Alice Evans and the Chamber of Secrets

Start As You Mean To Go On

“What on earth…?” Hermione was standing at the carriage window gaping up at the sky outside, her fingers - which had been buttoning up the front of her robes - had temporarily frozen in place. “Alice you have to come and look at this.”

Her friend, who had her head buried in her trunk trying to locate her own robes, straightened up with a frown and went to stand beside her to see what had gotten Hermione so worked up this time.

“What is it?” She looked outside but couldn't see anything other than the rolling green hills and late summer sun slowly moving towards the horizon.

“The car,” Hermione pointed up at the clouds as Alice looked in confusion. “There's a car in the sky.”

Suddenly Alice saw it. Just below the clouds, and looking like a toy it was so far up, was a tiny blue car chugging contentedly along in mid air.

“Seen our brilliant brother have you?” Both girls turned quickly at the sound of a voice behind them and Alice grinned delightedly when she saw who it was.

“Fred! George! How are you? Did you have a good holiday?”

“Brilliant, we managed to keep our noses clean -”

“Well almost, there was the time when -”

“Oh, I suppose, and then with the custard -”

“And don't forget the ghoul escaping -”

“But on the whole we were positively saintly,” George concluded with a smirk.

Alice merely raised an eyebrow.

“But hang on a minute,” Hermione interceded, “you said your brother. What do you mean?”

“Nice to see you too Hermione, we missed you the most obviously…” Fred tailed off and cleared his throat as Hermione continued to give him an icy stare. “Well that's where Harry and Ron are isn't it? They must have taken Dad's car and -”

“WHAT?!” Hermione screech could probably be heard at the other end of the train. “Harry and Ron are up there?” She immediately turned back round and stared searchingly out of the window as though she would somehow be able to make them out. “I am going to kill them.” The thunderous look on her face suggested to Alice that she might actually carry out her dark threat if not restrained.

“Your Dad's car? Was this the one you rescued Harry in over the summer?” She remembered the letters she had received from all her friends afterwards exclaiming about the incident.

“Yeah, although no one's supposed to know that or Dad might get into trouble.”

“We took the car to the station and the two of them disappeared when we all went onto the platform. They must have thought they could make a more stylish entrance like that.”

“Wish we'd thought of it,” Fred looked enviously out of the window at the car which was now disappearing back up into the clouds.

“Upstaged by ickle Ronnie,” the expression of self disgust on George's face made Alice giggle.

“How did your Dad manage to enchant the car?” she asked, curious as ever about any forms of magic unknown to her.

“Never mind that,” Hermione still sounded hysterical, “what if they have an accident? What if they're seen? They are going to get into so much trouble and the term hasn't even started yet.”

“Impressive isn't it?” The twins chorused.

Hermione seemed to be about to retort but before she could get a word out the compartment door slid open again and a stubborn looking girl about the same size as Alice, but with hair of a much more flaming orange shade, stepped into the compartment.

“There you are,” she addressed the twins, “Lee said you might be down here. I've been looking everywhere for you, have you seen Ron at all?” and she looked curiously round the compartment as though he might emerge from behind the luggage rack.

“He's not here,” Fred smirked at her, “and neither is Harry.” Alice thought she could detect a hint of disappointment on the girl's face as she received this second piece of news.

“Oh hello Hermione,” the redhead added belatedly.

“Sorry Alice, you haven't been introduced yet have you?” George waved a hand vaguely between her and the newcomer. “Alice this is our little sister Ginny. Gin this is Alice Evans. We told you about her remember?”

As Alice reached out to shake hands with the youngest Weasley the other girl regarded her with a coolness she couldn't fathom. “Briefly,” she replied.

Alice endeavoured to be polite, perhaps she was just shy. “Well I've heard a lot about you from Ron and the boys,” she indicated the twins. “It's nice to finally meet you at last.”

The smile she received in response was barely discernible. “Do you know where they are then?”

“Oh yes we certainly know where they are.” Evidently Hermione was going to be outraged about this all day. “They're up there in your Dad's car apparently!” She waved an agitated hand towards the window. “You can't see them anymore though,” she added as Ginny rushed to look, “they're above the clouds.” Again the annoyance seemed to flash across the face of the youngest Weasley.

“Oh I wish I had seen that!” It seemed Ginny was as determined to be excited about the boys rule breaking as Hermione was disapproving. “Do you think they'll come back down?” she asked her brothers.

“Maybe, they'll need to eventually,” George grinned as he and his brother stood up again.

“Are you going?” Alice tried to hide her disappointment.

“Yeah sorry midget,” Fred pulled one her pigtails teasingly and Alice was sure she saw his sister shoot her an unfathomable look. What was her problem?

“Lee's got a double-ended newt we want to take a look at,” his twin added.

“A newt? What happened to his tarantula?”

Identical evil grins suddenly spread across their faces. “It may have escaped when we were, hypothetically considering of course… enlarging it and giving it wings and then releasing it in Ron's dormitory at the end of last term.”

Hermione finally turned away from the window looking scandalised. “How could you - !” but she didn't get a chance to finish as the twins quickly ducked out of the compartment laughing uproariously at the look on her face.

Once they had gone Alice racked her brain for something to say to Ginny, she never knew what to say to people she had just met, every sensible thought seemed to fly out of her head and the only thing she could think of was the fact that she had to say something. Consequently this meant that she could never actually come up with anything intelligent to say, which was confusing to say the least. Hermione was no help either as she was still too preoccupied with staring out the window for some sign of the boys; and the younger girl didn't seem inclined to begin a conversation either. Alice wasn't surprised that she wasn't saying anything, she knew how daunting it was to meet older pupils, and it must be especially difficult since she had just been dumped by her brothers in a compartment where the other occupants were already friends. Although, Alice considered, she did already know Hermione having met her over the summer when everyone went to Diagon Alley. Alice hadn't been able to make the trip at the same time as everyone else having been on a trip to Edinburgh with the Home at the time.

Realising the silence was beginning to stretch painfully Alice decided the first thing that came into her head would just have to do. “So… Ginny… what House do you want to be in?” She cringed internally at the inanity of the question; this was why you were supposed to think before you spoke.

Clearly Ginny thought so too as she gave her that look again before she tossed her hair over her shoulder. “Gryffindor of course, my whole family's been in that House. You're in Gryffindor too aren't you?” The way she phrased it made Alice wonder whether she thought this was a good thing or not so she just nodded.

“Are you very good friends with Harry and Ron then? Only he didn't mention you much. He stayed at our house in the holidays; Mum was really excited having Harry Potter to stay. I think he's really brave for all the things he's done don't you? Such a hero.”

“Well, I suppose,” Alice wasn't really sure what response to make to this, “he's just Harry really. We've all been friends since last year, I don't really think of him as being famous.”

“Oh,” Ginny gave her another odd look; it wasn't condescending this time so much as she thought Alice was a bit odd in the head. As for Alice herself she was rapidly going off the youngest Weasley, but she was determined to try and make an effort for the rest of the boys' sakes. “I suppose being a muggle born you wouldn't have really known about him before. Maybe that makes a difference… It must be really exciting, I suppose he'll get up to all sorts of adventures this year too,” her smile as she considered this was slightly dreamy and Alice realised with a suppressed giggle that Ron's little sister must have a crush on her raven-haired friend. Poor Harry.

“As much as I hate to admit it I'm sure we will.” Ginny's eyebrows contracted slightly at her use of the word we but it was fleeting. “What do you think Hermione?”

Her friend eventually tore her eyes away from the window. “Oh I'm sure we will, in fact it looks like some people seem to be having them already, and term hasn't even started. Really, what were they thinking?!” She began to launch into one of her long, flowing tirades which Alice had become familiar with over the past year and which, if they weren't directed at you, were rather endearing. Ginny however, felt the need to interrupt.

“Oh Hermione how can you be so mean about them, they're just having fun. Relax a bit more.”

Hermione's lecture came to an abrupt halt as she blinked at Ginny looking rather stunned.

“Right…” Alice racked her brain for a way to steer the conversation in another direction. “Ginny what's it like having so many brothers? Hermione and I are both only children”

“It's alright I suppose, it means you have to get used to them playing tricks on you all the time, but they tend not to play too many on me because I'm the only girl.” Alice was beginning to suspect that this was part of the problem with the first year's attitude but kept silent on the matter. “It's always fun in the holidays of course,” she continued, “especially this year when Harry came to stay. We all became such good friends.” Now it was Hermione's turn to shoot her an unfathomable look. “But I suppose I better go and find my brothers; there must be something exciting happening on this train.” And before either of them could utter a word she got up and exited the compartment leaving them both lost for words. Eventually Alice managed to find her voice.

“Well she seems…” she struggled to find a word within the confines of politeness and failed so settled for the mundane, “nice.”

Hermione frowned, “she seems very different to what she was in the summer. She hardly said two words then especially round Harry,” her scowl deepened fractionally, “so I don't know what she was talking about them all becoming great friends. And all the boys mentioned you to her quite a few times when we went to Diagon Alley, they thought the two of you would get on really well,” Hermione raised her eyebrow in silent question.

“I'm reserving my judgement,” Alice grinned at her and they both knew full well that she was only being polite and trying to give Ginny the benefit of the doubt. “She's still only a kid,” they both began laughing at her irony.

After that the train journey was relatively uninterrupted, with the exception of the witch who came round with the trolley and Hermione peering in frustration from the window every so often in the vain hope that she might spot the boys and tutting with irritation whether or not she could.

Almost before Alice knew where she was they were at the station in Hogsmeade, but instead of being led towards the boats by Hagrid as they had been last year, she and Hermione were left to find a space on one of the horseless carriages along with all the rest of the students. They eventually managed to find one, after being shoved repeatedly by older students - much to Hermione's fury, with Fred, George and Lee Jordan who then showed them his newt complete with second head instead of a tail. Just as they were about to pull away they heard someone calling their names.

“Alice! Hermione! Wait up!” Neville clambered awkwardly into the carriage after them trying to keep hold of his escapist toad with one hand and pull himself up with the other.

“Hi Neville,” Alice smiled as she and Hermione assisted him, “How was your summer? Did you manage to convince your Gran to let you off of those extra flying lessons in the holidays?” she asked referring to his mention of the topic in a letter.

“Nope, trying to convince Gran is like trying to tame a Doxy. It was a disaster… again,” he looked so woebegone that Alice immediately regretted bringing up the subject.

“So Lee where did you get that poor newt from anyway?” Hermione tactfully changed the subject and Alice smiled at her in gratitude once everyone's attention was focused on the creature in question.

Once the carriages had rumbled up to the school gates they all filed noisily into the Great Hall and took their places at the House tables. Looking around at all the students in their black robes with the candles hovering above their heads and the stars twinkling languidly in the enchanted ceiling above that still, Alice felt a rush of affection - even, though it was fleeting, at the sight of the Slytherins. They were all part of home and there was definitely no place like it.

“It's so good to be back,” she beamed at Hermione enthusiastically then they both laughed again as her stomach rumbled. “I'm so hungry,” she chuckled, “I was too nervous to be hungry last year.”

“Yes but now we're all sophisticated second years,” she turned to Parvati who had just sat down next to them with Lavender in tow. “It'll be great not being the youngest anymore.” Alice smiled and listened contentedly as the rest of the Gryffindors from her year arrived at the table and all struck up a conversation.

“When do you think they'll start the Sorting? I'm starving.” Just as Seamus Finnigan had echoed her earlier sentiment the doors to the Great Hall swung open again and the room descended into silence as the first years followed Professor McGonagall in. Alice managed to spot Ginny Weasley striding confidently along behind a tiny mousy haired boy and wished she could have her self-assurance, even if she was annoying at first impression. Scanning the rest of the group she spotted a girl near the back of the group who looked as though she had wandered into the Hall completely unintentionally. She had dirty blonde hair which fell in straggly waves to her waist and wide, dreamy eyes that were so pale they almost looked white. She strolled along at the back of the group gazing upwards at the enchanted ceiling and humming beatifically to herself in an odd lilting voice. Although instantly curious about her Alice also felt slightly sorry for her as she was beginning to attract the stares and giggles of many of the students as she walked the length of the room. She could think of nothing worse than having everyone gawp at her.

Her attention was quickly refocused on the front of the room however as Professor McGonagall began the Sorting and it was with slight disappointment that she saw the intriguing girl go into Ravenclaw and Ginny Weasley, although it was no great surprise, enter Gryffindor. It wasn't that she disliked the girl exactly, she just got her back up. Perhaps it was the fact that her brazenness was so contrary to Alice's entire personality, but then - she reasoned to herself - that couldn't be it entirely as Hermione was often the very embodiment of brazenness and she couldn't wish for a better friend than her.

Said friend was currently peering down the length of the table anxiously. “They're not here. Where do you suppose Harry and Ron have gotten to? You don't think anything's happened to them do you?” She looked back at Alice in consternation.

“I'm sure they're fine,” she tried to placate her friend, “they'll be on their way here you'll see. Although,” she added as she spotted McGonagall sweeping out of the Hall looking as irate as Snape, whom she was following, was smug, “I wouldn't like to be in their shoes when the teachers hear how they got to school.”

Hermione worried at her bottom lip as she followed Alice's gaze, “you don't think they'll be punished do you, not if they weren't seen? Harry really doesn't need any more attention.” Her comment made Alice remember something she had been meaning to ask her but at that moment, following a spate of whispering which had spread down the table, Fred leaned across the table with a wicked glint in his eye.

“But they were seen weren't they? And apparently not just by us on the train, someone just heard Snape tell McGonagall that it's all over the Prophet that they were spotted by muggles.” He grinned at Hermione's scandalised look, “and it's not just that either, you know that mad old willow next to the Forbidden Forest? Between Hagrid's Hut and the castle? Well apparently my dear brother and Harry just crash landed into it,” he laughed gleefully at their expressions, “I never thought Ron would do us so proud.”

Hermione fixed on one point of his revelation. “They crashed? Is Harry alright? Have they been hurt?”

“Nah they're fine,” George joined the conversation and waved his hand dismissively, “by the sounds of it the tree was worse off, fantastic way to start the term though.”

Alice opened her mouth to ask what had happened to the car, but Hermione, having been satisfied that the boys were in one piece, beat her to it. “Oh yes, really fantastic, it's a fantastic way to lose house points too. Term hasn't even started properly yet, goodness knows what possessed them. Harry really should know better - Ron too,” she added as an after thought.

“Really Hermione,” Ginny piped up from a few places down the table, “it's only a bit of fun, you do need to lighten up a bit sometimes,” and she turned away again leaving Hermione to splutter indignantly in her direction. Alice wasn't sure what she was more annoyed at, the fact that Ginny had dismissed it as a bit of fun, or that she had just been told to lighten up by a first year.

Knowing that it would be a matter of seconds before Hermione managed to muster up an angry outburst, especially with the twins sniggering at the other side of the table, Alice decided that the only recourse was to distract her. “Ignore her Hermione. Here have some of this it's really good,” she pushed a plate of rice pudding with strawberry sauce under her nose. Her ruse worked in so far as she was able to avert any explosions directed at Ginny, but for the remainder of the meal Hermione continued to mutter dark threats about what she would do to the boys once she got hold of them and she barely heard any of the speech Dumbledore gave at the end of the meal or his welcoming of the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, who Alice personally thought looked a bit cheesy.

“Hermione,” she tried to reason with her later as they made their way up to Gryffindor Tower after the feast, “there's maybe a good reason why they took the car; they might have left something in it and gone back so missed the train and not known what else to do.” Her friend looked unconvinced so she tried again. “Please don't go ballistic at them,” Hermione sniffed as though insulted at the very suggestion, “I know what they did was stupid and dangerous but don't let's all fight about it, not at the start of term.” She looked at her pleadingly as Hermione considered.

“All right,” she sighed eventually and her bushy hair seemed to deflate in resignation, “but don't expect me to be nice to them. They're both idiots.” Alice knew she couldn't ask for more and so accepted the compromise with a smile.

True to her word Hermione marched straight up to the dormitory, ignoring the students who were gathered in the common room waiting for the two boys to appear, dragging a reluctant Alice in her wake. As they got ready for bed Hermione hardly said two words to her either, it was as though she held Alice partly responsible for the days events as well; which was, she considered as she pulled on her new checked pyjamas which had been a birthday present from Carol and the other women at the Home, a tad unfair seeing as she hadn't even seen the boys since they all left Hogwarts in June.

Just as she was about to extinguish the light the fleeting thought she had had just before Fred interrupted her at dinner reoccurred to her. Whether it was natural curiosity, or the twins need to tease rubbing off on her, or payback for Hermione being so grumpy, or all three Alice decided to voice her question.

“Hermione,” she asked keeping her voice deliberately airy, sitting up further in bed and peering over at her friend in the gloom.

“What?”

“Do you have a crush on Harry?” She chuckled as Hermione gasped in response and buried her face in the pillow which muffled her reactionary mutterings, but not enough that she didn't catch the words deluded and absurdity punctuating every half sentence. With a grin Alice bade her goodnight - to which she got no response and only made her smile more - before blowing out her candle and settling back to allow the muted sounds of the commotion in the common room to lull her to sleep.

A/N: I know Ginny is really annoying in this chapter, much more so than in the books, but I was trying to convey - I'm not sure how successfully - the fact that she is a bit spoilt being the youngest and still quite immature. It is entirely possible that she was like this in the books but we just never got to see it because she never spoke in front of Harry. That's my theory anyway; babble over.

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Something Old and Something New

Alice would probably have slept in the next morning if it hadn't been for a considerably more cheerful Hermione shaking her awake, which really was rather inconsiderate of her considering how comfy her four poster bed was.

“Alright I'm up,” she yelled sitting up after Hermione had grabbed her shoulder for the fourth time.

“Good, because it's the first day of term and we really shouldn't be late.” None of Hermione's enthusiasm dimmed as Alice scowled blearily at her before rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

“There should be laws against cheerful people first thing in the morning.”

Her friend stuck out her tongue as she began to attack her untameable hair with a heavy wire brush. “I've decided that you're right,” she continued as though she hadn't heard Alice's grumblings, “I'm not going to fight with the boys, what they did was stupid and I'm sure they will be justly punished. I'll be the embodiment of civility,” Alice's eyebrows disappeared under her fringe at this. “After all we're all friends.” Alice wasn't sure if she imagined the stress Hermione placed on this last word, but considering the last thing she had said to her the previous evening she doubted it. Clearly the brightest girl in the year was in denial.

As they entered the Great Hall it wasn't long before Alice discovered the real reason behind Hermione's enthusiasm. No sooner had they crossed the threshold than she found her forearm gripped painfully by her best friend as glancing over at her she saw her cheeks were slightly flushed and she had a slightly feverish look in her eyes that only ever really cropped up around books.

“What is it?” She looked around the Hall in bewilderment to see what exactly had made her friend react so strongly, but all she could see was a swarming mass of students converging ravenously on the breakfast tables and the early morning sun of the enchanted ceiling beaming down on their heads.

“What? Oh…erm, nothing.” If possible the colour in Hermione's cheeks deepened further. “Nothing… it's just I think it's really brilliant that Dumbledore's managed to get such a proficient teacher for us this year, we'll be able to learn ever such a lot in Defence Against the Dark Arts. From someone who's really had experience in the field too.” Her attempt at nonchalance was painfully transparent. Scanning the very far end of the Hall for a second time she eventually caught sight of the object of Hermione's attention. Sitting at the teachers table, his overly coifed hair gleaming almost as much as the ceiling, was a figure she recognised from the wizarding photographs of him adorning every single book she'd been forced to buy for his subject that year.

“What Lockhart?” She looked incredulously at Hermione, she seemed slightly flustered and Hermione never got flustered by anything.

“Of course Lockhart, who else did you think I meant? Snape?”

“He wishes,” Alice whispered under her breath as she eased Hermione's hold on her arm and steered her towards food. “Come on, let's find the boys.”

True to her word Hermione behaved angelically towards them, her mood no doubt considerably improved by the presence of a teacher she clearly venerated, but truth be told her behaviour was bordering on the over perfect. Her smile that bit too fixed and her voice a tad strained as she breezily informed them that she didn't mind their actions of the previous day at all; much to their evident bemusement.

“So what did happen yesterday anyway?” Alice asked them between mouthfuls of porridge as she waved at Neville who had just sat down next to Ron on the opposite side of the table.

“Well it was really weird,” Harry leant forward eagerly to take up the story, “everyone else has gone through the barrier but when we tried we just bounced right off it as though it had stopped working.”

“But that's impossible,” Hermione interjected, all thoughts of Lockhart temporarily driven from her head in light of this fresh mystery, “the magic that controls that gate is really old and powerful, the most learned wizards of the 19^th century hid that gate from muggles and I doubt any wizard who was actually powerful enough to affect it would want to bother with a train station gate just to stop you two getting to school. Hogwarts a History,” she threw at Ron as he opened his mouth to ask what was by now becoming a very well versed question.

“Well whatever it was,” he huffed, “we couldn't get through and we missed the train so we didn't have any choice but to take the car.”

To everyone's surprise it was Neville who piped up, “you could have waited to see if anyone came back through.”

“Exactly,” Hermione latched onto this with gusto before either of the boys had an opportunity to defend themselves, “that would have been a much more sensible thing to do, but instead you go charging off and fly a car through the middle of London and expect no one to see you. I bet that was your idea,” she looked accusingly at Ron all attempts at perfection clearly going out the window.

“I - well - I… the thing is,” he spluttered ineffectually for several seconds as though caught off guard by her rapid change of mood. “The invisibility booster broke,” he managed eventually.

“It wasn't all Ron's fault, I agreed to go too, we were both in the car,” Harry defended his friend to which Hermione simply stared at him for several seconds then pursed her lips and turned to concentrate on her bacon.

“What do you suppose -” Alice's question was cut short by the arrival of the post owls and for the next few minutes she sat in cringing silence along with the rest of the Gryffindors listening to Mrs Weasley's irate Howler lambasting Ron for his foolhardiness.

“Well,” Hermione sniffed once the tirade had died away, “I should think you probably deserved that.” Ron seemed too stunned to argue.

“I wouldn't worry too much Ron,” George called cheerfully down the table, “Mum sent us a Howler in second year too; we seem to be starting a family tradition. It'll be your turn next Ginny.” Everyone turned to look at the petite first year sitting next to her brother and another even smaller boy in her class and she immediately flushed an unmistakable Weasley shade as Harry's gaze hit her and choked on an ill-timed spoonful of egg she had just attempted to swallow. As her older brother whacked her liberally on the back in an attempt to dislodge it Alice turned her curious eyes to his twin. “What did you get a Howler for?” They did stupid things every day; it must have been serious for their mother to react to it like that.

Fred grinned at her mischievously. “We switched half the portraits in the castle round, it meant no one could get into the common rooms because the passwords went with the portraits and no one could find them all day; it was hilarious,” he reminisced, “you should have seen -” but what exactly she should have witnessed Alice never found out because Fred abruptly shut up with a wink as Professor McGonagall arrived at their end of the table and began handing out their class schedules.

“Oh no!” Ron looked even more nauseated than he had when the Howler was going off. “We have Potions first thing on a Monday morning; which sadist came up with that?”

“At least it's not a double,” Harry commented scanning the rest of the sheet, “ugh, and look at Tuesdays, Potions before lunch and History of magic all afternoon, at least we'll be able to catch up on our sleep that day.”

“I really wish you two would stop seeing History of Magic as a waste of time, I know Professor Binns is a bit dry in his manner, but the subject matter is important,” Hermione interjected crossly.

Ron just rolled his eyes in response. “I'd bet a years supply of the Cannons Chronicle that nothing we ever learn in that class will come in useful.”

“Come on,” Alice ordered with unusual authority as she sensed another argument brewing, “we've got double Herbology first, let's get a move on.”

As the five of them made their way across the grounds and down to the greenhouses Alice managed to coax a more positive account of his holidays from Neville; apparently his great-uncle Algie had taken him to the largest wizarding greenhouse in the country one weekend, and he was just recounting to them all how a fanged geranium had attempted to take a bite out of his uncle's walking stick when Harry stopped dead with a groan.

Hermione was instantly on the alert. “What's wrong? Harry, are you alright? Is something the matter?”

Alice however had spotted the problem straight away. “Run for it,” she advised him with a grin, nodding in the direction of the greenhouse door so that the others would see what she had.

“Helpful, thanks.” Harry scowled at the gleaming turquoise form of Gilderoy Lockhart as Hermione huffed indignantly at their combined responses.

“Honestly, I don't know why you should have that reaction to him. His outfit choices are perhaps a little garish and he's maybe a bit cheerful for some people's liking, but he's a really great wizard.”

“If you say so,” Ron prodded Harry in the back with a smirk to make him start moving again. “Bet you wish you'd taken the cloak with you, don't you?”

Harry just growled in response, a familiar uncomfortable look creeping over his face. As amusing as they all found his discomfiture however, Alice had to feel sorry for him when the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor pulled him aside, whilst the rest of them trooped into Greenhouse Three after the other Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. Five minutes later he sidled in after them, his face a suitable Gryffindor red and tried to blend in unobtrusively with the rest of the class as they donned some rather fetching sets of earmuffs and proceeded to try and re-pot Mandrakes. They were supposed to work four to a tray which meant that someone would be left out; Alice was just about to offer to move to a different group with Neville when a neighbouring group of Hufflepuff boys, including one she vaguely remembered from a conversation once in the library was called Justin, invited him to join them.

“So what did Lockhart want then?” Ron asked in a stage whisper as the four remaining Gryffindors gathered around their tray, but Harry didn't have a chance to put them through it as at that moment Professor Sprout ordered the earmuffs back on and they spent the rest of the lesson hauling diligently at the stubborn mandrakes. It wasn't until they were seated in the Transfiguration classroom, their stomachs beginning to rumble at the not too far off prospect of lunch, that he was able to fill them in.

“The man's off his head,” Ron muttered once he had finished, “a few people have heard of you? Honestly, he's so self -” He stopped as he spotted Hermione glaring at him menacingly.

“Maybe he's just gotten the wrong impression of Harry; perhaps he thought that having been famous all his life he would be big headed, but once he gets to know him he'll see that he's not at all.”

“Like Lockhart you mean?” Ron muttered so that only Alice, who was sitting next to him, could hear and she gently kicked him under the desk in admonition. By the end of the lesson she was beginning to regret her choice of seating arrangements however as Ron's wand clearly had not faired well from its run in with the Whomping Willow. Several times it gave her a shock - rather like static electricity - when it came in contact with her hand or arm in the process of Ron's wild flourishing which was a by-product of his desperate attempts to make it yield results. The most he managed to achieve from the class however was a squashed beetle and a bad mood at the sight of the perfect buttons Hermione and Alice managed to turn theirs into.

It was Harry Alice felt most sorry for by the end of the day however, as after being accosted by an over eager first year wanting to take his picture and the resultant scene Malfoy only too gleefully caused when he discovered the fact. The only reason the situation wasn't compounded by Lockhart's intervention was because Alice had spotted him approaching along the walkway at the side of the courtyard they were in and summoned up all her courage to head him off before he noticed Harry again.

“Professor could I ask you something?” Her voice came out as a squeak as she tried to force her legs to stay perfectly still and not quake slightly with the trepidation she felt. “I was just wondering about something you wrote in Holidays with Hags,” the words tumbled out of her mouth almost as fast as she was making them up off the top of her head.

“Ah yes, a particular favourite of mine that incident was you see I was actually searching for a Peruvian Vipertooth when I happened to stop off for a few days respite in Lima and I encountered…” he continued to drone on in this fashion for so long that in the end Alice didn't have to invent some half-baked question on the issue of Hags, which was probably just as well because her brain always seemed to jam when she was put on the spot like that. He took so long to explain exactly how he had valiantly saved a school full of children, with much posturing and heroic gesturing along the way, that the lunch break ended and Alice ended up having to walk all the way to Defence Against the Dark Arts with him, much to the amusement of the twins and Lee Jordan who passed them going in the opposite direction on the marble staircase.

“Thanks for that,” Harry leaned forwards and whispered in her ear as she slipped into the free seat next to Hermione and Lockhart immediately launched into his self-introduction. If Alice had hoped his teaching style would be any better than his personality she was to be sorely disappointed. Not only did he present the class with the most ludicrous and egotistical quiz she had ever seen, but he then proceeded to unleash a cage full of vexed and frustrated Cornish Pixies and then abandoned them to the care of Harry, Ron, Hermione, Alice and poor Neville who was still swinging forlornly from the candelabra.

“Of course he missed out question fifty-five,” Ron was saying that night in the common room, “on a scale of one to ten how big a git is Gilderoy Lockhart?” He gave Alice and Harry an exaggerated thumbs up, as they both burst out laughing, and did a passable impression of Lockhart's beaming smile and ridiculous toss of the head which Alice could only assume was meant to show his overly blonde curls off to their greatest effect. Hermione however was not amused and seemed determined to ignore the teacher's faults.

“Don't be an idiot Ron, he just wanted us to get inside his head and understand the state of mind you need to have to fight all the terrible creatures he has.”

“I don't need a quiz to tell me what state of mind he has,” Ron was clearly enjoying goading her as usual, “empty, that's what state it is.”

Alice snorted with suppressed laughter and pretended to be concentrating on the Transfiguration homework McGonagall had set them that day so that her friend wouldn't notice. Much as she loved Hermione she couldn't fathom what she saw in their bumbling Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. The man was useless; an afternoon in his class had been enough to demonstrate as much, there was absolutely no way someone who was self obsessed enough to hand out quizzes about his favourite colour and couldn't even control Cornish Pixies had done all the things he claimed in his books. She couldn't understand why Hermione didn't see that.

