It was like I was listening to people from underwater. My arms felt like weights so when I tried to lift them to rub at my eyes, I couldn't really move. I closed my eyes slowly, then opened them, everything coming fuzzy and unfocused. The feeling of a hand on my forehead made me turn my head towards the touch and I heard someone say something that sounded very vaguely like my name.

"...Can take a while for the senses to come back…"

It could've been minutes or hours of me laying in the bed blinking around stupidly and trying to lift my own head. When everything finally did come into focus, I found Professor Sprout and Madam Pomfrey helping Justin Finch-Fletchley into a sitting position on the bed. I turned my head slightly to see Penelope Clearwater already sitting on the edge of her bed, sipping a steaming mug of something.

Clearwater saw me looking at her and she stiffly put the mug down. "Hold on, Schmidt." Clearwater's movements as she got up were extremely stiff, like her joints were still frozen. But she sat on the edge of my bed anyway and grabbed onto my arms, scrunching her face with the effort of pulling my dead weight into a seating position. I let out a sharp gasp at suddenly being up.

"You're okay, Schmidt." She insisted in a quiet voice. "We all are. Professor Sprout gave us all the Mandrake potion an hour ago."

I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out. Clearwater blinked. "It'll be several minutes before your voice will come back. Look; Colin Creevey is already walking. He was the first one to get potion."

Sure enough, a mousy blond haired Gryffindor first year was walking the length of the hospital wing, barely bending his knees and moving as robotic as possible. Finch-Fletchley was just now standing up. I looked around some more before looking back to Clearwater. Where was Granger?

Once Finch-Fletchley was was like a robot the same as Creevey, Madam Pomfrey helped Clearwater get up so she could do the same. Professor Sprout stayed with me, patting my back roughly and spooning extra Mandrake potion into my mouth. I could barely swallow the potion and the Herbology professor had to massage my throat briefly so that the potion would go down.

"You'll be alright, Schmidt." Professor Sprout assured me. "Just give it a few more minutes and everything'll be fine."

Everything didn't feel fine. The windows across from my bed told me that it was nighttime, and late by the looks of it. And the professor looked worried, even if she was happy the potion was working and we were waking up. How long had we even been asleep? Did they know about the basilisk yet? All these questions bounced around my head violently and it was making my chest hurt not being able to ask anything.

There was a sudden moan from down the row of beds and I turned my head slowly to see Granger, awake and genuinely struggling to sit up. Professor Sprout followed my gaze and helped me get to the edge of my bed. When the professor got me into a standing position, she left me to go help Granger wake up. I started dragging my feet after her, making my way slowly to where the professor was going.

"Bas-" Granger was battling to say. "It-bas-"

"Don't you worry dear," Professor Sprout cut her off. "We know what's down there. There's uh, a few students who are down there right now. Professor Dumbledore is working on getting them back."

I stopped shuffling and nearly fell over. Students were facing off against a basilisk? Who would be mad enough to even try? Granger's brown eyes went very wide with terror and in that moment I knew exactly who went down there-Potter and her Weasley.

It took another hour for the five of us to walk the length of the hospital wing before we heard several sets of footsteps passing by. Professor Sprout rushed outside to see what was happening and when she came back, she smiled at us.

"Keep practicing, children!" She called to us. "Great news! The Chamber's monster has been killed and Professor Dumbledore is throwing a special feast!"

I exchanged a glance with Granger at this. We had been shuffling together for the entire time she had been up on her feet. We had found out together that we had been petrified for two whole months. The thought was terrifying, that for two months the world kept turning but we had essentially been sleeping the whole time.

Madam Pomfrey had us march the length of the hospital wing a few more times for safety before she and Professor Sprout led the way towards the Great Hall. I fell into step beside Granger. "You think Potter and Weasley had anything to do with fixing this mess?"

Granger gave me a thin smile. "If I know them, they had everything to do with fixing it."

We didn't have to enter the Great Hall to hear the excited murmuring of the whole school packed into the hall. Professor Sprout and Madam Pomfrey opened the doors to the Great Hall, leading the group of Muggleborns into the hall as it quickly hushed.

Justin Finch-Fletchley entered first and the Hufflepuff table started rejoicing at the sight of their own. I blinked at the realization that one Muggleborn had been taken from each house, with Gryffindor losing two. Granger rushed towards the Gryffindors, yelling, "You solved it!"

Justin was embraced by nearly every Hufflepuff from our year, and Colin Creevey was patted on the back several times by the Gryffindors. Penelope Clearwater hugged her Ravenclaw friends before hurrying to the Gryffindor table and kissing Percy Weasley, causing him to blush profusely.

I paused for a moment in the doorway, watching the others reunite with the housemates who all seemed so happy to see that they were alive and okay. I looked over to the cold Slytherin table, which had been mostly quiet as the Muggleborns returned to their houses. Already, I was getting some glares from the older students. I caught a glimpse of my former friends from the second year, and they were all pointedly not looking at me. Pansy was instead focusing on stabbing her salad.

But then Granger stood in front of me. "Come over here, Schmidt. Come sit with us."

"I don't think that's allowed." I said, trying to side step around her. But Granger blocked me again and grabbed my hand.

"Nope, you're sitting with us." Granger said. "Your house doesn't deserve you." She pulled me along to the Gryffindor table straight to where Potter and Weasley were already sitting in dusty and muck covered robes. Granger looked up to the teacher's table and I followed her gaze. Professor Dumbledore smiled brightly at me and Granger and nodded his head deeply.

