Thanks for all the reviews and your patience!
Chapter 6: Halloween and the Chamber of Secret.
It was now Halloween. Everyone was getting ready to get to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast.
Harry found himself sitting in the Common room on the couch in front of the fire as his green eyes stared at the fire, lost in thoughts. He couldn't stop thinking about the strange voice he heard during his detention with Lockhart. The rational part of him said to push it to the back of his mind, that it could have been a result of his tiredness. But his gut instincts told him that it's all connected somehow, and he had a feeling that things were going to get more confusing before they cleared themselves up.
Hermione made her way down the stairs, clutching a book to her chest when she caught sight of Harry sitting on the couch. She tilted her head slightly as she watched him before moving over to the back of the couch then rounded it and sat down next to Harry, taking in that he didn't seem to notice her.
She let the book rest on her lap before she reached out her left hand and touched Harry's shoulder, breaking him out of his thoughts.
Harry turned to face the person who broke him out of his thoughts and smiled when he saw Hermione's concerned gaze.
"Hey," he greeted and Hermione smiled back.
"Hey," she greeted back. "Are you okay? You were pretty lost in thoughts."
"I'm fine," he told her and she arched an eyebrow, causing him to laugh slightly. "I'm just thinking over a couple of things. I promise, if I get stuck with them, I will come to you," he told her and she nodded, satisfied as she settled herself into the couch and picked up her book. "How are you doing?" Harry asked and Hermione looked at him. "About the whole Lockhart thing?"
"I'm slowly getting there, I know there are a couple of things off about him but he did write all those books," she told him, sounding torn and Harry nodded as he shifted onto his side so he could face her fully before he reached out and tucked back a strand of her hair.
"I understand. You spent nearly all summer with those books and they are all practically genuine so you believed it, only to come here and find that not everyone believes that he is the real deal," Harry explained. "It is hard to believe that someone could be something other than what you were told or read."
"Thanks," Hermione told him and he nodded, understanding what she was thanking him for before he sighed.
"Now, if you excuse me, I've got to go and finish off my detention with Lockhart, meet you outside the Great Hall?" he asked and she nodded before smiling as Harry stood up and left the Common Room.
Hermione sighed as she rested herself back into the couch and opened her book to where she had book-marked and started reading. She was unaware that a pair of determined brown eyes was staring at her from the stairs before they disappeared up the stairs.
Harry rubbed the back of his neck after he left Lockhart's room before bringing his hand down and rubbed the wrist of his right hand. His neck was aching after being held in one position for too long while his wrist was stabbing due to the pressure of writing far too much.
He sighed as he started to make his way down the hallway so he could meet up with Hermione outside the Great Hall when the raspy voice started up once more, causing him to stop in his track and look around.
"Rip - Tear - Kill," the voice hissed as it moved. Harry panicked as he started chasing after the voice, determined to catch it before it tried to kill anyone. He rounded the corner only to come to stop when he almost ran head into Hermione. He clutched her arms and saw that Ron and Mia were behind her.
"Are you alright, mate? You look like you just seen a ghost you never wanted to see again," Ron told him, concerned and Harry let out a deep breath that he didn't know that he had been holding in.
"Harry?" Hermione asked, concerned filling her voice as she looked into Harry's eyes and Harry shook his head.
"I just keep hearing this voice," Harry admitted and Mia frowned.
"How do you mean?" Mia asked.
"This voice, the first time I heard it, it was in my first detention with Lockhart. He said he never heard anything. I just heard it a few minutes ago. It's keeps repeating the same words - Rip, Tear, Kill," Harry explained.
Hermione opened her mouth to say something when Harry froze on the spot, his eyes darting over the walls.
"Rip, Tear, I smell blood, KILL!" the voice hissed once more and Harry let go of Hermione.
"There it is," Harry, whispered before he ran off down the hall, leaving Mia, Hermione and Ron behind, wondering what was going on. They hurried after him only to come to a stop when they found Harry standing in the middle of a hallway. They moved closer and saw that there was a large puddle on the ground with red writing on the wall. The one thing that stuck out clearer was Mrs Norris.
"Oh my…" Hermione gasped as she covered her mouth as Harry moved closer to the cat. She was hung up by her tail and was extremely stiff
"What the hell happened here?" Ron demanded when they heard footsteps and talking surrounding them.
Soon the corridors were filled with students as they all stopped and saw what had grabbed Harry, Hermione, Mia and Ron's attention.
"The Chamber Of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the Heir, Beware," Draco recited as the teachers pushed their way among the students. Filch also made their way only to stop when he saw his cat.
"Mrs. Norris?" Filch asked as he moved closer to his cat only to spin around and he caught sight of Harry. "YOU! You killed my cat!" he shouted as he took a step toward Harry, only to stop when Dumbledore placed a hand on his shoulder.
Pansy moved closer to Draco and saw the writing before her head spun around and smirked when she caught sight of Hermione.
"You're next, Mudbloods," Pansy shouted and Hermione shot her a glare as the teachers looked at the cat. Mia moved in closer and peered at the cat.
"Hm, interesting," Mia stated.
"What?" Filch snapped and Mia turned to face him.
"Oh sorry, it's just, Mrs. Norris isn't dead, she's been petrified," Mia explained before looking at the writing on the wall. "Chamber of Secret, Chamber of Secret…" she mumbled under her breath, trying to remember where she had heard of it when she snapped her fingers. "Chamber of Secret!" she exclaimed before turning round to face Harry, Ron and Hermione. "The same chamber that had been opened fifty years ago?" she demanded.
