Chapter 28:

They moved through the hallway and went down the marble staircase into the Entrance Hall.

"Come on." Skylar said as she looked at the entrance to the dungeons. "And you two follow me, we can make it look like I found you, lost in the castle and am leading you back." she said

"Good thinking, they're stupid enough." Ron muttered

"And always following Draco, so what's the difference?" Skylar shrugged before she lead the way through the entrance to the dungeons. Harry and Ron's feet echoed particularly loudly as Crabbe's and Goyle's huge feet hit the floor.

"Now where?" Ron asked, whispering to Skylar

"I think it's this way." she pointed

"How do you know?"

"I'm a legilimens. I should have delved deeper to find out exactly where it is. Or asked Daphne." Skylar said irritatedly. They moved through the labyrinth of passages, which were all deserted. They continued to walk, going deeper and deeper under the school and constantly checking the time.

"Sky…" Ron said desperately

"I don't know." she whispered. "The common rooms are all hidden, the easiest one to find is the Ravenclaw Common room because it's up a set of stairs that leads to a single door. Not that you could likely get in of course."

"We need a Slytherin." Harry muttered

"Wait!" Ron said excitedly and he pointed at a sudden movement ahead. "Ha! There's one of them now!"

The figure was emerging from a side room. As they hurried nearer, however, their hearts sank. It wasn't a Slytherin, it was Percy.

"What're you doing down here?" said Ron in surprise.

Percy looked affronted. Skylar looked at him before she had to catch herself from laughing. She turned it into a cough and cleared her throat, earning a look from the two.

"That," he said stiffly, "is none of your business. It's Crabbe, isn't it?"

"Wh — oh, yeah," said Ron.

"Well, get off to your dormitories," said Percy sternly. "It's not safe to go wandering around dark corridors these days."

"You are," Ron pointed out.

"I," said Percy, drawing himself up, "am a prefect. Nothing's about to attack me."

A voice suddenly echoed behind Skylar, Harry and Ron. Draco Malfoy was strolling toward them.

"There you are," he drawled, looking at them. "Have you two been pigging out in the Great Hall all this time? I've been looking for you; I want to show you something really funny."

"They actually got lost trying to find the common room." Skylar said crossing her arms and rolled her eyes in a manner she'd seen Daphne do very often. "I found them wondering about."

Harry and Ron glanced at her but said nothing as Draco gave Daphne a look over and then glanced witheringly at Percy.

"And what're you doing down here, Weasley?" he sneered.

Percy looked outraged.

"You want to show a bit more respect to a school prefect!" he said. "I don't like your attitude!"

Draco sneered and motioned for Harry and Ron to follow him. Skylar did the same, moving ahead of the two boys.

"That Peter Weasley —"

"Percy," Ron corrected him automatically.

"Whatever," said Draco. "I've noticed him sneaking around a lot lately. And I bet I know what he's up to. He thinks he's going to catch Slytherin's heir single-handed."

He gave a short, derisive laugh. Harry and Ron exchanged excited looks.

"More likely to present himself as a target." Skylar said.

Draco paused by a stretch of bare, damp stone wall.

"What's the new password again?" he said to Harry.

"Er —" said Harry.

"Oh, yeah — pureblood!" said Draco, not listening.

Why am I not surprised. Skylar rolled her eyes as a stone door concealed in the wall slid open. Draco marched through it, Skylar with him and Harry and Ron following.

The Slytherin common room was a long, low underground room with rough stone walls and ceiling from which round, greenish lamps were hanging on chains. A fire was crackling under an elaborately carved mantelpiece ahead of them, and several Slytherins were silhouetted around it in high-backed chairs.

"Have to admit I haven't seen you around much the last few days, Greengrass." Draco said to her

"What, you want me to hang around in the common room with the rest of you losers?" she said and Harry and Ron shared a surprised look.

Draco tsked before turning to Harry and Ron.

"Wait here," said Draco, motioning the boys to a pair of empty chairs set back from the fire. "I'll go and get it — my father's just sent it to me —"

Wondering what Draco was going to show them, Harry and Ron sat down, doing their best to look at home. Skylar moved and grabbed a book from one of the tables and began to absentmindedly flip through it.

Draco came back a minute later, holding what looked like a newspaper clipping. He thrust it under Ron's nose.

"That'll give you a laugh," he said.

