The Last Heir of Merlin

The next morning at breakfast, Jake told his friends why he had detention, "Snape... he somehow found out it was me that sabotaged his Potions Class... So this evening after dinner I have to meet him in his Classroom... who knows what he will have me do..."

"I don't understand how he found out," Hermione said, confused, "did he know anything else?"

"No, he didn't know that I did it to distract him, and when I told him I did it to see if he'd take points from Slytherin, he seemed to believe me because he didn't say anything else," Jake just shrugged.

"Whatever he has planned," Harry said, "it can't be good for you... he's an evil teacher, I'm sure of that. He'll probably have you do something dangerous."

When the evening had come, everyone that was leaving Hogwarts for Christmas had long since left, and Jake found himself walking down to the Dungeon, specifically, Snape's classroom. He passed Malfoy, who was snickering loudly. He knocked on the door to Potions class and heard Snape tell him to enter.

He pushed open the door and closed it behind him, "For at least the next two hours, you will be cleaning the outside of the jars you see lining the wall, and making them spotless. You will also be cleaning out any dirt or grime that has built up inside them," Snape said with a sneer.

"Can I hurry back to Gryffindor Tower and get my Dragonskin Gloves?" Jake asked, knowing that he needed them, since he knew Snape wasn't going to let him use his wand.

"No, you are not permitted to use gloves," his sneer turned into a wicked grin.

"What? But Professor, that will-"

"Serve as a warning to you to never sabotage my classroom ever again, for any reason," his grin returned to the snarl.

Jake sighed and decided cleaning the outside of them all would be best first. He started painstakingly cleaning off the jars and finished in half an hour. Which meant he had about an hour and a half, depending on how long Snape held him over for, to clean the inside.

The moment his fingers touched the liquid inside, they started to burn. He knew prolonged exposure to the liquid could cause irreparable damage to his skin if he didn't get to Madam Pomfrey in time. He tried his best to get it done quickly, but it still took him longer than he expected. It was three hours of cleaning the inside when he was finally done.

Snape saw the state of his hands and seemed satisfied, letting him leave back to Gryffindor Tower. It was past Ten when he finally got back. He spoke the password and trudged in, being sure that nothing hit them. They still burned from being exposed to the air, but he could handle that much pain, any more, he wasn't sure how bad it would hurt.

Jake saw Hermione sitting on the couch, reading a book when she looked over at him. Upon seeing his hands, she gasped and was brought to tears. He sat on the couch and she ran up to her dorm room, coming back with a small first aid kit. She pulled out a thing of burn cream, "I know this isn't meant for Chemical Burns... but... maybe it can still alleviate some of the pain?"

Her question was met with silence. He closed his eyes and held out a hand to her. As gently as she could, she applied the cream to his hands, one at a time. Every flinch of his hand or small sound from his throat tugged on her heart strings. She loathed Professor Snape. She never really liked him from the start, but now she utterly loathed him.

She would never forgive him for this.

*******

Christmas had dawned, cold and white, and the Polyjuice Potion was now on its last stretch, another couple of hours and it'd be ready for them to test out. Hermione returned to the Common Room from Myrtle's Bathroom and headed towards the boys dorm. After what had happened during his detention with Snape, she had been letting Jake sleep in to rest his hands.

She walked into their dorm, presents in her hands, and walked over to each bed, looking through the curtains until she found Jake. She eventually found him and her heart felt pained for a moment upon seeing his hands. The burns had almost completely faded, but since that day, she had helped him with simple tasks like eating and drinking, but she knew he had to suffer with using the toilet and bathing. She couldn't exactly help him with any of that, although that part of her wished she could.

She shook those revolting thoughts from her head and gently shook him awake, "Jake, time to wake up."

He groaned and scrunched up his face, opening one eye to look at her, not even caring that she was in the Boy's dorm "Five more minutes... please?"

"I'm sorry, but we have lots of work to do today regarding the Polyjuice potion, which is almost ready, and the best part is your Christmas Present I got for you," she said gently and set his present down on his nightstand. She looked over and saw Nightshade sleeping in her cage. She walked over and quietly put in a bird treat specifically for Ravens that she hoped (P/N) enjoyed and sat on the edge of Jake's bed.