Granger sat down next to Weasley and I tentatively took the seat next to her. I was only sitting awkwardly for a moment before Longbottom hurried over and planted himself in the seat across from me. I smiled without thinking.

"Longbottom!" I exclaimed.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" Longbottom cheered, sounding genuinely excited to see me. "I was so scared when I heard that you were attacked. Are you okay?"

I looked down and pretended to inspect myself. "I think I am now." I paused and leaned forward. "Tell me, how angry do the Slytherins look right now?"

Longbottom glanced over and made a face. "Pansy Parkinson is very red and she looks like she wants to stab you with that fork of hers."

There was a sudden loud exclaiming and I found myself getting jostled around as the Weasley twins forced themselves to sit on either side of me. "Our favorite Slytherin is alive!" George Weasley screamed painfully close to my ear.

"The best Slytherin is alive!" Fred Weasley countered, looking directly at the Slytherin table and yelling loud enough to be heard by half of my house. I felt my face turn red and I locked eyes with Longbottom, who was trying and failing at hiding his laughter.

"This is funny to you?" I asked him dryly. Longbottom shrugged as the Weasley twins continued screaming about how I wasn't dead and therefore better than the rest of Slytherin house.

The food that the house elves had prepared was delicious, and I found myself eating an awful lot as if I hadn't in a long time. When I remembered that I hadn't eaten in a long time, I chuckled softly to myself and glanced over to Granger and the other Muggleborns; we were all eating like crazy.

This feast was by far my favorite out of my entire time at Hogwarts. Hagrid the groundskeeper came in about a half hour into the feast, and he made a point of cuffing Potter and Weasley so hard on back the pair of them nearly fell over. Professor Dumbledore did give the pair four hundred points, winning Gryffindor the House Cup. I remained sitting as the Gryffindors around me leapt into the air and screamed with delight. And then Professor McGonagall announced that exams were cancelled as a school treat, and then Professor Dumbledore told the school that Professor Lockhart wouldn't be our teacher next year. A few teachers joined in the applause on that announcement.

Longbottom was fill me in on all of the Herbology and Charms I had missed. His dark eyes started glowing when he talked about how Professor Sprout let him help the Mandrakes grow. "Out of everyone in the entire school," Longbottom explained. "She picked a handful from all years, and she chose me!"

"That's because you're awesome at Herbology." I replied. "You may be the best in the year." Neville's eyes widened and he beamed at me.

The rest of the school year went by in a golden haze. Even though I had to sleep in the Slytherin dorms, I spent all day with Longbottom beside the lake, reading up on the classes I had missed. I wasn't going to eventually beat Granger at school if I didn't work at it. Neville explained the entire process of raising the Mandrakes, but when it came to brewing the Mandrake potion that had woken me up, he turned red and didn't have a lot to say about it.

"I wasn't really allowed to help out with the potion making part." Longbottom admitted. "We had to go down to the dungeons and Professor Snape was there and it just...just made me very nervous." He wrung his hands together and I decided to change the subject.

"Do you have an owl at home?" I asked.

Longbottom blinked and nodded. "My Gran has a personal one, and we have another one that I can use. Why?"

"So we can write each other this summer." I explained. "I can't go another summer with only talking to my Mum."

Longbottom smiled at that and he nodded enthusiastically. "I can tell you all about the bowtruckles I want to grow this summer. Gran thinks it'll be a waste of time and space in the garden, but my Great Uncle Algie bought the seeds for my this Christmas and he promised he'd come by and help me grow them."

I had a vague knowledge about what bowtruckles were, but Longbottom seemed very excited about them, so I smiled and made him promise he'd write me updates on their growth progress. We spent the rest of the afternoon making going over the old classes, practicing Charms, and making sure that Trevor the toad didn't hop away.

It was easy to avoid the Slytherins, for the most part. My friends were always clustered around each other all the time, and whenever they saw me, they all turned their backs on me. I guess it was an upgrade from wanting me dead. I just wish I had known what they had been up to the entire time I had been petrified.

Then it was time for the train journey back to Kings Cross station. I got a compartment with Longbottom and it wasn't long before the Patil twins, Seamus Finnigan, and Dean Thomas ended up joining our compartment. At first they were all on edge with me being there, but then Padma Patil, the one from Ravenclaw, asked me about Charms and the moment we got stuck on that topic, the Gryffindors all relaxed a lot. I played Exploding Snap with them all, Finnigan let off the last of his Filibuster fireworks and Thomas spoke to me about being Muggleborn.

Not for the first time, I felt a stab of jealousy at his situation. He and Granger were both Muggleborns in a house that didn't treat that as a criminal offence. How different would these last two years of my life be if I had been sorted in any house other than Slytherin?

The Hogwarts Express pulled onto the platform and I said goodbye to the Gryffindors and Patil twins, secretly hoping that they could become friends once school started next year. Longbottom and I got off the train together and we collected our trunks together.

He smiled at me brightly. "See you in September?"

I grinned back. "See you in September. Please write to me, okay?"

"I promise!" Longbottom agreed. He waved goodbye and went through the crowd, looking for his Gran. I grabbed my trunk and left the platform, needing to get to the Muggle ticket counter before there was a rush.

I purchased a ticket with my Muggle money for the next train going to Newmarket. I got a direct line, a bit of a rarity, and I started heading for the platform before any of the wizards and witches appearing from platform nine and three quarters could see me getting onto the train heading north towards Newmarket, towards home.