"Five of yeh!" Hagrid growled, advancing on them angrily. "After midnight! These days! Yeh could all be attacked!" Before Beth knew what was happening, they were swept into Hagrid's hut and the door slammed shut.
The five of them hung together uncertainly in a corner while Hagrid glared at them. "What do yeh think yer doin' -- sneakin' around the grounds this late!" he roared. "Those woods is dangerous in the daytimes, more'n that at night! Whatever's bin attackin' folks could be in there now -- and yer walkin' righ' up to it, askin' ter get Petrified!" He shook his enormous head in disbelief. "When Dumbledore hears about this, he'll skin yeh alive. Migh' let Filch get out his ankle chains."
There was a long, tense pause. Beth felt like she was going to faint. If they were turned in, someone would find the fruit in their pockets, they'd be given detentions for the rest of the year, and that was the end of Daedalus Dellinger. Worse -- what if this was worth expulsion? Her stomach twisted.
Evan spoke up for the first time since their capture. "Not everyone knows what happened last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened, Hagrid," he said softly.
Hagrid's bright eyes filled with fear. "Yeh wouldn't -- s'not true --" His expression closed off suddenly. "I don't know what yer talkin' about," he avowed stubbornly, crossing his great arms across his massive chest.
"I think you do," said Evan, just as softly. His quiet voice carried surprising weight. "But no one else needs to. Let us go."
Hagrid narrowed his eyes and became very quiet. "Yeh'd just tell anyway."
"I haven't yet," Evan replied.
Richard spoke up. "Hagrid, let us go back to the castle. If Filch catches us, just pretend you never saw us out here. We're not making trouble and we're not doing anything wrong."
Except sneaking around the Forbidden Forest at one in the morning, Beth thought sickly.
Hagrid looked unconvinced. "Please, Hagrid," begged Melissa. "We're going back to bed right now -- weren't we, Rich?"
"Right," said Richard, but his words were drowned out by a sudden cry:
"Bacchus Somnulus!"
A shower of wine-colored sparks exploded in the gamekeeper's face. His beady black eyes grew wide in surprise -- then he turned slowly on his heel and fell forward onto his face, out cold. Mervin was standing behind him, putting his wand back in his pocket.
"Nice shot," Evan commented.
Mervin shrugged. "He's sort of hard to miss."
Melissa was looking at the fallen figure in horror. "What did you do to him?"
"The Sleep of Bacchus. He'll sleep all night and wake up tomorrow with a champion hangover. That's one they don't teach you in Charms," he added proudly.
"Oh we're going to be in so much trouble!" Melissa gasped, still staring at Hagrid. "Putting a hex on the faculty! Someone's got to fix his memory -- otherwise we'll all get expelled!"
"Obliviate tempore," Mervin replied almost idly, flicking his wand at Hagrid's head. A few white sparks came out of his wand and settled in Hagrid's bushy black hair before fading out. "That'll erase the last couple of hours. He'll probably wake up thinking he drank too much with dinner," he guessed, with a nasty grin.
Richard was regarding Evan curiously. "What were you saying about what happened last time the Chamber was opened?"
Evan tilted his head toward Hagrid. "When the Chamber was opened fifty years ago, Hagrid got the blame. He was kicked out for it."
Richard looked bowled over. "Hagrid? The Heir of Slytherin?"
"Ridiculous, I know. He was Gryffindor, for starters. Second, Dumbledore wouldn't keep him on if he thought he was guilty. But if someone gets it in their heads that he's out to get revenge, or something ..." He shrugged.
Hagrid snorted just then; so on Richard's urging, they hurried out of the cabin and shut the door. A broom shed near the castle led to a tunnel behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy; they climbed out from behind the statue on the third floor of the castle, cold and muddy. Beth was thoroughly ready to go to bed.
A bucket full of confetti turned over on her head.
Flabbergasted, Beth spat out a mouthful of paper and looked around in time to see Richard and Melissa get the same treatment. Three empty buckets clattered to the ground; the noise echoed in the empty halls. Then a piercing voice cried:
"STUDENTS OUT OF BED! THERE ARE STUDENTS IN THE HAAAAALLS AND THEY'RE MAKING A MESS!"
And Peeves zoomed away cackling.
Richard cast about desperately. "Split up!" he spat. Beth tore down the hall to her right. She could hear someone panting behind her. She skidded to a halt in front of a broom closet, wrenched it open, and dove inside. The other person crammed in with her and shut the door.
