"Gather round! Gather round. Can everybody see me?" The students crowded around a long wooden platform, decorated with the moon's phases and a blue tarp.

Y/N followed behind Draco who pulled him by the sleeve, pushing through other students to get to the front.

"Now. In light of the dark events of recent weeks... Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this Dueling Club... to train you all up in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions." Lockhart explained, walking up and down the platform.

"For full details, see my published works." He shamelessly plugged his merch before taking his cape off and throwing it to some girls who quickly fought over it.

"Why are they so eager to catch that sweaty fabric." Draco rolled his eyes, not removing his gaze from Lockhart.

"Jealous, Draco?" Y/N teased his brother.

"Please, hearing that made me throw up in my mouth." Draco gagged, before turning his attention back towards the front.

"Let me introduce my assistant... Professor Snape." Lockhart said, pointing towards the other end of the platform where he stood.

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

"I'm sure Snape's way more competent than him." Y/N whispered to which Draco nodded.

They watched as the two Professor's walked towards each other, drawing their wands. Snape's face was normal, his serious look gave him an ominous aura while Lockhart grinned, seemingly confident that he'd win the duel. They put their wands in front of their faces before placing it back by their sides and bowing to one another, Y/N figured it must have been duel etiquette. They then turned their backs from one another before walking striding forwards, taking 5 graceful steps before swinging towards each other, wands drawn. Y/N's eyes lit up with excitement, ready to see the show when he saw Snape's cool stance and Lockhart's awkward one. 

"One. Two. Three!" Lockhart counted them down.

"Expelliarmus!" Snape casted before Lockhart could react, sending Lockhart flying backwards immediately.

Y/N's serious face curled into a smile at the amazing show Snape had shown. At their age, they could only make wands fly from the opposing wizard's hands yet Snape's casting made Lockhart fly with his wand. He was truly amazing.

"Do you think he's alright?" Hermione asked with concern, next to the two Slytherins.

"I hope not." Y/N chuckled, knowing Hermione had a bit of a crush on the Professor.

"An excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape... but if you don't mind me saying, it was obvious what you were about to do." Lockhart got up and started walking confidently towards Snape.

"You think he's alright in the head?" Y/N said out loud to which Harry shook his head frantically.

"If I had wanted to stop you, it would have been only too easy." Lockhart scoffed.

"Perhaps it would be prudent to first teach the students to block unfriendly spells, Professor." Snape spat, annoyed at his overly-confident attitude.

"An excellent suggestion, Professor Snape!" Lockhart exclaimed, holding his head high, his grin never fading.

"Let's have a volunteer pair. Potter, Weasley, how about you?" Lockhart looked down at them, refusing to fight Snape once more.

"Weasley's wand causes devastation with the simplest spells. We'll be sending Potter to the hospital wing in a matchbox." Snape interrupted as Harry made his way onto the platform.

"Might I suggest someone from my own house? One of the Malfoy's, perhaps?" He shrugged.

"I'll go!" Draco instantly jumped up onto the platform as Snape left, eager to fight with Harry.

"This will be fun." Y/N smirked, eager to see his brother's skill against the boy who lived.

Y/N had great pride in his brother's skill that even Snape praised. The two were known to be his favorites, even if Y/N hung out with Harry, Ron and Hermione. He had heard from his father that Snape looked up to him, perhaps that's why he had great pride in the twins.

"5 galleons on Harry." Ron bet against Y/N.

"You're on." Y/N smirked.

They watched as the two repeated the same moves Lockhart and Snape did, counting to three before casting their spells.

"Worried, Granger?" Y/N noticed the brunette's furrowed eyebrows.

"For your brother." She spat, not taking her eyes off of Harry.

"What's this? Granger? Worried for my brother? And here I thought you had a crush on me." Y/N gasped dramatically, holding a hand over his heart.

"I don't have a crush on either you or your brother!" Hermione exclaimed, a small blush forming on her face.

"Shut up now, they're starting!"

"Remember, cast your charms to disarm your opponent. Only to disarm." Lockhart reminded them.

"We don't want any accidents here, One, Two-"

"Everte Statum!" Draco casted before Lockhart finished his counting, making Y/N facepalm and sending Harry flying across to the edge of the platform.

Hermione winced at the loud thud that came from Harry while the Slytherin students laughed.

"Rictusempra!" Harry quickly got up and retaliated, sending Draco flying and landing on his bottom.

