A/N: Thanks for the reviews!

Chapter 9

Elora was excited to start a new week. She already loved it at Hogwarts. Her classes were amazing. After spending years listening to her family talk about magic, she finally had a chance to use it herself! The best part, however, was getting to see Tom every day. The two of them would go off together after classes were ended. It was neat to have such a big place to explore together. She was sure his company would never grow old.

"Good morning!" she said brightly to her roommates, which consisted of five other girls.

Mildred shot her a disapproving look. "You should not be so cheery in the morning," she said. "It's not attractive." The two girls standing on either side of her nodded their heads.

"You'll wake all of us up one day," said Allison, a girl with curly red hair that never seemed to stay in place.

"Yeah, go find someone else to bother," said Lizbeth, the blond on the other side of Mildred.

"I'm just excited for the day," Elora said feebly.

Mildred snorted. "Keep your excitement to yourself."

Elora's smile faded as she watched the three girls turn to each other and begin to talk, probably about her. She had hoped that she and her housemates would get along, but it did not seem like that would happen. She glanced at the other two girls in the room. They had been staring, but when she looked at them, they hastily turned away. Sure, those two were not mean to her, but they had yet to stick up for her.

Elora let out short sigh. She told herself everything would be alright. These girls were hardly the only kids in the school she could befriend. Plus, it was still early in the year. She would not be alone. If worst came to worst, she always had Tom.

Her mood had improved considerably by the time she entered the Great Hall, lightly skipping to take her place at the Ravenclaw table. There were two empty chairs to the right of Braeden, and she chose the one two chairs down. Her brother glanced at her, a small frown plastered on his face. "Can't you sit somewhere else?" he said.

Elora blinked. "I want to sit with you," she said in a tone of innocence. When Braeden simply turned away and began talking to his friends, she felt her heart sink. She thought getting into Ravenclaw would make him like her better, but the best it seemed to have done was cause him to be able t tolerate her. Emile seemed even less affected. Whenever Elora saw her, she would send her a glare or make a rude comment to her friends.

Elora twirled her food around with her fork, her head propped up with her left elbow. Suddenly, she did not feel so hungry anymore. The one bad part about being at Hogwarts was that she could not see her Granny. However… she could write to her. She brightened at the idea. She decided to write a letter as soon as she had some free time. She was sure Granny would love to hear from her.

She was in a good mood once again as she head to her first class of the day, Charms. This class Ravenclaw shared with Gryffindors. Elora would not mind except for the fact that Laurie was a Gryffindor. Similar to Mildred, this member of the gang had convinced the first year Gryffindor girls to turn on Elora before they even knew her. The boys were like most other boys her age; they thought girls were too different from them, and so they stayed away.

She was beginning to wonder if she should find some Hufflepuffs and try to befriend them. Her family did not think highly about Hufflepuff because they were too kind and trusting, but wasn't that what Elora wanted? Maybe they would be the ones who would give her a chance. What did her family know, anyway? Still, she did not want to give her parents any more reason to be upset with her. She decided to wait to see if a Hufflepuff approached her. Then maybe she could make a friend. Otherwise, she would keep to the other houses, mainly Ravenclaw and Slytherin.

She took out a quill and parchment and took dutiful notes once the teacher arrived. She was pleased with herself once the class was over. She was getting used to this school thing. She had a break next followed by History of Magic, which she also happened to take with Gryffindor.

She had quickly come to the decision that she should not spend her morning break looking for Tom. It was a fruitless effort. The castle was too big and the length of the break was too short to make it worth it. This was fine with her. She enjoyed being alone with her thoughts. She would share those thoughts with any who would listen, but those people were far and few. Thus, she was often wandering the school alone.

Herbology could not come soon enough. She found that she actually enjoyed the class, despite her family's insistence that it was basically useless. What made the class even better was that it was shared with Slytherin. It was for this reason that Herbology and Transfiguration, the other combined class with Slytherin, had quickly become her favorites.

