▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Saffron felt certain that the Heir of Slytherin did indeed exist.

The news that Colin Creevey had been petrified spread rapidly around the castle but Saffron only heard it when she met up with Maya, Rachel and Rowan outside of the spare classroom Amanda used for their weekly meet up. The three of them were talking away and the air of nervousness was clear amongst them. Upon meeting them, Rowan got straight to the point.

"Have you heard?"

Saffron furrowed her brow. "Heard what?"

"Colin Creevey was petrified last night,"

"What?" said Saffron sharply. She looked to Rachel and Maya for clarification. "Are you serious?"

"No, he's lying to you," said Rachel impatiently. "Of course he's being serious, he's in the hospital wing right now, he looks like . . . like he's dead, it's scary that something able to do that,"

Saffron gulped. It couldn't be denied that something very sinister was going on in the school. It didn't make any sense to try and build a case for the Chamber of Secrets and Heir of Slytherin not existing when everything pointed towards them being real. It made her realise that perhaps Hermione's polyjuice potion was a solution to the problem and that she needed to support it fully.

The thought of someone as innocent as Colin being the victim just highlighted how ruthless this monster could be. He was in first year and seemed like he couldn't harm a fly. If Saffron remembered correctly, he was Muggle-born, which only further solidified the Malfoy theory. Additionally, she felt awful for his parents. How on earth were they going to understand what had happened? They would naturally be horrified. A school was supposed to protect the children and ensure no harm was done to them, but a lot of harm had been done to Colin.

"Are you all alright?"

The four Mitchells flinched at the sound of Amanda's voice. They were all deep in thought about Colin and her speaking disrupted that, thus, knocking them out of their respective reveries.

"Clearly not," frowned Amanda, arching her eyebrow at them. Suddenly, a look of realisation dawned on her face. "I take it you heard about the Creevey boy,"

"Is it true?" Maya asked Amanda, who was holding a box which undoubtedly contained pie, as she unlocked the door. It swung open and they walked inside. "That he was petrified?"

Amanda nodded as she summoned the desks to form a table in the centre of the room. With a grimace, she said: "Unfortunately it is, I was just talking to Professor Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey in the staff room this morning,"

"And they'll be able to fix him?" Rowan asked her with worry. "Like how they'll be able to fix Mrs. Norris,"

"He'll be okay," Amanda assured him. "It'll only be a matter of time before he's back to his normal self again, the real worry is his parents and education seeing as he's going to miss out on so much time. Then, of course, the worry of how it happened,"

"They seriously don't know what did it?" scoffed Saffron in disbelief.

Amanda shook her head. "The culprit's identity remains ambiguous, but trust that the staff are doing everything they can to find out who or what is causing this," She paused. "I have some news for you all,"

"Yeah?" said Maya curiously.

"Um-hum," smiled Amanda. "On a slightly more positive note, while I was talking to Professor Dumbledore this morning, he offered me a full time position ("That's amazing!" enthused Maya, "Wow," beamed Saffron, "Congratulations!" exclaimed Rachel excitedly, "Well done!" Rowan congratulated her), "Thank you, like I was telling you all, I've been working in and out of hospitals ever since I left school, but seeing as Madam Pomfrey was looking for fewer hours, they decided to take me on seeing as I'm here for the Charms club anyway,"

Saffron smiled it was going to be nice to get to see more of Amanda. She had grown fond of the woman and every time she talked to her, she felt closer to her parents. She had never felt that type of closeness before, or at least, she couldn't remember it. Hence, that revelation was a nice way to dive into a conversation that revolved around the twins airing their worries out for the entire rest of the time.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

"Did you hear about Colin?"

Ron spun around on the bench of their house table when Saffron walked in for breakfast. The hall was buzzing with chatter about one thing and one thing only: the events of that night. Even the doubters and sceptics about the Chamber, Saffron being one of them, were coming around to the realisation that the Chamber and Heir of Slytherin very likely existed. It was a harsh reality, but the reality nonetheless.

She nodded glumly.

"Ha! You see, I told you it was real," yelped Ron triumphantly.

Hermione glared at him. "That's not a cause for celebration, Ron! Colin was petrified,"

"I know, I know," he said more quietly, noticing that certain people were staring in his direction due to how loud he had been. "But it proves that the Heir of Slytherin exists and that it's Malfoy,"

"It doesn't prove that it's Malfoy," Saffron repeated herself for what felt like the umpteenth time.

"Hear me out," Ron furrowed his eyebrows at her defensively. "Colin was showing everyone pictures of him last night, looking like he was in a foul mood. What if Malfoy saw them and wanted to get him for it?"

"That's possible," nodded Hermione in fairness, and even Saffron agreed that that was a very clear motive. Hermione sighed and looked directly at Saffron. "Look, Ron and I have been talking, and we've decided that we're going to get started on the polyjuice this morning. I know you're hesit---"

"I think we should do it," Saffron told them.

"You do?" Ron blinked in surprise.

"Yes," confirmed Saffron. "I'm still worried it'll blow up in our faces, but what choice do we have at this point. Who knows what'll happen next, if it's Draco, we have to find out so we can put an end to this,"

"Exactly," said Hermione eagerly. The girl was positively buzzing. She opened her bag, which was bursting to the brim to show Saffron that her cauldron was inside of it. "And Ron has the first ingredients, shall we go now?"

Saffron nodded and smiled at them. "Let's do it,"