Horror in the Hallway
"Well, fuck me…"
Halios gave Seren a flat look when she heard her curse. While she could understand why she did it, couldn't she at least been a bit more creative about it?
"Based on your reaction, am I correct to assume you know something about this chamber?" she asked Seren.
"Not per se, but there's an old legend that says that Salazar Slytherin built a hidden chamber somewhere in Hogwarts, and sealed a monster inside. Said chamber is called the Chamber of Secrets." Seren answered.
"So whatever happened here is the work of the monster?"
"That, or someone with a grudge against Mrs Norris and Filch."
"And that narrows it down so well…" Halios grumbled as she looked back at the petrified cat. Sighing, she stepped towards Mrs Norris and began to gather the magica needed to cleanse the cat of its petrification.
"WHAT THE DEVIL'S GOING ON HERE!"
The sudden shout caused the three of them to jump in surprise, and as one, they looked back. There, standing at the end of the hallway and with groups of students behind him, were Argus Filch. When Halios turned, Filch saw Mrs Norris, and with a look of grief on his face, he ran forward, knocking Halios to the ground in his haste to reach his beloved cat.
Falling to his knees in front of Mrs Norris, he reached out with a shaking hand before turning towards Halios in a rage.
"You… you did this… YOU KILLED HER!" Filch lunged towards Halios with his hands stretched out before him, as if to strangle her. But before he could touch her, he was hit by a spell and froze in the air. Looking towards the end of the Hallway, Halios saw Professor Dumbledore standing there, wand out and eyes glowing with magic.
"Clam yourself, Argus." Dumbledore said as he walked closer. Stepping up next to Halios, he released Filch.
"But… but, Headmaster… Mrs Norris…" Filch stammered out, with tears in his eyes.
"She's not dead, Argus." Dumbledore said as he scanned the petrified cat. "She has just been petrified. It can be reversed with the right potion, and no harm will have come to her. Beside, petrification of this level is beyond a second year student. In fact, it's beyond most seven year students, as there are no books in the castle that deals with that kind of magic."
"But…"
By now, most of the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw students had gathered at the end of the hallway, observing what was happening.
"Now, could you explain what happened here?" Dumbledore asked Halios, Seren and Luna.
"We were on our way back to our common room after attending Sir Nicholas 500th Death Day party, and we found it as you see it now." Halios explained.
"Were you now?" Dumbledore said as he looked at them. "Do you have anyone who can confirm this?"
"Yes, Headmaster." Seren said with a nod. "Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger was with us at the party, and Sir Nicholas and his guests can also confirm it."
"Very well." Dumbledore said with a nod. "Then…"
"My goodness! Will you look at this?"
Looking over to the one who interrupted him, Dumbledore could only sigh as Lockhart stood in front of the students, smiling.
Ignoring the looks he got from Halios, Seren, Luna and Filch, Lockhart strutted forward, a blinding smile on his lips. Lifting his wand, Lockhart started to prod Mrs Norris with it, ignoring Filch's indignant shout.
"Fascinating!" Lockhart said. "This reminds me of the time I was in…"
For the next five minutes, Lockhart rambled on about how he once saved a village from a monster that would come out at night and petrify whoever it came across.
"…as such, I can safely say that this is the work of a Demiguise!" Lockhart ended his exposé.
The majority of the gathered students and professors could only look at Lockhart in disbelief, though for different reasons. The younger students couldn't believe he had figured it out so fast, while the older students and the professors couldn't believe how wrong he was. How could he believe a Demiguise was responsible for what had happened? After all, a Demiguise was an ape-like creature, about the size of a house elf, and with the ability to see glimpses of the future and becoming invisible, not to petrify beings.
"Right…" Dumbledore said in a dry voice before turning back to Filch. "As I was saying, Argus. Once the right potion has been brewed, Mrs Norris will be as right as rain."
Nodding, Filch picked up Mrs Norris, and left with her cradling in his arms. After watching Filch leave, Dumbledore turned towards Halios.
"Now, perhaps the three of you could join me in my office, and tell me everything that happened tonight?"
"Yes, Headmaster." Halios answered, echoed by Seren and Luna.
"Ah, I'll be coming too." Lockhart said. "I'm sure my expertise will be needed."
Not wanting anything more to do with Lockhart, Halios discretely drew her Wabba-wand and after making sure no-one saw her, sent a shot towards him. But instead of hitting him, like she had planned, Lockhart shifter his stance and the magic missed him, only to hit the sword one of the suits of armour the castle was littered with, held.
With a whooshing sound, the sword turned into a large chicken, which stood there and clucked. Having heard the sound, everyone looked over to the chicken, wondering where it had come from.
"I've never seen a random and spontaneous transfiguration before." Lockhart said, drawing his wand. "But, don't worry, I'll take care of that."
Casting a spell at the chicken, he caused it to be launched into the ceiling, hard. Once it had landed again, it stared at Lockhart and gave of a loud Bawk, before continuing to stare. For a few moments, no-one moved, but then, the door to one of the classrooms along the hallway burst open, and perhaps fifty chickens burst through. They stopped behind the first chicken and stared at Lockhart as well.
A second loud Bawk from the first chicken, and the group launched at Lockhart. The man stood his ground for a moment, but as the group of chickens started to attack him, he fled down the hallway, screaming a high-pitched scream, as the chickens followed him. Everyone simply looked after him, before shrugging and leaving.
"Well, that was strange…" Dumbledore said. "Anyway, follow me please."
Dumbledore led them through Hogwarts, until they came to a hallway with no door in, but a gargoyle statue at the back. Approaching the statue, Dumbledore spoke up.
"Butterfinger."