Jake himself sat up, rubbing his hands as they still hurt a little, and grabbed the present Hermione had set on his nightstand. He carefully opened the box and was genuinely surprised at what he saw, "Hermione..."

"Listen, it's my money that my parents give me for helping around the house over the summer, I'm free to spend it however I want. After my birthday, I Owled my parents and asked them to use my money to get it. It was expensive, all of the good jewelry usually is," she told him as he pulled out a familiar Silver Teardrop Necklace with a thin Silvery thread. What was different, however, was the Marquise Cut Sapphire gemstone set in the center, "I wasn't sure what your favorite color was, so I went with a Sapphire, I hope that's alright?"

"It doesn't matter what my favorite color is, I love this regardless," he looked up at her, "thank you, Hermione, truly."

Her cheeks tinged with pink as she looked away from him, "I'm going to wake them up now."

"Good luck," he smirked and put his necklace on, wondering just how much this cost.

She stood up and walked over to the window curtains, pulling them open, "Wake up!" She yelled loudly.

"Hermione - you're not supposed to be in here!" Ron responded in kind, shielding his eyes to the light.

"Happy Christmas to you too," she said, throwing Ron his present and hitting his chest with it. "Jake was at least appreciative of me wishing him a Happy Christmas and getting him a present. And I'll have you know, I've been up for nearly an hour, adding more lacewings to the Potion. It's almost ready, by the way, another hour and we'll be good to go."

Harry shot up, suddenly wide awake, "Are you sure?"

"Well, Jake's the Potions expert out of the four of us, but I'm Ninety-five percent sure that it'll be ready in an hour, and we can turn into Slytherins to interrogate Malfoy," Hermione said with a smile.

"Who are we all turning into?" Ron asked, sitting up to open Hermione's present.

"Crabbe and Goyle for you and Harry, doesn't matter which you choose. I'll be turning into Millicent Bulstrode, I'll just say that I came back after getting an Owl from my parents at the station or something. And so the real Crabbe and Goyle don't wake up and ruin our plans, I felt it best for Jake to keep them in check since he's able to physically take them on as well as magically," Hermione looked at Jake, hoping he agreed.

"That's fine with me, I'll make sure they don't ruin things for us if they do wake up before we get what we need, whether it's proof that he is or isn't the Heir... I still don't think he is..." Jake was still feeling unsure about it being Malfoy.

"Yes, yes, so you've said," Ron said in an annoyed tone.

Hermione glared at him, but he didn't see it. The rest of the Christmas presents were about what everyone expected, but Jake this year, received a Molly Weasley approved hand-knit sweater. He smiled and noticed it may be a bit larger than his frame, but that was okay, because the moment he put it on, he felt a warmth he hadn't felt in a long while, the warmth of a Mother's Love.

*******

Even with the threat of a monster looming over the remaining residents at Hogwarts, and Hermione being the only one in immediate danger being a Muggleborn, Jake was hesitant to let her out of his sight. He figured if he could take on a Manticore, he could take on Slytherins Monster no problem.

Despite all of that, it was impossible to not enjoy the Christmas feast splayed out for then this year. It was great last year, but whoever worked in the kitchens outdid themselves this year. The great Hall looked magnificent as well with several smaller trees lining the outer wall of the Great Hall, and a larger tree as the main attraction.

Dumbledore, the ever odd Wizard he was, led the remaining students and the teachers through a few of his favorite carols, and Hagrid's loud, booming voice only got louder with each goblet of eggnog he downed.

Percy Weasley failed to notice that Fred and George had Charmed his Prefect badge so that it now read, 'Pinhead,' and during conversation, he kept asking everyone what they were snickering at.

Jake and Harry just ignored Malfoy whenever he commented on their sweaters. They weren't going to be goaded into responding to him. They were warm, and they loved them, so that was what mattered.

