was the Dueling Club and the incoming blizzard. Evanna had to admit, she was secretly excited to be able to have snowball fights and build snowmen with her friends over the weekend. She had never been allowed to at the Manor, and had often dreamed of the day she could do so like the radio dramas over the Wizard Wireless. She was even more excited when her Astronomy class was cancelled, leaving her with a night to herself in the Slytherin Common Room.

While all her Housemates were at the club, Evanna read one of her mother's old trashy romance novels (this particular one about an heiress who wished to marry a school teacher) and even fell asleep by the fire only to be woken by her brother roughly shaking her shoulder.

"Your spell didn't work," he informed her irritably. She sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"What?"

"Your spell didn't work," he said again, frowning deeply. "Apparently, snakes don't really freak out Parselmouths."

"Parselmou-"

"Yes, on top of being the bloody Boy-Who-Lived and Dumbledore's darling and the youngest Seeker in a century-Potter is a bloody Parselmouth," Draco sneered. "And of course some stupid Hufflepuff immediately starts spouting off that Potter is the bloody heir of Slytherin! Ha! Potter!"

Evanna's head was spinning. Harry Potter, the Heir of Slytherin and a Parselmouth? The idea was absolutely absurd. She couldn't think of someone less likely to be opening the Chamber of Secrets and attacking students.

"Surely everyone realizes how idiotic that idea is," she said. "He defeated the last descendant of Slytherin! He's a Gryffindor-the Gryffindor if you listen to some! He couldn't possibly-"

"Oh, people at Hogwarts are a lot more idiotic than you'd expect at a school, Evanna," Draco said scathingly. "You and I know he couldn't be the heir of Slytherin. Hell, all of Slytherin House knows that he couldn't be! But, you know that Gryffindors waste all their brain cells on death defying stunts and Hufflepuffs never had them to begin with!"

Her brother continued to rant and rave about Potter and everyone looking to the bespectacled boy like he was something all that special with a stupid scar; essentially, he gave the same speech she had heard over the dinner table almost every night of the summer. Evanna just nodded along, knowing when to let her brother just run himself out of steam. But her mind was swimming.

Harry Potter certainly could not be the Heir of Slytherin. But that begged the question: if not Potter, then who?