A/N: Hey guys, Cristy here with a new chapter. Big things will be happening in the next two chapters or so, and I'm really excited to share them with you! Please enjoy this chapter and leave a review if you liked it (and a review if you hated it). Feel free to follow or favorite to keep up with updates. I don't own Harry Potter, which I'm sure you know as a Harry Potter fan.
The Halloween feast was in full swing less than a week after Avalon's conversation in the Owlery with Neville.
She could understand why Halloween would be his favorite holiday, although she couldn't grasp why he would miss Halloween celebrations at home with his gran when the Hogwarts Feast was so wonderful.
There were bright flaming orange streamers hanging down from above, mingling with the star-light from the enchanted ceiling's view of the sky outside. Huge pumpkins that were nearly as tall as Hagrid were placed at various points around the Great Hall. The small mousy first-year boy who Avalon had seen at the Quidditch practice/Gryffindor-Slytherin fight only weeks earlier was running around, taking pictures of the pumpkins and taking pictures of his classmates with the pumpkins. Floating in the air were smaller pumpkins with candles inside, casting eerie glows on the table. Some students were sporting long white beards, claiming they were "Merlin," "Salazar Slytherin," or "Dumbledore," or some other old wizard. Dumbledore himself—the real one—was wearing bright orange dress robes. One thousand live bats swooped down over students chatting and eating amicably.
Over at the Slytherin table, Theo filled a large bowl with mashed pumpkin. He was practically bouncing up and down in his chair as he did so. Blaise looked on with a horrified look on his face. After a moment, Theo pulled the bowl towards him and scooped out a spoonful of the orange goop. He grinned at his friends as he swallowed thickly. Daphne and Avalon exchanged disgusted glances, and the former cleared her throat. "Mate, do you want some vegetables to go with that?"
"Pumpkin is a vegetable."
"Or maybe some meat? Bread?" Avalon asked.
"No thanks, just the pumpkin for me."
Blaise shook his head at his best friend, and gestured for Daphne to pass him the lamb chops and gravy. Unlike Theo, Blaise did not want to make a meal off the pumpkin. He would be either hungry in the middle of the night or he would need to visit the Hospital Wing in the morning. After a moment, Blaise sized Theo up and snorted internally. Maybe both. Probably both.
"What are you lot doing for Christmas break?" Theo asked after a few moments of silent chewing, nearly choking on a large swallow of pumpkin. "Are you staying here, going home, or traveling?"
"Stepdad number four is taking my mum and me on a cruise. I don't remember where, but it's somewhere warm and tropical," said Blaise. He smiled; taking advantage of his stepdads' desires to please him was an activity he'd never outgrown.
"And I wasn't invited?" Theo asked, placing his hand over his heart in an indignant manner. "My parents are going on a trip without me and are having me stay here over the holiday."
Blaise shrugged. "Well, do you want to come? Number Four is even richer than Number Three and would do whatever I want. I could write him a letter tomorrow and have him buy an extra ticket for you."
"Thanks, mate."
"Astoria and I are spending the holidays at our grandparents' cabin in Germany," Daphne said. She rolled her eyes, as a break spent with her elderly grandparents didn't sound like her idea of a perfect good time. "We're Floo-ing out the day after I get back from Hogwarts. My parents are staying in England for a bit but they're coming to join us on Christmas Eve and we'll all be there for the New Year."
"Shudder all you want Daph, but I definitely win the 'worst holiday plans' competition. We're having a Christmas party, and since Charlie will be back from Romania briefly to see his parents, Lucy invited the Weasleys," Avalon grumbled.
Her friends mumbled their apologies, and they finished their meal with small talk as Draco, who was sitting on Theo's other side began telling an over the top story about whatever his vacation plans were for the break.
Halfway through the feast, Dumbledore stood up at the Head Table. "Welcome to the Halloween feast here at Hogwarts. I see some of you are taking advantage of the seasonal delicacies." He chuckled and those around Theo all turned to look at him. The boy smiled sheepishly with a mouthful of pumpkin. "Please, enjoy yourselves. And while you're filling your stomachs, we also have a treat for your ears—the Hogwarts Frog Choir, led by Professor Flitwick, will be singing some traditional songs for us. I believe their first piece is entitled 'Something Wicked this Way Comes.'"
Avalon squinted up at the front of the Great Hall. The teachers were now sitting at the four House Tables. The Frog Choir was standing on a platform where the Head Table had once stood, and the platform was slowly rising into the air. "Is that Neville?"
"They sound nice, but it's a little boring. Why would anyone want to join that club anyway? It's complete bollocks," Theo muttered as the students began to sing while holding loud, croaking frogs.
Blaise shook his head at Theo's words. "You're definitely one to talk. Or are you forgetting that you're the secretary of the Hogwarts Gobstones Club? A club that's so unpopular, it currently only has ten members?"
