Chapter 24

Early the next morning Harry was woken up by Ron telling him it was Christmas, he sat up and saw Ron was already awake and looked excited, he briefly wondered if it was possible to get him that excited for class. Harry saw the pile of presents his friends sent him and he felt himself smile, he was about to grab one but stopped when he noticed there was a gift sent from the Dursleys, remembering how last year they sent him a toothpick he decided to get that one out of the way. Harry was left unsurprised when he saw they sent him a fifty pence coin, he decided to give it to Ron since he knew his dad loved anything related to muggles.

Harry moved on to the rest of his gifts and saw he had received sweets from Fay, Sally-Anne, Dean, Seamus, Hannah, Tracey, Lilian, and Blaise. He soon got to Daphne's gift and saw inside were two boxes of chocolates from Astoria and Isabel, he hoped they liked the sweets he sent them since he asked Daphne for their favorites. Looking underneath the chocolates he saw Daphne sent him a potions book but there was a note attached that read "My mother said this was one of your mother's favorite potions books." Harry smiled at the note and looked forward to reading the book. When he opened Susan's gift inside there was a book explaining offhanded and silent casting. From Luna he had received a yearlong subscription to the Quibbler.

Harry opened his gifts from Oliver and saw he had given him what looked like toy versions of their quidditch supplies, he was confused at first until Ron opened his gift from Oliver and saw it was figurines of professional quidditch players, Ron looked excited and said they could use them to make their own teams and watch them play. Harry smiled at the gift and set it aside before opening his gifts from the chasers, just like last year they bought him new clothes but what surprised him was that they even got him new shoes, he was glad he could finally get rid of his shoes from the Dursleys since they were being held together with duct tape.

Harry grabbed his next gift and noticed it was from Neville and Augusta, there was a note attached to it and it read "After what happened during the summer I asked gran to help me with this gift, we hope you like it." Harry opened the box and saw it was a new pair of glasses similar to his own, he found a note inside that explained the glasses had been charmed to be unbreakable, picking them up Harry admired them, he remembered how much the Dursleys complained when they had to buy him his glasses, they even refused to replace them when Dudley broke them so he had to use tape. Harry took off his old glasses before putting on the new ones and everything became clear to him, smiling to himself Harry looked at his old glasses before tossing them in his trunk, he would make sure to thank Neville and Augusta for his new glasses.

Both Harry and Ron opened their gifts from Mrs. Weasley and saw she made them new sweaters like last year, Ron complained about his being maroon again and Harry saw his were once again green like his eyes. Ron soon grabbed his next present and saw it was from Harry, opening it Ron was soon stunned when he saw Harry got him a brand new chess set, he thanked Harry for his gift and was excited to start playing. Harry found his gift from Ron and saw it was a book describing moves famous seekers have made, he thanked Ron for his gift and hoped it could give him some new ideas.

The two boys finished opening their presents and decided to head down to the common room to meet with the rest of their friends, they both wore their sweaters and Harry made sure to wear his scarf, before leaving Harry grabbed his present for Hermione while Ron made sure to bring his new chess set so they could play. The two boys arrived at the common room and Ron set up the chess board so they could play while they waited for everyone else to show up, it didn't take long for them to hear footsteps and soon they saw Fred and George arrived in the common room and they were followed by Lee. Noticing each other they wished each other a happy Christmas, Harry noticed they all had their sweaters on but Harry noticed Fred was wearing a blue sweater while George was wearing a grey one.

Ron asked the twins "Where's Percy?"

Fred answered, "He already left for breakfast…"

George continued, "He doesn't plan to relax during the break and intends to start studying as soon as he can."

They decided to wait for Ginny and Hermione to show up before heading down to the great hall, Ron had just beaten Harry at chess when they heard footsteps coming down the stairs from the girls' dorms, they turned and saw it was Hermione, seeing all of them she wished them a happy Christmas before saying "Ron, I think your mum sent me this."

