The next morning Celesta snuck back to her dormitory, having heard no more of the voice. Just in case, she kept her head down, closing her eyes and wrapping into a small ball whenever she heard something headed her way, even if it was just the whispy noises of the ghosts.
Dashing through the portrait hole when a student opened it to go to breakfast, she dashed up the stairs and hopped into her bed, shifting and pretending to wake up. She went through her normal Sunday morning actions, dressing and checking her bag for all her supplies. Celesta was jumpy, however, her already red eyes bloodshot from the lack of sleep.
Barely saying good morning to Hermione, she ran back down, bypassing the Great Hall altogether for the kitchens, asking the house elves for a quick breakfast before heading to one of the unused classrooms, sniffing a little at the dust in the air. A quick household spell cleaned the area she'd chosen to sit, nibbling on her breakfast and checking the time. Her father seemed to work a lot, so she was hoping...but it would be wise to double check.
"Luli," Celesta called, summoning her elf. She appeared in a snap of fingers, large blue eyes staring up at her.
"Young miss called for Luli? What could Young Miss need?" Luli asked, looking over her charge with critical eyes, as if checking for damage.
"I was wanting to speak to Dobby, but I don't want Father to know. Is he available?" Celesta questioned, tilting her head to the side. "Also, some Pepper-Up wouldn't be remiss," she amended, covering a yawn. "I wasn't able to sleep much last night."
"Right away, Young Miss. Luli will fetch Dobby if available, and the potion from Young Miss's stores," Her elf stated, snapping her fingers. It took nearly half an hour before she was back, Dobby wringing his hands, looking fearful.
"Y-young Miss!" Dobby suddenly blurt out, running to Celesta and sobbing into her skirt. "Dobby is sorry! Dobby knows Harry Potter is your friend, so Dobby thought she'd want him safe. And Master is planning...Oooh! Stupid Dobby!" He'd burst out sobbing, before grabbing a nearby curio, banging it on his head like he had the night before.
"Dobby stop it!" Celesta ordered sternly. "You mustn't tell Father about this conversation no matter what, do you understand?" She waited for Dobby to nod, smiling at Luli as she gave her the goblet full of pepper-up. Downing it, she sighed, waiting for the smoke to stop exitting through her ears before speaking once more. "Dobby, last night you said that this had happened before. I understand you not being able to talk about it, due to an order. Here is an order from me. Do not interfere with Harry attending school here. But you can speak to him. Please don't get Harry in trouble. Being raised by muggles, he has the Trace on him, so he could've been arrested and sent to Azkaban, and that's not a good place. Auntie Trixie is there, after all."
Dobby sniffled a little, before nodding. "Young Miss is too kind." Dobby said, before wincing. "Master is calling, Young Miss!" He said in a rush, snapping away.
Sighing, Celesta stood and vanished her trash, smiling at Luli. "Do you need anything, Luli?"
Later, she went to check on the polyjuice they'd finally been able to start, Hermione setting up the potion. She checked on the steps, casting a charm on the cauldron to alert her to when it was ready for the next ingredient, before joining her friends.
By Monday morning, news about Collin Creevey lying petrified in the Hospital Wing had spread far and wide. First years were walking in tight-clustered groups. Fred and George kept trying to cheer up Ginny, who seemed most distraught, in all the wrong ways until Pervy lectured them because the girl was having nightmares.
Even Neville was walking around in protection charms and amulets.
The second week of December, Celesta got a letter from her Mother stating that her Father was quite busy at work, so the holidays would have to be spent at the school, which suited her just fine. After all, the potion was only halfway finished. Though she didn't agree about her brother being the heir, it was a possibility he knew who it was. She signed up to stay over the holidays, sending a list of what she wanted for her friends for Luli to purchase and wrap.
For Hermione, she was to get a handmirror that would tell Hermione compliments when asked for them. Ron would get sweets, as he didn't seem to want for anything else. She got Harry a set of quidditch boots with a feather-falling charm, so if he ever fell off his broom he wouldn't break his legs. Of course, for Father she got a new Wizard's cap designed by Madame Taffit, and Mother a set of pearls. She was looking forward to this Christmas so much she'd even gotten Fred and George gifts, getting them some joke products, as well as a spare cauldron for their experiments.
A week later, they were all walking across the entrance hall when they spotted a throng of people in front of the notice board, staring at a parchment that had just been pinned up. Seamus Finnegan and Dean Thomas beckened them over.
There in large letters was a notice that they were starting a deuling club. Celesta, having gotten lessons from Flitwick, scoffed a little, knowing who this must be from. "I'll see you guys afterwards, I have my own deuling lessons to get to," she told her friends, meeting Flitwick during the time the deuling club was supposed to start. She was moving onto harder spells now, going into the third year curriculum. Occasionally she was able to successfully go five or ten minutes nonverbally, but then she'd grow exhausted, not quite yet at the level of magical prowesss to do more.
Flitwick seemed surprised she was able to do even that much at second year, nonverbal spells not taught until six or even seventh year. They ended the lesson with a note for her to rest and have a good holiday, Celesta doing a few cleansing spells to rid herself of the sweat the lesson had exerted from her.
Due to missing the other lesson, though she doubted it was much of one, she caught the tail end of Ron and Hermione telling Harry he was a Parseltongue. Which meant she was as well, her blood turning to ice in her veins. She knew Harry wasn't the heir, and she certainly wasn't, but she supposed it was possible to be AN heir, especially with their bloodlines so entwined over the years.
"Harry's not the only Parselmouth." she said, her friends jumping as Celesta appeared.