Hermione had to usher Harry and Ron out of the Great Hall so they could get their plans for the evening into motion. Jake had already left to check on the Potion, just to be sure it was completely ready, "We still need a bit of the people you're changing into," she told the two of them. "And obviously, it would be best if you could get something of Crabbe's and Goyle's; they are Malfoy's best friends, or at least his henchmen, so he will tell them anything. With how stupid they are, the chance of them saying anything and causing a leak is minimal at worst and non-existent at best."

Behind her, Harry and Ron had stupefied faces. She continued speaking as they neared the Bathroom, "Don't worry, Jake and I got it all worked out. You'll give these to Crabbe and Goyle," she turned around, producing two plump chocolate cakes, "we filled them with a simple Sleeping Draught. Obviously don't just walk up to them and hand them to them, I wouldn't think that even they are dumb enough to not remember who gave them the desserts.

"Just make sure that once they are asleep, you take some hairs and put them in a Broom cupboard somewhere, and tell Jake where so he can keep them in check." Both of them looked like they were going to object, but the steely glint in her eyes made them shut their mouths tightly, "Without their hairs, this won't work, and you do want to investigate Malfoy, don't you?"

"Of course we do," Harry said, agreeing with her.

"So you made sure to already get Millicent Bulstrode's hair, right?" Ron asked her.

"Obviously, Ronald. I got mine from back when she was wrestling me during the Dueling Club, which was fine until she ripped off the necklace Jake got for me..." she said with a distant look in her eyes before they all walked into the bathroom, just to make sure the Potion was finished.

"Hey, you three," he motioned them over to the stall, "The Potion is perfectly brewed and ready to go, just need the hairs," he said as Myrtle wailed in the neighboring stall.

"That's where you two come in," Hermione said as they nodded and went to go and get their hair. She turned back to Jake, noticing the necklace hanging around his neck, "I wasn't sure what else to get you, and like I said, I Owled Mum and Dad and they were understanding of it when I told them what you'd got me. Mum was much more cheerful about it than Dad was, but he was still glad to know that I was happy about it."

"Hermione... you know you didn't have to get this for me..."

"And you didn't have to get me one either, but you did, so I returned the favor, now we have matching necklaces, just mine is an Emerald and yours is a Sapphire," she smiled widely.

He returned the smile, "So... you remember the Legend that Professor Binns told us?"

"Yeah, not easy to forget. Slytherin's Heir will open the Chamber of Secrets and use the monster within to remove anyone not of Pure-Blood descent, why do you ask?"

"You know I've not been accepting of it being Draco Malfoy, more or less since the first attack, yeah?" She nodded, "The Legend only mentioned one Heir..."

"Which would rule out his family, but it could still be him..." Hermione half agreed with him.

"Maybe... it would just be more helpful if Binns was more helpful. Maybe we should've-" Jake didn't finish as Harry and Ron returned with the hair of both Crabbe and Goyle.

"They are on the Second Floor in a broom cupboard across from a portrait of Traven the Great," Harry told him.

"Alright, time to play bodyguard," Jake stood up, his necklace swaying to and fro.

"Be careful. I know you can handle them, it's Percy I'd worry about, though," Hermione informed him.

"Don't worry, I'll think of something if he shows up," he smirked and headed out to go and find the closet.

When he found the portrait, he sat across from it and pulled out a book for some reading, listening to the snores of the two biggest idiots to ever attend Hogwarts. That would be problematic if anyone passed by.

Eventually, someone did show up, and that someone was Percy, "Fernandes... what are you doing here?"

"Just... spending time alone, I came to check out the portrait of Traven the Great, but he's not in at the moment," Percy started to walk towards him and get a look at the portrait for himself. Jake wasn't lying when he said Traven wasn't home, but any closer and he'd hear snoring, "U-Uh... Percy," he got the older Weasley's attention, "Y-You wanna know why everyone laughed when they talked to you earlier in the day?"

"Why?" Percy asked eagerly.

"Your badge was charmed to read Pinhead instead of Prefect," Jake said, internally apologizing to Fred and George.

"What!?" He looked down and sure enough, his badge said Pinhead, "Mum will hear about this!" He yelled and stomped off, assumedly to go write a letter back home to Mrs. Weasley.