They all saw Hermione was holding a Weasley sweater with the letter H on it, what surprised them was that it was the same color as Ron's sweater. Ron looked confused and asked "Why would mum send you a sweater, do you think she sent you one because you're our friend?"

Lee spoke under his breath, "I've been friends with the twins for years and I've never gotten one."

Hermione wasn't sure why Mrs. Weasley sent her a sweater, the twins looked back and forth between all their sweaters and realized what was going on, one of the twins said "Don't worry Hermione."

The other twin continued, "We'll let our mum know you got her sweater."

Hermione nodded and thanked them, she was already wearing a sweater her parents sent her so she didn't want to change. Lee noticed Hermione was holding a box with Harry's name on it and Harry had one for Hermione, he quickly understood they were going to exchange gifts so he walked up to Ron and asked "Hey Ron, can I play next?"

"Sure."

Lee took Harry's place so Harry got up and grabbed his gift, he approached Hermione and the two smiled at each other before both saying "Happy Christmas."

They both paused for a moment before chuckling then Harry held out his gift and said "I hope you like it."

Hermione opened her gift and saw inside was a journal along with two boxes, one box was full of new quills along with color changing quills and dicta quills, in the other box was a pack of sugar quills. Hermione smiled and hugged Harry and said "Thank you so much Harry, I love them!" Hermione saw the journal had a lock and she needed to push her magic into it so it would unlock for her only, opening the journal she saw inside were instructions for a spell that allowed her to attach new pages to the journal, she was excited to start using it but it also reminded her of the journal Harry had and it made her wonder about it. She was pulled from her thoughts when she realized she hasn't given Harry her gift yet.

Hermione handed Harry her gift but felt nervous wondering what he would think, opening the box Harry saw inside was a photo album, picking it up Harry opened it and saw many photos where he and Hermione were together, he flipped through a few before Hermione explained, "For my birthday Fay and Sally-Anne asked Colin to take photos so they could give them to me, I asked Colin for the photos he had of us so you could have them too."

Hermione was blushing and felt embarrassed, Harry didn't notice her blush since he flipped through a few photos and saw the time he spent with Hermione, he should probably talk to Colin about taking someone's picture when they aren't paying attention, but he put it out of his mind since he saw how he and Hermione were around each other. Harry smiled at the moments he shared with his best friend before surprising her by hugging her, he told her "I love it, thank you for the wonderful gift!"

Hermione felt her blush deepen but she smiled and hugged Harry back, she was glad Harry loved her gift. The two kids soon returned to their dorms to place their gifts somewhere safe, once they returned they joined their friends and waited until they finally heard Ginny come downstairs. They saw Ginny arrived in the common room and she was wearing her sweater, however everyone noticed her sweater was the same color as Harry's, it looked like the two matched and Fred and George understood what their mother was trying to do.

The group of Gryffindors made their way down to breakfast and saw how decorated the great hall was, Hagrid had brought in several trees and they were all decorated to be bright and colorful, Hermione looked around amazed at seeing how Christmas was celebrated at Hogwarts. Harry, Hermione, and Ron sat away from the others to talk about their plan, they watched the entrance while they ate and soon Malfoy arrived with Crabbe and Goyle following him. Bulstrode soon arrived and the three Gryffindors knew they needed to get Malfoy alone so they could replace the other three Slytherins. Hermione had already thought of that and asked the twins for a favor, they agreed to help get Malfoy alone but she wasn't sure what she could do about Bulstrode. Luna had come to join them during breakfast and to their surprise she asked if the potion is ready, Hermione wondered how she found out but decided to tell her it was, without being asked Luna said she would distract Bulstrode.

