Tansy wasn't looking forward to Halloween; the thought of spending the evening in the dungeons with a bunch of ghosts wasn't appealing, especially when she thought of the magnificent feast they would be missing up in the great hall. Nevertheless, on the evening of the thirty first of October, she dutifully followed her friends past the great hall and down the stone steps that led to the dungeons although not without several longing glances back over her shoulder. As they walked down into the bowels of the castle the temperature dropped until all four of them were shivering; walking into the dungeon where the festivities were being held was like walking into a freezer. Tansy drew her robes more tightly around her, imagining that she could feel her blood freezing.
It was quite an extraordinary sight for the dungeon was filled with hundreds of semi-transparent people floating about five inches off the floor. Tansy didn't find the sight of so many dead people exactly creepy because she was used to ghosts by now, but the music, or the noises that could be loosely termed as music, was making shivers run up and down her spine. It was worse than the time when another child at Brooklyn had been given a violin by his mum but unfortunately had had no idea how to play the thing. Tansy wrapped her arms miserably around herself, trying to keep in as much of her body heat as possible, and followed her friends further into the dungeon, wanting nothing more than to be heading in the opposite direction.
'Ah look at that wee lassie there!' Tansy winced as the ghost of an old man with a large plumed hat patted her on the shoulder. 'Reminds me of my own dear daughter - betrothed at only ten she was.' Tansy turned to the ghost who continued reminiscing to his friend, a tall ghost with an opaque arrow sticking out of his chest and a rather snooty expression.
'Ah she had my blue eyes and black hair same as yours my dear…' She would have to take his word for it because he was now entirely pearly-white and translucent. 'I expect you are of a similar age my dear?' Tansy suddenly found herself feeling uncomfortable under the scrutiny of the two ghosts.
'I'm… I'm twelve.' She finally got the words out, despite her discomfort.
'Ah! Then you must be betrothed already – tell me which gallant prince is to be your amour?' Tansy blushed and muttered something unintelligible but the two ghosts were still staring expectantly at her. She shuffled awkwardly from one foot to the other.
'Um… I'm not betrothed to anyone. Nowadays no one gets betrothed at twelve.'
'Ah twelve years old and not yet betrothed – yours will be a lonely life my dear.' The ghost said sadly, looking thoroughly upset. Luckily Tansy was saved having to think up a reply to this because at that moment a loud hunting horn rang though the dungeon and several ghost horses burst through the wall, each ridden by a headless horseman. Tansy was suddenly reminded of the muggle film Sleepy Hollow and grinned sardonically to herself; even as a small child, she'd found the film slightly stupid and not in the least bit scary. As the horsemen began to play a game of Head Hockey she felt somebody tap her on the arm.
'C'mon, time to go…' Ron whispered in her ear. Tansy jumped in surprise but nodded enthusiastically; her feet felt like blocks of ice and her stomach was rumbling loudly.
'…maybe we can get back to the feast in time for pudding.' Ron continued hopefully as they wove their way through the ghosts, trying not to step in anybody. Tansy was never sure whether or not this was a breach of etiquette but it was best to be on the safe side. Finally, they made it out of the dungeon and found themselves back in the cold stone passageway. They hurried along it, wanting to put as much distance between themselves and the icy dungeon as possible.
'Where did you get to Tansy? We thought you'd left.' Tansy had just begun explaining about her conversation with the plumed hatted ghost when Harry, who was walking slightly ahead of them, suddenly stood stock still.
'C'mon mate I'm starving…' Ron began, but Harry held up his hand and he fell silent and Tansy, who was staring at his pale face, suddenly felt the first prickling of fear.
'Listen!' Harry said urgently. Tansy listened as hard as she could, suddenly and inexplicably terrified at her friend's strange behaviour; she could hear pipes hissing in the wall and Ron's stomach rumbling but nothing out of the ordinary.
'It's that voice again,' Harry went on.
'What voice?' Hermione asked sceptically, her eyebrows raised.
