Summary: Adhara Phoebe Black was raised to believe she was the daughter of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, growing up alongside Draco as his sister. Expecting to begin her first year of Hogwarts as a Slytherin princess, things do not go according to plan and Ari begins to learn some things about herself and the people around her that start to make her question the life she lives.
Copyright: I am not J.K. Rowling and therefore do not own anything recognised as belonging to the Harry Potter universe, I do however own Ari and anything else original in this story.
Riddled with Black
Chapter Ten – The Chamber of Secrets
"You know… I thought from the start of term that Filch was a bit off, but I think this has made him absolutely mental." I looked at who the comment had come from; it was Isaac who had just come to sit beside me in Transfiguration. Two weeks had passed since Mrs. Norris was petrified, and it was still the most talked about topic amongst the students. There were so many questions that people were wondering; what was the Chamber of Secrets? Who was the heir, and what were they the heir of?
"What makes you think that?" I asked playfully, he was right though. Filch was rarely ever seen away from the spot that Mrs. Norris had been found, and would walk around sulking. Who could really blame him though; I know that if something were to happen to Nyx, I'd be a complete mess.
"Well, aside from the usual… he just gave Adam and Eric detention, for looking 'too happy'." He used quotation marks. I looked behind to where Adam and Eric sat; they shared matching scowls on their faces. I shrugged.
"It wouldn't be easy, that cat is everything to him." Was all I said, becoming quiet as Professor McGonagall started the lesson. I was pretty good at Transfiguration, as well as Charms, and alright at Defense. I was pretty hopeless at Herbology though, and average at Potions. I loved working with spells though, and Transfiguration was my favourite subject. We had it with the Ravenclaw students.
"Today we will be learning about the spell, Avifors, in which on accomplishment you will successfully be able to turn the bird figurines in front of you, into real birds." The Professor instructed, before showing us how to cast the spell. We all started attempting it and the room was loud with everyone saying the spell.
"Avifors," I said, with the correct wand swish. The figurine didn't fully transfigure, but the head came alive and moved for a few seconds before returning to its solid state. I tried the spell again, and it lasted a little bit longer. On the third attempt I had lovely vivid blue bird flying around. I noticed I was the first person to do so, but the girl I remembered being named Luna was not far behind me.
"Well done, five points to both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw" I grinned, and continued to practice the spell. Towards in the end of the lesson Professor McGonagall told us how to return the figurines back to their original forms, but did the spell herself, stating that she'd get us to do it next time. We were all sitting quietly when Luna put up her hand.
"Yes, Miss Lovegood?" I heard faint mutterings of 'what does Loony want now?' I rolled my eyes, Luna was known for asking the strangest questions. I had a feeling though that everybody wanted to know the answer to this question.
"Professor, I've been very curious about something for the past couple of weeks, I'm sure everybody has, and I'm wondering if you'd be able to answer it."
"What is it, Miss Lovegood?" Professor McGonagall tried to keep her face and tone light, but you could see it her eyes that she knew what Luna was about to ask.
"What is the Chamber of Secrets?" Luna asked bluntly. The Professor blinked, she hadn't expected it to come out like that.
"I don't think it is the place to talk about that." She responded, and Isaac put his hand up.
"Yes, Mr. Dalton."
"Excuse me Professor, but wouldn't it be better if you told us, rather than we find out some half-truth somewhere else?" He made a good point and McGonagall could see that. The whole class had perked up; everyone wanted to know. She sighed, relenting to our request.
"As all of you are aware, over a thousand years ago, Hogwarts was founded by four of the greatest witches and wizards to ever live: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin. This was a time when muggles feared magic, and Slytherin believed that the school should be more select about who studied there. He thought that muggleborns should not be allowed into the school."
"The other three disagreed, and after an argument, Slytherin left. There is a rumour though, that before he left, he'd built a secret chamber, and left a monster that could only be controlled by Slytherin and his descendants." I wondered what it could possibly mean.
"So, that message saying enemies of heir, they're referring to the heir of Slytherin?" Isaac asked after putting his hand up.
"Well yes, Mr. Dalton, that is what the message suggests. However many Headmasters and Headmistresses have searched the castle all over, and there is no evidence of this secret chamber anywhere. Many now believe it to be a nonsense story to scare people."
"But what if it's true, Professor? Are muggleborns in danger?" I found myself asking.
"So far, only a cat has petrified, and it could just be a seriously dark prank. We are working to get to the bottom of it, and at the moment it is best if you try not to worry, but as a precaution: never travel alone. Class dismissed." We all packed up our things and left, our heads full of wonder.
"Do you think it's true?" Isaac asked.
"I don't know… it seems a bit crazy." I responded, but doubt had creeped into my mind.
"If so, who do you think is the heir?" I paused; good question. Who could possibly be the heir of Slytherin?
"I really don't know." The conversation was dropped after that, and students went off to lunch. However, I continued to think about it. I wanted to know who the Heir of Slytherin was, and why had they waited until this year to act.
One morning, later that week, I woke with the joyful realization that it was a Saturday, and not just any ordinary Saturday. It was the first Quidditch match of the season, and it was between Slytherin and Gryffindor. At around eleven o'clock we all headed toward the Quidditch pitch. I stayed fairly neutral in colours, even though my house was Gryffindor, Draco was playing his first game and I didn't want to offend him by supporting his opposing house. I sat with Isaac, Adam, Eric and Eleanor.