Skylar watched and saw Ron's eyes widen in shock. He read the clipping quickly, gave a very forced laugh, and handed it to Harry.

Skylar rose an eyebrow as she looked at them before her eyes set on Ron. He looked at her and she instantly understood. Lucius Malfoy had caused Ron's dad to be fined fifty galleons for the enchanted car and was now trying to get Mr Weasley sacked. Apparently her father was arguing otherwise.

"Well?" said Draco impatiently as Harry handed the clipping back to him. "Don't you think it's funny?"

"Ha, ha," said Harry bleakly.

"Arthur Weasley loves Muggles so much he should snap his wand in half and go and join them," said Draco scornfully. "You'd never know the Weasleys were purebloods, the way they behave."

Ron's — or rather, Crabbe's — face was contorted with fury.

"What's up with you, Crabbe?" snapped Draco as he noticed. Ron glanced at Skylar and she shot him a look.

"Stomachache," Ron grunted.

"Well, go up to the hospital wing and give all those Mudbloods a kick from me," said Draco, snickering. "You know, I'm surprised the Daily Prophet hasn't reported all these attacks yet," he went on thoughtfully. "I suppose Dumbledore's trying to hush it all up. He'll be sacked if it doesn't stop soon. Father's always said old Dumbledore's the worst thing that's ever happened to this place. He loves Muggle-borns. A decent headmaster would never've let slime like that Creevey in."

Malfoy started taking pictures with an imaginary camera and did a cruel but accurate impression of Colin: "'Potter, can I have your picture, Potter? Can I have your autograph? Can I lick your shoes, please, Potter?' "

He dropped his hands and looked at Harry and Ron.

"What's the matter with you two?"

Far too late, Harry and Ron forced themselves to laugh, but Draco seemed satisfied; perhaps Crabbe and Goyle were always slow on the uptake.

"I'm surprised you have the effort to complain about them all the time." Daphne sighed tiredly, gaining Draco's attention. "On and on and on you go, you'd think you'd get bored."

"What? You like them?" Draco snapped

"I don't see the point in wasting my breath constantly mocking them." Skylar said in the same bored tone. Harry and Ron shared a look, rather impressed at Skylar's acting. She really could pull off being a Slytherin.

"Saint Potter, the Mudbloods' friend," said Draco slowly, turning back away from Skylar. "He's another one with no proper wizard feeling, or he wouldn't go around with that jumped-up Granger Mudblood. Hanging onto Skylar all the time." Skylar glanced upwards again at her name.

"One day you'll stop crushing on her. A Slytherin with a Gryffindor." She said scoffing, and Ron and Harry looked at her shocked. Luckily Draco was turned towards Skylar and away from the boys to notice their expressions.

Draco's cheeks tinged slightly pink. "I am not." he said through grit teeth.

"No, that's totally not why you're so annoyed she's friends with H—Potter." Skylar smirked, it was weird using his last name and she had to catch the mistake of almost doing so. "Who do you think you're kidding denying it?"

"Don't know why she'd want to be friends with Scar-head anyway. Why she'd disgrace her pure blood… friends with Mudbloods, just like Potter. And people think he's Slytherin's heir!" Skylar didn't respond and the three all waited with bated breath.

But what he said next, none of them were expecting.

"I wish I knew who it is," said Draco petulantly. "I could help them."

Ron's jaw dropped so that Crabbe looked even more clueless than usual. Fortunately, Draco didn't notice, and Harry said, "You must have some idea who's behind it all…"

"You know I haven't, Goyle, how many times do I have to tell you?" snapped Malfoy. "And Father won't tell me anything about the last time the Chamber was opened either. Of course, it was fifty years ago, so it was before his time, but he knows all about it, and he says that it was all kept quiet and it'll look suspicious if I know too much about it. But I know one thing — last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened, a Mudblood died. So I bet it's a matter of time before one of them's killed this time… I hope it's Granger," he said with relish.

Ron was clenching Crabbe's gigantic fists. Feeling that it would be a bit of a giveaway if Ron punched Malfoy, Harry shot him a warning look and said, "D'you know if the person who opened the Chamber last time was caught?"

"Oh, yeah… whoever it was was expelled," said Malfoy. "They're probably still in Azkaban."

"Azkaban?" said Harry, puzzled and Skylar closed her eyes.

All half and pureblood wizards knew of Azkaban Harry!

