Chapter Nine: Petrified
Many people had signed up to stay at school over the Christmas holidays. Many teachers were bewildered with this, due to the recent incidents regarding the Chamber of Secrets, but they had plastered on blank expressions anyway. The Hogwarts atmosphere was becoming more guarded and tense due to the attacks and the Chamber of Secrets. Professor Dumbledore sighed. Many muggleborns had been petrified by the thing that still lived on in the Chamber of Secrets.
If students were being petrified… then yes, it did confirm his doubts and suspicions. There was definitely a basilisk in the Chamber. It was dangerous to look it straight in the eye, but the students must have somehow been able to look it in the eye through something else.
But he's dead… just how could he be alive again? Resurrection? No, not yet. His followers are still too scared to burst out into the open. He must be channeling this through someone… a student at Hogwarts… the Imperius Curse? No, probably not. He isn't alive to do it…
After many more thoughts… It must be a Horcrux. A trapped memory of some sort.
The Headmaster sighed. A sign of Riddle's intelligence, definitely. He must have implemented this into action before he was defeated by Harry all those years ago.
"You know 'Mione, for a Hufflepuff, I'm not that dense."
"I did not say anything of the sort, Cedric. You said it yourself. You just fell into my trap." Hermione said primly, still thinking of what the Headmaster had been saying.
Cedric's eyes widened. Hermione noticed this.
"Not in that way!" She said hastily, still lost in her thoughts. Cedric heaved a sigh of relief.
Remember, watch each step you take towards the big picture.
Hermione's mind swirled with thoughts. What big picture? Did he mean the steps we take at school? To achieve our full academic potentials? What did the Headmaster want us to know about?
There were so many questions unanswered.
It can affect all the colours and the shapes of it.
Did he mean the steps in life? Or is it just a mere riddle? Her mind would not stop thinking about the two sentences that didn't matter that much to her at the start of term feast.
What struck her and gave her a wake-up call was her next thought.
Or did the Professor already know that Hogwarts was going to be attacked this year?
A few days later…
Hermione stared into space, lost in thought. The past few days had been awkward between her and Susa. It seemed like that Susa was… cold towards her. Perhaps she was jealous of Hermione? But jealous of what? Surely, it wasn't because of her blooming friendship with Cedric, was it? Heck, they didn't like each other in that way!
If it was, she knew that she would break off her and Cedric's friendship in favour of her friendship with Susa. They were best friends, after all. They couldn't be fighting over a boy that was older than them.
"Mia… you are so lucky!" Padma gushed. "I am so envious of you!"
"Envious… for what?" Hermione asked, clearly confused.
"You… and Cedric!" Eva gushed, sighing.
Hermione coloured, evidently embarrassed. "What?!"
"Your relationship… is just so romantic!"
"Susa's jealous that you've snagged a cute guy!"
Hermione sighed, glancing towards Susa apologetically, her eyes trying to tell her the real story. "Evie… Paddy… look. We're not together. We're just friends."
"Didn't look like it when I saw him staring at you the other day." Eva smirked.
"And you obviously have a crush on him too!" Padma squealed.
Hermione's eyes widened. "No I don't!"
"Ah… the adamant denial…" Padma trailed off, her eyebrows wriggling suggestively.
"AAIIIEEEEEE!!" Padma and Eva squealed together. Susa rolled her eyes.
"It's not true. Stop stirring up rumours that aren't true!" Hermione squeaked, clearly becoming more and more annoyed with her best friends.
Padma and Eva muttered their apologies to her, saying that they did not mean to insult her / hurt her in any way. Hermione accepted and proceeded to read her book that she had been planning to read for so long, for she had been putting it off for a period of time.
A few moments later, Padma sighed. "Mia, you've got to admit that Cedric is pretty cute, right?"
Hermione groaned as Eva burst into a hearty laugh.
After a few attacks on the muggleborns, such as the first year Gryffindor Colin Creevey, who was absolutely obsessed with taking photos, Hogwarts was becoming tenser by the hour. Everybody constantly had somebody by their side and was not allowed to venture out in the dark after hours.
Meanwhile, Hermione was trying to decipher the riddle of the Chamber of Secrets. Of course, everybody else was as well during school hours, but she hid concealed her book over a proper school textbook, to make it seem like she was concentrating on her studies when she was actually reading up on something irrelevant to school. She did do her homework, and at leisure time, she would read up and take notes on the strange mystery of the Chamber of Secrets.