Elora had run across the Hogwarts ground as fast as she could, but Tom had still made it there first. Her face broke out into a grin when she saw him. "Hey, Tom," she said, slowing down to a trot. "How was your morning?"

"Good," Tom said politely. "I have to talk to you something later. I figured it out on Friday. I would have told you over the weekend, but we were too busy doing other stuff. Plus, I wanted to do more research first. I'll tell you today after class, though."

Elora blinked, uncomprehending. "Ok. I can't wait." He had found out something neat? Well, this was going to be exciting. She wished he would have waited to tell her, though, because now she would be anxious throughout her next two classes.

Indeed, this is what happened; though, she somehow managed to take sufficient notes. By the time she was finished with Potions she was running again in search of Tom.

She found him in the library, where they often met. He led her into the very back corner of the room, away from everyone else. They found a table and took seats across from each other. Tom placed a book on the table. Elora recognized it to be their History of Magic textbook. She found the class quite boring, actually, so she wondered why Tom was showing her something from it.

"What did you find?" she asked.

In response, Tom opened the book, flipped to a certain page, and pushed it over to Elora. "This part of the chapter was not assigned for class. It talks about the legend of the Chamber of Secrets."

Elora's interest was instantly piqued. Chamber of Secrets? It sounded so magical and fascinating! She simply adored legends! She picked up the books and quickly scanned the page. "What's the Chamber of Secrets?" She looked up at Tom to hear him speak.

"A hidden chamber Salazar Slytherin created before he left the school," he replied. "Allegedly, only the heir of Slytherin can find and open it. Many wizards have searched for the chamber but never found it, so they all think it's a myth. But I think they haven't found it because none of them were the heir of Slytherin."

Elora blinked. "Who's the heir of Slytherin?"

"I don't know," Tom said, shaking his head. "I've been trying to find the names of his descendants, but I know none of them are it because they did not find the chamber. The line ends with our parents' generation."

A puzzled expression crossed Elora's face. "So there is no heir?" If there was no descendant their age, there was no one to find the chamber, right?

"Unless the heir has yet to be born or," he paused dramatically before continuing, "no one is not aware that he is a descendant of Slytherin."

Elora frowned. "I don't get it."

"An orphan," Tom said emphatically. "Someone who does not know his line. Like me."

Elora's eyes widened in understanding. "You think you're the heir of Slytherin?"

Tom shrugged. "I might be. That's why I need to figure out who my parents were, and maybe I can search for the chamber too. If I find it, I have to be the heir. Will you help me?"

"Of course," Elora said with a small smile though she was unsure about this whole search. She had a bad feeling about it. She would have to read up on it later to make sure it was safe. But she knew she would accompany Tom in whatever endeavors he chose to engage in. They had to stick together.

Tom nodded. "Good. It should go faster with both of us looking."

Elora had to agree on that, which was one of the great parts about having friends. Plus, she and Tom made a great team. She was sure they could figure this all out. "We can get to work after we work on our homework, okay?" School had to come first.

"Agreed."

Weeks passed by with surprising quickness. Elora had easily adapted to her new life. She found her classes all very wonderful, and she did her best to pay attention and take dutiful notes. She was always pleased to answer a teacher's question correctly and gain points for Ravenclaw.

At first, it had been a struggle to gain entrance into the Ravenclaw common room because of the tough riddles, but she finally succeeded in answering one all on her own one day late in October. Her success left her feeling ecstatic, for she knew she would have not been able to answer the riddle if she were not a true Ravenclaw. No matter what anyone else said, this was where she belonged.

She was not having as much luck in the friend department. Many of the girls her age had turned against her. There were others that tolerated her, but they never talked much. She occasionally chatted with some of the Ravenclaw boys, especially those a bit older than herself. They bonded over their house's first Quidditch game of the year.

Of course, she still had Tom. She enjoyed chances to run off with him and have fun. They still played games together like they had back at the park, but they usually only had time for this on the weekends. During the weekday, they were consumed with homework and Tom's additional quests. Elora was happy to help him look for information on his family, though they were not having much successful. She was less enthusiastic about finding the Chamber of Secrets, but she kept her doubts to herself. The important thing was that they were doing stuff together. The last thing she wanted was a petty fight that would separate them.

