(CoS) CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: Potions for Christmas

Ellie's bond with Harry only grew stronger as Christmas grew nearer. He seemed to find her to be a safe place for him to share his innermost fears, and she found him to be a safe place to step away from her ever-confusing feelings about Fred.

Things between Ellie and Fred were back to normal now that Dean was out of the picture, but unfortunately "back to normal" wasn't saying much; she'd never quite settled into accepting a platonic friendship with her best friend, even if he had.

Dean, at least, was finally starting to come around. In the last Potions class before the Christmas holiday, she even managed to get him and Seamus to laugh at her cartoonish sketch of Snape for the first time in weeks.

And Oliver… well, nothing new there. He handed her a perfectly wrapped Christmas gift before heading for the train home, told her a short and sweet "See you in the new year, beautiful," winked, and went on his way.

On the night of Christmas Eve, Ellie found herself curled up on the sofa in front of the fireplace with the twins. Ron, Harry, and Hermione were on the armchairs around them, enjoying the last few minutes before Christmas arrived.

"We could do a countdown," suggested Fred.

"Isn't that a New Years thing?" asked Harry, sounding amused.

"Muggle tradition," said Hermione. "Don't expect the Weasleys in the room to understand."

"Hey!" the twins and Ron all shouted at that.

"So," said Harry, clearing his throat. "I feel like not every single person I passed today lowered their voices when they saw me. That's progress, right?"

He was referring to the rumors, of course, about him being the Heir of Slytherin. Ellie smiled gently at him. "Sure, it is. But the real progress will come when we figure out who the real Heir of Slytherin is."

"Which happens today," Hermione reminded them.

"Amen to that," said Harry. "And look at the time! Happy Christmas."


Of all the presents Ellie gifted out, her favorite was Fred's: her own version of an installment on their locket/ring communication devices. She didn't have the magic skills to pull it off herself, but she had written to a shop in Diagon Alley a few weeks ago asking them to design tracking devices to install into them, and it had worked. Now, whenever they were apart, a glowing arrow pointed to where the other was.

"That's incredible, El!" Fred exclaimed when she plugged it into his ring and demonstrated. "How did you even manage that?"

"All I really did was cough up the cash," she admitted. "But thought that counts, right?"

"Of course. I love it."

Fred and George had given her the latest frightening installments on their Animagus plans. Ellie still wasn't sure how she felt about them undertaking such a dangerous, illegal plan, but judging by how far they had come, they wouldn't be done until the beginning of her fourth year at least, so she wasn't too worried.

From Harry, she had received a charmed stationery set, on which were animated images of Woodstock, her owl.

"To write to your mum," he explained gently when she opened it.

The gesture meant more to her than he could possibly know. For him to have noticed how much she missed her mother—how many questions she still had for her mother—without her having to have said a single word was incredible. She wasn't used to anyone but Fred being so keyed into her emotions.

Finally, it was time for the feast. Ellie stuffed herself so full of delicious food, she almost forgot about the Polyjuice plans—at least, until Hermione reminded them.

"I don't like this," grumbled Fred, who, despite his initial support of the plan, had been very vocal about his resentment of not being included. "Why don't George and I come along under Harry's cloak?"

"We've been over this," said Harry a bit impatiently as Hermione slipped Sleeping Draughts into cakes from the feast and charmed them to defy gravity. "It's risky enough as-is."

Fred sent Harry a very pointed glare at that, which made Ellie feel quite uneasy. "You'll have our backs by watching the Map," she reminded him. "And if we need you, I can use the locket."

"Shh," snapped Ron, yanking them all back into one of the dimly lit awnings. "They're coming."

Their plan wasn't without its flaws. They were only going to drug Crabbe and Goyle; Pansy Parkinson, whose hairs Ellie had snagged, was home for the holidays, so she'd have to make up an excuse about coming back early. As for Millicent Bulstrode, who Hermione was planning to impersonate, they were going to take their chances.

The cleanest part of the plan—the one involving Crabbe and Goyle—was off without a hitch. They stuffed their bodies into a broom closet, then headed for Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

Ellie hadn't spent too much time in Myrtle's bathroom that term; Hermione hadn't often requested her help. But Ellie was very much familiar with Moaning Myrtle, the miserable, wailing ghost of a teenage girl who haunted the girls' bathroom where they were brewing their potions.

"You didn't have to come all this way," Ellie told the twins as they joined her, Harry, Ron, and Hermione to the bathroom. "You could just watch from the common room, or wherever."

"You kidding?" asked George. "Like I'd miss watching you lot turn into your worst enemies!"

Fred didn't look quite so amused, but he also didn't look like he was going anywhere.

Hermione split the bubbling potion into four mugs, instructed them all to put their "essences" into the mugs, then, finally, instructed them all to drink.

"Uchh," Ellie cringed after taking her first sip. "Gross."

"Do we have to drink the whole thing?" asked Ron, seeming to share her sentiments.

But Hermione didn't answer him before dropping her own mug in disgust. Ellie, Ron, and Harry followed shortly behind her, all cringing half with disgust and half with the feeling of their skin starting to bubble into someone else's. Not only was it painful, but it was horrifying, too; it was the very definition of being uncomfortable in her own skin.

"Bloody hell," said Fred when the transformation was complete. "I like you much better the other way, El."

"I'd say that goes for all of us," said Harry—at least, Ellie was pretty sure it was Harry; he looked like Goyle, but still wore Harry's round, circular glasses.

