To keep everybody safe, they had been ordered to go into their houses. Katherina only caught a glimpse of the writing as Cedric tried to shield her from the horror scene. Vesuvia was whimpering, possibly crying. A few others were whispering or whining. However, there was one thing that stuck with her.

"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened, enemies of the heir... beware. What does it mean?"

Draco had commanded all of those closest to him into his room for an emergency meeting. He didn't call Katherina, but she was well respected in their house, despite dating that spineless Hufflepuff doll boy. She was there simply because she had decided to come along and he didn't have the guts to tell her to leave. That would have likely aggravated their conflict even more, possibly turning into a duel, which was the last thing their house needed at the moment.

"Isn't it obvious? The heir of Slytherin must be in our generation!" he snapped.

"Evidently, but what does it really mean?" the girl asked with no hope of receiving an answer but rather to contemplate the situation.

Cabble and Goyle were sitting on a chest, watching Draco pace around the room. Pansy was leaning against a pillar of his bed, watching his every move and trying hard to squeeze something intelligent from her tired mind. Blaise Zabini was the newest member of the group, who seemed more interested in Selena than the conversation. The girl was sitting with Anna at Malfoy's desk, as he had two chairs. Katherina took advantage of her flying class uniform and sat on the carpet with her legs crossed.

"Enemies of the heir, this is the bit that confuses me. Who could it be?"

Cabble tried to make a joke. "Maybe the heir hates cats?"

Blaise rolled his eyes, as Pansy sighed in frustration.

"Yeah, that must be it," the girl mocked him. "I'm sure he's allergic to cats."

Goyle's eyes lit up. "That would explain Mrs. Norris!"

A choir of groanes raised from the group, confusing the idiot duo.

Blaise cleared his throat. "Perhaps we can't see the forest because of the trees? What if we're too distracted by the obvious to see the bigger picture?"

Anna leaned with her elbow over the back of the chair. "Do you think this could be related to Slytherin's blood purity ideology?"

"I prefer that theory, yes. The enemies of the heir would be mud-bloods, then."

"There's only one flaw," Katherina joined their discussion. "We can all agree this is the work of a single individual, presumably the heir of Slytherin, correct? How would this individual know the heritage of every student and professor here, at Hogwarts? Salazar Slytherin was one of the founders, so we can assume he would have known, given his political and administrative position, but the heir must be one of us, right? A student, essentially."

Silence fell over Draco's bedroom for a few long moments.

"...What if he's not a student?" Pansy asked in a low voice. "We do have a new professor."

Draco and Blaise began laughing right away.

"That pink princess, Lockhart?" Blaise asked once he caught his breath. "The heir of Slytherin? You sure fell hard earlier," he mocked the girl further.

Not missing the chance, Draco joined him. "He wouldn't survive one day in our house! Bloody charlatan! All he's got are parlor tricks and cheap taste!"

"Enough of that," Anna raised her voice just to get the attention of the boys. "Making fun of each other doesn't bring us closer to solving this mystery. You're all forgetting one very important thing - Mrs. Norris was petrified, not killed."

Draco stopped immediately. "You mean it?"

Selena opened her mouth. "We stayed behind to wait for Katherina. Dumbledore said that the cat was alive still."

"So the heir had cast a petrification spell?" Pansy tried to conclude.

"Either that or... perhaps we're not dealing with the heir himself, but with a creature under his control?" Katherina looked up at Anna. "What creature could petrify?" She knew that Anna was the most studious of them all and thus, their safest bet for a brief summary of about a dozen books on any given topic.

The girl sighed. "There are a lot of them! Most magical serpents have the ability to petrify a victim, including the Gorgon."

After a brief mental recap, Blaise volunteered to put together what they had deduced so far.

"You're saying that the heir of Slytherin had opened the Chamber of Secrets, then either left or refrained from intervening anymore. Some dark magical creature with the ability to petrify is what we should really be searching for. Considering that it wrote on the wall, I suppose we can all agree it is intelligent, and for it to have been alive inside the Chamber of Secrets for centuries, it means it's also got a very long lifespan, and possibly... it's hungry."

Hearing the words spill from his mouth, Cabble and Goyle exchanged a look, both swallowing hard in a fruitless effort to calm themselves down.

"Hungry for mud-bloods, I assume," Draco said in a confident voice. "It all makes sense, Caesarius, quit rolling your eyes at me!"

Katherina stood up and paced around the room as well. "Science has proven that there is absolutely zero difference in terms of blood chemistry between muggles, half-bloods, and pure-bloods! Your argument is invalid."

"There is a huge difference in power!" Draco argued back.

"She's right," Anna intervened. "Two substances with the same chemical composition will appear very similar, impossible to tell apart using our senses, even if there are some differences in the molecular structure. Up to a certain point, that is..." The girl saw the pure-bloods getting offended, but she was still correct.

After a long, awkward silence, Pansy sat on the edge of the bed. "You said it's intelligent, right, Blaise? Do you think we're dealing with a Gorgon?"

