Samantha's breath caught in her throat. "Oh my god. Today?" she asked.
Hermione nodded. "Quick, open your presents and then we can go tell the boys," she said.
Samantha opened all of them in a hurry. She had gotten another Weasley sweater and made a mental note to send a thank you to Mrs. Weasley.
"Are you finished yet?" Hermione asked impatiently as Athena flew in from the window with a small plastic bag.
"Must be from the Dursleys," Samantha muttered as she looked at the lone rubber band they had most likely gotten off of a newspaper. "Right, let's go," she said.
The girls rushed into the boys' dormitory, where they found Harry and Ron asleep.
"Wake up," Hermione said as she and Samantha pulled the curtains open.
"Hermione- Samantha- you're not supposed to be in here-" said Ron, covering his eyes.
"Merry Christmas to you too," Hermione said. "I've been up for nearly an hour, adding more lacewings to the potion."
"It's ready," Samantha said.
Harry sat up suddenly. "Are you sure?" he asked.
"Positive," Hermione replied, sitting on Ron's bed. "If we're going to do it, I say it should be tonight."
Hedwig swooped through the window, carrying a small package.
"Hello," Harry told her cheerfully. "Are you speaking to me again?" he asked.
Hedwig nibbled his ear. Harry opened the package, which turned out to contain a toothpick and a note asking whether he could stay at Hogwarts for the summer.
"Ha," Samantha said, "they asked me that last year."
Harry and Ron opened the rest of their presents.
"I wonder if Lauren got a Weasley sweater?" Samantha asked. "I'd ask her, if she was speaking to me."
"She probably did," Ron said, turning slightly red.
"At least your mum puts thought into your presents," Samantha said. "Ours- well, ours is dead, and I'm sure if she were alive she'd put thought into them, but our aunt and uncle gave me a rubber band and Harry a toothpick."
Ron was silent.
Christmas dinner that evening was magnificent. There were very few people still at Hogwarts for the winter that year. The Slytherin table had the most students still left; evidently, they felt as if they didn't need to worry about Slytherin's monster, seeing as they themselves were Slytherins.
Samantha opened quite a few wizarding crackers again, ending up with a set of color-changing quills, a singing water bottle, and a tacky bracelet among other things.
She laughed along with everyone else when they first saw that Fred and George had bewitched Percy's Prefect badge to read "Pinhead", and they sang a few Christmas carols. Margot was still there, sitting rather close to a boy in her year. She had been made a Prefect that year, yet didn't have the badge on at the moment.
The only thing that slightly dampened Samantha's mood was watching Lauren have fun with Ginny. She wished they could spend that Christmas together, but knew there would be many more to come, and that soon enough, the mystery should be solved, and she could have fun with Lauren for the rest of the year.
Finally, after they were all stuffed full of delicious food, Hermione ushered them out.
"We still need a bit of the person you're changing into," Hermione told the boys. "As I said, Harry and Ron should become Crabbe and Goyle, because they're Malfoy's best friends," Hermione said.
"And, they're dumb as rocks, so if they ask anything obvious, it fits within their character," Samantha added.
"Right," Hermione said. "Anyways, we have to make sure they don't show up in the middle of anything, so-" she held up two small chocolate cakes "-I put a Sleeping Draught in here. All you two have to do is make sure they find the cakes. They're bound to eat them. Once they're asleep, pull out a little of their hair and hide them in a broom closet."
"Little ominous, but okay," Samantha said.
Ron and Harry, however, were not so convinced.
"Hermione, I don't think-" Harry started.
"That could go seriously wrong-" Ron said.
Hermione glared at them. "The potion will be useless without Crabbe and Goyle's hair. You do want to investigate Malfoy, don't you?" she asked.
"Oh, alright, alright," Harry said. "We'll do it," he agreed.
Ron nodded as well. "Yep. We're in."
"Good," Hermione said, handing them each a cake. "Now, meet us in the bathroom after," she instructed, and Harry and Ron turned away.
"Come on, we should get larger robes for Ron, Harry and I, and smaller for you. You and Pansy may have a similar build, but she's shorter than you, and yours will drag on the floor," Hermione said.
Samantha nodded. "Right, let's go."
The girls ran down to the laundry room and took some of the spare robes that were in the cabinet, along with four Slytherin ties. Then, holding them tightly in their hands, they ran back up to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, where the Polyjuice Potion was surrounded by thick, black fog.
Hermione had already laid out four cups in the stall, and everything seemed to be in order.
