Chapter 35

At breakfast the next morning, the Howler from Molly Weasley finally arrived. Harry and Hermione both enjoyed the look of fear that Ron had on his face when the Howler arrived.

"Ronald Weasley! How dare you steal the car and take your sister with you? You are supposed to be Ginny's big brother, showing her how to do things properly and not be a bad example. I am absolutely disgusted with you! We were severely fined, and we were close to being sent to prison because of your immature actions. If you put another toe out of line, we'll bring you straight home!"

The Howler screamed before blowing a raspberry and chewing itself out. Ron, Ginny and Percy looked mortified by the Howler. Surprisingly, the twins were absent for the display. Harry turned to Hermione once everything calmed down.

"I thought it was going to happen yesterday."

"I guess without Dumbledore's protection plus the reputation of the Boy Who Lived being involved, they were properly investigated and charged," Hermione said with a grin on her face.

"That is why Dumbledore has that sad look on his face; he probably tried to help them but failed."

"Why does Malfoy look miserable? I thought he would be happy that his nemesis got chewed out in public."

"I think he just found out that he cannot do anything to us without making his father suffer."

"You told him already without waiting for me… How could you? I was looking forward to the disappointed look on his face when he found out. I wanted to get a little back since he was one of the main culprits that protected all those pure-blood rights while screwing the rest of the magical population over."

"Well you are seeing it now."

"But I missed the best parts like when he was initially told and when he read his father's letter confirming it."

"Sorry."

"Are you sure that is really the main cause? Everyone in Slytherin looks slightly depressed."

"Maybe it's something different."

"We can find out in class this morning when we have potions with them."

"Have you noticed that we have Potions with Slytherin and Transfiguration with them as well? It seems that any subject we share with Slytherin is taught by a teacher aligned with Dumb-n-Dork. Last time round it was the same thing but we were in Gryffindor at the time."

"You are alright. I think Dumb-n-Dork has manipulated the timetable so that would occur. He probably does not want us associating with Slytherins."

"Why don't we go to class early so we can do what Dumb-n-Dork does not want us to do?"

"That sounds like a great idea plus as an added bonus we get to find out what got the Slytherins so pissed."

They went to class early but the Slytherins did not arrive until just before class began. This puzzled Harry and Hermione since the Slytherins liked to get to this class early so that they could taunt the other houses before Snape arrived. When class began, Snape was unusually tough on not just the Ravenclaw students but also to the Slytherins. The only exception was Harry and Hermione. That could be attributed to Harry's earlier post-hypnotic suggestion. Whenever Hermione or Harry tried to engage one of the Slytherins in conversation, they would not respond at all. By the end of the class Harry and Hermione were getting nowhere, so they gave up.

At the end of lunch, Hermione asked Mandy. "Do you know what happened to the Slytherins? They have been unusually quiet today."

Mandy moved in close to Hermione and whispered "It is a secret but last night, Professor Snape called the entire house together and demanded to know who stole his notes and passed them to some new potions mistress."

"Why did he think it was a present member of his house?"

"He says that some of the discoveries made mention to things he only discovered last year and only Slytherins have had access to his private quarters where he kept his notes."

"Could it not be someone that has already graduated?"

"He claims that if that were the case, then they would say it is their own work rather than give someone else the credit." Hermione was smiling but not for the reason Mandy thought she was smiling about. Hermione realised that Snape was now chasing shadows. She immediately told Harry what she just heard[,] and he came to the same conclusion.

"We need to reinforce the belief that a Slytherin is involved in the theft.[,]" Hermione said.

"Maybe we should steal some of Snape's notes, and put them in among Draco's belongings. It will only be a matter of time before Snape start searching through his students' belongings," Harry suggested.

"That sounds great. If it works, I will forgive you for not letting me tell Draco about the agreement."

"We need to do it tonight because Snape is probably going to do the search on a weekend when he has the time."

"Yes, I agree. This is something we can do together."

"We need to see the twins; if Snape starts looking outside his house the twins will be his biggest target."

"Let's go now. Do you see them anywhere?"

"No. Cover me and I will check on the Marauders' Map to see where they are." Harry said as he pulled out the map. Hermione leaned over him and pretended to speak to Terry while Harry checked the map for twins' location.