The game started out fairly ordinary, but not long into the game it became apparent that something was terribly wrong. One of the Bludger's appeared to have it in for Harry Potter, who was Gryffindor's Seeker. It seemed to be attacking him. Fred and George tried to protect him. The Gryffindor team took a time out to discuss something before jumping back on their brooms.
"Someone's tampered with the Bludger!" Adam exclaimed.
"How would they have managed to do that? Aren't they meant to be locked up in Madam Hooch's office before she takes them out for the game?" Eric asked.
"Who knows, but something is definitely happened because that," Adam pointed to the Bludger flying towards Harry, "is definitely not normal!" Just as Adam finished his sentence, the Bludger made impact with Harry's arm. I cringed in response.
"Oh no," I said. But Harry, who'd been distracted by Draco was determined still, even with what looked like a broken arm. He flew straight towards him.
"What?" It looked like he was attacking him, but when Harry reached his arm out I realized what really going on. The snitch was above Draco's head. Harry snatched it before tumbling and falling to the ground.
"Oh, that's gotta hurt." Eleanor commented. Staff rushed out onto the field and many students were on their feet trying to look over and see what was going on. I noticed Lockhart was the first to get to harry.
"Oh Merlin, not that fool!" I exclaimed, and received a glare from Eleanor; she like most girls at Hogwarts thought that Lockhart was best thing to exist since the creation of chocolate frogs. I glared back and she flinched; I guess the fear of me did come with its perks.
"What? You can't honestly think he's any good. All he is doing in our classes is showing us all the marvelous things he's apparently done, we're not learning anything. I can tell that this is going to end badly." And surely enough, things did end badly. Lockhart appeared to attempt to fix Harry's broken arm, but instead he made it look rubber. He'd removed all the bones; fabulous. Harry was escorted off to the Hospital wing, and everybody started to leave. I hung back; I wanted to talk to Draco because his pride was probably hurting. When it became apparent that he wasn't around, I went looking for him.
I found Draco looking sullen as he headed toward the Slytherin dungeons alone. I was surprised that the pug faced flower girl Pansy wasn't with him.
"Wait up, Draco!" I called. He stopped and looked back, waiting for me with an impatient look on his face.
"You okay?" I asked once I'd caught up to him.
"Oh, I'm perfectly fine. I just lost the first Quidditch match to damned Potter, who had a broken arm. Flint just made me feel like the biggest fool ever in front of the whole team, wait until father hears about this!" I sighed.
"Are you sure you want father to know that you lost to Harry Potter, even though he had a broken arm?" He stopped for a second, blinking fast.
"Merlin, you're right," He admitted.
"I'm always right." I joked, wanting him to smile. He smirked at my response.
"Sure you are Ari!" And like that he was less sullen. I looked up and noticed Pansy was heading towards us. Even though I'd spent some time with the girls, she still irritated me.
"Oh look, it's Violet!" I expressed as a joke because I knew she hated it. Draco looked up, at first confused, but then his face darkened.
"Pansy," He muttered darkly.
"What was that Draco?" I asked.
"Her name is Pansy." He said louder.
"Oh, I knew that," I said with an eye roll. He went to ask what I was talking about, but was interrupted by Pansy.
"Oh, Drakie, are you okay? It looked like Scar head was going to attack you!" Pansy said as she rushed towards him, ignoring me.
"That is my cue to leave," I said, grinning at Draco. He looked torn, like he couldn't decide if he liked the attention or if he'd just rather be alone. Accepting that he'd have no means of escape, he decided to lap up the attention she gave him.
When I got to the Gryffindor common room, a party of celebration had already started.
"Although it's a shame that Harry can't be here because he's growing his arm back, thanks to Lockhart the fool, I'd still like to make a toast to his achievement of catching the snitch!" Oliver Wood said, and everyone raised their pumpkin juices. The party went on for the rest of the afternoon; most of us had nothing better to do other than homework. At some point I noticed Ginny had disappeared; I assumed she'd just gone to study.
As the party began to die down I decided to go up to my dorm room and read. I sat with my legs under the blanket and read with Nyx asleep on my lap. After sometime I felt myself getting tired so I got changed and curled up under the blanket with Nyx, who did not respond to me moving her in anyway, other than to curl up on my chest.
I didn't know how long I'd been asleep for when the sound woke me up. I sat up in bed and looked around. It must have been late though because everyone else was also in bed. Listening more clearly, I heard the noise again. It sounded just like it had on Halloween and I had this fear that something bad was going to happen. The faint whispering sound was slightly clearer that what it had been that night. I swear it sounded like it was saying 'kill'. It sent shivers down my spine. It wasn't long after I woke up that the noise stopped. This frightened me even more; what if whatever had made that noise had successfully killed someone? I stood up and went to the bathroom, washing my face with cold water. I went back to bed, attempting to get some sleep even though the adrenaline had kicked in. Eventually I got there.
It was at dinner the next day that Dumbledore told is that Colin Creevey had been petrified. It was now official, this Chamber of Secrets, wherever it was, had been official opened, and I wondered; who is the heir of Slytherin?
Wishing everyone a safe and wonderful holiday period. :)