Ron continued to successfully irritate an increasingly indignant Hermione for the next few minutes, as Harry tried ineffectually to reconcile the two, before she stomped off in the direction of the staircase her bushy hair practically bristling with fury as she went.

“You really shouldn't wind her up so much,” Alice admonished as she watched her go, “she'll realise he's an idiot eventually.” This last was said with more hope than conviction.

The redhead just sniggered in response. “She's got a crush on him, I've seen her timetable; all his lessons are outlined in little hearts.”

Harry, who like Alice had had his head bent over his Transfiguration books, looked up so fast that she was surprised she didn't hear his neck click. “What?!”

Oblivious to the consternation in his friend's eyes Ron continued with a grin. “Yeah, every single lesson. It's sad really, she'll need to go to St Mungo's and get her head examined before long.”

Harry said nothing and merely returned his attention to his parchment, but much to Alice's amusement his cheeks were flushed a shade which could rival Ron's at his most embarrassed and occasionally his eyes would flick almost casually in the direction of the dormitories. Clearly Hermione wasn't the only one developing feelings for people this year, when she wasn't fixating on a certain ineffectual teacher that is. It was a situation she would certainly have to observe and put some thought to, but right now she really should concentrate on the Transfiguration definitions for Friday.

The second day of term managed to be much less eventful than their first had been; the worst they had to contend with was Snape being his usual irascible self all afternoon in Potions whilst they tried to establish exactly the correct way to mix a Calming Draught and consequently all ended up in need of one by dinner time.

“Well I suppose it's nice to know that some things never change isn't it?” Harry asked wryly as they all sat down to eat.

“I thought he might be a bit nicer after what happened last year,” Hermione mused as she tucked into a quantity of beef casserole and broccoli.

“Snape doesn't know how to be nice, it'd kill him.”

“Ron,” Alice coughed once she had managed to swallow the mouthful of Yorkshire pudding she had taken, “please don't make me laugh when I'm eating.” She looked back at Harry and Hermione, “he's right though, there's no need for Snape to protect Harry this year so he doesn't need to have anything more to do with us than is strictly necessary. If anything he'll probably be even worse to make up for his temporary loss of sanity last year.”

They all turned back to their respective suppers hungrily and it was several moments before Ron broke the silence again with a smirk. “Never mind though, if we ever get into strife this year it'll be a comfort to know that Lockhart's here to rescue us.” Harry threw a chip at him.

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Breaking Noses

Saturday morning found the first rays of autumn sunlight stealing through the high arched windows in the Gryffindor common room and illuminating the figure of a small red-haired girl curled up in an armchair by the empty fireplace and once again absorbed in a book that was almost as large as she was. Having woken up early and finding a return to sleep elusive Alice had crept downstairs and taken up residence in her favourite chair, partly so she wouldn't disturb anyone as she struggled to turn the thick parchment pages, but mostly to escape from Lavender's chronic snoring.

Her peace was short lived however as a commotion on the stairs heralded the appearance of half the Quidditch team in varying states of alertness and all in a generally bad mood, with the possible exception of Oliver Wood who strode across the common room like a man on a mission.

“Oliver thinks it's funny to wake people up at the crack of dawn,” Fred Weasley yawned as he appeared at the foot of the stairs still struggling to put on his shoes and tie up his robes at the same time.

“Maybe he just wants you to see how the birds feel, to help you with your flying,” Alice grinned and ducked the swipe George made at her with his broom before watching their retreating backs exit through the portrait hole. Several minutes later Harry, who looked for all the world as though his legs had yet to inform his brain that he was out of bed, stumbled down the stairs. He almost didn't notice her, and probably wouldn't if she hadn't shut her book with an audible snap.

“Oh… morning Alice… what are you doing up this early?” He clearly thought that anyone who wasn't forced awake by a single-mindedly obsessed Quidditch captain should still be in bed, or else clearly needed their head examined.

“Couldn't sleep, I thought I might do some reading - jog my memory about all the things I forgot over the summer.”

Harry snorted doubtfully at this remark, “you've never forgotten anything in your life,” he asserted. “Can you tell the others where I am? I did leave Ron a note, but you know what he's like, he probably wouldn't find it unless I pinned it to his pyjamas.”

“Sure,” she laughed at the thought, “we'll bring you some breakfast down too, is -” But she was cut off as the first year boy called Colin who had been taking photos of Harry the other day came hurtling down the stairs, nearly tripped over his feet and righted himself just in time to avoid crashing into Harry who was standing by the portrait hole looking rather bemused.

“Harry, Harry,” he was waving something under his nose, “will you sign this photo for me?”

With a strangled groan and a wave to Alice, Harry turned and disappeared through the portrait hole with the excitable first year bobbing after him like an eager duckling. Alice winced in sympathy, before smiling, and returned to her book. She had managed to read a whole chapter on Joan of Navarre, and how she had managed to use confundus charms to have her conviction as a witch overturned in the fifteenth century, before anyone else came down to disturb her. It wasn't long before the common room quickly began filling up with people collecting belongings they had left lying around the previous evening or waiting for friends to go down to breakfast. Aware of the gnawing sensation which had started up again in her stomach, and unable to concentrate over the increasing hum of voices, Alice went in search of her friends.

“You're up early,” Hermione commented brightly as they nearly collided with each other on the stairs. “Have you been down to breakfast already?”

Alice shook her head. “No I've been reading in the common room, I was just coming to find you actually I'm starving.”

“You're getting as bad as Ron,” Hermione chuckled, “do you want to wait for the boys or do you want to go down now?”

Alice explained that Harry was at Quidditch practice and, much to the satisfaction of her curiosity, was sure she detected a hint of disappointment in her friend's face as she relayed this news. “… but I said we would take him down some breakfast,” she continued. “Do you want to go and see where Ron's gotten to? I've just got to put this back in my trunk,” she hefted the enormous brown leather book more securely into her arms.

“Sure,” Hermione smiled again as she skipped off down the stairs, “poor Harry must be so hungry by now.” Alice felt her lips twitch at this comment and forced her face to remain serious until her friend's bushy head had disappeared out of sight. She wondered if Hermione realised that she had a crush on Harry? Probably not, despite being the most intelligent person Alice knew she had a certain propensity not to see what was right under her nose.

By the time she had deposited her book, met up with Hermione, Ron and a very bleary eyed Neville in the common room and made her way down to the Great Hall, Alice was absolutely ravenous. Grabbing a napkin from the table she scooped up several pieces of toast and, after some consideration, added another one for good measure.

“Maybe she's going through a growth spurt,” Ron observed sagely as Hermione commented on the amount of food she had procured, “she definitely needs it - HEY!” he complained as Alice swatted him on the arm causing him to nearly lose hold of the bacon roll he was carrying.

“Don't start bickering you two,” Hermione admonished causing both red heads to grin at the irony once her back was turned.

As they crossed the grounds towards the Quidditch pitch Alice could vaguely make out the crippled form of the tree Harry and Ron had crashed into in the distance off to her right. The poor thing was covered in bandages and seemed to be swaying slightly as though suffering from seasickness - she wasn't sure who had come off worse from the encounter, the tree or Ron's wand.

“Hey Harry,” Hermione waved as they climbed the sun-warmed wooden steps and shuffled along a row to find seats. Scanning the sky Alice quickly identified her friends who all seemed to be racing each other around the stadium and raised a hand in greeting.

“Thanks,” Harry smiled breathlessly as he effortlessly drew to a stop in midair in front of them and Hermione handed him some toast. “I'm famished and we haven't even started yet.”

“What have you been doing? You've been gone for over an hour.”

“Wood's been giving us one of his talks,” George pulled up next to Harry as his twin continued to perform aerial acrobatics, “I feel so much more learned now though, now I know what it feels like to be you or Hermione, Evans,” he smirked as she stuck her tongue out.

“Oi you lot!” They all turned in the direction of Wood's bellow.

“Oops,” Harry quickly wolfed down his breakfast, “better get back to it.”

The others settled back in their seats, content to simply relax and watch the practice unfold, with Ron and Alice occasionally explaining certain moves to Hermione. It wasn't long however before the Gryffindor team all abruptly about turned and headed for the pitch.

“Uh oh,” Neville sighed as he leaned over the front of the stands to better observe the commotion, “Slytherins.”

Hermione, Ron and Alice were instantly on their feet. “That doesn't look good. Come on we better go and see what's happening.”

The four of them quickly turned and rushed back down the stairs ignoring the protestations of the ancient planks and rickety looking slats; they had supported hundreds of pupils for as many years, they would manage to hold four running students.

“- for the old Cleansweeps,” Alice heard the green-robed captain drawl as they approached, “sweeps the board with them. Who's this?” he turned piggy little eyes in their direction as they ran across to stand next to the Gryffindor team. “More Weasley's?” he queried as he took in Ron and Alice's red hair.

“He is,” Alice was slightly stunned to see Draco Malfoy standing in the centre of the team and dwarfed by the considerably larger students standing next to him. “Longbottom's just useless and Granger and Evans are no better than Muggles.”

Alice heard identical growls emanate from her left and was fairly certain it was the twins so she shot them a warning look.

“How did you manage to get on the team anyway?” Ron asked defensively, but Alice didn't need to hear Malfoy's reply, the shiny new brooms being wielded by every member of the Slytherin team were answer enough.

“Shove off Malfoy,” Harry barked once he had finished bragging about the technical ability of the Nimbus Two Thousand and One. “Quidditch is about talent not money, so it doesn't matter how good your stupid brooms are.”

“Keep telling yourself that Potter,” Malfoy spat, “but we'll see who's right.”

“Harry could beat you hands down any day of the week,” Hermione bristled shrilly, Alice wasn't sure if it was her indignation or the fact that the whole Slytherin team turned to stare at her that was making her cheeks go pink.

“No one asked you, you stupid Mudblood.”

Alice wasn't sure who moved first, but suddenly half the Gryffindor team surged forwards with a roar and she had to grab onto Ron and Fred's sleeves to stop them diving for Malfoy, similarly the rest of the girls on the team managed to restrain Oliver and George who were both cursing at the top of their lungs. Unfortunately no one managed to grab Harry.

“Ow!” Malfoy reeled away nursing his face in both hands as Harry's fist connected solidly with it.

“Harry!” Hermione shrieked running forward to grab his arm as he raised it again oblivious to the threatening stance of the rest of the Slytherins as they coalesced around the injured seeker. For a moment it seemed as though Flint was going to make something of the situation, but apparently even he could count and it seemed he did not like the odds of eleven against seven, even if five of the eleven were considerably smaller than him.

“Just get your stupid team off the pitch Wood,” he snarled, “Professor Snape won't be happy when he hears about any of this.” For a breathless moment it seemed Oliver was going to challenge him again, but after taking another glance at the blood pouring between Malfoy's fingers he seemed to think better of it.

“Come on,” he sighed, leading his team in the direction of the changing rooms and leaving Alice, Hermione and Neville to drag a very reluctant Harry and Ron after them.

“What on earth did you do that for?” Hermione chided the minute they were off the pitch. “You're going to get into so much trouble for that. You punched Malfoy! Now he's going to run straight to Snape and you'll end up being hauled up to McGonagall's office. You were told if you got into any more trouble you'd get expelled!”

Harry was just about to open his mouth to protest when Oliver, who had clearly overheard this last remark, swooped down on them balefully. “Expelled?! You can't get expelled, if you do how are we going to beat them with those brooms? Right that's it,” he ordered, arms akimbo and his face turning an intriguing shade of puce, “I don't care what you do or how you do it, but you're just going to have to apologise to that Malfoy kid or grovel to McGonagall or something. Either that or Evans will have to replace you again like she did last year.” And without waiting for either first year to respond to these pronouncements on their future he stormed out of the changing room looking aggrieved.

“Well I know which option I'd choose mate,” Ron clapped Harry on the shoulder in what was evidently meant to be a heartening manner, “grovel to McGonagall and if she lets you off with it it'll almost be worth getting the detention for the look on Malfoy's face when you punched him.” He chuckled, “did you hear him howl? It was like a little girl - no offense,” he added hurriedly to Alice and Hermione whose face still resembled a thunder cloud.

“But you could still be expelled! Oh Harry what on earth did you hit him for? Malfoy being a prat is nothing unusual.”

Harry's mumbled response was barely intelligible as his face flushed and he stared determinedly at the end of his broom.

“What?”

“I said, no one's allowed to speak to you like that. Ever,” he finished emphatically finally looking up in time to see Hermione's face turn a matching shade.

“Oh…” she seemed lost for words, “well then… thank you.”

An awkward silence seemed in danger of settling as the two of them stared at each other and Ron began inspecting the patterns on the ceiling not even bothering to hide the grin on his face.

“Well let's not waste a perfectly good Saturday,” Alice finally broke in when it became clear neither of them were going to say anything else. “Let's go and sit by the lake or something, there's no point in worrying about it yet. Come on Hercules,” she linked arms with Harry and steered him in the right direction whilst patiently explaining the muggle reference to Ron and Neville.

“Hey Harry,” a voice called as they were halfway to the lake, “Harry wait up!” Alice turned to see Colin Creevey, his camera swinging precariously close to his head, running full pelt after them. “That was amazing,” he beamed as he caught up with them, “you were so brave. I managed to get a photo of it, he insulted your girlfriend and then you were just like… boom,” he mimed a slow motion punch in midair.

“Colin she's not my -” Harry started to protest, but then paused, “wait you got a photo of it?”

“Yeah it was brilliant,” the first year seemed almost beside himself with joy and oblivious to everything other than Harry; Alice wished she could be that confident in front of older students. “Do you think it'll come out in the moving photo? That'd be really cool seeing it again and again; it'd be like an action movie.”

“Hey Colin can I have a copy? I'd pay good money to see Malfoy getting punched repeatedly,” Ron grinned evilly, which made him look uncannily like the twins.

“Ron,” Hermione admonished as Neville and Colin laughed nervously.

Seeing that Harry looked as though he was about to punch something again Alice spoke up, “maybe you shouldn't develop that one Colin, or if you do don't go showing it to everyone; you might get Harry into even more trouble.”

“Oh,” this thought hadn't seemed to have occurred to him yet, “right… ok then. Thanks…” he trailed off.

“It's Alice,” she supplied.

“Thanks for the tip Alice,” he gave her a dazzling smile before dashing off ahead of them towards the castle.

“I'd be careful,” Ron warned as they all watched him go, “if you don't watch out he's going to start stalking you as well as Harry.”

She turned to look back at her green-eyed friend impishly, “well as long as Lockhart doesn't start up as well I think I'll manage to cope.” Harry seemed torn between annoyance and the need to laugh and eventually opted for the latter with even Hermione joining in after a pause.

For the next few hours it was easy to imagine that nothing had happened that morning as the five of them lazed around by the edge of the lake and watched Neville wading for bulrushes with his trousers rolled up to his knees and passing them to Alice who was busily plaiting them into a long line. The tranquillity was broken by their treacherous stomachs which forced them back to the Great Hall for lunch and into the path of a certain stern Transfiguration professor.

“Mr Potter,” Harry's face filled with dread as they ran into her coming out of the Great Hall. She was glaring at him, her nostrils flaring alarmingly and the reproachful look on her face compounded by the fact that her glasses were sitting halfway down her nose forcing her to look down at him. “A word if you please. In my office. Now.” And without waiting for a response she turned in a flurry of swirling robes and marched towards the marble staircase with a reluctant looking Harry dragging his feet in her wake.

“Do you think I should go after him? Hermione was chewing worriedly on her lip as she watched them disappear, “explain that he was only standing up for me?”

“He'll be fine,” Ron didn't sound convinced.

“Professor McGonagall might be strict, but she's fair,” Neville added reasonably, “if Harry explains everything she'll be more lenient; she can't expel him over this.”

But it was a decidedly more gloomy group that went to sit down for lunch than they had been just ten minutes beforehand. Scanning the Slytherin table Alice could see no sign of Malfoy anywhere, which was probably just as well as she was rather tempted to go and hit him herself just for good measure.

“What did I miss? I heard all about what happened down at the pitch. Where's Harry?” An annoyingly cheerful Ginny Weasley bounced down into the seat next to Ron compounding the irritation that Alice already felt. With an effort she managed to push it aside as Ron began to repeat the tale, and concentrate on the sandwiches in front of her, repeating internally that she was Ron's sister and therefore it would be inappropriate to squash a jam doughnut into her face… much as she might want to.

“I said he was brave, didn't I?” She continued without waiting for Alice to respond, “he'd defend anyone, absolutely anyone.” Alice wasn't sure whether or not she imagined the little glance Ginny threw at Hermione, but the stress on the final word was unmistakable.

“Don't start calling him a hero again,” Ron complained as he piled his plate with cold ham quiche, “I got fed up of that in the holidays.” Ginny chose to ignore his comment and instead beamed up at the twins - who were evidently her favourite brothers - as they arrived at the table.

“I don't suppose McGonagall would listen to you two,” she teased, “you're hardly exemplary students.”

“We could be -”

“If we chose to be -”

“Which we don't.”

“It'd be too much like hard work,” Fred smirked as he reached across the table for the pitcher of Pumpkin juice, “but I suppose if we ever really needed to, Evans would manage to keep us on the straight and narrow wouldn't you Evans?”

“Sounds too much like hard work to me,” she threw his words back at him with a grin.

“Well we can't all be perfect I suppose,” Ginny joked with a chuckle, but the look in her eye told Alice that she was anything but amused; what was her problem? Had Alice done something to offend or insult her at some point and not noticed? She was clearly jealous of Hermione's relationship with Harry, but when they weren't discussing Gryffindor's local hero the two girls got on reasonably well. For Alice though she seemed to reserve a special antipathy so it couldn't be the same situation there, besides what about her could possibly make Ginny jealous?

“So how are we going to rescue Harry?”

Ron was rapidly becoming annoyed by his sister's persistent interruptions, after all she was distracting him from his lunch and that was a cardinal sin in his books. “We're not going to do anything; he's Harry Potter, McGonagall won't expel him just for punching a git like Malfoy, Dumbledore wouldn't let her.”

“Aren't any of you going to go and save him?” she queried looking disapproving, “I would if I had been there.”

“Yeah, but Gin, we don't all doodle his name inside little hearts all over the back of our diaries,” George chortled as his youngest sibling let out a hiss of mingled frustration and fury and stormed away from the table. “That's a shame,” he remarked after a moment's silence where they all returned gratefully to their lunches, “if she had hung about a minute she would have been able to ask Harry himself how to rescue him.”

All four second years immediately looked up to see Harry approaching the table with a look of weary acceptance on his face.

“How did it go mate?” Ron asked as his best friend took a seat next to a rather faint looking Hermione.

“Alright, it could have been worse. At least she didn't expel me -”

“Oh Harry!” His words were lost amidst a mass of bushy brown hair as Hermione grabbed him in one of her bear like hugs and then just as rapidly dropped her arms as though burned.

“Yeah… well…” Alice watched with amusement as her two friends shifted awkwardly in their seats and looked at anything but each other, “she erm…” Harry cleared his throat and she wondered if he was aware his cheeks were doing a brilliant impression of a stop light. “…well she took off twenty house points,” Ron hissed in sympathy, “and gave me a detention every night this week.”

This revelation subdued them so much for the rest of their meal that not even Fred and George's jokes about Lockhart's robes - today a brilliant shade of tangerine - provoked a reaction. Hermione couldn't even muster up a critical reproach.

She had recovered sufficiently by that evening however, having convinced herself that Harry was no longer in any danger of being ousted from the school, to chastise him for complaining about his detention that evening. “Well you did break the law,” her guilt at her perceived part in the day's events clearly did not extend to his previous misdemeanours, “I should think you got off lightly with just a detention. Besides, you get to spend the evening with Lockhart and understand his psyche.”

“Actually,” Ron seemed to be reconsidering his earlier complaints about his own punishment, “I don't think I'll mind cleaning the trophy room with Filch so much; getting to know Lockhart's inner unconsciousness sounds about as fun as rounding up Cornish Pixies,” he smirked as both Harry and Hermione scowled at him in unison. “Come on,” he pulled an unwilling Harry off the sofa, “we wouldn't want to be late.”

About an hour after the boys left Hermione, much to Alice's surprise decided she was going to bed.

“I thought you'd want to wait up for them,” she said as they waved goodnight to Neville who was sitting at the far side of the room struggling to compose a letter to his grandmother, “you usually do.”

“It's their own fault they've got detention, besides what could possibly happen to them that we'd need to?”

Alice had no answer for this, but she had a feeling something would, at Hogwarts it usually did.

Hermione's question was answered the next morning at breakfast as Harry rushed in to tell them about the mysterious voice he had heard, followed by an aching and groggy Ron who interspersed Harry's explanation with juvenile complaints about the pains in his arms from his evening's exertions.

“Oh shush Ron, no one cares if your arm's going to fall off, what did the voice sound like Harry?” Hermione pinned him with steely eyes.

He considered for a moment. “Sort of… cold, cold and empty.”

“You don't suppose it's You-Know-Who again do you?” Ron's alarm at the prospect diverted his attention from his own plight momentarily. “I know,” he cut in as Alice opened her mouth to correct him, “but you know who I mean, so I don't have to say it.”

“Not unless he's found another way to come back again, and I know it's not impossible but it's unlikely - I mean come on, two years in a row?” Hermione sounded sceptical, “besides if it was wouldn't he have done more than just let Harry hear him talk about killing someone? More likely it was Malfoy or someone playing a trick, it is possible to project your voice without actually being in the room at the time you know.”

They were prevented from having any further opportunity to discuss the mystery by the arrival of Colin Creevey brandishing his camera in Harry's direction again. “Alright Harry? Do you suppose I could get a proper picture of you with your friends to send home to my Dad and brother? I really want to show them what Hogwarts is like,” his pleading eyes looked up at them eagerly.

“Go on,” Alice whispered as Harry seemed to want to disappear into his cereal once again, “the poor thing's desperate.” Harry seemed on the verge of refusing but then relented and gave an almost indistinguishable nod. It was all the encouragement Colin needed. “Ok say cheese then.” Alice found herself momentarily without sight for several seconds as the blinding flash left an annoying after image clouding her vision. As she blinked rapidly in an attempt to clear it she heard Colin run off crowing jubilantly about his prize.

“I'm never going to hear the end about this now,” a reluctant smile pulled at the corners of Harry's mouth as he rubbed his own eyes.

“Never mind, the day's beginning to look up,” Ron nodded in the direction of the doorway and they all craned to see what had attracted his attention. Skulking around the walls of the room evidently trying not to be noticed and sporting an impressive set of matching black eyes was a familiar blonde irritation. “Harry I think you maybe broke his nose,” Ron didn't look at all sorry at the prospect.

“I'm sure Madam Pomfrey will have fixed it for him. She probably left the bruises to teach him a lesson,” Hermione observed frostily, “serves him right. In justice is all virtues found in sum. Couldn't happen to a nicer person in my opinion.”

Alice and Harry glanced across the table at each other, both trying to decide whether or not they felt guilty at the fact that Harry might actually have broken Malfoy's nose. Hermione's savagely delivered closing statement, so unlike her normally, seemed to decide them both and the Great Hall rang with peels of laughter as the four of them collapsed into irrepressible giggles.

A/N: Well there you go again, hope you like it. Joan of Navarre is an actual historical figure, she was the wife of Henry IV of England, and was imprisoned for four years after being accused of witchcraft and trying to poison Henry V in the fifteenth century. Also, Hermione's quote at the end of the chapter is by Aristotle. On another note the “Quartet” seem to eat a lot - more than in the books anyway - I seem to find myself describing a meal in every second chapter at least… oh well, wouldn't want to be accused of starving them!

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Thunderclouds

Alice felt heart sorry for Harry as she watched his head nodding lower and lower as he fought sleep in Charms the following Thursday. Not only was he being kept up late every night cleaning classrooms and cataloguing books for Professor McGonagall as part of his detention, but he was up at the crack of dawn three mornings a week practicing Quidditch under the watchful eye of Oliver Wood. Since he had seen the vastly superior brooms of the Slytherin team, Wood had become possessed of a manic energy and was driving his own team as hard as he could. Fred and George had commented to her the other day that the only reason they weren't practicing everyday was because McGonagall had forbidden it after getting wind of the team's mutinous mutterings.

As she watched Harry suddenly snorted and jumped awake as Ron's elbow connected sharply with his ribs. “Whazzup?”

“I was saying Mr Potter,” the miniature Charms master repeated patiently over the giggles emanating from Parvati, Lavender and Sally-Anne, “can you tell me the exact wand movement and pronunciation necessary for a successful flame-freezing charm?”

“Err…” Harry struggled to reorient himself and come up with an answer whilst Hermione, rather predictably, shot her hand into the air so fast that Alice felt the breeze as it missed her face with inches to spare.

“No? Perhaps Mr Weasley might help you out then?” he turned to Ron expectantly but the red head was almost as nonplussed as his friend.

“Is it sort of…” he raised his wand to give a vague guess, but almost immediately Flitwick saw his error and rushed to stop him.

“Perhaps not Mr Weasley, we wouldn't want anymore accidents this week would we?” he raised an anxious hand to the point on his head that Ron's wand had connected with the week before, before allowing Hermione to supply him with a word perfect answer.

“It's not my fault the stupid thing broke,” Ron complained for the fortieth time that day as they made their way to Potions after lunch, “it was that stupid tree, why they've got it on the grounds I'll never know. It could take someone's eye out!”

“Yeah because having potentially lethal things on the grounds is so unusual for Hogwarts,” Alice chortled. Their mirth was soon cut off however as Snape swooped into the room and the temperature seemed to drop as rapidly as the noise level. Did he have to work at being menacing, Alice wondered, or did it just come naturally? If he had been a muggle she would have said he had watched one too many Dracula movies as a child, but then it wasn't totally out of the question that he had been raised by vampires in deepest Transylvania either. Her musings were soon interrupted as Snape curtly demanded that they all begin attempting to concoct a Memory Invigoration Tincture.

Five minutes later she and Hermione were busy shredding the Jobberknoll feathers to add to their gently simmering cauldrons and listening to the despairing moans and grunts of concentration rising up from the desks around them.

“I don't care what else we put in this,” Hermione remarked as she measured out a large quantity of Sparkbrandy into a pewter jug, careful to keep her hair well away from the flashes it threw off intermittently. “Put this amount of alcohol into a potion and there is no way anyone would remember anything.”

Alice snorted with mirth, but quickly had to whip her hand out of the way as her knife slipped and she nearly took her finger off.

“Perhaps a little more concentration is required here and a modicum less frivolity,” both girls stiffened as Snape's icy drawl sounded close behind them.

“Sorry Professor,” Hermione flushed and bent over her potion once again as Alice stammered something unintelligible but was evidently intended to be a comment to the same effect.

Despite Snape's best attempts to put them off by then end of the afternoon Hermione and Alice had produced exemplary potions, though Alice felt hers could probably have been a little thicker and the blue hue was not exactly identical to Hermione's. Even Ron and Harry had produced passable efforts regardless of Snape's snide comments about breaking noses and inferior brooms. Neville had somehow managed to melt his cauldron again, but that was becoming an almost weekly occurrence which even he was beginning to accept.

As Alice was packing away her books and equipment the strap on her bag snapped unexpectedly causing everything to go rolling around on the floor under her desk. Once she had located all her belongings and finally managed to retrieve a wayward piece of parchment she stood up to see that the room was virtually empty.

“Where did Ron go?” she asked Harry and Hermione who were waiting patiently for her.

“He was hungry,” her friend offered by way of explanation.

“Oh right, come on then, we better get a move on if we want him to leave anything for us. He'd eat the whole kitchens if he could.” They began to move towards the dungeon door following the last few stragglers into the dank and chilly passageway, but just as they reached it Harry paused for a moment as though searching in his pockets for something and then, without any evidence of having found what he was looking for continued after them.

“What was that all about?” Hermione asked in bewilderment.

Harry's face twitched in amusement, but it was soon replaced by his own expression of curiosity. “Didn't you see Malfoy?”

“No.”

“Why,” Alice tucked her plaits over her shoulders in a businesslike manner - a habit she had picked up whenever there was a mystery afoot which needed solving, “what was he doing?”

“Hanging about, I think he was waiting to talk to Snape, he looked really shifty. What do you suppose he was up to?”

“Oh,” disappointment was evident in Hermione's voice, “is that all? He probably just wanted Snape to give him extra points for tying his shoelaces by himself this morning or something.”

Alice grinned at the thought, “probably. I wouldn't worry about it Harry; it's Malfoy, he's always up to something.”

“Hmm,” he continued to look unconvinced as they made their way to dinner.

Compared to the first two weeks of term life began to progress relatively uneventfully with the biggest upset to normality being the occasion of Hermione's birthday the following Saturday. Alice threw her a little party in a corner of the common room and managed to talk Fred and George into procuring some food from the kitchens for her. She managed to create a little banner which she hung around the rim of the table she had commandeered which was intended to wish her a happy birthday but from the front just ended up reading appy Birt, a fact which the twins wasted no time in pointing out. In terms of classes she came to dread Defence Against the Dark Arts almost as much as Potions, it seemed they were as fated to have a useless teacher for the first subject as they were a cruel and vindictive one for the second. Unfortunately it was the one thing she couldn't talk to Hermione about as she still seemed besotted with the posturing moron and blind to any faults he may demonstrate, which he did, frequently.

“Oh for goodness sake,” Alice threw down her quill in frustration and disgust one particularly stormy night in early October, “I've had just about enough of this, it's ridiculous.” She glared at her copy of Break with a Banshee - from which she was meant to write a list of the twenty personality traits possessed by its self-absorbed author which had allowed him to successfully banish a coven of Banshee's in Ireland - and resisted the temptation to just chuck it in the fire.

“What's wrong?” Hermione looked up in consternation from her own homework.

