The next morning. Drayden had teleported himself, Trinity, and Sora back to Hogwarts. Drayden was telling Trinity about Demona's visit, "Can you believe that harpy?" He asked as they stepped through the Great Hall. Many of the students had begun eating their breakfast. They took their seats at the table by Henry.
"Hey bro," Drayden greeted him.
"Hey, guys!" He replied.
"You ready for today?"
"Yeah! I've already asked Oliver Wood to help me with flying practice! He said yes!"
"That's awesome man!"
"Yeah, hopefully, he'll help me get the skills to become a Quidditch player!" That's when Drayden saw Ron wrapping tape around his wand, "Ron, what happened?" He asked. Ron looked at him awkwardly
"I may have broken my wand during that crash yesterday... we don't have the money to spend for a new one."
"Dang, does it still work?"
"I'm not sure, I'll find out in charms class?" An owl zoomed in, narrowly missing Trinity, and crash landing into the potatoes. In his beak was a red letter,
"Oh no." Ron whimpered.
"Oh man," Henry added.
"Look at that! Weasley's got himself a Howler!" Someone from Slytherin called out.
"Something wrong?" Trinity asked, "It's just a letter in a red envelope, right?"
"Oh, just watch," Drayden said in horror, as the owl took off.
"Smart bird," Sora commented.
Ron took a deep breath, eyes filled with fear, he peeled off the red sticker, instantaneously the envelope jumped to life!
"Ronald Weasley!" It yelled, mimicking Mrs. Weasley's voice, "How dare you steal that car! I am absolutely disgusted! Your father is facing an inquiry at work, and it is all your fault! If you put another toe out of line, we will bring you right back home!" Then it turned around to face Ginny, "Oh and Ginny dear, congratulations on making Gryffindor. Your father and I are so proud!" Ginny looked away, slightly embarrassed. The Howler then spat at Ron with its tongue before ripping itself apart.
" Well?" Drayden looked over at Trinity, "You just witnessed a Howler." He said. "Any thoughts?"
"That was pretty cool... Theoretically speaking," he replied.
"Yeah, that may not have been the best first impression."
"Definitely not." Ron shoved his face into his hands, hiding away his completely red face.
Breakfast went by quickly, after the incident with the Howler. The students began departing for their first class. Drayden took out his timetable,
"Okay, first we got Herbology." He listed. He looked at Trinity, "This is something that doesn't require any spellcasting." Trinity nodded, and they began heading off. "Besides Henry and me, Sora needs to learn how to take care of plants that are used in the potions he makes for us," Drayden explained to Trinity. Professor Sprout stood outside of the entrance to the greenhouse. She lit up when she saw the group,
"Ah! Good morning you four!"
"Morning Professor." Drayden and Henry replied.
"Drayden, your brother and guardian can go on ahead. I would like to give Trinity this," She held out a class robe to Trinity.
"Oh, why thank you." Trinity accepted the outfit.
"Us professors believed it'll help you blend in and cause less of a distraction for students."
"I understand, I'll get changed right away."
"We'll see you then Trinity!" Henry waved.
"Yes- oh and don't forget the garden robes!" Sprout reminded them as they entered. They all took their places around class, with Sprout standing at the front. A greenhouse bench stretched across the room, with plants sticking out from the dirt.
"Good morning Class!" Professor Sprout said.
"Good morning Professor Sprout!" Everyone echoed. She smiled, nodding,
"Welcome to Greenhouse three, second years." She said. Now today we will be repotting Mandrakes." She told them, "Now who can tell me about properties of the Mandrake root?" She asked, only for Hermione to raise her hand, "Yes Miss Granger!"
"Mandrake is used to return those who have been transfigured to their original state. It's also quite dangerous. The Mandrake's cry is fatal to anyone who hears it," answered Hermione.
"Excellent! Ten Points to Gryffindor. As our Mandrakes are only seedlings, their cries won't kill yet. However, they will knock you out for several hours. That is why I have provided each of you with a pair of earmuffs. If you would then..." She grasps a tufty plant before her and begins to pull. Harry gasp, instead of roots, a small and dirty baby pops out of the pot with leaves growing on its head. A kid with dark hair faints and falls to the ground. The creature begins to cry, as Sprout puts it deep into the pot, then she takes off her earmuff, as well as everyone else. Sprout looks over, "Hmph, seems as though Mr. Longbottom neglected his muff." She says.
