I do not own the scenery, the items or most of the characters of these stories. Infact all I own is my Original character.
Chapter Six
About a week later things were beginning to settle into a routine. Trish had learnt to ignore people's (mainly Snape's) attempts to scare her. This had been difficult at first owing mainly to the attempts involving inanimate objects moving, or ghosts jumping out at her. Her classes seemed to be getting used to the idea of a muggle teacher, and she had learnt a few tricks about keeping them under control.
Unfortunately control in class didn't necessarily translate to outside of them. An unforeseen problem had arisen amongst the students. Trish had seen it first hand as she was walking along a corridor one day. A couple of boys were walking along, behind Professor McGonagall, when Trish noticed that they were humming a song. Trish was horrified when she recognised "Everybody wants to be a cat" and was even more horrified when Professor McGonagall turned round, and, fuming, accosted the boys. But it got worse, as the main boy, one Scorpius Malfoy, turned to Professor McGonagal, waved his had across in front of him and said
"These are not the drones you are looking for"
Trish could only look on in horror as they walked past Professor McGonagall looking smug. Professor McGonagall turned and shouted something after them which sounded a lot to Trish like,
"Scorpius Malfoy, if you don't get back here this instant I'll turn you and your friends into toilet brushes and use you to clean the staff toilets!" Scorpius Malfoy stopped suddenly and rather rigidly turned round and walked back to Professor McGonagall. She was just giving him a long list of punishments when Dumbledore appeared, smiling benignly.
"Now Minerva, that sounds a little harsh to me"
"Mr. Malfoy I will see you later for your detention" snapped McGonagall. Scorpius was looking expectantly at Dumbledore but he took the hint and scarpered when McGonagall added.
"You may leave now, Mr. Malfoy!". Dumbledore was looking innocent when McGonagall suddenly turned on him. She was a rather vibrant colour of crimson, and her head was shaking just slightly.
"I do not appreciate being undermined in front of the students, Dumbledore. Remember whose headteacher now!" With that she stormed off with a dramatic swish of her dress. Trish was left feeling incredibly guilty for being unintentionally responsible for the bad behaviour and the argument.
Things didn't improve. Trish had found that despite subsequent uninterrupted nights, she had still found it difficult to sleep at Hogwarts. The fear of a homicidal spectre floating with a pillow above her bed still kept her eyes wide open and she had started, in her sleeplessness, to explore the castle by night. Of course in any other castle this would probably have been alright, she had a torch and common sense enough not to jump at every noise or try and use the stairs that moved. But, far greater dangers await late night wanderers at Hogwarts.
However, Trish did not meet them that night, or for many nights. That night she made her way down to the kitchen and conversed with the house-elf called Winky, as she had for the past couple of nights. Winky made excellent hot chocolate and was interested in hearing about what went on in the school whilst the elves were working. She told Trish about how she would relate her stories later on to the other elves, and how the house-elves now all eagerly awaited the latest news. But that was not all.
Tonight Winky told Trish about her past, with the Crouch's and how, although she felt more accepted now, she had felt a disgrace. She had been reminded of it with the arrival of another house elf, Dobby, who had been killed around the same time as Dracula. His arrival was causing her some stress and she had admitted to Trish that she found it hard to confide her feelings to the others. House elves apparently were notorious gossips. After their talk Trish was just heading up to bed when nature called. She was passing by a girls toilets at the time and took the opportunity. She was just washing her hands when she was startled by a young girls voice behind her.
"These are girls toilets, not staff toilets. You shouldn't be using them."
Trish turned around slowly to be faced by the ghost of a girl in a Hogwarts uniform, with circular black-rimmed glasses and pony tails on each side of her head.
"Hi, I'm Miss Glossop, I'm the new muggle studies teacher here" she said, trying to sound as confident as possible, despite her increasing heart-rate.
"I know, you hate ghosts, Binns told me, I don't like you" she said all this, arms crossed, very 'matter of fact'ly.
"I, I tried apologising to Binns, he...he wouldn't listen. I don't hate g...ghosts." Trish reached round for the basin for support.
"Why are you trembling. You're scared aren't you! Your going to faint again aren't you!" The ghost started floating slowly towards her
"No! No, I am not." the colour returned to Trish's cheeks, and she stood up straighter.
"I've just had a rather unsettling run in with your poltergeist"
"I heard he threw a cushion at you" said the ghost in a derogatory fashion, plainly considering Trish as a coward.
"Then you heard wrong, he tried to suffocate me with my own pillow."
"You'rer lying" This comment was made with the same matter-of-fact manner as all previous comments which was beginning to grate on Trish's temper.
"I had to wrench it off, using both hands and feet, I hardly think he can claim he was throwing it" The ghost looked slightly shocked by Trish's anger and her determined expression. She was silent. Recovering her matter-of-fact look the ghost pointed past Trish and said.
"You see that tap there, it leads down to a secret chamber" she said, her tone not changing.
