For the next few days, everyone was cautious when it came time to Defence Against the Dark Arts and, generally, of Lockhart himself. It was clear as day (to anyone with brains) that the man wasn't as gifted as one would think when it came to magic. It also meant that since Lockhart wasn't necessarily teaching DADA lesson concepts, anyone actually interested in the class had to go about it on their own.
While Ron overlooked the Quidditch stand rails, Hermione sat beside him engrossed in a book. Harry and the rest of the Gryffindors were meant to practice for the first time that year.
"Have they started yet?" Romina called from a distance. She and Carolinha Paes were making their way towards the two Gryffindors.
"No, not yet," Ron glumly took a seat beside Hermione.
"What are you reading?" Romina curiously asked Hermione, but the bushy-haired girl didn't respond. Rolling her eyes, Romina came closer. "Hermione, c'mon, are you actually still mad with me?"
Hermione's dark eyes briefly looked up from the book. Her hand passed the page and she went back to reading. She had not forgiven Romina for protesting the points Lockhart awarded her on their first day of class.
Romina thought it was ridiculous. "If roles were reversed, you would have definitely said something about how stupid it was!"
"Maybe we should sit somewhere else," Carolinha suggested, trying to keep the peace. She didn't really like confrontations.
"Hermione, let it go!" Romina exclaimed, completely ignoring Carolinha for the moment. "It was just one of my usual lash outs! I never said you didn't deserve to be awarded. I only said that the situation in which you were awarded in was unfair. The class is Defence Against the Dark Arts, not an 'All about Lockhart' course!"
"Why keep arguing?" Ron looked at the two girls with a crazed expression. "The man's loony. Let's leave it at that."
Carolinha shook her head. "I think he's a total idiot."
"Yes, exactly!" Ron made a 'thank you' gesture at her before doing a double-take at her. "Who are you?"
Carolinha sheepishly smiled. "Carolinha Paes. I'm Angel's sister."
"Right…" Ron distractedly said then looked past her and Romina to the field. He'd seen something interesting.
"Hermione, c'mon," Romina plopped down on the stand. "You know I didn't do it with bad intentions."
Hermione considered the words and tentatively looked up from her book. "I know that…"
"So then why are you mad at me?"
Hermione grudged and snapped her book shut. "I'm not mad, merely upset, that you would protest my points for my House. If I didn't know any better you were trying to make sure Gryffindor didn't get points at all."
"Okay, now you're exaggerating," Romina playfully rolled her eyes.
Hermione shared a blip of a smile with her.
Carolinha had turned to the fields as well with Ron. "I thought your House was supposed to practice?"
"We were," Ron frowned. There were shades of green robes filling the field instead of the Gryffindor scarlet.
"What's going on?" Romina watched Ron hurry down to the fields.
"I think Slytherin is going to practice now," Carolinha answered calmly. She sounded more curious, actually. "Well, at least now it's going to be interesting."
"What's she talking about?" Hermione whispered to Romina.
"Look," Carolinha continued, "I think the Weasley twins are about to go down on Flint. They're always so funny to me."
"My twins?" Romina sighed and got up. Hermione did the same and without saying it, they agreed it was time to head down to the field.
"Romina, where are you going?" Carolinha called after the girls. She had stayed in the bleachers, looking out to the field.
"If the twins are there, then you know there's going to be trouble!" Romina exclaimed.
"What? They wouldn't do anything — oh, look, I think that's Draco too."
"Oh yeah, definitely trouble now!" Romina exchanged a worried look with Hermione. The two girls rushed towards the field then, leaving Carolinha to watch on her own.
"...I'm the new Slytherin Seeker, Weasley," Draco was in the middle of informing, probably towards Ron who was gaping with a mouth open. "Everyone's just been admiring the brooms my father bought our team. Good, aren't they?"
For Harry, Romina and Hermione, the 'new brooms' really only seemed different in that they were silver.
"But perhaps the Gryffindor team will be able to raise some gold and get new brooms, too. You could raffle off those Cleansweep Fives; I expect a museum would bid for them."
The entire Slytherin team burst into laughter.
Hermione scowled at them all and decided to clap back. "At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in. They got in on pure talent."
Everyone stopped. Draco set a cold look on Hermione. "No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood!"
"Hey!" Romina growled. "You don—"
Both Fred and George didn't do the 'words' and instead lunged towards Draco. Oliver Wood and some of the other Gryffindors tried holding them back while the Slytherins protected their new Seeker. Romina pulled Hermione a couple steps back, actually afraid of what would happen next.
"How dare you!" Ron whipped out his wand. Since the Whomping Willow accident, his wand hung by a string of its core. To keep it together, Ron had tied a piece of tape around it, or rather Hermione had done it. "Eat slugs!" Something green shot out from his wand...but from the wrong end. Instead of hitting Draco, Ron suffered the blow. His body was thrown backwards, landing flat on his back on the ground.
"Ron!" went both Romina and Hermione. They scurried over to see Ron actually belch out a slug from his mouth.
"Eugh," Romina took one step backwards.
Two more slugs dropped from Ron's mouth. Hearing the Slytherin laughter, Ron stood up as if to argue with them, but instead began to belch again.