Why weren't there any books on the Chamber? Did Dumbledore ban them deliberately, years ago? She wondered.
Recently, on the way to the library, she had noticed many spiders entering into Hogwarts. It was strange because Hogwarts did not seem to be a good habitat for them to survive in. She read through more books, when suddenly, voices buzzed from the other side of the book shelf. Hermione craned in to listen.
"… Malfoy is the Heir of Slytherin. I know it."
"Are you sure…?" Another voice asked doubtfully.
A third voice chimed in. "I agree. Malfoy's got something to do with this. He would not still be parading around the school if he didn't have something going on."
Hermione knew these voices, for they sounded rather familiar… were they from her year?
She paused in her thoughts, her mind whirring with information and things she needed to sort out and solve.
Hermione had completely tuned out the voices until she inadvertently heard, "So you plan to break into the Slytherin common room?"
"Guys. Think of your school records!"
"Of course! I just need to find a way…" The voice trailed off and it was here when Hermione realised that the voices belonged to Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and Neville Longbottom.
"I know what you can do." A voice suddenly burst out quietly.
Three heads glanced so quickly into the direction of the voice that their necks hurt.
"What do you have?" Harry asked.
Hermione was looking for the voice, until she realised that it was her own voice that had burst out. She beckoned the three boys over and whispered,
"The Polyjuice Potion."
"We haven't learned that yet, Hermione." Neville said kindly.
"I know. But it's still possible to brew. Last time I checked on the time it took was that it takes a month to make."
"A month?!" Ron whispered, shocked.
"Look, the Polyjuice Potion allows one to become another for approximately an hour. For that hour, you can interrogate Malfoy as one of the Slytherins and get the information you want! It is what you were trying to come up with, right?"
Three heads nodded as they looked at each other, as if trying to have a silent conversation as to whether or not they should allow Hermione in their group.
"We're in."
The quartet had become much closer, as a result of just wanting to find out who the Heir of Slytherin was. This is a month later since Harry, Ron and Neville had decided to allow Hermione into their Trio. The potion was ready. It was just so convenient that they had a week's holiday to rest from the stress of school, homework and revision. Hermione had read more and more, but her notes still did not help her at all.
"You know… I don't know if this is a good idea," Hermione murmured, having second thoughts about what they were to do. After all, it was quite likely that it was illegal!
"Let's go over the plan again." Harry said, wanting to pass time quickly. The four students huddled together.
"Let's hope that Malfoy really is the Heir," Ron muttered.
"So that everyone will get off Harry's back," finished Neville. Hermione looked at them incredulously, wondering how they did that.
"Right. So I will be Nott. Ron will be Goyle. Nev will be Crabbe… we won't use Zabini or else Malfoy might suspect. 'Mione… you'll have to choose to be either Parkinson or Bulstrode, I'm afraid."
Hermione gave an involuntary shiver. Millicent Bulstrode was not her cup of tea. Pansy it was then. She felt a little bad for Pansy, as they were on slightly better terms as compared to last year. They were civil to each other, and were on the borderline of nice when they were paired up in Charms or in Potions. Maybe something had happened over the summer… perhaps Pansy had a sudden personality change? She didn't know at all.
"So we know what to do then?" Neville asked, breaking the silence and Hermione out of her reverie. Everyone nodded.
"We'll meet at Myrtle's in an hour."
Hermione rushed to the library to retrieve the books and her notes on the Chamber she had left when she saw a lone figure sitting at her usual table. She went over to berate the figure sitting there, until she noticed that it was Cedric.
Cedric... the person she had forgotten about for a long, long time...
"Hello Hermione. I haven't seen you for a very long time. Have you been avoiding me?"
Well, that was rather blunt.
"No, I haven't. I've just been rather busy with... stuff." She hesitated. Cedric gazed at her, seemingly unconvinced.
Hermione closed her eyes to vent the growing frustration inside. "I'm not lying!"
Cedric looked a bit affronted and apologised. "I'm sorry. I was just curious. I missed my new friend a little, you know?"
Hermione did not expect this and a surprised expression spread across her face. Her eyes widened even more when she glanced down at her watch.
The hour was up. She had to leave. She gathered up her books and ran out of the library, leaving a bewildered Cedric Diggory behind.
At the Slytherin Common Room...
"Blaise... have you seen Crabbe and Goyle today?" Draco asked, as it seemed quite quiet in the Slytherin common room that day. Nobody seemed to be around and the common room was left desolate, with only Blaise and Draco occupying it. It just didn't seem right at all.