"No Ma'am, He just fainted." Explained a boy.
"Very well, we'll just leave him then. Come now, four to a tray, plenty of pots to go round!"
Drayden looks at Trinity, "Well, your head of house, any thought?"
"Mean, she seems like a nice person," Trinity said," Haven't really gotten to know her that much."
"Hey I just remembered an old-fashioned Mandrake harvesting technique," Drayden said. "First we need some rope." He said. He grabbed some lying out on the table, "And now a dog." He raised an expectant eye on Sora.
"Is this necessary?" Sora asked, "You can just grab it with your hands," Drayden handed him the rope,
"C'mon," He said. Sora sighed, Drayden began tying the rope to the Mandrake,
"Mr. Blaze, I would ask that you stop this-"
"Alright, pull!" Sora began pulling; the Mandrake came out, with no cry.
"Ta-dah!" Drayden held up the mandrake. Few of the classmates applauded.
"Yes, thank you Drayden, now please return the creature to its pot and not go against class safety rules."
"What? I didn't disobey any rule!"
"Permission to perform that technique wasn't given clearance by me. That technique did not always work and deemed not as safe for both the user and the mandrake."
"But no one did get hurt." Sprout only shakes her head at the response.
Next class was Defense Against the Dark Arts. "Oh, brother." Drayden groaned as they entered the classroom. "Well good afternoon class," said Lockhart,
"Good afternoon," Everyone said.
"..." Drayden only stared.
"Let me introduce you to your new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher. Me! Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League and five times winner of Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award- But I don't talk about that. I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her!" There is silence, only a few students smile.
"Trinity," He heard a voice whisper behind him, he turned around to see Chirithy, "Come on, there are heartless here," Trinity nodded, running off as Chirithy disappeared.
"Ah, I see you've all bought a complete set of my books. Well done. I thought we'd start today with a little quiz. Nothing to worry about, just to check how well you've read them, how well you've read them, how much you've taken in..." He begins handing out papers to everyone. Ron and Harry look at each other as they read the quiz,
"These are all questions about him?!" Ron whispers.
"'What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite color?'" Harry adds.
"'Greatest Achievement'?"
"'Birthday and Idea Gift'?"
"You have thirty minutes. Start- now!"
"I think I'll go face the Heartless thank you," Drayden said, grabbing his brother "Come on bro, fighting Heartless is the only form of Defense Against the Dark Arts you'll get."
"But my class-"
"As I said, you'll learn it out here" Henry stopped.
"Henry?" Drayden looked at him.
"Drayden... look I know that Gilderoy isn't the best but... I do have to take the class. If I don't I'll end up like last year and barely pass, I think you should go without me."
"No, no, come on! Trust me, you'll learn-"
"No, I won't!" Henry yelled, "You and I both know I can only learn spells from the professors..." The two just looked at each other,
"Henry..." Henry walked up to him, pulling him into a hug,
"It's okay, we'll fight them together some other time."
"Fine," Drayden said. He turned away, walking away with Sora, "Ugh, the kid doesn't get it that that guy is an idiot." He added. Drayden and Sora walked down the hall, hoping to find Trinity. Sora stopped them,
"Wait, can you feel it?" he asked. The two looked around, a sense of dread fell over them. Skin began crawling, heart beating faster,
"So they are here." Drayden broke the silence. "Alright you freaks, you picked the worst day to go snatching hearts!" He summoned his keyblade and morphed into his dragon form. As he did, multiple heartless appeared from the shadows, "So you idiots are gonna be going out with a burn."
Sora raised his shield, charging forward. Drayden jumped upward, Sora held his shield above his head, allowing Drayden to bounce off,
"Fire Tornado!" Drayden casted as he spun in a circle, forcing the enemies in a wave of fire. The Heartless disappeared, save for a couple. Sora threw his shield, finishing off the rest, "That's right!" Drayden cheered.