"We'd better get him to Hagrid's, it's nearest," Harry told Hermione. They took Ron down the field, towards the gamekeeper's hut. Behind them went a first year with a muggle large camera in hand.
"Are you quite done?" Romina remained on the field, tapping her shoe and crossing her arms. The Slytherins had yet to stop laughing. The Gryffindors were beginning to walk away, and seeing that her fellow 'housemates' weren't going to be paying attention to her, she did the same.
"Sorry you have to deal with the lot every day," Fred thought to say as they walked together back to the castle.
"They're actually not bad people—" Romina barely got to say when George scoffed on her other side. "Look, I don't speak for Marcus Flint nor the rest of the older Slytherins, but the people in my year...they're not awful. We're twelve!"
Both twins chuckled.
"Oh Aline, you have a lot to learn," George swung an arm around Romina's shoulder. Hearing her loathed middle name, Romina punched him on the arm.
"Never call me that!"
~ 0 ~
More weeks passed and nothing got better in terms of DADA education. Romina was beginning to dread each time they had to walk into Lockhart's class. She preferred to focus on the other classes that weren't jokes. The homework certainly wasn't.
Romina, Arden and the Paes twins sat in the common room trying to finish their homework on time. Things were going relatively fine until...
"No, if you were to add in that ingredient you'd blow your head off, literally!" Romina leaned over Angel's parchment of potions homework.
"Would not!" the brunette boy argued.
"Would too!"
"You're not going to do this again are you?" Carolinha, sitting across them on the other couch, looked up from her own work.
"Do what?" both Romina and Angel frowned.
Arden, who'd taken her usual spot on the floor, answered their question. "Argue! You've been doing that all afternoon!"
Romina rolled her eyes and went back to her own parchment. "Not my fault Angel's too stubborn."
Hearing her mutter, Angel retorted, "Well it's not my fault Romina's an academic know-it-all."
"Ah!" Romina gawked, letting her quill fall. "How dare you!?"
Angel chuckled at her.
"I-I can't do this anymore," Arden gave up on her homework thanks to the two. She collected her things off the floor and stood up. "I'm going to dinner."
"We'll be there in a bit," Carolinha reassured.
"Yeah, don't be too long. It's my turn to pick on Pansy," Arden walked off with a smirk on her face.
"Is that just something they do for fun?" Angel asked once Arden had gone.
"Well, no, I think Pansy truly despises Arden now," Romina said carelessly. "Before I thought she just found Arden annoying. And because Arden knows this information she has some fun and argues as much as possible with her."
"That's some complicated relationship," Carolinha sighed and began to get up. "But nothing we're not used to. It's the same between Pansy and Daphne, honestly."
"Basically Pansy with anyone," Angel said with a smirk, causing the girls to giggle.
"I'm hungry. Let's go to dinner?" Carolinha asked the two hopefully.
Agreeing, Romina and Angel desisted on their homework for the night and followed Carolinha to the Great Hall. There were great discussions to be had since the first Quidditch game was just around the corner, not to mention Halloween was right behind it. Still, while the discussions went on - and an argument here and there happened - Romina took notice of the Gryffindor table where Harry was once again missing.
She crossed glances with Hermione and Ron but it was easy to tell that neither of them knew where Harry was either. Romina somewhat relaxed when Hermione and Ron got up to -presumably - look for Ron.
"Why do you always stare at that hideous table?" Pansy Parkinson brought Romina out of her thoughts. "One could say you would rather be there."
"If it's away from you then I'd love to join them too," Arden didn't fail to remark. She bit into a biscuit after.
"It's because she wishes she had been sorted into Gryffindor," Draco made his own input, throwing Romina a brief glance. "Isn't that right?"
They sat next to each other so it wasn't that hard for Romina to ignore his look. "Well if it means I get to be away from you, then sure." Arden beamed at her used comment. Best friends did think alike.
"You're still mad?" Draco raised an eyebrow at Romina.
"Mad at what?" Pansy looked between the two suspiciously.
"The word you're not allowed to use—he used it," Romina explained, maintaining eye contact with Draco. She surprisingly had an intense stare. "On Hermione."
"What word?" Arden innocently asked while she munched on a pastry.
Theodore Nott snorted. "I wouldn't ask."
Of course that only made Arden even more curious. She looked at the rest of the group, hoping that someone would give her the answer. Blaise Zabini seemed to be the one until Angel purposely cut him off after one word.
"It's a word that real high class people shouldn't use." He looked directly at Draco.
And as if to defy him, Draco went ahead and answered Arden's question. "I said 'mudblood'."
Arden still remained in the dark. "What does that mean?"
"It means—" Draco was about to explain when Romina punched him on the arm. "Ow! What? I was only trying to explain!"
"Oh yes, and I suddenly have the power to fly," Romina sarcastically retorted. "You're awful, you know that?"
This made no effect on the boy. "What's the big deal?" And just when Romina opened her mouth, Draco decided to keep going lest he want a lecture in the air. "I say things all the time. Don't act so surprised."
"This time you went too far," Romina frowned.
"So you're just going to stay angry with me?"
"Yup."