He shook his head. "No, I haven't. I haven't seen Theo either today. Where do you think they've gone?"
"Theo's probably in the library," Draco muttered.
"And Crabbe and Goyle are probably eating slugs because they can't find anything else to satisfy their stomachs." Blaise chuckled.
Draco grinned. "Pansy's been rather quiet today too. Where do you think she is?"
"Hanging out with Crabbe and Goyle, perhaps?"
They both chuckled heartily.
At Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom…
"We've got the hairs." Hermione checked off her list as she 'sprinkled' some of the four Slytherins students' hair into the four goblets as Harry, Ron and Neville took their own goblets. Hers turned a bright blood-like colour, Harry's turned a sickening green vomit-like colour, Ron's turned a burnt golden brown colour and Neville's the colour of pus.
Ron chuckled sarcastically. "Who knew that Goyle's hair could be so tempting?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Perhaps Pansy is a blood thirsty witch."
Neville protested, obviously trying to emulate the other two. "Crabbe must eat his own pus quite often for it to be in his hair."
Everyone 'ewwed' at this comment, as Harry rolled his eyes at their immaturity. Heck, he was even more mature than Hermione in this situation!
"OK. So we'll go into the cubicles to drink and change into the Slytherin uniforms." Harry said.
Everyone nodded and entered to their assigned cubicle.
Harry emerged from his cubicle at Myrtle's, feeling like a new (but evil) person. He stared at himself in the mirror. His impersonation was so different to that of his normal self. In the mirror, he always saw himself as being very scrawny (as a result of malnourishment at the Dursleys), whereas with Nott… well, Nott just seemed more well-fed and nourished. And he was more arrogant too.
A minute ticked by and Harry knew that they were wasting time, even if it was only 60 seconds.
Hermione burst out, 'her' long glossy hair flying around, just like Pansy Parkinson's.
"Nev… Ron. We're waiting for you! We're wasting precious time!" Harry called quietly.
A queasy groan could be heard. "Harry… Hermione… Nev… you three better go out without me. I don't feel very well."
"We all don't feel very well at all and we're still going!" Hermione spluttered indignantly. The nerve of him sometimes!
"Harry… Hermione. Ron and I are depending on you two to find out if he really is the Heir. I can't go…" Neville's voice had risen up by two octaves. It would have been quite amusing if they weren't in a hurry and if they weren't so stressed.
"Not you too!" Hermione said, the words nearly coming out in frustration.
Harry sighed and beckoned Hermione to follow him out of the door.
"You guys will be alright?" Hermione asked, for her frustration had dissipated. Grunts were her only reply.
Harry and Hermione rushed out of the bathroom, wincing at the sound of Ron's vomiting. He must have it bad, the both of them thought together.
"I think I might go to find Theo and Pansy. I'm starting to miss them." Blaise said, bored.
"Why? My company isn't enough for you?" Draco chuckled.
"No, it isn't." Blaise smirked as he stepped out of the common room.
Draco mock-huffed and crossed his arms together when Blaise looked back to him.
"Eep. Harry!" Hermione muttered under her breath. Harry looked at her questioningly.
"There's one flaw in the current plan. We don't know where the Slytherin common room is." She said plainly.
"Well, we'll just have to ask, won't we?" Harry said confidently, though deep inside, he was aware of how strange it would be if he and Hermione, as Theo and Pansy, had to ask for directions to their 'own common room'.
Hermione stared at Harry, horrified, as he went up to Cho Chang to ask for directions. The worst person to ask directions from and she's also the worst gossip too, tied with Padma. Hermione waved Pansy's arms frantically, but discreetly.
"Excuse me," he hurried towards her. "We've forgotten the way to our common room."
"Our common room?" Cho asked in disgust, eyeing Harry's Slytherin robes. "I'm in Ravenclaw, in case you didn't notice."
She strode away, glancing back towards him and Hermione every second. Hermione closed her eyes in frustration, trying to clear away the annoyed feelings quickly.
After an encounter with Penelope Clearwater, Ravenclaw prefect, the expressions on Harry and Hermione's faces were that of relief and guilt. As Penny was in Hermione's house and was one of Hermione's good friends, Hermione did not dare to say anything, for the sake of being discovered. She remembered glancing at Harry in desperation. Somehow, her meaning in facial expression managed to get through to him, as he had nodded in understanding. She left all the talking to him.