"It's us," Harry said as he walked inside, pulling his robes over his face to hide himself from the black smoke that wafted around the bathroom.
"Did it work?" Samantha and Hermione asked urgently together.
"Yeah," Harry answered, and he and Ron both held up some hair.
"Good. And we got larger robes for you two, you'll need bigger sizes once you're Crabbe and Goyle," Hermione said.
Harry and Ron glanced past the girls, looking into the bubbling potion.
"I'm sure I've done everything right…" Hermione muttered, reading the pages of the book.
"Hey, I did a lot too!" Samantha said.
"Right… it looks how the book says it should… once we've drunk it, we'll have exactly an hour before we turn back into ourselves."
"Now what?" Ron whispered.
"We separate it into glasses," Samantha replied, sighing. She and Hermione ladled it into the cups, Hermione handing one to Ron and Samantha one to Harry before each filling one for themselves.
Samantha was the first to put her hair in. She took it out of the jar she'd held it in, dropping it into the liquid which hissed and frothed before turning a brown and gray shade of pink that Samantha never wanted to see again.
Next was Hermione, her hands shaking as she dropped it in. It turned a sickly shade of yellow.
Next was Harry, his turning a khaki color, and finally Ron, who's turned a dark and murky brown.
"Ew," Samantha said, eyeing the potions they were all about to drink.
"We better not drink them in here," Harry said as they began to raise their glasses to their lips. "Once Ron and I are Crabbe and Goyle, we won't fit. And Millicent Bullstrode's no pixie."
"Good thinking," said Ron. "We'll take separate stalls."
The four of them split into different stalls of the bathroom, Samantha locking the door behind her.
"Ready?" Harry asked.
"Ready," Samantha, Ron, and Hermione replied together. Samantha was rather excited. Another school rule broken, another new adventure to go on.
"One… two… three-"
Trying as hard as she could to not breathe, Samantha gulped down the glass of Polyjuice Potion. It burned her mouth and throat as it went down, tasting like swamp water, or what Samantha assumed swamp water would taste like, seeing as she'd never actually drunk swamp water.
Her stomach seemed to twist, making Samantha lean over the open toilet in case she threw up, but instead of being sick, the same burning sensation she had felt when swallowing the potion engulfed her whole body. Then her skin began to feel as if it were bubbling, and Samantha was clinging onto the toilet seat, trying not to fall onto the floor. She felt as if she were shrinking, only a few inches. Her hair lightened slightly and became messier, and her eyesight became blurry in her glasses. She could feel her bones moving around, readjusting themselves to give her Pansy's bone structure, and her skin stretching, making her arms and legs slightly thicker.
A few seconds later, the transformation was over. Samantha leaned against the stall wall for another few seconds, catching her breath. Then she stood up, feeling a little dizzy. She tucked some hair out of her eyes, feeling the dry and frizzy strands scratch against her hand. She pulled her glasses off of her face, and the bathroom became clear. Samantha could feel how loose her shoes were, and wished she had some sort of replacement. The bottom two inches of her robes rested on the floor, and her sweater, skirt, and socks felt tighter, but barely, not enough for Samantha to need a replacement for any.
Samantha pulled the shorter robes off of where she had hung them on the stall door, taking her slightly too big ones off and putting these ones on. She took off the red and gold tie she wore around her neck and put the silver and green one on, feeling as if she were betraying herself the whole time.
"Are you guys okay?" came a low voice from the stall next to her.
"Yeah," Samantha answered. Pansy's voice was slightly deeper and clearer than her own.
"Fine," another deep voice answered.
Samantha unlocked the stall, stepping out. She examined herself in the mirror for a second, taking in her features. She'd never gotten a great look at Pansy, and now realized her face resembled a pug.
The doors to two more stalls opened, and out stepped Crabbe and Goyle.
"So, Harry's Goyle and Ron's Crabbe, right?" Samantha asked. Her voice sounded rather bossy, she noticed as well.
"Right," Harry, or rather Goyle, grunted. He stared at himself in the mirror.
"This is unbelievable," Ron said, also examining himself in the mirror. Samantha felt particularly small next to the two of them.
"We'd better get going," Harry said, glancing down at his wrist and loosening it. "We've still gotta find out where the Slytherin Common Room is."
"You don't know how weird it is to see Goyle thinking," Ron said, staring at Harry weirdly.
Samantha, who'd never interacted with or paid much attention to Goyle, could tell that "thoughtful" wasn't an expression often appearing on Goyle's face.
