A/N: Thanks a lot to Hermione's View on Hogwarts for adding this to their community! Here's the next chapter - sorry if it's a bit focused on canon events, we had to get them up and rolling. Next chapter will be more OC-based again. Thanks for reading! :) (Also, sorry about the bad pun title. We couldn't resist!)
October arrives, and the days blur into weeks.
Slowly, I settle into life at Hogwarts. With regular (if slightly tiring) coaching from Hermione and slightly gentler help from Blossom, my schoolwork improves a little. I'm still hopeless at Potions and struggle with Transfiguration, but I manage to climb to a solid average in most classes, and that's good enough for me. Suzette is razor-sharp but pretty uninterested in lessons; our lone attempt to study together dissolved into a very ferocious game of Exploding Snap. We stick to swimming.
The lesson that maintains consistent excitement among most of my classmates is flying. No one recreates Harry Potter's dazzling success from last year and manages to make the Quidditch team as a first-year, but Ruby's told by Madam Hooch that she shows real promise and should consider trying out next year, as are a few of the Ravenclaws we have our lessons with. Suzette has developed a series of mysterious illnesses before every one of her flying lessons which miraculously fade whenever they're over. She's told me that she has "absolutely no interest at all in trying to flit about on a glorified mop", but it seems like she's on her own there: I get frequent updates from a very excited Atticus about how much he's enjoying flying and how he can't wait for the Quidditch season to start. Apparently, Chance is also pretty good at it, which had inflated his ego unbearably. He's only getting more and more annoying.
Mercifully, the same can't be said for Greg. True to his word, he's started hanging around us a little more in the common room, though he still says very little to anyone except me. Still, it's some progress.
The one that really surprises me, though, is Richardson.
Following the confrontation by the lake, I'd expected him to up his campaign, eager to exploit such a stupid mistake on my part, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Instead, he's seemed pretty subdued - the most he's done to me since my accusation is shoot me dark looks and mutter the odd snide comment. I don't know how to feel about it - is he trying to lull me into a false sense of security, planning some elaborate revenge after I insulted his intelligence? Or is he genuinely easing off, chastened by Minnie's threat? The answer, I'm sure, lies in this mysterious bargain, but I wouldn't feel right trying to wheedle answers out of Minnie - and I highly doubt I'd be successful. Instead, I turn to the friend that shares a common room and all her classes with Richardson, but I still come up frustratingly empty-handed.
"Are you sure he's never mentioned an Erik?" I ask Suzette yet again as we lie on our backs under the rustling trees one blustery Sunday afternoon.
"As sure as I've been the last hundred times, Diana." She says, in a weary tone. "I definitely haven't heard him mention anyone called Erik, or a bargain. Although, I suppose I do tend to tune him out…"
"You do?"
She arches her eyebrows. "If you had to be with His Lordship and that twittering fanclub 24/7, wouldn't you?"
"True," I concede, then groan under my breath. "Constant contact with Richardson...that must be painful."
"You're telling me! Just think, while you're in your badgers' sett, baking fairy cakes and knitting mittens, I'm stuck listening to his one-man show. He's not the only infuriating one, either."
"Baking fairy cakes and knitting mittens?" I demand, flipping onto my side and staring in mock-outrage. "Getting a bit stereotypical, aren't we?"
"That's who you are; don't even try and deny it," she grins.
Come to think of it, Juliette was knitting something pink and fluffy last night, but Suzette doesn't have to know that. "Careful, Suz," I tease. "There are a fair few things I could assume about your house, aren't there?"
She rolls her eyes. "What, and your Gryffindor friend hasn't already done that for you?"
In all seriousness, she's right. Chance hasn't launched into any more full-on lectures about the dangers of consorting with Slytherins, but in between boasting about his flying exploits he spends most of Herbology tutting and muttering under his breath whenever we make eye contact. I can't even ask him to pass me a watering can without him shooting me a stern, reproachful look, like I'm a kid with my hand caught in the biscuit jar. Atticus is as friendly as ever, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't know that he agrees with his friend. The enmity between Gryffindor and Slytherin is intense, only getting more and more potent as we approach the first Quidditch match of the season - where they'll be playing against each other. I wouldn't be surprised if anyone was 'accidentally' knocked off their broom.
I shrug. "I don't think he means to, but I guess Atticus is making few assumptions."
