A/N: Thank you for all of your comments! Enjoy~
After nearly twenty years of teaching young witches and wizards Transfiguration and overseeing the house of Gryffindor at Hogwarts, Minerva McGonagall was used to dealing with the occasional bad seeds. The screaming boys she heard outside of her private quarters, however, were not just bad seeds. No, they were much worse. She immediately recognized the screams; they belonged to Potter and Black, two of the most troublesome students she had ever taught. What they were doing out of bed at this hour, she did not know, but they were going to be in huge trouble no matter what their crazy excuse was this time.
Jumping out of bed with the agility of someone much younger than herself, Minerva threw a cloak over her night clothes, pocketed her wand, and charged out the door, preparing for the worst.
"Boys!" she yelled after them as she watched not two, but three figures round the corner in the opposite direction. Their desperate cries for help died at once as they switched gears and sprinted over to her. Potter and Black would have trampled her if Snape hadn't grabbed their shirts in time; the boys had wild, deranged looks about them, as though they had just seen something dreadful.
"What are you three doing out of bed at this hour?" she demanded as they tried catching their breaths in order to speak properly. "The entire castle must be awake by now."
Potter and Black began speaking at once, but unfortunately they were so frenzied that they simply weren't making any sense at all.
"Professor, in the bathroom—"
"Girl…on ground—"
"Hissing—"
"Got scared…lights went out—"
"He tripped me, I fell—"
"Loud hissing…so cold—"
"Looking for a broken pipe—"
"Ghost—"
"Boys!" Minerva cried exasperatedly, trying to comprehend what they were saying, but it sounded like utter nonsense the more panicked they became. Her irritation with them for being out after curfew was slowly fading away; surprisingly, their fear was genuine, and she needed to know what had happened to ensure the safety of the students. If this turned out to be just another one of their pranks, then Minerva would punish them severely.
"Would you please speak slowly…and logically?"
Potter and Black looked at each other wildly, as though wondering how they could possibly explain to their Head of House what horrors they had seen tonight.
"There's a Petrified ghost in the girl's bathroom back there," the quietest of the three, Snape replied. He wasn't as hysterical as his friends, but his face was ashen and troubled nevertheless.
Minerva stared at him as her mind registered what he had just said. A ghost…Petrified? Why, that hadn't happened since…
Minerva inhaled sharply, remembering it as though it were yesterday. It had been her sixth year at Hogwarts, and one of the school ghosts had been found stone-cold and solid, in an abandoned classroom, where a Muggleborn Hufflepuff boy had also laid, Petrified. That incident was then followed by the gruesome death of a Ravenclaw girl, Myrtle. That was the year the Chamber of Secrets had supposedly been opened.
Just a few nights ago, Snape and Potter found the statement on the wall that declared the Chamber had been opened once more. Was it possible that the boys were actually telling the truth?
"Take me to it," Minerva said stonily, all thoughts of punishment banished from her mind as she began formulating possible causes for the ghost's condition aside from the Chamber of Secrets. It couldn't be opened again…it just couldn't…
Myrtle, Minerva thought sadly, recognizing the girl's appearance as soon as she stepped inside the shadowy bathroom. She was definitely Petrified; Snape had not been lying to her.
The three boys were staring at her with wide, anxious eyes as she exited the bathroom. She couldn't fathom what her three students were doing in a girl's bathroom in the first place, but she would have wait until Albus was here to ask them questions. There was little doubt in her mind that the Chamber was indeed active once more: the very girl who had died the first time around had been targeted again, for reasons unknown. Minerva had been one of the privileged few who knew Myrtle's death had not been 'a tragic accident.' Something serious was going on inside Hogwarts, and somehow her Gryffindor boys found themselves in the middle of everything.
Students from every house were now pouring into the hallways, sleepily murmuring what was going on.
"Go back to your houses immediately," Minerva ordered them sternly. "You three stay where you are," she added to Potter, Snape, and Black.
Horace, Pomona, and Filius arrived as the masses of students began trudging their way back to their dormitories, and Minerva knew Albus would come as soon as possible.
"Merlin's beard, what happened here?" Horace asked, looking half-asleep as he slumped against a nearby wall.