"Say, where did Trinity go? I didn't see him leave earlier."
"I heard him with my dragon's hearing," Drayden said, "Let me try and find him with my vision," Drayden focused for a second, then he began to see a figure fighting more heartless in the Western Tower.
"Found him," Drayden said, "Let's go." They began making their way down the corridor.
"Huh?" Something zoomed by the two of them. They looked up to see a blue pixie fairy dancing around in the air, giggling at them.
"Drayden! Catch it!" A familiar voice called at him. He and Sora looked back to see Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Henry running towards them.
"Lockhart let out some Cornish pixies, and they're getting out of control! Quick!" She pointed to one fluttering around.
"I got it!" Sora jumped up, catching it in a bottle.
"Nice!" Drayden said. Henry and Ron came running out,
"Three more got away!" Ron said.
"Let's find them!" Drayden said. Everyone nodded, running out to find the rest of the pixies.
Drayden, Henry, and Sora ran down the hall.
"Look out!" Henry called, Heartless appeared in front of them.
"Let's show them what for!" Sora yelled. Drayden dove forward with his keyblade,
"Fire!" He sprayed a wave of fireballs at the heartless.
"Thunder!" Henry casted, aiming at the group of heartless. One got close, swiping at Henry, "...!" That's when Sora jumped in the way, blocking the attack. He shoved it back with his shield. Drayden looked up to see a small blue object,
"There!" He pointed out, "Hermione do you have a spell to hold them in place?" Drayden asked. Swinging his blade.
"Ready?" Hermione asked Henry, who gave the nod,
"Immobilus!" They raised their wands, freezing the pixie in place.
Drayden caught it,
"One down!" He said, putting it into another bottle.
"C'mon!" Harry called. The group followed him,
"Wands ready!" He said as another group of heartless appeared, Wizards.
"Incedio!" Hermione casted. It one of the heartless, making it disappear.
"Ha!" Sora threw his shield as a wheel, letting it mow down another set of heartless.
"Babillious!" Harry flicked his wand, finishing off the other heartless.
As soon as they were done, "Well I think..." Ron stopped, looking up, "Neville how'd you get up there?"
"This pixie did something to me," he pointed to another pixie, cackling at the floating boy.
"Immobilus!" Harry raised his wand, rendering the pixie immobile. It fell into Sora's hands, who put it in a bottle.
"That makes two," Ron said.
"Where could the last one be?" Henry said.
Meanwhile…
An Invisible floats around in the corridor, looking for students to attack. That's when it hears something move behind it, it turns and parries its attacker just in time. Trinity fell back,
"Sliding Dash!" Trinity dashed forward, striking rapidly at the heartless, it groans as it disappears. "Phew," Trinity sighed as he rubbed his forehead. That's when Trinity notices something flying past, it was a blue pixie. It giggles as it looks at him, it flies down to him, "Well hey there." he greets it. He raises a finger up to it, "Ah!" It bit him! The pixie laughs before flying off, "Hey!" He begins chasing after it. Eventually, he pursues it into a corner, where it only flies upwards over him.
"Bark!" Han hops out and sits on Trinity's head,
"Get it, boy!" Trinity took Han and tossed him upward. Han grabs the pixie, but begins falling down towards some stairs! "Han!" Trinity quickly thought, raising his wand, "W-Wengardium leviosa!" He flicked it towards Han. Han slowly began to slow down, landing safely on the ground.
"Brk!" Han barked with the struggling pixie. Trinity picked it up,
"Just what exactly are you now?" He said.
"That's a Pixie." A voice in front of Trinity said. He looked up to see Drayden and the others walking up the stairs. "Also, how did you pull off that Levitation Spell?" Drayden asked.
"Oh hey," Trinity waved to them. He then held up his wand to show them, "Professor Dumbledore apparently said I can learn to use the spells if I use the wand keychain. And it's thanks to the book Henry gave me that I was able to already practice some of the basics." Drayden grinned,
"Huh, just like me! I didn't realize Dumbledore had another keychain."
"Come on! We have to get these guys back to the classroom!" Ron said.
"Right, come on Trinity!"