'The voice I've been hearing in the walls. Shut up a minute and listen,' Harry replied frantically.
Tansy looked over at Ron who didn't seem surprised by this bit of news – perhaps Harry had already spoken to him about 'the voice'? Either that or they were both in on the joke. Her heart rate started to return to normal; there was nothing terrible going on after all; clearly the boys were playing a prank on them.
'Maybe it's Peeves playing a joke?' She suggested weakly, deciding to play along for a bit. 'We know that he…'
'It's going to kill someone!' Harry shouted suddenly, interrupting her attempt at rationality, and he sprinted up the passage. Ron, Hermione and Tansy followed as fast as they could.
Gasping for breath Tansy rounded a corner on the second floor, skidded on the lake of water which had flooded the corridor, crashed into Ron, and fell over. Ron was gazing open mouthed at the wall ahead where foot-high words had been daubed in semi luminescent brown paint.
'What does it mean?' He asked and then his voice suddenly went up in panic, 'what's that hanging from the torch bracket?'
Tansy looked up and felt herself freeze as she saw what it was; it was Mrs Norris, the caretaker's cat, stiff as a board and hanging by her tail. Tansy felt tears fill her eyes as she stood up; she loved cats and the idea of someone killing even the caretaker's animal distressed her horribly. Ignoring Ron's repulsed noises she hurried over to the cat and removed the animal from the torch bracket and cradled her in her arms.
'We need to get out of here!' Ron said urgently. Tansy shook her head and gulped back the tears.
'You go if you want but I'm staying – someone needs to tell Dumbledore…'
'Trust me on this one; we don't want anyone…' Ron began, but at that moment a distant roll of thunder announced the end of the Halloween feast. The sound of hundreds of footsteps making their way up to the dormitories filled the narrow corridor and then suddenly they were surrounded by students. A hush fell over them as they took in the grisly scene.
What Draco Malfoy was doing among the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors Tansy would never know, but suddenly his voice rang out through the ominous silence.
'Enemies of the Heir, beware! You'll be next Mudbloods!'
'What's going on here?' The caretaker, Filch, was muscling his way towards them through the crowd of people. He saw Mrs Norris in Tansy's arms and stopped still for a second before advancing on her. Tansy backed towards the wall, suddenly feeling slightly faint under the scrutiny of so many people.
'My cat! My cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you!' Before anyone could stop him he had grabbed the frozen cat with one hand and hit her across the head with the other. Tansy crashed to the ground, stars winking in front of her eyes. 'I'll kill you! I'll-'
'Argus!' Dumbledore had finally arrived and the caretaker jumped backwards as an invisible barrier was thrown up between him and Tansy. He collapsed, sobbing, against tiny Professor Flitwick, (who staggered). Professor McGonagall hurried towards Tansy as she attempted to sit up and a couple of the other teachers began shepherding the crowds of curious students away.
'Sit up slowly Miss Laverstock, are you hurt?' Professor McGonagall's mouth was as thin as Tansy had ever seen it and she looked furious. Tansy assessed her situation; the back of her head hurt where she had hit the floor and her cheek was throbbing from Filch's fist but apart from that she was unhurt. She shook her head and got to her feet.
'My office is nearest Headmaster – feel free to…' Tansy looked dispassionately at Professor Lockhart. If the teachers thought that she'd killed Mrs Norris then she might as well go straight to Gryffindor tower and start packing. Why prolong the inevitable?
The four friends sat close together in a tense silence while Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall examined Mrs Norris. Filch was sobbing in a nearby chair, being comforted by a nervous-looking Professor Flitwick, and Snape was hovering just outside the circle of candlelight, looking rather pleased about something, (Tansy had a shrewd idea that the 'something' included her expulsion). Lockhart was striding around the room, waving his arms flamboyantly and talking in a loud voice about what had killed Mrs Norris and how he could have stopped it if he'd been there. Tansy couldn't help but feel that he was making it all up and this thought intensified considerably as Dumbledore finally looked up and told them all that the cat wasn't dead.
