Chapter 21: The Writing on the Wall
It started in detention with Lockheart. That was Snape's punishment for hexing Malfoy a second time after insulting his family AGAIN in the Great Hall. It was on Halloween. Which meant Harry could not go to the Feast. Harry had been Addressing envelopes with the git and listening to snide little remarks like "Celebrity is as celebrity does." Or "Fame is a fickle friend Harry. Remember that." For about four hours. It was nearly nine o' clock. .
Come...come to me...
"What?" Harry asked outloud.
"Excuse me?" Lockheart asked after taking a swig from a metal flask.
"That voice? Didn't you hear it?"
"I think you might just be tired Harry." Lockheart said nervously as he checked his watch. "And great scott no wonder! Look at the time, we've been here nearly four hours. I think you'd best be off to bed."
And with that Harry bid Lockheart goodnight and left the git to signing more autographs.
Let me rip you...let me tear you...let me KILL YOU!
ITS GOING TO K ILL SOMONE! Harry panicked in his mind and he raced where the voice was headed before almost running into Ron and Hermine. Both full from dinner and sweets. Having managed to bring Harry some lollipops and chicken wings from the feast.
"What's wrong?" Herminoe asked the young hybrid in a concerned tone.
"In...Lockheart's office..." Harry breathed hard having run down many staircases. "I...heard..." He paused. Something was on the wall ahead of them. He pushed through Ron and Hermione who both gasped at what they saw.
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED.
ENEMIES OF THE HEIR BEWARE.
And hanging below it by her tail, was Mrs. Norris, the caretakers cat. Completely paralyzed by some unknown force and swinging from the wall by her tail by a Sticking Charm.
Suddenly, all the Houses converged on the scene aiming to get back to their respective Common Rooms. Someone pointed out Mrs. Norris and then the students panicked.
"Enemies of the Heir bewars?" A familiar drawling voice shouted. "You'll be next Mudbloods!"
It was Draco Malfoy. Harry saw a sinister smile on his face.
"What's going on here?" Mr. Filch asked as he pushed his way through the crowd of students. "Come on, make way. Make way I say!" He stopped dead when he saw Mrs. Norris. "Mrs. Norris?" He asked in disbelief. Then his eyes fell on Harry. "You." He growled angrily. He picked Harry up by the front of his robes. His feet dangling fromt he floor. "You murdered my cat. I'll kill you." He said in fury. "I'LL KILL YOU!"
"GET..OFF...ME!" Harry panicked remembering when his former uncle had done something similar when he was five after his wife lost a part time job and he blamed him for it. Something like an electric current coursed through him and Filch shook as he was shocked and he dropped Harry instantly. He glared up at him with slitted dragon eyes. His powers where awakening.
"ARGUS!" Dumbledore shouted having seen the whole thing. "Argus I-" He caught sight of the threatening message. "Everyone, will return to their dormitories immediately." He said in a tone with such authority that everyone knew he wasn't joking. "Everyone except." Harry, Ron and Hermione paused, knowing what was coming. "You three." He pointed to the trio of Gryffindors.
"My office is nearest Headmaster. Just a few flights of stairs up. One of the school portraits told me what happened and I came running as fast as I could-"
"Thank you Gilderoy." Dumbledore stopped him. Noticing Harry's glaring at Filch.
As soon as they got to Lockheart's office, Dumbledore began inspecting Mrs. Norris. All the while Lockheart was telling them of lots of hogwash stories about countless murders of the same type he had prevented.
"It was definitely a curse that killed her. I've seen it countless times. The Transmorgrifian Torture."
"God shut up." Harry muttered under his breath. "Just shut up." Ron heard him and repressed a snort. Even Snape and McGonagall looked like they agreed with the young hybrid. Meanwhile Filch was raving about chaining Harry up and torturing him to tell them what he did to Mrs. Norris.
"She isn't dead Argus. She has merely been Petrified." ("Ah! Thought so!")
"I encountered a case exactly like this in Romania. The full stories in my autobiography -"
"We fortunately have had a recent shipping of fresh Mandrakes. Which means we can cure her." Dumbledore told the distraught man
"I'll do it Headmaster. I can whip up a Mandrake Restorative Draft in my sleep."