“This is such a waste of time,” Alice fumed, “what is this meant to be teaching us? The only things I've learnt in Defence Against the Dark Arts this term is that Lockhart has the brains of a Puffskein and there is no way he can have done any of the things he claims in his stupid books,” she pushed it sharply away from her across the desk to emphasise her point. Looking up she saw Harry and Ron staring at her round-eyed - irate outbursts were much more Hermione's domain than hers - and with increasing amusement.

Hermione however immediately went on the defensive. “Alice you can't talk about a teacher like that,” she chastised, “besides doing this shows us the struggles you have to go through and strength of character you need to face dangerous creatures like this. Besides,” she continued ignoring Ron's sceptical cough, “why on earth would he have written all of this if it wasn't true? Someone would have found him out by now if it wasn't.”

“Because he's a pretentious git that's why,” Ron's quiet aside was apparently not meant for Hermione's ears but she heard all the same and flared up again.

“Ron! Mind your language! Maybe he is a little flamboyant, but after all the amazing things he's done I should think he's allowed to be.”

Alice let out a strangled groan; it was late and she was tired and her hand had cramped up from writing so much, none of which put her in a very good mood. “You only defend him so much because you think he's good looking, you're just…” she stopped realising she had gone too far.

Hermione's eyes sparked dangerously and the blood drained slowly from her cheeks; it was the most menacing Alice had ever seen her. “I'm what? Stupid? Childish? Shallow? What am I Alice? I suppose you two think the same do you?” she turned on the dumbfounded boys and without waiting for a response hissed, “never mind, I don't care.” Drawing herself up proudly she gathered her books and parchment from the table in one swift scoop and, without acknowledging Alice's desperate and tearful appeals to stay and let her apologise, stormed from the common room.

“Hermione,” she whispered staring wretchedly after her. What had possessed her to open her mouth, the one time she had ever said exactly what she thought without considering the consequences and she said it to the best friend she had ever had. She turned back to the table and buried her head in her arms.

“Alice,” Harry sounded concerned as he pulled gently on her elbow trying to get a better look at her face, “Alice, it's ok, don't cry,” he gave up and resorted to patting her tentatively on the shoulder.

“Don't be nice to me, I'm a terrible person.” Her words escaped in hiccupping sobs.

“No you're not, don't be daft. Hermione and I have had heaps of barnies but that doesn't make me a terrible person.”

“Well…” she could hear the humour in Harry's voice followed by the thud as Ron hit him on the arm.

“Just give Hermione time to cool off, she'll come round eventually,” Harry gave her a comforting smile as she eventually deigned to look up at them from behind her fringe.

“It's not like you said anything about her, and you're right Lockhart is an idiot; I don't get why she can't see that.” To Ron the inner workings of the female mind would forever be a mystery, especially ones that cried and shouted.

“I still shouldn't've… I'll maybe go up and apologise just now,” she rose to her feet taking deep calming breaths and attempting to wipe the tears from her face, which was pointless really as doubtless it was probably all red and puffy anyway. Combined with her hair she probably looked like a giant cranberry.

“Rather you than me,” Ron winced in sympathy.

“Good luck then, and if you want I'll talk to her for you.”

Creeping up the dormitory stairs she inched open the door and cautiously peered into the room; to her horror all the other Gryffindor girls were sitting on Parvati's bed pouring over a copy of Witch Weekly and casting curious glances at the far end of the room every so often. Following their gazes she saw that the curtains surrounding Hermione's bed had been wrenched savagely shut, so much so that a section had come loose from one of the rings that supported it and sagged lifelessly in the middle. These signs did nothing to ease the trepidation Alice felt as she gingerly crossed the room.

“Hermione?” Silence. The occasional sniff was the only indication that her friend was even behind the curtains at all. “Hermione, are you awake?”

“I think she wants to be left alone.” Alice looked back at Lavender in annoyance, she looked far too pleased about the situation and thrived on drama of any sort. Her wide honey coloured eyes were alight with anticipation as she waited to see what would unfold between the two more socially awkward Gryffindors.

With a sigh Alice turned away from her again. “Hermione?” she repeated.

“I'm sleeping,” the voice that eventually answered her was terse and muffled and clearly wanted to be left alone. With resignation Alice turned away, much to Lavender's evident disappointment, and began to get ready for bed. Once tucked securely under the sheets she pulled the curtains tight, catching Lavender staring inquisitively at her once more as she did so, and pressed her head as far into the pillow as she could in an attempt to try and squash all thoughts of the argument - and her growing headache - out.

The next morning as she eased into wakefulness there was still a dull throbbing behind her eyes, she really would have to go and see if Madam Pomfrey could give her something for it. After a moment of lying as still as she possibly could and waiting to see if it would go away she gave it up as a lost cause and sat up slowly so as not to aggravate the tiny gnomes with hammers that had clearly taken up residence inside her skull. Her initial response to pulling open the curtains was to squint and recoil from the sudden influx of light, but almost immediately her eyes flicked across to Hermione's bed again. It was empty. The bed was neatly made and the hangings had been carefully repaired, but there was no sign of the occupant. Come to think of it she seemed to be the only one in the room at all.

Glancing over at the alarm clock she kept on a stand next to her bed she felt her stomach drop several inches. She had overslept! If she didn't get a move on she wouldn't have time for breakfast before class. Rushing to grab her clothes and get herself ready Alice narrowly avoided flying headlong into her trunk as she caught her foot on the edge of the bed and stumbled halfway across the room. After rushing through her morning wash she threw on her robes and dashed down the spiral staircase still trying to fasten buttons and plait her hair simultaneously as she ran. Nearing the Great Hall she slowed slightly as she began to encounter students who, having already eaten, were making their way back up the stairs. As she entered the Hall at a brisk walk she glanced the length of the table trying to locate her friends, it took only moments as they had evidently finished just that second and were standing up to leave. Going over how she was going to apologise to Hermione in her head she steeled herself and walked towards them.

“Hey Alice,” Harry called catching sight of her, “we were beginning to wonder what had happened to you.” At his words Hermione, who had been laughing at something Ron had said broke off and began to walk towards Alice. With relief Alice opened her mouth to begin her carefully worded apology, but the words died in her throat as Hermione continued marching on past without so much as a glance at her.

“It's alright,” she whispered forlornly as the two boys rushed up to her looking worried, “I'll just give her some more time, we'll sort it out eventually,” she hoped she sounded more convinced than she felt.

“Do you want us to wait while you have something to eat?” Ron perked up visibly at Harry's words and he was so obviously contemplating a second breakfast that Alice couldn't help but give a slight smile.

“No it's ok, thanks though, you should probably go after Hermione. I don't mind.” After reassuring them several times that she was perfectly capable of consuming breakfast on her own and without their assistance they finally followed Hermione out of the Hall leaving Alice to go and sit at a bench by herself. Several minutes later, as she was staring morosely at the piece of toast in her hand, which she really didn't feel like eating, she was aware of two bodies landing on the bench at either side of her.

“Good morning Evans, what has that piece of toast done to deserve such antipathy today?”

“Perhaps it insulted her George?”

“Well we can't have that, it'll have to be punished,” and ignoring Alice's protestations they each took hold of the slice, tore it in half and promptly ate it.

“I was away to eat that!”

“No you weren't,” Fred grinned at her as he continued to chew on her breakfast.

Alice raised an eyebrow with incredulous scepticism, “I wasn't?”

“Nope, you were about to have a fight with it -”

“- about a certain ridiculous teacher I should imagine -”

“- and so we just rescued you from it.”

So they were back to that then. “So you heard about that then?”

“My dear naïve Evans, I think the whole common room heard.”

She didn't really have a response to that so to cover her embarrassment she reached for another slice of toast.

“I wouldn't worry about it,” George continued bracingly, “Hermione's pride will wear out in the end and she'll see you're right. If she doesn't you can always hang out with us and Lee,” he sat up straighter and slapped himself on the chest, “because we're just fantastic like that.”

“I'm sure,” Alice's response was almost as dry as her toast.

Fred feigned dejection at her comment. “Now you see it's needless comments like that that makes us sad, but then that also means,” he suddenly brightened comically, “that we need to cheer ourselves up -”

“-and the only way to do that…”

“Well we wouldn't really want to spoil the surprise for you Evans, but this one's going to be great.”

“The best in fact,” George asserted.

“Better than that one in first year with Sprout, the fourth years and the greenhouse full of hair-raising crocuses?”

“Well,” they both considered for a moment with looks of such intense concentration on their faces that Alice, who was already considering what possible mayhem could ensue from such a scenario, couldn't help but laugh outright which she suspected had been their intention all along. “Perhaps not quite as good as that one… but close, definitely close.”

“Anyway,” Fred rose as he glanced at his watch, “you'd better get to class young Evans, and if Hermione gives you any trouble we'll have a word with her for you.”

A slight smile crossed her face as she considered the response they would probably receive from her erstwhile best-friend should they even attempt such an undertaking. They wouldn't do it twice that was for sure. “Thanks guys, and thanks… for cheering me up,” she flushed again as she spoke, not quite meeting their eyes as she did so.

“Not a problem midget,” Fred tugged gently on one of her pigtails again with a grin, “run along to class now.”

Realising that she would end up being late if she didn't she gave them a quick wave and dashed off towards the third floor. As it transpired her conversation with the twins at breakfast was no more than a brief respite during a day which continued almost as badly as it had started. In Charms Hermione barely looked at her and sat with an extremely uncomfortable Ron and Harry wedged between the two. Ron had decided that the best approach to the obvious tension in the group was to be as falsely cheery as possible, but after Hermione had thrown him several very pointed looks he quickly shut up and concentrated on his work. Herbology was slightly more difficult for them to try and ignore Hermione's coolness towards Alice as she took herself off to the other side of the greenhouse in an effort to avoid her.

Seeing Harry's obvious distress at having to choose between the two girls Alice had a brain wave. “Here Harry, you boys work here with Neville and Ernie or someone I'll go and find another group.”

“Alice I…” he gazed at her miserably for a moment, “alright,” he sighed before turning away and picking up a trowel from the pile Professor Sprout had left on the bench. Steeling herself Alice, with a last look in Hermione's direction which she didn't see because she was staring determinedly at her potted gurdyroot, moved towards the table around which Parvati, Lavender and Sally-Anne were clustered.

“Do you girls mind if I join you?”

The only saving grace about the whole day was that she had a valid excuse for having to go to bed early that night. Her headache had increased tenfold and her desire to collapse onto her mattress outweighed her need to have her stubborn friend continually rebuff her efforts to apologise. If she was coming down with one of the colds which were sweeping the castle at the moment the best thing would be to sleep it off; the alternative of course was to go and get Pepper-up Potion from Madam Pomfrey, but she never had liked going to get medicine for minor ailments, it smacked too much of asking for help. She supposed that in that respect she was almost as stubborn as Hermione.

Thankfully the next day was a Saturday so whilst Harry was at Quidditch practice all afternoon and Ron pestered Hermione with questions about their Potions assignment, which he should in all likelihood have had completed several days earlier, Alice and Neville decided to pay Hagrid a visit. Within five minutes though she was beginning to regret her decision slightly as he informed her, in a voice far too loud for her slightly fragile state, that she looked a bit peaky and needed to eat some of the rather dubious concoction which he placed in front of them and transpired to be a chicken pie. Or so he claimed, Alice wasn't really hungry enough to risk finding out.

They had barely been in the hut for fifteen minutes however, during which time she had to admit Hagrid's recounting of how he had once terrified the life out of a muggle policeman by doing no more than walking along the street had cheered her up, when it began to pelt with rain. On any normal day she wouldn't have minded this as she enjoyed Hagrid's company and would have gladly stayed listening to his stories well into the evening if she hadn't still been feeling unwell. It was also good seeing Neville's face light up when he engaged him in conversation about the plants in his garden, the alternative though was to risk a soaking as they made the dash through the rain back to the castle. But she wasn't in the mood to do that either. Time eventually made the decision for her however as the darkening sky meant that the second years had no choice but to bid Hagrid a hasty farewell before scurrying back across the grounds towards Hogwarts and a more edible supper than the one their giant friend had been all too willing to provide.

By the time they arrived in the Entrance Hall they were both soaked through and shivering. “That was f-f-un,” Neville tried to laugh around his chattering teeth, “don't you think? Alice? Alice are you alright?” he grabbed hold of her arm as she moved unsteadily on her feet.

“I'm fine,” she dried her robes with a flick of her wand and pulled them slightly tighter in an effort to cast out the chill that had entered her bones, “just got a sore head. I'll be fine once I have something to eat.” She suspected it was probably a lie but she wasn't about to make a song and dance about having the cold. At the Home, unless you were really ill you just sucked it up and got on with it and she could do the same now. As they sat down at the Gryffindor table, after waving at Ron and Harry several seats away and receiving no response from Hermione, she realised that she had as little appetite for the usual sumptuous Hogwarts spread as she had had for Hagrid's offerings. “Actually Neville, I think I might just go to bed, I'm a bit tired. Do you mind?”

“Of course not,” he looked concerned, “are you sure you're alright though? Hagrid was right you do look a bit pale.”

“How can you tell?” she joked feebly brushing a hand against her perpetually bloodless cheeks as she left the room. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt this rotten though and as she struggled up the last flight of stairs to the common room she fervently wished that the Founders had had the sense to put the Gryffindor dormitories on the first floor rather than the seventh. Collapsing into bed with a groan she was asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

She awoke with a start to find the room blanketed in darkness, the silence broken only by the steady thrum of breath from the other girls and the relentless drumming which started up in her head again the minute she resumed consciousness. Only now the drummer had gone out canvassing and gotten all his friends to join him so that it felt as though she had a marching band parading around inside her skull. Add to that the fact that judging by her aching throat and rocketing temperature someone had clearly set her lungs on fire and she just felt generally terrible. After several minutes of hazy indecision she eventually managed to wrench herself upright and fumbled around in the pitch black for several moments attempting to locate her wand and dressing gown. Locating both she tucked one into the pocket of the other, eased into her slippers and stumbled towards the door, for once heedless of the noise she might make. If she had been in a healthier state of mind she would have remarked on the oddness of wandering the corridors at night and completely alone, it was one thing to do it with the others but when you were on your own every shadow loomed slightly larger and seemed to reach out towards her with grasping fingers as though they would swallow her up entirely; or perhaps that was just delirium setting in.

How she managed to find her way to the Hospital Wing she was never quite sure, clearly her sense of direction was unconnected to the parts of her that were protesting against the virus affecting her system. It took no more than one knock to bring Madam Pomfrey flying to the doors of her rooms, wand in hand and with such a look of concern on her face when she saw Alice standing wretchedly in her pyjamas on the threshold that for the second time that week the little redhead dissolved into inconsolable tears. She was barely aware of the kindly matron leading her gently to a bed on the ward, clucking gently about rest and fetching flu potions, all that she knew was the sense of relief when the liquid she was given slipped coolly through her lips and the instant abating of the pain in her head. Finally free of the pain that had plagued her for days she slipped into an easy and dreamless sleep and the last thing she was aware of was Madam Pomfrey's uncommonly gentle hand resting on her forehead in a rather motherly fashion before she slipped from consciousness.

On awaking the next morning she knew instantly that she felt much better, her throat was still rather hoarse and scratchy and her stomach would rather pretend that it was a bouncy ball than do its job properly but other than that she felt much better. Whatever potion Madam Pomfrey had given her it had entirely cleared her headache and dropped her temperature back to almost normal levels. Opening her eyes she prepared to lever herself up slightly against her pillows but stopped as she caught sight of the unexpected figure standing hesitantly at the end of her bed. She wasn't sure if she was more surprised by the fact that she hadn't expected anyone to be their or if it was that of all people she hadn't expected this one in particular.

“Hermione? What are you doing here?”

A/N: Not really much of a cliffie I know but I had to stop the chapter somewhere or it would have run on for ages. About things in the chapter Pepper-up Potion is mentioned as being able to cure the cold instantly but since Alice had proper flu she would have needed something stronger and, for the purpose of the story, slightly slower in taking effect. Jobberknoll's are birds whose feathers are used in memory potions and mentioned in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Sparkbrandy I just invented because I decided that wizards would probably have a wider range of alcohol than is mentioned - and evidently less qualms about giving it to students, provided they don't drink it of course. Thanks to all who have reviewed so far please continue to do so!

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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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Explosions and Explanations

The mysterious attack on Halloween was the talk of the school for the rest of the weekend, everyone was speculating with morbid interest, and not a little fear, as to what exactly had happened. However come Monday morning there was something else to occupy their thoughts.

“Who do you reckon she is then?” sitting up straighter in his seat Ron craned to get a better look at the woman sitting up at the staff tables.

Hermione rolled her eyes. “Well it's obvious isn't it, she must be a replacement teacher for Professor Binns. We need to have someone to teach us History of Magic.”

“Why?” Both Ron and Harry looked at her incredulously.

“I heard,” Lavender Brown leant across the table, delighted as ever to share any gossip she had acquired, “that her name is Professor Kreevain; apparently she's written some book or other.”

Suddenly Hermione was much more interested. “Really?” It must have been the first time she had ever really paid attention to what Lavender said. “Gosh, that must be Athena Kreevain; she's quite a famous magical historian. I think she wrote Modern Magical History, A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry, Early Modern Magic: When the World Changed, there was a biography of…” she began to list off every book the woman had ever written as Alice looked up at her with renewed curiosity.

Seated between Professors Flitwick and Lockhart, at first glance she was quite striking being in possession of a profusion of tumultuous dark curls that seemed to determined to grow more horizontally than vertically downwards. Dark blue robes emphasised skin that was so luminescent she seemed almost ethereal, whilst steady grey eyes resting on high cheek bones fixed on Professor Flitwick's face as she spoke earnestly to him. As Alice watched Professor Lockhart - who much to Harry and Ron's disappointment had finally succeeded in removing the blue colouring from his hair - attempted to engage her in conversation, most likely about himself, but she simply gave him a curt response before turning back to her tiny neighbour.

“… Wow, we must be so privileged getting her as a teacher, she's very well respected.”

“Don't start that again,” Ron sounded aggrieved, “haven't we learnt anything this term about having author's as teachers?”

Hermione flushed and concentrated on her cereal. Despite this, by the time History of Magic came around that week Hermione was almost beside herself with excitement, she'd even drawn up a list of all the questions that she wanted to ask the professor about things she'd mentioned in her books. Alice had to admit that she herself was also looking forward to the lesson, partly because it would be a nice change to have someone teach the subject that had more inspirational potential than a piece of chewing gum, and partly because from the little she had seen of Athena Kreevain she was very intrigued by her.

As they sat at their desks waiting for her to arrive after lunch, Harry brought up something that he had been trying to convince the others of since the attacks on Halloween. “I'm telling you I think Malfoy had something to do with it. I mean look at the evidence: he made that hint about something happening to us and you saw how he was, he was practically skipping, and why was he on the fourth floor in the first place? The Slytherin common room is down in the dungeons isn't it, so why did he go so far out of his way? Then there's the fact that he stayed late in Potions weeks ago to talk to Snape, something fishy was definitely going on there.”

As ever Hermione looked slightly sceptical. “I know and when you say it all like that it does sound bad, but - I mean come on it's Malfoy! He might be a repellent little slug but do you really think he could be the Heir of Slytherin? Ok don't answer that,” she rushed on just as he was about to. “Look at last year, when something was going on we thought we knew who was behind it all and in the end, even though the evidence we had suggested we were right, we ended up being totally wrong. What if that's the case again here?”

Alice had to admit that she had a point. Much as she disliked the arrogant Slytherin it was a bit of a leap from that to believing him capable of setting monsters loose in the school and attacking teachers.

“Still Harry has a point -” Ron didn't get time to voice his view however, because at that moment Professor Kreevain swept into the room, her arms full of books, and turned in a swirl of midnight robes to face them all with a hint of a smile tugging at her lips.

“Good morning class.” Alice had to quash the urge to chant back a reply like a primary school child. “Welcome to my History of Magic class, my name is Professor Kreevain and I am going to be taking over here until Professor Binns is able to resume teaching.” Her voice was rather low for a woman, and although serious there seemed to be a certain quality to it which suggested that she could be a lot of fun if she chose to be. “Now,” she became businesslike as she divested herself of her load and sat on the edge of her desk. “I understand you were studying international wizarding politics in medieval times. Can anyone tell me where you got to with Professor Binns?” She looked at them all expectantly with her level grey eyes as Hermione's hand predictably was the first into the air. For everyone else however the subject matter seemed to come as something of a surprise and Alice wondered if anything that was said in the room was picked up by anyone other than herself and Hermione. Probably not. Her hand twitched slightly as she considered raising it to venture an answer but the habits of a lifetime, and an inability to overcome her shyness however hard she tried, kept it firmly attached to the desk. The motion however did not go unnoticed.

“Yes?” The teacher looked at her with interest. “What's your name?”

“Alice.” The word came out at a much higher pitch than she had intended and she heard several sniggers coming from the back of the room, undoubtedly Lavender and Sally-Anne.

“Nice to meet you Alice,” the professor seemed to have picked up on her nervousness and gave her an encouraging smile, “so what have you been doing in class?”

“Well last week we covered the Medieval Assembly of European Wizards,” Alice noted the Professor's eyes flick quickly to and from Ron's face as he murmured quietly in surprise at this news, “and this week it was going to be the International Warlock Convention of 1289.”

“Alright, thank you Alice, that seems a good place to start from. Can anybody else -” The professor paused as the most exercised arm in the classroom once again rocketed into the air. “Yes Miss…” she quickly scanned her class list, “- Granger, is there something you would like to ask?”

“Professor I was wondering if you could tell us about the Chamber of Secrets?”

In the split second of silence after Hermione asked such a loaded question Alice was convinced a herd of charging Hippogriffs could have rampaged across the classroom and no one would have batted an eyelid. The tension was broken by Seamus Finnegan at the back of the class calling out, “yeah go on Miss!” followed by half the class adding their assent.

“Alright!” Professor Kreevain raised a hand to demand quiet and as she did so Alice noted the many ink splodges on her otherwise porcelain skin - clearly she wrote a lot - “Alright, I'll tell you, but first you need to all settle down.” Alice didn't think she had ever heard the class shut up as quickly.

“Well, far be it from me to curb such enthusiasm for learning, let me see… where to begin.” The ghost of a smile seemed to be tugging at her lips. “Well Hogwarts was founded, as you know, during the tenth century and each founder created a House which would contain students with attributes which they thought most befitting a wizard. This eventually brought them into conflict and I'm sure you all know that this was none more serious than between Gryffindor and Slytherin. It is said that after a fierce argument between them Slytherin left the school never to return, but he had planned for this eventuality by building a secret room known only as the Chamber of Secrets containing a foul monster which would complete his work to rid the school of muggle-borns. What exactly it may be is a mystery and no one has ever been able to find any solid evidence of the Chamber's existence although many have tried.”

“Are you saying it's made up then?” Dean Thomas piped up sounding faintly disappointed at the prospect.

Professor Kreevain grinned at them all with impish delight. “On the contrary, it just means we have to look harder. All the best legends are based on at least a kernel of truth it's just a matter of extracting that truth from the wider myth that has grown up around it. The legend of the Chamber also continues that only the heir of Salazar Slytherin has the power to open the Chamber and control the beast within.”

The class gazed at their new teacher in rapt silence for a few moments, History of Magic had never been so interesting, until Alice timidly raised her hand again. “Are their any known heirs of Slytherin living at the moment?”

Those keen grey eyes assessed her as the Professor seemed to come up with the best way to answer her question. “People have always claimed to be descended from the great wizards and witches of the ages, none more so than the Founders. If a family is well established and wealthy this is usually quite easy to prove as they tend to keep records. Not everyone can afford that and that's when it becomes harder, there have been several purported heirs over the years but the family lineage became lost several centuries ago so it would be very difficult to prove irrefutably.”

“Unless of course they could open the Chamber,” Hermione interjected.

“That's very true Miss Granger,” the teacher smiled at them both. “Now if anyone still has any questions or concerns about the issue you are of course more than welcome to come and discuss them with me after class but for now I suggest we return to the International Warlock Convention,” she had raise her voice above the collective groan resulting from the end of her statement. “Believe me it wasn't nearly as boring as it sounds. Did any of you know that a wizards' duel broke in the middle of the convention?”

Alice and Hermione had both known this obviously but judging from the sudden hush in the room no one else had. Perhaps History of Magic could become a good class after all.

“I love her!” Hermione announced later that evening. “She makes the whole subject come alive, Binns managed to make even the most interesting bits sound tediously dull. I wish she could stay forever!”

“Don't say that,” Alice frowned slightly although she too had been inspired by the class, “that would mean none of the Petrified people would be cured.”

“Oh.” Hermione seemed slightly crestfallen at this, but rapidly recovered her spirits. “Do you think they would still keep her on anyway?”

“Doubt it,” Harry chipped in glumly as he stretched out on the carpet staring at the mountain of homework he had constructed in front of himself. “I mean Binns is dead so even if Dumbledore fired him I reckon he would still float through that blackboard everyday and drone over his replacement.” He grinned lopsidedly as Alice and Hermione giggled at the thought.

“What do you reckon about what she said about the Chamber though?” Ron was determinedly ignoring his own pile of work since there were more interesting things to discuss. “I mean she didn't exactly tell us anything that Alice didn't read in Hogwarts a History but I mean at least she seemed to think it exists.”

“And at least she seems willing to answer our questions unlike the other teachers. Professor Sprout nearly had a fit the other day when someone mentioned it.”

“And besides,” Hermione, as usual, seemed deep in thought, “she did tell us something new. She mentioned that it was some sort of creature in the Chamber. The book only said it was an unnamed terror.”

“And that we're still no nearer to finding out who this heir actually is.”

“Hello Mr Optimistic,” Alice prodded Harry gently in the ribs with her foot. “We'll work it out we just need to brainstorm a bit.

“I still reckon that it's Malfoy,” Ron seemed determined to blame him.

“So you've said,” as usual Hermione's response to one of Ron's ideas was rather dismissive, but when she saw he was about to argue with her she, rather surprisingly, seemed to back down from a potential fight. “I don't think we should rule it out, just look at other options as well.”

Ron seemed slightly mollified by this.

“Even if it's nothing to do with the Chamber,” Harry's tone denoted that he highly doubted this, “I reckon he's still up to something.”

They didn't have long to wait to find out. Two days later he spent the whole afternoon gleefully glancing at them over the tops of many colourfully bubbling cauldrons in the potions dungeon. They all spotted it, partly because his whisperings and decidedly indiscreet nudges to Crabbe and Goyle were hard to miss and partly because they were always on the alert for any Slytherin activity in Snape's class. Ron and Harry's hackles were immediately raised.

“Please let me go and punch that smug grin off his face,” Ron pleaded with Hermione who tutted in irritation.

“Just ignore him Ron; he's not worth the effort. Concentrating on getting this potion right will be much better for you.”

“I dunno, I reckon I'd feel a lot better if I knocked out a few of his teeth.”

Hermione was about to snap back when Harry, who had clocked Snape swooping in their direction, quickly shushed them both. As the teacher bore down on them the five Gryffindors studiously concentrated on the variously complete states of their potions.

“It appears,” Alice really hated that slow, supercilious drawl, “that you five are incapable of working together without gossiping and causing disruption to the rest of the class. And it is clearly affecting the standard of your work,” he cast a disparaging glance in the direction of Ron and Neville's cauldrons where they seemed to be brewing tar, “which is well below the level I would expect.” None of them said a word as the rest of the class gazed on in sympathy or undisguised glee depending on their houses. “To that effect,” Snape continued maliciously, “I think it is maybe about time we split up the golden group don't you? Potter, Longbottom up at the front,” he motioned to an empty table next to Malfoy's - who looked as though Christmas had come early. “Weasley I think we'll have you over by Miss Brown and Patil,” Alice wasn't sure who looked more appalled by this suggestion, Ron or the girls, “and Miss Granger up at the back. Evans… stay where you are.” He glared at them all once to ensure the speed of their removal and then turned on his heel and with what could have been misconstrued as a rather melodramatic swirl of his jet black robes he strode back to his desk.

As silence settled once more in the dungeon Alice snuck a glance or two in the direction of her friends. Hermione seemed mildly disgruntled but was typically more concerned about the consistency of her potion. Ron's face had turned the same colour as his hair and he was trying to ignore Parvati and Lavender as much as was humanly possible - a task made all the more difficult by the fact that he kept clashing elbows with Parvati as there wasn't enough space at the desk. However up at the front of the room trouble seemed to be brewing. Neville looked thoroughly miserable and was hunched over his cauldron as if he were trying to disappear within its depths. Glaring at each other in silent challenge Harry and Malfoy seemed to have much less interest in the class. Rolling her eyes and mentally calling stubborn boys all sorts of names in her head, Alice turned back to her own cauldron just in time to stop it from boiling over.

For the next few minutes she worked diligently to correct any imperfections in the mixture caused by her inattention until her concentration was shattered by an explosive bang from the other side of the classroom. Every pair of eyes in the room focused on the huge plume of violet smoke emitting from Harry's cauldron, or rather where Harry's cauldron had been before it turned into a smoking hole in the centre of the desk. It didn't take a genius to work out what may have happened; one look at Malfoy's smirking face was enough of an answer.

Harry was incensed. “You did that deliberately you little - !”

“Mr Potter! I know you may find this hard to believe but there are people besides you in this class, so if you would kindly lower your voice and clean up this mess. Talented though he is Draco would not know a spell advanced enough to create this. It is merely the stunning result of your arrogance and dimwittedness. ” He indicated the remains of Harry's cauldron and the splinters of wood which littered the floor around Harry's feet, Alice noted that his shoes and the bottom three inches of his robes were smoking gently.

