The Chamber of Secrets
"I…" her bushy haired friend hesitated slightly before continuing. "You weren't in your bed or at breakfast and I was… well McGonagall said you were in here with the flu." The two girls stared at each other for several long moments, the silence stretching out between them until it threatened to become an insurmountable divide once again. Hermione stood shuffling her feet slightly, an uncommon expression of confusion on her face as she clearly tried to overcome some manner of internal struggle. Taking pity on the persecuted strand of hair that her friend was twisting relentlessly around her finger in agitation, Alice swallowed nervously and began the apology that had been building up in her for days.
"Hermione… look about what I said the other night, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean anything -"
"Don't apologise!" Hermione's sudden exclamation was so loud that it caused Madam Pomfrey to poke her head around her door and frown in disapproving warning at them before vanishing once more into the mysterious confines of her office. "Don't apologise," she repeated more quietly with a quavering tone, "I should be the one apologising not you."
"Wha -"
"I said shush!" After a few seconds of stunned silence from Alice the corner of each girls' mouth began to twitch against their will at Hermione's imperious tone. "Just let me apologise alright?" Hermione's grin faded slightly and her voice was pleading. "I shouldn't have gone off on you like that before; you were only giving your opinion and I should have respected that rather than jumping down your throat and putting words in your mouth. I'm sorry," she looked sheepish, "and I'm sorry for ignoring you as well, that was just childish and I shouldn't have done it. Can you ever forgive me?"
If she hadn't still had the last of her flu hanging about her Alice would have leapt from her bed and hugged her friend fiercely; as it was her face lit up and she reached a hand out to her. "Of course I do," she beamed. "How could I not? You're my best friend."
Hermione gave a shaky chuckle of relief as she slid onto the bed next to her and gave her a gentle hug. "Hang on," she held her at arms length and looked at her with mock wariness, "I'm not going to get your flu now am I?"
Alice shook her head, noting as she did so that the motion didn't hurt as it had the previous day, "I think you're safe enough; Madam Pomfrey is a miracle worker."
"I was so worried when I saw you weren't in your bed this morning," Hermione was gazing at her earnestly now, "I thought something terrible had happened. I was going to say sorry last night but you disappeared from dinner and then I saw that you were already in your bed by the time I got there. And then this morning… I was so worried," she repeated giving Alice another hug for good measure.
"Can we come in now?" a plaintive voice queried from the doorway and Alice had to laugh as Ron, Harry and Neville rushed across the room without waiting for a response.
"So are you two friends again?" Harry questioned looking relieved when both girls answered in confirmation and Alice's sharp eyes didn't miss the hand he rested reassuringly on Hermione's shoulder for several seconds before a faint blush rose to both their cheeks and he moved it away again.
"Are you feeling better today Alice? You looked awful at supper last night."
"Thanks Neville," she grinned at him.
"Oh no I didn't mean…" he realised that she was joking and returned her smile with relief.
"So did you tell her?" Ron demanded impatiently.
"Tell me what?" Now it was Alice's turn to be confused. What had happened that she didn't know about? She hated mysteries, especially when she missed out on them because she was ill.
"Lockhart at the end of dinner last night." Wary of another explosion, Alice glanced nervously towards Hermione at his words. "It's alright," he looked gleeful, "Hermione's gone right off him now."
"That's partly why I was going to apologise to you last night. I realised you were right about him."
"It was quite funny though," Neville reasoned an expression of mischievous enjoyment, so unlike him, was dancing across his face.
"You'll kick yourself for having missed it," Harry laughed seeing her increasingly frustrated expression.
"Are any of you going to tell me what happened or are you just going to have a cryptic conversation? When did I start talking to the twins?"
"Well actually it's funny you should mention them," Harry began, "because they were rather involved."
"If there's any mayhem in this place they usually are," Alice observed impatiently. "Are you going to spit it out or what?"
