Chapter 5: The Heir of Slytherin

In the hallway, a few weeks into the year, a crowd of students were gathering around a wall after Kassidy and Draco discovered it, quickly followed by Harry and his friends.

"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the Heir beware," Hermione, who was in the middle of the group, said.

"What does that mean?" Harry asked.

"I don't know. Why don't we ask a teacher?" Ron said.

Later, in Transfiguration with the Gryffindors, Hermione raised her hand.

"Professor McGonagall, what can you tell us about the Chamber of Secrets?"

"Oh. Well, I might as well begin from the beginning. As you know, there were four founders of Hogwarts, Godric Gryffindor, Helena Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. Slytherin and Gryffindor didn't get along well at all, so Salazar Slytherin left Hogwarts, but not before he built a chamber inside the school. It is said that inside the chamber is a deadly creature that only he could control. Of course, over the years, many people have searched the school several times over and have not found it, so I doubt the Chamber of Secrets is even real," she explained. The rest of the class was spent with an air of silence.

"Ignore it, Kassie. It doesn't concern you," Jeannie said when Kassidy spoke to her about it later.

"I can't. I know Potter and his gang are going to be meddling," Kassidy said.

"Why do you worry about Harry Potter so much? You should focus on your own affairs," Jeannie said.

"Like what? What, other than my studies, could I be focusing on?"

"Draco." Kassidy raised an eyebrow.

"What about him?"

"I saw you kiss him, I'm just saying," Jeannie said.

"What? I thought nobody was there!"

"I guess you didn't look around enough."

"Whoops, I guess."

"Don't say that, it was adorable. You two would make a fantastic couple, I can tell," Jeannie said.

"We're twelve!"

"I know, but-"

"Discussion over. I don't really want to talk about Draco right now, okay?"

"Okay, I respect your wishes."

Kassidy and her roommates walked into the main hall, and the entire room fell silent as they noticed who had just entered.

"What's going on?" Jillie asked.

"I don't know, but it's really creepy," Kassidy whispered to her. The five girls went to their house's table, and Kassidy sat next to Draco as usual. The chatter erupted again.

"You're late, and everyone thinks you're the Heir of Slytherin," Draco explained.

"Wait a second; everyone thinks I opened the Chamber of Secrets?" Kassidy asked, causing Draco to nod.

"Why me?"

"I don't know, don't ask me," Draco said.

"People think it's because you aren't too fond of the Muggle-borns," Dora said.

"Okay, but why me? Why not anyone else?"

"You're the most outspoken about it," Ellie said.

"Really? So because everyone thinks I'm a prejudiced person, that I'm the Heir of Slytherin. It's hogwash!" Kassidy said.

"I don't believe it myself, but everyone else seems to," Draco said.

"I didn't think you would," Kassidy said.

The Dueling Club came around, and everyone involved were standing around a long, raised platform, upon which Professor Lockhart stood.

"Welcome to the first ever Dueling Club meeting! Today, I'm going to show you what a duel actually looks like, and practice using a spell in a duel. Professor Snape has agreed to assist me. Don't worry, you'll still have your Potions master when I'm through," Lockhart said as Professor Snape walked up onto the raised platform. The two teachers bowed, and then walked to opposite ends of the platform, turning around in dueling stances.

"Whenever you're ready," Lockhart said.

"Expelliarmus!" Snape said, knocking Lockhart back and causing his wand to skid away a few feet.

"Okay, let's have two students come up here and practice the Disarming Spell. How about Harry and Ron?" Lockhart said.

"Ron Weasley's wand causes nothing but destruction and devastation. May I suggest someone from my house, perhaps? Maybe, Kassidy Williams?" Snape said.

"Okay, Harry and Kassidy, up here. Use the disarming spell only," Lockhart said.

"Scared, Potter?" Kassidy said.

"You wish," Harry said, before they bowed, and walked to opposite ends of the platform, turning around to dueling stances.

"One, two-"

"Locomotor Wibbly!" Kassidy shouted, causing Harry to fall, but recover quickly.

"Rictusempra!" Harry said as soon as he got back to his feet, knocking Kassidy back towards Snape, who picked her up by her arm and pushed her back out there.

"I said disarm only!" Lockhart said.

"Serpensortia!" Kassidy shouted, a snake coming out from the end of her wand and land in the middle of the platform. The snake looked around, hissing as it did. It began to slither towards a student, when Snape stepped around Kassidy.

"Don't worry, I'll get rid of it for you," Snape said.

"Allow me, Professor Snape," Lockhart said, then said a spell that caused the snake to fly into the air and land, pissing it off and causing it to slither towards a student. That's when Harry began hissing. The snake looked at him, and then continued moving, leaning in towards the student. Harry hissed again, and the snake backed away. Snape then cast a spell that caught it in the middle and burned it away. There was assorted chatter, all about Harry. Everyone looked at him with wide eyes, not expecting what just happened to happen. Kassidy stepped back a couple of times before accidentally falling off the edge. Draco helped her up.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Never better," Kassidy replied.