"Why can't you move on?"
Romina didn't bother to answer. She found much more happiness in her dessert. There was pudding!
At last, the feast came to an end, and the students began to file out of the Great Hall. In all the meanwhile Romina had eaten, neither Hermione nor Ron returned. But she didn't even get to think much about it when they heard some commotion up ahead.
"What the hell!?" Pansy was the first to give signs of trouble. She was crumbling her nose because her shoes had been submerged under water that was covering the hallway.
"Ew," even Arden was agreeing this time. "Sewage water."
The students grew closer to the source of the true problem, and found Harry, Ron and Hermione standing at the front of it all. Mrs. Norris the cat was hanging upside down from a torch bracket with her eyes open and a permanently frozen face. What really drove things home was the cryptic message written across the wall.
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED ENEMIES OF THE HEIR... BEWARE.
"Enemies of the heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!" Draco flashed a malicious grin at Hermione.
Romina stomped hard on his foot. "That! That is why we can't move on!"
Filch had arrived to disperse the band of students and thus interrupted what was sure to be an interesting scolding. "What's going on here? Go on now! Make way…" But the man came to an abrupt stop when he saw his precious cat stunned. His eyes quickly rounded on Harry. "You! You've murdered my cat! I'll kill you! I'll—"
"Argus!" Dumbledore interrupted. He, McGonagall, Lockhart and Snape were right behind him. As soon as Dumbledore saw what was written on the wall he began to send the students away...except for Harry, Ron and Hermione.
Needless to say, the center of conversations for all students became the message on the wall...and just who was the "heir".
"It's definitely a pureblood," Arden was giving her voice of opinion later that week. She and Romina were passing the courtyard to get to their respective classes. "It's got to be. Who else would come up with something as sinister as a 'Chamber of Secrets'." She rolled her eyes at the idea. Since the whole 'mudblood' ordeal last week, she had made it her personal mission to learn more about the wizarding community. She was disgusted with some of the old fashioned thoughts of some people, specifically those who called themselves pureblood families.
"If you think like that then you're no better than purebloods looking down on muggle-borns and half-bloods," Romina said bluntly. "It's a tricky things, these ways. A lot of these customs have dated way back. It's very hard to change people's minds about them."
"When did you get so knowledgeable about this stuff?" Arden wondered.
Romina preferred not to answer with 'Draco taught me' as it would lead to a conversation she didn't want to have. Now more than ever, she was determined to keep her brief pureblood lessons with Draco a secret. She would take it to her tomb, if possible.
"So...who do you think is the heir?" Arden waggled an eyebrow at Romina. The two stopped at the intersection where their classes would separate them.
"I have no idea," Romina truthfully replied, shrugging her shoulders. And she really didn't. Everyone at school were just students who barely knew how to cast spells. The older students probably didn't have the guts and the professors had no reason to 'open' this chamber after such a long time being at the school.
"Hm," Arden's eyes looked to the side. "I'll have to Sherlock Holmes it."
Romina caught sight of the common trio of Gryffindor and hurriedly said goodbye to Arden to meet up with them. She had yet to properly talk with them since the message appeared.
~ 0 ~
"We don't know who did it either," Harry grew tired of repeating himself. He'd already been asked thousands of times before Romina did. "We just found things like they were!"
"You have some luck, you know," Romina made a face. "But that voice you said you heard...are you sure you heard it? You didn't just imagine it or something…?"
"I didn't," Harry also was tired of saying. Ron and Hermione hounded him with questions about it the same night of the question.
"But you also said Lockhart didn't hear it," Hermione reminded, till seeming unsure herself.
"Well, no—"
"But maybe Lockhart was lying," Ron interrupted and sent the girls a sharp look.
Romina scoffed before Harry could get a word in. "Oh please. Lockhart would take anything he could use for his own advantage. Hearing voices in the air would definitely be his number one story by now."
"Plus, neither of us heard anything, remember?" Hermione raised an eyebrow at Ron.
"But it is strange that soon as Harry heard this 'voice'—" Romina made quotation marks with her fingers, —you found the stupid cat petrified? It's just—"
"Hey!" Harry finally got a word in, even going as far as raising a hand to remind his friends he was, in fact, still there and listening. "I want to clarify that this voice I heard is in fact real and I didn't imagine it. Though now I'm thinking I should have told Dumbledore about this that night."
"Are you mad!?" Ron nearly lost it.
"In what world does hearing voices no one else can ever turn out good for that person?" Romina challenged Harry to think about it. "Whether it's the muggle world or the wizarding world, hearing secret voices is not good."
Harry sighed...but ultimately agreed. People were already beginning to form their own assumptions and if word got out that he was hearing strange voices there was no doubt he would become the prime culprit of it all.
~ 0 ~
Transfiguration would be having the students attempt to change their animals into water goblets. McGonagall performed her own example - changing a bird into a crystal water goblet - and then picked Ron to follow. Nervously, Ron tapped his rat, Scabbers, with his broken (but taped up) wand. Scabbers ended as a goblet with a tail.
"You must replace that wand, Mr. Weasley," McGonagall changed Scabbers back into himself.