"Wait I have an idea," Drayden took out a pack of Drooble Gum and opened it, "Pixies love sweet things." He said, placing it in Lockhart's office.
"Right, put it in the cage," Hermione said. Drayden and Harry began sorting the honey into the cages.
"Alright, let them out," Harry told them. They let loose of the pixies, which flew into the cages without hesitation. They locked them in,
"That'll do," Sora said.
The group stood outside the classroom, robes a little torn,
"Can you believe him? He's a mad man!" Ron said.
"I'm sure Professor Lockhart just wanted to give us a hands-on experience," Hermione replied.
"Hands on? Hermione, he clearly didn't know what he was doing," said Harry.
"Yeah! I mean he let them toss his same out the window!" Added Henry.
"Should we tell someone?" Trinity asked.
"I will," Drayden said, "You coming, Henry? Sora?" The two nodded and began walking off.
"Ugh, if you guys read his books you'd know how amazing Lockhart really is."
"Yeah right," Ron said, "Lot of rubbish he is."
Lunch begins, everyone is enjoying their meals.
"And then Neville was up in the air with one!" Ron was telling a brother if his, who responded with laughter.
"Well after we're going to be practicing more Quidditch," Harry was telling Drayden
"Show me again! Show me!" Henry asked Trinity, who raised his wand at his cup,
"Wingardium Leviosa!" The cup began floating.
"You know Trinity, I really am starting to doubt that you're not a Wizard."
"Well, it is only because of my keyblade that I am able to use magic," Trinity replied, "I'm not sure I could actually channel any magic without it."
"If you need help with those tricky spells," Drayden said, "You could ask Hermione here, Girl's a regular Mistress of Magic." He said. "Now Hermione, when correcting someone on improper wand movement and pronunciation how do we do it?" He asked. She rolled her eyes. Drayden had been helping Hermione with her bossy approach ever since her first year. Though it was a struggle for him, she was showing some improvement.
"..." she didn't say anything, just continued eating.
"C'mon..." She let out a sigh,
"We say it nicely and not so boss-like" she finally replied.
Drayden just hugged her, "Was that so hard?"
A little while later, the group sat, discussing their next activity,
"The first Quidditch practice is after this! I don't have any other classes for a while," Henry informed them, "We'll be going there next, right?"
"Well, that is if you want to see it, Trinity?" Drayden asked him.
"I'm up for anything," Trinity replied.
"Okay let's get going," Drayden said. They stood up and walked over to Oliver Wood, "Excuse me, would it be alright if Trinity here watched with us?" Oliver smiled,
"But of course! I don't see why not! I was just about to get set up with the others, why don't you come along?" As soon as Lunch ended, the four followed Wood. They walked out to the Quidditch stadium, meeting up with another group. Wood rested a hand on Trinity's shoulder, "Trinity, these are Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet," He then pointed to the last girl, "And Katie Bell, our Chaser." Drayden blushed at the sight of her. They all waved at Trinity, who returned it with his own. "Alright," Woods began, "Let's get ready, shall we?"
They all headed out to a large field, surrounded by bleachers and stands. However, they were met with another group.
"Um, Wood, you did reserve the Pitch for just Gryffindor and no one else right?" Drayden asked.
"I did," he said. They walked over to meet the other group. It was the Slytherin quidditch team, "Clear out Flint, I booked the pitch for Gryffindor today."
"Easy Wood, I've got a note-" Flint holds it out, Wood takes it.
"'I, Professor Severus Snape, do
hereby give the Slytherin team
permission to practice today,
owing to the need to train their new Seeker,'" Wood looks up, "You've got a new seeker? Who?" That's when Malfoy walks up to the front.
"Draco?" Harry says.
"That's right, and that's not all that's new this year," Malfoy says. The whole team holds up their broom,
"Those are Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones?!" Ron says.
"A generous gift from Draco's father," Flint explains.
"Tch, Bribery. Your pathetic Malfoy!" Drayden sneered.
"Stick it, Scales," Malfoy replied.
"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in. They got in on pure talent," Hermione retorts.