"Alright keep your hair on," Ron sat down on the bed next to Alice's and turned expectantly to Hermione. "You should probably tell her, seeing as he's your hero and everything."
"Was," Hermione filled the word with deliberate emphasis, "past tense, and he wasn't a hero, I just thought he was rather impressive," she ignored Ron's derisive snort and ploughed on as he chipped in to embellish her story every now and then. "Well you know those cream robes Lockhart wore to class the other week? ("Stupid frilly things that look like my Mum's nightie?") Well he wore them to dinner last night and just as we were all finishing up this little purple thing that looked like a ping pong ball came whizzing out of nowhere and stopped right in front of his face. There must have been a suspended animation charm on it or something because it showed all the hallmarks of - ("Get on with it Hermione.") Yes well before anyone could do anything there was a really loud bang and heaps of blue smoke started pouring out of it. So Dumbledore got up and vanished it straight away, ("Spoilsport.") and Lockhart was left sitting there with half his hair and robes turned blue - I felt a bit sorry for him really."
"It was brilliant," apparently Ron couldn't resist the temptation to pick up on the story. "He gave out this really girly shriek when he saw what had happened and jumped backwards out of his seat," he gave a little demonstration as Alice began to giggle uncontrollably at the thought, "so then he grabs for the jug of water at the table and throws it on his robes to try and get the stuff off, but…" Ron gasped for breath as he too began laughing, "someone had transfigured it into pumpkin juice so the bits of his robes that weren't already blue ended up bright orange. It was classic."
Alice was mildly surprised to see Hermione's own lips twitching slightly as she remembered, "that wouldn't have been so bad if he just vanished the juice, but as it turns out he can't even do a simple spell like that properly. He ended up setting his robes on fire and had to be rescued by Professor Sinistra."
"The whole school was in stitches," Harry joined in with the hilarity.
"I take it that it would be a stupid question to ask where the smoke bomb came from in the first place?" Alice didn't really need to hear the answer.
"You should have seen Fred and George in the common room last night, most people thought they were heroes, but some of the fifth and sixth year girls… I'm telling you if looks could kill. The teachers don't know it was them of course." Alice seriously doubted Ron's statement, more likely they were as pleased about it as the students were.
For the rest of the morning Alice and her friends joked about the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor's misfortune as though the past few days had never happened. Eventually Madam Pomfrey came past and informed her that if the noise levels were anything to judge by then she was well enough to be discharged. Alice didn't need telling twice.
After that things quickly went back to normal again at Hogwarts, excepting perhaps the blue tinge to the end of Lockhart's curls which lingered for a week afterwards and the fact that he jumped slightly when ever someone made an exploding noise in his classes - which Ron regularly took great pleasure in doing. The lashing rain which had begun at the start of October continued unabated which meant that despite Filch's best attempts at keeping the castle clean, mud did occasionally turn up in the corridors where it shouldn't - much to his increasing ire.
"Well that was close," Harry announced strolling into the common room the week before Halloween, caked from head to foot in mud and very much soaked to the skin after Quidditch practice.
"What was?" queried Hermione who was sitting on the sofa with Alice - both of them reading - as Ron played wizards chess against himself (for what purpose Alice still couldn't work out.)
"Wood kept me late at practice and I was on my way back here when I got speaking to Nick in the corridor, then Mrs Norris turned up. I was dripping mud everywhere and I nearly got busted by Filch, but luckily your brothers pulled me behind a tapestry before he spotted me." Alice didn't need to ask which brothers he was referring to. "Lucky they did because Filch went mental when he saw the mess I made."
"Poor Filch," the other three looked at Alice incredulously, "I almost feel sorry for him, having to run around the castle cleaning up after us all the time. He has the cold too."
"No one makes him do the job," Ron grumbled, "I'd hardly complain if he wanted to pack it in. I'd be ecstatic."
"It's his cat I don't like," Hermione gave a shudder, "I don't mind them usually, but that one's creepy. I think its part kneazle, she tried to take a swipe at me once when I was waiting outside Professor Flitwick's office."
