AUTHORS NOTE!

Hey, here's the new chapter, and I hope you enjoy it, and I hope it's not complete rubbish.

Please R&R!

-Rach ;)

Max's POV

I felt like we were stuck in the middle of a no-mans-land. The six of us stood in the middle of the corridor, while the rest of the school stood together, staring at us. Filch was running towards us, most likely after hearing Malfoy's shout.

"What's going on here? Get out of my way!" he was shouting. He elbowed his way through the throng of people, and when he saw his beloved cat hanging from the torch bracket, his face fell in horror. "Mrs Norris...What happened...My cat..." his gaze fell to Harry, who was standing closest to the immobilized cat, and he suddenly bellowed, "YOU! YOU'VE KILLED MY CAT! YOU MURDERED MRS NORRIS! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU! I'LL-"

"Argus," a calm voice called from the crowd. Albus Dumbledore swept through the crowd, and he took in the situation calmly. He went over to Mrs Norris and took her off the torch bracket.

"Argus, you may come with us. Mr Potter, Mr Weasley, Mr Griffiths, Mr Martinez, Miss Granger and Miss Ride, if you would come with us as well," Dumbledore said. I looked at Iggy and I was surprised to see him looking slightly scared. Before the old Headmaster could lead us away, Lockhart stepped forward and, said, "If I may, Headmaster. My office is closest, feel free to use that."

"Thank you, Gilderoy," Dumbledore said. We followed him down the corridor to Lockhart's office, Professor's Snape, McGonagall and Lockhart following us and all the silent students stared at us as we passed. We entered Lockhart's office, and I moaned when I saw that every inch of the room was covered in pictures of Lockhart himself.

Dumbledore placed Mrs Norris on the table, and started examining her. Lockhart went around the office, lighting the candles. The six of us shared tense glances, and I turned my eyes back to Dumbledore. His crooked nose was inches from the motionless cat, and he was gently poking her in different places. McGonagall bent down next to Dumbledore, her eyes narrowed.

Lockhart started pacing in front of the desk, and Filch was sitting in the chair, sobbing.

"It was a curse that killed her. Probably some form of torture. So bad I wasn't there, I would of been able to prevent it. I could of saved her," Lockhart said, and I noticed how he kept rubbing his jaw. Jeb told us that when somone kept touching their face, it was a sign that someone was lying. And Lockhart was always rubbing his face, or scratching his nose.

I frowned, and tried to say something about it to Hermione, who's eyes were wide with fear, but Filch started sobbing loudly. His face was in his hands, unable to look at his cat. Lockhart was still talking, about how something similar happened somewhere else he was. He prevented five deaths-apparently.

"She is not dead," Dumbledore said. Filch's head snapped up, and there were tears streaming down his face. "Shes...she's not dead?" he chocked out. "But whats wrong with her?"

"She has been Petrified," Dumbledore answered, staring at Mrs Norris. "Ah! Exactly what I thought!" Lockhart cried. I stared at him, flabbergasted. God, I really wanted to throw him out the window...

"Yes, thank you Gilderoy," McGonagall said. She looked at Dumbledore and asked, "But Albus, how did it happen?" Again, I felt my stomach twist uneasily. I looked down at the ground. "How it happened, I cannot say," he said.

Filch pointed a shaking finger at Harry and he yelled, "Ask him! He did it! Its his fault!" Harry's eyes widened. He started spluttering, trying to say something.

"Argus, a second-year student couldn't have done this. It is far too advanced" McGonagall said, waving her arms.

"Rubbish! He was in my office because he was dropping mud all over the castle, and he knows that I'm a- that I'm a... He knows I'm a Squib!"

"I've never touched your cat!" Harry cried. "And I don't even know what a Squib is!" Snape stepped forward, and said in his slow voice, "If I may, sir," he said. I held my breath, knowing that this couldn't be good. Snape has hated me and Harry since day one.

"Perhaps Potter, and his friends were just in the wrong place at the wrong time," Snape finished. I stared at my friends, and we all raised our eyebrows. Snape was actually trying to defend us? What was happening to the world...

"Although, I don't recall seeing Potter and the others at the feast. Why were they in that corridor anyway?" he went on. Ah, the world made sense again.

At the same time, we all started telling the teachers about the Deathday party. "Ask any of the ghosts that were there. They'll tell you we were there," I finished. "All very well, but why not join the feast when you left? Why did you go to that corridor?" Snape's black eyes were glittering.

