Hello. So, I bet you saw that I made a separate book for this year, right? It'll be that way for the rest of the seven years. Enjoy!
Autumn's P.O.V
"No" Ron answered, without hesitation.
"I was actually thinking about it when Snape suggested that I don't play Quidditch until I tell the truth of what happened" I admitted.
"Hear this out, guys. We were in the upstairs corridor because we were following a disembodied voice, that apparantely Petrifies cats, that only me and Harry can hear. That just says 'Insane Asylum' all over it" I said sarcastically.
"Hearing voices no one else can hear isn't a good sign, even in the Wizarding world" Ron agreed. Something in his voice made me think. Does he believe us? Does he think we're crazy?
"You do believe us, don't you?" Harry asked. It's like he read my mind. Is everyone a freaking mind reader!?
"'Course I do" Ron said quickly. "But-you must admit it's weird"
"I know it's weird" Harry sighed. "The whole thing's weird. What was that writing on the wall about? The Chamber Has Been Opened.... What's that supposed to mean?" he asked.
"You know, it rings a sort of bell. I think someone told us a story about a secret chamber at Hogwarts once...might've been Bill..." Ron said slowly.
"I'm just spit-balling here, but Ron might be partially right. What if there was a chamber hidden within the school? A chamber of secrets inside, so hidden, that only one or very few people can find it and step inside" I guessed.
"O...kay then. With that guess aside for now, what on earth's a Squib?" Harry asked. Ron sniggered, and I hit him upside the head.
"Ow! Well-it's not funny really-but as it's Filch. A Squib is someone who was born into a Wizarding family but hasn't got any magic powers. Kind of the opposite of Muggle-born wizards, but Squibs are quite unusual. If Filch's trying to learn magic from a Kwikspell course, I reckon he must be a Squib" Ron explained.
"It really explains a lot, like why he hates the students so much" I added.
A clock chimed somewhere.
"Midnight. We better get to bed before Snape comes along and tries to frame us for something else" Harry suggested.
"I better try. I'm a night person" I shrugged.
We walked out of the classroom and to the common room.
"Goodnight" I waved to Harry and Ron as they went to bed. Me and Hermione opened the door to our room and quietly changed into pajamas and got into bed.
"Goodnight, Hermione" I mumbled as I closed my eyes. Sleep took me over.
For the next few days, the school talked about the attack on Mrs. Norris. Filch kept it fresh in all our minds by pacing the spot where she had been attacked, as though he thought the attacker might come back.
Personally, I want the attacker to come back. That was a CAT it attacked. I'm protective over all animals, even if they don't like me.
I saw Filch scrubbing the message on the wall with Mrs. Skower's All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover, but to no avail. The words still gleamed as brightly as ever on the stone. When Filch wasn't guarding the scene of the crime, he was sulking red-eyed through the corridors, lunging out at unsuspecting students and trying to put them in detention for things like "breathing loudly" and "looking happy". What the heck? That's no reason to give anyone detention!
Ginny seemed very disturbed by Mrs. Norris's fate, though I don't know why, even though she is a great cat lover.
The attack also had an effect on Hermione. It was quite unusual for her to spend a lot of time reading, but she was now doing almost nothing else. At first, I was helping her, so that she could get done quicker, but my eyes hurt reading so much that I stopped, so I visited Myrtle instead. Harry and Ron tried to get responses from us on what Hermione was up to, but we left them in the dark for now. They'll know later.
"So, how long are you going to do this, Hermione?" I asked. We were in the library the next Wednesday.
"As long as it takes to get an answer" Hermione responded. I rolled my eyes.
"I don't believe it" Hermione muttered. She walked back towards Ron, and I followed. Now I saw that Harry was there, measuring his History of Magic homework.
"All the copies of Hogwarts: A History have been taken out. And there's a two-week long waiting list. I wish I hadn't left my copy at home, but I couldn't fit it in my trunk with all the Lockhart books" Hermione complained, sitting next to Harry and Ron. I sat on the other side of Ron.
"Why do you want it?" Harry asked.
"Same reason everyone else wants it. To read up on the legend of the Chamber of Secrets" Hermione answered.
"What's that?" Harry asked quickly.