"We should get going," said Ron, who now looked like Crabbe. He glanced at the bathroom stall Hermione had run into during the transformation. "'Mione, you coming?"

"Go on without me!" Hermione shouted back through the door. She sounded distressed.

"We know Millicent's ugly," George shouted to her with a grin, "but this really isn't the time to be shallow, Granger."

But Hermione didn't laugh. "Just go!" she wailed. "There's no time for this!"

Ellie glanced heavily at the twins. She didn't know what was wrong, but Hermione was right; they had to get going. "Stay with her? Make sure she's okay?"

Fred nodded, then, to her surprise, drew her in for a hug.

"Only for you would I hug Pansy Parkinson," he whispered into her ear as he held her. "Be careful."

When she pulled away, she felt the eyes of Harry's Goyle on both of them.

But she pretended not to notice.


Ellie had consulted the Marauder's Map prior to their departure for the location of the Slytherin dormitories, but she still didn't know the password. So, fifteen minutes later, they sat in front of the Slytherin portrait, impatiently waiting for someone to arrive.

To her relief, not only did someone arrive, but it was none other than the subject of their investigation: Draco Malfoy.

"What are you three doing out here?" he asked, giving them a puzzled look. Ellie felt his gaze linger on her and deduced what she'd silently been banking on: that he had something of a thing for Pansy.

"I've just gotten back from holiday," she explained; "my parents had to bring me back earlier than expected. They've changed the password since I was last here, and these two nimwits seem to have forgotten what it is."

Draco laughed at that right along with her as he gave the password—pureblood; she should have guessed—to the portrait, which swung open.

"It's been a long day," Draco said to them, leading them to the fireplace and taking a seat on a rather stiff, leather sofa. Ellie carefully took her seat next to him as Ron and Harry sat opposite them in the armchairs. "You missed the feast, Pansy?"

She nodded. "Only just. But at least I got to miss the oh-so-predictable Christmas speech of Dumbledore's."

Harry and Ron's both eyes widened at that, but she shot them a look of her own to remind them that they were supposed to hate Dumbledore.

"Lucky you," said Draco. "Still can't believe I was forced to stay here this year. This place is becoming more and more of a joke by the minute."

"It starts from the top," she said, shooting Harry and Ron a chime in whenever sort of look. "What kind of headmaster just spews 'everything will be okay' rubbish in the midst of a school-wide panic?"

"Exactly," said Draco, smirking with satisfaction as he put an arm around her shoulders. Harry and Ron looked queasy at the sight—particularly Harry. "He's a joke. The last person who's equipped to deal with a situation like this."

"But, then—surely you have some idea who's responsible," said Harry, finally chiming in.

"You know I don't, Goyle—I've told you before," snapped Draco. "Wish I did. They're doing Hogwarts some real favours, if you ask me."

"Favours?" repeated Ron, sitting up straighter in his seat. "Trying to kill students?"

"Only the trash ones," Draco muttered. Ellie had to fight everything in her not to wriggle out from under the seemingly impossible weight of his arm. "The mudbloods."

Harry made an attempt to get up and launch himself at Draco at that, which Ron had to physically stop.

"What's gotten into you?" Draco demanded, looking annoyed.

"You really don't know who it is?" Ellie asked him, hoping to distract him from their rather poor acting. She did her best to bat her eyelashes at him, though she was no expert on flirting. "I figured your dad—being such a… reputable pureblood… might have some connections there."

Draco seemed pleased as punch by the compliment, even going so far as to stroke her on the arm; Ron looked amused by her obvious sarcasm; Harry looked like he wanted to punch Draco very hard in the face.

"He hasn't told me anything, and I don't think he knows anything," Draco told her. "Happy to let those Gryffindor fools think it's me, though. Have you seen the way they look at me? Take that Ellie Bretherworth—Prince—whatever she calls herself these days. If she had any idea the things I knew about her father…"

Ellie stiffened at that. She was instantly torn between wanting to know more and fearing what Harry would think if he learned the truth. "Her… father?" she repeated carefully.

"Supposedly a Dark wizard, but Dad says none of it's true. Some epic mix-up that resulted in the wrong person being locked up in Azkaban for life." He chuckled. "'Course, if he's anything like his brat of a daughter, I'm sure he deserved it."

Harry made another move to attack Draco at that; this time, even Ellie had a hard time containing herself. More importantly, though, she felt… confused. This fell in line with what Voldemort had said, didn't it? How had she been so quick to believe a book in the restricted section over the cold, hard facts in front of her—over her own instincts? Was it possible that her father really was innocent, after all?

"Enough about that," said Draco, who seemed to take Ellie's silence as some sort of opening. "Crabbe, Goyle—why don't you two go on and tuck in for the night?"

Ellie had no idea what Pansy Parkinson did or didn't do with Draco Malfoy in her spare time, but she wasn't eager to find out by being left alone with him. Thankfully, Ron and Harry didn't seem to have any such plans.

"Actually," said Harry, standing quickly up, "Pansy, didn't you leave something back in the—er—hallway where we…"

"Yeah," she said, rising to her own feet. "Draco, we'll—er—be back in a minute."

And with that, they ran out of the Slytherin Tower as quickly as they could.


Nothing creepier than having to flirt with Draco Malfoy in Pansy Parkinson's skin, I reckon... And was Harry exceptionally jealous, or was it just me? Please leave your reviews if you're enjoying the story, and see you soon!