"We were all very tired, and we wanted to go to bed," Fang said at once. We were all trained in making up lies on the spot. It's what saved us many times. "But surly you were hungry. I believe that ghost's did not serve food suitable for humans to eat." Snape really noticed things. "We weren't hungry," Iggy said, but his stomach betrayed him. It growled loudly, and Iggy's pale face flushed red. "Well, I am hungry, but they aren't" he said, trying to cover up for his love of food.

Snape's smiled widened, and it was the worst smile imaginable. "If I may be so bold, Professor Dumbledore, I think these children aren't being entirely truthful. I suggest taking Potter and Ride off the Gryffindor Quidditch team until all this is sorted out." Harry and I gasped, and started shouting at Snape.

"You can't do that!"

"We didn't do anything!"

"You have no proof that we did anything!"

"Headmaster, please tell him he can't do this!"

"SILENCE!" Snape shouted. I was breathing heavily, and glaring at Snape. Just because we were in that corridor didn't mean we did anything. But even when I thought this, I felt myself doubting it.

"Innocent until proven guilty, Severus," McGonagall said, not happy that he had suggested taking Harry and I off the team. After all, it was Harry that had won them every match he played last year, and she had seen me training with them and told me that I was one of the best Chaser's she had seen.

Snape and Filch both looked furious. "I want to see some punishment!" Filch roared. "We will be able to cure her, Argus. Professor Sprout has some Mandrakes, and when they are old enough, we will be able to cure Mrs Norris," Dumbledore said, trying to calm down the caretaker.

"I'll be more then happy to make it, Headmaster. I've done it over a hundred times, I could do it in my sleep," Lockhart said, looking important. Snape glowered at him, and snapped, "I am the Potions Master at this school, Lockhart."

There was an awkward silence, and Dumbledore was looking between Snape and Lockhart in amusement. He looked at the six of us, and said, "You may leave. Go straight to bed, no detours."

We all mumbled, "Yes sir," and left the office. When we were a floor up, we ignored what Dumbledore said, and went into an empty classroom. At once, Harry asked, "Should I of told them about the voice I heard?"

"No, Harry," Hermione said. "Hearing voices only you can hear isn't a good thing, even in the wizarding world." Harry faltered, and asked, "You guys do believe me, right? You don't think I've gone mental?" I looked at him. Even though he was trying his best to hide it, I knew he was scared. "Of course we believe you, Harry," I said.

"But," Ron said, "You have to admit it's really weird." "Yeah, I know. Its really weird, and I don't know why its happening," Harry said.

"But whats the writing on the wall about? Whats the Chamber of Secrets?" Fang asked, sitting on a desk. We all looked at Ron as he was the only one that was raised by wizards. "Well, it kinda sounds familiar...I think someone told me about some secret chamber in Hogwarts. I think it might of been Bill, or Charlie."

"Okay...What the hell is a Squib?" I asked, thinking about how Filch seemed to be ashamed to say it. "A Squib is a person born to a wizard family, but has no magical powers. Every Squib I know of, which isn't a lot, is always ashamed of what they are. No wonder Filch hates the students. He's jealous," Ron explained. It made since. Filch was always so bitter to the students whenever they used magic in the corridors. And no wonder no ones ever seen him use magic to clean the castle. He does everything by hand.

Somewhere in the distance, a clock chimed midnight. "We should go," Iggy said. "Before Snape finds us, and blames us for something else."

For the next few days, all the school could talk about was the attack on Mrs Norris. And the more they talked about it, the worse I started feeling. People started noticing that I was more distant then usual, and I just put it down to feeling unwell.

Hermione seemed to be acting weird as well. She normally spent a lot of time reading but these days it seemed like she did nothing else. She spent all her free time in the library.

One day, I found Harry and Ron at the back of the library. Fang and Iggy were with Fred and George, and I did not want to know what they were doing. Fred and George were known for they're pranks, and Iggy was known for being able to make a toothbrush and toilet-paper into a bomb Fang was probably just there because he was bored. I sat down with them and I heard Ron say, "Shes written more then he asked for, and her writing is tiny!"

"Finding the work difficult, Ron?" I ask as I took out the essay for History of Magic. I was already done with it, I was just going to check that everything was right. "No, I just can't write three feet on The Medieval Assembly of European Wizards!" I smirked and handed him my essay. His eyes lit up and he said, "Yes! I love you Maximum Ride!" Harry glared at Ron, but he didn't notice.