“But sir Malfoy -”

“Thirty points from Gryffindor for your ineptitude Potter and another ten for trying to cast aspersions on someone else.” As Harry opened his mouth again to protest this he cut in. “Any more and I'll make it up to sixty.” Harry's mouth shut with an audible click as his face darkened in suppressed anger and frustration. On the other hand, if she hadn't known it was physically impossible, Alice would have said that Snape looked positively happy.

“Of course it was Malfoy!” Harry snarled ten minutes later as they filed along the corridor after class. “I saw him cast the stupid spell, not that Snape would ever admit that a Slytherin was to blame for anything, it would probably kill him. He just relishes the chance to take points from any of us - forty points! And that blonde git was just getting me back for punching him.”

“Snape was right though.” Hermione's remark made all four of her friends stop and look at her in astonishment as the rest of the class passed by leaving them in an empty corridor.

“I don't think I could have heard you right there Hermione, I could have sworn you just said Snape was right.”

Harry's eyebrows shot up so fast they seemed in danger of knocking off his glasses. “You're not seriously taking Malfoy's side?”

“No, no!” Hermione hurried to explain herself. “I don't doubt for a minute that the little toad did it. What I mean is that Snape was right when he said a second year shouldn't be able to cast spells like that. I mean if he had just blown the cauldron up then the potion would have gone everywhere - including over him - and at most the desk would have been a bit singed. What Malfoy did was much more controlled, I mean I might be able to do it if I really concentrated and practiced but…”

“Malfoy's not nearly as brilliant as you,” Ron supplied helpfully.

“So the question is: how did he manage it?” Harry set back off towards the Gryffindor common room with his friends in tow.

“Maybe he's been harbouring secret powers all this time.”

Alice tried not to grin and failed. “He's not Superman Ron - never mind,” she added when she saw his confusion over her reference.

“Whatever, but if he was the heir -”

“”Don't start that again,” Hermione snapped looking aggrieved.

“Well he could be,” Ron muttered mulishly behind her back.

“Maybe one of the older Slytherins taught him,” as usual Neville's quiet observation gave them food for thought and Harry latched onto the idea with fervour.

“Yeah, or maybe Snape did, I wouldn't put it past him; he'd relish the chance to take points off, especially from me.”

“Maybe he moved you to the front deliberately. And we did spot Malfoy looking sneaky after potions a few months back. It would have probably taken him that long to practice, daft git.” Ron seemed to be relishing the opportunity to insult Malfoy, not that he ever really needed an excuse.

“Probably I -”

“Oi Harry!” The twins bounded up to them with their usual exuberance just as Hermione was about to launch into what was undoubtedly a very technical explanation of spell craft. “What happened to your robes mate?”

“Someone take exception to them?”

“Either that or they were trying to sabotage our star seeker.”

“Ah then never fear ickle ones, Gred and Forge are on the case.” George whipped his wand from his pocket and mimed banishing several imaginary threats. Either that or he was conducting an invisible orchestra, Alice wasn't entirely sure, and she told him so.

“We happen to have many hidden talents which we don't care to share with the public at large.”

“We're very modest that way,” his twin supplied with a wink as Alice snorted in disbelief. “Anyway Harry we were actually on our way to look for you. Wood's just called an extra practice starting in twenty minutes.”

“Apparently winning on Saturday is crucial to the survival of the species.” Despite George's attempt at a joke Harry looked even more thunderous than he had a few moments earlier.

“Well we can't keep our Captain waiting,” he snapped as he stomped off in the direction of the Entrance Hall.

“What's up with him?”

“Malfoy,” Hermione told them by way of explanation as she gazed worriedly at Harry's rapidly retreating back.

Once the twins had departed in the same direction the remaining four continued up to the common room.

A/N: Athena Kreevain's name is from Athena the Greek goddess of wisdom and war and the French word for writer écrivain which I altered very slightly. Also in the section where Athena tells them about the Chamber I figured that if Riddle's family history was generally well known then it would have been much easier to work out who-dunnit.

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Slytherin

Saturday morning arrived all too soon along with Harry's usual pre-match bout of nausea which no amount of cajoling and encouragement from Hermione could overcome.

“I don't blame you mate,” Ron clearly had no such stomach related issues as he piled his plate high with a generous helping of bacon and eggs, “I mean according to Quidditch Weekly the Nimbus 2001 rates top of the field in turning speed and acceleration… Not that any of that will matter with a clumsy twit like Malfoy on it, he probably won't be able to fly in a straight line,” he added hastily.

“You're not helping Ron,” Hermione scowled across the table at him.

“I might just go down to the pitch early and psych myself up a bit,” Harry abruptly left the table.

“Ron!” Hermione's bushy hair was practically quivering in indignation as she rounded on the redhead. “That was just a tad insensitive don't you think? Harry's worried enough about today what with everything that's been going on and all the pressure Wood's been putting on him, he doesn't need reminding that the Slytherins have better brooms.”

“Oh I don't think that'll be a problem,” the airy voice belonged to Ginny Weasley whom Alice was beginning to think was genetically programmed to appear every time Hermione was in a foul mood and Harry was mentioned. “I mean it's not just about the standard of broom you have it's about skill, and Harry is a brilliant flier. He'll be fine. If you knew anything about Quidditch…” Alice wasn't sure if she let the sentence hang as a deliberate slight or because she realised she may have said the wrong thing. She wanted to think it was the latter but she wasn't sure. Whichever it was Hermione's cheeks turned a delicate pink and she concentrated on spreading her toast with a hand that shook slightly.

“I don't know,” Neville leaned over to whisper quietly to Alice, “the rest of the team don't look too happy either,” he nodded discreetly to the other end of the Gryffindor table where six people all dressed in flaming scarlet and gold were morosely chewing food which didn't seem to be disappearing very quickly. Even the twins looked pale faced and tight lipped.

As eleven o'clock neared they all joined the growing stream of students plodding diligently through the fog, which was steadily becoming a thin film of rain, to the Quidditch pitches. As they found seats for themselves Alice couldn't help but be caught up in the excitement brought on by the match. The moment before a match started was always charged, there was the potential for anything to happen, and being a magical sport it usually did.

“Here they come,” Ginny Weasley had managed to follow them to their seats. She was right however as Alice spotted fourteen figures carrying brooms all stride out onto the pitch as the crowd around them erupted. Madame Hooch's whistle gave a short shrill blast and the game was on. Players went shooting in all directions and as Harry corkscrewed skywards with Malfoy hard on his tail they came within earshot of the stands where Alice was sitting with her friends.

“Bought yourself a new pair of shoes yet Potter?” Harry ignored him as he scanned around for the snitch. “Or are you saving up to buy yourself a real broom?”

Rolling her eyes at his childishness Alice concentrated on the game and she too began searching for the elusive speck of gold. As she was doing so she spotted a Bludger pelting towards Harry out of nowhere and had to suppress the cry of warning that sprang to her lips. Just in time she saw one of Ron's brothers streaking to intercept it.

“That was close,” Alice turned to see Ginny whose eyes were alight with excitement as she watched the match with avid attention. As Ginny's eyes flicked towards her momentarily Alice smiled, there was no point being unfriendly after all, and was mildly surprised when she received a grin in return. Clearly Quidditch improved the younger redhead's mood.

Ron's sudden shout drew her attention swiftly back to the game. “Hey, what's going on?”

It didn't take Alice long to spot what the problem was, anyone who concentrated on Harry for longer than three seconds could see that one of the Bludgers had become overly fascinated with him.

“Can he never just play in a normal match,” Hermione groaned as she watched the Weasley twins repeated attempts to divert the rogue cannon ball. Within minutes time-out had been called and the five Gryffindors along with every other person in the stands watched with varying degrees of curiosity and concern as the players sped to ground where a heated debate took place amongst the Gryffindor team.

“Do you think they'll stop the match?” Neville sounded concerned.

“It doesn't look as if they are.” True enough everyone seemed to be getting back on their brooms as Oliver Wood nodded to Madam Hooch to signal that they were ready.

“Are they mad?!” Alice couldn't help but agree with Hermione's incredulous half-whisper. The Bludger had clearly been bewitched in some way and Alice couldn't help but be reminded of last time enchantments had been directed at Harry during a Quidditch match. Quickly she suppressed the worry this thought elicited.

Back up in the air the rest of the team left Harry to deal with the Bludger which he did by ducking and weaving and generally doing everything except look for the Snitch; much to the amusement of the assembled Slytherins. She watched with bated breath as he narrowly avoided being smashed to pieces by the demented Bludger before speeding off in the opposite direction. Then abruptly he turned back and paused.

“What is he doing?” Neville echoed all their thoughts.

WHAM

Alice was nearly defended as twin screams echoed from the girls on either side of her and she winced in sympathy as she saw Harry slip sideways on his broom with his arm held at an unnatural angle. It was clearly broken. Never one to be put off by mere injury to his person though he righted himself almost immediately, swerved to avoid the Bludger a second time, and then propelled himself downwards towards Malfoy who, despite her concern, Alice was rather amused to see suddenly looked as though he was about to wet himself. After that everything happened too fast for Alice to see very clearly, but suddenly she was aware that Harry was grasping for the Snitch before he began plummeting uncontrollably towards the ground. She barely saw him land or the fact that he had passed out as along with Ron, Neville and a very pale Hermione she began pushing her way through the crowd towards the nearest staircase.

As fast as they could the second years charged down the stairs with Hermione in front of her keeping up a constant chant. “Come on, come on, come on!” As their feet hit the ground they began streaking across the pitch towards the spot where the Gryffindor team and several teachers had already gathered. Alice pushed her shorter legs to keep up with her friends and prayed that Harry was alright. Nearing him she heard a groan go up from the assembled group and felt her stomach drop; although that could just have been because at the same moment she caught sight of a familiar blonde perm leaning over him.

“What is it? What's happened? Harry!” Hermione, who was pushing through the crowd in front of her, sounded panicked. “Oh!” She ground to a halt and Alice was forced to peer over her shoulder on tiptoe to see what she was staring at. Catching sight of Harry's arm Alice's stomach gave another unpleasant lurch but this time she had to force down the feeling of nausea as she saw Harry's deflated arm dangle uselessly at his side. There was something unnaturally disquieting about its boneless appearance.

“Mate,” Ron whistled in sympathy.

“Professor,” Hermione sounded almost accusing, “what did you -”

“Ah.” Behind his beaming smile Lockhart's eyes looked slightly horror struck. “That can sometimes happen. But at least it's not broken anymore.” He rolled back his sleeves slightly. “If I just -”

“Professor!” The words were out of Alice's mouth before she could stop them and she felt her face flush a similar colour to Harry's robes as every head in the vicinity swivelled to stare at her. “Maybe we should take him to the Hospital Wing?”

“Ah perhaps… perhaps you may be right Miss… ah… Evans.” He got quickly to his feet brushing away the dirt he had picked up on his robes. “If you would be so kind?”

Hermione needed no other encouragement; within a second she was on the ground beside Harry fussing over him and holding what had been his arm up for inspection. As she continued to chatter at him incessantly Ron and Alice helped him to his feet and supported him as the crowd parted to let them through whilst behind them Neville scooped up Harry's broom and followed.

Standing in the Hospital Wing ten minutes later Alice, Hermione and Neville waited patiently for Ron to help Harry into his pyjamas as they tried to avoid the furious glares of Madame Pomfrey who seemed to hold them somehow responsible for events.

“I mean it was just so irresponsible,” Hermione huffed indignantly, “to perform a spell like that if you can't do it properly.” All traces of her former admiration for Lockhart seemed to have thoroughly vanished now that it had resulted in harm to Harry. Alice watched with amusement tempering her concern as Hermione had to hold in her rant whilst Madame Pomfrey returned to administer the Skele-Gro. “Is it very sore?” She asked once the matron had gone again.

“Not really, it doesn't feel of anything - it's weird.” He plucked impatiently at his arm which was hanging like a deflated balloon on top of the bedcovers.

“Tell you what though,” Ron grinned mischievously, “did you see Malfoy's face when you made that dive? Then when he realised you'd caught the Snitch! Brilliant!”

“It definitely ties with trying to swallow the snitch last year as being one of your better catches,” Alice was pleased to note a weak grin from Harry as she said this.

“Why do you reckon that Bludger went mental though?” Standing clutching Harry's broom at the end of the bed Neville looked worried. “Do you think it was Malfoy, part of his plan?”

“It might have been, after what happened the other day in potions I wouldn't put it past him.”

“Well if it was I bet he's not too pleased about it now. It didn't help him win the match did it?”

Hermione gazed pensively out of the windows which were now being lashed with the rain which had finally broken. “If there was a way we could trick the truth out of him; a spell or a potion perhaps. I'll have a look in the library once -”

“Out of the question!” Madame Pomfrey's voice made them all jump and look around guiltily. The source of her displeasure was not them however, but the crowd of jubilant Gryffindors who were thronging the doorway to the Hospital Wing and seemed to be pleading with her for visitation rights. “No! This patient needs rest; he's had quite enough excitement for one day already. He's got an armful of bones to re-grow and he'll get on much better with that if you leave him in peace.” She rounded on the four of them clustered at Harry's bedside. “And that goes for you lot too. Come on, out.”

As it seemed Hermione was inclined to argue and not wanting to become embroiled in an argument with the matron, who was known to become ferocious where her patients were concerned, Ron and Alice took her by the arms and swiftly escorted her from the room.

“Wouldn't do to upset her,” was Ron's response to her outraged look.

The next morning Hermione was practically tearing her hair out as she waited for Ron to finish his breakfast.

“Oh come on Ron!” The anguish in her tone was almost comical and Alice was sure he was taking an inordinate length of time to eat his second helping of porridge just to wind her up. “There,” Hermione grabbed the spoon from him as he went to scrape his bowl clean, “you've finished. Can we go and see how Harry is now?”

Ron tried to hide his grin and failed. “I suppose. I'm sure he's fine though Hermione.”

“Fine?! How would you like to have to re-grow thirty three bones overnight? I doubt he got a wink of sleep.” And with this pronouncement she turned on her heel and strode off in the direction of the Hospital Wing with Alice and Ron following obediently in her wake; although truth be told they were as anxious to see Harry as she was.

They hadn't gotten far however before the object of their concerns came sprinting along in the opposite direction, his arm clearly hale and healthy and evidently bursting with news. Cutting short Hermione's exclamations of delight at his recovery he pulled them into a corner of the corridor and relayed to them all the events of the previous night.

“Poor Colin,” Alice whispered once he had finished.

“Never mind the photographing freak - well okay he's not a freak and it's a shame,” Ron corrected himself quickly before Alice had a chance to hit him, “- What about the mental house-elf?”

“Yeah it was really weird,” Harry had already told them about Dobby's visit over the summer. “At least we know what happened yesterday though, and why we couldn't get on the train.”

“Yeah, you're collecting nut-job stalkers.” Ron smirked.

It was another part of Harry's tale which Hermione seemed to have latched onto however. “Again? The Chamber's been opened before?” She paused as they all considered the implications of this. “It sounds as though Dumbledore knows who this heir is though, from what you said Harry.”

“But surely if he knew that he could put a stop to it.” Frustration was clear on her friend's face.

“Not necessarily,” Alice reasoned, “or maybe he's biding his time waiting for the heir to lead him to the Chamber or something.”

“Well I think he's waited long enough don't you,” Hermione evidently thought little of that scenario, “I mean two people have been attacked now, well three if you count the cat, and any one of them could have been killed.”

“If it is Malfoy,” Ron began, but paused as the girls groaned in unison. “No hang on, hear me out. If it is Malfoy then his Dad could have opened the Chamber when he was at Hogwarts and now he's told slime-ball junior how to do it… I know, I know we can't really prove it, but I still think it's him.”

“Look,” Harry became businesslike, “what we need is to establish once and for all if Malfoy is the heir of Slytherin, and if he isn't how much he knows about it.”

“Yeah and that's all well and good,” Ron pulled at his hair in annoyance so that it stuck up in a series of flaming peaks and made him look as though his head had caught fire. “But how exactly are we going to do that? We can't just waltz up to him and ask, he'd never tell us anything even slightly helpful.”

“Yeah and I don't suppose he'd wander around with a key in his pocket marked “Chamber of Secrets” either.” Alice gave a slight smile at the thought.

“That's it!” Harry's sudden jubilation caught them all off guard, none more so than Hermione who had been quietly pondering the possibilities and jumped in surprise at his raised voice. “Alice you're brilliant.”

“I am?” She was dumbfounded.

“Yes, Malfoy is bound to have some way of getting in and out of the Chamber -”

“If he's the heir.”

Harry waved a hand dismissively, too caught up in the brilliance of his plan to stop for such trivial details. “- something like a key, and he would probably keep it in his room wouldn't he? So all we need to do is sneak into the Slytherin dormitories and find it!”

His three friends stood and stared at him for several seconds, Hermione's mouth opening and closing again several times as she searched for something to say but couldn't. None of them could find any real flaw in what he was suggesting. Finally Hermione, as she was apt to do, broke the silence.

“And if you don't find anything?”

“Well then at least we'll have looked, I know you can't prove he's innocent this way but…”

Alice had more than a sneaking suspicion that this didn't bother him too much.

“So we use the cloak?”

“Yeah, I reckon we can't all go if we want to be quiet though not if -”

“It'll need a lot of planning though,” Hermione had jumped into plotting mode. “We need to find out where the Slytherin common room is for a start and then we'll need to know what the password is. This all has to be thought through properly.” She began to walk along the corridor continuing to reel off a list of the factors they would need to consider.

“If we're going to be plotting,” Ron whispered to Harry and Alice as they all made to follow her, “can I go back for some more breakfast?”

They spent the entire day sitting in the common room debating the best way to carry out Harry's plan and occasionally picking up snippets of rumour about Colin's attack as the news filtered through the school.

“Normally I'd say we should leave it to the Christmas holidays when the dormitories will be almost empty, but if the monster could attack again at any moment I don't reckon we should wait that long do you?” Hermione had taken charge again.

“So how do we make sure that we won't be tripping over Slytherins left right and centre then?”

Suddenly Alice had a brain wave. “I think what we need is a diversion.” She nodded discreetly in the direction of the Weasley twins who were over by the fire surrounded by a small crowd and clearly doing an impression of the monster.

“What get them to set off a trick or something?”

“Yeah,” Alice warmed to her idea as she spoke, “get them to set it off in the Great Hall at dinner or something. Whilst everyone is preoccupied with that we can sneak into the Slytherin common room and have a look about.”

“Well we need to find out where the common room is first; as soon as possible really.”

“Well,” Harry sprang up from his seat with renewed excitement, “there's no time like the present.” And with that he disappeared up the spiral staircase to his room.

Half an hour later Alice was beginning to suspect that their plan wasn't as well thought out as they had believed it to be. She and Harry were crouched under the Invisibility Cloak behind one of the statues in the Entrance Hall waiting for any Slytherins to come out after dinner. The problem was, Alice's legs were beginning to stiffen up and she was getting pins and needles in her feet. Glancing across at Ron and Hermione, who were sitting in plain view on the staircase and acting as lookout, she hoped that dinner wouldn't be much longer.

Thankfully she didn't have long to wait as within minutes a band of Slytherins exited the Hall and began to make their way towards the dungeons.

“Come on,” Harry hissed grabbing her hand.

With only two of them under the cloak it was much easier to creep about the castle unnoticed, especially since neither of them was very tall. It also helped that the Slytherins they were following were making enough noise to wake the dead. As they descended a flight of stairs into the dungeons their raucous laughter echoed disturbingly around the dank and gloomy corridor sending a chill along Alice's spine. As they shuffled slowly after the group Alice promised herself that she would never complain about how many stairs they had to take to get to the Gryffindor common room ever again, anything was better than having to go through the dungeons.

It seemed they had been walking forever and she was just beginning to wonder if they were even going towards the common room when suddenly the group in front stopped abruptly in the middle of the corridor and she had to grab Harry's arm to stop him walking straight into the back of a particularly menacing looking fifth year. There seemed to be nothing remarkable about the area to suggest that it might be the entrance to anything but nevertheless she strained to hear anything that might be a password and judging by the intense concentration on Harry's face he was doing the same. Unfortunately the Slytherins were still making too much noise for anything important to be discernible, but someone must have uttered something because suddenly what had previously appeared to be no more than a particularly damp patch of wall became the outline of a stone doorway. As they watched this slid back and the Slytherins piled through into the darkness beyond and the corridor was plunged into silence as it closed again with a dull thud.

“We'll need to wait here,” Harry whispered in her ear, “until someone else comes along and uses the password. Then we can get back to the others.”

A good ten minutes passed during which nothing notable occurred other than the fact that Alice got steadily colder and her teeth began chattering slightly.

“Shh.”

She raised a sceptical eyebrow at Harry's request. “I can't help it I'm freezing!”

“I know, I'm sorry, but someone is going to hear you.”

Alice rolled her eyes and tried to clamp her jaw more firmly shut to prevent its traitorous tendencies. Just when she was beginning to get cramp in her cheeks from trying so hard she found their efforts rewarded when none other than Pansy Parkinson rounded the corner and stopped in front of the entrance.

“Pureblood.” She said it with such self righteous authority that Alice was torn between her sudden excitement that they had succeeded in getting the password and the desire to slap her smug Slytherin face.

Once the doorway had resealed itself Harry didn't waste an instant. “Come on let's get out of here.”

Alice had no qualms in obeying.

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On Breaking Half a Dozen School Rules

“Their password is what?!” Hermione was outraged. “How can they possibly get away with that? I thought the teachers set the passwords? How can Dumbledore allow that?”

“So much for his precious school unity,” Ron agreed in disgust.

“At least it's one they'll all remember I suppose,” Alice's joke sounded feeble even to her own ears.

Harry however was all business. “So anyway, now that we know how to get in, how are we going to do this? I reckon just one or two of us should go in, that way we're less likely to be caught and we'll have more mobility.”

“So who's going in then?”

“Well…” Harry looked at each of his friends in turn. “I'll go.” It wasn't a question, merely a simple statement of fact.

“Then I'm going with you,” Hermione flushed but stuck out her chin stubbornly when he looked up at her sharply. “Someone needs to make sure you keep yourself out of trouble.”

“Then I suppose I better make sure this one doesn't blow himself up with that thing,” Alice nodded towards Ron's broken wand which had been emitting a grating, high-pitched whine all evening. “We'll keep watch.”

“How?”

“I'm sure there must be a secret passage or something nearby that we can hide in. We can ask the twins when we talk to them about the diversion. I'm sure they'll know.”

“Ok,” Harry grinned excitedly, “that's that settled then.” Alice grinned back at him.

“You know,” Ron observed, “you two look freakishly similar when you do that… or just freakish really - ouch!” He raised his arms to shield himself from the cushions they both threw at him.

It was a few days before any of them managed to catch the twins without anyone else around so that they could broach the subject of creating a diversion. However as they were leaving their Charms classroom the following Thursday and suffering yet another of Ron's enthusiastic musings about what would be for lunch Hermione spotted them.

“Look! Wasn't that the twins?”

“Where?”

“Over there disappearing behind that statue of the humpbacked witch.”

“Probably… Oi Fred, George!” Alice flushed as the pupils closest to her turned to stare. Her efforts were rewarded however when first one and then a second red head popped out from behind the statue and searched guiltily around the corridor for whomever had shouted.

“What are you two doing round here?” Hermione cast a curious eye over the statue once they had approached them.

“Well Hermione dearest, that would be telling,” Alice noted their guilty looks had disappeared almost as quickly as the sack Fred was now concealing under his robes. Her curiosity piqued she attempted to surreptitiously spot any other evidence of their misdeeds, but without success.

“And you know, curiosity killed the cat,” Fred quoted with an innocent expression as he spotted what she was doing.

“And we wouldn't want to be accused of cruelty to animals.”

“Yes but satisfaction brought it back,” Alice smiled sweetly as Fred threw her a dirty look.

“Shut it midget,” George stuck out his tongue at her as Harry and Ron tried to conceal their grins. “So what do you lot want anyway?”

“Well we have a small favour that needs doing,” Harry began, “which we thought would be right up your street.” As Harry began explaining what he wanted them to do Alice watched as identical toothy grins spread across two faces which were alike down to the last freckle. The mischievous glint in George's eye and the slight upward twitch of Fred's mouth told her they were sold on the idea the minute they heard it, but being the consummate professionals they pretended to stall.

“So what are you four going to be doing whilst we're creating madness and mayhem?”

“Which of course we will do brilliantly.”

Harry gazed levelly at them for a moment as though considering how much to tell them; he looked so serious in comparison to the twins' gleeful faces that it was almost comical.

“We've got a little business related to Malfoy which needs taking care of. Hopefully you'll keep everyone in the Great Hall, including him, distracted enough so we can do it.”

“Malfoy you say? I don't know, what do you think Fred?” He turned to his brother as Ron rolled his eyes impatiently at their antics. Alice had to suppress another grin.

“Well it sounds risky George. We might get caught after all.”

“Count us in,” they laughed in unison.

For the next few days the four of them remained on tenterhooks as they waited for Fred and George to ready their side of the plan. They talked of little else but the Chamber, the identity of the heir (over which they were still split) and what exactly they were going to do once they were inside the Slytherin common room. Then exactly a week after their conversation in the Charms corridor the twins stopped them after breakfast to tell them everything was in place.

“We thought we'd make dinner interesting tonight.” George feigned nonchalance as he and Fred walked past them with a wink.

“For goodness sake,” Hermione tutted loudly once they'd gone. “They make everything so cloak and dagger; you'd think we were in a spy movie. They're not James Bond.” Harry and Alice laughed as Ron looked confused.

That night at dinner Harry could barely contain himself, the excitement seemed to shine out of him to such a degree that Alice began to worry that anyone taking any notice of them would be bound to know what they were planning. Ron was rather geared up about the whole plan too, but not to such an extent that it put him off his food, Alice didn't think anything could do that as she watched him scooping potatoes from his plate. On the other hand Hermione kept checking her watch nervously and glancing along the table to where Fred and George were sitting laughing and joking with their friends and looking as though nothing untoward was about to happen. How deceiving looks could be.

Just as the first course was getting well under way there was a deafening bang from behind the teachers table as a shower of purple and gold sparks seemed to rain down from the enchanted ceiling and stopped momentarily ten feet from the ground before vanishing as quickly as they had appeared. Half the room jumped and several girls, Lavender and her friends amongst them squealed in fright as every eye snapped to the commotion. As several more explosions followed in quick succession Alice and her friends took the opportunity to slip quietly unnoticed from the Great Hall - having taken care to sit as near to the doorway as possible - before anyone noticed they were gone. With a final glance back Alice witnessed a spectacular shower of silver sparks that somehow seemed to curl themselves into a waterfall and she had to tear her eyes away before she became too distracted herself. Really it was impressive what Fred and George could do when they put their minds to it. Not that she would mention that to them.

“Hurry up Alice,” Hermione hissed as they darted across the Entrance Hall.

“I'm coming!” They sped down into the dungeons conscious of the fact that they wouldn't have very long before the diversion ended and people began returning to their common room. Once they had located the correct damp patch - and being in the dungeon corridors this was no small feat - Harry pulled the Invisibility Cloak out from under his own robes and wrapped it around Hermione and his' shoulders. It had been decided that the two of them were to try and hunt for clues in Malfoy's possessions whilst Ron and Alice would wait outside to make sure he didn't come back, and to detain him if he did.

“Maybe,” Harry cast a wary eye over Ron as he and Alice took out their wands, “maybe you should leave the spells to Alice… just in case…”

Looking with frustrated resignation between his battered wand and Harry's disembodied head Ron grumbled what could only have been an acquiescence and gingerly returned it to his pocket.

“Good luck,” Alice whispered as her friends disappeared completely and she put a comforting arm around Ron to steer him quickly in the direction of a conveniently placed portrait - one of the few in these gloomy passages - which the twins had helpfully informed them concealed a small alcove. As she pushed the painting aside, ignoring its gently snoring occupant, and climbed into the tight space behind, she heard the grinding of the stone doorway and the sounds of gently receding footsteps. Once Ron had squeezed in after her they took up position looking through the gaps between either side of the portrait and the wall and settled down to wait.

It wasn't more than a few minutes though before Ron began complaining. “Why is everything down here so cold and damp? My knees are soaked through!”

“Because we're practically at the level of the lake down here, now shush,” she hissed back.

Several more minutes passed during which Alice remained alert for the slightest sound that would indicate either the return of her friends or someone altogether more unwelcome. Whenever a torch popped loudly as it burned or distant shout echoed along the corridor her heart jumped into her throat; it felt like an age since Harry and Hermione had disappeared.

“I don't think I can feel my legs anymore, it's so cramped in here.”

“If you can't feel your legs then at least they won't feel cold anymore,” Alice deadpanned trying hard not to smile.

“That's not funn-” He grabbed her arm as she twisted round to look at him. “Someone's coming!”

The two of them held their breath as they listened to the reverberating echoes of a single set of footsteps rapidly approaching their hiding place. Alice couldn't see the figure round the corner as she was facing the wrong direction, but she was close enough to hear Ron's worded exhalation.

“Malfoy!”

Within a second Alice had her eye glued to the gap in front of her waiting for interminable seconds for the Slytherin to pass the portrait and move towards the common room entrance. Eventually he came into view and she wasted no time in taking her chance the minute he paused.

“Petrificus Totalus,” she breathed.

With a rush of air Malfoy was lifted from his feet and his frozen form crashed sideways into the wall before bouncing rather comically off and crashing to floor with an audible thud. Alice blinked in astonishment.

“I think you maybe overdid it a bit.” Ron, who had twisted round to peer over her shoulder, was gawking with far too much amusement at the now clearly unconscious Malfoy.

“Woops,” she looked down at her wand accusingly.

“He's going to be really annoyed when he wakes up. Pity we can't stay around to watch.”

