ᶜʰᵃᵖᵗᵉʳ ¹⁸⁻ "ᵂᵉ ᵃʳᵉ ⁿᵒᵗ ᶠʳⁱᵉⁿᵈˢ, ᴾᵒᵗᵗᵉʳ"
With more students getting petrified, the school formed a duelling club. It was taught by a disinterested Severus and the blond clown.
The first people to duel were Malfoy and Potter. And as expected, neither followed the rule 'only disarm the opponent' and fell on the backs and arses.
Malfoy shot a spell that released a snake from his wand. Just as Severus was about to get rid of it, Potter began to speak to it in Parseltongue resulting in everyone believing he was indeed the heir of Slytherin.
Everyone including the professors were scared of the situation since nobody knew where it was going to lead us.
Every quidditch match and practice was cancelled. Strict rules were set and everyone followed them. Nobody dared to step out of their dorms after hours, not even any of us.
Everyone hated Slytherins, well, more than they usually did, and were attacked with spells when we were seen alone.
Severus had given us strict instructions of not leaving our common room unless it was for classes and to move around in a group.
The first few days were tolerable but if I needed some time away from the same people and some time alone.
Somehow, I snuck out to the library one afternoon.
There weren't many people around, unlike every normal afternoon, but that was a good thing.
I took a seat in a comfortable spot and began completing my homework.
As I was doing so, I heard someone approach me.
I looked up to see someone I did not wish to see.
"Hi," Potter mumbled with a smile on his face. I raised my eyebrow at his uncanny behaviour.
While most people would take that as a sign to leave, Potter took it as an invitation to take a seat next to me and continue chatting.
"Hiding out from students. Just won't leave me alone that lot," he blabbered. "What are you doing?"
I got up from my seat and began picking up my books. Looking at my reaction Potter started talking again.
"Please stay, I would like some company who won't judge"
I could not believe this boy. "We are not friends, Potter. You cannot just pop out of nowhere around me. Besides, Malfoy would kill us both if he knew we even looked at each other"
I was about to walk away when he spoke up again. "Do you believe them? The rumours I mean." This made me turn to face the boy. "Do you think I am the heir of Slytherin?"
"No, I don't," I scoffed. "Why does it matter what I think anyway? As I said, we are not friends"
He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it and decided not to answer me. I took a deep breath and walked away shaking my head.
I have always been confused as to what all of that was about.
--
The next day we heard Granger had been petrified.
Malfoy was quite happy about the news but the rest of us were scared. I knew deep down he was scared too.
The school was in danger of being shut down as well.
The days were getting mundane and boring. Sitting in the same rooms all day, being around the same people constantly, doing the same things on repeat, all this had started making a negative impact on all of us.