"Pull the other one" said Trish without thinking.
"Excuse me?" The ghost turned her head on one side, and looked at Trish strangely.
"It means pull the other leg. A secret chamber, what is it, a storage area?"
"No, it was a series of underground tunnels built by the most evil wizard in existence to house the basilisk which killed me. It's dead now. But if you speak parseltongue you can still open the entrance. They tried to seal they entrance, but they couldn't. There's some kind of " Trish was staring at the tap, then suddenly turned round.
"What's Parcel-tongue?" Trish asked.
"It's what snakes speak" replied the ghost. Trish quizzically raised an eyebrow.
"You're trying to tell me that snakes can speak, what do they say 'Open Ssssssesssssame'?"
There was a grating noise and the ghost was looking at Trish strangely. She slowly turned round to see a hole where the sinks had been. Trish turned back to the young ghost.
After a few seconds a smile appeared slowly across her face.
"Well, it seems the muggle isn't as useless as she looks. Lets go explore" She was heading towards the hole when she turned round.
"Are you coming?" she asked the ghost who was hovering warily near the wall.
"Oh no, I'm not going down there! That's where IT came from"
"What?"
"The monster that killed me"
"I thought you said it was dead"
"It is but..."
"Then there's nothing to fear, come on... or are you a scaredy cat?" Without waiting for the ghost to answer she jumped down the hole. Trish often wondered why she didn't think twice about jumping down the hole. However, the only reason she could think of was Why not? She landed in a tangle of weeds which tightened around her as she struggled. Fortunately for Trish she had been given a Chinese finger trap as a christmas present as a child and had quickly learned that struggling didn't help these sorts of situations. So she went very still as she considered what to do. After a couple of seconds the tangle of weeds released her and she landed with a bump.
"Professor! Professor! are you alright!"
"Yes!" said Trish getting up and rubbing her bum which was offended by the rough treatment.
"I never asked your name" she said as she went to call the ghosts name and realised she didn't know it.
"Myrtle" said the ghost floating below the weeds.
"Nice to meet you Myrtle, you coming?" Without waiting for an answer Trish walked on. In the next room she entered where many keys flying through the air. She looked around her and her eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. She stood for a moment considering the best way to tackle the problem.
"I don't suppose you could grab that key, Myrtle" asked Trish hopefully.
"I'm not a poltergeist" said Myrtle, rubbing her arm.
"Oh well," said Trish and stood thinking for a moment. Then she looked up and smiled slightly. She went back to the room she had landed in and found, after much rummaging in the dark, a small flower pot. Underneath it was a key. Trish chuckled to herself as she thought that she'd have done the same thing, and of all the people who had tried to catch the other one. As she looked up she saw the crumpled wings of an old key and guessed that maybe a few people had succeeded.
The next room she entered revealed a larger than life chess set. Trish thought her luck was unbelievable.
"Two time Southward Road School Chess Champion, come on!" Then she remembered how many years ago that was and mentally kicked herself for never having played since.
"Er Myrtle, hows your chess?"
Later Trish stood in the middle of the empty chamber looking at the huge statue of an old man's head. Light seemed to be coming from somewhere in the ceiling. One arm was crossed, the hand holding the elbow of the other arm, the hand of which was firmly clasping her nose closed.
"Why?" she asked after a few moments silence.
"What?" asked Myrtle, hovering nervously above her, looking every few seconds at the rotting corpse of a huge snake-like creature which was the only object which adorned the room.
"Exactly!" said Trish obviously. The ghost stared at her with a confused expression, her head on one side.
"I don't understand" she replied after a few seconds.
"What is the point of this chamber?" asked Trish glancing up at Myrtle.
"It held the snake" said Myrtle, as if it was obvious and perfectly sensible.
"Why?" asked Trish, fed up with the unquestioned logic of the school.
"To wreak havoc on Hogwarts, to destroy all mudbloods!"
"Seems like a very hit and miss way to do it, and anyway, what if no-one ever opened it. Whoever made this must have been thinking very long-term. What are the secrets it hides anyway?" questioned Trish, all the while, holding her nose.
"The snake!" said Myrtle, sensing that the conversation was going round in circles.
"Oh come on! You go to all the effort of building a secret chamber without anyone's knowledge, just to stick a dirty great snake in it in the hope that some day in the future some student will accidentally hiss next to a tap and unleash it. And come to that you're hoping that it has a taste for 'muggle-borns'. Sounds like a pretty rubbish plan to me. And its not as if the Basythingy was a particularly huge secret anyway."
"What are you saying?" said Myrtle, fearing that she may be beginning to follow the muggle's drift.
"I'm saying this is meant to be a 'Chamber of Secrets', and I don't think THAT was much of a secret" she said motioning at the corpse with her unused hand.
"I think the secret is still a secret" she said in conclusion, feeling like Sherlock Holmes solving a case.