Hermione's hand suddenly raised a hand. Romina gave her a significant look, knowing that Hermione had understood perfectly the lesson...so what exactly did she have a question about?
"Yes, Miss Granger?"
Hermione seemed hesitant to go ahead and ask her question, but she ultimately spoke up. "Professor, I was wondering if you could tell us about the Chamber of Secrets?"
McGonagall took a step back, as if the question had physically forced her to. Around the class, the students fell over with silence. Everyone's eyes were glued on the professor. "My subject is Transfiguration, Miss Granger."
"Yes, Professor. But there seems to be very little written about the Chamber of Secrets," Hermione spoke from her endless nights at the library searching for anything having to do with the Chamber. "For those of us with a personal interest in the subject, that is... disturbing."
McGonagall looked at the rest of her students, and seeing that literally no one was planning on listening to her lecture unless she spoke about the Chamber...she spoke. "Very well. You all know, of course, that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. Three of the founders co-existed quite harmoniously. One did not."
Ron snorted and whispered to Harry, "Three guesses who?"
"Salazar Slytherin wished to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He believed that magical learning should be kept within all-magic families. In other words, purebloods. Unable to sway the others, he decided to leave the school. According to legend, Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in this castle, known as the Chamber of Secrets. Shortly before departing, he sealed it until that time when his own true heir returned to the school. The heir alone would be able to open the Chamber of Secrets and unleash the horror within, and by so doing, purge the school of all those who, in Slytherin's view, were unworthy to study magic."
"Muggle-borns," Hermione understood and was dissuaded from questioning further.
"Yes. Naturally, the school has been searched many times for such a chamber. It has never been found."
There was utter silence until...Romina raised her hand this time. "Professor, what exactly does the legend tell us lies within the Chamber?"
"The Chamber is said to be home to something which the heir of Slytherin alone can control. It is said to be home...to a monster."
After that, no one dared to ask anymore questions. After class, though, there were many things to be discussed.
"I always knew Salazar Slytherin was a twisted old loony," Ron spoke first on their way out of class. "But I never knew he started all this pure-blood stuff. I wouldn't be in his House if you paid me—"
"Ahem?" Romina shot him a glare that made him gulp.
"You know you're the exception…"
"Mhm," Romina rolled her eyes.
"Hiya, Harry!" first-year Gryffindor, Colin Creavey, rushed up to the group. "Harry — Harry — a boy in my class has been saying you're —" But because of the crowd around, he was taken along with them and never got to finish his statement.
"What's a boy in his class saying about you?" Hermione asked curiously.
"That I'm Slytherin's heir, I expect," Harry glumly responded. Students had already begun to turn the other way when he was around.
Romina scoffed. "Please."
"People here'll believe anything," Ron agreed with Romina's disbelief. He stopped for a moment to think. "D'you really think there's a Chamber of Secrets?"
"I don't know," Hermione murmured. "Dumbledore couldn't cure Mrs. Norris, and that makes me think that whatever attacked her might not be — well — human."
"Not to mention the fact every single professor has got this face" — Romina made a gesture to hers — "that makes you want to shiver. They're worried. And if they're worried...so should we."
"Because if there really is a Chamber of Secrets, and it's really been opened, that means…" Harry would rather not say it outloud, but Hermione didn't hesitate.
"The Heir of Slytherin has returned to Hogwarts. The question is, who is it?"
Ron nearly laughed at how naive they all were. "Let's think," he sarcastically began, "Who do we know who thinks Muggle-borns are scum?"
Hermione didn't answer, but she was following Ron's gaze up to Draco up ahead. Soon, Romina and Harry did the same.
"If you're talking about him—" Hermione began, but Ron cut her off.
"Of course! You heard him: 'You'll be next, Mudbloods'!"
"What? No!" Romina actually had a good laugh. "That is probably the most ridiculous thing I have heard up to date. And I've heard plenty."
"Oh, c'mon, Romina," Ron argued, even stopping to get his point across.
"What? I'm being serious," Romina turned to him too, slowly sobering from her laughter. "I mean, I get that you hate him—he's given you good reasons to—but to say that he opened up a secret chamber—" her eyes widened for dramatic effect, "—to get rid of all muggle-borns...that's just hilariously stupid."
Ron huffed and crossed his arms.
"Maybe Ron's right," Harry put a hand on his friend's arm, ignoring Romina's irritated scoff. "I mean, look at his family. The whole lot of them have been in Slytherin for centuries."
"Hey," Romina pointed at him suddenly, her playfulness gone and replaced with a warning look, "I will not let you disrespect my House like that. By thinking like that you're basically saying that I'm going to grow up to become some dark witch. And—" she spoke just as Harry and Ron opened their mouths presumably to tell her she was wrong, "—don't you dare tell me that 'I'm the exception' because that's just a joke. I'm going to remind you that both my aunt and uncle were also in Slytherin and, contrary to the people who birthed me, they are the kindest people I know."
Hermione looked between the three, unsure of where to speak for and against. "It wouldn't hurt to try and see whether or not Malfoy is the Heir…"
Romina sighed and stepped back, appalled. "You too?"
"We won't call him out, we can just find another way."
