Hermione and I waited for the boys to finish up with their assigned detentions. It was getting late and everyone else was in the Great Hall eating dinner. Finally, they came back. Ron's hands were covered in black from polishing the school trophies and Harry's hands had ink stains from answering Lockhart's fan mail. But that wasn't what was interesting. We went looking for him after Ron finished and found him in an empty hallway, with a spaced out look on his face. "Harry?" Hermione called. "Did you guys hear that?" Harry asked. "Hear what?" Ron asked. "That voice." "Voice, what voice?" I wondered. "I first heard it in Lockhart's office, and then again…" Harry hesitated before saying, "It's moving. I think it's going to kill." He bolted to see whatever was making the noise he only heard. We ran after him. "Kill?" Ron echoed. "What's gonna kill?" I asked. "Harry, wait! Not so fast!" Hermione shouted. We followed Harry to the end of the hall. There we saw a cluster of small spiders running away from something in one of the stain-glass windows. "Strange…I've never seen spiders act like that," Harry mused. "You'd think that they were ants instead of spiders, all movin' in a straight line like that," I observed. "I don't like spiders," Ron paled, his voice laced with fear.

The floor somehow was wet like a nearby bathroom was flooded. But we saw a reflection of a message written on the wall in front of us in red letters. "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir…beware," Hermione read. "Someone wrote that warning in blood," I said. I could tell by the faint, but strong coppery smell. "Oh, no," Harry murmured, his gaze switching to something else. We turned to follow his eyes and spotted a cat, hanging by its tail on one of the torches in a crouching position. Its eyes were wide open. "It's Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris."

Not three seconds later, the whole corridor was filled students from the other houses, including ours. People were gasping in shock about the bloody warning or Mrs. Norris, and Colin was about to take a picture of it, but thankfully, one of the older students prevented him from doing that. "Enemies of the heir, beware? You'll be next, Mudbloods," Malfoy scorned. Hermione sent him a glare. "What's going on here? Go on; make way, make way," Mr. Filch barked, pushing his way through students. "Potter, what are you…" he started to say, but then saw his beloved cat in her hanging state. "Mrs. Norris?...You've murdered my cat," he said, and hardened his glare on Harry. "No…" Harry tried to defend himself. "I'll kill ya…I'll kill ya!" Filch shouted, grabbing Harry by his robe collar. "Argus," a voice cut through the crowd. Dumbledore and a few other professors came to see the commotion. He saw Mrs. Norris and said, "Everyone will proceed to their dormitories. Everyone except…you four." The headmaster examined at the cat from her position while the all of the other students walked back to their respective towers. "She's not dead, Argus. But she has been petrified," he explained to Filch. "Ah, thought so. So unlucky I wasn't there, Professor. I know the exact counter-curse that could have spared her. We can meet in my office, it's the closest," Lockhart boasted. "Thank you, Gilderoy," replied the headmaster, and we all reconvened in his office were Harry finished his detention a little while ago.

"How she has been petrified, I don't know," Dumbledore admitted. "Ask him. It's him that's done it," Filch argued, pointing his finger at Harry. "It's not true, sir! I swear I never touched Mrs. Norris," Harry defended himself. Filch clearly wanted to see him take the blame muttered, "Rubbish!" "If I may, Headmaster," Snape interrupted, "perhaps Potter and his friends were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. However, the circumstances do seem suspicious. I, for one, do not recall seeing Potter at dinner." "I'm afraid that's my doing, Severus. You see, Harry was helping me answer my fan mail," Lockhart stepped in. "That's why Ron, Ezra, and I went looking for him, Professor. We'd just found him when he said…" Hermione started, but trailed off. "Yes, Miss Granger?" Snape ushered for her to continue explaining. "When I said I wasn't hungry. We were heading back to the common room when we found Mrs. Norris," Harry finished. Dumbledore gave our story some thought and said, "Innocent until proven guilty, Severus." "My cat has been petrified…I want to see some punishment!" Filch yelled. "We'll be able to cure her, Argus. As I understand it, Professor Sprout has a healthy grove of Mandrakes. When matured, a potion will be made, which will revive Mrs. Norris. But in the meantime, I strongly advise caution, to all," Dumbledore finished and dismissed us to go to Gryffindor Tower.

"A bit strange, isn't it?" Hermione wondered. "Strange?" Harry repeated. "You can hear this voice. A voice only you can hear. And then Mrs. Norris turns up petrified. It's just…strange." "I'd say you're lucky that Dumbledore believes your innocence, 'cause it looked like Filch was ready to rain down hell on you, just because you were close to his, quote-unquote, "sweet" petrified cat," I commented. "I think I was lucky enough not to have Snape breathing down the back of my neck after what happened," Harry corrected me. "But still, do you think I should have told them?" he asked. "Are you mad?!" Ron almost shouted. "That will put more suspicion on you," I said. "No Harry, even in the wizarding world, hearing voices isn't a good sign," Hermione warned before going up to the common room. A man in a nearby portait heard our conversation and added his two bits in, "She's right, you know."