Snape pulled him to his feet, whispering something into his ear before pushing him to face Harry once more.

"I said disarm only!" Lockhart scolded them yet didn't stop them.

"Serpensortia!" He casted, making a snake appear onto the stage, slithering towards Harry.

"My brother is awesome." Y/N muttered under his breath, his eyes studying the snake.

Surely Snape had just told him that spell when they whispered a minute before and to believe his brother could cast the spell without practice was awesome.

"Don't move, Potter. I'll get rid of it for you." Snape said, walking towards it.

"Allow me, Professor Snape." Lockhart stopped him.

"Here we go again." Y/N groaned along with Ron.

These were the only times they'd agree with each other these days.

"Alarte Ascendare!" Lockhart casted, making the snake fly high into the air before dropping back down with a thud, only aggravating it more.

The snake hissed as Harry looked to it, speaking a strange language at it before it turned to a Hufflepuff student.

"Parseltongue." Y/N gasped, making Hermione's eyes go wide.

His father had told him and Draco all about the history of Slytherin and their lost ability to speak Parseltongue. 

Harry continued to speak to the snake angrily as it hesitated to attack the student.

"Vipera Evanesca." Snape casted, making the snake burn and disappear.

Even Snape was shaken up at Harry's newfound ability.

"What are you playing at?!" The boy snapped at Harry.

Harry finally realized the situation he was in, looking around the classroom to see all the strange gazes that followed him.

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"You're a Parselmouth?! Why didn't you tell us?!" Ron questioned Harry as they dashed through the halls.

"I'm a what?" Harry asked, still shaken up by what had happened in the dueling club.

"A Parselmouth. You can talk to snakes." Y/N explained, slowing down his pace into a walk that the others copied when they reached an empty corridor.

"I know. I accidentally set a python on my cousin Dudley at the zoo once." Harry revealed as if it was a normal thing to do.

"One. But so what? I bet loads of people here can do it."

"Judging by the reactions in the club today, can you really think so?" Y/N asked him sarcastically, leaning his back onto a wall and crossing his arms.

"It's not a very common gift, Harry." Hermione sighed as they formed a circle around Y/N.

"This is bad."

"What's bad? If I hadn't told that snake not to attack Justin-" Harry was interrupted by Ron.

"Oh, that's what you said to it."

"You were there! You heard me!" Harry argued, his tone getting angry.

"Harry you must be as thick-headed as Ronald." Y/N growled at him.

Surely he still didn't think that what he did was normal after everything that has happened.

"We heard you speaking Parseltongue. Snake language." Ron argued back.

"I spoke a different language?" Harry finally realized after the very obvious clues.

"God, Granger. Please, deal with him." Y/N's patience had finally run out, first Harry and Ron accuse him of being the Heir of Slytherin and now all of a sudden, Harry can speak the language only the Heir could.

"How can I speak a language without knowing I can?" Harry asked.

"I don't know Harry, but it sounded like you were egging the snake on or something." Hermione responded, worried for his friend.

"Harry, listen to me. There's a reason the symbol of Slytherin house is a serpent. Salazar Slytherin was a Parselmouth. He could talk to snakes too." 

"Exactly. Now the whole school's gonna think you're his great-great-great grandson." Ron exclaimed.

"But I'm not!" Harry yelled.

"You've got to be kidding me, Ronald. You accuse me of being his heir without any proof backing you and here Harry is, speaking to the snakes and you let him off the hook?!" Y/N was beyond angry and this obvious favoritism.

"I'm sure Harry's not the heir but still." He huffed before sitting on the floor.

"Listen, I'm sorry, Y/N but you and Draco were the first options." Ron replied, refusing to make eye contact.

"Salazar Slytherin lived a thousand years ago." Hermione cleared her throat before continuing.

"For all we know, Harry could be the heir." She suspected Harry the same way the other boys suspected Y/N.

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"Why are you and Draco staying for Christmas anyways, Y/N?" Harry asked the blonde boy who quietly ate his Christmas dinner.

"Mother and father were invited to some rich folk's party and decided it would be best to leave the kids at Hogwarts." Y/N said after swallowing his mouthful of chicken, wiping his mouth with a napkin.

"Mummy and daddy didn't love you two enough to take you?" Ron teased with a glare.

"Mummy and daddy don't have enough money to take you somewhere?" Y/N teased back, poking his tongue out at Ron.

