Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.
A/N: Thanks to PenguinLord0029, who beta this story.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
The Writing on the Wall
Nothing else was talked about the next day, and whenever Harry sat in the common room he could feel anyone in his house looking at him. He wasn't sure if they blamed him, or were just curious about what he was able to see, but either way none of them approached him. Ron was sitting next to him most of the time but Hermione seemed to have disappeared, Harry suspected she was trying to find out what the Chamber of Secret was. He had told Sirius and Remus about what happened once he had returned to the common room, but they didn't have any answer for him, besides saying that it was a secret chamber that Slytherin had supposedly made.
He noticed that Ginny had been sitting near him, too but she didn't say much. He wondered if she was just staying near him because she felt safer near her older brother or if it was for some other reason.
"Hey Ginny," Harry final said near the end of the day, Ron had fallen asleep on the couch.
She seemed to jump at being spoken to and then said shyly, "hi."
Harry frowned; hating that she seemed to be getting shier around him the longer the year went on. "I was wondering if you got my message yesterday … about Nick's Party."
Ginny let out a relieved breath and said, "I saw it, but not until after."
"Oh," Harry said, looking away from Ginny as he thought. He wondered why she was acting so jumpy, and why she was relieved that he was talking about something else. "I suppose I should have written you sooner, but I sort of wanted to tell you in person. Where have you been this last week?"
"Around," Ginny said, and she looked nervous again.
"So … er … what do you think the Chamber of Secret is?" Harry asked and Ginny shifted farther.
"I don't really want to talk about that," Ginny mumbled, her lip trembling.
"Oh …" Harry said and frowned this time. "Is that why you're here sitting near me, so no one would talk to you about that?"
Ginny flushed at that and bit her lip, "it's not the only reason."
"I should hope not," Harry smiled at her.
There was a long pause, before Ginny said, "I should probably go to bed."
Harry watched her go with a mixture of worry and curiosity, there just seemed to be something off with Ginny. However, he didn't have much time to worry about that before Hermione came downstairs, her favorite book in her arms and a scowl on her face.
"What's up Hermione?" Harry said.
Hermione sat down next to Ron, nudging him awake. Ron was definitely not pleased with this rude awakening, and he glared at her grumpily.
"Why did you have to wake me up?" Ron grumbled. "I was dreaming that I was playing Keeper for the Cannons …"
"Oh … so it was a nightmare," Harry teased. "You know because you were scored on so much …"
"I was saving everything!" Ron hissed.
"Oh, so it wasn't a very realistic dream …" Harry smirked.
"Git," Ron growled.
"Will you two shut up!" Hermione hissed, keeping her voice down so the few other people in the room wouldn't hear her.
Harry, noticing what Hermione was looking at, got up and motion for his friends to follow him. He led them to a private alcove, one where he could perform the charm that would insure they couldn't be heard. Then he looked pointedly at Hermione.
"I'm not sure if we needed this much privacy," Hermione mumbled and then shrugged. "But better safe than sorry I suppose."
"Can you just get to the point?" Ron groaned.
"I was reading," Hermione started.
"Shocker," Ron said sarcastically and Hermione turned to snap at him.
"Relax Hermione, you know he's even more irritable when he just wakes up," Harry said and Hermione still glared at Ron but didn't say anything.
"Anyway, I was reading, trying to find out what the Chamber of Secrets is," Hermione said, and the boys seemed to get more interested at that statement.
"So, what did you find out?" Harry asked.
"Well, in Hogwarts, a History, it describes about how the four founders of our school, Godric Gryffindor …"
"We don't need a history lesson," Ron pointed out.
Hermione ignored him and went on where she had had left off. "Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin had bound …"
"So, do you think it was a prerequisite to have the same initial in your first and last name to be a founder?" Ron questioned.
"No, it was just a coincidence," Harry chuckled at the annoyed glare Hermione was giving them.
"They had bounded together," Hermione said through gritted teeth, "so that they could make a safe place for children to learn to control magic. For a long time the four houses got along, but they started fighting about who they should allow to join the school, Slytherin thought that only people with pure blood should be allowed …"
"No way, you mean all this blood crap started all the way back with Slytherin!" Ron hissed.