'She's been Petrified,' Dumbledore continued, 'but how I cannot say.' Lockhart changed tack at the speed of light and Tansy suppressed a small snort with some difficulty. Professor McGonagall also looked as if she was trying not to roll her eyes.
'It was her; she did it! Ask her.' Filch shrieked and pointed at Tansy, who shrank back and shook her head, her voice failing her under the stares of so many adults. She opened her mouth to explain but the only sound that came out of it was a strangled cough and she felt herself turning red.
'We didn't do it.' Harry stepped in when he saw that Tansy wasn't going to speak. 'We found Mrs Norris hanging off a torch bracket and we just wanted to help… we were about to go and fetch someone…' He looked to Ron and Hermione for support but their noises of agreement dwindled to nothing as Snape made a small noise of disbelief from the shadows.
Dumbledore gave Tansy a piercing look who had the uncomfortable feeling of being X-rayed by his twinkling blue eyes; it was as if he was looking into her very soul in order to read her thoughts. All of her secrets suddenly came bubbling to the forefront of her mind and she felt herself paling.
'No second year could've done this Argus, it would take Dark magic of the most advanced…' Filch cut across the headmaster.
'You saw what they wrote on the wall! He put her up to it.' To Tansy's surprise the caretaker pointed at Harry, 'he knows I'm a… I'm a Squib!'
'We never touched Mrs Norris! Neither of us even know what a Squib is!' Harry said loudly.
Snape stepped forward. The sardonic smile playing around the corners of his mouth was one that Tansy knew all too well and she resisted the urge to take a step backwards.
'If I might speak Headmaster,' he continued without waiting for a reply, 'Laverstock is more gifted than the average second year…' Tansy felt rather surprised at this compliment from Snape but her heart sank as he continued speaking. '…we all know what she is capable of in a moment of anger, and we do have a suspicious set of circumstances here. I don't recall seeing these four at the Halloween feast.' Harry, Ron and Hermione launched into an explanation about the Deathday Party but Tansy remained silent; the strange panicky feeling in her chest was growing by the second and she suddenly felt horribly hot and uncomfortable.
'But why not go to the feast afterwards? Why go to that particular corridor?' None of Tansy's friends seemed to want to tell Snape about 'the voice' that Harry had claimed to have heard. Hermione and Ron fell silent and Harry, with the air of one grasping at straws, stammered a feeble excuse.
'Because… because we were tired and wanted to go to bed.' Snape's smile widened and he made a noise of disbelief as Ron's stomach gave a loud rumble.
'Without any supper?' He said triumphantly, 'I suggest, Headmaster, that Potter and Laverstock aren't being entirely truthful and should therefore be deprived of certain, ah, privileges until they are ready to tell the whole story...'
'Really Severus,' Professor McGonagall interrupted sharply, 'I see no evidence that Potter and his friends have done anything wrong. They might just have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.' Both Filch and Snape looked furious.
'My cat has been Petrified!' Filch shrieked and Tansy backed away a step as flecks of drool flew across the room. 'I want to see some punishment!'
'We'll be able to cure her Argus,' Dumbledore answered and Tansy relaxed slightly, feeling relieved but also slightly lightheaded. 'You four may go to bed,' he continued, nodding at the students.
'One moment…' Professor McGonagall said, as the students turned towards the door. 'Are you sure that you're okay Miss Laverstock? You've gone terribly pale. Maybe Madam Pomfrey ought to have a look…?' She trailed off as Tansy shook her head vehemently, colour flooding her pale face again.
As they walked quickly through the darkened corridors Harry, Ron and Hermione discussed the events of the evening but Tansy was too preoccupied with her own thoughts to join in with their conversation. Even after she fell into bed that night she found that she couldn't sleep and she kept on seeing the Petrified form of Mrs Norris behind her closed lids. The longer she stayed in bed, the more panicky she became and in the end it was easier to get up and go down to the common room with her Potions textbook.
Thank you for reading. Please let me know what you think.