The two's fighting was quickly stopped by Hermione plopping her plate on to the table, next to Y/N. Sure Y/N and Hermione also argued a lot but Hermione was scary when she got annoyed of Ron and Y/N's fights. She could barely even handle Y/N's endless teasing.

"Everything's set. We just need a bit of who you're changing into." Hermione said, taking a piece of bread into her hand.

"Crabbe and Goyle." Harry confirmed.

"We also need to make sure that the real Crabbe and Goyle can't burst in on us while we're interrogating Malfoy." Hermione explained.

Y/N looked up at Hermione at the mention of his name.

"The other Malfoy." 

"Right." Y/N chuckled.

"How?" Ron raised his eyebrows.

"I've got it all worked out." Hermione said, rummaging through a small pouch.

"Of course you have." Y/N smiled.

"I filled these with a simple Sleeping Draught." She held two cupcakes.

"Simple, but powerful." She placed it onto the table.

"Once they're asleep, hide them in the broomstick cupboard and pull out a few of their hairs and put on their uniforms." Hermione continued making Harry and Ron look to each other in shock.

"Whose hair are you ripping out, then?" Ron asked harshly.

"I've already got mine." Hermione rummaged through her robes to grab a small vial.

"Millicent Bulstrode. Slytherin. I got this off her robes." She showed the boys the small hair that the vial held.

"I volunteer to do it then. You know, to make sure Ron doesn't end up eating them?" Y/N suggested, reaching for the cupcakes only to be stopped by Ron.

"How do we know you won't mess it up on purpose?" Ron glared.

"Ronald if you go on about this one more time, your plan won't be the thing that's messed up." Y/N threatened, clearly shaking Ron up a bit.

"Anyways I'll just go along with Granger to check on the Polyjuice Potion then."

"Alright." Hermione sighed, annoyed of Ron's rude comments to Y/N.

"Make sure that Crabbe and Goyle find these." She handed the cupcakes to Harry.

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"You know, Granger. I never got to thank you properly for taking my side." Y/N said as he slowly mixed the potion.

Hermione stayed quiet for a while, reading her book. The two of them sat quite close in order to watch over the potion properly which let Y/N see the hardly noticeable blush on her face.

"Granger?" Y/N tilted his head, his eyes meeting her own.

"It's not as if I did it to defend you, I was simply being reasonable." Hermione replied, her eyes darting away from Y/N's gaze.

"Still, you defended me. Which is why I've decided..." Hermione's curiosity took over her, facing Y/N as he spoke.

"I'll grant you the honors of being my best friend!" He boasted proudly, accidentally spilling some of the potion.

"Careful!" Hermione grabbed the ladle from his hands and mixed the potion instead of him.

"Anyways, you're granting me the honors of being your best friend? That's a bit absurd." Hermione chuckled lightly at Y/N's sentence.

"I'm not joking, Granger. You know a Malfoy could never be best friends with a Muggle-born. I'm granting you a great honor." Y/N shrugged, picking Hermione's book up.

Hermione hummed a response as Y/N flipped through the pages of the book, skimming through the stories.

"A romance novel?" Y/N raised an eyebrow at Hermione's choice of book.

"Give it here, Y/N!" Hermione's face instantly went bright red as she reached for the book after carefully placing the ladle in the pot.

Y/N instantly got up, effectively dodging her before raising the book up to his face and began to read it out.

"'He stepped down, trying not to look long at her-'" Y/N started reading the random page he'd flipped to while dodging Hermione's attempts of grabbing the book back.

"Y/N, seriously!" Hermione whined, reaching for the book only making Y/N giggle.

"'-as if she were the sun, yet he saw her, like the sun, without looking-" Y/N was cut off again but this time by a weight crashing onto him.

Hermione had tripped over her robes, making her fall with a squeal into Y/N who instantly dropped the book, catching her successfully but the impact made him fall onto his bottom. With a small thud, Y/N was now sitting on the floor of the bathrooms with Hermione, hugging onto him tight on his lap, perhaps from the fright of falling.

"Uh- Granger-" Y/N stuttered through his words, a big blush was evident on both of their faces.

"It was your fault Y/N!" Hermione's adrenaline had finally worn off, making her realize the position they were in.

She got up as fast as she could, neatening her robes before grabbing her book from the ground, hiding it in her pocket before Y/N could grab it again.

"Don't take my bo-" Hermione cut herself off upon seeing the look on Y/N's face.