"Sort of, but I don't know if he meant it exactly the way it is now," Harry said, suddenly frowning. He remembered Remus reading him books about the founders of Hogwarts when he was little and he was now wondering why Remus hadn't told him more when he mentioned the Chamber of Secrets. Was Remus trying to keep something from him?
"Maybe, but there's more to the story," Hermione said coldly. Harry was surprised by this, Hermione usually liked to give people the benefit of the doubt.
"I'm just saying that the time period of the founders was different than the way it is now," Harry said. "Muggles knew about magic then … or at least that there was the possibility that it existed and they feared it. They were responsible for killing more than one wizard … I would imagine that Slytherin just wanted to protect his students from that kind of persecution. Not to mention the fact that the Muggle-borns at the time would be in even more danger. Their families might have feared them if they knew they could do magic …"
"Which means they, more than anyone, needed to go to a safe place where they couldn't be hurt," Hermione pointed out. "Besides, once you hear the end of the story you won't be so sure about what his motives were."
"So what's the end of the story?" Harry asked.
"That Slytherin eventually left Hogwarts on unfriendly terms, but before he left he built a chamber that would hold some kind of monster that would purge the school of anyone that is unworthy of learning magic!"
Harry didn't say anything about that.
"So did it say what kind of monster it was?" Ron asked.
"No, it just said that only the heir of Slytherin would be able to control it," Hermione shook her head.
"Well that sucks … I wonder what it is?" Ron said. "Do you know of anything that petrifies its victims?"
"No," Hermione said. "I would try to do research on this, but not even having a clue of what it could be … well it would be nearly impossible for me to find out."
"So you think there really is a Chamber of Secrets," Harry said.
"Seeing as Dumbledore wasn't able to help Mrs. Norris, whatever did this must be something terrible," Hermione said. "So yes, I do think there's a Chamber of Secrets."
"Yeah, you're right," Harry said. "Dumbledore looked nervous about this too."
"So if there is a Chamber," Ron said, he was looking at Hermione with a frown, "you think they're after …"
"Muggle-borns and Squibs," Hermione answered firmly, and Harry looked at her. She was trying hard not to show it, but she was terrified about what this meant for her.
"So what are we going to do to stop this?" Ron said his expression was hard to read.
Harry grimaced, he had promised Sirius that he would try to stay out of trouble this year; the least he could do was not go looking for it. Still, looking up at his two friends, one that was terrified of being a victim of this monster and the other determined to make sure nothing happens to her, he knew he couldn't just sit by and let this happen.
"We have to find out who this heir is, and fast!" Harry answered.
"Well I know who my top suspect is!" Ron growled.
"If you're talking about Malfoy …" Hermione started.
"You heard him, 'you'll be next Mudbloods'," Ron said and Hermione still frowned.
"That only proves that he wouldn't be upset if something happens to the Muggle-borns," Harry pointed out.
"Yeah, well, his family has been in Slytherin for many generations!" Ron countered. "You saw how quickly he was sorted."
"I can't argue with that, but that doesn't necessarily make him guilty," Harry frowned. "There are plenty of people in Slytherin whose family has been in there for generations. Still, it would be nice if we could somehow find a way to questioned him … but there's no way that Malfoy would ever give us a straight answer."
"Hm …" Hermione said thoughtfully, there was a manic look in her eyes that Harry had never seen before, and it scared him a little.
"What are you thinking?" Harry asked.
"Well, there might be a way that we could do that," Hermione said. "It would be dangerous …"
"Count us in," Ron said and Hermione rolled her eyes, but smiled at him this time.
"But if everything works out the way we want it to, you might be able to question more than just Malfoy," Hermione said to Harry.
"Hermione," Harry said, trying to demand an answer from her.
"I was thinking if we were in the Slytherin common room, we would be able to hear what they all thought," Hermione said.