"A ghost has been Petrified," Minerva quietly informed them as the Gryffindor trio glanced at each other, wondering what kind of sinister plot they had discovered.
"I thought Professor McGonagall ordered students to go back to their houses?" Filius asked, watching the three boys suspiciously.
"They were the ones who found the girl," Minerva said. "Oh Albus, thank goodness you're here…"
Everyone's head darted up at the arrival of Albus Dumbledore. His wrinkled face was etched with worry, but he was quite successful in hiding this from the students. He silently entered the bathroom Minerva motioned to, and after a few tense moments of waiting, he came out, shaking his head grimly.
"I cannot say who could possibly have done it now, but it has been reopened," he said softly, his gaze landing on Severus. It was the second time that week that Severus felt as though Dumbledore was using Legilimency against him. But why him?
"Who opened it the first time?" Severus asked, unable to hold back. He knew he was talking about the Chamber of Secrets and something about the look in the old headmaster's eyes triggered his desire for answers. The Heads of House glared disapprovingly at him, but Dumbledore merely smiled.
"That is not of your concern, Mr. Snape."
"Why not?" he demanded. Normally he would have been horrified at the prospect of challenging one's authority, but tonight, not only was he exhausted, but he could have died in there for all he knew. He at least deserved some answers, not copouts.
Dumbledore's warm smile melted into a frown that matched his colleagues' faces. "Mr. Snape, I think it would be wise for you and your friends to return to your dormitory. Refusing to do so may result in severe punishment…"
"That's not fair," James growled under his breath on their way back to Gryffindor Tower. They had been so close to figuring out more clues about this mysterious, though well-named Chamber of Secrets. Now, thanks to Dumbledore, they were just as confused as the rest of the school.
None of the professors had questioned them as to what they were doing out so late, or why they had ventured into a bathroom for females. McGonagall's only concern had been getting them back to their dormitory safely. It was incredibly frustrating for them to have been so close and having to turn away at the moment of truce. The adults were clearly keeping something from them, and this only fuelled their thirst for answers even more.
"You reckon there really is a Chamber of Secrets?" Sirius asked, yawning.
James and Severus shrugged. If Dumbledore thought it was real, then the answer was undoubtedly a 'yes.' Perhaps it was time for a bit of research…
xXxXxXxXx
"So…it really is true then?"
"Of course it is. Only Salazar Slytherin's monster is powerful enough to Petrify people without getting caught. That girl's really in for it now."
"What girl?"
"Melika. A Mudblood in Slytherin…she'll be the first to go."
Ignoring the constricted feeling in her chest, Lily smiled weakly at Regulus. "Pity, huh?"
Regulus nodded silently and gazed pensively out towards the lake. It was nearly frozen over at this time of the year, and even though they were surrounded by snow, it was a surprisingly cool day, allowing the snowbound students to frolic outside for a little fresh air.
Lily and Regulus had been walking back and forth along the lake for nearly two hours, mainly discussing the recent events that had the entire school buzzing.
The walked on in silence for a few moments. Regulus was wholly untroubled by the Chamber of Secrets ordeal, but Lily was beginning to feel slightly worried, both for Melika and herself, the two Slytherin Muggleborns. The chilly breeze whipped at their reddened cheeks, but the icy feeling at the pit of Lily's stomach had nothing to do with the outside temperature.
"Your mate…Snape," Regulus began slowly, choosing his words carefully so he would not upset his friend. They paused and looked at each other. "They're saying…he opened it."
Lily giggled. "Severus? They think he opened the Chamber of Secrets?"
Regulus did not laugh. "Think about it, Lily: he was there when the writing on the wall was discovered, and he was there a few nights ago when they found the Petrified ghost."
"Potter was there both times too," Lily pointed out, but Regulus shook his head.
"Do you think an arrogant prat like Potter could do something like that?"
"I don't really think Severus could either—"
"He knows a lot of Dark Magic," Regulus stated bluntly with a tiny hint of envy in his voice. "You know he does."
"Yes…I won't deny it," Lily sighed, feeling more uncomfortable the longer she and Regulus discussed this. "But…you were saying it had to do with the Heir of Slytherin right? How could Severus be the Heir of Slytherin if he's in Gryffindor?"