"Azkaban — the wizard prison, Goyle," said Malfoy, looking at him in disbelief. "Honestly, if you were any slower, you'd be going backward."

He shifted restlessly in his chair and said, "Father says to keep my head down and let the Heir of Slytherin get on with it. He says the school needs ridding of all the Mudblood filth, but not to get mixed up in it. Of course, he's got a lot on his plate at the moment. You know the Ministry of Magic raided our manor last week?"

Harry tried to force Goyle's dull face into a look of concern.

"Yeah…" said Malfoy. "Luckily, they didn't find much. Father's got some very valuable Dark Arts stuff. But luckily, we've got our own secret chamber under the drawing-room floor —"

"Ho!" said Ron.

Malfoy looked at him. So did Harry and Skylar. Ron blushed. Even his hair was turning red. Skylar looked confused before her eyes widened. She looked down at her hair and saw it was turning auburn at the tips as Ron's nose was also slowly lengthening. Harry's hair was growing and he looked as though he was slightly shrinking.

Skylar snapped her book shut and got to her feet, standing up from the table she'd been sitting on. She grabbed her hair and twisted it together before putting it down her robes as the two boys jumped to their feet.

"Medicine for my stomach," Ron grunted, and without further ado they sprinted the length of the Slytherin common room, hurled themselves at the stone wall.

"What the…" Draco began and Skylar, much more calmly began to move off after them. "What was wrong with them?" he questioned

"They're your friends." she responded without turning

"And where are you going?" Draco demanded of her

"Since when is that your business? I'd rather not sit here and hear you repeat yourself for the dozenth time." she called as she reached the stone wall and moved through it. The wall slid closed behind her and she then started to run.

She pulled her hair from the robes to find it its original colour while her robes began to loosen in places. She hurried up to the entrance hall where she found Harry and Ron had paused and were taking their shoes off. There were muffled puddings coming from the closet they were standing outside of.

"That was close." Skylar said to them as she joined them.

"I'll say." Ron agreed. "What was all that about Malfoy crushing on you?" he asked her and she shrugged

"Long story, one of his biggest secrets, one of the reasons he hates me being in his head, doesn't want me to know. When we were kids it was really obvious." Skylar confessed as the three of them, together, sprinted up the marble staircase toward Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

"That's awful…" Harry muttered and Skylar shrugged.

"Used to it."

"At least we found out something more useful than who Malfoy likes, wasn't a complete waste of time," Ron panted, closing the bathroom door behind them. "I know we still haven't found out who's doing the attacks, but I'm going to write to Dad tomorrow and tell him to check under the Malfoys' drawing room."

"And someone passed away last time?" Skylar asked looking shocked "What if he's right and it does happen again?" she looked a bit pale at the thought.

Harry, glancing at himself in the mirror as the three of them had returned to themselves, the polyjuice potion having completely worn off, put his glasses on as Ron hammered on the door of Hermione's stall.

"Hermione, come out, we've got loads to tell you —"

"Go away!" Hermione squeaked.

Harry and Ron looked at each other.

"What's the matter?" said Ron. "You must be back to normal by now, we are —"

"Hermione! Please, open the door." Skylar said

But Moaning Myrtle glided suddenly through the stall door.

She had never looked so happy.

"Ooooooh, wait till you see," she said. "It's awful —"

They heard the lock slide back and Hermione emerged, sobbing, her robes pulled up over her head.

"What's up?" said Ron uncertainly. "Have you still got Millicent's nose or something?"

Hermione let her robes fall and Ron backed into the sink. Skylar's mouth fell open and she clapped her hands over her mouth.

Hermione's face was covered in black fur. Her eyes had turned yellow and there were long, pointed ears poking through her hair.

"It was a c-cat hair!" she howled. "M-Millicent Bulstrode m-must have a cat! And the p-potion isn't supposed to be used for animal transformations!"

"Uh-oh," said Ron.

"You'll be teased something dreadful," said Myrtle happily.

"It's okay, Hermione," said Harry quickly. "We'll take you up to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey never asks too many questions…"

"Most people are in bed, or at least in the common rooms, I don't think anyone would see you at this time." Skylar nodded as she lowered her hands.

It took a long time to persuade Hermione to leave the bathroom. Moaning Myrtle sped them on their way with a hearty guffaw. "Wait till everyone finds out you've got a tail!"