"Well whatever it is," mused Harry, "I'm lucky she didn't know we were behind that tapestry or she would probably have clawed her way through it to get at us. Anyway," he began to walk away again, "I better go and get changed."
As he disappeared Alice turned back to reading Quidditch Through the Ages, for the third time. The one thing she hated about all this rain was that it meant she couldn't get outside to fly, no one in their right mind would try to unless they had to practice for the team. Even then Harry, who loved it more than anyone else she knew, was only flying so much because Oliver had threatened them all with debilitating injuries if they didn't turn up for practice. It wasn't as though she didn't have plenty to keep her entertained in the meantime however, including the spectacular display put on by Fred and George as they launched an unfortunate salamander, pilfered from their Care of Magical Creatures class, across the common room one evening that week. After the general commotion this caused had died down somewhat, Alice managed to rescue the terrified creature from where it had taken refuge behind the grate of the fire and, once it had stopped trying to escape from any further possible attacks on its wellbeing, returned it to Hagrid. Who promptly named it Clarence. On top of that they had plenty to be getting on with in terms of school work and there was always the traditional Halloween celebration to look forward too.
"So do you think it's true?" Ron badgered them relentlessly for what seemed like the hundredth time that day as they made their way down to the Great Hall for the Halloween Feast amongst the crush of students all heading in the same direction. The atmosphere of excitement was palpable as second to Christmas it was the biggest event in the Hogwarts calendar. Alice watched contentedly as those round about her chattered happily to each other and several excitable first years, who were about the same height as her but seemed much less so due to the fact that they were all shrieking childishly, dashed past them down the stairs throwing pieces of bat shaped confetti at anyone they could reach.
"Ron for goodness sake," Hermione was beginning to get tired of his question, "I have no idea if Dumbledore booked a troupe of dancing skeletons for the feast. I know as much about it as you do; why don't you go and ask him?" Ron stuck his tongue out at her.
When they eventually managed to get into the Great Hall Alice gasped in admiration. In addition to the usual candles that floated above the tables, the enchanted ceiling was peppered with live bats that occasionally swooped down to the level of the tables - causing several giggly fifth year girls to let out a screech of shock - and in each corner there were two or three of the giant pumpkins which Hagrid had been lovingly cultivating for months in his vegetable patch and had now been hollowed out to create giant lanterns. Or at least that was their intended purpose.
"Mr Creevey," McGonagall demanded sternly as Alice caught sight of her berating the tiny first year, "will you come out of that pumpkin at once. Now do you hear me!"
Slipping into a seat at the Gryffindor table between Harry and Neville, Alice revelled in the feeling of togetherness that could only be found at Hogwarts, the camaraderie that came from living and learning together in an environment that was uniquely barmy even for the magical world. As it turned out Dumbledore hadn't booked a troupe of dancing skeletons, a revelation Alice had to admit she met with no slight relief as the whole notion had seemed slightly macabre, he had gone one better and engaged a choir of witches who it also transpired were rather skilled acrobats. As they seemed to vanish in mid flight between ropes specially hung from the ceiling and howled in a curiously melodious cacophony of song Alice felt the hairs rise on the back of her neck. It was rather like watching nymphs or sprites at work and Alice couldn't help but recall the time she had read Tam O'Shanter once at school and the description of the witches dance.
"You can close your mouth now Ron," Alice smirked at him across the table as the agile witches vanished into a room at the back of the Great Hall amidst tumultuous applause. However he found an alternative as the platters lining the table suddenly filled with food and he began doing his best to clear them almost as quickly.
As Alice was polishing off the remains of a particularly delicious piece of apple and pumpkin pie Harry abruptly dropped his own spoon with a clatter and sat bolt upright in his seat swivelling his head as though he was trying to locate something.
"Harry what's the matter?" Hermione's concern was self evident as she clutched his arm.
