It was already the third week of December, and while it was usually a time for students and staff to be excited for Christmas, everyone was instead feeling extra wary because another victim had gotten petrified in the middle of the night. It was Colin Creevey, the first-year Gryffindor boy who always followed Harry Potter around and took pictures of him. He was found on the floor in a random hallway by some teachers, still holding his signature large, black camera in his petrified state.

Because of that incident, the students were more than willing to take part in the newly established Dueling Club. There was a piece of parchment with the announcement pinned up on the notice board in the entrance hall, catching the attention of almost every person who passed by it. Alista was the one who convinced Jessica and Bethany to join it with her. They agreed, also wanting to learn how to properly duel and possibly defend themselves from whatever was petrifying people left and right. Thus, the three of them found themselves in the Great Hall at 8 o'clock in the evening for the first meeting of the Dueling Club.

The hall was packed to the brim with students of all ages. All the house tables had been removed, instead replaced with a long, dark blue runway stage decorated with gold stars and moons at the center of the room. Jessica was standing in between Bethany and Alista, and even her roommates Kaitlin and Margaux were with them. She could see a lot of familiar faces from different houses and year levels, all of them looking excited. Oliver Wood was also present, speaking to Carson and Percy and some other boys from his year.

"I hope Lockhart's teaching us," Alista said giddily. While Jessica had to admit that she did once have a little crush on the handsome professor, it completely vanished after seeing what he did to poor Harry's arm. What kind of teacher could be so incompetent? Mistakes were normal, but when it came to something as serious as healing an injury, they couldn't afford to make mistakes like that.

"I don't," Jessica scoffed. "He removed the bones in Harry's arm, for Merlin's sake."

"I thought you liked Lockhart, too," Alista pouted.

"I did. Now, he's just... I don't know. Something's off about him."

"Maybe we'll have Flitwick, then?" Bethany guessed. "I heard he was a dueling champion back in his day."

"I hope so —"

"Gather 'round, gather 'round!" The one and only Professor Lockhart walked down the runway confidently, making Jessica have to suppress an annoyed groan. A hush fell across the room as the students moved closer to listen to what he had to say. "Can everybody see me? Can you all hear me?"

When he was met with silence and eager eyes, he nodded in satisfaction.

"Excellent! 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." He untied his expensive-looking velvet cape and threw it into the crowd. A group of girls beside Jessica gasped and grabbed it excitedly, and she made a disgusted face when she realized that even Alista had tried reaching for the piece of clothing, too.

"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape."

From the other end of the room, Snape came walking up the stage with his usual displeased expression, arms folded over his chest.

"He has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration. Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry — you'll still have your Potions master when I'm through with him, never fear."

Lockhart winked at the students, causing Jessica to recoil. She couldn't believe she used to find him attractive. That all went down the drain after realizing that he wasn't as great of a wizard as she thought he was.

Eventually, Lockhart and Snape proceeded to demonstrating a duel. They walked towards the middle until they were only a few feet apart. They raised their wands, bowed to one another, spun on their heels, and then walked to the opposite ends of the platform.

After getting into a position, Lockhart began to count, "One... two... three!"

"Expelliarmus!" Snape said. He waved his wand and a jet of light shot out, hitting Lockhart squarely on his chest.

"Whoaaah!" Lockhart yelled. He was sent flying backwards, landing on his back at the end of the stage. A number of students burst into laughter, and Jessica couldn't help but join in. Alista nudged her disapprovingly, but she couldn't stop. Lockhart quickly got back on his feet, acting unfazed.

"An excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind me saying, it was pretty obvious, ah, what you were about to do," he smirked, walking back towards the man. Jessica raised her eyebrows unconvincingly at those words, and for possibly the first time in her life, she was on Snape's side. "And if I had wanted to stop you, it would have been only too easy."

"Perhaps it would be prudent to first teach the students to block unfriendly spells, Professor," Snape said, unbothered.

"An excellent suggestion, Professor Snape! Ah... let's have a volunteer pair! Um, Potter, Weasley, how about you?"

Harry immediately made his way to one side of the room to get up on the stage. Just as Ron was about to follow him, Snape interrupted.

"Weasley's wand causes devastation with the simplest spells. We'll be sending Potter to the hospital wing in a matchbox. Might I suggest someone from my own house? Malfoy, perhaps?"

Without waiting for an answer, Snape faced the aforementioned second year boy, pointed at him, then aggressively motioned for him to get up on the stage as well. Once Draco Malfoy had gone up, he and Harry Potter walked towards one another the same way Lockhart and Snape did. They both looked very determined to defeat the other.

"Wands at the ready!" Lockhart reminded them.

