IINSY Chapter 4

(As a reply to a review, Vaughn is pronounced just like Ron, only with a V.)

September 24, 1992

Vaughn stared blankly at her essay, half done and her brain was too fuzzy to think. Not the usual Saturday morning lag, but an actual buzzing that was really annoying. Enough so that she didn't hear Draco come up behind her, "It's Saturday morning, you really shouldn't be doing homework."

"Oh," She replied looking him in the eye, "Then what should I be doing?"

"You should come down to the pitch and watch my first Quidditch practice." Draco said, with the smug look on his face he got whenever he talked about becoming the new seeker.

"Alright, I can't focus on my potions essay anyways." she said capping her ink and standing up, she doubted anyone would touch her homework in the three hours she was gone.

She walked down with the team, a quiet walk because they were intent on practice, but it made the buzzing in her head fade to a murmur. She left them to go up in the stands, and soon began wondering why no one was in the air yet. She looked around the pitch to find a group talking, half in green, half in red. She sighed and went down the stairs in the stands until she was in the front row, a mere ten feet off the ground. She heard them yelling and knew it wasn't going well, and that there was more than just the Gryffindor Quidditch team. With this new information she climbed up on the ledge, and hopped down to the ground, her body jarring from the impact.

"No one asked your opinion, you filthy little mud blood." Draco snarled at Hermione, and the all the Gryffindors looked murderous, especially Ron. Strangely enough, Hermione and potter just looked confused.

"You'll pay for that Malfoy," Ron said and shot a spell - which promptly back fired, and he began vomiting slugs. Oliver Wood told Harry and Hermione to take care of Ron, and grudgingly told his team to leave, and walked off the field talking about a 'bloody note from Snape'.

Mudblood, Vaughn thought, then remembered it was a derogatory term for muggleborns, like her. Not socially acceptable to say, and proof that she wouldn't be accepted as a Slitherin if people knew. More incentive to keep it a secret.

September 27, 1992

Ferret watched Sable come in the flat with a smile on his face. He looked at her, "I got the job with The Sun."

Smiling, Ferret jumped up and hugged him, "That's great,"

Sable froze, obviously taken by surprise, and Ferret almost pulled away in embarrassment. Sable tentatively hugged her back, and then withdrew his arms and Ferret pulled away, hiding her flushed face. She hadn't even thought, just acted on her impulses, and made a fool of herself, "Sorry Sable, I just-"

"Don't apologize," He said softly before leaving the room, "I was just shocked because you've never hugged me before. Maybe if you hugged me more, I wouldn't react like that."

Ferret blanched, than smiled, "Is that an invitation?"

October 24, 1992

The buzzing had persisted over the last month, not continuously, but for a while every day. She didn't tell anyone though, she had grown accustomed to it to the point where it didn't even bother her anymore. All telling someone would do, would get Draco to worry about her.

"Lockhart convinced Dumbledore to have a mandatory Halloween Party." Draco complained.

"Is Lockhart's entire goal this year to make us all hate him? I hope the final is hexing him." Vaughn said smirking, from his classes everyone knew the man was hopeless when it came to defensive spells. Very few people believed he had actually done everything he had in his books.

"We wish. We'll probably just have the same test he gave us at the beginning of the year," He said with a grimace.

"What man knows what shade lilac is, much less choose it as their favorite color?" Vaughn asked remembering the test Lockhart gave them on himself.

October 31, 1992

"Vaughn, are you okay?" Draco asked during the party, noticing that she was in pain.

The buzzing had become almost unbearable, having grown exponentially worse as the party went on, which was a rather sad event in itself. It was a feast with Lockhart trying to get everyone to wear the masks he had brought for everyone. The most amusing part being him giving Professor Snape a pink bunny mask, which was promptly burnt. Even that entertainment was short-lived. Vaughn leaned her head on her elbow, "Not really, I think I'm going to go to bed early, if I can escape Lockhart."

"Don't worry, I'll distract him." Draco smirked as he pulled out his wand. Vaughn began creeping out of the room when she heard the whole hall filled with screams that she suspected were laughter. She ran from the room, so she would never know that the mask Lockhart was wearing had burst into flames, causing him to freak out - much to the amusement of students and staff alike. The only harm done was a few scorched hairs, and the headmaster claimed that there was no way to tell who performed the spell.

Meanwhile, Vaughn was in the Entrance Hall on the way to the dungeons when she felt a subconscious pull to the stairs. She hesitated, then followed the pull up to the first floor. In her head, she convinced herself that she was going to the Infirmary, because there was obviously something wrong. But she knew she was just curious where the pull would take her. It turned out that it was the second floor, and she had used the back staircase like always to avoid Myrtle's bathroom. The Infirmary was two floors up, but the pull wanted her to walk down the hall. It took a minute to decide.

