Chapter VII: Secrets …
Marianne's P.O.V.
"Have you finished your summary on the foundation of the chamber of secrets Marianne?" Dominika asked. It was the beginning of winter, a cold, rainy day of November and we were in the Ravenclaw common room working on our History of Magic project on the chamber of secrets after our daily homework. We would be presenting it on Friday -four days later- and I had nearly fainted when Pr Binns set it for us. The prospect of presenting in front of the whole class gave me goose bumps and cut my breath. It had only gotten better at the end of the last week when Axelle had told we would learn exciting stuff and have access to the forbidden part of the library, when Dominika had planned to give me a small and easy part and when Albus has easily pointed out that everybody would be sleeping anyway "what do you want, it's our sleeping pattern!" he had even added.
"Yes. Yes I have." I answered
"Good. Can you copy it in black ink over here please?"
"Sure." I started neatly to copy down my text onto the large poster of parchment that was laid out on the table. I was dearly longing for the time Axelle would declare: "Oh! It's time for quidditch practice, let's go Mar!"
"OK, so we put the picture of the entrance of the chamber here, next to the recent event text." Axe said.
"Yeah. And that gravure from a book of the middle ages opposite." I continued.
"We are only missing a few of the main text and one or two picture." Dominika noticed happily. "I'll start sticking the border on." The work continued for a few minutes. Sometimes we were working on the setting up and craft of the poster and at others we were skimming through thick books and taking notes or copying pages. After a while, Axelle stopped working and started to stare at the picture on the right, the one with the entrance of the chamber.
"I can't believe that Hermione, Harry and Ron thought about the entrance being there, it's kind of random." She said after a moment.
"And I can't believe Harry gave that away to the press." Dom said bitterly. "Now the heir won't have to search long for it."
"They'll have to search on how to open it, wouldn't they? That's a mystery." I thought aloud.
"Harry didn't give that away to the press did he…" Axelle stated, glaring at Dominika, who seemed to revise her judgement on Harry and said:
"Yeah, he could have probably… sold the information. Or just said it to his children, but you never know, it might put the school in danger so he didn't say a word. That's a mystery, I've been to that place a few times and I just can't see how…"
"James and Albus really don't know." Axe agreed, "I think some teachers might know, like McGonnagall."
"Actually," I said, "If the heir was here, I bet he would think the way in is obvious. It'd be like an instinct." A heavy silence fell.
"Oops! We need to go to quidditch practice Mar, hurry!"
"Alright! Love you Dom, see you!" I shouted to her and sped off through the door with my heavy bag equipment on my shoulder.
As we emerged into the open, we got nearly knocked out by the torrents of rain which were pouring down from the sky.
"Gosh what is this weather?" Axelle complained. "Are we supposed to play quidditch in this rain?" I hardly heard her under the rumbling and roaring of the rain. We crossed the grounds with great difficulty as they were nothing but a sea of cold mud. The wind was blowing I could hardly press forward and our faces were battered by the water. Reaching the changing rooms, we pushed the door opened and fell through closing the door behind and collapsing on the floor, soaking and desperate. We turned around to see everyone laughing, but they were as wet as we were.
"I guess you had a hard time crossing the grounds too…" Lysander commented as he dried his hair.
"There's a hell of a storm out there!" Tina, a 4th year girl who was a chaser in the team at that time, exclaimed.
"Don't swear Tina!" Ryan, a 5th year guy who liked to get her angry, spoke cheekily.
"Ah! You swear three times more than I do! And this isn't even swearing!" She shot back. .
Bran and Pyrus, the reserves of the team, exploded into laughs. The captain, a tall 7th year girl with curly brown hair who was Tina's sister, entered from her office and exclaimed irritated:
"Stop fooling around everyone!"
"Oh, she had a hard time crossing the grounds too apparently…" Josh, a guy with an affro who was Ryan's best friend, noticed.
"Oh Ceecee! We're not going to play by this weather are we?" Tina winced at her sister.
"Well, McGonnagall agreed that we could try the new waterproof- transparent roof today." She answered happily. "Isn't that great? The first team to try out the roof!"
"Great if it works…" Josh pointed out moodily.
"Don't be pessimistic Josh!" Axelle retorted.
"The thing is that it makes the pitch a lot smaller, it's not really that high." Lysander explained.
"Never mind! At least we would be soaked to death!" I said positively.
Cecile (that's the captain) opened cautiously the doors onto the stadium and stuck her head out.
"Well, it looks like it's working…" she said, impressed.