"I'd say it's possible," he said as he kept looking at the girls. Selena was as pale as the moon and so thin she looked frail, like a nymph or a ghostly apparition. He watched her braid turning into a rose-shaped bun behind her head and imagined how long it would be if she were to let it loose. "Let's all stay together until we're sure this Gorgon monster is only hunting mud-bloods."

Draco looked up from the carpet. "What do you suggest?"

"I'm saying to use it as an excuse for some sleepovers. We're safer together," Blaise proposed with a cheeky grin.

The first to agree was Pansy. "Great idea, Blaise!"

That's when Draco saw her sitting on his bed. "Did I let you touch my sheets? Did you even bathe after you rolled around in the mud like a pig?"

Noticing the tension and how Pansy's eyes got glossy all of a sudden, Katherina decided to take it a little further. "It's actually a really good idea! Malfoy and Parkinson can share the room since they're practically dating."

Malfoy didn't waste one second in defending himself. "I'm not dating her!"

"Oh, are you sure she knows? Pansy has been drooling over you for over a year now, and since I'm dating Cedric, nothing is stopping you two. We all know I could have anyone I want," Katherina went on bragging.

Pansy walked towards Katherina's friends in a threatening way. Reading her intentions, Anna stood in front of Selena to shield her from whatever Pansy was going to throw at them. "You're a bunch of pathetic jealous bitches!"

Sensing that something was going to happen, Blaise pointed his wand at Pansy. "Expelliamus! I won't have you do anything stupid."

Thrown back by the force of the spell and losing her wand in the process, Pansy landed between the bed and the closet. Even so, the expression on Selena's face spoke of nothing other than panic.

"Can we go? I think we should," she said as she stood up quickly and ran her hands over the back of her skirt to ensure it looked proper.

Katherina noticed this and was willing to respect her choice. "We'll go, don't worry... By the way, Malfoy, remember that spell you were too scared to learn? I learned it with Cedric."

"I don't need bullshit pure heart spells. Go, get the hell out of my room! Whatever this monster is, I hope it teaches you to keep your pretty mouth shut!"

Everyone remained silent for a moment. Was that a threat? Was it a compliment? Was it a curse? Katherina felt too many pairs of eyes on her. She turned and walked out, trying not to start running, well aware that she will probably not end up in her room if she did. Her friends called out after her, but she didn't listen. She walked fast into her room, shut the door, and locked it. She couldn't run to Diggory for comfort every time she didn't like what she felt, she couldn't depend on him, or anyone else for that matter.

Draco remained in his room. He didn't want anyone there. He ordered everyone out!

As Cabble closed the door behind them all, he felt his legs weakening. Why did it bother him so much?! He didn't even feel bad for Pansy losing that race - he knew she would lose. He hoped she would lose! He was furious that she had lost their house ten points on something so idiotic, but he didn't really care that she lost the race. He wouldn't have cared if she had broken her neck, either.

He didn't want Katherina dating Diggory. He hated the thought, it was the only reason he allowed Pansy in his presence so much, but he didn't give a shit about her. She annoyed him, she spoke too much when he wanted quiet, she didn't speak enough when he needed to hear something, she didn't match his moods - he wasn't even sure if she understood them. Damn it all! He barely understood his moods himself, but Katherina seemed to get it. He wasn't sure because he never spoke about it with her, but she seemed to understand him better than any of his friends.

Draco wanted to tell someone... just word-vomit all over someone's consciousness, let all of his thoughts go, but who should be gifted and cursed to endure such a thing? He thought of his mother, but he then remembered Katherina's disappointment when he finally confessed what he has been avoiding all summer - the fact that he had told his mother more than he should have said.

He tried to go to bed, but he was more awake than during some of his classes. Draco decided he needed to do something to let all of the pressure loose before his head let all of his brain loose. He had the most terrible headache and it didn't help him understand his feelings the slightest. He started moving his feet all of a sudden, like an engine being turned on autopilot. He left his room in a rush, slamming the door behind him and crossing the boys' corridor in what felt like a second. The darkness didn't bother him, he knew the Slytherin house by heart. As for the monster? If it showed up at that time, he was furious enough to cut his way straight through its heart.

Equally as restless, Katherina had taken out the financial reports, ready to spend the night going through them once more. She had already done that twice, double-checking if her initial conclusion was correct, but she needed something to do and this was going to prove the perfect distraction. As she was about to begin, she heard a rapid knocking on her door, but her disposition wasn't the most adequate for greeting guests. She thought it was either Selena, Anna, or the two of them, so she simply ignored the knocks and sat down at her desk.

He stood in front of her door, contemplating breaking it, but feeling his confidence melt like wax in front of a fire. Turning around, he rested his back against the door. Her room had become even quieter than before. There was no way she would just go to sleep... right?


Author's notes:

According to the Wiki, Cedric and Cho began dating during the second half of their time at Hogwarts, so this brief story between him and Katherina could be squeezed into the timeline without any alterations. I suppose it's not really a spoiler for anyone that they wouldn't last too long.

I am planning a little Christmas treat if the next few chapters will be out on time. All I'm saying is that it will involve both Draco and Snape. As always, favorite, follow, and review, and I will stay true to my word.