When breakfast came to an end Hermione put on Harry's invisibility cloak and left to prepare everything in the bathroom, Ron and Harry were told by the twins that they would come and get them once they get Malfoy away from Crabbe and Goyle. It took some time but soon Fred showed up and told them to follow him, he led them to a corridor and Harry noticed Fred had a piece of parchment but he couldn't see what it was, they came to a stop near the dungeon and Fred said "Crabbe and Goyle will come by here soon, when they do make sure they see these cupcakes." He handed them two cupcakes and explained, "We've cast compulsion charms on them so once they see them they'll want to eat them."

Fred wished them good luck with whatever they were planning and left, Harry and Ron quickly hid in a broom closet with the door slightly opened and Harry levitated the cupcakes. They heard approaching footsteps and soon spotted Crabbe and Goyle, the two Slytherins noticed the cupcakes and without hesitation grabbed them and ate them. The two Slytherins started to walk away before Harry and Ron heard them collapse to the floor, stepping out of the broom closet they saw the two boys were passed out on the floor. They placed the two Slytherins in the broom closet and took a hair from each before heading to the bathroom, they soon arrived and saw Hermione had gotten rid of the cauldron and had three cups full of a thick and murky greenish potion.

Both Harry and Ron grimaced when they saw the potion and Ron asked "Do we really have to drink that?"

Hermione nodded, "Yes, you need to add the hair and wait a moment, after drinking it you'll turn into them for an hour, are you both ready?"

Both boys nodded, they all went into separate stalls and changed into proper Slytherin robes, once they were ready Harry put Goyle's hair in the potion and waited a few moments before drinking it. Doing his best to ignore the taste Harry drank the entire potion and soon felt his body change, the process was unpleasant but soon his body stopped and he felt he was different, looking around everything looked blurred so Harry took off his glasses and everything cleared up. Stepping out of the stall Harry looked in a mirror and saw the face of Goyle looking back at him, the potion worked. Soon Ron stepped out of the stall and Harry saw he looked just like Crabbe, they tried speaking to each other and saw even their voices had changed.

They waited for Hermione to step out of the stall but she told them to go on ahead without her and to not waste time, they listened and quickly left to find Malfoy. They made their way to the dungeon and found Malfoy, they had to restrain themselves from laughing when they noticed the twins made Malfoy's robes far more colorful, spotting the two boys Malfoy said "There you two are, where were you, did you see those two blood traitors!?"

Harry answered "Uh, no, we went to the great hall to find more food."

Malfoy made a comment about them being bottomless pits before turning around and walking away, Harry and Ron quickly followed after and they heard Malfoy start grumbling about the twins. Malfoy soon started to say a few insults about the Weasleys being blood traitors and poor, Harry turned to Ron and knew he was becoming mad so he held up a finger to tell him to be quiet. Harry made sure to put up his occlumency shields since he knew he needed to keep his anger under control. They came to a stop at a blank wall and Malfoy gave the password, "Pure blood." Soon the entrance was revealed and Harry and Ron saw the Slytherin common room for the first time, most of their furniture had the Slytherin colors and they even noticed their common room had a view into the black lake.

Their attention returned to Malfoy when he sat down at a table so they sat across him, Malfoy started ranting, "Those two blood traitors will pay for this, when my father hears about this he'll make sure that muggle loving imbecile will have to sell everything they own just to afford a decent robe to replace mine!"

Harry noticed Ron was about to say something so he quickly spoke up, "Maybe Potter put them up to it!"

Malfoy looked at him for a moment before saying "Of course it would be Potter, that filthy half breed son of a blood traitor and mudblood would put them up to this!" Harry was already tempted to punch Malfoy but managed to restrain himself enough to not show his anger, Malfoy continued, "Just wait until our classes continue, Professor Snape will make sure to punish Potter for anything I do and Potter won't be able to do anything about it."

"Don't kill him yet, don't kill him yet, don't kill him yet." Harry repeated to himself before taking a quiet deep breath and remembering what they are trying to figure out. Harry decided to ask in a concerned voice, "But don't you think Potter will try and go after you, he is the heir after all."