"Fine, if you want, I can just ask him and be done with it," Romina turned around to just that task when the three Gryffindors yelled 'no!' and grabbed her back.
"Are you mad, woman!?" Ron nearly shook the girl. "Like he'd ever tell you!"
"See, this is where my name actually does me some good," Romina shrugged. "Oswells have the famous reputation of being evil. For once, that could work in my favor."
"We're not taking that chance," Harry shook his head.
"We don't have to," Hermione said with a new light in her eyes - she had an idea. "We can get Crabbe and Goyle to tell us. They must know the truth."
"Are you implying that Draco would rather tell those two bozos than me?" Romina frowned.
Now both Harry and Ron made horrible faces. "Why does that seem to bother you?" Ron asked with an edge in his voice.
Romina blinked, as if just realizing herself, then shook her head. "No! I just meant...well, Draco does spend a lot of time with Blaise and Theo too."
"Yeah, but trust me, it would be a lot easier to get Crabbe and Goyle," Hermione said with a strange smirk. It caught everyone's attention.
"Why do you say it like that?" Romina raised an eyebrow at the girl. "What are you thinking about doing?"
"I'm thinking that we're going to impersonate those two and in the process break about fifty school rules. Also, it would be very dangerous."
Romina, Harry and Ron all exchanged glances with each other. Had they heard right?
None of it seemed to matter because in the next second Ron demanded to know when they could start.
~ 0 ~
At night while most students were having dinner, Romina was led into the Gryffindor common room by Harry, Ron and Hermione. There was no one in there which created the perfect chance to really look at the book Hermione had swiped from the library's forbidden section thanks to Harry's invisibility cloak.
"Are you sure I'm allowed to be in here?" Romina took in the scarlet and golden room. It seemed very comfortable but...a bit messy with all the furniture and draping curtains. The only thing she envied was the view they got from their windows.
"I've checked—" Hermione said dutifully, "—and there is no explicit rule forbidding students to go into common rooms not of their House."
"Rule-abiding Hermione isn't going to make a visit right now is she?" Ron curiously asked.
Hermione rolled her eyes and excused herself for a minute to retrieve the book they needed from her dorm. She returned two minutes later with it and walked over to the couch. Together they began to skim the book for the potion Hermione talked about and with luck they found it within ten minutes.
"Those are some...interesting pictures…" Romina crinkled her nose at the disturbing illustrations on the pages.
Hermione was much more interested in the instructions. "Properly brewed, the Polyjuice Potion allows the drinker to transform himself temporarily into the physical form of another...'"
Ron had to stop her right there. "You mean, Harry and I drink some of this stuff and we turn into Crabbe and Goyle?"
"Yes."
"Wicked! Malfoy'll tell us anything!"
"Exactly. But it's tricky," Hermione warned. She kept passing her finger down the instructions. "I've never seen a more complicated potion. Lacewing flies, leeches, fluxweed. And, of course, we'll need a bit of whoever we want to change into too."
Now Ron's excitement faded right there "Hang on now. I'm drinking nothing with Crabbe's toenails in it."
"Y'all want to play Sherlock - that's the punishment," Romina said with a clear trace of satisfaction in her tone. "I told you that it would be a lot easier for me to just ask or at the very least try to impersonate Blaise and Theo."
"They're pretty smart," Hermione said, "We can't run the risk of using them and getting caught. Besides, don't you think it Malfoy was the Heir, he would tell someone who wouldn't say a soul? Can you see Blaise and Theo keeping it a secret?"
"No...guess not..." Romina thought that in a moment of spite, either one of the boys would betray Draco. Maybe even just for a joke. "Alrihgt, I get the point."
"How long will it take to make?" asked Harry.
"A month," Hermione answered after re-checking the instructions.
"A month?" Harry gaped. "But if Malfoy is the heir of Slytherin...he could attack half the Muggle-borns in the school by then!"
Romina rolled her eyes, but Hermione took a bit of the warning to heart. "You didn't have to tell me that."
~ 0 ~
The day of the first Quidditch game was a disastrous one from the start. As soon as Romina woke up, she could hear her House chanting for their team, so sure they would win. Romina knew with the brooms they had, it was very plausible. However, here came the problem. If she cheered for her House, her fellow Gryffindor friends would take it as a traitorous behavior because her best friend was their seeker.
"Ron, what am I supposed to do? Not cheer for my own team?" Romina was angrily demanding to know the right answer. She, Arden, Hermione and Ron were making their way towards the audience stands.
"Yes!" Ron didn't hesitate to answer, and with a loud shout. Both Romina and Arden glared.
"Not happening. I can cheer for both," Romina held her nose in the air and walked ahead with Arden.
"She's mad? How can she be mad?" Ron incredulously asked.
"I can't imagine her position is easy," Hermione tried to see through Romina's perspective. "On the one hand, she's a Slytherin and it's only natural she'd want to cheer her own team."
"On the other hand, Slytherins are cheaters. Malfoy just bought them their winning ticket. How could she cheer for that?"
Hermione could understand both sides. Unfortunately, even her quick wits weren't enough to find a solution for the problem.