"No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood." Everyone gasp, looking at Draco. Fred, George, and Drayden reach for Malfoy, but Woods holds them back,
"Let's save it for the match," he tells them. That's when Ron whips out his wand,
"You'll pay for that! Eat Slugs!" His land flickers green, before zapping himself. He falls to the ground.
"Ron, are you okay bro?" Drayden asked.
Everyone backs off as three slugs begin to fall out of Ron's mouth. The Slytherin team candles with laughter, Ron attempts to stand up, infuriated, but chokes out another slug.
"Wow! Can you hold him still Harry?!" Colin says as he suddenly approaches with his camera.
"Get out of the way Colin!" Harry yells, "Let's take him to Hagrid!" Trinity raises his keyblade,
"Esuna," he whispered. A bright light develops around Ron, disappearing in less than a second. Ron begins coughing for a few seconds,
"Wait... I Think I'm alright now," he says.
"Let's take him to Hagrid anyway," Henry says.
They soon got to Hagrid's Hut. Hagrid offered Ron some Treacle Fudge, "Jus' in case tha' spell doesn't hold," He says, "Exactly who was Ron trying to curse anyway?"
"Malfoy, he called Hermione a..." Harry stalled, "...well I don't know what it means."
"A Mudblood, He called Hermione a Mudblood!" Drayden answered.
Hagrid gasped,
"He didn't..."
"He did!" Harry gave a slight face of confusion, Hermione had noticed,
"It means dirty blood," She began to explain, "Mudblood's a really foul name for someone who was Muggle-born. Someone with non-magic parents. Someone... like me. It's not a term one usually hears in civilized conversation..." Hermione looked down.
"Exactly," Drayden said, " That's why I wanted to give Malfoy what was coming to him!"
"The thing is that; There are wizards like the Malfoys, who think they're better than everyone else because their what's known as Pureblood," Sora explained.
"You mentioned that before," Trinity told Drayden, "You said that the Malfoy family only believed purebloods were superior, does magic become stronger the more of it that's in your blood?" Drayden growled, looking down.
"Though its very little, magic 'as been shown to be better when the user has more wizards in their family." Hagrid explains, "Some people aren't fortunate te be able to wield their magic at all. A term we use for some of them is Squibs."
"But that doesn't mean they aren't any less of a wizard for not having pureblood!" Drayden roared with fire, "Magic is magic! No matter how you look at it!"
"Drayden, calm down," Henry warned, "We'll get Malfoy for what he did later-"
"No, it's fine," Hermione whimpered, "There's no need to go all out for me…"
"What are you talking about Hermione?! What Malfoy did was uncalled for, he needs to pay!" Drayden said.
"Now Drayden, ye let me and Hagrid handle this ya 'ear?" Hagrid told him, "We just need to calm down for now." Everyone said nothing for a while. Trinity glanced over to Hermione, who appeared to be trying to hold back tears. He gave a deep breath, walking over to her,
"Look, I may not be like you," He said, resting a hand on her shoulder, "I may, in fact, be a muggle to your eyes considering only my weapon gives me my magic. However, I do know that your ability to do something is worthless if you have no one to share it with. From what I've heard from these guys, Hermione, I believe you are a very highly regarded student. To allow someone to try and talk you down, will only push them to be right." He kept his gaze at a window because he knew to look at her would make him emotional as well. He knew though, she was looking up at him. Maybe wondering why a stranger was trying to comfort her with cheesy lines.
"It's things like that why I hate the Malfoy, I can't stand bigots," Drayden said.
"Yeah, who cares where you come from Hermione," Henry added. "Without you, how would we get through all our homework?"
"Not to mention you advise me on my potions." Sora said, "You are way more of a wizard than Draco will ever be."
The day passed through, Drayden, Sora, and Trinity teleported back to the home of the Gargoyles.
"Harry with that whack job for detention? That isn't detention, that's ego inflation!" Drayden cried. He then realized who was on the chair watching TV, "Oh, Hudson, What are you doing here?" He asked, hoping the Gargoyle didn't see their entrance. The old gargoyled turned to them.
"Hey, Drayden!" Hudson greeted them, "I was just watchin' the um... well it's something. How was school? Henry doing alright?"