To their shock Malfoy slammed his fists on the table and yelled "I already told you never call him that! I don't care if that filthy half blood can talk to snakes, I refuse to believe he's the heir my father was talking about!"

Hearing this Ron decided to ask "Then, who do you think the heir is?"

Malfoy looked angry and said "I already told you Crabbe, I don't know! I don't understand why my father would not tell me who the heir is, all he tells me is to let the heir continue his work and to stop trying to find out who he is!"

The two were surprised to hear Malfoy's father wouldn't tell him, Harry tried to think of something before suggesting "Then, what did your father tell you about the chamber opening before, maybe that's how you can find out who the heir is."

Malfoy stared at Harry for a while, Harry was beginning to think he might have messed up but Malfoy spoke up, "I'm surprised Goyle, I didn't think you were capable of thinking of any ideas." Malfoy leaned back into his chair and started to think before saying "When I asked my father about the heir he wouldn't tell me much, he did tell me that the heir would return this year to finish his work, he said the last time an heir opened the chamber a mudblood was killed but he managed to put the blame on someone else and get them expelled, unfortunately he couldn't risk opening the chamber again since he was being watched closely."

Harry and Ron glanced at each other without Malfoy noticing, Harry decided to say to Malfoy "Sounds like we don't know who he is."

Malfoy looked down at the table and grumbled before saying "If only my father would tell me, I thought after telling him about Potter ordering mandrakes he would trust me enough to tell me."

Harry lost focus on his shields for a moment and showed a shocked look but quickly hid it, he instead asked "What did your father do with the mandrakes?"

Malfoy smirked and said "My father informed the minister about a student ordering deadly ingredients, since mandrakes can scream loud enough to kill and Potter is still a student they stopped the delivery to inspect them, since my father bribed the minister he made sure they wouldn't arrive until after the school yea-ow!" Under the table Harry kicked Malfoy's leg, Malfoy held his leg and looked angry before saying "What was that for!?"

Ron quickly thought of something and said "Fr-, t-the twins cursed him, his leg keeps spasming!"

"Well get it under control!"

Harry held back his anger and said in an unapologetic voice, "Sorry."

Ron decided to ask "What should we do about the heir?"

Malfoy calmed down and said "I'm not sure, the ghosts are watching too closely for him to be able to attack again. Hopefully we can find out who he is and help him, maybe the next attack will cause the death of a mudblood, hopefully it'll be Granger." Harry lost control of his anger and wanted to knock Malfoy out, his magic reacted and suddenly underneath the table a red spell shot out from his hand and hit Malfoy with enough force to knock him back and knock him out.

The two were stunned before Ron got up and checked on Malfoy, he turned back to Harry and asked "Why did you stun him?"

Harry looked down at his hands and realized he might have just used accidental magic, he told Ron "I couldn't help it, he's the reason the mandrakes aren't going to arrive anytime soon and he's trying to find the heir to help him!"

"We didn't even get to ask if he knew what the monster is, his dad might have told him what the monster is."

Harry looked down in some shame at realizing he messed up, he asked "Do you think he'll believe us if we say he just suddenly passed out?"

Ron shook his head and said "Malfoy may be an idiot but even he won't believe that, it's best we go before he wakes up."

Before leaving they picked Malfoy up off the floor and placed him on the couch, Harry still felt some anger and considered placing him in the fireplace instead, the two quickly left the common room and made their way into an empty classroom where they waited for the polyjuice to wear off. As they were waiting, they talked about what they learnt from Malfoy, Harry was glad they were able to learn some stuff they didn't know before and hoped it would help them.

It took some time before the polyjuice wore off and their faces seemed to melt away before they were themselves again, Harry put on his glasses and the two quickly made their way back to Myrtle's bathroom. They got to the door but stopped when they heard what sounded like Myrtle was laughing, walking in they found the ghost floating there, once she noticed them she said "Harry, it's great to see you again!"

