His two friends exchanged looks. "Plenty of people thought you were sending it after Malfoy even when he was passed out," Hermione admitted.
Ron continued, "And now everyone thinks that you're the heir of Slytherin, that you're attacking muggleborns."
"But I'm not," Neville protested.
"Of course, you're not attacking anyone, but how are you going to prove that you weren't responsible," Hermione interjected.
"I was knocked out in the infirmary when Dean was attacked, and I was at Nick's Death party with you when Filch was petrified. Isn't that proof enough?"
Dean's attack had seemed like a personal insult at the time. The muggleborn was barely a few rooms away from the infirmary when he was petrified. It was like the heir of Slytherin was taunting him, telling him that he could have gotten him too if he wanted to.
Ron shrugged, "You could have been pretending to sleep in the infirmary, especially since Dean was attacked near you, cursed the bulger to attack you and clear you as a suspect. And you were the first person to find Filch because of that voice you were following. Relax, Hermione and I believe you, but the rest of the school won't. There probably isn't going to be an official investigation since the petrification isn't permanent no one was really hurt but Mrs. Norris, so Dumbledore is going to protect you. However, the school won't care about that, especially if the attacks continue."
Neville couldn't help but think that this was exactly why he was friends with Ron. That boy was loyal to a fault and there were some rare instances, when he chooses to use his head, that showed just how smart he would be if he applied himself.
And he was right on the nose here. There was no concrete evidence other than him being a parselmouth, meaning that the Aurors weren't going to be called. Other than him finding the body the first time, there was nothing linking him to any of the attacks. But there was one thing for certain. He was going to be the school pariah, and that was unacceptable, "I need to clear my name and there's only one way I can do this."
Hermione seemed to grasp where he was going quickly since she paled in fear, "You mean…"
"Yes, we need to catch the heir of Slytherin. We were already going to interrogate Malfoy and Potter using Polyjuice. So, we're already halfway there," Neville continued.
She hesitated for a moment, "Yeah, but we were only going to ask them what they knew. We don't know if they were the heir, really, only that they knew something, Malfoy because of his father, and Harry because of just how smart he was."
Ron groaned, "Come on, Hermione, you can't just keep hanging on to that guy. He's a Slytherin which means he's bad news. I know that you used to be friends, but he was probably using you to spy on other Gryffindors or just to help him with his homework."
The muggleborn shook her head, "He never really asked me anything about my house, and he didn't need help with homework. We just talked about magic and certain useful spells. But trust me, I know Harry, he's not the kind to do these attacks, but he's exactly the kind of guy that would put pieces together that no one has before. It's the only reason I agreed to the Polyjuice, and that was only because I knew he wouldn't say anything if we asked him directly. We haven't talked in a long time. I don't want you to get any illusion that it's a sting operation of some sort. If he confesses, then I'll help you take him down, but other than that, he's not a suspect."
"I know you weren't looking at him when Neville started talking in Parseltongue, but I did. He had this smug little smile on his face like he knew that Neville was a Parseltongue and that confirmed it," Ron exclaimed.
Wait, Potter knew what? How is that possible? How could Potter know something about him that no one else realized before? He needed to know more, "You have to admit Hermione, that it's pretty suspicious."
The muggleborn's resolve looked like it was wavering, so Neville pressed slightly, "Look, we'll try to find out what he knows. If he's innocent, we'll leave him be. If he is the heir of Slytherin, it's our duty to expose him. How long until the Polyjuice is done cooking?"
"Ten days," the muggleborn commented, "we can start getting pieces of hair of who we're going to replace, as well as a way to discreetly make sure that they won't show up."
Neville nodded, "Good. Also, Ron, I want you to ask Fred and George to follow Potter and Malfoy closely. They're our main suspects and we need to know their comings and goings. They could lead us to the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets and we could catch them in the act."
The redhead agreed, "I'll tell them as soon as I see them."
"Now, we have another lead," Neville continued, "Dobby accidentally let out that the Chamber of Secrets was opened before. That means that the three of us will need to research in the library about it. Similar attacks had to have been there before. If whoever had done it was caught, then a family member or a descendant could be doing it now."
Ron groaned, "I thought we were done with researching stuff after the mess with Flamel last year. It took months just to find who he was. Can we ask for more help instead?"
"Let's just keep it between us," Neville replied while shaking his head, "we don't want to tip the heir off that we're looking into past attacks. If they knew about them, they could easily find the books we were looking for and hide them just to throw us off their trail. We need to be discreet, and we need to be smart about this."
Yeah, Neville Longbottom was going to catch the Heir of Slytherin and clear his name. But until then, he knew that his time in Hogwarts was going to be rough. He only hoped he could hold on until his status was back as the saviour of the magical world once more.
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