"Atticus?" Suzette says, her face blank. "Is he the red-faced one?"
"The red-faced one is not my friend." I say darkly.
"Isn't he?" She frowns. "He spends most of Potions talking about how much your sister likes him."
"What?!" I splutter in disbelief.
"I'm serious!" She says. "Last week it was all about how she, umm, 'respected him as a true Gryffindor'. Oh, and apparently Harry Potter asked him for Quidditch tips."
I burst out laughing. "You'd think she might have mentioned him, y'know, once, if she 'respected' him so much. As for Quidditch… well, you'd know better than me, you have flying lessons with him. Or have you skived off all of them?"
She gasps. "Skiving? I assure you that that cough was one hundred percent real."
"Oh, I'm sure it was," I grin, then swing myself into a sitting position and run my hands through my hair, picking out a couple of stray leaves. "I just wish I knew what it all meant." I moan again, hit by a new wave of frustration.
"Really? I would never have known." Suzette says mildly, but she's wearing a thinly-veiled smirk. I swat her arm in retaliation.
"Come on! You're not even a little bit curious? I mean… whatever this bargain is, it could be Richardson's only weakness!"
She shrugs. "Alright, I'm a little bit curious. But not enough to waste all my time to thinking about someone so obnoxious. And so extremely boring."
I open my mouth to protest, but she's already pulling me to me feet with a stern glint in her eye. "And you need to stop obsessing over it and think about something else before your head explodes."
"My head's not going to explode."
"It might - I need a target to practise that Knock-Back Jinx on..."
She brandishes her wand threateningly; I make a swipe for it, overshoot and end up tumbling back to the ground, pulling her with me. We surface, still clawing for the wand, dripping with orange leaves and laughing like maniacs.
Everyone's excited for Hallowe'en. People with older siblings are full of stories about previous in years' celebrations, the delectable feast and extraordinary decorations. I myself remember it more because it was this time last year that my sister was trapped in the bathroom with a mountain troll, and that she made friends with Ron and Harry - but I'm excited for the evening all the same.
On the 31st of October, just as the sun's beginning to sink, Suzette and I wander back to the school after hanging out by the lake for the afternoon. I've been showing her Fire and Fang for the first time and after her initial indifference to dragons, I'm pretty sure I've converted her. She's already pinpointed the Brazilian Featherback, an aptly-named breed whose scales make its wings look like those of an enormous bird, as her favourite. We're lost in conversation about the Featherback until we reach the Entrance Hall, when we both stop and loiter for a minute. Despite the excited chatter and delicious scents floating in from the Great Hall, my mood lapses momentarily. I guess there's nothing wrong with the House Tables, but right now they're yet again the reason I can't sit with my friend.
"Meet you here after?" I say bracingly, deciding not to voice my feelings. Suzette seems to follow my lead.
"See you soon!" She nods quickly, then goes off to sit at the Slytherin table. I watch her settle with a few other first-year girls, then approach my own table. The other Hufflepuffs in my year are sat near the end - and my spirits lift when I spot Greg sitting with the rest of them; it looks like he's still keeping his promise.
"Hey, Diana!" Juliette waves me over, and everyone shuffles down to make room for me on the end.
"Evening, all," I grin round, then take in the decorations. The Great Hall has been adorned with swarms of live bats, and pumpkin lanterns the size of carriages spill a flickering orange glow over everything. "Wow!"
"Very impressive, isn't it?" Nods Richard Finch-Fletchley, who I can't help but notice is sitting right next to a positively beaming Blossom. Additri flickers her eyes towards the pair of them and shoots me a knowing look.
"And I've heard that Dumbledore's booked a troupe of dancing skeletons for later!" Ruby adds excitedly. "They've really gone all-out."
Soon, the golden plates fill with an endless array of food. The feast is so delicious, the atmosphere so high and the entertainment so good - seriously, dancing skeleton troupes would not go amiss in the Muggle world - that I'm very quickly caught up in it all, any irritation forgotten.
"Coming back to the common room, Diana?" Blossom asks me as the final applause dies down and people begin to get up from the tables.
"In a bit," I say. "I'm just meeting Suzette."
I give everyone a wave as I move off towards the door, where Suzette's already waiting for me.
"Good time?" I ask.