Jake sighed after Percy had disappeared from sight. It was a close call, too close. He felt that it had been about an hour since they drank the potions, he desperately needed to get a wristwatch of his own. He stood up, checked in the cupboard and saw tweedle dum and tweedle dee, sleeping soundly. He closed the cupboard again and went back to Myrtle's bathroom to either wait on them, or see them and ask what they found out.

Upon his return to the Bathroom, they were indeed back, but Myrtle was howling with laughter, as was Ron. Both of them and Harry were standing outside of a stall, and when he didn't see Hermione, he knew she was the one in there. He got closer and when he heard sobs, he pushed through them and saw a most pitiful sight. As expected, he saw Hermione in there, but what threw him for a loop was seeing her with fur, cat ears, whiskers, and a cat tail, "Hermione? What happened?" He asked in shock.

"Th-The hair on Millicent's robes... w-was cat hair..." she said through her sobs.

He didn't even hesitate to try and shield her from Ron and Myrtle, "Shut up!" He yelled, but they both continued laughing, "Come on, Hermione, let's go to the-" he stopped talking abruptly when she brushed her head under his chin by mistake. He didn't quite know how to feel, and when his hand brushed against her arm, he saw her tail swaying back and forth on its own. "L-Let's go to the hospital wing..."

She nodded and let him lead her out of the stall, not putting up any resistance with him. They were half-way out of the bathroom when Myrtle just had to put her two cents in again, "Wait till everyone finds out you've got a tail !" Myrtle roared, laughing again.

Jake had been pushed far enough to be enraged. He turned around enough to look at Myrtle, his eyes had to be glowing red, "I said SHUT UP!" In his rage, one of the toilet's pipes burst and a couple of the doors flew off the hinges. Myrtle, in fear for her non-existent life, flew into her toilet. When she was gone from his sight, his anger subsided and he continued towards the Hospital Wing.

*******

Hermione remained in the Hospital Wing for several weeks. There was a flurry of rumors about her disappearance when the rest of the school arrived back from their Christmas holidays, because of course everyone thought that she had been attacked. So many students had filed past the Hospital Wing to try and get a glimpse of her to see why she was in there, but Jake had already asked Madam Pomfrey to put up the privacy curtain, anticipating a human's natural curiosity.

Jake visited her every second of his spare time, letting her know he was there for her and that she wouldn't go through this unfortunate incident alone, and he brought her their homework from each day, which she was most appreciative of.

Harry and Ron also showed up at least three or four times a week. One day, a few days after Hermione's admittance, when they were there with her and Jake was getting something for her, Harry had spoken up about something else Malfoy had said, "So it's actually a good thing he didn't come with us to interrogate Malfoy."

Hermione already had a pretty good idea why, "What did he say?" She asked anyway.

"He referred to you as a Mudblood at least five times... Jake would've hospitalized him," Harry said.

"No..." she said quietly, only they could hear, "he would have killed him. Jake told Malfoy the second time he called me that... if he ever heard him call me that again, he would kill him, no matter who stood in his way."

That sent a chill down Harry's and Ron's spine. They looked at each other, both pale in the face as Jake himself returned. They looked at him; they weren't surprised, but at the same time, they knew he would follow through with that, and that was what terrified them.

Something under her bed suddenly caught Harry's eye, "What's that?" He asked, kneeling down to get it.

"A 'Get Well Soon,' letter..." she said sweetly. Her voice suddenly turned sour, with a hint of disgust, "from Lockhart."

Harry uncrumpled the paper and read it, his face contorting with mild disgust, which then turned to seriously uncomfortable looking, "That bad?" Ron asked him.

"You don't want to know..." he replied, crumpling the paper up again, discarding it to the floor where it belonged.

"He's so..." Hermione looked for the right word, "creepy."

"Definitely," Ron said in agreement.

Madam Pomfrey then came over to give Hermione her daily medicine, making the three boys leave. Jake left upon Hermione's insistence. They all trudged up the stairs back to Gryffindor Tower, Harry and Ron complaining about the homework Snape had given them.

There was suddenly an outburst that reached their ears, "That's Filch, come on!" Jake said, hurrying towards the source of the sound.

