Hey Guys :)
New Chapter. I know it took me a while to upload but I ran into some problems as well as personal reasons. I hope to write more from now on but I can't promise. Hope you like it.
Harry Norwood
Chapter 10
It was Monday morning and Harry was excited. He was finally going to learn more about the politics about the Wizarding world...well as much as a bunch of 12 year olds knew but still. The school day went by fast. Luckily their last class was a free lesson so they quickly and quietly made their way towards the empty classroom. Once there they cleaned as much dust of the tables as they could and pushed them together in the middle of the room to have one big table. The group consisted of 29 people in total. 11 of them were Muggleborn, 9 Half-bloods and 9 Purebloods. The three Slytherins were the once with the most knowledge since their families still followed most of the traditions. Daphne was the most outspoke one of them. She stood up and faced the group.
"I think we should start of easy." Daphne said and thats what they did. She and the other purebloods started with proper behaviour. For the next two hours they talked about proper introduction and speech patterns, dress codes, conversation topics and walking. "Okay over the next week we will practice these topics" Everyone nodded at her. "Let's get to dinner". With that they quietly left the room hopeful that no one would see them. The rest of October went by quite quick. The group felt great finally knowing a bit more about the wizarding world. They agreed not to show too much of their new found skills but they still tried.
It was now halloween and the students were enjoying a great feast. The tables were decked with all kinds of sweets that you got cavities from just by looking at them but no one cared. Once they were all done stuffing their stomachs the prefects lead them back to the common rooms. On the way back Harry kept hearing strange things. 'Come... Come to me... let me rip you... let me tear you...'
"Harry you okay?" Neville asked as they walked around a corner. Harry nodded confused.
"Yeah...bit tired i guess". 'Maybe I am imagining things. All those sweets probably.' he thought. In silence they arrived back at the common room and quickly went to bed. Luckily the next day was a Sunday so the student were able to sleep in. When Harry and his friends finally made their way to breakfast at around 10am the great hall was buzzing. There was chattering everywhere. They walked over to their housemates.
"What's going on?" a still sleepy Susan asked as they sat down.
"Apparently someone killed Filches cat last night" a dark haired third year girl explained before taking a sip from her goblet.
"Not killed. Petrified Gwen. Both the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws found her" Rolf chimed in, putting his book down. "Now there are only four possible ways to petrify someone..."
"Not now Scamander. I wanna eat my breakfast in peace." Gwen said grumpily. Rolf simply nodded and focused back on his book. The second years looked at each other.
"What do you think? Wanna check it out?" Ernie asked. The others all nodded.
"I also wanna check the library on the subject. It sounds interesting" Hannah exclaimed slightly excited.
"Sounds like a plan" Neville said happily as he took a bite of his toast. After breakfast they went to search for Mrs. Norris. It wasn't hard to find her as most of the student went to check it out. They found her on the second floor, hanging from a torch. Filch was fiercely protecting her and shushed everyone away that came to close.
"If he doesn't want anyone near her why hasn't he taken her down yet?" Justin asked. They shrugged.
"No idea. Maybe they don't want to break her?" Susan wondered. No one commented on that. After that they eagerly made their way to the library but were quite disappointed to find out that all the books on petrification had been removed. So instead they decided to study for their classes. After lunch Harry and Zacharias had Quidditch practice. Fortunately for them it was a rather warm day for November. Cedric insisted that they all watch the game on Saturday, Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. Apparently they both had new seekers.
After practice Harry decided to go to the library alone. He still couldn't get that voice out of his head. Especially with what had happen the night before. he didn't dare tell his friends at least not yet. He wanted to get some answers on his own first. The only problem was he didn't know what to look for. 'Now hearing voices. Maybe a metal problem? Does the wizarding world have psychology books?' he thought to himself as he wanders along the aisles. He decided to check for healing books. He found many on how to heal cuts, bruises, broken bones and potions. One one book was sort of about psychology sort of. It was a book about the mental state and how spells and curses can affect it. Harry took it out and sat down at a nearby table. He skimmed the book for anything about hearing voices but was unlucky. With an angry thud he closed the book again. When he looked up he saw Rolf Scamander sitting at the other end of the table surrounded by books. Harry vaguely remembered something he had said earlier that morning. Harry walked over to him.
"Hey Rolf could I asked you something?" Rolf looked up from his book a bit startled.
"Oh hey Harry of course. What do you need?"
"About what you said this morning. About petrification?"
"Ah yes. Quite an interesting topic if you ask me. There are only four ways to petrify someone or something. The most obvious would be the statue curse. Now that one can be ruled out as it can be easily undone and that would be the first thing the teachers would have thought of"." Rolf explained. Harry made notes of everything he said. "Then there are of course the Gorgons."
"Gorgons? Like Medusa?" Harry asked.
"Yes I see you have heard of her then, perfect." Rolf seemed pretty excited.
"Yeah she is pretty famous in greek mythology. I thought she was just a myth."