"Very. Though lacking in badgers." She says with a smile, as we start to get swept away in the swarm of students leaving the Great Hall.
"Hear anything Richardson-related?" I mutter, though the chatter's so loud I don't think I'd be overheard if I shouted.
"I was a bit distracted by the skeletons," she replies under her breath. "He seemed pretty quiet, actually - didn't say much at all."
I nod slowly. That in itself is interesting. "D'you think he's actually easing off because he's still worried? Or is he...plotting?"
"Let's hope it's the first." She pauses, then grins wickedly. "You know, I do think it would be much easier to just jinx him."
I laugh as we enter a long corridor. "I don't think that's wise…"
"Are you sure? I mean, I still need someone's head to practise that Knock-Back Jinx on…"
All of a sudden, the crowd halts. I nearly overbalance on my momentum, but manage to steady myself before I topple into the student in front of me, a particularly tall boy who's completely blocking my view of what's ahead. Frustrated, I shuffle to my right and stand on my tip-toes, peer over the heads of all the pupils ahead and finally lay eyes on the subject of their shock.
A weight drops in my stomach.
There is a message daubed on the wall in foot-high scarlet lettering.
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.
Underneath the still-shining words hangs Filch's cat, Mrs Norris, stiff and unmoving. Dead? Next to me, I hear Suzette's sharp intake of breath; shock hangs over the corridor like a cloud.
And right in the middle of the scene, under the suspicious eyes of fifty students, are Harry, Ron and my sister.
You could cut the tension with a knife.
The silence is palpable, broken only by a sudden shout from a slight blond-haired boy who pushes his way to the front of the crowd and surveys the motionless cat with glee. His green-striped tie is the only other tip-off I need to place him as Draco Malfoy. He looks around, flushed and excited. "Enemies of the heir, beware!" He crows. "You'll be next, Mudbloods!"
I shrink further into the crowd, feeling my heart rate pick up, sweat beginning to gather on my palms. Suzette looks to me, her grey-green eyes wide with fear, and edges slightly closer.
"What's going on here? What's going on?" Comes a raspy voice - it's Filch, shouldering through the crowd and stopping dead in front of Mrs Norris, frozen with horror. "My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs Norris?"
Then he looks to Harry. "You!" He shrieks. "You! You've murdered my cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you! I'll-"
"Argus!" Professor Dumbledore sweeps in, Professors Snape and McGonagall hurrying in his footsteps. He detaches the immobile cat from the torch bracket with his signature air of calmness. "Come with me, Argus. You too, Mr Potter, Mr Weasley, Miss Granger."
Lockhart steps forward with inappropriate bounce. "My office is nearest, Headmaster - just upstairs, please feel free-"
"Thank you, Gilderoy."
The crowd splits to let the party pass. I desperately try to catch Hermione's eye as she slips through, but she looks stolidly ahead, until they all disappear into Lockhart's office. The door swings shut, and with it, the silence is gradually replaced by the low hum of dozens of mutterings. The mass begins to thin out as people move away, but I'm still stuck, unable to tear my eyes from the writing on the wall.
"C'mon, Diana," Suzette murmurs, tugging my arm. I force myself to start walking.
"What...what was that?" I ask slowly. And what was Hermione doing here?
"I don't know. Nothing good." Suzette says, sounding unusually grave. "Come on, I'll walk with you to your common room."
Over the next few days, there is only one topic of conversation: who - or what - could have Petrified Mrs Norris. The whole school is buzzing with tension, rumours flying back and forth wildly. The atmosphere isn't helped by the fact that Filch is totally unsuccessful in trying to scrub the message off the wall, and so it still looms over the corridor threateningly.
Hermione sought me out first thing on November 1st and explained everything - that she, Harry and Ron attended a Deathday Party and stumbled onto the scene of the attack after following a disembodied voice that only Harry heard. "But don't mention that to anyone, won't you, Diana?" She'd said briskly. "I'm not sure I was even supposed to tell you…" I'd nodded, bemused.
My sister's had a slightly frantic air ever since the attack, devoting even more of her time to the library - which, previous to this week, I wouldn't have thought possible.
When, a couple of days later, I ask her why she's lugging a dozen heavy volumes everywhere she goes, she sounds extremely frustrated. "I'm looking for something." Hermione mutters, still scanning her page fervently. "And I couldn't bring my copy of Hogwarts: A History, so I'm having to try and look elsewhere…"
"What're you looking for?"