"The Sorting Hat makes mistakes. Melika Zula certainly got missorted, and I've seen trolls that are cleverer than Peter Pettigrew. Snape probably could have been in Slytherin."
"I wish he was," Lily replied wistfully. Things would have been so much simpler between her and Severus if they had been in the same house.
Regulus frowned a bit and looked away from Lily. Upon seeing none other than Severus Snape himself walking toward them, he stiffly got to his feet.
"Just think on it," he muttered quietly, leaving Lily in his tracks as he jogged up ahead and passed Severus. The two boys exchanged brief glares; Severus was not pleased to see that Lily was still hanging around the little git, and Regulus did not appreciate Lily hanging around with Gryffindors.
"Still friends with him, I see?" Severus asked, nodding to Regulus retreating figure up ahead of them.
"Oh stop it," Lily snapped. "You're friends with Potter. James Potter."
"So what were you two talking about?" he asked, trying to come across as nonchalant, but failing miserably. Lily knew him too well to fall for that.
"Why do you want to know?"
"Just…curious."
Lily laughed. "Severus Snape, you are the worst liar ever."
He scowled as she playfully ruffled his greasy hair. He bet she did the same thing to Regulus, who was just another one of her many friends-that-happened-to-be-boys. She was almost as bad as Molly Prewitt, who always seemed to have a new boyfriend whenever Severus saw her. The latest one was a wiry oddball who was obsessed with Muggle objects: Arthur Weasley.
Suddenly, Lily's girlish smile disappeared, and she slumped over on the snow-covered ground, mulling over her thoughts.
Should I tell Sev what Regulus said? Or is it better if he doesn't know?
Idiot, another voice in her head responded. If the whole school thinks it's him, then he ought to know by now. Plus, he'd tell me the truth.
"Are you alright?" he asked as he sat down in the snow next to her, his voice subtly laced with concern.
Stabbing her wand into a nearby snowdrift in frustration, Lily shook her head. "Regulus said you're the Heir of Slytherin," she said accusingly. After all, everything Regulus had told her made perfect sense; how could it not be Severus? In the past, he was the one who was always telling her "You'd better be in Slytherin;" what if he was secretly the Heir all this time and he was hiding the truth from her?
Severus snorted. "Me? I'm the person behind the Chamber of Secrets?"
"It's not funny Sev, you know your findings have been raising suspicions."
"So that's what your little boyfriend has been feeding your brain with? Insane notions that I'm the bad person so he can look perfect to you?" Severus asked bitterly, unable to keep his jealousy out of his voice.
Lily's eyes narrowed into green slits. "This wouldn't be the first time you're lying to me. That time you let a tree branch fall on Tuney—"
"Lily please, that was years ago and you know it was just a little white lie! If you want to listen to bloody stupid Regulus, then go right ahead, but if you want the truth, then you'd believe me when I say I didn't do it."
Positively fuming, Severus got to his feet and stomped away, his long black robes billowing behind him.
Lily sat and stared at her wand for a moment: in her anger, she had unknowingly melted a rather large patch of snow and the water was now leaking into her boots. She wanted to sit there and remain defiant, unwilling to go after a friend whom she was constantly at war with. But something inside her clicked, and she soon found herself on her feet, running through deep pockets of snow to catch up with her friend.
"Severus wait!"
He paused up ahead and waited as she clumsily stumbled her way over to him.
"I believe you," she said once she reached him, nearly out of breath from the effort of shoving her way through several feet of hard-packed snow.
Severus smirked, not because Lily was admitting that she was wrong, but for the fact that Lily believed him over Regulus. Lily took it as a smile and tugged at his arm.
"Let's go inside, shall we?"
Severus looked over his shoulder. The sun was slowly creeping its way down the sky, and within twenty minutes, it would be gone. As a young child, he used to sit and watch the sunset every day with his mother. This daily occurrence was one of the few happy memories he had from his childhood, and even as a young teenager, he secretly relished watching as the day died and gave birth to night-time. And it was a great excuse to spend more time alone with his best friend.
"Or would you like to watch the sun set?" Lily asked softly, noticing his gaze.
Severus quickly shook his head, feeling thoroughly embarrassed by his captivation with something as silly as a setting sun.