"Very funny, Blaise."
"Which makes sense," Daphne added. "Who wants to play a game where losing a point means you get squirted in the face with foul-smelling liquid? It's completely horrid."
"The key is to not lose a point. And also have a scouring charm on standby to clean yourself of the stench afterwards," explained Theo. He put his head down and went back to eating his bowl of pumpkin, much to the disgust of his friends.
It was close to twenty minutes later when the feast finally ended.
"All right, children, as I'm sure you already know, all good things must come to an end, even this Halloween feast. Prefects, if you would be so kind as to lead your houses back to their dormitories at this time. Have a wonderful evening," Dumbledore said. He smiled and gestured his hands widely.
The students began to rise from the tables. Daphne yawned and stretched. The food she had eaten was making her drowsier and drowsier by the minute, and soon her friends were doing the same as they followed the prefects out of the Great Hall.
Energy was still high as students climbed the stairs. Draco was telling a story about the Slytherin team's Quidditch practice. "Bletchley—he's the keeper—was about to kick off with his broom at the beginning of practice, and he was talking to me about a play that Flint wanted to try, but before he could, one of the beaters hit the bludger at him to be funny. He couldn't tell if it was Bole or Derrick, so he tried to chase both of them on his broom. He looked like a…"
Draco's voice trailed off.
The herd of students stopped suddenly. Shorter kids tried to crane their necks to see exactly what had happened.
In the center of the group stood Potter, Weasley, and Granger. But the thing that made everyone freeze in their tracks wasn't the three Gryffindors skipping the feast, but the writing on the wall. Written in huge letters, were the words: "THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED/ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE"
A large puddle of water was beneath the message, and beneath it hung a gruesome sight. Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris, was hanging by her tail, stiff and unmoving. The silence rippled through them, and Avalon covered her gaping mouth with her hand.
"What is this? Some sort of weird Halloween prank?" Daphne hissed.
Before any of them could react, Draco pushed his way through the crowd towards Potter, Weasley, and Granger with determination. His friends attempted to follow but found themselves pulled back by the surge of the crowd. When he reached the front, Draco's sneer intensified and he all but spat at anyone who would listen. "Enemies of the heir beware? You'll be next, mudbloods."
More murmurs rippled through the students, some of them much louder protests as some of the Gryffindors attempted to reach him and swing their fists.
"My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?" Filch had joined the growing cluster by the stiff cat, the puddle of water, and the message. He started screaming at Potter and his friends for killing his beloved Mrs. Norris.
Suddenly, Dumbledore and a horde of teachers were there as well. The sea of curious children parted as they made their way through, trying—rather unsuccessfully—to regain control of both the students and the situation. They had been silent at one point, but students were beginning to whisper. Some cowered behind their friends in fear, unsure of what was happening and what they outcome would be. Some hypothesized about the meaning of the wall inscription. With confidence and a swift hand, Dumbledore removed Mrs. Norris from her torch bracket prison. Filch looked like he might pass out right then and there. He led Potter, Granger, Weasley, and Filch off, with McGonagall, Snape, and Lockhart trailing behind them on their way to Lockhart's office, most likely to discuss the current matter at hand.
When Avalon heard Draco's voice, she was surprised. She hadn't seen him come back through the crowd. He was chuckling. "They all sound so frightened up there. Blubbering like little babies. The mudbloods should be worried."
She gave him a look to silence him. People were beginning to stare. They would think he had put up the message, or one of his friends.
"All right, we're going to take you all back to your common rooms now. There's nothing to worry about, everything is going to be okay." The Head Boy and Head Girl were speaking, although they didn't seem like they believed the words they were saying, if the apprehensive glances they kept sharing as they addressed the students were any indication. "Prefects, please gather to lead your classmates to your common rooms. No one is to leave their common room tonight under any circumstances."
The Chamber of Secrets has been opened.
By the time Avalon and the other Slytherins reached their common room, they were all buzzing with ideas, stories, theories. No one knew anything for certain, but as Avalon tried to drift off to sleep, her roommates were still sitting up, discussing. She hadn't had many problems with Pansy so far this year, but suddenly she remembered all the times she had dreamed of punching Pansy in the face for not having an off button, ever. As much as Avalon wanted to be annoyed, the same questions were coursing through her own head. Who was the Heir? What was the Chamber of Secrets? What did any of this mean?
Were they all in danger?
By the time Avalon drifted off to sleep, she was plagued with dreams of dead cats and more bloody messages written on the wall. She woke up at one point in a cold sweat, and managed to sneak down to the kitchens to get some hot tea from the house-elves. Soon after, Avalon fell asleep again, but could not remember dreams this time.
Enemies of the Heir, beware.