"Come on, Hermione, we need to go," Samantha said, knocking on Hermione's stall door.
"I- I don't think I'm going to go after all. You three can go on without me," Hermione said in an unusually high pitched voice, one Samantha would never believe for a second belonged to Millicent Bullstrode.
"Hermione, we know Millicent Bullstrode's ugly, no one's going to know it's you-"
"No, really," Hermione said desperately, "I don't think I'll come. You three hurry up, you're wasting time."
Samantah sighed, wanting to protest but also knowing it would take her nowhere.
"That looks more like Goyle," Ron said, and Samantha turned to see a bewildered expression on Harry's face. "That's how he looks every time a teacher asks him a question."
"Hermione, you okay?" Harry asked.
"Fine, I'm fine. Go on-"
Samantha and Harry glanced at their watches together. "Five minutes," Samantha said softly. "We've got to go now." Then, a thought struck. "Hermione, can I borrow your shoes?" she asked.
"I- I guess so," Hermione answered unsurely, passing her shoes under the door. Samantha swapped them out for her own too large ones, and Hermione's, although still a size or two too big, felt much better.
"We'll meet you back here, alright?" Harry said.
The tree of them set off, out of the bathroom and walking down the castle to the dungeons.
"Walk faster," Samantha told them, speeding up her own pace.
"Don't swing your arms," Harry muttered to Ron. "Crabbe holds them sort of stiff…"
"How's this?"
"Yeah, better."
They began wandering the corridors, looking around as if hoping to see a sign.
"Excuse me," Ron said to a girl walking through the halls a little ways away, her face hidden by the shadows of the walls. "We've forgotten the way to our common room."
The girl turned to face them. "Our common room?" she asked. Samantha noticed, her heart sinking, that the girl's tie was not green and silver, but rather blue and bronze, and they hadn't been able to see it with the shadows covering it. "I'm a Ravenclaw," she said, walking away.
"Come on, you two, this way," Samantha said, dragging Ron and Harry deeper into the castle.
"You three!" someone said from behind a few minutes later, and with a start, Samantha noticed it was Percy. "Get off to your dormitories. It's not safe to be wandering around dark corridors these days."
"You're wandering around dark corridors," Samantha pointed out.
"I am a prefect," Percy said, making himself taller. "Nothing's about to attack me."
Samantha scoffed. Percy was a pureblood. No one would attack him, she knew. Being a prefect had nothing to do with being attacked.
"There you are," said a drawling voice behind them, and Samantha, Harry, and Ron turned to see Draco Malfoy walking up the corridor behind them. "Have you two been pigging out in the Great Hall this whole time?" he asked, seeing only Crabbe and Goyle. Samantha moved, and he then noticed Pansy. "Pansy? Aren't you home for Christmas?" he asked.
"Yes, but I asked my parents if I could come visit for a little while, since it's Christmas," Samantha lied. "I only have a little bit of time, though. I found these two wandering around the corridors."
"Oh," Draco said, eyeing her suspiciously. "Well, I wanted to show you something really funny."
It was then that Draco seemed to notice Percy was there as well.
"And what're you doing down here, Weasley?" Draco asked.
Samantha winced, knowing Percy would not like this. She was right, she saw as she looked at Percy, he looked outraged.
"You want to show a little bit more respect to a school prefect!" he said. "I don't like your attitude."
Malfoy sneered and turned away, motioning to the three of them to follow him.
"That Peter Weasley…" Draco said as they walked through the halls to the Slytherin common room.
"Percy," Ron automatically corrected.
Draco gave him a strange look before saying, "Whatever. I've noticed him sneaking around a lot lately. And I bet I know what he's up to. He thinks he's going to catch Slytherin's heir single-handed."
Samantha remembered, as they had ridden with the Weasley's to their house that summer, Fred, George, and Ron saying Percy had been acting strange, sending lots of letters and staying locked in his room all summer. She doubted Percy was trying to catch the Heir of Slytherin.
Draco stopped walking when they hit a dismal-looking stone wall.
"What's the password again?" he asked, looking at Harry.
"Er-" Harry started.
"Oh yeah- pureblood," Draco said, and a stone door formed out of the wall, which slid open to let them inside.
Even if Samantha hadn't known where she was already, she would've guessed in a second. The whole room seemed to exuberate Slytherin, from the green lamps, rough stone wall and low ceiling to the green cushioned chairs and sofas and skulls decorating the walls. Samantha thought Gryffindor's common room was much more inviting.