Romina and Arden found spots beside Carolinha, Daphne and Pansy near the first row. Blaise, Theo and Angel were on the bleacher below them.
Noticing Romina's face, Arden gently bopped shoulders with Romina. "Don't mind what Ron said. I don't know him as well as you do, but he's got a big mouth that says things he usually regrets later."
Romina could agree there. Ron was always saying things he usually only meant in that moment. He wasn't evil, nor rude, but was very impulsive and just not a great listener. "You're right," Romina gave a small nod of her head. "I'm just going to have fun cheering for both teams."
Arden grinned, but Pansy - overhearing - had to comment on similar things that Ron had said. At least with her, Romina could easily deflect such words by simply ignoring her. What Pansy said was not in her care line.
When the game started, it was almost impossible for the Slytherins to see their team. They were like little blurred spots that zipped from one place to the other. The brooms were sure working their magic. Gryffindors were, at times, left wondering how it was that the ball escaped their clutches.
Into the game, Romina noticed something truly strange. She borrowed Angel's binoculars to get a better look at the field. "Is it me or does that bludger seem to have a thing for Harry this game?"
"His team is just not good at fighting them, that's all," Pansy didn't fail to make a shot at the Gryffindors.
"Yeah, but I think Romina might have a point this time…" Angel's head followed the movements of the bludger.
"You're going to make me dizzy," frowned Blaise. "Stop!"
Romina rolled her eyes and continued to watch the game through the binoculars. "Something isn't right," she mumbled. George had smacked a bludger away from Harry, but almost a second later it was back in Harry's direction. Is it possible the bludger had been tampered with?
"Oh, now I see it," Arden commented when Harry performed a series of quick witted moves with the broom to avoid the bludger. "Poor Harry."
"Who cares! Look!" Pansy pointed excitedly. "There's the snitch! And it's so close to Draco! He's sure to catch it now!"
"Something tells me he won't…" Arden snatched the binoculars from Romina to have a look now.
Carolinha tilted her head, confused like usual. "I don't get it. Why isn't Draco grabbing it yet? He doesn't have to move much."
"Because the idiot is probably more focused on insulting Harry," Romina sighed.
Arden was giggling. "You should see Flint's face right now."
"He's bound to get in trouble now," Daphne said, making a face..
"I think...both…" Romina was making a face of terrible fear because now Harry and Draco were flying for the Seeker, fighting each other of course, and somehow one winded up nearly hitting the wall while the latter spiraled out of control after hitting a beam.
With Harry, the bludger finally met him just as he caught the Golden Snitch. He lost control of his broom and went down to the pitch field as well. But, as if that wasn't enough, the bludger appeared to not have been finished with its work.
"Are you serious?" Romina rubbed her eyes just to make sure she wasn't seeing things. But of course hearing Pansy's laughter indicated this was very much reality.
Thankfully, someone from the Gryffindor stand acted fast and cancelled whatever spell that bludger was under.
Arden lowered the binoculars, revealing widened eyes and a gaping mouth. "What...a...game…"
~ 0 ~
Thanks to Gilderoy Lockhart's incessant endeavor to play hero, Harry had ended up in the night wing with absolutely no bones in an arm. Madame Pomfrey sure had her evening cut out for her.
"Will Harry be okay?" Carolinha stopped by the desk Romina was working at in their common room.
The black-haired girl looked up from her work with a smile. "I couldn't get in but I think he will be. I know there's a spell to get bones back in the arm."
"Painful one, probably," Pansy almost sing-sang as she walked by them. Both girls rolled their eyes.
"Hey, you lived," they heard Arden suddenly say.
Those in the common room glanced at the entrance to see Draco coming in with a dazed look, yet there was a gleaming scowl spreading on his pale face.
"Ten points Flint got to you already?" Theo stopped by the blonde with an eager face. "How bad was it?"
The look on Draco's face said it all.
"What can I say, you're a good player if not a bit easily distracted," Angel clapped him on the shoulder.
"Angel I'd take three steps away from him…" Romina had never seen Draco look so mad. She feared for anyone around him.
"Don't touch me, don't speak to me —don't even breathe around me," Draco pushed past him and headed for the boys' hallway.
"Hm...you got off easy…" Theo said to Angel, sounding a little disappointed.
~ 0 ~
In order to do their polyjuice potion, a decent, conserved room was needed. Thankfully, Hermione had found one long before that requirement.
Romina walked in with Harry and Ron and immediately noticed the abandoned features of the bathroom. Walls were from looking, sinks were chipped to the point of falling apart, and the mirrors were slashed. Even the candles lighting it up were guttering. Despite the conditions of the room, the boys were more focused on Harry's recent findings on the chamber of secrets thanks to the house elf Dobby.
"Again? You mean, the Chamber of Secrets has been opened before?" even Hermione had looked up from her smoking cauldron on the floor.
Ron's eyes widened with realization. "Of course! Don't you see? Lucius Malfoy must've opened it when he was at school here, and now he's told Draco how to do it."
"If Draco had known, don't you think he would've opened it last year?" Romina thought logically.
Even Hermione had to concede at that point. "We'll have to wait for the Polyjuice Potion to know for sure," she motioned to the cauldron that was billowing smoke.