Elora wrote to her Granny regularly. It was always a pleasure to receive a letter from her. The two of them talked like they would have if they were in the same room. The difference was that Elora not had much more good news to report and less bad.

She was growing worried about the prospect of returning home as Christmas break neared. She wondered if her parents would allow her to stay at Hogwarts with Tom over the break. She knew they were certainly not looking forward to the prospect of having her back either. Before she had the chance to write to them, however, she received a letter from Granny that addressed these very concerns.

She was grinning by the time she finished reading the letter one Tuesday morning in the middle of November. Luckily, she had Transfiguration first thing after breakfast. She waited until she saw Tom exiting the Great Hall, and then she slipped out to join them. Her actions were not unusual, for they often caught up to each other and walked to class together.

"I just got a letter from my Granny," Elora said excitedly as they turned down a corridor.

"That's nice," Tom said without looking at her. "What did she say?"

"She wants me to stay with her during Christmas break!" she said, her grin returning.

Tom looked at her in surprised, and then the tiniest of smiled formed on his face. "That's great, Elora. You won't have to go back to your terrible family, and I won't be worrying about you the whole time."

Elora smiled slightly. She was uncomfortably with his negative characterization of her family, but there was not much to say to defend them, so she did not even bother. "There's more. Granny wants to know if you would like to join us."

Another shocked expression crossed Tom's face. "You mean, she wants me to stay with her for Christmas?"

Elora nodded, smiling. "Exactly."

Tom's expression morphed into a look of wonder. "No one has ever wanted me to stay with them," he murmured, more likely to himself and not the girl walking beside him.

"I do," Elora said gently. "And so does Granny. So will you come?" She looked at him hopefully. She would have the best break ever if she got to spend it with Granny and Tom.

Tom seemed to hesitate before nodding. "Yes. I would love to go with you."

"Great!" Elora exclaimed. They had reached the Transfiguration classroom, so she had to tone down her excitement. She was filled with renewed hope as she took her seat next to Tom at the front of class. Life truly was amazing.

OOO

Elora hummed to herself as she exited the Ravenclaw common room. She was on her way to meet up with Tom at the library. The great day had her feeling light and happy. She did not think anything could go wrong.

She skipped down the steps and entered a corridor. She was slightly surprised to see her brother Braeden walking in the opposite direction. "What are you so happy about?" Braeden sneered as he approached her.

"Tom and I are going to Granny's for Christmas!" Elora said, unable to hide a smile.

Braeden, on the other hand, was frowning. "I supposed Mum put her up to it," he said. "Didn't want to have you messing up another holiday."

"Granny loves me!" Elora protested.

Braeden raised his eyebrows at her. "Oh yeah?" He turned to the left, forcing his sister to back up towards the wall. "She's old and lonely. She would talk to a rat if she had to. Oh, wait, she does." He barked in laughter.

Elora felt her cheeks grow hot, and she looked down in embarrassment. "You're wrong," she mumbled, though she could not exactly explain why he was wrong.

"What are you doing to her?" a voice said from behind them.

Elora looked up, feeling hope rise in her chest at the sight of Tom, who did not appear happy.

"Get out of here, kid," Braeden said. "This doesn't concern you."

Unfazed, Tom took out his wand and pointed it at the older boy. "Leave her alone," he said in a threatening tone.

Elora gasped. "Tom!" Now she was worried for him.

Braeden just laughed. "What are you going to do with that? Poke me?"

"Petrificus Totalus!" Tom said.

Braeden's arms suddenly snapped to his side, and he grew rigid. Then he began to teeter, his body stiff, and he fell onto his back. His eyes looked up at the boy wildly.

Elora stared at Tom with her mouth partly open. When she could find her voice, she said, "You didn't have to do that."

"Yes, I did," Tom said. He stepped over Braeden to reach her. Then he took her hand in his. "He won't bother you again."