"Excuse me." Snape cut in icily. "But I believe I am the Potions Master at this school."
"Now that that's settled." Dumbledore said. "The question remains, what did you three see...or hear?" His eyes landed on Harry when he said "hear." Making Harry wonder if he knew about the voice too.
Harry launched into an explanation, leaving out the part of him hearing an evil sounding voice that lead him to that corridor.
"But why go to that corridor?" Snape asked with the ghost of a smirk on his face. "I suggest that Potter is not being entirely truthful. Perhaps his Quidditch privileges should be revoked until his story is completely accurate."
"Really now Severus." Their Head of House spoke up. "There is no evidence that Potter had anything to do with this. This cat was not hit over the head with a broomstick."
They where eventually released from the Interrogation. On the way back to the Common Room Harry told his friends about what happened.
"Do you think I should have told them?" Harry asked. "About the voice I heard I mean."
"No Harry." Hermione spoke up. "Even in the Wizarding World, hearing voices isn't a good sign."
As Hermione walked up another flight of stairs a portrait spoke to the two boys. "She's right you know."
Dear Grandpa,
Last night after I finished my detention for Hexing Malfoy again, (Draco, not Malfoy Sr.), I suddenly heard this malicious sounding voice saying "Come. Come to Me. Let me rip you. Let me tear you. Let me kill you."
Harry paused here. Not sure if he should put in the part about Filch threatening him. The git deserved it he thought;
When I got a few flights down, my friends and I found this message on the wall.
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED
ENEMIES OF THE HEIR BEWARE.
It was written in blood. Something's wrong with me too. Cause when the distraught caretaker found me at the scene he thought I had killed his cat Mrs. Norris. He threatened to kill me for killing his cat! When he picked me up and I just...I don't know...panicked I guess. It felt like electricity was surging through me and Filch suddenly dropped me after being shocked. I thought Accidental Magic was supposed to stop when one got to Hogwarts? Anyways, Mrs. Norris isn't dead. Apparently she's been Petrified. She's stiff as a board but it looks like she can still take in her surroundings. What magical creature can Petrify living beings? I don't remember reading anything about something like that.
And please tell Jake to keep out of my CD's! Last time he borrowed one it came back with peanut butter covering the bottom! I don't know how that happened and I don't want to know.
All the best,
Harry
Lao Shi read this letter and chuckled about the mention of the CD incident. Jake went to school with blue hair that day. Not even Fu's potions could get his hair back to normal. Only until Harry gave him the antidote for the prank potion did it go back to its natural black with green trim. Then he re-read the part about the attack on the caretakers cat. He had no idea what creature petrified And Harry hearing voices bothered him. No matter the world, hearing voices was not a good sign. And that incedent with the caretaker threatening his grandson enraged him. How dare he threaten a child like that? But that was one powerful burst of magic. He must still be hurting from the abuse from the Dursleys. Well he couldn't be expected to heal fully in only two months. But those two months no doubt helped a lot.
"Petrification?" Fu asked from over his shoulder. "The Chamber of Secrets. This is not good. Not good at all."
"You know something of this Chamber?" Lao Shi asked his Shar Pei friend.
Fu sighed and sat down. "When Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago, Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin admitted all kinds of students from all different backgrounds. I believe even one of of Queen Elizabeth's ancsestors was one of the students from the records I read through, but on with the story. Salazar Slytherin began to distrust the muggleborn students and believed them to be untrustworthy to learn the magical arts. So he built a secret chamber of which the other founders knew nothing. Legend says that he hid in the chamber a creature only the heir of Slytherin can control to purge the school of those who in his view where unworthy to study magic."
"Muggleborns." Lao Shi reached the conclusion.
"Right. Fifty years ago, the Chamber was supposedly opened by his heir. And a muggleborn girl named Myrtle was killed. It was the last of a range of attacks that ended up with Petrified victims. Its said to be the home, of a monster." The dog said nervously. Even though he had only known the new kid for a few months it was like he was there from the start. He didn't want anything happening to him. He made up his mind. He was going to Scotland.
Lao Shi knew his friend was worried and that scared him slightly. He hardly ever showed worry like this. He went to write his second grandson a reply.
To Be Continued...
I'm gonna try to make chapters a single chapter from now on.
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Dean the Cuddly Fox