Disclaimer: I do not own Hogwarts, Harry Potter, or any other places or characters, etc. in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter Series.

Rated: T

Chapter 4: Phasing

Petrified. That was the condition in which the Ravenclaw student was found. The friends of second year student, Rostil Gomer, noticed Rostil's absence a little after 9. They had thought he was in his room, turning in for the night before the rest of them, since it was a thing he did often. They realized he was missing when they went up themselves. They told the prefect, who informed the head of house, who then called upon the headmaster, who launched a search by the staff. Mr. Pringle had found Rostil in the hall of the knights of armour, near the Trophy room. The whole hall was wet, with a couple of the knights knocked over in the water. Mr. Pringle was muttering about how the armour was all going to rust now when he noticed the young boy at the far end of the hall. Rostil was huddled in between the legs of one suit of armour, staring wide eyed at the knight's shiny leg plate. It certainly was an uncomfortable position to be frozen in and it was a bit of a challenge to transport him to the hospital wing all curled into a ball as well.

Morning in the Great Hall was quiet, except for Trix. She seemed to remember her support to the heir of Salazar Slytherin, for she was cheering the heir's efforts in a quiet voice. Rostil Gomer was muggle-born, and Trix was grinning like a cat as she declared that the rest of them will follow his fate as well. The Ravenclaws stared death at Trix every time she released a muffled giggle, but she was not paying them any attention. Professor Dumbledore, Professor Slughorn, Professor Beery (Herbology), Professor Merrythought (Defense against the Dark Arts), and Madam Blossom (Nurse) were not present as they were all trying to find a way to cure Rostil.

Letters had been sent that morning to families. And by noon-time mail, the Great Hall could have passed to be the Owlery. Even I had a letter from my mother. She was concerned but not about the larger scale events happening at school though, for her letter said:

Naglia,

Stay out of trouble, and out of young Miss Black's way. Try to make friends with her not enemies by insulting her. She is from one of the top pureblood families. And remember to smile once in awhile as well.

-Mother

I burned the letter right on the spot without even having to lift up my wand. I was getting better at non-verbal magic. As I finished up the rest of lunch, Peeves came into the Great Hall. He fleeted around Headmaster Dippet's head hollering, "There's more blood on the wall! The Chamber is real, and the monster is loose! Who's the heir of sly old Salazar?!" He stretched out the name in an opera fashion. It was a no wonder Peeves was dead; how could anyone stand him? Wait, Peeves is not a ghost, right, that's why they cannot just exorcize him. All the same, what Peeves said seemed to be true, though none of the students were permitted to go down that particular hall. I waited until next class. I was sure to find out then what was written on the wall. My next class was Defense Against the Dark Arts with Professor Merrythought.

"Professor, what exactly is the chamber of secrets?" asked a brave Gryffindor in my Defense Against the Dark Arts class. The whole class leaned forward to hear the answer as they held their breath.

"Well, you see… There were the four heads of Hogwarts when it was founded, and three of the founders, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff did not agree to a certain condition Slytherin wanted to place on the type of students that attended. Purebloods, in Slytherin's opinion, were the only class of people he felt should have the privilege to learn magic. In his anger at the others for rejecting his idea, he built what is described in the legends as the Chamber of Secrets. The purpose of the creature within was to fulfill Slytherin's dream of having a pureblood school. History also speaks of him leaving Hogwarts after constructing the chamber. He closed the chamber to be opened by his future heir when his bloodline should return to the school. He was never seen again after that…"

"So, Professor, nobody knows where this chamber is after all these years?" asked Tom.

"No one, Tom, though many searches were conducted, no one could find it. People had begun to consider it a fairy tale until these events… Mr. Gomer in the hospital wing can assure us that it is no myth; if he could move to say so… It would be hard to convince anyone that the condition Mr. Gomer is in is just the aftermath of a simple stunning spell. The magic influence that boy is under is of the Dark Arts or the effect of the monster the heir is claiming to be in the chamber. Most definitely not average class material though…All of us, professors, have attempted one spell or another on the boy… But to no avail. In fact, Professor Vitate (Charms) had tried just before lunch to charm Mr. Gomer awake, and instead all the windows and curtains in the room were opened. We will have to search up another remedy and set into motion enchantments that take various processes to procure. Professor Beery has his work cut out for him, for herbological remedies are not easy things to brew up. And by not knowing exactly what this monster is, none of us truly know what we are trying to cure…"

"Will Rostil never wake up?" asked a sombre faced Gryffindor girl.

"We do not know that yet… But we know that he is not dead, because he shows some vitality…"

"What do you mean, Professor?"

"His soul, essentially, still inhabits his body… Enough, let's get back to learning, shall we…"

"But Professor, what is the monster?" asked a blond haired Slytherin boy.

"If anyone knew that, Mr. Humbyt, we would not be having this problem today, right? Pay attention will you please, Mr. Humbyt, at least to my lessons so that I may feel that I am not completely wasting my time on you…Now-"

"-wait! Please Professor, one last question, can you tell us what was written on the walls again?"