"That would be a brilliant idea if it were possible," Ron said. "I bet the gits are all having a laugh about this now … the blonde idiot is probably bragging about what he did. But Hermione, there's no way that we could get in there unnoticed. I mean even if we were wearing the invisibility cloak, there's still a high chance that we would be discovered and …"
"No, I wasn't thinking about the invisibility cloak," Hermione said, "I was thinking about using Polyjuice Potion!"
"Er … what?" Ron said but Harry gasped.
"Are you insane?"
"Not that I know of," Hermione said stiffly.
"Well you might want to rethink that," Harry said. "You want to us to steal the appearance of a few Slytherins so we can interrogate Malfoy! If that's not insanity, I don't know what is!"
"Doing nothing!" Hermione answered hotly. "Harry, I can't just sit around and do nothing … always looking over my shoulder for something to come after me or people like me that just happened to have Muggle parents. I know this might be a little extreme, but it would be worse if I don't do anything …"
"Hermione," Harry sighed, putting an arm around her and pulling her into a hug.
"Don't worry, we won't let anything happen to you," Ron promised.
"I still think this plan sounds risky," Harry said. "How are you planning on getting Polyjuice Potion anyway?"
"Before you answer that, can you tell me what Polyjuice Potion is?" Ron asked.
"It's a potion that would allow you to take on the appearance of any human for an hour," Hermione answered.
"Brilliant, so we could be any Slytherin, and get Malfoy to confide in us," Ron smiled.
"Yes, that's pretty much it," Hermione said and then looked at Harry, "and I was planning on making the potion myself … though first I have to get my hands on Moste Potente Potions, according to Snape, it's in the Restricted Section in the library …"
"I suppose we can do that," Ron said. "You up for an adventure to the library's restriction section, Harry?"
"Always," Harry chuckled.
The trio had made their way to the library soon after that getting the book with no problem with the charms they had learned the last year, and copied the book. Once they got back to the common room, it was past midnight and no one was downstairs any longer. Still Harry had preformed the spell to make sure that they couldn't be overheard as Hermione looked through the book. Harry read over her shoulder and grimaced.
"This looks like a complicated potion."
"I know," Hermione agreed. "But I think I can handle making it. I mean it seems like the most complicated part about it is making sure you get the ingredients in at the right time."
"Yeah, well did you look at the ingredients we need," Harry said, "how on earth are we going to get bicorn horn and the boomslang skin?"
"I don't know, Harry," Hermione sighed. "But seeing as we won't need them for a while, we'll have time to think of something."
"Something better than stealing them from Snape, I hope," Harry said looking at her.
"I hope so too, because as of right now, that's all I've come up with," Hermione said.
"You mean, the Hermione Granger, is going to recommend that we steal something," Ron sniggered.
"From Snape!" Harry pointed out nervously. "This is nothing to laugh about."
"You're right, he'll murder us," Ron gulped.
"Well, if you're too afraid, you don't have to be involved," Hermione glared at him. "But I, for one, am going to do everything I can to find out who the Heir of Slytherin is!"
"No … that's not what I meant," Ron said softly, looking at her oddly. "Merlin, I never thought I would see the day that you would be the one to talk us into doing something like this."
"Well, I thought that I would branch out a bit," Hermione rolled her eyes at him, looking almost smug.
"Come on, let's get to bed, we can think of what to do in the morning," Harry said.
O
All throughout the next week they tried to figure out what to do about the bicorn horn and the boomslang skin, but nothing came to them. In another week, around the time of Harry's first Quidditch match, they would be able to start the potion. Seeing as the lacewings was going to have to stew for twenty-one days, and the Fluxweed has to be picked on the full moon, it would be pointless to start the potion before then.
Harry had to admit it did feel nice knowing that he was trying to do something, because it was easy to see that the news of the Chamber of Secrets had everyone in the castle worried. Everyone seemed to be sticking close to one another, and there was a sort of tension in the castle like there never was in his first year. He hated that this was happening, Hogwarts shouldn't feel like this, people shouldn't be afraid of being attacked and he really did want to do something to make it go back to normal. He still could have done without the whispering and curious stares that followed him around wherever he went.