"It's that voice again… can't you hear it?" He spoke quietly so as not to attract the attention of several third years sitting along the table from them. Straining her ears Alice tried to listen intently, but all she could hear was the hubbub around her and the grating shrieks of laughter emitting from Pansy Parkinson at the Slytherin table.
Ron, Hermione, and Neville, who had been filled in about the earlier incident, all seemed to be engaged in much the same pursuit with little success.
"It's stopped again," Harry seemed frustrated and almost disappointed.
"Did it say the same thing again?" Hermione jumped into investigative mode, her automatic response to any unusual situation.
Harry responded in the negative, "just that it wants to kill, and that it's hungry."
The others all looked at each other in bewildered silence for several seconds as Harry continued straining for something that, inexplicably, none of the rest of them could hear.
"Mate, are you sure?"
Harry turned to Ron with a frown, "Yes. Why? Do you think I'm making it up?"
"Of course he doesn't Harry, it's just that none of us heard anything. He's just double checking."
Harry gave a disgruntled huff as Hermione glared across the table at Ron.
"Well whatever it was," Alice cut in diplomatically, "we're not going to be able to go and find out just now, we'd be noticed if we tried to leave the feast before everyone else and started sneaking about."
"The cloak -"
"We'd still have to get out of here to get the cloak Harry, and you and Ron are in enough trouble already this term without having to explain why you're wandering around the school on Halloween. I know you're frustrated," Alice's tone mellowed slightly, "but we don't even know what we're looking for yet."
Unable to deny her stubborn logic, Harry sighed, leant down to pick up his spoon, quickly polished it on his robes, and began tucking into his pudding.
"Good idea mate," Ron served himself his third helping of treacle tart with relish as Alice caught Harry's eye and they both grinned ruefully.
For the remainder of the meal the issue of the mysteriously vicious disembodied voice was put to one side, if not forgotten, several times Alice caught Harry casting his eyes towards the walls and ceilings whilst Hermione snuck concerned looks at him whenever she thought he wouldn't notice. Soon however the feast came to an end, with Dumbledore standing up to wish them all a happy Halloween and sending them all off to bed with instructions not to get up to too much mischief.
"Do you realise," Alice commented as they climbed the stairs and turned down a passage on the fourth floor following behind many of the other students, "that it's exactly a year since we all became friends?"
"So it is!" Hermione smiled fondly, "my how time flies when you're having fun."
"It's weird though, it feels as though there never was a time at Hogwarts when we didn't know each other. It's like we've always been friends." Alice glanced up at Harry's comment as she recalled similar feelings she had experienced on first meeting him.
"Well at least Halloween this year wasn't as dramatic as it was -" Ron was cut short suddenly as someone up ahead screamed; it wasn't the same raucous noise as had been heard throughout the evening however, it was a sound of pure terror that cut through the air like a knife and caused every single pupil thronging the corridor to stumble sharply to a halt. For several seconds no one moved or said a word then like a wave muttering broke out amongst those closest to the front of the group and spread backwards like wildfire.
"What's going on?"
"Who screamed?"
"Don't push me."
"Ouch that was my foot!"
Ron groaned and mimed bashing his head against a wall. "I spoke too soon."
"Can you see anything?" Harry asked Hermione who was standing on her tiptoes trying to see over the crowd which Alice felt was a rather pointless exercise since they were one of the youngest groups in the school. When the brunette shook her head Harry spent all of two seconds looking undecided as Alice tried to pick up from the whispers around her any information she could. She had just managed to catch someone mentioning Mrs Norris before Harry suddenly darted off between the black robed bodies surrounding them.
"Hey Harry wait!" she hissed trying to follow him, it wasn't a difficult task as so many pupils were pushing and shoving in all directions that he hadn't gone very far. "Go this way," she grabbed his sleeve and tugged him towards one of the walls where there was a slightly clearer space due to the obstacles presented by the suits of armour and statues that lined them. Squeezing behind these the two of them, soon joined by Hermione, Ron and a very reluctant Neville, eventually managed to get close enough to the front that they could make out what was going on.