They got to the corner of the wall and peered around, he was mopping up water and complaining, "- even more work for me! Mopping all night, like I haven't got enough to do! No, this is the final straw, I'm going to Dumbledore-" and he left.

They came around the corner and saw the water flooding from under Myrtle's bathroom door, "Now what's wrong with her?" Ron asked.

"Let's go see. She'll at least talk to Jake," Harry patted his shoulder.

"Maybe... after I got angry with her, she might not..." Jake said and led the way for them into the bathroom where Myrtle was crying, if possible, louder and harder than ever before. They walked over to her, "Myrtle? What's wrong?" He asked her.

"Who's that?" Myrtle moaned miserably, not paying attention to who it was, "Come to throw something else at me?"

"Why would I throw something at you?" He asked her, noticing that her ghostly white was over casted with a blue hue. He'd never seen something like that with a ghost before.

"Don't ask me," she wailed loudly, "I was just minding my own business, floating about, thinking about death, when a book was suddenly thrown at me!"

"But it can't hurt you, can it?" Harry asked without thinking.

Jake elbowed him, but the damage was done, "Let's all throw books at Myrtle because it can't hurt her and she can't feel it!" She floated closer to Harry, "Ten Points if you get it through her stomach!" She punched through his stomach, "Fifty Points if you get it through her head!" She shrieked, punching him through the head. His face looked as though he'd just stepped into his own grave. Jake really never wanted to walk through a ghost now.

"Do you know who threw it at you?" Jake asked her.

"No," she had calmed down considerably, "but it landed in the toilet and got washed out when I had a meltdown."

She pointed over to the sinks and Harry walked over to take a look. A small, thin black book laid on the floor, soggy from all the water. Harry went to pick it up when Ron pulled him back and stopped him, telling him it could be dangerous.

While they were bickering, Jake had become lost in thought, 'Someone was trying to get rid of a book? Why? How bad could the book be that someone wanted it gone?'

He was pulled from his thoughts when Harry spoke loudly, "The pages are blank except for a name, T. M. Riddle."

"Hang on a second..." Ron said, closing his eyes, "I know that name... yeah, he got a Shield Award in the Trophy room for Special Services to the school or something about fifty years ago."

"How do you remember that name? Weren't you in the Trophy Room on your detention night?" Jake asked him.

"Yeah, and I still had the slug problem as well... I burped slugs all over it, Filch must've had me clean it at least fifty times. Trust me, if you had to clean his name to the point it shined, you'd remember it as well," Ron pointed out.

"So there is nothing in it?" Jake asked.

"No, completely blank," Harry held it open.

Jake pulled out his wand and pointed it at the pages, " Aparecium ," but nothing happened, "Dammit... thought that would work for sure."

Harry pocketed the diary and they finally left the bathroom, making sure no one saw them leave.

*******

Hermione finally got to leave the Hospital Wing, de-whiskered, tail-less, and fur-free, at the beginning of February. On her first evening back in Gryffindor Tower, Harry had shown her the diary that belonged to T. M. Riddle, and recounted the story of how they found it.

"Oooh, maybe it has hidden powers?" Hermione asked enthusiastically, taking the diary and looking at it very closely.

"If it has any, then it's hiding them very well," Ron said, reading a quidditch book, "Maybe it's shy? I don't know why you don't chuck it, Harry?"

"I wish I knew why someone did chuck it," he responded.

"I wouldn't mind knowing how Riddle got an award for special services to Hogwarts as well," Jake said as he worked on homework he had neglected.

Ron was babbling on about some ways he could've gotten the award, but Hermione had a different idea in mind, "What?" Ron asked when they were quiet.

"Well, the Chamber of Secrets was opened fifty years ago, wasn't it?" Harry asked, "That's what Malfoy said."

"Hang on," Jake looked up from his work, "You two never told me what you got out of Malfoy. The Chamber was opened fifty years ago?"

"Yeah... sorry with all that happened with Hermione, it kind of slipped our minds," Harry said with a look of guilt.

"It's fine, but I knew it wasn't Malfoy from the start, it also explains something else," Jake said thoughtfully.

"What's that?" Hermione asked him, flipping through diary pages.