"That's just it. I can't remember. And I can't find the story anywhere else-" Hermione said, biting her lip.
"I think I remember. Wasn't it about the four founders?" I remembered.
"I think so" Hermione agreed.
"If you remember, then what is it?" Harry asked. Well, I guess it's story time now.
"Everyone here knows about the four founders. Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. three of the four founders worked together tremendously, but the other did not. Slytherin wanted to limit the amount of students who were to come to Hogwarts, that only students of all-magic families could attend. In other words, he only wanted Pure-bloods. The other founders wanted all-magical students to attend Hogwarts, so Slytherin left the school. He thought he could persuade the others to see his side, but they never did. Legends say, that before he left, he made a hidden chamber, and hid a monster inside of it. Only the heir of Salazar Slytherin can open the chamber, and release the monster within" I told. It's just what I remember, but the gist of it is the same.
"Hermione, let me read your composition" Ron said desperately, checking his watch. I just told him that legend, and he asks to cheat on homework! Unbelievable!
"No, I won't" Hermione replied.
"Autumn, can I read yours?" Ron asked.
"Nope. You've had ten days to finish it, Ron" I denied.
"I only need another two inches, come on-" he whined.
The bell rang for next class. Ron and Hermione led the way to History of Magic, bickering.
"I knew Salazar Slytherin was a twisted old loony. But I never knew he started all this pure-blood stuff. I wouldn't be in his House if you paid me. Honestly, if the Sorting Hat had tried to put me in Slytherin, I'd've got the train straight back home..." Ron ranted, getting back to earlier topic. We were walking to the common room to drop off our bags before dinner.
Hermione nodded fervently, but Harry didn't say anything. I have a feeling he has a secret. I do too, but Hermione knows. I never told Harry and Ron that the Sorting Hat considered putting me in Slytherin. I can remember, as though it were yesterday, the Sorting Hat talking to me.
I went beside Harry.
"What's up?" I asked.
"What? Nothing" Harry answered.
"You know, if the Sorting Hat actually considered putting you in Slytherin, you're not alone there" I whispered.
"Really?" he asked.
"Yeah. The Sorting Hat considered me in Slytherin. Actually, it considered me in every House. I have attributes from all four" I admitted.
"I can see Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff, but I don't see any Slytherin" Harry thought.
"The Sorting Hat said that I was very ambitious to succeed in my task" I remembered.
"What task?" Harry asked.
"I don't know" I shrugged.
Colin came past us.
"Hiya, Harry! Hiya, Autumn!" he greeted.
"Hullo, Colin" Harry greeted back automatically.
"Harry-Harry-a boy in my class has been saying you're-" Colin tried.
He was so small, he couldn't fight against the tide of people bearing him toward the Great Hall.
"See you, Harry!" and he was gone.
"What's a boy in his class saying about you?" Hermione wondered.
"That maybe Harry's Slytherin's heir, I expect" I guessed, shrugging.
"People here'll believe anything" Ron said in disgust.
The crowd thinned and we could climb the stairs to the common room without difficulty.
"D'you really think there's a Chamber of Secrets?" Ron asked.
"I don't know. Dumbledore couldn't cure Mrs. Norris, and that makes me think that whatever attacked her might not be-well-human" Hermione answered, frowning. I don't really think it is human.
As she spoke, we turned a corner and found ourselves at the end of the very corridor where the attack had happened. We stopped and looked. It was just like it was the very night it happened, except there was no stiff cat hanging from the torch bracket, and an empty chair stood against the wall bearing the message "The Chamber of Secrets Has Been Opened."
"That's where Filch has been keeping guard" Ron muttered.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other. I felt my senses going numb on me again, like the night it happened. Why am I shutting down when I see this? It makes no sense. Good thing the corridor was deserted this time, so nobody else could see this.
"Can't hurt to have a poke around" Harry said, dropping his bag and getting to his hands and knees, so that he could crawl along, searching for clues. I can't believe that! It would hurt to poke around, Harry. Yes, it would hurt. And just like that night, I can't talk.
"Scorch marks! Here-and here-" Harry exclaimed.
"Come and look at this! This is funny..." Hermione said.