Hermione came into view from behind a book shelf. She looked tired and irritated. She sat in the only vacant seat, and huffed irritably. "Whats up with you?" I asked. Hermione scowled and said, "Every copy of Hogwarts, A History is taken. I guess everyones trying to find out..."she trailed off. "Find out what?" Harry said.

"About the Chamber of Secrets, of course. Ever since that person wrote it on the wall, every single person has been trying to find out about it," she said, giving the shelf in front of her such a bad look, I thought it was going to explode. I was about to tell her to ask a teacher when the bell rang, signalling the end of lunch.

We left for History of Magic, Ron anxious because he didn't have time to finish the whole essay. We took our usual seats at the back, and Professor Binns, the only ghost teaching at Hogwarts, floated through the blackboard as he always does. He started the lecture on the International Warlock Convention 1289. Professor Binns had to be the most boring teacher in Hogwarts, and everyone feels like there going to fall asleep in his class.

I love all the classes, and I'm the second best in the year, after Hermione. But in History of Magic, I just wanted to sleep. No one could understand how Hermione was able to concentrate enough to take notes. Everyone in second year would be depending on Hermione at the end of year exams for all her notes.

Then, something happened that probably never happened in Professor Binn's class before. A student raised her hand, in this case, Hermione.

Binns raised his head, looking amazed. "Yes Miss..."

"Hermione Granger," she said. "I was hoping you could tell us about the Chamber of Secrets." I stared at her. I know I was going to tell her to do that, but I didn't think she would do it.

Dean Thomas, who had been half-asleep with his head on the table, snapped out of his trance. Lavender Brown whipped the droll from her mouth, staring at the ghost. Professor Binns blinked, looking shocked that a student had actually asked him a question. "Miss Granger, I specialize in history. Solid facts," he said.

He returned to his papers, reading out a few sentences before I called out, "But sir, don't all legends have at least some fact?" Binns looked at me, and asked, "What is your name, miss?"

"Max Ride," I said. He's been teaching us for more then a year, and he still doesn't know our names. "Yes, I suppose you are right, Miss Roberts," he said. He didn't listen properly to my name. Stupid ghost.

"But what you are asking is very-" he stopped when he noticed every student looking at him. He looked like he was going to die again of shock. Having grasped every single students attention must be something he is not used to.

"Oh, alright," he sighed. He dropped his book, and said, "As everyone knows, Hogwarts was founded hundreds of years ago by four of the most brilliant wizards of the age, and each House is named after them. Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, and Salazar Slytherin. The four of them built this castle together, and they're friendship was very strong. They made the castle far away from Muggle eyes. This was back in the day when Muggels were killing people for magic."

He paused, then when he saw that he still had everyones attention, he continued.

"For years, they worked in peace together, selecting students that had magical powers. They taught the young children, training them to become powerful witches and wizards. But there was one founder who believed they should be more precise with the students they put into the school." Ron leaned over the table and whispered in a sarcastic voice, "Uh, I wonder who?"

"Salazar Slytherin wanted the school to have only children from all-magical families. He didn't trust those who had any Muggle family, thinking that they would tell the Muggle world about them. A fight them came up between Slytherin and Gryffindor, and Slytherin left the school.
"But, it is to be said, that before Slytherin fled the school, he built a hidden chamber in the school, which the other founders were ignorant of. According to legend, Slytherin sealed the chamber so that no one would be able to open it until his own true heir came to the school. The heir, then is to re-open the chamber, and release the monster within, and empty the school of those who are un-worthy to trust magic," he finished.

My stomach clenched, and I looked down at my dirty shoes. I noticed how my grey knee-high socks were slightly dirty at the end. There was silence, and Professor Binns looked happy, thinking he had bored his class once more. But he was wrong.

Hermione's hand shot into the air again. "Yes, Miss Gallen?" he said. Me and Iggy snorted. How was that close to Granger?

" Sir, what type of monster lies in the Chamber?" Hermione asked. "It is believed that there is a horrible monster that no one has ever seen before, living there that only the true heir of Slytherin will be able to control. Alas, it is nothing but a load of waffle. Not true, any of it in my opinion. No one has ever found it, and no one ever will," he said, in a matter-of-fact voice.

Seamus raised his hand and said, "But, if only the heir of Slytherin can open it, then no one would of been able to find it." Binns scowled, and said, "Rubbish, O' Flaherty. The castle has been searched many times, and it would of been found by now."

Parvati Patil, another Gryffindor, piped up, "Professor, what if you need to use extreme Dark Magic to get to it?"

"Miss Pennyweather, just because a wizard wishes not to use Dark Magic, doesn't mean they won't use it at all. I'm telling you, if it existed, it would of been found by now," Binns snapped.