“Well hopefully he won't wake up before Harry and Hermione get back. How long will this take anyway? They've been in there for ages.”

As if on cue the door to the Slytherin common room ground open again filling the corridor with the sound of running feet and flapping robes.

“Come on, quick!” Harry's disembodied voice sounded thick with excitement and she could just imagine the lopsided grin he would be wearing. Ducking quickly out from behind the portrait and casting one last look at Malfoy's prone form Alice and Ron slipped under the cloak.

“What happened to Malfoy?” Hermione was gazing at them wide-eyed.

“Alice.” Ron looked positively triumphant.

“I -” Her friend seemed to have no response to this. “Never mind you can tell us later; we need to get out of here.”

Getting out of the dungeons turned out to be much less complicated than getting in, whenever they forgot which passage they should be going down they just chose the one which was the warmest and had the most torches on the walls. Almost before they knew it - and with only one close run in with a group of Slytherins returning from dinner - they were back in the Entrance Hall, slipping off the Cloak when no one was looking, and hurrying back to their own common room. Harry and Hermione filled them in as they went, their tongues moving almost as quickly as their feet.

“You should see it, their common room is horrible. I wouldn't like ours to be like that. Everything's dark and green -”

“- and there's nothing comfy or cosy about it. They've just got these long posh sofas and there are snakes carved everywhere and it's all rather -”

“Hermione,” Ron broke through her with a wry smirk, “can you just get to the point and tell us what you found?”

“Oh… Well, Malfoy isn't the Heir of Slytherin.”

“Told you so,” Alice crowed as Ron exclaimed in disbelief. “So if he's not why do you two look so pleased then?” she asked taking in their twin smiles and elated eyes.

“Because,” Harry pulled a crumpled piece of parchment from his pocket with a flourish, “we found letters from his father.”

“You stole his mail?!” Stopping dead outside the portrait of the Fat Lady Ron seemed in awe at their audacity.

“Don't be daft - Snapping Turtles,” Harry gave the password and the portrait swung back allowing them to clamber inside, “Hermione did some complicated spell thingy and copied what the letter said onto this,” he waved the paper again as Hermione rolled her eyes.

“Really if you paid attention in Charms it wouldn't seem that complicated,” she muttered, but seeing Alice and Ron were dying to know what had happened she relented and smiled. “Harry, give them the parchment before they explode with curiosity.”

He had barely moved to comply before Ron had practically torn it from his hands and was scrutinising it with avid interest. Alice quickly moved to read over his shoulder.

Son (it began)

Your Mother and I are pleased to hear of your progress in Potions, but you must be sure to remain top of the class. (Ron made a gagging noise as he read this, which earned him a dig in the ribs from Alice) Pertinent to your enquiry about your Great-Aunt -

“The important part is about halfway down the page,” Harry cut in, clearly eager to share it with them. “Just hear,” he indicated the appropriate paragraph.

- As for all these rumours regarding the issue of the Chamber, I wouldn't mention too much of what you know on the subject. It is not that I would fear association with the noble house of Slytherin, far from it, I just do not seek any unwanted attention from certain quarters to fall upon either you or myself. Eager though we both may be to see Hogwarts rid of Mudblood filth, I would point out to you that there are even greater plans afoot which I will say no more of at present. Suffice to say that it is important that you behave as normally as possible.

In answer to you recent questions all I shall tell you is that the Chamber was indeed opened once before around fifty or so years ago. That instance yielded more favourable results that it seems have yet to be replicated however it is my sincerest hope that we soon see a shift in the balance at Hogwarts. I need not remind you not to speak of this to anyone, but desist in asking me who the true heir is for that I will not reveal; certainly not in correspondence.

Do endeavour to maintain your grades in the run up to Christmas -

Alice stopped reading and looked up at Hermione and Harry with shining eyes as she waited for Ron to finish the paragraph.

“Well I think we can safely say that it's definitely not Malfoy then. (“Pity,” Ron interjected,) But I think it's fairly obvious Lucius Malfoy knows a lot more about the situation.”

“That's what I thought too. But the part I thought was really interesting was the bit after that. Why has no one ever mentioned that the Chamber was opened before? Why isn't it mentioned in Hogwarts A History?” She seemed almost scandalised that her most trusted source of information had let her down so badly.

“Maybe it was hushed up? Or maybe they couldn't connect whatever happened to the Chamber with any certainty?” It was a question Alice would have to ponder.

Harry, who had been listening to their conversation with avid interest, broke in at this point. “And then there's the bit where - what was it he said? That instance yielded more favourable results that it seems have yet to be replicated, do you think that means that muggleborns left the school? Or do you think it could mean something more sinister?”

“With the Malfoys' and Slytherins I wouldn't put anything past them.”

“We're going to have to do some research.” Hermione's face lit up.

If Hermione had had her way they would have been off to the Library at the crack of dawn to get some answers before their classes started. However their evening's adventures, coupled with a midnight Astronomy lesson, meant that neither Ron nor Harry was keen on getting up any earlier than they really had to no matter how many evil looks their bushy haired friend threw at them when they informed her of this. As it was they didn't manage to go at all the following day as they were cornered after dinner by Ron's brothers who were desperate to relate the intricate workings of their superb diversion to them. Given that they had done them a huge favour none of the second years felt they could really say no, with the result that it was the weekend before the topic came up again.

“Have you heard?” A disgusted looking Hermione came stomping into the common room as Alice, Harry and Ron sat debating the relative merits of various Quidditch teams. The three of them had been curled up in chairs by the window appreciating an unseasonal burst of sunshine from the relative warmth of indoors.

“Heard what?” Alice paused in the midst of a rather vociferous defence of the Kenmare Kestrels.

“Apparently,” her best friend huffed, “Malfoy has been going about spreading the story that he was attacked by the Chamber Monster in the Slytherin corridor on Thursday after dinner and that he was only partially stunned because he's so wonderfully brilliant and managed to fight the beast off.”

“What did he do? Irritate it till it left him alone?” Harry scoffed at the idea.

“Honestly the boy's delusional,” Alice smirked as a thought occurred to her, “he really hasn't thought this through much has he? I mean why would the creature attack him in the first place? He's a Pureblood Slytherin after all. Twit.”

“I wonder how long it took him to cook up that excuse?” Harry's contempt was evident in his voice.

“Anyway, what are you lot all doing in here when you should be in the library? We still need to find out what Lucius Malfoy was going on about in that letter.” The tone of voice Hermione adopted as she said this was not unlike that often used by Professor McGonagall Alice mused.

“Oh but Hermione -” Whatever Ron had been about to say was silenced with a look and he grudgingly rose from his seat and shuffled after Harry and Alice who were already on their way to the portrait hole.

They made little headway that day however, much to Hermione's chagrin, or the following day or any of the days after that. Before they knew it December was upon them and still they had made no progress in discovering what Malfoy's father had been alluding to in his letter. Alice had trawled through copious piles of old Daily Prophets whilst Hermione and Harry searched every magical reference book they could think of that might give some clue either as to the monster's identity or what had happened fifty years ago. All of them drew a blank. Ron helped out occasionally, but the arrival of December meant that Christmas was nearly upon them and since he equated all festivities with increased opportunities to feed himself he was more than a little distracted.

“I wish Neville would come down to the Library once in a while,” Alice opined one blustery afternoon halfway through the month which found the four of them once again holed up in the Library surrounded by mounds of books. Her friend had barely left the common room except to attend meals and classes since Colin had been attacked. He wasn't the only one who was moving about the castle as little as possible; for being the middle of winter, and therefore the time of year when most of the students were inside, the corridors were uncommonly quiet most of the time. If and when the monster would strike inevitably began the topic of discussion at dinner and there had even been a notice up the other day advertising a Duelling Club for the students. Naturally there had been a rush to sign up.

“Hmm…” Hermione stared absently out the window at the swirling flakes of snow being dashed against the glass by a mischievous gust of wind. The Library failing to yield any results on the issue seemed to have cast her into a gloom from which she refused to budge.

“He'd only worry if we told him what we were up to anyway,” Harry, as ever, allayed her fears with his logic. “Don't lose too much sleep over it Alice, he'll be fine.” He smiled comfortingly at her over the top of a particularly bulky tome.

“Yeah, if you're going to worry about anyone, worry about me,” Ron whined loudly which earned him a sharp glance from Madam Pince. “If I have to read one more stupid book about twentieth century wizarding education I might expire!”

“Ugh this is useless!” Hermione thumped the book she had been reading shut and then promptly sneezed at the cloud of dust this propelled into the air. “We're never going to find anything.”

Alice very nearly laughed at the incredulous looks the boys exchanged at this comment. Hermione giving up on finding an answer somewhere between the pages of a book was unheard of.

“We will eventually,” Alice tried to be heartening, “if we just keep on looking then -”

“What are you lot doing closeted away in here?” Ginny, her robes covered with a fine layer of snow, plonked herself down in a free seat next to her brother. As she did so she deliberately avoided Harry's gaze.

“None of your business,” Ron evidently couldn't be bothered with his sister at the moment. “What have you been doing outside anyway?”

It was the first time she'd seen Ginny looking sheepish speaking to anyone but Harry. “None of your business,” she countered after a moment.

“Suit yourself,” Ron grumbled making to stand and clear the books away.

Ginny seemed momentarily troubled at seeing them about to leave and it occurred to Alice that she might have wanted to speak to them about something in particular. Hermione beat her to asking though.

“Are you alright Ginny?”

“What, oh… yes. I was just… just going to ask if you're going to this Duelling Club tomorrow night?”

“We were thinking of going along.”

Ron grimaced. “Lockhart and Snape are supposed to be taking it though; he's obviously recovered from making a prat of himself at dinner. We thought we'd go anyway. You never know it might be interesting.”

A/N: Ron seems to be becoming something of a prophet! I like giving him lines like that if only so that he can kick himself later when his observations seem to come true. On a more mundane note the statue of the humpbacked witch is the same one that conceals the passage to Hogsmeade.

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Snakes, Snape and Suspicion

“Enough demonstrating!” Lockhart pontificated, treating everyone in the Hall to a liberal dose of his toothy grin. “I'm going to come amongst you now and put you all into pairs…”

“He is a pear,” Ron muttered through the grin that had spread across his face when Snape felled their ridiculous Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. His grin was wiped from his face moments later when Snape appeared and separated him from Harry.

“Well at least he's with Seamus,” Hermione whispered a moment later as Snape left them to it with barely a glance, “unlike Harry who's stuck with that odious little bug.” She watched with concern as Harry and Malfoy prepared to square off.

“Are you kidding? Seamus will probably blow his eyebrows off! At least with Malfoy Harry doesn't have to worry about hitting him. He's more than a match for him any day.”

“Hmmm…” Hermione eventually turned away and at Lockhart's command prepared to cast her spell. Both girls knew the spell so the club was really more about perfecting technique than learning anything new at this stage. Still each was curious to see who would win. As Lockhart counted down, an image of Malfoy bouncing off of the dungeon wall when she had jinxed him popped into Alice's head and she hesitated, afraid of hurting her friend. It was a hesitation too long because Hermione reacted immediately. Alice felt her wand being torn from her hand and watched it go sailing through the air towards her.

Hermione lowered her wand with a grin on her face that was part triumph and part delight so that despite her own chagrin at having hesitated Alice couldn't help but smile back. Unfortunately those around them were having less luck. Wands flew in every direction, as did sparks and spells that were either deliberate - as in Harry and Malfoy's case as they seemed to be engaged in a fight to the death - or utterly involuntary - as in Ron's who seemed to have succeeded in severely winding Seamus with his malfunctioning wand.

“What on earth do they think they are doing?” Hermione queried as she watched Harry's duel whilst Lockhart flapped vainly about the pair trying to get them to stop. It was only once a thoroughly murderous looking Snape stepped in that a sense of order was restored.

Alice looked around the room at the dishevelled pupils and was just thinking that the lesson couldn't have gotten any worse when she heard Snape's words. “How about Malfoy and Potter?”

Alice felt her heart thud in her chest. Was he mad? Getting Harry and Malfoy to fight each other in front of half the school was asking for trouble. Neither was going to back down. Then again, looking at the malicious smirk on Snape's face she was sure he was well aware of that. As she was scowling at him he happened to glance in her direction and an odd expression flashed across his face for a second before he looked away. Her frown deepened as she tried to fathom his expression; maybe it was simply loathing or perhaps she had just imagined it, after all it had been fairly fleeting.

Putting the inner workings of her twisted teacher's mind to the back of her thoughts she concentrated on Harry again. Ron had pushed through the crowd until he was standing behind them and she could tell from his face that he was as concerned as she was. Hermione was watching them with barely concealed panic and was chewing anxiously on the sleeve of her robes as the two of them faced off in the centre of the Hall.

Almost at the same time as Lockhart shouted for them to begin the two boys yelled their own incantations for all they were worth. Malfoy was sent tumbling backwards, but not before a huge serpent had sprung from the tip of his wand eliciting shrieks from those girls closest to the action, including Hermione.

Everything happened in an instant after that. Snape, looking overly pleased with himself, moved to intervene as Lockhart with his usual idiocy blasted the snake several feet into the air, the thing landed hissing, spitting and spoiling for a fight as suddenly Harry was wading into the fray and the snake wasn't the only one hissing.

“Oh Merlin…” Hermione whispered looking sick as she realised what was happening. Ron made a strangled noise and Alice watched in horror as the snake first reared up then settled back in a crouch as Justin Finch-Fletchley exploded in a terrified rage.

“Come on,” Ron muttered, taking charge as Snape vanished the serpent. He pushed roughly through the crowd with the girls following behind him and together they quickly hustled a perplexed looking Harry out of the Hall and up the stairs in deathly silence.

“You're a Parselmouth. Why didn't you tell us?” Ron seemed almost livid as he rounded on Harry the minute they were inside the common room.

“I'm a what?” Harry seemed completely thrown by his three friends' reactions.

“A Pars -” Ron was cut off as Alice placed a hand firmly across his mouth.

“Not until you can do it without shouting,” she chastised him with greater calm than she felt. The revelation of Harry's gift seemed to have spooked them all.

“You can speak to snakes,” Hermione explained in hushed tones. “Didn't you know?”

“Well yes I… I mean I… two years ago I was at the zoo - it had never seen Brazil - I accidently let it loose on Dudley…” Harry stumbled incoherently to a halt as he evidently picked up on the direness of the situation from his friends.

“It had never seen -?” Alice quelled Ron with a look as he began to raise his voice again. She couldn't really blame him though; finding out your best-friend was a Parselmouth wasn't something you expected to happen everyday. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes to compose himself before speaking again. “What did you say to it anyway?”

If possible Harry looked even more confused. “What do you mean? I told it to leave Justin alone - you heard me.”

“Harry,” Alice was aware she had adopted the sort of tone one uses to break bad news to an elderly relative, “you spoke in a snake language. We don't have a clue what you said. I doubt anyone did; Parseltongue is really rare.”

“Oh,” he was stunned into momentary silence by this revelation. “But why is that so bad? I mean I can just explain to Justin what happened; I stopped the snake taking a dirty great bite out of him for goodness sake.”

“It's not quite that simple Harry,” Hermione's eyes were anguished as she looked at him. “The thing is Alice is right, being a Parselmouth is incredibly unusual and… and that's what Salazar Slytherin was famous for and why the Slytherin symbol is a snake in the first place. Now everyone is going to think you're the heir; judging by the expression on his face it's certainly what Justin thought.

Alice watched the blood slowly leave Harry's face as this nugget of information sunk in. “But I can't be.” His statement, which lacked any of his usual conviction, was barely discernible.

“Remember what Professor Kreevain said? Slytherin's line was lost centuries ago… For all we know you might be.” Hermione seemed to be about to burst into tears as she spoke then without warning she engulfed Harry in another hug. He seemed too stunned by the revelation to respond however and just stood there blinking dumbly over her shoulder. After a few seconds she pulled away and wiped her teary eyes. “Sorry,” she whispered.

Her apology seemed to snap Harry out of whatever trance he had been in. “No don't be silly, I just… I think I might go to bed if you don't mind. It's been a long night.” Without waiting for any of them to say anything he crossed the room and disappeared up the staircase leaving them all staring worriedly after him.

“Do you think we should…?”

“Nah, just leave him,” Ron, in an unusual moment of wisdom, broke across Hermione's question.

“Let him sleep on it,” Alice added with a wane smile which she didn't really feel. She doubted he would sleep much tonight.

As it turned out Alice herself didn't get much sleep either. She lay awake listening to Lavender, Sally-Anne and Parvati whispering about what had happened and speculating with ghoulish delight on what it might mean. When they eventually quietened down their commentary on the subject was replaced with her own worries about Harry and the sound of Hermione, who clearly wasn't sleeping either, tossing and turning in the bed next to her. Every so often she would dose off for a few hours only to wake up again long before she was due and start dwelling on the situation again. There was still an hour or so to go before dawn when she finally gave up on the elusive phantom that was a night's sleep and crept downstairs to the common room.

Reaching the bottom of the spiral staircase she pulled her dressing-gown closer against the winter chill and made for the fire which was already crackling merrily in the hearth. To her surprise the space in front of it was occupied. Ginny Weasley sat curled up in an arm chair staring so wretchedly into the flames that Alice felt her heart go out to the girl despite her misgivings about her personally. Clearly something was troubling her.

“Ginny?” She approached tentatively as the girls head shot up from her arm like a startled rabbit.

“What?” Her woebegone look was instantly concealed behind what Alice now suspected was false bravado and innocent expression so reminiscent of her brothers.

“Are you alright?”

“What's it to you?” There it was again, that flash of something Alice couldn't quite put her finger on.

“Nothing, I just… are you worried about Harry?”

“I… no… well… yes.” She seemed confused and indecisive, but finally settled on stubborn as her chin jutted out in a challenge and she tossed her sheet of long red hair back from her shoulders.

Running her fingers through her own dark and tousled locks Alice contemplated just leaving her alone as she evidently didn't want to talk about whatever was troubling her. Besides it was too early to get into an argument. The part of her that could never refuse to help someone in trouble wouldn't let her turn and walk away however.

“Ginny, you know I know that if we -” she stopped as her usual incoherence around anyone but her closest friends kicked in and she made herself take a deep breath and fight her blush before continuing. “I know that we don't exactly get along spectacularly, but… well to be blunt you looked miserable just now. If there's ever anything you need to speak to someone about then - I mean it doesn't have to be me, there's Hermione, or Harry or your brothers,” Ginny snorted at this. “The point is there are a lot of people who care about you if something's wrong…” Alice wanted to bang her head against the solid stone walls of the castle; for supposedly being one of the most intelligent witches in her year that had been stunningly garbled.

For the first time Ginny was regarding her with something other than antipathy in her honey-brown eyes. “I… I can't…” she sighed and returned her gaze to the fireplace as the older girl took a step closer. “I was just worrying about Harry like you said. I know he's not the Heir of Slytherin or whatever people think.”

“You do?”

“Why?” There it was; that defensive tone again. “You don't think he is, do you?”

Alice's eyebrows disappeared under her fringe. “No of course not; even the idea is daft. You just sounded so convinced, as though…”

“What? As though what?” If Alice hadn't known better she would have said Ginny sounded scared, but what did she have to be scared of? Perhaps she didn't want Alice telling Harry about their conversation in case it made her look besotted. Would that be enough to account for the panicked look on her face? Perhaps.

“Nothing. Look forget I said anything about it,” the momentary connection she seemed to have made with the girl had gone, “I might just… go back to bed or something.” She turned away again intending to go back upstairs to read. At the foot of the staircase she paused and turned back. “I still think you should confide in someone though Ginny; if something is troubling you it's better to get it out.” Which was rich she thought, coming from a girl who had spent most of her life bottling things up. It didn't mean she couldn't try though, even if she didn't particularly like Ron's sister. Without waiting for an answer she retreated quietly and left the girl to her thoughts.

Breakfast that morning was painful to put it mildly. Half the school had been at the Duelling Club the night before and the other half had clearly been filled in by their friends as to what had happened. The minute Harry, who looked as though someone had been force feeding him Skele-Gro, and his friends entered the Great Hall muttering broke out along all the tables.

“Just ignore them Harry,” Hermione told him brusquely as she marched towards the Gryffindor table with her head held high.

“Easy for you to say,” Harry grunted as he shuffled after her.

As the four of them took their seats Seamus, Lavender and their other classmates scooted further away from them without bothering to hide their reactions. Hermione tutted loudly and made some inaudible comment about immaturity before serving herself and Harry a generous helping of breakfast. Harry stared with forced concentration as she piled bacon up in front of him evidently trying to follow her advice and ignore the fact that around the room people were craning to get a look at him and whispering behind their hands. At that moment Alice wanted to punch every one of them in the face.

“All hail Slytherin's Heir!” The triumphal crow, so out of place in the sombre and suspicious atmosphere of the Great Hall that morning, emanated from the only two people Alice had ever known to find something to laugh at no matter what the situation. The twins.

“Say Harry,” Fred stretched past him with a wink to reach for a pitcher, “if I promise to do your homework for the rest of the term will you not attack me in the corridor on a dark night?”

“If I do your homework will you promise you will?” George grinned across the table at them.

After a moment or two Harry eventually cracked a smile which made Alice feel a surge of gratitude towards Ron's brothers. At least some people had the sense to realise Harry wasn't some sort of psychotic evil villain.

“We're all on your side Harry,” a quiet voice from down the table added. Alice glanced up to see who had spoken and saw Neville, looking drawn and pale as he had done in recent weeks. She felt rather guilty for having neglected him again, but with everything that had been going on in lately she had been rather preoccupied. Still it was no excuse.

“Thanks Neville,” Harry smiled thinly.

One person who didn't seem at all pleased with the recent turn of events was Malfoy. Several times that day Alice saw him stalking the corridors, evidently in a foul mood and throwing looks of pure hatred at them every time they passed each other by.

“He's probably just sore that Harry's getting all the credit for something Slytherin,” Hermione observed as she, Ron and Alice made their way up to the common room during their cancelled Herbology lesson - Harry had gone to find, and explain himself, to Justin - “especially if his father's involved in some way.”

“We need to get to the bottom of what's going on,” Alice observed as they reached the Fat Lady, “and now we have to clear Harry's name too.”

“I mean,” Ron looked unusually sombre, “it's only a matter of time before someone dies or something.”

Hermione stopped dead at his words her mouth working furiously like a fish out of water as she tried to find the words to articulate her thought process. Eventually she located them. “Ron you're brilliant!”

“I am?” Clearly he had never expected these words to be coming from Hermione's mouth.

“That's what we were missing before. We were looking for people leaving the school or some report of unusual goings on, but I'll bet you that's what Lucius Malfoy meant when he said more favourable results. I'd bet anything that last time the Chamber was opened someone was seriously hurt or died.”

“But then…” Ron still seemed in shock from Hermione's excessive praise. “Wouldn't that have been big news?”

“Not if they covered it up,” Alice was warming to the idea now too, “reported it as an accident or something, or slipped it into the obituaries without saying anything about it.”

“Come on,” Hermione was buzzing with excitement. “We need to go to the Library!”

“Of course we do,” Ron sighed with a crooked grin.

They had barely taken three steps back in the opposite direction however when Sally-Anne Perks came flying along the corridor screeching at the top of her lungs.

“There's been another attack! Get back into the common room, it's not safe! There's been -” She stumbled to an uncertain stop in front of them, her dark curls still bobbing about on either side of her head before suddenly sprinting past them and disappearing through the portrait hole leaving them standing stunned in the corridor.

The three of them remained stationary for all of a moment before coming to a silent and unanimous decision and quickly following Sally-Anne. The minute they entered the common room they were hit by a wall of sound; evidently the place was in a bit of an uproar.

“Sally! Sally, what happened?!”

“Another attack? Oh Merlin are they going to close the school?”

“What happened? Where was it?”

“Sally-Anne,” Hermione pushed determinedly through the crowd ahead of them that was thronging round the girl, firing questions at her at a rate of knots. “Sally-Anne! What happened? Who's been attacked?”

Sally-Anne turned wide fearful eyes framed by an ashen face towards them. “J- J- it was,” before she had even said the word Alice felt with a horrible sinking feeling that she knew who it would be. “It was Justin… they found him p- petrified just like the others…” She looked at them fearfully as a hushed silence fell around the room.

Finally someone at the back of the room asked the question that Alice had been dreading. “Where's Harry Potter?”

“Oh for goodness sake,” Hermione stormed, “don't be ridiculous! Harry is no more the Heir of Slytherin than I am!”

“Well you would say that wouldn't you?!”

“Because it's the truth!” Ron was slowly turning an angry Weasley red.

“Harry would never hurt anyone,” Alice fought to keep her voice from quavering as she raised it above the low murmurings in the room. How could people be so stupid and narrow minded?

“Where is he then? And how do we know you aren't in league with him as well?” A third year she vaguely recognised piped up.

“Leave off Cyril,” Fred Weasley stuck up for them. “I know your face looks like a bin but that's no reason for you to spout rubbish too.”

At that Harry's Quidditch teammates pitched in on the argument too. “They're just kids, get a grip!”

“Well you've got to look at the facts -”

“Keep looking at the facts like that Astrid and I'll attack you in a dark corridor,” this particularly vicious rejoinder came from Angelina Johnson.

“Come on,” Alice whispered, tugging on Ron and Hermione's sleeves as the row swirled around them.

“But -”

“I think they've got it well in hand,” she reassured Hermione, “besides we need to find Harry and we're going to be late for Transfiguration.” She wasn't sure which part of her sentence swayed her, to be honest in Hermione's mind they probably held equal importance, but whichever it was the two of them turned and followed her from the room. As they were about to let the portrait hole swing shut behind them it was forced back open again by a rather flushed and agitated looking Neville.

“Do you mind if I join you? I don't want to walk down on my own.”

Alice smiled at him. “Of course not; we're going to see if we can find Harry too.”

Harry however was nowhere to be found. On their way to McGonagall's class they skirted past the Library, which was crammed with students nervously twittering about the latest attack, but they couldn't see him. Nor was he in the Transfiguration classroom when they arrived.

“You don't suppose something else has happened do you?” Hermione glanced around with mounting panic as the rest of the class filed in followed by a grave looking Professor McGonagall. Before any of them had a chance to answer the teacher broke through the chatter of the class in her usual curt tones.

“Settle down please. You will no doubt have heard that another student has been attacked this afternoon.” She viewed them all with gravitas. “Upsetting though this is we must not all succumb to panic or we will all end up running around like headless chickens. If anyone has any concerns they can come to me, or any other professors for that matter, after class. But in the meantime can we please try and concentrate on the lesson at hand - this is after all, still a school.”

Alice felt a swell of admiration for her teacher as she watched her calmly open a book and begin to explain to them about the basic method of turning a guinea pig into a clothes brush - though when this skill would ever come in handy she couldn't quite fathom. To be able to keep not only yourself, but others, under control in such a stressful situation was highly commendable in her opinion.

Once class had finished she, Neville, Ron and Hermione immediately rushed up to the Professor's desk to ask about Harry.

“He was taken to the Headmaster's office. I have absolutely no idea if he is still there or not.”

“Professor Dumbledore?!” Hermione's voice came out several octaves higher than was usual. “He's not going to expel him is he? Because Professor McGonagall Harry didn't do it, he's not the Heir of Slytherin, just because of what happened last night, that wasn't what it looked like, he was protecting Justin, and being Parselmouth doesn't mean he's got anything to do with - I mean Dumbledore can't possibly think that it was him, if he just -” She stopped as Professor McGonagall raised a hand and regarded her over the top of her spectacles.

“Miss Granger, kindly do not give yourself over to hysterical rambling; it is not a quality that suits you. To my knowledge Professor Dumbledore has absolutely no intention of expelling Mr Potter, nor does he believe him to have anything to do with the Chamber of Secrets or these attacks. Does that satisfy you?”

Hermione stared dumbly at her for a moment. “Oh.”

“Quite.” She swept her gaze once more over the four of them before turning back to her desk. “Now if that is everything I suggest you all return promptly to your common room. It doesn't do to be wandering around the corridors.”

They tried to avoid running as they made their way back to Gryffindor Tower but with panic sweeping the school after this third attack it was difficult not to become slightly infected by it. Especially with Hermione still fretting that Harry had been thrown out of school.

“McGonagall said he wouldn't be,” Alice soothed her as they approached the common room for what seemed like the millionth time that day, “and I trust her. I'm sure Dumbledore was just -”

“HARRY!” They had just entered the common room and Hermione, catching sight of their bespectacled friend sitting in a corner with Fred and George as the majority of the room gave him the cold shoulder, flew towards him. “Are you alright? McGonagall told us, what did Dumbledore say? He can't expel you, he just can't!”

“Don't worry, he didn't.” She had never seen Harry look more depressed.

“Then what's wrong?” Hermione seemed determined to press her point even though Alice suspected that Harry would rather let the matter drop. “What did he say to you?”

“Nothing really. Just told me he knew I didn't do it -”

“Well at least someone's speaking sense!” Ron interjected.

“- and then asked if there was anything I wanted to tell him.”

There was a beat of silence before Alice asked the question they were all thinking. “And did you?”

“No. There wasn't anything to tell him.” Obviously he didn't want to say too much in front of the twins.

“Well that's good news surely then isn't it?” Ron seemed confused by his friend's behaviour.

“Yeah,” Fred chipped in with a grin, “you're getting almost as good as us at avoiding expulsion Harry. Anyone would think you were competing for the title.”

Harry barely cracked a smile at this and Fred glanced at Alice and shrugged in defeat.

“What's wrong Harry?” Alice looked at his drawn and ashen face and felt a swell of sympathy. It was so unfair that he had to go through all this; she wished she could do it for him.