Ron somewhat simmered from his excitement. "Enlighten me. Why are we brewing this potion in broad daylight, in the middle of a girls' lavatory? Don't you think we'll get caught?"
Hermione shook her head calmly. "Never. No one ever comes in here."
"Why?"
"Moaning Myrtle."
"She's real?" Romina blinked. She suddenly began to look around, but neither Harry nor Ron knew who they are talking about. "I thought Arden was making it up to scare the crap out of Pansy." She laughed. "It worked by the way."
Before anyone could say anything in response, a loud screeching made them look up in time to see the ghost of a girl appearing through the wall. Her pigtails floated with the nonexistent air and her clothing - while gray and transparent like her - were that of the school uniform.
"I'm Moaning Myrtle!" her squeaky voice rang in their ears. She stopped just in front of Ron, giving the ginger quite a scare. "I wouldn't expect you to know me. Who would ever talk about fat, ugly, miserable, moping, moaning Myrtle?" the girl sobbed and dove into one of the toilet stalls.
All three shocked, Romina, Harry and Ron turned to Hermione. The brunette girl merely shrugged and continued with the potion.
"She's a little sensitive."
~ 0 ~
Days later saw the first student attacked by the Chamber's beast. Colin Creevey - Harry's practically number one fan - had been found on the floor, holding his camera to his fact, petrified. The news spread like wildfire amongst the students. Of course with it came higher desires to find the "Heir".
Rumors started here and there, and most of them were delirious…
"It's ridiculous, really, but amusing to what extent some of these idiots will go to just to 'protect themselves'," Arden told Romina after witnessing a student in their Care of Magical creatures class purchase a talisman meant to ward off any beasts.
Honestly, the thought made Romina want to laugh as well.
"Guys!" Angel called them over to a parchment posted on the wall. He and Carolinha, were already bursting with excitement over whatever the new announcement was.
Romina and Arden came to stand just beside them and both looked up to see a Dueling Club was being formed.
"Can you believe it? A Dueling Club!" Angel exclaimed.
"Could be useful nowadays," Carilonha said with exceptionally wide eyes. With the latest on the Chamber, she had become more cautious and nervous.
"It's eight o'clock," Arden finished reading. "Well, I'll go. If anything, I can see Pansy getting cursed or something."
Before eight o'clock, Romina managed to get the word to her Gryffindor friends about the club. She figured it would be a good idea to learn some defensive stances and spells just in case they actually ran into the Heir.
The Great Hall had been the site for the first meeting that night. Only one long table had been left in the center to serve the professors' platforms.
"Gather round!" Lockhart was, of course, at the center of the platform. "Gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent." He took a long, dramatic pause before speaking again. "In light of the dark events of recent weeks, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little Dueling Club, to train you all up in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions - for full details, see my published works."
"My God, he's a walking advertisement." Romina rolled her eyes.
"Well, at least Professor Snape will be there, look," Arden pointed to their Head of House coming up the platform. All Slytherins were excited as Snape came by Lockhart, but of course none of the other Houses agreed.
"Let me introduce my assistant Professor Snape…" Lockhart began.
"He is joking, right?" Blaise's voice drew the girls' attention behind them. He, Draco and Angel were pushing their way through the crowd to be upfront. Assistant? Snape?"
"Like Ron said, the man's loony," Carolinha mumbled, causing the girls to snicker.
Lockhart and Snape were meant to give the group an example of how to de-arm each other. Lockhart jokingly promised to leave Snape alive. Snape threw Lockhart back before the blonde wizard could even finish his spell.
All Slytherins cheered for their Head of House.
Lockhart got up to his feet with the fakest smile possible. "Yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy…"
Snape seemed like he didn't want to bother wasting air pointing out how that was indeed not true. "Perhaps it would be prudent to first teach the students to block unfriendly spells, Professor."
Lockhart agreed and between the two put the students in pairs. Things were going fine until Lockhart put Arden and Pansy as partners.
"Professor that might not be a good idea…" Romina tried inputting an opinion but was, of course, not taken into consideration.
"That should be interesting," Draco moved up to stand beside her.
"You mean murderous. Actually, it'd be like if you were paired up with—"
But Snape called over to them and finished Romina's thought without knowing it. "Mr. Malfoy, come over here. Let's see what you make of the famous Potter."
Draco's eyes lit up with a new sense of excitement, "Honestly, Oswell, I might just consider you as a lucky charm!"
"N-n-n-no, don't…" Romina tried to say but Draco happily marched towards Harry, forgetting all about her. "Dammit!"
"Miss Oswell, you can partner with Weasley," Lockhart came by to take the girl to the named partner.
"So it's just killing night, got it," Romina mumbled...because she remembered what happened with Ron's broken wand the last time he tried using it. "Please don't use that on me," she kindly requested from Ron once they were in position to begin.
Ron could only respond with a sheepish smile.
"And bow!" commanded Lockhart once everyone had been put into partners. "Wands at the ready! When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponents — only to disarm them — we don't want any accidents — one . . . two . . . three—"
Everything that happened after that went so fast no one could pinpoint the exact time things went awry. In two minutes, Snape had to shout 'Finite Incantatem!' to stop everyone's spells.