At the end of this long week, he and his friends found themselves alone in the corridor with the writing on the wall, the scene of the crime. It was odd that this corridor would be deserted; Filch had been keeping a near constant watch of this place waiting for the heir to return.
"What do you think?" Harry said to his friends. "Should we investigate?"
"I don't know Harry …" Hermione said warily.
"What, you're willing to make an illegal potion, but you can't poke around a crime scene?" Harry smirked.
"Oh shut up," Hermione huffed. "I was just thinking it would be bad if you were seen here, poking around. But if you don't care about that …"
"I don't," Harry said. "Come on, this might give us some clues …"
"Fine," Hermione said as they walked closer.
The floor was no longer wet, and the writing on the wall had turned darker, but it was still vibrant, despite the fact that Filch had tried to scrub the wall clean.
"Harry, Ron, look at his," Hermione said, staring at the floor near a window. Harry came to stand next to her and noticed that there was a line of spiders crawling away from the wall, going out the window. "Have you ever seen spiders act that way?"
"No," Harry frowned at them, but he didn't know what this meant. It was odd, but how could fleeing spiders have anything to do with what had happened. "Ron, have you?"
Ron was walking backwards, his face was pale as he kept his eyes on the line of spiders, as if he was afraid they would suddenly decide to come and attack him.
"Ron? What's wrong?" Hermione asked worried.
"I … er … I don't like spiders," Ron mumbled.
"Really, I didn't know that, you don't seem to mind when we use them in potions," Hermione said, she seemed to be trying not to laugh at that.
"I don't mind when they're dead," Ron said suddenly shuddering. "And it's not funny Hermione! You would be afraid of spiders too if you were three and the teddy bear you're holding suddenly has too many arms and …" he shuddered again.
Hermione seemed to be trying even harder not to laugh at this.
"Well, at least that's not as funny as you being owl Animagus that's afraid of heights," Harry pointed out to her and that wiped the smile off of Hermione's face as she looked at Ron apologetically.
"I'm sorry Ron, I … I was just surprised," she said.
"Whatever," Ron huffed, his ears red in annoyance. "So how do you think the water got here?" It was an obvious attempt to change the subject, but Harry and Hermione didn't really mind. "As I recalled it seemed to be coming from this door …"
He grabbed the handle but suddenly looked as pale as if it had been covered in spiders.
"What's the matter?" Harry asked.
"We can't go in there; it's the girl's toilet!"
"Of all the things to be scared off," Hermione rolled her eyes, walking pass him.
"Well forgive me if I'm a little hesitant, the last time I went into a girl's bathroom there was a twelve foot troll in it!"
"Well, I doubt there's a troll in this bathroom," Hermione said chuckling at his explanation. "Though there might be something almost as bad …"
"What do you mean?" Ron asked warily.
"This is Moaning Myrtle's bathroom," Hermione answers opening the bathroom door. "Come on …"
The boys looked at each other, not too enthusiastic about going in there after what Hermione had said but following her nonetheless. She seemed to stop at the last stall, where they could hear the sounds of a girl crying.
"Hello Myrtle," Hermione said in a pleasant voice and a ghost seemed to be sitting on the tank of the toilet, not really playing attention to them. She looked very glum, with her long lanky hair hiding her face along with the pearly glasses she wore. She raised her eyebrow when she noticed that Harry and Ron were there.
"They're not allowed in here," she stated.
"Er … I just wanted to introduce them to you," Hermione said uncertainly and Myrtle narrowed her eyes. "You see, we were just wondering if you had seen anything on Halloween."
"No," the ghost answered carelessly. "I just came in here to flood the bathroom because Peeve annoyed me …"
"Ask her if she had seen anyone hanging around here …" Harry whispered to Hermione but knew it was a mistake the moment he said it. Myrtle obviously didn't like whispering. She exploded into wails, excusing them of talking about her, as if they would waste their time worrying about a ghost. But she wouldn't listen to anything they said and then disappeared into the U-band of the toilet.
"Well, that went well," Ron mumbled.
"Honestly, that was cheerful for Myrtle," Hermione grimaced.
"I can see why you wouldn't want to come in here now," Harry said. "Come on, we've better get going."