“Nothing… well just…” he waved a hand towards the rest of the room who were all either determinedly looking the other way or making no bones about the fact that they were staring suspiciously across at them.

“Ah,” Alice sighed unhappily. She hated people's stupidity sometimes. As much as she wanted to, unfortunately without proof of someone else's guilt there was nothing she could do about that.

Thankfully they didn't have to bear the tense atmosphere and pupils blatantly avoiding them, or more particularly Harry, in the corridors for much longer as a few days later it was the end of term and the Christmas holidays were upon them and a mass exodus seemed to occur.

“Well at least it means we can have more leg room,” Ron observed that night stretching said limbs out as far as they would reach as he sat in front of the fire.

“Your legs need all the room they can get,” Alice grinned at him from where she was sitting on the floor immersed in another pile of Daily Prophets she and Hermione had borrowed from the Library.

He stuck out his tongue. “You're just jealous.”

“I'm not that small!”

“You're kidding right?” George shouted over from where he and Fred were sitting in a corner playing exploding snap with Ginny.

Alice chose to ignore them and returned to the newspapers.

“You would think,” Hermione complained a short while later, “that a student's death would be something that was easy to find.”

“We're only guessing they died,” Alice reminded her absently as she skimmed over an article about the Quidditch World Cup of 1942. Seeing what she was looking at Hermione forcibly turned the page of Alice's copy.

“We might get on faster if you lot didn't get distracted every time you saw a reference to a broomstick!”

“You just really don't get Quidditch do you Hermione?” Harry shook his head sorrowfully. “I'll never be able to understand.”

“Yes,” she sniffed, “well that makes two of us.”

“If you would just -” Ron was cut off as Hermione suddenly gasped excitedly.

“Ooh look at this!”

“What?” Harry was by her side in a flash as she jabbed excitedly at a point halfway down the page. “Look in this article about the Ministry awarding a Hogwarts professor an Order of Merlin Third Class.”

“What's so special about that?” Alice couldn't see where this was going.

“I'm just getting to that, listen: Such an honour for the School is sure to bring some much needed joy and relief after the dreadful and unfortunate death earlier this year of one of its pupils. This is it!”

“Does it say anything else?” Ron and Alice crowded round as well.

“Erm…” Hermione scanned the article, “just that the student died in June.”

“June?! We've got the copies from June here!” Alice dived over to one of the towers of papers she and Hermione had constructed. “Here,” she threw a copy to each of them, “start checking.”

“But haven't we done June already?”

“Well maybe we missed something.” Alice turned back to the paper and began to read.

“This is useless,” several hours later Ron looked as though he never wanted to see newsprint again, “there's nothing here and we've checked every single copy for the whole month. Maybe they just didn't report it.”

“Of course they would have Ron -”

“Hang on a second,” Harry got down on his knees amidst the papers scattered across the floor and began sorting through them carefully and arranging them into piles. His friends watched in silence as he muttered to himself, checking each front page in turn and then putting them down again. By this time the rest of the Weasley's had long since gone to bed so at least they didn't have to explain this erratic behaviour to anyone else. Eventually Hermione's natural curiosity couldn't take anymore.

“Harry what are you-?”

“Just what I thought,” Harry looked up at them, his emerald eyes shining triumphantly in the firelight, “there are copies missing.”

“What?”

“One from the…” he checked the sheets again, “sixth of June and one from the fourteenth.”

“Are you sure?” Hermione dropped to her knees to double-check and then rocked back on her heels when she encountered the same result. “Well I definitely took all the papers that were filed in the Library from June to October for that year, I made sure I did.”

“So where are they then?”

“Maybe they just went missing over the years?” Ron speculated as he scratched his head. “I know, I know,” he added seeing Harry's sceptical expression, “someone dies and there's no mention of it and then two newspapers are missing from the archive… it was only a thought.”

“But then if it was deliberate, who would have taken them?”

“That,” Harry looked grim again, “is the question.”

A/N: There you go, hope you enjoy! Please R&R I like to hear your comments.

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It's a Girls' bathroom

Christmas, if anything, was even better than it had been the previous year what with the addition of Hermione to the proceedings. Even if she did waken her at the crack of dawn by bouncing onto her bed like a four year old shouting Merry Christmas to give her a gift - which turned out to be a book on medieval magical history.

“There's a really interesting chapter in it on witch burnings,” she informed her as Alice thumbed through the book. Once she had glanced through it she slipped on her dressing gown and dashed to her trunk trying to have her feet make as little contact with the still freezing cold stone slabs of the floor as possible. Hopping from one foot to the other as she eventually located them and made a running leap for the bed again.

“Here you go,” she handed over one parcel from the pile she had extracted, “Merry Christmas.”

“Thanks Alice!” Hermione enveloped her in one of her hugs after she had unwrapped the expensive quill and ink set. “Come on let's go through and wake up the boys.”

Gathering up their gifts, including the several at the bottom of their beds, and making sure that this time they collected their slippers - especially on Alice's part - the two of them made their way along to the boys' dormitory. Initially Ron was rather displeased at finding himself woken rather abruptly at what he still considered an inhumane time, but he soon brightened on spotting the huge pile of presents at the foot of his bed.

“Merry Christmas you two,” Harry smiled sleepily as he handed them each a parcel wrapped in brown paper. As Hermione ripped hers open and was exclaiming over the diary and notebook Harry had given her, Alice carefully peeled back the paper on her own to discover a copy of Swooping with the Kestrels: A Complete Quidditch Guide.

“Thanks Harry,” she beamed at him. The Kenmare Kestrels had recently become her favourite team. “I love it.”

Once they had all opened the rest of their gifts - all four of them had received one of Mrs Weasley's jumpers this year which Alice found quite touching - she and Hermione returned to their own room to get dressed.

“I still can't believe the twins gave that to Harry though,” Hermione reproached for the tenth time since Harry had opened the parcel containing the muggle joke snake they had given him.

Alice grinned, “I thought it was funny,” her smile broadened, “Harry certainly thought so.”

“Yes well…” Hermione sniffed disapprovingly. Apparently Harry didn't know what was good for him.

The rest of Christmas seemed to pass in a blur after that. The four of them spent most of the day having what could only be described as an enormous snowball war across the grounds with the rest of Ron's family; even Percy joined in for a while before retreating inside to warm up by the fire before dinner. The meal in itself was also spectacular and Alice did briefly wonder if Hogwarts tried to outdo itself every festive season. It certainly seemed that way. The Great Hall was a blaze of colour and lights, and despite the relatively tiny number of people who had stayed over Christmas, it seemed full of life. She especially appreciated the fake snow falling from the ceiling. Sitting at the table after they had all stuffed themselves with as much as they could eat Alice glanced along the table.

“What is it?” Harry asked noticing her sudden laughter.

“Well look at us,” she indicated the eight of them all wearing Weasley jumpers, “we look like we're at some really weird convention or something!” This was especially true of Harry who had added the baseball cap with the broomstick on the front that she had given him to his ensemble.

“Oi!” Fred Weasley pretended to look offended. “I'll have you know that our Mum's jumpers are the height of fashion!”

“Yeah there's nothing weird about them!”

“Well… except the people wearing them,” she pointed out.

“True.”

It was all too soon that she found herself stretched out in front of the fire, her new Kestrels book in one hand and a pack of Exploding Snap cards in the other trying to stop her eyes from falling shut.

“How does Christmas always manage to do this?” Ron complained. “You look forward to it for ages and then you blink and it's past.” If he had been expecting an answer he must have been sorely disappointed because all he received were some dopey murmurs in response. What he said was all too true though, and before they knew it they had to admit defeat and troop off to bed - they just couldn't keep their eyes open any longer.

The holidays seemed to do the entire school good as when the Hogwarts Express returned the raging fear that had swept the castle seemed to have been dialled back to the thinly veiled nervousness that there had been before Justin's attack. Another, less satisfying, outcome of Christmas seemed to be that Lockhart had regained something of his old spirits. Still you couldn't have everything.

“I've decided to hold a competition,” he announced in Defence Against the Dark Arts at the beginning of February, “for the design of the best Valentine's Day card. To get us into the spirit of things a bit.” He beamed that sickeningly toothy grin at them all as the girls sitting at the front of the class all began bleating excitedly. Ron smashed his head against the desk.

“It doesn't really have much to do with teaching us Defence though does it?” Neville commented at dinner that night.

Ron swallowed a mouthful of food and pulled a face. “The only thing I want to know how to be able to repel is Lockhart. If Defence Against the Dark Arts can teach me that I'll be happy.”

Hermione was taking a different view of things however. “We've still got to do it though. I mean he said it was for house points.”

“I thought you'd gone off him,” Ron sounded disparaging.

“I have,” she threw a less than subtle glance in Harry's direction and flushed a deep crimson. “Of course I have.”

“Then why bother? It's only a few house points; who cares if you get them from him?”

“Shut up Ron.”

Alice grinned, she really would have to try and find a way to get her two friends to admit they both had a crush on each other - even if it was amusing the way they would blush and stammer whenever they came within two feet of each other and romance was mentioned.

Any half-constructed plans to this effect were driven right out of her head on Valentines Day however on her arrival in the Great Hall. At first she had to check that she hadn't wandered into the wrong room by accident.

“Oh my….” It looked as though a candy-floss machine had exploded.

“Please tell me he's kidding,” Ron looked like he was going to be sick.

“Nope,” Harry indicated Lockhart himself who was dressed like a stick of pink bubblegum, “unfortunately I think he's deadly serious.”

“Happy Valentine's Day!” His jubilant shout echoed around the room as the four of them took their seats next to Neville who was trying to scoop some heart-shaped confetti out of his pumpkin juice.

“Hermione,” Ron groaned as he continued, “how can you ever have liked -”

“I know, I know,” she watched with bemusement as the cupid-dwarves marched the length of the Great Hall looking more like they wanted to start a fight than deliver Valentines messages for giggly students.

Listening to the conclusion of Lockhart's speech Alice grinned ruefully. “You know if it didn't mean taking your life in your hands I'd be quite tempted to ask Snape to show us how to make a Love Potion, just to see the look on his face.” At this point all four of her friends, even Neville who rarely found anything about Snape funny, collapsed giggling into their breakfasts.

Harry found it less funny later in the day though when one of the dwarves hailed him in the corridor.

“Stay still,” he growled menacingly kicking his way towards them as Harry, looking desperate, tried to find an escape route.

“Actually, I've got -” Harry bolted along the corridor as Alice, Ron and Neville began to giggle.

“Oh no you don't!” The dwarf launched himself from ten paces back at Harry's legs sending him and several people still clustered around him flying as the pair landed on the floor with a thud.

By this time Alice was bent double in the corridor as she tried to control her laughter and tearfully watched the most bizarre sight she had ever seen as one of Lockhart's golden-winged dwarves wrestled Harry to the floor.

“I said stay still!” The dwarf whacked Harry hard on the head with his miniature harp to emphasise his point as her friend attempted to wriggle free. “Right,” he cleared his throat loudly as everyone in the corridor stared. “Now where was I? Ah, right here goes: His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad…”

By this point Alice was almost on her knees laughing so much and Ron was hanging on to the wall to support himself, even Neville was grinning broadly. Hermione however looked positively livid.

“It's such an indignity!” She stormed five minutes later once Harry had extricated himself and everyone in the corridor had resumed their own business, “and in front of everyone too!”

“It's alright Hermione,” he tried to smile along with the rest of them, “it's just a laugh, you've got to see the funny side I suppose.” He mock glared at Ron, Alice and Neville who were still grinning like idiots.

“Yes well at least you got a Valentine out of it I suppose,” she sniffed haughtily and then rather abruptly, and obviously in Alice's opinion, changed the subject.

If nothing else, Alice considered later on, at least Lockhart's spectacle had caused everyone to think of something other than the Chamber of Secrets for a whole day. The fear of it might have decreased in the light of no fresh attacks since term had started, but it was still ever present like an itch you wanted to scratch but couldn't quite reach. And of course Harry and his friend's were still being avoided like the plague and whispered about by most of the school. Alice was beginning to lose patience with it to be honest. It was difficult to ignore people when they flinched away from you when you got too close and got up to move whenever you sat down. At least Fred and George seemed to take it as an opportunity for a great joke and would run screaming if they saw Harry or defer to him slavishly as their mood took them.

“They're completely idiotic though,” Hermione complained as they searched once again for the elusive newspapers in the Library several days later. “I mean they're behaving like children.”

“Hermione,” Ron grunted as he tried to lift a particularly large box back onto the shelf, “I hate to break it to you, but we are children.”

“I don't mind,” Harry went to help him, “it makes a change from people thinking I'm some sort of marauding lunatic.”

Alice snorted sceptically and Harry pulled a paper from the nearest box and threw it at her.

“Ouch! I'm kidding!” Laughing quietly so as not to attract Madame Pince's unwelcome attention, she stooped to pick the paper up. “Hang on… Hermione what date are we looking for again?”

Her friend's head flew up from where it had been immersed in a stack of sheets, “the sixth and the fourteenth,” she recited instantly, “why have you…?”

“This is from the sixth,” Alice held up the paper Harry had just thrown at her.

No sooner were the words out of her mouth than Hermione had snatched the paper from her and spread it out on a table. “Well it's not in the headline,” she muttered to herself, smoothing the page as the others gathered round excitedly. “Perhaps…” she flipped the page and scanned it before skipping onto the next one. “THERE!” she suddenly exclaimed, evidently a tad loudly as Madame Pince's disapproving face popped round the side of their aisle before disappearing again once she was certain calm would ensue. “There, look,” Hermione whispered more quietly pointing at a short column buried on the fourth page with a trembling hand.

Quickly Alice scanned what the text. TRADGEDY AT HOGWARTS, the headline read, Students and Professors alike at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry were left shocked and bereaved today after the tragic and untimely death of one of its students. The student in question, fourth year Hufflepuff, Myrtle Grumble was found around eleven o'clock last night in a bathroom where it was believed she had slipped some hours earlier in a pool of water and caused herself a fatal head trauma. Mediwizards were called to the scene when the girl was found but pronounced her dead on arrival. A spokesperson for the School Board however has said that “although nothing could have been done to prevent this tragic accident, the deepest sorrow and sympathy of the Board, the Staff and the Ministry of Magic is extended to Miss Grumble's family and friends.” The girl's parents were of course informed, but so far have declined to give any comment.

“Well that doesn't give us very much to go on does it?” Ron grumbled looking peeved. “I mean maybe she did just slip, and we don't know anything else about this Myrtle do we? Do we… Hermione?”

But Hermione wasn't listening to him; she was looking at Alice with excited eyes, “You don't think…?” she waited for her friend to jump to the same conclusion that she evidently had.

Suddenly a light went on in Alice's brain and she gasped. “It couldn't be could it?! Do you think it might be?”

“Are either of you two going to tell us what you're talking about,” Harry huffed impatiently.

Eventually Hermione turned to the boys with triumphant eyes. “Moaning Myrtle.”

Silence.

“Erm… who?” Ron looked utterly perplexed.

“Oh for goodness sake Ron; Moaning Myrtle, the ghost that haunts the girls' bathroom on the second floor.”

“Hogwarts has a ghost… that haunts the bathroom?”

“Of course. How can you not know about that?”

“Maybe because it's a girls' bathroom,” Harry looked much less confused than Ron. “Are you saying this girl,” he gestured to the paper, “could be her?”

“Well it would make sense,” Alice reasoned with mounting excitement, “I mean she definitely went to Hogwarts and it would make sense to haunt the bathroom that you died in… I mean why else would you do it?”

“Have you met her then?”

“Only once last year,” Hermione grinned, “we don't use that toilet much.”

“Well let's go and talk to her then!”

Both Hermione and Alice suddenly looked uncomfortable, sharing a look of trepidation and understanding much to the boys' evident consternation.

“What's wrong?”

“You'll see.”

Ten minutes later they were standing outside the door to the bathroom on the second floor trying to persuade the boys to stop shuffling their feet awkwardly and go in.

“Oh for goodness sake,” Hermione exclaimed. “You were the ones who wanted to go and talk to her!”

“Yeah,” Ron whined, “but it's a girls' bathroom.”

“Is there an echo in here? We've already established that. Stop kicking your heels and just get in.”

“Just be careful what you say,” Alice warned them, “she's a bit touchy.”

Quietly, and with Harry and Ron hanging back as far as they feasibly could without being left outside, the four of them crept into the bathroom. Or rather they sloshed, because the floor was swimming with water.

“Who's that?” A glum voice hiccupped from the farthest cubicle.

“Um… it's… Hermione Granger, and um… friends.”

Alice raised an eyebrow at her as Hermione just shrugged. Gingerly she picked her way across the sopping floor towards the voice and opened a door that was only just maintaining contact with its hinges.

“Hello Myrtle,” she received a sniff in reply. “We just thought we would come and say hello, and see how you were,” Hermione ploughed on into the silence which was broken only by the gentle drip of water from somewhere.

“Not that I suppose you care,” the pitiful figure scowled at them. “Not that anyone does.” She caught sight of Harry and Ron. “What are they doing in here? This is a girls' bathroom.”

“We've heard,” Alice and Hermione chorused together trying not to smile. Looking around her Alice pondered the state of the place. She had only been in Myrtle's bathroom once before when it had been an emergency in first year and she and Hermione were still wary of finding their way around the castle. Even then it had been a bit run-down and damp, but nothing as bad as it was now. Her reflections were interrupted by Harry addressing the ghostly figure floating above the cistern.

“Excuse me, Myrtle… can I ask you a question?” Wary eyes, enlarged threefold behind thick spectacles, regarded him suspiciously for a moment followed by a curt nod. “Was your last name Grumble?”

“Was,” Alice winced realising he had said the wrong thing, “what do you mean was?” Myrtle's voice rose to a shriek that caused several tiles to drop from the wall. “It still is Grumble. Just because you're dead doesn't mean you stop having a last name. There's no need to be so insensitive you know.” Harry rushed to apologise but she waved him off as she burst into loud, echoing sobs. “Not that I could expect anyone to understand.”

“We erm… wanted to ask you about that actually,” Ron broke in awkwardly. Apparently speaking to Myrtle was better than being uncomfortable listening to a girl cry. “How you died. We read bout it in the Library you see.”

Abruptly the tears stopped. “You went and looked me up?” She sniffed, staring at him with eyes that would have been red-rimmed if she hadn't been totally translucent. “You were interested?”

“Err…” Ron stammered looking to his friends for support. “Yes?”

“Ooooh, it was dreadful.” Suddenly her entire demeanour changed. “It happened right in here. I died in this very cubicle. I remember it so well. I'd hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. The door was locked, and I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in -”

“Was Olive Hornby -” Hermione's interruption was met with a hostile glare which Ron seemed to find amusing.

“Do you want me to finish the story or not?”

“Sorry.” She didn't look the least bit.

“Anyway, I heard somebody come in and they said something funny. A different language, I think it must have been. Anyway, what really got me was that it was a boy speaking. So I unlocked the door, to tell him to go and use his own toilet, and then I died.” She looked positively radiant about it.

“How though? Hermione was determined to interrogate her.

“I don't know,” Myrtle huffed pushing her glasses up her nose. “I just did. One minute I was alive as you please then the next I saw these great big eyes and then -splat! I'm dead. I came back though and haunted Olive. Oh she was sorry she ever laughed about my glasses.”

“Great big eyes?” Harry sounded intrigued. “What sort of eyes?”

“I don't know,” she was getting frustrated now. “Just big and yellow that's all I had time to see. I died, I wasn't taking notes. If you don't want to hear -”

“No, no, we do honestly,” Ron rushed in, “we're really interested honest.” He gulped as Myrtle smiled sickeningly at him.

“Dying feels horrible,” her enthusiastic expression seemed utterly disjointed from her macabre words, “I sort of froze up,” she demonstrated,” and then I was just floating away into black. The next thing I knew I was in Peterhead! Peterhead, I ask you?!”

“Did you see the boy?” Harry asked.

“No. I was a bit preoccupied with dying at the time!”

“Did you recognise the language at all?” Hermione pushed. It didn't get her very far however as with an infuriated scream Myrtle flipped upside down and dive-bombed straight into the toilet with a considerable splash.

“Hermione,” Harry observed wryly, “I think you might have upset her.”

“I wonder where she's gone?” Alice queried as her friend began to protest. Wading across the floor she peered into the toilet. “Hey come and see this!” Her friends sloshed over excitedly at her exclamation. “Look it's a book or something.” And so it was, wedged just above the u-bend its pages floating eerily in the settling water.

“So it is,” Hermione seemed excited, “maybe it was Myrtle's.” She raised her wand and too late the others realised what she was about to do and rushed to stop her. “Accio notebook!”

“Yuck!” Ron tried to jump out of the way as water cascaded onto the already water-logged floor and the notebook went flying over their heads. “Did you really need to do that?”

“Well Ron,” Hermione, her robes like Alice's now soaked up to the knee, observed snippily, “unless you wanted to shove your hand down the loo, how else do you suggest we got it out?”

He had no answer to this.

“I don't get it,” Harry grumbled once they had examined what transpired to be a diary in detail, “the cover is falling to pieces so it's obviously been in the water for a while, but the pages are fine. And they're bone dry. Look.”

“They must be enchanted or something,” Alice examined it closely for any other possible explanations. “Hang on,” she dug her wand from her pocket,” Aparecium,” she tapped it three times. Nothing happened. “Arcanum Aperio.” Still nothing.

“I've got a Revealer upstairs in my trunk,” Hermione offered. We can try that if it's invisible ink or something.”

“Good,” they looked up at Ron in surprise. “Can we get out of the girls' bathroom now? Percy will have a fit if he knows I've been in here.”

As it turned out Hermione's Revealer worked no better than Alice's spells had and they had to eventually admit defeat. Ron soon got bored with the whole concept of the diary and even Alice felt that they should probably focus their energies on something that was going to be more profitable, like following the other leads they had or - rather controversially for them - concentrating on school work. Harry and Hermione were determined that it should provide them with some answers however.

“Where have they gone now?” Ron looked up from an essay he was struggling through for History of Magic one afternoon in March as he sat in the Library with Alice and Neville.

“I think they're down there,” Neville indicated the corner of the Library on Secrecy Charms.

“Did I even need to ask?” Ron raised his hands in despair; it was fast becoming their second home. “I think they're trying to read the entire section before Easter,” he observed dryly measuring the length of his essay. “Merlin, I'm still about four inches short!”

“Well they are more than halfway through now,” Alice commented absently as she scribbled busily away at her own homework.

“I was kidding.”

Alice spared an amused glance up at him. “I wasn't.”

They lapsed back into silence again. “Maybe they gave up on searching ages ago,” Ron smirked to himself, “and they just want to spend more time with each other.”

“Well it is fairly obvious,” Neville chipped in as the others looked at him in surprise.

“What is?” Alice feigned innocence.

“That Harry and Hermione like each other. I know you lot don't always tell me everything that's going on,” he waved off Alice's protesting apology. “No I'd rather not know half the time. I've got enough to do trying to keep my head down in Potions and my grades up everywhere else. But even I can see what's going on with them.”

“Yeah well try telling Harry that,” Ron harrumphed. “I tried bringing it up with him a few weeks ago and he denied it point blank.”

“Hermione too. Still you can't force them I suppose, just hope that they see what's plain as day to everyone else before too long.” She quickly shut up as the friends in question both appeared around the corner of a bookcase carrying a stack of books each. The three of them bent over their work again with conspiratorial smiles.

A/N: And there you go again, nothing truly riveting and the ending was hardly spectacular but I felt they had to talk about the situation with Harry and Hermione sooner or later. I invented the spell Arcanum Aperio basically it would be another revealing spell as Arcanum means a sacred secret in Latin and Aperio means to uncover. And for those of you unfamiliar with Scottish geography Peterhead is on the “nose” of Scotland. Google it.

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Tea with Hagrid

It wasn't until nearly a week later that anything interesting happened. Alice was almost beginning to think life might be settling down when Harry came rushing down late to breakfast one morning desperate to talk to them all.

“I -” he paused and looked around to make sure that no one was listening in, which wasn't really necessary as most people were still giving them a wide berth. “I spoke to the diary last night.”

Ron's eyebrows shot up. “When you say spoke to it…?”

“I mean I wrote in it and it wrote back. But that's not what I wanted to tell you about. What's important is what it showed me.”

Ron frowned. “Hang on I thought you just said you were writing to it?”

“I was, but then this window opened and I sort of… fell into it and it was like I was actually there fifty years ago, only I wasn't and -”

“Harry slow down,” Hermione put a worried hand on his arm, “you're going to give yourself a heart attack.”

“Alright,” he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly before dropping his bombshell. “It was Hagrid. Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets.”

“What?!”

“He can't have.”

“Are you sure? How do you know?”

Their various cries drew the attention of those sitting nearby so Harry dropped his voice to a whisper. “Because I saw Riddle catch him with the monster; it was this great, huge, hairy thing with pincers and too many legs. And we all knew that Hagrid was expelled,” he looked grave, “we just didn't know what for.”

“But,” Hermione looked as though she was going to be sick, “he can't have meant it to hurt anyone. Hagrid would never do that.”

“No, but you know what he's like, if he thought there was a monster in the castle… he probably thought he could make friends with it.”

“He probably named it,” Ron weakly tried to inject some humour to the conversation.

“We're going to need to talk to him Harry,” Alice whispered, “get his side of the story.”

"That'd be a cheerful visit," said Ron. "Hello, Hagrid, tell us, have you been setting anything mad and hairy loose in the castle lately?"

Alice tried to maintain the gravitas of the situation and not to smile too much at this, but it was difficult because to be honest Ron's description could apply to Hagrid almost as much as any of his pets. “What, so you would rather just assume he was guilty then?” She asked as Hermione nodded in agreement. “Don't you think we owe him the chance to explain?”

“Well let's go just now then.” Harry got up from the table again looking at the girls expectantly as Ron rose to follow him.

“Harry,” Hermione looked torn and Alice knew just how much of a mental battle must be going on inside her because it was one she was having herself. “We can't, we've got to get to Potions.”

“Can't we miss it just this once?” Ron was hopeful, “it's not like Snape is going to be handing out lollipops or anything. Though to be honest,” he considered, “even if he was they'd be poisoned or something.” Alice shook her head; trust Ron to be thinking of food, even if it was in a bizarrely warped way, at a time like this.

“Harry,” Alice cautioned when she saw he was about to argue.

“Fine!” He exclaimed seeing the obstinate look on Hermione's face. “We'll go and see him after classes.” He slouched back into his seat. “It was your idea anyway.”

And so it was that straight after Defence Against the Dark Arts had finished that afternoon the four of them raced down to Hagrid's Hut. Alice had asked Neville if he wanted to come, but seeing the determined looks on all their faces he had realised something was up and had elected to stay in the castle. It took Hagrid so long to answer his door that for a while Alice wondered if he was even in, but eventually they heard the thump of his heavy boots inside and then his large hairy face appeared around the crack in the door.

“Hello you lot!” His evident pleasure at seeing them as he ushered them all inside only made the task ahead of them all the more unpleasant. “I was just about ter put on some tea,” he gestured with a hand the size of a frying pan towards the kettle whistling on the stove. As he was bustling about finding them some oversized mugs the four of them sat down and looked at each other awkwardly.

“Well this was your idea,” Harry hissed at Alice after a few moments of silent communication and meaningful jerks of the head.

“Gee, thanks,” she replied sarcastically. Nervously fiddling with the end of her plait she waited until Hagrid had sat down and poured their tea before she summoned up the courage to speak. “Erm… Hagrid?” She stopped and cleared her throat as a strangled squeak emerged instead of words. “Hagrid we were wondering if we could ask you something?”

“Since you've worked here so long,” Hermione chipped in helpfully.

“I have that,” Hagrid agreed smiling broadly, “nigh on fifty years now.” His words caused a deathly hush to descend on the room as the four of them looked at each other significantly.

“Yes… well… about that, we were wondering if you knew anything about the Chamber of Secrets?” The end of her sentence came out in a rush as she hurried to get it over with.

Instantly Hagrid's whole demeanour changed. “Aah, well… about tha'… what you've got ter remember is that I was jus' a lad meself when…”

“When what?” Harry asked.

Hagrid stared from one carefully blank face to the next trying to work out how much they already knew and whether or not he was about to, or had already, put his foot in it. It seemed he had learned from past mistakes. “What do you know `bout the Chamber anyway?”

Silence.

“We know that it was opened fifty years ago,” Hermione finally admitted, “and that last time a girl died -”

“- and that now she haunts the girls' bathroom on the second floor,” Ron added.

“Ah, right, you have done yer homework haven't you?” He looked down and placed his hands in his lap as though summoning up the will to answer their question.

“Well all that's true. Though I s'pose you didn't need me ter tell you tha'. Last time I was in me third year. Always getting into trouble I was,” he shook his head at the memory. “There were rumours o'course, but no one believed them. Then students started getting attacked, just like now, and people panicked. And then… well truth is…” Hagrid was silent for so long after saying this that Alice wondered if he was going to continue. Finally he took a deep, shuddering breath and looked up at them all. “Truth is they thought it was me that was attacking everyone.” He looked from face to face for a reaction or outcry over his statement and when all he received was stony silence and an encouraging smile from Hermione he carried on. “It wasn't me though, I never would have hurt anyone. Aragog wouldn't neither. I just wanted ter look after him.” His shaking hands were making the mugs dance and rattle on the table so Alice stretched out and covered them with one of hers. It looked tiny in comparison.

“Who's Aragog?” Hermione asked curiously.

“You believe me?” Hagrid's beetle black eyes glistened with tears as he looked at them in grateful astonishment.

“Of course we do,” asserted Harry after a moment's considered silence. “If you say you didn't do it then you didn't do it.” He raised his voice over Hagrid's sudden explosive sobs. “You're our friend Hagrid and friends believe each other.”