"Wait here," said Draco, gesturing to an unused sofa a few feet away. "I'll go and get it- my father's just sent it to me-," he said, and with that, he ran off to what Samantha assumed were the dormitories.
"Two common rooms down, two to go," Samantha muttered under her breath, wondering if she should try asking Hudson if she could go into his common room once he got back, or Ellie once she was woken up.
Draco came back a minute later, holding a newspaper clipping in his hand.
"That'll give you a laugh," he said, handing it to Samantha.
Inquiry at the Ministry of Magic
Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, was today fined fifty Galleons for bewitching a Muggle car.
Mr. Lucius Malfoy, a governor of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where the car crashed earlier this year, called today for Mr. Weasley's resignation.
"Weasley had brought the Ministry into disrepute," Mr. Malfoy told our reporter. "He is clearly unfit to draw up our laws and his ridiculous Muggle Protection Act should be scrapped immediately."
Mr. Weasley was unavailable for comment, although his wife told reporters to clear off or she'd set the family ghoul on them.
Samantha forced a grin onto her face, making a note to give the Weasley's their fifty Galleons back the next time she saw them. "I wish I could see the looks on their faces when they found out! Oh, the things I could say about them…" Samantha said dreamily. She hoped Draco wouldn't ask her to say anything about the Weasley's, because everything she had on them was good. "Crabbe, Goyle, you have to see this." She passed the clipping to Ron, whose eyes widened in shock when he saw it.
He gave a very forced laugh before handing the clip to Harry.
"Well?" Draco asked as Harry stared at the newspaper clipping.
Harry looked extremely sorry, but gave a forced smile and a "Ha, ha," before handing the clip back to Draco.
"Arthur Weasley loves Muggles so much he should snap his wand in half and go join them," said Draco scornfully. "You'd never know the Weasleys were purebloods, the way they behave."
Samantha nodded, wanting more and more to punch Draco right then and there.
"What's up with you, Crabbe?"
Draco's question made Samantha look at Ron, who looked exactly how she felt, except she was better at hiding it.
"Stomachache," Ron answered.
"Well, go up to the hospital wing and give all those Mudbloods a kick from me," Draco said.
"Me, too," Samantha agreed.
"You know, I'm surprised the Daily Prophet hasn't reported all these attacks yet," Draco said. "I suppose Dumbledore's trying to hush it all up. He'll be sacked if it doesn't stop soon. Father's always said old Dumbledore's the worst thing that's ever happened to this place."
"Oh, for sure," said Samantha. She was rather sure her tone was very sarcastic, but Draco didn't seem to notice.
"He loves Muggle-borns. A decent headmaster would never let slime like Creevey in," Draco said, miming Colin taking pictures. He put on a high, eager voice and said, "Potter, can I have your picture, Potter? Can I have your autograph? Can I lick your shoes, please, Potter?"
Samantha's grin was real this time. Although Colin was a human and didn't deserve to be treated like he was less than Draco, the impression of him was rather accurate.
Draco smiled at Samantha before looking at Crabbe and Goyle and dropping his grin. "What's the matter with you?" he asked the boys.
Harry and Ron gave very forced laughs, yet Draco seemed satisfied.
"Saint Potter, the Mudblood's friend," said Draco, staring at the ground as if he wanted to make it explode with his eyes. "He's another one with no proper wizard feeling, or he wouldn't go around with that jumped up Granger Mudblood. And people think he's Slytherin's heir!"
"I know, it's such a disgrace," said Samantha, making a face. They were on the topic now, she thought. Surely they were close to finding out if Draco was the heir or not.
Draco looked at Samantha and nodded. "I wish I knew who it is. I would help them," he said.
"Oh, me too," Samantha said automatically, processing this as she spoke. Draco wasn't the heir of Slytherin, she realized, nor did he know who it was.
"You must have some idea who's behind it," Harry said.
Draco gave him a strange look. "You know I haven't, Goyle, how many times do I have to tell you?" he asked harshly.
"Yeah, Goyle," Samantha agreed.
"And father won't tell me anything about the last time the Chamber was opened either. Of course, it was fifty years ago, so it was before his time, but he knows all about it, and he says that it was all kept quiet and it'll look suspicious if I know too much about it. But I know one thing- last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened a Mudblood died. So I bet it's a matter of time before one of them's killed this time… I hope it's granger," said Draco.