"But-" Fang started, but Professor Binns has had enough. "Thats it! It's a legend! A story! It does not exist, so please lets get back to some hard-core facts." He picked up his book again, and started blabbing on. Everyone stopped paying attention.

Before class was over, there was a loud bang! from outside. Straight away, a horrible smell drifted through the door, and everyone was coughing. We all had to leave the class, and as we stood a few corridors away, I saw Fang and Iggy sniggering, and I shouted over the noise, "Was this what you and the twins were doing at lunch? Making a stink bomb?"

Iggy laughed, "No Max. We spent lunch making a magical stink bomb!" Him and Fang both burst out laughing. I rolled my eyes. Putting Fred and George's love of pranks, and Iggy's love of bombs together was not good. If only Gazzy was here...

Ron brought the conversation around to the Chamber of Secrets and I felt my gut twist. Why was everyone talking about it? It wasn't that great...

"Always knew there was something odd about old Salazar Slytherin. But, something I didn't know was that he started all this `purebloods are royalty' thing," he was saying. "Who do you reckon the heir is?" Iggy said, having recovered from his laughing fit.

Just as Fang was going to answer, Colin Creevey approached Harry. "Hiya Harry! Some boy in my class has been saying-" Colin never got to finish the sentence. He was swept away with the crowd going to the Great Hall for dinner.

"Whats the boy in his class saying?" Hermione wondered aloud. "Probably that I'm the heir of Slytherin," Harry muttered darkly. Hearing him say that made my stomach drop. Even though I would never admit it, all this was scaring me. At the party, I forgot what happened, and even know I was feeling strange with everyone talking about it the whole time.

"Do you guys really think that theres a Chamber of Secrets?" Fang asked as we descended the stairs to the first-floor. We passed the spot where we found Mrs Norris. I took a breath, and noticed that for the first time in days, the chair Filch had against the wall was empty, and Filch wasn't there, prowling up and down, as he had been since Halloween.

The corridor was deserted, and Iggy said, "Fancy a poke around? Wouldn't hurt, would it?" Harry's eyes brightened, and I groaned. Harry was a curious person by nature, and that nearly got him killed last year.

He walked around the corridor, looking at the floor. "Look!" he cried a few minutes later. "There's scorch marks on the floor!" Hermione and I were standing next to the window, looking around there. I noticed that there were a lot of spiders scuttling up to the window, all in tight formation and it seemed as if they were fighting with each other to get out of the window. The boys came over, and I asked, "Any of you seen spiders act like this?"

There was a quiet mumble of no from Harry, Fang and Iggy but Ron didn't say anything. I turned around and saw that Ron was backed up against the other wall, right under the message that Filch hadn't been able to get off the wall.

"Ron, are you okay? You look pale," I said, standing next to him. He nodded slowly, and muttered, "I, uh, don't like spiders." We all looked at each other. "I never knew that Ron. But when we need to use spiders in Potions, you seem fine," I said. If possible, Ron went even paler. "Well, I don't mind them when they're dead! Its when they're alive, and moving everywhere-" he broke off and violently shuddered.

Me and Hermione looked at each other, and then we both started giggling. Ron snapped, "Its not funny! When I was smaller, Fred turned my teddy bear into a giant, filthy, disgusting, squirming, spider! Imagine holding your teddy bear, and then it has all these legs, and eyes and..." he shuddered again. Hermione held in her laughter, but I didn't. I didn't really think Ron was scared of much since last summer. And Fred turning his teddy bear into a spider..Classic.

Harry changed the subject, saying "Do you guys remember all the water that was here? Its all mopped up now, so where did it come from?" Ron, who had been glaring at me, muttered, "It was coming from there, I think." He was pointing to a door next to Filch's chair. The sight of the door made me uncomfortable.

"Lets go in for a look them," Iggy said, reaching for the handle. Then, he pulled his hand back as if the handle had burned him. "Whats wrong?" I asked, going for my wand.

"Thats the girls bathroom," he whispered, as if saying it out would get him into trouble. Hermione shook her head, muttering something that sounded like, "Bunch of idiots," and she marched forward and ignoring the sign that saidm "OUT OF ORDER," opened the door and walked in.

Hey! Sorry for the wait, but I've been very busy lately. I hope you like the chapter, and please R&R!

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Question: If you were on a Quidditch team, what would you be? Chaser, Seeker, Beater...

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The more reviews I get, the faster I'll update!

-Rach ;)