They waited patiently for Hagrid to calm down and stop shaking the table with his enormous frame. Alice couldn't believe how relieved she felt knowing that it hadn't been him. She had never really believed him capable of it, certainly not deliberately, and she didn't doubt for a minute that what he said was true. From the faces of the others she could tell they all thought the same and for Harry's sake if for no one else's she was glad. He was so close to the giant that she didn't think he could have borne it if he'd turned out to have a part in what was going on. So many adults had let him down in his life that she was glad that for once it wasn't the case.

“He's an Acromantula,” Hagrid hiccupped eventually.

“An excuse me?” Ron looked non-plussed as Hermione tutted and began to explain.

“Basically it's a giant spider Ron. They're native to Borneo but have been bred to an extent by wizards. They're part of the reason why a ban was placed on Experimental Breeding because they're notoriously violent.” She looked at Hagrid rather accusingly as she concluded.

“Ah, now they're not tha' bad,” he protested. “When Aragog was in the castle he was more scared o' me than anythin' else. Poor mite seemed terrified all the time.”

“Poor mite?!” Harry exclaimed. “He was hardly -”

“Ow!” Alice suddenly felt something sharply connect with her shin and cried out in pain. “Sorry,” she apologised as the others all turned to stare at her with varying degrees of concern and confusion, “I got cramp.” Hermione however looked slightly sheepish.

“I'm sorry Alice,” she wailed sometime later once they had left Hagrid's and were making their way back across the grounds to the castle. “I was aiming for Harry.”

“You need to improve your aim then,” she winced rubbing the lump that was coming up on her shin. She was going to have a bruise.

“I'm wounded that you would be trying to kick me in the first place. What did I do to deserve that?”

“Do you want her to answer that?” Ron muttered as Alice and Harry grinned.

“I kicked you to make you shut up. We don't need to tell Hagrid that you've seen his Acromantula; how would you explain that? I know that they've got long lives but it was fifty years ago Harry. Then we'd have to explain about the diary, and then he'd tell Dumbledore and we'd have to explain everything to him, and we would get into trouble and probably expelled, and -”

“Ok, ok I get the point. No telling anyone about the diary.” He raised his hands in surrender at her barrage of reasons.

“That's all great,” Alice added, “but Hermione, next time you want to shut Harry up, use a Silencing Charm alright? They hurt less.”

Hermione rolled her eyes. “Don't be dramatic Alice. Anyway so if Hagrid didn't open the Chamber why did this Riddle think he did?” Alice blinked at the rapid change of topic.

“Because he caught him,” Ron clearly felt he was stating the obvious.

“Yes,” she persevered, “but from what Harry described he went straight to Hagrid that night, as though he already knew about Aragog.”

They all pondered this fact quietly as they approached the school.

“Maybe he wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, but once Myrtle had died he felt he couldn't stay quiet?” Harry postulated.

“Maybe he didn't think it was Hagrid at all,” Ron considered, “maybe he just pinned the blame on him so that they would let him stay at Hogwarts over the holidays. Maybe he really didn't want to go back to his orphanage.”

“I can understand that,” Alice said quietly as Harry nodded in agreement.

“Well we could always find out if he was the sort to tell tales and things. Or rather if he wasn't. If he was reliable and things then maybe he was made a Prefect and his name will be in the Book.”

“Book?” As usual Harry and Ron had no idea what she was talking about. “What book?”

“The Book, the list of all Hogwarts Head Boys and Girls and Prefects since the school was opened.” Alice loved the way that Hermione equated these roles with honesty and it never occurred to her that anyone in such a position would do anything wrong. Still it was better than nothing.

“That must be one big book.”

“It is.”

“There,” she pointed triumphantly a short while later as they all bent over the thick tome to read the tiny scribbled entry. Under the heading 1944-45 was scratched the name T. M. Riddle and the inscription Head Boy. “And then here look,” she indicated the previous two years where he was listed as a School Prefect.

“He sounds like Percy,” Ron glanced at the text disdainfully, “Prefect, Head Boy, you wouldn't catch me doing that.”

“I doubt we're in any danger of anyone making you a Prefect Ronald,” Hermione bit back in irritation. “I'm going to look at the shields to see if there are any more mentions of him.” She flounced off across the trophy room.

“And I'll go this way,” Ron marched in the opposite direction.

“Don't argue,” Harry told their retreating backs absently as he began to flip through the rest of the book.

“What are you looking for now?” Alice asked him.

“Nothing, I just…” He paused on a page and stared at it for so long that she began to get worried about him. “Harry are you all right? ... Harry?” He didn't respond so she leant over next to him to see what the book said. “Oh.” There on the page for 1977-78 were the names of Harry's parents.

“I never knew they were Head Boy and Girl,” his voice sounded hoarse and scratchy. “No one ever told me…”

Alice put a comforting arm around his shoulders. “At least you've got things like this to remember them by, and be proud of them for.”

“Yeah,” he sniffed quickly and regained his composure. “I'm sorry Alice I've never asked about your parents. They were muggles weren't they? What happened to them?”

“I don't know really I was handed over to the orphanage after they died, by a relative I suppose, they just left me there. Told them my name and then left.”

“Oh I'm sorry, I didn't know, I shouldn't have asked.”

“Don't be daft. I don't remember it so I don't mind.” Which wasn't entirely true but she had spent a lifetime convincing herself it was so why stop now? “Anyway, before we get too mushy,” she grinned at him, “why don't we go and stop Ron and Hermione from killing each other and see if we can find out anything else about Riddle?”

As it transpired there was an old Medal for Magical Merit that Riddle had been given and an award for Special Services to the School, but neither of them mentioned what he got them for or what sort of person he was; although obviously he was very academic. After hitting another dead end in their quest for information the four of them gave up on searching for Riddle. Hermione had decided that perhaps they shouldn't listen to what he said - or wrote - and Ron for once surprisingly agreed with her saying that his Dad always said you should never trust something if you couldn't see its brain, or something to that effect. Although Harry acquiesced with their appeals he would constantly take the diary out of his pocket and flip through it as though hoping the answer would just spring off the page.

“Harry will you please put that thing away?” Hermione asked as they sat by the fire. “We've got heaps of homework this week, doing that would be more productive surely?”

“What is it?” asked George from the rug where he and Fred were stretched out, both of them looking rather comical and devoid of eyebrows after a prank to celebrate their birthday had backfired rather badly.

“It's a notebook,” Harry hedged.

“Sure it is,” Fred smirked making a grab for it before Harry had time to pull it out of reach.

“Aw come on Harry, I hope you're faster than that when we play Hufflepuff next month or Wood will kill you.”

“Fred give him the book back,” Alice spoke without looking up; she had a heap of homework to do and she really wasn't in the mood for their antics.

“In a minute midget,” Fred flashed her an incorrigible smile before waving the book above his head. “Oi Ginny, fancy having a read of Harry's diary?”

“Don't be mean,” she chastised as his sister, sitting in the corner with a few other first years, glanced up at him and froze. Her eyes skipped from her brother to the diary then towards Harry, whose face resembled a tomato, and back again.

“Aaw Fred, I think you might have embarrassed her,” his twin smirked.

“That's not very nice, “Hermione informed him primly. “How would you like it if someone did that to you?”

“I would bear it with untold fortitude and a charming smile,” George demonstrated said facial feature to emphasise his point. When Hermione continued to scowl at him he rolled his eyes. “Fred.”

“Fine,” his brother tossed the book back to Harry with a shrug. “Besides,” he winked at Alice. “Evans knows she's the only woman in our lives.”

“What did I do to deserve that?” she asked drily.

Two days later Alice was sitting with Neville trying to coax him through some particularly sticky Transfiguration homework; she had found that most of the time he could actually come up with a semblance of an answer, he just never had confidence in it.

“Look you've got the answer to this one back here,” she pointed at the appropriate paragraph in his hastily scrawled notes. “Just read it again and have a think about it.”

“Oh it's no use,” Neville put his head in his hands, “I'm never going to get it. I'm just too stupid.”

“You are not stupid!” Alice felt a twinge of annoyance, but it wasn't directed at Neville. “Don't ever say that and don't ever let anyone convince you that you are. You can do it!”

He looked up in surprise at her outburst. “…Okay,” he said eventually.

“Good,” she could feel her face going red. Outbursts weren't her style but Neville needed to believe in himself more - though she supposed that was rich coming from her. “Now try again.” She watched as he obediently studied the passage for a few moments, his forehead creased in a frown and the end of his quill between his teeth.

“Hang on,” he said after a few moments contemplation. Quickly he scribbled a few lines and turned his parchment so that she could read it clearly. “Is that it?”

“Yes!” she beamed at him as Ron and Hermione approached the table with their arms full of books.

“What's going on?” Hermione queried looking at their two happy faces.

“Alice has just been unravelling the mysteries of Transfiguration for me.”

She shook her head. “Not really, you did most of it yourself; I just pointed out the odd thing here and there. Anyway,” she changed the subject before he could argue, “what have you two been up to?” she indicated the piles of books they carried.

“Hermione,” Ron scowled behind her back where she couldn't see, “decided we should go on a mission to find every book about the building of Hogwarts that we possibly could.” He didn't outright mention in front of Neville that they were still looking for information on the Chamber of Secrets, but Alice suspected he had probably worked this out anyway from all the comments and hints they had dropped in front of him. He seemed content to let them investigate on their own however - partly as he had received explicit instructions from his grandmother not to get into any trouble - so long as they let him tag along, which they were more than happy to do.

“And they were the only ones you could find?” Alice was surprised there had been so few.

“Oh no, these were just the ones that we could carry.” Hermione was earnest in her response.

“Yeah we read a bunch in the Library before Madame Pince kicked us out.” Ron crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue to show what he had thought of this, causing Alice and Neville to snort with laughter. Hermione, who hadn't seen but assumed from their responses that Ron had done something turned to scowl at him.

“What -?” But before she could say anything to him an incensed looking Harry crashed through the portrait hole, dressed in his Quidditch robes, and marched across the room with a face like thunder.

“It's gone!” he hissed evidently being in possession of himself enough to remember to keep his voice down. “Someone's taken it!”

“Who has? What are you talking about?”

“Riddle's diary.” His revelation was greeted with a stunned silence so he continued. “It was in my bag when I went to practice. When we had finished and I went back to change… it was gone. Someone's stolen it!”

They all looked at each other in silence for a few moments, Harry still breathing hard although his temper seemed to be subsiding.

“Do you reckon whoever took it knows what it is?”

“Well why else would you take a tatty old diary?” Harry snapped at Ron then seemed to immediately regret it. “Sorry.”

“You're sure you haven't left it somewhere?” Hermione had fallen into her habit of chewing her lip whenever she was worried. With the things that they got up to Alice was often surprised that she had any lip left.

“No, I'm positive. It was in my bag before practice and now it's not.”

“But who knew you had the diary?”

“No one, other than -”

“Actually anyone could know.” They all turned to look at Alice. “The other night,” she elaborated, “when Fred stole it he held it up for the whole common room to see.”

“Are you saying you think it's a Gryffindor?” Ron seemed insulted by the very idea.

“Not necessarily, they could have told someone else or were overheard or -”

“We get the idea.” Harry threw himself into a chair with an audible thump looking morose. “Now what do we do?”

Taking a deep breath Hermione seemed to rally. “We carry on and do what we were going to do anyway. We read all these books and look for more clues.”

Ron groaned.

For the next few days Alice read every book she could lay her hands on about Hogwarts architecture. However it was difficult to fit in time for this as they had begun to study for their exams on top of all the normal homework the teachers were giving them. This resulted in several evenings when she and Hermione would sit up reading late into the night when all the other girls in their dormitory had gone to bed. Their investigative time that week was also impeded upon by having to choose which subjects they wanted to take up in Third Year.

“I don't understand why we can't just do everything,” Hermione complained to incredulous looks from Harry and Ron as the four of them poured over their lists by the common room fire - Neville was closeted away in his room writing for advice to every relation he possessed.

“Because unlike you, we aren't all super human and actually want to have some time to eat and breathe next year.”

“Trust you to want to have time to eat,” Harry grinned at him.

Alice squinted at her list. If she was honest she really wanted to sign up for everything - though perhaps not Divination - but she knew that would be impossible. “Ancient Runes sounds interesting.”

“Yeah if you want to be a druid when you leave school,” Ron snickered.

“Shut up Ronald,” Alice and Hermione spoke in unison.

Smirking at his friend's expense Harry told him, “I'd do as you're told if I were you. Those two mean business.”

“Well,” Ron sniffed pretending to be insulted, “I'm going to take…” he scanned his list quickly and made a snap decision. “Divination and Care of Magical Creatures. They sound easy.”

“Ron!” Hermione was scandalised as Alice just rolled her eyes. “You can't make decisions that will seriously affect the rest of your life with such… such flippancy!”

“Yes I can,” he seemed to be enjoying winding Hermione up as much as anything, “look.” He jotted the subjects down on the form McGonagall had given them and smiled innocently up at her. “Done.”

Hermione growled in frustration. “Well on your own head be it.”

In the end Alice plumped for Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, and Care of Magical Creatures and when Hermione wrote down every single subject she wisely chose to say nothing. They would never let her do all of them anyway.

A/N: I just had to include Ron's line about setting mad and hairy things loose in the castle because I've always loved it. Also for the purposes of the story I would imagine that The Book of Prefects etc wouldn't carry info about what House a student was in or they would have been immediately suspicious of Riddle.

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What to do when a Giant Snake is on the Loose

As April drew to a close and was replaced by May the weather, which until then had remained grey and rainy, began to improve allowing the students to begin making the most of their time outside. On one particularly sunny day Alice and Hermione had decamped to the edge of the lake and were sitting on a log surrounded by books and paper in an attempt to get some studying done. Alice was busy looking down at her notes when suddenly a pair of yellow shoes entered her field of vision and she looked up.

“Hello.” The dreamy statement came from the slightly peculiar looking blonde girl that Alice remembered seeing at the Sorting ceremony the previous summer. Her wide eyes seemed almost completely white they were so pale and they were gazing vaguely at a spot somewhere beyond the two girls, almost as though she was looking at something they couldn't see.

“Err… Hi.” Hermione responded looking bemused.

“I wouldn't sit under there,” the girl warned in a singsong voice, “those trees are full of Gnarlibees.”

Alice could feel one of her eyebrows beginning to rise sceptically and struggled to keep a straight face.

“What's a Gnarlibee?” Clearly Hermione had never heard of them either.

“Tiny amorphous sprites that have inhabited a piece of tree bark. They fall out of trees and the sprite possesses you.” She didn't look at all sorry about this prospect. “Most people go mad.”

“Well I've never heard of them,” Alice's friend asserted as though that was an end to the subject. Turning back to her books Hermione concentrated on her notes, but when it was obvious the first year had no intention of leaving she looked up again in irritation. “Can we help you with something?” Alice could feel the corners of her mouth starting to twitch into a smile.

“Oh… no not really.” The girl watched them for a few moments, during which time Alice felt her familiar discomfort at being the object of someone else's scrutiny. Just as she was about to rephrase Hermione's question slightly more politely the girl spoke again. “You're Harry Potter's friends aren't you? I've seen you at dinner,” she continued without waiting for an answer. “You don't look happy sometimes.”

“Yes… well…” Hermione seemed at a loss for words in the face of the girl's bluntness. “If you'd had the year we have then you wouldn't look happy all the time either.”

“Hmm… Well, watch out for the Gnarlibees anyway. If you start hearing little voices inside your head then you know it's too late.” With this dire prediction she smiled sweetly at them and left.

“She is really weird,” Hermione whispered once she was out of earshot.

“Oh I don't know… a bit odd perhaps,” Alice watched her skip slowly across the grounds, her long blonde hair swinging back and forth across her back “but I sort of like her. Besides,” she chuckled, “around here weird is a bit of a subjective term isn't it?”

Hermione snorted. “I suppose, but honestly, gnarlibees? There's no such thing! “Little voices inside your head”? She'll be speaking to the trees next…” Her expression, which had been humorous suddenly went completely blank, then her eyes widened and the blood seemed to drain from her face as she stared at Alice. “That's it!” Her voice was hoarse.

“What's what?” Alice reached out a hand in consternation. “Hermione are you alright?”

“Talking to things no one else can and hearing things others can't.”

“Hermione,” Alice was really starting to get worried now. “Are you going to start making sense anytime soon?” She was beginning to wonder if the Gnarlibees hadn't gotten her friend after all.

“Harry,” she breathed. “Harry can talk to snakes.”

With this one piece of information Alice's agile mind caught up with her friend's thought process. If Harry could talk to snakes then maybe the voice he had been hearing was a snake too, if so then that would mean…

They both looked at each other for a split second longer before speaking in unison. “Library!”

Quickly they grabbed their belongings and scurried across the grounds their robes flapping around their ankles. As they dashed across the Great Hall they nearly ran straight into Harry, Ron and Neville who were clearly on their way outside to join them.

“Where are you going?” Ron yelled as Hermione sprinted past them.

“Library,” Alice paused to inform them. “Hermione just thought of -”

“Alice, come on!” Her friend yelled from the top of the staircase.

“What -?” Harry raised his eyebrow at her clearly asking for an explanation.

“We -”

“ALICE!”

“I'll tell you later,” she grinned at him before taking off again after her impatient friend.

As she ran off she heard Ron mutter. “Girls are mental.”

At the speed they were running it took them a matter of minutes to reach the Library where Hermione headed straight for the Magical Creatures section. Running a finger along a shelf she began muttering to herself. “Scamander… Seychelles… Smith… Snidget… Ah here it is!” She pulled a thick tome covered in peeling leather from the shelves. “Sorkin's Syllabus of Serpentine Species. Here,” she pulled a second, and if possible more battered copy from the shelf and handed it to Alice.

For over half an hour the two of them poured over the books searching for any creature which fit the criteria of the attacks at Hogwarts. As it turned out there were many snake-like species in the magical world and finding one that fit the pattern was proving to be difficult.

“What about this?” Alice pointed out an entry.

Peering over her shoulder Hermione scanned the page of text. “A Basilisk? But it kills everyone who looks at it, and judging by that picture,” she nodded towards the illustration on the opposite page, “if that didn't get you those fangs would. They're huge! And it doesn't say anything about being petrified.”

“Well…” Alice pondered the problem for a moment. “Maybe the people who were didn't look at it, at least not directly. I mean, I don't know exactly how petrification works exactly, but I suppose it could be possible.”

Hermione sat down with a thump, her eyes as round as saucers. “Do you think…?”

“Well how was everyone attacked,” she began to count them off on her fingers. “First there was Mrs Norris and Professor Binns…”

“Maybe the cat saw the Basilisk through Professor Binns!” Hermione warmed to the theme. “I mean he couldn't die twice so it didn't matter for him.”

“Colin had his camera,” Alice added with mounting excitement. “Harry said they had to prise it away from his face when they took him to the Hospital Wing. “What about Justin?” The two of them gazed at each other for a moment as their theory hit a roadblock.

“Where did they say he was found?”

“Near the Transfiguration classroom.”

“Maybe…” Hermione seemed uncertain. “That corridor is full of windows; maybe he saw the reflection of the Basilisk?”

“Okay…” Alice accepted that explanation, “but how would it have gotten around the castle unseen. I mean Basilisks are huge!”

“Well I've already got a theory on that,” her friend instantly became more animated again. “I thought about it on our way up here. What if the snake has been using the castle plumbing to get about? Harry said he heard the voice inside the walls the first time didn't he? If the snake was using the pipes to get about then that's what it would sound like. Travel to where you need to get to inside a pipe and then emerge to attack. All the corridors where people were found were fairly deserted so if the creature was fast it wouldn't be seen.”

Alice gazed at her for a second analysing the idea from every angle. Finally she looked up as a chill of fear settled in her stomach. “I think you might be right. Merlin… we need to go to McGonagall. Tell her what we know,” she pushed her chair away from the table and stood up looking at Hermione expectantly.

“Shouldn't we find Harry first?”

Alice shook her head. “We can find Harry afterwards. First we need to warn people.”

“Alright,” her friend got up, “but hang on a second.” Without another word she scurried over to a group of seventh year girls seated several tables away from them. Moments later she was back again clutching a tiny compact mirror. “To look round corners. Just in case. I mean how lucky can we be?”

Nodding in agreement Alice bent back over the book and did something that elicited a cry of protest from Hermione. “Shush,” she whispered glancing nervously in the direction of Madame Pince from whom they were concealed behind a bookshelf. Cautiously she took out a quill and circled the word Basilisk on the page before scribbling a few other words at the bottom and ripping the page out with as much care as she could manage.

“Here,” Hermione held out her hand for the sheet. Reading what Alice had written she nodded. “Pipes and Reflections. Good idea. Okay let's go.”

Quickly they made their way across the almost deserted library. On an afternoon as nice as this most people had done what they had been doing earlier and taken their things outside to study. When they reached the door Hermione stuck her hand holding the mirror out and angled it so that she could see along the corridor. “Okay, clear.”

Alice snorted. “Hermione we're not in an action movie.”

“Well,” her friend grinned as they hustled along the corridor, “if we ever are then at least I'll be saying the right lines won't I?”

At every turn she paused to check that the next corridor was empty, or at least devoid of things with scales, before they continued on their way. Getting to McGonagall's office seemed to be taking much longer than usual; although Alice had always found that when you had a surge of adrenaline it seemed to do funny things to time, either it sped up ridiculously or slowed to a crawl. McGonagall's office was several floors up, but due to the maze like nature of Hogwarts and the area of the castle they were in there wasn't a direct staircase to take them there. As it was they were just approaching a turn in a corridor on the third floor when Alice suddenly paused and grabbed her friend's arm.

“What was that?” she whispered.

“What?”

“That. That scraping noise.” The two of them strained to hear the sound again, but all they could hear was the distant noise of students down by the lake floating up through an open window.

“I can't -” Abruptly she let the sentence hang, because all of a sudden she could hear the noise. “Oh Merlin…”

“I'll check,” Alice whispered more bravely than she felt. “Here,” she took the mirror from Hermione's numb fingers and swapped it for the page she had torn. With a deep breath she began to move towards the corner, but she had gone no more than three steps when a tug on the back of her robes stopped her in her tracks and she turned.

“No,” Hermione hissed looking almost green. “If it is the Basilisk, and you get petrified then what will I do?”

Alice was about to open her mouth to argue with her when she heard something that made her heart stop. The noise, which before had been faint and intermittent suddenly started again, though this time it was much louder and unrelenting. It sounded as though something heavy was being dragged along the rough stone flagging of the corridor. Something heavy, with scales and fangs and an unhealthy appetite for second year Gryffindors. And it was getting closer.

“Hermione?” The calm voice that emitted from her mouth seemed totally at odds with both the situation and the roiling going on in her stomach. “Run!”

Without a second thought she whirled on her heel and pelted for all that she was worth down the corridor with Hermione in hot pursuit. Behind her she could hear the serpent quicken its own pace and the hiss it emitted seemed horribly close, but she didn't dare look back. If she did it might be the last move she ever made. Doors and turnings flew past on either side of them as the girls pelted for all they were worth towards safety. Although what safety was she wasn't entirely sure. Would they be safe if they found other people? - although the corridors were deserted, everyone seemed to be enjoying the fine weather outside - would it follow them to another floor if they made it to the stairs? There was no way they could stand and fight, magical creatures were notoriously difficult to overpower.

“This way!” Hermione shrieked as she suddenly charged off down a side passage. Dashing after her Alice hoped the sudden change of direction may have slowed their pursuer down slightly. Judging by the sibilant spitting which erupted as they did so it only served to make the creature angry, it was certainly no further behind them.

Fixing her eyes on the far end of the corridor Alice began pushing her body for all that it was worth, legs pumping till her calves ached, throat raw from gasping breaths, she tried to ignore the stitch that was growing in her side. The fear bubbling inside her was threatening to swamp her, but she stubbornly pushed it down; if she let it rule her then there would be no chance they could think their way out of this situation - and they were going to have to because the thing behind them seemed to be gaining. Hermione stumbled and she shot out a hand to keep her moving, they couldn't afford to pause for a second.

As the two of them thundered past a portrait of four elderly looking wizards, the echoing slap of their footsteps almost drowned out by the rasping slither of the ever present, bloodthirsty Basilisk, Alice suddenly realised which corridor they were in. She felt a dart of hope, but she had to stay focused or they were both dead.

Spotting the turning that she was looking for she dragged Hermione towards it.

“Over here, quick!” Panic and adrenalin had made her voice seem unnaturally high pitched and loud. Not that the monster seemed to have trouble locating them anyway.

Whirling quickly into another long corridor she pulled Hermione to one side, instead of continuing to run, and threw them both into a recess behind a tapestry with just seconds to spare. Kneeling in the gloom she tried to control her shuddering breaths and willed her heart, which was thudding painfully from a mixture of terror and exertion against her ribs, to be silent. In the half light that managed to penetrate the thick weave of the hanging she could just make out Hermione's wide, startled eyes staring at her in that unfocused way that indicated she wasn't really paying attention to what she was seeing. Following her friend's example Alice listened for the monster.

Softly at first, and then more audibly, she heard it: that ominous, grating noise which could only be generated by something enormous slithering across the corridor. The serpent had slowed, but whether they had confused it by suddenly vanishing or whether it knew they were close and was hunting for them she wasn't sure and didn't dare to take a peek to find out. Squeezing her eyes tightly shut she prayed that it would go away.

Not being able to see what was going on was horrible, in fact she was willing to bet it made the whole situation worse. What was that rasping sound? Was that a serpentine tongue being slid across razor sharp teeth tasting the air for their telltale scent? How close was the Basilisk to their hiding place? Was hiding in this recess once pointed out to her by the Weasley twins a good idea or had she led Hermione into a trap? Was there any chance they could still make a run for it? The sudden feeling of heat through the thick fabric concealing them answered that question very forcefully in the negative. Without thinking Alice and Hermione shrunk backwards as far as they could go, holding their breath and trying to be as silent as possible. Alice could almost imagine the creature on the other side coiled and waiting to spring upon them. Would it hurt if she was killed? Would the slow seeping of Basilisk venom be painful? Her eyes darted frantically along the walls surrounding them searching vainly for another escape route. Could the monster hear them? How good was its sense of smell? Had it realised they were there or did it just know that they were close and was trying to determine where they had gone to? Her concerns were immediate, the threat very real. Any thoughts of the mysteries they had been trying to solve all term had flown from her mind and she was solely occupied with the here and now, the danger the Basilisk just inches from them presented.

Careful not to make a sound she slid her hand into a terrified looking Hermione's and squeezed it tightly to give her a reassurance she didn't feel. The fleeting, barely there response she received only served to make her feel even more guilty than she already did. What if she had made the wrong decision hiding them here? If anything happened to Hermione because of it she would never forgive herself.

Just as she came to the realisation that she was going to have to take a breath again or she was going to asphyxiate, the snake shifted, moving on from the space in front of the tapestry. The noise of its progress seemed to be moving off down the corridor, although the hanging muffled the sound in such a way that she couldn't be entirely sure. Several seconds later she could no longer hear it but she refused to move in case it was still somewhere in the corridor.

The slight ease in immediate danger allowed her to take stock more calmly of their current state. Jammed into the tight space she was aware how similar their current situation was to the one she and Ron had found themselves in waiting for Hermione and Harry to come out of the Slytherin common room. Although there the risk had been a detention not their lives. Crouching in the semi-darkness she could feel a ribbon of cold sweat trickling between her shoulder blades and she was dimly aware that her hands were trembling slightly. Her heart was still thudding forcefully in her chest, but at a less health worrying speed than it had been, and she had nearly bitten all the way through her lip with anxious waiting.

After what seemed like an age she heard Hermione's voice, barely discernible and so close that she could feel her breath tickling her ear: “Do you think it's gone?”

Careful not to raise her own voice above a whisper - for who knew how good the thing's hearing was? - she responded. “I don't know. I can't hear it any more.”

They listened for at least a full minute, both straining to hear the slightest sound that would give away the presence of something besides them in the corridor. Nothing.

Knowing that they couldn't stay tucked away in the recess forever she gently eased her arms out in front of her holding the mirror in one hand and poised the other ready to pull back the tapestry. Her breathing began to become involuntarily erratic again and she forced herself to be calm. She found that counting her breaths slowly in and out helped. One - she looked back at Hermione. Two - her friend nodded in confirmation of her actions. Three - she tugged the corner of the tapestry back and stuck out the hand with the mirror in it.

Heart hammering again, at first all she could see was the stone roof of the corridor. Biting back a noise of frustration she slowly rotated her hand so that the corridor gradually came into view. Behind her she could feel Hermione shift to get a look too, the two of them were pressed together so tightly that she could feel her friend's heart racing ten to the dozen as well.

When the end of the corridor - devoid of snakes - came into sight within the tiny wooden frame a sigh of relief escaped between her lips. They were safe! Obviously the Basilisk had gotten bored or had continued on down the hall to find them. An elated grin swept across her face and she relaxed her arm slightly so that the mirror was now facing towards the wall they were hiding in.

As though someone had flipped a switch three things happened simultaneously. Hermione, still peering anxiously at the mirror, stiffened with a gasp behind her. Alice felt dread clutch at her stomach like a clawing hand as realisation hit. An enormous yellow eye, attached to an equally huge snake that had lined itself up against the wall in wait for them, came into view as she felt her entire body freeze over. Her last thought was that they would never get to tell Harry and Ron what they found out.

The bodies of the two second years plunged forwards through the thick fabric of the tapestry. They were unconscious before they even hit the floor.