"Oh no she was very real just some of the stories about her were not. But yes Gorgons usually live in the greek area so I would rule them out too." Rolf continued. "Then there are two creature who I believe could be behind it. Most of the time people seem to think that they are the same but they are not. They are the cockatrice and the basilisk. The cockatrice is essentially a two-legged dragon or serpent-like creature with a rooster's head whereas the basilisk is a giant serpent. The cockatrice has the reputed ability to kill people by either looking at them, touching them, or sometimes breathing on them. The basilisk kills with a single look though they have a very quick venom as well." he explained rather fast but Harry was able to keep up.
"But if they kill by just looking at you why isn't Mrs. Norris dead then? And wouldn't a creature like them be seen by someone?" Harry had many questions.
"Well a direct look at them will kill you but if you look at them indirectly, like through a mirror, it will only petrify you. As to why no one has seen it, well we were all at the feast right? Also I think if someone where to see them they would die before they would be able to tell anyone." Harry nodded. It made sense.
"Thanks Rolf. You don't happen to know what the chamber of secrets is do you?"
"Sorry Harry I only know creatures." Harry nodded and thanked him again. Now Harry had a new mission. Find out what the chamber is. He browsed the library again but came up with nothing. Defeated he made his way to dinner. He told his friends of his discoveries but still kept quiet about hearing voices.
"Well then we should always keep a mirror with us then. Just in case." Hannah suggested. They all agreed to tell the others as well.
"But how did Mrs. Norris look at them indirectly? There wasn't a mirror around was there?" Neville asked. No one answered.
"We should asked someone from Gryffindor of Ravenclaw. They were the once to discover her anyway. Maybe they have seen something?" Susan suggested. They nodded and finished their dinner.
The next morning they had Defense first thing in the morning with the Gryffindors. Harry waited by the door for his friends. Dean, Seamus and Phillip were the first to arrive.
"Morning Harry." Dean said sill tired.
"What are you waiting for?" Seamus asked confused as to why he wasn't inside yet.
"Just have a quick question for you. On Halloween when you discovered Mrs. Norris was there anything weird or off? Like something that wasn't usually there?
"Why you asking Harry?" Phillip asked and Harry quickly explained his findings in hushed tones.
"Well I didn't seen anything out of the ordinary but I was pretty tired." Dean answered.
"Me neither." Phillip said. Seamus was still thinking.
"There was nothing unusual. The only thing weird was that my shoes were wet as well as the end of my trousers but aside from that nothing." He finally answered. That made Harry think.
"Was there water on the floor?" he asked.
"I dunno could have been." Seamus said.
"Water is reflective right? Is there a bathroom nearby or on open window? Did it rain that night?" Now Harry had more questions.
"I think there is an abandoned toilet but I could be wrong." Harry nodded. At that time Lockhart entered the room. They quickly sat down. On their way to the next class Harry told them what the Gryffindors had said. Luckily they had a bit more time as Lockhart let them out five minutes early. That and the fact that they had to walk from the first floor to the third and Mrs. Norris was petrified on the first. They quickly made a detour to her. Fortunately Filch wasn't there. Just as Seamus had said there was a toilet there and they quickly found out why it was abandoned.
The girls toilet was the home of the Moaning Myrtle a ghost of a former student that was killed there. She was very rude and quickly chased them off but they vowed to come back. The rest of the day went by quick as did the next day. On Wednesday they had history in the morning together with the Ravenclaws. It started off as usual. Most people started to falling asleep as soon as Binns started his lesson about the Medieval Assembly of European Wizards. After about half an hour Hermione raised her hand. Shocked, confused and a bit perplex Binnes looked at her.
"Sir. Professor. I was wondering if you could tell us about the Chamber of Secrets?" Now the entire class was awake again. Neville nearly fell out of his chair. Binns looked confused and tried to continue with the lesson but Hermione kept asking. Eventually he gave in.
"The story goes that Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in the castle, of which the other founders knew nothing. Slytherin, according to the legend, sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that none would be able to open it until his own true heir arrived at the school. The heir alone would be able to unseal the Chamber of Secrets, unleash the horror within, and use it to purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic." he explained.
"If the Chamber can only be opened by Slytherin's true heir, no one else would be able to find it, would they?" Susan asked.
"Nonsense. If a long succession of Hogwarts headmasters and headmistresses haven't found the thing—" Binns tried to answer.
"But, Professor, you'd probably have to use Dark Magic to open it—" Padma Patil started.
"Just because a wizard doesn't use Dark Magic, doesn't mean he can't. I repeat, if the likes of Dumbledore—" Binns contered but was interupted.
"But maybe you've got to be related to Slytherin, so Dumbledore couldn't—" Terry Boots tried to ask.
"That will do. It is a myth! It does not exist! There is not a shred of evidence that Slytherin ever built so much as a secret broom cupboard!" Binns was clearly upset that his class was interrupted for such nonsense.
"But—" Hermione tried.
"My subject is History of Magic. I deal with facts, not myths and legends." and with that the discussion was over. Harry had a feeling that there was some truths to the story. He also had a feeling that the voice he heard had something to do with it. He needed to do more research.
Well I hope it was okay. Please let me know what you think.