It was none too soon. The sound of boots came thundering past, accompanied, alarmingly, by the clatter of chains.
"Filch," murmured the other person. It was Richard. Suddenly Beth was keenly aware of how his chest rose and fell as he breathed.
Richard shifted a little; he put his ear to the door so that he could hear. Scarcely breathing, Beth did the same.
At first there was nothing. Then:
"Well, how remarkable. Out for a midnight stroll, Rudisille?"
"That's Herne!" hissed Richard.
Herne's voice came, stammering and scared. "I -- I don't know -- I was asleep and then I -- I was here --"
"Likely!" spat Filch. "We'll see what Professor Snape thinks of that story! I've brought the chains in case he doesn't buy it."
"No, I mean it -- can't remember --"
There was a short scuffle, then the sound of stomping boots and clanging chains ... they came closer and closer ... Beth jerked back, they were right outside the door ... and they went on past.
"Back to the common room -- now!" Richard whispered, and they crept out of the closet and bolted down the hall to the dungeons. They skidded in front of the secret door.
"Academia," gasped Richard. The door appeared, and they leapt into the common room.
Someone grabbed Beth's arm and jerked her behind one of the tall chairs.
"Snape's out," Melissa whispered. "We were waiting for you. We have to get to bed immediately or he's going to come back and kill us."
"Sure," breathed Beth. They stood up and, without a glance back, bolted up to their room, leapt onto Melissa's bed and jerked the curtains closed.
"Lumos."
They were bathed in blue light. Beth looked at Melissa. Then she pulled a silver pear from the pocket of her robe.
"We did it."
Beth felt giddy, relieved laughter start to bubble up inside her. She put a hand over her mouth and sank down, shaking with suppressed laughter. Melissa caught the bug and started to quiver, trying not to giggle madly. They leaned on each other, laughing silently, until tears ran down their cheeks. The silver pear lay on the quilt between them.
"And now," said Richard sternly, "we have to figure out how to feed a statue."
It was the day after the big excursion. The five adventurers, along with Vivian, had gathered in the Vase Room with the silver pear. The snake Daedalus had been taken down from his shelf and put back on the divan. Vivian had been a nervous wreck all day, and it showed.
"Just cut it up and put it in his mouth! Mash it! We can force it down!" She gripped the pear as if she were trying to squeeze it to bits.
"We've got to be careful," insisted Richard. "What if we choke him?"
"Then he won't be any worse off," said Vivian savagely. Without warning, she tore off a chunk of the pear, picked up Daedalus, and stuffed it into his frozen serpentine mouth.
Richard let out a yell and tried to grab the snake away from her, but she held it back from him. Her eyes were alight.
"I feel something."
The snake in her hands twitched. It twisted. Then, as color started to flow over its Petrified scales, it slithered out of her hands and onto the floor. The snake darted under the divan and behind a vase.
"It worked!" she shrieked, jumping up and down. "Come on, Dell, change back!"
For a moment, Beth wondered absurdly if he could even change back after all of that. What if he had lost his memory -- or his soul? They would be stuck with a live but half-human snake forever. Her heart sank.
There was a flash of light. From behind a tall vase stepped Daedalus Dellinger -- in his own animate human form.
Vivian burst into tears and threw her arms around his neck.
He held her tightly for a few minutes, while the S.S.A. celebrated around them. Finally he looked up at them.
"What day is it?"
"The twenty-second of February."
He closed his eyes and laid his cheek on the top of Vivian's head. "Then I have a lot of catching up to do."
Vivian started to cry harder.
They dashed back to the common room. The rest of the members had been waiting up; as soon as they came in there was an explosion of excitement, and Daedalus was completely swarmed.
"It worked! You really did it!"
"Dell, I thought we'd never see the real you again!"
"Amazing."
"What was it like?"
"Keep it quiet or we'll all be in trouble!" This was from Riggs.
"Oh, who cares. Dell's back!"
"Speaking of trouble." Richard turned a worried face to Herne. "What happened last night? We heard Filch catch you."
Herne gave a shy grin. "He did. I was sort of lurking around, waiting for you to get back, and when I heard Peeves I tried to get there before Filch. Gave him a story about sleepwalking. Snape believed it -- he was more mad at Filch than me. So I got out of detention this time."
"That was fantastic," said Richard seriously.
Herne shrugged modestly. "I figured getting caught out is what I'm best at. I get enough practice anyway."
"It saved my life," said Daedalus.
Beth had never seen anyone more embarrassed than Herne was, or a more relieved group of people than they all were right then.