"I am not sure I should… Professor Dippet did not particularly want the teachers to share this information until we have decided upon the next course of action…" Upon our insistence, Professor Merrythought had told us, "Alright, considering it will not be long before all you know anyways, and since I am sure Professor Dumbledore has already informed his students. He felt you had the right to know, and lucky for you bunch, I do agree with him."

According to Professor Merrythought, the heir had written in rooster blood:

The legend lives, and its hunger has not been satisfied yet…

It was a wakeup call to the school. The heir was telling them that this was no petty prank. People were becoming scared, especially mudbloods. Students had to be with a buddy always. My buddy was Madrie Hadras, a timid dark skinned girl in my year, and one of the girls I had been sharing a dormitory room with ever since first year. She was from a pureblood family in Africa. She was the youngest like me, and the only one of her three siblings to not to have married a muggle, at least for now. Trix often commented about how the hot air in Africa was muddling with her siblings' brains to make them do such atrocious things. I ended up with her because no one wanted to be with me, and she was too shy to ask anyone, not that I was asking around either.

The head of house, in our case Professor Slughorn, collected the names of the buddy pairings on a piece of parchment, which he routinely checked everyone off on every night to make sure everyone was back by seven. But who said people did not leave later in the night? Who was there to regulate that? Other than to watch the door out, of course, there was nothing keeping track of the number of students out at all times. And I assure you, we students with a strong resolve will be sure to find a way out. The halls were patrolled by the other teachers who were not heads of houses, but the teachers were no match to the number of halls in Hogwarts. So there was always a way to remain unseen…

Madrie truly should have been in Hufflepuff, and it seemed at times that she wanted to be in that house as well. During our buddy times, which were usually devoid of conversation, it seemed that Madrie had a habit of randomly bursting into talk about a personal thing that was bugging her. She told me that she was in Slytherin because she told the hat that she wanted to be in a house with as little muggle stuff as possible. It seemed she did not like how the rest of her family trifled with muggles so much and for once wanted to stay as far away from them as possible at school. Consequently, she ended up in Slytherin. I think she was jealous of all the attention her newest muggle sister-in-law got in trying to fit in with the wizard family. Besides that, she had nothing truly against muggles. She had nothing else in common with the rest of the Slytherin house beyond that point. She was interested in very different things from most of the other pureblood Slytherins, let alone the rest of the Hogwarts students. And Hufflepuff was the place for such students.

As two more weeks went by, I had learned many more odd things about Madrie, but did not care to share any secrets of my own. My secrets were not trifle things, like Madrie's secret hair treatment. She rubbed egg white in her hair before she showered to give it the shiny glow it had afterwards. She had various other natural beauty enhancing tricks as well, and it was no wonder that she particularly liked Herbology.

It was 10:30 on Tuesday night, and next door the Sisters were discussing Tom's scent. Incidentally, my room suspiciously smelled distinctly like olive oil, but I did not want to ask snoozing Madrie why it was so. She was snoring away in her bed, with her luminous curls splayed out around her head. The smell seemed to be coming precisely from the luminosity of those curls.

The Sly Sisters moved on to the subject of what type of food Tom seemed to like best. As interesting as the conversation next door may be, I had my hand on my head and my brow was scrunched up in worry, as Madrie continued to snore. I could already feel my grades begin to slide down, as the Ancient Runes homework in front of me began to blur. I had a migraine again. It made me vulnerable to phasing.

Fortunately, Madrie was deep asleep and the two other girls with whom I shared my room with were not yet in. One was Giselle Worton, who was downstairs spending time with her boyfriend, and the other was with Trix, since Tareese Fryth was a Sly Sister. I put aside my Ancient Runes work, vowing to finish it early next morning and began setting up my pillows and sheets so it looked like I was sleeping there in the emerald sheets. I pulled the black drapes closed around my bed, hoping that no one would even want to check on me. Usually when I come back things are how I left them.

I headed to the other side of the room. Between the beds of the Giselle and Tareese, there was an abandoned rat tunnel that I had sniffed out in my first year. Without my wand, which I set on the ground for easy access after, I turned into green snake with black diamond spots. I was becoming quiet adept at non-verbal spell casting, when it came to frequently cast spells, not that I was sure what I did required a spell. In my snake form, I peered around to make sure no one else had noticed my transformation. Madrie's blood was the only live scent in the room, and she was still snoring. I wondered if my other two roommates had gotten any sound amount of sleep in the last five years. Actually, it was only the last two years since Madrie had begun snoring. But all the same; I could not stand being in the enclosed dormitory on some nights.

Carefully, I swallowed my wand partway, and effectively wrapped my forked tongue around it so that only a part of it was protruding out of my mouth. In this way, I took my wand with me as I slithered through rat hole in search of a place away from the other students.

The tunnel opened up to the school hallways just behind a pillar near the wall. I slithered out, and while keeping to the side of the wall I dragged myself onwards to the library. It was much cooler out, but I felt a little warm. And it seemed my migraine was not left behind when I changed forms. My eyesight was out of focus and I was struggling to keep my wand in my mouth. Perhaps the library was not such a good idea after all, it was a long way off, and the closer girl's bathroom seemed to be a better place to be at the moment. I wanted to vomit, and the snake in me liked the idea of a damp place. I hoped I knew how to get there in snake form fast enough.