Trish emerged from the girls toilets and into the hall saying.
"Night Myrtle!" and muttering to herself about the chamber being particularly rubbish.
She stopped suddenly as she heard something ahead of her, in the corridor leading into the hall. Looking down at her kid's watch with luminous hands, reading that the time was well past 2.30 in the morning, she thought
"What's someone up at this time?" The suspicious part of her mind decided to find out and without really thinking she ducked behind a door. As the footsteps got nearer she found she could discern two voices. McGonagall and Dumbledore were heading towards the hall. McGonagall was saying
"I don't understand why the ministry thinks this is a good idea. I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm with Severus, it'll only cause more problems. It's not like we don't have enough already" McGonagall and Dumbledore emerged into the hall, in the light of a wand that McGonagall held up in front of them.
"Glad to see you listen to me, sometimes, Minerva" said Snape materialising out of the shadows to Trish's left. McGonagall and Dumbledore seemed unsurprised by his appearance, but Trish had had to work hard to suppress a yelp when he appeared. The more she saw of him, the more she was convinced he really was Count Dracula. So far all that was missing was the teeth.
"Unfortunately we have been left with no choice in the matter. The new Minister of Magic has personally and publicly accepted their request to visit" said Dumbledore in an almost cheery voice.
"Yes, woe to anyone who tries to get between Sebastian Montague and publicity" said McGonagall without smiling.
"Why are they coming at this hour?" asked Severus, glancing at McGonagall, looking down his nose. Although Snape's face looked disgusted, Trish for a moment thought that he wasn't actually trying to look disgusted. Maybe his face was just like, from years of bad treatment or something, so much that it was stuck like that. Then she remembered his triumphant look after the incident in the hall, and forgot about it. No-one who poured indian on a brand new monsoon skirt deserved sympathy.
"It was the ministry's request, a safety precaution. In case some over-zealous half-bloods try to kill Salazar Slytherin. Which, lets face it, would be understandable"
"If they're coming together, Godric Gryffindor will probably do it for them" muttered Snape dryly as Dumbledore glanced at a wrist-watch and McGonagall's face suggested that Snape might again be right. After a couple of seconds Snape spoke again.
"Why didn't they come by Floo?"
"Apparently the risk of a 'bugged' floo is greater then being shot out of the air" replied McGonagall without looking at him. This seemed all the explanation that was required and they continued standing in silence. All the while Trish was making careful mental notes. The people arriving sounded like the house names, therefore, considering the stories about how people had come back from the dead, it didn't take a great leap of the imagination to guess that these were the founders of Hogwarts. It also didn't take much to realise that being seen by a wizard who hated all muggles on the first night he arrives back at a school he considers his own is not a safe situation to be in if you are a muggle teacher, especially if you are wearing pink pyjamas with bunnies on. She decided it was probably best to get out of the founders ways, but unfortunately the door she was hiding behind, when she turned to look, turned out to be a broom cupboard door.
"Makes sense, I suppose" thought Trish considering magical forms of transport. Then she realised that if they were arriving by broom, which sounded quite likely, they'd want to put their brooms away. And they'd want to put them in the broom cupboard that she was hiding in. She put her hand on the handle and turned it slightly, hoping to escape when no-one was watching.
However, the hall was very quite and very large and Snape immediately turned and stared at the cupboard where Trish was hiding. Thankfully it was dark in the hall, the only light coming from the end of the wand that McGonagall carried. He was looking her straight in the eyes, looking slightly confused, and had just begun to turn round when a loud tap was heard the other side of the main doors. The door opened enough to admit in six cloaked figures. One voice immediately spoke very loudly.
"Five hundred years and you couldn't come up with a more comfortable form of transport then a stick with some more sticks stuck to the end." The owner of the voice threw his hood back to reveal a middle aged face, with curly black hair, pale skin, and a large nose, all framed with a beard that outlined his chin and mouth.
"Oh Sally, five hundred years and your still as bad tempered as the day you died" said a slightly younger witch who had just unveiled to reveal curly dark brown hair and a very cheery face.
"Yes, and your haven't improved with time either, Huff" The man appeared to be wearing a mid-length black shirty thing, with large arms, with a twisted snake on each arm, with a knife through them. He also appeared to be wearing tights and black boots. Another man was also there, with very curly blond hair and a small blond moustache, wearing a red mid length shirt which was tied up with a belt at the waist. He was also wearing a cloak which was held up with two impressive gold broaches. He looked around, put both of his hands on his hips and said.
"Well, I see they've kept my amazing decorating. Hey Weenie, I see My tower is still taller than yours!" he addressed this to another witch, wearing a long, old-fashined blue dress with shoulder length light brown, almost blond hair.
"It's highly unlikely that they would have moved them, Godric. Now shall we introduce ourselves" said the witch stepping forward towards McGonagall, Dumbledore and Snape, who were staring open-mouthed at the arrivals.