"Oh my goodness," Hermione whispered, her hand flying to her mouth as she recognised the prone form of Filch's cat Mrs Norris lying in the centre of the corridor, and that of Professor Binns floating eerily in mid air his normally translucent sheen replaced by a dark rippling smoke which seemed to cloud his form. As Alice gazed horror struck at the teacher she suddenly became aware that there was something behind him. Blinking to switch the focus of her eyes she scanned what turned out to be foot-high words applied crudely to the rough stone wall of the castle in some sort of scarlet liquid which Alice really hoped wasn't -
"Is that blood?" Neville sounded faint.
"Why are you scared Longbottom?" Alice's head flew round so quickly she would have overbalanced if they weren't all packed so tightly into the corridor. "Going to go crying to Mummy are we?" Malfoy's sneering face was inches away from her as he taunted Neville, "oh no, I forgot, you can't can you?" His gloating eyes, normally so devoid of any emotion, but now filled with an evil glee, looked round at their pale faces finally resting on Alice and Harry. "Enemies of the Heir beware, I wouldn't like to be you lot," with a malicious sneer he disappeared back into the throng just as Harry tried to make a dive for him.
"Harry, don't!" Alice grabbed him by the arm just as the crowd behind them suddenly fell silent and parted to allow the headmaster, closely shadowed by a large number of anxious teachers, through to the scene. Walking swiftly over to the figures he crouched by Mrs Norris and inspected her closely for several seconds, before looking up at her owner who Alice had only just registered was hovering fretfully beside him.
"She's not dead Argus," his steady, reassuring voice carried loudly enough that most of the students near the front of the crowd could hear and a spate of murmuring broke out again. "Perhaps," he added with even greater volume as he stood, lifting the cat as he did so, to face his audience, "it would be better if you all continued on your way to your dormitories." His normally twinkling eyes were grave as he surveyed them all, which to Alice emphasised the seriousness of the situation all the more. She could have sworn however that they rested momentarily on Harry and his friends for a split second, but it was so brief that it could simply have been a trick of the guttering torchlight.
In total silence the second years about turned and along with the rest of the students slowly began making their way towards Gryffindor Tower. None of them spoke, although she could tell Harry and Hermione were both dying to, until they had reached their customary plotting position by the fire in the common room - which was in uproar as everyone discussed what happened and explained the night's events to those who hadn't seen.
"So what do you think happened then?" Harry immediately launched in as though continuing a prior conversation."
"I've no idea, but it must have been something or someone really powerful - what could do that to a ghost, very few spells or curses even affect them at all never mind…" Hermione waved a hand vaguely in front of her to illustrate Professor Binns' state.
Ron suddenly surprised them all by giving a snort followed by a few dry chuckles. "Sorry," he tried not to smile as they all stared at him, not looking it one bit, "I was just thinking whoever it was though they really did us all a favour. Getting rid of Binns and Mrs Norris in one go? It's just a shame Snape wasn't down there too or school would definitely be looking up. Hey," a thought suddenly seemed to occur to him," does this mean I don't need to do that essay on `The Medieval Assembly of European Wizards' he set us now?"
Hermione looked scandalised. "Ron, this is serious! Something horrible has happened and you're trying to work out how it's going to benefit you, haven't you got any feelings? Besides," she added sniffily, "if you were organised at all you should have had that essay done days ago."
"Can we get back to topic a bit here people?" Harry looked rather bemused.
"What was it that it said on the wall?" A network of tiny lines appeared across Neville's brow as he tried to recall it exactly, "the Chamber of Secrets has been opened, what does that mean?"
Alice shrugged, but unusually it was Ron who provided an answer. "I think I remember Bill telling me something about that once, some hidden room in Hogwarts somewhere; can't remember exactly what he said about it though."