A/N: Well there you go. Those pesky Basilisk's are cleverer than they look! I did contemplate not petrifying the girls but it's much more fun this way. I also wanted to include Luna in the discovery process just because I love her so much. As always hope you enjoyed reading and please R&R!

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Telling Tales

Blackness. That was what she experienced at first. One second she was seeing the reflection of those terrifying, bloodthirsty yellow eyes with just enough time for her to feel a frisson of fear before she was slipping into cold, bottomless blackness. It was as though someone had taken her mind and suspended it in the most remote and starless crevice of the universe. Occasionally a thought would skitter across the darkness like a rock skipping on a pond sending ripples of temporary consciousness rebounding through the space. Usually it was a fear for Hermione, or a hope that the boys would figure everything out in time, every so often it was an image or a sound - clearly her eyes and ears still worked although she was petrified. More often than not when this happened she saw Madam Pomfrey's face bending over her or picked up a snippet of a teacher's conversation, enough to realise that she had obviously been in the Hospital Wing for some time. Once she even thought she saw, as though from a very great distance, Ginny standing over her, but the image was gone before she could tell if she was crying or not - she suspected she had been.

After an interval so long that even the occasional thought she had was only for a fear that she would be swallowed up by the blackness never to resurface she heard Ron's voice. Except it didn't really sound like his voice; it was as though she was hearing it through a solid wooden door - it was far away and muffled almost beyond recognition. She managed, with great effort to discern what he was saying however.

“- she did see her attacker though? Because if he sneaked up on them…” His voice seemed to drift out of range for a moment before she managed to pick up the thread again. This time it was Harry speaking. “- many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known -” But she didn't hear anymore as the sudden surge of excitement snapped the tenuous link of her concentration. It was enough though. They would work it out now surely. She had faith in them.

After that everything seemed to happen at once. Her surroundings which had for so long been a cold and forbidding darkness suddenly found themselves disturbed by a single pinprick of light and warmth. It was tiny, but it was enough. Forcing her consciousness towards it was like swimming through particularly thick treacle, but Alice made herself do it. Inch by illusionary inch she fought her way towards the slowly growing star. The closer she got the easier it became until in a final rush of light sound and colour she found herself jolting back into her body.

She gagged. The first thing she was aware of was a supremely unpleasant taste in her mouth.

“That's it, that's it, take your time. Don't move too quickly now.” Professor Kreevain's voice sounded very close. Slowly, so as not to overwhelm herself with the unfamiliar light, she cracked her eyes open. Her eyelids felt like sandpaper and she winced as her teacher and the hospital wing came into blurry view.

“Here, look straight up,” it was Madame Pomfrey's voice now, “this will sort your eyes out in no time.” Suddenly two cooling drops landed on her battered eyeballs and after blinking a few times she found that she could see perfectly and without pain. Besides the matron and the History of Magic teacher, Professor McGonagall was standing by her bed holding a beaker of gently steaming liquid and wearing the biggest smile Alice had ever seen on her usually stern professor. She couldn't help but reciprocate.

“Glad to have you back with us Miss Evans.” Was that a slight catch in her voice she detected?

Trying to push herself up on her elbows to have a better view, Alice winced as her muscles protested strenuously. Seeing her expression Madame Pomfrey spoke in her usual business like tone. “You'll be a little stiff to start with, it's only to be expected, but that should wear off in a minute or two once the potion's taken full effect.”

“There you go,” much to her embarrassment her two teachers took her under each arm and pulled her gently upright. Her increased vantage point however meant that she could see everyone else in the room. In the bed opposite Colin Creevey sat animatedly explaining something to Professor Sprout, gesticulating so wildly that he seemed in danger of knocking himself off of his bed. Next to him Justin was, rather more sedately, speaking to Professor Flitwick who was also holding a beaker of potion having evidently just administered it. Professor Binns was nowhere to be seen, which only left Hermione's still prone figure in the bed next to her.

It was a shock to see the state she was in; her wide, brown eyes were glassy and devoid of any signs of life. Her face, fixed in an expression halfway between terror and realisation, had drained of all colour; all in all she looked like a waxwork model not the warm and tempestuous living, breathing best friend she knew so well.

“We're just about to administer the remedy to her.” Professor Kreevain could see she was evidently distressed. “Don't worry about her. She'll be right as rain in a minute.”

Carefully, using a handkerchief to avoid spilling any potion across Hermione's unresponsive face, Madame Pomfrey tipped it into her mouth. Alice watched with bated breath and unconsciously crossed her fingers as she waited for a reaction. After several tense and drawn out seconds Hermione finally exhaled the tiniest breath followed moments later by a flutter of her eyelashes as she gradually regained consciousness.

“Hermione!” Alice made to start from her bed, but Professor Kreevain put out a restraining hand.

“Give her a minute.”

So slowly that Alice wondered if she had suffered permanent damage the brunette blinked twice and stared at the ceiling. Eventually she seemed to become aware of her surrounds because her gaze flicked from one face to the next, smiling in relief when she saw her best friend, before finally settling on Professor McGonagall.

“Were we right?” Her voice was rusty with disuse.

Her head of house smiled back at her. “It is good to see you've returned to yourself so quickly Miss Granger. You've been right about a great many things, and I daresay you will be right about a good deal more before you leave this school.” Seeing that Hermione was dissatisfied with her answer she laughed. A sound most unlike her. “Yes. You were right, and just as well too. You both did a great service to the school.”

“Are Harry and Ron alright? What's happened?” Having satisfied herself that Hermione was fine Alice was desperate to know about her other friends and what she had missed. “How long have we been petrified?”

“So many questions!” Professor Kreevain chimed with a musical laugh as she waved off Alice's reflexive apology. “Never apologise for being inquisitive Alice. You've been unconscious almost a month.”

“And the boys?” Hermione pushed herself upright with a groan.

“Are both fine. They've been keeping themselves busy,” she smiled knowingly.

“With more than a healthy disregard for rules I might add.” The severity of McGonagall's statement was softened by the twinkle in her eyes. Alice had never seen her look so lively.

“Your friends journeyed into the Chamber of Secrets last night to rescue Miss Weasley,” she told the stunned girls. “It would seem that she, bewitched by an aspect of You-Know-Who was behind the attacks and had been taken captive. The monster is now destroyed. But perhaps,” Professor Kreevain raised a delicate hand to forestall the tumult of questions that were about to fall from their lips, “we should allow them to explain to you themselves. If Madame Pomfrey feels you can be let go that is?” She looked enquiringly at the matron.

Squinting critically at the two girls' eager faces the matron gave a curt nod. “I don't see why not provided you all,” she raised her voice and turned to include the boys on the other side of the room, “come back to be checked over in the morning.”

“The morning?” Alice looked for the first time at the darkened windows. “What time is it?”

“About one in the morning I should think. You'll find everyone downstairs having a feast though. There is plenty to celebrate tonight; I'd hurry if you want any food left for you.” This was unlikely to be a problem, what with the magically replenishing plates at Hogwarts, but neither girl needed any further encouragement. With the full use of their limbs restored to them they both bounded out of bed and sprinted off in the direction of the Great Hall.

As they ran they laughed and screeched and speculated loudly about what might have happened whilst they had been unconscious. Alice revelled in her ability to simply be able to do these things; never had she felt so happy to be alive. Everything was going to be alright the Basilisk was dead, everyone had been un-petrified and there was a Hogwarts feast to look forward to!

They were skipping noisily down a flight of stairs chattering at the top of their lungs when abruptly they stumbled to a halt. At the bottom of the stairs an older man and woman with flaming red hair and dark circles of worry under their eyes stood looking up at them. Between them was a very dishevelled looking Ginny. From her swollen eyes and red face she had clearly been crying and the moment she spotted the girls she burst into tears again.

Feeling a swell of pity for the poor first year, Alice put aside her reservations and hopped down the last few steps to wordlessly give her a hug. All of the girl's peculiar behaviour over the last year suddenly made sense. Well most of it anyway. How she had tried to speak to them before Christmas in the Library, how she had fiercely maintained Harry's innocence and why she had been looking progressively more unwell as the year continued. After a moment she felt the younger girl tentatively return her embrace.

“I'm so - so sorry,” she hiccupped pulling away a moment later.

“Don't be silly,” Hermione joined them at the foot of the stairs. “It wasn't your fault at all.”

Ginny smiled weakly and gave another watery sniff. “Mum, D-Dad, this is Hermione and Alice. These are my parents,” she waved her hand at the individuals hovering over her like anxious mother hens.

“Alice and Hermione?” Mrs Weasley smiled kindly at them. “The boys have spoken about you a lot. Pleased to meet you at last.” They all shook hands before lapsing into an awkward silence eventually broken by Mr Weasley.

“I hear you were both brought up as Muggles?”

“Yes, that's quite enough Arthur,” Mrs Weasley broke in brusquely. “I'm sure the girls want to get on to the feast and we really should get Ginny up to see Poppy Pomfrey.”

“Ah,” Ron's father shifted uncomfortably, “yes dear, you're quite right.” With final nods all round they ushered their exhausted daughter up the stairs whilst Hermione and Alice rushed off in the other direction again. Within minutes they had reached the door to the Great Hall, which was bursting with life and noise, and paused to locate their friends.

Peering around Alice spotted Neville, Ron and Harry sitting at the Gryffindor table and chatting animatedly about something just as the latter happened to glance up and spot her. An enormous grin spread across his face as he stood up to wave excitedly at them. “Hermione! Alice! Over here!”

Both girls flew the length of the Hall and for the next few minutes all they did was hug each other and exclaim that they were all in one piece whilst the boys tried to pour out a rather garbled version of events all at once. Harry seemed to have split his lip and had several scratches on his hands and cheeks whilst both Ron and Neville were sporting purpling bruises on their heads. None of them seemed to mind however. Eventually they had calmed down enough to resume their seats and at Hermione's instruction began a coherent story of everything the girls had missed.

“You should have seen everyone after you were attacked. It was even worse than after Justin,” Harry began.

“The whole school went into lock down and we were only allowed out of the common room for classes and meals,” Ron pitched in looking aggrieved. “Malfoy and Lockhart were the worst. You would have thought they both had birthdays or something. What I would have given to be able to punch the smug smile off that blonde git's face!”

“Which one?” Alice grinned as everyone laughed.

“They even cancelled all the Quidditch!” She winced in sympathy at Harry's remark, but Hermione, ever understanding, simply rolled her eyes and smirked. They continued to listen enthralled and outraged in equal measure as he related how they had woken the morning after the girls' attack to find that Hagrid had been arrested and Dumbledore suspended.

“At least everyone realised it couldn't have been you that was attacking everyone,” Ron reasoned. “Not, “he hurried to add, “that that was a good thing… I don't mean that… what I was trying to say… Oh Merlin, you know what I mean!” Much to the girls' amusement he flushed his customary scarlet and concentrated on his food leaving Harry and Neville to continue the story.

“They wouldn't let us visit you though; said the monster might come back to try and attack you.”

“Neville was really brilliant about that though. Truly inspired,” Harry clapped his friend on the back as Ron nodded enthusiastically, his mouth full of pumpkin tart.

“Well,” Neville ducked his head in embarrassment, “I didn't do anything really.”

“Yes you did, you were brilliant.”

“What?” Hermione asked curiously. “What did you do?”

“Well Ron and I went to ask McGonagall after class if we could visit you. But she said it wasn't allowed. Then Neville here,” he beamed at him, “came up and said that he had been really upset about it and was worried sick -”

“Which was all true,” Neville added in his own defence.

“At one point I thought he was going to burst into tears! I think McGonagall did when we left at any rate, but anyway she caved in and said we could. The minute we left the classroom Neville's eyes were dry again. It was fantastic!”

“It was nothing,” Neville muttered sheepishly as Alice and Hermione exclaimed over his actions. “I suppose when people know that you're always scared of things they find it easier to believe when you get upset that's all.”

“Neville Longbottom, you are really crafty!” Alice laughed impressed as he grinned back at her looking modestly pleased with himself.

“Anyway we got to visit you, but Madame Pomfrey said there wasn't any point because you couldn't hear us and -”

“Yes I could,” Hermione interrupted as Alice nodded in agreement.

“What?”

“I could hear, not all the time, but snippets here and there; mostly Madame Pomfrey talking to the other teachers.”

“I heard you when you found the page we had torn,” Alice added. “But most of the time it was like being unconscious.”

“Oh,” Harry thought this over for a moment before seeming to remember he had been telling a story. “Well anyway we came to visit you and I felt the piece of paper in Hermione's hand.” At this Alice glanced across at Ron and Neville and she knew they were both thinking the same thing as her: to have felt the piece of paper Harry would have had to have been holding Hermione's hand. Ron nodded subtly to indicate that he had been and she tried, with limited success to suppress a grin.

“Anyway, we got the piece of paper out and figured out the clues you left - which were amazing by the way - and we rushed off to tell McGonagall.”

“The only problem was,” Ron had finished eating for the meantime and picked up the story again, “when we found her Ginny had just been taken into the Chamber. The teachers didn't know we were there and we heard them talking about it. Lockhart was supposed to try and rescue her but he didn't -”

“Coward,” Alice remarked bitterly.

Harry nodded. “But we managed to work out where the entrance to the Chamber was so we took him there.”

“Where was it?” Hermione's face was a picture of eager curiosity.

“Guess.”

“Moaning Myrtle's bathroom?” The two girls laughed as Harry looked crestfallen.

“Mate,” Ron punched him playfully on the arm, “they're not the brightest witches in the school for nothing you know.”

“Yes well anyway…” he continued to explain how he had worked out how to open the Chamber and they had all slithered through the ancient plumbing system to the cavernous bowels of the school. As he related how Lockhart had turned on them and the tunnel had collapsed trapping Ron, Neville and Lockhart on the opposite side from Harry they gasped. He continued to relate how the events had played out with obviously increasing delight at the girls' increasingly stunned looking faces. So wrapped up in his story were they that Hermione actually squeaked in shock when he related who exactly Riddle had turned out to be.

“It was You-Know-Who?”

“Voldemort,” Alice and Harry corrected automatically. Alice too was stunned however; the idea that Riddle and Voldemort were one and the same had never occurred to her - then again why would it?

“Anyway,” Harry looked at them once he had finally finished his story, “now it's your turn what happened to you two?”

“Well…” Hermione launched into the tale as the boys listened with rapt attention. As they were doing so Alice suddenly realised that she was famished - unsurprising since she hadn't eaten for a month - so she began to tuck into some of the mounds of food covering the tables. It was wonderful to be in a normal feeling Hogwarts again, without that constant feeling of unease that had plagued the castle since Halloween. Around her people were laughing and joking and generally behaving like the children most of them were. She could see several faces at the Slytherin table that didn't look too happy at the turn of events, but seeing their sour faces only made her smile all the more.

“Anyway,” her friend was saying, “Alice checked the corridor and then that was it. The last thing I remember was this horrid yellow eye and then toppling forwards.”

“Well it all worked out alright in the end,” Neville asserted. “I still don't get how you worked it out though; I would never have gotten that.”

“Yeah, if it wasn't for you two we would never have been able to find Ginny and the Chamber.”

“Don't be silly,” to Alice's amusement Hermione blushed at Harry's compliment even though it had been directed at the two of them. “You lot were the real heroes, we just did the ground work.”

“Well not really, if -”

“We get it, we get it! You're all wonderful! Spare us, please.” A pair of highly recognisable voices chorused from behind Alice. Smiling broadly she turned in their direction.

“Good to have you back with us Evans,” Fred tugged one of her plaits affectionately as his brother ruffled her hair.

“Yeah where would we have been without our resident midget to keep us in line?”

“Nice to see you too.”

Looking past her George grinned. “Sorry Hermione, it's good to see you as well,” he added belatedly.

“Don't worry about it,” she gave a half exasperated smile.

“And what about you three?!” They bowed in the boys' direction.

“Hogging the limelight again -”

“We might start to get jealous.”

“Ah but they've learned from the best though George,” Fred winked as the five of them laughed.

“True.”

“We've just been up seeing Ginny and Mum and Dad. Madame Pomfrey says she's going to be fine, but she's making her stay in bed for the next two days.”

“Which, as you can imagine,” George grinned, “she took really well.”

“Well at least that shows she must be feeling a bit better then,” Hermione reasoned.

“Yeah, though what she th - Oh hang about,” George glanced up at the far end of the room, “looks like we're about to get a speech.”

As the rest of the school also noticed that Dumbledore was standing patiently at the staff table waiting for quiet, the room gradually began to fall silent. Once he had everyone's attention he smiled benevolently at them all.

“It would seem,” he began, opening his arms theatrically as he did so, “that we have something to celebrate tonight!” His remark was greeted with a storm of cheers and clapping. “I understand that you will all want to get on with eating all this wonderful food and enjoying yourselves, but before that I would like to say a few more words. Firstly let me say how delightful it is to see that all our petrified victims have been safely returned to us, for which we have Madame Pomfrey and Professor Snape to thank,” the room erupted again as all of the victims were congratulated on their recovery. “Secondly for their brave deeds this night I have awarded two-hundred points each to Misters Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and Neville Longbottom,” for each successive name he was forced to raise his voice further and further to ensure that he was heard over the din emanating from the Gryffindor table. Every single student was on their feet roaring and cheering and stamping their feet.

“And lastly,” the Headmaster raised his hands to request some calm, “on a more business-like note I am afraid to say that Professor Lockhart will not be staying with us for the duration of the term and I doubt very much if he will be returning for the coming school year. Sadly he needs to go away and have his memory restored to him.”

If Alice thought the grin on her face couldn't get any broader then she had been mistaken. Laughing so much that her face and sides were beginning to ache the friends all caught each other under the arms and did a celebratory dance in the middle of the Hall. Could life get any better?

A/N: As always hope you enjoyed and please R&R!

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Saying Goodbye

What Alice couldn't understand was the fact that no matter how hard she tried, and how carefully she stored them in her drawers, she always managed to lose socks. The day before the Hogwarts Express was due to leave she was to be found digging around under her bed searching for the illusive items and getting increasingly frustrated at their lack of appearance. If she hadn't known better she would have said that Harry's house-elf friend had stolen them - apparently he had a liking for socks - but that would just be silly.

As she was crawling out from under the bed she straightened; only to discover that she hadn't fully completed the manoeuvre and her head connected sharply with the bed frame.

“Ouch!” Sitting on the flooring rubbing the back of her head and cursing softly to herself she suddenly became aware that she wasn't alone in the dormitory. Glancing up she saw none other than Ginny Weasley standing in the doorway. This surprised her for two reasons: firstly no one had seen much of the red head since the incident in the Chamber of Secrets as she had kept fairly much to herself. Secondly she had never considered herself a person whom Ginny would want to actively seek out. Perhaps she had hit her head harder than she thought?

“Hi,” she said after a moment when Ginny just wavered in the doorway looking anxious. “Can I help you with something?”

“Erm… No… Well, yes… though,” she stopped and took a deep breath. “I wanted to talk to you. And apologise.”

“Apologise?” Alice rocked back on her heels, “whatever for?”

“For… For the way I behaved this year; it was childish. You were nothing but nice to me and I was horrible to you.”

“Oh.” What could she say to that? “Apology accepted then.”

“Can I come in?”

“Yes… of course,” Alice really wasn't sure where this was going. “Take a seat,” she indicated her bed, “just shove my stuff out of the way. I'm just packing the last few things into my trunk.”

Ginny moved to comply and sat for a few moments fiddling with the edge of Alice's bedspread and staring absently at a pile of Gilderoy Lockhart books that had been carelessly cast aside. Eventually she glanced up at her again. “I hate doing packing, Mum always does it for me at home. I can never find all of my socks and things; I swear our ghoul nicks them.”

Alice smiled at this, “I'm the same… without the ghoul part.” She was pleased to see this elicited a small chuckle from the younger girl.

“Ginny I don't -”

“Wait a minute. I want to say something first.” Ginny flushed the same colour that her brothers went whenever they were embarrassed or upset. Alice didn't think she'd ever seen her this uncomfortable. “About my behaviour… I should probably explain.”

Realising that this might take some time Alice got up and sat on the bed next to her. “Ok I'm listening.”

“The thing is,” she was avoiding eye contact, “this last year I was really - well I was jealous of you if I'm honest.”

“Jealous?” Alice fought to keep the incredulous squeak out of her voice and failed miserably. “Of me? Whatever for?” What about Alice could possibly make Ginny jealous, she had everything that Alice had ever wished for. A home, plenty of siblings, loving parents, confidence - well, when she wasn't around Harry Potter anyway. Alice had none of those things; what was there about her that would inspire enough jealousy to last a whole year?

“Well, over the summer the boys kept talking about you and when Harry arrived he did too, I mean they spoke about Hermione too of course, but Fred and George aren't really as good friends with Hermione, and with your red hair I thought that you would be like another little sister to them which is my job. I was determined to hate you and then we met on the train and you were so clever and nice and you kept trying to help me all year and I saw how well you got along with my brothers and you, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and Neville too I suppose are this little group and you're all really close… and I was jealous.” She said all this very fast.

Alice blinked at her in stunned silence for a few moments. “Ginny,” she spoke slowly so that she could make sure that her words and meaning were in sync - sometimes when she was trying to convey a serious sentiment to someone that she didn't know very well the two tended to diverge somewhere between her brain and her mouth. “I would never try to take your place; surely you know that? I mean, don't get me wrong, I would love to have what you and your brothers have, but I would never try and come between you all. Surely you know that your brothers all dote on you?”

“I suppose.” Was that a hint of a smile she could see? “I guess it was a bit stupid of me, I'm not usually like that I just…” She stopped again.

“Just what?”

“I was nervous about coming to Hogwarts I guess. I'm sorry. Then there was everything with the Chamber and when I started to realise what was happening I tried to stop it, but then Harry got the diary and -”

“It was you who stole it back wasn't it? When he left it in his bag?”

“Yes,” she looked forlorn. “I was just scared someone would find out what I had done; and then you and Hermione were petrified. I did try to make sure you were alright. I snuck into the Hospital Wing to visit you.”

“I know I saw you… well sort of… it's difficult to explain.”

“I'm so sorry.” She seemed on the verge of tears again.

“Look its fine, there's no harm done. Why don't we just forget about it and start again?” She held out her hand, “hello Ginny my name's Alice.”

The youngest Weasley cracked a smile for the first time since she had come into the room. “I'm Ginny Weasley; it's nice to meet you, I've heard a lot about you.”

It was with mixed feelings that Alice boarded the Hogwarts Express the following day. Obviously her main emotion was sadness at departing Hogwarts and her impending separation from her friends. It had been such an odd year though, with so much fear and upset in it that a tiny part of her was almost relieved that it was the holidays and that they could start afresh come September.

Trying not to permanently injure people with her overly heavy trunk she dragged it along the corridor and into the compartment which she, Harry, Neville and Hermione had commandeered along with all the Weasley's.

“Oh for goodness sake,” she exclaimed in frustration, “this is ridiculous!” Pulling out her wand she levitated her trunk up into the rack.

“Alice!” Hermione looked mildly disapproving. “You know we aren't allowed to use magic outside of school.

“Yes but term isn't finished yet. It doesn't finish till we reach Platform 9 and 3/4,” she smiled sweetly as her friend huffed sceptically.

Suddenly a loud laugh over at the window distracted their attention. “Everyone quick! You have to come and look at this!” George Weasley was practically dancing with unconcealed glee.

“If it's another pair of idiots in a flying car I don't want to see,” Hermione quipped with a smirk as they all crowded round the window.

“Oi, I heard that,” Ron mock glared at her.

Climbing onto a seat so that she could see over everyone's heads Alice pressed her face against the glass and peered out at the station.

“What are we looking at?”

“That.”

“Where?”

“I can't see anything!”

“Shove over Ron I can't see past your big head!”

“Oh for goodness sake over there,” Fred pointed towards the station building, “quick or you'll miss it.”

Craning in the direction that he was pointing in Alice eventually saw what she was supposed to be looking at. Tucked around the side of the building, where he evidently thought no one could see, was Ron's older brother Percy. And he wasn't alone.

“Are they… holding hands?” George could hardly get the words out he was laughing so much at the sight of his older brother with a girl.

Fred who looked like all his Christmases had come at once whooped loudly. “I think they're going to kiss!”

When his brothers whooped and cheered as Fred was proved right Alice was torn between amusement at their actions and a slight sympathy for Percy. To have half your family and their friends spying on you when you were saying goodbye to someone would be mortifying; her mouth seemed to disagree with her brain however as she felt it pulling into a smile as a result of the infectious laughter in the carriage.

“We are going to have so much fun this summer!” She could almost see the plans forming in the twins' brains as they watched.

Whether he heard them, or sensed them looking or just happened to glance up at that moment, Percy suddenly caught sight of them all grinning out of the carriage window like fools at him.

“Ooh look out! I think we've been spotted!” Fred and George dropped comically into a crouch as the rest of them retreated from the window.

“I think it's a bit late for that,” Ginny remarked sagely as Percy strode towards their carriage, swiftly turning a respectable puce and spluttering indignantly.

“Really?” George glanced up at his sister looking entirely genuine.

Alice rolled her eyes, they were completely incorrigible. Looking back outside she saw that Percy had stopped several feet from their window and was gesticulating wildly. However whether the glass was too thick to hear him properly or he was simply incoherent with rage she couldn't make out what he was saying properly; she suspected it was a bit of both.

“… Here NOW!… little toe rags… people, it's not nice!… You wait… Mum… SEVERELY disappointed!” His diatribe was suddenly cut short as a shrill whistle sounded to signal that the train was about to move off. Casting about himself in sudden confusion, Percy realised that he was alone on the platform and swiftly made a mad dash to get on to the train. Fred and George who had poked their noses above the windowsill just in time to see him sprinting headlong across to the nearest door promptly collapsed on the floor laughing again, which set the rest of them off in turn. They were still all chuckling a few minutes later as they settled down to enjoy the rest of their journey and their last few hours together before the summer properly began.

Once they had played several games of Exploding Snap, eaten their fill from the tea trolley and been treated to a demonstration of the spell that the twins had used to create a distraction for them all those months ago, Alice fell to gazing out of the window. Outside the wild and rugged peaks of the sort that surrounded Hogwarts had disappeared and been replaced by wide green fields and rolling hills, just another indication that they were on their way home. Well for most of them, for Alice it felt like she was leaving home.

“What's up?” Hermione, who had been deep in “friendly debate” with Ron over something turned to look at her best friend with concern.

“Nothing.”

Hermione raised her eyebrows sceptically. “Sure.”

Alice grinned; she never was much good at lying to her friend. “I'm just sad to be leaving that's all. I wish it was the start of next term already.”

“Well I'm sure it will be soon enough. I'm so glad Professor Kreevain is staying on next year though, it'll make such a difference don't you think?”

Alice nodded in agreement. She had been over the moon when she discovered that Dumbledore was keeping the new History of Magic Professor on. They wouldn't have her all the time as she would be sharing duties with Professor Binns, which would keep him employed and still allow her time to write her books. Alice would have loved to have known how Dumbledore got Binns to agree to the new arrangement; at least it showed that he was aware of some of his staff's ineptitudes and was willing to do something about it. Now all they had to do was get rid of Snape and classes would be perfect.

“Do you think anything is going to happen next year?” Ginny asked, looking curious and slightly pensive at the same time.

“Nothing out of the ordinary surely, well ordinary for Hogwarts,” Ron amended himself, “I mean how often can we have stuff happen to us?”

Harry, Alice and Hermione all turned to look at him incredulously. “You said that last year!”

“Well,” he stuck his chin out mulishly, “it might be true one year.”

“The key word in that sentence ickle-Ronniekins, “Fred grabbed his brother and ruffled his hair, “is might. And it certainly won't be ordinary if we have anything to do with it.”

“Gerroff!” Ron swatted at him to no effect, when he moved for his Spello-taped wand however, Fred promptly let go and put his hands up in surrender.

“Please no, not the mental wand!” He swooned theatrically, “that thing is terrifying.”

“It's useless is what it is,” Ron stared at it glumly as it fizzed and sparked in his hand.

Hermione smiled in sympathetic amusement. “You never know, your Mum might buy you one for next year.”

“You've never met my Mum properly; she'll just say it serves me right and that we can't afford it. Nope, I reckon if we do have any adventures or emergencies next year then it'll just be me and the broken twig.”

Once they eventually pulled into Platform 9 and 3/4 those returning to the Muggle world quickly scribbled down their phone numbers and passed them out amongst the group, “just in case,” as Hermione put it. Alice was just tucking the slips of paper into her pocket when Harry elbowed her in the ribs.

“Look over there - don't make it obvious though.”

Glancing surreptitiously through her eyelashes in the direction he had nodded she spotted something that made her grin. Standing at the far end of the Platform was a thoroughly chastised looking Draco Malfoy, with the couple she recognised from her first trip to Hogwarts as his parents. For reasons she suspected she knew, Mr Malfoy seemed furious and was hissing irately at his son. The former school Governor also looked slightly less well kept than usual, almost as though he hadn't gotten much sleep lately and was lacking the services of a family house-elf.

“Good to see there is some justice in the world then,” she and Harry smirked at each other as they made their way with all their friends towards the Platform's exit. Once they had waited their turn and been allowed through she spotted Carol from the Home waiting for her on the Muggle platform. “Well I better go,” she hugged each of them in turn - even Ginny. “I'll keep in touch, and you better all write back,” she informed the boys doing a passable impression of Hermione at her most stern.

“Ok Alice,” Hermione sniffed as she began to walk away. “See you next year - if not before!”

“Yeah, bye.”

“Don't do anything we wouldn't,” the twins yelled at her retreating back.

“Bye everybody!”

A/N: Well there you go, that's it for another year! Hope you've enjoyed, I know this last chapter was a bit slow, but it was mostly just about tying up a few loose ends really. Keep reviewing and stay tuned for Year 3!

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