"Asking Binns about it was a waste of time. Of course he wouldn't know anything about it if it happened Fifty Years ago. He barely knows what goes on outside of his classroom. We should've asked a different teacher..." Jake said with a regretful look. "So Malfoy said it was opened Fifty Years ago," he reaffirmed Harry's words.

"Yeah..." Ron said slowly.

"And this diary is fifty years old," Hermione said, tapping it excitedly.

"So?" Ron was slow as ever.

"Oh, Ron, wake up!" Hermione snapped at him, "We know the person who opened the Chamber last time was expelled fifty years ago . We know T. M. Riddle got an award for special services to the school fifty years ago . Well, what if Riddle got his special award for catching the Heir of Slytherin ? His diary would probably tell us everything - where the Chamber is, and how to open it, and what sort of creature lives in it - the person who's behind the attacks this time wouldn't want that lying around, would they?"

"That's a brilliant theory, Hermione," Ron said snarkily, "with just one tiny little flaw. There's nothing written in this diary !"

Hermione pulled her wand out, and before Jake could stop her, she tapped the diary three times and said, " Aparecium !"

"Jake already tried that," Ron said.

Hermione was undaunted and shoved her hand back into her bag, pulling out a bright red eraser, "It's a Revealer, I got it in Diagon Alley," she said happily.

She rubbed hard on January first , but still, nothing happened, "I'm telling you, there's nothing to find in there," Ron said irritably, "Riddle just got a diary for Christmas and couldn't be bothered filling it in!"

"How unimaginative you are," Jake said with a deep sigh. 'Binns could've also been wrong about the last person who opened it being expelled. What if Binns got the wrong person? What if Riddle got the wrong person? There are too many variables that don't add up...' his thoughts trailed off as he rubbed his eyes, frustrated.

The next day, they managed to find Riddle's name on an old Medal for Magical Merit, and on a list of old Head Boys, "He sounds like Percy," Ron said, wrinkling his nose in disgust, "Prefect, Head Boy... probably top of every class-"

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Hermione said, Jake standing there with them, knowing for a fact that he was top of every class most likely, except for maybe Herbology, Neville had a real knack for the class. She glanced over at Jake, but he seemed undisturbed.

*******

The sun had now begun to shine weakly on Hogwarts again, but the cold air remained. Inside the castle, the mood had grown more hopeful. There had been no more attacks since those on Justin and Nick, and Madam Pomfrey was pleased to report that the Mandrakes were becoming moody and secretive, meaning they were fast leaving childhood.

"The moment their acne clears up, they'll be ready for repotting again," Jake heard her telling Filch kindly one afternoon, "and after that, it won't be long until we're cutting them up and stewing them. You'll have Mrs. Norris back in no time."

Ernie Macmillan of Hufflepuff wasn't taking to the cheerful view of the Heir of Slytherin not attacking anymore. He was still convinced that Harry was the guilty one, that he had 'given himself away' at the Dueling Club. Peeves also wasn't helping, singing and dancing anytime he saw Harry.

Gilderoy Lockhart, on the other hand, seemed to think he himself made the attacks stop. The four of them overheard him telling Professor McGonagall so while the Gryffindor's were lining up for Transfiguration, "I don't think there'll be any more trouble, Minerva," he said, tapping his knowingly and winking. McGonagall looked unamused as always, "I think the Chamber has been locked for good this time. The culprit must have known it was only a matter of time before I caught him. Rather sensible to stop now, before I came down hard on him.

"You know, what the school needs now is a morale-booster. Wash away the memories of last term! I won't say any more just now but I think I know just the thing!" He tapped his nose again and strode off in jovial spirits.

His idea became perfectly clear at Breakfast time on February fourteenth. Jake and Harry were both running slightly late to breakfast that morning, both still a little exhausted from a rugged Quidditch practice the night before, and for a moment, they both believed they'd walked into the wrong room upon entering the Great Hall.

The walls were covered with large, lurid pink flowers. Worse still, heart-shaped confetti was falling from the pale blue ceiling. Jake tried his best to ignore it and went to sit at Gryffindor table beside Hermione. When he did, she quickly stuffed something into her bag, "What's going on?" He asked her. He grabbed a piece of confetti covered bacon and wiped it off.