She followed the pull, seeing a puddle coming from behind the wall of Myrtle's bathroom, someone had upset the temperamental ghost again. After a second she noticed a red part of the water, and to her knowledge, it was animal blood of some sort, it was too watery to be human. As any semi-sane person would have done, Vaughn stepped carefully around the puddle to investigate. She saw two things, one was the Golden boy and his two friends, the second was a message written on the wall in blood.

The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware.

The four students looked at each other, or more, the Gryffindors glared suspiciously at Vaughn, who looked at them indifferently. She studied the message again, "Stop thinking that it was me, because I didn't write that. I don't even know what it means."

"Is it written in blood?" Hermione asked, more to herself than to anyone in particular, but Vaughn answered anyways.

"Yes, not human though, some sort of bird I imagine. Probably has something to do with Hagrid's missing chickens." Vaughn commented.

"What's that?" Ron asked, pointing to a darkened lump hanging from a torch bracket.

Harry moved towards it, squinting in the dark light, "It's Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat."

"We should get a teacher, we have to tell someone about this," Hermione started.

"Too late," Vaughn said grimly, and they all heard hundreds of feet thundering up the stairs towards them, "We won't be able to get away in time."

Vaughn was right, in seconds Lockhart's party was over and half the school had reached the landing and was now crowding around the wall and the four they found with it, giving them a wide birth. Filch had fought his way to the front, and saw Mrs. Norris, and promptly began shouting accusations at the students. He was followed by McGonagall and Dumbledore, who sent for Professor Snape. Lockhart joined the center of attention and starting offering his office up for the examination of Mrs. Norris. Snape soon arrived, many Slitherins following behind him.

Draco was the one to break the quiet murmurs of the students, "'Enemies of the heir, beware.' You're next, mudbloods."

McGonagall glared at him, "Everyone, go to your common rooms, curfew is in ten minutes."

The tone of her voice had everyone obeying, except the four who had been caught at the scene. They were taken, along with Filch and his cat, to Lockhart's office, the teachers set to work examining as the students waited, sitting on a couch that Lockhart transfigured for them. Lilac, and not big enough for them all to sit, so Vaughn sat on the arm to give them room.

"They killed her," Filch finally said, looking directly at Potter, "They killed Mrs. Norris."

"Argus," Dumbledore said softly, "She's not dead."

"Not dead?" Filch repeated in disbelief.

"Cursed, but not dead," McGonagall supplied.

Filch turned back to the couch, "They cursed her."

"She has been petrified, which requires a level of dark magic that no second or first year could possibly perform." Snape said sternly, "And while they were most likely in the wrong place at the wrong time, the circumstances are suspicious. Why would they be on the second floor during the Halloween Party?"

McGonagall hesitantly agreed, "Where were you three."

"Nearly Headless Nick's deathday party." Harry answered.

"And you didn't come to the party afterwards to eat? From what I hear, the food at deathday parties is not fit for humans." Snape questioned.

"You haven't seen the food, we lost our appetites." Ron said, with a disgusted look on his face.

"We decided to just go to bed." Harry said. No one really believed their story, but it was logical enough that they realized they would get nowhere if they continued to question the Gryffindors.

"And what's your story Ms. Milthorpe. You left the party early if I remember correctly, sometime while Professor Lockhart was on fire?" McGonagall asked, ignoring the Gryffindors who shared a look saying 'maybe we should have gone to the party after all.

"I wasn't feeling well, so I was going to go to bed early," Vaughn began, "I decided to go to the Infirmary instead because it's been going on a few days. When I got to the second floor, I saw the water and was curious. That's all." She decided to leave out that she had felt a pull that lead her to the scene and the buzzing in her head had disappeared immediately when she saw the message.

Snape seemed annoyed, "I don't see why you would think my student would attack Mrs. Norris in the first place. These three, however," Snape looked at the Gryffindors, "Have never liked Filch or his cat."

"She hates animals," filch said, absentmindedly petting the petrified cat.

"Animals hate me, you'd be surprised as to what all attack me during Care of Magical Creatures." Vaughn shrugged.

"I believe we should stop interrogating the students, since we all agree they do not have the ability to petrify." Dumbledore said, "The mandrakes that Professor Sprout are growing should reach full maturity in Spring, and Severus will be able to make an antidote. As for now, I suggest that we all get some sleep."

The four students were sent off to their respective houses, and for Vaughn it was a very quiet walk in contemplation. It was curious that the buzzing would lead her to that of all things. She shook the thought from her head and focused on the message itself, the reading she had done over the Summer helped a lot in this. Salazar had apparently made a secret cavern under the school called the Chamber of Secrets in which it held a monster only the heir of Slytherin could control. Slytherin was known to hate muggleborns, which explained Draco's comment about mudbloods being next.