Y/N was still in shock, he tried to cover his blush with his hand but it reached all the way up to his ears. Y/N was usually very confident in his actions with Hermione, this was the first time he felt so defeated. 

"Y/N-" Hermione was shocked at his flushed behavior he was never like this.

"Not a word, Granger." Y/N finally composed himself, standing up off the ground.

"Are you sure you haven't fallen for me instead?" Hermione teased, gaining some confidence to tease him at the level he usually did.

"I'm pretty sure you were the one that fell, Granger." Y/N smirked but still had a faint blush on his face.

"Anyways, since I did save you there. You won't have a problem of being my best friend now, do you?" 

"You were the one that stole my book in the face place." Hermione huffed, crossing her arms and pouting.

"I think the potion is done." Hermione looked towards the bubbling potion, overflowing with mist.

Y/N quickly made his way towards it, blowing the fire out and picking the pot up to put it in the sink. As if on que, Harry and Ron entered the bathroom in a hurry.

"Did you get them?" Hermione asked the two who were catching their breath.

"Yeah." Harry replied, pulling out a small piece of hair from his robes.

"We'll have exactly one hour before we change back into ourselves." Hermione explained as she began to fill three cups with the potion.

The potion was thick and did not look, sound or smell very appetizing.

"Now I don't feel so bad about you suspecting me, Ronald. At least I don't have to drink that." Y/N chuckled as Hermione handed Harry and Ron each a cup.

"Shove off, Y/N." Ron groaned.

"Add the hairs." Hermione instructed them who did as she said.

"Ew. Essence of Crabbe." Ron groaned again upon placing the hair in.

"At least he showers often, Ronald." Y/N said, remembering all the Gryffindor students that were far too energetic to shower.

"Slytherin's have great pride in their hygiene, unlike your hyperactive peers, and Ronald of course."

Ron was too busy drinking his potion to respond.

"I think I'm gonna be sick!" Ron shouted, clutching his stomach before running to one of the stalls, dropping the glass in the process.

"Me too." Hermione exclaimed, doing the same.

"You alright, Harry?" Y/N asked the boy who panted in front of him.

Y/N watched in amusement as Harry's body seemed to boil and transform into Goyle. He smiled upon seeing his and Hermione's hard work pay off as Ron appeared from his stall too.

"Harry?" Ron called out with his voice yet the face of Crabbe.

"Ron." Harry walked up to him.

"Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed in shock.

Y/N made his way towards Hermione's stall, past the two boys who conversed together.

"You alright in there, Granger?" Y/N knocked at her stall, showing clear worry over his self-proclaimed best friend.

"I- I don't think I'm going. You go on without me!" Hermione stuttered, clearly in distress.

"Are you okay, Hermione?" Harry questioned the girl who stayed in the stall.

"Just go! You're wasting time!" She exclaimed prompting the boys to leave.

"Come on, Y/N!" Harry shouted at the blue-eyed boy who's gaze was stuck at the bathroom stall.

"Go on ahead, I'll take care of Granger." Y/N said softly, his eyes were laced with concern and his eyebrows were furrowed.

The two boy's footsteps disappeared into the hall running to their destination.

"Granger. Open up." Y/N knocked louder at the door.

"Go away!" Hermione exclaimed, her voice was shaky as if she had been crying.

"Not a chance." Y/N stood his ground.

Hermione wasn't sure if Y/N was simply stubborn or determined to annoy her as he always did so she stood her ground as well.

"I'll wait until you're ready." Y/N sighed before taking a seat on the floor, right in front of the door that stood between them.

Y/N waited patiently in front of the stall for a while, thinking of what could have gone so wrong that Hermione had decided to lock herself in. His thinking was interrupted by the a small sniffle. Y/N's usual playful eyes softened as he carefully reached into his robes and pulled out the handkerchief Hermione had given him previously. Carefully, he unwrapped the neatly folded piece of fabric before reaching under the stall, careful not to let it touch the floor.

"Granger." Y/N called out gently, shaking his hand slightly for Hermione to notice.

She stayed silent yet grabbed the handkerchief from his hands. Her hands were cold and wet from wiping her tears.

"Do you remember reading in the book that Polyjuice Potion was only for human transformations?" She said through tears and sniffles.

Y/N softly hummed a response, Hermione's voice was soft and weak and her energy was gone.

"It was cat hair I plucked off Millicent Bulstrode's robes."