She looks up. "I want to read up on the Chamber of Secrets."
"Huh?" I blink. "What's that?"
"Well, I can't remember it properly, that's why I'm looking. But I'm sure it had something to do with these sorts of attacks…"
I fiddle with my quill, thinking. "Maybe there's someone you can ask about it?"
"Yes," she nods slowly, as if struck by a sudden idea. "Maybe there is…"
It turns out, I don't have to wait for Hermione to find out about the mysterious Chamber of Secrets. After asking all my dorm-mates if they'd ever heard of it after Hermione mentioned it yesterday, I came up empty. Additri, as a fellow Muggle-born, was completely blank; Juliette and Blossom seemed equally uncertain. Ruby said that her brother might have mentioned it once and was looking into it again, but she didn't have a clue herself ("to be honest, I tend to drift off a wee bit whenever he starts talking…") so I was left to stew on it unproductively.
Just one day later, though, we suddenly hit the jackpot. We're all gathered around one of the tables, plodding through the day's Defence homework (yet more Lockhart pointlessness) when a very welcome interruption arrives.
"I've got it." Roderick Mallenry announces, pulling up an armchair and slamming down a hefty book on our table.
"Don't bother with saying hello or anything." Ruby says drily, but her brother seems way too absorbed to respond, skimming his page as if in a trance.
"I've found the Chamber of Secrets." He tells us.
At that, some of the chatter on surrounding tables begins to die down as people look towards Roderick expectantly.
"The Legend of the Chamber of Secrets." He reads aloud, then looks up.
"Well, you know how to get an audience, Rod." Ruby says, with a ghost of her usual grin. "Go on, then."
"Well, it all started with the founders. Salazar Slytherin fell out with the others-" ("-what a surprise," mutters someone from the sofa next to us.) "Slytherin fell out with the others over whether or not Muggle-borns should be allowed into the school. He and Gryffindor had a huge fight over it, and then Slytherin left Hogwarts for good. That much is fact."
"But what about the Chamber of Secrets?" Asks Kelvin Blair.
"That's where it comes in. According to the legend-" Roderick scans the book rapidly. "According to the legend, Slytherin had built a hidden chamber, which housed a monster."
The whole common room is silent now, hooked on his every word. Daniela Bregalia, Roderick's chocolate-haired friend, comes and stands behind him, reading over his shoulder.
"What was the monster?" Blossom asks, her blue eyes round with fear.
"No one knows. No one except Slytherin, that is. And no one could command it except his one true heir - and when they arrived at Hogwarts, they'd be able to open the Chamber and - and 'unleash the horror within.'"
"So they'd use the creature as a weapon," Daniela says, shaking her head in disgust.
"And this - this is happening again, now?" Asks a second-year girl with blonde plaits and pink cheeks, her voice slightly shaky.
"The book says it's just a legend." Roderick says quickly. "A myth. But still... it seems suspicious…"
There's a ripple of assent from around the room. Then a handsome fourth-year with dark hair and grey eyes asks the question on everyone's minds. "But if it does exist, and it's been opened again, then the heir of Slytherin - they've got to be at Hogwarts now. Who could it be?"
There's a heavy silence as everyone ponders the question.
"You know, I think it's a bit suspicious that Potter and his friends were seen right by the scene of the attack. I mean, Filch suspected him immediately, didn't he?" Pipes up a fifth-year boy from his seat by the window.
"No way." I cut in quickly. "My sister was there, there's no chance she's involved - she's Muggle-born herself!"
"And they're not in Slytherin." Adds Roderick, frowning over at him. "I doubt that that Salazar Slytherin would have some Gryffindor as his heir."
"He might. It'd be a great way to put people off the scent." The boy says stubbornly.
There's an outbreak of muttering. Most people seem unconvinced, but a few seem to be mulling this theory over. Justin Finch-Fletchley looks to his plump friend, who's nodding slowly, his face crumpled into a concentrated frown. Slowly, everyone starts speculating in their individual groups, the noise rising to its normal level - though I can't say the same for the tension, which is still sky-high.
Roderick closes his book and starts to engage Daniela in frantic, worried conversation. I slump back in my chair, my head aching from the weight of a dozen unanswered questions.