Before Harry could respond he thought he heard what sounded like sniffling, he noticed the stall Hermione was in was still closed. The two boys walked up to the stall door and Harry knocked and asked "Hermione?"

"Go away!"

Harry felt concerned when he heard Hermione was quietly crying, he knocked again and said "Hermione, are you ok, please open the door!"

"Just go away, please, I don't want you two to see me like this!"

Harry and Ron looked at each other in concern before Harry said "Hermione, please open the door, if you need help then we can help you!"

They waited a few moments before they heard the door unlock but remain closed, Harry slowly pushed the door open and the two were startled when they saw Hermione was covered in fur and she had more catlike features, including cat ears on top of her head and what looked like a tail swaying behind her. Hermione wiped away her tears and said "I think Bulstrode has a cat, the book gave a warning to never use animal hair in the potion."

The two boys realized it's been over an hour and she hasn't changed back, Harry noticed his invisibility cloak on the ground and picked it up before stepping forward and placing it around Hermione, Harry told her "Come on Hermione, we need to get you to the hospital wing, I'm sure Madam Pomfrey will be able to help you."

Hermione asked "What should we tell her, if they find out we brewed the polyjuice potion we might get expelled."

Harry realized she was right but said "We'll tell her the truth so she can help you right away, that's what matters right now."

Hermione stood up and Harry saw she was wearing her regular robes, Hermione had only taken a few steps out of the stall when they heard Myrtle say "You look lovely Hermione, especially your whiskers, they look lovelier today than yesterday." She started laughing again and more tears appeared in Hermione's catlike eyes, Harry became mad but Myrtle said "What's wrong, can't say anything, cat got your tongue?"

Myrtle started laughing again and Harry snapped at her, "You know, for someone who cried every time someone made fun of you, you don't seem to mind doing it to others, I can see you're just as bad as they were!"

Myrtle stopped laughing and stared at Harry in shock, soon Myrtle looked hurt as her eyes started to tear up before she burst into tears and flew away. Hermione was surprised Harry reacted that way, Ron decided to speak up "Come on, let's get Hermione to the hospital wing."

Harry did feel a bit bad for snapping at Myrtle but right now he was more worried about Hermione, they were about to leave before Hermione pointed out "Both of you are still wearing your Slytherin robes."

The two boys looked at their robes and decided to quickly change, once they were changed Harry said "Ron, take the robes and head back to the tower, I'll take Hermione."

"I should go with you guys."

Harry shook his head and said "No, we're going to tell Madam Pomfrey about the polyjuice potion, there's no reason all three of us should get in trouble."

Hearing that, Hermione decided to say "Then you should go too Harry, you shouldn't get in trouble because of my mistake."

Harry shook his head and said "I'm the one who bought the ingredients, we'll tell them I helped you brew it so none of our friends get in trouble with us." Ron hesitated and felt he should go with them but Harry insisted he shouldn't get in trouble with them, once they got Ron to head back to the common room Hermione covered herself with the cloak, Harry felt her grab onto his sleeve so he guided her to the hospital wing. Before walking into the hospital wing Hermione pulled off the cloak and handed it back to Harry, they walked in and Madam Pomfrey gasped when she saw the state Hermione was in. The healer placed Hermione in a hospital bed then demanded to know what happened so they confessed to brewing the polyjuice potion, Madam Pomfrey soon grabbed a potion and made Hermione drink it, soon she sent Harry out of the hospital wing since she needed to fully examine Hermione to understand what happened to her.

Harry stayed outside the hospital wing and waited until Madam Pomfrey would let him back in, after an hour passed Harry soon heard the last person he wanted to hear, "Potter!" Harry saw Professor Snape showed up and said "You will follow me to the headmaster's office, now!" Snape turned around and walked without making sure Harry followed, realizing Madam Pomfrey likely informed the teachers what they did he quickly followed after Snape.

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