It almost seemed too unreal to be true. Potter being the heir of Slytherin was a ridiculous rumor at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt uneasy about it. He was a Parselmouth, and he has been seen at the scene of the crime at the first attack, the one with the writing on the wall.

The moment I started talking about how Potter could be the heir of Slytherin, Draco had narrowed his eyes at me. "That's stupid, Heather." He snapped at me. "Potter's not the heir."

I narrowed my eyes right back at him. "Then who do you think is the heir, Draco?"

Draco didn't reply but did look considerably more grumpy for the rest of the afternoon.

The next week, another Muggle born was attacked. Justin Finch-Fletchley, the boy who had the snake set on him during the dueling club, was found by (who else) Potter. Nearly Headless Nick, the ghost of Gryffindor, was also found in a sort of Petrified state. Now it seemed like nobody was safe. The Bloody Baron was the only ghost that didn't look terrified of the monster, whatever it was.

Christmas holidays was getting closer and I was eagerly awaiting the two weeks in which almost everybody would be gone from the castle. But professors were getting more strict, throwing more assignments at us. I struggled to keep on top of these homework assignments, spending almost all my time in either the library, the Slytherin common room, or the extra Charms classroom with Longbottom.

Pansy appeared to have stopped asking why I was acting distant from her, and she started spending more time with Tracey and Daphne. I felt more relieved than I was ready to admit that she was making new friends.

One night in the library, I looked up from my Defense Against the Dark Arts essay about gnomes to the sound of someone knocking over a pile of books. Ron Weasley was hurrying to leave the toppled pile, as if trying to act as if he wasn't the one who knocked them over. I rolled my eyes and went back to my essay.

"Is this the best meeting spot?" Weasley's voice asked from the other side of the shelf. I glared at the spot his voice was coming from. "It's too quiet! Shouldn't we be in the bathroom?"

Who the hell was he talking to?

"I'm doing homework." Granger's voice replied loftily. "You both should be doing yours as well. But I needed to tell you both really fast that you need to get the hairs."

"We already had an idea of that, Hermione." Potter whispered. "When will the potion be finished?"

"It'll be finished just in time for Christmas holidays." Granger replied, her voice going down in volume and I had to lean in to hear.

"Hopefully we'll be able to find out about the heir," Weasley said with a sigh. "I'm tired of hearing about Muggle borns getting attacked."

I stood up and walked around the shelf, feeling slight satisfaction when I saw their stunned faces.

"So you three are trying to find the heir?" I asked in what sounded like a bored voice. "What kind of potion is it?"

They all stared at me, none of them knowing how to react. Granger finally whispered. "How much did you hear?"

"Weasley was asking why you weren't in the bathroom." I said.

"You were spying on us?" Weasley asked, turning red.

"I was doing homework on the other side of that shelf and you don't know how to whisper." I snapped at him. "Maybe don't have your private conversations in a public library where even worse people can overhear. Now what potion are you making to help Muggle borns?"

There was another moment of silence until Granger answered. "Polyjuice Potion."

I nodded, "So that's why you were sneaking into Professor Snape's private stores. Yeah, I saw that too. Who're you all changing into?"

"Crabbe, Goyle, and Millicent Bullstrode." Potter finally said.

"Stop telling her things!" Weasley said angrily.

Potter pointed at me. "She already knows we're making Polyjuice Potion!"

"Millicent is going home for Christmas." I pointed out. "If it's almost ready, she's not going to be here."

"I already got some of her hair." Granger piped up. "I was going to say that I had decided to stay here over Christmas."

"That's stupid." I said bluntly. "Millicent loves her family. She never would randomly decide to stay behind." A sudden thought went through my head and I reached up and plucked a trio of my own hair. "Here. I'm already staying behind. Let me know when you are planning on actually doing this."

They stared open mouthed at me until Granger tentatively stepped forward and took the strands of hair from me. She stared at the dark and curly hair in her hand before looking to me. "Why are you helping us?"

She didn't know it, but we were more similar than she thought. We were both Muggle born girls who were both good at school. If things were different, who knows if we could have been friends or not.

I just shrugged and said. "I'm tired of seeing Muggle borns show up half dead too."

With stricken looks on all of their faces, I left their hideaway, packed up my things, and left the library to go back down to the Slytherin common room.

When Granger got the message to me when they were doing their potion, I went to the library and stayed there for a good two hours. There was absolutely no one there and I got to get the rest of my homework done in that time.

When I returned to the common room that night, Draco frowned at me. "Are you actually feeling better now, Heather?" He asked.

What had Granger done? I blinked at Draco. "Yeah, I'm feeling better now. Just had a bad stomach ache from all that dinner."

Draco didn't say anything and shrugged. "Oh," He said as I started for the empty dorm room. "This package came for you."

I took the present from Draco and opened it in the empty dorm room, seeing as there was no label on the outside of the wrapping. But there was a note attached to the green and white sweater that was a size or two too big.

Merry Christmas, Schmidt. I didn't get to give you a birthday present, so this is for birthday and Christmas. Your friend, Longbottom

He had crossed out his first name before writing his last name. I didn't bother fighting the smile on my face and I tried the Slytherin colored sweater on. I'd have to get Longbottom something now when he got back from Christmas holidays. I stayed up only a little while longer before getting into pajamas and falling asleep, hoping that those Gryffindors had found whatever they were looking for.