A few days later, Hermione and I walk back from the library. "I suppose you've heard about the Chamber of Secrets by now?" She asks me. "I know I'm not the only one who thought of it - lots of people have been trying to read up on it."
I nod. "My friend's brother found it in, er... A Hogwarts History?"
"Hogwarts: A History," Hermione rectifies me, but even her correcting of errors seems lacklustre. "It looks like it's been opened again." She says sadly.
"But how could it have happened?" I ask, my voice slightly desperate.
"Well, we have our own suspicions," She says cryptically.
"What?"
"It's not so much a matter of what, but who."
I frown. "The heir of Slytherin? You think you know who it is?"
"Draco Malfoy." She looks at me. "I mean, I was sceptical at first...but it does make sense, you see. A proud Slytherin from an old pure-blood family… We're going to try and see if he'll admit it."
I nod slowly, but I'm distracted. I've just thought of another candidate - another pure-blood Slytherin bully, who clearly has nothing but contempt for Muggle-borns. Before I can think on this any longer, I'm struck with a problem. "But how are you going to get close enough to ask him? I mean, he's hardly going to tell you three, is he?"
"Well," she lowers her voice further still. "There's something called a Polyjuice Potion…"
"Never heard of it." I shrug.
"Well, you wouldn't have - it's very complex - I only know about it because Snape mentioned it last week."
If I tried to remember anything Snape said ten minutes ago, I'd come up blank, let alone last week - but in this case, it's possible my sister's crystal-clear memory might actually save some lives. "So what does this stuff do?" I ask, intrigued. "How will it help you?"
"It lets you transform into someone else. So we can become a few Slytherins for an hour or so and sneak into their common room."
I whistle under my breath. "That's kind of scary… what if you got caught mid-transformation?!"
She brushes aside my concern. "We'll just have to be careful, that's all. But we really do need to hear what Malfoy's saying to his friends. He's just the type to show off about it."
I mull this over for a few seconds, and then it hits me like a train. Of course...how could I be so stupid?!
"Hermione!" I hiss. "I can just ask Suzette to spy on him! They share a common room!"
To my disappointment, she doesn't look quite as blown away by this brainwave as I'd hoped. "Well," she says hesitantly. "I suppose you could ask her…"
"What's wrong?" I ask, my heart sinking. "It's because she's in Slytherin, isn't it? You don't trust her to tell me the truth?"
"Don't be ridiculous." Hermione says briskly, as if making up her mind. "Yes, ask your friend to listen for anything suspicious. And we'll use the Polyjuice plan as well. Between us, I'm sure we can get to the bottom of it."
"Hey," I whisper, first thing in Charms on Monday as I slide into my chair next to Suzette. "I have another spying mission for you."
"Another one?" She raises her eyebrows, pausing in taking out her quill.
"Yep. Well, I was so impressed by your absolute dedication to the first one, I thought who better, you know?"
"Careful, Diana, or I'll back out of espionage completely." She teases, then looks at me sideways. "So, who d'you want me to listen to now?"
"It's not so much for me." I mutter. "More my sister. She thinks - well, she and her friends are pretty certain that Draco Malfoy is the heir of Slytherin."
Suzette pauses, considering it.
"Old Slytherin family," I prompt. "Descended from a pure-blood line...clearly happy after Mrs Norris was attacked…total git...y'know, it all sort of fits. And my sister says he'd probably show off about it."
She nods slowly, though she doesn't look completely convinced. "Well, he won't be hard to listen to." Suzette says thoughtfully. "He's always holding court, blaring his opinions and going on about 'my father' this and 'my father' that. And he would be the type to show off about that kind of thing… but, Diana, if you're going to consider him… why not Richardson?"
I chew my lip. "Well… I sort of have been considering Richardson. And I was wondering if…?"
"Let me guess," Suzette sighs. "You want me to listen to him for anything Chamber of Secrets-related, as well as the bargain thing?"
I blink imploringly. "Please?"
She rolls her eyes, but amusement starts to rise on her face. "Oh, alright, then. It would be great to catch either of them out."
"You're honestly wonderful," I tell her.
"Oh, stop. But when Christmas arrives, you owe me a thousand Sugar Quills, a trip to see Brazilian Featherbacks in the wild and a get-out-of-jail-free card for any and all future flying lessons."
I shake my head, grinning, and take out my Charms textbook. "Deal."