"Brooms every one! Josh, Bryan, bats! Axelle, Marianne or Tina, balls. I'll get my whistle." She came back and strode onto the pitch. I looked above me, we couldn't see the roof but not a drop came in and we could hear the loud drumming of the rain on it.
"We'll make two teams like last time! First warm up! Three times around the pitch, then make passes in a circle! Right, kick off!"
I zoomed off and felt the same freedom as I always did. Along with everyone I flew around the field at a reasonably fast speed which still made my hair fly in every direction. I held on tight to my broom and press the weight on forward a bit to speed.
"OK! Under and over the bars please and then lateral zigzags between the cones, twice round!" Celine shouted and she flicked her wand towards the walls of the stadium. Under and over was my favourite thing, a bit like a roller coaster. We then made passes in a circle and I missed none for my throws or my receives, I was so glad because last time I was so slow and it whizzed past me so I had to get it and I everyone sighed and complained.
"Right, let's make teams. Me keeper, there is only one goal for the two teams and I have to stop both, Axelle seeker."
"Why don't we make a girl-boy match today?" Tina proposed.
"Yeah so we can beat you to ashes!" Bran said enthusiastically and Tina stuck her tongue out at him.
"That's a good idea! Blue team: Tina, Sansa and Marianne plus Ryan as beater-"
"Why me in the girls' team?" He protested.
"No arguing! Red team, Lysander, Bran and Pyrus. Put your colours on." She paused "Girls have the quaffle first."
"Why?" Pyrus asked offended.
"No questions, I'm the boss here!" she joked back.
"Hey! In 'the girls' there is me too please!" Ryan pointed out, desperate.
"Release of the balls in … 3… 2... 1… !" Cecile shouted and then blew her whistle.
Tina had the ball, she race to the middle of the field (that's when you play on a half field, they do that in muggle sports too) and then back towards the goals but got blocked by Lysander , she spun around but as she fell nose to nose to Lysander threw me the ball from the side. I caught it with two hands and then put it under my arm while I zoomed towards the post. I swerved to avoid Ryan who had just hit a Bludger so hard it made a loud sound as it whizzed past me and then passed Pyrus who was following me. I forced a bit forward ready to turn abruptly to brake and then shoot the ball through a hoop. Suddenly, as I held the quaffle in one hand ready to let it go, Bran appeared from underneath and snatched it from me. Regaining myself from that surprising attack in half a second, I darted up (so did Sansa who had come to my help) to try to intercept the ball which Bran had just thrown but it was already in Lysander's hands and he started to fly to the middle line.
I think I'm not going to tell you how the match went in so much detail throughout. I'll just tell you that, first, we were really behind, 40- 10 for the boys. But then we went up and the game finished we were 50- 60. I was really proud of myself because, even though we didn't win the match, I had scored 2 of the 5 goals.
"We beat you! We beat you!" Josh and Pyrus were singing in the changing rooms.
"Yes but not by far!" I protested.
"Yes! We went up in the last twenty minutes we were nearly the same score!" Tina continued. For once, Ryan supported Tina and said:
"It's because the guys in your team were older!"
"That doesn't mean anything!" Bran shouted back.
"Does!" Sansa exclaimed.
"Does not!" All the boys from the other team laughed.
"Guys! We are a TEAM! We are UNITED, we are ON THE SAME SIDE! Hello!" Ceecee called as she came in.
"yes, how are we supposed to beat Gryffindor in 3 weeks if there are conflicts in the team?" Axelle asked.
"It's not really a conflict!" Lysander said.
"Anyway, you all played very well today guys! Well done!" Ceecee chanted happily. "It'll be a great game!"
"Yeah, except James won't be there." Axelle moaned.
"Ohhh. He'll be OK soon Axe." I said, though I knew that, though all the teachers were doing their bests, the cause of the disease hadn't been found yet, and they were not at all close. (It's always good to be optimistic! - that's my mum…)
"Right, the three girls now." Pr Binns said happily, dismissing a group of from the front of the class. I stood up with difficulty and walked stiffly to the board. I felt a little better as soon as I glanced at the class, 'sleeping pattern' all right! And they were faces I knew, those people I knew were nice and wouldn't laugh at me for the rest of my life. "Right, "the chamber of secrets, what a burning topic!" he emphasised.
"Yes, quite Professor." Dominika replied. (Teacher's pet! Like Diane, Goody two shoes! : ) I am only a Goody One shoe- Amber) He waved his wand and our poster unrolled itself and pinned itself to the board.