"How do you know of that?" Dumbledore asked and she rolled her eyes.
"People need to read Hogwarts: A History," she informed them. "I know that it was opened fifty years ago and that the so-called culprit was captured and it closed down but that's the weird thing," she murmured.
"How do you mean?" Hermione asked and Mia looked at her.
"Because it was Salazar Slytherin who created the chamber just before he left Hogwarts. Only his heir that can open the chamber but he's dead!"
"Who?" Harry asked.
"Voldemort, that's who!" she exclaimed, causing everyone to stare at her. "From his mother side, he was the heir but he's dead so it can't be him that opening the chamber of secrets which leaves about three options."
"Which are?" Ron asked.
"Well, Voldemort came back in his ghost form but doesn't work as ghost can't write or petrify anyone. Two, Someone is doing this as a joke to scare people but I don't know any spells that can petrify anyone or anything, or three, someone has opened the chamber of secret by accident and doesn't realise what's going on," Mia listed off.
"Where are you getting all this rubbish from?" Snape demanded as he glared hatefully at the young lady and she arched an eyebrow at him.
"And why should I answer you?" she shot at him. "I don't deal with pitiful little boys who can't deal with their own personal baggage."
"Mia," Harry groaned out while Hermione shook her head.
"Detentions," Snape snipped and Mia shook her head.
"I was only telling the truth," Mia shot at him and McGonagall stepped in between them, holding up her hands.
"Enough!" she snapped and they both looked at her. "Miss Black, you will serve Detention with me. Professor Snape, you know better than to rise to the bait like that, do not let me catch you doing it again." Snape just scowled as he took a step back.
"Why do you think that Miss Black?" Dumbledore asked, referring to Mia's statement of who had written the message on the wall.
"Because it's the only thing that makes sense," she shot at him.
"Maybe we should consider the possibilities that they had done it themselves," Snape suggested and Mia rolled her eyes.
"Sorry, Harry, Hermione and are I not pureblood or Slytherin Heir. Ron isn't the Slytherin heir and I don't think any of us would waste our time with writing that on the wall," Mia explained and Snape rolled his eyes.
"And Harry was with me, finishing off his detentions," Lockhart jumped in, causing Snape to scowl at him, annoyed that everyone seemed to have an answer to Potter's whereabouts and actions.
"We're gonna head off to bed," Mia told them as she started to make her way down the hallway but was stopped by Dumbledore.
"I don't think so Miss Black, we need answers," Dumbledore informed them and Mia snorted.
"So you can twist them around and use them against dad to try and convince Harry to go to his pathetic excuse of relatives," Mia asked before shaking her head. "You are already walking on very thin ice, do not try my temper." With that, she walked off with Hermione wrapping an arm around Harry's as they both walked off and Ron shrugged.
"She can be dangerous when she wants to be," Ron stated to them before hurrying off. Most of the Gryffindor smirked before they hurried after the gang, leaving the rest behind.
Draco just shook his head and walked off, leaving them alone, savouring the moment he got to see Mia chew out Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape. He was in 9th heaven and loving it.
"Only you could make Halloween interesting," Mia told Harry as they stepped into the Common room and Ron laughed.
"Tell me about it," Ron told her before shaking his head and his face turned solemnly as he looked at Harry. "What do you think is going on?" Ron asked and Harry shook his head as he slumped down on the couch. Hermione sat next to him, not once removing her arms from his.
"I don't know. All I know that I'm hearing a voice that no one else seems to be hearing - either there is something really going on or I'm losing it," Harry told them.
"I don't think you are losing it," Mia told him as she sat on the one of the chairs and Ron sat on the other one and nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, I mean, you were fine last year now all of a sudden you're hearing voices - I'm betting it's somewhat all connected together," Ron told them and Hermione nodded.
"Like the house-elf warning you against coming back to Hogwarts and the barrier being blocked," Hermione told him and he looked down at her.
"And I get the feeling that it's going to get worse before they get better," he admitted in a whisper. Hermione tilted her head in sympathy before she rested it on his shoulder, wishing that there was something she could do to help him and relieve this burden. She made a mental note to hit the library to get information as soon as she could.
"We all better head up to bed - it's getting late and I'm sure you'll want to miss the crowd," Mia told them and Harry nodded in agreement as they all stood up and made their way up to the dormitories.
Hermione, reluctantly, pulled herself away from Harry and made her way into the girls' room with Mia while Harry and Ron made their way up to the boys' room.
They both got ready for bed. Ron looked at Harry once they were in bed.
"How do you mean, going to get worse?" Ron asked, curious to Harry's feelings. Harry looked at Ron with an unreadable expression before looking up at the ceiling once more.
"I think that our lives just might be in danger once more," Harry admitted and Ron rolled his eyes.
"I think we all jinxed each other before the summer," Ron told Harry and Harry smiled as he remembered the train ride on the way home conversation when a snore filled up the room and Harry's grin grew wider as he turned to see his best friend asleep before he took off his glasses and finally turned in himself.
TBC
I know it's short but I swear, I'm working on making the next chapter longer and I think you'll love Mia in the next chapter.
Okay, my beta is going to stop helping me after this book is finish because she has too much on and can't cope with everything so I'm asking if anyone would like to beta this story for me - you need to be at least over age because there is sexual and violence themes as each book is written and I don't want to get into trouble. If you are good at grammar - like knowing where full stops should be and all that and have a good idea of when more information should be put in and all that and wish to beta for me, please let me know.
Please bear in mind, I can only take on one beta because I end up finishing my stories way too late - only take up if you are sure you have the time, my beta says it takes hours to do one chapter or my story.