She sighed in desperation. Just when and where were they going to find a Slytherin student to lead her and Harry into the Slytherin common room?
"Oy! Theo! Pansy! I've been looking for you everywhere!" A voice called.
Harry and Hermione snuck a look behind them, and were overjoyed (but did not show this) to finally see a Slytherin student – Blaise Zabini.
They chanced a glance at each other – just how were they supposed to act around Blaise?
Wing it.
Hermione smiled, but it came out like a grimace. "Theo went with me to the Hospital Wing."
And? The question radiated from Blaise's expression.
"I was feeling sick. Millie, Jenna and Letti were all still asleep and I found Theo in the common room and I forced him to come with me because I needed some company."
Hermione was glad that her acquaintances in Slytherin and some occasional eavesdropping on conversations made her well-aware of some happenings within Slytherin.
"So 'Theo' was the company? And it's Theo now?" Blaise asked slyly.
But not in this case.
Hermione's eyes widened, but Blaise did not seem to catch this. "We agreed to a truce. For now."
Harry was relieved for Hermione's quick thinking. He was aware of the fact that Blaise was extremely cunning and intelligent, and probably would not hesitate in extracting information from them.
Blaise beckoned them to follow him. To where, they didn't know. But for now, they were content to hope that they would eventually go to the Slytherin common room… within the next 45 minutes or so.
"What was the password again?" Blaise asked, as if talking to himself.
Hermione remembered one of the passwords she had overheard a Slytherin student say the week before. "Snake's lair?"
Harry almost snorted at Hermione's wild guess.
"No, Pans. That was last week's! Can't you get into your head that the passwords change every week?" Blaise asked, amused.
Harry's eyes widened a slight millimetre. If one was looking very closely, they would be able to see his twitching eyes sparkle with amusement. Hermione smiled sheepishly.
"Ah yes. Pure blood!" Blaise stepped into the common room and saying to what seemed like no one, "I've found them."
"Hey guys." Draco greeted, almost cheerful. It was unusual to see the ice cold Slytherin prince to be so… friendly.
"Just where have you both been?" Blaise asked.
Oh no. Here comes the interrogation which both our stories have to match. We'll just have to wing it. Hermione thought.
"You two don't normally spend that much time together in the same room." Draco commented, his eyes darting from Harry to Hermione.
"We wanted to go to the Hospital Wing," Harry started.
"To…" Hermione trailed off, just as she was being interrupted by Draco.
"Give the mudbloods a special kick from all of us?" He asked eagerly.
"Draco, we're at school. How on earth are we supposed to do that – we'd get caught!" The words spewed out of Harry's mouth like a dripping cauldron. He couldn't stop himself from saying it… it was as if he was controlled to say it.
Hermione inwardly gasped. Harry wouldn't normally say that. She directed the topic to something similar, but not entirely the same.
"So… any news on the Chamber of Secrets and the Heir of Slytherin?"
Blaise shook his head, while Draco nodded. "Ooh. Lots. Especially about Potter."
Harry instinctively stiffened.
"What's wrong, Theo?" Blaise had noticed this.
"Sudden stomach ache," Harry groaned, placing a hand on his stomach, as his acting increased to the standard of the muggle Hollywood royalty.
Draco continued. "Well, anyway. All those despicable Hufflepuffs have been spreading around rumours that Potter has some creature in this supposed Chamber. Apparently, Potter's been trapping them in there and that creature has bitten them like how a vampire does and then dumping them in the corridors."
Hermione looked surprised as Harry clamped down a gasp. Supposed Chamber?? Perhaps he's just hiding what he has really done. They snuck a glance at each other and Harry's shoulders had clearly sagged.
"Draco… I'm sure you have some idea of who's been behind all of the attacks."
He sighed exasperatedly. "I wish I did. Father won't tell me anything about what happened fifty years ago. Apparently, I'd look too suspicious if I knew too much. But what I'm 110% sure about is that last time it was opened, a Mudblood died. This time, if that happens, I hope that it's Granger." He grinned sneakily.
Harry's eyes had narrowed slightly and Hermione seemed a little pale. They had come to two realisations: the fact that Malfoy was not the Heir of Slytherin; and that Malfoy wanted Hermione dead anyway.
Pathetic pureblood he was, really.
"What's wrong with you two?" Blaise asked questioningly, his gaze suspicious.
"It's that time of month." Hermione answered quickly. Draco and Blaise looked a bit disgusted.
"We did not want to know." Draco said, his eyes looking a little queasy.