"They are coming towards us."

"Hi Harry, Hermione."

"Hi Fred, George. How can we help the famous Weasley twins today?" Harry said with exuberance.

"Can we talk in private?"

"Sure," Harry said and they all proceeded to an empty classroom.

"So what is up?"

"Do you mind letting us borrow the Marauders' Map?"

"Sure. Why do you need it? Harry asked as he pulled out the Map.

"Our little sister, Ginny, has gone missing. She attended breakfast and has not been seen since. When she did not show up for lunch we knew something was wrong. We thought rather than search all over the school like what our brothers, Percy and Ron are doing right now, we would check the Marauders' Map to make sure she was still here," George explained as Fred searched the map for Ginny.

"Found her. She is in one of the girls' toilets on the second floor," Fred says said in triumph. The Weasley twins missed the scared look that appeared momentarily on Harry and Hermione's faces when told of Ginny's location. They communicated with a few quick hand signals before Hermione said, "Maybe I should go with the two of you. After all, she is in a girls' toilet."

Fred and George paled at the thought of rushing to Ginny's rescue only to find out that she was suffering from a severe case of the runs, or worse, finding another girl in a half-dressed state. In either case, the results would not be pretty.

"That sounds like a great idea. Thank you, Hermione, for being so thoughtful," George said.

"Are you coming too?" Fred asked Harry.

"I don't think so. Girls' toilets are not my thing," Harry replied.

"That might actually be a good idea. Ginny has a major crush on you," George said.

"See you all later."

"Can we meet sometime tomorrow? There is something we want to discuss with you."

"Sure. It cannot be until after 7 tomorrow night because of Hermione's study group. How does 8 sound to you? It will give us an hour to deal with whatever you want to talk about."

"That sounds great. We will meet you at the old classroom on the sixth floor."

"Do you mind if Hermione accompanies me?"

"Not at all." With that statement Fred, George and Hermione left the room.

As soon as they had gone, Harry raced to the Room of Requirement so that he could use the vanishing cabinet to get to the Chamber of Secrets. He spent the next half an hour checking the passageway between the school and the chamber to make sure that Ginny had not been there. It was a relieved Harry that made his way back to Hogwarts assured that Ginny had not made it to the Chamber of secrets, which was also confirmed by the Basilisk.

In the meantime, Hermione, Fred and George made their way to Moaning Myrtle's toilets. When Hermione tried to open the door, she discovered it was locked.

"What is wrong?" Fred asked Hermione.

"The door is locked," Hermione replied as she tried the Alohomora spell to unlock the door without success.

"Let me try," George said as he repeated the same process as Hermione with the same result.

"I guess we better call a professor to help us," Fred said as he turned to leave.

"Wait! Why don't I try a few things first before you call a professor?" Hermione suggested. Fred and George looked at each other with a puzzled look on their faces.

"Go right ahead," George said as he moved out of the way.

Hermione first tried the ward detection spell that Doug had taught her but the spell detected no wards. She then switched to a spell detection charm that Jake showed her. This time the spell shows a number of unusual charms including a notice me not charm, Silencio and a Protego. Hermione quickly dispelled each of these charms. As she finally opened the toilet door, Ginny came rushing out of the toilet, knocking Hermione down in the process.

Fred intercepted the crying Ginny and pulled her into a hug while George helped Hermione up. When Ginny realised who was hugging her, she relaxed and started sobbing uncontrollably. Once Ginny had calmed down, George asked, "What happened?"

"I had just finished breakfast and had gone to a toilet on the way to my first class. When I tried to leave, I found the door locked. So I started screaming for help. A ghost appeared saying that no one cares. I screamed even louder to escape the ghost without much success. After I got tired of screaming, the ghost started telling me all about her grievances since she knew I could not escape. I don't know what was worse, being trapped in a toilet or having to listen to a ghost complain to me for over an hour. Please let me go home," Ginny said with a pleading voice.

"You can ask mum and dad but I doubt they will let you go home. This is someone's bad idea of a prank and a bit of homesickness," Fred said reassuringly. Ginny started crying again.