Harry could finally stop dancing because of the charm Draco had put on him. Draco, in turn, could finally get up and stop laughing from the tickling charm put on him. Pansy's cries echoed in the room at the last moment when Arden blasted her against a wall. Hermione was in a headlock with Millicent and seemed to be needing some help.
"I'm sorry!" Ron's words caught some attention. Romina was sitting up with a face full of ash but otherwise unharmed.
Other students were actually bleeding from whatever their partners had cast on them. All in all, it was a disaster.
"I think I'd better teach you how to block unfriendly spells," Lockhart quickly thought of, probably to make up for the gigantic error they'd made. "Let's have a volunteer pair — Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley, how about you—" but of course that would not be.
"A bad idea, Professor Lockhart," Snape interrupted and came over. "Longbottom causes devastation with the simplest spells. We'll be sending what's left of Finch-Fletchley up to the hospital wing in a matchbox. How about Malfoy and Potter?"
How that could be any better Romina would never understand. As the two boys in question walked up on stage, the rest of the students started gathering near the stage. Of course when Harry and Draco walked up to each other for the traditional bow, some of the students who knew them wondered if taking a step closer was a good idea.
"Scared, Potter?" The aura of superiority around Draco seemed to burst in that moment.
Harry would not falter against his confidence. "You wish."
The two boys walked to the edges of the stage then turned around, wands ready.
"I can't watch," Romina thought she had whispered until Arden gave an excited 'I can!' beside her.
It came as no surprise that Draco started the fuel before Lockhart even finished his little countdown. Harry blasted backwards and was only down for a second when he jumped back and directed his own spell.
"Rictusempra!" His wand released a silver light that shot directly at Draco, causing the boy to double over in pain.
"I said disarm only!" Lockhart seemed tired of the same mistake, but Romina thought he had it well deserved for being so naive again.
"Serpensortia!" Draco delivered the final spell of the duel when a long, black snake erupted from his wand. All the students' jaws dropped at the sight of it.
"Don't move, Potter. I'll get rid of it for you," Snape supposedly meant well and started for the snake when Lockhart cut in.
"Allow me!" the blonde wizard moved his wand about but instead of getting rid of the snake, he flew it into the air.
Justin Finch-Fletchley came to be the next target of the snake. The boy was stuck to his spot while the snake slithered towards him. Everyone around him literally jumped to the sides to avoid the snake. But suddenly, Harry called to it...or at least that's what the others thought he was doing. A strange whisper and hissing was coming out of Harry's mouth that no one could understand.
The snake paused to look at Harry but then continued for Justin. Harry once more called to it in the strange language before the snake finally desisted from Justin. Everyone was stunned, as far as Harry could see, and he didn't know why.
"What are you playing at?" Justin demanded from Harry but didn't get any close to the boy
Harry frowned, confused of course, because he had just saved Justin from the snake. But then he started noticing the different looks he was getting from the others. Draco seemed shocked, Neville and Seamus were afraid, Romina was confused, and Ron and Hermione were concerned.
What had he done?
~0~
Because Romina could not catch up with Harry, Ron and Hermione after the dueling club, she was forced to return to the Slytherin common room with the rest of her friends. That didn't mean she wouldn't be learning of the true problem that night.
"I can't believe Potter is a Parseltongue," Angel was discussing it with Draco and Blaise ahead of the group. "I should have seen it coming!"
"Don't be ridiculous, it was a trick, obviously," Draco said, far too fast for anyone who was so confident in their thoughts.
"Funny, you didn't look like that back there," Blaise smirked.
The conversation went on as they walked into the common room. Theo was already in their usual spot, doing homework, but happily put his quill to the side to hear about how Harry Potter had spoken parseltongue. He howled with laughter.
Romina stepped in front of the boys, absolutely confused, and demanded to hear some answers. "What the hell is a parseltongue?"
"You really don't know much, do you?" Blaise raised an eyebrow with a condescending look on his face.
"Shut it and answer my question."
"Romina, a parseltongue is someone who can speak to snakes," Angel gently explained to her much kinder.
"P-p-parseltongue?" Romina repeated the soapy word in her mouth. "That sounds like a kind of cheese. What's the problem? Why is everyone either freaking out or laughing?" She threw eyes at Theo who still had tears in his eyes from his laugh.
"Oswell, the only person known who could speak to snakes was you-know-who," Draco explained and waited for her to reach the same conclusion that everyone else already had.
Romina's mouth parted from her shock, but she immediately rejected the idea. "That's — no! You never know. If there's this stigma around parseltongues then it's natural maybe some people don't admit they have the talent."
"Look, you don't have to convince me. As if Potter could be the Heir of Slytherin," Draco rolled his eyes at the absurdity. "Next joke please."
But as he began to leave, Angel let it slip that the only other person known to speak to snakes was Salazar Slytherin himself. Anyone within hearing distance would now make the connection that Harry could very well be his heir.
A/N:
P.S As always, I have a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's a place where anyone can comment about a story or even just talk to me! I often drop aesthetic work belonging to my stories too! Feel free to check it out, my URL is "saiilorstars"