She just pointed up to the teachers table, apparently too embarrassed to speak. Lockhart, wearing lurid pink robes to match the walls, was waving for silence. Every teacher was looking stony-faced, except for Dumbledore, who looked in cheerful spirits like most times.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" Lockhart bellowed out, "and may I thank the forty-five people who have so far sent me cards! Yes, I have taken the liberty of arranging this little surprise for you all - and it doesn't end here!" Lockhart clapped his hands and through the doors to the Entrance Hall marched a dozen or so surly-looking dwarves. Not just any dwarves, though. Lockhart had them all wearing golden wings and carrying harps. "My friendly, card-carrying cupids!" Lockhart beamed, "They will be roving around the school today, delivering your valentines! And the fun doesn't stop here! I'm sure my colleagues will want to enter into the spirit of the occasion! Why not ask Professor Snape to show you how to whip up a Love Potion? And while you're at it, Professor Flitwick knows more about Entrancing Enchantments than any wizard I've ever met, the sly old dog!"

Professor Flitwick buried his face in his hands and Snape looked as though the first person to ask him for a Love Potion tutorial would be force-fed poison. And knowing him, he'd do it, too.

"Hermione..." Ron said slowly, "you weren't one of the forty-five, were you?"

"Of course not! How ridiculous of a question!" She said and stomped ahead of them.

All day long, the dwarves kept barging into their classes to deliver valentines, to the annoyance of the teachers, and late that afternoon as the Gryffindors were walking upstairs for Charms, one of the dwarves caught up with Harry and Jake, "Oy, you! 'arry Potter!" Shouted a particularly grim-looking dwarf, elbowing people out of the way to get to Harry.

Harry tried to escape, but Jake wasn't letting this go. He grabbed Harry and forced him to stand there to be given the Valentine, "Let me go!" Harry yelled at him, struggling to get out of his grasp.

"Not in a million years, Potter," He grinned evilly.

The dwarf then began to give him the Valentine:

" His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad,

His hair is as dark as a blackboard,

I wish he was mine, he's really divine,

The hero who conquered the Dark Lord. "

"Wasn't so bad, was it?" Jake asked him, but his smirk disappeared when the dwarf turned to him.

"I've got one for you too!"

Jake tried to run, but Ron and Harry both held him in place. Hermione stood a little off to the side, her face flushed:

" You were an odd sort at first,

Then showed you were smart and much of a bore,

Now you're cute and magically powerful,

The boy who took down a Manticore ."

Jake didn't really know what to say, nor could he imagine who could've written that for him. Everyone knew he took down a Manticore, but no one ever really brought it up. Malfoy, ever annoying, started to laugh, "What's the matter, Fernandes? Cat got your tongue?"

"I'm sorry, Malfoy, jealous that I took down a Manticore?" He fired back.

He stopped laughing and snarled his nose. Before he could say more, the bell rang, and they had to get to classes. The Gryffindor's walked to Charms class, eager to get away from the scene. "Who do you think wrote you that?" Ron asked.

"No idea. I didn't even know anyone liked me in that way," Jake said, confused and deep in thought.

Later that night, just after everyone had gone to bed, Hermione sat on her bed, holding something. She had tears slowly creeping down her cheeks as she looked at a card, a Valentine Card.

I first saw you before we boarded the train in First Year,

You were really cool and had a delicate touch,

You're also a very caring and powerful Wizard,

A boy I love so very much.

Hermione laid down as she reread her poem she wrote at least a few dozen times, her tears streaming out harder with each read. Her hair and pillow were wet and stained with tears, but that was far from her capacity to care.

She felt stupid for even thinking he would like her poem, since he didn't seem to care much for the one he did receive. Hermione had a good idea as to who wrote it, and maybe she was better for him than she herself would be?

Just another thing for her to bury into the deepest recesses of her mind. She cried herself to sleep, realizing how much of a coward she really was.

Over in the Boy's dorm a few hours later, Jake had been sleeping soundly in his bed when Harry had woken him and Ron up, "It was Hagrid! He opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago!"