November 2, 1992

Sable rubbed his eyes as he walked into his flat at nearly one in the morning. A friend of his had a copy of an interview he was supposed to use for an article and had sent it - five hours later than promised. He had been made to stay late to ensure the article would be done on time. And due to his late timing, he was surprised to find the television on and Ferret lounging on the couch when he walked through the door. After a second he realized that she was actually asleep.

Sable smiled and turned off the television before going to his room. He emerged a moment later with a blanket, which he put over Ferret, who shifted slightly to get more comfortable, but didn't wake up. This was when Sable hesitated before giving in and kissing her forehead before going to bed himself.

November 14, 1992

"You better hurry up, Draco will kill us if we're late for the match." Blaise said standing behind her as she ate, and she finally grabbed a piece of toast and stood.

"Fine, but if he's going to be like this before every match I might be the one to kill him." Vaughn threatened as they walked down to the pitch together. Draco had quickly forgotten the writing on the wall and began talking incessantly about the upcoming match where he would be Seeker against the Golden Boy.

Taking their seats in the stands among the other Slitherins, Blaise and Vaughn were silent as the two teams walked on to the pitch. The Slitherins in Green and the Gryffindors in red. Vaughn smiled, "Is it just me, or does that look very Christmas-y?"

Blaise looked at the field curiously, "Yeah, it does. Is this the first game you've seen?"

"Yeah, I had a rather boring childhood." Vaughn answered as she tried to keep track of the Quaffle. Blaise just nodded, saying that he hadn't seen a match before coming to Hogwarts either.

The score was seventy to twenty with Gryffindor ahead, and Vaughn had only been able to see one of those goals, which she found extremely annoying. Finally, she gave up and found the two seekers in the air high above the pitch. They were both searching the field until they spotted what she assumed was the snitch, and began to make their way towards the snitch that was in the middle of the chasers. A bludger barely missed Potter, only to came back on it's own to try to hit him again, the third time this happened Vaughn nudged Blaise.

"Is that supposed to be happening?" Vaughn asked, and once Blaise realized what she was pointing at, he shook his head saying that only rogue bludgers did that. Ones that had been tampered with. Soon, the game had come to a standstill as the Weasley twins attempted to fend off the bludger after it soundly hit Potter's arm. The bludger was eventually secured, and Harry was on the round holding his arm at an unnatural angle.

Vaughn watched Lockhart walk onto the field towards Potter, and Vaughn said, "One galleon says Lockhart somehow makes the situation worse."

Blaise shook his head, "I won't take a bet I know I'll lose."

Sure enough, in mere seconds, Lockhart had reduced Potter's arm to a rubbery mess, and Potter was telling him off as the twins helped him to his feet and the entire Gryffindor team escorted him to the Infirmary. With the game over, the audience filtered out of the stands, and the Slitherin team stood alone on the field with Draco holding the Snitch that he had caught. No one had even noticed until Vaughn walked up to Madam Hooch and pointed this out.

"Slitherin wins one hundred and seventy to seventy." She agreed, and though it was announced, no one really cared that Slitherin had won. Gryffindor's Golden Boy had taken away any attention the Slitherin team would have gotten for their victory. And people wonder why the Slitherins are so bitter.

November 20, 1992

Talk had died down that Friday with Draco and Professor Snape and Vaughn, as usual, had very little to say. It was an awkward silence, that Snape hated and promptly broke, "I assume the two of you have heard about Professor Lockhart's dueling club."

The two answered by wrinkling their noses in disgust.

"It's bad enough having Defense with him." Vaughn complained, "As much as I'm interested in dueling, I can't stand him." Draco nodded in agreement.

Snape looked curious, "Not even if I told you I would be his… assistant." He grimaced at the last word.

The two students looked at each other questioningly, silently discussing. Draco offered more information, "Well, Snape was well-known for dueling back when he was in school. My father says he was one of the best."

Severus understood that his godson was all for going as long as he was there… and Vaughn would come with him. So right now he was convincing Vaughn to join him. The girl finally sighed, "When is the dueling club again?"

"Tuesday, December eighth." Severus answered, knowing that she had been convinced to go.

"We'll be there."

-

(A/N: Chapter four is done! Next chapter will be almost just the dueling club and it's… aftermath. Just as a little trivia fact, the date of the dueling club (December 8th, 1992) was the day I was born. And… let's just say it's not Vaughn's best day ever. So far, I think I have a total of two reviews on this, and I find it a little disheartening. Hence, why I am going to be writing two longer fics at once. There will be this fic (IINSY) and I will start writing another fic that I should have the prologue posted by tonight. It will be called 'Teddy Lupin: Metamorphmagus Extrordinaire'. R & R. )