"Yeah, he's great," Drayden replied, "Right Sora?" He asked nudging his dog.
"Yeah! He seems to really enjoy his new classes!" Sora said.
"Ah, well that's good to hear!" Hudson notices Trinity, "Uh, Trinity, was it? How are you enjoying your trip there?"
"It's quite the experience." He replied.
"Ha! Ain't it?" Hudson laughed.
"So where are the others?" Asked Drayden.
"Huh? Like heck if I'd know, Brooklyn is somewhere in the kitchen and Bronx well..." he patted at the dog below him.
"Alright, thanks," Drayden replied, "You heading out Trinity?"
"Yeah, I suppose I should," Trinity said.
"Then you have a good night," Sora said.
"Thanks, see you guys tomorrow!" Trinity began walking home. Drayden waved him off, heading next to the kitchen, finding Brooklyn rummaging through the fridge.
"I thought Broadway was usually the one in here." Drayden said joked, "Brooklyn, you alright?"
"Augh! Someone took the ham leg I was saving!" Brooklyn said as he continued to look through the fridge.
"You know you have to put your name on it," Sora said.
"It was in my spot of the fridge!"
"Let's calm down Brooklyn," Drayden said, "We'll go out and get you more food tomorrow."
"Yeah! Say let's make you something real quick!" Sora said.
"With your cooking? Yes please!" Brooklyn cackled.
Drayden whipped up some Homemade Pork Ramen. He never believed in that instant junk. " Here we go, Bro." He said sliding him a bowl. "So did Lexington and Angela tell you about last night?" He asked. Whenever Drayden had encounters with Demona, Brooklyn would start getting into an overprotective older brother mode.
"Yeah... she hurt you any?"
"No-"
"I bet not, can't believe she was walking away after you blew her through the wall!"
"Err, how is the wall?" Sora asked.
"Ah, it's well enough now for you to sleep back in. Broadway and Hudson fixed most of it."
"Great, I really didn't want to sleep on the floor again."
"So what did the old bat want anyway?" Brooklyn asked Drayden.
"I'm not sure, but she seemed to know about Trinity,"
"Oh yeah?"
"She said that I shouldn't have brought him here..."
"Bah! What does she know? You're clearly having a good time with him, I don't see what's wrong with that."
"I don't know either..."
Meanwhile...
Henry, Ron, and Hermione were walking down an empty corridor, going to see Harry after he had finished detention. They had just found him at the end of The next corner.
"Harry where were you?" Henry asked his cousin.
"Did you all just hear that?" Harry asked. Harry wore a look of worry and fear.
"Hear what?" Ron asked.
"That... voice."
"Voice? What voice?" Hermione asked. Harry continued to look around,
"I heard it first in Lockhart's office and then again, just-" Harry stopped, it seemed like he was listening... to what?
"It's moving..." He says, "I think it's going to... kill." Harry begins to sprint off.
"Harry!" Henry runs after him. Ron and Hermione exchanged a glance, following after. Henry, Ron, and Hermione give chase to Harry, who is dashing at incredible speed. He turns around a corner, Henry and the others are stopped by a group of heartless. Two shadows and a barrier master approach the trio.
"Can't we settle this like civilized folk?" Hermione asked. Ron raised his wand,
"Wait," Henry says, handing him a small bag, "Use these."
"Thanks," Ron took out a bottle with green liquid, he threw it at the Barrier Master. One of the Shadow's lunged at Henry, tearing into his chest,
"Agh!" He gasped. He holds up his wand, "Thundara!" He summons lighting and strikes the Barrier Master, forcing it to flee.
"Incendio!" Hermione cast, shooting one of the Shadows with a blast of fire. One Shadow remained.
"Fira!" Henry shouted as he blasted the last one away. Harry continued to run in the direction of the voice.
"Harry wait, not so fast!" Hermione called as She, Henry, and Ron ran after Harry. They came to a hallway, flooded with water all over the floor. Harry saw something in the reflection a message on the wall he looked up to read it correctly.
"Harry?" Ron says.
"The... Chamber of Secrets has been opened?" Hermione reads the wall.
