Chapter 3: Who is the Heir?
During the summer Hermione went back to Juliette's house and stayed there until August 31st where she was taken to the Leaky Cauldron until September 1st, when she was then taken to platform 9 ¾ to board the Hogwarts Express. Once on the train Hermione found Harry and Ron in a compartment near the end of the train. The train ride was mostly uneventful except for when Draco and his 'bodyguards', Crabbe and Goyle came into their compartment and tried to start a fight. Skylar quickly showed up behind them and stopped Draco from calling Hermione a mudblood, which was a sure fire way to start a fight. She told him to leave, which after some fuss he finally did, leaving Skylar standing in the open compartment doorway. "Can I join you?" Skylar asked them, causing Hermione and surprisingly Harry to nod eagerly.
Not long after this the train pulled into Hogsmeade station where the friends rode up to the castle in the horseless carriages and parted ways at the Great Hall, where they sat at their respectable tables. The feast finished very uneventfully and Hermione, Harry, and Ron made their way up to the Gryffindor common room laughing and having fun.
The beginning of the school year progressed quickly for the group of Gryffindors now known as the Golden Trio. During classes, Hermione continued to save a seat for Skylar who was well known as the trio's best friend outside of Gryffindor; and surprisingly Harry continued to show an interest in Skylar. On October 31st, Mrs. Norris, the caretaker's cat, was found petrified on the second floor by Harry, Ron and Hermione; who were then found by the rest of the school after the feast. Upon seeing a hold up in the corridor, Argus Filch pushes through and his eyes land on his cat. With some hysterics Argus blames Harry for killing Mrs. Norris and tries to attack him, but Dumbledore manages to calm him down by telling him that Mrs. Norris is only petrified. After Argus leaves with his cat, Hermione looks up above where the cat had hung to see a message.
"Enemies of the Heir Beware. The Chamber of Secrets has been opened." It was written in what appeared to be blood. Soon after this discovery, Hermione asked her uncle Severus if she could get permission to go into the restricted section of the library. After a few weeks he finally agrees, so Hermione, Ron, and Harry stay in the library until she finds a book named, Moste Potente Potions, in which it describes a potion named the Polyjuice Potion. Hermione decides that in order for them to find out who the Heir of Slytherin is they need to start making the potion as soon as possible.
After a month of making the potion, and indirectly lying to Skylar and Severus, the polyjuice potion was ready for use on Christmas. Harry and Ron managed to get hair from Goyle and Crabbe, one of the main ingredients in the potion. Hermione, meanwhile, took some hair from a Slytherin girl named Millicent Bulstrode. As they drank their separate potions in different bathroom stalls, Hermione realized that she had made a terrible error directly after she drank her goblet of polyjuice, and thus her transformation into Millicent was altered severely. She refused to leave the stall she was in, yet thankfully, Harry and Ron's transformations were successful. So after much persuasion from a hiding Hermione, they continued their plan on finding out who the Heir of Slytherin is. The first person they planned on questioning was Draco Malfoy.
On their way to the Slytherin common room, they ran into the person they were searching for. "Crabbe, Goyle, where have you two been?" Draco questioned as he continued on his way to the common room. "Pigging out in the Great Hall?" Dumbly, Harry and Ron nodded. Not long after they entered the Slytherin common room the Polyjuice Potion, which only lasted an hour, began to wear off. Harry and Ron managed to get away from Draco before he realized what was happening, and ran back to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom looking for Hermione.
Once there Moaning Myrtle floated up to them and told them that Hermione looked awful, apparently her altered transformation hadn't disappeared when the hour ended. "Hermione, open the door." Harry said, walking closer to the bathroom stall Hermione was in. A muffled noise was his response. "Everything will be ok, I promise." Reluctantly Hermione opened the door, crying softly as she covered her face with her robes. "Come on Hermione, you don't need to hide from us." Ron added upon seeing Hermione make no move to remove the robes. Hermione sighed before she let her robes drop from her face. Ron unconsciously backed up into the sinks behind him. What was visible of Hermione's body was covered in pure white fur, her eyes were amber and there were what looked like long dog like ears poking out through her white hair. "It was animal hair; Millicent Bulstrode must have a crup or something." Hermione sobbed, her hands covering her eyes. "The potion doesn't work on animal transformations."
"It's okay Hermione; we'll take you up to the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey doesn't ask a lot of questions." Harry said quickly as Hermione tried desperately to hide her face from view. After some more persuasion, they managed to get Hermione to the Hospital wing, to which when they got there Madam Pomfrey promptly kicked the boys out.
That night as Hermione lay in bed she cursed herself for having to lie to her friends. It was true that the Polyjuice Potion wasn't meant to be used for animal transformations, both trying to become one and already being one. Once Hermione had added Millicent's hair and drank her potion, her insides had started to burn. She quickly realized that with her being a born werewolf she would never be able to use the polyjuice potion. When the hour was up, all the alterations had remained; Most of her other form was now visible to others. Hermione hated not being able to tell Harry and Ron that there was no crup hair that had messed up her potion, but that that was her staring back at them, long ears, white fur and tail in all. Only Madam Pomfrey, who was Hermione's nurse when she was younger, knew exactly what happened. Thankfully though, she promised not to tell Hermione's parents until the morning, so with that Hermione was given a dreamless sleep potion.
The next few weeks were hard for Hermione who was still staying in the Hospital Wing. Even though Ron and Harry visited her every day, she still had to deal with her parent's disapproval and her sister and uncle's anger at being lied to. Finally on February 1st Hermione was given permission to return to classes. But three months after her release, on May 8th, Hermione along with Penelope Clearwater were found petrified in the library. Hermione was holding onto a small vanity mirror.
Unbeknownst to the rest of the castle, Hermione's family was in turmoil. Skylar felt worse than the others for the sheer fact that part of herself was laying unmoving in the Hospital Wing. Everyday Harry, Ron and Skylar visited Hermione and after the student's were in bed, Remus, Ambrosial and Ashwin visited her at night. During the time of her petrifaction, Hermione slowly began to accept the fact that she was special and she was never going to be free of her other side. After coming to this realization, most of the pent up stress on her body disappeared. Hermione was still petrified three days before the end of the year exams. Harry and Ron were still trying to figure out the mysteries of the Chamber of Secrets, and thankfully for them, Hermione was able to help them even though she was lying in the hospital wing. Harry had found a piece of parchment crumpled in her hand.
On May 30th, all the students that were petrified were successfully un-petrified by the means of stewed mandrakes. At the end of the year feast Hermione was filled in on the events that happened while she was in the Hospital. It turns out that Harry managed to defeat a basilisk and the memory of a 16 year old Tom Riddle, who later became Lord Voldemort.
On the train ride back to London, Skylar once again asked if she can join the Golden Trio in their compartment. As always Hermione tells her she can, but instead of sitting by her, Skylar sat down next to Harry. Hermione looked at her sister a few minutes before she noticed Harry smiling at her and holding her hand. "How long have you two been together?" Hermione asked, gesturing to their hands. Skylar smiled shyly before saying, "After New Years."
Hermione nodded her head, "Well Congratulations." She said, feeling slightly hurt that Skylar hadn't told her. "Until next year" Hermione continued as the train came to a stop. With that Hermione joined Juliette on the other side of the gateway, where they made their way back to Juliette's house until they would return on September 1st.