Rigel's birthday had passed and he was now thirteen. His friends had forgiven him for not telling them about the lesson and he had progressed from transfiguring walls to changing your hair color.
The Polyjuice potion was currently bubbling away next to the young witch.
"So what do you think, Eliza? Done by Christmas?" Harry asked peering into the cauldron; Eliza pushed his head out of the way of the splash and nodded.
"Excellent, well we've got three hairs; Crabbe, Goyle, and that stupid Bullstrode girl." Said Hermione ticking a sheet of parchment.
"So how long will it last? I don't want to be ugly for too long." Questioned Ron with a puzzled expression on his face, Hermione and Eliza shared a look and Hermione blushed whilst Eliza suppressed a giggle.
"Umm ... about an hour, enough time to get a full confession from Draco," Eliza answered.
"I still think it's not him," Rigel grumbled.
Christmas morning dawned bright and cold, Hermione and Eliza were first to breakfast leaving just as Malfoy and his goons arrived. They hurried to the bathroom where they were greeted by two grumpy Gryffindors.
"Can't we open presents first?" Asked Ron
"No, we haven't got long! Go and take care of Crabbe and Goyle and then come back." Hermione ordered.
"What about Bulstrode?" Asked Harry, yawning.
"Done, Rigel confounded her into thinking that spending time in the Astronomy Tower would be a perfect Christmas morning." Eliza waved.
Rigel gave Harry and Ron a feral grin.
"You know Black sometimes you really scare me." Rigel just winked at them.
He may have done a mistake in plucking Bulstrode's hair because of Millicent Bulstrode, Hermione turned into a cat. Rigel and Eliza were absolutely horrified and the boys really aren't helping by making fun of her. Madam Pomfrey was really good about it she didn't ask too many questions even though she must have known we were breaking school rules in some way.
Madam Pomfrey let Harry, Ron, Rigel, and Eliza take all their Christmas present to the hospital wing so they could open them with Hermione.
"Make sure you don't get too excited though, you might get a hairball." Madam Pomfrey warned, Eliza, kick Ron to keep him from laughing.
Eliza helped Hermione open her presents first because she couldn't hold anything. Her parents had sent her some muggle textbooks, Rigel thought it was a bit much to expect their only child to keep up with studies from two such different worlds.
Hagrid had sent Eliza a cat bed for Biscuit and some new toys, Ron and Harry howled with laughter when Eliza opened them and Hermione's eyes filled with tears.
"Maybe Biscuit will share them?" Ron laughed, Hermione hissed at him and Eliza reached for her wand which made Ron cease his teasing at once.
After they finished opening the presents they left Hermione to sleep and Eliza opened her diary.
Turns out (Rigel was so smug) Malfoy wasn't the one causing the attacks nor did he who was causing them but he had also suspected his cousin was involved much to Rigel's discomfort.
He had also opened his presents and Harry and Eliza had bought him battle magic and advanced transfiguration books that he really wanted. Ron bought some sweets again and Hermione got him a black quill.
Harry, Ron Rigel, and Eliza were going down to Hagrid's later for tea and cake, he invited them yesterday but we were a bit busy with the polyjuice potion.
Mrs. Weasley sent them the usual Weasley jumper and a large plum cake. It must've been time-consuming to knit eight sweaters all off different colors.
"Come on Eliza, Hagrid's expecting us." Eliza shut her diary and followed the three boys out of the common room. They hadn't gone far when they bumped into Ginny.
"Are you sick, Ginny?" Rigel asked concerned.
SIck was an understatement. She looked awful. There were dark patches under her eyes and a haunted expression in her eyes.
"Yes ... I'm fine." She said with a dreamy expression on her face that reminded him of a Ravenclaw first year (Lovegood something). They let her pass and continued their route. When they left the castle Ron appeared to break out from a thoughtful trance.
"Do you think she's being bullied?" He asked turning to Rigel, Harry, and Eliza,
"I doubt anyone would be brave enough to bully Fred and George's little sister! Maybe she's just struggling to fit in." Rigel said closing the castle door behind them.
"But ... its Hogwarts ... she's wanted to come for years..."
"Well maybe it's not what she expected, has she got many friends?" Eliza asked.
"I don't know ... Eliza, could you try and make friends with her, she likes you and you're really similar in some ways ... like ... you both have diaries!" He looked so desperate that Eliza agreed. They weren't that similar but she was a nice girl and Hogwarts can be quite daunting.
Hagrid welcomed them in and made them all hot chocolates, he was clearly worried about Hermione but didn't ask them what they had been up to to make their friend turn into a cat.
Harry and Ron tried to extract more information out of Hagrid about the Chamber of Secrets but the Groundskeeper was uncharacteristically tight-lipped about the situation.
"Can't you just tell us if you were here when it was opened last time?" Harry pleaded.
"Not allowed to, now get back up ter the castle before it gets dark, go on!" Hagrid shooed them out of the cabin and almost slammed the door in their faces.
"Well, that was rude." Said Ron as they trudged up to the castle.
The walk to McGonagall's office was uneventful but Rigel was slightly uneasy. He knocked loudly on McGonagall's door and was told to enter.
"Ah, there you are Mr. Black, I was beginning to worry." Said McGonagall looking up from a sheet of parchment, Rigel shut the door and sat down opposite to her.
"Now, tonight we will be changing your skin color to match the background or to take on a different shade or color, both can be used defensively but you won't be studying them in Defence against the Dark Arts until the fifth year. The spell is called, understandingly, the Chameleon effect, and requires strong mind power as well as a good bout of wishful thinking..."
"Is it like the disillusionment charm professor?" Rigel asked.
"Yes, Mr. Black. five points to Gryffindor" McGongall nodded. "But the disillusionment charm would hide your entire body while the Chameleon charm can cover specific parts."
The lesson continued and by the end of the session, Rigel could turn his right arm and leg into a replica of McGonagall's tartan wallpaper.
"Excellent Mr Black, you are picking this up faster than I expected, twenty points to Gryffindor and practice as much as you can before next week, the Headmaster will be thrilled with your progress. You may leave now."