"Parents," Samantha said, sighing. "Really, it's no big deal if you know anything. It's not like you'll go blabbing about it. Doesn't your father know you're smarter than that?"
Draco rolled his eyes. "I know. It's so frustrating," he said.
"D'you know if the person who opened the Chamber last time was caught?" Harry asked.
"Oh, yeah… whoever it was was expelled. They're probably still in Azkaban," Draco said absetly.
"Azkaban?" Harry asked.
"Azkaban- the wizard prison, Goyle," Draco said, bewildered.
"Seriously, Goyle, how do you not know that?" Samantha asked. No matter that she herself didn't know of it, Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle were supposed to know of it.
"Honestly, if you were any slower you'd be going backward," said Draco, shaking his head.
Draco shifted in his seat. "Father says to keep my head down and let the Heir of Slytherin get on with it. He says the school needs ridding of al the Mudblood filth, but not to get mixed up in it. Of course, he's got a lot on his plate at the moment. You know the Ministry raided our manor last week?"
Samantha gave a dramatic gasp. "Draco, that's awful! They had no right to do that to such a respectable family," she said passionately.
"Yeah…" said Draco. "Luckily, they didn't find much. Father's gt some very valuable Dark Arts stuff. But luckily, we've got our own secret chamber under the drawing room floor-"
"Ho!" Ron shouted.
Samantha looked at him and raised her eyebrows. Ron blushed, everyone's eyes on him. But that wasn't all that turned red. His hair was, too, and his nose was slowly lengthening.
Samantha made eye contact with Harry, and saw with horror that his hair was darkening and growing out. And by the look on Harry's face, she could tell her features were changing back to normal as well.
Samantha quickly glanced down at her watch. Their hour was up. "Well, would you look at the time. I'd better be going. I'll see you when the holidays are over. Crabbe, Goyle, if you could walk me out, that would be lovely. Bye, Draco!" Samantha shouted as she, Ron, and Harry ran out of the Slytherin common room, leaving a bewildered Draco behind them.
They ran all the way through the castle, back towards Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. As they passed through the entrance hall, they could hear banging from a closet.
"Crabbe and Goyle?" Samantha asked.
Harry and Ron nodded, taking off their shoes and laying them in front of the door.
Harry and Ron's robes were now too large, and Samantha's too small.
"Well, it wasn't a complete waste of time," said Ron breathlessly as he shut the door behind them after they walked into the bathroom. "I know we still haven't found out who's doing the attacks, but I'm going to write to Dad tomorrow and tell him to check under the Malfoys' drawing room."
"Definitely," Samantha agreed. "They deserve it."
She ducked into a stall and swapped out her robes for ones that fit, and put her glasses back on.
"Hermione, come out, we've got loads to tell you," Ron said, hammering on Hemione's stall door as Samantha stepped out.
"Go away!" Hermione said in the same high pitched voice that Samantha doubted belonged to Millicent Bullstrode.
"What's the matter?" Ron asked, looking at Samantha, who shrugged. "You must be back to normal by now, we are-"
He was suddenly interrupted by Moaning Myrtle floating out of the stall, looking happy as can be.
"Ooh, wait till you see her," she said happily, with a large grin on her face. "It's awful."
"Hermione, what's happened?" Samantha asked softly.
Hermione opened the stall door, covering her face with her robes.
"Have you still got Millicent's nose or something?" Ron asked, earning a glare from Samantha.
"It's okay, Hermione," Samantha cooed.
Hermione let the robes fall from her face. Samantha's eyes widened as she took in the sight. Hermione's whole face was covered in fur the color of her hair. Her eyes were yellow, and there were triangular ears sticking up through her hair.
"Hermione… Millicent Bullstrode isn't by any chance, I don't know… a cat?" Samantha asked.
Hermione pouted. "No, but she m-must have one!"
"The potion isn't supposed to be used for animals! If you want to become an animal, you have to become an animagi!" Samantha cried.
"I know!" Hermione said, panic in her voice.
"You'll be teased something dreadful," Moaning Myrtle said.
"Oh, shut up, you," Samantha snapped.
"It's okay, Hermione," Harry said quickly. "We'll take you up to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey never asks too many questions…"
"I don't want to walk through the school looking like this!" Hermione cried.
"Come on, put your robes over your head again, no one will have to see," Samantha said. "Oh, and here are your shoes back." She picked them up off the floor and handed them to Hermione.
Hermione looked skeptical, but put on her shoes.
"Wait till everyone finds out you have a tail!" Myrtle called as they left.