"It's okay, I like them too," Lily said, rolling her eyes as Severus resisted her efforts to drag him over to a snowless rock to sit with her. He reluctantly sat, but deep down, he was thrilled to finally have a rare moment alone with Lily. No Regulus or Laika Malfoy around to ruin it. It was just him and Lily as the sky went from pink to purple and finally, black.
xXxXxXxXx
Curse you, Reality, Severus thought as he vigorously scrubbed a rusty school Quidditch trophy from the year 1886. He inwardly wondered if the twenty glorious minutes he had spent with Lily last weekend was worth the three hour detention with Umbridge they had garnered for arriving in the castle late.
He glanced to his left, where Lily was busy polishing one of the several Special Services to the School plaques. She didn't look too happy, either.
Ever since the ghost from the bathroom's attack— 'Moaning Myrtle' the older kids called her— the curfew had been severely restricting to all students in every house. Dumbledore or whoever was in charge of the disciplinarian-type duties seemed to think something horrible was going to happen after dark, so anyone who stayed outside past dusk was doomed to an unbearable few hours with the most despised teacher at Hogwarts.
"Why bother even having these things if they don't mention what they even did for the school?" Severus heard Lily grumble under her breath. "Helga Bonnie Carter…Adam Richmen…Tovington Fenton…Eileen Prince…Tom Riddle…"
"Wait!" Severus spun around, startling Lily slightly. "What was that?"
Lily looked down to reread the names for a moment, then gasped. "Your mum!"
Severus nearly dropped the Quidditch trophy in his rush to see his mother's name inscribed on the plaque Lily was holding. There it was: Eileen S. Prince.
"She never told me she did 'special services' to the school," Severus muttered, wondering what in the world his mum had done to earn such an honour. He felt both excited to have learned something new about his family, and saddened that his mother felt it wasn't worth telling him what she had done. As soon as he returned home, he vowed he would ask her about it.
"She could have done anything," Lily continued once Severus had returned to polishing the Quidditch cups. A newer one, dated just thirty five years ago, had a Potter on it. No surprise really, given the amount of gloating James often did about his family's Quidditch abilities.
Hiss…
Lily's voice suddenly became distant, faraway. Severus' head jerked up from the gleaming cup and he looked around the room, praying he was just imagining the hissing. The last time he had heard it, he and his friends had stumbled onto a Petrified ghost's body. He didn't want to think of what he would find next time.
From his research, he knew that some Slytherin monster supposedly went around attacking Muggleborns. He didn't tell Lily this, as it only would have worried her more, but he did warn her to be on the lookout. He didn't know if the monster had killed before or if this was a part of the many wild speculations people had about the Chamber of Secrets. He hoped it was the latter.
Hiss…
"Sev?" Lily asked suddenly. Her voice was now clear and focused in Severus' mind, and she sounded scared.
"Did you hear that too?" he asked in a surprisingly calm voice. Perhaps it was some unknown Gryffindor bravery bubbling to the surface…
Lily nodded. She carefully put the plaques back where they belonged and pulled out her wand.
"The hissing…that's what we heard before we found Moaning Myrtle," he whispered, putting down the trophy and walking around the room with his wand held aloft.
"This room is far from that bathroom, though," Lily noted, trying to sound fearless, but her voice quavered when she spoke. Her grip tightened on her wand.
"It might be the attacker," Severus said as he moved toward the door. "Let's see if we can catch them this time—"
He began making his way over to the door, but stopped when he realized Lily wasn't following. "What?"
Lily stared at him, then shook her head and muttered something about "Bloody Gryffindors" as she followed him to the door. Just as Severus reached for the handle, the enormous door flew open and ricocheted off of the wall behind it, making Severus and Lily leap backwards in fright.
In the doorway stood Umbridge, looking— as usual— furious.
"Did I hear talking?" she asked thickly as she surveyed the room for signs of mischief.
"We heard something hissing Professor," Lily said quietly. She knew that Umbridge loathed Severus more than anything or anyone at Hogwarts, and, being in the same house as the woman's daughter, she would have a decent chance at convincing her that the hissing was real and not some made up story to get them out of detention.
"Hissing, Miss Evans?"