"I reckon Malfoy knows something about it, you heard what he said."
Alice regarded Harry for a moment as she turned this notion over in her head. "Well he didn't really, just hinted that we should watch out. You know he's an idiot, he might just have been saying things to try and scare us."
"Or he might not," Neville considered the prospect dimly.
Alice turned to Hermione for a response, but she seemed to be racking her brains and was getting increasingly frustrated by her lack of results. "Oh I wish I could remember, I know I've read about it somewhere before, but I can't remember what it said."
Suddenly Alice had a brain wave. "Hang on a second, I'll be right back," she blurted before sprinting off in the direction of the girls dormitory leaving her perplexed friends staring after her. As she rushed up the stairs she almost collided with Ginny Weasley who tutted loudly, but she didn't pause other than to offer a rushed apology and continue on upwards. Reaching her bed she rifled through the trunk at the bottom of it before she found what she was looking for, her copy of Hogwarts A History; quickly hefting it into her arms she dashed back down to the others.
"Here it is," she noted Hermione's smile at the appearance of her favourite book.
"Brilliant thinking Alice," she was positively glowing, "I didn't have space to bring mine with me this year."
"Where is it…?" Alice muttered quietly to herself as she ran a finger down the contents page trying to locate the appropriate chapter. "Ah here it is," deftly she flicked through the pages until she found the one she was looking for and began to read it out loud. "The legend of The Chamber of Secrets is almost as old as the school itself as it was believed to have been built during the time of the Founders by none other than Salazar Slytherin himself. ("Figures," muttered Ron before he was hushed by a rapt Hermione.) This Chamber was supposedly constructed shortly before Slytherin made the decision to leave Hogwarts having fallen out with the other Founders, most notably Godric Gryffindor - see chapter 2. Before he left the school Slytherin is said to have sealed the Chamber and according to one of the earliest sources of the legend, a short biography of Slytherin by one Bartholomew Twitch in 1376, only one of Slytherin's "noble breed," would be able to open it again. This is commonly believed to be a reference to an heir of Slytherin. Should the Chamber ever be opened the heir would be able to use the unnamed terror within to continue Slytherin's attempt to have all students of non-magical heritage removed from the school. It would be prudent to point out however that no evidence of such a Chamber has ever been found."
"That must be it," Harry's face had lit up with excitement, "that must be what I heard before at dinner and the other week in Lockhart's study. Either whatever is in that Chamber or whoever this heir is - it must have been them!" He seemed triumphant at this conclusion.
"You think it's real then? It might just be someone who knows about the legend trying to scare people even more." As always Hermione was determined to be rational.
"If you can do whatever they did to Professor Binns' and Mrs Norris I don't think they need to do anything to make people more scared do you?" Alice paused before continuing. "What I don't understand though is why them? If you're right Harry and this was done by the Chamber monster or whatever it is, then why target a cat and a ghost? Why not go straight for the pupils? It doesn't make sense."
"Maybe they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Ron, who seemed to have lost all his prior enthusiasm for the fate of Mrs Norris and Binns, stared morosely into the dying embers of the fire for a few seconds as he carefully considered his words. "Maybe it was a warning… to get people scared enough to pay attention."
Hermione pushed on relentlessly however. "But if they, whoever they are, want to get rid of all the muggle-borns why not just kill them, surely that would be the only way to get them out of the school?"
Once again it was Neville who supplied the answer, "I don't know, if it was me and I thought I might be attacked in the corridor by… something, and end up like that I'd consider leaving."
"Scare tactics." Harry looked as sombre as Dumbledore had earlier. "It might just work."
Alice's eyes filled with the light of grim determination. "Not if we have anything to do with it."
A/N: Well there you go again, hope you liked it. I shifted the scene of the attack to the fourth floor instead of the second, because they didn't go to the Death Day Party, Myrtle didn't get upset and flood the bathroom etc etc, so the "unnamed monster" ended up coming across its victims somewhere else.
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