(CoS) CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Theories, Potions, and Problems

Ellie couldn't get away from Dean.

He seemed to follow her everywhere. The few times she actively tried to sneak away from him to go to the library and research Sirius Black, he wound up right there with her, claiming he had tests to cram for. Any time Oliver came within a twenty foot vicinity of her, so did he; clearly he'd been thrown by Oliver's dodgy reaction to finding out they were dating. And Fred…

Well, Fred was the hardest. He clearly wasn't used to splitting his Ellie time with someone else, and he didn't like it.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione seemed to be Ellie's only safe space left. When she was around them, Dean seemed to relax, often falling into his own conversations with Seamus or Lavender about unrelated topics, leaving them room to go off and discuss whatever was going on in Harry's head.

On this particular evening, Ron and Hermione hadn't made it back to the common room yet, and Harry took Ellie aside one-on-one.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked her, sounding apprehensive.

"Of course, Harry. Anything."

"Remember after the Sorting Ceremony last year, when you told me you sort of had to… convince the Hat to put you in Gryffindor?"

She nodded. It wasn't a memory she was particularly fond of. "You said the same had happened with you."

"Right." He seemed to share similar feelings. "Well, it's just… I keep thinking about that. I mean, I'm hearing these voices, you know? And then they led to that wall. And the Hat wanted to put me in Slytherin, and there's this Heir business…"

"Harry," she interrupted firmly. "What you're suggesting is absolutely ridiculous."

He sighed, running a hand through his messy, brown hair. "You think?"

"No, I don't think—I know. You're not the Heir of Slytherin, Harry. I can't explain the voices, but I can tell you that you're not the only one going through something like that this year. We'll figure out what it all means, like we always do, but I assure you it doesn't mean you're the Heir."

He smiled ever so slightly. "Thanks, El. But… then… who is?"

"If I had to guess?" she asked. She didn't have to think on it for long. "Who hates Muggle-borns more than anyone else we know and sinks so low as to use profanities like 'Mudblood' to insult twelve-year-old girls?"

"You're right," Harry breathed. "Malfoy."


Harry reported their new theories back to Ron and Hermione shortly after their conversation, and Ellie went over to join Ginny by the fire.

"Hey," Ellie said cautiously to her friend, who, while much more lucid than she had been during the last two incidents, didn't look particularly happy. "How're you doing?"

"Fine," Ginny said too quickly, forcing a smile. "Thanks for keeping my secret, Ellie. I'm sorry to have scared you, but I think it was nothing."

Ellie didn't quite buy it, but she still wasn't sure what to do about it. "Just… remember that I'm here for you," she said. "Okay? No matter what's going on."

"Thanks," Ginny said. And before Ellie could ask her anything else, she rose to leave.

Fred sat down next to Ellie as soon as Ginny had left, eyes sharp and serious. "Is she okay?"

"I… think so. It's hard to tell."

He nodded, glancing into the fire. "Well, thanks for looking out for her."

She watched him watching the flames, feeling heavy-hearted. "You don't have to thank me for that, Fred."

He nodded, peeling his eyes away from the fire and back towards her. "Well, I'd better go. I suspect the jealous boyfriend will show up any second to keep us apart."

He wasn't wrong by any stretch, but hearing him say it out loud felt… different. Strange. "C'mon, Fred. He can't keep us apart."

"Can't he?" There was a hint of hostility to his tone. "You barely even get the chance to see your other friends anymore, El, let alone me and George. And what about your dad? Weren't you going to spend this fall researching the truth about him?"

God, he was perceptive. He was always so keyed into exactly what she was, and wasn't, doing—but not in an invasive way like with Dean. "Of course, I was. I am. I just haven't had much luck yet."

"Luck? Or opportunity?"

She parted her lips to answer him, but before she got the chance, Dean plopped down on the other side of her and put his arm around her.

Fred shot her a very pointed look before rising to his feet.

"Didn't mean to run you off, mate," Dean said cheerfully to Fred. "Stay, if you like."

Fred met her gaze one last time. She got the painful sense that this was one of the last looks she'd be sharing with him for quite some time.

"It's okay," Fred told Dean, looking away from her. "She's all yours."


The Gryffindor-Slytherin game was in two days, and that knowledge was the only thing keeping Ellie sane.

Fred and George weren't talking to her anymore—not really. They were civil to her, and answered her questions when she asked them, but it wasn't the same. She thought about confronting George about it, but she had a feeling she knew what he'd say.

"I've got a solution to our problem," said Hermione—one of the few people who was still talking to Ellie—to Ellie, Ron, and Harry that night in the common room.

"Which problem is that, again?" asked Ron with a yawn.

"The one where Harry's hearing voices and we think finding out who the Heir of Slytherin is might help clear some things up," Ellie told him impatiently. "Keep up, Weasley."

"Hey—don't be rude to me just 'cause the twins aren't speaking to you."

Hermione and Harry both glanced curiously at Ellie at that; apparently that little tidbit wasn't quite common knowledge yet.

"Get on with the solution thing," Ellie said glumly; her division from her best friends was the last thing she wanted to talk about.

"It's called a Polyjuice Potion," Hermione said in a hushed, excited voice. "It can turn its drinker into whoever they want, as long as they have a bit of that person—you know, like a piece of hair or a flake of skin."

"Gross," muttered Ron.

"What does that have to do with figuring out who the Heir of Slytherin is?" asked Harry.

"We'd make ourselves Slytherins," Ellie inferred, connecting the dots. "Try and talk to Draco—get the truth out of him. That's brilliant, Hermione. Do you know how to make the potion?" Her thoughts wandered again to the twins, who had, until recently, been working on their own potions and spells to become Animagi.

"I'm working it out," said Hermione. "It's going to take some time, but I think I can do it."

The morning of the game, Oliver was back to his usual, intense self, throwing around phrases like "catch the Snitch or die trying" and "if one of those Slytherins isn't bleeding by the end of the match, I won't be happy."

Ellie, who had used some of her father's gobs of riches to order herself her own Nimbus 2001, was feeling more than ready for the welcome distraction of a Quidditch game amidst the shambles that were the rest of her life—especially on her exceptionally fast new broomstick.

"So," she joked weakly to the twins as they all walked out to the pitch. "You guys gonna let all the Bludgers hit me because you hate me now?"

George granted her a laugh at that. "Nobody hates you, crazy. We just miss having you to ourselves. You know we'll have your back in the game."

His words filled her with a warmth she hadn't felt much of lately. She turned hopefully to Fred and asked, "And outside the game?"

Brown eyes met grey, and in those brown eyes she saw a whole world of emotion—but, most importantly, love.

"We've always got your back, El," he told her. "Always."


If you've been mad at Fred the past few chapters, hopefully this earned him a little forgiveness in your book... if you're mad at Ellie, on the other hand, you might have to wait a bit longer! The next is a drama AND action-stuffed chapter, and I think you'll like it! Please don't forget to leave a review to show your support!