"So Harry's a Parselmouth… Never would have guessed…" Draco said.

"Sorry, a what?" Kassidy said.

"A Parselmouth is someone who can talk to snakes."

"Oh, that makes sense. Is that bad?"

"Salazar Slytherin could speak Parseltongue."

"So?"

"The Heir of Slytherin probably speaks Parseltongue. I think you did at one point, in your sleep last summer," Draco said.

"What are you talking about?"

"I walked by your room one night last summer and I heard hissing, so I looked in and there you were, hissing a little in your sleep. You must have been dreaming about snakes or something."

"Yeah, I think I remember having a dream about snakes at some point… I don't remember what it was."

The Dueling Club continued through a few more demonstrations before the meeting ended and everyone went back to their common rooms.

"Please let the Slytherin Quidditch team to practice on the pitch today as they need to train their new seeker and beater. You got a new seeker and a new beater?" Oliver Wood from the Gryffindor team said, reading from a paper.

"Who is it?" Harry asked. The team stepped aside to reveal Kassidy and Draco.

"Hello, Potter," Kassidy said.

"Draco's the seeker and Kassidy is the beater," the captain of the Slytherin team said.

"Fine," Wood said, incredibly angry.

"Wait, does your team have new brooms?" Ron Weasley said.

"Of course. My father bought them for the team," Draco said with a cocky smirk.

"At least nobody on the Gryffindor team had to bribe their way in. They got in on pure talent," Hermione said. Kassidy started towards her, but Draco stopped her.

"Time and place," Draco said. Kassidy stepped back.

"I'll see you on the field at our first game, Potter!" Kassidy shouted as Gryffindor left and Slytherin went into the field.

"Let's go practice," the Slytherin captain said before heading off the the Quidditch field. Kassidy proved to be a formidable player, as did Draco.

The time came for the first Quidditch game of the year, Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. The players were on the field and the balls released. Kassidy and the other Slytherin beater had their bats, and were ready to protect their teammates. She hit the bludger away from the Keeper, and towards Harry, who was then pursued by the bludger that seemed to have a mind of its own. Kassidy ignored it and focused on finding the other bludger, which, when she spotted it, was just about to hit her, and it did, as she had no reaction time. She fell off her broom and to the ground, knocked out by the blow to the head.

"Kassidy!" Draco said, but decided that someone would make sure she was alright and focused on finding the snitch. He didn't find it until Harry swooped right past him, and Draco pursued Harry, who was still being chased by the bludger. The ball almost hit Draco, but he moved in time to avoid it, as it was going after Harry, who was eventually hit by it in the elbow, and landed in the middle of the field. With his good hand, he raised the snitch.

"Gryffindor wins!" the announcer said. Draco immediately raced to Kassidy's side, worried about her.

"Kassidy? Kassidy, can you hear me? Kassidy! I need help over here!" Draco shouted, causing a few of their teammates to run over to them.

"Well, it'll take a few hours to get her to come to, and she has a concussion from the blow to the head she took, but she'll be fine," Madame Pomfrey said to the Slytherin team that was gathered around Kassidy's bedside, after she had tended to Harry, who was having the bones in his arm regrown.

"Will she be fine to practice tomorrow?" the captain, Marcus Flint, asked.

"Not until next week. She has a concussion and those are difficulty to heal magically, so she has to heal on her own. She'll be a bit tired, and someone may need to watch after her and take care of her. She'll need to stay here overnight but we'll see tomorrow if she's fine to go back to sleeping in her dorm," she continued.

"I'll watch her. She trusts me," Draco said. That's when the door burst open, revealing all four of Kassidy's roommates.

"Oh my god, we saw what happened! Is she alright?" Jillie asked frantically.

"She'll be out cold for a few more hours, and she has a concussion but otherwise she should be fine," Draco explained to the four ladies.

"Well, guys, looks like we're practicing without our seeker and one of our beaters tomorrow," Marcus said to the team.

Draco had decided to stay with Kassidy to wait for her to come to, and he had fallen asleep on the floor next to her cot around 3 AM, so Madame Pomfrey, with help from another student there for an injured friend, placed Draco in the cot next to Kassidy's and covered him with a blanket.

He woke up the next morning, confused as to what had happened after he fell asleep, and heard a small groan coming from the cot next to him, Kassidy's cot.

"Ow… What happened?" she groaned.

"You took a bludger to the head yesterday," Draco said, standing up and going over to her side. Kassidy sat up, a hand on her head.

"You have a concussion, apparently," Draco added.

"Oh, god, I hurt," Kassidy said.

"You might want to go back to sleep, then," Draco said.

"But I don't wanna."

"Please, go to sleep. You'll feel better and probably get over the concussion faster if you do."

"He's right, you know," Madame Pomfrey said from across the room.

"Fine," Kassidy said, turning to her side to sleep.