"Still have a stomach ache." Harry grunted.
Hermione squealed desperately. Outwardly, it seemed like some random act, and inwardly, she was desperate to give Harry a warning. Harry's 'Theo' eyes were becoming blue-green and his hair was slowly lengthening…
Harry had noticed Hermione's 'Pansy' hair becoming longer and curlier… her eyes were becoming lighter, reverting back to its warm shade of honey brown.
Their hour was up.
"Hospital Wing." Hermione said, as she got up and rushed out of the room.
"Me too." Harry managed to grunt.
The real Slytherin second years were left behind, surprised, by what had just happened.
Meanwhile…
"Nev, are you alright?" Ron asked.
"I feel like I'm going to die." Neville responded in a high pitched voice.
Ron cringed. It was the type of voice that one would not want to hear for a very long time. Then, the sounds of panting voices filled the room.
"Whew! That was close!" Harry said, as his transformation was back to normality.
Hermione nodded, still panting and gasping for breath. The both of them rushed into their respective cubicles to change back into their uniforms.
Ron emerged from his cubicle, having spent the past hour throwing up worms, slugs and any kind of small insect in existence.
"That was the worst one hour I have ever been through." He commented.
Hermione smiled slightly in sympathy, but she glanced towards Neville's door. "How's Nev doing?"
"He won't come out. I mean, it was only an hour – surely, the Potion has worn off," Ron whispered.
"Ho ho ho!" An eerie voice flooded the bathroom.
It was Myrtle. "Ohh… it's not what you think it is!" She cackled.
"Neville, it's okay!" Hermione said comfortingly.
The door to Neville's cubicle was thrown open, as Neville's Gryffindor robes shielded what he did not want the others to see.
The black robes dropped to the ground, slowly…
Hermione gasped instinctively. "The Potion is not supposed to be used for animal transformations!"
"Neville's a… bear?" Ron asked, almost stupidly.
"Crabbe's got an illegal creature in his dormitory!" Neville squeaked.
"No, Ron. That's a koala."
"A what?"
"An animal from Australia, Ronald." Hermione said primly. She had a gleam in her eyes, indicating that she was in thought and was plotting something mischievous.
"What do we have to steal now?" Harry asked wearily, noticing this strange sparkle to her eyes. She plucked Neville from the floor and stroked him comfortingly.
"We'll have to get Neville to the Hospital Wing." Hermione sighed. "I wish we could find something, but it's too suspicious."
Ron nodded. Harry seemed lost in thought.
A silence had entered the bathroom as the humans were lost in thought, while the koala blinked, staring around at his surroundings.
Hermione broke this silence. "Why don't you two take Neville to the Hospital Wing while I clean up this mess?"
Harry nodded and proceeded to take Neville the koala from Hermione's arms.
"You sure you'll be okay on your own, 'Mione?" Ron asked. Hermione nodded positively.
A few minutes later…
Neville whined. "Hold me properly, Harry! This is awkward…"
"Nev, please. Stop whining. We need to get you to the Hospital Wing as soon as possible." Harry said in his voice, which was full of authority and command.
"Don't worry, Nev." Ron muttered.
Neville narrowed his koala eyes as he stared grumpily into space.
After she had finished cleaning all the mess that they had made in the past month through the creation of the Polyjuice Potion, Hermione took out her crumpled notes from her pocket.
Just what is destroying the muggleborns at school? Surely, I'm near to the answer, aren't I? She wondered to herself.
After what seemed like an eternity in her thoughts, Hermione knew she had gotten the answer. A basilisk. Quickly scribbling down a few words which would explain what was her theory; she excitedly jumped up and vanished the washed equipment with her wand, which would transport the things back to her dormitory.
She gave a quick glance to the mirror at her disheveled appearance. She giggled to herself, making a half-hearted attempt to look slightly more presentable. I look like a fright.
Suddenly, a shadow was edging closer and closer towards her. As if by instinct, Hermione looked into the mirror, and the shadow almost veiled the dipped lights of the bathroom. She gasped, looking into the eyes of the creature in the mirror.
Darkness clouded all aspects of her thought, as she collapsed to the cold stone floor.
The Potion was a disaster. D isn't the Heir, so who is? And H – what has happened to her? Has she really solved the riddle that is the Chamber of Secrets? And who wants her eradicated from this situation? After all, we do know that H is intelligent.
Someone is out there, going after our favourite students. Indeed, Hogwarts is in danger.
You know you love me,
The Lady of Secrets