Hermione was starting the process of brewing the polyjuice potion when there was a clatter in the bathroom. She peered through the keyhole of the stall to find Harry standing outside.
"What are you doing? You gave me quite a fright," she said pulling him in.
"There was another attack," Harry started.
"We know," Ron replied.
"We heard Professor McGonagall tell Professor Flitwick this morning." Hermione said, pulling a jar of leeches out of her bag.
Harry mentioned his visit in the evening with a house elf named Dobby and what he'd learned.
"Okay, did Dobby say how long ago the chamber of secrets had been opened?" Hermione asked.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Ron asked. "It's got to be Lucius Malfoy. And now he's taught Draco how to do it."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Maybe. But it seems like it was a lot longer ago than that. Wouldn't your parents have stories of the chamber if it had been Lucius?"
Ron shut up. "I didn't think about that."
"Look, this heir is likely in Slytherin. But I don't think it's Malfoy. So we'll make the potion, try to figure it out, and then go from there." She tried to sound as confident as she knew the boys needed her to be. And she was pretty sure she was right. She wasn't wrong very often.
"What do you mean you won't be here over Christmas?" Ron asked in the second week of December.
"I have plans," Hermione said. "It would be rather difficult to explain to my parents that I didn't want to see my grandparents now."
"Okay, but they can't be that far away if you see them each holiday?" Ron said. "And the potion's only half finished. Christmas would be the perfect time to figure it out."
"Look, I'll help get the potion finished as much as I can before I leave. But you're going to have to do the investigating on your own. And I'll get the ingredients from Snape's stores. But you'd better cause enough of a ruckus to keep him busy."
"Oh, we can do that," Ron agreed.