"Scared, Potter?" Malfoy taunted with his wand raised.

"You wish," Harry said in a low voice. Jessica shared impressed glances with her best friends. They all hoped Harry would win this duel.

The two boys made their way to ends of the platform before facing one another once again, this time in the proper stance for dueling as their professors had shown them earlier.

"On the count of three, cast your charms to disarm your opponent — only to disarm," Lockhart said. "We don't want any accidents here. One, two —"

"Everte statium!" Malfoy shouted. A beam of light hit Harry. The force from the spell sent him flipping over a few times until he landed on his side on the floor. Most of the audience gasped while a few nasty ones laughed. However, Harry didn't give up that easily and stood up right away, pointing his wand at Malfoy.

"Rictusempra!" he said. Another flash of light emitted, this time striking Malfoy. The Slytherin boy twisted multiple times in the air, eventually falling back down on his butt with a loud thud. This time, most of the people watching laughed out loud. Snape grabbed him by the collar and forced him to stand up, pushing him back into the duel.

"I said disarm only!" Lockhart said disapprovingly.

"Serpensortia!" said Malfoy angrily. A snake shot out from the tip of his wind, landing in the middle of the runway. The crowd gasped, not expecting him to do that.

"Don't move, Potter. I'll get rid of it for you," Snape said, pushing past Malfoy to approach the snake.

"Allow me, Professor Snape," Lockhart interjected, already pointing his wand at the animal. "Alarte ascendare!"

The spell caused the snake to fly up into the air. However, nothing really happened, because when it landed again in a heap, it just looked angrier than ever, hissing madly at those nearby. Then, Harry started walking towards it.

"Saya hassa shi," he hissed. Jessica's eyes widened — he was speaking in Parseltongue. But how and why? What was he even saying?

Jessica wasn't sure if the snake heard whatever Harry was saying or not, but it ended up facing a Hufflepuff — Justin Finch-Fletchley. The boy was frozen in fear, afraid that the snake would attack him.

"Saya hasi heth," Harry continued, almost trance-like. "Saya hasi heth!"

Finally, the snake stopped inching closer to Justin and looked at Harry. It had also stopped hissing, and Jessica couldn't tell if that meant that he wouldn't attack anymore or was just waiting for the right opportunity to strike.

Before they could find out what the snake's next move was, Snape uttered, "Vipera evenesca."

The animal lit up in flames and evaporated into thin air.

"What are you playing at?" Justin said heatedly. Harry didn't reply and just stood there with a confused frown. Soon enough, he noticed that everyone in the Great Hall was staring at him in fear.

Who would have thought that Harry Potter was a Parselmouth?

★ ★ ★

The year was getting stranger and stranger by the day. Everyone knew of the Chamber of Secrets already, except for its location and who its heir was. But it didn't take long for the students to learn that it was created by Salazar Slytherin who deliberately placed a monster inside of it to uphold his pureblood ideals even after his demise. Unsurprisingly, it made everyone extra cautious of the Slytherins. However, the news of Harry Potter being a Parselmouth spread like wildfire, and he eventually became the number one suspect instead even though he was a Gryffindor.

To make matters worse, the next person who got petrified was Justin Finch-Fletchley, the same boy everyone said Harry was trying to attack using the snake at that Dueling Club meeting. Nearly Headless Nick was petrified as well, only adding to everyone's confusion. All they knew was that he was right beside Justin when it happened, but it didn't make the situation any less puzzling. Jessica was growing more and more anxious from everything that was going on, so she was more than glad finally to be in the safety of her home the moment the Christmas break started.

On the 24th of December, 1992, the Hawthornes had their annual family gathering. It was just Jessica and her parents — Katherine and Ian — as well as Charles and his parents. Jessica already dealt with her mother's side of the family the day before, which had drained her social battery because they were a huge bunch; too many aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews to count. This was why she preferred her father's side during times like this. It was an added bonus that she could also talk to Charles about anything related to magic because not everyone on Katherine's side knew about its existence.

"A second year Hufflepuff and Sir Nicholas were the latest victims — just before the break started. It's crazy."

"Bloody hell, when did Hogwarts get so creepy?"

"Now that I think about it, it started when Harry Potter entered the school — er, not that the attacks are his fault," said Jessica quickly.

She was currently telling Charles about everything that had been happening in Hogwarts so far, mainly about the unknown monster roaming the halls and petrifying people at night. As usual, their parents were in the dining room, talking to one another over wine while Jessica and Charles hung out in the kitchen since they were the only 'kids' in that side of the family. Charles was sipping some firewhiskey, though, and Jessica had to pretend that she didn't already know the taste of it.