"It is not homesickness. I was dragged by the moron, Ron into a flying car and then the idiot crashed into a tree. I got loads of detentions because of that fool. Everyone is looking at me because of my strange entry into Hogwarts, and now I get trapped in a toilet," Ginny said with frustration.

"It is going to be alright," Fred said as he tightened his hug.

"I will leave you to it," Hermione said as she turned to leave the family moment they were having.

"Thanks, Hermione," George said.

"Do you want me to find your brothers and tell them what happened?" Hermione asked. A smile creeps across George's face.

"We will find them later," George replied.

Hermione made her way to the first DADA class of the year where Harry was waiting for her.

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"Someone locked Ginny in Moaning Myrtle's toilet for a few hours. I wish I thought of that as one of the punishments I had planned for her. Having to listen to Myrtle moan for a few hours is torture in any person's language," Hermione replied happily. "What happened to you?"

"I checked the Chamber of Secrets but thankfully, Ginny did not go there. I have organised a rotation of house-elves to monitor Myrtle's toilets and inform me if anyone tries to open the sink. This will ensure that we are aware of anyone going into the chamber before we finish setting up the booby-traps," Harry explained.

"That a good idea," Hermione managed to say just before Lockhart entered the classroom.

He looked slightly less polished than usual but apart from that, Lockhart was his normal boastful self. The DADA class was a write off with Lockhart giving the same quiz as last time. Thankfully, this time he did not release any Cornish pixies but instead he talked about his time at Hogwarts as a Ravenclaw student.

That evening, Harry continued his research into the detection grid that the British Ministry of Magic used to identify new Muggleborns. The additional scrutiny from Madam Pince, the Hogwarts librarian, meant that Harry could not help with the copying of the restricted section. His assistance in this endeavour was not really necessary, as the house-elves could borrow books from Hogwarts' library without anyone knowing. Alice's mum would copy these books before having the house- elves return these books to the Hogwarts' Library. Alice and Emily provided some assistance when necessary.

Hermione was watching the Marauders' Map. She was waiting for Draco to be alone at the same time when Snape was anywhere but his office. Half an hour before curfew, the opportunity still had not arisen, so Harry went into his apartment trunk. Once there he called out for Dobby.

"Yes, Mr Potter, Sir," Dobby said as he popped in.

"I need a number of things. The first thing I need is a completed Polyjuice Potion from Ashley's store room. Can you leave this note on Ashley's desk telling her that I took one of her potions?" Harry said as he handed Dobby a note he wrote earlier in the day. Dobby took the note and disappeared, reappearing a few seconds later with the requested potion.

"The next thing I need is for you to collect some hair from your old master's son." Harry said. Anticipating that request Dobby produced a few of strands of Draco's hair. Harry wished that he could use Dobby to steal Draco's wand but he knew that he could not afford to tarnish his reputation with the house-elves or Hermione would kill him.

"Finally I need one of the time turners. Can you get one for me?" Harry asked. Dobby popped away and return with the requested item before popping away after Harry thanked him.

Harry changed in a spare set of school uniforms before taking the Polyjuice Potion with Draco's hair. After he turned into Draco, he transfigured his clothes to look like the Slytherin's uniform and readjusted the clothes so they fit the his new frame. Putting on his invisibility cloak, Harry went in search of Draco using the Marauders' Map. When he found Draco, Harry used a curse that made a person's groin extremely itchy. Harry watched with amusement as Draco tried to restrain from scratching before giving in. Draco excused himself so that he could scratch himself more thoroughly. That was when Harry struck.

Harry stunned Draco before injecting him with a muggle sleeping drug. Pocketing Draco's wand, he put Draco to bed under a notice me not spell. It was timed so that it would dispel after 3 hours. Once that was done, Harry broke into Snape's office using Draco's wand, and once there, Harry made two copies of all the notes he could find. One set of the notes he was going to pass to Dobby to give to Ashley. The other set would be placed in a secret compartment in Draco's trunk that Harry had created using Draco's wand. Harry then returned Draco's wand and went into the Ravenclaw toilets to allow the Polyjuice to wear off. As soon as Harry returned to normal, Harry changed back into his regular uniform. He then used the time turner so that it appeared as though he had just gone to the toilet.