Harry got up and crossed to the window next to the message on the wall. Hermione was pointing at the top pane, where around twenty spiders were scuttling. It looked like they were fighting to get through a small crack. A long, silvery thread was dangling like a rope, as though they had all climbed it in their hurry to get outside.
"Have you ever seen spiders act like that?" Hermione wondered.
"No. Have you, Ron? Ron?" Harry asked.
Harry looked over his shoulder to Ron. Ron was standing well back from the spiders and sseemed to be fighting the impulse to run.
"What's up?" Harry asked.
"Ron doesn't like spiders" I answered, coming up beside him.
"I never knew that. You've used spiders in Potions loads of times..." Hermione said, looking at Ron in surprise.
"I don't mind them dead. I just don't like the way they move..." Ron shrugged, who was looking anywhere but the window.
Hermione giggled.
"It's not funny" Ron said fiercely. "If you must know, when I was three, Fred turned my-my teddy bear into a great big filthy spider because I broke his toy broomstick. ...You wouldn't like them either if you'd been holding your bear and suddenly it had too many legs and..." he broke off, shuddering.
Hermione was obviously still trying not to laugh.
"What about you?" Hermione asked.
"I love all kinds of animals, spiders included" I answered.
"Remember all that water on the floor? Where did that come from? Someone's mopped it up" Harry said, changing the topic.
"Good thing. Wouldn't want someone to walk through here and slip and fall" I scoffed.
"It was about here. Level with this chair" Ron guessed, recovering himself to walk a few paces past Filch's chair and pointing.
He reached for the doorknob, but suddenly withdrew his hand, as though he was burned.
"What's the matter?" I asked.
"Can't go in there. That's a girls' toilet" Ron answered gruffly.
"Oh, Ron, there won't be anyone in there" Hermione sighed, standing up and coming over.
"She's right, Ron. I go in there all the time to hang out with Myrtle. No one ever goes in" I agreed. Ignoring the sign on the door, as always, I opened the door and walked in.
I put my fingers to my lips and walked to the end stall.
"Hi, Myrtle! How are you?" I greeted when I got there.
"This is a girls' bathroom. They're not girls" Myrtle said suspiciously. I looked over my shoulder to find Harry and Ron.
"No. I was just showing them how nice it is in here" I smiled.
"Ask her if she saw anything" Harry mouthed to me.
"What are you whispering?" Myrtle asked, staring at Harry.
"Nothing. We wanted to ask-" Harry said quickly.
"I wish people would stop talking behind my back!" Myrtle exclaimed, in a voice choked with tears. "I do have feelings, you know, even if I am dead-"
"Myrtle, no one wants to upset you. Harry only-" Hermione said.
"No one wants to upset me! That's a good one!" Myrtle howled.
"What ever happened to us hanging out Myrtle?" I asked.
"Oh right" Myrtle smiled sheepishly.
"We wanted to ask you if you've seen anything funny lately. Because a cat was attacked right outside your front door on Halloween" Hermione said quickly.
"Did you see anyone near here that night?" Harry asked.
"I wasn't paying attention. I was hanging out with my new friend to notice anything" Myrtle said dramatically.
"I didn't see anything either" I added. I did see a speck of green in the corner of my eye, but I won't tell them that. I was probably just tired or paranoid. We walked out.
Harry barely closed the door to the bathroom when a loud voice made the three of them jump.
"RON!"
Percy had stopped dead at the head of the stairs, prefect badge agleam, an expression of complete shock on his face.
"That's a girls' bathroom! What were you-?" Percy gasped.
"Just having a look around. Clues, you know-" Ron shrugged.
Percy swelled in a manner that reminded me of Mum.
"Get - away - from - there" Percy said, striding over and starting to bustle us along, flapping his arms. "Don't you care what this looks like? Coming back here while everyone's at dinner-"
"We're just trying to help and find out who really did this!" I exclaimed.
"Listen, we never laid a finger on that cat!" Ron agreed, stopping short and glaring at Percy.
"That's what I told Ginny" Percy said fiercely, "But she still seems to think you're going to be expelled, I've never seen her so upset, crying her eyes out, you might think of her, all the first years are thoroughly overexcited by this business-"
"You don't care about Ginny" Ron said, whose ears were now reddening. "You're just worried we're going to mess up your chances of being Head Boy-"
"Five points from Gryffindor!" Percy said tersely, fingering his prefect badge. "And I hope it teaches you a lesson! No more detective work, or I'll write to Mum!"