"Aren't you a prefect?" Charles asked. "Don't you patrol at night?"

"Yeah, I am. I'm usually with a partner, though, and we haven't seen anything unusual at all," Jessica said thoughtfully.

"I'd be scared if I were you because of all those attacks. Speaking of partners, by the way, do you have one? If you know what I mean," Charles wiggled his eyebrows.

"What do you mean?"

"A boyfriend," he clarified with a tired expression.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that question?"

"Shhh!" Charles hushed her. "I haven't exactly come out to mum and dad yet..."

"You haven't?" Jessica exclaimed, only for Charles to tell her to shut up once more. "Oh, sorry. You really haven't told them? But don't your teammates know?"

"Yes and yes, I told some of them. But this isn't about me! I'm asking about you."

"Oh, right. Er, no. No boyfriend."

"Really? Don't you at least have a crush? Or did anybody make a move on you?"

"Oh, yeah, kind of," Jessica said, remembering Terence. "We were friends for a while, and then I went out on a date with him once. Uh, it didn't exactly go very far. I didn't like him romantically."

"What?" Charles said, shocked. "I actually thought you liked him. That's too bad — you could've been like those stereotypical Quidditch couples."

"Why did you think I'd like him? You've never even met him."

"Sure, I have. Remember that day during the summer when I dropped by here to get dad's suit back?"

"What the — Charles, who are you talking about?"

"I thought we were talking about that Oliver Wood guy?"

"Good Godric, no!" Jessica said, cheeks flushing.

"Oh, my bad," Charles chuckled. "I just assumed you'd end up going out after seeing the two of you on top of one another that day."

"That was an accident," she said with a huff.

"If you say so. Who were you referring to, then?"

"Some guy named Terence."

"Ohhh," Charles nodded. "So, that Oliver guy is still an option?"

"Enough about Oliver," Jessica said, her face still red. "I already answered your question — no boyfriend, no love life, nothing."

"You and me both," Charles sighed. "At least you've got Quidditch now to keep you occupied, right? I told you it'd be worth it."

Jessica couldn't help but smile and agree.

"I hate to admit it, but yeah, you were right," she said. "My first game was so exciting. We were a bit worried, though, since the Slytherin team all had Nimbus 2001s."

"Blimey," Charles said. "All of them?"

"Yeah. Some kid named Malfoy had his dad buy one for every member. I think that's also how he got into the team."

"That's a shame."

"I know. They got a spoiled kid for a Seeker just because they wanted some new brooms."

"Oh, I meant that it's a shame because now my Christmas gift for you wouldn't be that special, after all."

Jessica paused and faced Charles.

"What do you mean?"

"Well..." Charles hopped off of the kitchen counter he had been sitting on. "It's not the actual present my family got for you because yours is still under the tree, so this one is more of my hand-me-down, to be honest... just wait here."

Charles left Jessica in the kitchen, walking out into the living room and disappearing from sight. She tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for him to return. When he did, he was holding a broom — but not just any broom, though. It was a Nimbus 2000.

"Holy Hippogriff," said Jessica, pushing herself off of the wall she was leaning on. "Is that —"

"Yours? Yeah, it is now," Charles said proudly. "We used it last season, but we upgraded to 2001s. I figured it would be a waste to let this just sit at home, so here you go."

Jessica was speechless as she approached her cousin and took the Nimbus 2000 from him. It may have been a secondhand broomstick, but it was still fancier than most she had ever seen and it had only been over a year since it had first been used anyway. Charles clearly took care of his Quidditch gear with high-end polishing kits, so it looked as good as new, too. Even with a newer model out in stores, this was still one of the fastest and most advanced brooms to date, so Jessica was in complete awe.

"You're seriously giving this to me?"

"Do you want me to sell it, then? I think I'd get quite the amount of Galleons if I —"

"No!" she said instantly, causing Charles to roll his eyes in amusement. "No, I gladly accept it."

"Good."

"How did I not see this earlier?"

"You were setting up the table when we arrived. I hid it behind the tree," Charles grinned. "You're welcome, you prat."

"Whatever, tosser."

"Um, this is supposed to be where you thank me," Charles said, lightly whacking Jessica on the back of her head as he made his way back to the counter.

"Ow," she said. "Fine. Thank you. I mean it."

And she really did. She wouldn't have to use her Comet 260 anymore, which, although was also a fairly good broom, was nothing in comparison to a Nimbus 2000. Hopefully, Hogwarts would return to normal soon, because she couldn't wait to go back there to use her new broom during practice and games without any worries.

A/N: No Oliver action here, sorry haha :< At least Charles was here bc I love writing about him! The next chapter's gonna be more interesting ;)