The statue stepped aside, revealing a revolving staircase going up. Soon, they sat in the Headmaster's office, and told Dumbledore exactly what had happened during the evening. Sir Nicholas also came and supported their tale, at least the part where they were at his party. While talking, they could occasionally hear the screams of Lockhart and the clucking of the chickens, as they chased him around the castle grounds.
Once they were finished with their tale, Dumbledore leaned back and observed them over the rim of his glasses.
"Well, your story has proven that you had no part in what happened to Mrs Norris." He said with a sigh. "I will have to speak with Ms Granger and Mr Longbottom tomorrow, to hear their story as well, but there shouldn't be any problems. Now, I will make an announcement at breakfast tomorrow about this, but don't be surprised if rumours were to appear, since gossipers are common amongst the students."
Turning to Sir Nicholas, he continued.
"Nicholas, could you escort them to the Ravenclaw tower, please?"
"Of course, Headmaster." Sir Nicholas said with a small bow. "It would be my honour."
"Then I wish you all a good night." Dumbledore said as he rose to his feet. "Now you'll have to excuse me… I have a Professor to save from a poultry death…"
Saying good night to the Headmaster, the three students followed Sir Nicholas back to the entrance of their house, where they said good night to him as well. Once inside, they were accosted by the other Ravenclaws', but were able to escape to their rooms by saying that the Headmaster would address the issue the next morning.
Drained by the events that evening, they fell asleep in their rooms.
The next day went as predicted; Dumbledore spoke to Hermione and Neville, both telling the same story as Halios, Seren and Luna. He then spoke to the rest of Hogwarts during the breakfast, confirming that none of them had had anything to do with what had happened to Mrs Norris and the message on the wall.
And just as suspected, this did nothing to stem the rumours going around. In some, they said that Luna was the one behind it, and that she attempted to use Mrs Norris as a bait for one of the creatures she always spoke about.
In another rumour, Seren had taken up the mantle of the Blacks' of old, and were trying to raise someone or something from the dead.
Yet another rumour had Halios performing rituals and live sacrifices to honour some strange god or being (a few students mentioned names such as Azathoth, Yog-Sothoth and Nyarlathotep. Researching said names made Halios wonder if her father had attempted time travel sometime in the future, since this Nyarlathotep sounded somewhat like him).
Despite these rumours, nothing really changed for the three of them, thanks to Dumbledore's announcement. Sure, there were some whispers, but no-one truly believed they were behind the incident. Days passed, and when nothing else happened, things slowly returned to normal.
It took a couple of weeks, but something else did happen. The date was Thursday, November 26th, and the students of Hogwarts had just sat down to eat dinner, when Professor McGonagall hurriedly entered the Great Hall and spoke to Dumbledore in a hushed tone.
Getting a serious look on his face, Dumbledore asked McGonagall some questions, and when she nodded in response, he sighed and stood up. Calling for everyone's attention, he then spoke.
"Students, there has been an attack." Dumbledore began. "Less than thirty minutes ago, first year Gryffindor student Colin Creevey was found petrified on the third floor."
As the students started to talk to each other, he raised a hand.
"Mr Creeveys' life is not in jeopardy, and will be revived as soon as the right potion has been brewed." He continued. "But as this is the second attack, I must ask all of you to never go off alone, and to stay in groups whenever you are outside of your common rooms, at least until we can find the culprit. Now, I'll let you all return to your meal, as I'm needed elsewhere."
With that, he followed McGonagall out of the Great Hall. The students watched him go, before a cacophony of sound broke out, as every student spoke loudly to the ones next to them. Hermione and Neville took the opportunity to sit down next to Halios, Seren and Luna.
"What do you think happened?" Hermione asked the group once she was seated.
"Creevey met someone or something on the third floor, and he/she/it petrified him." Seren said.
"Yes, but I meant more like, 'how?' or 'why?'" Hermione said.
"Well, the message mentioned Slytherin's chamber and 'enemies of the Heir', so perhaps that's why." Halios said. "That being said, does any one of you know if this Creevey is a pureblood, half-blood or a muggleborn?"
"I would guess he's a muggleborn, since I don't recognize his name." Seren said, before turning to Neville. "How about you, Nev? Do you recognize the name?"
Neville blinked in surprise to the nickname, before shaking his head. "No, none of the books my grandma tells me to read has mentioned a wizarding family with a name anywhere close to Creevey."
"Right, so that's most likely the 'why'." Halios said with a nod. "The 'how', on the other hand, will be a bit trickier…"
Turning to the left, she asked;
"Luna, do you know of any animals or creatures that can petrify people?"
"Nope, your Haliosness!" Luna said with a smile. "But I can send a message to my papa and ask if he knows any."
"Thank you Luna, that would be great." Halios said to the first year. Turning to Neville, she continued.
"And you, Neville. Do you know of any plants that could be used for petrifying?"
"No…" Neville said, shaking his head. "The closest thing amongst plants are the Mandrake, but they are used to create the cure for petrification."
"So we have a mystery on our hands." Seren said with a sharp nod. "Well then, let's go to the library and see if we can find anything that fits with what we know."
The other agreed, and once they were done with their meal, they went to the library.
And that's it for this time. A bit of a shorter chapter this time, but I hope it's a good read. Next chapter will be the Duelling Club and Christmas.
Up next is the next chapter for A Ninja Summoned. As that story is nearing its completion (only some 3 or 4 chapters left), the question is; what to do afterwards?
As such, I have created a poll to see what you, those who read my stories, think. The poll can be found here:
Linkto run/p/ELY28NBV
Please use a dot between linkto and run, and you'll get to the right address. Please note that this is the first time I've created a poll, and am not sure if it will work. The poll will be active until the 20th of May.
Until next time, enjoy.
Baleygr.