And he strode off, the back of his neck was as red as Ron's ears. Good thing I didn't get that from them.
That night, we chose seats as far from Percy as possible in the common room. Ron was still in a very bad temper, even with my attempts to make jokes, and kept blotting his Charms homework. When he reached absently for his wand to remove the smudges, it ignited the parchment. Fuming almost as much as his homework, Ron slammed The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 shut. To my surprise, and Harry's, Hermione did too.
"Who can it be though?" Hermione asked in a quiet voice, as though continuing a conversation we had just been having. "Who'd want to frighten all the Squibs and Muggle-borns out of Hogwarts?"
"Let's think" Ron said in mock puzzlement.
"Who do we know who thinks all Muggle-borns are scum?" I asked.
We looked at Hermione. Hermione looked back, unconvinced.
"If you're talking about Malfoy-"
"Of course we are!" I exclaimed.
"You heard him - 'You'll be next, Mudbloods!' - come on, you've only got to look at his foul rat face to know it's him -"
"Hey! Be nice!" I defended.
"About Malfoy? Are you nuts!?" Ron exclaimed.
"No! About rats!" I corrected.
Ron rolled his eyes at me.
"Malfoy, the Heir of Slytherin?" Hermione said skeptically.
"Look at his family" Harry said, closing his books and joining in. "The whole lot of them have been in Slytherin. He's always boasting about it. They could easily be Slytherin's descendants. His father's definitely evil enough"
"Actually, that does make sense. They could've had the key to the Chamber of Secrets for centuries! Handing it down, father to son." I agreed.
"Well, I suppose it's possible..." Hermione said cautiously.
"But how do we prove it?" Harry asked darkly.
"There might be a way" Hermione said slowly, dropping her voice further with a quick glance across the room at Percy. "Of course, it would be difficult. And dangerous, very dangerous. We'd be breaking about fifty school rules, I expect-"
"If, in a month or so, you feel like explaining, you will let us know, won't you?" Ron asked irritably. I smacked him upside the head.
"Be nice!" I hissed.
"What we'd need to do is to get inside the Slytherin common room and ask Malfoy a few questions without him realizing it's us" Hermione explained.
"But that's impossible" Harry denied as Ron laughed. I looked at him, and he quickly shut up.
"No, it's not. All we'd need would be some Polyjuice Potion" Hermione corrected.
"What's that?" Harry and Ron asked together.
"I know what it is, and you can count me out of it" I crossed my arms.
"What is it?" Harry asked again.
"Snape mentioned it in class a few weeks ago-"
"D'you think we've got nothing better to do in Potions than listen to Snape?" Ron muttered.
"It transforms you into somebody else. Think about it! We could change into three of the Slytherins, since Elsa doesn't want to do it. No one would know it was us. Malfoy would probably tell us anything. He's probably boasting about it in the Slytherin common room right now, if only we could hear him" Hermione said.
"It only changes your physical appearance, so your voice and personality will stay the same" I added.
"Good, because if I change into Crabbe or Goyle, I don't want to act like them for more than I have to" Harry said.
"This Polyjuice stuff sounds a bit dodgy to me" Ron said, frowning. "What if we were stuck looking like three of the Slytherins forever?"
"It wears off after an hour" I dismissed, waving my hand.
"But getting hold of the recipe will be very difficult. Snape said it was in a book called Moste Potente Potions and it's bound to be in the Restricted Section of the library" Hermione said.
"Hard to see why we'd want the book, really. If we weren't going to try and make one of the potions" Ron shrugged.
"I think, that if we made it sound as though we were just interested in the theory, we might stand a chance..." Hermione suggested.
"Oh, come on, no teacher's going to fall for that. They'd have to be really thick" Ron laughed. He just gave Hermione a person, and I think I know who it is.
Done. Finally. I type during school. I can do it, and post it! Long chapter. I had my first day of ISTEP for two weeks. Someone kill me, please? Bye my little wizard turtles! Review?