"What do you mean?" Ron demanded of Celesta, making her whimper a little. Being the shortest of her friends, Ron the tallest, made it hard for her to face him when he yelled. But she did, strengthening her spine and narrowing her eyes.
"I am too. Not Draco though. He'd have told me ages ago if he was," she said, Hermione nodding as she knew Celesta's secrets.
The next day the snow had gotten so bad Herbology was cancelled, Professor Sprout spending the morning putting booties and gloves on the Mandrakes, needing them for the restoritive draught for those petrified. Everybody couldn't shake the feeling that more people would be petrified before too long.
Harry was worried about Justin Flynn-Fletchey thinking he was a dark wizard, so he and Celesta searched for him, finding a group of Hufflepuffs talking in a group. Only, they weren't saying kind things about Harry at all. They accused Harry of being a Dark Lord. Celesta hung back as Harry confronted them, but she followed after him, meeting with Hagrid who was complaining about his chickens being killed. "I'm sorry Hagrid, but it isn't Maera. She's a bit spoiled, and too little to kill chickens. She prefers them already dead and defeathered. And deboned." Celesta explained, before the two of them continued on.
Perhaps they should've stayed behind, however.
She and Harry tripped over something, and upon seeing Justin lying on the floor, his face frozen in shock. There was also Nearly Headless Nick, floating and frozen as well, no longer pearly and transparent but black and smokey, his expression identical to Justin's. She didn't recognize the screaming she heard, not catching Peeve's words, the prankster poltergeist drawn by the sound.
The next thing she knew, she was silenced by Mcgonagall, and along with Harry, dragged up to Dumbledore's office after having water splashed in her face by a low-powered Auguamenti.
Dumbledore's office was circular in style, filled with books and photographs of previous headmasters on the walls. Fawkes, Dumbledore's pheonix coughed, disturbing Harry and her from observing the man's office. The bird looked sickly and old, molted feathers surrounding his perch. A few more feathers fell, before he burst into flames, shocking Harry while Celesta crooned.
"A burning day! So rare to see a pheonix, let alone one burning!" She exclaimed, Dumbledore deciding to make his presence known then. He explained about pheonixes to Harry, settling behind his desk. They were about to plead their case when Hagrid burst through the door, explaining he'd been talking to them just seconds before the attack had happened so it couldn't be either of them.
For a while there, Hagrid kept rambling until Dumbledore interupted, explaining he knew it wasn't them. Hagrid had backed out then, embarressed. Then Dumbledore turned to them, asking if there was anything they'd like to tell him. While Harry said he didn't and was excused, Celesta hung back, her eyebrows drawn together in worry. "Professor, I don't know if this is relevant, but me and Harry are parselmouths. And very distantly we are, in technicalities, related to Slytherin. But we aren't the heirs, due to that distantly. And the Potters never claimed to have any parselmouths, while some Blacks have, but not in generations."
Dumbledore had sighed a little, before smiling a little bit, nodding his head and dismissing her as well.
While she was exempt from being called the heir due to her screaming after Justin and Nearly Headless Nick's attack, Harry on the other hand was getting all kinds of looks and panicked actions. People backed out of rooms he was in, giving him a wide berth. Draco hated it immensely, Fred and George at least treating it as if it was hilarious, which it was. Even a lot of people who had originally signed up to stay over the holidays were changing their mings, leaving Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle, as well as Celesta and her friends in their year.
Too frightened to be by herself over the holidays, she spent most of her shifted time in the Twin's beds, curling up between them as they stroked over her fur after a nasty nightmare. Finally, the term ended, leaving them with the run of Gryffindor tower.
Celesta spent her days working over the potion, and finally it was ready for the final stages, Celesta giving Hermione the instructions needed before telling her she wouldn't be partaking in the potion, but instead be shifted when they snuck into the Slytherin common room. She headed back to her room to open her presents and write thank you notes. She also spent time with Ginny and the twins, managing to bond with Ginny over hexes and curses, managing to teach the youngest Weasley the bat-boodey hex.
The Christmas feast was wonderful, though Draco boasted about the gifts he'd gotten, even the one from Celesta. She'd gotten him an enchanted parchment that would connect to her own, the messages just for them. They were even hexed so that nobody but them could write on the parchments, Celesta needing to dip into her birth mother's inheritance to purchase the charms needed. Not even polyjuice would fool those parchments. Obviously Draco didn't explain the gift, only stating that even his sister, while being a Gryffindor, was thoughtful enough to send him a useful gift.
While Harry and Ron took care of Crabbe and Goyle, she and Hermione went back to the potion, putting in the final ingredients. When Celesta heard Ron and Harry approaching, she shifted into fox form, yipping a little and acting much like her pet Maera, hoping Ron and Harry weren't too observant to the fact she had six less tails than her familiar. They never spent much time with Maera anyway.
She watched while her friends downed the potions, Harry and Ron's going perfectly, transforming into Draco's friends while Hermione ran into a stall. Sniffing, she sneezed when she scented Millicents dreadful cat. Once Hermione told the boys to continue with the plan, Celesta waited until they were gone before transforming back, escorting her friend to the Hospital Wing. "You'll have to explain something. Perhaps instead of a failed polyjuice, let's say transfiguration gone wrong? Perhaps you read ahead about animagi?" Celesta suggested, Hermione only nodding through her sobs.
It was going to be a long night.
Author's Note: GOSH this one was hard to write. I tried my best, but it took more than one night to get it done, between pain and IRL issues. Plus a bit of a block, I didn't know how I wanted this one to go.
Once again, special thanks to those that've favorited and followed this story.
As always, feel free to review! I love reading them! See you next chapter!