Y/N heard the lock slide back, making him stand and walk back slightly as Hermione emerged. Her robe's hood was pulled over her head with her hands clutching the small handkerchief tight, hovering over her face. Y/N gently moved her hands aside to see that her face had turned into that of a cat's. 

"I'm hideous." Hermione sobbed, pulling her robe's hood down more.

"Not more than usual." Y/N tried to comfort her though failing miserably.

"I shouldn't have come out." Hermione said as she tried to close the door on Y/N.

Y/N didn't let it happen, he grabbed her hand tightly and pulled her out of the bathroom.

"I'm sorry, what I meant was-" Y/N took a deep breath, searching his mind for anything to say.

Hermione raised an eyebrow at him, looking at his face that was deep in thought.

"Cat's are cute." Y/N continued after a few minutes of thinking.

Hermione giggled at his cute answer, her tears easing up.

"What kind of answer is that?" Hermione laughed, making Y/N pout at her.

"Don't laugh at me, Granger." Y/N huffed before poking her on the forehead lightly.

"I'm sorry. Thank you, Y/N." Hermione smiled softly at the blushing boy's poor attempt of cheering her up.

"Of course, it's only natural. I'm your best friend, Hermione." Y/N beamed.

"You're calling me by my name now?" Hermione tiled her head at the boy.

"As I said, I've given you the privilege of being my best friend!" Y/N exclaimed, folding his arms as if he had bestowed her an amazing prize.

Though it was only for a split second, Y/N could have sworn he saw a happy smile on Hermione's cat-like face.

"C'mon then, Hermione. I'll take you to Madam Pomfrey." Y/N said, walking towards the bathroom door.

"I can't!" Hermione exclaimed, grabbing Y/N by the sleeves to stop him.

Y/N turned to face her, tilting his head in confusion.

"Everyone will laugh at me." Her gaze fell to her feet, tears threatened to fall once more.

Y/N took off his robes, placing it on her head to cover her face better. His robes smelt nice, like fresh flowers on a cloudy spring day.

"Then, all that matters is that no one can see you, right?" He took her hand to guide her.

Y/N didn't see it due to his robes blocking Hermione's face but her face had gone bright red and a soft smile painted her mouth.

"Do you think you could meow by the way?" Y/N's teased as they walked out of the bathroom.

Hermione kicked him behind the knee, making him stumble to not fall.

"Sorry." Y/N chuckled, rubbing his leg.

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"Granger should be out of the hospital in a few days." Y/N explained the situation to Harry and Ron who had returned with the information they needed.

"...when she stops coughing up fur balls." Ron laughed as they walked up the stairs.

"Anyways, Ronald. I think you owe me an apology." Y/N said, stopping in his tracks and facing Ron.

"Right. I'm sorry, Y/N." Ron said sincerely, giving him a brotherly hug.

"I'm not a hugger. But I forgive you." Y/N groaned, pushing Ron away.

"But you still owe me 10 galleons." Y/N chuckled cheekily as they continued up the steps.

They suddenly stopped when they reached a section that was drenched with water.

"What's this?" Harry asked before running through.

"Yuck!" Ron groaned as a drop of water splashed into his mouth while they ran through it.

"Looks like Moaning Myrtle has flooded the bathroom." Harry said upon entering the flooded bathroom.

Y/N looked around to see the sinks overflowing and still running along with Myrtle sobbing on a window sill.

"Come to throw something else at me?" She cried as the boys walked over.

"Why would I throw something at you?" Harry questioned the crying ghost.

"Don't ask me. Here I am, minding my own business and someone thinks it's funny to throw a book at me." She recalled the reason that had her weeping.

"But... it can't hurt if someone throws something at you. I mean, it'll just go right through you."  Ron scrunched up his face.

"She's sensitive, remember?" Y/N whispered, nudging Ron slightly.

"Sure!" Myrtle screamed, flying straight in front of Ron, scaring the three boys.

"Let's all throw books at Myrtle because she can't feel it! Ten points if you get it through her stomach!" She punched at Ron, making him flinch though feeling nothing.

"Fifty points if it goes through her head!" She punched through his head this time.

"But who threw it at you, anyway?" Harry asked, preventing her from harassing Ron further.

"I don't know. I didn't see them." Myrtle said, her voice softening.

"I was just sitting in the U-bend, thinking about death... and it fell through the top of my head."

She started crying once more before floating into her toilet. Harry walked towards a wet book before picking it up.

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