"Beautiful work!" I heard whispering in the class, students were pulling their neighbours out of sleep so they would listen: it was a subject that deeply interested everyone and we had fought to get, I need to add. "Sh, shh, shhh! Class! So will start us off? Well go on Miss Mausset." Axe gave the introduction and I knew that right after that was my part, I gulped.
"Part 1, the founding of the chamber, by Marianne."
"Ummmm… Hi." I said awkwardly, the boys were smiling at us from the back and were encouraging me on. "Right. The… the chamber of secret was founded, or so says … the legend, by Salazar Slytherin." My legs were numb and my throat dry. I looked at Dom who smiled at me, but I couldn't go on.
"Yes?" Pr Binns said, questioning my silence.
"Come on Marianne." Axelle whispered. I gulped, and suddenly the image of Fred smiling in the sun, came to my mind. It was strange, I had never seen him this way, with sun and sand behind, he also looked… older somehow. This imazing picture boosted my confidence and I moved on.
"When the school was founded, the 4 tounders, I mean, founders! Founders… sorry! were always agreeing and were very happy to, together, bring up the next generation of wizards. But, as time passed, Salazar Slytherin became a bit distant with the others and quarrels started to emerge." The class was suspended to my words, though they all knew the story probably by heart, it was amazing. "Slytherin wanted to be more selective on young wizards entering Hogwarts; he wanted to keep only those who have an apparently purer blood. Before he left the school forever, Slytherin built a secret chamber inside the castle, with a monster, we know it today to be a Basilisk, in this chamber. You can… hem… see the chamber on this picture here. Only the true Slytherin heir was said to be able to enter the chamber and control the monster, and when he would do that, all wizards who were not from wizard lines of ancestors were to be eliminated and Slytherins' plan would be complete." I finished. "Well… that's it." Everybody clapped, I hope it wasn't just to be polite. Dom stepped forward.
"Part 2, from the founding to 1942." She started. "Since its founding, the room was lost, unvisited and unheard of for hundreds of years. Several headmasters tried to find the chamber of secrets in order to protect their students but it was in vain. After a while, the story of the chamber was qualified as a legend and forgotten about. There may have been other openings during this period but with no real proof or consequences. Until…" she paused, knowing she was announcing dreadful events. "But, in 1942, a 6th or 7th year student called Tom Riddle opened the chamber for good. He had just found out about the fact he was the heir of Slytherin. He had also extreme views on blood purity, during the year he opened the chamber a few times and let the basilisk out. A basilisk's stare will kill a human being, or just petrify him if it is seen through another object. You can see a picture of it there (she pointed at a picture on the poster). The monster murdered a young muggle-born girl that night." She said gravely, I think I felt her shiver as well. "Tom Riddle blamed the opening onto another student and the monster was thought for long to be an acromantula brought up by this student. The scandal filled the whole wizard society, the student got unjustly expelled and Tom Riddle soon became the one who is known today as the terrible Lord Voldemort, the darkest wizard of all times." She finished, and everybody clapped as well as Pr Binns, she beamed and moved back as Axelle came forward.
"Part 3, the most recent events. In 1993, strange events started to take place in the school, messages on the walls, blood, petrified students and animals, danger of deaths… The teachers and the headmaster tried by every way to stop these attacks, but it seemed impossible and the school was on the verge of shutting down. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger (everyone turned to Rose and Albus who were quite pink on the cheeks and smiling.), 3 friends who were at that time in second year and who were to become famous later on or were already well known, started to investigate on the subject. They had only one word to help them: chamber and continued the search around this theme. It was only at the moment of the crisis that the three discovered the way into the chamber; the entrance is on this picture. Along with their DADA teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart, Ron and Harry entered the chamber but were soon separated by a wall of stone, their teacher having lost his memory, young Harry continued into the passages towards the chamber, where Tom Riddle teenage soul was awaiting him. His soul had taken possession through a diary of a 1st year student, Ginny Weasley and he had controlled her into releasing the monster and writing messages on the walls. Harry destroyed the Basilisk and Tom Riddle 's horcrux." She looked at Albus who was being stared at by all the students, and who seemed overwhelmed by this attention. "The chamber was never opened again and the headmasters since are keeping close watching to this particular room of the castle." She stopped and looked around to admire her applause, ah Axelle! Hasn't changed!
"Well done you girls, very thorough work, good detail, attention grabbing text, good picture and sources to support… I'll say it will be and O! What do you think class?" There was a chorus of excites 'Yes's and the three of us high fived and hugged for like five minutes. I think it was the first project which I didn't t totally screw up all by myself, I was proud and let practically the whole world know!