Without looking at Severus, Lily nodded. She had to keep him out of it or Umbridge would undoubtedly accuse Lily of deceiving her. As far as she could tell, Umbridge didn't realize they were best friends; otherwise, they surely wouldn't have been serving detention together. The last thing they needed was a reason for Umbridge to separate them.
"Where did you hear this hissing?" Umbridge demanded. She twisted her chubby fingers in her ears, prodding them to hear a sound, but came up with nothing but a few small chunks of earwax.
"I don't hear anything."
"I heard it moving down the hall— that way," Lily pointed out the door and to the right. Severus had no idea where she was going with this, but remained mum as Lily continued inventing new directions for Umbridge to follow, leaving them free to explore the source of the peculiar hissing on their own.
"Stay here," Umbridge ordered them after Lily finished. With a particularly nasty glare towards Severus, she waddled down the hall in the direction Lily had told her to go.
"What a dense old bat," Severus muttered after Umbridge was out of earshot. She had left the door to the trophy room wide open, and not for one second did Lily and Severus consider obeying her command to stay there.
Hiss…
Severus' eyes bulged. The hissing was close to them now, perhaps even closer than it had been in the girl's bathroom last week. His breaths grew short and shallow the louder it grew, as though there was a snake wrapped tightly around his neck, cutting off his flow of oxygen and hissing maddeningly into his ears.
"It's coming from that direction," Lily whispered, looking both terrified yet determinedly courageous at the same time. Much to their horror, Lily had actually been correct when she told Umbridge to go down the hall to the right of the trophy room.
Wands out, they sprinted down the hall and only stopped when their legs began to ache and feel like spoiled jelly. The hissing grew louder and louder in their ears until it was practically hammering on their eardrums. Any wizard with a reasonable amount of common sense would have turned around and fled, but curiosity and sheer determination to find the culprit urged them onward.
In a dimly-lit room at the far end of the next corridor, there was a sudden thud, followed by absolute silence. For some inexplicable reason, the hissing disappeared, leaving a rather shaken-up Lily and Severus with nothing but explosive silence.
They briefly glanced at each other. Lily's face was whiter than snow, and Severus didn't feel much better himself, but he nodded for her to follow him down to the end of the corridor. Panicked, Lily furiously shook her head, but Severus tiptoed down the carpeted hall anyway. Each footstep matched his heartbeats; would both of them come to a halt upon seeing what horror waited for him when he reached the dead end and peered into the room?
Just when he came within five feet of the entrance to the room, McGonagall came running up.
"Stay where you are!" she ordered him in her most authoritative tone. It didn't occur to him to disobey.
She pulled out her wand and peeked in the door. For two seconds, she stared numbly at the scene before her, then pulled herself away to look at Severus.
"What is it, Professor?" Severus asked, wondering if it was a dead corpse.
"It appears that Professor Umbridge has been Petrified," she replied sharply. The momentary shock was gone, and she was back in control of the situation.
Severus looked at Lily, who grinned gleefully back at him.
"There is no need to express such joy about it," McGonagall added exasperatedly. "This means the monster or whatever did this could still be on the loose."
Severus and Lily's excited grins faded at once.
McGonagall looked at her colleague's stiff and unmoving body once more, then turned back to Severus. "Snape, do you trust Miss Evans?"
Severus stared at her. "Of—of course, Professor."
McGonagall nodded approvingly. "Then take Miss Evans up to your common room at once. Do not stop and do not take any detours! Do you understand?"
"Yes."
Severus understood immediately. Gryffindor Tower was closest to them; getting Lily all the way down to the dungeons would be too risky, given the fact that the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher herself had been Petrified. If the monster was still prowling the castle, their best bet was to get to the closest hiding place as soon as possible.
As Severus and Lily sprinted up the stairway that led to the portrait of the Fat Lady, Severus couldn't help but think that the monster was somehow missing its intended targets…first a useless ghost, now a teacher…if the monster was supposed to attack Muggleborns, then why had it gone after Umbridge, who was a pureblood with several ties to the house of Slytherin?
Out of nowhere, it hit him like a rogue Bludger: It was going for Lily tonight.
A/N: Oh what will happen next? Feel free to tell me what you think, I love reviews. Thanks! :)