"Enemies of The Heir beware…" Henry finished.
"What is that?" Ron points to a small figure hanging upside down from a torch bracket.
"It's... Filch's cat!" Harry gasp. Henry looks up at a nearby window to see spiders scurrying out.
"Look at that!" He alerts the others.
"Have you ever seen spiders act like that? Ron?" Hermione ask. Ron slowly backs away,
"I... Don't... Like... Spiders..." he says.
"We better get out of here," Harry said. But it was too late students began to file into the corridor left and right. One of the first to see the writing was Malfoy,
"Enemies of the Heir beware!" Malfoy sneered. He looked towards Hermione, "You'll be next, mudbloods!"
"What's going on here?!" Said Filch as he pushed his way past the crowd, "Make way, make way...! Mrs. Norris!" He gasped. His expression turned to pure anger as he saw Harry, "You... y-you murdered my cat! I'll kill you! I'll-!"
"Argus!" Yelled Dumbledore, who appeared with a group of other teachers. He began to read the wall, his face darkened. He looked at the crowd of students, "Everyone will proceed to their rooms!" He looked at Harry, Henry, Ron, and Hermione, "Except you four." The group began to disperse. Lockhart studied Mrs. Norris,
"It was definitely a curse that killed her..." he began, "probably the
Transmogrifian Torture. Encountered it myself once, in Ouagadougou. The full story's in my autobiography..."
"She's not dead," Dumbledore interrupted, "She's been petrified."
"Precisely! So unlucky I wasn't there. I know the very countercurse that could have spared her..."
"How she has been petrified... I do not know..." That's when Filch pointed at Harry,
"Ask him! It's him that's done it. You saw what he wrote on the wall! Besides, he knows I'm - I'm a squib."
"A squib?" Henry asked, shocked.
"If I may," said a figure from the shadows, it was Professor Snape, "I believe Potter and his friends were just in the wrong place at the wrong time." Everyone blinked, not believing that Snape was defending Harry, "However, the circumstances are suspicious. I, for one, don't recall seeing Potter at dinner."
"I'm afraid that was my doing, Severus," Lockhart raised his hand, "Mr. Potter was helping me sort through some fan mail..." Snape gives a hint of disgust in his face.
"That's why we went to go look for him, Professor," Hermione stepped in, "That's when we heard Harry say-" she quickly stopped herself. Snake raised an eye.
"Yes, Miss Granger?"
"When I said I wasn't hungry. We were heading back to the Common Room, and... found Mrs. Norris," Harry lied. Snake stared at the four of them, saying nothing.
"Innocent until proven guilty," Dumbledore said.
"My cat has been petrified," Filch yelled as he still sobbed, " I wanna see some punishment!"He shouted.
"We will be able to cure her, Argus. As I understand it, Madam Sprout has a very healthy growth of Mandrakes. When they have matured, a potion will be made which will revive Mrs. Norris. In the meantime, I advise caution. To all." All the professors nodded. Dumbledore looked at Harry and his friends, "You four shall return to your room as well." The four of them nodded in reply, turning to leave.
"Harry," Henry began, "You said there was a voice, in Lockhart's room?"
"Yes," Harry replied.
"Did Lockhart hear it?" Hermione asked.
"He said he didn't,"
"He might've been lying," added Ron.
"Please, I hardly think someone with Gilderoy Lockhart's credentials would lie to one of his students, Ronald. Besides, if you recall, we didn't hear anything either," Said Hermione.
"I don't know..." Henry says, "He did say he would handle the Cornish pixies..."
"Anyway," Hermione groaned.
"So you believe me?" Asked Harry.
"Of course we do," Henry nodded.
"Yes but it's... just odd it's a bit weird, isn't it? You hear this voice and then... Mrs. Norris turns up Petrified..." Hermione says.
"I can't explain it... it was scary... maybe I should have told them..." Harry looked down.
"Are you mad?!" Ron stammers.
"No, Harry. Even in the wizarding world, hearing voices isn't a good sign," Said Hermione.
"Do you think it might have something to do with the Heartless?" Ron asked, looking at Henry. Henry shrugged,
"I don't know..."
